Chapter 462: Who Else Could It Be But You Guys
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Su Ying and her group took three days to cross the mountain. When they descended the mountain, she took out her binoculars and could already see South River at the foot of the mountain.
“Let’s go down and take a look.”
The group arrived at the foot of the mountain before noon.
They had walked all the way here. Halfway down the mountain, Su Ying could clearly feel that the humidity in the air on both sides of the mountain was completely different.
Su Ying used her binoculars to observe the condition of the South River. She discovered that the water level in South River had actually dropped significantly.
“Does South River have a flood season?”
“Your Imperial Highness, the South River does have a flood season. Although it’s not as extreme as the one at Aquarius River, the water level can be quite high when the water rises. There’s a marking stone in front. I will take you there for a look.”
The official who was familiar with the terrain brought Su Ying to a stone tablet that was standing at least 10 feet away from them.
“That is the water level that the South River can reach during the flood season every year. However, the flood season in the South River is relatively short. It usually ends in about half a month. I’ve never heard the elders back home mention that South River has flooded before. The most rapid and destructive flood only inundated half of a village downstream. And that was the only time. The waters receded after a few days.”
Su Ying nodded and led the group upstream along the South River. Halfway there, she discovered a mountain stream by the side of South River.
Su Ying stopped in her tracks, turned around, and walked toward the mountain stream.
She stood in the middle of the mountain stream and stretched out her arms to roughly measure the width of the mountain stream. “Where does this mountain stream flow to down there?”
The official walked over and shook his head with an apologetic smile. “Your Imperial Highness, please forgive me. I don’t know anything about this. This place is really too big. I recall coming here to play when I was a child, but I didn’t dare to go too deep. I was worried that there would be man-eating ferocious beasts.”
Su Ying murmured an acknowledgment. “This place isn’t big. You guys stay outside and stand guard here. You come in with me to take a look,” she said as she pointed at the official who spoke earlier.
The official acknowledged the order obediently, but Zhou Qing went forward and said, “Your Imperial Highness, allow me to accompany you. I can ensure Your Imperial Highness’s safety.”
Su Ying wanted to say that there was no need, but she remembered that the length of the mountain stream was still uncertain. If she couldn’t come out today, there would still be someone to cook for her. “Mm-hmm. Carry that pot on your back with you.”
Zhou Qing was surprised. She quickly went to carry the pot and dry food with her. No matter what happened, she couldn’t let the Empress starve!
This was the experience that Zhou Qing had gathered from following the Empress these days. It was absolutely practical and effective because hunger would make the Empress irritable!
Su Ying looked at Zhou Qing’s solemn expression and was a little puzzled. She only told her to carry a pot. Why did the girl look like she was on a life-and-death mission?
The three of them trekked along the mountain stream. Not long after they entered the interior, they found a cave.
Su Ying frowned as she looked at the cave. All the water in the mountain stream flowed into the cave. If they wanted to know where the water flowed to eventually, they had to go through this cave.
“Have you been to this cave before?”
The official shook his head. “Your Imperial Highness, I have never been here.”
As they stood outside the cave and looked in, it was pitch-black inside and they could not see anything. The cave hole seemed to be a harbinger of unknown danger.
“Your Imperial Highness, let me walk in front.” Zhou Qing found a tree branch, dipped a dry cloth in pork lard, and lit it up like a torch. Then, she got ready to walk into the cave.
However, Su Ying reached out and pulled her back. “You stay behind me.”
Zhou Qing wanted to object, but Su Ying simply took the torch from her hand and walked in.
“Your Imperial Highness…”
“Follow me.”
Su Ying was only feeling impatient that they were walking too slowly. She was more experienced in dealing with unexpected situations in this sort of natural environment.
Zhou Qing had no choice but to follow closely behind Su Ying helplessly. If an accident were to happen, she could at least shield Su Ying at the first possible moment.
As they walked deeper into the cave, the humidity inside became higher. The entire cave looked like it had been eroded by water, a little like a karst geomorphological feature.
The deeper they went, the narrower the space became. As they only had one torch to illuminate their way, when they turned back for a look after they walked deep inside, they only saw a terrifying darkness behind them.
The official at the back gulped a few times somewhat fearfully.
“Your Imperial Highness, this cave looks quite deep. There won’t be any danger inside, will there?”
Su Ying couldn’t answer this question. If she didn’t believe that he might be familiar with the environment outside the cave, she wouldn’t have brought him in.
“Follow closely and pay attention to where you step. This kind of stone is very slippery. If you’re not careful, you’ll fall into the water.”
The pork lard and rags could only burn for a limited amount of time. Before long, the flames grew dimmer and dimmer until Zhou Qing could barely see the path under her feet.
Su Ying suddenly stopped in her tracks and took out her binoculars. She was wearing night vision goggles, so as long as there was a tiny sliver of light, she would be able to notice it. Just now, she saw a minuscule light source in front of her.
After checking with the binoculars, Su Ying confirmed that there was indeed a light source ahead. That place was most likely an exit.
Su Ying took out something that looked like a luminous pearl. The moment she took it out, their surroundings were instantly illuminated.
Zhou Qing and the official were amazed. They had never seen such a bright luminous pearl in their lives.
Only Su Ying knew that this wasn’t a luminous pearl at all. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, she had made some simple modifications to the flashlight, making it look like a luminous pearl on the outside. This way, no one would suspect anything.
With the illumination of the luminous pearl, the path was much easier to walk on thereafter. The good thing about this cave was that there were places for people to walk on both sides of the mountain stream.
Su Ying reached out to touch the rock wall and felt a slight dampness. This dampness was different from when they first entered the cave, and the humidity was lower here.
This was strange. Logically speaking, as they went deeper, the humidity should become higher.
While Su Ying and her group were searching for a way out of the cave, Wei Zhongming was also searching for a way to survive in Luo City.
The top doctors in Luo City were all holed up at home as they dared not show their faces. They were not willing to risk getting infected by the plague.
Wei Zhongming didn’t care about their well-being at all. He simply got his men to drag the doctors out of their residences and forced them to treat the patients.
The doctors had no choice but to bite the bullet. However, the result of one doctor’s diagnosis was that the patient’s stomach was weak. The more skilled doctors could also see that the patient’s heart rhythm was chaotic. Medicine could be prescribed, but the illness could not be cured.
After the patient took the medicine, the symptoms would be relieved to a certain extent, but the period of relief was very brief. If the patient stopped the medication, the illness would relapse.
In this way, Luo City would run short of medicinal herbs in a short period of time. In just two days, the medicinal herbs in the city were sold out.
After Wei Zhongming got the news, he called all the merchants he was familiar with over and scolded them viciously.
“Which one of you has the guts to cut off my survival route? Speak! Who bought up those medicinal herbs? Spit them out at once!”
All the merchants exchanged glances guilelessly.
“My Lord, we’re innocent. The medicinal herbs wasn’t bought up by us.”
“If it wasn’t you guys, who else could it be?”