In the mist.
Chen Zhe searched around and around but couldn't find any trace of Zhang Xin'ai, not even the marks left by her trampling the grass.
He started to panic.
"Zhang Xin'ai! Stop playing around! I'm really angry. If you keep doing this, I'm really going to elope with your sister!!"
Chen Zhe thought his words would provoke Zhang Xin'ai, but they didn't. The surroundings were still shrouded in thick fog, and not a single person could be seen.
Chen Zhe sensed that something was increasingly wrong and forced himself to calm down.
"That's strange. I could hear birds chirping just now, but now I can't hear them at all?"
From the moment they arrived, the birds around them had been chirping incessantly, but now he realized that since the fog had lifted, he hadn't heard any birdsong at all.
He took his flashlight, groped his way back to the large rock, sat down, and took a deep breath as he looked at the strange sight before him.
"Calm down, calm down. All of this is a natural phenomenon. All the demons and monsters are fake."
Chen Zhe kept giving himself positive self-talk, and the effect was quite strong. As he kept talking to himself, he felt much more at ease.
But he was still very confused.
"I was standing really close to her just now, how come she disappeared in the blink of an eye? I can't even see the spot where she was just now?"
Picking up his phone, Chen Zhe decided to call Xie Yuhan and the others first to ask if Zhang Xin'ai had gone back.
But when he picked up his phone, he discovered a new problem: the phone had no signal.
"No way, we had a signal just now, how come it's gone again? Could it be this fog that's causing this?"
Looking at the vast expanse of white fog before him, Chen Zhe felt a sense of unease. He realized that finding Zhang Xin'ai was out of the question, and even getting out of the fog would be difficult.
After sitting on the rock for a while, Chen Zhe decided to find the way back first.
But as he walked around and around, he discovered another problem: it seemed as if he was going in circles, walking back to the same big rock.
Chen Zhe was feeling a bit overwhelmed. If things continued like this, he might have to stay here all night.
The temperature is dropping quite quickly now, and I was wearing very thin clothes when I went out. I might get seriously ill from being in the cold all night.
"I shouldn't have agreed to let her organize this test of courage competition. What bad luck!"
Chen Zhe sighed, but he didn't continue to blame her. He knew that blaming her now was useless. The most important thing now was to find Zhang Xin'ai and find a way out.
He picked a lot of flowers and marked them as he walked, but then he found himself back where he started.
"Huh? Where exactly did we go wrong?"
Chen Zhe went back and returned to an intersection, where he realized that was where the problem was.
The spot where he made the mark is very similar on both sides; you wouldn't notice anything unless you looked closely.
He made another mark here, and then walked around again. Although he returned to the location of the big rock, he checked the time and found that it was clearly different from the previous time.
"If the routes are the same, then the time should be about the same. If the time is different, it means I took a different route!"
With this discovery, Chen Zhe felt much clearer-headed. He retraced his steps using the same marking method and found several places in the same location.
And so we kept trying.
He finally arrived at a new place, a place that was flat on all four sides, with little grass in the middle; the longest grass only reached his calves.
He walked over and found that the soil here was much harder than the soil he had just encountered.
"Where is this? How come I didn't notice it before?"
He searched the surrounding area, hoping to find Zhang Xin'ai, but he was disappointed; there was still no trace of her.
He sighed and prepared to return the way he came.
Just then.
His foot suddenly stepped on a bump, and abruptly he heard a noise in the nearby bushes.
"Who is it?! Is it you, Zhang Xin'ai?!"
Chen Zhe shone his flashlight over there, and the grass rustled, but no one responded.
Chen Zhe swallowed hard, mustered his courage, and walked over with a flashlight.
He parted the grass and shone his flashlight inside.
Sudden! ! ! !
A gray hare emerged from the grass and jumped onto him.
"Holy crap!!!!"
Chen Zhe was so startled that he took a step back and almost fell to the ground.
He cursed under his breath and prepared to leave, but then he noticed what seemed to be a cave hidden in the bushes.
"Huh? There's a hole here?"
Chen Zhe hesitated for a moment. He had searched all the grass around him but hadn't found Zhang Xin'ai. Could she have gone into the cave?
"It's very possible. That woman likes adventure and these kinds of strange things, so it's normal for her to go into the cave when she sees it."
Even if he finds his way back after coming out together, he won't be able to explain it if Zhang Xin'ai disappears.
"I really lost to you!"
Chen Zhe shook his head, took the flashlight, and went inside.
The hole went downwards, like a gopher's burrow. Every step Chen Zhe took was difficult, and he kept calling Zhang Xin'ai's name as he walked.
But there was still no response.
So he could only keep walking in, and as he walked, he found that the space inside was starting to get bigger.
"Strange, this hole looks like it's been repaired?"
Looking at and touching the stone wall, it doesn't seem like the roughness of nature, but rather the marks of human intervention.
He picked up the flashlight and looked carefully. Sure enough, he saw traces of tools that had been used to cut the hole.
