Chapter 72
Chapter 72
Rubbing his fingers through the rubble was the quickest way he could think of to find out what had happened.
I knew before that there were no traces of human activity inside the passage. After all, it was naturally formed, and there were small stones scattered everywhere on the ground.
Below the small stones is some settled powder. It goes without saying that this powder is accumulated from the small stones that fell off.
Looking at the layer of soft sand that he had dug out with his fingers, Uncle Xiao felt an inexplicable emotion surging from deep within his heart.
It was a strange feeling, and he could clearly feel himself getting nervous.
This is a very instinctive emotion, and even he himself cannot sort out the instinctive thoughts that arise inexplicably in his mind.
The hand that was searching the ground stopped, Uncle Xiao thought for a moment, and then held the locust leaf that had been hanging on his chest in his palm.
After he knew that it was this locust leaf that protected him once, he hung it over his heart and never let it out of his sight.
This is his only psychological comfort in such an unfamiliar environment.
"It looks like it was scratched by an animal's claws."
He scraped away some of the gravel in the area he had just dug with his hands, and then tried his best to sweep away the soft sand on the ground with his hands.
Although the sand did not hurt his hands, it had formed a thick layer due to the accumulation of time. But when he swept his hands a few more times, he could clearly feel that under the soft sand was the same rock wall as he saw on the surface.
He could clearly see claw marks left by some animal on the swept ground.
Reaching out and gently stroking the paw prints, he examined them carefully, trying to guess what kind of animal might have left them.
"It doesn't look like a normal animal. It must be a mutant."
The reason he came to this conclusion was that while he was stroking the claw marks, he also dug his fingers into the ground. After making sure that he couldn't move his fingers, he turned around, took out the knife he carried with him, and scratched the ground.
Looking at the tiny scratches on the ground that required a lot of force, Uncle Xiao was silent for a while before finally coming to a conclusion.
He could no longer tell what kind of animal had left these marks, but he was certain that they were definitely left by a mutant animal.
Ordinary animals, including those ferocious beasts that are obviously very powerful, would not have the strength to cut through the ground so easily.
"How could there be traces of mutant animals appearing in here? I haven't seen any mutant animals in these days."
He looked down at the claw marks left by the mutant animals on the ground, then looked up and scanned the interior of the passage to make sure he hadn't noticed any movement from the mutant animals before. He muttered in a daze.
"That Locust Tree Godmother from Daxi Village is so powerful that she can even help me avoid the area where mutant animals appear?"
When he looked down at the claw marks on the ground, his eyes fell on the locust tree leaves hanging in front of his heart, and he muttered again.
Although he knew that the changes in the world were completely unimaginable before, when he saw it firsthand, he still found it a little incredible.
How strong was that locust tree? It could protect his life from such a distance with just a leaf she gave him. No! Even many times!
If he hadn't noticed this mark just now, would he not have known that he had inadvertently jumped around those mutant animals many times without realizing it?
Thinking of this, he looked down at the locust tree leaf hanging in front of his chest, his heart full of gratitude.
The locust tree godmother in Daxi Village is so nice, she really protects everyone who is alive!
Fortunately, Ying Huai didn't know how to read minds, and he was now far away from Daxi Village. Otherwise, if Ying Huai saw his current appearance, he would probably be able to remotely control the remaining spiritual power in the locust leaves and hit him.
However, even though they were far apart, when Ying Huai sent it out, the spiritual power in the leaves of the locust tree was activated, so he could still sense something.
And it can briefly sense the degree of danger in the environment where the locust leaf is located.
When Ying Huai sensed through the locust leaves, he discovered that there was no danger in the place where the spiritual power of the locust leaves was activated. On the contrary, that place was not too safe and the spiritual energy was abundant.
"Is there any place where even mutant plants and animals won't have the intention to attack?"
After careful perception, it was determined that the reason why the spiritual power in the locust leaf was activated was not because of automatic defense or attack due to encountering mutated animals or plants, but purely because of an accident. The accident caused the spiritual power in the hands of the person carrying the locust leaf to be activated for defense.
"And the surrounding environment is rich in spiritual energy."
Ying Huai shook the branches and began to think.
The treetops rustled as he shook them, and many locust leaves, which had grown to the top and were about to fall, fell from the treetops.
"What is Godmother thinking about?"
