Chapter 221

Jiang Tianming was right. The road they had just walked was full of twists and turns. Even people with a good sense of direction would not be able to find their way back in the dark. Qiao Mu, who could see in the dark, and Zu Zong, who was very adaptable to the life of the blind, could do it, but the problem was that they couldn't fly. If one of them was allowed to go with Si Zhaohua, they would be stuck in the original problem again, which was how could they hide it from the aborigines?

So it would be better to do as he said, first understand the environment and talk to the indigenous people. If they have no ill intentions towards us, that would be even better, and we can leave easily.

However, everyone knew that this possibility was very small. Even if the natives had no ill intentions towards them, they would not let them go easily. Those who are not of our race must have different hearts. What if they went up to call for reinforcements and captured everyone inside?

Not long after, the door opened and several tall guys approached. One of them mumbled something, but because of the language barrier, no one responded, and no one even dared to speak.

The person who was talking looked at his companion next to him and mumbled something. Then the companion suddenly sang a song, a song that was less than ten seconds long, with no lyrics, only melody.

The singing voice was not like a human voice, it was very pleasant to the ear. But the crowd was not interested in appreciating the singing voice, they were all shocked that they could understand each other's meaning through the voice without any lyrics.

The message conveyed in the song is very simple and clear - "Who are you?"

Since the other party has expressed the willingness to communicate, there is no need for them to pretend that they can't speak. However, they don't speak the same language, and they can't express their ideas through singing. How can they communicate?

There was no other way, Jiang Tianming tried to speak: "We fell in here accidentally, do you understand?"

Surprisingly, the other party actually understood and continued to speak in a high-pitched singing voice that sounded very exciting: "There is actually a world above what I fell from above."

They didn't even know there was a society above. But think about it, according to the story told by Cyril, these people tried to live underground because they were discriminated against, excluded and hunted. In order to prevent their descendants from going up there out of curiosity and harming the entire clan, they would definitely not tell them about what happened above.

It is safer to just not say anything than to demonize what is happening on the ground. After all, if we just demonize it, there will be some adventurous people and naughty kids who will definitely go up to find out what is going on.

Moreover, there is no light underground, and it is probably difficult to use words. Then, the original information on the ground will not be known to many people in one or two generations.

"Yes, if you are interested, you can go up with us to take a look after we find a way to leave." Jiang Tianming made a friendly expression, although he didn't know whether the other party could see it.

There was silence for a while, and then the other party spoke: "Guests are welcome, so let us entertain you first. You can also take this opportunity to tell us about the above matter."

After hearing this answer, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It would be best if the situation could be resolved peacefully, otherwise it would be difficult for them to leave this underground world smoothly with just a few people.

After the discussion, the singer introduced herself to them. Her name was Zheng Caige, and the reason she could communicate with them through singing was because her singing had a special ability that allowed her to communicate with any species. The person who spoke first was the leader of their tribe, He Bin. After the introduction, everyone was released.

From their behavior, everyone can see that these underground people probably don't think they have any offensive power, otherwise they wouldn't be willing to give them a certain degree of freedom when they know they are intelligent creatures.

As expected, when leading them to another room, Cai Ge chatted with them: "Your skin is too delicate, it feels easy to damage. But what kind of animals are you? Most animals under the ground have very hard shells. People like you will be eaten within a day."

"We are human beings." Jiang Tianming, who had inexplicably become the spokesperson, saw that no one else was willing to answer, so he had to answer himself.

Although they have lived underground for a long time, Zheng Caige also knows that their race is human. Hearing this, she asked in surprise: "You are human, how is it possible that you don't look like us at all!"

This question is difficult to explain. In fact, this is what Jiang Tianming and his team wanted to say. He could only answer it in a good biological way: "Because our growth environment is different, the direction of evolution is also different."

"Where have you evolved?" Zheng Caige's voice sounded a little disgusted. She really couldn't see how these limp guys had any ability to survive in danger.

It's rare that everyone answered in unison: "The brain has evolved."

Zheng Caige: “…”

During the conversation, both parties were trying to gather information from each other. Su Bei and the others learned that they had been living in this underground world for many years, using caves dug underground as their homes.

There is not only one village, or tribe, but also other tribes. Each tribe occupies a large area, with a square dug in the middle and houses around it for living. The squares between different tribes are interoperable, and people usually visit each other and communicate in the square.

