Exploring the two-story cabin made unexpected discoveries.
Through the missionaries who were familiar with the local folk customs and myths and the experience of the indigenous people Lulu and others, they were able to understand from the clothing and items placed in the house that only the higher-status people in the Moon Country could use that they were the leaders of the village. place to live.
The overall style of this village chief's house is very similar to the village house we stayed in before. They are both made of wooden structure with paper doors and windows as the main body, but the area and internal structure are very different.
The village chief's house has five compartments on the first floor alone. Except for the largest master bedroom and two secondary bedrooms that seem to be for the owner's wife and children, the rest are for receiving guests and living daily life. hall. The other room connected to the main hall is what Kazuto calls the "tea room". This tea room is not large, but both the floor and the walls are thicker than other places, so the sound insulation effect is better. It is a place where people can discuss important matters.
In addition, there are four other bedrooms on the second floor. Compared with the villagers' houses we stayed in before, the bathrooms and huts were set up in the backyard to prevent water vapor and odor from affecting the residence.
The backyard can be passed through the main hall or through another door in the tea room. Judging from the design, it is obviously to make it easier for someone to sneak in through the back door to discuss matters that need to be hidden from others, and to escape from there if there is danger.
But that was not all, after splitting up to ensure the safety of the entire room, the sage who entered the tea room stopped the moment he stepped on the floor.
"A little lower." He said. Originally, thicker walls and floors should theoretically make the foundation of the room higher, but the sage with one foot in the aisle and one foot in the tea room was keenly aware of the Noticed the height difference.
This detail aroused his suspicion, so then several other people watched him in the moonlight as he began to knock and push here and there throughout the tea room. Finally, the dull "dong-dong" sound turned into a "buckle" sound. , the sage took out the short sword from his waist, and then inserted it into a certain gap on the wooden floor.
"Creak-" After the deeply hidden wooden door was pried up, the blanket covering it also slipped down.
"Crack--" The lifted wooden board revealed an entrance to the underground space surrounded by mortar. It's just that this entrance is so narrow that it makes people's scalp numb just by looking at it: under the blue moonlight, the passage with a width of less than half a meter only shows the top three steps, and the rest are in darkness.
Because no lights can be lit, this dead darkness makes people feel uneasy that something will burst out at any time.
"It's a bit difficult." Henry frowned. The average physique of the people in the Moon Country is shorter than that of the common people of Latin descent. This kind of passage may be just right for them, but it is not suitable for the 195 cm tall sage. It's a bit uncomfortable.
He had to turn sideways to get in, and even for other smaller people, turning around would be very inconvenient when walking into this passage.
"W-want to go down?" Aggie next to him asked with a trembling voice and a slight stutter, rubbing his hands. Mira, Lulu and Galeva brought over the candles and oil lamps they had found in the house. Unlike poor farmers, the village chief’s home has a lot of supplies, and lighting equipment can be found everywhere. But none of them lit it.
The fear of low visibility gave way to the fear of unknown creatures. After learning that those guys would follow the heat source, their attitude towards fire became much more cautious.
"It's harder to find a fire if it's underground." Henry turned around and glanced at everyone. The young missionary's voice was trembling and stuttering not only because of fear, but it was still the middle of winter and they escaped in a hurry and lacked a heat source. Not only was he , and everyone else unconsciously began to rub their hands or rub their arms.
These are all signs of feeling cold. Although they are not aware of it now because the tension has not subsided, if no measures are taken, the low temperature will cause more serious damage to the team than those unknown creatures.
"Then you're not sure if there's anything down there." Aggie looked very hesitant. The dark and narrow hole didn't know where it led, but he didn't feel at ease staying up there.
When faced with a dilemma, it was Lulu who took action first.
The Yi people are all hunters, so the aboriginal girl squatted down, stretched out her hand, licked her fingers and then placed them at the entrance of the cave: "It's windy." She said, I don't know where this underground passage is connected to. Due to the pocket terrain with a single entrance, a group of people may suffocate due to lack of oxygen even if they don't burn firewood for warmth.
Having airflow through it is a good thing because it means there may be more space underneath than you think.
"I'll go first." Lulu, who was aware of this and knew that she was the smallest, said, picked up an iron oil lamp, and started walking down the stairs step by step.
