Exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, Li Jinlong, Li Yong, Lan Gaofeng, Wei Haihong, and the others were not much better off. When Zhou Xuan spoke up, everyone stopped to rest.
Lan Gao shone a powerful flashlight ahead. The slope was getting steeper and steeper, but the cave seemed to have no end. He didn't know how deep the cave was or if he could ever get out.
Li Jinlong rested for a while, then suddenly felt regretful: "What a pity! Those treasures, each one is priceless! Either..."
Zhou Xuan chuckled. This Li Jinlong was truly a money-grubbing idiot. Even after all those treasures were left in the stone chamber, he was still thinking about them.
Two nephews and a nephew-in-law had all died at the bottom of this cave. At this moment, what Li Jinlong thought about more intensely were the treasures scattered in the cave.
I rested for half an hour. Usually, when I'm tired, I feel like my strength is restored after resting for a while, but now the longer I rest, the more uncomfortable I feel. I'm so hungry and thirsty that I wish I could break off a rock and gnaw on it.
Li Jinlong couldn't help but take out the treasures from his backpack and examine them carefully. Only at this moment did he seem to forget his physical exhaustion and thirst.
Zhou Xuan sighed and shook his head, tightening his grip on Fu Ying's hand. In the most dangerous time and in the most dangerous situation, having the person you love most by your side is actually the best feeling. Only in this way can you feel how happy it is to love the person you love and be with them.
No matter how much you gain, if it comes at the cost of your loved ones' lives, such wealth will not bring you peace.
The senior executive glanced at his watch, stood up, and said, "Alright, everyone, get up and keep going. While we still have a little energy left, go as far as you can. Maybe the exit is just a hundred meters away!"
The words of the Blue leadership were indeed very tempting. They had come so far, and the road wasn't over yet; there was still more to go. And who knew? Perhaps the next stop would be the exit to the outside world. In any case, there was hope.
Wei Xiaoqing was the weakest. She had been hungry for several days and had to walk such a long distance. She was almost fainting. After everyone else stood up, she leaned against the wall and moved a few times but couldn't stand up.
Zhou Xuan reached out and pulled, the icy air probing into Wei Xiaoqing's body. Wei Xiaoqing's physical strength was already exhausted to the extreme. She couldn't compare to Fu Ying. Fu Ying had practiced martial arts and had been strict with herself since childhood. Her physical endurance was no less than that of a strong man.
Wei Haihong was only slightly better than Wei Xiaoqing, but by a tiny bit.
Zhou Xuan bit her lip. At this time, it was impossible to expect anyone else to help Wei Xiaoqing. In the most critical moment, Li Jinlong and the others could even throw away their closest relatives, let alone Wei Xiaoqing, whom they did not know.
Zhou Xuan looked at Fu Ying, who understood his meaning. At this moment, Zhou Xuan would not abandon Wei Xiaoqing and Wei Haihong. If they couldn't escape, they would all die together; if they could escape, they would all have to go together.
Fu Ying nodded without saying anything, then bent down to help Wei Xiaoqing up, who was too weak to take another step.
Zhou Xuan crouched down and carried her on his back, with Fu Ying supporting him from behind, as they struggled to climb the stairs step by step. At this moment, Li Jinlong, Li Yong, and Lan Gaofeng walked faster and were far ahead, their desire to escape growing stronger.
Zhou Xuan was also relying on the icy air to keep going, and he was about to give up. But he knew in his heart that if he didn't hold on now, if he let go of Wei Xiaoqing now, he didn't know if he would have the courage and determination to get rid of her again. So he gritted his teeth and used the last bit of strength. With each step he took, he clenched his teeth tighter and tighter. In the end, sweat was streaming down his face and his teeth almost bit his lower lip until it bled.
Xiang Ying was heartbroken, but she also knew that if she abandoned Wei Xiaoqing at this time, it would be tantamount to leaving her there to fend for herself. How could she bring herself to do that?
The cave widened up, and Zhou Xuan, supported by Wei Haihong and Fu Ying, walked up, only to find Lan Gaofeng, Li Jinlong, and Li Yong all standing there in a daze.
Zhou Xuan was panting. Fu Ying held a bright light and shone it on the side. She circled around the cave wall, and Zhou Xuan followed her. There was no way out. Apart from the cave they had just come up from, this was just a space of several tens of square meters. There was no way out in the three directions in front of them or above them.
Zhou Xuan then slowly put Wei Xiaoqing down on the ground, and Wei Haihong also sat down to catch his breath.
Zhou Xuan had no time to rest and quickly walked over to Lan Gaofeng and the others, only to find that all three of them were looking down at the ground in front of them.
Zhou Xuan looked over and was also stunned!
In front of the three of them was a pit about two meters in diameter, and there was no other way out except through this pit.
