I sat up suddenly and patted Tang Jiao awake. She rubbed her eyes, looked around clearly, and was also stunned: "Where's the person?"

  I looked around and all sorts of guesses flashed through my mind.

  They abandoned us and left? No, it's unlikely. They were a motley crew to begin with; they had no reason to isolate us.

  What made them have to leave? Or were they forced to leave? Who or what force compelled them?

  But it's not like there was no movement at all.

  I calmed down, pulled Tang Jiao up and carefully examined the footprints on the ground. I found that the footsteps were very chaotic, but they all went forward. For now, we can only continue to move forward. I picked up a sharp-edged heavy stone from the side to defend myself. Tang Jiao followed my example and also picked one up. Our hands were tightly clasped together as we carefully moved forward.

  But unexpectedly, after walking more than 20 meters, the road turned a corner ahead, and the terrain suddenly opened up, and the sound of underground water was also louder. On the empty land beside the water, three people were standing, weren't they Feng Yan, Zhu Jiuyi, and Zhu Yutong?

  What about others?

  I pressed Tan Jiao's hand, signaling her not to get any closer. The two of us stuck close to the rock wall and listened for a while.

  Zhu Yutong stood by the water, staring straight ahead, seemingly a bit anxious. Zhu Jihui sat on the shore with her legs hugged to her chest, her head hung low. Feng Yan stood beside her, also gazing out at the distance.

  "How come they haven't returned yet?" Feng Yan anxiously asked.

  "Yes." Zhu Jihui echoed, "We should go with them. Otherwise... Peng... Zhu Yutong, you go find him?"

  "They said they'd go ahead and scout out the road, and told me to stay here and protect you. Let's just listen to them."

  "Why don't we wake those two up?" said Zhu Jiyue, "They can really sleep."

  Feng Yan said, "Everyone is having a hard time, wait until they wake up and they will naturally come to help. Your boyfriend also said before he left that it's just going to explore the road, no need for so many people to go together."

  I slowly put down my guard, it turns out to be like this. I threw away the stone, and Tan Jiao also followed suit and threw hers away too. The three of them heard the noise and turned around, we walked over.

  Feng Yan smiled first: "Awake? I saw that you two seemed very tired yesterday, so I didn't wake you up. I planned to wait until you found your way before talking."

  I nodded and said, "What's the situation now?" But there was no need for Feng Yan to explain further, I had also seen it. No wonder the other few people couldn't wait any longer and went ahead to scout the road.

  The cave in front of us is basically straight and extends forward for at least over a hundred meters, with no end in sight.

  But ahead of us was light, and it was a strong source of light.

  I exchanged a glance with Tan Jiao, and we both saw the hope in each other's eyes. Whether it was the light that had seeped through from the ground or something else, I didn't know at the moment. But it was enough to stir one's heart.

  It's just the road ahead, not easy to walk, the water flow widens, almost covering the entire ground. There are also many black and smooth stones in the water. So they chose a few physically strong ones to go ahead and explore the route first.

  "I'll go take a look," I said.

  Tan Jiao immediately said: "I'll go with you."

  I held her hand tightly.

  Zhu Jihui also stood up: "I want to go too, I've been waiting for half a day and I'm worried." Feng Yan said: "I also want to go..." Zhu Yutong remained silent.

  In the end, the five of us were no longer equal, and we went through this difficult waterway together.

  Fortunately, Zhu Yutong was not very talkative, but he was quick and reliable in action. Tan Jiao and Zhu Jidui were also agile. Although Feng Yan was injured, the five of them supported and pulled each other, spending more than half an hour to successfully pass this section of road.