Returning along the same route, the three of them seemed very familiar with the path since they had walked it beforehand. Soon, they had passed the place where the giant insects stored food.
"Wait a moment."
Li Qing reached out his hand.
He heard some movement ahead, and something was walking towards him. Judging from the voice, it sounded like a person.
Moreover, Li Qing gradually saw what appeared to be a ball of fire ahead.
Just as Li Qing was becoming increasingly wary, he suddenly noticed that in the firelight, the person was waving at him.
He quickly recognized who the person was.
Li.
"Li, it's you!"
Li Qing had been worried about Li, and was surprised to meet her here. She immediately waved excitedly.
Li didn't seem to be followed by any giant insects. He soon encountered Li Qing, waved to him, and slowly walked towards him.
"So, has the blood been collected yet?"
Li handed the torches in his hand to the three of them one by one and asked.
Li Qing replied, "No problem at all. How did you end up here? Where are those giant insects?"
Li laughed heartily, "Of course, I've shaken them all off."
Judging from Li's tone, he didn't seem worried at all, which made Li Qing a little nervous, since they hadn't completely left this place yet.
Li clearly saw the doubt in Li Qing's mind and laughed, "Don't worry, the terrain here is very complicated. I've managed to avoid those giant insects. Now we just need to get out of this place as soon as possible."
Li paused, then pointed in the direction he had come from, gesturing for the three to follow him. As he led the way, he said, "This place is like a maze. I discovered that we took a long detour on our way to the Queen Insect. This is a path I just found. If we follow this path, we can reach the surface without any problems. When I found this path, I was thinking of coming back to check on you all, but I didn't expect to run into you here."
Flame asked timidly, "Won't we be caught by those giant insects?"
Li shook his head and said calmly, "No. Those giant insects aren't stupid. After realizing they'd been tricked, they went back to the queen insect's territory, probably worried that their queen might get hurt."
Li Qing laughed: "That gives us a lot of time to leave here."
The plan went much more smoothly than expected. Li Qing suddenly thought of a question that had been bothering him since he arrived and asked, "By the way, Li, I want to ask, why is it already dark on the ground, but it's still daytime here?"
These words also made Lieyan and Atuna look intently at Li. Yes, this place was really strange. The sky here seemed to remain unchanged. The sky on the ground had turned from dusk to midnight, but the sky here had not changed at all. What kind of lighting was used here? This question was far beyond their understanding. Li Qing was even more puzzled. Logically speaking, sunlight could not reach such a deep place. So what was used to light this place? Was it always daytime here?
“I thought you guys hadn’t noticed,” Li laughed. “Actually, I’m not entirely sure why either, but I’ve roughly calculated that two days on the ground are roughly equivalent to one day here.”
"How could such a thing happen?" Li Qing exclaimed in astonishment. "This is completely illogical!"
Both the passage of time and the changing seasons made Li Qing feel very strange. This place was clearly the same world as the mainland, so why were there so many different places? The changing seasons could be attributed to the wonders of nature, but how could the fact that time was a day slower be explained? This was not... a mental time chamber.
Unlike Li Qing, Li clearly didn't think so much and said nonchalantly, "I was also very surprised at first, but after staying here for so long, I've gotten used to it."
Li Qing could only sigh helplessly, knowing that Li would definitely not care about these "trivial matters". He could only think that if he was lucky enough to return here again, he would definitely investigate it thoroughly.
Just then, Li suddenly said, "We've arrived. The exit is up there."
"So fast?"
Li Qing exclaimed in surprise.
He did indeed spot a glimmer of light coming from above.
The fresh air and the gentle breeze made Li Qing feel very comfortable.
It's completely different from the stuffy feeling underground.
They hadn't walked for very long at all. If I calculate it roughly, it was only from the place where the giant insects stored their food to the place where the eight giant insects were. How could they have come out so quickly?
Li said smugly, "That's right, isn't it? If we hadn't discovered this path, we would have wasted a lot more time."
"Whoosh—"
Li crawled out of the cave, stood on the grass, and lazily stretched.
"Finally out!"
Li looked around at the cypress forest and said.
Li Qing followed closely behind. He had just climbed out when he saw Da Hei pacing anxiously near a cave entrance not far away.
"Big Black".
Li Qing called out.
Upon hearing its master's voice, Dahei immediately ran happily to Li Qing's side.
Li Qing hugged Dahei's head and stroked it a few times. Li looked at the place where Dahei had been and said, "Actually, this place isn't very far from where we went down earlier."
Following the direction Li pointed, Li Qing immediately recognized that place as the entrance they had entered not long ago. Just as Li had said, the two places were indeed not too far apart, only a few meters apart, but the time spent in between was incomparable.
“What kind of creatures did these giant insects learn from to dig so many holes around here?” Li Qing said. “Do you remember that there were also quite a few holes around the place we went down to?”
Li hummed in agreement and said, "These giant insects are even more cunning than wild rabbits."
Li Qing rode on Big Black, followed by Lie Yan and the other two beside him, and finally Li, who was staring blankly at the cave entrance. He pondered and said, "There are almost no creatures here that are harmful to the giant insects, so why did they dig so many cave entrances? What are they afraid of?"
Li Qing shook his head and said in a low voice, "Perhaps, these creatures... are just ones we haven't discovered yet."
Those enormous footprints, faintly visible traces of life left by creatures, were no illusions. Since this area contained strange birds and giant insects, there must have been many other creatures they had never seen on land.
Strange birds, giant insects, or the ever-changing seasons—these are surely just the tip of the iceberg in this area. There must be other, even more wondrous places they haven't yet discovered.
"What?"
Li didn't quite understand what Li Qing meant.
Li Qing shook his head and said, "No, it's nothing, let's go."
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