Chapter 69: The Cave Mines (4)

Near the entrance to the mountain cave.

Glancing back, Jack slowed to a stop and bent over, panting, “Aight… hah… I think we’ve lost them...”

Stopping nearby with hands on her hips, Xiao Shuling stomped her foot angrily. “Fuuu! Stupid spiders! Chasing this miss for a full hour straight! Almost tired this miss to death!”

Jack glanced at the little goblin that was barely breaking a sweat. “Bah...haha… little missy… you don’t look tired at all?”

Xiao Shuling blinked like an innocent bunny and proudly admitted: “Eih! This miss is also on the track and fields team! Little Ling’er even completed the marathon race! Ehe~”

“Yeah? Well… I’ll be damned.” Jack really felt like an old senior watching the new generation surpass the old. “Bahaha… Since when did ya… hah... young ones get so talented?”

“Ehehe~”

After taking some time to regain their bearing, any happy mood over escaping death gradually fell back to the bottom once they looked back.

Xiao Shuling can’t help but stare at the tired Jack with puppy dog eyes. “Eih… Uncle… should we go back to look for…”

Jack wasn’t the type to abandon a comrade, yet he didn’t immediately answer, instead seriously thought over it. Eventually, he asked, “Little missy, how much arrows ya got left?”

Xiao Shuling glanced at her inventory hotbar and pouted. “Eih. Only two.”

Jack’s face sunk. He checked his own equipment. “My ax durability has almost worn out. Even if we go back, my magic barrier won’t get us far…”

Both young and old hearts sunk to the bottom.

Unable to answer to those hopeful eyes, Jack clenched his fist and looked down at his toes.

The little goblin read the mood and didn’t put any further pressure on the man. Instead, she patted her own cheeks to snap herself out of it and even tried to cheer Jack up.

“Eih! Big brother promised he’ll meet us outside! Ling’er believes big brother won’t lie to this miss… even if big brother is... a big bad liar…”

Sniff. Sand got into Xiao Shuling’s eyes and something uncontrollably spilled out.

“Big brother… he’ll be back safe and sound, right… uncle?”

Jack didn’t have to look to know what’s going on and had to turn around to comfort the little lady with a simple headpat. “Yeah. You’re right, little missy. We just gotta believe in him…”

That’s what he said, but... even he didn’t believe it.

Still, a grown man like him has seen too much and he quickly picked himself up like a captain should.

“Aight. The sun should be setting soon. We’ll come back tomorrow and… see what we can do.”

Sniff. “Hum. Then we’ll try tomorrow, uncle.”

Xiao Shuling turned away and scrubbed her face clean.

Very soon, she was back to being her cheerful, happy-go-lucky self.

“Eih! Uncle, this miss wasn’t crying! Just... sand got into this miss’s eyes! You can’t tell anyone, okay, uncle?”

“Aight. Aight. No one will ever know.”

“Pinky-promise?”

“Yeah, yeah, promise. Let’s go, little missy. We’ll come back earlier tomorrow.”

The party of two headed for the exit. Jack looked back one last time. “Steve… may Notch bless you.”

Skipping back to the hacker’s side…

Yu Zhiye didn’t know if anybody else blessed him or not, but Notch certainly didn’t!

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be standing there stiffly and staring into the spider’s nest through the webbed-up hole he dug!

Sweet stars above, how lucky must he be to dig into the heart of it all with just a little digging?!

Like, are you kidding me?! Why must the spider’s nest be directly in the path where the compass points?!

Even worse news?

It was hard to see how vast the spider cavern was through all the cobwebs, but…

Yu Zhiye definitely saw the humans webbed to the rocky pillars inside!

What’s even more horrifying was their bellies that were bulging like they were all pregnant…

Mind you, none of those trapped inside were female… which makes this even more terrifying!!!

As if the horror effect wasn’t enough, one of those cocooned fellas perhaps saw the light spilling in and started desperately struggling.

“Mmmph?! MMPH!!! MMMFF!!”

The ruckus caused the silent nest to stir and Yu Zhiye already heard the creepy crawly skittering over!

“Oops. Sorry to disturb yall. Have a nice day.”

Yu Zhiye quickly filled the hole back in with rocks and even packed an extra layer outside! Then, he didn’t hesitate to run back the other way!

Fack that.

If it was his party trapped in there, he might think twice about being a hero, but those were complete strangers…

Were there other survivors nearby?

Dunno. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were.

But right now, he didn’t care. Yu Zhiye only knew: he hunt for another entry point and get outta here!

Though it wasn’t quite safe out here in the open, Yu Zhiye still gritted his teeth and started digging his way up in another direction while watching out for any spiders that might drop down from the cliff above.

It wasn’t until he opened up a tunnel—big enough for his portal door—in the rocks and filled in the exit behind with rubble that he relaxed a bit.

“Damn. Never thought I’ll really dig holes for myself by coming on this trip!”

Of course, Yu Zhiye had no plans on staying in this claustrophobic space. Dig! Dig up and follow the route back out!

Chink! Thuk! Chunk!

The hacker started hacking away to infinity and beyond!

Er… well… until there’s a stair leading back up to the ground level where he fell from.

After checking and making noises to ensure the coast was clear, Yu Zhiye climbed out of his little hole, returning to the cave with broken stalagmites littered all over.

“What a mess. But at least the cave didn’t completely collapse.”

This meant less digging and his pickaxe will last longer. Hopefully long enough to get him out.

With torch in one hand, ax in another, Yu Zhiye cautiously hugged the cave wall and retraced his route here step by step down the rocky terraces.

He thought this journey out would be smooth, but when he reached where the fork in the road was supposed to be…

All he saw was huge boulder-like chunks of the collapsed cave ceiling sealing off his road. There’s no way to tell how much of this route got buried.

Good news? Most of the human-faced spiders were crushed here or trapped who knows where on the other side. At least, he saw none alive nearby.

Bad news? This was a dead end.

“Now… how the hell am I supposed to get out?”