Luo Binhan stood up a little dazedly and looked around at his surroundings. He stood under a sloping rock wall, almost at the lowest point of the rift valley. There are many irregular rock structures scattered on both sides of the valley bottom, like ghostly mandrills standing under the moon. There is a cave sound hidden in the shadow of the mountain wall, and it makes a terrifying howl when the night wind blows.
He listened quietly in this gloomy wilderness, and several times he seemed to catch the sound of some kind of tiny feet wriggling. But when he really wanted to locate the source of the sound, he found that it was just the noise of the wind beating the branches and leaves. .
The wild world was silent in the night, making him feel that he was in a dream and would wake up in his bed at home at any time. Only the bronze branches and leaves under his feet are half hidden and half exposed. They are hard, stubborn and full of reality, firmly anchoring him in the chaotic reality.
This real-life adventure was already too much for Luo Binhan. He chose to pick up his phone and apply for help outside the venue.
"What should we do now?" He asked Li Li, "Should I retreat first?"
Text popped up on the screen, asking him to point his phone camera at the bottom of the pit. Only then did Luo Binhan realize that Li Li had not seen anything just now. He immediately scanned the bronze branches with his mobile phone.
The phone began to vibrate, sending a call with a blank caller number. Luo Binhan answered this rather scary ghost call, and Li Li's voice came from the speaker.
"I think it would be more efficient to discuss it this way," she said. "How do you think about it now, sir?"
Luo Binhan told her that this incident was obviously related to Wan Bozi, the alchemist in Yunzhong City. This made him spend some time explaining to Li Li who Wan Bozi was.
"She disappeared among the savages more than two hundred years ago, and now the little robot is still looking for her in the opposite world." Luo Binhan said, "I think she may not be on the opposite side at all... She came here two hundred years ago, and she is still here." I accidentally scattered my things, so here are her bronze trees and drowned leaves. What do you think of my statement?"
"I partially agree, sir."
"So should I find the others first? Anyway, I have no other options."
Luo Binhan expressed his helplessness sincerely. Wan Bozi disappeared two hundred years ago in the savage world, and the expedition team discovered that drowning leaf was also two hundred years ago. Since the time flow rate of the two worlds is almost completely synchronized, Luo Binhan concluded that the appearance of drowning leaf is related to Wan Bozi. But that has been too long. If Wan Bozi was still here, she would not have gone two hundred years without retrieving her spaceship.
But where did she go? Was he secretly kidnapped and imprisoned by a certain government? Luo Binhan didn't think the local government could deal with an interstellar alchemist unless she was also bitten by a group of crazy enemies.
He didn't know Wan Bozi's life, so he couldn't deduce it any further. Going back to inform Poppa and Joel Farman seemed like the best option.
Just as he was about to climb back into the aircraft, Li Li on the phone said, "I have a little doubt about your guess."
"What's the question?"
“How did bronze grow out of the ground?”
Luo Binhan was stunned for a moment. He didn't know how this question related to his guess.
"Well... this is probably the magical alchemy technique? Aren't there two people on our ship who took off flat on the ground?"
"I'm not asking how bronze grows, sir. I'm asking how it grows out of the ground."
"Does it matter?"
"This is obviously the key to everything. Let's put aside whether this hyperaccumulator plant - I think it is better to say a life-like metal - can really survive unconditionally in the natural environment, but tell me about the bronze tree you saw in the past They grow on land. They will not bury themselves underground. If this is not due to some extremely coincidental geological movement, then I can only think that there is a greater hidden space underground. "
"What do you want to say?" Luo Binhan asked confusedly.
"Someone managed to get into the ground and sow them underground." Li Li said, "You have to pay attention to your surroundings, sir. Don't you think the caves near here sound very deep?"
After hearing this, Luo Binhan jumped out of the aircraft again and cast his gaze on the shadow of the mountain wall. Whenever the wind blows, many hollow echoes are emitted from the cracks in the rocks, as if the mountains themselves are breathing deeply.
Those caves must be very deep and connected internally. The idea grew stronger as he listened intently. He followed the direction from which the cold sound came to the low depression of two rock masses and found a natural cave there.
