YM778.TV Chapter 137 - 134 Sunshine
[He’s not dead yet!]
[How tenacious is this thing’s vitality?]
[Just now, if it had hit my head, it would’ve smashed my brains out!]
[This isn’t a fish, it’s clearly a cockroach!]
[It won’t wake up, will it? Should we take the chance to finish it off?]
Seeing that the strange fish hadn’t died, some Shuiyou began suggesting taking out the creature.
Bi Fang shook his head, turned around, took a windbreaker out of his bag, covered the strange fish’s head with it, and then tied it up tightly with strips of cloth.
“I didn’t expect it to still be alive.”
Bi Fang was also surprised as he bound the strange fish. Despite such heavy injuries, it had not died. Indeed, any life form that survives for such an extended period must possess certain admirable survival traits.
“This big one will surely make Professor Gu very happy.”
Looking at the tightly bound strange fish, Bi Fang couldn’t help but think about taking it outside.
This was the biggest strange fish he had ever seen, almost reaching three and a half meters in length. Growing so large surely wasn’t easy. Perhaps, it might be some kind of Tiktaalik king, right?
It would be a shame to simply kill it off.
But the audience in front of the screen were all shocked.
Such a big one, can he manage to carry it? And isn’t he afraid it’ll wake up and bite back?
Seeing these bullet comments, Gu Qingyuan, who had just gotten excited, once again calmed down.
Indeed, such a big strange fish would definitely weigh more than a healthy adult male.
How was he to take it out?
Moreover, an exit hadn’t even been found yet.
Bi Fang knew the difficulty of the task, so he placed his hope in the newly discovered pool.
“Whether we can move it or not depends on if there’s an exit in this pool.”
“There are no luminous fish in this river, which means it’s not part of the same system as the previous underground river. And despite the strong scent of blood, no other strange fish have come over. There are only two possibilities: either there are no strange fish here, or, all other strange fish have been driven away by this large one.”
“If there are no strange fish, some degree of safety is guaranteed, and we can search with peace of mind.”
“This place also has the highest possibility of an exit. If there’s still no exit, then I will have no choice but to return the same way I came.”
[It’s over, it’s over, Old Fang is being silly again]
[I’ve never seen anyone so brave in my life!]
[So strong, yyds (stands for “forever god”).]
[This isn’t about surviving, it’s about diving into danger!]
[No problem, how can he survive without facing danger (sarcastic)]
Facing everyone’s teasing, Bi Fang picked up the drone, pretended to tie it to his forehead as before, tightened the cuff on his left arm to prevent water from entering, and then plunged into the water.
The light turned on, the water flowed quietly, and the hearts of the audience thumped.
They had not forgotten how dangerous Bi Fang’s first dive was; the thought of repeating it inevitably brought back the fear dominated by strange fish.
The flow in this pool was slow, its sound somber.
The dead silence intensified the audience’s panic, fearing that something monstrous would suddenly emerge from the darkness.
If so, they feared they might end up with a lifetime of psychological trauma.
However, as Bi Fang swam further, the strange fish that Shuiyou imagined might appear did not show up.
In the water, there was only darkness.
Three minutes later, Bi Fang found nothing.
He quickly surfaced to breathe and then sank once again.
As time ticked away, countless viewers hoped Bi Fang would find an exit, but after several bouts of surfacing to breathe, the exit remained elusive.
[It’s over, this cave really doesn’t have an exit!]
[There should be one, right? Otherwise, where does the air come from?]
[So dark, how can he find it?]
[Should we just wait for a rescue?]
[Really too dangerous, it’s like watching a horror movie, just scared something will pop out!]
[+1, my grandpa just got out of the hospital, he can’t handle this kind of excitement.]}
[A wave of filial piety, my folks.]
The Shuiyou felt desperate.
No matter how strong Bi Fang was, if there really was no exit, how could he find one?
Three minutes later, Bi Fang surfaced once more to breathe. He lifted his head to look around and suddenly raised his hand to point at the cave ceiling.
“Look, is there a hole up there on the ceiling?”
A hole?
Shuiyou were taken aback.
As the camera panned up, the audience was surprised to discover.
There was indeed a hole!
With the discovery, Bi Fang swam quickly towards the area below the hole. Only when he got close did he take a good look and realize it was a big hole over one meter in diameter!
But then came another problem, how to climb up?
[Is he planning to fly up there?]
[Now I see why those traders got trapped.]
[Is this a well?]
[Feels a bit like it.]
[The hole’s no use if he can’t climb up.]
[You can’t jump in the water, ah ah ah, it’s so frustrating!]
“Not necessarily,” Bi Fang shook his head, “The pool is very deep, about seven or eight meters, and the hole isn’t very high. Perhaps with the help of buoyancy and inertia, we can give it a try.”
The hole was only about half a meter above the water’s surface. Bi Fang reached out to touch the cave wall, found it to be rough, with many protruding rocks, perfect handholds. As long as he could hold on, nothing would be a problem.
After estimating in his mind, under the astonished gazes of the audience, Bi Fang sank into the water, aimed at the hole from the bottom, and then, like a fish, swiftly swam upwards.
At this moment, Bi Fang was extraordinarily agile, with the water splitting around his body, becoming his best ally.
In the seven or eight-meter depth, Bi Fang approached the water’s surface in just a few seconds and with a burst of inertia, he even leapt half his body out of the water!
[Wow, awesome!]