This made the several grown men next to them feel a little shameless, especially Ai Ji, who completely shut his mouth and was too embarrassed to say anything more depressing.
Lulu walked down quietly. Since there was no direct light, her surroundings were completely plunged into darkness for just a moment. The aboriginal girl had to hold on to the cold wall with one hand to prevent her from falling, but fortunately the stairs were not too long. She counted the steps and walked slowly for about 15 steps before exploring with her feet in fur boots. On to wider ground.
"I'm here." Lulu's voice came out from the darkness. Although she was not as timid as Aiji, she unconsciously lowered her voice because of the environment.
"I'll go down too. Galeva and the teacher will break up?" Mira obviously noticed the uneasiness revealed in her lowered voice. She said this, and Henry nodded.
The girl touched the equipment on her body, and in their haste to escape, all their tools were left behind in the hut. However, the fire-making tools here in the Moon Country are also similar, except that the style of the fire sickle used for knocking is quite different from that of Rigar. Naturally, this was "borrowed" from the village chief's house.
"Ah -" The Luoan girl, who was slightly different in height from Lulu, initially tried to walk down straight like her, but because the stairs were too narrow and she was worried about slipping, she ended up facing down and holding on to the wall as she slowly walked down.
The wide trouser legs of the Moon Country costumes made Mira very annoyed. When she bent her legs, she was always worried about stepping on the edge of the pants. And because the passage is narrow, the end of the long sword tied to the waist either has the scabbard or the end of the hilt bumps into the passage, and a "click-click-" sound is heard from time to time.
If she hadn't spoken in advance, Lulu, who was still in the darkness, would have felt very uneasy.
"Where are you?" After coming down, Mira immediately felt the air was cold and smelled of earth. She asked, and Lulu's voice immediately sounded: "On your right." She said, her voice was very close. Mira was shocked. Because of the darkness, she didn't notice that the other person was in this position.
"I took the fire...how do you pronounce it? I took down the tools for making fire." There were still some bad language, so she had to add some Luoan words to try to express it smoothly, and Lulu's little Xiaodi said "hmm", and then Mira felt her groping and grabbing the corner of her clothes.
"Yes, it's on your waist bag. You light the fire, and I'll stand in front of you to prevent danger." She said this, and then after Lulu took out the fire sickle and flint, she supported the wall and slowly tiptoed towards Move forward, confirm that it is flat ground, and move closer to the front bit by bit.
"Crack-" The light from Lulu's fire behind her was somewhat conspicuous in the darkness. Mira used the sparks to barely grasp the surrounding environment. After coming down from the entrance, this part of the corridor-like place was relatively spacious. Although it was only about 1.8 meters tall, she could touch the top when she stood on tiptoes, but it was wide enough to accommodate two people side by side.
There are some wooden support structures next to it to prevent the tunnel from collapsing. The unobstructed view of this aisle at least does not pose any danger near this area.
"Chu-hu-" After knocking for a long time, the tinder finally sprouted dark red sparks and was held up by Lulu. She blew on it long and steadily, making it brighter and brighter, and finally turned into an open flame. Then he leaned close to the oil lamp and burned it for about two seconds, causing the fat that had solidified due to the cold weather to melt and ignite.
The initially dim fire quickly grew in size as it burned, and the familiar, slightly fishy smell of whale oil began to be captured by the two of them.
"Huh-" The subtle air flow caused the sparks to sway a little, and there was something rustling in the corner to avoid the light. Mira squinted her eyes and took a look, and found that they were some tiny beetles.
In the middle of winter, the bugs on the surface will be frozen to death by the heavy snow. On the contrary, the temperature in the ground is slightly higher, so they may hide here.
With the help of the weak firelight, she basically made out that there was no creature larger than a beetle at least within a few meters nearby, so she turned around: "Safe, it looks pretty big down there!" Mira shouted towards the passage, and Henry above him shrugged at Aggie and others who were still very hesitant.
"..." The young missionary kept swallowing and stood by until the other three older missionaries had all gone down. With no way out, he stood next to Henry and Galeva. Under the pressure of his eyes, he mustered up the courage to go on.
He was so nervous that he forgot to breathe, but the three people who had already gone down also held some oil lamps and candles. With Lulu's oil lamp already lit, they could easily create more lighting.
