Of course, they didn't hold hands in the end.
He Yuan's words were so ambiguous that Jiang Chuyan was momentarily unsure what to say to politely reject him. Fortunately, the next second, He Yuan smiled at him again, his expression looking playful and boyish.
"Pfft, I was just kidding. If you were really afraid of the dark, I wouldn't have brought you here."
He Yuan said with a smile, something seemed to flash in his eyes, and then disappeared.
After he finished speaking, the boy turned around and walked towards Luolong Cave. Jiang Chuyan stared at his back, his lips moving slightly. He felt that he should say something to He Yuan, but when he really wanted to speak, his mind was blank and he really didn't know what to say.
Many times, he could sense that He Yuan's attitude towards him was very unusual, with a kind of sticky, honey-like ambiguity.
It was like teasing, like seduction. But from beginning to end, He Yuan never took the initiative to speak, and even if Jiang Chuyan wanted to refuse him, she had no way to say it.
It makes people feel a little helpless.
"First words?"
He Yuan called him again from the front.
"Follow me, it's not easy to walk here, watch your step."
He looked so normal and calm.
"...good."
Jiang Chuyan responded in a low voice, then quickened his pace to catch up with He Yuan.
Before this, Jiang Chuyan had been to undeveloped caves before, but the extreme coldness and darkness in Luolong Cave was something Jiang Chuyan had never experienced in other caves.
Perhaps because the cave entrance was narrow, not long after stepping into the cave, everything around him suddenly fell into thick and sticky darkness.
It is a darkness that is difficult for people who grew up in the city to adapt to.
Jiang Chuyan's heartbeat began to accelerate uncontrollably almost instantly. Fortunately, a long section of the cave entrance still showed traces of artificial excavation.
Just by looking at the path leading to the depths of the cave, one can feel how in ancient times, in the miasma-ridden mountains, the mountain people who were struggling to survive were almost madly worshipping the tyrannical and cruel dragon god in the wilderness.
"Clatter…"
There is a continuous sound of water in the cave.
Under Jiang Chuyan's feet, there was originally a stream winding out from the depths of the cave. Now it is paved with rough stone slabs, and a narrow passage is built to allow humans to enter the interior of the cave.
On either side of each stone slab hung hanging lamps similar to those below the small building in Longzhao Village. The difference was that the lampshades here were already rusted and the oil inside had long since dried up.
In the darkness, so thick it seemed to possess substance, even the air seemed thicker and heavier than outside. Jiang Chuyan and He Yuan's powerful flashlights seemed powerless in the pitch-black cave, barely illuminating the small area in front of their toes.
The candle in his hand was swaying weakly, and the light it emitted was slightly reddish, almost invisible.
Jiang Chuyan walked forward cautiously on the slippery stone slabs. No wonder He Yuan asked him to follow him closely before - at this distance, Jiang Chuyan could only see He Yuan clearly at most, and when he looked at Bai Ke who was walking in front, he could only see a vague outline.
However, to Jiang Chuyan's surprise, Bai Ke seemed to have adapted well to this environment, and her steps seemed even lighter than He Yuan's.
"Bai Ke——"
Jiang Chuyan couldn't help but call out to him.
"Don't get separated from us!"
As a result, the next moment Jiang Chuyan was startled by his own echo in the cave.
It was clearly just a soft call, but the sounds in the cave echoed layer by layer, sounding almost deafening.
"I know—I know—I know—and damn, this place is so loud—so loud—so loud—"
Bai Ke replied, the impatience in her tone amplified by the echo, making it particularly obvious.
Jiang Chuyan felt vaguely uneasy and was about to speak again, but He Yuan turned around in the darkness and suddenly approached Jiang Chuyan.
"Shh-"
He leaned over slightly and whispered in Jiang Chuyan's ear in an almost whispered tone, "Be quiet in here... According to Longzhao, making too much noise in Luolong Cave will make the Dragon God angry."
The warm breath blew against Jiang Chuyan's ears, and a tingling sensation suddenly ran down Jiang Chuyan's back.
Fortunately, in such a dim environment, even if He Yuan had good eyesight, he could not see the blush on his face at this moment.
"What happens if you get angry?"
