I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Moreover, based on previous calculations, the creatures here shouldn't be considered particularly powerful.

Before going down the mine, the old man gathered everyone together and explained the rules for going down the mine.

"There are three rules in total, and you must remember them well." He held up one finger. "First, the torch must never go out. If the torch goes out, it means that some kind of gas is rising from below. If that thing takes a couple of breaths, a person might be dead."

"Secondly, follow the tracks and don't wander off. There are many hidden passages below, and if you fall in, you might get lost. If you get lost, you might not be able to get out. If there are any mountain crevices or similar places, you won't be able to get out if you fall in."

"Finally," the old man lowered his voice, "if you hear any noise, don't shout. There's something down there, and if you shout, you might become its target. So here, if you hear anything, first use hand gestures, or wave a torch, either way is fine."

The old man spoke slowly, pausing between each sentence.

"Don't think I'm being long-winded. These three rules are the regulations we must follow when we go down into the mine, and they can prevent a lot of trouble."

Lu Yuan nodded: "Understood."

The Blue Knight nodded slightly in response.

The group crawled into the bottomless well.

This deep well slopes downwards, with hundreds of steps leading up to it.

After walking through it, the road suddenly became very smooth. In some places, two carts could drive side by side, while in others, only one person could squeeze through sideways.

The narrow section of track is broken. The wheelbarrow has to stop when it reaches the break, and people have to carry the coal, basket by basket, across the narrow section before connecting it to the other end of the track to transport it out.

In the old man's words, they dared not widen these narrow sections, for fear of causing a landslide.

This new mine has a relatively short history. It was discovered accidentally during the initial exploration.

Most of the passages below are naturally formed.

In addition, the initial exploration concluded that the capacity should not be expanded arbitrarily to prevent landslides.

Above everyone's heads, rows of pine wood supports were erected.

There were faint traces of water seepage on the pillar, and the coal seam gleamed with a dark, shiny luster in the firelight.

Clearly, this tunnel has been dug very deep.

A miner's lamp is embedded in the coal face at intervals.

The section near the wellhead was still lit, and the glass cover was very clean, indicating that someone had done maintenance not long ago.

As you walk further in, all the lamps go out.

Lu Yuan, the Blue Knight, and the old man each carried a small mining lamp.

These miners' lamps, provided by the Night Watch division, emitted a ghostly blue glow in the darkness.

According to the old man, this thing has a certain degree of resistance to things in the dark, and it is a kind of cold light that is not usually taken out.

Today, we've really gone to great lengths to deal with this weird situation.

This thing looks a bit like a sandworm oil lamp, but the actual effect is quite different. The glow it emits actually has a certain coldness to it, which is kind of magical.

The Blue Knight didn't say a word; her gaze swept back and forth in the darkness as she walked in the middle of the group.

This alley, which continues to stretch into darkness, still retains the appearance it had on the day the well was sealed.

A half-loaded coal cart was stopped in the middle of the tracks, clearly because the personnel had to be temporarily evacuated before it could be moved.

Two sharp pickaxes lay on the ground, and a shriveled water bladder rolled against the wall not far away.

The old man looked at Yang Jing in front of him and lowered his voice with a hint of helplessness.

"That thing appeared so suddenly, we had no way to deal with it."

He continued forward, headlamp in hand, but his pace grew slower and slower.

"That short section at the beginning," the old man lowered his voice, "is where that thing first appears."

The first thing you see is the holes in the cave wall.

It was about the thickness of a person, with very smooth edges, and it was inserted diagonally deep into the coal seam, with no bottom visible.

"Some of us saw this first, which aroused our suspicion that something had secretly dug it up. Later, the livestock started dying, and there were some strange noises, which made us realize that something eerie or something else was underground. By then, we had already lost one person."

Lu Yuan, carrying a lantern, took a closer look. The edge of the black shell at the entrance of the cave had a very clean abrasion mark, as if something had repeatedly gone in and out, polishing the entire surface until it shone.

Further on, there were more and more caves, large and small, scattered all over the walls of this passage.

The old man's complexion grew increasingly grim.

"Something's not right," he murmured. "The last time I came down, there weren't this many caves, only a few in the deepest part. How could this be after only a few days?"

Lu Yuan glanced at him.

The old man didn't continue, but his meaning was clear.

The range of activity of this thing is gradually increasing.

If this continues, forget about mining; this mine will eventually fall into disrepair, and people won't be able to come down, let alone mine coal.

At that point, the whole town will really be starving.

"Captain Lu," the old man said nervously, "you absolutely must catch it."

Lu Yuan hummed in agreement and turned to look at the Blue Knight.

Have you ever seen something like this?

The Blue Knight shook his head slightly, his expression somewhat strange.

"I don't study the supernatural, and my knowledge of the supernatural is limited," she said. "Especially things buried underground in mines. A normal person might never see one in their entire life."

Lu Yuan asked the old man again. The old man shook his head and said that they had reported it to the authorities and investigated, but they hadn't found anything.

Alright then. We'll just have to wait for it to show itself.

As Lu Yuan thought about it, he subconsciously pressed his hand against his waist, then released it after a moment's thought.

Guns cannot be used underground.

The old man had sharp eyes. Although he saw that Lu Yuan was giving up on using the gun, he still added another sentence.

"There might be some gas here. A single spark could ignite the entire mine, and we'd all be burned to death. That's why we always bring alchemy crossbows when we come down here."

As the old man spoke, he took out a long-arm-sized crossbow from the bag on his back.

That thing was the same alchemical crossbow used by the sentries in Grim Harbor. However, it looked rather worn and obviously lacked maintenance.

"Have you ever used this thing to shoot into that thing before?"

The old man nodded, then shook his head.

"I'm not sure. We did launch it once before, but it's uncertain whether it hit or not. I feel that even if it had hit, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. That thing is just too long."

Lu Yuan nodded, making a quick assessment in his mind.

If that's the case, the only way for my revolver to damage it is probably with the bullet in the middle.

Oh well, none of that matters.

With the Blue Knight nearby, if she can handle it, then it's done; if she can't, then she can just run away.

He didn't respond to the old man's explanation, but simply nodded silently.