As the sun droops, the miscellaneous woods outside the Akahama Pavilion are smoky to a golden red color by the setting sun.

At the entrance to the shrine deep in the forest, a reddish-brown torii gate draws a long shadow in the setting sun and moves slowly in the open space below the approach. A few meters away, there is an ancient well covered with stone slabs, which is particularly quiet and lonely surrounded by weeds and wild flowers. With the cry of crows in the blood-colored sun, seven figures of different heights stood beside the moss-covered ancient well, and the rising and falling shadows were as strange as some ancient ritual.

"This is it. ”

Rin Hirakoba raised his foot and kicked the stone slab at the mouth of the well, and the clogs made a heavy sound on the stone.

"It's really heavy. It seems that we have to open the passage before Hell can appear. ”

"Don't say that, Pinggubanni-chan......" Yuka shrunk beside her brother and rubbed her arms together and shivered, "This kind of scenery always feels creepy." ”

"Peace of mind, we're at the gate of the shrine now, and it's impossible for ghosts to emerge in this kind of pure place, so what's there to be afraid of!"

Rin grinned against the slate and tugged up the sleeve of her kimono, "Come on, come on, move this thing first, the time will be up." ”

Hearing this, the rest of the teenagers all consciously stepped forward and formed a circle, and together they lifted the stone slab the size of a grinding disc and threw it aside, and the muffled sound from the ground shook people's feet.

"That's it. ”

Patting the dirt on his hands, Rin nodded with satisfaction, "Well, now it's time to wait for the 'Golden Cure Pill's blade to stab Aju'." ”

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the immovable torii above his head, and he couldn't help but have the illusion that a dark shadow was gradually pressing down on his head.

The heavily saturated sunset sinks from behind the shrine into the sea, and the dense forest of trees gradually loses its temperature, and a milky white crescent moon rises on the sea level in the distance...... Just as the last rays of light were about to fade, the torii finally stretched out its dark horns and quietly pierced into the well of the black hole - for a moment, as if they were being pulled by something invisible, everyone stared at what was happening, and they all held their breath.

I don't know when the crows in the forest no longer make a sound, and even the leaves that are occasionally blown by the wind have stopped, and there is a dead silence in the dense woods.

In the midst of such silence, suddenly a voice sounded from the cochlea—no, the tremor of a hammer, more like a surging from the bottom of the heart, surging □□ against everyone's chest, down the spine to the heels, and finally into the ground.

Yukari's eyes widened in horror, and her hands covered her ears hard, but even so, it couldn't stop the mournful murmur that seemed to run through her whole body—it was like the suppressed roar rolling in the throat of a giant beast, the last mournful cry before death, and it made people's hearts uncontrollably flood with a wave of sour and awe-inspiring feelings.

At this moment, something seemed to squirm at the bottom of the cold and dark well, and it seemed that a huge body was winding in the corridor at the bottom of the well, accompanied by a rumbling low sound and the sound of gurgling water, along the earth's veins, gradually moving away from the feet of everyone a few meters away......

Maybe it's tens of seconds, maybe it's minutes—until the slight but real tremor under everyone's feet has completely ceased, and the sound of the ground is no longer audible, and the space that seems to have been frozen has regained some vitality.

"What was that just, just now......"

Yuka Li clutched Kuranosuke's arm tightly, her little face was pale, and even her teeth chattered a little, obviously frightened. But her brother did not panic in the slightest, and even had a surprise and admiration on his face that had not faded.

"It's really amazing, it's nothing more than that!"

"yes. Movement of this magnitude...... That's why it's described as 'Naraku will appear in the world'? ”

Nao pressed his fist to his lips, and there was a surprise in his eyes that he couldn't hide, "Although I had guessed what kind of scene it would be before, but it was really better to see it than to hear it, and this is really something that can only be understood by experiencing it with oneself!"

"It's ...... A tidal wave once a month. ”

Yuto muttered in a trance, "After living on this island for so long, it's the first time I've known that there is actually this type of tide here-Chuan Xiong, a fool, obviously happened at his doorstep, and he didn't even notice it once?"

"--Tide???No、Isn't it a youkai?"

Yuka pressed her chest and gasped hard, trying to calm her pounding heart, and her wet eyes scanned the dry well in disbelief.

Listening to her question, Rin Hirakuba couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Youkai? well, it does sound like ...... But Tomokari-chan, I can't see that you're afraid of youkai, I thought you would be excited to see youkai!"

