Fu Ying refused to let go, and Zhou Xuan smiled. He pulled her along behind him, entering the second cave entrance again. Li Jinlong, familiar with the route, walked in front, followed by Professor Yang Guang, then Wang Dagui, then Lan Gaofeng, and finally Fu Ying and Zhou Xuan.
This time, without hesitation, they went straight to the pool.
Li Feihu's head was still by the pool, and his lower body was just a skeleton. The scene looked eerie and terrifying!
Li Jinlong and Wang Dagui, uncle and nephew-in-law, with grim faces, took out specially made anti-corrosion packaging bags from their backpacks, wrapped Li Feihu's head and bones, and then put them into the bags.
Yang Guang was immediately drawn to the pool, ignoring everyone else. He placed a flashlight on the edge of the pool, then took out some tools: a long metal bar about two feet long and a transparent jar, which was clearly not made of pure glass.
Yang Guang used his long drinking stick to reach into the pool and grab the small black fish. These fish had probably never encountered any danger before and had always lived in this quiet underground cave. They moved very slowly, and only when Yang Guang's stick was on their bodies did they wag their tails and move a few times.
When the strong light shone into the pool, and the long town touched the "dragonfly" and the water in the pool, a wisp of faint purple smoke rose from the spot where the metallic silver touched it.
Yang Guang didn't dare blink, carefully placing the "wax" into the transparent jar. Then he picked up another one, and after picking up only two "pupae," the metal inlay was corroded and chipped.
Two bowls bounced in the empty jar. Yang Guang quickly took out a long-handled metal spoon from his backpack. This was just an ordinary soup utensil, but it had the "Good Wife" trademark on it.
Yang Guang scooped water from the sink with a spoon and poured it into the jar. The process sounded simple, but Yang Guang was sweating profusely because he dared not let any water drip onto the edge of the jar, otherwise it would be a big problem if it got on him. When the jar was only about one-third full, the spoon snapped and fell into the sink. Fu Ying watched as the spoon gradually dissolved in the sink. Although it was said to gradually, it didn't take very long; it was clearly visible to the naked eye. It took about a minute, and in the end, even the shadow of the spoon disappeared.
Fu Ying gasped, surprised. "This water is so corrosive! I just can't understand it. If this water is so corrosive, why can't the wax be dissolved in it?"
Yang Guang threw away the remaining half of the handle, took the lid, put it on the jar, tightened it, then took a plastic bag to seal the jar before putting it into his backpack.
After filling the jar, Yang Guang slung his backpack over his shoulder, wiped the sweat from his brow, and then smiled and said, "Girl, this strong acid is indeed very potent, a hundred times more corrosive than aqua regia. However, the principle is actually not difficult to understand!"
Yang Guang looked at Fu Ying and smiled, saying, "You know snakes, right? Snakes have potent venom in their bodies, but why don't they die from it? There are many animals in the world with potent venom in their bodies, and they all live well. Why is that? Hehe, it's the same principle. The poison in this pool is all expelled by this creature called a 'crab,' so it certainly can't poison itself."
"
Zhou Xuan placed his left hand on the rock wall and channeled the icy energy through the rock wall to the opposite side of the pool. The pool was about five or six meters away. After the icy energy passed through, he moved forward another three or four meters and entered the bend of the cave. He could no longer see it with his eyes, but he could clearly see it in his mind. There was still a dark cave entrance ahead of the bend, and he didn't know how deep it was. Even with all his strength, the icy energy only traveled about fourteen or fifteen meters.
Zhou Xuan withdrew his icy aura, feeling somewhat pleased. It seemed that his icy aura had not only fully recovered after last night's practice, but had also made slight progress, traveling two or three meters further. It appeared that each time his icy aura was depleted and then recovered, it would make progress. This was similar to a child who, after using up his strength, would have a slightly increased strength the second time he recovered. As his physical strength recovered, his body was also secretly growing, and his strength naturally increased slightly, though he himself could not perceive this increase.
Li Jinlong was also carrying the remains of his nephew Li Feihu, and Yang Guang was carrying a backpack. The five of them turned around, and Zhou Xuan pulled Fu Ying's hand and turned around.
Fu Ying glanced at the pool again, and couldn't help but wonder: Could the highly poisonous "pupa" in this pool be the only danger?
Volume One: The First Budding Lotus, Chapter 102: A Cave Within a Cave
In the large cave where the others were resting and waiting, Zhou Xiao saw Wei Xiaoqing's worried expression and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw them return.
The second one. There's that "nephew's" pool inside the cave, blocking the way, so the second cave is basically impassable.
There are only eighteen caves, and sixteen are left. If we explore them one by one, how much time will it take? For example, one of the caves is blocked, but it is very deep and far away, which will take a lot of time. But when we get there, we find that the cave is blocked, so we have to go back and explore the next one, which will take even longer.
The Blue Leader immediately thought of this problem, and Li Jinlong also thought of it. He spoke first, "Blue Leader, since we have so many people, I think it would be better to split into several groups and explore the cave separately. This would save time."
The senior management at Blue had this idea, but they were also somewhat hesitant.
Zhou Xuan immediately exclaimed, "This is bad!"
