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墨書 Inktalez
The Skylight was the entrance to an underground cave or the Underground River.
Old Liu exhaled a puff of smoke and began assigning tasks. "Leave one person up top for backup; the rest of us will go down." After that, he fell silent.
The others exchanged glances. The woman didn’t say a word; she simply took action, pulling climbing rope from her backpack and tossing it down the hole, quickly disappearing from sight. Next was Old Liu, who said as he descended, "We need someone to back us up; otherwise, we're all dead."
The three were momentarily speechless but knew they had to make a decision.
Xiao Boss quickly made arrangements: Second would stay above while I and Seven would go down.
Second immediately reacted strongly, expressing disagreement. At that moment, Seven spoke up, "How about I stay here?"
First shook his head and said to Second, "We're putting our lives in your hands." Second's expression faltered for a moment before dimming, tacitly accepting the decision.
First and Seven soon vanished from sight. Second remained quietly above.
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Old Liu and the woman waited below. The entrance was about fifteen meters deep. Upon descending, the first impression was one of cold dampness and darkness.
The flashlight beams struggled to penetrate the gloom.
The ground they stood on was still a patch of dry land, though it felt slightly soft underfoot, sinking a bit with each step.
"Everyone be cautious," Old Liu advised.
As the leader, Old Liu always walked at the front. Given their current direction, there should be paths both ahead and behind. Without any hesitation, Old Liu chose to move forward. The beams from several flashlights scattered wildly in the dimness below.
First and Seven walked side by side, with Seven directing the light toward the wall, examining the texture above. He said to First, "The terrain here is likely limestone."
First did not respond. Seven continued, "There may have been significant geological activity here."
"What is geological activity?" First asked.
Seven explained, "Things like landslides, mudflows, and volcanic activity, among others." Can you determine what might have happened here?
Seven shook his head. "I can't make that judgment."
First patted Seven on the shoulder but remained silent.
The group continued walking without pausing; Old Liu was very purposeful.
Suddenly, the sound of water could be heard, growing louder as they approached. Seven exclaimed in surprise, "It's the Underground River."
Sure enough, as they got closer, they discovered a rushing Underground River. The water flowed swiftly, appearing almost black in this environment.
At that moment, Old Liu stopped. Once the four of them stood still, he stared silently at the water's surface. The woman moved closer to the riverbank to inspect something.
Seven did not stop either; he walked toward the water's edge. First approached Old Liu, who spoke before First could say anything. "What we need is underwater."
Underwater? A wave of unease washed over First. Old Liu took a puff from his cigarette and nodded.
First lifted his gaze to the water's surface and asked, "How do we get down there?"
As these words were spoken, the sound of splashing water from the Underground River echoed. Seven shouted, "This is bad. That woman fell in."
Old Liu reacted quickly, rushing to the riverbank and crouching down to examine the traces left by the woman when she fell. Old Liu's expression changed.
First followed closely behind and asked, "Seven, what happened?"
Seven replied, "That woman just flipped over and jumped into the river." First's pupils constricted. At that moment, Old Liu spoke up, "The water in this river is acidic; a person can't stay in it for too long. Back in the day..." Old Liu's words trailed off. Both of them turned their gaze toward him.
Old Liu slowly fiddled with his pipe, taking a puff once it was ready. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "You are still young."
Then, taking advantage of their unpreparedness, he suddenly jumped in. The splashes of water hit both their faces. Although First had already reacted at that moment, it was still too late. The two stared blankly at the river's surface.
First wiped the droplets off his face and said, "Seven, you wait here." He quickly took off his backpack and jumped in. However, unlike the previous two who had vanished without a trace, he was swept downstream by the current.
The river flowed in a different direction than where they had entered, so First was carried to the other side. He had no chance to climb back up and struggled in the water.
Seeing this situation, Seven anxiously shouted, "Big Brother, try to swim toward the shore!" Quickly pulling out a rope from his backpack with one end tied to a water bottle, he threw it over. When First was dragged back up, he felt a surge of frustration and cursed, "What on earth is that old fool selling in his gourd?"
Seven looked at First in surprise. First didn't notice. He tidied himself up and took out a change of clothes from his backpack. After changing, he stared at the water's surface, wondering if there was something strange about this river.
Seven snapped back to reality and said, "Maybe."
He crouched down again and used the flashlight's beam to carefully examine the flow of the Underground River.
If there were no issues with this river, they shouldn't have been able to stay underwater for so long. They should have surfaced quickly; however, they hadn't. Seven collected his thoughts.
Suddenly, First said, "This flashlight isn't waterproof."
Seven casually shook the flashlight, its light scattering in all directions. "You seem to know quite a bit!" Seven remarked. Without waiting for a response, he declared, "I'm going down to check the situation." With that, he took a rope from his backpack and tied it around his waist, tossing the other end to First. In one swift motion, Seven jumped into the river with a splash. Soon, silence enveloped him.
