Chapter 115
Chapter 115 – The Giant Pit
Translated by Sunyancai
There was still some time before it would become dark. In order to find the missing men as soon as possible, the hunting group leader immediately showed Shao Xuan around.
“I would like to know whether they went straight to the water spot after they left the cave.” Cheng told Shao Xuan.
Although they knew that the missing men were fetching water for the group, Cheng still wanted Caesar to help him confirm on that.
“Okay.” Shao Xuan answered.
From inside the cave, Shao Xuan asked someone to bring the items that those missing men had used for Caesar to sniff, so that Caesar could memorize their smell.
Cheng and Mai each took a dozen warriors, and they headed out with Shao Xuan.
“I guess the smell was there the whole way, and… there is also the smell of human combined in it.” Shao Xuan watched Caesar’s actions and said.
“What do you mean?” Cheng looked at Shao Xuan.
“In other words, the one that got captured probably got peed all over his body.” Shao Xuan said.
That’s probably true! Warriors all wore thick animal skin clothes when they went out to fetch water, which could soak a lot of liquid, and then drops of urine leaked along the way.
That warrior really had bad luck. He only went out of the cave to get some water, but he got caught by a giant bat, and got urine all over the body. However, just because of that, the others might be able to find them with the traces and clues he left.
People followed Caesar as they walked in the mountain. Sometimes when the smell stopped, they had to enlarge the searching area.
Mai was a little worried since it was getting dark, “We probably won’t be able to head back before night. Is there any cave around here?”
“We rarely came to this region in the past. There were a lot of bat caves, though. We followed them and found quite a few holes and caves right in this mountain valley.”
“Where are their caves?” Shao Xuan asked.
Cheng pointed in a few directions. “Those holes and caves are not on our hunting route. We are not familiar with the surroundings.”
Caesar already stopped walking. The smell had stopped again. This time, they might not be able to continue the search anymore.
“Now what?” Cha looked around. They were standing on some hill that was not too high. There were no trees nearby. On the ground there was only grass.
Nothing abnormal was in the surroundings, since they could see what was happening around them.
Shao Xuan stood there, feeling that the totem in his mind seemed to be very active right now. Looking at the others, it seemed that none of the others were having similar situations.
Shao Xuan carefully observed the direction that the flame on his totem fluttered towards, and looked at that direction. Over there was the top of that hill. Since it was not high enough, there was no snow, just a patch of grass.
Shao Xuan walked towards that direction. Mai and the others assumed that Shao Xuan probably identified the right direction based on Caesar’s behavior, so they tagged along.
Step by step, they approached the top of the hill, and the totem in his mind became more energetic. Aside from that, Shao Xuan heard something, like an airflow flowing quickly. It was like an amplified snore.
“Uncle Mai, did you hear something?” Asked Shao Xuan.
“No…Oh, yes, I heard something. It’s the howling of those things…no, not clear…perhaps it’s too far…” said Mai.
“I heard something, too.” Cheng hurriedly ran towards the top of the hill.
The howling of the bats? Shao Xuan frowned. No, it isn’t. At least, what he heard was definitely not from the bats.
Cheng was the first to reach the top, but he suddenly stood there still, as if he had seen something stunning.
“Did you find something?” Mai and the others sped up as well, and they reached the top after a few leaps.
Just like Cheng, the others were stunned.
In front of them, there was a big pit in the ground, with the diameter of more than 100 meters and the depth of over 80 meters, at least.
The inner wall of the pit was not as barren as the rest of the hill. It was like a different world inside.
Several thick roots and vines intertwined with each other as they went downwards. The leaves were spreading like giant umbrellas. There were different kinds of plants growing on the walls, with some of them bearing fruits and flowers.
“This is….”
Since they had never been out this far, Cheng had no idea that there was such a big pit. When they chased after those bats, they did not think about heading up to the top.
Shao Xuan looked down to the bottom of the pit as he was standing on the edge. It was not dark. With sufficient daylight, people could see the situation in the bottom. However, compared with the walls of the pit, there were much fewer plants growing on the bottom. Only some unknown plants were spread out in a monotonous way.
The totem in his mind became extremely active, and the flames danced as they wrapped the two horns.
Something down there was luring the totem.
“There are quite a few kinds of rare herbs at the bottom! Some plants I’ve only seen in the animal skin rolls at the Shaman’s place.” Shao Xuan said.
Mai and Cheng exchanged a meaningful glance, and said, “We’ll head down to check the situation. You guys wait here for our call.”
Mai went down along the vines with Cha, Cheng, and a few other warriors, to see if it was dangerous down there. They needed to check it out. Shao Xuan, Lang Ga and some others remained by the edge of the pit, waiting.
Just like Shao Xuan had said, there were a lot of fine herbs at the bottom, among which there were the type they used to detoxify the bat’s bites. It was such a nice surprise for the warriors.
After circling around roughly, Cheng waved towards the warriors waiting up there, to indicate that they could climb down. Even doing that, people had to be cautious, for there were still unknown dangers and risks.
The vines had some burrs and they were not smooth at all, which was a good thing for the warriors. It made their movements easier.
Shao Xuan climbed down with the others, but he left Caesar to wait at the top.
There were quite a lot of herbal plants on the walls of the pit, and people hurriedly cut down the ones they knew that could be used for emergencies.
Shao Xuan did not focus on the rare plants and medicines on the walls. After they landed on the bottom, he felt that the flames on his totem seemed to be more excited.
He looked down to his feet.
There were piles of bat droppings.