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墨書 Inktalez
In no time, a bloody skeleton was thrown out of the cave entrance, the wolf having been completely devoured.
The skeleton nearly landed on Mei Shuang, but fortunately, she managed to dodge in time.
The heavy smell of blood and the gruesome skeleton made Mei Shuang feel both terrified and nauseous; she covered her mouth, nearly vomiting.
The wolf pack above, witnessing this horrific scene, retreated in shock.
Mei Shuang clutched Anriyan's sleeve, her face pale and her voice trembling, "What... what should we do? Should we go up?"
"We need to go down and meet them soon," Anriyan replied.
He stood up and held Mei Shuang's icy hand, reassuring her, "At least it's safe here for now."
As the sky gradually brightened, the first rays of sunlight streamed into the forest, and the birds began to chirp.
Seeing the light, the "otters" at the cave entrance retreated into the darkness like a black tide. With that, Mei Shuang finally felt a weight lift from her throat.
Looking down, she noticed that Anriyan was still tightly holding her hand. She quickly pulled it back and asked, "What do you think has happened to the stone slab now?"
Anriyan also found it strange; after such a long time, there should have been some reaction if there had been any disturbance.
Suddenly he said, "Could it be because we've been standing on the slab all this time?"
He then pulled Mei Shuang to the cave entrance, stepped onto the edge of the opening, paused for a moment, and forcefully struck the stone slab with his iron fan. The slab indeed flipped over, and a wolf's corpse fell beneath one of the slabs.
The two were overjoyed. Just as Mei Shuang was about to step down, Cong Fei poked his head out from inside, covered in dirt. He urged them, "Hurry up! We need to leave here quickly. Now that the entrance is open, it's not safe anymore; some animals might come in."
Without hesitation, Anriyan lifted Mei Shuang by her waist and placed her inside. Cong Fei then stepped aside as Anriyan jumped in after her, and the stone door closed behind them.
The tunnel was long, and those inside had already lit a Firestarter, illuminating the passage brightly. The tunnel was man-made with smooth sides; it seemed that frequent friction from those "otters" stepping on the stone slab had caused this wear.
It was said that those black "otters" had instantly devoured every bit of the wolf; everyone was astonished that such seemingly clumsy creatures could be so efficient.
After walking through the tunnel for a while, Cong Fei climbed up a section and looked around for a moment. He turned back to signal everyone to slow down and extinguished the torch.
A few people crouched below, observing their surroundings. The "otters" had retreated at some point, each returning to their burrows to rest. The entire cave was as quiet as if nothing had ever happened.
"There is no path here, so we must go back to where we came from. The key is which way to choose?"
With the torch extinguished, the cave was pitch black, only distant flickers of light danced in the air like fireflies.
"There are quite a few of these things. What do they usually eat? Given their feeding speed, there must be a large supply of food... otherwise, how could they sustain themselves?"
Mei Shuang's question resonated with everyone; without a complete food chain, how could they survive?
After thinking for a while without any ideas, Mei Shuang suddenly had a flash of inspiration, recalling something from her dream. "I remember there were thin, dense root-like things growing beside that path."
This information undoubtedly lifted everyone's spirits. Although they all felt that every path might have such things, having any lead was better than groping in the dark.
"Alright, I'll go take a look, but we can't use the Firestarter. How will we see?" Cong Fei said.
"That's not difficult," Mei Shuang replied as she pulled out a small pouch from her belongings. When she opened it, several large Night Pearls were revealed. In the darkness, the Night Pearls emitted a faint glow.
Cong Fei took one of them and tucked it into his pocket before blending into the shadows like a cat.
Anriyan recognized the Night Pearl and thought that this woman must be favored by royalty; otherwise, how could she possess such a large Night Pearl?
With this thought, a sense of subtle disappointment washed over him, leaving an unpleasant feeling.
The group remained quietly in the darkness, hearing each other's breaths. Shijieyu sighed softly, "So this is all real..."
The treasures and the legendary tunnel were right before them.
Moreover, traces of human construction were evident throughout this tunnel. Just by covering the entrance with light, one could see how much effort had gone into setting up mechanisms here. The soil that seemed to grow from the roots of large trees indicated that this place had existed for more than ten or eight years.
"Since we are here, it means our visit is not in vain," Mei Shuang said softly.
"Do you remember when you arrived?" Shijieyu asked Mei Shuang.
Mei Shuang was taken aback and shook her head. "I never remember coming here; I have only seen it in dreams. Perhaps I came before, but I don't recall at all... In the past, I doubted whether this place existed, but today it seems that not only does this place exist, but it has also been artificially made to exist. So long ago, someone must have gotten here first..."
Anriyan naturally agreed with Mei Shuang's perspective.
He said, "Based on the current situation, it's hard to say whether this batch of treasures suddenly disappeared due to misfortune befalling those who were escorting them or if someone maliciously created the illusion of their disappearance to misreport military information. Regardless of either possibility, this place has indeed been claimed first as Miss Lin mentioned. We must guard against not only the attacks from nature but also against human schemes... It seems these traps are meant to protect what lies within..."