Zuzu looked up at the locust tree whose leaves were falling. Almost every once in a while, for unknown reasons, godmother would shake off the leaves that had grown on her body for a long time, and then new leaves would grow in a very short time.
It looks like a person growing a brain.
Before the world changed, the leaves of my godmother would grow more restrainedly, only a little each day, so that the newly grown fresh leaves would not be clearly visible on the treetops in one day.
But after the mutation, the godmother did not hide the fact that she was conscious and could send messages to the villagers' minds, let alone the fact that she could quickly grow leaves, bloom and produce seeds.
"No answer, maybe my godmother is thinking about something."
Zuzu waited for a long time, his eyes always raised in Ying Huai's direction, and only gave up waiting after making sure that there was no extra information in his mind.
Most of the time, godmothers have their own things to do and think about, so it is normal for them not to answer.
"It should be a mineral vein, right?"
Ying Huai didn't notice that the little old lady Zuzu asked him a question after seeing him appear in that posture. It was just that he was obsessed with thinking about something at that time, and was constantly searching for the information he had learned in the Tianyuan Secret Realm in his mind, intending to extract events that could be used for reference from that information.
Fortunately, he finally thought of it and sensed something in the direction of the leaf again. However, because it was far away, he could only sense a vague point.
After the feedback, he knew that the abundant spiritual energy he had sensed before was not an illusion.
"The appearance of spiritual mineral veins in this world, does it mean that the degree of mutation in this world will increase even more?"
He muttered to himself, but unfortunately no one gave Ying Huai an answer. The information he should know now was told to Ying Huai by the villagers, or by Tang Rufeng and the village chief who came specifically to tell him.
The rest were summarized by Ying Huai himself based on his previous knowledge.
"The increased degree of mutation, coupled with the appearance of new spiritual minerals, does this mean that this world's spiritual energy is about to increase again?"
Thinking of this, Ying Huai felt a little excited. He had benefited a lot from the previous few increases in spiritual energy. Although he was not sure how many times there would be in the future and what kind of changes would happen to the whole world, he was very much looking forward to it now.
"The ground is so hard, how could those mutant animals dig in these tunnels? And they dug these tunnels into bumpy holes."
As Uncle Xiao spoke, he lowered his head and scratched the ground with a knife.
By this time he had figured out that the small stones he had seen on the ground before were not scattered naturally, but were pulled out from the ground by the mutant animals who came in to look for something!
Moreover, different mutant animals with completely inconsistent abilities and strengths came in from different places and then searched in the passage.
It was also because he realized that those mutant animals could enter and exit this passage freely, so he didn't have to worry about not finding the exit.
It was only a matter of time for him to find his way out of these passages.
After confirming this, he began to dig continuously in the places where the mutant animal paw prints appeared densely, intending to find out what the mutant animals were looking for from the traces left by them.
He has been on the front line for a long time. Although he has no special abilities, he still has a strong premonition based on his experience that what these animals are looking for is what the human beings with special abilities need!
Thinking about this, he began to lie on the ground, constantly using some small details to determine the places that had been dug by the mutant animals, and began to dig along their movement tracks.
Then the mutant animals in the passage discovered that the previously stupid two-legged beast seemed to be even more stupid.
He had been unable to find the treasure when walking in the passage before, so he started to look for it along the places where they had searched for the treasure. Those were the places they had dug, so how could the treasure appear in such a short time!
The brains of bipeds are really not very useful, so pitiful~
The mutant animals squatted together, looked in the direction of Uncle Xiao from a distance, shook their heads, turned around and continued to look for treasures.
Because the passage was curved and there was no light, it was very dark. From beginning to end, Uncle Xiao had no idea that he was being watched by those mutant animals and was inexplicably labeled a fool.
At this moment, he was digging carefully along the places where the mutant animals had dug, turning on the light.
In that small passage, his light was particularly conspicuous, allowing the mutant animals passing by to see him at a glance and bypass him from a distance.
In the end, the fox, who had been stopped by Captain Dai and others and had communicated with Shi Tou before, saw that Uncle Xiao was having a really hard time searching. It took him such a long time but he didn't even find a piece of treasure. It was really pitiful.
In the end, I couldn't bear it anymore and risked being infected with stupidity, so I deliberately left a small piece behind when I dug for the treasure.
After confirming that the direction Uncle Xiao was digging was in its direction, it felt relieved and held its treasure in its mouth. It twisted and turned all the way to a small gap. It shook its head and body, and after making sure that its fur was smooth and would not be stuck in the gap, it quickly slipped out of the gap.
