Chapter 11 Chapter Ten Wonders in the Cave

The earth king returned to the big rock again, and held my right hand with his left hand very strongly, obviously expressing his gratitude. Then he raised my hand.As soon as the two people raised their hands, the tens of thousands of people in our open space erupted in cheers. It was still extremely silent just now, but at this time, I felt that the cheers were earth-shattering. While accepting the cheers, King Tu said to me, "Choosing you as my assistant proves that I have excellent vision." His proud expression at this time was simply indescribable.I heard him say that.I couldn't help being stunned for a moment, and was blocked for a while, unable to speak.Finally, I have added a new experience in my life: one thing, in the eyes of different people, can have such different viewpoints and angles.

Obviously I saved him, but he attributed it to his own good vision! I just snorted and didn't say anything, because I understand that people with the status and status of the earth king look at problems differently from ordinary people——for everything, success is due to himself; failure is all due to others fault. The cheers lasted for five minutes, and many people crowded forward, holding horns in their hands, and wanted to dedicate them to the earth king.More people couldn't squeeze in, so they simply blew their horns, and the sound was even more deafening. It seemed that their adult men had the habit of carrying horns with them.

The earth king took the horns from two people, handed one to me, and motioned me to blow it with him.The two horns sounded, of course, and they were very loud. With the blowing of these two horns, the big band that had already been ready to go immediately played a majestic tune.The new patriarch came forward and asked the earth king to start the test ceremony. That team of big men roared in the rhythm of the music played by the band, and began to work together to move the big rocks at the entrance of the cave. The King of Earth and I were waiting at the entrance of the cave.At this time, I couldn't help being nervous, because what would happen after entering the cave was completely predictable.

Except for the group of big men, the rest of the people backed away, stopping at least a hundred meters from the entrance of the cave, and everyone lowered their heads, not looking at the cave, even the head teacher was no exception.The team of big men, after removing the two big rocks, each took out a piece of black cloth and tied it over his eyes. Apparently everyone knew that except for the earth king and his assistants, no one could enter the cave, and even look into the cave. I looked back into the crowd, and saw that although Bai Su also retreated with the crowd, she did not lower her head.

I made a face at her, Bai Su smiled and raised her hand.I saw that she was holding a small telescope in her hand. It was obvious that she was going to observe the situation in the cave after the big rock was removed. Here, I would like to make a side note: Bai Su originally wanted to bring such a telescope and other technological equipment, such as a communication device with good performance, but I did not agree. The reason I disagree is: I can't compare to Tushang in courage—he can enter the cave with only a dagger, and I don't need to bring other equipment, just have that weird thing.

It's about my self-esteem, of course Bai Su didn't insist.So my trip is completely in accordance with the original tradition, without any tricks. But they said that although those big men had their eyes tied, their movements were not slow at all. Amidst the roar, the big rocks were moved away one by one, and seven or eight of them were moved away in a short time. People come and go. At this time, the big guys yelled three times and retreated together. On the open ground, there was no sound at all again, and the earth king lowered his voice: "It's time for us to play!"

I nodded, jumped off the big rock together with him, and walked towards the entrance of the cave.Due to the extremely quiet surroundings, many people could hear our footsteps. When we arrived at the entrance of the cave, Tu Wang and I stopped for a while and looked towards the entrance of the cave. Our line of sight could only reach about ten meters away, and we couldn't see clearly what it was like when we went inward.As for the ten meters or so, it seems that it is no different from ordinary caves. In advance, the earth king had repeatedly warned that no modern tools could be brought in, so we didn't even have a flashlight, only the earth king brought a small torch.

The small torch is made of branches that are very rich in oil. The earth king said that it can burn for about three hours, but there is no kindling to ignite. So when I could still see the situation in the cave about ten meters away with the light from the outside, I had already identified a place on the cave wall, where there were many protruding stone points. Go to that cave wall. At this time, the sky outside was gradually getting dark. After entering the cave, those big men immediately moved the big stones and began to block the cave.So my action must be very fast, because the cave will immediately become dark.