Jiang Chuyan also lowered his voice and asked in a low voice.
He Yuan's light-colored eyes reflected slightly in the dim light, making him look a bit like an animal.
"It will be eaten by monsters."
He said.
"monster..."
"You know the Dragon God here has a bad temper, otherwise the people in Longzhao Village wouldn't be so scared." He Yuan said, "Legend has it that he will turn anyone who angers him into a monster and imprison them forever in the depths of a dark cave."
He Yuan suddenly stretched out his hand, held Jiang Chuyan's hand and pointed at the wall of the cave——
"Look, it's painted there."
Perhaps because the temperature in the cave was too low, when He Yuan's hand touched Jiang Chuyan, it was as cold as ice.
Jiang Chuyan's breathing stagnated, and he involuntarily followed He Yuan's instructions and pointed the flashlight at the inner wall of the cave.
The murals that came into view far exceeded his imagination.
Rough, twisted marks.
Deeply carved into the bulging, tumor-like stone wall, at first glance it looked almost like a natural groove formed by the long-term erosion of water on the stone wall. However, as the flashlight swayed, Jiang Chuyan saw more murals. He immediately realized that natural water marks could never become such complex patterns that circled and twisted endlessly.
The dragon god statue Jiang Chuyan saw in Longzhao Village looked like a traditional human deity, except for its head being chopped off. However, as the origin of the dragon god belief in the most primitive Xishan region, the "dragon god" in the mural was something completely different.
Those twisted lines were swirling around, and there were many round stalactites on the stone wall. The primitive mountain people made perfect use of the special shapes of those stalactites. After a little carving, rough but subtle and lifelike pale human faces emerged on those protruding stone tumors.
Some of those expressionless faces were sunken into the concave stone walls, some hung at the ends of stalactite pillars, and some were hidden under the gurgling streams...
Below the neck of the stone man's face are the winding and twisting dark "dragon bodies" that seem to cover the entire cave.
"This, this is the Dragon God?"
Jiang Chuyan whispered tremblingly, he was completely stunned by the scene in front of him.
"Yes, this is... the most original mural of the Dragon God."
He Yuan's voice was very soft, but in the cave, the boy's hoarse and low whisper seemed to be amplified countless times, and the faintest vibration between his lips and tongue seemed to be able to penetrate deep into Jiang Chuyan's eardrum.
hiss--
It was clearly the voice of my most familiar companion.
Jiang Chuyan shuddered unconsciously as he listened. In a trance, he actually had a strange illusion. He felt that He Yuan's voice sounded more like the vague roar of some indescribable strange creature in the dark.
"First words?"
He Yuan stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Jiang Chuyan.
Jiang Chuyan's pupils shrank slightly and he came back to his senses.
"Are you scared?"
He Yuan held a flashlight in one hand and a red candle in the other, and looked at him with a chuckle.
"...Ah, I guess so." Jiang Chuyan muttered after a pause, "I didn't expect the original dragon god to look like this. But... judging from the human head and dragon body, the dragon god worship culture in the Xishan area is indeed very ancient. I didn't expect to see the worship of the original pioneer god..."
Jiang Chuyan's voice suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
He Yuan asked in surprise.
"No, nothing."
Jiang Chuyan hesitated, then quickly shifted his gaze away from the corner of the stone wall...
Just now, he seemed to see something on the stone wall move slightly.
It was a blurry face. The facial features carved many years ago had long been washed away by the water inside the cave, leaving only shallow grooves. But even with such a face, Jiang Chuyan felt that it seemed to have looked in his direction just now.
No, it seems that it's not just that face.
In the darkness where the flashlight cannot reach... there seems to be something silently crawling and peeking.
It must be because of the candlelight.
Jiang Chuyan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
Because the candlelight in his hand was trembling slightly, the shadow on the stone wall also swayed slightly, which gave him the illusion that something was moving.
But even after figuring this out, that uncomfortable feeling still lingered around him.
Jiang Chuyan managed to keep himself together and gestured for He Yuan to move forward.
"From the situation here, it seems that the people of Longzhao Village don't regard this place as the main sacrificial site... Wait, where is Bai Ke?"
