Chapter Eighteen: The Mountain Cave

  I raised my head to look at the sky, and I didn't know if it was snowing until now. The whole sky was covered with white snow, countless snowflakes falling towards the ground, the snowflakes were dazzling, I rubbed my eyes and dared not believe the scene in front of me.

  But the snowflakes hitting my face and turning into a cold wetness clearly told me that this was real.

  "What the...! What kind of day is this? How come it's snowing as soon as we arrive?" Da Zhuang gritted his teeth and said.

  Nodded "Yes, just now the sky was fine, as soon as we came in it started snowing."

  I narrowed my eyes to gaze at the sky, and I always felt that this snow fell a bit too suddenly. Before, in the mountains below, there was no sign of it, whether it was rainy or snowy skies or the surrounding natural objects should have produced a prelude sign, but now this vast snowfall obviously fell a bit too suddenly.

  The snow is getting bigger and bigger. If the previous snow was a lake, then the current snowfall should be said to be a river. The sky is filled with white snow, gradually covering up the sky, originally able to vaguely see the outline of the sky, but now even the corner of the sky can't be guessed.

  Looking at the snow getting bigger and bigger, I suddenly lost my footing. The power of nature is infinite, and being on a snowy mountain was already a treacherous journey. Now with so much snow falling, the road has become even more difficult to traverse, and it's possible to be engulfed by the white snow at any moment.

  The scene of heavy snow in front of me has already made my brain a bit short-circuited. Suddenly, I feel that my two arms are being pulled by something to another place. I turn my head and see that it is indeed Da Zhuang and ** holding one of my arms and pulling me towards the depths, while Ali is leading the way and pushing forward into the depths.

  I gestured to Da Zhuang and asked him to put me down, I didn't know why we had to head deep into the mountain, it should be going downhill in such heavy snow, but now we were heading deeper into the mountains, which made me somewhat puzzled.

  Da Zhuang and I were very compatible, and you could tell from my expression that we had a deep understanding. Due to the howling sound brought by the heavy snowfall, Da Zhuang shouted something at me, but before he could say two sentences, I covered his mouth. The snowy mountain was most afraid of loud noises, as loud sounds or large movements could cause an avalanche of accumulated snow on the mountain.

  I took a look at the snow on the surrounding mountains and fortunately nothing unusual happened, otherwise the lives of the four of us would have been lost here.

  At this time, Ali saw that the three of us had stopped and walked back towards us, saying in a low voice "What's wrong?" As he spoke, he made a questioning gesture.

  "What did Ali say, I didn't quite catch it, but from his actions I could tell he was questioning me. I covered my mouth and whispered in Ali's ear, 'Why are you heading that way? Why not head down the mountain?'"

  After hearing my words, Ali pointed to a not-too-distant place. Following the direction he was pointing, I vaguely saw what seemed to be a cave. Due to the heavy snow blocking my view, I could only see scattered scenes.

  Ali signaled us to hurry up, I looked up at the top of my head, and the heavy snow was even more magnificent than before. Da Zhuang and I walked behind Ali, while Ali led the way forward.

  As the distance advanced, the scene became clearer and clearer. After a few minutes, Ali suddenly stopped, I calmed down, wiped my face, and found that my eyebrows and exposed hair were covered with a lot of snow.

  "My grass, I said Ali, how did you know there's a cave here?" Da Zhuang's voice came from behind me.

  I looked up and saw the cave in front of me, which was covered with white snow outside but not a single snowflake inside. The interior was very deep and dark, and all I could see was pitch blackness, nothing else.

  When I heard Da Zhuang's words, I was also puzzled as to why Ali knew there was a cave here. For me who had been here in previous years, I didn't know there was a cave here, but Ali, who hadn't been here before, actually knew there was a cave here. This couldn't help but make me feel very puzzled. Had Ali come here before? Then why didn't he tell us earlier? Did Ali have some ulterior motive? Thinking of this, my hand involuntarily reached behind my back.

  "Have you two forgotten about Ali's eyes?"

  This sentence reminded me that when we were still in school together, Ali's eyesight was better than all of us, not only could he see further than others, but even on snowy days, he could clearly see everything within 100 meters. After hearing this, I relaxed a bit, and the hand that had been reaching for my back gradually came down, but my heart did not completely relax, and what I was wary of was not Ali, but this mysterious mountain behind us.

  "Grass, I said Ali, why didn't you tell us earlier, you old rascal? You scared Brother Zhang half to death." Da Zhuang patted his thigh.

  "Let's start a fire here first, or we'll all freeze to death later." As I said that, I took out the flashlight from Da Zhuang's backpack and turned it on, then walked into the cave with the light.

  This cave is like a bottomless pit, it seems to have no end. I looked back at the entrance of the cave and found that we had already left it far behind. I asked Da Zhuang to take out some charcoal from his backpack and put them on the ground.

  The cave was relatively dry, with no damp areas, so the charcoal on the ground didn't have any issues and soon a big fire started.

  Flickering flames illuminated the surroundings, and the three people sitting around the fire pit lit up their cigarettes. I helplessly pursed my lips and took out a map to study it.

  According to the translation of Grandpa's version, the location we are in is not far from the ancient tomb. However, I took a look at the entrance of the cave just now and there doesn't seem to be any low-lying area around us. But Grandpa's translation said that the tomb was located in a low-lying area, which makes me feel very puzzled. The passage of time may have also undergone tectonic movement, this is knowledge learned in school. If this land has undergone such changes, then we might have come here for nothing.

  I furrowed my brow and racked my brains for half a day, but I couldn't think of how to find the tomb. As an architecture major, I didn't have any instruments with me. Sighing, I looked up at the three people in front of me, only to see them staring at me with very serious expressions, their faces seemingly filled with some fear.

  Looking at the three of them with this expression, I was a bit puzzled. Did I scare them? No way, I didn't do anything. I looked at them carefully again, and only then did I realize that their gazes were not focused on me at all, but rather on something behind my back. What's behind my back?! Why are the three of them looking at my back with such serious and terrified expressions?! Is there a ghost behind my back?!

  As I thought of this, I couldn't help but slowly turn my head around...