Mermaid Reef

Arabica Hills.

The sky is full of stars, and the night is quiet.

Juan was sleeping soundly wrapped in a blanket in his tent.

Terekin rolled over and stared at his assistant, wondering why Juan was still asleep.

The cold wind was blowing, the tent was a little leaky, and Terekin couldn't help sneezing.

It was the seventh day they had been taken to the camp and things had gone from bad to worse.

— not their treatment, but "task progress".

The camp has accumulated a lot of heavy firepower and dug a deep trench. It can be seen that this team is ready to fight the "monster". Unfortunately, the plan to lure the monster to leave the cave has completely stalled.The ghost radio has not been seen for seven days.

Professor Terekin saw the soldiers go deep into the mountains and throw smoke bombs and possibly poison gas into the cave, but it had no effect at all.

The Arabica Mountain is a limestone mountain. There are many large and small caves around the mountain, all of which are formed by the erosion of flowing water.

These caves looked disconnected on the surface, but as soon as the smoke bomb was thrown in, smoke came out from half the top of the mountain.

This is because of the underground water system, the cracks in the rock formations that humans cannot pass through, and the smoke will not be blocked.

Fortunately, the monster hidden at the bottom of the cave is huge (according to the analysis of the roar), otherwise it would be useless to block only one cave entrance.

If the monster's hiding place changes from a hole to a mountain, how can it be caught?

Professor Terekin tried his best to think of a way for the soldiers in the camp. He thought about fire and water, but he couldn't make up his mind. He couldn't sleep anymore and could only lie there and look at the top of the tent.

He thought, either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the leader of the camp will force them into the cave with weapons to investigate.

Terekin tried to explain the danger of this monster, but these people did not listen to a word. They even laughed at Terekin's timidity, thinking that Terekin had been in France for too long and had contracted the French disease .Terekin believed that they were very brave. If this was a war, everyone would dare to rush towards the enemy's position with their bare arms and arms, but brave and reckless methods should never be used to deal with mystery.

Terekin sighed, he had seen the camp administrator.

He was a man with a tough attitude. He was a tyrannical man who would see his subordinates move immediately after issuing an order. He did not allow anyone to make rebuttals, and he did not want to listen to Professor Terekin's "nonsense".

——You have the ability, you are an expert in this field, that's good, just do your job well and it's over.

There is no common sense of mysticism, and there is no evil god at all, it is all witchcraft!

Monsters are creatures infected with some kind of prehistoric virus or alien virus and mutated!

Professor Terekin almost had a heart attack.

On this cold night, he was worried that if the ghost radio station did not appear, he and Juan would be forced into the cave to detect the environment, and on the other hand, he was also worried that after the ghost radio station appeared, the monsters in the cave could not stand the stimulation and ran out to commit a massacre.

At this time, Terekin heard a messy voice not far away. He looked through the gap in the tent and found a few people who did not look like soldiers.

Looks like a peer, and a man dressed as a nomad.

They were stuffed into a tent next to them, with panicked expressions, and what they were talking about anxiously reminded Terekin of himself back then.

In the midst of this chaos, Terekin suddenly heard a discordant voice.

"Huh, huh..."

Juan's snoring was not loud, but it was heart-rending.

Terekin stared for a long time, and finally admitted that this is a kind of skill, different from what he said on paper, Juan is a real adventurer who has walked through the wilderness and no man's land.

The next day, Terekin, who was full of exhaustion and had dark circles under his eyes, saw Juan sitting on the ground covered with a blanket, still in a daze, and couldn't help but ask, "Don't you wake up?"

"No, I didn't sleep well." Juan yawned.

"What did you say?" Terekin was so angry that he wanted to question him. He slept through the whole night and didn't wake up. Does this mean he didn't sleep well?

Juan rubbed his eyes and said sincerely: "I didn't have the dream I thought."

"..."

"Dreams are very important." Juan sighed.

Since the end of the blood moon incident, Juan has not seen Hans and the others in his dreams.

