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Chapter 46 Underground Network
Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Geng Xuan stood there, holding an oil lamp in his hand.

The light flickered, distorting his figure on the rock wall into strange and inexplicable shapes.

This was a discovery that was completely unexpected to Geng Xuan.

And when he raised the lamp to illuminate a corner of the tunnel hidden deep underground, looking at the deep darkness that led to nowhere, his first reaction was to repair the hole that he had "accidentally" dug as much as possible, and then pretend that nothing had happened.

If I had been more careful, I would have tried my best to fill in the huge underground space that I had dug out these days.

In short, the principle is that the deeper the underground tunnel is buried, the better.

But soon, Geng Xuan realized that doing so was just an act of covering up one's own mistakes.

This doesn't really make you safer.

If I hadn't discovered this tunnel, I could still be optimistic and pretend nothing had happened.

But to think like this now is just deceiving myself.

Now, there are only two choices before me.

One is to run away from this place and Changpingfang like a frightened rabbit.

Another thing is to explore this tunnel more proactively and actively.

The latter seems more dangerous and requires overcoming more psychological barriers.

But with a little analysis, you will know that this is the most correct approach.

It must be so!

After a struggle between his conscience and his desires, Geng Xuan gradually came up with a clear plan in his mind. He cleaned up the broken soil that had fallen into the tunnel, and then roughly restored the gap. He stopped digging and finished work early to go home.

The next day, Geng Xuan came here again and dug up the hastily restored gap again. He quickly waved a short stick less than a meter long in the air, and a ball of fire ignited at the top.

This was the result of him finishing work early and going home yesterday.

This short stick may seem ordinary, but he actually put a lot of thought into it. When needed, he only needs to quickly wave it in the air to light a torch. Not only is it brighter than an oil lamp, but it also does not need to be held as steadily as an oil lamp.

At the same time, he had a dissection knife at his waist, and two blowpipes of different sizes in his arms, along with a lot of matching fine needles and nails.

The preparations can be said to be quite sufficient.

This time, with the brighter torch, Geng Xuan could see farther.

He stared at both ends of the tunnel carefully, then stood there quietly, with the terrain above the ground slowly emerging in his mind.

The direction of the underground tunnel gradually overlapped with it, and a blurry but roughly identifiable picture formed in Geng Xuan's mind.

The special perception ability granted by the Dacheng realm's practice technique allowed Geng Xuan to have a rough understanding of the direction of the tunnel deep underground.

Geng Xuan first turned around and looked behind him.

In this direction, the tunnel leads deep into the wilderness.

Geng Xuan hesitated for a moment, then strode forward with the torch in hand.

Soon, Geng Xuan discovered the first strange thing.

Compared to the tunnel he dug, this tunnel is obviously deeper underground, but its cross-section is larger than the tunnel he dug.

Another thing is that the ventilation of this tunnel is better than ours.

Walking inside, Geng Xuan did not feel suffocated at all. Instead, he felt the air was quite fresh and the torch in his hand was burning normally.

Geng Xuan estimated that he had walked about two kilometers when the tunnel finally reached its end.

But Geng Xuan just looked around casually while holding the torch and he could conclude that this end was not the real end, but was blocked by someone in a clever way.

The reason why it is called "clever technique" is because most people cannot tell that this is a later blockage and would think that the end is here.

Geng Xuan was relying on his earth-walking skills at the Great Accomplishment stage, which was far beyond this stage. His super earth-identifying ability, which had been enhanced by his Eye of True Vision, enabled him to spot the flaw at a glance.

"Who dug this tunnel?"

“Who sealed it again?”

Geng Xuan's mind was full of thoughts. He took one last look at the end of the man-made blockade and turned around to walk back the way he came.

Dig through this blockage again?
Geng Xuan doesn't have this plan for the time being, at least, in this direction.

It wasn't long before he was back to where he started.

Geng Xuan did not stop and walked forward.

This direction leads to Changpingfang.

Geng Xuan walked forward step by step, counting silently in his heart.

"one two Three……"

Geng Xuan deliberately controlled the length of each step to about one meter.

Just like that, when Geng Xuan counted to five hundred and twenty, he stopped.

He held the torch and looked upward.

If the unique perception granted by the Earth Walking Technique was not wrong, then his home was right above his head, within a margin of no more than ten meters.

If you only dig four or five meters upwards, you are likely to find an "underground bubble" set up near your home.

Geng Xuan was about to retract his gaze and continue exploring forward.

Suddenly his eyes fixed.

Somewhere on the side wall of this tunnel, a scene very similar to what we saw at the other end just now appeared -

The side wall looks intact and natural, but in fact there is an area that is man-made.

Geng Xuan was originally wondering "Who blocked this tunnel?" At this moment, a gradually clear answer emerged in his mind.

The person who blocked the other end of the tunnel and the side wall in front of him is most likely the father of his predecessor!
Because this method of blocking is not just filling it with mud, but it itself contains the extremely sophisticated skills of identifying and distinguishing soil in the Earthly Chapter.

If this cannot be considered as ironclad evidence, then digging up the blocked area in front of us again should be able to carry out the final verification.

Geng Xuan guessed that if he dug up the blocked hole again, it would most likely be a tunnel leading to his house.

There may also be a basement that has been refilled.

Geng Xuan carefully recalled what happened when he was digging the underground space directly below the house, and wondered whether there was a "backfill" area that he had dug up again.

