Chapter 47: Going down to Shambala

The buzzing sound had turned into a roar. Not only was the river shaking violently, but the people on the boat also clearly felt that the entire tunnel cave was shaking, as if the landslides and the earth were shaking. For a moment, the panic in his heart and uneasy emotions plagued every crew member.

"Look! What is that?"

He was also sitting at the bow of the boat, and Zhao Zhuangsheng, who was originally behind Zhang Li, suddenly shouted.

Day 1

Everyone's equipment was divided into small bags of waterproof plastic bags and sent to the underground river.

The team members also climbed the underwater cable and crossed the narrow torrent passage. Zhang Li and Master Yala responded at the source of the underground river, the end of the passage.

With a "thump", like a cargo falling from a high place into the water. Zhuomu Qiangba stood up. The water level this time was comparable to the first time they entered the Styx River, but the two sides were full of heroes and women who were preparing to set out for Shambala.

When Zhang Li saw Zhuo Mu Qiangba, he immediately pointed to a pile of plastic bags on the shore and said, "Master Qiangba, this pile of things belongs to you."

Zhuo Muqiangba walked ashore and looked at the flashing lights. Everyone was busy tidying up and restoring the marked plastic pockets. He shouted: "Listen, everyone," and pointed to the rope pointing out the water outlet. "After the last two people came in, the rope would be removed, and we could only move forward without a retreat.

Now that you have seen the environment here, this is the last time you have made a decision.

No matter what choice you make, I, Zhuomu Qiangba, thank you sincerely, thank you everyone!"

The result was self-evident. Everyone looked at the other end of the dark and deep cave with high spirits, carrying a huge backpack on their backs with high spirits, ready to go.

When Yueyang and Captain Hupoda entered the cave, the ropes soaked in water were cut into pieces and downstream.

Zhuo Muqiangba's heart sank. He knew that from this moment on, they had cut off all contact with the outside world. The next moment, they were going to a place where there was no light, and there was only endless darkness with them.

With Zhuo Mu Qiangba saying: "Set out!"

The two people walked along both sides of the Styx, facing the vast darkness, and took the first step to challenge the God of Death.

Darkness seems to have no end.

The echo of the cave magnified the sound of footsteps, breathing, water drops, and the only thing that could not be heard was the flowing sound of the pitch-black River Styx.

This time, when entering the cave, compared to Zhuomuqiangba and Yueyang for the first time, the water level dropped a lot, and the river bank was significantly widening, and the rugged rocks lurking under the river bank also showed a hideous face. Under the illumination of countless headlights, the bizarre underground river scene was fully revealed.

Everyone exclaimed in their hearts, but none of them made a sound. They just followed the large army silently, fearing that they would break through the mysterious tranquility.

Zhang Li and the other three led the way, Zhuo Muqiangba said nothing, and Yueyang also felt uneasy. The lower the water level, does it mean that its lowest turning point is coming? At that time, in what way will this water level rise?

Suddenly filled the river?

After walking for about two hours, we finally arrived at the large ship that had been identified and tested by Zhang Li and the others.

Although everyone was mentally prepared, suddenly seeing such a big ship in this dead and dark underground space still caused bursts of exclamations.

The calls were spread from a distance by the cave, and finally became like howling ghosts and wolves.

At this time, the serpentine ship was tied to the rock pillar above his head by a thick rope, floating quietly in the water, with its head raised at the high end. Its strange shape, huge volume, and strange skin are all amazing.

Zhang Li pointed his hand at the cowhide boat and said, "Everyone, welcome everyone to land on Ark One and start our dark drifting journey."

He pressed the switch, and the three searchlights installed on the serpentine ship were all lit up, illuminating the dark underground river.

Zhang Li retained the agility of the serpentine hull and only installed some modern electronic equipment in some places. At this moment, the serpentine hull can be said to be a combination of ancient wisdom and modern technology.

Without saying a word, Yan Yong threw his heavy backpack onto the boat, and then jumped in. The boat was not shaking, and its buoyancy was astonishing.

After everyone entered the cowhide boat, Zhang Li untied the rope and said, "Look, the design of this ship is very distinctive, and it can almost be said to be designed for this cave navigation.

Its hull is narrow and long, almost exceeding the maximum width of the cave, and the keel adopts a strange spinal structure, so that the ship is almost impossible to cross or regress in the river.

This spinal keel allows the hull to twist forward flexibly like a snake. Even at a ninety-degree right angle that an ordinary boat cannot turn, it can easily turn over.

In a sense, this can be said to be a fish that can swim freely in the cave, and the fins and tail of the fish are the oars in our hands.

Come on, let it move.”

The crew sat on both sides of the boat, with their backpacks placed on the other side of the empty space, wearing life jackets, holding plastic steel paddles, a powerful searchlight on the bow and two on the stern of the boat, ensuring that each oarist could see clearly the situation beside him and in the dark. The people holding the lights were Yueyang and Taxi.

Zhang Li and Zhuo Muqiangba, who came to the Styx for the first time, sat behind Yueyang. First, they could see the direction clearly, and second, they could remind everyone.

Zhuo Muqiangba ordered softly, and the dragon bone boat flew out like an arrow from the string...

Professor Fang Xin received a call just as soon as he sat down. The old voice on the other end of the phone asked in a hurry: "Lao Fang, where did you get the things you showed us?"

Professor Fang Xin said: "Oh, it's Lao Peng, are you talking about those scales?

How about it, what was found?

Could it be really an animal-attributed thing?”

Lao Peng seemed very excited on the other end and said, "It's incredible. Although we have repeatedly pondered and verified it, it is obvious that this is indeed dander from some kind of animal.

Although it is different from today's animal fur, it does belong to biological leather, with cuticle and base layer."

Professor Fang Xin said: "What kind of creature is that?

