Ten minutes later, they all arrived at the cave that Magallan had shown them.
"Is this the suspicious cave you found?" Matoimaru tried to take a look into the cave entrance that was only just her height and said, "I can barely fit inside. What could be in it?"
"I've already had checked it with my drones," Magallan replied, "My drone flew in it for about 20 meters without seeing the bottom. However, the terrain inside is more complicated. I am afraid that my drones will have problems navigating inside. So, I didn't let them go deeper."
"You haven't seen the bottom twenty meters in?" Matoimaru said with a surprised tone, "That's really deep. Where does it lead?"
"I don't know. But the air quality inside is not bad. In other words, there's air circulating inside it," Magallan said, "Then there's a high probability of finding an entrance out on the other side of the island."
"Is that so? That seems quite interesting," Matoimaru moved her hands and feet. Then she adjusted the position of her searchlight on her helmet, "Let me explore the way, or what about waiting for me outside? Let me go in alone."
"Better not," Blue Poison said, "If Miss Skadi also had troubles here, you might not come out if you go alone. It is safer to go in together. Miss Magallan let your drones fly in the forefront. In case of an emergency, we will also have time to react."
Magallan nodded, "Got it. I think so too".
Blue Poison was the only one who has experience in fighting against large creatures, so everyone was willing to listen to her words. After the discussion, Magallan's two drones flew into the cave first, Matoimaru following behind them. After that, the formation changed a little bit. Blue Poison was no longer behind but followed right behind Matoimaru, followed by Magallan, Lin Ye, and Frostleaf at the end.
As Magallan said, the space in the cave was not spacious. The cave was more like a tunnel that was too narrow, such that they had to walk in single file. This kind of tunnel was also the most dangerous. Once something happens, there was next to nothing that anyone could do.
But there was no other way to go. Since they had already come here, no matter how uneasy they felt, they could only bite the bullet and go in. The group's searchlights and the searchlights of the drones instantly illuminated the dark and narrow cave.
"This place is too hard to move in," Matoimaru complained.
"It's okay, I'm right behind you" Blue Poison replied, "I'll ready an arrow. Just in case."
"I have heard of your name," Matoimaru expressed her concerns, "I'm dead if I got hit by one of your arrows, right?"
"It's not that exaggerated," Blue Poison said helplessly "I have the antidote if something like that happens."
"Oh, that's a relief" Matoimaru's attitude was still carefree. If she said that she was relieved, she was relieved.
Because the cave was too small, several echoes happened whenever anyone of them spoke. It sounded very troublesome. So, after saying a few words, the people in front stopped talking, and the cave fell silent for an instant. It was so quiet that Lin Ye could even hear the music on Frostleaf's headphones. He also heard the sound of running water somewhere nearby.
Wait... The sound of running water?
Lin Ye was stunned.
He immediately stopped Magallan that was in front of him. Blue Poison, who was walking in front stopped too.
"Do you hear the sound of water?" Lin Ye asked.
"I have already seen it," Magallan said, "No, it's my drones that have seen it, and it's about...100 meters away from us."
Lin Ye exchanged glances with Blue Poison and then made the team speed up because, in Lin Ye's phone call with Skadi, the sound of running water was heard. That meant that her phone was not too far from the water source, and that water source was definitely not the sea because the sound of the waves was much more violent than the sound of flowing water.
After walking through the first tens of meters, the path slowly became much wider. Everyone didn't need to hunch over to walk carefully in the cave. This naturally also increased their pace since they weren't movement restricted. Soon they reached the position Magallan said was nearby, where an extremely narrow and shallow stream came into view. At this time, Magallan's two drones were hovering directly above the stream, illuminating it with their searchlights.
"This should have flowed in from outside," Blue Poison squatted down by the stream, dipping her finger into the shallow stream. She then tasted it. Then she showed a surprised expression "Freshwater?"
"Was it worth it taking such a risk?" Matoimaru said, "This water looks so dark, it doesn't look normal."
"That's because there's gunk underneath it," Blue Poison grabbed a handful of sludge in her hands, and then showed it to everyone, "And since my body is immune to most of the toxins in this world, you don't need to worry. But you'd better not try it."