Subtle airflow and earthy smell emanated from the hole. Luo Binhan peered inside and found a natural crack that went downwards. The gap looked wide enough for an adult to pass through safely.
Luo Binhan first glanced at Fina to confirm that the security alarm level had not been raised, and then said to Li Li: "Can you turn on the flashlight?"
The flash on the back of the phone lit up, illuminating the environment deep in the mountain gap. A lot of ciliated, slender, reflective dust filled the bottom of the channel, seriously interfering with Luo Binhan's vision. He had to hold on to the stone wall and walk a few steps in before he could see clearly what was going on underneath.
It seemed to be a natural cave formed by the internal collapse of some kind of mountain, showing a long, narrow and curved elliptical shape. The exposed cave wall is dominated by a large blue-black rock surface, with obvious crystal particles and impurities. Some parts are as dark and smooth as ink-colored glass.
Li Li asked him to point his cell phone lens at the rock wall for a while, and then told him that it should be some kind of metamorphic hornbeam formed by high-temperature thermal contact, and the glass mixed in it was more like obsidian.
"What does that mean?" Luo Binhan asked.
"We're not far from the volcano, sir."
Luo Binhan was a little wary, but he still remembered that this world had not seen a volcanic eruption for hundreds of years, and there was no reason to target him alone at this moment. He carefully held it at the entrance of the cave and observed it for a while to make sure there was no abnormal movement inside, and then slid down the chute to check the situation.
Filamentous dust of unknown composition flew into his mouth and nose, choking Luo Binhan and sneezing. He was a little worried that the stuff was poisonous, but Fina didn't react at all. So he continued walking deeper. When he was choked by flying dust and sneezed for the third time, the rock wall next to him had become extremely wet. The water on the surface smells of copper rust and fishy aroma.
Luo Binhan reached out and touched the rock wall, feeling that the stones were a little soft. Just when he was about to ask Li Li what kind of stone it was, the scene on the other side of the rock wall attracted his attention.
A wall column made of bronze rattan. It completely covers the entire cave, and its width and height are incalculable. Only from the arc-shaped outline that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, it can be judged that its main body is still deeper underground.
This bronze vine wall drilled through the mountains and rocks with incredible tenacity, displaying its complex and exquisite flowers and leaves before Luo Binhan's eyes. When Luo Binhan stepped forward, the rattan began to stretch and squirm, making a creaking and twisting sound of metal.
A vine penetrated the top of the rock and stretched in front of Luo Binhan's face. A six-petaled copper flower bloomed from the end. The flowers are not rusty dark blue, but bright red and golden, as bright as new.
Luo Binhan stared at the copper flower in front of him, wondering what it meant. He secretly glanced at his phone, and Li Li didn't provide any off-site tips.
"Uh," he said, "are you there?"
The cave was quiet for a few seconds, and then the bronze flower suddenly closed in and sent a golden roar like a charge towards Luo Binhan. There was a deafening sound of metal twisting inside the bronze vine pillar, and countless branches emerged from the rock bottom of the cave, grabbing at the soles of Luo Binhan's feet.
Fina took the lead in jumping off Luo Binhan's shoulders and jumped towards the entrance of the cave. Luo Binhan wanted to condemn it for its disloyalty, but he could only flee. He fled up the slope amidst the terrifying golden sound, stumbling due to excessive nervousness. His hand grabbed the wet rock wall, and for a moment he felt as if he was grasping a piece of fresh, soft cold meat.
Before Luo Binhan had time to think about it, he straightened up and continued to run away. He rushed out of the cave without looking back and jumped into the aircraft following Fina. After he rose all the way to escape from the top of the crack, he saw the mudstone on both sides of the rock wall rolling down like a black torrent, completely submerging the place where he had just stayed in the blink of an eye.
Luo Binhan stared at this scene dumbfounded, and then discovered that not only the area he was in just now, but the entire Great Rift Valley was shaking and cracking crazily. The rocky mountain was as fragile as wet mud, being ripped away from the ground continuously, sliding along with countless soil and trees into the abyss of the rift valley.
The evil smile of the earth spread to the east and west, and a terrifying earthquake began that was hundreds of kilometers away.
