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墨書 Inktalez
"There is a rack here, we can go down!"
Soon, Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun split up to search and made a discovery. Bai Yujing glanced over to another area where there was a rack made of wood that could lower people and supplies down. However, after so long, it had rotted away. Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun had no choice but to find a new fixed point together and climbed down using a rope.
Below was the crevice between the two layers of rock walls, only about one or two meters wide at the bottom. Standing below, they could see the platform and cave above. The campfire that Bai Yujing had just lit was still glowing, and no one expected there to be such a deep trench here.
The water in the trench flowed continuously, seemingly gathering from above little by little. However, the flow was not strong, only knee-deep. Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun walked downwards along the water flow, gradually entering a waterway where water flowed beneath their feet, making the path increasingly difficult to navigate.
Zhou Jun asked, "This place is so hard to traverse. Back in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Quanyi found it so difficult to open up a road; how did Bai Wang manage to build his Royal Tomb? Why would he construct it in such a location?"
Bai Yujing shone his flashlight left and right as he walked, checking the path ahead. "Thousands of years have passed; it's hard to verify what happened back then. Perhaps there was once a road that led directly to the Underground River. Bai Wang utilized the Underground River with a large number of slaves and boats to construct his Royal Tomb!"
"As for why it was built in such a place—who knows? Maybe it was for concealment, or perhaps after passing through the Underground River, Bai Wang discovered a mysterious location and wanted his tomb built there. In ancient times, various beliefs about heaven and earth and myths could have contributed to this reason."
Following the water flow downward, Bai Yujing noticed that signs of human excavation became more pronounced. Numerous wooden racks, broken stones, and discarded items appeared here. The path ahead gradually widened, allowing them to walk beside the water instead of wading through it.
"This place is definitely not the original path; at least it wasn't used when Bai Wang built his Royal Tomb. I suspect that the original route was blocked due to some natural disaster or earthquake. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Quanyi had no choice but to mobilize large numbers of craftsmen and farmers to explore this waterway and forcibly carve out this downward path. How many people must have died to create such a route?"
Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun even discovered numerous skeletal remains scattered on the ground along with clothing left behind. Bai Yujing examined them: "These people definitely didn't die while excavating this road; they must have perished here during the final evacuation. Were they silenced by Liu Quanyi? Or was there some other reason? No, these bones seem unusual."
Zhou Jun also looked with his flashlight: "It does seem strange. Even if they died, their flesh should still be there. These bones are completely clean; what kind of animal did this?"
At that moment, Bai Yujing suddenly stopped and looked around. Zhou Jun immediately became alert as suddenly a figure emerged from the water below. Bai Yujing kicked out instinctively; after flying out, it spun around and began circling around Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun.
"What is this thing?"
"Is this a rat?"
The two were prepared for the dangers and various animals that might appear underground, but what they saw at that moment was indeed a rat. However, this rat was unusually large, looking as big as a hunting dog.
The rat's eyes glowed red, sharp and filled with the ferocity of a beast. Bai Yujing couldn't be bothered to waste words with it and directly lunged forward, drawing a Type 65 military dagger from his waist and charging at the creature. Provoked by Bai Yujing, the giant rat's aggression was instantly triggered, and it lunged towards him to bite.
The two collided, footsteps and splashes of water intertwining, as water sprayed out to the sides. Bai Yujing was the fastest, quickly pinning the monster to the ground with one hand, immobilizing it.
"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"
The giant rat let out sharp cries and struggled violently, its massive jaws snapping wildly. However, Bai Yujing plunged the dagger into its eye socket and twisted it forcefully, silencing the giant rat.
Zhou Jun stepped over and took a look: "How can there be such a big rat?"
Bai Yujing shone his flashlight on the rat. Its fur was dry and thin, looking like it had been starving for some time. "Water Rat, commonly known as Water Rat. They exist in South America; the largest can grow up to 1.5 meters long and weigh around 200 pounds. This one is considered small, but we rarely see them here, and there are basically no species this large around. I didn't expect to encounter such a big one here!"
Zhou Jun looked on in amazement: "Wow, what does this rat eat to grow so big? Look at its teeth; if it crawled out of here, it could eat a person. An ordinary person would stand no chance against such a monstrous creature!"
Bai Yujing nodded: "That's why this place is extremely dangerous. Moreover, these rats usually appear in groups. No wonder hardly anyone dares to come here; with creatures like this around, anyone who enters would be completely devoured!"
Zhou Jun glanced around: "Are you saying there’s a whole pack of these things in this area?"
Bai Yujing nodded, "Be careful. These creatures thrive in water. There isn't much to eat down here; they must be surviving on the fish from the Underground River. Those that have come up here are likely lost and haven't eaten for who knows how many days. Seeing us walk around has driven them mad!"
As the two continued downward, they indeed encountered several of these giant rats, just as Bai Yujing had said. Each one was as difficult to handle as a fierce dog, and in the darkness, their aggressiveness increased. When two or three of them pounced at once, Bai Yujing found it somewhat troublesome and tricky.
Zhou Jun crouched down, pushing away a giant rat whose head had been partially severed, wiping the blood from his face. "This is disgusting. Why are there more of these things the deeper we go?"
Bai Yujing pulled Zhou Jun up and took out the Water Vein Map from underground, also pulling out a compass to determine their direction. He made a mark on the Water Vein Map. "Encountering these monsters means we're on the right track; they come from the Underground River."
Bai Yujing decided not to use any terrain detection robots; it was enough to look at the geological Water Vein Map and confirm their direction. They just needed to follow this artificially dug path downward.
The waterway was not very smooth either; many places were quite steep. Originally, there were Stairs connected with wooden frames, some of which could still provide some support, but the Stairs had completely rotted away. Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun had to think of other ways to descend.
Some cliffs were seven or eight meters high; the two could manage with a helping hand, but for those that were over ten meters deep, Bai Yujing and Zhou Jun could only use ropes or other methods to get down.
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