Chapter Five: Mysteries Within the Cave
Holding aloft the torch, Mo Fangyuan walked through the tunnel carved out by the miners during their work.
According to the miners’ descriptions and the tunnel map, the site of the accident lay not far ahead.
Tap, tap, tap...
All around was deathly silent. Apart from Mo Fangyuan’s footsteps, not another sound could be heard.
The silence was terrifying.
In this eerie environment, Mo Fangyuan couldn’t help but think of Him, one of the gods of creation.
Him was the most mysterious figure in the legends of “Minecraft.” Some said that from the moment of his birth, he was an omnipotent god, the master who created all things in the world; others claimed he was once a mortal, elevated to godhood by accident; still others said Him was merely a hoax. Anyway, the story persisted through every version.
Among the mortal stories, the most widely spread was that Him became white-eyed only after being killed by monsters while mining in an underground tunnel just like this one. The damaged disc number 11 was said to record the very moment of Him’s demise.
“But something’s wrong—why can’t I even hear the groans of zombies?”
Growing wary, Mo Fangyuan moved along the right wall.
Soon, he reached the tunnel that led to the pit. Peering ahead, he could vaguely make out the outline of the pit’s entrance, but not a single zombie was heard.
Logically, with Mo Fangyuan standing here, those zombies should have rushed out eagerly, only to be trapped in the tunnel and dispatched one by one.
Mo Fangyuan was conflicted. He had two choices: return the way he had come, or charge into the pit and clear out the monsters, removing the danger from the mine.
If he returned, his trip would have been for nothing—the mine still couldn’t reopen. Heading into the pit, though, might be dangerous...
Curiosity drives human progress. Thus, Mo Fangyuan decided to obey his curiosity and explore the strange pit.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
He shuffled slowly toward the entrance.
Would there be all sorts of monsters waiting for him inside? Or something unnaturally terrifying?
Mo Fangyuan’s mind ran wild.
He raised his torch and peered inside, but the imagined scene did not appear.
The cave was still shrouded in silence.
Stepping inside, he saw exposed veins of iron ore, copper, and coal on the stone walls—quite a substantial haul by the looks of it.
Yet Mo Fangyuan grew even more vigilant.
“This floor is definitely not naturally formed!”
The stone under his feet was unnaturally flat. Naturally formed caves never had such smooth ground.
With suspicion gnawing at him, Mo Fangyuan pressed onward, slowly.
The entire cave was cone-shaped—the deeper he went, the narrower the path became. The once spacious entrance was gone; now, only two people could walk side by side.
Stone bricks lined the walls, the ground was paved with pebbles and chiseled... The marks of human hands were obvious: this was a man-made structure.
Judging by the look of it, it had been abandoned for ages—a ruin!
In the game, ruins meant building materials and treasure chests. When playing survival mode, Mo Fangyuan always emptied every ruin he came across, even the desert temples with nothing but sand.
Mo Fangyuan treated them all equally.
He felt a strong urge to excavate the entire place, but reason told him that there were still zombies here—he’d best not start until the undead were dealt with.
He continued forward, moving slowly, already considering this place his private property.
After several minutes, he reached a dead end.
“Hm... This looks familiar... I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before?”
There was no door at the end, only an iron fence—except now, the middle of the fence had a large hole, as if it had been forcibly broken from within.
Through the iron bars, Mo Fangyuan could just make out a strange, eerie black light emanating from inside.
“This is so bizarre...”
He also noticed black spots on the stone wall at the end of the passage—the closer to the end, the more numerous they became.
The stone bricks anchoring the iron fence were nearly covered in black stains.
Mo Fangyuan hesitated.
This was definitely suspicious. Who knew what treasures—or traps—lay within, waiting for him to walk into their jaws?
“Roar! Roar!! Roar!”
Mo Fangyuan’s courage faltered, and he wanted to leave. But the things lurking in the darkness seemed to sense his intentions, as if to say: Since you’ve come, why not stay and play?
From within the iron fence and behind the tunnel, pairs of crimson eyes opened, all advancing toward Mo Fangyuan.
