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墨書 Inktalez
Nothing fell. Aside from the pounding of my heart, I could hear no other sound. My face twisted in tension, fear, and perhaps anger, making me feel extremely uncomfortable. I felt incapable of standing here any longer; it wasn't just a matter of courage or physical strength, but a combination of various factors that formed this ability. I felt a fear more terrifying than death itself, though I couldn't pinpoint what I was afraid of—perhaps it was simply fear of fear. But it truly brought me close to the brink of collapse.
I didn't know how I left Branch. I had become numb; if I weren't numb, I feared I wouldn't even be able to move my legs.
The flames ahead had stopped, waiting for me. I walked slowly toward them, desperately trying to calm myself. I couldn't bring panic to them. As I stepped into the light of the torch, I felt my face returning to normal. I couldn't see my own complexion, but at least it was no longer so distorted.
"Nothing fell?" Zhao Squad Leader asked me with a trembling voice.
Two bare feet without Boots couldn't possibly go unnoticed. I forced myself to remain calm: "Wearing one Boot would be even weirder, so I threw it away."
"I told you it was a ghost. Do you believe us now?" Liu Squad Leader cried out in despair.
I knew this matter might not be hidden from them, but I didn't expect their reaction to be so quick and intense. Driven nearly mad by this situation already, upon hearing Liu Squad Leader's despondent words, I finally erupted: "What the hell are you so paranoid about? Have you ever seen a ghost? Have you ever heard of a ghost that eats Boots? There must be something wrong with this passage, but it's definitely not a ghost!"
My words seemed to bring some rationality back to Liu Squad Leader. Although I was also terrified of this situation, I didn't simply categorize it as supernatural; such a simplistic classification might seem like an explanation but only added to the confusion and would lead us to lose our normal judgment.
"Exactly. What kind of ghost would like stinky Boots? Unless it's trying to scare us—what's there to fear from a ghost that only scares?" Zhao Squad Leader quickly recovered from his fear.
"No matter how bizarre this situation is, we currently lack the ability to uncover the truth. It won't cause us any real harm; it's best if we ignore it like blind men. Otherwise, we'll be driven mad by it. If this is the work of something intelligent, then that is its goal." I quickly laid out my analysis. "We've already wasted too much time here. If we can't prove my guesses about the terrain before the torches run out, we'll just be blindly circling around or waiting for Xiao Guolin and the others to find us. But that's too passive; they might be even more passive than we are—I mean their mental state. If they encounter what we just faced, they're more likely to break down than we are. We need to hurry and find them before they run into trouble; otherwise, neither group will make it out."
Yes, that was obvious. Most resources were with them, especially the torches. But their mental state was concerning; one was already struggling mentally, and the other two wouldn't be stronger than me or Zhao Squad Leader. Even if they scattered, it would spell disaster for them.
Yet no matter what I did, I couldn't change Liu Squad Leader's perception; he stubbornly believed that this unexplainable event was caused by ghosts. I was grateful that he didn't have the torch; otherwise, he might suddenly lose control and run off without knowing where he would lead us. For now, he could only follow the torch because those who feared ghosts also feared the dark.
To speed things up, I decided not to have the three of us walk in parallel but instead used a method I devised. I took the torch from Zhao Squad Leader and walked ahead, alternating my hands to illuminate both sides of the Cave Wall. This significantly increased our pace, and before long, we arrived at the next Branch. There were no signs left by Xiao Guolin here, so I quickly made a mark and proceeded to the next Branch.
At this point, I had already resolved to use my makeshift method to find our way out since neither Zhao Squad Leader nor Liu Squad Leader had proposed a better suggestion, and my plan had received their approval. Therefore, at this junction, I not only indicated our direction of travel but also marked my assumptions and our next action plan.
The method was simple: I drew a diagram on the Cave Wall with a hard object, depicting a cross-section of a honeycomb. The central Hexagon represented the area we were currently exploring. If we considered the Branch that Zhao Squad Leader and Liu Squad Leader had explored as the first Branch we had investigated, serving as our Starting Point, we had already explored five Branches. After one more Branch, we would return to the Starting Point—the one that Zhao Squad Leader and Liu Squad Leader had explored. If things went as I expected, our next step would be to turn left at that point and enter the second layer of exploration. Our direction in the second layer would still be clockwise.
The diagram was straightforward and intuitive; I believed that both Xiao Guolin and Cao Mingzhe would understand my intentions at a glance. The advantage of this approach was that if they saw the diagram, they wouldn’t need to follow us but could directly enter the second layer from any Branch and explore in reverse. The two groups would meet in the shortest time possible.
When we reached the Starting Point, the light from the torch was already dimming. Here, I found the marks left by Zhao Squad Leader, confirming my assumptions. We took a moment in the middle of the Branch to finalize our next plan and replenish some food and water.
It was my insistence to do this in the middle of the Branch; to dispel fear, we needed to acclimate ourselves to this environment. Of course, another reason that forced me to stick with this decision was that in our upcoming exploration, we would have to proceed in darkness.
Now we only had two torches; one was nearly burnt out while the other became our sole stable light source. Through this round of exploration, we had begun to discern the patterns of the passageways. To conserve our light source moving forward, we could only explore in darkness; we would only ignite the torch when reaching a Branch where we needed to make marks or check for any signs left by Xiao Guolin or others. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to sustain ourselves for long. The light source was too precious for us.
As I chewed on the tasteless fish meat, I looked up at the dark Ceiling. Under the dim torchlight, it appeared even more profound and eerie, like an abyss hanging above us. While struggling with the unpalatable fish meat, I silently cursed this damned place. At that moment, I had completely lost faith in finding Song Guilong.
Liu Squad Leader sat with his head down eating, hunched over as if he feared a hand might reach down from above to grab him. However, his ability to sit there showed he was making a significant effort; it also indicated he was beginning to adapt, which was crucial for our upcoming search.
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