After it came out of the gap, it looked up at the surrounding environment and made sure that the entrance to its secret passage had not been discovered. Only then did it feel at ease and hold its baby in its mouth, head high and chest out, and head towards its nest.
After watching it go away, Captain Dai and others carefully emerged from different places.
They are good at hiding in the jungle, and with the ability of the deputy captain, it is now easy for them to avoid the perception of mutant animals in a short period of time.
"Captain, let's go."
The deputy captain looked at the team members and said nothing after they appeared, for fear that any sound would attract the attention of the mutant fox that had already walked away, so he gave them a reminder.
"Oh, okay!"
After hearing the reminder, Captain Dai came back to his senses. After sighing and confirming that he had not been discovered, he led his men to the place where the mutant fox had just emerged.
When Shi Tou was helping to communicate with the fox, they all noticed a word from the fox's words: baby!
That is why they focus their attention on special places on the mountain where treasures may appear.
But they searched for a long time and found no clues. Now, a long time has passed. Captain Dai has foreseen that if time continues to be delayed, within two days, the people who disappeared at the beginning will probably be dead.
The only one missing at the end might still be alive.
This was not what they wanted to see, so, although it was a bit unethical, Captain Dai and others still set their sights on the mutant foxes that were more friendly to them.
"Let's go and take a look. Zhuang Dun, take out the explorer from the space and put it into the gap later."
Captain Dai led his men towards the gap, giving instructions to Zhuang Dun as they walked.
Zhuang Dun's ability is basically nonexistent in terms of attack, but he is very strong in some logistical support.
Not to mention that he can temporarily store items in space for a certain period of time, his more important ability is the ability to transfer items.
Just like now, they did not carry large and complicated exploration tools with them, but they were in the item transfer warehouse specially prepared for Zhuang Dun. As long as he concentrated and transferred them over, they could use them directly.
As soon as they approached the gap, Zhuang Dun spotted a slightly flatter place and used his ability to move the explorer over there.
The front end of this machine itself is not very large. After all, it is going to some remote crevices like the one in front of it. The largest parts should be the display and internal processor.
"Put it in, Mo Shan, please control it."
Watching the team members place the front end of the explorer on the edge of the gap and watching it slowly move inside, Captain Dai turned around and moved to the monitor to take a closer look.
"How can there be such a deep passage in this mountain?"
As soon as the explorer entered, everyone was a little surprised when they saw the scene displayed on the screen.
They had already learned about the situation here before they came. This was just an ordinary quarry and had been abandoned for a long time. On weekdays, the villagers nearby would never come here, and no one would have the leisure to come to the mountain to dig a passage.
"Could it be a tunnel dug by our ancestors during the war? Or a base specially built by the enemy?"
Looking at the black and white images scanned by the explorer, everyone in the team started to have conspiracy theories.
Except for the light shining in from the gap outside, the inside of the passage was pitch black. Obviously, there was no source of light inside.
"Well, it's possible, but we haven't gone in yet, so we can't be sure based on what we see on the surface."
Upon hearing this, Captain Dai did not agree with his team members' words. He just used the word "maybe" to pass it over and turned his attention back to the scene being transmitted back.
"That's strange, what did that mutant fox find in there?"
They all had good eyesight and had seen the fox holding something in its mouth when it came out, but the thing was too small and the fox ran too fast, so they couldn't see it clearly.
Luo Sui, who had been staring at the screen in silence, turned around upon hearing the question and said, "I didn't see clearly what was in its mouth, but I can sense it with my ability. The energy field of the thing in its mouth is very strong. It should be something useful for improving my abilities, but I don't know how to use it."
As he said this, he turned his head back. Since the fox was found in the passage inside this gap, does that mean he can also find it from here?
He really wanted to take a closer look at what was inside that could help him improve his abilities.
"Is it useful for improving abilities? Could it be the spirit stones that appear in novels? Those spirit stones are also dug in mines!"
After hearing Luo Sui's words, everyone was just surprised. Since they didn't know whether the thing was only useful for mutant animals or humans as well, they were reserved about it for the time being.
Tang Ji, who was swinging a fireball to guard against the mutated plants and animals that might appear on the mountain at any time, turned around when he heard this, with a look of surprise on his face, as if he remembered something.
"What are you thinking? Can fiction and reality be combined?"