He realized he was surrounded, but it was already too late.
By the torchlight, Mo Fangyuan saw them clearly.
They were slightly larger than ordinary zombies, their green heads mottled with black stains, and most striking of all were their blood-red eyes.
These were the red-eyed zombies described by the miners, but Mo Fangyuan saw that they were no mere variants—these were true red-eyed zombies from the Age of Mystery!
If he guessed right, the structure behind them wasn’t some treasure-filled ruin, but a dungeon built to suppress a dark node!
“Damn!”
Faced with a dense horde of red-eyed zombies, Mo Fangyuan was stunned.
“Brothers, you’re in the wrong place—this should be the world of science, under the domain of the great Newton...”
He had no hope of defeating so many zombies.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
“Please, go back! If the great Newton arrives, you’ll all be done for...”
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
“...”
Mo Fangyuan was on the verge of tears. If only he had known, he’d never have started down this path!
These red-eyed zombies were far tougher than the regular ones—not only more resilient, but stronger as well.
If they clawed him a few times, who knew if Mo Fangyuan would survive?
Left with no choice, he raised his axe and braced himself. He knew that, as a transmigrant, he might really “die before ever accomplishing anything.”
“Even if I die in battle or by my own hand, I’ll never become one of you!”
He shouted at the red-eyed zombies.
They pressed in closer, and at his words, immediately accelerated, as if to say: You talk too much.
Seeing the red-eyed zombies about to close in on him, Mo Fangyuan steeled himself and charged.
Slash!
The iron axe struck the neck of the foremost red-eyed zombie, but Mo Fangyuan felt the weapon get stuck and couldn’t pull it free.
He’d never encountered such a situation, and flailed in confusion.
He drew the iron sword from his inventory and hacked furiously.
The first red-eyed zombie fell but didn’t die; the three behind stomped it to death as they advanced, and the zombies behind Mo Fangyuan caught up.
He plunged the iron sword into the lower body of a rear zombie, then seized his diamond axe and shouted,
“Watch my special move!”
He ducked down and crawled through the legs of several red-eyed zombies, briefly dodging their attacks.
“Such humiliation—I’ll repay it someday!”
Thinking he’d escaped the encirclement, Mo Fangyuan boasted loudly toward the dark dungeon and its zombies.
Bang!
But his triumph was short-lived—a heavy blow landed on his back, driving the iron armor deep into his flesh.
Rip!
The intense pain nearly made Mo Fangyuan faint, but the fear of death kept him conscious.
“How can this be!”
Now, seven or eight more red-eyed zombies appeared at the escape tunnel. Including the ones before him, there were over thirty in total!
“Heaven is determined to destroy me!”
Mo Fangyuan hadn’t expected to be so unlucky—to perish at the hands of minor monsters before even five chapters had passed.
“No, never! I haven’t even started my adventure...”
Realizing he might be the unluckiest transmigrant in the entire Starting Point multiverse, Mo Fangyuan felt a surge of strength course through him.
“You’re all finished...”
He raised the diamond axe and swung it at the nearest zombie—then was clawed again from behind, right in the same spot.
“I...”
Bang!
Another claw strike, in the exact same place.
His iron armor shattered completely, countless fragments driven into the mangled wound, contorting his mouth in agony.
His attempt to go berserk failed!
It was clear Mo Fangyuan couldn’t miraculously turn the tide in a moment of peril—he lacked the protagonist’s blessing.
“Why did I have to be so reckless, why did I act without thinking...”
As Mo Fangyuan teetered on the edge of despair, a miracle happened—not granted by the heavens, but created by the people.
“Kill! Protect the king!”
He was not alone; he was a king, and he had a loyal people!
The zombies that had ambushed him from behind were themselves ambushed by the block people who rushed to his aid, tearing open the encirclement.
The old village chief, from who knows where, snatched Mo Fangyuan and dragged him in a mad dash, showing no sign of his age.
Poor Mo Fangyuan was hauled across the ground, the shards of iron armor driven even deeper into his wounds...