"Even if you didn't say anything, I would never taste it," Matoimaru closed her mouth "You can be sure about that."
Blue Poison showed a helpless smile "Yes."
Magallan controlled her drones and flew them forward as the water flowed for a while. She then touched her earpiece "The sound of the water over there is louder. The one we see now should only be a very small tributary".
"Tributary?" Blue poison became a little curious "That it. Below the island may have an underground river?"
"It's also possible that it just flows to the sea," Magallan asked, "Do we need to move on?"
This was a meaningless question, and it didn't even need to be answered. Matoimaru carried her behemoth of a sword and continued to lead the way. Everyone immediately followed her.
At this time, Lin Ye vaguely felt that Skadi had been here before, because according to Kal'tsit, Skadi had travelled in the passage for a long time. The section of the path they had just walked was obviously the same one she would have needed to travel through. The reason why he was uncertain was also that Skadi's character was too difficult to figure out.
She would never report to Kal'tsit on time. She would not tell Kal'tsit where she was or who she had met. After solving everything, Skadi would put the things Kal'tsit asked for on her desk and then leave. Over time, Kal'tsit also acquiesced to Skadi's way of acting. She only needed results and didn't need the report, and plus Skadi was too lazy to give a report. This was why everyone needed to find the last position Skadi was at before disappearing through the positioning of the communicator.
Blue Poison apparently speculated a bit and said, "In accordance with Doctor Kal'tsit's information, there is a strong possibility Miss Skadi has been here, and we have travelled the same path that she used."
"We are not far from the place where she lost contact?" Matoimaru looked back at Blue Poison, "Are we also likely to encounter the predicament that Skadi encountered at the time?"
"Yes," She nodded.
Everyone but Matoimaru immediately became tense
Matoimaru on the other hand seemed eager "I still want to see what kind of power could make the strongest Abyssal hunter struggle."
Magallan was a little nervous, "I will do my best to give support".
Blue Poison checked her bow and arrows. The poisonous arrows seemed to exude a cold chilling aura under the light of the searchlight.
Lin Ye silently held on to Vector under his hood. At the same time, he pulled the safety on it.
Even Frostleaf turned down the volume of her headphones. The atmosphere became serious as no one spoke anymore. After walking in silence for about five minutes, Magallan suddenly made a sound "My drone has found Miss Skadi's communicator."
Everyone's heart was shaken, and they almost ask in unison "Where?".
"It's very close to us, less than two minutes away," Magallan said tensely, "That's where the tributaries we just talked about are. There is actually an underground river below!"
Lin Ye just noticed the currents. The noise becomes louder and louder.
The group immediately speeds up. It only took a minute to reach the location where the drones were. They also saw the underground river. Although the scale of the underground river was not too large, only being about two or three meters wide. However, because the water was murky, they didn't know the depth. Just below the drones, about 20 to 30 centimeters from the underground river, there was Skadi's communicator.
"Magellan, have you noticed anything unusual?" Blue Poison asked Magallan.
Magallan shook her head. Everyone just walked over.
Matoimaru came over first and picked up the communicator, and then checked it.
"It's really out of power", Matoimaru said as she handed over the communicator to Magallan, "Can you see any clues?"
Magallan took the communicator and checked it thoroughly. Then she shook her head "No. It's just that there is no power, and the case hasn't been damaged."
"What about Miss Skadi?" Matoimaru looked around, "Is she here? Her communicator is here, which means that Skadi lost contact here. But there is nothing here. What did Skadi encounter?"
Lin Ye tried to imagine in his heart the scene of Skadi coming here that night. When she discovered the underground river, Skadi must have been a little surprised...
What about after the surprise? What did she do?
He thought, looking down at the river. Then he felt that something was not right about the water.
The next second, his eyes widened, his body raised Vector like a conditioned reflex and then pulled the trigger. In just a few seconds, Vector sent all the twenty-five Arts bullets in the magazine into the river, causing a series of large splashes.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft by Jaq
Proofread by SM
Edit by SM