Endless route

Chapter 295 65. A forest of wooden coffins

Zheng Yun and others stood by the lake, using flashlights to scan the green water in the depths of the lake, especially the edge of the lakeshore where the kayak was located, trying to find the whereabouts of the group of explorers.

But there was no sign of anyone.

There was no human figure near the shallow water layer, and the flashlight could not penetrate the turbid lake water, so they could not see the rainforest at the bottom of the lake. Even if someone was hiding, they could not see it.

"We investigated the surroundings and found no traces of entry or exit elsewhere. This group of Western explorers must have sneaked out of the camp and paddled out along the shadows of the rainforest with paddles."

"There must be something wrong with them."

Li Wu pointed at the lake with a serious expression.

This group of Western explorers entered the Sunken Lake at night. They didn't even turn on the lights from beginning to end. They also avoided the moonlight and walked forward in the dark through the shadows of the rainforest. They obviously had an ulterior motive.

It's like being a thief.

Who would believe that they are fine?

"I really regret it. I should have kept a closer eye just now. The main reason is that I really didn't expect that they would actually sneak away in the middle of the night, and that something would happen to both of our camps."

Li Wu's teammates spoke regretfully.

"Turn off the flashlights and take a look, Li Wu, they didn't even make any sound?" Zheng Yun asked with a frown.

"No, they went out by boat. There was always some wind noise by the lake in the middle of the night, which could cover up the sound of the boat. Judging from their various behaviors, they must have been planning for a long time."

Li Wu waved for everyone to put away their flashlights.

As all the flashlights were turned off, the entire lake was shrouded in darkness again. Zheng Yun and others stared at the bottom of the lake and kept observing, but there was no artificial light source coming out of the lake bottom.

It is possible that he has entered the ruins.

Or in the rainforest at the bottom of the lake.

How could thirty or forty living people disappear out of thin air? The only possibility is that they had dived into the lake.

"The situation is very strange. They didn't even leave anyone on duty at the camp." Zheng Yun looked back at the western camp. The lights of several tents were still on, but there was no one there.

Here it is again.

No one from the distressed expedition team was left behind.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yun looked at Li Wu and asked: "At what time do you think this team of explorers escaped?"

"The specific time is not clear, but it should be some time, before two o'clock." Li Wu shook his head.

"Captain Zheng, let's go down and take a look?"

Li Wu's young teammate asked aloud.

Zheng Yun briefly asked about the situation in the camp. There were currently more than 20 people awake in the camp, all the equipment was fine, and the camp camera had maintained signal connection.

It's like live streaming all day long.

The Sunken Lake Camp and the Taoist Ruins Camp were the same. The surveillance footage was transmitted back to the main camp. Zhao Qiufu could see the situation in the camp, but they did not see the expedition team slip away.

"Bring your equipment and get off."

Zheng Yun made a decisive decision. No matter what, he had to find the group of Western explorers and see what they were doing.

"I'll report it."

Li Wu immediately picked up the walkie-talkie.

Zheng Yun also contacted Hu Ruihua via mobile phone. Song Wan and the others were still in the same situation, and they would be reminded quickly if something happened.

The journey is less than ten minutes.

Even if something happens, you can get back quickly.

But once I get into the lake, the situation will change slightly, and it will always take a little more trouble to get out again.

After a while.

Everyone is ready.

Zhao Qiufu attached great importance to the situation on their side and believed that there must be something wrong with that team of explorers and would provide all help, including sending armed personnel by helicopter to assist.

But it's not necessary for now.

The dangerous places cannot be cracked by a large number of people, and exploring dangerous places cannot rely solely on guns. Let’s look at the situation first.

Li Wu picked out six team members who were in good condition and formed a team of ten with Zheng Yungui, while the others guarded the camp.

Board the kayak and set off quickly.

The ten people all wore closed diving suits and carried oxygen bottles and backpacks. When the kayak sailed into the center of the moonlit lake, they jumped into the lake one by one and dived into the rainforest at the bottom of the lake in the turbid water.

The flashlight swept left and right.

The depths of the lake are black and green.

The ten of them jumped into the lake, just like ten ants falling into a dirty puddle, swimming helplessly in the water. Danger may come from all directions and anywhere.

Observe your surroundings carefully.

After an afternoon of silt sedimentation, the situation in the collapsed lake was completely different from that during the day. Most of the rainforest at the bottom of the lake was submerged in silt, and the strange wooden coffin no longer floated up from the crack.

Li Wu introduced the situation through the headset.

From about ten o'clock in the evening, no wooden coffin appeared on the lake surface anymore, and the fracture may have been completely filled with silt.

