I walked in the middle of the line with my whole gear on my back, but I was a little listless. Once again, I leaned my wrist close to the ghostly lantern on the snail's back, trying to see if the second hand on my watch was still walking. But it seems to be the same as my master, after leaving Zuoqiu City, it began to get confused, walking and stopping, and even occasionally regressing.

This is already the fifth day that the caravan has left Zuoqiu City. The time on the watch has long been untrustworthy, so what time it is, or what time it is, I have long been unable to find the pattern, so I can only listen to the command of the leading Buye. He said stop when he stopped, he said he would leave, let him eat when he was eating, and sleep when he shouted to sleep, and even the time to get up the next day was set by him.

Speaking of which, when I first entered the Yin City, I deliberately spent tens of thousands of yuan to buy this automatic mechanical watch, because I was afraid that I would not be able to buy a battery in the underworld. The advantage of an analogue mechanical watch is that it does not require a battery, but it is far less resistant to interference than a digital watch that uses a battery.

When you are in Zuoqiu City, although there will be some deviations at the beginning, because there is a large clock on the top of the cave, you can still match the time every day. Once I left Zuoqiu City, in the middle of this underground wilderness, the expensive designer watch on my wrist became a useless piece of scrap metal. So I finally gave up and took it off and stuffed it into my carry-on backpack.

During this five-day journey, in addition to the trouble of time regularity, the fatigue of legs and feet was the greater challenge. Every day, the caravan traveled through a variety of underground caverns, large and small, occasionally crossing a long or short Yin vein. The route is neither straight nor even horizontal, and it is often necessary to turn around and climb up and down, which is particularly hard.

At this time, the slow-moving large snails show their utility. Whether it's climbing a stone ladder or descending a steep hill, there is no problem. Even when encountering cliffs or caves, they can climb on one side of the stone wall at an angle of 45 degrees and squirm, which is more than 100 times more adaptable than any means of transportation with wheels in the sun!

However, the novelty of all these strange walking routes and walking methods quickly passed, and I began to get bored and wanted to talk to someone. But even a talker like Bird Meat did not dare to speak freely while the caravan was moving. Because Bu Ye's "marching rules" are very strict, you are not allowed to speak on the road unless necessary, let alone chat!

In addition, it is forbidden to make screeching noises without permission. You know, in an empty underground cave, the most difficult thing to control is your voice, and the slightest sound will continue to echo and intensify through the surrounding cave walls, and continue to spread to several caves next to each other.

So, apart from tossing the watch on my wrist from time to time, the most I did was to be in a daze, looking down at the road under my feet in frustration. My shadow fluttered and fluttered in the light of the green ghostfire, just as I was about to go crazy.

As I walked, I suddenly saw something strange on one side of the stone wall. The silhouette of the shadow alone does not look like an ordinary mound or stalactite, but rather a gentle shape.

When I got closer, it turned out to be an unknown clump of plants, with fist-sized buds growing out of a cluster of jagged leaves. But no one seems to care about such a plant, and the person in front of him doesn't even look at it when he passes by, so it shouldn't be a rare plant. I gave up on getting to the bottom of the matter, and prepared to leave and move on.

But just then, one of the buds cracked, glowing red. The flowering process is fast, and the petals quickly unfold and curl, revealing the stamens inside. The stamens are actually fluorescent pink, which is very beautiful, with a cute and cute feeling.

I couldn't help but turn around, get closer and take a closer look, and reach out to touch the soft, beautiful looking petals.

"Smack!"

"Ugh!"

I retracted my aching right hand and cried out. There was a blue lump on the back of his hand, which had been hit by a small pebble. And judging by the trajectory of the flight, the person who threw the stone was at the front of the line.

"Do you want to die?"

Bu Ye pointed at me and scolded: "If you want to die, don't pull us up!" The first time I came out with the team, I was hairy, and I will suffer for you in the future! ”

After scolding these two sentences, he turned his head angrily and continued to drive forward.

I found that everyone else was looking at me too, snickering with schadenfreude, and it became awkward. I didn't dare to reason with Buye, and it was inconvenient to ask others what they were laughing at at this time. Otherwise, it is possible to attract even more violent anger from Bu Ye.

Finally, when it was time for the next half-time break, I secretly went to ask the bird meat what kind of flower it was? Why is Bu Ye so angry?

"That's a fruit fly flower! Hey! Bird Meat smirked, "Generally, novices who have never seen it are easy to fall for it." However, it is really rare for someone as bold as you to dare to reach out and touch it without asking! ”

I was embarrassed again, and then scratched my head and asked Bird Meat to continue to explain in detail what kind of terrible species is the fruit fly flower, and it can be life-threatening to touch it?

