Wen Wen's lips curved upwards, a flicker of interest sparking in his eyes for this underground mine. "Tsk, a deathly omen... I'd like to see what can bring me death's misfortune."
The monster that had been translating for Wen Wen stood nearby, watching him eagerly, hoping for a word of praise.
But Wen Wen simply waved it away, sending it back to the containment facility. If he gave praise for just one translated sentence, what rewards would he offer when they were fighting for their lives?
Then, Wen Wen snapped his fingers, activating the ability of Poker General, turning his body as thin as paper. He slipped through a crack from which the sound was emanating, following it to find whatever was hidden here. As for Tao Qingqing, she couldn't help much here, so he had sent her to deal with other cases in the city. This hunt involved two powerful enemies of Disaster-rank, and she was of little use.
The mine was a maze of intricate pores, like a colossal labyrinth. Without the mysterious voice, Wen Wen would have had a difficult time finding the right path immediately.
He had come here to explore on his own. Tao Qingqing had been dispatched to handle other cases in the city. This hunt involved two powerful enemies of Disaster-rank, and she couldn't be of much help.
...
After a winding journey, Wen Wen stealthily advanced dozens of meters underground. This area was no longer part of the mine shafts but a naturally formed underground cavern. Ordinary people who accidentally stumbled in here might become lost forever in the darkness, eventually serving as food for some creatures lurking within.
Inside a ventilation shaft of the cavern, a humanoid creature, its body oozing with black slime, held a microphone and shouted with all its might. Its voice, amplified by a horn, became incredibly eerie and deep, resonating through the mine shafts above.
"A ra sa~ A shi ba lie~~"
Occasionally, when its throat grew tired, it would clear it, ensuring it could articulate each syllable clearly.
Wen Wen, as thin as a cicada's wing, quietly appeared behind the creature, looking at it with a mixture of bewilderment and amusement.
He had expected the source of the sound to be something cursed, or perhaps a powerful sealed monster. He never imagined it would be such a foolish creature shouting...
It felt like those science documentaries he watched as a child, using horror movie openings, filling the screen with flashy nonsense, only to deliver a comically anticlimactic ending.
For example, a man inexplicably spitting blood, drawing blood from his body, only for it to be bleeding gums;
Mysterious flying rods appearing in the sky, discussed for three episodes, which turned out to be moths;
A man abducted by aliens, waking up in another province, only to discover he had a mental disorder...
After dispelling the absurdity in his mind, Wen Wen began to observe the mysterious creature. Its physique was similar to a human's, but its body was covered in a thick, black, foul-smelling liquid. Those black footprints were likely left by this type of creature.
This creature's strength wasn't high, perhaps only Disaster-level. However, it seemed to be a gregarious species, as Wen Wen sensed many similar presences nearby, and fainter other auras further away.
After a moment's thought, Wen Wen drew a rune sword and tapped the creature on the shoulder. As for why he didn't use his hand, it was simply because he found the monster too dirty.
The black creature, still passionately shouting, turned its head and saw the paper-thin Wen Wen, a dagger held horizontally against its shoulder. Its eyes flashed with ferocious killing intent, and it promptly rolled its eyes and fainted. The whites of its eyes were perhaps the only white part of its body.
"I haven't even asked anything, and it's already fainted... Oh, I forgot to deactivate my poker form. But with such a timid disposition, it's probably not an evil creature."
Wen Wen summoned a stream of water, washed the microphone clean, and picked it up. He discovered it was a supernatural item whose sole ability was to imbue spoken words with a certain effect, be it eerie or holy, like the colorful cigarette holders—useless, just for fun.
"This thing is quite interesting. I'll play with it for now..."
If the monster turned out to be harmless, Wen Wen might even return the microphone. If it proved problematic, then the item would naturally become Wen Wen's spoils of war.
Following that, Wen Wen posted a brief description of the monster's appearance on the demon hunter community forum, offering a bounty of one hundred demon hunter coins. He hoped any demon hunters who recognized the creature would provide him with information.
Then, Wen Wen closed his Hunter Terminal and gazed deeper into the pit. Faint, incomprehensible shouts could be heard from there, and judging by the energy fluctuations, a battle was underway.
One side of the combatants looked very similar to the black creature lying on the ground, while the other side's aura was strange, resembling the black怪人 yet also appearing plant-like.
Dodging the black monsters on the path, Wen Wen easily reached the battleground. He saw over twenty male black monsters wielding weapons and fighting a group of strange beings.
They were shouting in peculiar languages, but Wen Wen couldn't understand them.
The core of these monsters consisted of shattered human bones, with some mushroom-like substances serving as their flesh. Root-like structures were entwined on their exteriors, forming a hardened shell to deflect the attacks of the black monsters.
The combination of mushrooms and plants led Wen Wen to believe these beings were undoubtedly connected to Doctor Feng.
"Could he really be here?"
"No... If he were here, these weak black monsters wouldn't be able to resist them at all. Doctor Feng must have merely made some arrangements here and is waiting for them to take root and sprout."
As Wen Wen observed, he saw a black monster get tackled by a plant monster and dragged into a dark mine shaft. The shaft seemed devoid of any light, yet Wen Wen's eyes could still see clearly. After all, this was not a completely lightless environment like the underground labyrinth.
Plant roots, one after another, burrowed into the black monster's body. Subsequently, the plants took root and sprouted within the black monster's body, and it was quickly transformed into a being similar to the other plant monsters.
"So the human bones were the bones of these black monsters... It seems this battle is an internal conflict between monsters; humans are not involved. Perhaps I shouldn't interfere."
Just as he was preparing to watch the fight from the sidelines, Wen Wen's Hunter Terminal vibrated. It was a reply to his earlier question.
Opening it, Wen Wen quickly scanned through the initial few replies, which were unhelpful and pure nonsense, focusing only on the last, lengthy response.
These monsters mostly appeared in the Golden Eagle Region and the Greater American Region, known as mine ghosts. They were monsters naturally formed from the souls of miners who died in mining accidents. They attached themselves to human bones buried underground, and the black liquid on their bodies was filth from the earth.
Before mining accidents occurred, miners would often catch sight of these monsters. There were two prevailing theories about them: one was that these monsters were the miners' guardians, warning them of impending danger through frightening behavior before a disaster struck; the other was that these monsters caused the mining accidents and took pleasure in it, as they always appeared at the scene of mining disasters.
Wen Wen closed his Hunter Terminal and murmured, "I know what to do."
The mine ghost that had fainted earlier was indeed scaring the miners with the microphone. However, precisely because of its warnings, no human casualties had occurred here until now!