[Ascension balloons sent to the host Big Bone*6—Is this too showy? Can you even do it this late?]
[Ride a donkey to chase a motorcycle sent to the host a spaceship*!— Awesome, this is like ascending to the sky!]
The barrage of comments cried out in amazement, turning into a relentless “666” machine.
But Bi Fang, who flew into the cave and braced himself against the wall, nearly couldn’t hold on.
The excessive force in his left arm caused a piercing pain, and Bi Fang could distinctly feel the wound on his arm cracking and bleeding again, but he looked at the dark tunnel and said nothing.
Grinding his teeth, Bi Fang continued to climb upwards until both his feet were inside the cave, then he barely let go of his left hand.
Leaning against the cave interior, Bi Fang braced his whole body with his feet. With the aid of his legs, the pressure on his arms decreased sharply, but the pain in his left arm still made him suck in a breath of cold air.
Bi Fang glanced at the ceiling above and, without pausing, continued climbing upwards.
“When stepping on such cavern walls, you must be careful not to slip; the moisture from years of water vapor makes the walls very slippery.”
Bi Fang spread his legs and grabbed another rock with his right hand, “It’s best to maintain the three-point principle like in rock climbing, and not let go easily.”
However, not long after climbing, Bi Fang leaned against the cave wall, motionless, only kept from falling by the skeletal structure of his legs wedging in place.
This alarmed the audience, who thought something had happened, and they quickly sent barrage after barrage asking questions.
It was only about fifteen minutes later that Bi Fang finally came back to his senses.
He waved his hand to signal to everyone not to worry.
He was just, too tired.
Ever since the fight with the strange fish, he hadn’t rested at all.
To continue such physical exertion was proving difficult, and he almost fainted.
If it weren’t for the night vision mode, many would have noticed Bi Fang’s lips were terribly pale.
But he still held on.
Without resting, he continued upward.
In this way, amid the concern of hundreds of thousands of viewers, Bi Fang climbed nearly twenty or so meters, finally touching the top of the cave.
But to everyone’s surprise, this place was just like the place where the four skeletons were found before.
There was still a hard shell.
[No way, sand again?]
[Damn, was all this climbing for nothing?]
[This is too much]
“No, maybe I can get out from here,” Bi Fang looked at the underground river below him, an audacious idea emerging in his mind.
“If I can break this hard shell open, the soft sand above it will follow gravity and fall, maybe then we can dig out an exit!”
That way, he only needed to break through one layer of hard shell, leaving the rest to gravity.
The only concern was if there was too much sand above, it could fill the underground river while falling and still not be enough, burying him directly.
But the chance was slim; the underground river was seven or eight meters deep and still flowing, and the sand, falling through a sustained small passage, would mostly be carried away by the current, making it nearly impossible to bury him.
The more Bi Fang thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Under the astonished eyes of the Shuiyou, he directly pulled out the Hunting Knife and started chipping away at the hardened shell!
Could it work?
The audience, who had fallen into despair, suddenly saw a glimmer of hope when they witnessed this scene.
Please, let it be successful!
In the train, countless people gathered, watching Bi Fang chip away at the rock layer, silently praying.
In the hollow cave, the monotonous tapping kept echoing.
After ten minutes, a fine crack appeared.
The tapping sound began to change, from dull to crisp.
Twenty minutes in, a small piece of hard shell fractured under Bi Fang’s efforts and fell into the water under gravity’s influence.
It worked!
It really was possible!
Bi Fang was greatly surprised; with a breakthrough, he inserted the knife into it, rocking it left and right, and more small pieces of hard shell fell like debris. The sound of them falling into the water grew clearer and louder!
“We’re almost there!” Seeing the success within reach, Bi Fang reminded everyone, “But be really careful now, because it’s likely there will be rocks mixed with the sand. Protect your head when the sand falls!”
“And keep your head down during the process to let the sand flow down your body, and also cover up with a face cloth to prevent the sand from getting into your mouth.”
Bi Fang pulled out the inner lining and covered his mouth and nose, continuing to strike vigorously; more pieces of the shell fell, with fine grains of sand beginning to seep out from the cracks.
After another large chunk of shell was pried off, what trickled out of the cracks turned from threads into streams, and finally a torrent!
Boom!
The sand poured down!
Bi Fang held his head with both hands, pressing against the cave wall—he stood in the midst of this sand flow, like an invisible boulder in the rapids.
Countless sand grains mixed with rocks fell, as if they were going to bury the whole world.
Heavy and hard rocks hit Bi Fang’s shoulders, but he didn’t utter a sound; he was a good thirty meters up, and rashly falling, scraping against the rock wall, would have been worse.
The sand choked Bi Fang’s airways, burning hot. The good news was the temperature of the sand was getting higher, likely signaling they were approaching the surface.
At last, the flow of sand stopped.
Bi Fang looked up but did not see the sky he had envisioned.
The sand and soil blocked again, like hair clogging a drain, but this situation was easy to solve.
“Here the sand had just happened to form an arch-like structure; we just need to slightly disrupt it, and this arch will collapse.”
As expected, Bi Fang only needed to touch it slightly for a massive amount of sand to fall again.
This time the sand fell for half an hour, and just as Bi Fang was about to give out…
The sand emptied.
Bi Fang’s chest swelled with immense joy.
He lifted his head but felt dizzy.
He hadn’t seen sunlight for over forty-eight hours.