"We have faced numerous dangers along the way; it’s likely that this cave is even more perilous. We must be cautious," Cong Yue added.
After a brief discussion, Cong Fei returned, unable to hide his excitement. "Indeed, there is an upward path that leads to what Miss Lin mentioned; it appears to be a mark left by someone. Let's hurry over."
The group followed Cong Fei onto the path.
Suddenly, a thick fog flashed in Mei Shuang's mind, and she hurriedly said, "Wait."
Everyone immediately stopped. Mei Shuang whispered, "Did you just step onto this path?"
"I only touched those things you mentioned nearby."
"I have a vague feeling that this path might not be so simple," Mei Shuang hesitated.
"This path is no more than several dozen meters long; just now, with the ghost fire, I saw that it was only a few meters ahead. We can't waste time; I'll try going first."
Cong Fei gently raised the Night Pearl in his hand, its dim light illuminating five or six meters ahead, revealing only vague shadows in the distance.
Taking a deep breath, Cong Fei stepped onto the path and felt the gravel beneath his feet was somewhat loose. It took him only ten seconds to reach the other side. He looked inside the cave and then returned, raising the Night Pearl slightly to wave at everyone.
Shijieyu was the second to cross. He lightly stepped on the path and effortlessly made his way across with a few hops.
Mei Shuang looked at the path with trepidation, and soon Kato and Cong Yue followed.
Anriyan and Mei Shuang remained at the back. Seeing Mei Shuang hesitate, Anriyan simply picked her up horizontally, and after a few jumps, they safely crossed.
Just as Anriyan landed, the path suddenly became unstable, and thick fog rose on both sides, quickly enveloping the path.
The scene from her dream had indeed come true, leaving everyone shocked and horrified by Mei Shuang's earlier predictions. Regardless of whether the fog was toxic, being even a moment late would result in being covered by the fog, losing all sense of direction.
Mei Shuang's heart raced; everything seemed to validate her dream.
Staring at the fog ahead, she momentarily lost her composure. Anriyan quickly took Mei Shuang's hand and pulled her along, embracing her as they hurried to catch up with the others climbing up into the cave. He raised the Night Pearl to look down, only to see that the thick fog below seemed to conceal some black shadows moving within it.
"It must be that we triggered some mechanism while crossing earlier, but we don't know what this fog is. However, its sudden appearance is suspicious; we need to leave immediately."
Cong Fei led the way ahead while the others followed closely behind.
The cave was spacious enough to accommodate six people side by side. They ran quickly through the long cave until they heard a faint sound of water coming from within.
Hearing water made them realize how long they had been running and how thirsty they were.
Upon exiting the cave, they discovered a wide flat area outside, protruding like a semicircle and measuring several dozen square meters.
They lit torches to illuminate their surroundings and soon found that in front of the flat area was seemingly a cliff connected by a long wooden suspension bridge that stretched out of sight; the sound of water was coming from below.
Leaning over the edge of the flat area allowed them to see a river resembling the Dark River rushing past. With the light from their torches, they could see that the river was about several yards wide and was black in color.
Disappointment washed over them; this colored water was certainly undrinkable.
Cong Yue and Kato still had a few Mantis in their bags, which they shared with everyone.
Cong Fei found a stone nearby and threw it into the river, causing quite a splash on the surface. This helped them determine that the Dark River was several yards below them and about half a yard deep.
Suddenly, at the place where rocks were falling on the Dark River, a surge of bubbles erupted, followed by a massive splash of water. A huge, fish-like head emerged, resembling a catfish, with two large, protruding, degenerated white eyes on top. Behind the eyes, a ghostly blue glow reflected in the firelight.
This scene was witnessed by Mei Shuang, who was nearby gnawing on a Mantis. She shuddered and dropped the Mantis from her hand.
The creature suddenly opened its mouth, which resembled thick lips, creating a gash across its head. Its mouth was nearly as large as its body, and once opened, its densely packed teeth were exposed. For anyone suffering from trypophobia, it would be impossible not to feel overwhelmed. The Mantis fell into that mouth like a grain of rice dropping into an ocean bowl.
Seeing that nothing else had fallen, the creature appeared somewhat agitated and eventually flipped over, its barrel-like body sinking down into the depths.
"I've seen pictures of this kind of Monster Fish," Mei Shuang said, swallowing hard. "This fish should only appear in the deep sea. Although we are in the deep mountains here, we are thousands of feet above ground; how could this thing possibly appear?"
When Mei Shuang spoke, everyone was astonished.
Having traveled together for some time, they had witnessed Mei Shuang's extensive knowledge; her words could not be doubted. However, it was indeed puzzling.
To be honest, even if that suspension bridge could bear the weight of a person, just thinking about that disgusting creature below made walking across it quite unsettling.
Since it was not suitable to linger here any longer, it was decided that Cong Fei would lead the way across the suspension bridge.
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