Mermaid Reef

"Snapped."

Drops of water fell on Juan's forehead.

Juan woke up with a start.

Hearing the water droplets falling on the rock wall like torrential rain, Juan quickly put away the sleeping bag wrapped around his body.

"The water has risen?" Juan asked in panic.

It's April, and underground rivers are about to swell due to the last wave of alpine snowmelt.

The cave passages that had no accumulated water were flooded, and the water would flow around along the rock crevices.

——When a person walks through a burrow, the river may not be beside him or under his feet, but may also be above his head. For example, now, you can know this by listening to the sound.

After just a few minutes, there was already water on the ground.

If the entire passage is filled with water, people will become beetles stuffed inside, unable to get out even if they run.

Moreover, the path in the cave is complicated, and it is difficult to change the route. Sometimes you can't see the fork in the road after walking for three hours.

Sometimes when I chose a fork, I obviously took a gradually ascending road, but within a few minutes of walking, the passage turned sharply down and went all the way to the ground.If the flood is raging, it will be too late to regret.

"Mr. Johnson?" Juan yelled in panic.

His flashlight was out of power, and he also found the flashlight in Professor Terekin's backpack and hid it in his pocket. He was reluctant to use it until the critical moment.

Now forced to turn on, the light of the flashlight is very weak, and I can barely see the distance within a few steps.

Terekin lay motionless in his sleeping bag, half of his body was already soaked in stagnant water.

Juan's heart skipped a beat, and he rushed over to check the situation.

Not dead, breathing.

His forehead was still hot, and he was talking nonsense.

It's just that I "walked" a long way during the day, and I still climbed ropes in the cave, squatted to move, and swam across the river. A series of difficult movements, which consume a lot of physical strength.Even in a state of delirium with strange power, Professor Terekin didn't have the strength to get up and toss, and could only babble.

Juan wasn't in the mood to listen to Terekin's nonsense. He looked around with a flashlight, but he didn't see Jason.

"..."

If you imitate human beings, you have to imitate well. What's the matter when you get off work?

The evil god disappeared at a critical moment, so Juan could only drag Teretin up to a higher place.

Juan's watch had been soaked in water and had stopped. He didn't know what time it was, and he could only estimate how long he had been in the cave.

Anyway, in less than three days, Terekin would definitely not be able to wake up.

After walking hard for a while, the sleeping bag wrapped around Terekin's body was completely submerged in the water. With the help of the buoyancy of the water, it became easier to drag. At least the bottom of the sleeping bag reduced the contact with the rocks. friction.

"Oops."

Juan suddenly heard a change in the sound of the water flow. He picked up the flashlight to take a picture, and suddenly saw a gap visible to the naked eye in front of him, and the water leaked in directly.

Juan gasped. He realized that the situation was worse than he thought. There might also be a channel next door, and it was also flooded, and the water level was higher than this side.

The stagnant water gradually rose, and Juan was still trapped in this passage with nowhere to escape.

All of a sudden, Juan seemed to be dragged by an invisible big hand, "sliding" for nearly a hundred meters in the passage, and then fell on a slope above the slope.

Juan rubbed his sore buttocks, staring dumbfounded at the raging flood in front of him.

No, why is it so bright here?

Juan turned his head and found Jason holding a familiar flashlight in his hand, standing there quietly watching him.

"...what I found in the camp."

Jason lifted an army green backpack in his hand, and Juan stretched his head to see, good guy, there are a dozen flashlights.

Beside the flashlight were five cans of fish and a bottle of vodka.

Juan: "..."

At this moment, Juan recalled the experience of amnesia in the small ruined town in Italy.

At that time, Juan really felt that he was very lucky, and he could always find food and drinking water in the well-preserved house.

As for why these things were not discovered by other survivors?Because he is the only sane person in the city. Those survivors are confused and only take away the food on the bright side. As for the boxes hidden at the bottom of the bookcase and the cans under the bed, they are definitely safe, even though Italians like it. There is a strange thing about storing British canned food.

It turned out that those were placed by the evil god!

Juan took the "supply package" numbly, suspecting that the evil god had robbed the warehouse of the camp.

This matter will be discovered soon, and the group of Soviets don't know what they will think.

Food and wine may have been stolen. What if the flashlight was stolen?

The soldiers stationed in the camp were still a national secret agency investigating mysterious incidents, and things went wrong!

But Juan couldn't refuse this supply of supplies, after all, life was more important.

For other things, I can only worry about leaving this cave safely.

"By the way, I also found someone on the road."

Jason stepped aside, and Juan saw Mr. Rota lying in the muddy water.

Juan thought that the explorer had met with misfortune, but he did not expect to be alive.

"That's great, the three of us came in together." Juan approached Rota, his expression stiffened.

His face was flushed, his lips were white and peeling, and he was still muttering strange words.

Another patient with delirium.

Very good, a living corpse has been added to the team.

Juan felt that it was too difficult for him.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Jason said imitating the tone in the novel.

