"It looks like, like there's a miniature sun hidden there..." Darent made a surprised sound, and then he immediately realized that this was impossible.
There's no way this could happen, an underground sun or something... this is crazy.
"Take this to Knight Smail." Xia Yibing returned the film to Kak and told him, "It may be important and related to the direction of our next exploration."
"Really? That's great!" Kak was obviously more excited and nodded vigorously: "I'll go now!"
"Wait a minute, Kak." Seeing him turn around and try to run, Hitzfeld stopped him and asked, "Are you... okay now?"
She was just simply curious.
Most of the equipment used for filming was destroyed. Even the camera was broken, and the only thing that could be salvaged was this pile of film negatives.
Many of them were damaged and could not be developed into photos. She thought Kak would treasure them and protect them tightly, but she didn't expect him to be so sensible and actually take the initiative to show them to them.
His movie dream is completely shattered. Isn't he sad?
Could it be that he suffered such a great blow that he became mentally ill and did something like this?
Kak was stunned for a moment, then realized what she wanted to ask.
"Oh, I certainly can't say I'm happy." He nodded, "But think about it... how many dangers have we encountered since entering the red soil? Worms, salamanders, creepers... and that terrible beast!"
"The last thing was falling from a high altitude. I can say that I couldn't accept it before I fell... Especially because that thing had woven a beautiful dream for me. In the dream, I found the machines back and they were all intact."
"Compared to reality, the contrast is a bit too great." He sighed, looking a little lonely. "I felt very uncomfortable at first, but how should I put it... I saw those who were more unfortunate than me, and then I thought of Lusa, my daughter."
"I suddenly figured it out." Kak raised his face, which seemed to be covered with light. "Compared with the creations I have been working on, my daughter is the perfect work of art I have created in my life. She is a true masterpiece!"
"Nothing can compare to Lusa... It made me realize my past mistakes... I actually wasted so much time."
"So I just want to get out of here as soon as possible, Miss Hitzfeld." Kak said while shaking his head.
"I don't think about movies anymore. I just want to go back to my family and give them everything I have."
After saying that, he bowed to them and ran away with the film in his arms.
"...It's pretty good." Xia Yibing managed to say it after a long time.
“It may be a little late though.”
Hitzfeld nudged her with his elbow.
"Huh?" The woman turned to look at her in confusion.
Was she wrong?
I only realized it after falling into such a dangerous situation. What if I can never go back...isn't it too late?
Then she discovered that Hitzfeld didn't mean what she thought.
The girl pointed at the wooden man next to her. Xia Yibing looked over and found that Darent was in a daze again.
……
The casualties were counted.
76 people fell down, and 58 are still alive. Among them, 20 are seriously injured and cannot move freely. There are less than 40 people who are truly capable of action, or in other words, have combat effectiveness.
This is even including Hitzfeld and Leah.
Smail convened a small group of people to hold another meeting to discuss the next action plan.
"So far, that thing hasn't been caught up." Smail said, "But we can't rule out the possibility that this is their lair. Maybe there are more of them deeper underground."
More—meaning more emperor worms.
Many people shuddered at the thought of more than ten or twenty such terrible monsters appearing.
"The good news is that we haven't found any signs of worm activity around here yet." Smail played with his hands and panted, pointing in a direction outside. "Mr. Kak just came to me with what he photographed. We roughly determined that the location with the brightest light may be the exit."
"That's right." Leah added, "My teacher and I both think that the light might be some kind of fluorite... Of course, normally fluorite shouldn't be that bright. There might be underground water or a pool of water over there, and the water surface can project the light even brighter."
"Water will flow." Frick nodded. "If we can find water... maybe we can find a way out directly?"
Many people were inspired again.
There is no chance of winning a race with a worm on the ground.
But if they could go underground, their chances of escaping would be much greater.
Hitzfeld had no objection to this, and everyone finally reached a consensus: send a team to explore there first, and no matter what they find, they must come back and report within twelve hours.
Chapter 59 Civilization
Hitzfeld volunteered to join the exploration team.
She wasn't asking for trouble. First of all, Xia was going too, and she didn't want to be separated from Xia.
Secondly, there are very few people with sufficient physical strength in the team. Don't forget that they were attacked at night. Even a gold-level player like Smail would feel dizzy if he doesn't get enough rest.
At this time, the advantage of insomnia was once again reflected - Hitzfeld didn't have to worry about physical problems at all. If she wasn't relatively weak and her experience wasn't particularly rich, she would be the most suitable person among all to go out and explore.
She and Xia both joined the team, and Darent couldn't stay alone. So the team members were finally determined to include the three of them, Leah, Frick and the three knights.
Smail provided them with as much supplies as possible, especially for Frick, and all the hand and leg guards removed from the damaged power armor were tied on him.
"Remember," he reminded everyone before leaving, "you must come back within twelve hours."
