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墨書 Inktalez
Upon seeing A San's expression, both Jack and I became alert at the same time. Jack's One-Eyed Beast Flashlight followed the gaze of the Vietnamese and shone toward it.
A San's line of sight wasn't directed at the area above our heads; it was slightly off, likely aimed directly above the Underground River. As the flashlight illuminated that direction, Jack and I frowned simultaneously.
"What the hell is that?" Jack cursed under his breath.
"Dammit," I echoed his sentiment.
It was a massive black hole right above the river. When Jack's One-Eyed Beast Flashlight shone into it, it vanished without a trace, like a drop of water sinking into sand, leaving us only with a sense of darkness but no visibility of what lay within.
Before we set out, I had once again secured my One-Eyed Beast Flashlight to my waist. In truth, it was hard to lose the flashlight if we didn't go into the water. I had become wary of losing things; I still had a spare flashlight, but I couldn't afford to lose batteries. Additionally, I didn't want to see Jack's expression; he always took the opportunity to remind me about losing things. This had become his excuse to tease me, and I didn't want to give him any more ammunition.
I quickly pulled out my One-Eyed Beast Flashlight and aimed both flashlights at the black hole. If anything changed, it would be like two drops of water falling into sand.
Jack looked at the black hole. "Let's get a little closer; the angle here isn't good."
I didn’t look at him but nodded thoughtfully. "Alright."
I felt that what I feared was about to manifest. I couldn't know what might be inside that black hole; I couldn't even begin to guess. It felt like this place, including this Valley, shared similarities with Lop Nur and the Underground Passage—both were unfathomable and beyond reason. It was time for a desperate gamble; at least I needed to be prepared for that.
I handed a Glow Stick to Fumi. He was the least busy among us; there wasn't much he could do except hold a light. I hoped he could serve as a competent lampstand.
Then I bit down on my One-Eyed Beast Flashlight and with a click, chambered a round in my automatic rifle. I couldn’t manage to load the rifle one-handed. Even shooting one-handed was unimaginable for me; if that were the case, bullets would surely fly everywhere.
Hearing the sound of the bolt action, Jack turned his head toward me. "Is there danger?"
I shrugged and pulled out the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight from my mouth. "Who knows? But don't you think it's a bit unusual for a huge black hole to suddenly appear in a ceiling full of stalactites?"
I skillfully stuffed the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight back into my mouth, tilting my head to gesture forward.
Jack glanced at the AK-47 in my hand with a complicated expression, then cocked his submachine gun with a click. The submachine gun could be fired one-handed without much loss of accuracy, allowing Jack to hold the gun in one hand while using the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight for illumination with the other. What baffled me the most was that despite this, he still hadn’t handed the Glow Stick to the Vietnamese but instead tucked it into his collar.
A San must be really scared; I remembered him as not being particularly brave. Dealing drugs and arms in Southeast Asia isn’t something just anyone can do. Yet here he was, crouching on the ground with his hands over his head, as if an evil spirit lurked in that black hole above.
I instructed Lao People and A San to stay put while I followed Jack toward the Underground River.
There was a dam made of piled-up wood chips between us and the Underground River, resembling a slope along the riverbank. When Jack reached this wooden slope, he suddenly turned back to look at me with a lewd expression. "No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend."
His random comment left me confused and irritated. What did my lack of a girlfriend have to do with him? Wasn’t he single too?
I opened my mouth to respond but realized I had the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight clenched between my teeth, making it impossible to speak. I understood Jack's sleazy thoughts at that moment.
Watching Jack's increasingly lewd grin, I spat out the flashlight with a "pfft." I knew he was angry that I had taken his automatic rifle and was trying to undermine me, hoping to get it back somehow.
Although I was furious at his disgusting insinuations, I wouldn’t fall for his tricks. I spat again and wiped off the saliva stuck on the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight before tapping it against the wooden stock of the AK-47. "Right now, that doesn’t matter; sometimes I think of it as my girlfriend."
Jack turned his gaze toward my hand holding the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight and shrugged while suppressing laughter. "I thought it was your boyfriend."
Damn it. What was he thinking? His comment made me feel like I could bleed from embarrassment. This was the first time I had lost in a verbal sparring match with him, and it felt so disgusting. But by the time I tried to regain my footing, he had already turned around and climbed over the wooden slope.
I could only swallow my frustration. As long as I had this AK-47 in hand, I had no choice but to keep the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight in my mouth; otherwise, I'd end up getting knocked out by one of these stalactites or stone pillars.
As we reached the Underground River, there were fewer wood chips on the water's surface, and although the wooden slope along the riverbank wasn’t high, it was quite wide. From this, one could infer that by this point, there wouldn’t be much of a drop in water level; fluctuations upstream wouldn’t cause significant changes here.
Jack quickly stepped onto the decayed wooden slope and made his way to the riverbank. Between the river and the wooden slope lay a patch of dry ground. This time, what seemed like an apocalyptic flood to us was not the worst here; it might not even be considered significant, as it failed to wash away the debris piled up on the gentle slope by the river.
Jack immediately aimed the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight at the ceiling, while I directed my flashlight towards the pavement first, as my fear of what lay beneath the water was greater than that of what hovered above.
At this moment, the surface of the river was clean and calm. Not only could we not see any debris, but even the ripples of the flowing water were difficult to detect; one had to look closely to realize that the water was indeed moving. Naturally, we could not see the opposite bank of the river.
I kept my flashlight on the river surface for a long time before finally turning it towards the ceiling. There was still no sign of movement on the river, yet my heart could not settle. Even when my flashlight was aimed at the ceiling, I continued to glance at the pavement occasionally, relying on the faint glow from Jack's glow stick tucked into his collar.
The black hole in the ceiling was not as large as I had imagined; it should not exceed the range of the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight. However, we remained positioned below it at an angle and could not see its entirety; we could only infer its size based on what little we could observe.
I had no idea about the current width of the river, so I couldn't determine whether this black hole was at its center. If I were to enter the water, I thought it might resolve these uncertainties. However, faced with so many unknowns, I did not believe that getting into the water was a good idea and chose not to suggest it.
Yet, even without seeing the full extent of this black hole, its visible portion sent chills down my spine.
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