In the woods in the afternoon, the sun shines through the gaps in the leaves, leaving spots and shadows. After some self-struggle, Chen Tao finally chose to face it all. When his hand touched the gun, it felt like a huge boulder fell heavily in his heart. At that moment, the whole person felt a lot more relaxed. Now, he was standing on this huge rock, looking at the siege city that was close in front of him but could not be touched.
Seeing that Chen Tao had finally made his decision, Uncle Long was overjoyed and took a deep breath.
When Chen Tao was struggling in his heart, his heart was equally uneasy. This child is now the Chen family's greatest hope. Although there is a little softness in his heart that he doesn't want him to bear all this, he is more hopeful.
The Chen family, including the entire Spiritual Alliance, has reached the most critical moment. Once Chen Tao gives up, the efforts of the Chen family, the Li family, and even the Chen family in the Spiritual Alliance for generations will be in vain, and they cannot afford to lose. Fortunately, this child did not disappoint him after all.
Uncle Long didn't speak, he just looked at Chen Tao, stretched out his hand and patted his shoulder heavily. He wanted to tell this strong boy, don't be afraid, you are not alone.
How could Chen Tao not understand what Uncle Long was thinking. He smiled slightly, raised his hand and patted the back of Uncle Long's hand. Many times, words do not need to be spoken directly. A look or an action can tell the other party everything you want to express.
Chen Tao breathed a sigh of relief and calmed down his emotions. He wanted to pick up the gun, but unexpectedly it sank and he almost lost his grip.
"I'll go, it's quite weighty." Chen Tao muttered.
"Of course, this is a real gun, not a plastic toy in the hands of children!" Boss Zhang's big fat face came over again and said: "I spent a lot of effort on these things. I got it from the black market and it cost me a lot of money!"
Everyone looked disbelieving. Chen Tao took the gun and bullets, and Uncle Long reached out to take them. While teaching him how to use them, he checked the safety of the gun and bullets. Chen Tao listened very seriously, but in his heart, he still hoped that he would not need to use this thing after going down, no, he would not use this thing in this life!
This black box is different from the previous ones. It has three layers. After removing the first layer of the mezzanine for guns and bullets, the second layer of the box contained a row of daggers. Chen Tao was quite familiar with this. After all, he learned some skills from his grandfather when he was a child, including how to use daggers.
On the third floor, there are some explosives, L tubes, and cold fireworks. Everyone packed up and checked the number of backpacks and equipment. After confirming that they were correct, Uncle Long shouted at Haozi, and Haozi and Old Man Liu walked towards this side.
At this time, Chen Tao finally understood why Uncle Long, Uncle Wang, and the three of them were flirting with each other just now. Because this box of equipment could not be seen by Old Man Liu, he asked Haozi to lure him away.
Haozi's backpack is in the hands of Shangui, and Shangui helps him pack his equipment. Chen Tao noticed that the mountain ghost did not hold a gun when loading the mouse. This made him feel a little strange. Could it be that he had been thinking wrong before? Or is there another reason?
When Haozi approached, Shangui threw the equipment bag to Li Hao. Haozi took it and slung it on his shoulder. Chen Tao came close to Haozi, bumped Haozi's lower back with his elbow, and stretched out his hand quietly. He made a horoscope gesture and said, "Hey, hey, why don't you use this?"
"Oh, I don't need that!" Haozi glanced at Chen Tao's gesture and knew what he was asking, so he lowered his voice and said calmly.
"No need?" Chen Tao wondered: "What's the reason for this?"
He remembered that when he carried Haozi's bag before, it was very heavy inside, and his head throbbed, and he thought to himself: "Is it possible that this kid has something in his hand? When did he have it?"
Brother Ah Cheng moved several large boxes to the car again, covered the big black canvas, and everyone held it in their hands. The only things exposed were flashlights, cups and the like. After adjusting the hands of the watch and resting and checking, he asked Old Man Liu to set off towards the depths of the mountain.
The forests in these mountains are very well-preserved primitive jungles. The forests are covered with vegetation of all sizes, pines and cypresses scattered high and low, and strangely, there are many willows. The tree trunks were wrapped with vines and hung with a thick layer of moss. Along the way, the ground was covered with dead trees, branches and leaves, and there were countless pine cones buried in the leaves. They are not small. Chen Tao picked up a big one and gestured. It can be two-thirds of an adult's arm.
"My wrists are so soft if you want to kiss them, hehe!"
"I can't pick up a bowl with chopsticks, yeh yo."
"The thought of kissing makes me excited, ah hoo hey, ah hoo hey!"
"When cooking dumplings, I put a pot of yam eggs, yeh yo, yeh yew!"
"This is the first time that you are not here, sister Qi, hahaha!"
"Your mother hit me with both pot lids, yah!"