When the light became sufficient, Aggie immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He had never felt that this orange color was so valuable, and he even couldn't help but want to kneel down and start praising the gods.
"Come on, take one too, and put one next to the passage." The missionary companion in front handed him two lighted oil lamps, interrupting Aggie's emotion, and the young missionary put the things back. Then I picked up an oil lamp.
"Start exploring further." Mira said back as she walked at the front with Lulu holding a small shield and a candle.
The people behind them stood a short distance apart to prevent their clothes from being burned by the oil lamps or candles in each other's hands. Henry and Galeva, who were the last to come down, not only brought weapons, food, quilts and other items, but also tied a large handful of firewood with ropes found in the house and brought them down.
"Uncomfortable." Like Henry, Galeva, who is nearly 1.9 meters tall, could only walk in the passage with his back hunched over. The young porter began to feel very sore in his neck almost immediately, and the sage went back to be on the safe side. There was a pottery bowl placed at the entrance of the corridor. It was delicately balanced on small wooden sticks, so that if anyone or something came down from here, they could immediately notice it.
In the darkness, sound is more reliable than sight. Although a similar warning system had been bypassed once before, this time the entrance to the corridor was very narrow and the environment around the cabin was very different, so the alarm device would be more effective - at least they hoped so.
While alerting themselves to possible attacks, the people who were approaching suddenly saw a bright light after walking a certain distance. A place that looked like a large hall appeared in front of them. However, compared to the spacious place itself, the things placed on it gave them a greater shock.
"So many..."
"gold."
Like the legendary dragon's treasure room, gold of all kinds of weird shapes is piled up into a hill. On the other side, there are some Moon Kingdom-style armors and weapons. A huge amount of weapons and equipment seemed to have been piled there for some time, because many of them were covered with a layer of scarlet rust.
"There are rats." Mira and Lulu in front saw a few gray shadows hiding from the firelight. Since there are beetles hiding from the winter, it is not surprising that there are small animals that feed on them hiding here. matter.
"I saw a hole." The presence of mice proved that there were caves connected to the outside world. After searching around for a while, the group saw some obviously man-made circular holes with bricks and tiles. The moonlight did not penetrate directly, so it may be curved. After all, if it rains or the snow melts, the basement will be flooded, causing damage to the property inside.
"Huh--" After approaching with the candle, the flames were blown and swayed. Obviously, this was the ventilation node of this underground network system--
Yes, underground network systems. Spreading out to check, the group of people around them immediately realized after going around that this was not just a simple storage room. There were multiple passages next to the gold pile, and one of them was relatively narrow. Judging from the direction, Something familiar.
"It should be connected to the entire village." The sage quickly concluded.
"How? Go back, those guys may have left, and we have to get our things back." Mira said, while the other people turned back and looked at the golden man who was shining with charming brilliance under the firelight.
Things like gold are inherently very tempting to humans, even when the crisis has not subsided.
"Tomorrow, I suspect these guys are attracted here because it's too cold at night and they light a fire. Maybe they go elsewhere when the sun comes out during the day." Henry said this, and others who came back to their senses also agreed. He nodded.
"First explore the surrounding passages and ensure the safety here thoroughly. Work in pairs and be careful." The sage gave the command again. The eight-person team could be divided into four groups, and the passage on the other side of the hall It happens to be four.
But after a while, everyone who came back from the exploration exchanged their findings with each other, and found that the situation was somewhat beyond their expectations.
"Another pile of gold," said the two older missionaries in charge of the one on the far left.
"Same here." The same goes for the group of Mira and Lulu.
"Same." The combination of Galeva and Aggie also made the same discovery.
"Is that four piles..." The same is true for the passage that the last sage and the other missionary walked.
"Then there are passages that seem to lead to farther places. There are stone paving in some places, and the writing on them looks very old." Aiji calmed down a bit when he encountered something that could be identified in his professional field. .
"I found bronze wares and rusty iron wares here." Mira also said.
"This place is probably as old as this country," one missionary began.
"There are too many weird things tonight." Galeva couldn't help but started to complain. Although the wealth made the group a little excited, this large amount of wealth mixed with the unknown made them a little uneasy. .
"There is a place on the side we are exploring that is connected to the ventilation ducts. It seems to be a storage room that has been emptied. It is a suitable size for us to spend the night." Henry said, and then led the way towards that side.
