Chapter 19 2
"I left a note, if anyone comes down here know we went down to the cave to find water."
Gao Hongjin sighed, "Oh, I hope someone comes down soon."
Mu Linfeng ran into the hall first and took a large candle as thick as an arm from the altar. After coming out, he called Gao Hongjin and walked towards the passage behind the hall together.
The two were familiar with the route and soon arrived at the huge shaft. They looked down into the dark shaft and saw no will-o'-the-wisp rising. Gao Hongjin said angrily, "Damn it! Why are there no will-o'-the-wisp now?"
Mu Linfeng walked towards the platform while saying, "The burning of phosphorus fire is conditional. It is not always available. Maybe it will be available when we get down there."
Walking onto the wooden platform, Mu Linfeng took out a lighter and lit the candle. He waited for a few seconds until the candle burned thoroughly before he slowly began to walk down along the plank path on the wall of the well.
Worried that the candle would be blown out by the wind, Mu Linfeng did not dare to walk too fast, and protected the candle flame with his left hand while walking. Gao Hongjin followed closely beside Mu Linfeng, not daring to fall behind. After going down into the shaft, Gao Hongjin became extremely nervous, even to the point of forgetting his thirst.
The huge shaft seemed like a bottomless abyss, or like the bloody mouth of a monster. The two of them were like throwing themselves into the monster's mouth, feeling like they were walking towards death step by step...
"Lin Feng, shall we go to that cave to find water?" Gao Hongjin asked tremblingly.
"Of course it's the lowest cave. The deeper you go, the more likely you are to find water."
"Do you think the little cripple can really bring people to find us?" Gao Hongjin was just trying to find something to say. He felt that talking could eliminate the fear in his heart.
"Should be able to. Xiao San is a very smart child. If it weren't for his family's misfortune, he would be able to go to college now. Alas, happy families are all the same, but unhappy families are all unhappy in their own way..."
Gao Hongjin deliberately said in surprise: "Damn, I didn't expect you to be able to say such high-level words."
"What did I say? These two sentences were said by the Russian writer Tolstoy."
Gao Hongjin joked, "I don't care what kind of shitty writer he is. What comes out of your mouth is what you say."
The two of them walked down the creaking wooden steps while talking, and before they knew it, they were almost at the bottom. Mu Linfeng and Gao Hongjin didn't know where they were, because whether they looked up or looked down from the side of the plank road, it was all pitch black, as if they were in mid-air.
The light from the candle was already weak. In this huge dark space, one could only see the scenery within a few meters around. Any farther away, the light was swallowed up by the darkness. From a distance, it looked like a bright spot was wriggling on the wall of the well.
Although they were not sure where they were, both of them could clearly feel the cold air coming towards them. The temperature was obviously much lower than above, and there seemed to be a damp smell in the air.
Breathing the moist air, the two seemed to feel less thirsty. They involuntarily quickened their pace, not realizing that danger was approaching...
Mu Linfeng smelled a damp smell in the air and said excitedly: "The air here seems to be very humid, which means there may be water in the cave below..."
The two were a little too excited and didn't expect that the humid air was also fatal to the wooden plank road under their feet. Some of the wooden boards looked good, but in fact they had been corroded.
Before Mu Linfeng finished speaking, there was a cracking sound, and Gao Hongjin beside him stepped on empty air and fell down suddenly...
When Gao Hongjin felt himself falling, he let out a desperate and terrified scream, and waved his hands instinctively, trying to grab something. Because he was close to Mu Linfeng, one of his hands just happened to grab Mu Linfeng's arm holding the candle.
Mu Linfeng didn't have time to think about it. He let go of the candle and threw it away. He grabbed Gao Hongjin's wrist and pulled Gao Hongjin away.
Although Gao Hongjin was caught by Mu Linfeng and did not fall, the candle that was lighting him fell down and went out during the fall, and the surroundings suddenly fell into darkness...
Mu Linfeng held Gao Hongjin tightly with his hands, and the weight of the two people pressed on the wooden board under his feet at the same time. The plank road, unable to bear the weight, soon made a louder noise. With a loud crash, a section of the plank road broke, and Mu Linfeng and Gao Hongjin fell to the bottom of the well together.
Fortunately, they were less than ten meters away from the bottom of the well. Before the two men could recover from their fear, their bodies fell heavily on the rocks below, knocking both of them unconscious.
