Chapter 175: Locking Down the Target of the Investigation |
The ceiling shattered, and a massive claw lunged through the gap. For Levi, however, this strike was completely within expectations. After all, as someone who used Soul Vision as a literal x-ray cheat code, it would be downright embarrassing if he got ambushed by a creature hiding behind a wall.
The moment the assailant launched its attack, Levi reacted. Under his precise control, the Reaper Doll flashed backward. Simultaneously gripping its scythe, the automaton swung the blade downward with immense force toward the arm extending from the ceiling.
A flash of cold steel sliced through the air. The thick arm was severed as cleanly as a log. Accompanied by a roar of intense fury and agony, the bright spiritual spark of the soul rapidly retreated into the deep cavern above, vanishing from Levi's sight.
If this were an ordinary corridor, it would be one thing. But a mining complex was a labyrinthine network of intersecting tunnels stretching in every direction. In a way, navigating this terrain was far more troublesome than dealing with the monsters themselves. Levi withdrew his gaze and walked over to the Reaper Doll, staring down at the massive arm on the floor. It had been severed from the elbow, yet it was still roughly two-thirds of Levi's own size.
It was easy to imagine just how colossal the creature would be if it showed its entire body. However, it seemed to possess a modicum of intelligence, unlike the standard zombies. Regardless, he needed to contact Sister Elizabeth first.
With that thought, Levi walked back to the lift station and picked up the receiver.
There was only a wall of static. No matter how many times he dialed, the line remained dead. Levi looked up, tracing the wiring from the communication device. The line ran along the ceiling and extended down toward the opposite end of the corridor—or rather, it would have, if a giant hole hadn't suddenly appeared in the middle of the path.
That damned bastard had severed the communication line when it launched its ambush. Talk about terrible luck.
Levi let out a helpless sigh. Honestly, his luck could be quite atrocious at times. He wondered how Elizabeth would react to the sudden silence. Well, no use worrying about it; he had to keep doing his job.
At the end of the day, Levi was a detective, and a detective required clues to solve a case. Trying to search every single layer of a massive mining complex like this without a specific target was harder than scaling the heavens. Therefore, Levi targeted strategic locations—and the infirmary was the perfect choice. Miners were frequently injured, so an infirmary was a staple on every level.
However, the medical stations here primarily treated physical trauma. This made sense; when people lived underground day in and day out, they rarely contracted infectious diseases unless they ate spoiled food. This lack of experience was precisely why the plague had spread so rapidly. The local doctors were highly skilled at treating external wounds, but they were entirely helpless when faced with contagious diseases and epidemics.
Still, an infirmary...
Staring at the entrance, Levi furrowed his brows, making no effort to hide his disgust. The further down he went, the worse the conditions became. This was especially true after passing the eightieth layer, where the medical stations were virtually indistinguishable from morgues. Furthermore, because the subterranean temperature was higher than on the surface, many of the corpses had already begun to rot.
Although Elizabeth had mentioned that the entire Rune Mine was equipped with a ventilation system, the current reality suggested that even if the system ran at full capacity, it wouldn't be able to completely disperse the overwhelming stench. Regardless, the work had to be done.
To be safe, Levi used his Soul Vision to scan the interior first. Once he confirmed that no zombies were playing dead inside, he stepped across the threshold. He made his way to the doctor's office in the back and quickly unearthed the medical logs. He had reviewed similar medical notes in the upper layers.
Most of them detailed the characteristics of the disease, the speed of infection, and the probability of recovery. Frankly speaking, in Levi's opinion, even if it weren't a supernatural plague, patients would still end up dead under the care of these doctors.
For instance, one doctor had attempted bloodletting. The patient was already gravely ill, so draining their blood naturally sent them straight to the grave. Another doctor had prescribed mercury to the patients—literally trying to fight fire with fire. Because a patient complained of a severe headache, a doctor had actually drilled a hole into the person's skull to vent out the pressure. Then there was the genius who applied carbolic acid directly onto a patient's festering, open wounds.
