The amount of explosives the fatty threw out had been meticulously calculated, and it did not cause the collapse of the top stone layer. Even so, the moment the explosives detonated,碎石飞溅 (碎石飞溅 - flying gravel and splashing stones), and the turbulent water danced. The three of them, even hiding behind cover, felt the powerful impact.
"Go!"
Wu Tianzhen, seeing the stone gate that had been blown apart, had just breathed a sigh of relief when his arm was suddenly gripped. He heard Zhang Qiling's soft shout and was immediately pulled a great distance through the water.
"Huh? What?!" The fatty was a bit too close and his eardrums were ringing from the deafening explosion. He didn't hear clearly at first, but soon, he realized the problem.
...His butt, leaning against the side wall, seemed to feel a sudden, inexplicable protrusion.
The fatty subconsciously looked back. He saw that under the cover of the explosion's noise, dense stone protrusions had secretly emerged from the side wall. A cold glint was now eager to emerge from within, as the ape stone carvings had triggered the internal mechanism for firing crossbow bolts due to the explosion.
The fatty, facing countless arrowheads with deep affection: ...
"Holy crap!!!"
Wu Tianzhen, being pulled by Xiao Zhang and riding the waves while drinking water furiously, only heard the fatty's full-throated shout suddenly appear in his ear. Then, the water beneath them instantly became turbulent.
The fatty was like a giant lead ball rolling in the water, charging forward with a whooshing sound. His ferocious expression momentarily made Wu Tianzhen unsure who the real source of danger was.
At this moment, the "crackling" sound of the triggered mechanism suddenly erupted. The sound, like heavy rain beating on banana leaves, made the fatty's backside tighten.
He was still a bit short of the doorway. At this rate, he would soon be a willing participant in a porcupine impression.
Seeing this, Zhang Qiling exerted a slight force on his hand, spinning and drawing his saber, flinging Wu Tianzhen, who was in his grasp, into the doorway!
With a slight surge of power from his feet, he transformed into a dark shadow and broke through the water. At this moment, the fatty, seeing countless arrowheads glinting and rushing towards him, had already decided to grit his teeth and fight back with explosives. However, his vision blurred, and Zhang Qiling was already in front of him.
"Quick!" Zhang Qiling said no more. With a flip of his black-gold ancient saber, he suddenly slashed at the water pool below. The saber energy rolled out, instantly stirring up monstrous waves. The dark water spread out like a stroke of ink calligraphy, and in the blink of an eye, it pushed all the incoming arrows to the bottom of the water.
Seeing that the mechanism was about to launch its next attack, the fatty hesitated no longer. With a fierce lunge, he crossed the remaining distance and crashed into the doorway.
When Wu Tianzhen, who had been thrown into the water, swam a few strokes and got up, Zhang Qiling's retreating back as he sheathed his saber was right before his eyes.
The arrows from the ape's mouth did not have a long range. At this moment, they were blocked from the entrance as if by an invisible wall, hitting the water outside the entrance with a "pitter-patter" and disappearing into the pool like swimming fish.
Zhang Qiling simply watched this scene, his expression unchanged.
"Damn, that was so cool!" The fatty spat out some water and wiped his face, praising.
He tried to quickly take some cool photos of Xiao Zhang with his light brain, but Xiao Zhang wasn't very cooperative. He pulled up his hood and quickly took two steps forward, dodging the lens.
"Now that this door is blown open, there's no obstruction, and the poisonous gas will come in soon. We should hurry forward."
Wu Tianzhen secretly chuckled a couple of times. Seeing that the fatty was almost shoving the lens into Zhang Qiling's face, he quickly came to Xiao Zhang's rescue.
Although these words were meant to help, they were indeed very reasonable. The fatty himself hadn't felt the effects of the poisonous gas, but he was still worried about Wu Tianzhen's physical condition. So, he reluctantly put away his "divine powers," secretly vowing to take plenty of photos after they got out.
The interior of this entrance was still a waterway. After walking in the water for more than twenty minutes, the lower half of their bodies, submerged in the water, began to feel an extreme cold, and their skin stung as if pricked by needles.
Zhang Qiling's Qilin tattoo, which had recently finished its "shift," diligently emerged and soon had the honor of becoming Wu Fei and Pang Fei's personal heaters.
"Good heavens, this really isn't a place for people to stay!" the fatty cursed. "Damn it, if this fatty doesn't dig up this whole place, I'll be letting down all the suffering I've endured here!"
"...It's as if you haven't stripped every last piece of clothing off in some forbidden land," Wu Tianzhen said, rotating his flashlight and casually retorting to the fatty.
"Geez, it's really eerie down here..."
The white beam of the flashlight shone forward, revealing the scene clearly.
The sides of the waterway were covered in jagged, protruding stones. These stones were extremely sharp and twisted provocatively, extending towards the center of the waterway like moths drawn to a flame, making it look like some kind of thorny kingdom.
When the light beam hit them, dark shadows were cast onto the stone walls behind, resembling a group of fierce ghosts with claws extended, peeking out from the gloom.
And among the sharp stones at the top, vine-like yellow plants, resembling spiderwebs, firmly bound each stone. The yellow leaves were a peculiar perfect circle, looking utterly lifeless.
The dead, silent yellow leaves slowly drifted onto the water's surface, quietly covering the entire dark water body, looking like paper money offered to the deceased.
As the three of them walked through the water, these leaves clung tightly to their clothes and pants as if they had hands and feet. Wu Tianzhen shivered, feeling as if these things were the souls of the departed trying to drag them down.
"Uh... Fatty, I say," Wu Tianzhen's damned imagination wouldn't stop. He endured it for a moment and then spoke, "How about you play that 'Good Luck Is Coming' song?"
"Or how about you find another song, I just feel like it's too eerie here, and we need some modern art to enlighten us."
Zhang Qiling, who had just enjoyed a moment of peace: ...?
This signal-holding device, which had not been taken away by the flowers, now played its great role in tormenting Xiao Zhang (Zhang Haike: Wait, something's wrong?). The fatty, with a face full of joy, turned on "Good Luck Is Coming," and the catchy melody instantly filled the entire waterway.
Zhang Qiling opened his mouth, his faint intention to resist drowned out by the overwhelmingly festive atmosphere. Thus, he fell silent, only subtly quickening his pace.
But soon, the change in environment saved Zhang Qiling.
The sound of splashing water gradually intensified. The closer they walked, the closer they got to the water sound. The fatty cautiously lowered the volume of his light brain and looked down to see the yellow leaves on the water surface rapidly drifting in the direction they had come from.
After walking dozens of steps, the scene suddenly opened up. Before them stood a massive falling water curtain!
This water came from the cracked stone ceiling above the waterway. It was unclear whether it was external water flow or groundwater. Such strange phenomena in the forbidden land made it impossible to pursue scientific principles. Wu Tianzhen gave up after only a brief thought.
At this moment, the water curtain blocked their path, looking like an underground waterfall at first glance.