As they fell, their bodies bumped into the protruding rocks on the well wall, which slowed down their descent, so they were not seriously injured. Although the injuries were not serious, they did not wake up for a long time.
After Mu Linfeng woke up, he was glad that he was still alive, so he slowly moved his hands and feet. Although his body was a little painful, he felt that there didn't seem to be any major problems with his bones, which made him feel relieved.
At this time, Mu Linfeng noticed that there was no movement around him, and hurriedly called out to Gao Hongjin: "Lao Gao, where are you? Lao Gao..."
Mu Linfeng shouted while feeling the ground with his hands. He knew that Gao Hongjin fell down with him, so he couldn't be too far away.
Soon Mu Linfeng touched one of Gao Hongjin's legs, and then followed his leg to his body and head. He then gently patted Gao Hongjin's face and called him in a low voice: "Lao Gao, wake up, Lao Gao..."
Mu Linfeng had learned first aid in the army, and knew that it was best not to move the injured person's body without knowing the extent of the injury, otherwise the broken bones might cause secondary damage to the injured person. However, Mu Linfeng felt Gao Hongjin's nostrils and found that he was still breathing, so he guessed that he must have fainted.
After a while, Mu Linfeng heard Gao Hongjin snort, and knew that he might have woken up, so he asked hurriedly: "Old Gao, are you awake?"
In the darkness, Gao Hongjin first cried out "Ouch!" and then slowly said, "I'm not dead yet... Why do I feel like I'm in hell..."
From Gao Hongjin's words, Mu Linfeng felt that he was not seriously injured, so he quickly said, "Fuck, if you were dead, would you still be able to talk? Move your arms, legs and feet slowly to see if you are injured."
Gao Hongjin followed Mu Linfeng's instructions and moved his hands and feet. He felt that apart from some muscle pain, he was basically fine, so he slowly sat up with the help of the ground. Then he asked, "Lin Feng, where did we fall?"
Mu Linfeng took out a Zippo lighter , lit it and found the fallen candle in the faint light. The candle had broken into several pieces, but the wick connected the broken pieces. He relit the candle, then held the top section with one hand and used the candlelight to check the surrounding situation.
Mu Linfeng found that the situation was really not optimistic, and the current predicament could only be described as adding insult to injury.
It turns out that the bottom of the vertical shaft is not surrounded by caves as imagined. The lowest cave on the wall of the well is eight or nine meters high from the bottom of the well. The lower plank roads have all collapsed. It is impossible to climb up from the smooth stone wall without external force.
The entire bottom of the well is about several hundred square meters in size, and there are some uneven rocks in the middle. Mu Linfeng feels that this vertical shaft seems to be an underground sinkhole.
After seeing the situation around him, Gao Hongjin suddenly felt desperate and said dejectedly: "Lin Feng, we are completely hopeless now. Not to mention getting out of the mausoleum, it is impossible to get out of this shaft..."
When a person is unlucky, even drinking cold water will make his teeth ache. Mu Linfeng did not expect to be in a dilemma, but he is a person who will never give in. He comforted Gao Hongjin and said, "For us, there is no difference between here and the cave above. As long as the rescuers enter the mausoleum, they will see the note I left."
At this point, Mu Linfeng suddenly wanted to touch the walkie-talkie he was carrying. He touched it and found that the battery had been separated from the body of the walkie-talkie long ago. He didn't know where the battery had fallen, so he took off the walkie-talkie and threw it aside.
Gao Hongjin also took out his cell phone from his pocket and found that the screen was also broken and could no longer be used. He was so angry that he threw the phone away. Here, the phone was just a waste and could only be used to check the time. "Lin Feng, I don't know how long we have been trapped in the mausoleum?"
"About two days."
"Damn it, the little cripple didn't even call us to ask..."
Gao Hongjin's words reminded Mu Linfeng, and he immediately said, "Maybe someone will call us. If they find that our phone is not working and they can't find us, they will find out that we are missing in advance. If that's the case, they will move up the time to find us by a few days."
"I hope your hypothesis is true, otherwise we will be finished in two days..." Gao Hongjin began to feel thirsty again.
Mu Linfeng also began to feel unbearable thirst. He held a candle in one hand and said to Gao Hongjin, "I feel the air here is very moist. Maybe there is water seeping out from the rock wall. Let's go and look for it. As long as there is water, we can last a week."
Mu Linfeng walked in front holding the broken candle, and Gao Hongjin followed closely behind him. They had to find water as soon as possible, because the candle could only burn for two or three hours at most. If there was no light, it would be difficult to find water.
