The monks' reserve did not last long. Under the warm invitation, no one would refuse to find a little taste comfort in the depressing environment.
When Father Green returned, he was bewildered to find that the camp was in a morning tea atmosphere. There was a tablecloth on the coffin lid, several bags of biscuits had bottomed out, and the sound of chewing could be heard all the time.
The instigator even waved his hand generously, inviting him to sit down, take a rest and have something to eat together.
"I thought you knew where this place is."
"Outpost camp?" Kraft picked up the biscuit bag, shook it, shook out the last few pieces, ate one himself, and handed the rest to Green, "But it's safe for now, isn't it?"
"Pagans and who-knows-what are wandering down there, I hope you didn't come all the way just for this." The priest took the biscuit and took a bite.
The taste is not bad, although it is a bit hard, but the cereal aroma and sweetness are well combined, which is just right for people who need sugar after exercise.
"This is also part of the purpose, but the main purpose is to go see it in person and bring my students with me."
"If I remember correctly, you told me before that this was the heir to your medical career." Green glanced at the girl who was looking at the crack in the rock in a daze. Of course, she was not frightened by the previous journey and was full of excitement about the next journey.
expect.
"Oh, stop talking, stop talking." Kraft let out a sincere sigh and began to prepare for departure, "I hope she won't find this place interesting."
While waiting for Green to repair, they unloaded the excess weight and checked their belongings to make sure they were all where they should be. This didn't take long, after all, the former was eager to end it all before the next rainy day.
The current exploration team has shrunk a lot from before, including only Green himself and five monks who still dared to step into the waterway after experiencing the rainy night accident. Even Wadding was not among them, but was used as a backup just in case.
strength.
The priest took a deep breath and entered the crevice first, followed by several monks and Kraft, followed by Yvonne at the end.
After entering, the order of the team was adjusted. Green was still leading the team, but Yvonne was placed in the middle. Kraft automatically retreated to the end of the team, keeping a certain distance from Green.
A damp and dark breeze surged in the underground space, and they entered the shadow of Dun Ling again.
Still following the waterway downward, it gradually approached the roaring space.
Knowing the nature of sound does not make people accustomed to it. The sound of falling water processed by deep wells and halls is similar to the snoring of some kind of creature. No matter how many times you enter, you feel like you are passing by its mouthparts.
Green took out a small iron bottle and shook it by his ear. He heard the familiar scraping sound of particles and continued forward.
They entered the hall when the resonant din reached its peak.
The darkness expanded before our eyes, turning into a seemingly endless open unknown. The team walked on its edge, passing similar cave entrances one after another, avoiding slippery moss and sharp-edged ravines.
It is not difficult to notice that some of the cracks are particularly bright. There is no moss growing inside, and the bright cut surfaces reflect the undulating human shape under the water layer.
People who have a little idea of the hardness of stone can realize that these things are not part of the original ruins, but are the creation of some kind of extra-cognitive force, cutting beyond the material level.
Yvonne heard a high-pitched whisper behind her ear, and even the loud sound of water could not stop it from expressing its meaning - fear.
It is not an acquired emotion. That feeling is the original fear that reaches the depths of the soul when a wingless creature is on the edge of a cliff. It reminds synesthetes of the scene of witnessing approaching storm clouds on the beach. It comes from the sense of powerlessness against irresistible destruction.
It is universally applicable to any form of consciousness, so it can be clearly perceived.
【what is that?】
Naturally, there was no answer to the question, only echoes of pure fear vibrating in the chest.
She quickly jumped over the chasm, trying to forcibly suppress this synaesthesia, but with little success, just as one cannot prevent a part of the body from transmitting sensations.
Looking back at the end of the team, I met Kraft's eyes. He seemed to be paying attention here, or maybe he had always been paying attention to this side. He nodded slightly towards Yvonne, then shook his head and pointed to his feet, indicating that he was paying attention to the road.
During a difficult journey, after passing two corners, Green accurately stopped in front of a tunnel. After confirming that the team members were in place, he took out a small iron bottle, shook it, listened, and then entered.
The loud sound of the falling waterfall moved from everywhere to behind them, and became farther away as they went deeper. In the end, there was only a little bit like slightly wet cloth sticking to their backs, reminding them that there was something on the way.
Entering a new tunnel did not make the monks relax. They were visibly more nervous. Their hands were always swinging not far from weapons and fuel bottles, and their eyes were glued to the featureless tunnel walls.
[Just like something will appear on which bricks at any time]
Even if nothing happens from the start, small actions like these are creating accumulated tension and spreading from person to person.