First sensed the shift in Seven's emotions and instinctively touched his own face, scraping off a piece of skin. Looking at the raw patch on his hand, his expression changed as he cursed under his breath, "Damn it." A murderous intent began to brew within him.
Unconsciously tightening his grip on the rope in his hand, he pulled out a dagger and cut the rope.
Underwater, Seven felt the rope slip away and was immediately engulfed by despair. He prepared to surface to confront First. However, at that moment, something snagged his backpack, preventing him from escaping. As a soldier, he couldn't abandon his pack unless absolutely necessary. Seven struggled fiercely, but his breath was running low, and his cheeks were puffing up from holding it in. He thought to himself, "I have to get rid of this backpack; otherwise, I might lose my life."
Just then, several stray bullets pierced through the water's surface. Seven barely had time to react as one bullet grazed his arm, leaving a bloody gash. Above him, First let out a sinister chuckle upon witnessing this outcome and moved on without hesitation.
Down below, Seven's situation grew increasingly dire; oxygen was severely depleted and he was starting to feel dizzy. Unable to hold it any longer, he choked on some water and struggled desperately. Finally, the backpack loosened enough for him to escape; however, in his frantic effort, he sank deeper.
At this point, his consciousness began to blur as a current surged beneath him, pulling Seven away from the surface.
When Seven regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a riverbank. Aside from being able to move his fingers, he felt almost lifeless; blood had drained from the wound on his arm.
After what felt like several moments had passed, Seven managed to roll over and remove the backpack still strapped to him. Instantly feeling lighter but also aware of the pain radiating from his injury.
Turning his head to inspect the wound, he could faintly see dark stains. Quickly shedding his upper clothing, Seven retrieved a first-aid kit he'd prepared earlier and tossed aside everything else before taking out the powder given to him by Third.
The wound on Seven's arm was about ten centimeters long and over a centimeter deep; it looked gruesome with the surface already beginning to rot. Realizing he needed to clean out the necrotic tissue before applying any medicine or risk infection, he recalled how a comrade had died from tetanus due to improper wound care during their service.
Gritting his teeth, Seven pulled out his dagger and bit down on the fabric of his discarded shirt. Better short pain than long suffering; with determination, he made an incision that penetrated deep into the flesh until he finished. By then, sweat soaked through him completely and tears threatened to spill from his eyes. At that moment, Seven felt utterly drained as he sprinkled the powder onto the wound. Instantly, an indescribable wave of agony hit him; unable to bear it any longer, he let out a scream before instinctively succumbing to unconsciousness.
When Seven woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky. His lips were cracked like parched earth, desperately needing moisture. In a daze, he called out for water. Suddenly, he rolled over and ran to the riverbank to drink. The water was unremarkable, and after quenching his thirst, Seven slowly calmed down. Only then did the surrounding environment come into focus; it was still a Stone Forest, but the stones varied in size and were tangled together.
The river flowing through the middle was shallow, with the water just reaching his knees. From a higher vantage point, this small river resembled a silver dragon weaving through the vast expanse of the Stone Forest.
At the river's outlet was a dark cave entrance, deep and foreboding.
Instinctively, Seven rummaged through his recently discarded clothes for the map. The map had been soaked and most of its details had faded, making it nearly impossible to decipher. However, this didn't pose a significant problem for Seven. He carefully recalled the contents of the map but realized that this area wasn't marked on it. He tapped his head in frustration when suddenly his stomach emitted a "distress" signal.
Seven emptied his backpack onto the ground, laying out its contents: a shovel, a dagger, some relief medications, and food. Fortunately, since it was military rations, it hadn't been damaged by water. He estimated it could last about seven days but thought that if he rationed carefully, it might stretch to ten days or even half a month.
Then he remembered something important and cursed, "Damn it! How dare they ambush me? I will settle this score one day." His mind settled on the fact that First had been swapped out. Although he hadn't clearly seen the person's features earlier, he had formed a rough image in his mind; however, Seven couldn't definitively identify who it was.
He took a compressed biscuit and crouched by the riverbank for half an hour to drink water before saying, "This damn thing... But right now I need you to save my life."
He also found some fire-starting materials, but they too had become unusable. Seven took out a fire starter and blew on it with all his might until his cheeks nearly burst. Finally, after much effort, the fire starter ignited, bringing hope to unfortunate Seven. After extinguishing it, he tucked it into his pocket. He repacked his belongings and began to carefully assess his current surroundings.
Seven put on a spare set of clothes that smelled slightly musty.
But without a map, even Seven found himself at a loss; he could only proceed step by step as he groped his way forward. He slung his military pack over his shoulder and followed the river upstream. He needed to figure out what was going on when suddenly he spun around and shouted, "Who’s there? Come out! No hiding!"
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