"The fruit fly flower is deliberately grown like that, emitting a fluorescent color to attract small animals to pick its honey. Once a person gets its pollen, it's in trouble! The pollen of the fruit fly flower is actually its egg, which will burrow into the pores of people and become parasites. When infected with this parasite, the skin begins to fester, and the larvae hatched from the eggs of the fruit fly flower grow up on the rotten skin of the carrivorous flesh, and then metamorphose into the fruit fly again, and finally burrow into the soil to become seeds and grow into plants! ”

"So amazing?" I said, "Is this a flower or a worm?" Plants or animals? ”

"Both! When it grows on the ground, it is a plant, and when it hatches from an egg, it is an animal! ”

"But the skin doesn't fester, it doesn't kill people, does it?" I was still skeptical.

Birdmeat's expression didn't look like a joke. "Fruit fly pollen causes skin diseases that can be fatal in the end and can be transmitted to others," he says. If someone in a caravan is infected with this skin disease, if it is not detected in time, it is likely that the entire caravan will suffer in the end! ”

"So, if you had been a little faster just now, it is estimated that Bu Ye would have used not a stone, but a knife!" The bird meat grimaced at me and made a chopping motion.

After listening to his "popular science", I suddenly felt a chill behind my back!

I couldn't imagine that it was so dangerous in the wilderness under the underworld, and I almost lost a hand as soon as I came out for a walk. You really have to be cautious everywhere and don't dare to mess around again. After this shock, I regained my spirit and began to learn to see and listen to all directions, and strive to become a qualified dart master.

There's basically nothing to tell about the rest of the journey. Except for the harassment of a few wild earth dragons on the ninth day, the caravan has been moving forward according to the route and routine set by Buye.

The earth dragon is also a kind of large lizard, but it has not yet been domesticated by Yin Xiu, and it is different from the obedient mounts sold in the bull market, but it is naturally not much more threatening. Bird Meat wanted to grab one by the way and let me show off my skills, because I mentioned to him that the Fire Dragon Gang in the Xiling Ghost Market often used them for barbecue.

However, the bird's plan was terminated by a loud yell. He would not allow any selfish distractions to interfere with the safety and speed of the caravan.

On the twelfth day, a deep underground canyon appeared on the route of the caravan, and it lay in front of us. Looking down, there is no bottom, and when you look up, there is actually a forest above!

But...... How does this forest seem to be turned upside down?

"Upside down forest has arrived!"

The other team members all let out a burst of cheers, and even Bu Ye did not scold such a "noise", but ordered a ten-minute break on the spot.

Upside down forest?

However, such a name is too apt. The forest grew on top of the cave, and the high treetops stretched straight down, with the trunk above and the canopy below. The vines are also connected directly from the crown to the roof of the cave, like the aerial roots of the great banyan tree in the sun, but they are also upside down.

Bird Meat once again acted as a tour guide for me in a timely manner: "When we arrive at the Upside Down Forest, it means that we will soon arrive at Hanglou Town!" ”

"Hanging Tower Town is in the Upside-Down Forest?"

"It's on top of the Upside-Down Forest!"

"Above? Is it at the bottom of the forest or in the treetops? "I still don't understand.

"Neither!" Birdmeat laughed and said, "Hanging Tower Town is built on the top layer of caves in the upside-down forest. There was an underground river passing by, but it was full of stones, and nothing could grow on the river's side. The water from the underground river seeps into the soil and drips into the next layer of caves, and plants grow on top of the next layer of caves, and they grow more and more luxuriantly, so now it looks like an upside-down forest! ”

"Will such a forest and the roof of the cave collapse?"

"Not really! The people of Hanglou Town have already surveyed it, and the bottom layer of the underground river is still very thick, and it is mainly made of stones, and the soil is mixed with it. The roots of the plants in the upside-down forest are well developed, not only penetrating deep into the soil, but also digging into the stone crevices on both sides. So, as long as this forest doesn't wither, the roof of this cave won't collapse! ”

"Oh!" I nodded in understanding.

The river is above, and the forest is below, so the strange topography is estimated to appear in the underground world. It is precisely because of the existence of this multi-layered three-dimensional terrain that the four inertial plane direction thinking of "east, west, north and south" on the surface has lost its meaning, and it is necessary to take into account the dimensions of "up and down" at the same time, and it is difficult to mark the map clearly.