If the water gets on a person's skin, wouldn't they drink it all up, leaving not a trace?
Of these people, only Lan Gaofeng, Li Jinlong, Wang Dagui, Yang Guang, Fu Ying, and Zhou Xuan had already been seen before, as well as Li Feihu, but he had long been dissolved by the highly toxic water.
Wei Xiaoqing was so frightened that her heart pounded. She couldn't help but tug at Zhou Xuan's clothes from behind. Zhou Xuan turned around and looked at her pale face. He thought to himself that it was a good thing that she knew fear, so that she wouldn't cause any more trouble behind him. It would be best if she followed behind him.
Returning to the large cave took two hours in total, plus nearly an hour to descend. Although it was pitch black inside, it was noon outside, and the sun was blazing.
Everyone was getting hungry, so the Blue Leader waved his hand and said, "Everyone, sit down and rest for a bit, eat something and drink some water to replenish your energy, and then we'll head into the fourth cave."
Everyone had enough food and water for three days in their backpacks, and there were people guarding the cave entrance, ready to provide logistical support at any time. There was nothing to worry about; they had only walked for a few hours through the cave, which was just a series of interconnected tunnels. Although the pool was poisonous, no one ventured into danger, and nothing surprising or thrilling happened. Most people began to relax, thinking that it was probably just another underground cave system, nothing to be alarmed about.
Of everyone, only Li Jinlong, Lan Gaofeng, Zhou Xuan, and Professor Yang Guang knew that things were far from simple. The journey had only just begun; they might not even have found the true entrance yet. Many more dangers lay ahead.
After eating some concentrated, compressed food and drinking some water, no one wanted to eat anymore. This food was utterly unappetizing, unless in extremely harsh conditions where there was no food or water, in which case it would be a lifesaver. But here, it seemed to defy any sense of necessity; it tasted bad, so no one wanted to eat more.
After eating and resting for another ten minutes, the senior executive of Blue stood up and said, "Everyone, pack your belongings. We're about to depart."
Zhou Xuan still walked at the front, and Fu Ying was still holding his hand.
This time, Wei Haihong urged Wei Xiaoqing to walk ahead and follow Zhou Xuan. He was quite certain that only by staying by Zhou Xuan's side could he be the safest.
As Zhou Xuan walked, he pondered. If Li Xinyuan obtained those antiques and the miniature coffin in this cave, it's unlikely they found the treasure entrance through these caves. They didn't have the extra time or energy. The most probable reason was that their ancestor, Li Ben, stole those items, including the miniature coffin, and died of poisoning while escaping to the cave entrance. Li Xinyuan and his companions merely picked up a bargain; they didn't even have time to search for the treasure entrance inside the cave. After taking those items, they left the cave, only to die before they could return.
Li Xinyuan! Li Xinyuan!
Zhou Xuan sighed. They couldn't detect any death aura on the skeleton of their ancestor Li Feng, nor on the miniature coffin. They had walked through these caves for so long, but apart from the "Realm" poison pool, they hadn't seen anything but caves!
As Zhou Xuan thought this, the icy aura continued to spread forward. He didn't sense any danger, but he did detect that the path ahead, about ten meters ahead, suddenly split into two openings. The opening on the left resembled a dog hole, just big enough for one person to pass through. And it wouldn't be an easy passage.
The opening on the right was half the size of the one they were currently walking through, only about a meter wide and two meters high. After walking another seven or eight meters, in the bright light, the two openings became clearly visible. Zhou Xuan's icy aura passed through the small opening, which was only five or six meters deep. The scene outside the five or six openings stunned Zhou Xuan for a moment!
Volume 1, Chapter 103: Danger Approaches
There will be four updates today, so please continue to support me with your monthly votes. Best wishes!
The sight of this cave within a cave stunned Zhou Xuan!
Because the passage on the other side of the cave is a large, square stone pierced by Dan Si!
This passage was nothing like the natural cave that their group had been wandering around for half a day; it was actually man-made. Since it was man-made, it meant that they had found the address of the ancient city. They just couldn't be sure if it was the correct entrance, but at least they had seen signs of human activity, which was much better than still wandering through the deserted natural cave.
Afterwards, the senior executives of Lan and Li Jinlong rushed forward to examine the two holes carefully.
I shone a strong light on the hole on the right, and it was dark and deep inside, but it was easy to walk through.
The hole on the left was wide enough for one person to pass through, but it required crawling. Shining a light inside, it gradually curved to the left after two or three meters, making it impossible to see what was inside. Seeing the ground was wet, dirty, and damp, most people were considering taking the easier hole on the right.
The senior executive looked at Zhou Xuan and asked, "Little Zhou, which tunnel do you think is better to take?"
Zhou Xuan had already used the ice energy to probe the easier cave on the right. Fifteen meters away, it was still a dark and deep cave. Although the cave on the left had an artificial landscape at the other end, it was so difficult to walk. If he chose this path, how could that be explained?
