The cave was dimly lit, with only the faint light filtering in from the entrance and special minerals embedded in certain shattered hives, which emitted a weak glow, providing illumination.
The rich, sweet fragrance in the Qi-filled air grew even stronger, almost tangible. Breathing it into his lungs brought a warm, soothing comfort, as though even his mental exhaustion had quietly been smoothed away.
Wearing night-vision goggles, Xinhai followed behind Blaziken. Under Gardevoir's precise Confusion control and Eevee's guidance, they moved forward carefully.
Xinhai and the others avoided several precarious, crack-covered rock walls, piles of rubble, and shattered beeswax structures hanging overhead that looked ready to fall at any moment.
A sticky sensation occasionally came from beneath their feet—that was golden honey flowing through depressions in the ground.
As they went deeper, the passage became increasingly narrow and winding. At times, they had to bend over and turn sideways, or even use both hands and feet to squeeze through gaps between massive, sweet-smelling chunks of beeswax and fallen rocks.
Most of the enormous hives that had once possessed intricate structures and clung to the rock walls had collapsed. Amber-colored, viscous honey flowed like streams bursting through a broken dam, winding across the uneven ground and gathering into small "lakes." They reflected the faint light and released a mesmerizing Qi-laden fragrance along with vast yet gentle energy fluctuations.
Sometimes, the honey "streams" completely blocked the way. Xinhai could only suppress his heartache and carefully step across the valuable "liquid gold." The sticky feeling under his shoes and the nearly suffocating sweetness in the Qi-filled air made for a strange experience.
"What a waste..." Xinhai looked at the honey flowing everywhere, left uncollected, and felt deep regret.
But he also understood that the tightly guarded storeroom was what mattered most right now.