Chapter 92
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: The Underground Passage
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* * *
The underground passage was pitch-black, save for the light from the room shining behind them. Only the kerosene lantern Cherry held illuminated the path ahead.
She shone the lantern on the wall of the passage.
“There are torches.”
Just as she said, iron wall-mounted torches were embedded deep into the walls of hard, dry earth. They were even placed at regular intervals.
“It’s definitely a path leading somewhere.”
Cherry murmured.
Ethan agreed. This damn passage had clearly been dug with a purpose.
They continued to walk. They went deeper and deeper until the light from the room behind them no longer reached their view.
The underground passage was wide enough for Ethan and Cherry to walk side by side.
Ethan glanced at Cherry. Her plump cheeks seemed to glow red in the lantern's light.
Her exceptionally lush, long eyelashes blinked slowly. A sign that she was on edge, her nerves taut.
As if sensing his gaze, Cherry turned her head toward him. Her voice tickled his ear.
“What is it?”
Ethan shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“Wait.”
Just then, Cherry stopped him. As if doused with cold water, he reflexively raised his hand and aimed his gun forward. Cherry’s eyes blinked rapidly in surprise before she pointed at his feet.
“Sorry for startling you. Sir Ethan, your bootlace is untied.”
At her words, Ethan finally looked down. Just as she’d said, the lace of his boot was loosely undone.
As he began to bend over, Cherry stopped him.
“I’ll tie it for you, so just hold the gun. You never know what might pop out.”
“It’ll only take a moment, I can do it…”
“Let me help you. There’s something I want to do.”
Cherry cut him off with a very serious expression and knelt before him. Something she wanted to do? What on earth could she possibly want to do with a bootlace...?
The round top of her head came into his view. She used to diligently wear a small cocktail hat even after the world had ended, but today, she was hatless.
Her small hands deftly tightened the bootlace. She must not have had many occasions to tie shoelaces, yet she was remarkably skilled.
Seeing Cherry kneeling at his feet, tying his shoe, felt strangely familiar. He felt a sudden sense of closeness to her. Not that it felt comfortable.
“Ta-da! All done! Isn't it cute?”
Cherry said, shining the kerosene lantern on his foot. The bootlace she had tied was secure. The problem was that instead of a normal knot, there was a butterfly bow on the tip of his boot. And the bow was incredibly ugly.
She seemed to realize something was off, her face showing a flash of regret, but she soon looked at him and said nonchalantly.
“It suits you.”
“Are you serious?”
Ethan let out a laugh, dumbfounded.
“Of course I’m serious. Now, this is no time to dally. Let’s hurry up and search.”
But Cherry didn’t even give him a chance to object, springing to her feet and demanding a forced march.
The way she peeked at him made it clear she knew it was strange. And yet, she walked ahead awkwardly, pretending not to notice.
It was so absurd it was almost cute.
‘Honestly…’
Cherry would do the most baffling things in unexpected moments like this, yet at other times, she would display a frighteningly sharp insight. She seemed to live without a care in the world, but she had her own system and plans.
Looking back, Cherry had always been consistent. Had he been the one who changed, not her? It even made him wonder if he was the only one who had gone through an emotional shift while they were together from just before the apocalypse until now.
Swallowing his complex thoughts, Ethan silently followed behind Cherry.
After walking a little further, they reached a dead end. To be precise, the path straight ahead was covered in dirt, and a new path branched off to the right.
“Do you think it was blocked on purpose?”
“It seems so. If it had collapsed, the path to the right should have collapsed too.”
Ethan said, pointing to the open path on the right. Cherry nodded in agreement.
She seemed a little short of breath and paused to compose herself.
“I don’t know how Susanna survived in a place like this without a light. In such an enclosed space, you could get into serious trouble from asphyxiation.”
“There is a breeze. From here.”
Ethan took Cherry’s shoulder and gently pulled her to where he was standing.
“You’re right. It’s very faint… It seems there’s a passage to the outside just a little further ahead.”
“Stay alert. We don’t know when a monster might jump out.”
He casually checked his revolver again and looked up. His eyes met Cherry’s.
“What.”
“You say to be alert, but you don’t seem to be. You look quite relaxed.”
“Let’s call it confidence rather than relaxation. It’s not hard to blow the brains out of those monster bastards in a one-way passage.”
