"Mo Li~! You're a government employee, no matter how you put it. Will reading a few books really kill you?" When Wei Dengke heard Mo Li's question, he nearly plunged headfirst into the lake. He had wasted so much breath explaining things, only to find that this guy hadn't understood a word?
Mo Li also knew that his knowledge really was lacking, so he didn't argue with Wei Dengke. Instead, he awkwardly scratched his head, lowered it, and fell silent.
Just as Wei Dengke was about to mock Mo Li a little more, a tremendous splash suddenly rang out. All three of them turned toward the sound, only to see that the Giant Frog had leaped into the water with the centipede.
The centipede clearly couldn't swim. After falling into the water, it panicked and actually left the Giant Frog's body, desperately moving toward the shore. But after finally getting the Giant Centipede into the water, how could the Giant Frog possibly let it escape? Once the centipede left its body, the Giant Frog chased after it and bit down on the Giant Centipede.
After being bitten by the Giant Frog, the centipede began struggling desperately once again. But in the water, it was no match for the Giant Frog. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't escape.
Perhaps realizing that it had no chance of getting away, the Giant Centipede went all out. It twisted around and bit the Giant Frog's body. The centipede's enormous pincers were forty or fifty centimeters long, and this bite was exceptionally vicious. The sharp pincers sank straight into the Giant Frog's flesh, making it thrash about in pain.
The centipede clearly intended to die together with the Giant Frog. No matter how violently the Giant Frog struggled, it refused to let go. The two enormous beasts thrashed in the lake, churning the entire Underground Lake into turbulent waves. The huge waves they raised even extinguished some of the fires still burning along the shore.
The battle lasted roughly five or six minutes. At last, the Giant Frog stopped moving. The area where the centipede had bitten it had already turned black and purple. Clearly, this centipede carried Deadly Poison.
After such a long struggle, the centipede was obviously exhausted as well. Moreover, the Giant Frog's thrashing had carried them far from shore. The centipede had no chance of making it back. It released its bite, then desperately thrashed its nearly hundred-meter-long body through the lake. But it was at least three hundred meters from shore now, making it practically impossible to swim back.
The struggle with the Giant Frog had already drained the centipede's strength. After thrashing for a while, the Giant Centipede completely ran out of energy, then sank into the lake along with the Giant Frog's corpse.
As the Giant Centipede sank, the surface of the lake gradually returned to calm. If they hadn't witnessed that battle with their own eyes, no one would have guessed what had happened in the Underground Lake.
The three exchanged strange looks. Then Wei Dengke was the first to speak. "Does this count as surviving the crisis?"
"Judging from the situation, I suppose it does," Mo Li said with a bitter smile. He then subconsciously looked toward the Underground Lake. Who knew whether there was a third Giant Frog lurking in it? Or perhaps there were other enormous insects inside the Underground Cavity?
To be safe, the three waited on the stone platform for about another hour. After such a long time, the fire inside the Underground Cavity was no longer as fierce as before, and there had been no more explosions. The air was filled with a pungent odor. All three of them were covering their mouths and noses with wet cloth. After such intense burning, the air was saturated with carbon dioxide and toxic gases. Without using wet cloth to filter out those toxic substances, they probably wouldn't have lasted even an hour.
Of course, those three pieces of wet cloth hadn't appeared out of thin air. They were the sleeves of Wei Dengke's windbreaker. Once they felt that there was probably no longer any danger, the three returned to the Lake Water and swam toward the shore. When they were still three or four meters away, they stopped and confirmed once again that there was no danger before climbing ashore.
By their estimate, more than thirty hours had passed since they set out. In that short span of roughly thirty hours, the three had gone through one life-or-death crisis after another. Several times, they had practically stepped through the Ghost Gate. Their survival could be attributed to their desperate efforts, but it had to be admitted that their luck had been exceptionally good.
The three had reached the limits of their physical and mental endurance. What was more, the area was filled with large amounts of carbon dioxide and toxic gases produced by the burning. Even with wet cloth covering their mouths and noses, they couldn't completely block out those gases. The moment they climbed ashore and relaxed, all three successively felt their vision go black, then passed out.
If the three remained unconscious there, they probably would never wake up again. The toxic gases filling the area would certainly take their lives in their sleep. However, it had to be admitted that the three really were incredibly lucky. Less than five minutes after they lost consciousness, a tall gray-white figure came running from the southwest of the Underground Cavity. It was a gigantic Yeti, standing roughly three and a half meters tall. Its muscles bulged all over its body, giving it an imposing sense of strength. After reaching the three, the Yeti cautiously looked them over. Only after confirming that they had all lost consciousness did it walk over, grab Wei Dengke with one enormous palm, and lift him up.
After staring at Wei Dengke for a while, the Yeti flung him over its shoulder. It then hoisted Mo Li and Zhong Lichun onto its other shoulder. The Yeti ran at incredible speed in the direction they had come from earlier, disappearing into the distant darkness.
Mo Li felt extremely dizzy. Although he had gradually begun waking from unconsciousness, the dizziness only grew stronger as his awareness returned. Almost instinctively, Mo Li suddenly sat up, turned his head, opened his mouth, and began vomiting. He had probably last eaten the bit of raw wolf meat more than ten hours earlier. After going without food for over ten hours, there was actually nothing for Mo Li to throw up—only dry heaving.
After dry-heaving for quite some time, Mo Li finally recovered. Only then did he open his eyes. The first thing he saw was the long-missed blue sky, followed by green trees. Everything before him felt unreal. Mo Li raised a hand and pinched his own cheek. Only after feeling the pain clearly did he confirm that he wasn't dreaming.
Had I left that cave? But how had I gotten out? Where was this? How were Wei Dengke and Zhong Lichun? Mo Li only vaguely remembered losing consciousness after swimming to the shore. Who had brought him here? Had the rescue team found them?
"Let me out of here! Help me!" Just as Mo Li was trying to figure out what was going on, a girl's shout suddenly came from his right. Mo Li froze for a moment, then turned his head toward the sound.
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