132: Underwater portal, seeing the light of day again

"Brother Feng, what's wrong? Are you unhappy?" Wang Dalong saw Lin Feng's expression of utter despair, sidled over, and put his arm around Lin Feng's shoulder with a mischievous grin. "Think about it, we're the first ones to see these treasures! Even if we can't take them, it's good to get our hands on them! Besides, I've been live streaming and recording the whole time, from when we came in until now, not a second missed. When we get out and hand over the video, who would dare say we embezzled?"

He patted his chest, looking completely righteous.

Lin Feng couldn't be bothered with him. This carefreeFat (fatty) couldn't possibly understand the turbulent emotions within him at this moment. One "sorrowful song of the last song" had already exhausted him, and now there was another "jade fragments tracing." This system truly treated him as history's cleaner.

"Alright, stop gloating." Lin Feng pushed him away. "After you're done being happy, you should start thinking about how to get out. Do you really want to stay here with General Su and guard his tomb for the rest of your life?"

With one sentence, Wang Dalong was pulled back to reality.

The smile on his face instantly froze. He looked back at the stone door they had come through, then up at the distant light at the top of the slope, and shivered.

"Right! How do we get out?" He panicked. "The entrance is four or five meters off the ground, and the slope is too steep to climb. There's no phone signal down here at all; we're completely cut off from the outside world. Brother Feng, are we really going to be trapped to death here?"

"Su Xian's design wouldn't be a dead end." Lin Feng repeated this sentence again, his gaze already sweeping past the piles of treasures towards the deeper parts of the cave vault.

"Let's go, let's check the back."

The two of them, flashlights in hand, walked past piles of priceless wooden crates towards the end of the cave vault.

The back wall of the cave vault was also a wall made of huge stones. In the center of the wall, there was also a door.

However, this door was completely different from the stone door at the entrance, which required a complex password to open. Although it was equally heavy, it had two large copper rings on it, and a simple bolt-style stone latch on its side.

"This is... a door that can only be opened from the inside?" Wang Dalong understood, and a look of ecstasy appeared on his face. "This is an escape route!"

Lin Feng nodded; this was very reasonable. Su Xian and his subordinates couldn't possibly not leave themselves a way out. After the treasures were hidden, they would have left through this path and then completely sealed the entrance from the outside.

The two of them worked together, expending great effort, to slowly pull out the heavy stone bolt.

"Screech—"

Accompanied by a harsh grinding sound, Lin Feng and Wang Dalong pushed the stone door inwards together, opening a crack.

A rush of damp, salty vapor immediately surged in from the crack, mixed with a faint 'whooshing' sound of water.

The two exchanged glances, seeing hope in each other's eyes.

They squeezed through the stone door. Behind it was a downward-sloping passage. This passage initially had man-made steps, but after less than twenty meters, it completely turned into a rough, natural karst cave.

The humidity in the cave grew thicker, and the sound of water became clearer.

After a few more minutes, theirBefore my eyes (eyes) suddenly opened up.

A small underground dock appeared before them.

The dock was built of stone, and beside it even lay the remains of several small wooden boats, long decayed beyond recognition.

In front of the dock was a massive underground lake. The water was clear, appearing a deep, ethereal blue under the flashlight's beam.

Lin Feng walked to the edge of the lake, squatted down, dipped his finger in the water, and tasted it.

"It's salty." He immediately concluded, "This lake connects to the sea."

"Connects to the sea? Then where's the exit?" Wang Dalong shone his flashlight around; the lake was surrounded by enclosed rock walls, and no exit was visible.

"Wait." Lin Feng stood up, his gaze fixed on a spot on the lake's surface.

He noticed that the lake's waterline had left a clear mark on the rock wall, nearly a meter higher than the current water level.

"It's low tide right now." Lin Feng's tone was certain.

No sooner had he spoken than the lake water seemed to confirm his statement, slowly receding at a visible rate.

As the water level dropped, a narrow slit, originally submerged by the lake water, gradually revealed itself on the rock wall directly ahead, near the cave ceiling.

A faint ray of daylight pierced through that slit, shining like holy light in the dark cave.

"The exit!" Wang Dalong shouted excitedly.

The slit wasn't large; its height was less than a meter, and its width was only enough for one person to pass through, like a flattened waterway.

"No time, when the tide rises, this place will be submerged again." Lin Feng made a decisive decision, starting to strip off unnecessary equipment, leaving only a waterproof backpack. "We must get through when the water level is at its lowest."

Without hesitation, the two packed all their gear, took a deep breath, and successively slipped into the cold lake water.

They swam strenuously towards the slit that showed daylight.

Passing through the narrow waterway was a suffocating journey. Countless slippery water plants entangled their hands and feet, the rocks above their heads almost scraped their noses, and every breath had to be timed carefully.

They didn't know how long they swam, but just as the air in their lungs was about to run out, their vision suddenly brightened.

"Splash!"

The two burst out of the water, greedily breathing the long-awaited fresh air.

They found themselves in a secluded cove surrounded by steep cliffs. Not far away was an open sandy beach.

The sun was just right, and the sea breeze was gentle.

Lin Feng and Wang Dalong exchanged glances, both seeing the relief of surviving a disaster on each other's disheveled faces.

They swam to the shore and collapsed on the warm sand, like two dying salted fish.

"We're... alive..." Wang Dalong lay sprawled out, gasping for air.

After resting for a long time, the two finally recovered. They oriented themselves and found that they were not far from Jiuzhou Ridge; walking along the coastline, they should be able to find a nearby small town.

Two hours later, two men, soaking wet, covered in mud and smelling of the sea, looking like they had just been smuggled in, appeared at the front desk of a hotel in a small town near Haikou City.

Amidst the horrified and disgusted stares of the owner and guests, they used the only wet cash they had left to rent a room.

The moment the door closed, Lin Feng and Wang Dalong simultaneously collapsed onto the floor as if utterly exhausted.

Everything was finally over.

Or perhaps, everything had just begun.