The twinkling stars cling high to the dome, creating the illusion of a beautiful starry sky.
Lu Li knew that was not true.
The rock wall behind him stood straight, and it was impossible to see the night sky from the ground.
This is an underground cave.
Lu Li escaped from the underground rock formation and entered a wider... prison.
The twinkling stars at the top of the cave may be radioactive fluorite or mysterious luminous objects. They make the cave no longer dark and dull.
The river originates from the pool at the other end of the cave. Fountain-like water gushes out from the bottom of the cave and converges into a river flowing to the pass.
Wow——
The water flowing into the pass slowed down after Luli Dangshui left the edge.
Standing in the shallows, the biting water caressed Lu Li's calves.
Wow – Wow –
Lu Li walked out of the shallows and stood on the shore at the edge of the cave.
The rock wall is covered with water droplets formed by moisture, and there are withered vines climbing nearly two meters above the ground.
Lu Li reached out and pulled off a piece of vine netting and tried to pull it. After absorbing water, they were strong and flexible enough.
He tore off a few finger-thick vines and tied them into a vine rope more than twenty meters long. He also pushed a rock several times larger than a human head into the shallows and tied it with the vines.
Holding the other end of the vine, Lu Li retreated to the pass and got underwater again.
He wants to go back to the rock formation cave to find Friday.
A familiar feeling flooded into my heart, but unlike last time, the fog of the road ahead had faded.
Before the oxygen was exhausted, Lu Li caught a glimpse of the fire on the water, drilled out from under the rock wall, and emerged from the water with the sound of gurgling water.
A fire crackled on the rock, and the lighthouse and the knife lay beside the coat spread out.
Other than that, there is no one and nothing.
Lu Li's head suddenly started to tingle, and Lu Li frowned. His clear memory suddenly became chaotic, and reality and illusion were intertwined.
And the outline of the figure named Friday gradually faded away, as if the last time I met her was an extremely long time ago.
Does Friday really exist, or is it just an illusion in desperate times?
Lu Li climbed up the rock and observed the fire and the traces on the rock. But all traces of life pointed to the fact that only Lu Li lived here.
There were no cooking pots, no drying books, no wooden bowls, no fish and meat, no condiments and no empty jars.
Lu Li suddenly stretched out his hand and pulled his throat to make himself vomit. But nothing came out except the water he drank before.
Maybe Friday is waiting for him in the underground cave.
Wiping the corners of his mouth, Lu Li took everything he could on the rocks and dived into the underground river again.
The fire in the hollow of the rock formation burned quietly. Soon, the fire that lost its fuel and the surroundings would return to darkness.
…
Wow——
Lu Li got out of the pass.
With black hair sticking to his forehead, Lu Li looked around the underground cave and saw no sign of Friday.
Holding the coat dripping with water, Lu Li returned to the shore and wrung out the wet coat and trousers. But they might not be completely dry in the humid cave.
Looking up at the top of the cave, the luminous objects were still flickering. Because they only existed at the top of a dozen meters high, it was difficult for Lu Li to see clearly what they were.
The water in his body gradually evaporated, but the cold was taking away Lu Li's body temperature. What awaited him was either making a fire or finding a way to the outside world.
Exploring along the edge of the cave, there is no other exit except for the deep pool with spring water gushing out.
Lu Li gave up his plan of diving into the deep pool for the time being. He now needed to regain his temper.
The underground cave is relatively clean. The weightless debris and sand are all washed into the pass with the water flow. Only the withered vines on the rock wall can be burned.
When looking for burning objects, Lu Li thought of the evidence that Friday really existed: without a fire source, it would be difficult to make a wet ignition object burn even if he drilled wood to make a fire.
Thinking of this, Lu Li spread his palms as if he was aware of it.
The scars filled with blisters appeared in the palm of my hand.
"..."
Lu Li was not sure whether the injury on his palm existed before.
Silently, he returned to the shore with a few wet logs and tried to make a fire through the wood.
This didn't work. Every time he rubbed the branches, there would be a stinging pain in his heart. Lu Li could endure it, but he was slowed down by the severe pain and couldn't get out of the sparks, especially with wet firewood. There were dense blisters on Lu Li's palms.
That's enough to explain everything - if it was really caused by digging wood to make fire.
Lu Li's eyes fell on the only exit of the cave. It was about ten meters in diameter, and it was difficult to see the bottom of the clear water pool.
All he can do now is to find a way out of here before his physical strength and body temperature disappear.
That is, a pool.
Taking the lighthouse, Lu Li walked to the pool and jumped into the water.
The light bloomed, illuminating the dark pool. Lu Li sank nearly three meters before he was pushed by the rising spring water and found it difficult to sink. The bottom of the pool was still missing from the bright edge.
The pool is deeper than imagined.
Lu Li returned to the water, picked a rock weighing about 30 pounds on the shore, and jumped into the pool again holding it.
The rock belt floated down quickly, and the fluorescence on the cave roof disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters.
The water pressure squeezed his body from all directions, but Lu Li could still withstand it.
But the bottom of the tan is still not visible from the edge of light a few meters away.
Twenty meters, twenty-five meters, thirty meters.
It is close to the critical point of Lu Li's endurance, and the edge has not yet appeared.
Lu Li was no longer stingy with his humanity, and the lighthouse on his right hand suddenly glowed brighter. The oppressive shadow retreated from his side, the rock wall on the edge of the pool emerged, and the visible distance below became further and further away——
But in the narrowed black eyes, even up to forty or even fifty meters deep, the bottom has not yet emerged. Only at the edge of the light, the shadow of an illusion flashes away.
There was not much oxygen left in his lungs, so Lu Li had no choice but to throw away the stone and float upwards.
Lu Li controlled the speed of his ascent. When the burning sensation in his lungs became unbearable, he accelerated his ascent and rushed to the surface.
The world suddenly became clear. Lu Li climbed up to the shallows and lay down in the water to resist the feeling of powerlessness and uncontrollable itching that followed.
He ascended too quickly and developed symptoms of decompression sickness.
After a few minutes, the symptoms subsided, and Lu Li returned to the shore, dizzy as if he was deprived of oxygen.
The pool was deeper than expected. Unless Lu Li could find something that could be sucked up by the spring water and store air, it would be almost impossible for him to find the outlet of the pool.
Except that the space is larger and people will not feel claustrophobic, underground caves seem to be no different from caves in rock formations.
Are there other exits from the cave?
Lu Li thought and looked up at the false stars again.
He raised the lighthouse high, humanity melted into the wick, and the gentle light of morning filled the cave, giving a clear view of everything.
The dark yellow fluorite inlaid at the top of the cave has become dull. They are not the focus, but are surrounded by clusters of them in the middle, an oval hole leading to the outside world.
What's exciting is that the size and diameter of the hole are large enough for Lu Li to drill out.
But a problem also arises.
How did Lu Li climb from the nearly vertical wet rock wall to the top, and then to the hole in the middle of the cave?