Chương 6: Chapter 6 Puzzle dragon heart
I immediately rushed towards the cave, walking inside. I saw silver ingots all over the ground, covered in black embroidery. These ingots were of the same size and pattern as the ones we found earlier, becoming denser the deeper we went. When I reached Mile's side, I was stunned. In front of us, a small mountain of silver ingots was piled up, and behind that mountain were three large boxes.
"We're rich, we're rich!" Mile danced around, looking at the silver ingots. "With this batch of silver ingots, we won't have to worry about anything!"
However, I didn't feel as relaxed as Mile. How did these silver ingots end up here? More importantly, where exactly were we? Due to the malfunction of the compass, we had no idea how far we had walked. Mile took off his clothes and wrapped the silver ingots in them.
I held the phone to explore the terrain inside. Instantly, I was shocked. Behind the small mountain of silver ingots lay countless skeletons, their bones turned white. The clothes and flesh on these bodies had long rotted away, leaving only strands of hair around the white bones.
"Mile, come and take a look!" I said nervously.
Mile, with the wrapped silver ingots, walked over. When he saw the skeletons, he was astonished. "Who are these people?"
I carefully approached the skeletal remains, and around them were scattered gun parts and clothing fragments. "Judging by the texture of these clothes and the gun parts, these people should be the group of bandits from decades ago!"
"Bandits?" Mile was stunned.
I continued walking with the phone in my hand. The ground was littered with skeletons, roughly counting to eighty or ninety. What was even more horrifying was that some bodies were dismembered, with traces of knives and axes, and even more terrifying were the bite marks on those remains. I couldn't help but mutter, "Cannibalism!"
"Cannibalism?" Mile, holding the silver ingots, walked over, looking at the skeletons in horror. "Since those bandits found the military funds, why didn't they take them away?"
Mile's words reminded me. I quickly ran towards the entrance, but when I reached it, I felt despair. The entrance was gone. The place where the entrance used to be had silently turned into a stone wall.
"Crash!" Mile dropped the silver ingots in his hands and frantically touched the wall, but the stone wall was seamless, with no trace of a flaw. I couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Whether it was the ancestral hall or the Nine Dragons Maze in the stone house, there would always be a slight vibration when the mechanism was activated or deactivated, making people aware. However, this lethal mechanism now started without a sound, making one have to admire the technical mastery of the designer.
However, this mechanism in front of us also explained one thing. The bandits from decades ago found the military funds but couldn't take them away, most likely due to this mechanism. And now, Mile and I were in the same situation. If there was still a slim chance to escape from the outside, now we probably had no chance at all.
"Alright, the two of us are in the same boat this time!" Mile, busy for a long time, said in frustration.
He walked to the silver ingots in front of him and said, "buddy, I finally understand the frustration of those alchemists. Like us, they have this mountain of gold, but no chance to enjoy it!"
"Yeah!" I leaned against the wall, looking at the rusted silver ingots and the skeletons behind them. "Money is really something, ah. How many people have abandoned their lives and turned into white bones for this wealth!"
"haha, soon the two of us will join their ranks!" Mile handed me a cigarette.
"If only I had listened to that fortune teller and never came back!" I regretted.
"I did remind you, didn't I?" Mile took a drag of his cigarette. "Both of us don't have that kind of destiny for wealth. After struggling for so many years, we finally get a big windfall, but we can't enjoy it!"
"You still have the nerve to say that. If you hadn't come in, would there be so much trouble?" I scolded.
Mile, aware of his mistake, didn't argue and kept silent with his head down.
Seeing that he didn't speak and couldn't light the cigarette, I smoked in silence for a while before saying, "Well, perhaps this is fate!"
"Fate!" Mile, leaning against the wall, smiled bitterly and said.
Afterward, neither of us spoke, as if silently awaiting the arrival of death. After a while, Wu Ling's voice echoed in my ears again, "Xiao Tuo, dragon heart, find dragon heart quickly!"
"Dragon heart?" I murmured to myself.
"What?" Mile looked at me with confusion.
I gestured for Mile to be quiet and listened to Wu Ling's faint voice, saying, "Find dragon heart, and you can stop the mechanism!"
I furrowed my brow, contemplating Wu Ling's words. Suddenly, it dawned on me, and I clapped my hands, standing up. "Yes, find dragon heart!"
