Chapter 58: Stick Together
[The river was too fast, and the dugout canoe was completely out of our control. I saw a pinecone-shaped rock ahead. After that, a big wave extinguished our last torch. I couldn’t see anything…]
[The boat began to fall. We must have fallen off the cliff with the waterfall. Little Iron and I started screaming… but soon, we, and our dugout canoe, landed on something soft. At first, I thought it was land.
Until this land slowly rose, and the sound of water beside my ears told me that the “land” was lifting us back to the edge of the cliff! Only then did Little Iron and I say, “We must have landed on the head of some giant beast!”
At this moment, we heard the “land” beneath us emit the low, unique hiss of a giant beast. Sure enough! The giant beast had saved us!
Its voice was louder than the loudest thunder I had ever heard! It held us up for a long time until we heard a sound from the other side of the cliff, as if another giant beast was responding to its call.
Soon, I could feel that we were like a bag of potatoes, carried in the dugout canoe, being moved from the head of this giant beast to the back of another giant beast.
The new giant beast kept making “moo moo moo moo” sounds, carrying us upstream…
I don’t know how long it swam in the river.
Little Iron and I drank some water when we were thirsty and ate some nuts and gems when we were hungry.
When the nuts were almost gone, there was finally a little light all around, and we saw familiar scenery again!
We were back! We had returned to the underground city alive!
The giant beast that carried us gently pushed us to the shore, opened its huge mouth and yawned at us, then submerged into the water and left.
Our underground river adventure had come to an end. I never saw this big-mouthed, small-eared giant beast again. We were all very grateful to it.]
—This was the last part of ?Underground River Adventure?.
Chu Jiu had read this passage repeatedly.
It wasn’t hard to see that the “giant beast” that finally carried Eric and the blacksmith squirrel back to the underground city was that hippopotamus.
No wonder the blacksmith squirrel was absolutely unwilling to harm it.
Even if the blacksmith squirrel couldn’t clearly remember this adventure, it must have had some impression: it was a good monster that had helped it.
But Chu Jiu had never been able to guess what the other monster was, the one that “could use its head to lift the dugout canoe back to the edge of the cliff.”
Chu Jiu could only guess that the monster must have been unimaginably huge with a very long neck…
What could it be?
It couldn’t possibly be a dinosaur.
Haha.
*
Chu Jiu stood in the darkness, holding a torch, looking up at the ancient behemoth before him, feeling his brain briefly short-circuit for a few seconds.
…Absurd, utterly absurd.
Did I transmigrate to a post-apocalyptic wasteland or to the prehistoric dinosaur era?!
However, the ancient behemoth didn’t seem to intend to give Chu Jiu any time to think.
Chu Jiu could see that the big guy’s neck was slowly shortening—or rather, it was gradually sinking underwater.
This “small movement” of its was enough to make the water surface sway constantly, and the little squirrels behind him once again stood unsteadily, trembling in a huddle.
The behemoth was going to…?
A thought flashed through Chu Jiu’s mind, and he suddenly realized something. He first loudly asked Little Can, “Little Can, this big guy isn’t going to attack us, is it?”
The reason he asked this was that although Little Can stood at the bow with an imposing air, it hadn’t taken the initiative to attack.
According to his understanding of Little Can, if the giant beast ahead was truly a threat, then no matter if it was an ancient behemoth or an indescribable creature with a hundred and eighty tentacles, Little Can would definitely strike first!
Sure enough, Little Can responded, “The other party is trying to approach, but has no intention of attacking.”
Chu Jiu felt confident.
He immediately raised both arms high with his fingertips pointing upwards, sending out a signal according to the “common monster language” Kakaba had taught him: “Hello!”
The behemoth indeed stopped its movement.
Its head, even larger than a heavy truck, tilted slightly to the side, as if curious:
This bipedal creature can actually communicate with us?
Taking advantage of this pause, Chu Jiu used [Enemy Detection]. [Detecting….]
[This is… the legendary Loch Ness Monster—the prehistoric long-necked behemoth!
Long before civilization was born, this long-necked behemoth had already roamed and swam in this area!
It… highly values its small territory and dislikes this area being polluted by any foreign creatures.
However, over the long years, there will always be some unknown creatures that fall into its territory with the river water!
Fortunately, the long-necked behemoth is gentle and dislikes killing.
For these unknown creatures that accidentally fall into the water, it usually follows the rule of “come from where, go back to where” and sends them back to their original place.]