Is there any clue?”

Lao Peng said: "No.

But this epidermal structure is different from most animal epidermis I know. It is just that through cell structure, there are too few clues that can be obtained. In short, it feels very strange. This thing has aroused my curiosity. It would be great if there was a small piece. I wonder if I could contact the person who brought the thing?"

Professor Fang Xin smiled bitterly and said, “Is that so?

I don't know where they went now..."

At the beginning, the boat was very fast, which made Zhuo Muqiangba feel very happy. If calculated at this speed, their estimated plan to float the Styx in three days would definitely be completed in advance. However, Zhuo Muqiangba also had an ominous premonition. In the darkness, there was always some unknown danger waiting for them.

All the crew members shook their arms and sailed in the dark environment, which did not bring them much fear, but instead felt a little stimulating. After all, it was the first time that they were rowing such a boat in such an environment.

The most exciting ones are Zhang Jian, Li Hong and others, Yan Yong and Zhu Yan and other old expedition members who seem to be more serious.

Sure enough, the excitement didn't last long.

In order to let everyone have a clear understanding of this underground undercurrent as soon as possible, Yueyang took everyone away from the straight river they walked through when they first came.

The steep and steep slope suddenly made everyone's nerves tight, but at this time, the advantages of the serpentine ship also appeared. The soaked hull and the freely flexible spine bones made the serpentine ship firmly attached to the surface of the river.

Each pair of ribs and the connected spine divides the serpentine ship into sections. The people sitting on the boat are like riding a roller coaster, sometimes going downwards, sometimes dodging reefs left and right, and sometimes hitting the walls or stone pillars of the cave. The elastic hull rebounds like a ball and then hits the other side, which requires the team members to cooperate together to barely control the direction.

After more than ten minutes of waterfall, the happy people could no longer cheer.

Li Hong and Zhao Zhuangsheng's hands holding the side of the boat were a little white. The two big bumps just now almost lifted them off the boat. Everyone else was covered with cold water. However, Ju Yan, who had participated in Yapiao, had a little smile. Compared with Yapiao, this level of torrent was still acceptable.

But Zhuo Mu Qiangba had no joy on his face.

This is just the beginning. In the darkness, there are still countless such sections of rivers, and they have to repeat this process at least, persisting in the dark for three days... three days!

After turning over the conical platform, Zhuomu Qiangba compared the map and discussed with Yueyang to choose a route that was not straight. This route seemed a bit circumference, but the platform graphics marked along the way were the most.

For some reason, both of them vaguely felt that this was safer.

At the beginning, the crew was divided into three groups, each with six people. Three groups took turns when rowing, each responsible for the ten-minute river section.

This not only ensures enough rest time, but also keeps talking and can offset the fear of darkness.

But when encountering a rushing situation, all employees must work together.

As the water level of the underground river continued to drop, the number of dangerous sections of the torrents increased, and the situation was very unoptimistic. Later, it took only two hours to pass through the torrents.

After floating the longest section of the river, Yue Yang's face turned pale and he murmured: "I didn't expect it to be like this."

Zhuo Muqiangba was still silent. He knew that this was still just the beginning...

Since the river channel ahead will be shallower, the river water will always flow downwards. Without a river bank, it is impossible to stop the boat and rest.

Yueyang finally discovered that only the platforms marked on the map were the only places where the boat could be tied. They either protrude or have upright stone pillars, and the rest were mostly flat walls, otherwise even on the most dangerous torrents, even if the pillars were seen, they would pass by in a flash, and it would be impossible to stop the boat.

Yueyang finally found a stopping point marked on the map, stopped the boat, everyone had a meal and rested, and recovered their strength.

Zhuo Muqiangba discussed with Qi Yan, Lu Jingnan, Captain Huyang, Yueyang and others and redistributed personnel. On the gentle river section, it was still divided into three groups of rowing boats as before. Once it encountered rapids and dangerous shoals, the number of people controlling the boat increased to nine.

It is necessary to ensure that the other half has time to rest, otherwise if you encounter multiple torrents in succession, all crew members will be unable to bear the physical strength.

During the rest, Meng Haoran hadn't eaten anything. He said that his stomach was churning so hard that he couldn't eat it.

Zhu Yan said: "I have told you that if you can go up the mountain, don't go down the river. This rafting and climbing are completely different.

Now I know it’s amazing, I still have received special training.”

Meng Haoran said: "It's still a little different from that in the car. Now the floor under my feet is soft, and the boat has been falling down. I still feel my internal organs falling down, but it's going up and down during training."

After a moment of rest, he also started eating.

Li Dingming stuffed his mouth with chocolate or compressed biscuits in his mouth, and asked, "Brother Chu, you have participated in Yapiao. I feel that who is more difficult to float in this underground river than the Yarlung Zangbo River?"

Qian Yan said: "We use small rubber boats and charge boats for the big river drifting, and at most seven or eight people are seated. If the slope drops too much, we can drill into the sealed cabin.

Compared with Yajiang, each has its own dangers.

If you don’t consider the surrounding environment, the dangerous section of Yajiang is definitely more dangerous than this underground river.

It has huge rocks falling on both sides of the river everywhere, and there are waterfalls of several meters, even dozens or hundreds of meters.

Although we claim to drift the Yajiang River throughout the whole journey, we actually didn't drift the whole journey at all.

Many areas are too dangerous to float at all. We walked across the two sides of the Taiwan Strait with tools.

However, the environment around the underground river is more severe than that of Yajiang. First of all, there is no light. Without these high-power searchlights, we will be unable to move forward; secondly, there is no place to stop. We have to stay on the boat for 24 hours in these three days, and there is darkness around 72 hours, and in the same place for 72 hours. I am afraid that many drifters will not be able to do these two points.
To be continued...