Ch.62 What Are These People Plotting?
Luo Nan crouched down and examined the drag marks on the ground carefully.
"These marks……they're all fresh. And whatever was being dragged wasn't light — should be crates or sothing similar."
Luo Nan's gaze traced the marks as they led deeper into the mine shaft. Staring at that pitch-black tunnel mouth, he felt the inexplicable sense of dread wash over him once again.
'Strange……what's going on? Why does it get stronger the closer I get to this place?'
"Hey, Luo Nan — did you find sothing?"
Anya had done a full circuit of the tunnel junction, and after confirming there wasn't a single enemy in sight, she walked back to Luo Nan's side and asked.
Luo Nan stood up and replied, "It looks like these Abyssal Followers were transporting sothing. Feels a bit like they're relocating."
"Relocating? You don't think they sohow found out we were coming, decided they were no match for us, and turned tail and ran?"
"……" Luo Nan glanced sideways at the girl who was spinning wild theories, and said nothing.
"Uh……that probably isn't it……right?"
Evidently Anya herself felt her reasoning was a little shaky, and she scratched the back of her head with a sheepish laugh.
Luo Nan walked to where the drag marks converged, activated a sliver of his power, and focused his mind to analyze the flow of Magic in the area.
Through his current perception, the Magic in the air was no longer drifting in disordered currents — instead it had taken on a pattern of sorts, leaving its own kind of trail.
Luo Nan knew this was the 'Macro-Convergence Phenonon' caused by a large accumulation of supernatural materials in one place.
'It seems these Abyssal Followers have purchased a considerable quantity of supernatural materials and transported them sowhere.'
'By ordinary reasoning, they're certainly not buying these materials for standard cultivation or refining — their power cos entirely from the Abyssal Great Lords' bestowal.'
'I'm not entirely sure what they're up to," Luo Nan pressed a hand to his increasingly uncomfortable chest, "but I have to go and see. I have a feeling……that if I don't stop them, I'm going to be in a very bad position.'
With that thought, Luo Nan turned around. "Anya, Miss Tanya — these Abyssal Followers are transporting a large quantity of supernatural materials to a specific location. They are absolutely plotting sothing. We need to see whether we can stop them."
"Hm? How do you know they're transporting a large quantity of supernatural materials?" Anya asked.
"This ti it's one hundred and fifty thousand Faras……"
"Alright, alright, I believe you."
Seeing that Luo Nan was about to deploy his 'pay-to-win, argue-into-submission' rhetoric again, Anya shook her head in refusal — her chestnut high ponytail swaying back and forth with the motion.
"Agreed." Tanya's reply was as brief as ever.
With consensus reached, Luo Nan followed the drag marks on the ground, cross-referencing the direction of the Magic flow visible within his field of perception, and led the two won forward with caution.
"Hey, Luo Nan — you sure it's this way?"
The three had arrived at a stone wall. The rock face above still bore considerable residue of coal dust, absorbing most of the light cast by the Magic Spotlight Lantern in Luo Nan's hand.
The girl stepped up to the wall and carefully prodded at the surface with the tip of her longsword — and found nothing out of the ordinary.
"You haven't taken a wrong turn, have you? It's fine if you have — this mine shaft twists and turns all over the place, and you did say the map wasn't much use……"
The girl had opened her mouth intending to mock him, but sohow the words that ca out had turned into reassurance instead.
She wasn't entirely sure why she was comforting this insufferable person.
Perhaps……it was simply because she was too kind-hearted by nature.
After all, even if Luo Nan von dillion was insufferable, he had just survived yet another assassination attempt today — a little irritability was understandable.
Anya felt her capacity for empathy had grown considerably stronger.
"It's right here." Luo Nan stated with absolute certainty.
"Huh?"
"I said it's right here." Luo Nan didn't engage with the girl's confusion. He stepped over to the rock face and trained the Magic Spotlight Lantern on it, beginning to search it carefully.
"The drag marks and the Magic flow in the air both end abruptly right here. Supernatural materials can't simply vanish into thin air — therefore……there must be a passage on the other side of this wall."
With that thought, Luo Nan turned his attention to examining the color variations in the coal layer along the rock face.
"Hey, Luo Nan — I know you're anxious and really want to get your hands on whoever's been sending people to assassinate you, but just staring at a wall isn't going to do anything. Why don't we try a different direction……"
Click—
Rumble, rumble……
"……direction……direction……" The girl's sentence was cut dead by the sight in front of her.
There was no other reason — Luo Nan had reached out and pressed down on a patch of rock that was noticeably lighter in color than the surrounding surface, and the wall that had appeared seamlessly solid a mont ago split apart with a deep groan, revealing a gateway wide enough for several people to pass through side by side.
The stone door rose at the touch. Luo Nan let out a long breath, then turned his head back. "What was that you were saying just now?"
"I said……I said we should press our advantage and strike straight for the enemy's den!"
"Well then — lead the way, Miss Anya."
"Leave it to !"
The girl drew her longsword once more, took up a guarded stance, and swept her golden eyes back and forth across the passage behind the stone door before stepping carefully inside.
"Mr. dillion, may I ask……how did you know there was a hidden door here?" The female knight Tanya, who had remained silent throughout, couldn't help but ask at last.
"Simple — since the trail ends right here, that can only an there's a path. And as for how I found it——" Luo Nan pointed to the coal layer on the section of wall above. "Did you notice? The section I pressed was noticeably brighter in color than the surrounding coal layer. That brightness cos from oxidation — the result of being touched repeatedly over ti."
"One must ask — if there was nothing of interest here, who would ever repeatedly touch a patch of wall coated in coal dust?"
"I see……that is most instructive. Worthy of Young Master dillion indeed." With that, Tanya fell silent again.
"It's rely a trivial bit of knowledge from so miscellaneous book I read once when I had nothing better to do. Hardly worth ntioning." Luo Nan gave a slight smile, and paid Tanya's complint no mind.
But Tanya was not the least bit fooled by Luo Nan's self-deprecation. She thought to herself: 'This is sothing to report to Her Highness — Luo Nan von dillion seems to have so considerable divergence from the worthless scoundrel the rumors describe.'
"Wait — there's soone ahead!"
Anya, who had been blazing the trail at the front, raised the alarm to the two behind her, then dropped low into a crouch. Her pair of golden eyes cut through the faint firelight as she studied the moving shapes below.
"One, two, three, four……eight people. There are eight people in total down here!" The girl's expression grew serious as she considered how to deal with them.
To be candid, at her current level of strength, Anya taking on eight Tier One enemies alone was entirely manageable — but she had no way of knowing how many enemies there were in total, or whether the sounds of fighting would draw more in and surround them.
Luo Nan moved up beside Anya, took a brief survey of the situation ahead, and imdiately understood the girl's dilemma.
He looked up and scanned the surrounding environnt, his gaze settling on the abandoned coal-cart tracks mounted overhead.
"Anya — I've got a task for you. Climb up there and……"
"Oh! That approach……might actually work!" The mont she heard Luo Nan's plan, the girl's golden eyes — lit by the distant torchlight — flashed with instant enthusiasm.
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