“Yun Ting Ge, the water level seems to have dropped…”
At this moment, Wan Yunting and Gu Luotang, trapped in the cave, got up and picked up the large headlamps beside them. They turned them on and shone them onto the dark river, which had formed a pool. Indeed, they found that the water had receded, revealing the riverbed of the dark river.
“I’ll go take a look…”
Wan Yunting immediately jumped down, holding his headlamp as he descended to the riverbed. Gu Luotang quickly grabbed her clothes to put them on…
Looking at the various stones on the riverbed and the puddles of various sizes, many fish were jumping around. In the dry patches, eels were wriggling. Gu Luotang also grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight mode. Upon seeing the wriggling eels, she screamed, “Ah, a snake! Yun Ting Ge, come up quickly…”
Wan Yunting, who was already at the opening, turned his head and used his headlamp to find the wriggling eels. “That’s not a snake, it’s an eel. Luotang, don’t come down yet. Let me see if we can get through this opening…”
“It’s an eel? You scared me to death…”
Gu Luotang patted her chest, relieved. She watched as the man lay down at the blocked opening, his head already sticking in, shining his headlamp. She asked, “Yun Ting Ge, can we get through?”
A moment later, Wan Yunting pulled his head out, smiling joyfully. “The opening is quite large. We can get through.”
“That’s great.”
Gu Luotang was overjoyed. Wan Yunting got up and returned, smiling. “Let’s pack up and go.”
“Okay.”
Gu Luotang turned back and tidied her backpack. Wan Yunting put on his shirt and then carried Gu Luotang’s backpack. He then took her hand and they went down to the opening. “Luotang, just follow behind me. This opening is only about six or seven meters long.”
“Okay.”
Gu Luotang nodded obediently. Wan Yunting put on his headlamp and got down on his knees, crawling into the passage. Gu Luotang followed closely behind. Wan Yunting occasionally warned her, “Be careful, there’s a sharp rock here. Keep your head low…”
“Oh…”
Gu Luotang followed suit. Since she didn’t have a light, she relied on Wan Yunting’s headlamp in front. Suddenly, the man stopped, and Gu Luotang’s head bumped into his rear. Wan Yunting turned his head slightly and smiled, “Sorry, there’s an eel. I’ll clear it for you.”
Gu Luotang didn’t mind at all. “Are we done?”
“Yes, keep crawling. There are two more meters…”
Wan Yunting continued crawling. The two of them successfully crawled through the blocked passage and arrived at the downstream of the dark river. However, due to the earthquake, the dark river had been cut off, and the water in the upstream pool had also drained. Therefore, this downstream section had very little water, with only puddles of varying sizes containing water.
“How is it? Are you alright?”
Wan Yunting stood up and pulled Gu Luotang to her feet. He looked at her hands and knees, and her clothes covered in mud, and smiled, “Wash up first. I’ll check the surroundings.”
“No, I’ll go with you.”
Gu Luotang felt scared. Wan Yunting smiled and nodded, “Alright, let’s check the surroundings and see if there’s an exit.”
So, the two of them walked out of the riverbed and looked downstream. Due to the earthquake, large and small stones had fallen in front, but they hadn’t completely blocked the path. It was passable. Wan Yunting led Gu Luotang downstream. After walking for about a hundred meters, the cave ahead was still open, and the space was getting larger and larger.
“Yun Ting Ge, look quickly, there’s still water in the river.”
Seeing that the dark river was blocked by fallen stones, the flowing water formed a pool. Fortunately, the path ahead wasn’t completely blocked. Wan Yunting exhaled and smiled, “Let’s rest here tonight.”
“Okay.”
Gu Luotang nodded. The two of them found a flat spot by the river to rest. It was already past nine o’clock in the evening.
Meanwhile, outside, rescue soldiers were continuously working around the clock to clear the blocked passages within the cave…
“Officer Nie, we’ve cleared to the point of fracture.”
At this moment, Gu Xiaozhuang, leading a group of professional workers, had cleared the passage inside the cave and reached the cliff of the eight or nine-meter wide great fissure.
“Good. You proceed immediately and continue the clearing and rescue operations.”
Nie Xiaoyu, hearing that they had reached the great fissure, hung up the phone with Gu Xiaozhuang. She looked at the cave’s structural map. The location of the great fissure was only a few hundred meters away from the dark river.
“It’s been two days. Even if Boss Wan isn’t dead, he’s trapped to death inside.”
On the open ground in front of several tents outside, Kuang Long and Meng Hu were warming themselves by a bonfire.
