Chapter 330: Three-way stalemate
"Now what? We've gathered all the ores, should we go talk to them? We just need to pass through anyway."
Neil said somewhat unwillingly.
"Then you go. If you come back alive, I'll admit defeat."
Old Arthur really wanted to charge over and beat all those people to death, but unlike in the previous dark mining area, those people were all carrying firearms.
"Don't rush. Wait until our big brother gets here, they'll all die here."
Lin Ye's voice was full of confidence.
"Huh? We have a big brother? Didn't the organization only send us down? Are there still surviving experts among those miners?"
Leo asked curiously.
"Isn't he coming right now?"
Lin Ye looked toward the mine shaft entrance, where the girl was passing through the outer mining area. She looked completely normal, with her head intact and no visible wounds on her body. "Huh? That monster? We're lucky enough she's not coming to kill us."
Old Arthur didn't want to have any contact with the girl at all.
"Those personnel are guarding the elevator platform area, which means that monster also wants to take the elevator to leave. So we just need to wait until the monster kills all the personnel, then we can follow behind the monster to leave this place."
As for who would win between the personnel and the monster, Lin Ye didn't care. Whichever side won would eventually leave here, and they just needed to wait for the winner to depart.
"Great, that means we don't need to deal with those damned things."
Old Arthur had absolutely no desire to fight those monsters to the death.
Lin Ye also didn't want to fight that monster, mainly because he couldn't find her weak spot, which was extremely dangerous.
"Is it okay to let her go up? Can the organization stop her?"
Neil was somewhat worried. He didn't want to face that monster again after returning to the surface.
"You're just a D-Class personnel and you're worrying about the organization?"
Leo felt Neil had lost his mind. If the organization's base was destroyed by that monster, he would have a chance to escape.
"Don't worry. Once we're up there, the organization should be able to easily deal with that monster."
If this were a spiritual energy environment, even with just moderate spiritual energy concentration, Lin Ye would have already dealt with that monster long ago.
After the girl passed by, intense gunfire soon erupted from the elevator platform area.
The gunfire continued for a long time, followed by screams and pleas for mercy, and finally, all sound ceased.
"Can we go now? Should we go take a look?"
After a while, Neil was the first to speak up.
"Sure, then you go take a look."
Leo shrank back. He didn't want to go scout the path.
"You said you want to go take a look? Then you go."
Old Arthur picked up his mining pickaxe and said to Leo.
"...Sigh, I knew it would come to this."
Leo picked up his mining pickaxe and cautiously peeked out of the mine shaft. After so much time had passed, he felt the monster should have left long ago.
"Holy shit!"
Leo immediately pulled his head back in as soon as he peeked out. He saw that monster standing right outside in the mining area where the elevator was located.
"That monster is standing right outside, I don't know what it's doing!"
Leo whispered in a hushed voice.
Lin Ye peeked outside and confirmed that the girl was indeed standing there with her back to them, though it was unclear what she was doing.
"What do we do now? If it doesn't leave, how do we get past? Are there any other routes here?"
Leo started to panic.
"Little brother, why don't you go take a closer look?"
Old Arthur patted Leo's shoulder.
"No way. Just kill me instead. Going over there would mean getting killed by that monster anyway, but I'm really afraid of pain. If you try to hurt me, I'll scream."
Leo didn't believe Old Arthur would dare to attack him here.
"You think I don't dare to kill you? Then die."
Old Arthur grabbed Leo's neck and slowly increased the pressure.
"Alright, no need to go look. We can dig through from here."
Lin Ye led them around the mine shaft and found a position with the shortest straight-line distance to the elevator.
"This spot is very close to there. We only need to dig about five or six meters to create a passage connecting to that area."
Lin Ye swung his mining pickaxe, quickly breaking through the mine wall.
Seeing this, the others hurriedly stepped forward to help.
"But that monster seems to be watching the elevator. Are we really going to dig through like this?"
Neil asked while digging.
"No choice. Who knows how long that monster will stand there? If we stay here much longer, we won't be able to return."
Lin Ye could feel his body being transformed by the mining area - this was the consequence of eating the ore.
Even if the others hadn't eaten the ore, staying in the mining area for too long would cause them to transform into miners.
Lin Ye had already mastered the skill of mining proficiently. With each swing of his pickaxe, he could extract one piece of ore along with surrounding broken stones. The others were responsible for moving the excavated ore and broken stones outside. Before long, they had dug a passage leading to the elevator.
"We're almost through. Let me make a small hole to take a look first."
Lin Ye dug a small hole and peered through it to observe the mining area where the elevator was located.
The mining area was filled with severed limbs and shattered firearm remnants, but not everyone was dead. One intact personnel member was standing outside the elevator.
He looked quite young, but his uniform clearly appeared more advanced than the others'.
The man was holding a semi-transparent ore and seemed to be in a standoff with the girl.
'Damn, so that's why it hasn't left here - you're the one causing trouble.'
Lin Ye wanted to throw his pickaxe to kill the man, but feared it would attract the girl's attention.
"I can hear your movements. You must be the miners who came here to dig ore, right? As long as you can find someone to replace me, I'll leave here with the remaining people."
The sole surviving personnel member suddenly spoke.
"Hurry up, I can't hold on much longer. If you don't come out, I'll destroy the elevator directly. Then no one will be able to leave here."
The personnel member continued.
"Don't rush, we're coming over now."
Lin Ye broke through the final layer of mine wall and entered the mining area.
"I'm about to lose control. Quickly find someone to replace me."
The personnel member gripped the semi-transparent ore, sweat pouring from his head like rain.
As if cooperating with him, the girl who had been staying in place took a step forward.
"We can't leave someone here to wait for death. No one will voluntarily exchange positions with you."
Lin Ye felt that if any of these D-Class personnel were left behind, they would immediately choose to take everyone down with them.
And the means for mutual destruction was right in the personnel member's hands.
"...Then what should we do? I can't just watch you all go up."
The personnel member also realized he couldn't force someone to stand here in his place, because that person could also choose mutual destruction.
"Can you let it go up first?"
Lin Ye felt there was no need to compete for position with the monster. They could simply wait until the monster went up before leaving here.
"I'd rather die here than let that monster take the core ore upstairs."
The personnel member said resolutely.