Everyone walked a few meters along the rugged road, and under Xiao Tu’s light, everyone found that the interior of this underground cave was extremely spacious and empty. Thousands of stones stood in the interior of the cave, among them there were quite a number of stone pillars rising up into the sky, towering into the clouds, and the top could not be seen at all. There were also a large number of stones as sharp as spikes distributed in the surrounding walls.
There was no flat road here at all, there were only 20 cm narrow passages between some stones, and they could barely pass through it sideways. Xiao Tu’s wheel rolled a few meters and got stuck in the crack of the stone, Ke Shaobin had no choice but to turn Xiao Tu into the size of a palm and put it in the palm of his hand.
Xin Yan frowned and said, “This cave is very deep, and the ground around it is obviously a little loose. There is probably an underground water source. I’m worried that if we continue to walk, in case the cave collapses, we have to prepare the skills to evacuate.”
Qin Lu raised his head and carefully observed the strange-shaped stones in the cave and said, “This cave is very similar to the ‘karst landform’, that is, the soluble substances contained in the limestone have been corroded and dissolved under the long-term action of groundwater, thus forming a karst cave.” She looked at Xin Yan and Yue Xingwen and said, “The location we are in was originally a piece of limestone, which was dissolved from the inside to form a cave. Xin Yan was right just now, there must be an underground water source here.”
Xin Yan nodded. “The soluble substance in the limestone is calcium carbonate, which can be converted into calcium bicarbonate under the action of water and carbon dioxide. Because the calcium carbonate content of limestone in different locations is different, the degree of corrosion is different, so after tens of millions of years of evolution, it has become a stone of different shapes.”
Yue Xingwen had also heard of karst landforms, and in reality, many karst landforms had been developed into tourist attractions. But the planet α-71 was completely different from Earth’s environment. The Earth was developed into a scenic spot, usually the landforms had been eroded for tens of thousands of years, had fixed the shape, and would not easily collapse. The scenic spot would also specialize in expanding and opening a road for people to explore and visit, and there were staff to ensure the safety of tourists.
But now, there was no way out of the entire underground cavern, the temperature was cold, the ground was loose, and if they entered hastily, in case the cavern collapsed, they would be instantly crushed into mush by the rocks that crumbled from the top.
Although Yue Xingwen wanted to find the remaining three teammates as soon as possible, he couldn’t let his current teammates risk their lives to enter the cave, let alone let this place become a burial place for everyone.
Seeing Yue Xingwen’s serious expression, Ke Shaobin asked softly, “What should we do? I don’t know how deep this cave is.”
Yue Xingwen was silent for a moment, and said, “There is no need for everyone to go in, divide a team of people who are flexible and have the ability to defend themselves, go into the cave to investigate, while the others wait outside for support.”
His gaze swept over everyone and said, “Qin Lu, Ke Shaobin and senior brother Xu will come with me, and the remaining five people will stay behind.”
Xu Yishen, who stayed in Liu Zhaoqing’s pocket, immediately recovered from his cellular deformation state, stood in front of Yu Xingwen and said with a smile, “No problem, my mitosis can dodge the surrounding rocks, I’ll take Xiao Tu as the front-runner, scan the environment in front of us, and transmit the video to Ke Shaobin’s laptop, and you guys can pick the safest path to take.”
Yue Xingwen also thought so, the ability to dodge obstacles with mitosis was top notch, Xu Yishen could always dodge the block of rocks and scout ahead as a vanguard. Qin Lu could use the Plate Movement skill to quickly evacuate, and her globe could also rotate in a circle, replace day and night, and refresh all her skills, which would definitely be used at critical moments.
Other students who stayed behind also had no opinion, after all, the fewer people, the more convenient it was to move, and what Xingwen had made was already the best arrangement at the moment.
Liu Zhaoqing took the initiative to take out a few rolls of gauze and handed them to Yue Xingwen. “Take this, in case you are injured by a bump, you can treat it at any time if you have gauze.”
Yue Xingwen took the gauze and put it in his pocket.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Xin Yan looked at Ke Shaobin, frowned, and the next moment, he saw him suddenly take out the Periodic Table of Elements and made a silver-white chain, tying the left and right ends to Ke Shaobin’s glasses, and said indifferently, “The path in the cave is not easy to walk, so fix your glasses so that they don’t fall off and cause trouble to people.”
Although Xin Yan’s mouth always couldn’t say good things, his approach was very thoughtful. Ke Shaobin tried to tug the metal chain behind the glasses, it was very strong, even if he flipped 360 degrees upside down, the glasses would not be lost.
Ke Shaobin adjusted his glasses and looked at Xin Yan. “Thank you, this is very useful.”
Xin Yan looked at the shoes of several people and said, “I helped you remove the high-temperature resistant metal on the soles of your shoes. The ground of this cave is very slippery and difficult to walk, so I’ll have to make you a new layer of non-slip mats.” Ke Shaobin smiled and gave a thumbs up. “You used to be our royal chef, and now you have become a logistics housekeeper?”
Xin Yan ignored his joke and quickly found several elements from the <Periodic Table> and made them into rubber-like soles that were glued to everyone’s shoes.
Yue Xingwen tried to take two steps, and it was much easier.
Xin Yan followed by conjuring up a few distillation bottles, making and boiling water on the spot, and then gave one to each person. “The temperature of the underground cave is very low, and you can use a hot water bottle to keep warm when necessary.”
Yue Xingwen took the bottle and said, “Thank you.”
Whether it was the use of distillation bottles to make washbasins for girls, or now to make anti-scald shoes, non-slip shoes, and thermos bottles for all of them… Xin Yan, who seemed to be indifferent and withdrawn, was actually very attentive.
