The fog grew thicker and the rain poured down harder, blurring visibility. All that could be heard was a deafening rumble, accompanied by the trembling of the earth.
"Identify the direction and run towards that waterfall!" Qingmu shouted in the rain, afraid that the fog would cause everyone to get separated.
The sky seemed to be collapsing, and the earth seemed to be cracking. There was almost no oxygen in the air, only cold rain and fog of unknown composition.
Petru felt like his lungs were about to explode, but he gritted his teeth and kept running forward with Mrs. Larry on his back. He had no other choice at this moment; he had to trust Qingmu.
He vaguely heard Mrs. Larry shouting something in his ear, but he couldn't make out what she meant. He knew what she meant; she probably wanted him to put her down so he could escape. Of course, he wouldn't put her down. He wanted to say something in response, but nothing came out.
Su Huilan wasn't feeling much better. Although she didn't have to carry someone like Petru, she had just exhausted a lot of her Mental Power and was running in such an extreme environment. If the distance were any further, she might not be able to hold on.
Fortunately, they soon reached the edge of the waterfall. Thick fog and rain obscured their view, but she could still tell that this was the end of the river in the canyon.
The winding river encounters steep mountains here, rises abruptly from the ground, and flows upwards along the cliffs, forming a magnificent waterfall flowing upstream.
She looked up, but the sky was thick with clouds and mist, obscuring the details of the giant moon; only a hazy white moonlight shone through. The waterfall, flowing against the current, pierced through the clouds like a ribbon and disappeared into the moonlight.
There were many tree trunks piled up on the riverbank, some long, some short, some straight, some crooked, as if someone had deliberately piled them up there. Some of the thicker trunks even had a piece cut out of the middle.
Su Huilan understood; these were dugout canoes made by the savages. It seemed they had encountered such a great disaster before, and their method of escape was to use the dugout canoes to navigate upstream along this towering waterfall when the fog rolled in on the island. She just didn't know where they were at the top.
She wanted to tell everyone about her discovery, but she couldn't make a sound due to lack of oxygen. Her chest felt tight and uncomfortable, and all she could breathe in through her nose was rainwater.
She heard Qingmu shout, "Hold onto the log and jump!"
Without hesitation, Su Huilan picked up a piece of wood that looked about the right size and that she could lift. The wood wasn't as heavy as she had imagined; it was probably a low-density wood, and she didn't know what kind of tree it was. This kind of wood generally had very little practical use and would rot if left out, but it had strong buoyancy, making it the best material for escaping into the water in such an emergency.
She hugged the log and jumped into the water with a splash, suddenly remembering that the Qingmu was also a piece of wood. She found it strange, wondering why she would have such a thought at a time like this.
She then realized that she couldn't even speak, so how could this piece of wood still make such a loud noise? Everyone else was short of oxygen, but wasn't he?
The river carried her body forward. Suddenly, she felt a strong pull, as if she had been caught in a whirlpool. She lost her balance and fell into the waterfall flowing against the current.
She had imagined that she would be carried upwards by the enormous force of the waterfall, just as she had seen those savages fly towards the moon with their fangs bared and claws outstretched after falling into the waterfall.
Strangely, she felt weightless, as if falling from a great height rather than flying upwards. She remembered bungee jumping from the Royal Grand Canyon, where the feeling was exactly the same, except that she was surrounded by water.
She struggled to steady herself, opened her eyes, and found herself surrounded by water and thick fog. The fog was uneven, thick in some places and thin in others, like layers of clouds. She was now like a skydiver without a parachute, her body freefalling at an incredible speed, passing through layer after layer of clouds.
She recalled Li Bai's poem, "The waterfall plunges three thousand feet, as if the Milky Way were falling from the ninth heaven."
Su Huilan finally understood that she wasn't flying towards the sky, she wouldn't fly to the moon, and the waterfall wasn't the Tongtian River; it was an optical illusion.
Perhaps the island's gravitational field is unevenly distributed, or perhaps the distorted space bends the light; in any case, if the curvature of this space were flattened, the river branching off from the island's central lake would flow normally downstream, ending at a cliff and deep valley, rather than a mountain blocking its path.
However, their brains cannot correct the changes in light caused by the curvature of space, which visually translates to a river flowing slowly upstream.
After the river reaches its end, the waterfall formed by rushing down the cliff should not be visible, but due to the curvature of space, light comes through the curved surface and is seen by them, making them mistakenly believe that the waterfall is flowing upstream and rushing into the sky.
She now knew they were falling.
Usually, at the bottom of a waterfall, there is a deep pool formed by the rushing water. They would fall into this pool.
She just couldn't understand how a mere waterfall could have escaped the cataclysmic destruction that had just occurred on the island.
Of course, the fog on the island is key. Analyzing their situation when they entered the island and Alice's account, the fog might be a signal that some kind of spatial rift has opened. But even if the waterfall passed through a wormhole and they fell into a deep pool in another dimension, at their current falling speed, they would be seriously injured even if they didn't die.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard Qingmu's voice again. "Hold on tight to the wood!"
Su Huilan instinctively hugged the log tighter, and then suddenly her descent slowed down, as if she had entered a water slide.
She thought the waterfall had changed direction due to the slope of the mountain, but she did not hit any rocks.
Visibility was better than before, and the oxygen concentration seemed to have increased as well. Su Huilan took a few deep breaths, turned her head and saw Qingmu and Petru helping Mrs. Larry, who was holding a large log.
Nestled Hanran on Qingmu's shoulder, its soaking wet fur clung to its body like a hairless Sphynx. Only the Boss Coal glided across the water, occasionally pausing on Qingmu's head. Qingmu's hair, however, remained a mess, without a single drop of water on it.
There were raging torrents all around, but not a vast ocean. It was a hard feeling to describe; it was like a pipe without pipes, and they were inside it—yes, a pipe without pipes in the void.
The water pipes were twisted, sometimes smooth, sometimes drooping, and sometimes spinning. Their drifting speed also varied. At this time, the pieces of wood in their hands played a very important role. Without the buoyancy of the wood, it would be difficult to maintain balance in the water.
After a while, the current suddenly accelerated, and before Su Huilan could adjust her posture, she was plunged into the deep pool with a whoosh.
The water is warm.
She used the buoyancy of the wood to float to the surface and saw bubbles rising in many places on the water, as if it were about to boil.
She turned her head and looked around, but she couldn't see the water pipe she had come from, nor the waterfall; all she could see was a thick, impenetrable white mist.
" Qingmu! Where are you?" Su Huilan called out, "Are you all here?"
She heard Qingmu's voice coming from the mist. "I'm here!"
Then came the Crow: "Caw, I've fallen into the sea again?! Luckily I'm with you all, croak, God, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Taishang Laojun Newton, Aristotle, Marx, please bless me, I'm still alive Guagua!"