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墨書 Inktalez
"First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! Now, I need to wash up and head to work. I really envy those who get to celebrate the New Year at home."
At that moment, my stomach grumbled unexpectedly. It seemed contagious, as I could hear a series of rumbling sounds echoing in my ears from the others—Lao People, Vietnamese, Americans—all responding with the sounds of their own hungry bellies.
I turned to Jack and said, "Let's fill our stomachs first. We need the energy to deal with the troubles ahead."
"Sure thing," Jack replied, regaining his calm demeanor. "We were just discussing this. Since you want to play the benefactor and continue being the boss, you can decide. Should we have a big meal or ration our food?"
I was momentarily confused and asked, "The food is with you guys, and your backpacks haven't been lost. You should have enough to last us a week, right?"
"Yes, we treat our backpacks as if they are our lives," Jack said, casting a sideways glance at me and the Lao People. The implication was clear; he was reprimanding us for irresponsibly losing our backpack. "But we lost one person. Unfortunately, his backpack contained most of our food."
I knew he was referring to Ah Xiang. In this environment, losing food was critical.
I thought for a moment and realized we couldn't be in such dire straits. I told Jack, "There’s water here, so there must be life. We can't possibly starve."
Jack fell silent for a moment, and I sensed that the two people roasting clothes also became quiet in that instant. Although they had been silent before, at that moment, their silence spoke volumes.
"There’s no life here. At least not in this area; maybe downstream there is—who knows? Let’s hope so," Jack said with a hint of resignation in his voice.
"How is that possible?" I asked in disbelief. "There’s running water and suitable temperatures; even without sunlight, there are organisms that adapt to dark environments."
"Want to know why?" Jack looked at me with questioning eyes. But before I could respond, he continued, "I can take you to see for yourself; it will be clear as day. It's not far, but I can't take you to the center area. First, we need to fill our stomachs; I don’t have the strength to lead on an empty stomach."
With that, Jack grabbed a backpack from beside him, unzipped it, and dumped its contents out. "All the food is here. So what will it be—a big meal or split it into two?" His tone carried a hint of teasing.
I took a look around. There really wasn't much food. Letting go of my reservations, I thought that the five of us could finish it all in one sitting. I'm not a god, nor do I want to make decisions for everyone. I divided the food into five portions and glanced at everyone. The other four were also looking at me.
"One portion for each person. Take what you want. Decide how much to eat and how much to save. I suggest not eating it all at once, but of course, that's just a suggestion." After dividing it into five portions, each looked even more pitiful.
Jack stuffed a pile of food into his jacket pockets; two pockets were enough to hold it, and they still weren't full. He tore open a package of compressed food and took a bite, sighing, "I really miss Ah Xiang."
I shot him a disdainful glance; I could believe he missed the food in Ah Xiang's backpack.
However, Jack's words triggered someone else's tears—A San.
I handed him a portion of food and patted his shoulder in comfort. A San took the food but became even sadder. "He still owes me money."
Damn it. As soon as I heard that, I turned around and sat down. I had always felt that these two Vietnamese didn't share a deep bond; A San was more afraid of Ah Xiang than anything else. His feelings about Ah Xiang's death couldn't be deeper than mine. Now it was clear—he was heartbroken over his money, not over Ah Xiang's life.
I ate a little something; there was too little food, so I could only stave off hunger without daring to eat more. The little bit in my stomach couldn't provide enough energy, but at least it gave me some spirit, and my senses gradually returned to normal.
I realized that the constant noise in my ears was the sound of water. We were in a cave; the sound of water in this almost enclosed environment was different from that on the surface—not the crisp splashing sound but rather muffled, as if stones were rolling in the water, producing a rumbling noise.
I pulled out a piece of firewood from the fire pit, wanting to observe my surroundings more closely, but ended up with only a few inches long stick. I tossed it back and pulled out several more, all equally short.
I glanced at Jack; he was focused on licking clean the crumbs of compressed food from the packaging like a dog. Although I found it incredible that they had meticulously chopped the wood into such small pieces for kindling, I didn't disturb him while he licked away. Perhaps they were doing it for convenience when starting a fire; that made sense.
Holding up a piece of firewood, I stood up and walked toward the direction of the water sound. Thankfully, my clothes had dried and were on me; otherwise, wandering around in just my underwear would have been quite embarrassing. After taking seven or eight steps, I finally saw the water—it was flowing strongly—but the pavement was about a foot below where we stood. It seemed to be an underground river, roughly seven or eight meters wide.
I frowned the moment I saw the Pavement. The water under the firelight was clear, likely due to its depth, as I couldn't see the bottom. However, the situation on the Pavement was laid bare; there were many wood shavings floating on it, the largest of which was about half a foot long, similar to the Firewood in my hand.
I gently crouched down and reached into the water. It was slightly cool, a familiar temperature, the rainwater that had gathered from the Valley. I spread my fingers like a rake to filter through the water, and soon I had a handful of wood shavings. The shavings were fresh, with a distinct scent that indicated they were not from dead wood.
After observing for a while, I tossed the wood shavings back into the water and walked upstream along the riverbank.
The riverbank was not straight; there were obvious Erosion Marks present. There were no sharp edges; all protruding parts had been smoothed by the flowing water. The bank also bore signs of Erosion, suggesting that this recent flood, which nearly cost us our lives, was not the worst this Valley had seen. There had been larger floods before, ones that had submerged the bank beneath my feet. The lower part of the bank showed signs of being hollowed out by flowing water. I couldn't estimate how much had been eroded, but at least the section beneath my feet was empty; I could feel the sound of flowing water and a slight vibration beneath me.
At one point, the riverbank sharply narrowed. The width of the riverbed didn't change much; it was this relatively flat space on the bank that became narrower and quickly disappeared. Further upstream, there were no accessible banks on either side of the water; above the Pavement were some oddly shaped Stalactites.
I now understood roughly that we were on a flat section of riverbank that dipped into a cave. The width of the Underground River remained unchanged here.
From this point, I left the Pavement and walked into this cave, witnessing a remarkable sight. (To Be Continued...)
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