Endless route

Chapter 259 29. Go straight into the ancient city wall

"It's actually buried like this. If there wasn't a swamp, ordinary people would be afraid of heights standing here, right?"

Ji Dao casually broke off a branch from his side, squatted in front of the stone pillar on the edge of the city wall, and poked it into the wet mud. The one-meter-long branch was completely submerged by its roots, and it was far from reaching the bottom.

It’s not right if you can poke it to the end.

The ancient city of Nanze is paved with stone slabs, and there must be a bottom underneath, but you have to use a thirty-meter tree to poke it out.

Thinking of this, Ji Dao looked back. There didn't seem to be many trees that could grow thirty meters in the tropical rain forest. The roots of the trees were not stable in the swamp, and they were wobbly and easy to fall.

"Now is the window period. It is even more buried during the rainy season. This place is on the edge of the basin. The swamp mud will not be much higher, but there will be more than two meters of water."

"However, the normal window period is not this deep. It rained some time ago, and these swamps are all empty. If the sun shines for a few more days, the depth of the swamps can go down a lot."

Zhang Ergou wiped his sweat and explained.

As long as the temperature rises in this environment, the amount of transpiration per second is terrifyingly high, just like a sauna.

Zheng Yun woke up from his trance. The swamp not only buried the city, but also buried hundreds of kilometers around it. It should be a long-term geological change.

This part of the information is included in Gubo's materials. I have heard Professor Zhang say before that they speculated that the ancient city of Nanze experienced a series of violent geological movements similar to earthquakes at that time.

This earthquake probably occurred thousands of kilometers away on the other side of the continent. The earthquake was weakly felt in the ancient city of Nanze, but plate movement caused a large amount of carbon mud to be extruded from deep underground.

If thousands of geological movements occur in a year, it is possible that the ancient city of Nanze will be buried in a short period of time.

This is the most likely guess.

There are also several theories, such as the upstream earthquake causing the swamp to move, or a large number of rivers to change their course, or the "swamp volcano" erupting, or it is not the swamp moving, but the Nanze ancient city subsidence, which are all possible.

If it were for these reasons, the ancient city of Nanze must have had enough time to warn, and it may not cause casualties to the people.

Therefore, Gu Bo believed that this was an empty city. Except for the items that were too late to be taken away, everything else had been moved.

But all is not certain.

Everything is subject to change before going down.

"Master Immortal, if we want to find the Commander-in-Chief of Nanze City, we have to go through the sewers of the ancient city. Isn't this a collision? I almost memorized the blueprint."

Ji Dao smiled and whispered.

No matter whether it is buried in a swamp or not, it has nothing to do with them. It only needs to be entered through the underground sewer. If the contemporary Supervisory Immortal Division cannot do other things, it must be drilled into the sewer.

They are so experienced.

From the ancient city of Hongwu to the old site of Fuci, there was never a time when we didn't get in through the sewers, and they had blueprints to support them.

"The probability of the underground waterway being buried is very high, and it may not be that easy to enter." Zheng Yun was not so optimistic.

Even wearing a diving suit is difficult to get down into the 30-meter-deep swamp. Although Zheng Yun is not a professional, he can roughly imagine that the pressure at the bottom of the swamp is much greater than that of sea water.

The underground waterway is supported by solid stone bricks, which can avoid a lot of pressure, but it may also be filled with mud. The pressure cannot be underestimated, and you can only dig in in the dark.

This situation is similar to that of some mines. Modern technology has limited processing methods and it is difficult to provide external assistance.

"Sir, there are rivers running through the ancient city of Nanze. There are few wells in ordinary people's homes. The underground sewers have special uses and are almost closed. The drawings are very complicated and the size is much larger than other ancient cities. It can be called an underground city. It should not be poured into the swamp."

Ji Dao quickly explained.

"Master Ji is right. There is very little silt inside the city wall. The swamp has not been filled with much water. It is just filled with water. Therefore, both Bo and Huangbo are pumping water on a large scale. I heard that it has been pumped into several layers. There are many entrances to get in.”

"The old museum occupies the entrance to the east city wall. The Royal Museum's teams are at other entrances. Casual explorers can enter through breaks in the city wall or from certain places in the city."

Zhang Ergou quickly agreed.

The city walls of Nanze Ancient City are majestic. There are double-story attics on the east, west, and south gates. The width is more than 30 meters and the length is even 50 meters. There are towers on the left and right sides of the attic and at the corners of the city wall, all of which can be penetrated.

Facing the most powerful explorers from the East and the West, a mere swamp cannot stop them. Even if there is no city wall, they can still dig a well and directly fix the steel structure to the bottom.

"In that case, just find a place to enter." Zheng Yun stopped thinking about it and went down to take a look and he would know the situation.

They all commanded that there might be an Immortal Gate in the Si Mansion, and they had to hurry up to find the Immortal Gate to prevent it from being found by the West.

If it weren't for this reason, they wouldn't have entered the rainforest in such a hurry. If they took the time to read more information sent by Gubo, the situation should be much better than it is now.

Especially the reasons why the explorers died in the first two years, Gubo should have done a very comprehensive analysis. A detailed understanding of this part will also help them avoid risks.