Chu Jiu thought to himself that he really hadn’t guessed wrong.
This ancient behemoth would spare no effort to pack up all the fallen small animals and send them back.
But he couldn’t go back now!
Chu Jiu tried hard to recall the common language Kakaba had taught him and began to jump and gesture non-stop on the raft, trying his best to express this meaning:
Don’t send us back!
We, not go back! We, want to continue down!
The long-necked behemoth stopped in the water, and a hint of confusion appeared on its face, which had witnessed countless years.
At this moment, the little squirrels who had been hiding behind Chu Jiu, although they didn’t quite understand what Chu Jiu was dancing, decided to follow suit and started gesturing behind Chu Jiu!
Raise paws! Rotate! Jump!
One human and three squirrels danced awkwardly in place for several minutes.
The long-necked behemoth also stood still for several minutes.
Finally, it shook its head and made a thunderous sound in its throat, probably meaning:
Understood. Stop dancing. The pollution is too serious.
It slowly sank again, its head falling below the water surface, diving under the raft and lifting the entire raft.
It didn’t send the raft upwards but, carrying this source of pollution, quickly swam towards the other side of the pool.
The long-necked behemoth swam for about half an hour, and they were already an unknown distance away from the original drop-off point.
By the light of the torch, Chu Jiu noticed that strange animals occasionally poked their heads out and extended tentacles in the pool.
Just then, the little squirrels, who had been holding onto the railing and were no longer trembling but curiously looking around, screamed, “There, people!”
People?
Chu Jiu also felt a chill.
Fortunately, upon closer inspection, they were actually some giant manatees, standing upright in the pool with water plants on their heads, looking over here with the same curiosity as the little squirrels.
Due to their strange “standing posture,” coupled with a head of “black hair” and the dim light in this place, it was no wonder that the little squirrels mistook them for people.
After another quarter of an hour, the long-necked behemoth swam to a steep rock wall and stopped moving forward.
It lifted its neck, carrying the raft upwards like a giant elevator, carrying Chu Jiu and the others up—
Until the raft was parallel to the edge of the cliff.
Above the cliff was a natural platform made of boulders, and behind the platform was a rock wall that reached the top of the cave, seemingly without any path forward at first glance.
At this moment, the long-necked behemoth let out a cry, probably meaning “We’ve arrived.”
Since the ferry had reached its destination, the group of humans, beasts, and beastmen jumped off the raft one after another, and then worked together to drag the raft from the top of the behemoth’s head onto the platform.
Chu Jiu turned around and once again led the little squirrels in spinning, jumping, and kicking, trying to express his gratitude to the long-necked behemoth.
However, before he could finish a set of movements, the long-necked behemoth had already left in a flash, as if it didn’t want to stay for even a second longer.
……Hmm?
Why does it feel like this prehistoric behemoth… is showing a hint of disdain?
Chu Jiu, feeling somewhat curious, used [Enemy Detection] again.
[Detecting…]
[This is a prehistoric long-necked behemoth that feels its territory has been severely polluted by strange dances. It has just sent the source of pollution to the entrance of the next area, far away from its territory, and secretly hopes that these sources of pollution will not return and will not dance in front of it again.]
Chu Jiu: …
He was actually disliked! Disliked by a prehistoric behemoth!
What strange dance? He was clearly dancing very seriously, okay!
Chu Jiu decided to selectively ignore this part, only remembering the words “the entrance to the next area.”
Since this was “the entrance to the next area,” then clearly they hadn’t gone the wrong way.
But… where should they go next?
Chu Jiu disassembled the raft into raw materials, packed them into his backpack, and held up the torch, looking at the dark stone wall ahead, feeling quite puzzled.
At this moment, Little Can straightened its upper body and “meowed” at a stone in front, “This place… is a bit different.”
The three squirrels stacked themselves on top of each other to form a squirrel ladder, stood tall to look at the stone, and finally called out joyfully:
“Secret door!”
“Dwarf beastmen, secret door!”
The stone wall here actually had a secret door carved by the dwarf beastmen, just like the passages in the underground city?
Just as Chu Jiu was surprised, the three squirrels pushed hard with their little paws—
Click.
A crack indeed appeared in the stone wall ahead, just wide enough for one person to enter.
Chu Jiu, carrying Little Can and Roar Roar Rabbit, squeezed in sideways, and the little squirrels followed closely behind.
After everyone had squeezed through the crack, the little squirrels pushed again with their paws, and the crack closed up again, looking completely integrated with the surrounding rocks, with no abnormality visible at all.