The player who was also defending nearby patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to be serious.
"Ouch, please stop filming me. My hand is numb from the shock."
Tang Ji was slapped suddenly, and the hairs on his arms stood up due to the electric shock. Although he was not hurt, his hairs must have been damaged. Looking at the naked eye, his hairs were already a little curled.
"Huh? That's nothing, just to perk you up."
Hearing Tang Ji's words, the teammate withdrew his hand helplessly, but his eyes were fixed on the surrounding environment. It was obvious that even though he was talking to Tang Ji, his mind was on the surrounding environment.
"You didn't see what happened to the hair on my hand when you shocked me. If you keep going like this, I'll turn into a curly-haired dog!"
Tang Ji was speechless. He lowered the heat and used it to warm his arms. He reached out to smooth the hair on his arms. When he saw that the hair had become smoother and no longer frizzed, he withdrew his hand.
He has a lot of body hair, and every time he gets electrocuted he looks as miserable as a dog with its hair blown off. If it weren't for his ability to act as an iron, he probably wouldn't be able to show his face to people now.
"Okay, okay, I'll lower the battery level for you next time."
It's impossible not to be electrocuted. The captain alone cannot agree to this. He is now an obstacle for the entire team in the obstacle course.
"What's going on inside? Have you found the end of that passage?"
Hearing this, Tang Ji shook his head and no longer focused on his teammates. He turned to ask others who were watching the display screen.
"No, not only is it not at the end, there are also several more forked passages."
Hearing the question, Zhuang Dun was drawing something on a piece of paper and frowned as he answered Tang Ji.
"I don't know who built this passage, but it's quite complex. Looking at the data displayed on the explorer, the deeper this passage goes, the deeper it goes underground."
Looking at the flashing data appearing on the edge of the display, everyone present who saw the data on the display frowned.
Putting aside other things, as long as this passage goes downward towards the interior of the mountain, does it mean that as long as the missing line disappeared inside these passages, then they are very likely in a passage far away deep underground?
The team is now located halfway up the mountain. To the naked eye, it seems quite far away from the foot of the mountain.
To put it simply, the stones were mined in large steps. Now they are standing on the third layer from the top of the stone area, with four or five layers below, which is exactly thirty or forty meters away from the foot of the mountain.
Or perhaps it was because stones were once mined in this area that the mutant fox discovered a gap leading to the passage inside.
"There should be more than one entrance to this cave on this mountain."
Luo Sui thought of something and looked up at the captain who was carefully observing the scene on the display screen.
"Well, you mentioned before that there are many mutant animals on this mountain. Since those mutant animals have appeared here for a long time and have not left, they must be trying to enter this passage to find the so-called treasure. This gap cannot possibly meet the requirements of all the mutant animals on this mountain."
Hearing Luo Sui's words, Captain Dai obviously thought of it and answered directly.
Thinking of the big cat Ali in Daxi Village, their team had heard people mention it before.
Later, Captain Dai heard from the old man at home that a cat could have such a big change in size in such a short time after mutation, and other mutated animals could do the same.
"So now we're going to find a larger entrance so we can all get in?"
Luo Sui heard the captain's words and nodded briefly.
"Well, Dunzi, put your things away, let's go and keep an eye on the mountain."
The captain nodded. Seeing that no other images appeared on the screen, which only showed people moving towards the interior of the passage, he turned around and signaled Zhuang Dun to collect his things.
"Okay, right away!"
Hearing this, Zhuang Dun nodded, stretched out his hand and attached his ability to the machine placed on the side. In the blink of an eye, the machine in front of him disappeared, and the explorer that had been placed in the gap and was exploring also disappeared.
"Let's go. Since the mutant animals in the mountains have made their nests here, it should be not far from the entrance of the passage they can enter."
As the captain spoke, he led a group of people towards the foot of the mountain. They planned to focus on the mountain this time.
It is difficult to find mutant animals or plants with spiritual energy or valuable places in this mountain.
But if you want to find the inexplicable big hole or gap on the mountain, it is very easy and you can see it clearly from a long distance.
They walked on the mountain for a long time, slowly walking up the mountain from the bottom, and found some cave entrances in the middle, but when they walked in, they found that they were just dug out by the mutant animals on the mountain and had no value.
After taking the wrong path several times, I finally found the first entrance where I could see the passage inside.
"Captain, this should be fine. We can squeeze in!"
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