I saw the butterfly man, convinced by me, walk towards the entrance. I followed him and asked, "Which exit are you planning to take? The same way we came in, or is there another option?"
The butterfly man walked to the entrance, bent down and crawled out: "Going back the way we came is the most convenient route. There are three independent spaces in this mountain, and the path I took is the intersection of the three spaces."
"Three spaces? Besides this place, there's that secret prison, and is there another place full of stalactites?"
I pressed the butterfly man for an answer: "Could you take me over there? I have two friends who fell there, and their whereabouts are still unknown!"
“I don’t know what place you’re talking about. This conclusion is based on the results I obtained using the detector. I haven’t been to that other place.”
The butterfly man paused for a moment: "Let's leave here first. If possible, I can try to help you find your friend."
Seeing that the butterfly-like man seemed to know more about this mountain than we did, I breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you!"
Led by the butterfly man, we quickly passed through the outer passage and returned to the "U"-shaped space outside.
But after seeing what was happening outside, our expressions changed immediately.
The platform on the other side of the canyon has disappeared. The flowing rocks emerging from the cave on the other side have formed a new mountain wall and are expanding toward us.
When Song Laosan saw that the rope we used to climb over had been swallowed up by the flowing water and rocks, he said, "The road on the other side is completely blocked. Isn't it too risky for us to go back like this?"
"We can't go back."
The Butterfly Man shook his head: "This thing is very complex in composition. It can be understood as a complex of insects and fungi, similar to Cordyceps sinensis. The vines that entangled me before were the mouthparts of this complex. It provides nutrition to itself by sucking the blood and flesh of its prey, and at the same time parasitizes the prey, allowing the prey to replace its original mouthparts and reduce the danger it faces when hunting."
Upon hearing the butterfly man's explanation, I immediately thought of the giant snake we encountered when we first fell into the mountains, and asked him, "You know so much about this place; it seems you did a lot of research beforehand."
"This is my first time here."
Seeing that I was staring at him with a skeptical look, the butterfly man added, "Everyone has their own expertise."
I countered, "So what exactly do you do?"
The butterfly man didn't answer my question, but instead looked at Miao Xiaoxian: "You're not one of them, so you know about other passages, right?"
Miao Xiaoxian didn't beat around the bush at this critical moment: "The path I took was full of flowing water and rocks. Without enough equipment to clear the way, we couldn't get out."
The butterfly-shaped man waved his hand: "Take me to see."
Miao Xiaoxian was very dissatisfied with this commanding tone and said in a deep voice, "I said, you can't get out from there."
The butterfly man coldly replied, "That's not your concern. Lead the way."
Seeing the anger flash in Miao Xiaoxian's eyes, I immediately stepped between the two and said to Miao Xiaoxian, "We have more important things to do. Now is not the time to fight. Unity is the most important thing!"
"Come with me."
Miao Xiaoxian ignored the butterfly man and led us along the cliff into the distance.
At the end of this cliff, there is a bend, and behind the bend is a pit half a person deep. If you shine a flashlight down, you can see that there is no passage here.
Miao Xiaoxian noticed my confusion and said, "This is a passage. The exit is at the top of this pit. You can't see it unless you go in."
I naturally didn't doubt that Miao Xiaoxian was lying to me. In order to put Butterfly Man and Song Laosan at ease, I was the first to jump into the pit. I shone my flashlight on it and sure enough, I found a tunnel sloping upwards above my head. Then I got up and crawled through it.
This tunnel was dug by hand and is only about one meter long. Inside, there is a spacious area of about two square meters, and there is a road on the side that can accommodate one person to pass through.
Miao Xiaoxian followed me up and pointed to the passage ahead, saying, "This is the way we came in. There's an altar ahead, and there are spiral stone steps leading up the edge of the altar that lead to the outside of the mountain! When I first came in, there was nothing inside the altar, but when I came in today, there were a lot of flowing rocks in the cave. I'm afraid the situation is even worse now. I don't know who your friend is, but if we go this way, the chances of us getting out are very slim."
I didn't know much about the Butterfly Man either, and faced with Miao Xiaoxian's doubts, I couldn't think of any comforting words: "Let's see what he can do first, and then make a decision on the next step."
While we were talking, the butterfly man crawled up from below and bent down to grab the bag on the backpack.
Seeing his actions, I turned around to help, but the moment I grabbed the straps, I felt like I was pulling an elephant. I used a lot of strength, but there was no sign of me pulling him up at all.
"Get out of the way, or you'll get hurt."
The butterfly man pushed me aside, and with a slight exertion of his arm, pulled up the travel bag that looked particularly sturdy.
I saw the man with the butterfly-shaped backpack slung over his back, looking at me with suspicion: "What's in there? Why is it so heavy?"
"tool."
The Butterfly Man took out his flashlight and shone it on the tunnel ahead, then asked Miao Xiaoxian, "Is this the passage you were talking about?"
Miao Xiaoxian nodded: "Yes, there's one inside..."
Seeing Song Laosan climb up, the Butterfly Man interrupted Miao Xiaoxian, saying, "I know the exit inside is probably blocked. Time is of the essence, let's go."
After speaking, the butterfly man took the lead and walked into the passage, and we followed him in.
At the end of this passage is a triangular space, about twenty meters high.
After exiting the passage, the first thing that caught my eye was a huge bust statue.
Most of the statue's body has been swallowed by the flowing rock, but it remains in the posture of outstretched arms, with a three-square-meter disc in its palm.
Miao Xiaoxian frowned upon seeing this scene: "The situation here is more serious than I imagined. The cave is occupied by at least a third of the flowing water rock! The disc in the hands of the guardian statue is the shrine for the forest god. Originally, there was a staircase next to the statue, which allowed one to reach its shoulder and leave through a hidden door."
After listening to Miao Xiaoxian's explanation, I glanced at her and asked, "You found the bull's head here? Then what was that cave we just went to?"
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