Juan's scalp was numb, and he said dryly: "I think both of these news are bad for me?"

Jason smiled.

Juan was always funny, not as smart as John, but fun.

"My... my companion is here, you have seen it." Jason gave Juan an obvious signal.

"Mr. Gemmel?"

Juan's pupils constrict.

Juan didn't know about it when he was in Jamaica. Later, he contacted Hans several times and even checked the classics. How could he not know who Gemil was?

According to occult knowledge, the legendary Norse god of the sea, Gemil, is an ancient god who is powerful, possesses endless wealth and the voice of bewitching.

"The bad news is that the camp has collapsed, and the evil god in this cave tried to escape, but he happened to meet Gemil, and now this new god I really want to meet has fled to the depths of the cave...According to human physical strength, we may have to It takes ten days to get there!"

Juan: "..."

Jason said with a gentle expression; "You can change your mind to comfort yourself. Last time there were four evil gods, but this time there are only three."

***

Professor Terekin woke up to the smell of beef.

He is very familiar with the smell of this canned food. Soldiers in the camp like to put this in a pot a few days ago and stew it with potatoes and onions.

If it were in France, he would definitely not take a second look at this kind of food.

But the stomach and intestines didn't listen to them, and they kept barking, and their throat was also very dry.

Terekin felt his hand rise stiffly, and put a spoonful of food into his mouth.

So fragrant and so warm.

It's too cold here.

Terekin couldn't help thinking that his chaotic consciousness had just felt painful, and was soon soothed by this warm taste.

Terekin fell back into a coma.

After an unknown amount of time, Terekin heard someone calling his name and slapped his cheek hard.

"Wake up... wake up quickly, no way, Professor Terekin is still unconscious, hasn't his fever gone?"

"Probably too tired."

This is an Englishman speaking, you can tell by the accent, Terekin thought vaguely.

His eyelids were so heavy that they couldn't be pulled open no matter what.

"If you can't wake up all the time, could there be a mutation?" Juan asked worriedly.

Do not!

Terekin didn't know where the strength came from. He opened his eyes suddenly, straightened his upper body with all his strength, and said in horror: "I'm fine, I haven't turned into a monster!"

"..."

10 minute later.

Terekin touched the sleeping bag that served as a cushion under his body, tugged at the tarpaulin patchwork tent, and glanced at the vodka bottle in the corner, almost thinking that he had escaped from the magic cave of the Arabian Mountains.It's a pity that it's dark outside, and you can touch the wet rock roof with your hands.

Ahead was a rushing underground river, and the tent happened to be set up on a small protruding platform.

There was also a fire in front of the tent with a soup pot on it.

"You just said...the Soviet camp collapsed, and a lot of things floated into the underground river? You fished all these things up? Including the tent and this pot?" Professor Terekin held his head, doubting that he was still in the same place. hallucination.

"It's true." Juan's voice was a little weak.

In fact, only a small part is floating.

The underground water system is criss-crossed and very complicated. How could it be possible to just float in front of you and let you choose?

Don't ask, the question is that the evil god is obsessed with adventure and treasure hunting activities, collecting materials everywhere in the cave.

Professor Terekin asked incomprehensibly, "Why did the camp collapse?"

"Uh, the evil god should be angry. The Soviets thought the enemy was on the opposite mountain, but they didn't expect the evil god to attack them at their feet." Juan had already thought up his words, and he was very skilled in explaining them now.

What?the truth?

Jason could tell Juan the truth bluntly, but Juan couldn't tell the truth to Terekin—otherwise Juan would have to explain why he knew the evil god.

It might scare Terekin to death.

"This Mr. Jansen is also me... I rescued him. He is a British man and a companion. They were taken to the camp together. Before they could enter the cave, the ground collapsed and fell into the cave in the middle of the night. rushed here."

Juan tried his best to invent a lie.

No way, Jason didn't like the climbing suits they were wearing.

If you are a cave explorer, it is impossible to wear a set of clothes that were popular 50 years ago.

"British……"

Sure enough, Terekin didn't ask any more questions. In his eyes, the British were very strange.

Jason didn't speak, just stood there watching the river.

Professor Terekin rubbed his forehead, and suddenly asked: "How did we get here? I seem to have been in a coma for a long time, and I seem to sleepwalk and eat a bowl of beef, onion and potato soup?"

"I fed you, how could you sleepwalk?" The corner of Juan's mouth twitched slightly, and he hurriedly changed the subject, "We were also washed all the way by the flood, but I woke up earlier than you."

Terekin felt that he had stepped on something, and when he lowered his head, it turned out to be Mr. Rota.

Rota is still in a coma.

Terekin sighed: "No matter what, the three of us are still alive, which is already very lucky."

Juan's expression was numb.

No, all three of them would be dead without Jason.

In addition to food and supplies, they also experienced the misfortune of almost drowning, falling to death, being crushed to death by a collapsed rock wall, and getting stuck halfway through the narrow passage, unable to move and starving to death in the past three days.