"I'll lead the way."

Zhang Ergou immediately walked to the south, going in the opposite direction to Gu Bo's camp, passing through the fog and along the city wall deep into the hinterland.

The destination is a crack in the city wall that was blown up by explorers last year. There are several large expedition teams pumping water and mud. It is the best choice for casual explorers to enter the ancient city.

Zheng Yun observed the environment along the way.

The eroded floor tiles and walls lie across the tropical rainforest, with swamps and tropical rainforest on the left and right. The sunlight above the head shines directly, making the fog shine golden.

Many explorers did not start from the city walls, but followed the paths paved by explorers with vines and tree trunks and entered the center of the ancient city, not knowing where they were going.

Maybe there is a new discovery.

The field of vision in the fog is limited, and they can see farther under direct sunlight. Once they enter the darkness deep in the rain forest, Zheng Yun and others can no longer see people.

Occasionally, a few people suddenly emerged from the rainforest. Both parties were startled, looked at each other, and then passed each other.

There may be thousands of people active in the ancient city area No. 1 of the entire ruins, but Zheng Yun and the others can't feel the crowd at all. The rainforest has its own sound insulation and noise reduction capabilities, so they can't hear any sound.

It was eerily quiet up close.

Occasionally there is a slight abnormal sound in the distance.

After walking straight for about seven or eight hundred meters, several dark green tents suddenly appeared in front of them. They should be the camp of an expedition team, but the entire camp was empty.

Zheng Yun took a few more glances and realized that the tent might have been pitched a week ago. The dark green tarpaulin had been softened by the high temperature, and the flat surface was sunken, with some blackened water gathering there.

Something's not quite right.

But within reason.

Everyone continued to walk forward until they had walked about a kilometer, and suddenly some voices came from the front, and their tone was very anxious. Zhang Ergou also said that the break in the city wall was just ahead.

I quickened my pace and ran over. Several figures appeared through the mist. They were a group of Western explorers at the edge of the rainforest. There were men and women looking anxious, and the ropes in their hands stretched towards the swamp.

"Hurry up, he's going to completely trap you."

"It can't be pulled, something is pulling him!"

Several people looked horrified, and they all pulled the rope back, but the end of the rope had sunk deeply into the mud.

Zheng Yun looked toward the end of the rope. There was a swamp depression over there, with muddy water of varying depths. There was an explorer's hat hanging on the treetop, and a hand reaching out of the swamp.

Someone fell in.

Still completely sunken.

This kind of thing is easy to happen in the swamp area. Only strong city walls are trustworthy. You must be extremely cautious when traveling through the rainforest, otherwise you may step on nothing and sink at any time.

They were following a group of explorers on their way here. They followed the old explorer path, and their safety was guaranteed to a certain extent. However, they could often see signs of using branches and vines to rescue others.

"Go up and help me."

Zheng Yun turned back to look at the ghost general.

The ghost general immediately stepped forward to help pull the rope. Zheng Yun himself pulled out his machete and asked others to cut some vine branches around and place them on the swamp so that the trapped people could slowly come up.

"He was dragged down by something."

"We saw movement in the slough."

When the explorers saw the person coming, they quickly told what they had seen, with shock written all over their faces.

"what?"

Zheng Yun frowned and asked.

"I don't know. We didn't see him clearly. We didn't know him. When we came over, we saw that half of his body was sunken, and the backpack on his back was exposed. He was motionless and unresponsive."

"We threw a rope to save him, but suddenly something squirmed around his body, entangled him and sank into the mud. The force was so strong that we couldn't pull the thing away."

While the expedition team was explaining, they and several ghost generals worked together to slowly pull the opponent's arm out of the mire.

"Is the person dead or alive? Where did you put the rope?" Zheng Yunduo asked. If the person was alive, he might be pulled to death by such a brutal pulling method.

"I saw him move his hands."

"It seems not. He may be dead."

Several explorers had a disagreement.

Zheng Yun and Ji Dao looked at each other and felt that this man might be able to choke and survive, and he was probably grabbed by a swamp creature.

Phew.

Suddenly there was a voice.

The people pulling the rope were dodged, and the end of the rope suddenly left the swamp. Half of the explorer's body was pulled out of the swamp, but an unexpected scene appeared at the same time.

He only has half a body.

To be precise, he only had his upper body, only the waist above the waist wearing a jacket and carrying a backpack. His arms were stiff and pointed straight up in the sky. His whole body was covered with mud and it was difficult to distinguish between male and female.

"died."

"Been eaten?"

Everyone exclaimed in low voices, but they had thought about this situation and could quickly accept it after seeing the tragic condition of the deceased with their own eyes.

"We saved people who died for a long time."

The expedition leader sighed and dropped the rope.

Zheng Yun and others didn't say anything. They just said hello to the members of the other party's expedition team and then continued to move around them.

You come to explore at your own risk. No one will feel heartache for the deceased, because the best choice if something doesn't happen is not to come. You can't die in the mud just lying at home.

We walked less than a hundred meters.

