Looking at Tristan, Yue unfortunately saw a grimace on his face that expressed a mix of emotions, ranging from disdain to disbelief. She didn't find the support she was hoping for.
Disappointed, she kept up her convincing posture.
Inspired by her words, Jaeng also spoke up, "I'll help you with this. I can't stand around while someone who just reached the Second Dao goes on a dangerous mission alone; a senior disciple should assist the younger ones."
The crowd around them cheered, with many moving to tears.
After receiving words of thanks, Yue approached Tristan.
"Dusk, could you…" she started to say, but he cut her off.
"I thought this kind of thing only happened in movies," he muttered.
"What are movies?" she asked, confused.
"Do you really want to go into a cave full of monsters to save a bunch of strangers?" he asked.
"Well, if you put it that way, yes!" she responded.
He rolled his eyes.
"You're crazy."
***
The three traveled northwest, and thanks to their enhanced bodies, they managed to reach the indicated location by early evening that day.
Tristan's eyes wandered over the Yihan Yuh mountains. He found the appearance of this place peculiar—the ground had a dark gray tone, and no matter where he looked, he couldn't see any green.
As he breathed, a peculiar smell entered his nose, causing a slight burning sensation in his chest.
After scratching his nose and sniffling a bit, he crouched down and picked up a stone from the ground. Rubbing its surface with his thumb, he noticed its porous texture. He pressed the stone without using much force, yet it crumbled easily.
"This place is so dry, almost as if there's no moisture here," he said to the others.
"Must be terrible to work here every day," Jaeng said with sympathy for the miners.
Tristan nodded in agreement.
"Which of these mountains are the mines in?" Yue asked him.
He reached inside his robe and pulled out a piece of paper.
After reading the directions the people outside the walls had given them, he looked at the mountains and compared them to the drawing on the paper.
"I think it's that one," he said, pointing at a large mountain flanked by two others of similar size.
They walked for a few minutes until they found the cave entrance to the mines. Yue and Jaeng grabbed two oil lanterns, and with a couple of flint stones, they lit the wicks.
As they entered the cave, they saw several wooden signs indicating different directions.
Jaeng spoke:
"Uhm, what do we do now? Which way should we go?"
Yue looked at the various paths with a face that expressed confusion, as if she were trying to decide by luck.
Tristan crouched and looked at the ground; in this dark place, his enhanced vision would be at its peak. Even without his diagnostic ability, he could analyze every speck of dust with precision.
"This way," he said.
"The freshest footprints go in this direction. That guy must have exited through here."
He thought for a moment, "Uh, we might encounter the monsters if we follow the same direction he did, so it's better to be careful."
Tristan shrugged. "Let's look for the place where the miners were attacked. If they're still alive, they must be hiding somewhere; otherwise, they're probably all dead."
The three moved in the direction of the tracks. There were several tunnels branching in all directions around them. 'How far do these tunnels go?' Tristan thought as he passed by endless pathways.
When he looked at Yue's face, he noticed she was sweating a bit and seemed uncomfortable with something. 'This must be reminding her of that cave.' Memories of his journey to Zaguhan crossed his mind. 'I hope we're luckier this time.'
After a few minutes, they found an area with several pieces of clothing scattered on the ground. There were dozens of them.
Tristan looked at the place, noting that part of the ceiling had collapsed. Many of the tunnels around had caved in.
He crouched down and picked up some clothing, noticing that it was stuck together and stained with a dark liquid.
"Why are there so many clothes here?" Jaeng asked.
Tristan turned to Yue and Jaeng and showed them the stains on the clothing.
Then he said, "I think we found the place where the miners were attacked."
An expression of surprise appeared on their faces.
"I think this is all that's left of them," he said.
"How is that possible?" Yue said. "Where are their bodies?"
"The monsters might have taken them, or maybe they used Darkness magic if they're Dark creatures," he suggested.
"No," Yue said with sadness in her voice. "So they're all dead?"
Seeing her disappointed face, Tristan sighed and decided to investigate further.
Eventually, he said, "Here, those who were further back managed to run into this tunnel."
Tristan looked up and saw that there were also small tunnels everywhere.
"The monsters must have attacked those in the front first; that lucky guy was the only one who managed to escape, while the others had to retreat deeper into the mountain."
'And they were probably eaten afterward,' he thought.
"Then we have to hurry!" Yue dashed into the tunnel at high speed.
"Hey, hey, WAIT UP," Tristan said loudly to her.
***
Tristan walked at the front of the group, moving through the tunnel, following the miners' tracks. Somehow, he managed to calm Yue down and convinced her that it was better to proceed cautiously.
Then he started walking more slowly. Ahead of them, he saw a wall of rocks.
"Tsk, looks like another collapse happened," Tristan said.
After thinking for a bit, he continued, "The monsters must have caused this while chasing them."
"Damn," Jaeng muttered.
The three of them tried to move the heavy rocks but soon gave up.
"It's useless; these rocks are almost our size, and this wall looks wide. Can you cut through this with that strange black blade?" Jaeng asked Tristan, panting with fatigue.
Tristan looked at the wall of rocks and considered its thickness. Then he turned to Jaeng and answered, "After an entire day, maybe. But it's possible the whole tunnel was blocked; in that case, even if I stayed here for over a week, it wouldn't be enough."
"What do we do now?" Jaeng asked the others.
"Leave?" Tristan suggested.
"Uh, we could try another tunnel; maybe we can reach them from the other side?" Yue said.
"Or we might end up going nowhere. Seriously, we've wasted too much time on this already." Tristan's usually monotonous voice sounded slightly annoyed this time.
"Dusk, please, just one more try!" she pleaded with him, her big blue eyes shining as they reflected the lantern's light.
Seeing her cute expression, Tristan clicked his tongue.
"Alright, but if we don't find anything new, I'm out of here."
They backtracked and chose another tunnel that they thought might lead them in that direction.
As they walked along the alternate path, Tristan's attention was drawn to something, and his brow furrowed slightly in confusion.
Seeing her companion stop walking for no apparent reason, Yue asked him:
"What is it? Why did you stop?"
"It's nothing; I just found something strange," he said, then pointed his finger at the ground.
Yue brought her lantern closer to the position he indicated.
She only saw subtle deformations in the ground, unable to understand what he was referring to, so she said:
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"Shoes," he replied. "There are shoe prints on the ground; I just thought it was odd here. The miners' footprints showed they were all barefoot. But here, there are several prints from people wearing shoes."
"Are they recent?" she asked.
"No, probably a few weeks or months old," Tristan replied.
"Maybe the miners' supervisors decided to check this place. Perhaps there was something important in this direction that needed their attention," Jaeng suggested.
"Could be," Tristan said, unconvinced. 'Well, who would want to wander around this place?'