After much bustling activity, partly for convenience and partly to avoid drawing attention, they dismantled the prayer flags and erected a large military-green canvas tent. Most people were stationed outside as support, while only key personnel remained inside, along with those operating machinery and recording site data.

The modified small winch was brought in, and Ding Xi put on a special harness. The hook on his back could be attached to the winch’s cable, allowing him to descend or ascend with mechanical assistance – social progress did have its benefits, unlike Jiang Shehu’s day when they had to rely solely on hand and foot climbing.

However, for safety’s sake, he still wore foot pedals and hand grips.

Since the depth of the hole was immeasurable, flashlight beams, whistle signals, or rope shaking might prove ineffective. Ding Panling and Ding Xi synchronized their watches, agreeing on a thirty-minute limit, after which they would pull him up.

Everything ready, Ding Xi placed both hands on the hole’s edge, about to lower himself in when Ding Panling stopped him: “Wait.”

He called over the person responsible for recording video footage, directing the camera at Ding Xi: “No one knows what’s down there. In case of danger, for safety’s sake, do you have any messages to leave?”

The tent fell notably quiet at these words.

Ding Xi was startled, then smiled slightly, saying: “Surely I’m not that unlucky.”

Since he had nothing to say, Ding Panling didn’t press further. With a wave of his hand, the winch began lowering the rope.

Several people watched as Ding Xi’s body swayed and descended until it disappeared from view.

Then came the waiting.

Someone brought in folding canvas chairs and military coats. Yi Sa wrapped herself in a coat and curled up in a chair, her attention wandering: sometimes listening to the howling wind outside, sometimes watching Ding Panling pace by the hole.

The person recording footage paused filming to lie by the hole’s edge with a measuring tape to check its diameter, carefully collecting soil samples in sealed bags. The winch made soft creaking sounds as it operated, connecting a new rope whenever one reached its end.

After about twenty minutes, as they connected the seventh rope, the winch operator glanced at the weight gauge and blurted out: “No weight!”

This meant either the bottom had been reached, or the person at the rope’s end was gone.

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense. Ding Panling checked his watch: “According to plan, we pull up at thirty minutes.”

When thirty minutes arrived, the winch reversed, and the weight gauge showed readings again, but this didn’t necessarily mean safety. There were many possibilities: the person could still be there, could be there but dead, or what was attached to the rope might not be Ding Xi but something else entirely.

So Ding Changsheng brought in several strong young men armed with knives and clubs to guard around the hole. They also set up two iron mesh frames with serrated edges that could be joined together, allowing the rope to pass while covering the hole – these two measures should prevent anything dangerous from emerging unexpectedly.

Zong Hang watched intently, realizing that life was full of lessons – many of the three families’ arrangements were indeed meticulous.

The ascent wasn’t much faster than the descent. After a long while, flashlight beams wavered upward, accompanied by Ding Xi’s voice: “I’m fine, it’s still me.”

Ding Panling exhaled deeply, ordering the mesh removed. Almost as soon as it was cleared, Ding Xi emerged.

He was dripping wet, shivering uncontrollably, with frost on his hair and eyebrows – an unexpected sight. Ding Panling called out: “Clothes, quickly bring clothes!”

Zong Hang, being closest, thoughtlessly handed over his military coat, immediately regretting it: he had given clothes to Ding Xi!

Ding Xi accepted the coat, wrapping it tightly around himself. After recovering for a while, he spoke: “The bottom isn’t ground, it’s water.”

He crouched down and drew two parallel vertical lines with a pebble, representing the deep hole, adding a long horizontal line at the bottom: “I tried going into the water. It’s deep and vast down there, not like a well. It’s as if the bottom connects to a lake, but I don’t know what’s in the lake – I’m not a strong swimmer, could only manage a few minutes.”

Ding Panling patted Ding Xi’s back: “Well done, that’s enough. Go rest in the tent and change out of those wet clothes before you catch cold.”

Ding Xi nodded, sniffling as he left.

Water at the bottom?

This was different from Jiang Shehu’s time.

