Chapter 318: Forward

Chapter 318: Chapter 318: Forward

"Not necessarily," Seraphina Sinclair suddenly said, her gaze landing on the pile of cardboard boxes. "If this box had something in it, the others should yield something useful as well."

Her words reminded the others.

Lyra Lowell and Alaric Hawthorn immediately got to work, tearing open the remaining cardboard boxes.

Dust filled the air, but their efforts were fruitful.

Inside the other boxes, aside from more observation logs, they found some tattered fragments of Protective Clothing, and...

"Mining lamps!" Fayestar, with her keen eyes, spotted them and pulled four old-fashioned mining lamps with handles from the bottom of the last box.

The lamp covers were made of glass and riddled with scratches, while the metal bodies were mottled with rust.

There were no bulbs inside. Instead, a complex structure of fine pipes suggested they burned some kind of liquid fuel.

"The instance prompt said we need to relight the mining lamps," Lyra Lowell said, picking one up to examine it closely. "It seems this is one of the key items."

He tried flipping the switch, but the lamp showed no sign of life. After another fruitless attempt, he simply scratched his head and looked at Seraphina Sinclair in confusion.

Alaric Hawthorn and Fayestar stopped fiddling with theirs as well. Seeing Lyra Lowell at a loss, they naturally turned to look at Seraphina Sinclair too.

Seraphina Sinclair was long used to being the center of attention. While Lyra Lowell had been investigating his lamp, she hadn’t been idle, having already picked up another one to study it intently.

It was cool and heavy in her hands, and its quality seemed excellent.

She turned the mining lamp upside down and noticed a small, screw-off fueling port on the bottom. Engraved beside it were several small words: "Use only Purified Fluorite Extraction Liquid."

"It needs a specific fuel."

She read the small words aloud.

"Purified Fluorite... Extraction Liquid?" Fayestar repeated the mouthful of a term. "Where are we supposed to find that?"

"We’ve made excellent progress," Lyra Lowell said gravely. "We’ve found the mining lamps and we know what fuel they need. The next step is to find that fuel and light them."

"Light the lamps?" Seraphina Sinclair repeated softly.

"And then what?" She looked up, her gaze sweeping over her three teammates. "After we light the mining lamps, what do we do? Is their only purpose to light the path ahead?"

The question made Lyra Lowell pause.

His train of thought had indeed stopped at ’find fuel, then light lamps’. Seraphina Sinclair’s question made him realize he hadn’t considered the steps beyond that.

"The instance prompt said: ’Relight the mining lamps and find the correct path,’" Lyra Lowell recited with a frown. "In that case, lighting the lamps is just a prerequisite. Finding the true path is the real objective."

Alaric Hawthorn caught on as well. "This path... I doubt it’s one we can see just by having a light."

Fayestar hugged Mimi and whispered, "The log said the Embers cause miners to have auditory and visual hallucinations... that they could hear the Stone talking. What if... in the dark, without the light of the mining lamps, we see or hear the wrong things? Or what if we’ve already been affected by the Embers, and if we don’t light the lamps..."

Her words trailed off.

But the implication was terrifying enough, and the atmosphere grew heavy.

"Regardless, we have to find the fuel first," Seraphina Sinclair stated decisively, and just like that, the team seemed to have a clear objective again.

After a moment of thought, Lyra Lowell said, "Should we try the other doors again? Or... maybe we should just walk further down the corridor and see what’s there. Since this is a mine, the hallway can’t be endless."

Seraphina Sinclair had been thinking the same thing. Now that someone else had voiced it, she was happy to go along.

"I agree," Alaric Hawthorn chimed in at once, seemingly eager to leave the oppressive room with its grotesque, desiccated corpse. "We’re not going to find any fuel by staying here. We should be proactive. If the doors won’t open, we’ll follow the corridor."

Lyra Lowell didn’t immediately voice his opinion, looking instead to Seraphina Sinclair.

’Unconsciously, this quiet but astonishingly capable teammate has become someone I need to watch closely and... to some extent, follow.’

After a brief moment of consideration, Seraphina Sinclair nodded.

She had no reason to object.

’Staying here might be safe for now, but we’ve gathered all the information we can. If we don’t move, we’ll never find the fuel or a way out.’

"Let’s go," she said succinctly, and was the first to step out of the room.

Seeing her move, the other three immediately followed.

The corridor was still dim. The flickering wall sconces sizzled, stretching and distorting the four of them into long and short, twisted shapes.

The mixed odor in the air seemed to have grown stronger, a cloying scent that clung to their nostrils.

They had made sure to bring the four empty mining lamps with them when they left the room. Now, they each carried one, the metal casings clinking softly and monotonously against each other with every step.

"Are all these doors really the same?" After they had walked a few dozen meters, Fayestar couldn’t resist trying another door. It didn’t budge. Feeling disheartened, she asked, "We aren’t just going to be walking in circles in this hallway, are we?"

Lyra Lowell swept his flashlight beam across the endless darkness ahead. "Patience. Since this is a puzzle, there must be a trigger. Perhaps we need to fulfill a certain condition before these doors will..."

His words came to an abrupt halt.

The beam of his flashlight froze on the ground not far ahead.

There, in the middle of the corridor, lay something.

They immediately quickened their pace to get a closer look.

In the column of light from the flashlight, the object was clearly revealed—it was a miner’s hat.

It was a standard yellow hard hat, but it was covered in scratches and bite marks.

It lay silently in the very center of the corridor, surrounded by a few scattered pebbles and some dried, withered scraps of moss.

"Someone... or rather, some *thing* has been here?" Alaric Hawthorn tightened his grip on his long spear, scanning his surroundings warily.

Lyra Lowell crouched down. Without touching the hat, he used his flashlight to carefully illuminate it, both inside and out.

"Look inside," he said in a low voice.

Seraphina Sinclair’s gaze fell upon it. On the hat’s inner lining, smeared in some kind of dark red, dried blood, was a crookedly written word. She had to stare at it for a long time before she could make it out.

"Forward," Seraphina Sinclair read the word aloud.

"What?" Alaric Hawthorn’s brow furrowed. He leaned in closer, squinting in the dim yellow flashlight beam to make it out. "What is this ghostly scrawl..."

"It does say ’Forward’," Lyra Lowell confirmed, now able to see it clearly. He lifted his head, sweeping his flashlight into the bottomless darkness ahead. "Is this... a hint or a trap?"

Cradling Mimi, Fayestar swallowed nervously. "Was... was it left by someone trying to help?"

Alaric Hawthorn scoffed. "In a place like this? Someone trying to help?"

"So you’re saying a monster must have left it, then?" Lyra Lowell retorted.

Seraphina Sinclair shot them a glance. ’They’ve only been together for a short time, but the three of them have already formed a bizarre pecking order.’

’Whenever Fayestar spoke, Alaric Hawthorn had to take a jab at her. And whenever Alaric took a jab at someone, Lyra Lowell had to fire back at him.’