Mo Lin and Ling Qingzhu carefully passed through the narrow rock fissure, barely wide enough for one person. The view before them suddenly opened up.
Beyond the fissure lay a vast underground hollow enclosed by towering rock walls. Large patches of ferns and luminous moss grew across the walls, giving off a soft blue-green glow that illuminated the entire space like a moonlit night.
At the center of the cavern was a shallow, nearly motionless underground river that emitted the same faint glow. Scattered throughout the cave were dozens of crude shelters built from stones, beast bones, and small amounts of strange metal. Their rough architectural outlines were still vaguely visible.
Yet the most eye-catching sight was the crowd gathered beside the riverbank at the center of the cavern.
There were men and women, old and young, around a hundred people in total. All of them were ragged, skeletal, pale-skinned, and weary-eyed, their bodies covered in varying numbers of scars. But at that moment, every single one of them stared fixedly at the fissure entrance, at the suddenly arrived Mo Lin and Ling Qingzhu. Their eyes were filled with utter shock, disbelief, and... a near-mad hope, like ashes rekindling into flame.
"People... They're people! People from outside!"
"Look! They're still wearing whole clothes! They're... they're newcomers! Not those monsters!"
"Heavens... The prophecy... the prophecy was real?!"
After a brief deathly silence, uncontrollable cries of excitement erupted from the crowd, their voices trembling with emotion.
Many struggled up from the ground and staggered closer, yet they did not dare approach too closely. They merely stared at the two with bloodshot eyes, as though witnessing some unbelievable miracle.
Ling Qingzhu was startled by the sudden commotion and instinctively took half a step back.
Mo Lin frowned slightly. His Immortal Eye swept over