It was also far from the ’96 incident: in ’96, the hole wasn’t this deep, and there were no signs of encountering water.

Moreover…

Using water as a barrier called for water ghosts.

Ding Panling had realized this too: “We can’t proceed without water ghosts, and we’re short on people.”

Including Zong Hang, there were only three people here who could truly “go under,” and given Ding Panling’s careful style, even with few people, they needed to be divided into two teams for timely rescue capability, avoiding total loss.

Ding Changsheng frowned: “Should we call Yi Yunqiao and Ding Yudie over?”

With the three families’ water ghosts declining, Ding Haijin and Jiang Taiyue were both approaching eighty, the former with heart problems. These two were the only ones left they could use.

Ding Panling checked his watch: “We could call them a second team, but time is short. In a few hours, it’ll be dawn…”

To waste this ground gate opening opportunity would be too regrettable.

This back-and-forth was setting the stage, just waiting for her to speak up. Besides, Ding Xi had already gone down, and Ding Panling was her elder – by all accounts, it should be her turn.

Yi Sa threw off her military coat: “I’ll go down then.”

Zong Hang, always following her: “I’ll go with Yi Sa.”

Having two people watching each other’s backs was indeed safer for initial exploration. Ding Panling didn’t waste words, ordering thick diving suits and diving watches: “I’ll have Yi Yunqiao and Ding Yudie brought over, so this trip is mainly for observation. If there’s anything down there, just look – don’t act rashly. Whatever needs doing can wait until we have full numbers.”

He synchronized time with Yi Sa: “Theoretically, we’ll pull up in one hour, but if there’s no weight, we’ll keep waiting and try every half hour until we either pull someone up or dawn breaks. Any questions?”

The arrangements were thorough – no problems.

So they applied waterproof eye drops, changed clothes, and put on harnesses, with waterproof flashlights on one side of their waists and Wu Gui daggers on the other, each carrying an extra coil of rope for marking their path underwater.

Testing showed the winch could handle the weight of two people without issue.

Before descending, they were asked the usual question about leaving any messages.

Yi Sa had none – she had no family to worry about anyway.

Zong Hang thought for a moment: “Please take good care of my parents. Help them however you can, openly or quietly if they need anything.”

The rope began lowering again.

Zong Hang looked up at the opening, which started large but grew smaller and smaller, like a glowing egg suspended high above.

Zong Hang said: “So slow.”

His voice startled him – underground sounds were already muffled and stagnant, and the narrow shaft walls created strange echoes.

Yi Sa explained: “The environment’s different here. The altitude’s too high, so descent and ascent must be slow for adaptation. Going too fast could cause problems.”

Zong Hang nodded.

Looking up again, the opening was no longer visible. Darkness surrounded them, seeming to resist even their lights. The underground silence gradually enveloped them, bringing cold and dampness, and the descent seemed endless.

Zong Hang suddenly laughed.

Yi Sa was puzzled: “What’s funny?”

With unknown dangers ahead, her chest felt tight – how could he laugh?

Zong Hang said: “It’s nothing, I just remembered when I was little, our housekeeper buying fish at the market. Have you seen it? Back then, they didn’t always use plastic bags. Meat would be tied with string and fish too – several fish could be strung through their mouths on one string… Look at us two, we’re like two fish being carried on a string.”

To still think about market scenes at a time like this – Yi Sa had to admire him.

But having two people descending together, occasionally chatting, was indeed better than being alone in a dark tunnel.

Yi Sa rubbed her hands: it was truly cold, the chill penetrating through the diving suit effortlessly into her bones. When Ding Xi came down, at least he wore thick clothes, unlike her and Zong Hang in just thin diving suits…

Damn! Something wasn’t right – was she stupid? After changing into the diving suit, she could have worn a down jacket or military coat until entering the water. Why had she come down like this?

Lately, her intelligence had declined. The reason? Proximity to ink stains black – obviously Zong Hang was dragging down her IQ…

“Yi Sa, are you cold?”

Yi Sa rolled her eyes into the darkness: “Obviously. Aren’t you?”

