"How many classmates do you have? It's way too dangerous to get lost in these wild mountains!"
The sentry casually handed a bottle of mineral water to Suming and asked with a smile. He shook his hand, which was behind his back, in the direction of the sentry, signaling not to shoot yet and wait until he got a clear picture of the situation.
Suming took the mineral water and drank it fiercely without a word, as if he had been thirsty for a long time. After guzzling down more than half the bottle, he even let out a satiated burp before stopping.
His gaze swept over the cages holding the animals and he asked with some confusion, "Big brother, what is this...?"
"Oh, we're from the Provincial Animal Protection Association. These animals are injured, and we're taking them back for treatment."
Ming Shao said with a righteous face, "You young folks are too reckless. Deep in the mountains and forests isn't a place for you. If something happened, how heartbroken your parents would be!"
"It was those female classmates who insisted on going on an adventure into the mountains. Then, there was no cell signal, and even the compasses and such started malfunctioning. We've been walking for a whole day and night without finding a way out."
When he heard "a few female classmates", a sly glint quickly flashed in Ming Shao's eyes. With a stern face, he said, "Where are your other classmates? Hurry and get them here, we have a map. When we leave the mountain, we'll take you with us!"
"They're just a short distance behind us. Hey you guys, come over here, we've met some good people!"
Suming cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice and called out loudly toward the forest they had come from.
Ming Shao also squinted his eyes, following Suming's gaze, looking for those 'female classmates'.
"Where are they?"
"They're coming, they're coming. Look, those few in the woods..." Suming pointed towards the forest.
Indeed, there was a rustling of tree branches, as if someone was walking towards them.
Ming Shao licked his lips and said with a smile, "Such a young age, and already acting as a guardian of beauty. Your female classmates must be pretty, huh...?"
He checked with his spiritual power and, somehow, the golden monkey wasn't dead, just passed out. The Chinese Giant Salamander was also groggy. Suming glanced at the waterfall; with all the commotion, a considerable amount of time had passed since He and his men had entered. They might come out at any moment now, and there was no time to save these two creatures.
Filled with curiosity about the cave behind the waterfall, Suming steeled his heart, gripped his pistol in one hand, and an electric baton in the other, and swam to the big rock beneath the waterfall before diving in behind it.
There was a recessed space behind the waterfall that could accommodate one or two people standing. The ground was covered with mossy stones that were slippery; one had to hold onto the rocks to barely be able to stand.
In the middle of the recess, there was a hole about a meter or so, less than two meters in diameter. It was pitch-black and unknown where it led, with a trickle of water constantly flowing out of the hole, merging with the waterfall's flow and into the pool below.
Suming lay down at the opening of the hole to listen. There were no sounds inside, so he raised his pistol and electric baton and crawled into the hole.
A cold breeze that wasn't too strong hit him in the face, along with a thick mist. Using the faint light coming in from behind, he saw that the cave was vertically oval-shaped. Walking inside, Suming could barely stand upright, but the space was very narrow on both sides. In some places, he had to sidle through.
The cave was damp and dark. The deeper he went inside, the quieter it became, a stark contrast to the tumultuous sound of flowing water outside, giving off a creepy and somewhat terrifying atmosphere.
Fortunately, the cave wasn't too deep—barely twenty meters—and he reached the other end, which suddenly opened up. Continue your saga on mvl
"Oh my goodness!"
Suming was taken aback by what he saw. In front of him was a rather large karst cave, its ceiling covered with stalactites pointing sharply down at the ground, which was rugged with stones and crisscrossed by streams.
Based on its location, the cave's ceiling should be right beneath the creek that flowed above the waterfall. Water trickled down from the cave ceiling intermittently, falling onto the ground and forming little pools from the constant dripping over the years.
There were possibly some small holes at the top of the cave or cracks leading to the surface, allowing sunlight to squeeze through and cast various weak spots of light inside the otherwise pitch-black cave, bringing faint illumination.
With the help of the light, he could see many small and large caves on the surrounding cave walls, ranging from palm-sized ones to ones big enough for a person to crawl into, much like a traditional cave dwelling.
As Suming marveled at the sights before him, he suddenly heard footsteps and voices emanating from the depths of the cave.
He quickly crouched down, hiding behind a large stone pillar, peeking out with half his face to observe the surroundings.