Liu Shangang shook his head: "I can't hear it, it hasn't found a water source yet, I think something seems to have happened in front of me." ”

I nodded, "Keep following." ”

Liu Shangang didn't speak anymore and continued to lead us forward.

After a few moments, Liu said that the monster in the darkness had begun to move again, but slowly.

After a while, I could already hear the monster's footsteps, and it seemed like we had been going faster than it had been since then.

I asked Liu Shangang to slow down a little and try to keep enough distance from the monster, Liu Shangang often had to pay attention to the monster's movements at this time, and if he was not careful, he would forget how many steps he had counted, and whenever his count was interrupted, he would report to me the most recent number he could remember, and I would record our general location on the map.

Finally, after a long tracking, we finally heard the sound of running water, and Liu Shangang turned his head to me and asked, "Do you want to continue to follow, I already hear the sound of water." ”

I said, "Keep following." ”

Liu Shangang didn't say anything, just kept his head and continued to walk forward.

The monster slowed down several times and stopped several times. I have a feeling that the reason why it does this seems to be wary of something. Maybe it heard our footsteps and realized that it was being followed, so it stopped to check what was going on. But there's also the possibility that it's not a few of us that it's wary of, but something else lurking in the dark.

No one knows what lies lurking in this boundless darkness, but I know that by following this monster and using its knowledge of the environment, we can avoid many dangers.

The sound of running water is becoming clearer and clearer, and the sound is more rapid than rapid, and it changes frequently, indicating that the current is very fast, and the underwater situation is more complicated.

After walking for a while, we could only hear the sound of running water, but not the footsteps of the monster, which should have reached the river and was ready to catch fish.

A few of us were also hungry and panicked, so we rushed for a while and finally saw the river.

The monster was crouching not far from us, paying no attention to us, just keeping its ears close to the surface of the water and listening to the sounds below.

It seems that Liang Houzai is right, except when guarding his territory, these monsters are not aggressive, and the two slaughters we have before may have caused trouble.

It is estimated that Liang Houzai also thought the same way at this time, he threw a suspicious look at me, and I shook my head at him.

At this time, Liu Shangang came over with a torch, and the river was illuminated by the firelight, and I saw that there were many fish with their heads down and tails up at the bottom of the river, and these fish looked similar to small yellow croaker, but because the water temperature of the underground river was very low, the fish looked fatter.

They seem to be anchoring themselves to the bottom of the river with their mouths, while gently waging their tails to keep their bodies steady in the current.

Looking at the bottom of the river through the water, I felt that the river seemed to be very shallow, I took out the green steel sword, and probed in the river, this underground river is indeed not deep, when the blade of the green steel sword reached the bottom of the river, the river water only exceeded two-thirds of the sword body.

Just as I pulled the green steel sword out of the river, the blade accidentally touched one of the fish, and after it seemed to be disturbed, it panicked away from the bottom of the river, and swung away into the distance.

The monster, which had been lying on the bank of the river and listening intently, immediately spotted the fish swimming, and it rushed over like a gust of wind, and plunged its hand into the river to catch the fish with precision. After that, the monster ducked into the darkness out of the fire's light and began to gnaw on the raw fish, and I could hear the sound of the raw flesh tearing and the fish struggling.

Liu Shangang looked at the fish in the water, pursed his lips and said, "There are so many fish, why did it wait so long on the shore to start, I don't understand." ”

Liang Houzai smiled: "Because it can't be seen." ”

Liu Shangang sighed and said, "Alas, it would be nice if I came with a harpoon." If we want to fish, we can only use our hands now. ”

I put down my backpack, took off my shirt, and said to Liu Shangang: "What kind of harpoon do you use for so many fish, just take your clothes pocket." ”

With that, I leaned down and soaked almost my entire upper body in the water, grabbing the corners of my clothes with my hands and pressing them to the bottom of the water.

On the way, Ang and Liang Houzai immediately understood my intentions, they took out their sapper shovels, and began to expel the fish from the water, and the fish became agitated, some fled downstream, others rushed to me, and when the fish passed over the clothes, I immediately moved and put the whole jacket in my pocket.

A large number of fish were churning in my clothes, and when Liu Shangang and Liang Houzai helped me carry them aside, the monster that had been eating fish also rushed to the water source, constantly using their hands to catch the fish swimming in the river.

We didn't care about it, and we killed the fish on the riverbank. When I was learning to cook with Master, I also learned how to kill fish, and at that time, I slapped the head of the fish with the handle of a knife, and the fish died, but because the nerves were not yet dead, sometimes if you touched these dead fish, they would still move.

The first time I killed a fish, I felt a lot of guilt, but then I got used to killing too much.

Master said that when we eat these animals, we are also part of the energy cycle between heaven and earth, and there is no need to have any psychological burden because of this kind of thing. But if you want to eat, you have to be able to kill, kill without abusing them, take their lives in an instant, and don't let them feel pain.

