Chapter Twelve: The Underground River

  I asked little brother Beast how he suddenly disappeared without saying a word, I thought you were swallowed by a big snake or fell somewhere and died.

  The animal's face was deathly pale, and he asked me to take the flashlight and shine it everywhere. He shone it for several rounds, but didn't find anything. It wasn't until then that he told me with a lingering fear in his heart that when he went to one side to prepare to pull down his pants, a sticky tentacle stretched out from who-knows-where and grabbed his ankle, pulling him back. His head hit the rock and then everything went black. When he came to, he found himself standing here, which was really too strange and too terrifying.

  Just now what stuck the beast on the top of the cave's stone wall was some kind of sticky liquid, what thing is that? It will also stretch out tentacles.

  I shone my light on the top of the cave again, but didn't find any monsters stuck to it. The beast asked me where I had arrived and how I got down. I was too lazy to answer, let's talk about it when we get out, now there is only one flashlight left, hurry up and find an exit!

  The beast was still chattering behind me, saying that I'm not a reliable person, but he still had to follow me, just like a five-year-old kid. After leaving the water pool, we encountered another fork in the road, and this time it wasn't three forks, but five! There were five cave entrances on the stone wall in front of us, each one about the size of a van. I followed my intuition and walked into the middle one.

  From the entrance to now, the road has not been flat, sometimes it's a slope, sometimes it's a shallow pool, and sometimes it's a pile of rocks. But after entering the middle cave of Wuzhukou Cave, the ground is all flat stone pavement, as if it has been artificially processed.

  We walked for about ten minutes, and the cave gradually widened and rose. Finally, we came to a suspension bridge. The bridge was two meters wide at its widest point and only twenty centimeters wide at its narrowest point. The entire bridge was about twelve meters long. What made people sweat was that the length of this bridge did not connect to the other side, leaving a gap of about three meters between the end of the bridge and the opposite bank. If this bridge were fifteen meters long, it would be a real bridge connecting both banks.

  I shone my flashlight down and saw that the bridge floor was lined with stalactites hanging straight down, just like icicles on a northern roof in winter. The stalactites on the top of the cave were simply divine, as if carved by the gods. But we didn't have the luxury to admire these stalactites, because if we couldn't find an exit and our flashlights ran out of battery, we might be stuck here forever, turning into skulls guarding this place.

  Under the bridge, there are three floors as high as this, and below is the rolling river water. These river waters flow into a cave tens of meters away, and it's unknown how deep they flow into the underground river. Now our road is just passing over this bridge. When my younger brother, who had been in the army, jumped over that three-meter gap, it was simply a piece of cake. This three-meter width would be easy for me to jump over if I were in a rice field. But here, in mid-air several floors high, with the rolling underground river below, just looking at it makes my legs go soft. If you can't jump over, your body will be hard to find back.

  I can only tell the beast that I feel like I'm going to jump over, and the little brother of the beast heard a hehe smile and said: "Let me teach you how to jump!"

  After the beast finished speaking, he asked me to hold the flashlight and shine it well. After crossing the bridge, the little brother of the beast walked to the bridgehead of more than 20 centimeters, took a step back, and then jumped over to the other side like a tiger catching prey.

  The little beast of a brother jumped over and turned around to give me a very self-satisfied smile. But I couldn't smile back, because as soon as he jumped over, the stone beside him actually moved a bit.

  I was just about to remind him to be careful behind, but before I could even open my mouth, that boulder suddenly stretched out a pink tentacle as thick as an arm and two meters long, and instantly grabbed the waist of the beastly little brother.

  It was too sudden, the beastly little brother suddenly became like an earthworm caught by a chick, instinctively struggling with all his might, screaming and crying loudly. His voice was so loud that it seemed as if it could shake down the mountain cave, and even the scene of being thrown into a cauldron in hell couldn't be more tragic than this!

  I didn't care whether he jumped or not, and rushed to the bridgehead with all my might. I kicked him with one foot, and he jumped over. Without staying for half a second, I took out an ancient bronze dagger from my pocket and hacked at his hand.

  This ancient bronze dagger may not be sharp, but it hides an ancient mysterious power, and with one slash, it cut off this tentacle. The severed tentacle was like an elephant's trunk, and the thick mucus splashed all over me, emitting a stench like that of a snail.

  I cut off the hand, and I thought that the beastly little brother was saved, but then I saw him fall into the rushing river water three stories high along with the stone.

  This really scared me pale, eyes wide with fear, and a racing heart. I quickly shouted: "Tongtong, get down!"

  The willow man in the pocket shook slightly, and Tongtong appeared in front of him, then immediately plunged into the rolling river.

  The river water flows very rapidly, flowing into a cave entrance tens of meters away. The entrance is submerged in water with only one meter above the surface. Shining a flashlight inside still reveals darkness, as if an ancient giant beast lurks underwater, its mouth wide enough to swallow a house.

  I sat on the ground with a thud, and my emotions were about to collapse. From the four civil police who entered the cave, to the two of us who came in later, there were six people in total. Now only I am left. Those four civil police don't know where they ran off to, and the beast's life or death is still unknown, but it feels like a bad omen.