The two walked around the bottom edge of the shaft, and except for some parts that seemed a little wet, they did not find any rock wall with water seepage. They were disappointed and anxious, because water was life to them now, and if they could not find water, they might not be able to survive until the rescuers arrived.
Gao Hongjin pointed to the middle part of the shaft and said, "Lin Feng, go look in those places, maybe there will be water."
Mu Linfeng knew that this was a mountainous area and there was a high possibility that water would seep out from the rocks, but it would not come out from below. However, he did not have the heart to say it out loud. Sometimes expectation is motivation. If there is no expectation at all, people will not have the courage to live.
The bottom of the shaft is at least the size of two basketball courts, with uneven rocks everywhere. Some of the rocks are like stalactites, round, cold to the touch and a little wet. Mu Linfeng guessed that it might be due to the condensation of water vapor in the air.
The two men walked aimlessly towards the middle part. After walking forward for more than ten meters, when Mu Linfeng jumped over a half-meter-wide crack in the stone, he suddenly found that there seemed to be a flash of reflected light in the crack below, and he hurriedly stopped.
Gao Hongjin, who was following Mu Linfeng, noticed that he had stopped and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Mu Linfeng didn't have time to answer, and hurriedly squatted on the stone, stretched the candle in his hand between the two stones, and sure enough, there was some water under the stone. The calm water surface reflected the light of the candle, which was more attractive than the luster of gold in the eyes of the two.
"There's water? There's really water!" Gao Hongjin shouted excitedly.
Mu Linfeng quickly lay on the stone, stretched the candle in his hand into the crack and observed carefully. The crack was more than two meters long and about one meter deep. The depth of the water at the bottom was at most ten centimeters, which means there was about two buckets of water.
Mu Linfeng didn't seem to be as excited as Gao Hongjin. The joy on his face soon disappeared because he saw a layer of moss-like substance attached to the stones submerged in the water, which meant that this pool of water had existed for a very long time.
Gao Hongjin seemed to be unable to wait any longer. Seeing Mu Linfeng lying motionless on the stone, he anxiously handed the kettle to him and urged him, "Hurry... hurry... I'm dying of thirst. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and bring me some water with the kettle..."
"This water can't be drunk!" Mu Linfeng said coldly.
"Ah, why can't I drink it?" Gao Hongjin asked in surprise.
"If you drink it, you will die faster..." Mu Linfeng said as he climbed up from the stone. "This water has been deposited at the bottom of the cave for who knows how many years. There must be a lot of bacteria in it. If you drink it, you will soon have diarrhea and become dehydrated. You will die from dehydration within a few hours."
"Damn it, I'm dying of thirst while guarding the water..." Gao Hongjin hesitated for a moment, as if he couldn't resist the temptation of water, and continued, "Maybe what you said is just speculation. I'll drink a little to try it first. If nothing happens after two hours, you can drink it later."
As he spoke, Gao Hongjin bent down, put the kettle in his hand into the water, and prepared to fill it with water.
Mu Linfeng grabbed Gao Hongjin's arm and said sternly, "Remember what I said above? Any wrong choice at this time will cost you your life."
"We can't just die of thirst like this!" Gao Hongjin shouted angrily.
"You have to understand, as long as we persist, we will have a chance. If we drink this kind of water, there will be no chance of getting out alive!"
Gao Hongjin sat on the stone in frustration, looking up at Mu Linfeng. When he saw the candle in Mu Linfeng's hand, his face suddenly became happy again. He pointed at the candle and said, "We are so stupid. Aren't the collapsed plank roads made of wood? Use the candle to light the wood, and then boil the water in the kettle so we can drink it, right?"
Mu Linfeng slapped his head and said, "Oh, I was so anxious that I lost my mind. I'm a chef, how could I not consider such a small thing?"
Gao Hongjin quickly dipped two kettles into the water and filled them up. Then the two returned to where they fell. There were a lot of collapsed wooden boards and sticks piled on the ground.
But the two people could not have imagined that the wood had been exposed to the humid air for hundreds of years, not only completely rotten, but also soaked, and could not be ignited at all. Even after all the candles were burned out, they still could not ignite the wood.
When the last ray of light disappeared, the entire shaft suddenly fell into darkness. Mu Linfeng and Gao Hongjin sat blankly on the cold stone. Neither of them said a word. They both smelled the breath of death.