Several camps appeared one after another, and the crack in the city wall that Zhang Ergou mentioned appeared together. It was more than three meters long and wide, like a ferocious crack, dark and unfathomable.

"It just blew up."

"These people are really ruthless."

Ji Dao spoke sadly. The fracture in the city wall was two to three meters thick, but it could not withstand high explosives. Such a crack lay across the city wall, like a scar branded on a person's body.

Zheng Yun observed silently. There were several lengths of rope hanging in the cracks, and no one was on duty. There were some explorers in the surrounding camps, but they hardly even glanced at outsiders.

The good news is that there is no outrageous admission fee. This is a public entrance and anyone who wants to can enter from here.

"Get ready."

Zheng Yun turned around and ordered everyone to suit up, connect the oxygen pipes, put on diving masks to isolate the oxygen before descending.

Everyone immediately followed suit.

There are three sane people in their team, as well as four ghost generals and three Yin soldiers. They execute orders very efficiently. To a certain extent, they are even weirder than the ancient city of Nanze.

At least for the time being.

After getting ready, Zheng Yun and others grabbed the broken rope and climbed down, as if they were entering a deep well. The surrounding light was dimmed instantly, and they had to turn on the flashlight to observe the environment.

The first level of the city wall is five meters below.

There was a stone-brick corridor right under their feet. There was no doubt about the explorer's ability to dig holes. It was a very suitable place to start.

Let go of the rope and jump into the tunnel.

Zheng Yun and others fell into the water one after another. It was indeed similar to what Zhang Ergou said. There was very little mud inside the city wall. There was only calf-high muddy water in the corridor about three meters high.

There were a large number of branches and vines below the fracture, estimated to be about half a meter high, which elevated their feet, allowing Zheng Yun and others to step on a mud bag. The downhill slope was the real bottom.

Look forward and backward.

There were many people in the corridor, and voices could be heard from behind and behind. There were flashlights of flashlights and the sound of impact drills in the distance. They were all probably explorers, and it was much more lively than on the city wall.

Gubo also has a team here.

This is very close to Gubo's camp.

"It's really cooler down there. Let me lead the way. I know where we are."

Ji Dao stretched his body and shivered. The high temperature above was very unfriendly to the fat man. There was a dark wind blowing from nowhere in the corridor of the city wall, which made him feel much more comfortable.

"Then speed up."

Zheng Yun nodded to speed up the progress.

After confirming the direction, Ji Dao took out his tablet and flipped through it, looked at the structural diagram of the city wall, and quickly led the people to turn right.

The structure of the Nanze City Wall was not complicated. After the water on the first layer was drained, their steps were unimpeded, and they soon followed Ji Dao to a dark room where they could not see anything.

"There is a secret passage here, and it seems that no one has discovered it." Jidao stretched out his feet to stir in the mud, and suddenly he went down, his arms were buried in the mud and he felt a gap.

"Lock the door."

Zheng Yun asked the ghost general to be on guard and led others to help, using the crowbar he carried with him to pry open the secret passage door.

It was difficult to open the door that was buried in mud, and the secret passage Ji Dao found was actually a stone brick passage. It took seven or eight people to pull out the entire stone brick to open it, and it took seven or eight people to get up together.

Shine the flashlight into the gap.

Jidao was immediately overjoyed and whispered: "Master Immortal, there is no water or mud at all below! This is an ancient flue that can go straight to the middle of the city wall, about fifteen meters down."

"No water or mud?"

Zheng Yun looked sideways and saw that it was really empty below. There was a slight water reflection at the bottom, but it looked very clear, like water seeping in from the cracks in the rocks.

“Having the drawings means speed.”

"Much better than other explorers."

Zhang Ergou leaned his head and took a look. This was very efficient. There was a secret passage that no one had discovered.

Others would be jealous to death if they knew it.

But only the Jianxian Division has the blueprints.

"I didn't raise my hopes just now, I just gave it a little try. I didn't expect it to work here. As long as you go down from here, you can enter the real secret passage and lead directly to the underground sewer."

Ji Dao said with a cheerful smile.

"Then go down and have a look." Zheng Yun nodded and set off.

Everyone pulled out the bricks completely, tied ropes and threw them down. Some mud fell down with the ropes. Fortunately, the door of this stone brick path was special. The bricks could be restored to their original shape by inserting them back. If someone could pile some mud on top, they could bury them. .

"Zhang Ergou, guard the door. Let's go down and check the situation. We may have to come up in a while. Please be careful."

Zheng Yun looked at Zhang Ergou's broken arm and told him to enter such a damp and cold place, which would not be good for the wound.

"OK."

Zhang Ergou nodded.

Zheng Yun and others left with peace of mind, and followed Jidao down, directly to the end of the dark passage, and stood in a closed dark room, which had the same structure as the first floor.

The water is more than one meter deep.

And the mud only reaches the instep.

Just as Zheng Yun stood firm, he remembered Jidao's voice beside him: "Master Xian, the situation seems a little not right."

Look sideways.

Ji Dao took the flashlight towards the corner of the dark room, where there were actually several soaked wooden boxes standing in front of the only exit, as if to resist the intrusion of something.