The girl threw down a sentence from the cliff, then disappeared over the cliff with a lantern.
I watched the girl leave and shouted up, "Hey! Where are your people? How long will it take them to come back?"
No one answered my question, and the flashlight beam illuminated nothing but the cliff.
I turned to look at Song Laosan: "Am I hallucinating? Was there a little girl up there?"
"Nonsense! We've only just arrived in this space, and we haven't been starving for days. How could we be hallucinating!"
Song Laosan nodded excitedly: "According to the intelligence we received before, Ping'an Village is divided into many smaller villages, and they all share the same goal: to protect the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace! Judging from the girl's clothes just now, she must also be from Ping'an Village! What does this mean? It means that we are very close to the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace! That's why people from other villages have come here! Sanbao is very likely the key to unlocking the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace!"
Is this something to get excited about?
I rolled my eyes at Song Laosan: "We came here to find the bull's head! If your analysis is correct, these things are indeed related to the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace, then the village people must know the exact location of the golden bull better than we do! As long as they take the bull's head away, it's equivalent to blocking our way into the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace!"
"That's true, but they've blocked not just our path! They've blocked all the teams searching for the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace! We're blocked, and so is Duan Jinyan! Everyone's just back to square one!"
Song Laosan said excitedly, "Even if we don't find Duan Jinyan this time, we'll have another chance. But if we lose our lives, then we'll have nothing left!"
Hearing him say that, I calmed down and nodded, saying, "After we get out, I need to immediately organize a rescue team to go back into the cave to search for survivors. The sooner we get out, the greater the chances of the others being rescued if they are still alive!"
While we were chatting, we waited at the bottom of the cliff, but half an hour passed and there was still no movement from above.
This situation made Song Laosan somewhat worried: "Xiao Duan, do you think the higher-ups might abandon us? Those guys know we're here to rob tombs, so they might just leave us here to fend for ourselves?"
I glanced at him sideways and said, "Can you please stop jinxing me?"
Old Song sighed, "I'm not just jinxing it! Think about it, we're in a cave. How big can a cave be? And that girl couldn't have separated from the group and wandered around the cave alone, could she? So she must not be far from the tribe. But she hasn't come back for so long. I can't help but wonder!"
After listening to Song Laosan's words, I waved my hand and lay down on the ground to complain: "With our strength alone, we definitely can't climb this cliff. Since that girl said she would save us, she brought a glimmer of hope. Even if they don't come back, there's nothing we can do. Let's leave it to fate."
"I've discovered you're a really big shot!"
Old Song wanted to say something to me, but after looking around, he lay down next to me and said, "Damn it, whatever!"
I lay on the ground to avoid being affected by negative emotions, so my mind was blank and I didn't think about anything. Surprisingly, I fell asleep under such high pressure.
Just as I was lost in a sweet dream, I suddenly heard someone shout, "Hey! People down there, are you still there?"
"flap!"
Song Laosan, who hadn't fallen asleep the whole time, suddenly sat up and shouted, "We're here! We're all downstairs! Help... Xiao Duan, wake up, our savior is here!"
I was woken up by Song Laosan and saw a few lanterns on the edge of the cliff above. I breathed a sigh of relief: "How long have I been asleep?"
"Not long, about ten minutes."
As Song Laosan spoke, he stood up and cried out, "Help!"
"Don't shout, save your energy, we're here to save people!"
A male voice came from above: "We'll lower the rope down, you tie it around your bodies, and then we'll pull you up!"
"good!"
Upon hearing what the other person said, I stood with Song Laosan at the bottom of the cliff.
Soon, two ropes were lowered down from above, and two stones were tied to the bottom to ensure the ropes descended vertically.
I waited for the rope above to come down, grabbed the stone to untie it, but then my palm suddenly stung. When I shone a flashlight on it, I saw that my palm was covered in small cuts.
"hiss!"
At this moment, Song Laosan also gasped in pain: "What kind of rope is this? How come it's as sharp as a razor blade?"
"Rubber rope! This kind of rope is made from ramie. The production process is very complicated. First, the ramie needs to be harvested, then the outer skin is scraped off, and finally it is soaked in a pond until it rots. Finally, it is broken down and twisted into rope."
Looking at the rough edges on my palms, I tore strips of cloth from my clothes and wrapped them around my hands: "This kind of coarse hemp rope is an ancient, primitive craft; it should have been phased out long ago."
“Ping’an Village is a closed-off village. It’s understandable that it has some primitive methods because it has not had contact with the outside world for so many years.”
Song Laosan didn't take it seriously. He grabbed the hemp rope, tied it around his body, and shouted up, "I'm all ready here. You can pull me up now!"
"Hold on tight to the rope!"
A shout came from above, and then Song Laosan was pulled up.
Seeing Song Laosan's body slowly rise, I quickly tied the rope and sent a signal upwards.
As the rope tightened, my body began to rise gradually, adjusting my position and angle with my legs, like rock climbing.
Pulled along by those people above, I was quickly dragged to the edge of the cliff.
Looking up, there were more than a dozen people standing on the edge of the cliff, all dressed in the traditional clothing of the village, and several of them were carrying lanterns.
When we were in Ping'an Village before, the people we saw all had dark skin and looked very strong because of long hours of labor.
But the people in front of them all had sunken eyes and pale faces, looking like they were severely malnourished.
"People are coming up, everyone lend a hand!"
A man saw me and Song Laosan being pulled up, walked to the edge of the cliff, and stretched out his palm to me.
I stepped on a protruding rock and put my hand on the man's wrist. Suddenly, my foot slipped, and if it weren't for the rope holding me up, I probably would have fallen off the cliff.
I tripped because I was scared.
This person's hands are so cold!
The moment the two separated, I felt as if I were holding a piece of ice, not only cold but also hard, and it felt like holding a corpse.
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