"Why? Wouldn't this save time?" Li Jinlong asked, puzzled. In his opinion, exploring each hole one by one was too time-consuming.
“I think this is a problem, Lao Li, you should understand,” Zhou Xuan sighed. “Think about it, the journey ahead will definitely not be easy. I’m sure that this highly poisonous ‘crab’ pool is not the only danger. Also, that trap map left by your ancestor must be full of traps. In such a treacherous environment, who knows how many more dangers await us? And our personnel are not enough to act separately. If we encounter danger, and those who are more knowledgeable in this field cannot be brought together, it will be even more difficult to overcome the difficulties.”
As Zhou Xuan spoke, he glanced at the bottom of the cave outside and said calmly, "Although it will take a little longer, safety comes first. Think about it, we don't need to worry about our escape route. Our people are at the exit outside, and our logistics are up to par. Even if we suffer losses for ten days or half a month, it doesn't matter. As long as everyone is safe, that's better than anything else."
Li Jinlong paused for a moment, then smiled. Yes, he hadn't thought of that. In the past, when he was tomb raiding, he always had to avoid being seen and was in a hurry. The biggest danger back then was keeping it a secret from the police. But now, ironically, he was cooperating with the police and didn't have to think about his escape route at all. It had become a habit, and his first thought was always to avoid the police's sight.
I couldn't switch my mindset right away.
After hearing Zhou Xuan's suggestion, the Blue leadership nodded decisively and said, "Alright, concentrating superior forces is also a good method."
He immediately instructed everyone to pack their things and enter the third cave entrance.
Zhou Xuan pulled Fu Ying to the front. He possessed the ability to sense ice energy and could detect distances of fourteen or fifteen meters, so he could sense danger ten meters away first. Walking in front was for everyone's benefit.
Of course, others didn't understand, except for Fu Ying. Although Fu Ying didn't understand what was so strange about Zhou Xuan, she knew he possessed some amazing abilities. Wei Xiaoqing was afraid of the dark, deep cave, but fortunately, there were many people around, and being among a large group helped ease her fear. Seeing Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying walking at the front, she quickly followed behind them. Wei Haihong also stepped forward to stand beside her.
If Zhou Xuan hadn't been at the front, Wei Haihong naturally wouldn't have let Wei Xiaoqing walk in front. But he had absolute trust in Zhou Xuan and knew that this brother was special. Xiaoqing was actually safest with him by her side, so he didn't say anything to stop him.
Zhou Xuan held Fu Ying's hand with one hand and carried a powerful flashlight in the other to illuminate the way ahead, while simultaneously channeling his icy energy forward to scout ahead.
The icy air probed to about fifteen meters. After walking for about twenty minutes, there was another bend ahead, and the cave entrance widened slightly. Suddenly, a familiar image flashed through Zhou Xuan's mind, and he quickly said, "Wait!"
Fu Ying stopped, and Wei Xiaoqing behind her was also startled and quickly stopped. Then everyone stopped.
Zhou Xuan paused, his mind clearly seeing the scene inside the cave beyond the bend. It was the highly toxic pool where the "snake" had been in the second cave entrance.
But in order not to arouse suspicion, Zhou Xuan continued to move forward slowly with the lantern. When he turned the corner, the light shone ahead and it looked the same as when he first saw it, only from a different direction. At first it was on the opposite side, but now it was on the other side.
"It's just a small pond, what's there to be afraid of? There seem to be fish in it too," Li Quan said as he walked forward, looking around.
Li Jinlong quickly grabbed him. He hadn't quite recognized the pool when he first saw it. It looked somewhat familiar, but the change in location made it seem strange. However, upon seeing the pool and the slowly swimming, highly poisonous "pupae," he shuddered and grabbed Li Quan, pulling him back forcefully.
Li Quan was still confused when the higher-ups in the Blue Army noticed what was happening and shouted, "Everyone be careful! Don't go any closer! Don't touch the water in the pool! It's highly poisonous!"
Li Yong, who was also ahead, asked curiously, "There are still fish in there. Is Xin Yi Jie highly poisonous? If it is, wouldn't most of the fish have died from the poison?"
Yang Guang sighed and shook his head, saying, "It's extremely poisonous. A kind of deadly poison you can't even imagine. Let's retreat. The other side is in the second cave; these two caves are connected and don't lead anywhere else."
Li Yong, Fang Jianjun, Wang Qiang, Wang Sheng, and the two special police officers were all quite strange, especially Li Yong and Fang Jianjun. Both of them had been through countless battles and carried out numerous bloody missions. Killing and killing were nothing to them, and basically nothing could scare them. Common sense also told them that waters with living creatures should not be poisonous.
Lan Gao said in a deep voice, "Don't move." He stepped forward, pulled a dagger from his leg, and threw it into the pool in front of him. The throw was skillful, and it barely splashed any water.
The crowd watched as the dagger bobbed on the water's surface, its hilt made of oily wood. Upon contact with the water, wisps of purple smoke rose up, and soon the wooden hilt rotted away completely. Then, the steel dagger broke in two in the water, melting away completely in just a minute or two before everyone's eyes!
The expressions on the faces of those watching changed!