CH 41

Here’s a list of names, in case someone couldn’t remember them:

Level 8 team

张章 Zhang Zhang (leader)

富春 Fu Chun (chef)

尤星 You Xing (young girl)

杜凤 Du Feng (older sister)

杜军 Du Jun (younger brother)

Newcomer

Han Yu (Real estate agent)

Jiang Yiran (college young man)

Qi Shan (young girl)

The thing moves so fast, like a bolt of lightning. It swiftly grabbed a bean and immediately dodged back into the grass patch, Lou Fan almost only saw an afterimage of it. When the line of dropped butter beans is half-eaten, Lou Fan finally saw that it is a white thing, and he could vaguely see its fluffy appearance. This should be an animal. But its movement is too fast so he couldn't see what kind of animal it is. Lou Fan licked his lips, feeling a little excited.

No one noticed what Lou Fan is doing, and Lou Fan is just waiting by the tree. He squatted there, motionless as if he had merged with the tree. On the ground in front of him is a small pile of a dozen butter beans. The line of butter beans decreased one by one, and the little thing seemed to let down its guard. Lou Fan finally saw it clearly. The animal is very small, only the size of an adult's palm and its whole body is white and fluffy. It’s so fluffy that Lou Fan can't even see where its face is, it is like a living fur ball. When the animal finally slowed down at the moment, Lou Fan thinks it is really kind of cute. But its appearance convinced Lou Fan that he had never seen such an animal.

Following the line, the animal came to the pile and buried its face in the butter beans. It ate so fast that Lou Fan didn't even notice that it had eaten everything, which made him very curious, where is its mouth. The moment it lifted its face, Lou Fan finally saw what it looked like. The eyes are small and round, the nose is black, and the mouth is small and pink. At first glance, it looks like a doll that girls normally like.

It seems that it has been discovered by Lou Fan. With a tremble, it wanted to run away but Lou Fan suddenly opened his hand to show a few butter beans in his palm. It shrugged its nose, and its round body stopped. Seeming to be sure that the person in front of it is not dangerous, the little thing moved and turned around, leaning towards Lou Fan's palm. When it ate a bean, Lou Fan will add another bean. The whole fur ball is now in Lou Fan's hand as if he is holding a white fur ball.

One person and one ball interacted quietly; one happily feeds while the other happily eats. Just as they felt happy, both team leaders over there finished discussing. Wen Lang looked for Lou Fan everywhere. When he saw Lou Fan, Wen Lang ran towards him, roaring as he ran.

"Brother Lou, we are ready to go! What are you doing here?"

The fur ball is like a frightened mouse. It immediately hides and jumped into Lou Fan's open jacket. A small bulge can be seen on his chest pocket, making Lou Fan unsure if he should laugh or cry.

Wen Lang saw Lou Fan's expression and thought to ask, but when he saw Lou Fan gesture with a finger at him, he immediately doesn’t dare to speak. Lou Fan took out some butter beans and sent them to his chest pocket. The fur ball seemed very persistent in eating them, and it is no longer feeling afraid, eating the beans one by one. Lou Fan could feel a soft touch on his fingertips, which should be the little thing licking the residual taste with its tongue.

What’s that thing? Wen Lang silently mouthed.

Lou Fan smiled and shook his head, expressing that he didn't know either.

When the two walked back, everyone saw the bulge on Lou Fan's chest pocket, so they asked the same question.

Lou Fan spread his hands and whispered, "I don't know what it is either. It looked like a white fur ball, a live version."

Everyone didn't see what it is and didn't care too much. Immediately, they talked about the next arrangement: Both teams will go down together but Zhang Zhang and Fu Chun will check the front. They will go down to take a look, and if there is no problem, everyone will go down.

Qin Tan has promised Zhang Zhang that their team will help to kill the Chang snake. This is what he discussed with Lou Fan earlier, but Qin Tan suggested that if there is something from the Chang snake, everyone should share it. Zhang Zhang said that there is no problem.

The plan has been made, and everyone started preparing immediately. Zhang Zhang's team prepared a sturdy rope, one end is tied to a thick tree trunk while the other end is hanging down in the hole. The hole is very deep, and even if one looks down with a flashlight, one can't see the bottom. No one dares to be careless. They connected 2 bundles of ropes together, if it is not long enough, Zhang Zhang and Fu Chun could only come up and find another way.

"Then I'll go first." Zhang Zhang looked solemn.

Qin Tan nodded, "Be careful."

The other 3 members of the Level 8 team looked even more worried, "Team leader, Brother Fu Chun, be careful. Pull the rope if something happened, don't push yourself hard."

Zhang Zhang nodded and said don't worry.

Lou Fan laughed, "Team leader Zhang, take it easy. If you are too serious, you will gain weight. Then we won't be able to pull you up even if there is no danger."

With Lou Fan’s interruption, everyone loosened their expression and laughed.

Zhang Zhang also relaxed a little. No longer wasting time, he took the lead and Fuchun followed closely. The two climbed the rope and started to go down the hole.

Having experienced several worlds already, they are prepared for various situations. Their lighting equipment is also the most convenient kind of head light, which can illuminate the surrounding without needing to hold it by hand. There is also a wrist light, which is worn on the wrist like a bracelet. With a flick of the wrist, it can be turned on and off, and it can illuminate a range of 2 meters around the body, which is very convenient.

Wearing a head light, Zhang Zhang slid down cautiously. He wore a safety buckle on his body, so he is not afraid of suddenly slipping down. As he goes down the hole, he looked up and could still see a few heads sticking out from the entrance of the cave. He couldn't see them clearly against the light, but the thought makes him very relieved. The surrounding stone walls are smooth like a hole cut straight out of something.