Zhou Xuan held up a powerful flashlight to the cave entrance and shone it down. The cave was six or seven meters deep, and at the bottom was a pool of deep blue water. The water was flowing, and you could hear the sound of the water running.
No wonder the three senior executives were stunned. They came here with a plan in mind, but it was still a dead end!
Apart from Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying, who had underwater experience, the others had none. In the eerie and dangerous underground cave, Lan Gaofeng, Li Jinlong, and Li Yong would rather stay inside than venture into such an underground river. It was terrifying!
With the rope gone, Zhou Xuan channeled his icy energy downwards. In his prime, he could probe up to fifteen meters with his icy energy, but now he could barely reach seven or eight meters. The pit was already six or seven meters deep from the water's surface, and Zhou Xuan's icy energy could only probe down to one meter before he could not probe any further. He also could not determine the water depth or the direction of the current.
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Xuan said to Lan Gaozhang, Li Yong, and the other two, "Lan Gaozhang, I want to see what's going on down in the cave, but I don't have any ropes. Could you guys hold my feet and lower me down so I can check the situation?"
Fu Ying was startled and said, "No, they're all too weak right now. What if they slip and fall?"
"Don't worry." Zhou Xuan wasn't trying to be a hero, but only he had the ability right now. If he wasn't willing to take the lead in doing what he could, how could he expect others to do it? If they didn't find an exit, they would all die anyway, and they didn't even have the courage to walk back down to the large stone coffin in the inner palace!
"Blue executives, there are four or five of you. Two of you can hold onto one of my feet. I think you should be able to manage!"
Zhou Xuan looked at them calmly and asked.
To be honest, Li Jinlong admired Zhou Xuan. In every dangerous situation, this ordinary young man stepped forward and took the lead. He admitted that he couldn't do such a thing. Fear of death is a problem that most people cannot face, even emperors. Even if they have the world and everything, they cannot have immortality.
The senior executive glanced at Li Yong, then at Li Jinlong, and nodded, saying, "Alright, Li Yong and I will each hold one leg, and Li Jinlong, Lao San, and Miss Fu Ying, the three of you will each hold the other leg."
Without further hesitation, Zhou Xuan picked up the powerful flashlight and bent down. The five people split into two groups! One of them grabbed one of his legs tightly and then slowly lowered him down. In this way, Zhou Xuan's icy aura could extend down two meters further.
Once it was lowered to the lowest position, Zhou Xuan's icy aura had already reached the bottom of the water. The water net was more than a meter deep. Zhou Xuan couldn't measure it from above the cave, but once it was lowered, it became clear. Moreover, he could detect that in addition to the east-west flow of the water in the cave below, there was still a gap of about half a meter between the water surface and the cave wall above. Although he couldn't measure any further, this still made Zhou Xuan somewhat happy!
Having climbed this far from underground, at least a thousand meters or several hundred meters, Zhou Xuan roughly estimated that this location shouldn't be too far from the outside surface. The underground water in this pit was very likely to flow out to the surface. However, going down and following the underground water flow would be dangerous. They might end up in a deeper underground river, and then they would be finished!
If they were to go into the water from this place, they would never be able to come back up. Basically, they could only move forward; there was no way back. If there was no way forward, or if there was an even deeper river, then this would be the place where the seven of them would perish.
Volume One: The Lotus Buds Just Begin to Emerge, Chapter 113: Deepest Affection
Zhou Shanghuan detected that the water flow was not very rapid; it was not too fast for an adult's weight. The water quality had also been tested; it was ordinary groundwater with no toxic substances. However, the water temperature was low, as could be felt from the wisps of cool air rising from the surface. The water temperature was unlikely to exceed ten degrees Celsius.
In fact, all underground rivers are like this; deep underground, the water temperature of underground rivers is much lower.
Zhou Xuan turned to look at the people above and said, "Let go of me and put me down!"
The people above were all startled. The water in the pit was a deep blue and the bottom was not visible. They didn't have any ropes, and if they fell in, there would be no way to get back up!
Fu Yingxian immediately refused, "No, come up here first, let's discuss it together and come up with a reliable solution!"
Zhou Xuan waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I can see from down here. The bottom of the water is only a little over a meter deep, and there are gaps in the holes below the water flow. We can go through them, and there might be an exit leading to the river outside. You can put me down. There's no way to go if we stay up here. We might as well try to go forward. If we don't try, how will we find an exit?"
Everyone has thought about this problem. If there is no way out, then everyone is doomed. But facing an unpredictable and dangerous situation, even death is a frightening thing.
Zhou Xuan was terrified, of course. But he had no choice but to desperately search for any way to escape; he didn't want Fu Ying to die with him in this deep cave. His supernatural ice energy was the only thing they could rely on. Others might not know, but he knew perfectly well that their escape depended entirely on the power of that ice energy.