Jiang Chuyan suddenly realized that Bai Ke's figure had disappeared at some point.
"He must have walked forward on his own." He Yuan was also startled, but he soon relaxed. "Don't worry, there's only one road here. He can't just disappear like that."
But even so, the two of them had no intention of continuing to slowly observe the murals within the cave. Instead, they quickened their pace and headed forward. After walking a short distance, the ubiquitous human faces and the winding, twisting dragon carvings that surrounded them vanished before their eyes.
At the end of the narrow corridor is a bright stone chamber. The bottom of the stone chamber is raised high, and there is a small stone platform on the top. On the platform is a dull-colored altar, which looks like it has not been taken care of for a long time. Behind the altar is a sculpture that is one meter tall.
Bai Ke stood in front of the sculpture and looked around. The light was too dim and Jiang Chuyan couldn't see what he was looking at.
However, Jiang Chuyan felt somewhat relieved when he saw Bai Ke's back.
"Bai Ke, don't run so fast. It's dangerous to act alone in a place like this—"
"Hiss, damn, Jiang Chuyan——"
Before Jiang Chuyan could finish his words, Bai Ke seemed to be startled. He stepped back suddenly and looked at Jiang Chuyan in panic.
"You scared me to death."
The boy patted his chest and muttered.
Jiang Chuyan vaguely heard that Bai Ke's voice seemed a little strange. He walked forward with some worry, but when he looked up, he saw the sculpture behind Bai Ke.
The moment Jiang Chuyan saw that thing, his heart skipped a beat. The sculpture behind the altar was almost identical to the one in the Longzhao Village Ancestral Hall.
The only difference was probably size. The dragon god in the ancestral hall was unusually tall, while this sculpture was much smaller overall. However, like the dragon god in the ancestral hall, this sculpture's head had been chopped off and turned on its back. In the flashlight's bright light, the stone statue reflected a faint luster, a dull, bluish grayish-white.
"Brother Chu Yan, why are you staring at me?"
Bai Ke's tense voice rang in his ears again. The boy obviously mistakenly thought that Jiang Chuyan was looking at him at this moment, and his whole body looked very stiff.
Jiang Chuyan frowned, feeling that Bai Ke was acting a little strangely.
"You just…"
"This thing was put up by the people from Longzhao Village in the back. It's actually nothing special."
At this moment, He Yuan also stood on the platform. He glanced at the sculpture casually and said.
Compared to when he observed the murals before, his attitude seemed much more casual.
Upon hearing this, Bai Ke glanced in his direction.
He Yuan seemed unaware of anything.
He even skipped over the altar, came up to the sculpture and poked it with his hand.
"He Yuan?!"
"It's made of cement. I think it was cast from the sculpture in the ancestral hall."
He Yuan shrugged and turned to Jiang Chuyan.
"I guess they thought it wouldn't be nice to just leave this place abandoned, worried about angering the Dragon God or something, so they added a statue here... Oh, by the way, if this statue is the same as the one in the ancestral hall, how about I turn its head around? That way, we can know what the Dragon God that the people of Longzhao Village currently worship looks like."
As he spoke, He Yuan placed his hand on the broken head of the statue.
"No, no need!"
Jiang Chuyan saw that He Yuan was about to turn the Dragon God's head, and a sense of fear surged up in him, and he screamed.
"Need not..."
The result was once again a superposition of echoes within the cave.
Countless "no thanks"s came pouring in, and Jiang Chuyan realized that his reaction seemed a bit extreme. He quickly added awkwardly to He Yuan, "Since we are here to conduct an investigation, we should respect the customs of Longzhao. Since the villagers here chose to place the Dragon God in this way, there must be a reason."
Finally, to ease the tense atmosphere, Jiang Chuyan lowered his voice and muttered one last sentence: "Based on your behavior just now, if it were in a horror movie, you would be among the first wave to be wiped out..."
"Puff."
He Yuan laughed and jumped back from behind the altar to Jiang Chuyan's side.
"My bad," he raised his hands and made a begging gesture, "...There's only so much we can research in Luolong Cave. You've come all this way here, and I just didn't want you to feel like this is a waste of your time."
"We've gained a lot this time."
Jiang Chuyan frowned slightly.
