The candle had been burning all along, indicating that there was oxygen below, which meant there were ventilation holes somewhere unknown to them. This was good; they wouldn’t suffocate.
"Follow me," Gu Qingheng said, extending his hand to grasp Yang Ruxin’s.
"You come along too," Gu Qingheng didn’t forget to instruct Lin Xiwang as well.
"Hold on," Yang Ruxin stalled, pulling out a bundle from her bag. She found a thick branch on the ground, wrapped the bundle around it, and lit it with the candle, creating a torch, "This is more convenient."
Gu Qingheng smiled, not bothering to ask her why she had so many things; he simply carried the torch in one hand and led Yang Ruxin by the other, moving forward.
The underground cavern was quite large, and they followed the sound of water, which soon led them to a river that was flowing.
"The water seems very clear," Lin Xiwang, feeling thirsty, reached to scoop some up.
"Don’t move," Yang Ruxin suddenly cried out.
"What’s wrong?" Lin Xiwang flinched and quickly drew his hand back, looking at Yang Ruxin with a startled expression.
"Well..." Yang Ruxin touched her nose, "I just think that in such a weird place, we should be careful. What if there’s poison in the water?" She said, pulling out a silver needle, dipped it in the water, and after a while, the silver needle didn’t change color.
"Does that mean it’s safe?" Lin Xiwang looked eagerly at Yang Ruxin.
Yang Ruxin shook her head, "Silver needles can only test for certain poisons, not all," she said, glancing at the river, "Look, this clear water has not a single fish, not even a trace of living creatures. Don’t you find that odd?"
Lin Xiwang took a couple of steps back, "I was just thirsty."
Gu Qingheng gave Yang Ruxin a look, an inscrutable expression flashing in his eyes, but he remained silent.
Yang Ruxin simply took out three large pears, one for each of them, deciding to carry on after they’d finished eating.
"Remember, don’t touch anything here unless absolutely necessary. If you’re thirsty or hungry, just tell me," Yang Ruxin said, tossing her pear core to the ground.
Lin Xiwang nodded hurriedly; with pears to eat, he naturally would not drink untested water, and so he threw his pear core into the water.
"Be careful," Gu Qingheng suddenly pulled Yang Ruxin back.
"So many big ants," Lin Xiwang gasped in surprise.
In an instant, the pear core Yang Ruxin had thrown was swarmed with a dense array of large ants, quickly obscuring it from view.
However, the pear core thrown into the water attracted no ants.
Gu Qingheng placed his own pear core by the water’s edge.
Immediately, ants crawled over, but those that touched the water quickly stopped moving.
"The water definitely has problems," Gu Qingheng glanced at Yang Ruxin, "Lucky we didn’t drink it."
Lin Xiwang instantly recoiled from the realization of his close call.
"Let’s get out of here quickly, there are too many ants," Yang Ruxin said, thinking of carnivorous ants; their sheer number was terrifying.
Gu Qingheng nodded and hurried forward, torch in hand.
"There are signs of human interference here," Gu Qingheng brought the torch closer to the wall after walking a bit further, then glanced at the ground, "These steps couldn’t have been naturally formed."
Yang Ruxin nodded and scanned the surroundings, "Gu Qingheng, do you think there might be an ancient tomb here?" In a previous life, she had, after all, read ’Ghost Blows Out the Light’ and ’Grave Robbers’ Chronicles’. If... ah, as she thought about it, she actually felt excited.