"Is this a step towards modernization?" Shen Muyu raised an eyebrow.
When they reappeared in the same cave for the eighth time, the place where the torch had been had been replaced by a dim yellow miner's lamp.
The tunnel had widened considerably by then, and could probably fit a medium-sized truck easily.
"Little A, keep driving forward," Shen Muyu said after noting down the changes around him.
Actually, Shen Muyu had tried walking backwards several times before, but it was a dead end. However, it was clear that the traces disappeared suddenly, so there must have been a path originally, but it was blocked for some reason.
Through the membrane, the clothes of the people inside had changed to dark cotton jackets, and the overseers were now armed with firearms.
"Enemy attack!" shouted the nearby foreman, and without hesitation, he opened fire.
The guns they carried were the primitive flintlock guns, which required reloading gunpowder after each shot, resulting in a very slow rate of fire.
Moreover, perhaps due to weapon upgrades, there were very few supervisors in the cave at this time, and the intermittent shooting sounds were quite pitiful.
Shen Muyu's eyes lit up when she heard what the person said. Finally, there was something she could understand!
"Xiao A, ask them what the situation is here, what the historical context is." Having finally found someone she could communicate with, she needed to quickly figure out the purpose of this dungeon and how to clear it.
Xiao A relayed Shen Muyu's words, but unfortunately, those people still did not stop attacking.
Shen Muyu frowned and fired a few shots at the overseers, finally silencing them.
"Xiao A, ask again," Shen Muyu said when he saw them stop.
This time, the leaders did start speaking, but their words were immediately censored.
"Beep beep beep beep..."
"Beep beep beep..."
"Huh?" Hearing the electronic muffler filling the carriage, Shen Muyu was dumbfounded. This was completely denying her any chance to learn the news.
"Little A, can you hear what they're saying?"
"No, it seems to be blocked."
"Alright." Shen Muyu was exhausted, so he took out the remaining supervisors and prepared to start another round.
Surprisingly, the other cave didn't appear this time; instead, the laborers who had previously only known to hide on the mountainside rushed over.
Shen Muyu thought they were going to attack him, but to her surprise, they knelt down together.
"Thank you, God, for saving my villagers!"
"Thank you, God, for saving my villagers!"
...
After the first elderly man shouted something, a chorus of voices instantly followed.
Hearing their words, Shen Muyu's hope was rekindled, and she asked Xiao A to ask them a few questions as well.
But they seemed to only say this one sentence, without any other reaction, just mechanically repeating their actions.
Fortunately, their actions lasted less than a minute before the familiar cave reappeared.
"Little A, let's go." Since we can't communicate, there's no need to waste time here.
After the car passed through the membrane again, Shen Muyu was greeted by complete darkness.
Under the headlights, Shen Muyu saw the dusty miner's lamp.
"Has this place been abandoned?" Shen Muyu pondered, thinking about the name of this instance. If nothing unexpected happened, this instance should be coming to an end.
Following that very familiar path, Shen Muyu entered the cave once again.
Just like outside, the cave was filled with darkness, so Xiao A turned on the high beams.
The once "harmonious" scene is gone, replaced by a ground littered with rotting, dried-up corpses.
After driving the car around the cave, Shen Muyu noticed that the situation seemed different this time. Almost everyone had weapons scattered around them, including pistols and rifles, and the models and calibers were even different.
It didn't look like a disturbance, but rather like a battle between two villages or organizations.
This time, Shen Muyu didn't need to do anything; the cave with the opaque membrane simply stood quietly in place.
After investigating for a while and finding no further information, Shen Muyu let Xiao A pass through the cave.
Unlike before, this time it wasn't a smooth transition, but a blinding white light that felt reassuringly bright.
"Congratulations on successfully clearing the Abandoned Mine, a special dungeon within a special dungeon. Your exploration progress has increased by five, and the dungeon completion reward has been issued to you."
"Finally out." Shen Muyu yawned widely from the driver's seat.
She played one instance nine times, which took her more than four hours, completely skipping lunch and her afternoon nap.
"This instance should be arranged in chronological order, and the organizers mentioned before we entered that it was a special location? Does that mean the events inside actually happened in the past? Villages? Conflicts? Abandoned sites? There must have been many battles here before, but I wonder if any humans are still alive."
Shen Muyu took out a small notebook and summarized her experience in this dungeon.
To be honest, this dungeon felt strange. It wasn't as dangerous as before. Shen Muyu felt that it was more like a way to send her dungeon information.
However, she clearly forgot that not everyone can suppress firepower, after all, many people are still living in the era of cold weapons.
Upon glancing at the dungeon rewards that appeared in the passenger seat, Shen Muyu sat up straight with excitement.
Shen Muyu picked up the astronomical compass, an octagonal iron block with a rough texture on one side and a smooth surface with shimmering spots on the other.
The outer ring of the octagon represents the boundary of the endless grassland, while the small light spot inside represents Shen Muyu's location.
The most surprising thing is the yellow line following the light spot. That is the route Shen Muyu took after entering the Endless Grassland. In this way, there is no need to worry about taking the wrong route and affecting the exploration progress.
Shen Muyu is currently located in the lower right corner of the compass. According to Xiao A's estimation, she is not far from the boundary of the Endless Grassland, so she plans to go and take a look.
Following the compass directions, Xiao A headed towards the border, while Shen Muyu took out a chilled double-skin milk pudding from the refrigerator and happily ate it.
Since dogs shouldn't eat pure milk products, Shen Muyu prepared dog food and homemade dried fish for Da Bai, after all, she couldn't just let it watch.
After about an hour, the car finally arrived at the boundary.
Here, Shen Muyu saw the familiar opaque membrane, standing straight on the edge of the grassland, from which nothing could be seen.
Shen Muyu didn't dare drive over, because she noticed that the grass swaying in the wind disappeared after passing through the plastic film, as if it had been cut off.
"Little A, let's drive a bit further in and draw a circle along the previous route." With exploration progressing very slowly, Shen Muyu wondered if drawing a circle would be better, since a surface is always better than a line.