Chapter 019: Indeed Large and Deep Enough

Lena simply asked Old Mark, who was passing by, where her room was. Old Mark wasn’t surprised by Lena’s sudden change in attitude. Lena bit her lip, angry at herself for understanding so late and allowing others to make fun of her needlessly!
Old Mark was very amiable, especially after becoming Du Fan’s butler—he resembled a kind elder. He could see Lena’s distress; any noble lady in such a situation would react similarly. The fact that Lena understood quickly proved she wasn’t stupid.
“This place is still under construction. Miss Lilith is the younger sister of the former lord. Her family did much for the city of Doha, but they died because of the common people there. It’s only natural they care about Lilith, and the young master holds a noble status. With construction going on in Doha, even women are helping out, so there’s no time to build more buildings. We’re sorry to inconvenience you.”
Although Old Mark was just explaining, he could have stayed silent as well. Lena could still sense his concern. Remembering her own attitude toward him today, her face turned red. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Old Mark said kindly with a smile. “Don’t worry too much about it. I understand how you felt back then, but try not to anger the young master again.”
The day was finally over! Old Mark thought to himself. But he had no idea that Du Fan’s actions that day would change Lena’s life forever. A legendary businesswoman was about to make a qualitative leap at this very moment—whether that was good or bad for Du Fan remained to be seen.
Du Fan prepared hastily once more and, without Old Mark or Elsik knowing, took two Level 8 warriors down into the underground cave. It was only after Du Fan entered that they realized he had gone down. They had no idea what he would encounter down there. Old Mark had initially wanted to go down too, but Du Fan had predicted this and issued an order: no one was allowed to enter the cave without his permission, or else they would face consequences!
Old Mark understood that Du Fan didn’t want him to take risks, but as a Level 6 warrior, how could he possibly be a burden to Du Fan? Yet Elsik advised, “The Duke has taken two Level 8 warriors down. It’s better if you don’t go. What if something happens…”
Du Fan still had to take care of him! After all, it was because Old Mark was in danger that Du Fan had entered the battlefield!

As Old Mark sighed again about his aging, Du Fan had already passed through the initial tunnel and entered a broader area. Du Fan cast a fireball forward, but it flew far away—vanishing from sight without reaching the end!
It was indeed large and deep!
Du Fan used his illumination spell to light up the surroundings, but he could only see within about a hundred meters. It seemed building an illumination system would be necessary in the future; after all, they couldn’t rely on torches every day—that would be a waste. Hmm, it would be great to have electric lights, preferably TVs, computers, refrigerators… Du Fan mused luxuriously.
Although Du Fan had the illumination spell, he might not be able to maintain it in emergencies, so they still carried many torches, though they might not be necessary.
Du Fan led the way, carefully examining the ground. Since those three people had come down from here, there should be some traces. What exactly had they encountered?
After searching the area several times without finding what he was looking for, Du Fan felt puzzled but didn’t stay longer. Those people were probably already dead, he thought, and continued moving forward. To avoid getting lost, he had made a compass-like device before coming down, but it had stopped working here. With a wry smile, he discarded it. He marked the spot with a magic sigil—why use something more advanced when this primitive method would suffice for navigating through the black hole?
After marking the spot, Du Fan continued onward. For safety, he jumped back to the entrance of the passage and marked it as well. Only then did he feel relieved enough to return to the two Level 8 warriors, taking them with him as they took the first step into their adventure in the underground cave.
Not long after they left, a long, tentacle-like thing passed by. The tentacle, which had initially touched the magic sigil, hesitated but didn’t erase it.
Du Fan and the others continued forward but saw no signs of anyone else having been there. Had they flown away? Or had they not traveled over the ground but flown above? Du Fan guessed wildly, glancing upward. The height here was about 500 meters, and although it was an underground cave, there were no stalactites.
If it were a cave, there should be water and it would be damp, but within a hundred meters, he couldn’t see any signs of stone formations, and the area was quite dry.