I quickly came to the cave wall, and when I looked back, the earth king was still not far from the entrance of the cave, and at that moment, the last big rock blocked the entrance of the cave, and my eyes immediately became pitch black. I heard Earth King's heavy breathing, and I said in a deep voice, "Light the small torch first." At this time, the king of Tu seemed unavoidably panicked, he agreed and walked towards me.I reached out and touched a stone tip, and hit it with that strange thing. Although the strange thing was very light, it knocked off the stone tip all at once.

I knocked off the two stone points, hit each other, and immediately sparks burst out.Bringing the little torch forward, the two of us, like boy scouts in a camp, struck a rock for fire: the torch was lit. The torch was made of six finger-thin branches. After it was lit, I took out one and stomped out the rest. I explained: "We don't know how long we will stay in the cave, so we need to use it sparingly." When things came to an end, the earth king was obviously not as calm as I was—this was probably his first adventure, so he was inevitably at a loss.So although I am his assistant in name, in fact all actions must be based on me.

I said again: "Keep the burnt part of the branch, we need to mark it on the cave wall, so as not to get lost in the cave." The Earth King nodded again and again, and we walked into the cave under the light of a branch of fire. The light was not enough, and the temperature inside the cave was relatively low, so it was very gloomy. Every thirty steps we walked, we wrote a number on the cave wall.The firelight of the branches can only make us see things within a few meters around us. Looking forward, the front is dark and dark, as if it is endless. After a while, our mark has written "twelve"—that is, Said, we went deep into the cave, nearly 300 meters. This cave is so deep, which puts even more pressure on our hearts. The king of earth walked closer and closer to me, almost leaning against my side, almost grabbing my clothes. We didn't talk, it was naturally because of the tension in our hearts, until the sign wrote "twenty", a branch had been burned, and I heard the sound of running water, and I was relieved: "There is water, we can at least Will die of thirst." The king of earth groaned, obviously he was extremely nervous.I reached out and patted him on the shoulder twice, encouraging him: "Don't be nervous, even if the cave has no end, we don't have to go all the way—if nothing happens, I think a thousand meters deep is enough." The earth king breathed very quickly: "How can we do that? The test of the gods has not come, how can we go out?" I said: "Perhaps, if you have the courage to enter the cave to accept the test, you have already passed the test!" The earth king shook his head: "If things are that simple, why didn't the three earth kings come out?" I also know that things will not be that simple, something will inevitably happen, but I can't just wait in the cave for something to happen.Anyway, after the three earth kings all entered the cave, they didn't come out.Therefore, as long as Tianjiatu King can go out, it means that he has passed the test, and all the people will accept this. I said what I meant, and the earth king thought about it and found it reasonable, and his expression became much more relaxed. While we are talking, we are still moving forward.The sound of the water became more and more clear. Under the faint light of the fire, a clear spring was seen flowing from a cave wall and poured into a small pool below. The pool was about one square meter in size, and it was impossible to know how deep it was.We're Thirsty -- Stress can easily lead to thirst.So we bent down to drink water together, but our lips did not touch the water, the two of us vibrated at the same time, and our bodies froze for a moment—because I bent down, the torch in my hand was also much lower, and the angle of the firelight increased. It changed, so we saw the scene in a corner that we couldn't see just now. In that corner, lay six people—six skeletons, he said correctly! Just now we were still discussing the six people who entered the cave before, but now we see six skeletons in vain. The shock to our hearts is really incomparable! After froze for a long time, the earth king turned his head and looked at me. I could even hear the "click" sound of his neck bone when his head turned. I tried my best to calm down, but when I opened my mouth, my voice was still hoarse. I only said three words: "It's them!" The earth king also said, "It's them!" Then I froze again for an unknown amount of time, I splashed water on my face with my hands, the water was extremely cold, which made me conscious, and the earth king did the same, so the two of them stood up and walked towards the bones. The skeletons lay side by side on the