Who told him to make the cards!

Page 8

Luo Xiao stepped forward and bowed to Shen Qinglian.

"I've met Miss Shen."

Shen Qinglian nodded slightly, looked at Ding Mao, and said in a detached tone, "Steward Ding is very kind."

Ding Mao smiled apologetically: "It's nothing."

"If it weren't for the special nature of the mine, I would have liked to send the whole team with Miss Shen inside, but unfortunately, that's not possible..."

The extremely unstable rock formations and structures of the mine itself dictate that too many people cannot enter at the same time.

Footsteps, sounds, energy fluctuations in cards, and even a person's breathing can all cause abnormalities in the laws.

The further down you go, the more likely problems are to occur.

Especially since a mining accident had just occurred on the 13th.

So when miners say they risk their lives to earn money every day, it's not a joke. If they're unlucky, they could never come back.

"Steward Ding, please."

"it is good."

Seeing that Shen Qinglian was unwilling to talk any further, Ding Mao sighed inwardly and ordered someone to unseal the entrance.

A ring of black steel pillars lit up in a counter-clockwise sequence.

The white pagoda logo on the seal flickered and trembled, shaking off a cloud of dust.

A screeching sound that made one frown came from the cave entrance.

A crack appeared in the middle of the heavy iron gate, opening outwards to the left and right, revealing a dark opening.

A cold, damp air rushed out of the darkness, carrying the pungent smell of rust and rotting wood.

"Follow me."

Chen Zhi didn't ask anything, nor did he look at Ding Mao; he just focused on doing his work.

He activated the miner's lamp card and stepped into the mine without saying a word.

Shen Qinglian and the old servant followed, with Liu Bai close behind.

Luo Xiao nodded to Ding Mao and followed him.

The five figures disappeared into the darkness one after another.

When the last glimmer of light from the miner's lamp inside disappeared, the massive iron gate slowly closed behind them.

The light on the steel piles went out, sealing the entrance back in place.

It was as if no one had ever been here.

……

"Tick, tick..."

The faint sound of dripping water echoed in my ears.

Chen Zhi walked at the front, using a pickaxe to probe the way.

Even with a miner's lamp in hand, the visibility here is less than three meters.

The mine tunnel is also low, only a little over two meters high, and the overall feeling is very oppressive.

There were originally more miner lamp cards embedded in the rock walls on both sides, one every twenty meters or so, but they were all extinguished due to the mining accident half a month ago, and the cards in their hands were the only source of light.

"Watch your step."

Chen Zhi reminded him.

The ground is paved with railway tracks, and under the tracks is a drainage ditch. Dirty water flows under the sleepers, mixed with mud, sand and gravel, like a miniature mudslide.

Liu Bai, meanwhile, was observing the top of his head.

He discovered that the steel frame structure used for auxiliary load-bearing had welding marks in many places, not just once, and the materials were not the same.

It's one thing to use a mix of steel and iron, but there are even wooden beams.

With a single beam in three or four different colors, it's no wonder it collapsed.

In addition to the card deck hanging on his shoulder, Liu Bai took out a white card and a pen, and wrote down the violations on it.

"Don't step on the sleepers."

Chen Zhi suddenly spoke up.

Liu Bai was slightly taken aback, subconsciously glanced at his feet, and then his left leg remained frozen in mid-air.

There's an empty floor ahead.

As Chen Zhi spoke, he lightly tapped the water tank with his pickaxe, and sure enough, a hollow sound came from below.

Shen Qinglian moved a step to the side without making a sound.

Liu Bai was slightly surprised: "How did you know?"

"The drain is too dirty."

As Chen Zhi explored the area, he explained, "The water inside usually comes from operating mining equipment and is relatively clean. The presence of mud and sand indicates that the strata shifted during the mining accident, causing the drainage channel to misalign."

"Everything may seem normal, but if you take one step down, you could fall straight to the bottom and die."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bai couldn't help but re-examine Chen Zhi.

He speaks so eloquently; this kid seems to really know what he's talking about.

He withdrew his foot, wrote the details of the empty layer onto the record card, and then asked, "How many years has this well existed?"

"I'm not sure. I heard from Lao Zhou that formal mining started more than forty years ago."

Chen Zhi replied, "This well is also quite special; it doesn't go vertically downwards."

The ore vein of Well No. 13 was discovered by chance by miners who used to live in the mining village. It was originally just a natural crack. They dug along the ore layer in the crack in five directions at the same time. It took them decades to dig out the prototype of the mine. They then went deeper and deeper at an angle, eventually forming Well No. 13 as we know it today.

"Old Zhou said that more than 20 years ago, there were only white marrow ore and obsidian ore here. The veins had many impurities and low yields. Later, when they dug to the fourth layer, the impurities were greatly reduced, and the mining area increased its investment and introduced the track."

"You mean there are no minecarts before the fourth level?" Liu Bai asked. "Are levels 1-3 all on foot?"

"Otherwise, why would it be tilted downwards?"

Chen Zhi raised the light card and shone it on the rock wall.

There is a crooked, downward-pointing white line there.

"These measuring lines were left by the old miners to be used for layering and calculating well depth."

"But after the fourth layer, the measuring lines are not as useful."

Chen Zhi said, "Due to the influence of legal principles, the deep space is chaotic. Different layers may not overlap vertically. They may be under a rock layer tens of meters thick, or they may be on the same layer, separated only by a wall."

"Legal theory" is a more professional academic term used in card games. Miners don't understand these terms and simply interpret it as "rules".

The rules underground are different from those on the surface. It is highly dynamic and can change the structure of a mine at any time, so miners often describe it as a "moving maze".

It can actually move.

Luo Xiao remained silent.

He walked at the back of the procession, his gaze occasionally sweeping over the equally quiet old servant beside him.

Chen Zhi led the group forward, groping their way through the empty spaces, and soon arrived at the ore transport platform.

A mine cart with its wheels removed is suspended in the air.

It was all gray.

The same goes for the lifting cable.

It stretches straight down, extending into the darkness beyond the reach of miners' lamps.

Chen Zhixian checked the energy card in the control panel.

Unsurprisingly, it cracked.

He replaced it with a new one, and moved a large rock over to test the load-bearing capacity of the steel cable.

There were no unusual noises, and it sounded to be in good condition.