It's just that he didn't think about it at all at that time, so he ignored it in his heavy and boring work.

But Geng Xuan just thought about it and gave up the idea of digging and verifying, instead he raised the torch and continued to explore forward.

Geng Xuan silently counted his steps. When he stood still again and looked up, he suddenly realized, "This should be near the gate of Changpingfang."

Geng Xuan only stood there for a moment before continuing forward.

After walking for a while and estimating that he was about to enter the market, Geng Xuan stopped again.

Just because he reached the end of the tunnel again.

The road ahead was once again sealed tightly.

At first glance, this tunnel looks like a simple, short "line segment" with both ends clearly visible.

But Geng Xuan stood at this "end" for a long time holding the torch.

The simplest way, naturally, is to dig through the blockage again, which is easy for him to accomplish.

But Geng Xuan just thought about it for a moment and decided not to move the plug and not destroy it.

But he did not stop exploring and turned back.

He first carefully checked the surrounding situation and imprinted it in his mind. Then, Geng Xuan extinguished the torch, and the tunnel fell into complete darkness and silence.

But Geng Xuan, who had a clear idea of the surrounding situation in his mind, was not panicked at all. Instead, he squatted in a corner of the rock wall and started digging quickly.

Soon, a narrow hole in the ground that was only wide enough for him to crawl forward appeared in front of him.

He dug quickly and moved forward silently.

After half an hour.

In a dark and silent tunnel, a finger suddenly emerged silently from the side wall.

Then, the finger was gently retracted. If there was someone who could see in the dark and noticed something unusual here, they would have discovered that although the finger was retracted, an ear was quietly sticking to the back of the small hole, as if listening carefully to the movements outside.

In the tunnel, it was still quiet and dark.

More fingers emerged silently from around the hole where an ear was pasted.

Then, an oval piece of rock wall fell off silently and was gently lifted up by ten fingers and carried forward.

A crawling figure emerged from the hole, just big enough for a person to pass through, like a snake.

The figure landed lightly on the ground, and with his backhand put the plate-like rock wall in his hand back to its original position.

Unless you light a torch and look closely, you won't be able to detect the subtle abnormality.

After adapting to the darkness for a while, Geng Xuan discovered that the tunnel he was in was not absolutely dark.

If you look carefully, you will find that there is very faint light coming through some areas above your head.

Without any lighting, he could get a general idea of the situation in the tunnel with his extraordinary eyesight.

Geng Xuan found that he was also in a tunnel.

He also found traces of human blockage in one area, which matched the pattern.

In Geng Xuan's mind, a "T"-shaped intersection consisting of two tunnels had already appeared.

However, of the two tunnels that were originally connected, the downward tunnel was blocked artificially, and an area of more than 30 meters from the intersection downward was completely blocked.

The "丁"-shaped fork in the road turned into an "一"-shaped passage.

Geng Xuan stood in this "one"-shaped passage and felt it for a while. Due to the lack of ground reference correction, he could no longer accurately determine where the two directions led to, but he could still roughly see that one direction led to the outside of the market, while the other direction led to the inside of the market.

Geng Xuan thought about it for a moment, then tiptoed towards the direction leading to Kangle Village.

He counted the steps silently in his mind, and after walking about 500 meters, Geng Xuan found that another "丁"-shaped fork appeared.

Geng Xuan thought about it, and in order to avoid getting completely dizzy underground and unable to find the way back, he decided to choose the right side whenever he encountered a fork in the road.

And if you encounter two more forks in the road, you must stop exploring and return immediately.

After making his choice, Geng Xuan turned right.

The ground had obviously risen, and occasionally one could even see an opening about the size of a palm leading directly to the ground.

Although it was still dim, Geng Xuan could basically see things clearly within twenty steps.

Even if it's someone else, a vague outline can be seen within three or five steps.

Geng Xuan judged that at this moment he was less than ten meters from the ground.

Then, within less than five hundred steps, he encountered two T-shaped intersections in succession.

The height of the tunnel is still rising, getting closer and closer to the ground.

At the same time, the tunnels are becoming less and less like "holes" and more like rooms.

Just like a carriage, the width and height are within the normal range, but the length is quite exaggerated, like a long corridor.

Geng Xuan recalled the T-shaped forks in the road and everything he had seen along the way, and his heart was shocked.

He felt like he had accidentally entered an underground network, and what he was exposed to now was just the tip of the iceberg of this network.

"That's it for this time."

Geng Xuan prepared to end this exploration and quietly return along the original route.

But at this moment, faintly, the cry of a child reached his ears.

Geng Xuan paused, hesitated for a moment, then tiptoed towards the direction where the crying sound came from.

Then, Geng Xuan walked forward about three hundred meters and passed a fork in the road.

As he got closer, the crying sound became clearer and clearer, and Geng Xuan gradually realized that it was not just one child crying, but many.

Geng Xuan also saw the flickering flames.

He slowed down, then slowly moved forward.

Hiding in the shadows, Geng Xuan looked in the direction of the crying sound and his heart started beating wildly.

An underground space that is much larger than a normal room. In the center is an iron pot with firewood burning underneath, illuminating the surroundings.

Next to it, there are five or six iron cages.

There is a child locked in each iron cage.

One of the children was the one crying the loudest. When Geng Xuan saw his appearance clearly, his heartbeat couldn't help but slow down for a beat.

He knew this child. He had met this child once and whose mother had made a big fuss after he got lost.

(End of this chapter)