"Dragon heart should be inside!" Wu Ling said with weak breath.
"What's wrong with you?" Mile looked at me, bewildered. "Who are you talking to?"
"Dragon heart!" I exclaimed excitedly. "As long as we find dragon heart, we can get out of here!"
"What is dragon heart?" Mile looked utterly confused. I didn't have time to explain to Mile. I took out my phone, turned on the flashlight, and walked inside. Mile hurriedly stood up and followed me, asking, "buddy, are you going crazy?"
"Come with me!" I walked along the cave with the phone. The deeper we went, the heavier the moisture in the air. Suddenly, several faint green flames appeared in the air.
"Will-o'-the-wisps!" Mile whispered.
"Yes, this should be the same green light we saw outside!" I said thoughtfully.
"Why does it seem not as bright as when we were outside?" Mile asked as he followed me.
"I think the initial entrance was sealed, so all the phosphorus in the human body gathered here. Later, when it suddenly opened, the air circulated, and the phosphorus immediately started self-igniting. Now that the entrance is closed, there's not enough oxygen inside, so it's not as bright as before!" I explained while continuing forward. The will-o'-the-wisps followed us as we moved, and the air inside became more saturated with moisture, accompanied by a strong, unpleasant smell.
"Do you smell it?" I whispered.
"What?" Mile sniffed, "You mean the stench?"
"Yes, I think there's water ahead!" I said excitedly.
Indeed, after walking for about a hundred meters, we discovered a massive sinkhole at the end of the tunnel. The diameter of the sinkhole was about forty to fifty meters, with a vertical drop of at least a hundred meters. The surrounding area at the top of the sinkhole was a dense forest, and below was a bottomless abyss. The platform we were on was only about one or two meters above the water surface. The narrow sky above the sinkhole was exceptionally clear, with a crescent moon hanging high, making the entire water surface shine as bright as daylight. Scattered on the platform were some decayed skeletons, and next to one of the skeletons was a half-tooth.
Mile bent down and picked up the half-tooth, comparing it with his hand. It was about a foot long. He furrowed his brow and said, "What kind of creature has such a large tooth?"
I shook my head and crouched down on the platform, peering into the water. I vaguely saw a black shadow lurking below.
"That should be dragon heart!" I pointed to the black shadow and told Mile.
Mile followed my finger and said, "It's too dark to see clearly!"
I looked at the dark dragon heart and thought for a moment. I immediately took off my clothes, preparing to jump in and take a closer look.
At this moment, Mile grabbed my arm and said, "What are you doing?"
"Finding dragon heart!" I said while holding my jacket.
"Are you out of your mind?" Mile held my arm tightly and pointed to the half-tooth. "This thing is definitely not from those bandits. We can't be sure what's hidden underwater. If you go down, you'll die!"
"But if we don't find dragon heart, we'll still die!" I said resolutely.
"Dragon heart, dragon heart, what the hell is dragon heart?" Mile shouted anxiously, and his voice produced strange echoes in the sinkhole.
Seeing Mile's anxious expression, I figured that I wouldn't be able to convince him without explaining. So, I took a deep breath and said, "Mile, aren't the most powerful mechanisms in the world powered by something?"
"Yes, I learned in junior high that there's no perpetual motion machine in this world!" Mile nodded, still firmly holding my arm.
"Exactly, dragon heart is the core of the mechanism and its power source. As long as we can find dragon heart and figure out a way to make it malfunction, even if it's only for a moment, the mechanism will shut down, and we'll have a chance to get out of here!" I pointed to the dark thing in the deep pool. "I think the dragon heart of this cave should be that thing in the deep pool!"
Mile listened and seemed to be contemplating something. The strength in his grip on my arm gradually relaxed, but suddenly he tightened his grip again and said, "Do you have confidence in making dragon heart malfunction? And how deep is this deep pool? What exactly is in the water? We don't know any of these!"
I broke free from Mile's grasp and said, "We have no time. If we sit here waiting to die, as time goes on, our physical strength will be completely exhausted, and then we'll be trapped here forever!"
"Alright, I'll go down with you!" Mile said decisively. I immediately stopped him and said, "No, we can't go down together. We can't put all our eggs in one basket. Besides, I need you up there to provide illumination and guide me in the right direction!"
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