Chapter 5.14 Fish Ladder (Extra)

As I climbed up, I told myself that I wasn’t incapable of jumping up. Although my jumping skills weren’t as good as they used to be, my ligaments were still loose. The rapid training I had undergone with Black Glasses back then still enabled me to control my body. I just didn’t feel the need to do so right now.

I could climb up, so why should I bother jumping up?

As I grabbed the tree trunk and had Fatty push me up, Lei Benchang asked from below, “What are you all doing on the trunk?”

“If you don’t understand, then shut up.” Fatty said. “This is to find a way for you. Don’t ruin our inspiration. If you’re interested, go get us a fish to celebrate.”

The old man still didn’t seem to understand, so he just nodded his head and went about his business. I pulled Fatty up, and the two of us continued to climb up to the canopy. We saw Poker-Face leaning on a branch and looking out at the surrounding mountains.

I pretended that I wasn’t breathless as I climbed up and easily leaned against another branch. Fatty looked at the branch’s thickness and settled down on the one below. I had just gotten into position to look at the mountain when Poker-Face suddenly saw something. He walked to the end of a long branch that was towards the top of the tree. At the moment when the branch was bent, he squatted down, kept his hands on the branch as he jumped onto the rock beside the pool, and then grabbed a handful of leaves, tossing them into the deep pool.

As the leaves fell and drifted slowly towards the pool’s surface, Fatty and I looked at each other. I wondered if he had given up observing the mountains for now. If so, climbing up and down would be the death of me.

When I saw Lei Benchang looking at us, I decided to keep up the facade; otherwise, it would be easy to see that we couldn’t keep up with the rhythm. I pretended to look afar as I wondered what Poker-Face had seen.

After looking around, all I could see were banyan trees. The mountains around here were very short, and there weren’t any huge rocks. There was nothing to see in this place. In order to determine the hidden dragon vein, we’d have to go to a high place. But this tree was the tallest thing here, and it obviously wasn’t high enough. I really didn’t know what the ancients were thinking.

I jumped and landed firmly, leaving Fatty to figure out his own way. I went up to Poker-Face and squatted down on the rock to see the pool below. “There’s a hole,” he said.

He pointed to a spot on the sinkhole’s wall that was surrounded by the banyan trees’ snake-like roots. I couldn’t see what was behind the roots, but he was pointing in a direction that was close to the water.

“How do you know?” I asked. Poker-Face pointed to the floating leaves on the pool’s surface, and I immediately understood that he had dropped them just now to see if there was a breeze blowing below. There seemed to be, which indicated that there was an air vent below. There were probably caves or crevices in this enclosed space that had air vents.

I looked back at the canopy. I couldn’t understand these actions even if I had seen them dozens of times before. But I had tried to ask him for advice several times during this period and probably understood his logic. He went up to see the mountains and look at the feng shui and dragon vein. He couldn’t see them, so he looked at the water level down below. The mountain’s state here wasn’t consistent with the deep pool’s water level, which raised a suspicion that there was something wrong with the deep pool itself. I just didn’t know if that was truly the case.

I tried to observe carefully, and used binoculars to take a closer look. Sure enough, there was a small hole behind the banyan trees’ roots that was just big enough for a person to fit through if he squatted.

Poker-Face took out an axe, climbed down, and started cutting off the roots that were blocking the hole. As he was working, it was clear to see that the roots penetrated deep into the hole. We used ropes to slide our backpacks full of equipment down, and then tied more ropes to the trees before going down one by one. The banyan trees’ roots were very easy to climb, but those roots near the water were covered in a slippery moss.

It was very dim once we entered the hole, and the entrance was full of intertwined roots that were very uncomfortable to step on. The wet moss squeezed out a green looking water whenever we stepped on it, indicating that this hole was sometimes flooded. There was a sharp downward tilt as we went further in, and it quickly became pitch-black. The walls were made up of layer after layer of uncut stratified rock, and a damp air was blowing through the hole.

Fatty and I were squatting there awkwardly, and I could feel my foot cramping a little. Lei Benchang was in the back and Poker-Face was in the front.

“Look carefully, everyone,” Fatty said. “It’s not something you see every day. This isn’t a tunnel for people to walk through.”

“If it’s not that kind of tunnel, then what is it?” I asked warily. I didn’t know what shocking but often right conclusion he was about to say.

“This is for fish to use.” Fatty said. His eyes were shining and he was obviously very surprised. “This is a fish ladder (1).”

“Fish ladder?” I touched the rock around me, and Fatty said, “I’ve only heard of it, but I didn’t expect that it actually existed. If there are any buildings in this underground lake, then the bricks needed weren’t transported by people, but by fish. Look at the size of this stone tunnel. If a fish was about the same size and diameter as this tunnel, then it could only keep going downstream. The stones it dragged would be pulled into the depths by the fish ladder, where they would be intercepted and taken down below.”

I touched my chin and asked myself if it was really possible. But how did the fish come up? If it was a waterway, then why was there no water now? If there was water in the depths of the cave, then did that mean we couldn’t go down?

Poker-Face lit a flare and threw it into the depths of the fish ladder. From my position, I couldn’t see the end at all. He looked for a while and then started moving down while saying, “Don’t talk.”

<Extra 5.13> <Table of Contents><Extra 5.15>

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TN Notes:

(1) Also known as a fishway, fish pass or fish steps. It’s a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate natural fish migration. Most fish ladders enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps (hence the term ladder) into the waters on the other side. More info here

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This is the halfway point for this New Year’s Special! Woohoo!! We’re getting there!