Multiverse’s End

Chapter 47: Chapter 047 – A Date to See a Movie

The next morning, Luo Su got out of bed to prepare breakfast. There was juice and milk in the refrigerator, as well as prepared ingredients. He cooked an egg and some ham, making for himself a decent-looking sandwich.

Gladys looked at him like she had seen a ghost, even believing herself to be dreaming. She remembered Luo Su as a taciturn boy who never woke up early for breakfast.

“I’ve started pursuing a girl lately. The magic of love has changed me!”

Gladys just barely accepted Luo Su’s explanation. After breakfast, she drove down to the mine. Luo Su came with her, his reasoning being that he loved this little town and was willing to contribute his own strength to find a new vein of ore in the mine.

Gladys was gratified. Luo Su had originally been extremely repulsed by the mines. Today’s shift in attitude meant that he had matured.

The sign of a man’s maturity was not that he had slept with a girl and taken her virginity, but when he understood his responsibility in the household and was willing to volunteer his toil and sweat.

Gladys was ecstatic and indicated that she wanted to increase Luo Su’s allowance. Luo Su refused, saying that he was an adult now and could work to make money.

Gladys was even more satisfied. When they arrived at the mine office, she called over the foreman Leon and had him take Luo Su down to the mines so that he could familiarize himself with them.

Leon had worked for McCormick Mining Company for 20 years and was its most experienced miner. He knew every tunnel like the back of his hand, and not even the maps were more accurate than he was.

“Luo Su, mining is no game. No matter what, you can never take your helmet. When we go down, you have to bring your safety goggles and a wet towel…” Leon took great pains to repeat himself, “If I’m not next to you and you get lost, don’t panic. You can get out by following the electric lines over your head.”

“What do I do there are no electric lines?”

“The tunnels without electric lines are restricted areas that either has a chance of collapsing or high concentrations of gas. If you want to live, it’s best not to go in.” As Leon spoke, he placed a helmet on Luo Su’s head and took out a wet towel from a bucket.

Luo Su firmly refused. Putting aside the fact that this wet towel had probably been used by numerous other men, what was far more important was that it wasn’t safe enough.

The wet towel was primarily meant to deal with toxic gases that were soluble in water, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, but it wasn’t useful against methane or carbon monoxide. For the sake of his lowly life, he decided to carry an oxygen tank and mask.

It was a little heavy, but it was better than being dead!

Leon smiled and said nothing. With an old master like him around, Luo Su was worrying over nothing, but he didn’t try to stop Luo Su. It was good to be cautious.

“You don’t have an igniter on you?”

“Of course. I’m still young, so I don’t want to go and see God just yet!”

“Heh, kid, God doesn’t take people who commit suicide.”

The two quickly entered the mines. Tunnels went off in every direction, and the abandoned tunnels alone numbered more than ten. It was pitch-black inside, the only illumination from the helmet lights. Without anyone to guide the way, going down them would be like trying to explore an ant’s nest.

After several decades of operation, the ore vein was basically spent. Without any work, the miners gradually left, and there were only a few others besides Leon left to manage the place.

McCormick Mining Company was still able to keep operating because it still had inventory to sell. Gladys estimated that if they didn’t find a new ore vein soon, the company would have to close in three months.

Luo Su had come this time to just look around. Leon soon guided him to a metal door.

“Past this door in the basement to the mall. That idiot mayor has nothing but shit for brains. I really don’t understand why he decided to build a mall here.” Leon turned furious as he talked about Mayor Wade. “I can’t believe I trusted him in the last mayoral election and even voted for him.”

McCormick Mining Company was about to close, and Prosperity was gradually fading. Mayor Wade, rather than working with the entire town to get through this crisis, decided to get in touch with some chemical company called ‘Vioro’ and spent all his time trying to get everyone to sell their land and move. The mall had resulted in him ending up with a considerable settlement fee, but everyone also knew that he could get an additional fee besides this.

Wade didn’t care where the town’s residents moved or what they did with the rest of their lives. He was just using this chance to squeeze the last bit of value out of the town. This man was human trash!

For the morning, Leon took Luo Su on a walk around the upper level. From what Leon had said, they had only walked through a small part, not even ten percent of the whole thing.

During the tour, Luo Su learned that McCormick Mining Company had started the mine to extract gold and copper ore, but there had yet to be any gold ore found.

After lunch, Leon and several other miners went down to the lower levels. He wanted to find a new ore vein as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Luo Su went to see Gladys and said that he felt uncomfortable and was leaving early.

As he walked home, Luo Su opened up his journey and drew circles around the words ‘cave’ and ‘mall.’ He hadn’t seen the chemical barrel that had triggered the spider mutations, which meant that the plot had not started yet.

Luo Su could wait until the plot began, but he was not familiar with the original plot, so there was little point in it. Thus, he decided to follow his original plan and go through the male and female leads.

The male lead, ‘Chris McCormick’, the first in line to inherit the mine, was also Luo Su’s cheap older brother. He was currently messing around in Phoenix and couldn’t be interacted with. As for the female lead, Sheriff ‘Samantha Parker’, she was close at hand and was thus his first choice.

Luo Su picked up his phone and called the Parker home. After a beeping waiting sound, the call connected, and a young boy answered.

Mike Parker!

The sheriff’s son and big-breasted Ashley’s little brother. In the movie, he was a little kid who loved researching spiders and was friends with the old man who raised spiders.

“This is Luo Su. Is Ashley home?”

“You’re Luo Su?” Mike’s voice had an expectant tone to it.

“Yes, is there a problem?”

“Ashley said that if someone called Luo Su called, I’m supposed to say she’s not at home.”

The call ended there.

Luo Su smiled and shook his head and then called the Parker home again. Ashley was angry, but there was no need to be nervous. In at most five calls, she would listen to his explanation.

As expected, on the third call, Ashley picked up the phone. Her tone was furious, and she didn’t seem to want to talk to Luo Su, but Luo Su wasn’t worried…if you didn’t want to talk, why did you pick up?

“Ashley, listen to me. When I got home last night, I called so many times, but I never got the right number. Because I was taking up the phone line, Aunt Gladys disciplined me and then punished me by making me responsible for this month’s phone bill. She even took me to the mine and made me dig up stones the entire morning.” Luo Su didn’t give Ashley a chance to speak and hastily spoke, his voice expressing how much he liked Ashley and how sorry he was.

“You…you’re not trying to trick me?”

“Of course not! To call you, I spent the entire morning to complete the task so that Gladys would let me go. When I got home, I immediately called you.” Luo Su looked at himself in a mirror as he tenderly spoke, “Ashley, you have no idea what I’ve been through. When I called the wrong number last night, the person on the other side accused me of disturbing the peace and even threatened to call the cops on me! I spent ages trying to explain.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea you had it so bad…I shouldn’t have tried to prank you like that.” Ashley’s tough tone had rapidly softened, and there was a hint of self-criticism in her voice.

“You weren’t wrong. I was just too stupid. Ashley, can you forgive me?”

“Of course! I’ve never once blamed you!” Ashley replied, almost instantly.

Luo Su was ‘overjoyed,’ and then he began to stammer out, “Then…can I come and see you…we still have the afternoon. I want…to go with you to the nearby city to see a movie.”

There was suddenly turmoil on the other side of the phone. Luo Su could vaguely hear an argument that ended with a scream from Mike.

“Ashley, what happened over there?”

“It’s nothing. My dumb brother tripped and fell…” Ashley spoke in a sickly sweet voice, “There’s no problem with watching a movie, but you should come over in half an hour. I need a little time.”

“Alright! It’s decided!”