  Think about why I ran into this hole, who cares about the corpse or not, now it's too late to regret. Just as I was regretting and blaming myself, Tongtong came back, she floated in mid-air, surrounded by a faint green light.

  Tongtong told me that the Beast Uncle's leg was broken, but he didn't die. She has already taken the Beast Uncle to a big stone in the middle of the river. Tongtong also said that there is a large cave below, with stone stairs on top, which seems to be man-made.

  As soon as I heard Tongtong say that, I immediately gained spirit and excitedly punched the ground with one fist, jumping up to say: "If that's what you mean, then if there are stairs, it's possible there's an exit!"

  I asked Tiantian to help me find a good place to climb, and I climbed down to the stone wall near the river surface of the rolling underground river, put the flashlight in a recess, and then reminded Little Tiantian to attach himself, I still have to help you find your dad and mom!

  After finishing speaking, I jumped into the rolling underground river and was washed away by the water flow, also didn't feel whether my brain was dizzy or not. When I woke up, I lay on a stone that emerged from the middle of the river like a beast.

  The beast had fainted, with the tentacle still wrapped around its belly. I was about to untie it when a fish head as big as a microwave oven emerged from the river water, opened its huge mouth and spat out a flashlight onto the large stone, then sank back into the water.

  The little girl floated up and sat on the water's surface, and the rapid river water couldn't wash her away. I asked her what that stone was that fell into the water with her just now, how could a stone stretch out its hands to grab people, has it become a spirit?!

  Tongtong told me that it was a kind of underground devil snail, living along the underground riverbank. Except for having a shell, it's almost the same as a slug. It moves slowly and can survive for several years without eating after one meal.

  Was it also this devilish screw that pulled him into the stone crevice in the small pool above? Then he and the devilish screw really have a fate! I asked Tongtong how much farther the large cave with stairs was, and Tongtong told me it wasn't far, just above.

  As soon as I heard it, I raised my head to look up. The flashlight shone on the wet and slippery stone wall, which was so smooth that even a gecko would have no way to climb. Although this stone wall is only two stories high, we are sitting on a rocky mountain in the middle of the river, and the distance from the stone wall across the rolling underground river water is also three meters away. How can I get up there? At this moment, I wish I were Sun Wukong.

  Tongtong thought for a moment, her eyes fixed on the broken armrest at the waist of the beastly younger brother, and said that there was a way. The armrest at the beast's waist couldn't be opened no matter what I did, Tongtong picked it up like buying pig intestines, crushed it against the stone wall, and applied each point one by one.

  After using up the sticky liquid, she fished out several stones from the rolling underground river bottom and stuck them to the places with devil snail glue, which surprisingly stuck firmly all the way to the exit above.

  After everything was settled, I asked Tiantian if he had any gains or losses, and he said...

  It's terrible if you fall off halfway. Tongtong, with his hands on his hips, said, "If you don't try, how will you know? If you're not brave enough to try, then just stay here and retire!"

  My weight is only around 80 jin, so let's give it a try! Only by trying will we know that even in a desperate situation, there can be a way out.

  Tongtong jumped into the river, and instantly the water flow beside me slowed down a bit. I put the flashlight on the stone to shine on the water surface, seized the opportunity to jump into the river and swam to the shore stone wall, caught Tongtong's good stone and climbed up.

  Every time I caught a rock, I was praying to the gods and Bodhisattvas and Sun Wukong for protection, hoping it wouldn't fall off. As a result, even when I climbed up, nothing happened. I don't know if it's because of the strong adhesive liquid of the devil snail or the divine intervention of Sun Wukong. The body of the devil snail is at least as big as a basket, weighing over 100-200 kilograms! With this weight, it can crawl on the top of the cave, and its adhesive liquid is indeed formidable.

  After I came up, Tongtong brought the flashlight up too, then she went back to wake up the beastly little brother, and Tongtong jumped into the water again.

  I shouted at the little beast of a brother to hurry up and come, jumping into the water and swimming over to grab the stone and climb up. The flashlight shone in his eyes, dazzling him, and after a while he asked, "Isn't this the Yama Temple?"

  I don't have the energy to waste on him, Tongtong is still blocking the water flow, I immediately shouted, if you don't come up in three minutes, I'll abandon you.

  The beast heard my words and was so scared that he immediately wanted to jump into the water, but found that his left leg bone had been broken. He was in so much pain that he was covered in cold sweat and had bitten off all his teeth. In the end, it was still me who went down to help him up again.

  After climbing up, in front of us was a huge cave, estimated to be as large as the Beijing Bird's Nest. The flashlight could illuminate a place where a stone staircase leading upwards was faintly visible.

  Tong Tong hid in the willow tree, and I supported the beast step by step as we walked towards the stairs. When we reached the bottom of the stairs and looked up, it indeed seemed to be man-made. If it were natural, it would be hard for people to believe.

  After walking through the stone steps, there is a cave entrance. After entering and walking for 10 minutes, it's another huge limestone cave. When I shone my flashlight, my entire mouth was shocked open and couldn't close.

  The ground of this large cave is covered with tens of thousands of flowers, which are now in full bloom. One flower is as big as a face, and what makes me even more stunned is that these flowers are all transparent, like they were carved out of crystal.