"I'm so excited about wanting to be kissed, ah hoo hey, ah hoo hey!"
"I haven't eaten a mouthful of rice for three days, yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh!"
Old man Liu took the lead and walked in front of the crowd with his pipe in his mouth. He sang a folk ballad to himself. There was a hint of sharpness unique to the old farmer in his sonorous voice. The high-pitched and resonant singing echoed in the dense forest for a long time, which made people feel sad. I couldn't help feeling refreshed.
"The eighteenth level of Fennel White Roll Heart Heart, ah hoo hey, ah hoo hey!"
"Sister, do you love the person who suffers? Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
"The earthen Kang in the nunnery is covered with a leather jacket and covered with it!"
"The snowflakes fell to the ground and turned into water. Even if you die, I will follow you, my sister!"
"The two of us are very close to each other. If we cut our heads with a grass cutter, we won't regret it!"
"If you cut your head with a grass cutter, you won't regret it!"
Everyone followed Old Man Liu, listening to folk songs while paying attention to the changes in the surrounding trees and earthworks and the ups and downs of the mountains.
Now that people are here, let's just treat it as a show. Anyway, Old Man Liu doesn't know what real geological survey is. In fact, Chen Tao and others don't know much either, but generally it's just that. What they were doing was just exploring the mountains and looking for a suitable location to dig a hole.
A folding shovel and a water bottle are inserted on one side of the equipment bag, and a Luoyang shovel and steel pipe are inserted on the other side. Every time he walked for a while, Uncle Long would ask everyone to stop and dig into the ground with a Luoyang shovel to explore the soil.
When Old Man Liu saw the thing in everyone's hands, he couldn't help but smacked his lips and said: "Oh, what kind of thing are you experts and college students using? Why is it not much different from my sheep shovel! You guys don't do it when you have nothing to do. Herding sheep?”
"Uh..." There was a black line on Chen Tao's head. Just as he was thinking about how to explain it to him, Hao Zi next to him said:
"Uncle, we geological survey diggers go down together with our big shovels. We don't need so much soil for a big pile of soil. We just use a small shovel to dig and dig out a little bit of soil from the bottom of the ground. Just take a look!”
"Oh! That's right. This small shovel is so convenient for us! If I used a big shovel to herd sheep, my sheep would be crushed to death if the shovel were soiled!" Old Man Liu took out a cigarette from his waist. Gun gestured and said.
"..."
Chen Tao's head felt heavy for a while, and he was speechless to the extreme. He walked alone, not bothering to care about Haozi's nonsense.
After going deep for who knows how long, Uncle Long asked Old Man Liu, "Old man, are there any exposed underground soil areas in this mountain? We need to collect more data."
"What? What is that thing you are talking about?" Old Man Liu stared at Uncle Long and asked.
"Um, is there a big pit or hole where you can see the soil and stones under the ground? The deeper the better, as deep as you want!" Haozi came over and said.
"Ang... big earth cave, it seems there is no such thing." Old man Liu scratched his head and said,
"However, one time one of my sheep ran away. When I went to look for the sheep, I saw a big pit! It seemed to be quite deep down there!"
"Big pit? What big pit?" Uncle Long's eyes lit up.
"It's just a big pit! There is a big pit as big as a house in a circle. It's just right or wrong, and it's in a grassy area in the woods. I almost fell in if I wasn't paying attention!"
"It's so good, why is there such a big hole?" Uncle Long squinted his eyes and thought.
"Oh, old man, do you know where that big hole came from?" Boss Zhang came over and asked.
"Hmm... Well, I don't know about this, but I heard from them that someone dug a mine here before, but later it collapsed and people died, so they stopped digging. I think that hole may be the mine back then. Hole!"
Old man Liu took a puff of dry smoke.
"What! Could it be..." A look of surprise flashed across everyone's faces, and then they looked at each other, and they all knew what the other person was thinking.
"Then, take us to find that big pit!" Chen Tao said excitedly. According to local legend, the mine is directly connected to the bottom of the Man-Eating Valley. If that mine can be found, a lot of manpower and resources will be saved. After all, in this deep mountain and old forest, equipment cannot be replenished, and food and water cannot be replenished. All are limited. One more day spent here means one more day wasted.
Unexpectedly, Old Man Liu shook his head like a rattle.
"No, no, no, no, I won't go, I won't go!"
"Why don't you go?" Seeing Old Man Liu acting like this, Shan Gui couldn't help but feel a little anxious. He was a ruthless person, and he was very efficient in everything he did, and the worst thing about him was dragging his ink.
"You can't go there, I won't go!" Unexpectedly, old man Liu was so determined after eating the weight that he put his hands into his sleeves, squatted on the spot and shook his head.
"Hey, you..." Shangui saw this and was about to say something, but saw Uncle Long wave his hand at him, and had to hold back his words.
