Navigator: I have a double six-story house

Chapter 126 Underground Passage.

"Someone's there!"

Su Qing suddenly shouted.

The shout startled Wang Yao, who was rummaging through the dirt on his armor, and Li Daniu, who had just picked up his staff, instinctively looked around.

"Where?"

"At the bottom of the well!" Su Qing pointed to the uncovered opening at her feet. "There was a child there; he just ran away."

Wang Yao ran over in three quick steps and peered down into the well.

The pipe was pitch black, with a shallow pool of water at the bottom, and there was nothing in the shadows at the corner.

"Su-zai, are you seeing things?" Wang Yao pulled his head out of the well. "There's nothing down there."

Li Daniu also came over to take a look and shook his head.

"No, there really isn't."

Selena walked to the edge of the well, peered down, and saw the same result.

"Captain, there's only water down there."

Su Qing squatted by the well, her expression serious.

"I didn't see wrong."

"A child, about seven or eight years old, was squatting at the corner of the pipe. After he saw me, he turned and ran away."

Wang Yao opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but seeing Su Qing's expression, he swallowed his words.

Having been with Su for so long, when has he ever made a mistake in this kind of thing?

"Should we pursue them or not?"

"Chase!"

Su Qing stood up and glanced at the diameter of the well opening, which was about sixty centimeters, not very wide.

Then he glanced at Wang Yao, and then at Li Daniu.

With Wang Yao's physique and full plate armor, if he were stuffed into the well opening, he would be stuck solid.

Although Li Daniu wasn't wearing armor, he had a large frame, and his broad shoulders would be a formidable opponent.

Wang Yao was clearly aware of the problem as well. He looked down at the well opening, then at himself, his expression quite interesting.

"This... I don't think I can get down."

Li Daniu stood his staff upright on the ground and gestured to the well opening to show the width of his shoulders.

"I'm in trouble too."

Su Qing turned her head and glanced at the new crew members behind her. Among the thirty or so people, several were as muscular as Wang Yao.

However, there are a few new crew members who are rather thin; they should be fine going down.

Su Qing made a decision quickly.

"Wang Yao, Da Niu, you two take the stronger crew members and stay up there. I'll take Selena and the crew members who can go down to chase after them."

""

"Okay," Li Daniu nodded, "but Su, be careful. The space down there is small, and it will be difficult to maneuver if you encounter anything."

"Know."

Su Qing selected eight new crew members with thinner builds from the team and had them go down the mine with him.

Selena stood beside the well and glanced down at the dark entrance.

The well rim was covered with a layer of dark brown, viscous substance that emitted an indescribable sour smell.

She frowned slightly and pinched her nose.

"Captain, please go first."

Without saying a word, Su Qing braced herself on the edge of the well with both hands, then flipped herself down.

Stepping into the stagnant water at the bottom of the pipe splashed up a foul-smelling spray.

The space inside the pipe was larger than he had expected, and he could barely walk through it while hunching over.

Selena jumped down right after her, splashing a small amount of water as she landed. She quickly pulled her skirt up.

Eight new crew members disembarked one after another.

Selena took something that looked like a glow stick out of her purse and handed it to Su Qing, who was standing in front of her.

The orange glow illuminated an area a few steps away.

The pipe is circular, about 1.2 to 1.3 meters in diameter, with concrete walls covered in dark green moss, and about 10 centimeters of water at the bottom.

Su Qing bent over and walked in the direction the child had run off to.

Behind me came Wang Yao's shouts as he peered down from the wellhead, echoing and buzzing through the pipes.

"Su-zai, shout if anything happens, I'll take off my nail and force it out for you!"

"Save your breath." Su Qing didn't even turn her head.

The pipe was so quiet that only the sound of people splashing water could be heard.

After walking about fifty or sixty meters, a fork in the road appeared ahead.

Three pipelines converge at this node from different directions, making a total of four paths including the direction they came from.

Su Qing stopped and held up the glow stick to shine it on her.

The three dark, hollow pipe entrances looked exactly the same, with no discernible difference.

Selena followed behind him and peeked out as well.

"Captain, could you be mistaken? This place—"

Su Qing didn't respond, and squatted down.

The glow stick's light was close to the ground, and his gaze swept across the surface of the puddles.

Beneath the stagnant water lies a layer of deposited silt.

There were no traces on the silt surface of the pipe on the left, nor on the one in the middle.

Then it's on the right.

Su Qing extended the glow stick towards the right end of the pipe.

A series of footprints were clearly imprinted on the mud.

Very small footprints.

The outlines of the five toes pressed small indentations into the mud. The stride was short but closely spaced, and the foot ran very fast.

"Look at this." Su Qing pointed to the footprints.

Selena bent down and took a look.

"Is there really someone?"

"There are living people in a place like this? And it's a child at that?"

Su Qing handed the glow stick to a new crew member behind her and then used her free hand to check the weapon at her waist.

The deadly dagger is there, Otto Claire is there, and the fire system is fully loaded.

"Walk."

The group continued forward along the pipe on the right.

The footprints stretched on and on, but became messy in a few places, as if the child had slipped and fallen while running, then gotten up and continued running.

After they walked about three or four hundred meters, the pipes began to change.

On the originally neat concrete pipe wall, there were traces of deliberate chiseling. A section of the pipe wall had a hole knocked open, and the edges of the hole were jagged, clearly made by tools.

Behind the opening was a wider passage, no longer a circular pipe, but more like an artificially widened underground tunnel, and the height had also increased, so Su Qing could stand up straight without hitting her head.

The footprints turned into the cave entrance.

Su Qing stopped in front of the cave entrance and listened carefully.

Faintly, a sound could be heard coming from inside.

It wasn't the sound of water, nor the roar of a monster.

It is a human voice.

They were far away, and I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the rhythm and tone of their voices made it clear that they were talking.

Su Qing gestured for Selena and the new crew members behind her to lower their profile.

The group slowed their pace, kept their voices down, and made their way forward along the passage.

After walking through the passage for about several dozen meters, light appeared ahead.

Su Qing moved forward a few steps along the passage wall and saw the scene at the end of the passage.

The space, though not large, seemed to have been artificially expanded from some confluence of a pipe system. Three torches hung from the ceiling, illuminating the entire space.

Directly opposite the space is a metal gate.

The gate is thick and has a lot of rivets on its surface, making it look quite sturdy.

Several people were standing in front of the gate.