Chapter 7
The brief skirmish ended, and several contaminated miners were subdued and restrained. The air was filled with the hum of turbulent energy and a faint odor of corruption. Susie crouched beside an unconscious miner, carefully examining him with a portable scanner, her amber eyes filled with professional curiosity and solemnity.
"Their vital signs are stable, but their cerebral cortex activity is extremely abnormal, as if it's being overwritten or interfered with by some external signal." She pointed to an irregularly active area on the scan. "Also, their cells are showing abnormal activity. This biodegradation effect... it's like they're being forcibly 'reformed.'"
Miao Weizhen stood aside, listening silently, his pulse pistol already holstered. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were darker than usual, as if he were rapidly calculating something.
"Can we trace back the energy source?" he asked in a low voice.
"I'll try, but the interference is too strong. We need to get closer to the core area, or..." Susie raised her head and looked at Miao Weizhen, her tone tentative, "Or, we need more professional experts in biological neurology. This is beyond the scope of ordinary energy field resonance."
Wen Ling was about to say something when he heard hurried footsteps coming from the direction they were coming from. The port's port manager came tumbling over, followed by an old man wearing a washed-out, old Sailiang military uniform. His hair was gray, but his figure remained as straight as a pine tree.
"Mr. Minister! Your Highness!" The fat official gasped, "This is General Han, a retired officer in charge of security outside the old mining area of Canglingzhou. He's very familiar with this area!"
The old man known as General Han stepped forward, ignoring the fat man in charge. He first gave Wen Ling a standard, slightly old-fashioned military salute, his eyes filled with a subtle excitement and complexity: "General Han Zhong, I pay my respects to Your Highness."
Then, he turned to Miao Weizhen and nodded politely, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant, "Minister Miao."
Wen Ling looked at the old general, a thought stirring in his heart. Han Zhong… He vaguely remembered the name. He was a border commander his father relied on heavily during his reign, renowned for his integrity and his ability to navigate complex terrain. After his parents' death, he was said to have been marginalized and banished to this remote Cangling Continent.
"General Han, there's no need to be so polite." Wen Ling stepped forward, gave him a soft support, and said gently, "The situation is urgent now. What are your thoughts on the anomaly here?"
Han Zhong's gaze softened for a moment as he looked at Wen Ling, then shifted to a soldier's sharpness. He pointed at the corroded metal and the unconscious miners around him and said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, Minister, this is no ordinary mining disaster. This kind of energy anomaly and... 'pollution' has been documented sporadically in some abandoned ancient mining areas deep within Cangling Continent, but never on such a large scale. We, the older generation of defenders, privately call it 'Earth Devouring'—as if the very land itself is devouring and twisting the life that has touched its deepest secrets."
He paused, looked at Miao Weizhen, and said meaningfully, "To deal with the Earth Devourer, weapons and ordinary engineers alone may not be enough. We need people who understand the temper of this land to lead the way, and we also need people who can interpret those ancient warnings."
Miao Weizhen listened quietly, his face showing no emotion, and simply asked, "What does the general mean?"
"I'm willing to lead the way," Han Zhong said, straightening his back. "I know a relatively safe path that can bypass most of the obvious energy turbulence areas and approach the core edge of Area 9. But the premise is that we must be careful enough, and..." He glanced at Susie, "It would be best if we had someone who knows how to decipher ancient signals with us."
Susie immediately raised her hand, her eyes shining. "Me! I can try to analyze those interference signals! That's so interesting!"
Wen Ling looked at Miao Weizhen, waiting for his decision.
He was silent for a moment, his eyes sweeping across Han Zhong's determined face and Susie's eager expression, and finally nodded: "Thank you, General Han, for leading the way. Engineer Susie, please prioritize ensuring signal analysis and path security."
He then looked at Wen Ling. His tone remained calm, but it lacked the absolute command he had before, and instead had a hint of... perhaps a tone of negotiation forced by the situation: "Your Highness, the path ahead is unknown, and the risks are unpredictable. Are you sure you want to continue deeper?"
Wen Ling met his gaze, her deep green eyes appearing exceptionally clear and resolute in the dim light:
"I said, this is my responsibility."
Miao Weizheng nodded almost imperceptibly and stopped trying to dissuade him.
Led by Han Zhong, the team left the main mine tunnel and entered a narrower, seemingly naturally formed crevice. The passage was dimly lit and humid, and occasionally, faint, ancient carvings could be seen on the rock walls, seemingly confirming Han Zhong's "ancient warning."