Was it an illusion? He Yuan in Luolong Cave seemed much more lively than before.
But Jiang Chuyan couldn't think of anything about a cave that could make He Yuan excited.
Jiang Chuyan then stayed at the altar for a while. Because he couldn't use his mobile phone to take pictures, Jiang Chuyan was worried about missing something, so he bit the flashlight and quickly drew sketches with the paper and pen he carried with him to record anything he thought was useful.
Including the human faces hanging from various parts of the stone wall when he came here before, and those constantly circling, dizzying dragon murals.
"Wow, what is this—"
While drawing, Bai Ke caught a glimpse of Jiang Chuyan's notebook. The boy came over and took a closer look.
"It's the mural I saw when I came in earlier," Jiang Chuyan explained. "I was afraid I'd forget the details, so I just drew it casually."
Bai Ke stared at the simple yet precise lines on the notebook, a hint of confusion flashing across his face.
"I've heard from Brother Yuanzhou before that Brother Chuyan is a great painter..." The boy's eyes were fixed on the blurry faces of the people drawn by Jiang Chuyan, "But what is this you drew?"
Jiang Chuyan was also a little surprised when he heard this.
After all, those human faces, combined with the deep and shallow mottled dragon patterns on the stone wall, actually looked quite shocking, but Bai Ke seemed to have not noticed the scene at all.
"Ah, you mean those disgusting stone faces... I saw them, but... Brother Chu Yan, you're beautifying them too much..."
Bai Ke curled her lips.
I didn't continue to tangle with Jiang Chuyan.
He didn't think that the rough lines and a few broken stones he saw when he came here would be as shocking as Jiang Chuyan's painting.
But on second thought, Jiang Chuyan probably wanted to use these things to cheat the professor out of high scores, and he understood everything. As he stood up, Bai Ke's fingers touched the phone in his pocket again.
Bai Ke felt a little itchy again.
But at this moment, Jiang Chuyan had finished sketching and closed the sketchbook neatly.
"let's go."
He suggested.
The temperature in Luolong Cave is very low, it is dark and damp, and it is not the kind of place where people would want to stay all the time.
However, just before leaving, Jiang Chuyan inadvertently glanced at the sculpture after work.
Um?
Jiang Chuyan's eyes narrowed slightly. He always felt that the head of the Dragon God statue, which was facing away from them, seemed to be slightly tilted.
Was it an illusion, or did He Yuan accidentally touch it just now?
Jiang Chuyan felt his heart sink a little.
It's that kind of uncomfortable feeling that you can't explain, but it makes you care.
"Sorry, wait a moment."
He called out to the two people who were about to leave, then turned to the altar. When entering the mountains, everyone would stuff their bags with high-calorie snacks just in case. Jiang Chuyan was no exception. He pulled a few energy bars and chocolate from his pocket and carefully placed them on the already tilted altar.
Then, Jiang Chuyan put his hands together and bowed respectfully several times to the statue of the Dragon God.
Please don't be offended.
He prayed silently in his heart.
Although he himself didn't know why he did this, but...
But if he was really the "Mal" favored by the Dragon God as Budacuocuo said, he hoped that this tyrannical and cruel god who made everyone silent would not be dissatisfied with He Yuan's previous casual behavior.
The cave was silent, with only the faint sound of water lingering.
The headless statue of the dragon god carrying a person on his back remained motionless, as if Jiang Chuyan's previous uneasiness and caution were just a joke.
"Chu Yan, are you ready? We should go——"
He Yuan suddenly urged from under the stone platform.
"The candle in my hand has gone out. The three of us have been here for too long. We are starting to run out of oxygen."
Jiang Chuyan hurriedly looked at the candle next to him, and sure enough, the candle in his hand was also out.
"good."
He didn't dare to delay and quickly prepared to leave the stone platform.
"Snap—"
But just as he turned around, he heard a slight sound of something falling to the ground behind him.
Jiang Chuyan looked back in shock and found that the energy bar he had placed on the altar a few minutes ago had fallen to the ground.
His palms were sweaty and his heart was beating faster.
Although the altar was unstable, he was in a panic just now, so it was possible that things might fall down.
However, he still felt inexplicably panicked.
