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墨書 Inktalez
Several people exchanged glances.
Cong Fei briefly recounted his experience of entering.
The moment he fell, he saw something leap out from the cave, but relying on his agility and prior preparation, he dodged just in time. The thing missed him and activated a mechanism on the ground, causing a stone slab to press down. He narrowly avoided it, but then saw all the stone slabs open up, leaving him no chance to escape, and he fell in.
All of this happened in an instant; those above had not seen clearly at all.
It was only after Cong Fei fell that he discovered a passage beneath the stone slab that was just wide enough for a person to enter and exit. He rolled for quite a while before reaching the bottom, but he did not encounter that thing. After getting up and lighting his Firestarter, he realized that the surrounding paths were interconnected. After pondering for a while, he found a sloping path and climbed up, hearing voices from afar before finally running out.
"That was close; we almost released that thing."
"We need to leave here quickly," Cong Fei said. "I suspect this mechanism is primarily designed to prevent whatever is inside from coming out, which is why such a cyclical mechanism was set up. Once you trigger the mechanism to enter, you can inevitably come out from inside, creating a loop that keeps whatever is inside trapped forever. Although we don't know why someone would set up such a mechanism here, it's clear that caution is warranted."
Cong Fei had torn his clothes and scraped his face in the cave, so he simply had Mei Shuang disinfect the wounds.
With wolves above, they couldn't go back up, so they decided to venture deeper into the cave.
Each person held a torch, illuminating the interior significantly and allowing them to see several dozen meters ahead.
After passing through a narrow section, they suddenly found themselves in an open area. With the light from the torches, they could see rainwater seeping into the soft rock of the mountain, carving out natural caves above.
Cold winds howled through the cave; the deep and dark passages interwove within the mountain's belly like a dense network resembling karst terrain.
Upon seeing this situation, everyone was stunned. There were at least dozens of passages in all directions—upward, downward, near and far—like a maze. Which direction should they take?
Even Cong Fei, who was familiar with caves, frowned; it was evident that most of these passages were meant to confuse people. Only a few truly led to the other side. However, it was currently impossible to discern which ones were which.
Everyone turned their gaze toward Mei Shuang, implying she should decide how to choose. Mei Shuang was at a loss for words.
Mei Shuang suddenly recalled the dream she once had, where she instructed everyone to hold up torches to illuminate the surroundings. After watching for a while, Mei Shuang murmured in a daze, "Yes, it's right here..."
"Where?" everyone asked curiously.
"I once dreamed of this place. It seems that dream was accurate; the closer we get, the clearer the vision becomes," Mei Shuang said.
Upon hearing Mei Shuang say this, everyone felt a surge of excitement; it seemed they were nearing their goal.
"Then where do you think we should go?" Shijieyu asked impatiently.
Although the cave was spacious, it was pitch dark everywhere, and the cold wind howled around them, sending chills down their spines. Standing inside for too long was indeed unsettling.
Mei Shuang shook her head. "I only dreamed of standing on a narrow path about a foot wide, surrounded by thick fog, unable to see anything clearly..."
Everyone looked around; there were countless paths branching out in all directions, with at least a dozen that were about a foot wide. However, regardless of the number, the area they needed to search had indeed narrowed down.
They examined the paths closely; several led upward, a few went downward, and others ran parallel to different locations.
But then again, something felt off—there was no sign of thick fog anywhere.
Could it be that this wasn't the right place? Everyone felt a bit disheartened.
Suddenly, Kato spotted something red flickering in a cave at the bottom level. It seemed to shimmer in the darkness.
He pointed towards it. "What do you think that is?"
With Mei Shuang's eyesight, she could only make out what appeared to be glowing embers in the distance, and it seemed there was a layer of mist obscuring her view.
"Could it be a gem?" Shijieyu responded quickly.
Kato's vision was astonishing in the darkness. He stared intently and suddenly his face changed slightly as he said, "Those aren't gems; those are the eyes of living creatures."
At this remark, several people were taken aback.
The most terrified was Mei Shuang. She recalled the countless red eyes from her dream, causing her scalp to tingle and her heart to race. "This is it, no doubt about it. Those red eyes... they will eat people."
Almost simultaneously, red eyes appeared in every cave, like small red lanterns flickering in the dark, watching them. In an instant, it seemed as if the red eyes surrounded them.
The caves varied in distance, and the range of the torches was limited, barely allowing them to see that in some caves, the red eyes were not high off the ground. It was impossible to guess whether they belonged to small animals or reptiles; if they were reptiles, they could be quite large.
The group slowly huddled together, each holding a torch and bracing for what was to come.
Cong Fei recognized these creatures; they were the same ones that had attacked him earlier. A chill ran down his spine as he glanced toward the cave entrance, where he faintly saw the sky lightening.