It got darker as they went down, and only a white dot remained at the top of the hole. They had already passed the knot between the 2 ropes. Sensing that they have yet to reach the end, Zhang Zhang felt at a loss.

It doesn't take 3 ropes, does it?

The rope under his feet began to sway, Zhang Zhang is thinking about whether to pull the rope and signal to the person above to pull them up.

"Fu Chun, it's not the end yet. Should we go up or..." Zhang Zhang didn't say anything else, but Fu Chun knew what he meant.

"Team leader, I still have a rope in my backpack. How about we connect it too? I don't think the bottom is too far away."

Zhang Zhang gritted his teeth, "Okay, we’ll connect it." Otherwise, he would really feel unwilling (from going down so long and not reaching the end).

Zhang Zhang is a strong person. With the safety buckle firmly buckled, he twirled his feet around the rope and turned upside down. Taking the rope that he is biting in his mouth, he connected both ends of the rope. After tying it tightly and making sure the knot is firm, Zhang Zhang straightened his waist and turned himself back. The two continued down again.

The people at the entrance of the cave are feeling a little anxious. It's been almost an hour, and they don't know if the two have reached the end. There is no news at all, and the rope has not moved. Du Jun couldn't sit still and is about to say like he would go down and have a look. Then, he saw the rope move violently, and the bells tied to the rope rang.

"Look, the rope is moving."

This is the signal they agreed on earlier. If both men reach the end, the rope will be shaken violently. If they wanted to come up, the rope will be pulled hard, and the bell will make a finer sound.

"Let's go down." Qin Tan said and prepared to go down.

Du Jun stepped forward and said, "Team leader Qin, our team will go down first." The other 2 ladies also nodded.

Knowing that they are anxious, Qin Tan did not argue and said, "Then, you guys go first, we will follow behind."

Chen Shuyang talked to Jiang Yiran and Qi Shan and said a few more words. Seeing that Qin Tan and the others had already started to go down, Chen Shuyang stopped talking and went down immediately.

Han Yu stared solemnly at the rope, no one knows what he is thinking. Seeing the look in his eyes, Qi Shan is taken aback and quickly pulled Jiang Yiran's sleeve, motioning him to look. Jiang Yiran immediately became vigilant, tightly holding the umbrella in his hand. Qi Shan also clenched the dagger Chen Shuyang gave her. The two looked at each other and exchanged a gaze. Once Han Yu made any move, they would not hesitate to pounce.

As the group slid down the rope, Lou Fan glanced up and down, and laughed, "We are really ‘grasshoppers tied to the same rope’."

This description is very accurate, and everyone laughed.

Qin Tan said in a deep voice, "Hurry up, it will be bad if someone above does anything bad."

Knowing that Zhang Zhang and the others are at the bottom, Qin Tan’s group is not afraid and slid down the rope quickly but keeps some distance apart to avoid bumping into each other.

The little fur ball in Lou Fan's arms popped out and chirped twice. Lou Fan looked down at it and couldn't help but say, "What's wrong? Are you scared?"

The fur ball chirped again and looked like it threw a glance at him before retracting into Lou Fan's arms. Lou Fan felt as if he saw the contempt in the fur ball’s mung bean eyes. He snorted softly, "Hmph, I'll call you Furball then, you're just like a ball anyway."

Another chirp sounded and Lou Fan felt that this sound is a little happy. Could it be that it likes this name very much?

With his feet on the ground, Lou Fan released the rope in his hand and glanced around. This place is like a tunnel, and there are as many as 5 holes around it. After everyone arrived, they realized that Zhang Zhang is not around.

"Where's Team leader Zhang?" Lou Fan asked.

Fu Chun held a rope in his hand, and said helplessly, "We found 5 holes when we got down. Team leader said he wanted to explore the road, and he had a rope tied to him."

Lou Fan nodded, this is the most rational choice, but he felt that Team leader Zhang would definitely not gain anything. The hole they went down is too long, which means the 5 holes would not be short either.

Sure enough, Zhang Zhang came back after a while with a frustrated look on his face. "There is no end at all, the tunnels are too long."

Qin Tan asked, "How many holes have you explored?"

"3." The rope on Zhang Zhang's body is not long, it is very thin, and it should be about 100 meters long. He was a little helpless and asked, "Everyone, tell me, what should we do now?"

Lou Fan approached the entrance of the holes with a powerful flashlight and looked inside, but found nothing. The 5 holes are all about the same size, there is no difference. Qin Tan squatted down, pressed the soil on the ground between his fingers. After that, he placed it near to his nose and smelled it. Qin Tan did this for all 5 holes. Lou Fan followed Qin Tan’s example and looked, but didn't see anything unusual.

Getting up, Qin Tan patted the soil in his hand, pointed to one of the holes, and said, "A snake must have passed by this hole not long ago. The soil on the ground has a faint fishy smell. Also, the soil on the ground is a bit damper than the other holes."

Lou Fan is startled by the discovery, he didn't notice it at all. Immediately, he gave Qin Tan a thumbs up and silently praised Qin Tan from top to bottom. This kind of professional skill, even the Level 8 team does not have this ability.

Zhang Zhang suddenly became happy, "Then we will go this way. We will definitely find the Chang snake."

Lou Fan felt a little helpless and said, "Team leader Zhang, I think it's not about finding snakes, but what should we do if we encounter a bunch of snakes later."