Zong Hang hesitated: “Should I… hold you? You might be warmer that way.”

Hold her?

Yi Sa surprisingly didn’t react immediately. She thought about what position that would mean, and suddenly blushed.

She heard the hooks clinking as Zong Hang struggled to turn toward her: “Don’t misunderstand, not that kind of holding, just for warmth, because it’s really cold.”

It got colder with time; his teeth were chattering as he asked: “Can I hold you?”

Yi Sa didn’t respond.

Zong Hang sniffled and rubbed his arms vigorously for warmth. Without Yi Sa’s agreement, he didn’t dare move.

Tong Hong said this was called respect – you must respect a girl’s opinions. Whether you can sit beside her or touch her, you have to ask first. Don’t presume she’ll like or accept it; you’re not her.

“Is it okay?”

Yi Sa finally gave a soft “mm-hmm.”

It was okay?

Zong Hang felt nervous, forgetting how to embrace someone. After hesitating, he finally put one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, slowly drawing her into his embrace. When he lowered his head, his chin gently pressed against her hair.

Just as he’d imagined – soft and fragrant, with warmth in that fragrance. Zong Hang realized for the first time how delicate and small she was, small enough to completely envelope her in his arms.

He forgot about the cold; instead, he began sweating slightly, his heart beating faster and faster, thump-thump.

This was bad – Zong Hang felt the whole cave must be filled with his heartbeat.

Yi Sa must have heard it.

He tried to save face: “Is my heart beating hard?”

Yi Sa nodded.

“I guess my altitude sickness is pretty severe.”

Yi Sa stayed quiet, not wanting to embarrass him.

She felt that he seemed to have… more than just heart-related abnormal reactions.

Let’s just blame it all on altitude sickness.

Finally, their feet touched water.

Yi Sa held onto the cave wall, first untying the rope coil from herself and securing it to the hook, then instructed Zong Hang: “Follow me once we’re in the water. We’ll release rope as we go. When my rope runs out, we’ll connect yours. We’ll follow the rope back when returning. Any questions?”

Zong Hang shook his head.

Good. Yi Sa took a deep breath, rubbed her face, preparing for the icy water, then let go and sank.

Zong Hang followed immediately.

Perhaps because they’d been so cold above, their bodies were somewhat numb – the water didn’t feel as cold as expected. Moreover, the water had a clear luminescence, with many suspended particles floating like cotton wisps.

Yi Sa had the rope end wrapped around her wrist, the long rope drifting and stretching through the deep water. Zong Hang held onto the rope, following closely, occasionally looking back, wary of anything attacking from behind.

Soon, this 120-meter rope reached its end. Zong Hang untied his coil and connected it, doubling their range.

This direction seemed normal, so Yi Sa gestured toward the opposite way. Zong Hang understood, turning in the water to follow the rope in the other direction.

Something was strange about this side – Zong Hang felt that the further they went, the brighter it seemed to get.

He and Yi Sa exchanged glances.

Was it breath soil?

He remembered that when breath soil was active, the brightness would increase, but in his memory, it had never been this bright – it was as if they were approaching daylight…

Yi Sa suddenly grabbed him.

Zong Hang’s heart pounded as he looked up.

How to describe it – they were already underwater, but ahead and above appeared a waterfall, an underwater waterfall emanating soft white light, continuously cascading down.

A breath soil waterfall? It was beautiful, especially submerged in water.

As Zong Hang gazed in wonder, a mass of writhing blackness appeared at the top of the “waterfall.”

He thought his eyes were playing tricks and rubbed them.

No mistake – it was real, and as the “waterfall” flowed, the blackness grew larger, like masses of flesh combining into strange shapes…

As he watched, something exploded in Zong Hang’s mind.

He realized what it resembled.

Where the “waterfall” cascaded, it was like half a skull cap had been lifted, and those countless masses of flesh, piled several stories high, resembled the brain within a skull. Though different from a human brain, it gave a powerful intuition –

This was a brain.

In the Drifting Cave, deep underwater, there was a gigantic brain-like entity.