The Game of Global Mining

Chapter 547 - 404: Mina the Nightmare’s Ongoing Trial

Chun asked the key question, "Did you see anything during your training with Tifa?"

Mina said, "It seemed like I was in a room full of machines and blueprints, then I saw a starry sky. We flew through the stars, and then Miss Tifa woke up and sent me out."

Holy shit, a starry sky! Isn’t that the Void?

Chun hurriedly asked, "Was it a void airship?"

Mina paused for a moment, "I’m not sure. Mainly because the magic power in Tifa’s dream realm is too dense, moving in there is like swimming, and my vision and hearing are blurred. Miss Tifa said, the longer I stay, the more I can absorb her magic power to improve myself. When I’m strong enough, I should be able to see it clearly."

So that’s how it is! It’s basically confirmed, that spider robot is Tifa!

Mina continued, "By the way, Miss Tifa has a top-secret plan she wanted me to tell you about. She has sent someone to impersonate the Pirate King to attack that bald biker gang, not only to help us, but she dislikes that gang as well—however, someone needs to take the blame."

Holy shit, she’s really doing something intense!

Chun hurriedly asked, "Is it arranged for me to take the blame? It’s okay, the whole world already knows I collude with pirates!"

Mina sighed, "Master is really..."

Chun laughed, "The bigger the fame, the better for me."

While speaking, Chun noticed a faint fluctuation on the wall ahead.

Mina said, "It’s the black cat. It brought me here and is waiting for me. Originally, Miss Tifa planned for it to sneak into the factory’s ventilation ducts to bring you food."

Chun was shocked, "It’s clearly invisible!"

Mina said, "Yeah, I only just found out it can turn invisible during the day. We met it at night yesterday, so there was no need for it to be invisible."

Sure enough, it really is the pet of a mysterious mage! Come to think of it, isn’t this just like a treasure-hunting magical pet?

Then possessed the black cat.

Chun greeted, "Tom, good morning!"

"Meow!"

"Go to the slums, see if there are any sick and sleeping people."

"Meow!"

The black cat moved like a gentle breeze, leaping and weaving among the walls and greenery, further concealing itself in the rumbling smog of motorbikes

Finally, it arrived at the slums. It was the same abandoned factory cluster we visited yesterday.

The black cat entered an abandoned factory, where dozens of tents were set up among piles of recycled waste. On some abandoned workbenches, rudimentary hearths and washing pits had been built, a large group of people hammering away.

The black cat silently slipped into the cluster of tents and quickly heard moans of pain coming from within one tent.

Entering, it found an old man unconscious on a mat.

Mina said confidently, "This is the easiest part."

Chun felt a bit uneasy, "He’s obviously sick, right? Can we give him a loaf of bread in his dream?"

Mina said, "In life, I was a physician in Oak City, even without medicine, I can have a look. Actually, many illnesses are caused by mental stress affecting the endocrine system. Just a little encouragement can make a big difference."

Chun wholeheartedly agreed, "You’re right."

Mina continued, "My enhanced mist, even if entering someone’s dream realm, would be hard to detect, no more dodging around like before."

Then she waved her hand in front of the old man’s head, and a fluctuating spatial gate appeared. Chun and she entered.

Then Chun felt the machine jam for a moment, the scene taking its time to load.

Chun’s heart skipped a beat; it was that familiar lag again, the system loading the narrative! No wonder, this old man could merely be a background NPC, so normal players might not trigger a narrative from him, but now that I’m here, the system has to give him a storyline!

Finally, the scene finished loading—system prompt: Warning! Your soul has entered the dream realm of the Rusted Clamp Gang elder "No. 3 Screw", proceed with caution.

Holy shit, he’s an elder in a gang?!

Chun appeared in a dim factory workshop. Even though Mina mentioned the mist could enforce invisibility, he instinctively activated invisibility at first chance, double invisibility after all. Coupled with the darkness of the scene—hmm?

Chun suddenly realized this factory was the current plant, but in its fully equipped state, forcibly restoring a factory!

There were no workers, were they off work? Chun checked the large clock on the wall, 7 PM. Seems like they were indeed off work.

Mina began examining some parts on the machine tool, whispering, "These are medical syringes made for Oak City, and these are hearing aids. Looks like this was a medical equipment factory."

This could trigger an event in Oak City’s narrative!?

Chun cautiously surveyed the surroundings, finding no one, where was the Dream Master?

Chun quietly circled the factory, confirming there was no one.

Then he attempted to open the factory door, only to find it was a space wall, the door just a background sticker, unpassable.

Mina was taken aback, "Looks like his dream realm is indeed limited to this one factory. This is the first time seeing a dream with no Dream Master, why is that?"

Chun was baffled, as Mina was just a newly self-taught novice Nightmare with no veteran Nightmare coach, I guess I must solve this mystery myself.

Chun first thought of the Pirate King leaving a pirate ship in his own dream realm, where every detail was exactly like the real thing, without a hint of dreamlike fuzziness. Shows how fondly the Pirate King remembers his ship. Here, every piece of equipment, even down to the placement of parts, is detailed, suggesting deep fondness and possibly a high position, maybe even the factory manager?

Chun asked, "Mina, do you know when these old factory districts in Bronze City were abandoned?"

Mina exclaimed, "No, maybe decades ago? I wasn’t dead yet then, um, not born yet either..."

Chun immediately started looking for duty logs or the like. Honestly, no on-duty staff even after work hours, that’s not right...

Then at the desk by the entrance, he found it, dated Year 40 of the New World Calendar, holy shit, 60 years ago!

Then he saw a goods in-and-out register, the first few dozen pages were blurry! Shows this dream realm can’t compare to the Pirate King’s, whose documentation and nautical logs were all crystal clear.

So the key is...

Chun flipped to the last two pages, it’s clear! Thousands of boxes of various parts and raw materials... um, what’s written for these raw materials? It’s in Latin like a doctor’s prescription, right?

Mina was astonished, "It’s written as five boxes of nitroglycerin! Extremely explosive stuff!"

This stuff is infamous!

Chun was startled, "Could this factory have been abandoned due to a nitroglycerin explosion and fire?"

Mina finally came to her senses, "If true, this dream realm could explode at any moment!"

Chun forcibly remained calm, "Don’t panic, let’s search around? Maybe if we find it, it won’t explode, and we’ll solve this dream realm."