The axe squirrel held up the torch and explained proudly:
“Senior, masterpiece!”
“One-way, secret door! Enter, no exit!”
Before Chu Jiu could say anything, Rawr Rawr Rabbit muttered softly, “Roar roar roar, a one-way secret door with no exit doesn’t that mean we definitely can’t go back? Why does that sound like a bad thing, roar roar roar.”
Chu Jiu reached behind his back and patted Rawr Rawr Rabbit, who was sitting in the side pocket of his backpack: “Don’t worry. This means we’re on the right track.”
“This must have been a special passage used by the dwarf beastmen many years ago to collect [Earthfire Primordial Stone].”
“Since they successfully collected this stone and brought it back to the underground city, it shows that there must be other exits in this place.”
Besides…
Even if we could go back the way we came, that long-necked dinosaur definitely wouldn’t want to see us again.
Hearing Chu Jiu’s analysis, Rawr Rawr Rabbit felt much more reassured, and Little Can gently rubbed its face against Chu Jiu’s, as if praising him in its unique cat-like way: “Well said.”
*
The group formed a line, holding [Cold Light Torches], and continued deeper along the passage behind the secret door.
Indeed, as the little squirrels said, this passage, carved by the dwarf beastman predecessors, could be called a “masterpiece.”
Although narrow, it wasn’t cramped; although deep, its slope was gentle and gradually descended. In short, whether it was humans or dwarf beastmen, they could walk freely in the passage without any effort.
The only problem was that it was getting colder and colder in the passage.
The little squirrels and spirit beasts all had their own fur, so of course they weren’t afraid of the cold. Only Chu Jiu, even though he had put on the quilted jacket that Cheng Yue had rushed to make for him, couldn’t block the almost bone-chilling cold deep underground.
Ah, if only I knew how to make warm babies. Chu Jiu blew on his fingers, which were getting a little numb from the cold, as he walked.
To make warm babies, you need iron powder, right? To have iron powder, you need to smelt iron, you need a furnace, right?
Then to make a furnace, you first have to find [Earthfire Primordial Stone]…
Another cycle.
Just as Chu Jiu was smiling wryly, he suddenly felt a warmth on his back:
It turned out that Little Can had stuck itself to his back on its own, using its warm and toasty cat belly to warm him up!
Strangely enough, it was just a small cat, and even when fully stretched out, it was only about the size of a palm.
But just sticking to his skin like this actually made his body gradually warm up, and even his fingers weren’t as stiff anymore.
Little Can, you’re so good…
Perhaps it was because he had been walking continuously and his mind was a little dazed, but Chu Jiu suddenly remembered that during the days he was unconscious, he seemed to have been held like this, with a steady stream of warmth being sent into his body.
But Little Can had also been asleep those days.
At that time, he wasn’t even in the pioneer hut. The one who had been by his side wasn’t Little Can, but Lu Qingyan.
They walked for another long while.
In the gloomy air of the passage, a few wisps of warm wind suddenly drifted over.
Chu Jiu couldn’t help but feel invigorated: Were they almost there?!
After walking a bit further, the passage suddenly opened up.
Only the last stone wall remained, like a natural screen blocking the group.
Behind the “screen,” there was a faint light and sounds.
Suppressing his excited heart, Chu Jiu slowly walked out from behind the “screen”—
Warm, humid air with an excessively high oxygen content rushed into his lungs.
The sudden light made him involuntarily raise his arm to shield his eyes; the continuous chirping and calls of birds and beasts buzzed in his ears.
He squinted his eyes and first looked up at the sky:
Bright as day. It was as if a small sun was hanging in the sky.
Then he looked down:
Plants he couldn’t name spread across the mountains and valleys, dyeing everything with vibrant greenery.
Among the vegetation of varying heights, terrestrial beasts as tall as buildings were leisurely munching on leaves, while winged and sharp-beaked flying beasts glided and hunted in the branches.
Even though Chu Jiu had already seen the “ancient long-necked behemoth,” he couldn’t help but gape again at this moment, once again wondering if he had transmigrated to the wrong place.
The system sent a prompt as if on cue:
[Congratulations, Host, for unlocking the hidden map—”The Forgotten Land of the Past,” also known as “The Lost World of the Earth’s Core.”
Hundreds of millions of years ago, when non-intelligent creatures once ruled this world, an unexplained cataclysm completely sank a surface world deep underground.