I didn't have a kitchen knife in my hand, and I didn't want to do this kind of thing with a green steel sword, so the sapper shovel became my best choice.

I killed the fish here, Liu Shangang used a Tibetan knife to throw away the belly of the fish, and Liang Houzai cleaned the internal organs, because there were no hard scales on the fish, so the step of scraping the scales was also omitted.

We definitely don't eat raw fish, but Dorjee seems to be very interested in these raw fish whose internal organs have been cleaned up, and as soon as we finish getting it here, it takes seven or eight of them, lies on the side and tears up the flesh with a big mouthful.

Liu Shangang kept two pieces of wire in his backpack, which were originally used as tools for him to pick locks, but now they are used to thread fish. He first put a torch on the ground, and then threaded three or four fish into a string with wire and roasted them on the torch.

This guy usually eats heavily, and even carries a whole can of fine salt in his backpack, and when he sprinkles the salt grains on the fish, the aroma of the fish and the salt mix together, forming an attractive salty smell.

This fish is indeed very fat, and after being roasted by the flames, oil gradually dripped from the fish, and Liu Shangang immediately became excited when he saw the fish oil, and said that he had new strips of cloth in his backpack, let me take out some.

I rummaged through his backpack, and sure enough, I found a strip of cloth, and Liu Shangang asked me to spread the strip of cloth on the ground.

After that, every time the fish oil was about to drip off the fish, Liu would remove the fish from the torch and let the fish oil drip onto the strips of cloth.

As he turned over the fish on the wire, he said to us, "There is water and oil in this place, so we don't have to worry about running out of torches." Hey, there is food, drink and fire, we just have no problem staying here for half a year. ”

Liang Houzai glanced at him: "Don't make trouble, just this place, there is a piece of black pressure everywhere, you will collapse if you stay for a week, and it will be half a year." If we really stay for the first half of the year, after we go out from here, it is estimated that we will die alone in the spiritual hospital. ”

As Liang Houzai spoke, the monster passed by us with a few fish, and not long after, he came back and squatted less than three meters away from us.

Liang Houzai also noticed the monster's actions, he frowned, and said to me, "It should be the smell of grilled fish that attracts it." ”

I nodded, ripped a fish from the wire that was about to be grilled, and threw it in front of the monster.

When it heard the grilled fish fall in front of it, it groped with its hand on the ground a few times, but when its fingers touched the grilled fish, it screamed and ran away.

I was wondering in my heart, so I heard Liang Houzai say, "It's hot." ”

The fish was grilled quickly, it was our first full meal since entering the stone gate, and although there was still some food in the backpack, we didn't plan to eat it now.

No one knows how long we're going to stay here, no matter how delicious the grilled fish is, it will get tired of eating it for a long time, so keep the food that comes in from outside, and you can make a spice when you don't want to eat the fish.

During the meal, Liang Houzai asked me: "Now that we have discovered the Dihe, should we go upstream or downstream of the river vein?" ”

I took out the map, asked the direction of Dorjee again, asked Liu Shangang how many steps he walked, and marked our current location on the map.

Now we are located in the "Kan" area of the Bagua Map, but we are further away from the center of the Bagua Map than before.

The direction of the water flow is getting closer and closer to the center of the map, but Dorjee said that the closer you get to the center, the more difficult it is to see the light coming in from the spring, that is, the direction of the spring is far from the center of the map, and we have gone upstream, towards the upstream of the water source.

I only thought about this conclusion in my heart, but I didn't need to say it, because Liang Houzai was also looking at the map at the time, and he must have come to the same conclusion.

Liu Shangang went to the river to catch some fish and roasted them over the fire again and again until they were almost dried fish.

Mr. Lau said that even if you walk down the river, you may not always come across such fish, and these dried fish are prepared for this purpose.

After eating, drowsiness came up, and Dorjee took on the duty of vigilance, while a few of us rested on the spot.

As I was about to fall asleep, I was awakened by the sound of footsteps, squinted in the direction from which the sound came, and saw the monster follow the smell to find the grilled fish I had thrown at it earlier, and eat it in a big gulp.

It seems that it still prefers to eat cooked food.

After that, I fell asleep dimly.

The discovery of the water source was a turning point in our trip, and for the next few days we continued to work upstream towards the water source in an attempt to find a spring.

Liang Houzai said that if he could find a tributary of the river, it should not be too far from the spring.

The monster had been following us, and it seemed to have realized that by following us, it would get more food than usual. And we have reached a mutually beneficial relationship with him, we can help him harass the fish in the water, occasionally give him a grilled fish or two, and also use his knowledge of the environment to avoid some dangers.

Along the way, the monster would often stop without warning, and every time it paused, its expression would become unusually alert, I don't know what it sensed, but I knew that something dangerous must be hiding in the darkness.

I had also feared that something in the potential darkness would attack us by seeing the light of fire, but it was clear that my concerns were completely unfounded, and most of the species that could survive in such a dark environment were incapable of sight.