Chapter 97: The Mysterious Underground Passage

Chapter 97: The Mysterious Underground Passage

While the pouch made from some sort of animal skin that this ape-like creature was using lacked any craftsmanship or aesthetics, the situation was strikingly similar to ancient humans from the Stone Age.

In the Stone Age, humans, in addition to learning how to use fire and stone tools, also naturally utilized the hides of various animals for warmth and storage.

"I didn't expect to find a humanoid ape species living deep within the Shennongjia area, almost identical to humans during the Stone Age. If this news were to be known to the outside world, it would likely cause a huge sensation," Wu Hao whispered to himself as he silently trailed the creature.

However, despite his amazement, Wu Hao had made up his mind from the moment he discovered this ape-like creature. He would not share any videos or information about it with the world.

After all, if he were to release the footage, the impact on the world would be incomparable to his previous discovery of the South China Tiger.

By that time, not only would domestic government agencies organize numerous experts to analyze the environmental and geographical locations in the video, but various international organizations and experts would undoubtedly swarm in as well.

Therefore, Wu Hao had already decided not to disclose anything he discovered about this creature, no matter what he found when he followed it back to its nest. This would help him avoid unwanted interference from the outside world.

After slowly following the ape-like creature through the valley for about half an hour, the creature entered a narrow, natural cave in the mountains.

Upon entering the cave, Wu Hao had traveled less than 10 meters when he noticed that the passage was getting larger. The cave's passage wasn't a straight line but rather winding and twisting. After advancing another dozen meters or so, he encountered a fork in the path.

Instead of rushing to make a choice at the fork, Wu Hao observed the ground of both passages. He quickly noticed faint footprints on the right-hand passage, evidently left by the creature he had been following.

Seeing this, Wu Hao naturally chose the right-hand passage and continued to advance slowly. Due to the interference his mental perception faced within the cave, limiting its range to about 5 meters, Wu Hao's progress was quite slow.

As he progressed, Wu Hao continuously observed the surroundings of the cave. With each step into the right-hand passage, he made a new discovery. The cave not only twisted and turned but also descended further as he advanced.

According to Wu Hao's analysis, from the moment he entered the cave until now, he had descended at least 30 meters below the surface. The winding cave passage had also extended to nearly 200 meters in length.

"This cave is quite deep, and there's still no light. I wonder how that ape-man moves around so easily in here," Wu Hao thought. Although he had traveled hundreds of meters and encountered a few forks in the cave, he hadn't encountered any danger, so he patiently continued to make his way deeper into the cave.

After navigating through the cave passage for a half hour, Wu Hao encountered two more forks and finally made a new discovery.

"There's light ahead. It seems I've reached the core of this cave." After spending so much time in this deep and dark cave, encountering several forks along the way, Wu Hao was relieved to see some light up ahead. Without his exceptional analytical skills, telekinesis, and limited-range mental perception, he likely wouldn't have reached this point in such a short time.

According to Wu Hao's calculations and mental records since entering the cave, he estimated that he was now at least 300 meters lower in altitude compared to the cave entrance. This meant that the space ahead of him was located several hundred meters underground. Despite the entire cave passage being dark, there was noticeable soft light emanating from the area up ahead. This alone hinted at some kind of hidden secret within this underground chamber.