The entire underground world is like an ant nest, complex but orderly.

As for food, their usual staple food is a special kind of edible clay, and their side dishes are some animals and plants from underground.

Even though there is no sunlight underground for many years, there are plants that can grow without photosynthesis. Maybe these things are not called plants, but since they are not meat or staple food, they are temporarily called plants. These are not found on the ground, which opened the eyes of the visitors.

As they were not sure whether the people on the surface could eat the clay and plants, they ate guinea pig meat for dinner. It tasted okay because it was seasoned with salt and the underground people also ate cooked food. It was much better than they had expected. They had thought they would not be able to eat well for the next few days.

They had dinner at the village chief's house. Knowing that a very special stranger was coming, waves of underground people came to visit the village chief's house. Su Bei and his friends felt like they were being watched like animals in a zoo. They were forced to meet many different underground humans, but it was too dark to see anything. They could only distinguish different people by their voices.

Under the pretext of going to the toilet, Su Bei finally found an opportunity to ask Wu Jin why he pulled him. Wu Jin told him that when Cyril said that he wanted to communicate with the underground humans, he became very excited for a moment.

Wu Jin sensed something was wrong with the excitement at that moment, so he wanted to remind Su Bei. Not only Su Bei, he also secretly reminded Jiang Tianming. Whether these two people were the most reliable in his mind was another matter, but they were definitely the smartest. It would be right to talk to them when encountering problems.

Excited to get this information, Su Bei couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Obviously, Cyril really wanted to communicate with the people here. But a group of ancient people who have lived underground for many years. He is not a historian or biologist, so why should he chat with them?

Thinking of the vague details he had mentioned when he was describing the identities and histories of these people, Su Bei raised his eyebrows. At first he thought he didn't explain many things clearly because he didn't know, but now it seems that there might be something else going on.

I just don't know what on earth he is interested in about these underground people, and whether he is interested in it personally or the "Black Flash" organization.

If it was the former, there was nothing to guess, because God knew why Cyril was interested in the underground people. But if it was the latter, there were only two things that would interest the Black Flash organization: immortality and nightmare beasts.

This world is a comic book world, so Su Bei is more inclined to the latter. Then he can find out the relationship between the underground people and these two keywords.

After eating, the underground humans are used to exercising to digest their food. They don't have any entertainment activities underground, just like the ancient people. Exercise is an indispensable thing. Seeing this, Huangfu Mingzhe had an idea and proposed to compete with the underground humans.

He has the best physical fitness among all the people except for the duo of the "Black Flash" organization. Even if he doesn't use his superpowers, the passive effects of the [Five-clawed Golden Dragon] are still on him, so even if the underground humans are very strong, he can still fight.

The reason why Huangfu Mingzhe wanted to compete with these people was that he wanted to test their strength in advance. Cyril said that these people were actually superpowers, but their superpowers had become externalized. Since they were superpowers, their strength should not be underestimated. It would be good to learn about them in advance so that he could prepare for their departure in the future.

Although those people looked down on the "weak" Su Bei and others, they were indeed curious about these outsiders, so they agreed to his request.

At this time, Huangfu Mingzhe made another request. He said that they couldn't see anything in the completely dark environment, so it would be unfair even if they competed. So he asked them if there was a way to make them see so that they could have a fair duel.

This is his real purpose. Since these underground people can find someone who can communicate with them through singing, perhaps they can also find a way to let them see things in the underground world.

Huangfu Mingzhe was not wrong. After knowing that they needed to use their eyes to see things, the clan leader was surprised for a moment, and then he rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find some things: "We don't have such things as eyes, and we are not sure what you want. But there are records in the ancient books in my house that say that we relied on these things to adapt to the environment when we first came to the underground world. See if you can use them."

As he said this, he put something in everyone's hands. Su Bei felt around for a while and thought it was a pair of glasses. He put them on and there was actually light in his sight! After putting on the glasses, what he saw was a bit like a night vision surveillance camera. Although it was still dark overall, he could see things.

You won't know until you see it. You'll be shocked when you see it. Su Bei asked why Zu Zong and Qiao Mu were so silent. It was really hard not to be silent when seeing a group of creatures with such strange appearances.