The slope of the waterway gradually slowed down, approaching the level, and divided into two directions in front. Green silently chose the left side, and used the weighted ball on the hilt of his sword to draw a light white mark at waist height that was not easy to notice.
The torch was held as high as possible to illuminate a longer distance, as if to guard against something ahead.
Yvonne understood this as an omen and grabbed her dagger in advance, waiting for the unexpected to come.
But the team just moved forward silently, and the faint outline of the pile blocked the way. It was obvious that it was not an enemy or a strange thing.
The tunnel collapsed here, and large pieces of broken masonry and silt blocked the way forward, and a trickle of water flowed out of the gap.
【Dead end】
Green took Kraft to the pile of rubble, dug up part of the silt, and explained to the broken parts of the stone how the tooth-like marks were formed and how they were connected to a certain era long ago.
.
A monk also joined the discussion. There were many things in his words that Yvonne could not understand. Long and awkward words were used in front of the names of some architectural structures and tools, making them look unfamiliar and successfully creating more confusion.
They reached a consensus face to face, and concluded that this place was probably destroyed at some point in time, and that there were more similar dead ends.
Then...then the team starts to return, turning back to the fork in the road, marking the other side to explore forward, discovering a new fork in the road, choosing one side to continue, and then encountering a dead end.
The whole process consisted of only marching and very little verbal exchanges, most of which were incomprehensible.
The few interludes were niches appearing along passages and monotonous spaces like transit stations, which soon proved to be meaningless.
The extreme boredom was even worse than the fear she felt when walking through the hall before. She felt tired, sleepy and a little irritated. Her slightly leaky boots were not heavy but made every step uncomfortable.
The novelty ran out a long time ago, and it was all maintained by patience and a certain unyielding spirit of confrontation, without making any noise. This is the first time, at least it shouldn't be disappointing for the first time.
She was somewhat aware of what her mentor had said and hadn't said before. Before experiencing it personally, it was really difficult to feel that things were not as expected. For example, sometimes repetitive and boring searching and thinking might be the background for most of the time.
Finally, after the last fork in the road proved to be a dead end, the team decided to go back and repair before continuing to explore. They cautiously crossed the hall again and returned to the temporary camp.
"Another fruitless trip, isn't it?" Father Green sat down by the fire.
Due to ventilation problems, the size of the fire needs to be controlled. It is purely psychological comfort to dry the water stains on the body. The feeling of being semi-wet but not dry will always accompany the exploration until the next time I return to the ground for repairs.
There is reason to believe that part of the purpose of professors bringing students here is to persuade them to quit rather than to actually practice, just like children in a monastery who cannot read scriptures may be sent to do some chores.
"Not entirely." Kraft pulled over Green's map and found the entrance to the cave he just entered to draw a route.
Unlike other symbolic drawing methods, the priest noticed that his drawing had a certain degree of precision in the length of the path.
"Did you keep track of your steps?"
"There is also an angle." As he spoke, the professor had already marked the approximate location of the dead end and used a wooden ruler to mark the distance. "I can't estimate the height difference between the top and bottom, but the length can be roughly judged."
"Several collapse locations seem to be about the same distance from the straight line of the hall. I have a guess, but it may take more places to judge."
"What?"
"This is not a random seal. There is a fixed distance. Someone deliberately wants to seal the passages within a specific range around the hexagonal well and isolate a roughly circular area." Kraft closed his eyes and relied on memory and space.
Use your imagination to sketch out your conjectures.
The water channel is a three-dimensional system, and even with his ability, it is far from guaranteed to be correct.
"Actually, it can be proved from another angle. Why didn't they just block the entrance at this end of the hall? It's obviously easier to do this. It shows that this range exists and what is its significance or use."
"It's not just to isolate this place, but what might it be used for?" Green gave up on drying himself and came closer to take a closer look, "But how do you remember that not only the length, but also the angle and direction?"
"You can understand it as a talent."
"You have quite a lot of talent."
"Thanks for the compliment, but it's not as accurate as you imagined, so it's just a possibility for now." Kraft put down the map.
"According to what you said, they might leave an entrance, a formal entrance, rather than a crack like this that was accidentally dug by the quarry." Based on his guess, Green further speculated.
"Interesting, I'm starting to wonder where this entrance comes from."
The speculation, which was entirely based on unreliable conjectures, lifted my spirits a little, so much so that I had the urge to set out immediately to confirm it.
But the numbers quickly cooled the impulse: "Under the worst-case scenario, we would have to search thirty waterways and their branches to find this entrance."
Yvonne understood this sentence, and now she felt a little regretful.