A Maze of Tunnels

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{The story on P-a-t-r-e-o-n is at 140+ chapters.}

The shots hit vital areas, and the impact blows holes through them. They fall to the ground, lifeless. Now that the elevator is no longer guarded, I can make a descent into the mine. I keep my body and head low while I approach the elevator.

I pass the bodies and notice they are both humans. Given the amount of diversity, I didn't think I'd see two together in a remote spot. Must have been friends or long-time work partners. I stop thinking about the dead human males, and I enter the elevator. I look at the control panel, and my mind shows me everything I need to.

I flip 4 different switches and press a hidden button. Ziller likely made the lowest level of the mine private so that he could work in peace. This hidden button and the strange way to select the deepest level supports the conclusion.

The elevator closes, and the descent begins. It's rather fast, faster than any mining elevator I've ever seen, which is a few due to my traits making me remember every single moment of my life. Including the few seconds of a video where I watched a mining elevator descend into a mine on the internet. Sometimes I hate this mind.

Only sometimes. After about 35 seconds of quick descent, the elevator opens, and I look into the proceeding tunnel. It's lined with lights, and I see tunnels splitting off in different directions. Ziller is a smart one, he's made dummy tunnels that lead to nowhere and are likely full of traps.

So which one is the right tunnel? As I start to theorize and come up with probabilities, I'm interrupted by the sounds of voices coming from the second furthest tunnel. There really isn't anywhere to hide, but I decide to do the old hide behind-the-door trick.

Except for this time. I'm using a tunnel wall near the elevator. A dummy tunnel, it'll hide me well enough. My statistics already led to the second to last tunnel, but having men coming from it confirms the odds.

As I lean against the wall, I can hear them talking. "Do you really think this is a good idea?" Someone's having doubts about this job, should've never taken it in the first place. "I mean, we are getting paid great, but I'm worried we won't see it after all is said and done." I doubt it too, dumb stranger. If only you weren't despicable scum, I'd try and help you.

As they walk by my tunnel, they fail to see me. I lift Little Boy from my side and aim at their heads as they walk side by side. "I know for sure we'll get paid. After al-!" I pull the trigger as their heads align perfectly, and I blow huge chunks out of both. They fall to the ground.

One of them has slight twitches in the body. Both are of the same species. They had three eyes. Now they have none. I leave my hiding spot, and I make my way towards the tunnel they came out of. Ziller failed to see if he has guards patrolling the tunnels. It'd reveal which ones are safe or not.

It'd be a maze for anyone else, but not for me. This mouse is smarter than the one who made this maze. I turn as I reach the tunnel and start walking down it. There are no places for coverage if I get into a gunfight and if I have to be faster than whoever I come across.

I don't like the idea of who's ever-faster wins, but sometimes you can't always prepare for every single scenario. I knew the environment would be like this, but the extremely little time we had given me zero time to prepare for situations like this.

The tunnel is long, and I'm hearing a small echo of voices, and the heat is slowly rising. It's the power output for some of the malfunctioning hyperdrives. The more they turn on, the hotter it'll get down here. I'm starting to sweat with every step I get closer.

The heat has to have something keeping it in check, the conditions down here aren't survivable without one. As I continue walking, the heat no longer rises. The heat is still sweat-inducing though. I really do hope Durado is having a better time than I am. How much I miss the cool air already.