ground, very complete, and it could be seen that they had not moved in any way after they died. The clothes on the skeletons were still intact, and it looked as if they were lying down to die, and then they died. Earth King and I looked at each other, and we could hear each other's heartbeat. After a while, the Tu Wang asked with a trembling voice: "What happened to them? Why did the three groups of people come in at different times after many years... Would they lie next to each other? We... us……" When he said this, he didn't go on, but the meaning was very obvious. He was asking: Should we also lie down and die? I was also extremely puzzled in my heart—it didn't look like anything that put people to death, why did six people die here neatly? The dead have become skeletons, and the cause of death is difficult to discover.And the clothes of the six people are very complete. They all wear daggers on their belts, and three of them have horns on their belts. The horn was of course used when preparing to leave the cave, and they obviously hadn't used it.That is to say, they were not prepared to leave the cave at all.Judging by their appearance, they have not experienced death struggles. This further proves that they were not psychologically prepared for the sudden death. This kind of analysis should be very reasonable, but there is still something unreasonable, that is, if six people came in at the same time, they have a reason to die side by side, for example, it can be understood that they died while sleeping. But they came in in three batches, and the people who came in for the second and third time chose to sleep next to the skeleton, which seemed a little unreasonable. My heart was full of doubts, I couldn't figure out what to do, and the feeling of thirst struck again. I inserted a burning branch between the two shoes of a skeleton, walked to the pool, and scooped up water with both hands. After only two sips, I was startled suddenly, and saw the top of the cave in the reflection of the pool.Since the light of the fire was on the six skeletons, the roof of the cave was aimed at the six skeletons. Originally, in the cave, the walls and roof of the cave were made of strange rocks, but the roof of the cave was about three meters square, so flat and smooth that it looked like a mirror. At this time, the earth king also came to the pool. I let him drink a few sips of water first, and then pointed to the top of the cave to show him.The King of Earth was also stunned when he saw it, and asked in a voiceless voice, "What is this?" I didn't answer, but walked to the side of the six skeletons naturally, sat down first, and then lay down naturally, just lying on one of the skeletons, in order to observe the strange place on the top of the cave more conveniently and clearly. around. Seeing this, the earth king screamed, "Wesley, don't lie down!" I quickly jumped up and took a deep breath──The King of Earth warned me not to lie down, of course he wanted to say that if I lay down, I might die. Seven skeletons lay side by side! Did he die as soon as he lay down under that mirror-like ceiling?Of course there was no way to be sure.But after being reminded by the earth king, I couldn't help but feel a chill in my heart, so I didn't lie down anymore, but just looked up. The earth king came to my side and looked up. The fire from the branches was quite weak, and the ceiling of the cave was at least five meters high, so it didn’t look very real, and I don’t know if it was because of the sparkle of the fire. The ceiling of the cave seemed to be unpredictable, with many clouds and mist shape.The wavy shadows were constantly moving and undulating, sometimes light and sometimes dark, so grotesque and indescribable. We watched it for an indeterminate amount of time, until the neck bones were fully developed, and it wasn't that I didn't see something tricky.The strange thing is that the earth king looked at it very seriously and didn't ask me any more questions, as if he had gained something. I didn't bother him either. In order to make him see better, I lit two more branches and raised them up. Unexpectedly, as a result, the scene on the top of the cave seemed blurred instead.My heart moved, and I lost my voice: "This scene is like a projected TV screen. The darker the surrounding light, the clearer the image." The Earth King didn't lower his head, but moved his body and responded, "Not only that, but also at a certain angle to see the clearest image." He paused when he had finished the sentence, and then we both cried out together: "Lie under it!" We looked at each other, feeling more and more strange in our hearts, Earth King said in a deep voice: "This must be set up by the gods... Only by seeing what instructions the gods gave us can we know what test we can pass." I nodded, agreed with him, and pointed to the ground.The king