Pink Dragon

Su Ming rubbed the half-cat's head.

"Thanks for your hard work."

"I walked five kilometers and then slept until now," Yu Ye said. "It wasn't hard work at all."

Everyone threw their backpacks onto the carriage, Vioas jumped into the driver's seat, took the reins, and gave them a couple of light shakes.

The pack animals pulled the wagons, laden with supplies, into the night.

After they left, Taro Leaf woke everyone up.

"Oh no, where's the carriage!" someone exclaimed.

"The young master's family has sent people and taken him away," Yu Ye explained calmly.

"The task is complete. Thirty copper coins were easy," another person said.

Everyone returned to Cloud Fang City overnight.

Although martial law was in effect at night and people couldn't enter the city, they could stay overnight in the livestock sheds of familiar families outside the city.

"Hopefully, we'll be treated to something like this again next time," one of the orcs said, still wanting more.

Having acquired supplies and wagons, the Earth support team quickly marked out the route for Su Ming and his group, with fourteen kilometers remaining.

"The Bell of Calamity has also deployed numerous hidden warning totems in the wilderness of Water Chestnut Island."

The inchworm explained the current situation.

"So we took a slight detour, avoiding the woods, and went to a more open and relatively safe area."

"The Bell of Calamity, isn't this just like planting wards all over the map?" Su Ming complained.

Katharine said:

"Your situation is already quite good."

"The hinterland of Ling Island is actually quite sparse."

"Our coastal defense symbols are haphazardly placed; it's a complete disaster area."

During this period, the infiltration operations launched by the Thai-Asian coalition have encountered this problem, and the two sides have engaged in numerous rounds of negotiation, sabotage, and counter-sabotage.

"We're just in the dark here," Yise commented. There were many mountain roads, and about two hours later, the group arrived at their destination.

It was a small opening, covered with bushes and vines. Once inside, the passage was narrow, but a flashlight couldn't reach the end.

The cave walls are smooth and shiny, with a dark purple color, as if coated with a layer of "glaze", and are covered with stalactite-like stone pillars.

A gentle breeze seemed to be blowing out from inside, carrying the smell of cold water and some kind of metal.

"A cave?" Su Ming asked, his voice echoing through the cave walls.

"No, it's a lava cave," came the correction from the rear. "Ling Island is a volcanic island."

During a volcanic eruption, the surface of the lava flow cools and solidifies rapidly, forming a hard crust, while the high-temperature lava inside continues to flow, forming an "underground lava river."

After the magma source dries up, the lava flows out, leaving behind a cavity called a lava tube, or lava cave.

Lava tubes also feature stalactites and stalagmites, but they are actually formed by lava dripping and cooling.

At first glance, it looks similar to a karst cave, but in fact, the differences in details are enormous.

There was a short stretch of road outside the cave that was completely impassable, but the men pushed and shoved, forcibly pulling the carriage into the cave.

After unloading their luggage and supplies, Su Ming began setting up the equipment. He found a tree near the cave entrance, set up the antenna in the canopy, and connected it to the satellite.

Yise also set up a personal radar at a slightly elevated position, covered it with camouflage netting, and used the surrounding vegetation to completely conceal the area outside the antenna.

Simina found a flat spot on the cave wall, hung up the monitor, and set up the communication device.

There is a small stream in Kum Cave.

Following instructions, Vioas dug a reservoir above a section of the drop-off area and installed water pipes, while Su Ming summoned an impact turbine and installed it below.

Water jets out from the narrow pipe, continuously impacting the impeller, and the indicator light on the generator connected to the rear lights up.

Su Ming made some adjustments and then showed a satisfied expression.

"The power output has reached 1,500 watts, which is sufficient."

They found a dry spot, laid out their beds, and then shared their midnight snack.

Brocade flew out.

"My fruit!"

Su Ming took out a few wild fruits he had picked along the way. Jinxiu lowered her head and took a sip, her little face immediately scrunching up.

"It's both sour and astringent!"

"It'll have to do," Simina reassured her. "We didn't bring much fruit."

Yise chewed on the jerky and sighed.

"I'll have to skip the drama rehearsals again these next few days."

"Bana will definitely be anxious."

"It's alright, just let him train Wolf Wild Fry properly," Su Ming chuckled.

****

Everyone slept until the morning, and then got up one after another.

Vioas was the earliest.

Last night, the fishing nets placed next to the makeshift water conservancy facility actually caught a few small, thin fish.

Not much, but enough for breakfast.

"Watch out for the smoke," Su Ming reminded him.

Under the guidance of the personnel behind the scenes, Vioas built a "smoke-dispersing stove" and laid a layer of damp grass and fine sand on the flue, which basically eliminated the smoke and dust.

Earth's experts wanted to offer further suggestions for improvement, but they discovered that Jinxiu had cast a gentle breeze spell, which made even the last wisp of smoke disappear completely.

He reluctantly put away the army fortification documents in his hand.

Su Ming inventoried the materials and completed the summoning of the submersible.

A silver-gray mechanical device appeared on the ground, resembling a short, stout barracuda. Several adjustable thrusters were mounted on both sides, while cameras, sonar, and searchlights were distributed at the front, and a huge reel was trailing behind.