There were sixteen people in a row, and most of them looked toward the large, easy-to-pass hole on the right.
However, the higher-ups found Zhou Xuan's hesitation strange. Anyone with eyes could see that his hesitation about something so obvious meant he hadn't chosen the easier path on the right.
When Lan Gao was at Wei Haihong's house, he had already noticed that Zhou Xuan was able to defend against the threat of that miniature coffin. That's why he tried to borrow him from the old man. After these few days of contact, his intuition told him that although Zhou Xuan looked ordinary, he seemed to have a keen sense of danger that was stronger than all of them. Although Zhou Xuan didn't understand these things, his keen sense of danger might be of great help.
Zhou Xuan thought for a moment before pointing to the small hole on the left and saying, "I think since we're looking for the entrance, we can take a look at this small hole first. If it's blocked or very deep inside, then there's no need to go in. But I think it's okay to go in and look about five or six meters away. If there's a hidden world inside, then we can skip it!"
"How about this, you guys wait here first, I'll go in and take a look, and if I can't get through, I'll come back out!" Zhou Xuan said with a smile, since Bing Qi had already explored the situation inside the cave, so this was a better approach.
Fu Ying didn't think much of it; she would follow Zhou Xuan wherever he went. Only Wei Xiaoqing worriedly reached out and grabbed Zhou Xuan's clothes. She wanted to tell him not to go, but looking at Fu Ying, she couldn't bring herself to say it. Fu Ying took off her backpack, picked up a lantern, and prepared to follow Zhou Xuan into the cave.
He's not even afraid of Zhou Xuan's official girlfriend, and she wants to go in with him. What makes me think I'm saying this? She's not related to him at all. It's ridiculous to say such things.
Wei Xiaoqing tried to swallow what she was about to say, but looking at that dark little hole was really frightening. Could there be some kind of monster or something with its mouth wide open waiting on the other side?
Wei Haihong wanted to stop him, but seeing Zhou Xuan's casual expression, which suggested he wasn't afraid of the unknown things in the cave, he thought that Zhou Xuan might have his reasons, so he remained silent.
Zhou Xuan took off his backpack and placed it at his feet. Then he shook hands with Fu Ying, nodded, and without saying a word, turned around and put the flashlight into the hole. He then crawled in from the waist down, and after he was completely inside the hole, he reached back and dragged the backpack in as well.
Zhou Xuan wasn't fat, and he didn't look cramped in the cave. When he was dragged into the cave by the backpack, Wei Xiao and Qing Xin'er were so scared that their hearts pounded!
It felt as if Zhou Xuan had been swallowed up by this dark hole!
Then Fu Ying followed Zhou Xuan's movements and climbed in, then dragged her backpack. Wei Xiao and Qing nervously squatted down and shone a bright light into the cave. After Fu Ying's backpack was dragged in at the turn, they could no longer see any trace of Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying.
Everyone waited in silence. Professor Yang Guang admired Zhou Xuan's courage. From the moment he saw the ancient, highly poisonous "crab," he felt that this deep underground cave was not so simple. Perhaps it was full of dangers. Even if he were here, he would not have entered this unknown cave so easily.
As Zhou Xuan rounded the bend, the hole widened slightly. He dragged his backpack forward, then reached out and pulled Fu Ying's hand, pulling her forward to stand next to him. The two of them were so close together that it felt a bit cramped.
Zhou Xuan embraced Fu Ying without hesitation and kissed her red lips. Fu Ying, unusually, did not feel shy or refuse.
Then Zhou Xuan shone the lamp ahead, and could already see the exit of the cave just two or three meters away. As he continued to crawl, he extended the icy air to the very front of the cave entrance.
As expected, further ahead was still a passage built of huge stones. This was indeed built by man. Judging from such a project, it must have required a huge amount of manpower and resources to make it!
Zhou Xuan was also a little excited, guessing that it might really be the lost ancient city of Yanshi!
As soon as he climbed out of the cave, Zhou Xuan used the bright light to observe the scene that the ice in his brain had seen. It was exactly the same, without the slightest mistake.
The passage is constructed entirely of massive, single stones, polished into rectangular shapes and laid one by one. The stones are polished so smooth that only a tiny contact point is visible between them, yet even the thinnest, sharpest knife cannot penetrate it.
The passageway is about 1.5 meters wide and a little over 2 meters high.
Fu Ying looked around the passage and couldn't help but sigh, "This passage is quite an engineering feat. I just don't understand how people could transport these massive stones, weighing several tons each, over 3,600 years ago without modern tools and equipment, and then build them so neatly?"
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "Yingying, you're not a historian, why do you need to understand this? Let's finish this and go home as soon as possible. I don't want to see scenes like this every day."