To be perfectly honest, after reading through these records, Levi felt that even a perfectly healthy individual would be tortured to death by these medical practices. He was incredibly grateful that his own healing skill relied on consuming his lifespan. If he ever fell ill in this era, it would truly be a fate worse than death. When a doctor solemnly poured liquid mercury into your mouth, did you drink it or not? If you refused, they would just assume you lacked faith in modern science.
As far as Levi was concerned, he would much rather trust a witch doctor's herbal remedies over the "medicine" of this era. Ironically, the majority of the working-class people in the Empire could not afford expensive medical fees anyway, so they usually resorted to buying herbs from shamanistic shops to brew themselves. As for those who spent good money to enjoy cutting-edge modern medical services, they were likely the ones being tortured to death.
"Hmm?"
Levi muttered complaints under his breath as he flipped through the pages, but he soon noticed that this specific log differed significantly from the ones written by the previous doctors.
[Month X, Day X]
[The contagious disease is spreading rapidly. We lack sufficient medication, and standard treatments only worsen their condition. We desperately need more supplies, but the Overseer—the effective commander of this layer—claims that the situation across the entire Rune Mine is incredibly dire, and there are no extra medicines to spare.]
[Month X, Day X]
[I believe there is something highly suspicious about this outbreak. Initially, I assumed the plague was brought in from the outside world. However, through private correspondence with colleagues on other levels, we made a startling discovery: the infection is far more severe in the lower layers, while the upper levels report significantly fewer cases. This is bizarre. This is not a common ailment of the mining region. If it didn't come from the outside, where did it originate?]
[Month X, Day X]
[Panic is beginning to spread. I have heard rumors whispering that this is a conspiracy orchestrated by the Empire. They claim the authorities want us to rot in these tunnels, so they poisoned us on purpose. Of course, the instigators spreading these rumors were swiftly executed, but the terror remains unabated.]
The Empire poisoning its own people? Levi frowned slightly as he read the entry.
He couldn't entirely dismiss this possibility. At first, perhaps because he had watched too many movies, Levi had always assumed that the miners had unearthed something ancient deep underground, accidentally releasing a prehistoric virus.
However, this medical log offered a fresh perspective. The Empire itself would never poison the people of the Rune Mine, but that didn't mean the act of poisoning was impossible!
Levi arrived at this conclusion not through concrete evidence, but through pure deduction. Timing-wise, the disasters at Steel City and the Rune Mining Area had occurred almost back-to-back. If Levi and Ovelia hadn't acted with absolute decisiveness, and if they hadn't received the timely assistance of that little prodigy Kiya, the entire Steel City would likely be a wasteland by now. Steel City was the industrial heart of the Empire, and the Rune Mining Area was its primary source of coal essence.
If both regions collapsed simultaneously, the blow to the Empire's operations would be catastrophic, particularly regarding the manufacturing of mechanical equipment. Without sufficient fuel and without machinery from Steel City, many of the Empire's grand projects and plans would stall indefinitely.
From the perspective of the Luddites, this was an absolute dream scenario. Furthermore, for the neighboring nations surrounding the Empire, this was also a massive boon. One could argue that this chain of events harmed no one except the Empire itself. Everyone else stood to benefit.
Following the principle of "whoever benefits holds the highest suspicion," the theory of intentional poisoning became highly plausible. If that was the case, it would also explain why the infection began in the lowest depths. It was highly probable that someone had disguised the source as standard imperial supplies, transported it directly to the bottom layer, and then unleashed it to trigger this massive crisis. If the Empire was forced to completely destroy the Rune Mining Area as a result, it would play perfectly into the enemy's hands.
With this realization, Levi immediately left the infirmary with the medical log in hand and returned to the administration room where the Overseer operated. He pulled out the cargo transport ledgers and began investigating the logs entry by entry.
Sure enough, exactly as Levi suspected, he discovered a specific shipment recorded just a few days before the outbreak began. According to the ledger, a crate labeled "Mining Excavation and Logistics Supplies" had been transported via the Track 13 rail system. Its destination was the deepest point of the Rune Mine at the time: the 123rd layer.
The delivery occurred exactly two days before the plague broke out. Ever since that shipment, the entire mining area had not received a single scrap of reserve supplies from the upper levels.