By the time he reacted, Jiang Chuyan had already bent down, ready to pick up the energy bar.
It was at this time that Jiang Chuyan noticed the small thing under the altar.
It was something that was completely out of place in the entire Luolong Cave and even Longzhao Village: a furry chicken toy that was only half the size of a palm.
Originally, the toy chicken's fur should have been a creamy yellow, but now the toy chicken has faded to white due to the passage of time.
The red comb turned pink, and the shiny acrylic eyes had long since become blurred and dim.
Jiang Chuyan's mind went blank for a moment.
He picked up the chicken toy in a daze, almost thinking that he was dreaming.
So weird...
The voice inside him whispered.
In any case, Jiang Chuyan never expected to see this toy again here - when he was a child, this little chicken was his most beloved toy.
In order to comfort her child who was suffering from illness, a mother took great pains to sew a very small plush toy that the young child could hold in his palm and bring into the hospital ward.
But later, the chick disappeared at some point.
I remember that I cried for a long time because of the chick, but no matter how much I cried, the chick toy was no longer in the house.
But now, after many years, this little chicken toy appeared in his hand again.
In such a damp and dark cave, the toy looked exceptionally clean, except for the neck, which seemed to have been pulled hard and was a little untied.
…
A long time had passed after leaving the cave, but Jiang Chuyan still felt a little dazed.
Several times, he couldn't help but secretly put his hands into his pockets and gently knead his beloved doll that he had lost and found again.
He thought of many reasons to explain the appearance of the doll.
Maybe it was accidentally dropped here by another child while playing. And this doll is not the one he had as a child. It's just that it was so long ago that it looks similar to his own.
Maybe...
Perhaps this world has some special power that he doesn't know about, which sent the doll he lost many years ago back to him.
He did not tell He Yuan about the doll, because even Jiang Chuyan himself felt that it was extremely weird.
After coming out of Luolong Cave, Bai Ke kept urging them to go to the wild hot spring quickly, but Jiang Chuyan's mind was in a mess and he had no mind to pay attention to her.
Instead, He Yuan seemed to have noticed something and kept looking at him.
As soon as he met He Yuan's eyes, Jiang Chuyan couldn't help but recall the joking words the boys had said before entering the cave.
"He Yuan——"
He suddenly called out to the other person.
"Um?"
"Dragon God..."
Jiang Chuyan murmured.
"What happened to the Dragon God?"
"Does the Dragon God really exist?"
He Yuan was silent for a moment, and the next second, he grinned.
"Who knows? Isn't faith something that exists if you believe it, and exists if you don't believe it?"
He replied.
*
Unlike when they were heading to Luolong Cave, on the way to the wild hot spring, Bai Ke walked in front, cleverly keeping a short distance from the two people behind him.
On the one hand, Bai Ke was really anxious to go to the wild hot spring to take a bath in order to wash away the lingering stench on his body. You know, when he was in Luolong Cave, he was worried that someone would smell the strange smell on his body, so he had to stay away from those two people in such a gloomy and terrifying place.
But on the other hand, Bai Ke wanted to stay away from He Yuan.
Occasionally, the whispers of two people behind him could be heard in the wind. He Yuan's voice always sounded low and gentle. Only someone like Jiang Chuyan who pretended to be ignorant while knowing the truth could have the audacity to pretend that he didn't hear the other person's little thoughts about him.
If it was before today, Bai Ke would inevitably feel a little jealous. After all, He Yuan was already a top-notch dish in terms of both appearance and family background. It was a pity for him to be paired with someone like Jiang Chuyan.
However, now when Bai Ke saw the tall boy who was clinging to Jiang Chuyan, she felt an indescribable fear in her heart.
There's something really wrong with He Yuan.
When Bai Ke thought of what he had seen in Luolong Cave before, a shudder suddenly ran down his spine.
He could swear that he was just curious. So, when he climbed up the platform and saw the headless dragon god, he couldn't help but lean over and take a look at the dragon god's face.
However, it would have been better if he hadn't seen it. After seeing it, Bai Ke was dumbfounded.
Because the statue of the dragon god clearly had a face exactly like He Yuan's.