Special minerals glow and generate heat here, ancient plants produce abundant oxygen, and ample space allows creatures to thrive…
In short, everything here is the same as it was hundreds of millions of years ago.
Due to the different oxygen content in the air, the vast majority of the giant beasts living here, even if they possess the power to split mountains and break rocks, cannot leave this closed world.
Only a few small fish and beasts traveled to the surface along narrow rivers in those years and gradually adapted to surface life.
Today, this river, called “The River of the Past,” has been completely separated from this place. The basin of “The River of the Past” remaining on the surface is probably the last remaining shadow of this lost world.]
[Special Reminder: All activities of the Host in the hidden map will not cause changes in the development level. Please plan your actions carefully.]
So that’s how it is…
No wonder that river had that name. No wonder there were monsters formed from ancient creatures like the “Shieldskin Fish” in it…
However, the Shieldskin Fish, a large creature, was already considered a “few small fish” compared to the creatures living here…
Chu Jiu rubbed his eyes, marveling at the wonder of this world while trying to use [Treasure Hunter’s Target] to locate the [Earthfire Primordial Stone].
However, since he had never seen the actual [Earthfire Primordial Stone] or its illustration, and could only roughly picture it in his mind based on the blacksmith squirrel’s description, even after opening the corresponding map, he could only get a vague area and couldn’t pinpoint its location on the map.
Was there a more accurate method…?
While Chu Jiu frowned in thought here, the little squirrels, who had been following behind him, had already, driven by curiosity, rolled down the grassy hillside with a series of “guruguru” sounds, then touched and looked around, peering everywhere.
After all, the little squirrels had never seen “Jurassic World” and had no concept of a short-armed Tyrannosaurus Rex. So, although they were also very surprised after seeing this underground world, they weren’t as “greatly shocked” as Chu Jiu.
These unrestrained little guys rolled around, looked here and there, and actually found something.
The axe squirrel over there suddenly jumped up: “Pine cone! Road sign!”
Hearing this, Chu Jiu quickly jumped down the hillside and rummaged through the grass for a while. Sure enough, he saw a rather simple and childlike “pine cone” carved under the cover of green leaves.
The pine cone was round at the top and pointed at the bottom. The round “head” faced the cave, and the pointed “bottom” pointed southwest.
The little squirrel nodded vigorously: “Road sign! Ore!”
Wasn’t this the “more precise coordinate” he urgently needed?
Chu Jiu smiled slightly: “Okay, let’s follow the road signs to find the ore.”
*
This area was vast beyond imagination.
Chu Jiu roughly estimated that the Forgotten Forest, Sunny Plateau, and Sanctuary Valley combined couldn’t match the area of the “Land of the Past.”
Fortunately, this area didn’t affect the development level, so there was no need to spend time farming materials.
Although he firmly thought, “Save time, don’t farm materials everywhere,” when Chu Jiu saw rare materials such as [Moonstone], [Feathers of the Mysterious Winged Beast], and [Great Horn of the Triceratops], he still couldn’t help but pick them all up and put them in his backpack.
Well, since they were already here…
And the little squirrels, as excited as children on a fall outing, followed Chu Jiu, happily picking up “nuts.” Or rather, things that looked like “nuts” in their eyes.
There was no sunrise or sunset in [The Land of the Past]. After walking for a while following the pine cone road signs, Chu Jiu’s rumbling stomach acted as an alarm clock: It’s time to set up camp!
Chu Jiu used [Camper’s Intuition].
After leaving Bean Village this time, as long as the golden hamster was summoned, Little Can, who was originally on his shoulder, would definitely leap into the air, grab the golden hamster, and then carry it around, either holding it or carrying it on its back, absolutely refusing to let the golden hamster flap its wings on its own, let alone touch the ground.
Today was no exception.
As soon as the little hamster appeared, Little Can went to meet it and then carried it, leaping lightly through the branches as if flying, afraid that the little hamster would exert even a little effort.
Chu Jiu walked behind, saw this scene again, couldn’t help but smile slightly, feeling it was adorable.
And Rawr Rawr Rabbit, tucked into his backpack, was probably a bit tired and yawned, saying, “Roar roar roar, Little Can just loves sticking close to Chu Jiu, roar roar roar.”
Chu Jiu: …?
The little squirrels beside him looked at the black kitten and the golden hamster on the tree, showing childlike smiles, and pointed at them, saying, “Stick together!”
“Hamster, kitty, stick together!”
