After Song Laosan finished speaking, my attention also focused on the head of the giant salamander.
At first, I thought he was just seeing spots on the giant salamander's head, but after careful observation, I found that this thing really has four eyes, two on each side, and the eyes are very small, which does not match its huge head.
Looking at the giant salamander's teeth and eyes, Song Laosan asked me, "What's going on with this thing? Could it have mutated from living underwater for too long?"
"No, this giant salamander also has four eyes." The monkey flipped over another corpse. "Could it be that there's something wrong with the water quality here, causing it to mutate like the plants and animals in the radiation zone?"
"Impossible. We are in an uninhabited area, and this is a flowing underground river. The water quality should be fine."
I shook my head: "I think this thing is more like an ancient species that has survived underground due to a specific environment."
Song Laosan offered his guess: "Could it be that monsters were deliberately introduced into the ancient tomb? Many large ancient tombs introduce special creatures as a means of protection, just like the worms we found inside the corpse puppet in the Demon Monk's Tomb? After all, many extinct plants and animals were found at the excavation sites of ancient tombs."
"That's possible, but that's not something we should be concerned about."
I couldn't stand the ugly appearance of this strange fish and looked away: "Let's assume this thing is an ancient giant salamander. What we know so far is that this kind of creature is highly aggressive. If we want to leave, we will probably have to deal with these things."
Old Song sighed, "We can't go back. I estimated the distance when we were falling. The place where we fell into the water is at least 20 meters below the surface. There's no way we can climb back up."
"Going back the way we came is impossible. If we want to leave, we can only do so by water."
Looking at the patterns carved on the surrounding walls, I pointed to the rushing river and said, "I think this underground river is probably a transportation channel in this tomb. If we follow the river downstream, we might find a way out. Even if we don't find a way out, we have a good chance of leaving. After all, this tomb is located high in the mountains. If the river is wide enough, we can leave the mountain by following the outlet of the underground river."
"If it's the former, that's fine. But if it's the latter, we'll have completely missed out on this tomb."
Monkey knew that the purpose of my busy work was to find Duan Jinyan, and couldn't help but say with regret, "We were about to catch up with Young Master Duan's father, but that bastard Zhou Peng dragged us to this place. What a damn bad luck!"
Instead of complaining, think about how to leave alive.
Looking at the river, Song Laosan clicked his tongue in worry: "Not only are there large fish in this river that attack people, but the temperature is also extremely low. Without a boat, it will be difficult for us to leave."
Fish skin!
I reached out and pressed the giant salamander's corpse: "This strange fish is different from the salamanders we see outside. It's also an amphibian. If we blow up its skin, we might be able to use it as a floatation device."
From the Tang Dynasty onwards, waterway transportation in the Yellow River basin began to use oxhide rafts, which were gradually perfected in the Song Dynasty. These rafts were made of logs with dozens of inflatable oxhide bladders attached to the bottom, capable of carrying tens of tons. Judging from the size of this giant salamander, the bladders could easily support the weight of a person.
Old Song looked at me with a skeptical expression: "Will it work?"
The monkey said confidently, "Absolutely no problem. When I was a kid, I used to play by the river with Young Master Duan. After we caught a toad, we would take a hollow grass stick and stick it into the toad's butt. We would blow the toad up like a balloon. They would float on the water and no matter how hard they tried to dive, they couldn't get into the water."
"At this point, there's no other way."
Song Laosan took off his clothes and wiped the mucus off the giant salamander's body, then began to peel its skin from the mouth.
The principle behind our giant salamander skin bag is similar. After skinning the giant salamander, we use strips of cloth torn from clothing to tie around its limbs and the incision sites, and then blow air into it to create a small, single-piece swimming ring.
After Song Laosan finished making a leather bag, he walked to the riverbank, pressed it into the water a few times, and gave me a thumbs up: "Xiao Duan, you're really good. If we keep going like this, we can attract a few more giant salamanders ashore and make an inflatable boat."
"No, we're running out of time."
I glanced at my waterproof mechanical watch: "An hour has passed since we fell into the water. If we continue this ordeal, even if we find an exit, it might be too late to get back to shore. Time is of the essence, so I suggest we leave now."
You mean swim out?
Song Laosan looked troubled and shone his flashlight into the depths of the river: "You know how cold this river is. I only swam twenty or thirty meters before my arms and legs cramped up. And this river has to go at least fifty meters to reach the bend. If it flows all the way down the mountain, the low temperature will be enough to kill us. I know you're eager to find Duan Jinyan, but before that, we have to make sure we can survive, right?"
I speculate that this is a transport waterway, because the river's direction is roughly the same as the tomb's direction, and the location of the suspension bridge where we fell earlier is also difficult to transport heavy objects. However, I'm not sure whether Ashi-eun used a more convenient waterway or took two other tomb passages when designing this place.
Although I was extremely anxious, I knew that Song Laosan's words made sense. I couldn't let the two of them risk their lives to accompany me based on my own guesses, so I could only patiently nod and say, "Okay, then I'll listen to you."
Upon hearing this, Song Laosan used a knife to cut the skinned giant salamander into small pieces and threw them all into the river in front of him: "These giant salamanders have deteriorated eyesight and should be very sensitive to the smell of blood. They haven't attacked us for so long, probably because they are afraid of light and noise. I'll turn off the flashlights in a bit, and we'll keep watch here. As soon as we hear the sound of water, I'll turn on the flashlights, and then we'll all open fire! Remember to use single-shot rounds and aim for the giant salamanders' heads, trying not to damage their skin!"
The three of us threw the pieces of meat into the water and each found a good spot. Then, Song Laosan turned off his flashlight, instantly blinding me, who had already adjusted to the light.
After waiting for about three minutes, the sound of splashing water came from the quiet cave, and the sound that sounded like a child crying rang out again, but this time the sound was exceptionally loud, so loud that it hurt people's ears.
The monkey not far from me was the first to notice something was wrong: "Young Master Duan, Third Master, have you noticed something's off? This sound of water... it sounds like a damn tsunami!"
"brush!"
Sensing something was amiss, Song Laosan also turned on his flashlight and shone it towards the water.
The river ahead was churning with water, and countless giant salamanders were devouring the scraps of flesh in the water. The once calm current had now become turbulent, with large waves crashing against the walls on both sides. Even the water level had risen considerably as we hid on this rock.
As Song Laosan shone his flashlight upstream, the three of us held our breath at the same time.
There was a huge shadow moving towards us underwater, looking like a black current taking over the riverbed.
"Splash!"
The giant salamanders that had been gathered in the river sensed the approaching shadow and scattered instantly. They even overcame their fear of light and climbed up to our rock.
This strange sight made me feel a deadly threat. I slung the backpack containing the child's remains over my shoulder, grabbed the giant salamander's skin bag, and ran towards the river: "Don't fucking look! Run!!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com