Chapter 36: creepy underground cave

After preparing everything, Xu Xin entered the underground cave carrying a stone spear.

He was now somewhat sensitive to the word "underground," so even though Coco told him there was no danger below, he remained on high alert and replenished himself with red berries and oranges.

As he entered the cave, Xu Xin looked ahead. The cave was narrow, just slightly wider than his shoulders, with the cramped space not even allowing two people to walk side by side.

The cave's direction was not straight ahead, but sloped downward. As Xu Xin followed the cave, his position would only get farther from the surface.

The walls on both sides of the passage were uneven earthen walls, looking as if they had been artificially dug out to form a tunnel.

Xu Xin could see the end of this path at a glance. The end of the cave was only a few hundred meters away from him.

"Strange, a dead end?" Xu Xin wondered aloud.

He had checked the surrounding walls along the way, expecting to find caves leading in other directions, but even as he reached the end of the cave and touched the earthen wall at the end with his hands, he found no other passages.

The end of the cave was no longer sloping downward, but level ground. Xu Xin calculated that his current position was about twenty to thirty meters below the surface.

Looking down at Coco, he saw it digging at the ground with its little paws beneath his feet.

Xu Xin looked closely and noticed that the color of that patch of soil was slightly different from its surroundings. If not for his night vision ability that made darkness appear like daylight, even with a torch, it would have been impossible to see the difference in the soil color.

This patch of soil had been loosened.

The golden treasure chest must be buried here!

"Alright, Coco, leave it to me!" Xu Xin picked up the hardworking Coco and placed it behind him, then took out his stone hoe and began digging at the patch of differently colored soil.

"Yin yin yin!" Accidentally, the soil Xu Xin dug up splashed all over Coco. Coco cried out in displeasure, shook off the dirt, and jumped over to hug Xu Xin's leg.

"Haha, sorry Coco!" Xu Xin couldn't help but chuckle. He reached out to pat Coco's head, feeling soil particles still on its little head, and brushed them off. "I'll give you a bath when we get back!"

"Yin!"

Xu Xin continued digging, but even when the depth of the hole reached his waist, he still hadn't dug up anything.

He looked at the soil in the pit. As he dug, the soil gradually took on a reddish tinge. Although it wasn't very obvious, Xu Xin easily noticed it.

"Is it really safe?" Xu Xin hesitated. The soil beneath his feet seemed to be stained with blood, reminding him of the blood-red threads and thorns on the dark green vines, and the blood-red petals and pistils of the man-eating flower he had just encountered.

He sighed and patted the little one's head, saying, "If something happens to us here, we'll die together."

"Yin!" Coco hugged Xu Xin's leg with one paw and patted its chest with the other, as if saying, trust it, when it says there's no danger, there's no danger!

He decided to continue trusting Coco.

Having come this far, it wouldn't be good to give up halfway.

Continuing to dig, Xu Xin didn't just dig straight down. Instead, like at the cave entrance, he first dug diagonally upward, creating a path he could walk up. He then spread the dug-up soil evenly in the passage, ensuring it wouldn't block his way out.

He wanted to leave himself an escape route first. If he had to dig very deep, it would be difficult to come back up.

He kept digging until the depth of the hole was almost the same as his height. Suddenly, his shovel hit something hard, making a sound different from hitting stone, as if it were something made of metal.

Xu Xin's eyes lit up.

Was it the treasure chest?

He quickened his pace of digging, rapidly clearing the soil under his feet.

There was indeed metal beneath his feet. However, to his disappointment, this metal wasn't golden, but made of iron.

Who knows how long this iron object had been buried in the soil? Its surface was covered with a layer of dark red rust.

Xu Xin cleared away the soil around the exposed iron surface and discovered that this wasn't some small trinket, but an underground iron door!

An iron door leading even deeper underground!

"How can it be a door?" Xu Xin muttered to himself, looking at the rusty handle. "An iron door leading to an underground space?"

This iron door gave him a feeling similar to the manhole covers on the roadside, except that manhole covers are round, while this rusty iron door was square, with an iron door handle on top.

He dug around a bit and found that the surrounding area was still filled with reddened soil, completely different from the red soil he had seen before.

Xu Xin grabbed a handful of soil.

[Contaminated Soil (Gray): Soil infected by an unknown force, useless to survivors.]

As expected, there was something wrong with this soil too.

Throwing away the soil in his hand, Xu Xin looked at the iron door.

He had no choice but to go down.

He dug out an area large enough to stand in, grasped the door handle, took a deep breath, and then pulled upward with all his might.

The iron door was extremely heavy, but fortunately, it wasn't locked. Xu Xin, with his strength enhanced twice, used all his might and finally managed to slowly pull the door open.

The rusty iron door made a sharp, grating sound as it opened a crack.

Before Xu Xin could exert more force, a strong and foul odor rushed out from the gap, catching him off guard and invading his nostrils.

"Ugh…" Xu Xin retched, his grip loosening. With a "bang," the iron door that had just been opened a crack slammed shut again.

Even Coco was nauseated by this smell, letting out a sharp cry and a dry heave.

"What's inside? Why is it so stinky!"

Xu Xin had mild pharyngitis and would involuntarily feel nauseous when smelling certain unpleasant odors. But this time, his nausea had nothing to do with his pharyngitis, because the smell beneath this iron door had clearly far exceeded the tolerance of a normal person!

It was just too stinky! It was like a combination of rotten herring in a can and moldy pickled bamboo shoots, a smell that was physiologically impossible to accept!

There was no other way. Xu Xin resorted to his old trick, using his clothes as a mask to cover his nose.

Once again gripping the rusty handle, Xu Xin exerted all his strength. Accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound, the iron door was opened a crack again.

Fighting the urge to vomit, Xu Xin increased his effort.

"Come on——open——!!"

"Clang!!" The iron door was flipped over completely, falling heavily to the other side.

A red gas wafted up from below, and that unbearable stench instantly filled Xu Xin's nostrils.

Xu Xin couldn't hold it anymore. He rushed to the upper passage, pulled off the cloth from his face, and vomited with a "wa."

It was too stinky, just too stinky!

Xu Xin felt that the smell inside this door was even more terrifying than the man-eating flower! This was practically a biochemical weapon!

Coco was also clawing at the cave wall beside him, making retching sounds.

This wouldn't do, the whole cave was filled with this smell!

Xu Xin grabbed Coco and rushed to the surface, taking in big gulps of the fresh jungle air.

He had never found the jungle air so refreshing before, even thinking that the faint scent of man-eating flowers in the air was so pleasant.

After catching his breath, Xu Xin gritted his teeth. He couldn't give up just because of a little smell!

With a look of tragic determination on his face, he prepared to go down again and truly enter that incredibly stinky iron door.

Just as Xu Xin was about to descend into the cave again, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eye twitching as he looked at the cave entrance he had enlarged.

A pale red gas was slowly drifting out from inside, spreading around the cave entrance and floating towards Xu Xin, entering his nose.

"Ugh!"