"Is it wrong to be afraid, afraid of youkai!" Yukari puffed out her face, "The movement just now was so terrifying, the rumbling ground shook, and it was under the well, as if something was going to be drilled out of the well...... Who would have thought that it was a tide, and the tide is not usually at sea!"

Kuranosuke listened to his sister's words and poked the back of her head in amusement.

"This phenomenon must have been filled with water all along, and then at this special moment, the tide has pumped all the seawater out of the well, which is why it makes that sound. ”

"I'm afraid it's once a year, the influence of the special three days and moons. Nao looked up at the moon and frowned, "But as far as I know, isn't it supposed to be high tide at night? ”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and all of them turned their gaze to the dark well.

The space under the well is wider than expected.

The stone tunnel is dark and damp, and the walls and feet are covered with strange shapes of unknown substances due to the perennial immersion in the seawater, and walking on it is as if you are walking on the uneven ice surface.

The pitch-black stalactite cave streaked through the white beams of light of several flashlights. The group of seven marched cautiously, and every now and then there was the sound of the group inhaling as they accidentally stepped on a seashell or kicked a starfish.

"Uh-huh......" Yuka let out a small □□, "I, I seem to have stepped on a sea cucumber......!

"Feel it more, it's not uncommon to see this kind of situation of stepping on the bottom of the sea!"

Rin Hirakoba laughed excitedly, shining his flashlight on the walls and ceilings on both sides.

"It's a stalactite cave! It's so wet and slippery, I guess I'll have to make several turns to find the exit...... Tsk, aquatic weeds. ”

"Stalactite caves aren't as safe as you might think. Hearing this, Youren sneered, "Under normal circumstances, it is necessary to conduct various surveys and tests on the cave to make sure that there are no toxic substances and will not collapse, and then lay cables and safety facilities before it can become a tourist attraction open to the outside world - rashly entering this kind of pure natural cave is really an act of seeking death in some cases." ”

"The premise is that this is indeed a normal stalactite cave. ”

Nao, who walked ahead, didn't look back, her voice mingling with the muffled sound of the waves that seemed to be close at a moment's notice, crashing into the cavern and reverberating hollow echoes.

"Don't you wonder why there is a saltwater well in front of the shrine and sealed with a stone slab. ”

"Isn't it because the well water is salty, so that everyone knows that the well water can't be eaten, so it's ...... Isn't that right?" Toukari immediately responded.

"It's not out of the question. But...... Look here. Nao stopped, shone his flashlight on the wall, and touched it lightly with his fingers, "The marks here are not as obvious as they were just now, but they are still very clear. ”

Everyone took a closer look, and found that there were several scratches on the stone wall that had been eroded by the sea, almost beyond recognition.

"It's ...... Traces of artificial excavation?" Shiraishi Kuranosuke's eyes widened in surprise and touched a few notches, "It seems to be a few words." ”

“…… It should be a ball character, which is an ancient Ryukyu character. ”

Youren said on the side, "I used to read the book of the monk in the bag, and this kind of writing was mentioned in it, and the words and strokes on the wall were a bit similar to the description in the book. ”

"So, the hole was dug by hand?" asked the wooden hand, but his tone was firm.

Nao shook his head: "I can only say that the roads so far have been dug by hand, and I tend to believe that they have dug a part of the original stalactite cave. ”

"That is to say, I don't know who - presumably the ancestors of this island - discovered this stalactite cave and dug it a little more and connected it to the well in front of the shrine......? Is it still a treasure? ”

A bright light came out of Mu's glasses.

"Maybe it's still a treasure from the time of King Shangzhen more than 500 years ago. ”

Nao tapped her earlobe, nodded, turned and continued decisively. The rest of the teenagers followed, changing their previous innocence and curiosity, and their expressions became more and more excited and eager to try.

A real treasure, for children living by the sea, it is an eternal romantic fantasy!

The group almost forgot about the rugged mud under their feet, and accelerated their pace to move on, and the man-made road that was not short became a real stalactite cave at some point.

Strange rocks and stalagmites everywhere - this road is simply not walked by people, although everyone knows by feeling how beautiful this empty and cramped cave will be after dressing up, but the high and low terrain and the uneven and convex surface that is almost impossible to move on are enough to destroy all artistic conceptions. Not to mention the fact that you have to worry about the tide that you don't know when it will be restored.

It's too slow. Nao raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said in his heart. They had been in the cave for nearly two hours.

(Careless.) ）

Nao's eyes darkened.

However, just as she was thinking about how to evacuate quickly after the high tide, a gust of wind suddenly slapped her face around the corner.

It's finally seeing the light of day again. Knowing what that meant, she let out a slow breath. 166 Reading Network