At first, Bai Ke didn't think much of it. He simply thought the statue looked like He Yuan. Jiang Chuyan arrived before he could get a closer look. After being startled, he didn't have the chance to peek at the Dragon God's face again.
But after leaving Luolong Cave, the more Bai Ke thought about it, the more he felt that this matter was really strange.
Didn't the villagers of Longzhao Village notice it?
He Yuan looked so similar to the Dragon God that they were wary of and afraid of.
And if this is a coincidence...
"Actually, I've always felt that Longzhao Village and I have a special connection. I'm not sure you'll believe me, but when I was little, I kept dreaming about this village and this cave…"
"I've always felt that I stumbled here not by accident, but by being summoned. Perhaps I have a connection to this place in a past life..."
…
He had actually heard what He Yuan said to Jiang Chuyan before entering the cave. He had originally thought that He Yuan was just talking nonsense in order to pursue Jiang Chuyan, but the more Bai Ke thought about it, the more he felt a chill run down his spine.
Somewhere in the dark, his instinct was screaming at him to stay away from He Yuan.
So, when the three of them finally arrived at the wild hot spring, Bai Ke looked at the scene in front of him and breathed a sigh of relief silently.
The wild hot springs that He Yuan mentioned are indeed the wildest kind of hot springs. Unlike the artificially developed hot springs, there is no such large pool here that can accommodate three people lying in it together.
The boiling hot spring gurgled out from a stone cave at the top of the hillside, then naturally divided into several streams, following the gullies washed out on the stone wall, and merged into several shallow grooves at the bottom.
The grooves were of varying depths, scattered across the hillside amidst the curling white smoke. The closest grooves were several dozen meters apart.
"careful."
Before I got close enough, a wave of heat rushed towards me.
He Yuan pulled Jiang Chuyan and signaled him to stay away from the hot spring.
"The hot springs here are very hot. If you fall in, you will get severely burned."
Then he pointed to a few locations.
"...If you want to soak in a wild hot spring, you have to choose one where someone has already installed the plumbing."
In order to make use of the almost boiling spring water, the locals who occasionally pass by here found a way to dig simple water troughs from the nearby stream, divert the very low temperature stream water, and then collect it into several separate stone troughs. Only by mixing hot and cold water can it become a hot spring that normal people can enjoy.
"The lower the terrain, the lower the temperature. The higher you go, the higher the water temperature." He Yuan pointed, finally raising his hand to point to the stone troughs at the top. "The spring water can't rise above that, so don't go there. The edges are very slippery. If you fall in, you might be cooked by the time you get out. I'm not kidding. The locals call those springs above this place 'soup pots'. Even going near them is taboo."
"…a soup pot."
Jiang Chuyan murmured and repeated it.
Involuntarily, he recalled the nursery rhyme he had heard in a trance before.
"It's pretty disgusting, isn't it?"
He Yuan shrugged and said casually.
"But you can soak in the areas below. Look, there are ladles and other things next to them, left by the people here. Before you soak, remember to scoop out the old water in the grooves and then fill them with new hot spring water..."
…
He Yuan and Jiang Chuyan quickly selected a stone trough with suitable water temperature. When they were about to greet Bai Ke, they found that the latter had already walked in another direction with a backpack on his back.
"It's too crowded there. I'll go somewhere farther away."
In the steam rising from the hot spring, Jiang Chuyan couldn't see Bai Ke's face clearly.
"Okay, I'll call you when we leave."
Jiang Chuyan also knew that Bai Ke probably didn't want to squeeze together with him, so he naturally didn't stop her.
However, the sound of the hot spring water and the steam were a very subtle barrier. He knew that Bai Ke was not far away, but the steam obscured his figure, and it seemed as if only he and He Yuan were left in this world.
The feeling of embarrassment came over her again, and when Jiang Chuyan bent down to open the package, she unconsciously glanced at He Yuan.
Then he was horrified to find that He Yuan took off all his clothes so quickly without any hesitation.
In the humid water vapor, the solid, strong, sculpture-like body was wet.
The author has something to say:
Xiao He: Thank you to the director team, thank you to the public, I have finally waited for this day——
[Take off clothes and pants in one go.jpg]
Xiao Jiang: ...