of earth took a deep breath, and his courage suddenly grew: "Since I have to lie down to see the instructions of the gods, I am not afraid!" As he spoke, he took two steps and lay down next to a skeleton.I also came to his side and lay down as before, and put out the fire at the same time. It was pitch black at first, and the earth king grabbed my arm.Then the picture on the top of the cave gradually became brighter—similar to a projected TV screen, it seemed to have a picture.After a while, you can see a straight line appearing in the middle of the screen, dividing the screen into two parts. At this moment, there was a sudden tremor, not only was there a rumbling sound, but the tremor was very violent, as if an earthquake had suddenly occurred. The vibration lasted only a few seconds, and then there was an extreme silence.After a long while, the earth king said in a hoarse voice, "What happened?" At this time, the strange thing is that although there is a gray light on the top of the cave, there are pictures to be seen, but the light only stops here, and we can't see anything else——I was lying side by side with the King of Earth, but I was completely Can't see the other person's face. So what happened is completely unknown.It's just that I feel extremely uneasy, knowing that something very unusual must have happened.I tried my best to calm down, but suddenly, my whole body felt cold, and I lost my voice: "Do you feel that something is missing?" The earth king must be more disturbed than I am. He has a bitter voice and asks like a fool: "What's missing?" I took a breath, and had to work very hard to keep my voice from trembling: "Sound of water! Where did the sound of the spring water go?" Ever since I heard the sound of water, the sound of water has been in my ears, but now I can't hear it, it's just silence. The king of earth followed me and asked, "The sound of water... Where did the sound of water go?" I took another breath: "I want to light the torch and see exactly what happened!" The earth king immediately agreed: "Good! Good!" I used stones again to make fire, and just lit a branch, and the earth king had already let out a scream. I looked up at him, and saw his expression was terrifying and inexplicable. He pointed behind me, opened his mouth wide, trembled all over, and couldn't make a sound. Seeing him like this, I have to muster up the courage to turn my head away. After I turned my head away, I saw that the pool was gone—it wasn’t that the pool disappeared, but a wall suddenly appeared between us and the pool, and that wall sealed the entire cave, and it seemed that there was not even a crack ! In an instant, my mind was buzzing, and I couldn't think of anything. I was frozen there with the king of earth. I don't know how long it took, but the king of earth spoke first, and he screamed: "God! God! How could I offend you?" is you!" Tianjia Tuwang, who usually seemed so wise and mighty, actually cried out at this time.The situation of the King of Earth made me even more confused.But his crying gave me a certain revelation——all this was indeed arranged by the "God"! The picture on the top of the cave suddenly trembled, and a wall that sealed the cave appeared. All of this is definitely not something that humans can do. It can only be done by the "God", and there is no second explanation. . Judging from the current situation, the gods sealed the cave, obviously wanting us to die in the cave, just like those six skeletons! The earth king may have thought of this too, he suddenly rushed towards the wall, punched and kicked, but of course the wall remained motionless, he let out a terrible roar, turned his head and ran deep into the cave, as if he wanted to find a way out. However, he didn't run very far, and I could vaguely see his back, and I heard him scream again, and at the same time, I heard the same sound as when he punched and kicked the wall just now. This shows that in front of him is the same wall! In other words, we are sealed in the middle of the cave! It was not the first time for me to experience such a desperate situation, so although I was panicked at first, I quickly calmed down.I reached out to touch the wall and found that the texture of the wall was exactly the same as the strange thing I brought into the cave. Then he hit the wall with that strange thing hard, and the sound he made was extremely heavy, as if the wall didn't know how thick it was. I turned around and saw that the earth king was walking back. He was staggering and seemed to be unable to withstand the blow.I was about to yell at him, telling him to calm down, otherwise it would be a dead end!But before I opened my mouth, he had already walked under the roof of the cave, suddenly his body shook, he stood still, and raised his head upwards.At the same time, his expression changed from extreme panic to calm, apparently