"That's actually a good thing. If the entrances are buried, people coming in and out will leave traces in the mud."

Zheng Yun nodded and kept going deeper.

Everyone dived into the depths, arrived near the entrance to the first level that they explored last time, and then hovered in the water.

Young team members are on guard with guns.

Zheng Yun and Li Wu observed carefully.

From this position, they could see all three entrances, as well as the rainforest at the bottom of the lake.

After losing the sunlight during the day, the entire rainforest at the bottom of the lake looked even more eerie. The silt was slowly crawling in the rainforest like living creatures, and various swamp creatures were scurrying among the vine branches.

The rainforest at the bottom of the lake is very dangerous.

The ruins of this underground ancient building collapsed. The core area was actually directly under the rain forest at the bottom of the lake. The entire underground space collapsed dozens of meters, and it collapsed under their feet.

Everything was submerged in the rain forest. They didn't even know the purpose of this place, nor did they know whether it was connected to the Taoist ruins two kilometers away or what the relationship was.

"There are indeed traces."

"They got in here."

Li Wu was the first to make the discovery. When he shined his flashlight on the fracture on the second floor, he could clearly see the traces of mud being cleaned. There were also muddy handprints on the wall inside the fracture.

"Be careful."

Zheng Yun waved his hand to let the ghost general enter first, followed closely by himself and Li Wu, and the other young team members followed at the end.

They had not entered this entrance last time, but it was much larger than the entrance on the first floor. The entire wall was broken, and broken walls were piled up in various directions at the entrance.

The group of people cautiously headed deeper, following the mud paw prints and footprints all around, and soon reached the fork.

There is not much mud underfoot, and all the footprints can be seen heading to the left. This team of explorers must have come well prepared. Their goal is very clear, which is the left hand direction.

Shine the flashlight on your left hand.

A long and narrow corridor appeared in front of you.

This corridor is estimated to be thirty meters long, and at the end is a downward staircase that leads deeper into the ruins.

Zheng Yun asked everyone to keep quiet and listened carefully. He could vaguely hear some movement coming from deep, but the distance was too far and it was difficult to hear clearly.

No hesitation.

The group moved forward again.

Li Wu kept debugging the radio on the road, trying to find the communication channel for this group of Western explorers. He might be able to directly hear what they were saying and know their purpose.

But after searching for a long time, there was no result.

The team appeared to have encrypted communications.

What's even more incredible is that it seems that the expedition team must have passed on their findings before they died, and they must have discovered something extraordinary.

Consider the actions of these two expeditions.

They all went to the depths of the ruins at midnight, leaving no one on duty. The later expedition even waited from the afternoon until late at night before quietly entering the ruins.

What are you waiting for?

Is this site only accessible at night?

While thinking, they had reached the end of the corridor, and a downward staircase appeared in front of them, but the masonry walls on the left and right were full of cracks, showing signs of being affected by explosives.

Zheng Yun and Li Wu looked at each other.

These signs mean that they are getting closer to the center of the explosion, and yesterday's explosion was not far ahead.

The two were more careful.

No one knows why the distressed expedition team used explosives. Sleepwalking is just one of the guesses. It may also be to explode enemies, enemies from the first level of the ruins.

at this time.

Hu Ruihua's voice suddenly sounded in Zheng Yun's earphones. He reported an unoptimistic situation to Zheng Yun.

Song Wan and others' symptoms have changed.

Huzi still had his eyes closed, but he suddenly said: "Brother Hu and Brother Zheng, wake up!"

This sentence is very problematic.

In Huzi's dream, he and Hu Ruihua seemed to be the ones who couldn't wake up. I don't know if it was a coincidence, or if Huzi's dream was completely opposite to reality.

"Boost."

Zheng Yun led Li Wu and others forward quickly.

The situation of Song Wan and others has changed. They have no time to be cautious. They must improve their efficiency no matter what the situation ahead.

Everyone immediately walked down the stairs.

The height of the stairs is only about five meters, and it takes only a few steps to reach the end. At this depth, we have entered the rainforest at the bottom of the lake. The corridor is full of mud and plants, making it difficult to walk.

Fortunately, the predecessors left a way.

The team of Western explorers used professional equipment to clear away the silt, dig out a tunnel that led deeper, and surrounded the entrance with a tarpaulin.

The ghost general is still the leader.

Everyone jumped into the tunnel one after another, flashlights always shining on the end, for fear of sudden danger ahead.

But after all, the road had been walked by people, and the dangers had been dealt with by predecessors. They reached the end smoothly and entered the deepest part of the collapsed lake ruins.