"I'll take good care of them." Frick held the Crusher Warhammer in one hand and patted his chest with the other hand. "Just stay here and guard them."
After bidding farewell to the main group, the group of eight went deep into the cavity.
"I feel like this is a big sphere..." As they walked along the road, Darent began to chatter again, "Look carefully at the network above our heads. Their edges will change as we move forward."
He's right.
After observing for a while, others agreed with this statement.
In this case, even if they were not walking on a big sphere, the ground would definitely be curved.
"If it was formed naturally, there must be a strong magnetic field here," said Leah.
Her fighting ability is not strong, but she has rich geological knowledge. The purpose of bringing her along is to be able to immediately analyze the cause when encountering a situation.
After this rhythm, not many people spoke anymore.
As they walked further forward, the red light in front of them became stronger. The light penetrated the dense muscles and membranes above, casting many tiny spots on the ground.
Very uncomfortable.
Everyone, including Hitzfeld, felt shrouded in a gloom.
There was no reason, no cause, but their instinct - or rather their sense of heart kept reminding them that this light represented something ominous.
"Since we fell down, we haven't encountered any other life, right?" Hitzfeld suddenly asked.
"That's right." Frick turned around and took a breath. "There's not even a bug. It's really weird."
Sometimes not seeing any life is not a good thing. Although it eliminates the possibility of being attacked by dangerous species, it also indirectly shows that they are in an extremely dangerous place.
"Is there such a place in the geological environment?" Hitzfeld asked Leah again.
"As far as I know, no..." Leah shook her head, "I have never heard of such light in the underground space... There is no record of it."
"You haven't seen red fluorite either?"
"No, but I can't think of any other possibility besides fluorite."
Shaking his head, Hitzfeld no longer counted on these people.
Since a while ago, she has been experiencing a slight stinging pain in her left eye.
She was familiar with this feeling, which mostly only occurred when she was the target of a malicious glance.
What does this mean?
Is something following them?
But there was no living thing around.
After thinking for a while, she focused her gaze on the fascia on top of her head.
"Frick." She called to the knight, "You must have come to the Red Earth Plain many times. Have you ever seen something like this?"
"You wouldn't be so surprised if you've seen them before." Frick didn't even bother to turn around. "Why, are you worried that they're alive?"
"It looks like some kind of bacterial colony." Xia Yibing also looked up, "But it has no consciousness... How do these things survive?"
"Water or microorganisms in the air," Leah replied, "or the red light can stimulate them."
"Don't worry," Darent whispered, "if these things were dangerous, we wouldn't be covered in flesh when we fell."
No one laughed this time.
The pressure brought by the red light was a bit too great. Everyone was worried and had no time to respond to his jokes.
After walking the first section for nearly an hour, they still found nothing.
Again, the cavity is too big.
It was almost an underground world, and all they saw along the way was the same empty and monotonous scenery. They couldn't even tell whether the light ahead was getting brighter.
"Stop!" Frick raised his hand and clenched his fist.
"take a break."
"Bruce, did you make a mark?"
"We've done it all." A knight with a muddy face nodded. "Every section of the road has been marked. They can track us at any time."
He was the one who provided the map. Hitzfeld glanced at him, helped Xia Yibing sit down and began to rest.
After a ten-minute rest, they continued on their way.
In this way, every hour of walking, the team would stop to rest.
This cycle repeated four times before the scene finally changed.
"Water vapor!"
Frick sniffed a few times and turned back to growl, "There's more moisture in the air!"
He was excited—as would anyone who had walked for nearly five hours to finally make a discovery, not to mention that it might mean their initial guess was correct.
The team immediately accelerated and walked about two hundred meters. The ground under their feet became more bumpy.
"Haha! There really is water!"
Standing on the shore, everyone stared at the rushing water with joy.
This is an underground river.
The river water came from a position where the edge could not be seen and flowed into the cave on the right.
Further up the cave is a huge stone pillar. There are many stone pillars like this, filling the area further ahead.
"But we still haven't found the source of the red light."
Hitzfeld frowned.
The pain is still there, which means that the prying eyes have never left from the beginning to the end.
It is indeed a good thing to discover the underground river, but the water surface does not reflect much light, and this is not the source of the red light at all.
"Let's cross the river and take a look."
Xia Yibing comforted her.
“Find the narrowest spot and cross over.”
“The terrain ahead is higher, so we’ll definitely be able to see more.”
The team crossed the river and climbed up the rocky slope in front.
Here, the red light became more intense.
They also discovered the unusual movement of the red light - it seemed to be flashing and radiating, and it would tremble every once in a while.
Continuing forward and moving upward, they were clearly getting closer and closer to the source of the light.
Finally, after climbing up another cliff, as soon as they looked up, they were squinting because of the dazzling red light.
too bright.
After getting used to the light stimulation and being forced to squint to see things, Hitzfeld couldn't help but open his eyes wide.
