Chapter 5.17 Source of the Salt (Extra)

There really wasn’t anything to say, so we all remained silent. We couldn’t determine what the situation outside was like and could only use our imaginations. I was the type of person who always wanted to see the whole picture, but I also knew the price of doing so. If we broke through this copper wall, it was possible that the rapids outside would rush in and we’d be swept hundreds of meters down the tunnel. I had feared death and been so careful during these past ten years, so it would be really ironic if I died searching for a fish.

I suddenly didn’t know what I was doing here. It was as if I had been bewitched by something and came upon this kind of situation again. I would never make such a mistake before. I had remained absolutely calm for ten years, but for some reason, I lost it.

As we continued to go down, I looked at Poker-Face, who was moving steadily ahead. That was when I suddenly realized something.

I had been making my own decisions over the past ten years and acting accordingly. I was normally a cautious person. The fact that my family’s small shop that I ran wasn’t so successful was one such example of this. Of course, my ability at that time was limited, but my personality was also a huge factor in maintaining the status quo. I had greatly improved my ability over those ten years, but I had finally returned to making my own decisions. Either way, my character had always been cautious.

But when the three of us were together, I naturally gave up my decision-making habits. Although I still made independent judgments and could face any kind of problem directly, I wasn’t the engine of this small group.

I was in Rain Village, but that definitely wasn’t the case now. The engine of this small group was now exploring the path ahead.

I actually felt relieved when I thought of this. I had initially thought that Poker-Face got involved in this matter because he wanted to tell me something and just didn’t know how to explain it clearly. If he was trying so hard to convey something to me, then it showed that he had enough confidence to ensure that this matter developed smoothly.

Most of the instructions Poker-Face had given me in the past were correct, and almost all the dangers I had encountered were of my own making. Now that I was following him, I was ready to listen to whatever he said. I believed it was much more reliable for him to be walking up front than me.

I straightened my headlamp, relaxed a little, and decided to focus on earnestly completing this adventure instead of pretending to be a Big Bad Wolf.

Lei Benchang watched us knocking on the salt clusters in horror. After finding something strange, the three of us had solemn looks on our faces and remained silent. Then, we suddenly turned and continued going down the tunnel. It was clear he didn’t understand what had happened. And to make matters worse, Fatty started ruffling his hair and complaining about how careless he had been just now.

Lei Benchang must have thought we had discovered something and didn’t want to tell him. He was very embarrassed and vaguely worried that the situation had taken a bad turn.

After climbing down for seven hours, the salt clusters became so thick that it was difficult for us to pass. We had to break them off most of the time just so we could get through. Our collars and cuffs were full of salt clusters and my stomach continued to ache for a while, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Finally, we heard the sound of running water and a strong wind. Even the breeze blowing through the tunnel grew stronger and stronger. After going down for another ten minutes, Poker-Face finally whispered, “We’re here.”

We climbed out one by one, and when it was my turn, I could see countless salt particles floating in the air in front of my headlamp. The ground in front of the exit was covered in salt, making it look just like snow. The area seemed to be very empty, and our headlamps couldn’t reach the end.

When I crawled forward and poked my head out, my hair was immediately blown upwards and salt poured into my mouth. It tasted extremely bitter and salty.

The flesh on my face started to shake from the huge crosswind that blew past. This fish ladder’s exit was located on the wall of a dry pool that almost looked like a salt pit. It was half a man deep and full of salt clusters.

We climbed to the edge of the pit and saw that it was pitch black in front of us. We couldn’t see anything except for the salt particles flying through the air, so Fatty pulled out his Wolf-Eyes flashlight and turned it all the way up. The area hundreds of meters in front of us was instantly illuminated and we found that we were standing on a salt field. There was nothing in the surrounding area except for the white salt covering the level ground. In fact, the ground was unusually level.

As the flashlight moved over everything smoothly, we didn’t see anything besides the salt particles. In the places where the light couldn’t reach, there was only nothingness. I didn’t know where the wind was coming from, but my ears were numb and the salt particles felt like sandpaper as they hit my face. I could vaguely see some cave walls on the very far edge that seemed to be covered in more salt clusters.

It turned out that this was a huge underground salt cave.

Fatty pointed the flashlight up and we could see the inverted salt ceiling that was more than ten meters above our heads. The surface of the salt was multi-crystalline, so it reflected a lot of color under the light’s beam.

I looked behind me and saw that the salt wall looked like a monster. The salt clusters were twisted around the rock wall in such a way that they looked like tentacles. We walked a few hundred meters forward and looked back again, only to find that this rock wall wasn’t actually the edge of the huge cave. Instead, it was just one side of a huge flat stone pillar, where the salt clusters on it had grown into a kind of huge canopy.

The tunnel we came out of was at the lower edge of this stone pillar, and there were a lot of rocks piled up beside it. They must have been the building materials that had been transported down through the passage. I looked up at the huge stone pillar and thought it was more like a ten-thousand-ton ship.

“What is this place?” Fatty asked loudly.

I also took out my Wolf-Eyes light and shined it on the snow-like salt field beneath my feet. This was an underground field made up entirely of salt. There had to be even more stone pillars as large as aircraft carriers that were supporting the salt ceiling here.

How big is it? I asked myself. With such a huge cave, I could monopolize the whole country’s cabbage pickling industry.

“Where’s the lake?” Lei Benchang asked us, not the least bit frightened by the situation in front of him.

<Extra 5.16> <Table of Contents><Extra 5.18>

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Guys! I have great news! I finally finished going through and fixing all of Vol. 7!!! I made it into a pretty pdf for you if you’re interested. It’s here. I also updated the Vol. 6 pdf (hopefully for the last time lol). It’s here. I know it seems dumb since we’re this far along, but you never know. You might want to re-read it in the future lol (especially now that the “Ultimate Note” trailer is out. Someone uploaded the video here.)