Although it wasn’t raining, the temperature had dropped, and it was particularly cold in the mountains at night.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Meng Hu glared at Kuang Long and said, “Don’t we know Boss Wan’s capabilities? Even if he were stranded alone on a deserted island, he could survive better than Bear Grylls.”
“I was just joking.”
Kuang Long chuckled and looked at Ling Wei, who was sitting beside him looking dejected. He said with a smile, “Big Sister, you really don’t need to worry. With Boss Wan’s skills, he’ll definitely be fine.”
Ling Wei sighed and said faintly, “I hope so.”
As she spoke, she got up and went into the tent. Han Duo’er glared at Kuang Long and quickly followed her inside…
Meng Hu smiled and said, “It seems Sister Wei really likes Boss Wan.”
“Nonsense.”
Kuang Long glanced at him and looked at the tents in front. There were Fang Yanxi, Jiang Peipei, Huang Yuqing, and Xu Lingwei and Li Zihang, the senior and junior disciples, also warming themselves by a bonfire. Kuang Long chuckled, “But Boss Wan has good relationships with women. So many beauties have come. I’d be content with this kind of attention.”
“Duo’er…”
Meng Hu suddenly shouted towards the tent, startling Kuang Long. “Tiger, are you messing with me?”
“This fire is so good. I should have brought some roasted sausages.”
Li Zihang, sitting by the bonfire, poked at the embers with a stick and mumbled to himself. He then turned to look at his senior sister Xu Lingwei, who was sitting cross-legged beside him, meditating. “Senior Sister, do you think our junior brother Wan is really dead inside?”
Xu Lingwei’s expression was calm. She slowly said, “He’s tough, he won’t die so easily!”
Li Zihang nodded and said, “Yeah, Junior Brother Wan is so rich. It would be great if he left his entire fortune to me before he died.”
Xu Lingwei opened her eyes and hit the back of Li Zihang’s head fiercely. He cried out in pain and said resentfully, “Senior Sister, look at those beauties. Could they all be Boss Wan’s girlfriends?”
Xu Lingwei gave him a cold glare, and Li Zihang quickly shut his mouth, not daring to speak carelessly again.
Fang Yanxi, Jiang Peipei, Huang Yuqing, and Lin Xiaoqi were now inside the tent. At this time, besides comforting each other, they didn’t know what else to say.
After chatting with his second brother, Jin Xiuwen also returned to his tent to rest. Next to his tent was Dai Qiuyue’s. Seeing that she hadn’t rested yet, he went over and asked, “Qiuyue, are you hungry? Should I make you some instant noodles?”
“Not hungry, I’m going to sleep.”
Dai Qiuyue replied coldly.
Jin Xiuwen, standing outside, was stunned for a moment. After a while, he sighed slightly and said, “Rest well.” Then he returned to his own tent.
Now everyone was waiting for the search and rescue soldiers to find Wan Yunting as soon as possible, whether he was alive or dead…
“Yun Ting Ge, there are only two biscuits left.”
Trapped in the cave, Gu Luotang opened her bag and took out the last remaining soda biscuit. Wan Yunting was holding his headlamp, which had completely died. Now, only the remaining battery on their phones and two bars on the power bank were left. They couldn’t even fully charge one phone.
Therefore, Wan Yunting and Gu Luotang dared not turn on the flashlight function on their phones. They relied on the faint glow of the phone screens to see. Wan Yunting looked at the soda biscuit in the woman’s hand and sighed inwardly.
“Luotang, you eat it. I’m not hungry,” Wan Yunting said with a smile.
“I’m not hungry either.”
Gu Luotang then put the biscuit back in her bag and smiled, “Let’s eat it tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Wan Yunting pulled her into his arms and smiled, “If we still can’t get out tomorrow, we’ll catch fish from the river and eat sashimi.”
“Okay.”
Gu Luotang was quite optimistic. She looked up at the man’s growing stubble and couldn’t help but touch it with her hand. It was a bit prickly. “I’ve never eaten sashimi before.”
Wan Yunting looked down at her and teased, “Then I’ll give you a taste tomorrow.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Gu Luotang smiled happily and buried her small head in his chest. Then she heard Wan Yunting’s stomach rumble, which made him feel embarrassed. However, neither of them said anything about it. They just held each other, leaning against a rock, preparing to sleep…
Rustle…!
However, behind them, in the pitch-black cave, between the large rocks, a dark, wriggling thing could be seen slowly moving.
“What was that sound!”
Hearing the rustling sound, Wan Yunting’s heart tightened abruptly. He immediately stood up and looked back into the pitch-black distance where he couldn’t see anything. His eyes immediately became alert and tense…