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墨書 Inktalez
As everyone witnessed this moment, a sense of satisfaction filled their hearts.
Beneath the rock, there truly lay a passage, but it seemed deserted. If the predecessors had discovered this exit, who had moved the rock back into place? A chill crept up as they pondered this—could there be something unclean lurking here, or perhaps something else entirely?
With such thoughts swirling in their minds, Freyr hesitated to descend. However, staying put was not an option; remaining here would lead to trouble. It was likely that whatever was down here was a product of some cycle, much like the predetermined dungeons in online games where monsters respawn after a certain period.
With that in mind, Freyr jumped down without further thought. The others followed suit as soon as they heard the echo.
Freyr landed on his backside but quickly stood up. They found themselves in a corridor, and the terrain here was indeed unusual. Just then, three more people fell down with a thud. The ground was quite hard; if someone landed headfirst, it wouldn't just leave a bump.
Thinking this, the others quickly got to their feet, gazing at the structure around them with surprise, curious about how they ended up in such a place.
It appeared that there were no visible paths; it seemed like a sealed area. They wondered why it should be sealed. The three newcomers immediately turned their heads to look at Freyr.
Feigning ignorance of their gaze, Freyr lowered his head and pulled out the guidebook, flipping through it carefully. "I think I understand now," he said. "There’s actually a hidden door here. Everyone should take a closer look around for any other clues."
Hearing this sparked new hope among the others. This was indeed a sealed space; if those terrifying skeletons found them here and surrounded them, they would be done for in no time. It would be better to return above ground where they could at least employ some delaying tactics to prolong their chances of survival.
Here, however, there seemed to be no opportunity for escape. As they surveyed their surroundings, it became clear that they were surrounded by solid walls made of stone with no apparent way out. Yet the book mentioned: "After arriving here, we discovered a strange rock beneath which lay a secret chamber. After thirty hours had passed, one person happened to notice a loose rock layer while getting up to relieve himself. We pried it open and found that it led to a path; however, the entrance was very narrow. Those who are larger might find it difficult to pass through, but once through, the path would widen."
Freyr read aloud from the book for everyone to hear. Upon hearing this, the others immediately began searching around them again, carefully feeling along the stones but finding nothing resembling the movable stone described in the text.
"Could it be that due to age, the geology has changed?" someone suggested.
"Uh... maybe? Let's keep looking," Freyr replied.
After thoroughly searching the area without success, frustration bubbled within them. They wanted to vent their feelings but realized that after such an extensive search, it seemed futile.
If they truly couldn't find anything, they needed to consider whether it was due to their own shortcomings or perhaps they were simply looking in the wrong place. It was also possible that there were other hidden chambers nearby.
As they continued their search in silence, they took a moment to sit on the ground when Xiong Tai suddenly clutched his stomach and hurried off to relieve himself nearby. The smell that wafted back was peculiar; in this sealed space, the odor was quite unique and mixed with something foul—prompting all three of them to feel overwhelmed.
They quickly donned gas masks and sprayed air freshener into the air. Meanwhile, Xiong Tai transitioned from exaggerated laughter to wide-eyed discovery as he began exploring his surroundings again. Adjusting his pants, he kicked at a stone in the corner behind him with sudden force.
With a loud crash, the entire stone wall collapsed, revealing a very conspicuous narrow passage. This passage looked remarkably similar to a dog hole outside, and Xiong Tai hurriedly stood up, adjusting his pants in excitement.
"Wow, look! I discovered this tunnel!" Xiong Tai's voice echoed in the sealed space.
"Is it true that only those who need to use the restroom can find this tunnel? At first glance, it really is a very hidden place," Duan Shuai remarked, stroking his chin as he began to feel more energetic.
"Then how come we didn't notice it earlier? What's going on?" A hint of helplessness appeared on the faces of those present, their minds filled with frustration.
"So, you all should believe in my usefulness," Xiong Tai said, slightly wrinkling his nose as he patted his chest excitedly.
"Yes, yes! You're amazing!" the others chimed in, clapping their hands.
However, at that moment, someone showed a disdainful expression and clicked their tongue before saying, "But what should we do now? How do we get through here? I really can't agree to this; what if that smell gets on me? It’s truly awful."
The speaker was none other than Ross. He and Xiong Tai were good buddies who often teased each other. Even in this crisis, he didn’t hesitate to throw jabs at Xiong Tai.
Xiong Tai chuckled immediately. "Hey, you don’t have to go through the spot I found. You can stand guard here for me. If anything comes down, you can take them out with you. What’s that saying? 'Watch me achieve greatness.' That kind of fearless spirit will definitely be reported to the higher-ups when we get out of here; they might even write about your heroic deeds in textbooks!"
"Get lost! You can stay behind too," Ross shot back.
"You don’t understand. Staying here would be useless for me. The only thing I’d be doing is dying alongside you. Dying together—now that’s not worth it! I have so much more to do, like getting married and trying things out. I don’t want to spend a night in this hole with a man and then die together or something."
