Chapter 135: Collapse: Raymond’s Thoughts (1)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

They safely spent the night in the cave.

The next morning, they immediately started descending the winding mountain path.

As they stepped into their territory, Ji Chen saw Wilus anxiously pacing around the square.

He paused for a moment and walked over.

Upon seeing Ji Chen return, Wilus’s face brightened, and he hurriedly approached, bowing in greeting.

“My Lord, you’re finally back! You had me worried.”

“Why do you look so anxious?” Ji Chen asked.

“There was a tremor throughout the entire island last night. Didn’t you feel it on the mountain?” Wilus replied, his face filled with concern.

Jichen couldn’t help but be taken aback.

Wasn’t the tremor last night only limited to the mountain? The entire island shook?

If that were the case, it was no ordinary matter. Could there be some geological problem?

Seeing the expression on Wilus’s face, he realized that the situation was not simple.

“What happened?” he inquired.

“The troops stationed in the underground cavern reported that a passage collapsed, blocking two mineral resource points,” Wilus explained.

Jichen furrowed his brow. “Were there any casualties?”

“We haven’t calculated it yet, but it seems that many Kobolds were trapped inside. The troops currently stationed there are currently mobilizing manpower to clear the blocked passage, but progress is slow…” Wilus explained in detail.

Upon hearing that only Kobolds were trapped, Ji Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

Could Kobolds even be considered sentient beings… Oops, he unintentionally revealed his biased perspective.

Jichen nodded to Wilus. “Don’t worry, I’ll go and see what’s going on right away.”

With that, he hurriedly led his troops towards the underground cavern.

In the mining hall of the cavern, there was a significant gathering of Kobolds and stationed Murloc Rangers.

When they saw Ji Chen arrive, it was as if they had found their backbone.

Especially the Kobolds, each of them barked excitedly.

“The Lord has come! Our comrades will be saved!”

Ji Chen stood in front of them, delivering a motivating speech as usual, further increasing their loyalty.

He then instructed a few Kobolds to lead him to the collapsed passage.

This passage was located in a deeper part of the underground cavern and led to two iron ore mines.

However, it had been completely blocked by falling rocks.

The Kobolds made attempts to dig through, but it appeared that there was a layer of fragmented rock above them. No matter how much they dug out from below, an equivalent amount would fall from above.

After a whole night of digging, they had only managed to clear a distance of about a dozen meters.

With the passage so tightly sealed, aside from the question of whether the inside had completely collapsed, there was also the issue of air supply.

Ji Chen pondered for a moment before returning to the mining hall to gather all the Kobolds. He counted their numbers and found that about twenty Kobolds were missing. They were most likely trapped inside.

According to the information on the Lord’s panel, these Kobolds were not yet dead, but if they were not dug out in time, once the remaining air inside was exhausted, it would be a death sentence.

Twenty-something Kobolds was not a small number. It was worth searching for them.

He immediately ordered the other Kobolds to continue clearing the blocked rocks while reinforcing the passage to prevent a second collapse.

Luckily, the collapse in this passage was not extensive. The Kobolds were diligently excavating the tunnel, ensuring to place wooden supports at regular intervals to reinforce the walls and ceiling.

This time, the tremor resulted in a collapse spanning approximately one hundred meters.

By the afternoon, with the final large rock broken down and the smaller stones removed, the blocked section was finally cleared.

However, they didn’t see any Kobolds trapped inside, and the situation became even more unusual.

Ji Chen led his troops to continue further into the passage.

As they proceeded, they continued to find no sign of the Kobolds along the path. However, the presence of Kobold footprints on the ground indicated that the trapped Kobolds had indeed been there at some point. It remained a mystery as to why they had retreated and left the area.

They soon arrived at a fork in the road, with two separate paths leading to different iron ore mines.

To increase search efficiency, Ji Chen ordered Anina and a portion of the troops to search the right side while he himself led the rest to explore the left side.

Passing through a winding, intestine-like passage, they quickly arrived at an underground cave spanning several thousand square meters.

The cave’s walls were embedded with chunks of reddish ore, with piles of iron ore nearby and scattered tools all around.

However, they didn’t see any Kobolds, indicating that they weren’t there.

Jichen wasn’t disappointed; after all, there were only two resource points here. If they weren’t on this side, they must be on the other side.

Returning to the fork in the road, they entered the left path.

Through the winding, intestine-like path, they soon arrived at the other iron ore mine.

In a secluded corner, Anina and her group had assembled, engrossed in a task.

“What are you doing?” Ji Chen asked.

Upon hearing his voice, Anina turned her head and exclaimed, “My Lord, there’s a hole here!”

Ji Chen was taken aback. A hole?

The soldiers surrounding the hole made way for Ji Chen.

This so-called hole was about a meter in width and length. It was dark and deep, making it impossible to see the bottom.

“We didn’t see any Kobolds, only this hole,” Anina explained from the side.

“I didn’t find any Kobolds on my side either,” Ji Chen replied.

Anina was taken aback. “Then where did they go? Could it be that they entered this hole?”

“It’s not impossible…” Jichen pondered for a moment, then ordered the troops to call a few Kobolds over.

“Has this hole always been here?”

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