A wide space appears.

Zheng Yun looked around with his flashlight, and suddenly a chill ran down his back, because not far in front of them, there was the body of an explorer who had been killed by explosives.

The body was only half in half.

The upper body was covered with explosive wounds.

Scanning around, you can still see many brightly colored man-made objects scattered everywhere.

"Zheng Yun, what's going on?" Li Wu suddenly said, shining his flashlight deep into his right hand. Jing Pianzi, who had always been calm, actually looked a little panicked at this moment.

Look sideways to your right hand.

On the right is a wide corridor.

This corridor is very delicate. The ground is paved with regular stone tiles. On the left and right corners, there are black lampstands that appear to be made of iron, with carvings of kneeling maids.

The maids were kneeling on the ground, holding lamps in their hands and raising them above their heads. Their faces were damaged and decayed by years of erosion, as if they were disfigured. Each one of them had a hideous face.

But Li Wu was not talking about the lampstand.

What alarmed him was the ubiquitous wooden coffins inside this corridor. Those wooden coffins were dark and decayed, floating densely in every corner of the corridor.

There are at least several hundred.

The chipped wooden coffin sank in the mud, while the sealed wooden coffin floated to the top, like a balloon toy in a child's hand, filling their entire field of vision.

Flashlight on.

These wooden coffins were piled up and down, with several thick layers piled up on the top of the corridor, and the floor of the corridor was also built with wooden coffins.

They are all dark wooden coffins.

The entire corridor seems to be made of wooden coffins.

There are also many wooden coffins that have been broken long ago. The skeletons with silver masks leaked out and floated in the water, slightly disturbed by the current, like living creatures.

The wooden coffins are like forests.

Skeletons littered the ground.

The flashlight can't even shine through.

"The wooden coffin floated out from here. Before the mud was filled, it floated along the fracture to the lake."

Zheng Yun took a deep breath and spoke.

Although this scene is weird and terrifying, it is still excusable after all. The end of this corridor may be a cemetery. Once the lake water fills in, the wooden coffin will naturally float out.

"Did that team of explorers enter through this forest of coffins?" the young team members beside Li Wu asked in surprise.

"There's only one way."

Zheng Yun nodded slightly around him.

They can now imagine that the team of explorers opened all the wooden coffins suspended in the water like a door curtain, and then entered the depths between the numerous wooden coffins.

And I have to take this path myself.

You can't find each other unless you go through here.

"Choose voluntarily. We want to keep a few people behind. Who wants to move on? Raise your hand."

Li Wu looked at the other team members.

Surprisingly, everyone raised their hands.

Zheng Yun looked back at them and was silent for a moment but stopped talking because he discovered an abnormal situation.

The number of bones leaking out of the wooden coffins seemed to be more than the number of broken wooden coffins. Combined with what he had seen in Hades Pavilion before, he was a little worried whether there was something wrong with these corpses.

Hades Pavilion has this ability.

Ji Dao also said before that in this endless world, there is far more than one place named Hades Pavilion.

But Zheng Yun soon gave up the idea. The group of explorers had already entered here, which at least proved that these wooden coffins were not too dangerous at this time.

"Then let's go in and have a look."

Zheng Yun led the team into the swimming corridor.

Everyone floated in the water and shuttled among the wooden coffins, trying to control their body postures and not touch any wooden coffins. Every movement was extremely cautious.

There is a road among the wooden coffins.

Someone indeed opened the wooden coffin and passed by.

"Zheng Yun, the layout of this place has a very obvious color of ancient tombs. The lampstands around it are also commonly seen in large tombs of princes and generals. This place may be a tomb."

"And if this place is a tomb, then these wooden coffins and the people inside are likely to be buried with the tomb owner..."

Li Wu made a guess in a low voice.

"Not necessarily. Burial customs were rare in the Ming Dynasty, but we cannot rule out the possibility of tombs. These wooden coffins may be soldiers who died in battle and were buried together with the generals."

Zheng Yun shook his head.

The only thing that can be related to this place is the spiritual throne tower inside the ancient city of Nanze. I can only guess this.

While talking.

They were already deep in the hallway.

And at this moment, the flashlight light passed through the heavy wooden coffin, illuminating a huge hole with a diameter of more than thirty meters. The gap was ferocious and the ground was covered with debris.

That was the explosive point.

The distressed expedition team did not know how much explosives they used to blast such a big hole in the hard brick road, completely destroying this corridor.

"Someone spoke."

Li Wu spoke at the same time.

No need for him to say anything, Zheng Yun also heard the sound of human voices, the source was deep in the cave, it seemed to be screaming...