"What are you thinking? Why would I want you to die with me? It's just a dog hole! I'm going in; no one else better try to rush in with me!" Ross said, his tone eager yet reluctant as he approached the passage. Even before reaching it, he could already smell something foul—a stench reminiscent of urine mixed with feces—that made his throat tighten and nausea rise within him.
"Do you want me to cheer for you? Like a pep rally or something?"
The people below waved their arms and shouted.
"Well then, this is quite a terrifying choice! But I’m going in; just watch my magnificent form!" Ross slapped his cheeks and displayed an exaggeratedly furious expression.
"No one wants to see your embarrassing dog crawl!" someone nearby immediately shook their head vigorously, clearly rejecting the idea.
With that, Ross had already crouched down, slowly lowering half of his body into the dog hole, his figure gradually disappearing at the edge of the opening.
"Well, the situation inside is great, very spacious. You can come over and try it out; I’ll continue to crawl deeper to see what’s there," Ross's voice seemed to become somewhat faint as he spoke.
Then, the second person squeezed in, and before long, the last one was Freyr. The third to enter was Xiong Tai, whose body was somewhat plump at first. Although the passage inside was a bit narrow, it wasn't too difficult for him to move through.
The stones made it uncomfortable for him; he grunted as he crawled for a while. It seemed that this body type really posed some complications, making the experience quite troublesome.
As they continued deeper, just as described in the book, the passage ahead was relatively clear. Xiong Tai's situation began to improve slightly; compared to the others, he was struggling much more. Gradually, it appeared that there was no end in sight ahead. Then came Loros's voice from ahead, softly saying, "Alright, I’m down here. This is a piece of land; there’s no cave here. Guess who I saw? Someone is here; I saw a bag. Wait a moment; I’ll go check it out; maybe it's one of ours." His voice grew fainter as he moved away. Even at this moment, calling out for him to wait until they all regrouped before acting together seemed futile; he couldn’t shout loud enough for them to hear him now.
Thinking this way, Freyr immediately punched the heel of the person in front of him. "Hurry up! We need to get out. What did Ross see? We have to catch up with him. If something else happens, what will we do? That’s death! Move it, you fat ass!"
The person in front twitched his eyebrows and replied with a slight tremor in his voice, "Damn it, I want to hurry too! But I'm a patient here! Can't you show a little kindness? You jerk!"
Just then, another voice called out from another spot, "Alright, I’m here too! I won’t leave; you all hurry up and come out!" Duan Shuai said.
Under pressure from Xiong Tai, he continued to crawl forward slowly. After a while, he finally managed to struggle out of the hole. Fortunately, he didn’t fall too badly and lay on the ground like a dead pig, gasping deeply.
"Oh, so the end leads to this place? What a surprise."
Freyr's figure also slowly crawled out of the hole, appearing somewhat indifferent and even helpless. Generally speaking, it seemed they had reached an uncomfortable situation here. He quickly jumped down from the opening onto an open area behind him where Xiong Tai rose like a mountain from the ground.
He seemed to have caught his breath a bit and expelled two small stones from his nose; his condition was worse than the others.
Now that they were here, breathing became much easier for him as he got back up from the ground.
A few people looked over from the front and continued speaking: "Where did that sound come from? There are no traces left at all. Where is Ross?"
"Ah, I don’t know. We still need to find him. Let me catch my breath; my stomach hurts a bit."
Xiong Tai said lazily from behind as if he had just crawled out of bed.
"Yeah, yeah! Let’s go check over there."
Freya looked around and soon noticed two buttons on the ground. She wondered how buttons could end up in a place like this. After a moment of thought, she recalled another remark from Ross.
Right, there was also a bag. This place originally had a bag, but it was taken away by Ross.
With that in mind, she immediately scanned the area, searching through the creases in the ground. If there were traces left by shoeprints, they should be unmistakable.
Their shoes were identical; they shared the same mold and had similar patterns on the soles.
If her guess was correct, it should be like this. Sure enough, after a short search, they discovered some footprints on the ground that resembled their own shoeprints. She wasn't sure about the other prints, but they must have run to a place worth remembering, moving at quite a speed—faster than a moderate pace.
Following the trail, they rushed forward, eager to see what Ross had encountered.
Before long, they realized there was something significant ahead. A few Yurt tents came into view—strange-looking tents that were deep green and resembled circular structures.
No matter how one looked at them, they did not resemble ordinary human buildings. The structures were round; could these even be called buildings? They likely housed very few people. Historically, however, such tents had been used by some.
These were wind-resistant tents, and due to their large size, they were quite effective. Moreover, their utility extended beyond mere shelter; they were far from worthless compared to human constructions.
"What kind of tent is this? Why are there graves with crosses next to it?" someone remarked, sensing that the situation was becoming increasingly bizarre. The group halted in their tracks.
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