62: Crossing the River of Despair

At dawn, a damp, cold mist shrouded the mountain ridge like a veil of despair.

Lin Feng woke the group, who hadn't slept all night. Exhaustion and fear were etched deep into everyone's faces, their eyes hollow. The team's morale couldn't just be described as low; it was completely shattered.

"Let's go," Lin Feng's voice broke the silence.

"Go? Where to?" an assistant asked in a despairing tone. "We're trapped here. We're all going to die!"

His words infected the others like a virus, and the remaining people began to stir as pessimism spread rapidly.

"Shut up!" Lin Feng's voice suddenly rose with an unquestionable severity. "If you want to die, you can jump off right now. If you want to live, follow me!"

His cold gaze swept over everyone, and his powerful aura made everyone instinctively shut their mouths.

"We're going back to the riverbank." Lin Feng didn't give them any chance to question him and gave the order directly.

Though confused and fearful, the group followed behind him like the walking dead under Lin Feng's forceful attitude.

They returned once more to the riverbank that had been the source of their nightmares. After a night of washing, the blood-stained water had returned to its original murky color, but a faint scent of blood still seemed to linger in the air.

Juan and the other three on the opposite bank also appeared. They looked even worse; their clothes were still wet, and their faces were haggard.

"Brother Feng, what exactly are you trying to do?" Wang Dalong asked, his legs trembling as he watched the churning river water.

Lin Feng didn't answer him, instead walking straight toward the massive waterfall. As he got closer, the deafening roar almost swallowed him whole, and the splashing mist hit his face, bone-chillingly cold.

He circled to the side of the waterfall and stopped on a patch of slippery rocks, his gaze fixed on the huge cliff wall behind the waterfall and the large white cross upon it.

Yesterday, he had only noticed the mark. But just now, a crazy thought—or rather, a logical deduction—had formed in his mind.

Was this cross merely a marker?

A marker hidden behind a waterfall just for the sake of concealment?

No, that didn't make sense.

The person who designed this route was meticulous to the extreme. Every step was a puzzle and a test. The Giant Python was a test; could this cross be one too?

What if the cross wasn't just a marker, but the "path" itself?

Lin Feng's eyes scanned the cliff wall behind the waterfall repeatedly. His brain frantically analyzed the flow of the water and the structure of the rock wall.

Suddenly, his gaze froze.

He noticed that on the massive white Quartzite Vein that formed the vertical part of the cross, the water's flow seemed slightly different. Most of the water poured straight down, but there, it seemed more like it was "clinging" to the rock wall as it slid down.

Furthermore, under the cover of the water curtain, that white vein didn't seem perfectly smooth; it had some tiny, irregular protrusions and depressions.

A bold, almost absurd hypothesis took shape in his mind.

That Quartzite Vein might be a climbable secret passage hidden behind the waterfall!

"Dalong, take out all our climbing ropes and tie them together," Lin Feng shouted without looking back.

"Ropes? For what?"

"Don't ask, just do it!"

Though Wang Dalong didn't understand, he immediately worked with the remaining assistants to find all the few sections of climbing rope in their backpacks, joining them end to end to form a rope about thirty meters long.

Lin Feng took the rope, tying one end securely around his waist and handing the other end to Wang Dalong and two others.

"Hold it tight, and don't let go no matter what happens!" he warned sternly.

"Brother Feng, you... you're not planning to..." Wang Dalong finally understood his intention and turned pale with fright. "You're crazy! You're going into the waterfall?!"

"This is our only way," Lin Feng said calmly, but a frantic flame burned in his eyes.

He didn't explain further. Taking a deep breath, he turned and walked toward the waterfall that looked like the mouth of a giant beast.

Juan and the others on the opposite bank also saw Lin Feng's actions. They stood up in horror and shouted toward him, waving their arms as if to prevent him.

But Lin Feng could no longer hear anything.

He stepped into the edge of the waterfall, and the bone-chilling water instantly drenched his entire body. The immense water pressure felt like a wall, slamming into him and nearly knocking him off his feet.

Gritting his teeth against the water pressure, he shuffled step by step toward the center of the waterfall.

His vision was completely blocked by the white curtain of water, and his ears were filled only with the deafening roar. A sense of suffocation and immense pressure surged from all sides, as if trying to crush him.

Relying on his memory of the location, he reached out with difficulty and felt along the slippery rock wall.

Finally, his fingertips touched a rough, angular protrusion.

It was the Quartzite Vein!

Overjoyed, he grabbed the protrusion with all his might to steady himself. Then, he reached out with his other hand and found another handhold above.

He was right!

This really was a "path" that could be climbed!

He no longer hesitated. Using both hands and feet like a gecko, he pressed himself tightly against the rock wall behind the waterfall and began the arduous climb upward against the massive flow of water.

On the bank, Wang Dalong and the assistants had their hearts in their throats. They could only see a blurry dark figure moving slowly within the water curtain, and the rope they held tightly was the only lifeline connecting that person to life.

Time passed minute by minute, each second feeling as long as a century.

Lin Feng's stamina was draining rapidly. The freezing water constantly sapped his body heat, and his arm muscles were aching to the extreme. But he didn't stop; only one thought remained in his mind—upward, he had to climb up!

Finally, after climbing over ten meters, he felt a dry platform.

Using the last of his strength, he scrambled onto the platform and collapsed, gasping for air.

He had succeeded.

This was a natural cave behind the waterfall! The entrance was perfectly hidden by the water curtain, making it impossible to discover from the outside.

After resting for a few seconds, he immediately stood up, untied the rope from his waist, and secured it firmly to a sturdy stalactite inside the cave. Then, he pulled the rope hard three times—the pre-arranged signal for safety.

Feeling the signal from the rope, Wang Dalong burst into tears of joy.

"He did it! Brother Feng succeeded!"

With the help of the rope, it was much easier for the others to cross the waterfall. They took turns grabbing the rope and, with the help of Wang Dalong and their companions, were swung one by one into the cave behind the waterfall like a pendulum.

When the last person had safely entered the cave, everyone collapsed on the ground. Though drenched and in a sorry state, their faces were filled with the ecstasy of surviving a disaster.

"Oh my god... Brother Feng, you're practically not human..." Wang Dalong looked at Lin Feng, his eyes full of awe and admiration.

Lin Feng had no time to celebrate. He threw the other end of the rope out from the cave, letting it drift with the current toward the opposite bank.

Seeing the rope, Juan immediately understood Lin Feng's plan. He also found a sturdy rock and secured the rope.

A lifeline across the River of Despair was thus established.

Using this rope like special forces, Juan and his three companions slid one by one from above the turbulent river to the bank on this side of the waterfall, then entered the cave using the rope Lin Feng and the others had left.

When Juan, the last to enter the cave, saw Lin Feng, the taciturn man spoke to him solemnly in Spanish for the first time: "Thank you for saving us all."

With that, the team that had been separated by the river was finally reunited.

Though they had suffered heavy losses, they had successfully crossed the blood-colored river.

Lin Feng's gaze turned toward the depths of the cave. This cave wasn't a dead end but led to a deep, man-made tunnel.

A new path had appeared beneath their feet.