These creatures rested during the day and only came out at night. With dawn approaching, they had been resting, and their voices had clearly disturbed them.
The red eyes awakened from their slumber, adjusting to the dark environment. They were evidently extremely uncomfortable with the sudden light. More than their eyes, they relied on their sense of smell and hearing. Sensing the unfamiliar scent of intruders, they stirred.
Finally, one lazily crawled out of the cave.
By the firelight, it became clear that this was a small creature resembling an otter, with thick black fur and a neck adorned with long hair resembling steel needles. It appeared clumsy but moved with surprising agility.
Soon after, countless "otters" crawled across the paths in all directions, their red eyes blinking. In an instant, black waves filled the road.
In such a situation, even with three heads and six arms, one would be utterly unable to withstand an attack from the "otters."
Exchanging glances, the group shouted in unison, "Run!"
They immediately turned and rushed toward the cave entrance in a frantic dash.
Moments later, they arrived at the location of the mechanism outside. Shijieyu was running ahead, just about to step onto the stone slab when she was suddenly pulled back by Cong Fei from behind.
Cong Fei threw a stone at the slab.
The slab immediately triggered, flipping over with a splash and revealing a dark hole underneath. Cong Fei remembered the hole he had fallen into earlier, quickly inserting an iron rod into the gap of the slab to block the mechanism, then jumped in first, followed closely by Shijieyu. A few others jumped in like dumplings, leaving only Anriyan and Mei Shuang behind.
The "otters" from behind had already surged forward, their red eyes resembling floating little red lights crowding the entrance of the hole.
Voices of several people inside were filled with urgency, "Hurry! Hurry!"
With less than ten meters to go, Mei Shuang suddenly turned pale. She lifted her foot to step forward but saw that the iron rod could no longer hold its position. With a few clattering sounds, the rod was forcibly pushed aside by the immense power of the slab, which then snapped back to the center and stood upright.
The people below had realized this problem and quickly formed a human tower. Cong Fei exerted all his strength to try to hold the iron rod in place while Anriyan also used an iron fan from above to keep it steady. The pressure on the slab eased slightly, but it was still slowly closing, leaving just enough space for someone to squeeze through.
Mei Shuang hesitated for a moment and turned to Anriyan, asking, "What will you do if I jump down?"
Anriyan was taken aback; he had never considered this question. The situation before them left no time for hesitation. Suddenly feeling warmth in his heart, he said, "Jump quickly; I have a way to get out."
Just as he spoke, the slab had already closed three-quarters of the way. The iron rod could no longer withstand the force, and as the slab continued to close, anxious voices came from below, "What's going on?!"
Outside, daylight had already broken. The wolves above were still lingering at the entrance of the hole, reluctant to leave. Upon seeing a few people emerge, they became excited and anxious, pacing along the edge of the hole.
The group of "otters" had also reached the edge of the hole. Anriyan pulled Mei Shuang, who was pale and trembling, into his embrace and whispered softly, "They must be looking for the switch to this mechanism; I hope I can hold them off until then."
Mei Shuang was speechless; it seemed today was going to be her last.
As if receiving an order, the "otters" in front suddenly stopped in their tracks and stood still, their bright red eyes blinking.
Originally on high alert, Mei Shuang suddenly realized, "They must know how dangerous this mechanism is and dare not come here easily. It seems this mechanism is meant to prevent whatever is inside from coming out."
Anriyan also said, "That's right, this mechanism still has some buffer time; we just don't know if we can hold on until then."
Seeing that nothing was coming out from inside, Mei Shuang felt at least half relieved. "As long as they don't come out, we're safe. We just need to wait patiently for a while."
Before she finished speaking, she felt her body tighten as Anriyan had already shifted positions with her. At the same time, a dark brown figure flashed before them, exuding a strong stench. Anriyan kicked it, and the wolf's hefty body slammed against the wall beside the cave entrance.
The wolf pack could no longer hold back; one wolf was eager to leap forward but was pushed down by the wolves behind it.
Although that wolf was injured from the fall, its hunger outweighed its pain, making the prey in front of it even more enticing.
Fueled by hatred and hunger, it howled and charged at Anriyan.
Anriyan did not take this wolf seriously. With a powerful strike from the iron fan, he hit the wolf squarely on the head and then kicked it, surprisingly sending the wolf flying into the cave entrance.
The "otters" that had been waiting scattered at the sight of the incoming wolf but quickly regrouped. The wolf was soon surrounded by red eyes, a dark mass closing in. Before long, howls of despair echoed from within the cave, and then silence fell.
At this moment, Anriyan was vigorously striking the stone slab with his iron fan, but the slab showed no response.
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