“Hmm. True. Then I’m confident too. Confident I can rip those monster bastards in two with my bare hands.”
Watching Cherry speak so confidently, Ethan laughed in disbelief. He could now find even that sort of thing somewhat cute.
Of course, he wouldn’t be able to say that when she was actually sending a monster flying with her bare fists…
The end of the path was just coming into view. It looked like a dead end.
And when they finally reached the end, Cherry knocked on what looked like a solid dirt wall.
“I think we’re here, but the path is blocked.”
Cherry placed the kerosene lantern on the floor and scanned the area. Ethan stood beside her, also looking around carefully.
“We should have brought a shovel or something.”
Ethan felt a little taken aback by Cherry’s mumble. It wasn’t that he hadn’t had the same thought. But he never expected Cherry Sinclair, of all people, to say something like that so naturally.
‘I’m tired of even thinking it, but…’
The Cherry Sinclair known to the world was a fake. A vicious media play, accelerated by the sensational title of Sinclair family heiress. That much was certain.
‘Either that, or she was being used politically.’
Ethan recalled a newspaper he’d seen right before the world ended.
[Exclusive! Cherry Sinclair's Disappearance—Was It Because of Ethan, the Lancaster Heir!?]
[Cherry Sinclair and Ethan Duncan Lancaster's Secret Tryst in a Rural Village...!? 'An Unlikely Pair, the Egret and the Crow'—High Society in Shock...!]
If they had been using the Cherry card to hide the appearance of the monsters, it was quite plausible.
For a moment, Ethan had suspected that Crown Prince Theodore might be behind that article.
‘If so, are the monsters that appeared in Brunel connected to Theodore?’
But the Theodore he knew was not the type of person to orchestrate such a mad scheme and use a scapegoat like Cherry to cover it up.
As one thought led to another, Ethan asked Cherry.
“Wasn’t it difficult to live while hiding your monstrous strength?”
At Ethan’s question, Cherry, who had been knocking on the wall, glanced at him.
“I just don’t use my strength. What’s so difficult about that?”
“Fair enough.”
Ethan quickly agreed and followed her lead, knocking on the wall. Then he noticed that the cool breeze he’d felt earlier was coming from the ceiling.
“Miss Cherry.”
At Ethan’s call, Cherry seemed to notice as well, looking up at the ceiling just as he was. She picked up the lantern from the floor and shone it upward.
They hadn't noticed because it was so dark, but the ceiling was made of wooden planks. It looked exactly as if a passage leading upwards had been sealed off with them.
“I think it’ll open if we push it up.”
Cherry reached out, but she was so short that she had to jump just for her fingertips to barely graze the wooden planks.
Ethan shook his head and pushed the planks up. Cherry quickly grabbed her axe.
Kiiiik-
The poorly-oiled wooden planks let out a rusty scream as they moved upward.
Thump-
At last, the ceiling hatch swung wide open.
It was pitch-black above as well. So dark that the thought of climbing up there was frightening.
Both Cherry and Ethan were momentarily speechless as they stared into the abyss-like darkness.
* * *
Deciding to search the underground passage with Ethan had been an excellent choice. That’s how reassuring he was.
But even so, the positioning remained unchanged: close combat was my responsibility, and Ethan was in charge of long-range.
‘What can I do, with all this strength?’
I decided to be the first one to climb up through the ceiling. I was too short to reach it, so even if Ethan went up first, he wouldn’t have been able to pull me up from above.
‘I should bring a ladder next time.’
In the end, Ethan lifted me up. Swallowing my tears, I pressed my foot firmly on Ethan’s shoulder.
Hngh. Ethan let out a small groan. The heel of my shoe had dug into his shoulder. I felt sorry and looked down.
“Sorry, are you okay?”
“Hmph… I am not okay.”
“Thank you for saying you’re okay. Then just hang on a little longer.”
I muttered as I struggled to pull myself up. From below, Ethan’s incredulous voice questioned me.
“Miss Cherry? I said I’m not okay.”
“I know how you feel. Just wait a second. I’m trying my best here too. Nngh.”
I heard Ethan sigh, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to care about his minor pain. After struggling, I finally managed to climb through the ceiling and extended my hand to Ethan. He took my hand with a puzzled look.
Feeling a little exasperated, I blurted out.
“The lantern.”
He immediately let go of my hand, looking embarrassed.