They carried various supplies separately and walked over there. The thick layer of the underground was relatively warm, and a few candles were enough to make their bodies feel less stiff. The people who came in scared away a few rats that were staying here. They quickly jumped up the wall and got into the vent and ran outside.
"I just hope these guys don't come here in the middle of the night to steal and destroy the food." Aggie complained, and Mira next to him glanced at him: "There will be a vigil arranged, and there will be a bonfire."
She said this, and after the tired people finally arrived, they simply spread their cloaks, robes and bedding found at the village chief's house against the wall, and began to light a fire with candles and oil lamps.
"Don't add too much firewood. It's not open-air after all. I'll choke on the smoke later." The helper, Galeva, anxiously built a large fire because of the cold, but Henry stopped him.
"Ahem—" As soon as the sage finished his words, the smoke from the firewood that didn't burn big enough at first choked Kaleva's face.
"Idiot." Mira rolled her eyes and looked down upon Galeva, while Lulu next to her came over and handed him her little square scarf.
"Thank you, thank you." The somewhat flattered young porter thanked you, but this aroused the Luoan girl's second contempt: "How can she understand you when you speak Laman language?"
"Ah, that's right..." Galeva patted his forehead wordlessly, and then thanked Lulu again in the poorly pronounced Moon Country language.
The fire burned slowly, and the smoke rose upwards, causing the temperature inside the cave to begin to rise.
"It hurts so much." Galeva, who had bent his neck for a long time, finally sat on the bed and moved his neck from side to side, making a "click-click" sound. The tired and frightened group finally relaxed at this moment. After my breath regained its warmth, I began to feel sleepy.
"Sleep, I'll keep watch." Henry used a wooden stick to poke the fire and said to the Luoan girl who cast a look.
"Okay, good night, teacher." Mira yawned and blew out all the candles, then put them aside and got into bed. The sage continued to guard the fire while looking at the dark hole outside.
The interior of the cave was so quiet, nothing could be heard except the burning fire and the long breathing of everyone.
He kept paying attention to whether there was any sound coming from the open passage in the distance. In such a quiet environment, the sound of a broken pottery bowl could still be heard far away.
The entrance doors to other underground caves were covered, and only the one they entered was open.
However, there was no sound for several hours, so our sage also began to close his eyes and rest.
The flame burned quietly, and after everyone in the group fell asleep for a while, rustling sounds came from the passage.
A little house mouse popped its head up, smelling the smell of food emitted by the rising temperature.
It sneaked along the corner and started to get closer to where everyone put the food, but when it was about to climb up the package where the food was placed, a burst of fire suddenly illuminated its figure.
"..." The sage looked at the little guy quietly, and when he realized that he had been discovered, the little house mouse quickly disappeared from the other side with a "whoosh" sound, but it was not He ran back to the surface from the ventilation duct, and instead ran toward the storage rooms outside where property was stored.
"..." Henry shook his head helplessly. This cunning little mouse obviously didn't intend to give up yet, so it didn't run back outside. It planned to wait for him to relax his vigilance and come to steal things again.
Rodent opportunists, just like humans, are relentless.
This is why they can leave traces everywhere.
"Sniff, sniff--" The little house mouse that ran into the darkness was still hungry. It keenly caught the slightest movement next to it, ran over and grabbed a slow-moving beetle with its claws, then quickly turned it over and picked up the soft beetle. The belly was eaten away.
But the hard-shelled beetle can only fill its teeth, and it is still hungry.
"Click--" The upper body of the beetle whose abdomen had been chewed off was still moving slowly, but the little house mouse heard a slightly louder "click" sound coming from the other side, and raised its head keenly. ear.
——It was bigger food. It ran and jumped over, getting close to the pile of gold that was filled with property and had many gaps for small creatures to move around.
Then.
"Wh--" with a sound, he was preyed upon by the hidden shadow.
He couldn't even scream.
"Click, click, click -" The smoke from the fire followed the air flowing in from the vents and drifted to other places in the passage, causing these places to start to heat up.
The dense piles of "gold" with weird shapes reached a suitable temperature for activity.
He unfolded his gnarled body and stretched out his paws.
They quickly climbed down from each other's bodies and covered the ground in dense masses.
Move closer to the warmth.
