We extinguished the fire, and the cave became dark again.
In order to verify General Ji's inference, we walked backward from the cave entrance by the water.
Only then did I pay attention to the hole leading to the boat. No, it should be more suitable to use a door. I remembered what Xiaoyue said to me when she recalled it. She said, "We drilled along the hole and kept going.
I walked forward, and after not going far, I came out of a cave door covered with grass."
A cave entrance, a cave door, these are just two words she blurted out unintentionally, relying only on her first impression, so the information expressed in them is accurate.
In other words, the thing she walked into by mistake should be the "cave door" instead of the "cave entrance"
As we walked backwards, the "cave door" gradually moved away. It was blocked by the curved cave wall at this position. I believe Xiaoyue couldn't see it at that time.
General Ji stood right here, and with a "pop" sound, he fired the fire seal again. He signaled to me and continued to retreat until the fire seal in his hand could no longer be seen.
When I said, "I can't see it anymore," he made a mark on the cave wall with his knife.
Then, he held the fire folder and walked forward for a while, then stood there and asked me to step back.
I retreated again and said, "I can't see it anymore." Then I heard him making marks on the cave wall.
There is no need to retreat further, because there are all straight holes in the back. We looked at the distance between the two marks made by General Ji before and after, but the five-step tunnel turned into an Ace-shaped hole between the two marks.
bend
We lit torches and carefully inspected the cave walls in the designated area.
All the stone walls look the same and there is no difference. We knocked on them one by one with our hands and found no difference.
There is a layer of brown soil on the ground, with messy footprints printed on it. If there were any left by Xiaoyue, they would have been covered by General Ji and I.
But at the angle between a stone wall and the ground, I suddenly made a discovery. I quickly called General Ji to look there. There was a moss growing in the crack of a protruding stone!
There is no such thing anywhere else. This is the only place. Look carefully at the stone wall there. General Ji traced a rough square shape with his hand along the messy stone cracks, like a door. He nodded at me.
In the middle part of the cave, if it were not connected to the outside world, there would be no moss. We knocked on the stone wall with our fists and finally heard a hollow sound. However, we groped around the door for a long time and found no mechanism.
I think that the mechanism to open the door should not be near the door, but only halfway towards the secret door. That way, when you see the door, it will not make people feel sudden because when you walk in
If it suddenly opens when you are right in front of you, it will definitely feel abrupt.
So, General Ji stood guard next to the cave door, and I went back, simulating over and over again Xiaoyue's footsteps, movements, and where her hands would habitually rest when she walked through this place in the dark.
Finally I heard General Ji say, "This is it!" I froze there, and there was no difference between my feet. My right hand was resting on a protrusion of the stone wall, and the circular lines around it were hidden.
In the messy stone crevices, no one would notice at all. If nothing unexpected happened, this should be the opening and closing of the dark cave. I carved an obvious triangular mark there with my sword, and ran towards General Ji.
Only the torch was leaning against the cave wall. General Ji was gone and the "cave door" was closed.
I hurried back, pressed the switch, and walked there again. The cave door was still not open, or it had been opened and then closed. Xiaoyue must have been very excited at the time, running ahead to lead the way for me.
I pressed the switch again and ran back quickly. Next to the torch, I saw a hole. The outside was also covered with messy grass. If you didn't look carefully, if you saw it in a hurry, you would definitely think that this is
That exit to the side of the ship
Originally, people's sense of direction and distance would not be very clear underground, let alone Xiaoyue who has only walked through it once.
As soon as I thought of this, the cave door was closed, the square rocks were pushed back smoothly and silently, and darkness appeared in the cave again.
I wanted to go back and inform King Tian first, but Xiaoyue and General Ji were already inside. I was afraid that they would be alone, so I used a sword to mark the triangle mark deeply. As long as I came in with a torch, I would
It's easy to spot and leave that torch in place
In a flash, I got out of the cave door. When I looked around, the cave door closed silently behind me.
I turned around and looked at the back of the door. It was integrated with the surrounding rock walls and there was no obvious sign. How to go back? Where is General Ji? Where is Xiaoyue?
A path appeared outside the cave door. As soon as I came out, I found myself in a vast primeval forest with a gloomy and humid atmosphere. The rocks behind me were like a huge screen wall, separating me and our large group of people.
isolated
With a gentle whistle, I looked up. On a tree a dozen steps away from me, I saw Jida. He jumped down and said, "No one is there. Xiaoyue was captured by the old monkey to be the wife of the village."
Got it!" He said seriously without looking at me.
Knowing that he was teasing me, he knew how I was feeling. We searched carefully along the way, not even letting go of any clues.
Soon, we saw footprints on the ground at the same time. The moist and soft ground was covered with old fallen leaves. Every other step on the path, the grass was trampled to the ground. If we looked closely, it was the footprints of two people, one man and one man.
female
If the guess is correct, these are the footprints left by the pair of desperate mandarin ducks without Xiaoyue. I felt anxious and felt dizzy for the first time. Jida looked at me with concern and said:
"Tian Zong, don't listen to my nonsense. I'm just teasing you. That girl Xiaoyue is so clever. She's the only one who can betray others." I felt a little calmer in my heart.
The current plan is to follow this string of footprints and make plans. We are like two hunters walking through the dense forest. The path does not seem to be often walked by people, so the footprints can always be distinguished. Occasionally, if a section of them disappears, it can also
After walking a short distance, he appeared again
I don’t know how long we walked, but the trees gradually became sparse and replaced by a hilly land. This was disadvantageous for our concealment, but fortunately we haven’t found a single person yet.
I have some doubts that Xiaoyue can walk so far in the dense forest. Just imagine, a little girl suddenly realizes that she has gone to the wrong door. She must be very panicked and try to find a way to go back. Even if she can't find the mechanism to open the door, she will not
Risking this far
I told General Ji my thoughts. He thought for a moment and nodded:
"There must have been a long gap between the couple who escaped and the time Xiaoyue got out of the cave. After the couple came out, they were frightened and panicked like a dog that had lost its home. They would never wait for Xiaoyue here. Therefore,
The possibility of Xiaoyue being abducted by them is very small." I felt a little relieved.
Just as he was about to persuade General Ji to go back to find Xiaoyue, he suddenly heard an unusual sound coming from behind a huge rock not far ahead.