Suddenly, the words “artificial cave” appeared in Du Fan’s mind—only this could explain the strange environment here. Du Fan had been walking forward when he suddenly turned around and went back. The owner of those tentacles was also startled by Du Fan’s action, thinking he had been discovered! But after Du Fan passed by, he continued moving forward along the edge. Du Fan walked all the way, feeling around for anything on the path. The walls were smooth, with signs of polishing, and the material seemed like stone, but it appeared to have been carved from a single piece, as he walked thirty meters without seeing any joints. Those following Du Fan were puzzled by why he kept touching the stone, but they didn’t know what he was looking for. Du Fan didn’t care what they were doing either; he just focused on observing his surroundings. After walking five hundred meters, Du Fan no longer needed to look—there was nothing else here except walls, and nothing on those walls. But it was clear this place wasn’t natural; it was man-made! Whatever it was, Du Fan intended to claim it for himself. Since it was unclaimed and located within his territory, it would belong to him. Having made up his mind, Du Fan decided that whatever caused those two people to disappear, he would capture that mysterious thing! The three of them stopped following the walls and headed toward the center. Du Fan used magic markers as coordinates, allowing him to sense direction and avoid getting lost. But when he saw a cluster of buildings that vaguely formed a city, his earlier magic markers disappeared. It seemed there were indeed others here! Although he didn’t know who they were, Du Fan continued forward. Even if there was danger, gaining access to this vast underground space would bring obvious benefits! As for those magic markers, even though the others had erased two of them, did they really think that would stop him? Du Fan snorted, paused briefly, and then continued toward the unknown city. Risk often meant great rewards! Mandy and Qis were unaware that Du Fan’s magic markers had been erased. They weren’t magicians, and not all magicians could sense others’ magic markers. Moreover, Du Fan’s markers weren’t easy to detect. The two that were erased were merely for alert purposes—proof that someone was following them.

Why couldn’t he stay calm? Or maybe he thought it was because of that magic mark that allowed him to sense direction, enabling him to find this dungeon. Or perhaps there were magic arrays surrounding the city, so he shouldn’t have been able to find it at all. But with the magic coordinates, he could determine the correct direction. So, in order to lose his way, he deliberately erased the magic mark after entering here.
In any case, Du Fan stopped walking in a straight line and let Mandy go ahead. Although Mandy didn’t know what Du Fan was planning and Du Fan didn’t explain, she didn’t think he was letting her go ahead out of fear of danger ahead.
But it turned out Du Fan’s guess was correct! After Du Fan went ahead, Mandy, as if not seeing the city at all, slowly began to deviate from its vicinity!
Du Fan called out to Mandy, pointing at the city ahead, “Don’t you see the city over there?”
Mandy and Qis both looked at Du Fan—they didn’t see any city!
“Can’t see it?” Du Fan walked over there. Before he even reached the edge of the city, the ground began to shake, as if something was about to break through. Du Fan frowned at the ground. “You’re not saying you can’t feel this shaking either, are you?”
Desperately, Mandy and Qis shook their heads simultaneously.
A bit dizzy from the shaking, Du Fan glanced at the city ahead, but he could only feel the ground shaking; he saw nothing nor sensed anything emerging.
Du Fan staggered, barely able to stand. Mandy and Qis supported him, asking worriedly, “Duke, are you alright?”
Du Fan shook his head. “I’m fine.”
Though he said he was fine, he felt like he might vomit. It was as if something was twisting his nerves, disturbing his mind.
That magic mark!
Du Fan’s face turned pale instantly. The other party could control it, or rather, enter his mind through their mental waves! At this thought, Du Fan’s face turned deathly white with fear.
It wasn’t surprising that Du Fan was scared. If someone’s mind was invaded, they might very well become an idiot—assuming it ended well. In the worst case, they could die mysteriously!
Du Fan didn’t want to die, but he didn’t know who the other party was or where they were. Moreover, they could detect his mental waves just through a small magic mark—how powerful must they be to do such a thing? A Saint rank? A domain? Or… a god?

You should know that even with his current peak level 9 strength, it would be impossible for him to sense the mental fluctuations of a level 1 magician, let alone cause that magician to die slowly without his knowledge! And his current strength is at least a hundred times greater than that of a level 1 magician!
Yet the other party managed to do it!