Chapter 55 - 51: Mysterious Cave
Deng Guang looked around at the repetitive scenery and the dense canopy overhead, a sense of panic rising in his heart. "Where are we now? Can we find our way back?"
"Yes. The way back to the Gated Community is straight ahead."
Qin Ziwen pointed forward.
Overhead, the Beaked Eagle was leading the way.
It could fly above the forest, get a bird’s-eye view, and pinpoint the Gated Community’s location.
This was the Beaked Eagle’s greatest use: acting as a "GPS satellite" in the forest. They would never have to worry about getting lost.
Hearing that they could find their way back, Deng Guang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He was terrified of getting lost in this forest.
"Hold on." Qin Ziwen grabbed Deng Guang, who had started walking forward.
From the dense woods ahead, accompanied by the rustling of vines and bushes, a tall, heavy shadow emerged.
A beast nearly two meters tall—or closer to two and a half meters including its thick, three-pronged antlers—stepped out.
A dark brown mane flowed from its neck, and its intelligent, dark eyes observed the three of them.
After watching for a moment, it chose to ignore them and ambled leisurely away.
"What a huge deer."
It was nearly three meters long, with powerful muscles rippling beneath its coarse hide. One could only imagine how painful a kick from it would be.
As it walked away, five more deer—two large and three small—emerged one after another from behind it.
The smaller deer seemed a bit afraid of humans. Upon seeing them, they quickened their pace and quickly hid in the bushes ahead.
’The resources here are so abundant,’ Qin Ziwen thought excitedly.
Aside from those six deer, they didn’t have any more close encounters with other wild animals for the next hour or so.
Most animals scurried away from a distance as soon as they sensed their approach.
Deng Guang asked casually, "By the way, Brother Qin, are you planning to take those Gray Sweet Potatoes back to eat directly?"
Qin Ziwen shook his head. "No, I filled some boxes with soil and planted them in pieces."
Deng Guang was taken aback. "Have they sprouted?"
Qin Ziwen answered honestly, "No, not yet."
Deng Guang paused, nodding slowly and thoughtfully. He said in a low voice, "You’ve never planted sweet potatoes before, have you?"
"Never."
Deng Guang understood and started giving instructions. "To grow sweet potatoes, you need to sprout them first. When you get back, you can dig up the pieces you buried. Wash them clean, then coat the cut surfaces with quicklime or plant ash. That’ll prevent rot and increase the survival rate."
"The temperature for growing them can’t be too low or too high—somewhere in the twenties Celsius is best. And don’t bury them too deep; about five centimeters of soil is enough. The soil needs to be kept moist. If you’re lucky, they’ll sprout in two or three days; otherwise, it might take about a week."
Qin Ziwen asked, "Brother Deng, have you grown sweet potatoes before?"
Deng Guang smiled. "My family grew them when I was a kid. You could say I’m a country boy. Oh, and when you cut them, it’s best to make sure each little piece has an ’eye.’ The new sprout grows from the eye."
As he spoke, Deng Guang had Qin Ziwen take a Gray Sweet Potato from his bag and taught him how to identify the eyes.
The eyes weren’t hard to spot, and Qin Ziwen quickly got the hang of it.
"Thanks, Brother Deng."
"No need to be so formal."
While the two were chatting, Qin Ziwu, who was walking ahead, heard the gurgling sound of water. He quickened his pace. "There’s a creek here."
The creek wasn’t wide, less than ten feet across.
The creek was lush with aquatic plants and strewn with rocks.
To their front right was a slope, and the creek seemed to be flowing down from above them.
"Water bamboo?" Deng Guang recognized a plant in the stream.
Following Deng Guang’s gaze, Qin Ziwen saw a plant with wide, sword-shaped leaves that stood a meter tall.
Deng Guang went forward, scanned the area to make sure there were no snakes, then used his pocket knife to cut open the base of a leaf sheath. He took out a section of the stalk and, like shucking corn, peeled back the outer layers to reveal the fleshy stem inside.
After a clear look, Deng Guang’s face lit up with joy. It was indeed what he thought it was.
"Brother Qin, this stuff is edible! Have you ever had it?"
Qin Ziwen walked over and shook his head.
He didn’t recognize it.
Deng Guang said, "This stuff is delicious in a stir-fry with meat. It’s edible. There used to be a lot of it growing wild by creeks and rivers, but you don’t see it as much anymore."
The three of them spent a good while harvesting by the creek, filling nearly half a backpack with water bamboo.
Straightening up, Qin Ziwen made a fist and pounded his lower back, letting out a long sigh.
Besides the water bamboo, they also managed to catch over a dozen large crabs and tossed them into a bucket.
The creek was full of crabs, perhaps because no one had ever caught them before. The water was rich with resources. There were also some finger-long black fish, but they were too fast and hard to catch.
Qin Ziwen looked up. "If we go any further up from here, we’ll be heading up the mountain. We should be at the foot of the mountain."
This was a downward slope of the mountain, with the creek flowing from above.
He couldn’t be sure of their exact position, but he decided this creek was worth marking. The resources were plentiful, and many animals would come to drink. He set up the Earth Cage, crushed a crab, and tossed the pungent pieces inside as bait.
Then he placed his phone in the small pouch on the Beaked Eagle’s chest and sent it flying up to survey the surroundings. ’Hopefully, it spots a clear landmark,’ he thought, ’so we can figure out our exact position.’
When the Beaked Eagle returned, Qin Ziwen took out the phone.
By comparing the location of the Gated Community in the video with the tributary creek behind them, he was able to roughly pinpoint their current position.
They were about one to one-and-a-half kilometers from the Gated Community as the crow flies, near the foot of the mountain and to the northeast of the community.
As he reviewed the video, one frame caught his attention.
Qin Ziwen quickly paused, dragging the progress bar back and forth to confirm.
There was a cave, right above their current location.
Qin Ziwen’s fingers gently rubbed the phone’s case as he mulled it over, uncertain.
’The two known altars were both discovered inside caves. Now I’ve found a new one. Could there be an altar in this one, too?’
It was as if a little devil was whispering temptations in his ear.
"There’s a cave here," Qin Ziwen said, looking at the other two.
Qin Ziwu said without hesitation, "Let’s go!"
Deng Guang hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. "Let’s go check it out."
They climbed upstream along the creek, and after about half an hour, a cave came into view.
The cave wasn’t very high, only a little over two meters, but it was nearly three meters wide. Inside, it was pitch-black and dimly lit.
The creek originated from within the cave.
The entrance to the cave was a jumble of rocks. The farther in they went, the deeper the water became.
Qin Ziwen scanned their surroundings, noticing that many of the plants at the cave’s edge showed signs of being trampled.
"Be careful."
Qin Ziwu discovered several scratches on a nearby tree. "There are scratch marks here."
Deng Guang found something even more definitive: a cigarette butt in the grass. "Someone’s been here."
’Someone’s been here?’ Qin Ziwen grew vigilant.
He looked at the cave before them. If someone had been here, then it must have already been explored.
He took a flashlight from his bag and switched it to its fourth setting.
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
An intense beam of light instantly illuminated the pitch-black cave.
The cave had a "gourd-shaped" opening—narrow at the entrance but spacious inside. It opened up into a pool of water, and beyond the pool, a deep tunnel stretched into the darkness above.
Overhead, several basketball-sized bats flew toward the depths of the tunnel.
In the pool, water splashed as something, illuminated for a moment by the beam, swam for cover in the deeper parts.
And there, on a stone platform next to the pool, stood a square stone altar, a full meter high and two meters in diameter.
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