These days Juan tried hard to contact Hans, but all failed.

It seemed that after the golden compass was used, some invisible shackles were released.

Juan was happy for a while, which meant that he was no longer involved in some hidden and dangerous world, and returned to a peaceful and peaceful life.

Now Juan regretted it, he tried not to touch Mystery, but Mystery would still come to him.

Damn luck, damned fate!

"stand up!"

The tent was thrown open vigorously.

Terekin and Juan were escorted out without breakfast, along with people from the tent next door.

"Come here last night? It looks familiar, let me ask."

Terekin tried to say hello to the people over there, and after communicating with them, he found out that they were indeed colleagues.

Still French.

"It's Mr. Rota, the famous explorer. I've seen his reports in Africa."

"Why is he here?"

"I came to the Caucasus Mountains to explore, but I was so unlucky. I heard the strange noises in the caves from the nearby herdsmen and I was very interested, so I adjusted my route and came here to explore, and then I was discovered!" Professor Terekin shook his head and sighed. The neighborhood is blocked, and locals who enter by mistake will be driven away, and foreigners will definitely be detained!

That Mr. Rota had a black beard and was short and stocky. He brought two assistants, a man and a woman, and a herdsman who acted as a guide.

What they worry about is being detained inexplicably.

Mr. Rota waved his arms and tried to explain in broken Russian that he was not a spy.

Soon the chief of the camp came, still with the familiar style, after listening to the report of his subordinates, he confirmed that Rota and the others were explorers, nodded and left.

I didn't say a word to Mr. Rota from the beginning to the end.

Rota thought he could be released like a herdsman, but after a hard bread and canned breakfast, Mr. Rota's female assistant was taken hostage in the camp, and the others were led by soldiers to the opposite cliff advance.

Professor Terekin was on the verge of fainting.

Juan looked at Rota and the others who knew nothing, and didn't know how to remind them that the soldiers next to them were still carrying wooden warehouses.

Mr. Rota's male assistant misunderstood Terekin's expression and Juan's embarrassment. He didn't know what to think, thinking that he was leading them to the valley to be shot, and jumped off the hillside in fright to try to escape.

Then broke his neck.

This section of the hill looks gentle, but in fact the green grass is covered with limestone, not to mention people, even if a sheep rolls down, it will break its bones.

The team was unexpectedly downsized.

Mr. Rota's face was livid, and after several calls to no avail, he also knew the weirdness of the matter.

Especially after climbing up the hillside, he saw a minefield.

The buried landmines are marked with small flags. They are buried shallow and sparsely, and the impact buckles on them can be clearly seen.

After passing through the minefield, Juan finally saw the mysterious cave.

It is not on the mountain wall, but a black hole at the top of the hillside.

The entrance of the cave is slightly inclined with the slope, and it is a veritable cave. If he didn't say it, Juan would have thought it was a hollow formed between two rocks.

The entrance of the cave is not big, and the surrounding area is covered with green grass.

Juan visually judged that the hole was just big enough for two people to squeeze in side by side.

It's unremarkable, there is no unpleasant smell, and there is no cold wind. At first glance, you may think that the inside is only three or four meters deep.

The camp provides expedition gear, clothing, ropes, suggested surveying facilities.

Then they were driven into the cave.

"...the hole is very deep." Terekin switched to French.

There are only three people in this temporary team.

Terekin was with Juan, and Terekin was Russian, and Rota was wary of him.

After Rota briefly heard about the disappearance of Terekin's friends here and the monsters in the cave, he remained silent.

They used the sling and only descended about ten meters before stepping on a slippery flat ground.

Juan thought to himself, from here, the journey to death in the mysterious cave probably officially began.

With the light of the flashlight, Juan saw that the cave gradually became narrower, and the passage extended downward at an angle of about [-] degrees.

If you accidentally roll down, you may either fall to your death or get stuck in the cave passage.