The people around were indeed humanoid, but they had changed a lot of things based on the diamond shape, such as the four arms and legs covered with bumps like tentacles, and the weird faces that looked like they would appear in horror movies. Coupled with the grayish skin and white hair, those who knew would say that they were underground humans, while those who didn't would think they were corpses from an ancient tomb!

The place they were in was a spacious stone cave. Unlike the simple mud cave that everyone initially thought of, the nearby walls were made of stone and carved with patterns, which looked very artistic.

In front of many rooms, there are pot shovels, dried meat, and brooms made of stone and straw, which are full of life. Although this place is underground, it is not like the primitive society that Su Bei and others first thought, but more like ancient or rural appearance.

With the glasses that can see the surroundings, Huangfu Mingzhe began to prepare for the competition with the clan leader. The competition venue is in the square, so the things need to be cleared to avoid damage.

It was a rare occasion to see something lively in the underground world. When people from other tribes heard that the chief of the Mud Tribe was going to compete with an outsider, they could no longer sit still. They came to the corridor outside the hall of the Mud Tribe and craned their necks to watch.

Zheng Caige welcomed everyone in and brought small stone stools for them to sit on.

After these people came in, Su Beimin was able to sense several malicious gazes. However, because these people were in a hurry, he had no way of judging who the gazes came from.

It was not surprising to see malicious looks. They were outsiders and looked completely different from the people here. It was normal for them to be viewed with hostility. In fact, he was surprised that the chieftain here was so warm and friendly.

The competition started, and neither side could use weapons. The clan leader attacked with all four hands, but Huangfu Mingzhe dodged and punched him from the side.

This punch made the clan leader who had originally looked down on Huangfu Mingzhe suddenly wake up. If such a powerful force was still considered weak, then perhaps all the people in their clan were weak.

When the two sides started to fight seriously, their advantages and disadvantages were very obvious. The advantage of the clan leader was that he was agile and could knock down ordinary people with just one sweep of his legs, but because he had four legs, it was difficult for Huangfu Mingzhe to sweep over four legs with just one leg.

Huangfu Mingzhe's advantages are his great strength, speed, and outstanding fighting skills. He has received formal training, unlike the people here who just fight based on instinct.

In comparison, Huangfu Mingzhe was more powerful. Seeing that he was about to win, Wu Mingbai, who understood the ways of the world, coughed heavily as a reminder.

Fortunately, Huangfu Mingzhe understood his reminder and took the initiative to stop and get a draw.

After successfully proving their strength, the underground people became much more enthusiastic towards them. However, they prepared a few rooms for four people and promised to take them to the hole where they fell tomorrow to see if they could go back directly.

Everything went incredibly smoothly. Regardless of other people's mood, Su Bei was on guard. He didn't believe that these people would let them go so easily. If he put himself in their shoes, he would never let outsiders go directly. After all, he didn't know what was going on up there. What if he let the wolf in and then let the tiger back out?

Moreover, the underground people's reaction after learning that their own strength was not weak was also strange. How could they be happy about the strength of the outsiders? Shouldn't they be panicked or vigilant?

Jiang Tianming had the same idea as him. After the underground people left, he paced back and forth in the room: "I feel that their attitude towards us is a bit strange. Let's ask for information now while we are not too tired. By the way, if possible, we'd better find the original cave by ourselves. What do you think?"

The others naturally had no objection, but before they left, Lan Subing suddenly discovered a problem: "Where are Cyril and the others?"

"Cyril and Li Xiang just said they wanted to take a walk and then left." Qiao Mu replied. She was the first one to notice that the two people left, so she asked about it.

No one paid attention to the two people, since they were not in the same group. After discussing, everyone left the room assigned to them in groups of two or three.

Su Bei, Si Zhaohua and Wu Jin walked together, and under Su Bei's leadership, the three of them came directly to the next tribe. The others wanted to find the way, while Su Bei wanted to find clues.

Just now they saw Cai Ge walking towards this direction. They didn't know the language of the underground world, so if they wanted to get a message from Cai Ge, they had to go find her. Fortunately, the clan leader didn't restrict their freedom, so they could move around freely.

Of course, he didn't restrict them because he didn't trust them, but because he trusted his own people. Jiang Tianming and others were absolutely different in both identity and appearance, and it was impossible for a normal underground person to choose to protect them after doing something for them.