calmed down. And soon his face showed a very pious expression. I called him twice, but he didn't respond at all—this kind of situation made me feel that he was receiving some kind of signal at this time, so he Such undivided attention.This signal must be sending good news, otherwise he wouldn't have such an expression. I didn't feel anything myself, so I just watched him.After about ten minutes, the earth king knelt down, still facing the roof of the cave as much as possible, but worshiped again, in a strange and inexplicable posture. I waited quietly, wondering if he would become insane because he couldn't stand the blow?He bowed for a while, stood up straight, and looked at me with a very strange expression—this is exactly the way I looked at him. He asked me with a very normal voice: "Did you not receive the message from the gods just now?" I didn't feel awkward when he asked, because just now he looked like he was receiving some information. I shook my head: "No - I'm not a believer in the gods, you are." The Earth King beckoned me to go over, and at the same time said: "If I can go out together, you can go out too." After I heard it, I was even more surprised, because there was a subtext in his words: If I can't get out, you can't get out either! I walked up to him and asked quickly, "What signal did the gods give you?" Earth King took a deep breath and pointed to the top of the cave: "God told me that the picture on the top of the cave will gradually appear in two parts, light and dark. If there is more light than dark, I have passed the test and can go out; Ming, I will fail, and the gods will give me a painless death-and you will also." What he said was about our life and death, but I didn't understand it very well. Just as I was about to ask again, he had already lay down beside the six skeletons, and at the same time patted his side, asking me to lie down too. I was full of doubts, so I lay down next to him, and naturally turned my gaze to the top of the cave.I saw that the roof of the cave had been divided into two halves. At this moment, there were changes in both halves. One half had bright light flickering, and the other half had a large spread of shadows. Gradually, one half had about one-tenth of the bright part, and the other half had much less dark part, only about one-twentieth.Both the light and dark sides are slowly expanding, and the bright part is obviously expanding faster than the dark part. This scene is like a competition between light and darkness, and now the light part has the upper hand. The king of earth was extremely excited: "I can pass the test! Look, there are many obvious parts!" I also felt his excitement, but I didn't understand why, so I said, "What is this? There are two forces voting on whether you can pass the test or not?" The earth king blurted out: "There must be many gods voting to see if I should pass the test. It seems that among the gods, they treat me well—" When he said this, he stopped abruptly, and I turned my head to look at him, only to see him showing a strange and inexplicable expression.I immediately asked, "Did the gods give you another message?" He nodded and turned his head to look at me, still with a strange expression on his face: "The god told me whether I can pass the test is not up to him, but to my people!" I heard it, and my expression must be even weirder than his: "How do the people decide? Are they voting outside? This cave roof shows the progress of their voting? The bright ones represent yes, and the dark ones represent opposition?" This series of questions, I thought that the earth king must not be able to answer. Who knew that Shang Wang answered quickly and definitely: "Exactly!" For a while, I didn't care about being in danger, and laughed loudly: "When will the people of your country have the right to vote and decide whether you will stay or not?" The earth king took a few breaths before saying, "No, they don't have the right to vote to decide whether I will go or stay, but each of them can think in their own hearts whether they want me to continue to be the earth king, or they want me to get out." As soon as I heard what he said, I sat up abruptly. In an instant, my heart was greatly shaken, and I asked in a loud voice: "You mean, the thoughts in the hearts of the people of the whole country are reflected in the pictures on the top of the cave?" The king of Tu was quite different from the panic when he entered the cave. At this time, he seemed to be full of wisdom. He said, "Yes, this picture is a reflection of the wishes of the people!