Stealing Pens: Travelers from the End of the World

The deeper they went, the more ice cones appeared on the rocks on both sides of the valley. It was not until a relatively intact ice surface came into their sight that Qin Yuchen and Zhang Qiling pulled the reins to stop the two horses.

After settling down his means of transportation, Qin Yuchen caught the water drops dripping from the ice cone, turned his head to look at Zhang Qiling and squatted on the stone next to the ice.

This piece of ice covers a small area and the ice surface is very thin. Through the sunlight above, you can clearly see the situation under the ice.

is empty.

Qin Yuchen kicked away the snow, dug out a stone from the snow pile, and smashed it towards the center of the ice.

The ice surface quickly shattered when it touched the stone, forming a hole of unknown depth.

The two were silent for a moment, and Qin Yuchen picked up another stone and threw it somewhere else.

Zhang Qiling took out a military shovel and shoveled along the edge of the stone under his feet. The ice there broke.

They tried it on other edges of the ice.

The ice was thinner than they had imagined, and with almost no effort, the two found an area that was relatively safe to step on.

Zhang Qiling threw a few glow sticks in his hand into the hole.

After a few stumbles, a few glow sticks finally reached the bottom smoothly, and they finally saw how deep the hole was.

Looking down from where Zhang Qiling was standing, the bottom of the cave should be about five or six stories high. The specific situation below was obscured by a thin layer of fog. If he wanted to see more details, he had to go down.

"Yes."

Zhang Qiling threw down a few more glow sticks, walked to a place far away from the cave entrance to fix the rope, and said.

"Row."

Tan Yuchen nodded.

After the rope was fixed, Zhang Qiling moved quickly. In the blink of an eye, he took out a flashlight and jumped into the cave.

Qin Yuchen stood at the entrance of the cave and watched Zhang Qiling's every move. After seeing him land steadily and shake the rope, he grabbed the rope and jumped down without hesitation.

He had only descended halfway when he was hit in the face by a constant stream of hot air.

The windproof glasses I was wearing were also covered with a layer of fog, which further restricted my vision around me.

Qin Yuchen bit the flashlight, freed his hands to take off his glasses and hang them around his neck. After landing steadily, he discovered how the fog was formed.

This naturally formed cave has four small pools of water, forming a "田" character, and the place where they are standing now is the very center of the character.

The pool was not very deep, and the small bubbles that occasionally appeared on the surface of the water explained the mist.

This can be a blessing.

For people who have been walking in the snow and ice, their first reaction when encountering a hot spring is definitely excitement.

Because they have been wrapped in the cold environment for a long time, and have not been exposed to the warmth that isolates them from the cold wind and is like a hotbed for a long time.

However, for Qin Yuchen and Zhang Qiling, it is not a breeding ground, but it makes more sense to say that there are problems.

They are both people who have been walking on the edge of danger for a long time and have strong intuition.

From the time they came down to the time they stood here, no matter how comfortable the temperature was or how hot it was making them sweat, the two of them had no intention of taking off their scarves and hats.

Not to mention, squatting down to wash your hands or soak your feet.

Qin Yuchen wrinkled his nose, wrapped his scarf tightly around him to wipe off the mist on the flashlight, and walked in the opposite direction from Zhang Qiling.

The two were separated by the lake water and began to search on the rocks to find a passage that could lead to other places.

Zhang Qiling walked around two of the pools and finally stopped in front of a dripping ice cone.

He knocked on it tentatively with a military shovel, then exerted force with his hands and broke the ice cone with one shovel.

The ice cone suddenly broke into several pieces and fell at Zhang Qiling's feet with a crackling sound.

What appeared in front of Zhang Qiling was a gap with half of the space occupied by ice cones.

"Here." Zhang Qiling turned around and looked through the mist to find Tan Yuchen.

“I have a passage here too.”

Qin Yuchen's voice sounded across from him, "Separate and check. Gather here later."

"Okay." Zhang Qiling nodded, watching Qin Yuchen squat down and slowly move towards the passage.

He withdrew his gaze and walked towards the gap with the same movement.

Fortunately, the gap was not too long. Apart from the ice cones of varying sizes on the top, it was not difficult for Zhang Qiling to pass through the space below.

In less than ten minutes, he crawled out of the gap and entered a new space.

This is also a cave, much larger than the previous one, and there is still a steaming hot spring near the center of the cave.

Not far from the hot spring, there is a hole on the top of the rock that is only wide enough for one person to pass through, with several ropes hanging from the hole.

Zhang Qiling walked over, grabbed one of the ropes, looked at it, and pulled it hard.

The rope looks very new. Apart from being a little wet due to the moisture here, there are no other signs of age.

The other end of the rope was tied very tightly, and it was fully capable of supporting a group of people climbing up and down.

Zhang Qiling shook off the water droplets on his hands and was about to walk around to see if there was anything else when he heard a rustling sound behind him.

Zhang Qiling immediately became alert and turned to look at the gap from which he came.

Nothing strange appeared in the gap, but Qin Yuchen with a very sour face appeared.

Even though the man only had a pair of eyes exposed, Zhang Qiling was able to detect his emotions instantly.

"How……"

Just when he was wondering and wanted to ask, he saw Qin Yuchen just stood up, then quickly bent down, touched his head, and finally came out from the gap.

"...Fuck, how did you get here from this crappy place!"

An angry voice sounded, Zhang Qiling pressed the corners of his mouth, but couldn't help laughing, and walked over quickly to rub the man's head.

As for the question asked by Qin Yuchen.

Zhang Qiling thought about it and decided not to answer, otherwise someone might be even more angry.