On the way, Su Bei curiously said to Wu Jin next to him: "Do you think your face can still play its due effect here?"

It is obvious that the aesthetics of the underground world is completely different from that of the above-ground world. For example, the skin of Lan Subing, who had just been rejected, looks very soft and weak, which is a good thing in the above-ground world.

Si Zhaohua also showed a curious look. To be honest, when he saw Wu Jin's face during the competition two days ago, he was also in a trance for a moment. He didn't expect that the ordinary-looking classmate actually had such a beautiful face, and his supernatural power was not the kind they knew, but the extremely rare [Succubus].

Si Zhaohua, who is well-informed, also has some understanding of this ability. He knows that Wu Jin can seduce others with just his looks without using his abilities. But as Su Bei said, in a completely different situation, can his ability still work?

"It should work." Wu Jin nodded hesitantly, "I have the passive ability of the Succubus. My... face is recognized as the most beautiful among all species."

Hearing this answer, Su Bei felt relieved: "Then you will be the one to ask questions later!"

Wu Jin: “…”

He finally realized what Su Bei meant. He pursed his lips and said reluctantly, "I don't want to...seduce them. It would make me feel...a little ashamed."

Hearing this, Su Bei immediately showed an expression that was difficult to explain. It was that Wu Jin's moral bottom line was too high. If it were him, he would never have thought of this. But he also knew that this was the other party's heart knot, and it was difficult to untie it with a few words. Besides, Su Bei was not the type of person who could talk, so it was impossible for him to go to great lengths to reason with the other party.

He looked at Si Zhaohua and motioned for him to speak. However, Si Zhaohua didn't know what to say. This young master usually didn't have the opportunity to comfort others. After hesitating for a moment, he asked tentatively: "I'll give you 100,000 yuan, can you help us get some information?"

Although it felt like this would not be able to comfort the other person, it was indeed the best way he could think of to comfort him. Although he was a rich man, Si Zhaohua knew very well that for most people, money was the best medicine.

Su Bei: "..."

Wu Jin: “…”

It should be said that Su Bei was really moved by the fact that he could get 100,000 yuan for just one sentence. But Wu Jin was obviously not. He was amused for a moment, but he still didn't look completely willing.

There was no other choice but for Su Bei to take the stage. He chose to simply and crudely switch concepts: "Your ability is [Succubus], and your behavior of using your face to trick people is called using your passive ability. Just like Huangfu Mingzhe's ability is [Five-clawed Golden Dragon], he uses the powerful body given by his ability to fight against others, which is using his passive ability. You can't say that he is cheating and it is shameless to compete with the clan leader."

"Is that so?" Wu Jin's face was obviously suspicious, but when he saw Su Bei's firm expression, he became dazed again. He knew Su Bei was talking nonsense, but because he couldn't refute it, he felt that there was some truth in it.

Forget it, he always has trouble with Su Bei anyway. Wu Jin finally chose to compromise, sighed and asked: "What do you want me to say?"

"Ask them about their understanding of the world above ground." Su Bei wasn't sure what the problem was, so he could only give a rough outline. "And show us that we want to stay here for a long time."

The first question was to see if they really had no knowledge of the earthly world. If they didn't, it would be strange for them to be so confident in these outsiders. And if they knew about it, but they just lied to them, that would be even stranger.

As for the second request, it was to test the other party's purpose. When Wu Jin expressed their willingness to stay, if those people were happy, it would prove that they didn't want them to go back to the upper world, and then what they said just now about helping them find a way out tomorrow was probably a lie. And if they were unhappy, it would depend on why they were unhappy.

As for his previous thought, that these underground humans might be related to nightmare beasts or immortality, Su Bei did not intend to ask for the time being. Compared with the conspiracy of the "Black Flash" organization, he was more concerned about whether he could leave this damn place as soon as possible.

"You think too highly of me," Wu Jin said with a wry smile, pointing at himself and whispering, "I don't know how to get you to say anything. I usually don't talk much."

Because of his face, he never liked to communicate with others since he was a child, let alone social celebrities like Su Bei, Zhao Xiaoyu, etc. Even though his self-confidence would be greatly improved after showing his face, it was still far from the point of being able to talk fluently.

Su Bei naturally thought of this, and soothed him, "Si Zhaohua and I will handle the rest. You just need to ask the key questions at the key time."