Mythology Rebooted
Chapter 270 - 143: Life is Like a Journey_2

Chapter 270: Chapter 143: Life is Like a Journey_2

Silent Ridge was the mining area next to Eclipse Town, which had prospered due to its copper mines, with a large number of miners settling here. At its peak, the total population exceeded thirty thousand.

Not anymore. The miners have mostly left, and aside from the local residents, few people visit.

Perhaps it was psychological, but Silent Ridge was almost exactly as Wayne had imagined it in his fantasies, with deep forests where not even birds would bother to relieve themselves, dim starlight in the night sky, and everything around cloaked in a thick layer of darkness.

The two made their way down the road and discovered a sedan at a fork near the village.

The sedan was scratched in multiple places, its window glass broken, its interior a mess, and even all four tires had been punctured.

Wayne reached into the car and grabbed a handful of air, took a sniff, and recognized the familiar scent of perfume—it was definitely Mona’s.

However, this was the smell inside the car. As a Silver Mage, Mona had perfectly concealed her own scent. Once Wayne left the vicinity of the sedan, he was unable to track her exact location.

"And here we are at the choose-one-of-three juncture..."

Observing the fork in the road, with his detective instincts flaring up, Wayne said, "Splitting up now is definitely asking for trouble. Choose a path. Which do you think Mona would take?"

Wayne shrugged his nose, detecting nothing. A day had passed, and any scent in the air had long since faded. Relying on tracking the mayor’s scent to find Mona was impractical.

Moreover, if he really found Mona by tracking the mayor, chances were that she would be fully prepared.

"I don’t think it’s necessary to go after Mona. A Black Sorcerer, seven or eight guns, and a few police dogs couldn’t catch her. Rather than wasting time searching for her, it’s better to find the mayor."

Wayne glanced toward the distant village, "Catch the Black Sorcerer and the mayor, and once Mona gets the news, she’ll come out on her own."

Kerr’s passionately burning detective spirit was instantly snuffed out, and he muttered boringly to himself, "By rushing straight to the point, you’ll miss out on a lot of surprises. Life is like a journey, and the scenery along the way..."

"Cut the chatter. It’s not like you have a point just because you’re talkative. Find the mayor and the Black Sorcerer."

Wayne interrupted the gabbing, "By the way, what brought you to Silent Ridge? What are you investigating for a commission?"

"It’s a commission from the White Glove Association. At night, there are flashes of light near Elemental Mountain, and they asked me to write an investigation report." Kerr didn’t hide anything, as he had seen too many similar commissions, most of which were essentially paid vacations.

Flashes of light?!

Could there be a possibility that this was a sign of a precious natural treasure manifesting?

Wayne suddenly felt wide awake and quickly agreed, "After finding Mona, I’ll write the report, and you can go console the mayor’s wife. She must be heartbroken with her husband in jail."

"Would you be so kind?"

"Sure, split the commission fee with me."

...

The Silent Ridge mining area was divided into an inner and outer region. The outer area housed the local inhabitants, who had resettled there upon the discovery of the copper mine, while the inner area was inhabited by miners and other workers.

After the copper mines were abandoned, the inner area was virtually unoccupied, and numerous stores were closed, with no streetlights, shrouded in darkness.

As it was an area planned and built in an orderly manner, the roads were straight and perpendicular. During the daytime, one could see the entrance to the mining area just standing on the street corner.

Upon arriving in the inner area, Wayne quickly picked up a mix of chaotic human odors: tobacco, alcohol, and the body odor of those who hadn’t bathed in days.

In front of a communal dormitory by the mine, seven or eight sedans were parked, and two police officers with sideburns were engaged in a drinking contest; the area was cordoned off with police tape to prevent anyone unrelated from entering the mine.

A wave of flower-scented air drifted over, causing the two drinkers to become overwhelmed by the alcohol and soon fall to the ground in a deep sleep.

The faith magic of the Naturalism Church might not have the lethal force of the Sun Church, but its crowd control effects were top-notch, especially against ordinary people—it could subdue anyone in no time.

Wayne had obtained seeds from Veronica, cultivated a small vegetable garden in his backyard, and grown a variety of spores—the Sleeping Spores were his favorite, far more so than the hallucinatory or the Parasitic Spores.

He put people to sleep out of sight and mind.

On the other hand, Kerr checked the nearby dorms and shook his head, finding nothing.

Wayne deflated all the tires of the cars before grabbing one of the officers—flabby cheeks, a vicious face, and a tight-fitting imitation police uniform.