"This section of the road is very long... My friend tried it. He used up all the 100-meter climbing ropes, and he still didn't explore to the end. My friend went up and planned to replenish supplies and go another day. He wrote me a letter. A letter." Terekin desperately recalled the contents of the letter and the information he had heard in the camp these days.

"As long as we bring out something useful, look at the walls of the cave, the cracks in the rocks, and the stagnant water."

Professor Terekin wanted to continue talking, but Mr. Rota reprimanded him in a low voice: "Shut up."

We all know that there are monsters in the cave, so why dare to talk non-stop?

Juan doesn't care, after all, whether it's the evil god or the evil god's family, they don't kill people by distinguishing voices.

It's useless to keep quiet. The sound of human heartbeat, blood flow, body temperature and heat—these things cannot be covered up.

Not to mention the existence of mystery, even wild wolves have this tracking ability and can attack humans silently.

Juan had been in caves before, and he didn't like the environment much.

Dark, depressing, and not knowing what to expect.

It could be a swarm of bats, or it could be a venomous snake.

The cave was occupied by "monsters", but these troubles were avoided. Juan walked all the way without seeing a single bug.

The walls of the cave fluctuate from big to small. The spacious place can accommodate a military truck, and the narrow place requires turning your body sideways to squeeze through. Several times Terekin almost slipped and rolled down—the rock wall he was holding on to suddenly disappeared and became It has become a hollow fault, the wind is whistling inside, and the faint sound of running water can be heard.

"This is a fork."

Rota threw a small stone down, heard the sound of it rolling down after landing, and said with certainty.

"It takes a sling more than 20 meters long to go down."

"There are not enough ropes, so don't go this way." Juan said firmly.

Rota didn't refute. Although they all love adventure, saving their lives is the most important thing now.

After groping for about 100 meters, Juan felt a gust of wind blowing from both sides at the same time, and in front of him was a solid stone wall.

"The road is this way." Terekin and Rota said at the same time.

The three of them began to face a dilemma, which direction they should go.

There are cold winds on both sides, and the passages on both sides are very deep.

"The cave inside the Arabian Mountain is very likely to be connected, and we have a chance to escape."

Professor Terekin's words made Juan's eyes light up.

"My assistant is detained in the camp, and I can't leave." Rota said irritably.

There seemed to be a disagreement in the temporary team, and Juan immediately persuaded: "Maybe these two roads lead to the ground, and there is no way to escape. There is no point in arguing here, we should choose as soon as possible..."

Juan suddenly felt a severe headache.

"Swish."

There was a strange sound coming from the passage to the right.

"This way!" Juan grabbed Professor Terekin with all his strength and rushed to the left passage.

Rota also fell into a strong discomfort, he didn't know what happened, and instinct drove him to follow.

Juan shuddered and shuddered.

At this time, the passage happened to be interrupted, Juan stepped on the air, and the three of them fell in together.

"boom."

Below the cave is a pool of water.

The area of ​​the water pool is still very open, only four or five meters away from the end of the passage, Juan narrowly escaped death.

"Quick, take a deep breath."

He took the terrified Terekin and Rota to the bottom of the water.

The cave was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

The current at the bottom of the pool was so strong that Juan was swept a long way and was finally pushed up a rocky bend.

The force of the impact was taken off by the backpack, just a little dull.

Fortunately among misfortunes, the water level is still some distance from the cave wall.

Juan rose to the surface, gasping for air, and then he went to rescue Terekin, who was also lying on the rock.

"Is that... a monster?" Terekin asked tremblingly.

"No." Juan continued without waiting for Terekin to breathe a sigh of relief, "That's the evil god."

"what?"

Terekin screamed, Rota didn't know where he had drifted, and yelled this way from a distance.

Terekin grabbed Juan's hand firmly, and asked tremblingly, "Are you sure?"

Juan nodded, then realized that he couldn't reach his fingers here, couldn't see at all.

"I'm sure."

Juan thought, based on my headache experience of encountering four evil gods, that thing just now was the evil gods.

Fortunately, we ran fast and in time, so we didn't hit each other.