──" Then he muttered to himself: "It turns out that there are quite a few people who oppose me being the earth king!" I ignored his exclamation, and asked again: "How can the thoughts of the people be reflected here?" Earth King seemed to have no interest in this question at all, he said: "I don't know──God naturally has his own way." My thoughts were very disordered, and I couldn't figure it out for a while, but my eyes were still on the top of the cave.I saw that the expansion speed of the dark part suddenly increased, gradually becoming the same as that of the bright part.The earth king's chest was heaving and tense, and for a while, the dark part surpassed the bright part.The king of earth gasped for breath, and even I became nervous. Fortunately, that period of time was not long. The bright part caught up and surpassed the dark part. At this time, I felt that I was watching the ballot counting process of a large-scale election, but in this country, there is absolutely no such thing as an election. , How will the thoughts of the people be reflected here? I have asked this question hundreds of times in my mind, and only then did my heart suddenly light up and I thought of an important point. No matter how powerful the totalitarian rule in the world is, it can put the bodies of all opponents in prison, but it is completely incapable of locking anyone's mind. Everyone, no matter what situation he is in, has his freedom to think what he wants, and no matter what method the totalitarian ruler uses, he cannot stop it. But when a person is thinking, there are thought waves emitted. If there is a device here that can collect the thought waves sent by the people, after collecting them, divide them into two parts, pros and cons, and display them on the top of the cave, which is what we see now! This situation is: the people of the whole country are "voting" through their ideas to decide whether the earth king will live or die. This may be the fairest "election" in human society—everyone can truly express their opinions without any interference. This day, the god actually made such an arrangement, it's really cute. This is really a real and severe test for the earth king—a test of public opinion! I feel that this assumption is completely valid, because the "God" can obviously communicate with his believers by thinking, so he told the earth king the process of the test. I didn't feel it at all, and I guessed it was because I wasn't one of his followers. The earth king maintained his totalitarian rule, and never thought about submitting his fate to the people for voting, but now "God's will", he has no other choice but to accept it. On the roof of the cave, sometimes there are more bright parts, sometimes less, and sometimes equal to the dark parts, and the earth king's mood also fluctuates accordingly. For some time, when the dark part prevailed, he showed an expression of disbelief, and kept asking: "How could that be? Why are there so many people against me?" We don't know the time, we are not tired, let alone the sense of hunger and thirst, we have been staring at the ceiling of the cave. Finally, under the condition that the difference was only a line, the bright part filled the other half first, and Tu Wang and I couldn't help shouting loudly, jumped up, and before we stood still, the shock had occurred again, and we noticed it , the fire has long been extinguished, and nothing can be seen except the roof of the cave. But in the last shock, there were two more walls. Now that the earth king has passed the test, the shock happened again. Of course, those two walls disappeared—it’s a pity, I don’t have the ability to see things in the dark, so I can’t know these two things. I don't know where the walls come from and where they go. After the shock passed, the picture on the top of the cave was gone. I groped to find the burnt branch, and lit it again. Sure enough, the wall that sealed us off just now was no longer there, and the cave was the same as when we entered. . The king of earth shouted loudly, and rushed out without waiting for the light.Following behind, not long after, I heard the earth king blowing the horn, making a loud sound, and there was also an echo from the depths of the cave. What happened next was taken for granted and logical, so there is no need to describe it in detail. After the celebration to celebrate the earth king passed the test, the earth king still wanted to keep me and Bai Su, but we resolutely said goodbye. The earth king held my hand and was extremely affectionate, but what he said left me speechless , he said: "How about the life quota transfer? I need a lot of life quota!" Later, when I discussed my situation in the cave with Bai Su, I mentioned my admiration for the arrangement of the "God", but Zisu said: "My admiration is only half of yours." I was surprised and asked why, Bai Su replied: "The gods only gave the people in this country the right to recall, but not the right to vote, so I only admire half of it." I stayed for a while──Bai Su was right. But I think that if under totalitarian rule, the people can remove the ruler, it is good enough. What do you say?