Rex, who had been waiting there, held up two fingers, first pointing to the top of his head, then to the depths of the water cave.
Xinbadi gave a gesture of understanding.
The former nodded and turned to walk into the cave.
He looked up, watching the air supply tube floating above the other's head – three days of underwater walking was not only to familiarize himself with the basic operations of diving gear, but also to learn sign language and diving details. It was extremely important to observe the state of the two air tubes at all times, which was also one of the reasons why salvage required two people to cooperate.
As the channel to maintain breathing, the other end of the hose was connected to an air pump driven by a steam engine, pumping air in and drawing air out, so that the air in the helmet was always unblocked. The consequences would be unimaginable if either tube was damaged or blocked. Therefore, special attention must be paid when passing through complex terrain and changing direction.
Seeing that there were no obstacles on the top of the cave that could threaten the air supply tube, Xinbadi took a leap and plunged into the water cave.
The sound of the waves in his ears suddenly diminished a lot, and he could clearly hear the hissing sound of the valve and his own heartbeat.
After walking for about ten meters, the light became more and more dim. Looking at Rex's blurred back in front, he felt as if he was stepping into the abyss.
At this moment, the ground under his feet suddenly rose, changing from a flat road to a gentle slope.
In less than a quarter of an hour, Xinbadi saw the sea again – it was no longer shimmering with gold, but as silent as night.
Following Rex slowly out of the water, he couldn't help but hold his breath, only to see a huge cave appearing in front of them. Most of its outline was hidden in the darkness, and only a small area of the dome was illuminated by the light reflected by the sea water, revealing a shimmering, blue color.
Was this water cave actually a passage connecting the inside and outside?
He climbed ashore with difficulty, and was about to take off his helmet, but Rex stopped him.
The Fjord man took out a waterproof oil lamp from his waist bag, lit the wick and observed for a while before taking off his helmet, "Phew...it seems that this is not a dead place."
"Wind?" Xinbadi felt a cool breeze on his face as soon as he removed his head cover.
"Yes, there are probably other exits in the cave." Rex said excitedly, "In this way, the possibility of finding treasures here is even greater – we are really lucky."
Xinbadi was not very interested in whether he could find good things. He was more concerned about the safety of the cave. He didn't expect that a hollow terrain would form under the desert, which was beyond common sense. The depth of their dive would not exceed twenty meters. Even if there was a rock layer, it would not be too thick. How did the loose sand support a large cave? Would the dome collapse? These questions made him feel a little uneasy.
After going out, he should report this discovery to the Graycastle people, Xinbadi thought. Although he felt a little sorry for the Item Association, it was not far from Great Qing Port, and he didn't want any accidents to happen.
"The wind seems to be coming from that direction." Rex put his helmet on the edge of the pool and picked up the oil lamp, "Let's go and take a look."
Xinbadi had no choice but to pull out his waist knife and follow slowly.
However, as he explored deeper, he only felt that the cave was getting weirder and weirder.
Before long, the rocks under his feet turned into soft soil, and then clusters of green grass replaced the slippery moss, as if this was not underground, but the Yinchuan Oasis.
"Incredible, green plants can actually grow here." Rex exclaimed, "I thought there would only be mushrooms and moss underground without light."
"How about...we go back first?" Xinbadi hesitated, "I always feel that this place..."
He suddenly stopped talking halfway through.
"Feel what?" Rex didn't get a response for a long time, and couldn't help but look back, "Huh? What are you looking at...a flower?"
Xinbadi felt his breathing quicken. A beautiful little flower was blooming at his feet. The petals were light purple, and the leaves were almost as thin as cicada wings, as if they would break if pinched gently. "This is...the Flower of the Divine Messenger..."
"Very rare?"
"No...it used to be everywhere." Xinbadi said in a low voice, "Although I have never seen it with my own eyes, according to legends about the Three Divine Messengers, this flower is all over the coastal area, like a purple ribbon, and it is also the most gorgeous sea of flowers in the extreme south."
"A sea of flowers in the desert?" Rex was stunned.
"Legend has it that this place was not a desert a long time ago, but was covered with trees, grasslands and rivers like the north." He shook his head, "But as the Three Divine Messengers left, the earth gradually became sandy and turned into what it is today. But what I want to say is not this – the Flower of the Divine Messenger has a very detailed record in legends. Once it takes root, it can no longer be moved, which is why there is no sea of flowers in the oasis. It should have gone extinct long ago..."
"So that's what happened." The Fjord man smacked his lips, "Perhaps it is precisely because the desertification did not affect the underground cave that the Flower of the Divine Messenger, which happened to take root here, survived."
Was that really the case...The strange feeling in Xinbadi's heart became stronger and stronger. For some reason, walking in this dark world, he had the feeling of walking in an oasis.
And the purple flowers around him gradually became denser, not like they were growing underground by chance.
As he was hesitating whether to continue moving forward, a soft "crack" sound suddenly came from under his feet.
Then a soft light bloomed from the soil, illuminating an area of several meters around.
"What's the situation?" Rex asked in surprise.
"I...I seem to have stepped on something." Xinbadi swallowed, "It seems like a wooden board."
"Could it be a trap?" He quickly bent down and brushed away the flowers and plants next to his feet, "This is – ha, ha...hahaha..."
Hearing this laughter echoing in the cave, Xinbadi felt his hairs stand on end, "What's so funny, hey, tell me what it is!"
"Hahaha, it's a treasure! We found a treasure!" Rex said excitedly, "Look!"
When he brushed away all the soil, Xinbadi was surprised to see that the light was coming from the thing under his feet – it was a section of "stone tablet" half buried in the ground, with countless lines spreading across the surface, as dense as fingerprints. The light radiated from his feet as the center, setting off the tablet body like white jade. But although it looked hard, its touch was like rotten wood, and it would sink a little with a little force, completely beyond the scope of common sense.
What was even more incredible was that once he moved his foot away, the surface of the tablet would gradually return to its original state, and the light would also disappear, as if everything he had just seen was an illusion.
"Is there any treasure more miraculous than this!" Rex repeatedly stepped on the "stone tablet", excitedly saying, "If I can dedicate this to the King of Graycastle, the title of Honorary Explorer will definitely be mine!"
"But...it's too big." Xinbadi said with difficulty, judging from the small piece that was exposed, the overall size of the "stone tablet" was likely to be larger than the two of them combined, and it would not be easy to move it out of the water cave.
"People can always think of ways. As long as we use our brains, we can definitely find a way. Or we can look for another exit in the cave – eh?" Rex suddenly stopped, "There seems to be another one there."
Xinbadi followed his gaze and took a few steps forward, and sure enough, he stepped on another same "stone tablet". With the light it emitted, more gray-white outlines appeared in the sea of flowers.
"There's one here, and there's one there..." The two followed these stone tablets for dozens of meters, initially counting the number silently, but soon gave up on this idea.
In a short distance, the Flower of the Divine Messenger had been covered by more and more stone tablets. No matter where they landed, light would light up.
Until a huge wall blocked the two in front of them.
"My goodness..." Rex gasped.
Xinbadi also felt a chill, and he slowly raised his head – under the soft light, the outline of the stone wall was revealed little by little. They found that it was not a "wall", but a small mountain formed by countless tablet bodies piled together.
Some of them were incomplete, and some were broken into several sections, but most of them were shaped like a square rectangle, and it would not be an exaggeration to call them tablets. But when they were stacked together in a mess, they gave Xinbadi another feeling.
—Buried "Coffins".