"Hold on a moment."
"Let me see how the paths below are laid out."
Taro lifted his hand and tapped. Four oval mirrors floated into the air.
"This is a Remote Lens. It lets you observe in first-person perspective, scouting corners below."
"For now, let's map everything before moving."
"Seriously?"
Yingda accepted one of the Remote Lenses, stunned for a second.
A radius of a thousand li—that's over a million meters across.
And this little lens could observe every corner of it.
Was the Chasm's depth and breadth really measured in the millions of meters?
"..."
Senna blinked, thoughtful.
For Archons and adepti, a thousand li wasn't much.
In open sky or plains, with teleportation, someone like Xiao could cover thousands of trips in an instant.
But in the tunnels of the Chasm, things weren't so simple.
And yet, this little mirror—
It could scout the entire Chasm as if you were sitting at home.
Even for immortals, that was shocking.
For mortals, impossible.
If Sister Guizhong, now overseeing Yujing Terrace, had such an artifact as a hub…
No, she shouldn't ask about trades.
Her role, like Yingda's, was to be Taro's secretary.
Better to focus on the task before them.
Moments later, Huo Liya's voice rang out first.
"Boss, I've finished mapping this layer."
"All the buildings, roads, chambers, and potential monster zones are marked."
Her execution was flawless.
Barely half an incense stick of time, and she'd scouted the entire layer.
She even made a sand-table model along the way.
Detailed, lifelike.
"Well done~"
Taro pressed a hand against the Remote Lens. His other hand turned, summoning a stone board.
A portable battle-simulation sand table.
Before legion battles, this kind of tool was often used to plan tactics.
No offensive power, but functionally a holographic projector—convenient and reliable.
He imported the gathered data, and a projection appeared.
The second layer of the Chasm filled their sight.
"Sir, the second layer is mapped," Yingda's voice followed.
"Sir!"
Senna spoke next, her tone grave.
"The third layer is scouted, but it's complicated. Many fog zones that the Remote Lens can't pierce."
"And the Lens view continued downward. Already reached the fourth layer, also fogged in parts."
"It's now probing the fifth. Also—"
Crack.
While she reported, the Remote Lens let out a sharp snap.
Its image dissolved into mosaics.
"Sir, this…" Senna froze.
"Mm. Broken."
Taro shook his head without concern.
"The Remote Lens' internal scouting magic only goes to the ninth rank."
"If it's blocked—"
"That means beyond what we just saw lies a tenth-rank existence. At least Archon-class interference."
The words froze not only Yingda and Senna, but even Huo Liya.
A magic god's power… below the Chasm?
"Sir, are there living Archons down there?" Yingda asked, expression dark.
"Unlikely~" Senna shook her head.
"If there really were an Archon here, the Geo Archon would never ignore it."
"Most likely, remnants of a magic god or higher being's power."
"Or perhaps… the Abyss."
"Not alive, then that's fine."
Huo Liya exhaled, then added:
"By the way, the last location scouted was already the fifth layer."
"Layers…" Senna quickly calculated.
"If we are on the first layer now, then what we saw was the fifth."
"Fifth layer?" Yingda froze.
"Each layer is over ten thousand meters? That means at least forty thousand meters more below? How is this mine so bottomless?"
"Not exactly." Senna shook her head.
"The first two layers total about eighteen thousand meters.
The third and fourth together exceed thirty thousand.
Between the fourth and fifth is another twenty thousand.
Whether a sixth exists… unknown."
"Tch…"
The numbers only made it more terrifying.
Far more than fifty thousand meters.
"Ohhh."
Huo Liya smacked her lips.
"Deep enough. How many years have Liyue miners dug here?"
"Very long," Senna replied softly.
"According to archives of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, recorded mining began 2,500 years ago.
One hundred years after the Archon War.
And continues today.
Unrecorded work likely stretches further."
"…Two thousand years." Yingda blinked.
"At that scale, maybe not such a surprise."
"Not so simple~" Senna shook her head again.
"Records show deepest exploration halted between the second and third layers.
From then, mining shifted sideways.
Deeper than that, no teams nor surveys went further."
"Also, while observing the third layer, I found many ruins of ancient structures.
And between the fourth and fifth, many large, patterned tunnels.
Most likely carved by massive machines."
"…Complicated," Yingda muttered, scratching her head.
"Ruins that old suggest civilization here before Liyue.
But another question—Senna, how did you manage that?
Huo Liya and I barely finished one layer each, and you scouted two and a half?"
Same tool, same strength.
Yet she outpaced them both.
Didn't that make the two of them look useless?
"How?"
Senna tilted her head innocently.
"Just normal operation.
The way sir taught."
"…"
Taro stayed silent, awkwardly pulling back his Remote Lens.
He'd never taught that.
He couldn't even finish half a layer himself.
(End of Chapter)
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