"Old man, why can't we go to that place?" Uncle Long asked with a smile.
Seeing that Uncle Long was asking, Old Man Liu stood up and said, "You don't know where that mine leads to!"
"Oh, isn't it the one from the Cannibal Valley? There's nothing to be afraid of!" said Boss Zhang on the side.
"Oh, you all know that it leads to the Cannibal Valley and yet you asked me to take you there! No, no, no, I can't go, I can't go." Old Man Liu waved his hand.
"There's no such thing as a cannibal valley. It's all feudal superstition. There's nothing to be afraid of. You have to believe in science!" Chen Tao advised.
"Oh, you outsiders don't know about the ghost that eats people in the Valley. Once that person goes in, he can't come out. It's so scary!" Old Man Liu said with a change of expression.
"Let's do this, we'll give you more money, fifty more!" Uncle Long said.
"Oh, boss of Andi, this is not a matter of money. Your life is about to be lost. How can you care about money or not?" said Old Man Liu.
"Hey, this old man is really stubborn. With my bad temper, I just..." Mountain Ghost glared.
"Oh, this little brother really can't go! I also think about you. No outsider has come to this village for eight hundred years. You are great scholars and experts. You are the talents of the country. There are really too many people there. It’s dangerous, and look at it, it’s almost dark today, no, no, no, no!”
"Don't worry, old man, we'll be fine. Let's just take us there and find a place. You don't have to do anything with us. We just agreed to pay more, no matter what!" Chen Tao said.
Old Man Liu looked at everyone, hesitated for a long time, then sighed and said: "Oh, okay, but when you go to that place, just look around. People say that there is a underworld under the Man-Eating Valley. No one can approach the underworld!"
"That's all passed down from person to person. It's not that scary. Please help us show the way. Then your mission will be successfully completed. Finish early and go home early. The sheep are waiting for you to herd!"
"Okay, let's go then." Old Man Liu opened his mouth and naturally couldn't win over everyone, so he had to sigh and lead the way.
It was getting late, and various insects began to sound in the forest, which was still crisp and sweet. Everyone was smeared with the insect repellent potion they had made when they arrived. It was unknown what Yang Lixuan added to it, which could actually change the unique smell of garlic and ginger. Although the taste was unacceptable at first, I gradually got used to it as time went by.
The deeper you go into the woods, the harder it becomes to walk. The ground is covered with decaying leaves and weeds. When people walk on it, the soles of the shoes keep making a grinding sound. Seeing that it was getting dark, everyone had to hurry up their journey, as this was not a suitable place to set up camp.
While holding a folding shovel to clear the way, he accelerated his pace. Old man Liu walked at the front of the crowd, constantly looking for directions. I have to say that this old man has a good memory. He can actually remember a place he has only visited once in such a deep mountain and old forest.
"Well, it's almost there. I remember that there was a big dead willow tree lying on the ground next to the empty grassland. The branches were broken everywhere. It was this thing that knocked me down. , I fell to the ground and half of my body was hanging on the edge of the big pit. If I had been closer to falling, I would have been frightened!"
Old Man Liu squinted his eyes and looked around. The sun was almost setting, leaving only a little residual light.
"Huh? It seems to be over there, in front!" After looking for a while, Old Man Liu pointed in one direction.
"Oh, old man, you have to know the way. It's going to be dark today. We have to find a place to set up camp quickly!" Boss Zhang shook his belly and panted.
Along the way, there were weeds half as tall as a person everywhere. Everyone was driving and walking, and their physical strength was very exhausted. They had been walking for several hours since they started at noon, and their stomachs were growling loudly.
"Well, how long will it take, old man?" Uncle Long asked breathlessly.
"It should be not far from here, let me take a look! The grass is a bit high, and the dead willow tree is blocked by the grass!"
Everyone had no choice but to slow down a little and spread out to search slowly.
"Ouch, what is that? It hurts me so much!" Everyone was looking for it with all their concentration when they suddenly heard a scream.
Chen Tao and others stopped to identify the voice, and they all walked in the direction of him. When they got closer, they saw Boss Zhang rubbing his forehead with a big hand, and the folding shovel was thrown aside. , the grass in front of him was chopped down in half, revealing a thick dead tree trunk with a deep shovel mark on it.
It turned out that the boss was a little tired from all the chopping, and he was also hungry, so he couldn't find a place for a long time. He felt very angry, so he chopped hard at a few grass plants that were half a person tall. Unexpectedly, But there was a muffled sound, and something in the grass seemed to block it. Boss Zhang failed to grasp the folding shovel and flew out, hitting his own head, causing him to scream in pain.
Everyone pushed aside the grass in front of them, only half of it was exposed, and then they heard Old Man Liu's voice coming from behind,
"Hey, hey, right, right, this is it, this is it! That big pit is right here!"