After saying that, they looked at Chu Jiu again with that smile and said loudly, “Chu Jiu, Lu Qingyan, stick together!”
Chu Jiu’s face flushed, and he quickly said, “What does this have to do with Lu Qingyan?”
Besides, I’ve never stuck together with him!
The little squirrels looked blankly at the hamster and kitten in front, then turned to look at Chu Jiu, wondering, “You, are, sticking together.”
…Ah?
Chu Jiu froze on the spot.
Just then, Little Can stopped “flying,” turned around, and said to everyone, “The campsite is ahead.”
And the little hamster also squeaked twice and disappeared from Little Can’s side.
Chu Jiu: …
Anyway, let’s set up camp first.
Everyone was too tired, perhaps so tired they were hallucinating, they needed a good rest.
*
Following the “pine cone” road signs that occasionally appeared in the grass, the group walked for two whole days.
On the third day, Chu Jiu discovered that the vague area shown on the backend map was not far ahead.
Chu Jiu switched to the backend, pointed ahead, and said, “Almost there! The [Earthfire Primordial Stone] is just ahead!”
“Once we get the primordial stone, I’ll make icy cold gemstone desserts for everyone!”
The last sentence was mainly to motivate the little squirrels.
These three little guys dragging their big tails were full of energy and vitality, whether in the cool underground river or the cold underground tunnel.
But as the group got closer and closer to the [Earthfire Primordial Stone], the surrounding temperature became higher and higher.
Chu Jiu had already taken off his coat and scarf and changed his long boots for short ones.
However, even if the little squirrels took off their little leather clothes, they couldn’t take off their fur.
By today, Chu Jiu noticed that not only had the temperature approached 40 degrees Celsius, but there was also a faint “fire rain” in the air.
Scattered small sparks wouldn’t cause a big fire when they landed on the leaves, but they were enough to burn a small hole in them, leaving a bit of charred mark.
—Similarly, when they landed on the little squirrels’ big tails, they would burn off one or two hairs…
For the dwarf beastmen who cherished their big tails, losing even one hair was enough to make them wail, let alone being burned?
Chu Jiu had no choice but to put “fireproof tail covers” made of alum and linen on their big tails.
As a result, the little squirrels got even hotter.
Chu Jiu could only comfort the little guys in various ways, constantly providing them with ice water and continuously encouraging them to persevere a little longer.
As they walked, the axe squirrel suddenly perked up: “Pine cone! There! The end!”
After saying that, these little squirrels who had been languishing for a long time regained their energy and dashed forward to the right!
Chu Jiu was somewhat surprised.
Because according to the map, the [Earthfire Primordial Stone] should still be further ahead.
But he didn’t stop the little squirrels, but followed behind, wanting to see what the end point indicated by the dwarf beastman predecessors was—maybe it was a shortcut?
However, after getting closer, both he and the little squirrels were confused:
This place… where does it look like there’s [Earthfire Primordial Stone]?
There was only a large stone pit here, and in the middle of the pit lay two large and small dark black behemoths covered in hard armor.
Of course, “small” was relative.
The “small” beast was also comparable in size to the hippopotamus in the underground river.
But compared to the “big” beast, this guy looked like a baby.
The axe squirrel wasn’t giving up and sniffed around the area based on its dwarf beastman instinct, finally saying disappointedly, “No, no ore.”
Chu Jiu handed them each a cup of iced sugarcane juice and said, “It’s okay, let’s look further ahead.”
The group then continued forward according to Chu Jiu’s backend map.
After walking for another quarter of an hour, Little Can, who was fearless of both severe cold and scorching heat, let out a low “meow”: “Ahead, danger.”
Chu Jiu also sensed it.
He heard a hissing sound like a beast’s low growl and a gurgling sound like boiling water.
He slowed down his pace, told the little squirrels to stop where they were, Rawr Rawr Rabbit stayed to watch over them, and he continued forward with Little Can for a while longer…
Ahead was a lake.
A boiling lake, where red water could be seen constantly churning and releasing bursts of steam.
Through the white curtain-like steam, he could vaguely see an island in the center of the lake.
Chu Jiu’s intuition told him that the [Earthfire Primordial Stone] must be on this island.
But… how to get to this island?
The raft couldn’t navigate here, and the Wind Breath Fruits would be burned through by the sparks.
The only way…
Chu Jiu thought of the behemoth lying lazily at the bottom of the pit, its whole body covered in rock-like thick bone plates.