Su Ming carried the equipment and walked into the cave.

The land only lasted less than two hundred meters before the water rose past their ankles, knees, and waists, finally engulfing their chests.

The underwater vehicle was no longer carried on its back, but instead towed in the water.

The cave ceiling gradually lowered, leaving only a stretch of water swallowed by darkness ahead.

Su Ming shone his flashlight on the water; the surface was dark and calm, like a mirror without reflection. "It's ready. There's a deep, downward-facing cave ahead."

Simina stood in the shallow water, holding a flashlight and looking around.

"The water was much shallower when we came last time."

"This underwater journey is estimated to be considerably longer."

"It's not a big problem. We have more advanced equipment available now," Su Ming said.

He connected the underwater vehicle online.

The underwater equipment was controlled via a wired system, with communication and power supply both relying on cables.

The submersible emitted a buzzing sound, and the indicator lights on its fuselage lit up one by one.

The equipment has started up and completed its self-test.

"Signal established," reported the personnel at headquarters. "Can the 'Lingyu' begin operations?"

"Let's go!" Su Ming said.

The propellers spun, churning up ripples in the water as the submersible began its descent. The crew returned to the control panel, where the screen displayed the submersible's real-time status. Searchlights illuminated the murky water, occasionally revealing a few startled small fish swimming swiftly by.

"Twenty meters deep."

"Twenty-five meters deep."

The Lingyu (鲘鱼) emitted ultrasonic waves, which scanned the surrounding terrain and created a model.

Simina watched the three-dimensional underwater terrain outline on the screen expand continuously, feeling deeply moved.

"If we had had this back then, we wouldn't have had to go through more than two months of trouble."

Soon, the Lingyu submersible reached the bottom, where the water was 55 meters deep and the seabed was covered with a large amount of black mud.

Simina recognized the way.

"The one on the left, just go in and keep walking," she instructed.

The AI recognized her voice instructions, automatically marked the path direction in green on the screen, and popped up a dialog box requesting confirmation.

"Confirmed," Simina said.

The Lingyu immediately went inside. Unlike caves, lava tubes have a single direction, few branches, and a relatively uniform diameter.

This is extremely helpful for the operation of the Lingyu (shrimp) vessel.

The progress was very smooth; it drew a 3D map of the lava tube while dragging the cable forward.

Every so often, the submersible would extend its robotic arm, drill holes in the hard lava wall, insert nails, and secure cables to the wall, which would then serve as guide ropes for the group's subsequent ascent.

Because we were moving upstream along the lava pipe towards the magma, the water depth data was slowly decreasing.

The wavy or rope-like textures are clearly visible on both sides, and the cave walls have horizontally distributed flow walls, representing the "water level" height when the lava flowed.

"This part isn't difficult, it's just long," Simina said.

"After about seven kilometers, the lava tube will surface and lead to a gas chamber."

"Beyond this, you'll reach the volcanic passage."

A volcanic conduit is a channel through which underground magma rises from a lava chamber.

Simina continued her explanation.

"We'll dive down again from there, to a depth of about two or three hundred meters, and then we'll see the Fire-Burning Array." ****

Vioas and Yise coated the fish in batter, fried it, and served it to everyone.

The fish was fresh and fragrant, and the crispy shell helped to alleviate the dampness in the cave.

On the screen on the cave wall, the green route stretched forward continuously. At the speed of the submersible, it would take nearly a day to complete the entire exploration and cable laying work.

Su Ming began assigning tasks.

"The three of us familiarized ourselves with the diving equipment and did some acclimatization practice near the cave entrance."

"Vioas will be in charge of surface support; he'll learn how to use these communication devices."

"Okay!" everyone responded in unison.

After breakfast, the three divers changed into their diving suits.

Everyone struggled with the complicated straps and gas cylinders for quite a while, helping each other for a long time, and with repeated guidance from the expert team, they finally passed the airtightness test.

Su Ming "summoned" Zijin and helped her adapt to activities in the water.

Then a small bone dragon emerged from Su Ming's backpack. It was actually the same rat skeleton as before, but with some new bones added and alchemical materials fused together, greatly increasing its strength.

The bone dragon shook its narrow wings, leaped off the edge of the backpack, and landed on the rock.

Zijin stretched, then suddenly realized something was wrong.

When she looked at her bone claws, she saw several cute little pink flowers painted on them.

Upon closer inspection, its ribs were also covered in pink, its wings were pink, and a small bow was tied around its tail.

Zijin immediately knew who had done it.

"Yise, are you itching for a beating?!"

"Aunt Zijin, where's your girlish heart?" Yise winked and smiled. "Isn't this adorable?"

Zijin was furious and started scratching at Yise's hair.

"Wait until my true form arrives."

I'll paint you pink and tie a bow on your head.

"I'm not afraid of wearing this!" Yise retorted. The team behind him looked at Yise as if he were a warrior.

"She probably doesn't know where the word 'Belladonna ' comes from," a scholar said.

"A newborn calf is not afraid of a dragon," another remarked.

(Image attached)