He would start his investigation right there. Having locked down his objective, Levi didn't hesitate. He reached out and slipped the transport ledger into his coat. Right at that moment...
A flash of cold steel ripped through the air. The Reaper Doll, which had been standing silently behind Levi, suddenly spun around. The scythe in its hands carved a brilliant arc through the shadows, cleanly bisecting a creature that had been silently pouncing down from the ceiling.
The remains of the creature, which resembled a giant lizard sliced in half, crashed heavily to the floor. Levi turned around to find dozens of bizarre, humanoid organisms already gathering outside the doorway.
They moved on all fours, clinging to the walls like geckos. Their hands and feet had mutated into razor-sharp talons, and their skin had burst open from the sheer pressure of their swelling muscles, exposing raw tissue dripping with dark blood.
"Can't say I haven't seen something like this before," Levi remarked, tucking the documents securely away before facing the distorted aberrations. "As expected, the further down we go, the more these things evolve compared to ordinary zombies. Since that's the case, I shouldn't waste any more time."
While speaking, Levi drew the Persuader and the Punisher from his waist. "Time to pick up the pace!"
A massive explosion shattered the wall. A colossal, one-armed giant of a monster charged straight at Levi.
Deep within the cavernous depths of the mine, the reigning silence was shattered. Accompanied by the roaring pressure of a violent blast, the stone wall blew outward. Amidst the billowing smoke, Levi and his automaton shot forth one after the other, plunging straight down into the abyss. Behind them, dozens of evolved, mutated creatures howled and flailed their limbs as they leaped down in hot pursuit.
"Roar!"
Completely disregarding the lethal risk of the fall, the monsters shrieked at their retreating prey. Levi remained entirely unfazed. Raising both hands, he aimed squarely at the creatures pursuing him from above and pulled the triggers. A rapid succession of gunshots rang out.
The spinning bullets tore through the air, effortlessly piercing the heads of the monsters and blowing them to pieces one by one. Levi's figure then blurred, swapping places with the Puppet Bird. Reappearing directly above the headless corpses that had lost all ability to resist, he planted a foot firmly against a falling body to shift his momentum. Simultaneously, the Reaper Doll swung its massive scythe, shredding the remaining monsters in his immediate vicinity into minced meat.
Right at that moment, a long, whip-like tongue shot out like a lightning bolt, aiming straight for Levi's throat in an attempt to strangle him. Yet almost instantaneously, Levi vanished in a flash of shadow. The Reaper Doll materialized in front of the incoming tongue, its scythe hacking downward. A flurry of cold blade-light reduced the thick, python-like tongue to ribbons.
The massive, one-armed beast bellowed as it lost its balance from having its tongue severed. Colliding into the surrounding alien species, it extended its remaining arm to claw at the Reaper Doll. Compared to the muscular limb Levi had severed earlier, this arm appeared bizarrely thin, emaciated, and unnaturally contorted.
Before it could connect, a small mechanical bird flapped its wings and darted directly in front of the monster's eyes. The fluttering of its deep blue silk wings completely obstructed the beast's vision—and in the next instant, those wings dissolved into a black coat and a waiting gun barrel.
Levi gripped the Punisher tightly, aimed at the center of the monster's head, and squeezed the trigger.
The .50 caliber round tore through the air like a cannonball, blasting straight through the monster's basketball-sized skull and ruthlessly reducing it to a shower of fragments. With its brain destroyed, the heavy carcass lost all residual strength and tumbled limply into the dark abyss below. It fell all the way to the bottom.
A series of heavy thuds resonated as dozens of corpses rained down from above, smashing into the floor at the base of the mining shaft and turning into piles of broken flesh. Finally, Levi's figure flickered, and he touched down onto the ground as silently as a specter.
"Phew... safely down."
Levi reached up to adjust the brim of his hat, then cast his gaze toward his surroundings. The area was shrouded in absolute darkness. It wasn't merely a lack of light; Levi could distinctly feel a bizarre, malevolent energy radiating through the space. It was this very power that generated a thick, black fog that conventional illumination could not pierce.
"It looks like we've finally reached the very bottom."