Yue Xingwen joked. “Xin Yan has indeed become our logistical support. Cooking, making shoes, cooling and heating, it’s really a must-have for home travelers.”
Xin Yan was not used to being praised in person, so he awkwardly looked away and said lightly, “Be careful.”
Liu Zhaoqing stepped forward and pated Yue Xingwen on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about going, we wait for your good news.”
The five teammates, led by Liu Zhaoqing, retreated from the cave and waited outside. Yue Xingwen took Xu Yishen, Ke Shaobin and Qin Lu to enter the depths of the cave.
Xu Yishen turned on the mitosis skill, holding a miniature version of Xiao Tu in his hand, and quickly scouting in front, while the other three found their way in the back according to the video in Ke Shaobin’s laptop.
The road inside the cave was potholed and difficult to walk, and the deeper they went, the narrower the cave became.
At the beginning, the air humidity detected on the outside was 10%, but when it reached the inside of the cave, the air humidity soared all the way, even exceeding 60%, coupled with the cold temperature, a large number of condensed ice crystals appeared around, and the white ice covered the surface of the stones of different shapes, forming an extremely magnificent landscape.
Yue Xingwen was not in the mood to enjoy the scenery, he just wanted to find three teammates as quickly as possible.
Where the hell was Pingce?
Yue Xingwen was so anxious that he wanted to fly over the ice.
The next moment, a blue dot coordinate suddenly appeared in the laptop, and Ke Shaobin said excitedly, “I found a teammate 500 meters ahead!”
Yue Xingwen was overjoyed and walked forward quickly.
It didn’t take long for a soft light to appear up ahead—— Unlike Xiao Tu’s search light, that light was much brighter, illuminating an area with a range of 100 meters and making the entire cavern as bright as day.
Xu Yishen’s voice came through the screen, “It’s Zhuo Feng!”
Yue Xingwen followed and heard the conversation between Xu Yishen and Zhuo Feng, “Have you seen anyone else?”
Zhuo Feng said, “Didn’t see. When I landed, I fell into this underground cave and I came out of the escape pod to investigate, and found this cave is very deep, with unstable foundations. The temperature around it is exceptionally low, so I had to turn on my light skill, thinking, if there are any of my teammates nearby, they may come over.”
Waiting in place for help was really the safest way to go when they were not sure what was ahead.
Zhuo Feng followed up and said, “What about Manluo?”
“Manluo has been found, and is staying in a piece with senior brother Liu and senior sister Lan.” Xu Yishen said, “At present, Jiang Pingce and Zhang Xiaonian have not been found.”
Yue Xingwen quickly rushed to Zhuo Feng. Zhuo Feng nodded at Yue Xingwen and said, “Let’s go find them together, it’s estimated that there are still several kilometers in this cave, and my magnet is thrown out and the distance is too far to suck it back.”
After Zhuo Feng joined the team, the entire cave immediately became much brighter.
He held a ball of light in his hand to illuminate, and everyone acted better in the bright light, and there was no need to bump around like they did earlier. Moreover, when encountering obstacles that needed to be overcome, Zhuo Feng could also use the suction of the magnet to suck everyone into the air and fly over from above.
The team moved significantly faster.
It didn’t take long for a huge excavator to appear in Xu Yishen’s field of vision.
In the cave full of ice crystals, the bright yellow excavator was very conspicuous, Xu Yishen couldn’t cry and laugh. “Little junior brother, why are you hiding in the excavator?”
When Zhang Xiaonian saw everyone, he immediately rushed down and grabbed Xiao Tu like a life-saving straw. “Finally! I’ve waited for you all! When I landed in my escape pod, I fell into this hole and got stuck between the two rocks. I managed to climb out, only to find that the stones were twenty meters high, and I couldn’t get down at all…”
Yue Xingwen looked up and saw that between the two 20-meter-high stone pillars, there was indeed an escape pod.
Zhang Xiaonian was indeed unlucky, he was stuck in mid-air and worried, and finally relied on the excavator to bring himself down. He didn’t dare to walk around, so he hid in the cockpit of the excavator and waited for the others.
Another teammate was found, but Yue Xingwen’s heart became more anxious.
With Jiang Pingce’s character, it was impossible to wait in place after landing, unless the location where he landed was very dangerous, and it was pitch black. He couldn’t see anything. In the dark, of course, he didn’t dare to use the coordinate system rashly…
Yue Xingwen clenched his fists vigorously and said, “It’s already past seven o’clock in the evening, we can’t wait any longer, in case the oxygen runs out, Pingce’s life is likely to be in danger! Qin Lu, open the Plate Movement and switch positions to speed up the search!”
Qin Lu immediately took out the globe and continuously switched it forward according to Xiao Tu’s path.
The space in the depth of the cave was getting narrower and narrower, Yue Xingwen found a layer of cold sweat on his hands, since he was a child, he had never been so anxious for someone, worried, anxious, even panicked, a lot of unfamiliar emotions kept rushing to his mind, causing his whole head to be in disarray, making it hard for him to remain absolutely calm.
What should he do if something happens to Jiang Pingce?
He didn’t even dare to think about that possibility. He could only keep repeating it in his heart—— Didn’t all the previous teammates be found without any problem? Pingce must be waiting for them in front, and he would definitely be fine.
For the first time, he realized that without realizing it, he couldn’t afford to lose that person.
i smell a confession happening soon?? 😳thanks for the chapter!! <33
Knew something was gonna happen to one of them once that flag got put out about Liu Xiaoqing’s medicine upgrade.
Also are we getting some progress on a Ke Shaobin and Xin Yan side CP 👀
Even I’m getting nervous for Jiang Pingce
And as always, love seeing Xin Yan coming out of his shell!!
Thank you for the translation
Love story progress
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