Chapter 128: Chapter 125: Underground World

Bi Fang kicked the strange fish back into the Underground River and hastily moved up the riverbank to avoid being ambushed by the fish again.

The water of the river flowed silently, and the fish, forming dazzling swirls of light as they swam in circles, were actually glowing!

The bioluminescence was even bright enough for Bi Fang to clearly see this grand and magnificent place!

What an inconceivable miracle of life!

Was this bioluminescence coming from inside the cells or from their exterior?

Why was it so bright?

The phenomenon of bioluminescence is not uncommon, especially for fireflies on land, which are the most well-known examples.

An Underground River filled with so many bioluminescent fish; what species could this be?

Gu Qingyuan had fallen into deep thought, while Wu Gang beside him didn’t entertain such roundabout ideas; he was simply immersed in the vast and unknown depths of the earth.

So thrilling!

In the moment he looked around, Bi Fang forgot the danger he had just faced and felt an urge to kneel in worship.

He had never imagined that such a spacious underground space could exist, possibly hundreds or even thousands of feet across.

He couldn’t gauge the size of this enormous cavern with his own eyesight. Standing up to look around, the end of the Underground River disappeared into darkness, making it impossible to see where it led.

The sound of dripping water monotonously echoed throughout this huge space. The rather wide Underground River meandered, like a river within this realm, while the accumulated stalactites over thousands of years formed the mountain ranges here.

Suddenly, the sound of splashing water arose as a large luminescent fish Bi Fang had seen earlier leapt vigorously out of the water!

It seemed to have dived deep for a while, and now, as it emerged, it was radiating light so bright that it was almost dazzling as the sole source of illumination in the darkness.

Bi Fang squinted and took a step back, but tripped over a rock behind him and almost fell.

[My goodness, isn’t this place too huge?]

[Is there really a cavern this big? We only descended about twenty meters, right?]

[Brother, did you forget this is a valley? I reckon we’re about sixty meters or more below the surface…]

[I’m never going to the Jiaofang Division again. Gifting the streamer a Big Bone*l—Praise Nature]

[Messier64 gifts the streamer Fish Balls*ioooo—Crossing the ocean to finally see land, it’s too beautiful.]

Compared to everyone else’s sighs of amazement, Gu Qingyuan wasn’t as shocked by the expanse of this new world, or perhaps he had anticipated it.

“Just as I suspected, whales can only be nurtured in the ocean; a fish tank can’t breed a big fish! To breed a carnivorous animal three meters in length, this Underground River can’t possibly be small; it must be extremely huge!”

“But if the river is so big, why is the Qaidam still a desert?” Wu Gang asked, puzzled.

If the underground water source was so abundant, why was the surface bone dry, a place where neither humans nor birds chose to dwell? What was the reason?

Hearing this, Gu Qingyuan gave Wu Gang a glare, “Do you think deserts are deserts just because they lack water? Ignorance!”

Wu Gang scratched his head; after all, he hadn’t studied geography…

“In the Arabian Desert, there are occasional heavy rains that can even flood cities in the desert. But even so, strong rainfall can’t change its desert nature because the desert’s absorption and evaporation rates mean that the water will disappear within a month.”

“Simply having more water is fundamentally impossible for transforming a desert!”

“Moreover, this Underground River is at least several tens of meters deep…” Gu Qingyuan wanted to explain further, but when he saw Bi Fang start to move, he immediately brought his attention back and waved dismissively at Wu Gang, “Enough, enough, you can look it up on Baidu yourself, I don’t have time to answer your questions.”

WuGang: “…”

Staggering a few steps, Bi Fang leaned back against a stalactite column to rest.

He combed his drenched hair with his hands, shaking off the incessant drips of water. Under the gleaming light, his face looked especially pale.

Bi Fang shook his head and saw the barrage of comments, still answering some of the online friends’ questions.

“Mountains surround the basin, and the meltwater from the snow and ice of the mountains, along with precipitation, seeps into the desert geology of the basin and forms groundwater below the surface.”

“Take the Tarim Basin, for instance. Some of our country’s geologists even believe that the groundwater resources beneath the Tarim Basin may well exceed the storage volume of Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake, and the situation in Qaidam is similar.”

“But seeing it with your own eyes still leaves you awe-struck. This place is simply an underground world!”

Bi Fang looked up, greedily breathing in the air, seemingly unconcerned about toxicity.

“Many people watch movies where the protagonist encounters suffocation in caves, or the presence of toxic gases. We don’t need to worry about the former because Tiktaalik is here. If there was a lack of oxygen in the cave, they wouldn’t be able to breed so successfully.”

“As for poisonous gases, they usually arise from a build-up and fermentation of bat droppings, resulting in an excessive amount of ammonia in the air, or sulfur dioxide or something, but these gases generally have a strong odor, which I have not smelled, so we don’t need to worry about that.”

After taking off the backpack in front of him and checking it carefully, Bi Fang breathed a sigh of relief.

The backpack provided by the system was a double-layered waterproof bag, and it was sturdy enough that only the outer layer was torn by the bites of the strange fish, while the inner layer remained intact, leaving the clothes inside dry.

Although it wasn’t too cold yet, Bi Fang could feel the wet clothes leeching away his body heat.

He pretended to take the camera down again, and the unmanned drone made a comeback. Then he took off his lining and changed into a new one.

The good figure revealed in the process caused a frenzy of envy among the Shuiyou.

[The drone is finally back in action. I was about to get dizzy from all the shaking just now.]

[Add one, I was so uncomfortable, even more than when I play 3D games.]

[Speaking of which, Old Fang’s physique is too impressive, right?]

[Those muscles, I’m in love!]

[Envious!]

[Screenshot and set as wallpaper.]

[When can I also develop a physique like Master Fang?]

[Live in the wilderness often, occasionally confront bears, wolves, and snakes, and you’ll be like this in half a month.]

Bi Fang didn’t mind the teasing from the Shuiyou and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, when he reopened them, his eyes had initially adapted to the darkness.

The lights on the drone were long extinguished, and in the pitch-black cave, the only light came from the flowing Underground River.

Bi Fang didn’t light any torches.

Before entering the water, he had collected many flower sticks, but since there was still light, even if it was faint, he shouldn’t waste resources.

The terrain around him was vague, and Bi Fang tried hard to imprint it in his mind.

“Cave exploration is a very fashionable sport abroad and a popular activity among many extreme adventure enthusiasts. However, it is an adventurous sport after all, and most people only pay attention to the mystery, excitement, and fun of cave exploration, often overlooking the many hidden dangers.”

“Especially in unknown caves!”

“Here, we have no signs or guidance, no accurate reference points, and everything is unknown. We might even be unaware of how long, wide, or deep the cave is!”

No sooner had he spoken than Bi Fang moved forward into the darkness, with the sound of dripping water echoing monotonously in the vast cave.

Getting lost, rising groundwater levels, dangerous creatures, oxygen deprivation, abnormal temperatures and humidity…

In the pitch-black environment, these few sentences echoed back and forth within the cave, making the audience shiver, and the joy of escaping from the mouth of the creature vanished instantly.

In such a deadly environment, could humans really find a way to survive?