He roused the man awake with a slap to the face, fed him mushrooms, and slapped him again, "Speak, where did your boss Welsh go?"

"The mayor went into the mine this morning, and he hasn’t come out yet."

"What’s he doing in the mine?"

Wayne cast a doubtful glance at the entrance to the mine, where the light was dim, and several mining carts were parked.

"Not sure, the mayor took everyone over there, and we two were tasked with keeping watch, not allowing even a mouse to slip in."

"Hm, you’ve done your job well indeed, no mice slipped in."

Wayne let go of the man’s collar and repeated his interrogation with the other impostor, receiving roughly the same information.

He looked at Kerr, who nodded, "Since we’re here, let’s check it out and consider it part of the investigation."

"No rush, let’s change into some gear first."

The scene shifted, and Wayne had changed into work clothes, a safety helmet on his head, a flashlight in hand, a towel hanging around his neck, a handgun tucked behind his waist, and a piece of compressed biscuit stashed in his pocket.

"Don’t you think you’re a bit over the top?" Kell said weakly.

He found Wayne’s overall presence to be quite positive, with no complaints, except that when it came to caution, Wayne always managed to refresh his understanding.

Compressed biscuits, seriously? Even if there’s a collapse, you could grow your own mushrooms.

Wayne didn’t say a word. It’s not smooth sailing until the ship reaches the bridge. Caution is what keeps the ship afloat for years, and being cautious never hurt anybody.

The two entered the mining tunnel, which had tracks laid out, and the entrance was very spacious. Electrical wires were strung along the path, with a mining lamp every ten meters.

Wayne seemed to think of something, stopped, and said, "You don’t smoke, do you?"

"It’s bad for the back, I’ve already quit."

"That’s good, I was worried you’d light up to calm your nerves and drag me into it too."

"Who would be foolish enough to smoke in here? That would be just dumb. Plus, we’re mages, fire can’t hurt us..."

Kell was a bit weary, dug in his pocket, and tossed a box of matches out of the tunnel.

Boom!!!

The instant the matches hit the ground, a loud boom echoed inside the mine, and the mining lamps flickered on and off, casting their faces in an eerie light.

"Your guess was right, someone really was smoking in the mine." Kell’s eyes were wide open.

Wayne’s eyes were wide open too as he pointed inside the mine, and then outside.

"..."x2

Three seconds later, the two left the mine in a hurry, the recent explosion likely to cause a collapse; they were only after a Black Sorcerer, not playing with their lives!

Moments later, rapid footsteps came from deeper within the mine, and a curse rang out:

"Set up the guns and hold the entrance. The other exits are sealed. If that woman doesn’t want to starve inside, she’ll definitely break through here."

The footsteps grew closer, and Wayne leaned against the outer wall of the cave, counting silently in his heart, "Fall! Fall! Fall!"

After a series of muffled sounds, there was no more noise inside the mine.

|_•´)

"Kell, go check it out and see if anyone is pretending to be asleep."

"Why do I have to go in? What if it collapses..."

Kell grumbled, went five meters into the mine, and after a thorough check and confirming it was clear, he buried all the firearms on the spot and said disappointedly, "There’s no mayor and no Black Sorcerer Dunn, just ordinary people."

Turning back to Wayne: "What now, should we go in? According to them, Mona is about to starve."

Kell’s face was filled with refusal; he didn’t want to go into the mine.

Wayne felt the same: "There’s no need, Mona knows Holy Light Magic, she won’t starve in three to five days. A little hunger won’t kill her, think of it as a diet."

Kell raised both hands in agreement, and the two dragged about a dozen thugs out of the mine, piled them up in a corner like a stack of logs.

Continue the ambush!

Another five minutes passed, and two sets of footsteps approached the mine entrance, getting closer. Just as they were about to enter the spore ambush zone, the footsteps abruptly stopped.

"Leo, I told you to hold the entrance. Why is there no one here?"

There was no response; the underlings were sound asleep, and the air was somewhat awkward.

Wayne, being helpful, took the initiative to break the awkward silence, raising his five fingers and swirling the spores toward the inside of the mine.

At the same time, he drew his handgun from behind, and in the dim light, he fired several shots at two blurry figures.

Bang bang bang———

Dunn was on guard, swept up a gust of wind with a wave of his hand, blocking the approaching scent. The bullets that hit him bounced off as if they had hit steel.

"Natural Magic..."

Dunn’s expression turned sour, one Holy See’s mage plus a believer of the Naturalism Church made the situation much more troublesome.

When would the Bishop finally arrive? If he doesn’t come soon, they won’t be able to hold the fort!