When Wang Ping saw that Chen Jian and I insisted on going in, he frowned, gritted his teeth, looked at me, then at Chen Jian, and sighed.
“In that case, I’ll go in with you. Let Mr. Bai and the others wait outside.”
Bai Wei and the others naturally had no objections. After all, ever since they were stranded on this island, they had never stepped forward in the face of any trouble.
Anyway, I never had any hope for them.
After looking at Chen Jian, I told him to quickly check everything and then come in with me to take a look.
Chen Jian nodded and followed Wang Ping and the other man up the mountain to make torches.
As for the other male colleagues, I told them where they should stand guard so that they could provide timely support should we encounter any danger.
Bai Wei has been much quieter lately. He listened to my arrangements, nodded, and didn't say anything.
Wang Ping and Chen Jian quickly brought over three enormous torches, which were then covered with a lot of oil from the clams and carefully wrapped in huge leaves to prevent them from getting wet.
Bai Wei handed me the lighter, his face showing a hint of reluctance.
"This lighter is the only modern tool we have right now, so you must use it carefully and don't lose it."
I couldn't be bothered with him. I took the lighter, took off my clothes, and carefully followed Chen Jian and the others into the cave with the torch.
The cave was very cold, and Chen Jian frowned as soon as he entered.
"It seems we can't live in this cave anymore. It's so cold, we'll get rheumatism."
Wang Ping and I remained silent and carefully entered the cave. We examined the inside of the cave closely, but because of the water curtain, we couldn't see clearly what it looked like.
Once we had swum all the way into the cave and our view had opened up, we lit the torch with a lighter.
After the torches were lit, the surroundings instantly brightened up. The cave walls were very sticky and smelled fishy.
The water inside was about knee-deep, which was very dangerous; one could easily lose their balance and fall.
We kept walking in, and the space inside seemed very large, which further confirmed my earlier guess that the mountaintop we were staying on was actually hollow.
Wang Ping looked around and couldn't help but praise the amazing work of nature, how such a large cave was actually hollow.
Chen Jian nodded in agreement: "I don't think this place is suitable for living, but it can be used as a refrigerator. If we have leftover meat, it would be nice to store it here."
I nodded; this was a fairly reliable suggestion.
We walked a few more steps forward, and the stench inside grew stronger and stronger, causing us all to wrinkle our noses.
Just as we were about to turn back, we discovered a huge stone platform not far from us, which was actually above the water and seemed to have many things on it.
We carefully looked around by the torchlight and discovered that the platform was covered with all sorts of random things.
Upon approaching, one can see numerous snake molts on the rock, densely packed together.
It turns out that the foul smell came from the snake molt!
Chen Jian stood to the side, his voice trembling slightly.
"Could that giant python we killed the other day have been living at the bottom of this cave?"
I nodded, thinking that Chen Jian's guess was very likely. Otherwise, how could the python have attacked us as soon as we came in?
Holding the torch, Wang Ping bravely took a few more steps before climbing onto the platform. I saw Wang Ping sway and fall backward. I quickly caught him and carefully shone the torch on him. Only then did I discover that the stone platform contained not only snake sloughs but also many bones.
Wang Ping sighed, his voice trembling slightly: "I suspect it was that python that killed many animals and people before, so when it ran out of food, it killed it and left it here, which is why it turned into this skeleton."
Chen Jian listened to me and Wang Ping talking, nodded, and shrugged.
"This place is gloomy, I think we should go out."
Wang Ping shook his head upon hearing this: "No, we must keep a close watch on this cave to see if there's anything else inside. Otherwise, if there are still pythons here, even if we reach the top of the mountain, will we still have a good time?"
I was also a little worried, and I felt that what Wang Ping said was right, and what Chen Jian said was also right.
But if we stay here, what if there really is some huge wild beast? Wouldn't the three of us end up being eaten as snacks?
Wang Ping, however, calmed down and carefully stepped onto the stone platform with my hand. I followed him.
The cave is not very big, but this stone platform takes up most of the cave.
Besides the white bones and a snake's shed skin, there were many other things scattered on the stone platform.
Upon closer inspection, there were actually two backpacks.
This backpack is clearly a modern product.
Chen Jian got carried away and handed me the torch, then reached out and picked up the backpack.
But as soon as I got the backpack in my hands, it fell apart completely, and the contents were scattered everywhere. It seems that the backpack has been here for quite some time, otherwise it wouldn't have deteriorated and weathered into this state.
Chen Jian looked at me and said in surprise, "I suspect the owner of this backpack must have died here too. That would be too tragic!"
As he spoke, he bent down to look at the contents of the backpack, which was filled with various items scattered around.
There was a dagger, a small medicine box, and some cosmetics.
Most importantly, there was a map-like object inside, made of kraft paper, which was very sturdy and hadn't broken down after all these years.
Wang Ping also picked up the two bags next to him. We saw that there was nothing else in the cave and the lighting was not good, so we picked up these things, carefully carried the bag, and returned to the waterfall.
When they went out, Bai Wei and his men were standing at the door, ready to pounce.
They were all a little surprised when they saw us asking us to bring our things out. We handed the things to our colleagues on the side and then went ashore.
Bai Wei and the others immediately scattered all the bags on the pile of stones nearby and opened them one by one.
The bag was severely weathered; it fell apart with just a little force, and all the contents spilled out. With the bright sunlight outside, I could tell at a glance that it must have been an explorer's backpack.
These three large backpacks were filled with all sorts of things.
Inside were a tinderbox, a dagger, and a lighter. There were also two packs of cigarettes, though they appeared to have gotten wet and were severely yellowed.
Some cosmetics, a paper map, a compass, a small bundle of rope, two long-broken cell phones, and a small leather bag, only the size of a palm.
When Chen Jian opened the leather bag, he saw that it was full of bullets.
But we didn't see any guns.
It's likely that the owner of these bags lost his gun while fighting with some animal and subsequently lost his life.
As a result, he was dragged into this cave by the python.
Although I deeply mourn those who have died, the tools they left behind are still very useful to us. At the very least, this map interests me greatly.
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