Wen Ling and Miao Weizhen walked side by side in the middle of the team.
After the recent incident and Han Zhong's appearance, the pure vigilance and tentativeness between the two seemed to subtly blend with a hint of solemnity, facing an unknown crisis together. They didn't speak, but their sense of each other's presence became unusually clear in this confined space.
Wen Ling could smell the cold aura of Miao Weizhen, mixed with the unique metallic smell of Rust Port. And out of the corner of his eye, Miao Weizhen could always catch a glimpse of the calm golden color beside him, and the steadiness of Wen Ling as he walked over the rough road, which was inconsistent with his "artistic temperament" appearance.
The team struggled forward through the narrow crevice, the air growing increasingly humid and hot. Only the occasional dripping of Susie's instrument and the heavy breathing of the others broke the silence. The faint marks on the rock wall seemed to be growing more and more dense.
Suddenly, Han Zhong, who was walking in front, raised his hand and signaled the team to stop. Three almost identical forks appeared in front of them, deep and winding, leading to nowhere.
"There's only one road marked on the map..." Han Zhong frowned, looking at the old electronic map in his hand with some hesitation, "Geological activity over the years may have changed the structure."
The fat person in charge immediately panicked: "Then, what should we do? We can't just go our separate ways, right?"
Susie adjusted the instrument on her wrist, and the data on the screen jumped wildly: "The energy readings of the three channels are very chaotic. The interference is too strong. I can't tell which one is safer."
Everyone's eyes subconsciously turned to Miao Weizhen, waiting for him to make a decision. Miao Weizhen stared at the three dark passages with a cold and focused look, as if calculating some probability, but it was obvious that the lack of key information made it difficult for him to make a decision.
At this moment, Wen Ling, who had been observing silently, spoke. His voice was particularly clear in the claustrophobic space: "Take the left path."
Everyone was stunned and looked at him. The fat person in charge directly questioned: "Your Highness, this...how did you judge this?"
Wen Ling did not answer directly, but walked to the rock wall and gently brushed the blurred ancient carvings with his slender fingers.
The deep green eyes sparkled with a strange brilliance in the dim light, as if they were conversing with these long-silent symbols.
"These aren't random scratches," Wen Ling explained, his tone calm but with undeniable certainty. "This is a very ancient system of directional markings, originating from miners in the early days of the Sailiang Kingdom. Look at the direction and nodes of the lines here."
He pointed to several subtle details in the carvings. "They're like a compass, pointing to directions where the energy is relatively stable. The markings on the left channel are the most clearly directional, and the degree of wear on the carvings also indicates that more people chose this path in the past."
He paused and added, "More importantly, the mycelium of the luminous moss on the rock walls near the two passages on the right is abnormally curled and charred. This is a stress response from long-term exposure to strong energy radiation. Meanwhile, the mycelium in the left passage is relatively normal."
This clear and coherent speech combined easily overlooked environmental details with ancient knowledge. It not only pointed out the way out, but also explained the reason.
Susie's mouth dropped open in surprise. She immediately aimed the instrument in the direction Wen Ling pointed and performed a deep scan. "Energy readings... indeed! The resonant frequency of the left channel is also unstable, but it's more periodic. It's more like background noise than the aggressive turbulence on the right. Your Highness, how do you know this?"
Even Han Zhong looked at him with surprise and approval. He murmured, "That's right... there's a saying among the old miners about reading 'stone language'. I didn't expect His Highness to actually..."
Miao Weizhen looked at Wen Ling deeply.
A hint of genuine surprise quickly flashed across those phoenix eyes that were always icy.
"As Your Highness said." Miao Weizhen gave the order directly without any extra words. The usual indifference from top to bottom in his tone seemed to fade a little.
The team turned to the left passage. Sure enough, although the road was still difficult to travel, the energy turbulence had significantly weakened, and no more contaminated miners were encountered.
During one climb, while climbing a slippery rock face, Wen Ling reached out and supported Susie, who was stumbling slightly due to carrying heavy equipment. His movements were natural and considerate, without the slightest air of superiority.
Susie glanced at him gratefully and whispered, "Thank you, Your Highness. You...are not quite what I imagined."
Wen Ling just smiled slightly, her green eyes gentle.
Miao Weizhen watched all this silently.
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