Although it has a vintage feel, you can still tell the difference.
"Could this cave have been inhabited before?"
As Chen Zhe pondered, he walked inside. Once inside, he found that the space was much larger. If the previous opening could only accommodate one or two people, then the space inside was as big as a basketball court, and the height was about 3 meters. There were traces of artificial excavation all around. Chen Zhe saw stone tables, stone chairs, and warehouses for storing goods.
The space here is divided into individual rooms, like an underground village.
Seeing this scene, Chen Zhe was shocked, and he had a vague guess. This guess was finally confirmed when he walked into the large room in front of him.
In that large room, a person was sitting in a chair—or rather, not a person, but a skeleton.
In front of the skeleton was a desk with several books on it.
Although Chen Zhe was a little scared, he couldn't help but be curious.
"Please forgive me, senior. I just wandered into this place by mistake and saw this by chance. If you don't want me to disturb you, could you please say something?"
Chen Zhe muttered something to himself, then bowed several times to the skeleton.
After bowing three times.
Suddenly he heard a noise, which startled him.
He looked up, but found no movement.
"If you don't say anything, does that mean you agree I've seen it? Okay, then I'll take a look."
Chen Zhe opened one of the books, which was actually not a book, but an account book. He then opened several other books, all of which were account books.
When I opened the last book, a letter fell out.
Chen Zhe picked it up and looked at it with a flashlight.
It was written in neat traditional Chinese characters.
I am a humble scholar named Song Dan, courtesy name Wushuang, born in the 16th year of the Jiaguang reign of the previous dynasty. I still remember my childhood. Although my family was not wealthy and powerful, we were not lacking in food and clothing. I was able to study the classics and historical texts diligently, hoping that one day I could use the eight-legged essay to achieve fame and bring glory to my ancestors.
But the world changed drastically. The imperial court collapsed, warlords fought amongst themselves, and countless lives were lost. Starving people littered the countryside, and taxes and corvée labor were heavy burdens. My family was not spared either; our fields lay barren, and our relatives were scattered. In order to survive, we had no choice but to flee into the mountains and become outlaws.
Though I have become a bandit, I have not forgotten the principles of a scholar. On the mountain, I established strict rules: those who rob the rich but do not help the poor will be executed; those who harass law-abiding citizens will be executed; those who embezzle property will be executed. I led my brothers to rob the wealthy and unkind, distributing most of the spoils to the poor people in the surrounding area. During those famine years, many people survived thanks to this. We also hid much of the stolen wealth in the mountain caves for unforeseen circumstances.
Alas, human nature is unpredictable. The second-in-command, Shen Long, blinded by greed, secretly colluded with warlords, poisoning my wine in his pursuit of wealth and power. Fortunately, by divine intervention, I used my profound inner strength to temporarily suppress the poison and avoid immediate death. However, I am severely poisoned and my life is nearing its end. Unbeknownst to Shen Long, a vast treasure trove of gold and silver remains hidden deep within the cave.
If anyone is destined to receive this letter, I hope they will remember what I have done for the people, avenge me, and kill this traitor to uphold justice. In return, I will express my gratitude and send you the treasures from the cave, as well as all the martial arts I have learned in my life. I will never forget your great kindness, even in death.
Signed Song Dan.
The eighth year of the Pingguo era.
After reading the letter, Chen Zhe looked at the book again. This last book was not the same account book as before, but something that looked like a martial arts manual, and the treasure map was marked inside the envelope.
"This...you're kidding, right?"
Although Chen Zhe had read many martial arts novels, he never believed in the stories. The protagonist would inexplicably fall into a cave, learn super martial arts, and acquire a large amount of gold and silver.
This...is this luck a little too good?
But now this kind of thing seems to be happening to him, making him feel a little excited, yet also a little unreal.
"He just left this letter here. Isn't he afraid that the second-in-command will see it when he comes back?"
The letter said that the second-in-command had betrayed him, and given the habits of that kind of person, he would definitely come here and search again and again.
If it really was a treasure map, why didn't he take it with him?
At this moment, Chen Zhe noticed the spot where he had just kowtowed, squatted down, and touched it with his hand. It seemed to be a switch.
He pressed it several times with his hand, and then he heard the familiar voice again.
I heard it when he was kowtowing.
Looking over now, he finally understood why the second-in-command hadn't noticed. It turned out that after kowtowing, there was a switch on the table that could pop out the book hidden inside.
The book I'm holding is the one that just popped up.
He held the book and looked at the skeleton.
"Senior, you are truly farsighted! You should have known that he wouldn't kowtow to you, so you created this mechanism. Impressive, truly impressive."
Chen Zhe sighed several times, then focused his attention on the treasure map.
Following the treasure map, he walked through the underground city again and again, turning on some switches, and finally arrived at a room.
After opening the door, I shone a flashlight on it.
I was so shocked my jaw almost dislocated.
What came into view were several boxes of gold and silver jewelry; as far as the eye could see, there was a dazzling expanse of gold and silver.
...
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