Xiao Chen and his group, together with Ansaldo's guards, numbered more than sixty people in total, which was a very large team in this group.
The long and deep road was kept bright by the lighting crystals inlaid on the walls and the top. But even so, the light could not reach all places, and most of the road was still in the shadows.
Walking on the road, you can often see teams moving in the opposite direction from the direction of the capital. These teams are the same as the merchant caravans on land, most of them are guarded by several guards to protect the ox carts and horse carts carrying goods. Xiao Chen noticed that most of the dwarf guards remained vigilant, especially when they looked at their team, they were a little wary.
"What are these dwarves guarding against? Are there robbers in this tunnel?" Xiao Chen, Luo Ling, Farrell and Ansaldo were sitting in the same carriage. The dwarves' carriage was very low, and Xiao Chen's head was almost touching the top of the carriage when he was sitting there.
"Of course there are robbers. The dungeon is not peaceful." Ansaldo said.
"Where do the robbers come from?"
"There are many large and small tunnels on both sides of this main road, leading to other underground cities and towns. We dwarves are very good at digging such tunnels, so this tunnel network may expand at any time. From time to time, there will be an additional road leading to an unknown stronghold, or a collapse will occur, completely burying a road." Ansaldo pointed, "Look there."
Xiao Chen saw a path more than one meter high that branched off from the main road. There was almost no light on the road, and if you didn't look carefully, it would be easy to overlook it.
"This is a fairly large branch road. I remember it seemed to lead to a nearby village. We dwarves have the ability of night vision, so in such a dark road, we can see the surrounding situation clearly with the help of some faintly glowing objects. So many branch roads are such dark paths." Ansaldo explained.
"Look at that one, it's also a road." Ansaldo pointed in another direction.
Xiao Chen looked over there and saw a low tunnel not much bigger than a dog hole. If Ansaldo hadn't pointed it out, they might have thought it was just a small pothole on the side of the road.
"This kind of road is a privately dug road. We usually call it earthworm road because it looks like a road made by earthworms. If this kind of road is slightly covered, even dwarves will find it difficult to find it. Robbers like to dig this kind of road and then launch raids from it. Even if they are not robbers, some thieves will rush out from it and steal the goods of the caravan when the caravan is not paying attention. The guards of the caravan are on guard against this." Ansaldo said with regret, "The kingdom has become more and more chaotic in recent years. There are more and more bad things like this. I remember when I was a child, we didn't have to be so cautious when walking on these roads. The caravans with better luck would go back and forth many times without encountering robbers, so some caravans didn't bring many guards, but now it's not possible. Now the caravans without guards can't finish this road alive."
Xiao Chen could tell that Ansaldo was deeply dissatisfied with the situation, but he was powerless to do anything. A corrupt and fallen kingdom could not be saved by the will of one or two people.
"Is it possible for us to catch up with those strange guests from the Black Rock Family ahead through these paths?" Xiao Chen asked.
"That's impossible. The main road we are taking is basically the shortest way. Taking the smaller road will only be slower," said Ansaldo.
Farrell then said, "Unless we take that road after the first post."
"That road? You, you mean 'Death Trail'?" Ansaldo widened his eyes.
Xiao Chen asked with great interest: "What kind of road is Death Trail?"
"No, that's too dangerous." said Ansaldo.
Farrell said, "You should know that this main road is actually a winding road. The straight-line distance from the capital to the entrance is actually much shorter than the length of the main road. The Death Trail is a road that is very close to a straight line, and that road is very inclined. If you can't fly, it is almost impossible to walk on that road without a magic shield. You will either fall to death or be crushed to death by the collapsed rocks. Even for high-level warriors, it is very dangerous to walk on that road. But I think as long as you, Luo Ling and Mei Tiantian, the three great magicians, are here, it should be no problem."
"Three great magicians?" Ansaldo was shocked. He had never thought that Luo Ling and Mei Tiantian, a woman and a child, were also great magicians.
"Yes, and that dark elf is also a master-level warrior." Farrell said proudly, "Do you think it's feasible to take a shortcut now?"
Ansaldo looked at Xiao Chen, who nodded seriously. He said helplessly: "If you insist, we can give it a try. But they left so much earlier than us, and we may not be able to catch up with them by taking a shortcut.
And the number of people you are chasing should not be too large, but the level should be high, otherwise it will slow down the progress. I will not go with you, I will let my guard Rockman go with you. If your action is not smooth, he will also take you to the capital to join us. "
"Very good." Xiao Chen said with satisfaction.
———————
Rockman was a middle-aged high-level dwarf warrior. He was thin and nimble, which was rare among dwarves. He was very suitable for such cave exploration missions. After receiving the mission, he changed out of his steel armor and put on a black cloth, a short sword and a crossbow. He came to Xiao Chen, Luo Ling and Evelyn. They would form a four-man team to try to stop the Black Rock Family convoy ahead.
The Death Trail was not directly connected to the main road. Xiao Chen and the other two, led by Rockman, turned onto a fork road from an abandoned roadside inn, and walked for more than ten minutes before arriving at a smaller cave entrance. The cave was covered with mosses and looked like no one had been there for a long time.
"This is the entrance to Death Alley," said Rockman.
Xiao Chen released a small ball of light, which went down the path, illuminating the inside of the path. This was indeed a very steep path, and the inner wall was smooth, with few places to land. It looked like a barrel slide in a water park.
Rockman squatted at the entrance and pressed the rocks on the ground with his hands: "I have only walked this road twice. It is very dangerous. You must use your hands and feet and your fighting spirit to fix each step to climb down more safely. Every year, people fall to death in the tunnel. You will see a lot of dry bones in it soon. They are all the unlucky people who died in it. That's why there is the name of Death Trail here."
Xiao Chen asked: "It looks like this road is very straight?"
"It's basically straight, with a few turns in a few places," said Rockman.
Xiao Chen looked at the road: "Well, this way... I have an idea." (To be continued)