Chapter 30: The Underground Labyrinth 2 (Part I)
Chen Badai looked at the backpack angrily, and Mr. Min could only shake his head helplessly - Chen Badai's 40-liter mountain bag is a figure-eight large opening zipper, which is pulled open on both sides until the bottom of the backpack, which is a common design for small backpacks to facilitate the holding of items, and the main bag is grinning at everyone at this time.
Chen Badai couldn't laugh, the main bag contained the most important items, but now, except for the oxygen cylinder that had not been used, and the oxygen tube was dragging outside, all the things were gone, fortunately, the outer auxiliary bag was not opened, but the auxiliary bag was very small, that is, it contained some gadgets......
When Chen Badai fell, he was carrying a backpack, and the backpack also helped him make a cushion, so he was not injured, but when he took the flashlight just now, Chen Badai groped for a long time and pulled the zipper of the main bag to the maximum, but he forgot to pull the zipper, so he walked with the Sherpa and walked away, Sherpa walked ahead, and he didn't notice that Chen Badai would make such a low-level mistake, Chen Badai was dizzy again, and he was thinking about finding a way out, but he didn't notice that he walked all the way, and the things in the bag fell all the way, carrying the grinning backpack until he found Mr. Min.
This is simply a mistake that should not be made! For Chen Badai, who is known as one of the top ten King Kongs, it is simply unforgivable! However, when people are nervous and focused on something, they will ignore other things, and from this point of view, it seems that Chen Badai's "guilt" can be reduced.
"Well, it's useless to say anything, check it out......" Sherpa said with a helpless shake of his head.
Mr. Min also opened his backpack, and Sherpa who did not have a backpack took out all the things in his pocket and counted them intensively.
"A raincoat, a fleece jacket, 4 4.5-meter self-rescue flat belts, 3 packs of compressed biscuits, 4 water bottles, uh...... In total, there are about 2 liters of water, two oxygen cylinders, three flashlights, and batteries...... 4 spare batteries, 1 medical kit...... Two knives...... Two main locks, two descenders, and a folding sapper shovel...... That's all. Sherpa looked at what was spread out on the ground, and it was clear at a glance.
"Okay, so what's next for us?" Mr. Min's heart sank again, the raincoat and jacket can keep warm, the self-rescue flat belt and the main lock descender have lost the main rope and are not very useful, if you plan to stick to it for a long time, the spare battery is also a little less, the oxygen cylinder is almost useless, and the most important food and water are already below the critical point for the three people.
The temperature in the cave is a little low, the first thing to consider is to keep warm, Mr. Min and Chen Badai are wearing coats, which can withstand the low temperature for the time being, Sherpa just took off his coat and threw it in the camp with his backpack, wearing only a T-shirt, at this time he was still, and a layer of goosebumps appeared on his arms.
Mr. Min handed the jacket and raincoat to the Sherpa, who was almost a head taller than Mr. Min, and the jacket was too narrow to zip at all, so he had to put on a raincoat, although the rubber raincoat was not breathable, but it was this that kept him warm.
"Save power, just turn on a flashlight." Sherpa proposed that Mr. Min thought about it and turned off the flashlight, Sherpa could only use his own flashlight, although Chen Badai's caving flashlight was very bright, but at the same time it was also very power-consuming, so don't use it until you have to, and the 6 batteries in the flashlight will be pre-used as backup batteries.
"Be sure to protect the battery." Although Sherpa is stout, he is still quite careful, he divided the remaining four spare batteries in two, handed two to Mr. Min, and put the remaining two into the zippered pocket of his trousers, and Mr. Min saw this, and also put the batteries away.
Water and food have also been distributed, things have been packed, and then there is a very real problem, Chen Badai looked at the situation of this hall through the light diffused by the flashlight, this is also a rough stone chamber in the cave, more than a dozen passages around the edge of the stone chamber, like the light of the sun, these passages are large and small, and it seems that they are also hollowed out by using the soil in the mountain.
"This must be Loulan's tomb, the sun burial!" Mr. Min looked at it carefully and thought of the solar burial, which was centered on the tomb and radiated around the perimeter with poplar stumps.
Perhaps those Loulan immigrants couldn't use the sun burial here, so they dug out these caves and passages in the mountains, and became another way of sun burial, so the place where they are standing now should be the tomb of someone who has been reserved.
"Hey, don't care about the burial, if you can't find a way out, you'll bury us." Chen Badai patted Mr. Min and reminded him of the current situation, and he had to talk about Loulan later.
"Mr. Xia, how to go?" Looking at so many passages, Chen Badai threw the problem to the Sherpas.
Sherpa can't pay attention to it, although Sherpa is from a geological background, and has been doing survey work in the field for many years, but this is the first time that he has encountered such a situation.
Sherpa swept back and forth with a flashlight, these caves were large and small, and they couldn't tell the direction, no one knew where they led, but since Cave 6 was the direction he came from, there was no way to the outside world, which could basically be ruled out......
"We ...... Belch...... Let's start with the big ones. Sherpa wasn't sure, but it made sense to start with the big hole, "Hmm...... When you encounter a fork in the road, remember to make a road sign. ”
"Then Mr. Xia, which one to start? This one? Or is it this? Chen Badai pointed to the two largest passages, where there were no problems with three people walking side by side.
"Uh...... Let's start with this. "Sherpa is still the habit, starting with the one on the right.
"Keep up, don't fall behind." Sherpa nodded and walked into the cave with a flashlight.
Sherpa has surveyed a lot of caves, should be the most experienced among the three caving experience, at this time should be responsible, so he volunteered to be a pioneer, he took into account the need for long-term preparation, only a flashlight is completely wrong, but he as a pioneer holding a flashlight, the eyes of the people behind him will chase the light, and Sherpa This distance will be dark, and will not notice the foot, which slows down the action, the people behind must constantly coordinate with the Sherpa the problem of this light, if Sherpa walks at the end, It would be different to provide a light source from the back of the team, but at this time they didn't think of these details, although everyone was quite calm, at least no one had a mental breakdown now, but no one could guarantee that their hearts must be calm, they were more suppressing their inner fears, but with the passage of time and the accumulation of failures, depression and physical decline will slowly erode all people's confidence, and at that time, mental breakdowns are inevitable, and once they have a mental breakdown, they are standing on the verge of death……
"I've mustered the courage I've mustered for 20 years, and I'm not going to fail here...... Won't fail here...... Loulan is looking at me, Bing'er is looking at me...... "Among all of them, Mr. Min knows himself best, he did not unlock the secret of the coffin mountain, but fell deep underground, in order to survive, he could only suppress his fear, he continued to meditate in his heart, and increased his confidence with his long-standing imperceptible belief.
It is the right way to use faith to support the spirit, many people do not die of physical exhaustion, but because they lost their rational judgment after a mental breakdown, and finally dragged themselves into the abyss of death, Mr. Min persuaded himself countless times that faith would allow him to unlock the secret of Loulan, but the reality is fighting against faith, in the face of the fear of death, whether faith can let him live, no one can give an accurate answer.
From now on, reality has prevailed, and several people groped their way in the hole for more than an hour, picking up the big hole to walk, and suddenly found that they had returned to the hall in a circle......
"Alas......" Chen Badai wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere, but when the words came to his mouth, he didn't know what to say, and turned into a sigh, which was like a hammer, hitting Mr. Min's heart heavily.
"Why don't you try it from above?" Mr. Min looked up, and the palm-sized sky above him was now starting to turn a deep blue, and it was about to get dark.
……