C63 (2/2)
”They're already here, what else can they do? Just go down, it would be your life if you fell to your death!” San Mao was the same as him and did not take it seriously at all.
”Ah …” ”No!” The Daoist Priest on the other hand, retreated. He who was originally lying on the ground, upon hearing San Mao's words, uncontrollably twisted his body and shrank back like a lizard crawling on the ground.
”How about... ”I'll cover you guys here …” The Taoist pushed himself a few meters away from the cliff and stammered, ”I …” I... There is fear of heights! ”
”I'm afraid of your head!” San Mao went over and grabbed the Daoist by the collar, and growled in a hoarse voice, ”Then return the money for yesterday's Big Health Care!”
The Daoist man's face turned green. It was unknown whether he was afraid of heights or of money, but he could not help but let out a cold breath. After a while, he sighed and said, ”Am I not good enough?”
Only then did San Mao let go of his collar, patted his back and said, ”This is what you call a brother!”
I heaved a sigh of relief. Although the Taoist looked petty and petty, he was the one who understood the most. If he didn't go in with us, I'm afraid we would lose our sight of him in many places.
I nodded and said to them: ”I'm afraid that this Chain will take too long, and it won't be able to hold our weight. I will go down first, and when I reach the ground, I will shake the chain, and then take it out.
The two of them nodded in agreement.
I walked to the edge of the cliff, crouched low, and looked down. It was dark beneath the cliff, and the chains, reflecting the faint light of the stars, shimmered in the darkness, leading straight down into the unfathomable darkness.
I took a deep breath, turned my body upside down, and put my legs down first. After half a day, I could only feel the indentation of the upper part of my body, which could only be placed into the sole of my foot. After stabilizing my body, I grabbed onto the metal chain and let my upper body leave the cliff face.
Watching someone else climb and being in it were two completely different experiences. Humans have a natural fear of things that could threaten them, such as beasts, snakes, water, and heights. For the first few meters, the genes within my body that have lasted for millions of years roared at me — Quickly! Get out of there! Danger! My body crazily secretes adrenaline, which makes my heart beat like a F1 racing engine. I'm breathing heavily, my limbs are trembling, and every next step is a challenge to my instincts.
After I climbed down for a few minutes, my mind and body gradually got used to it. I started to grasp the key points of the climb, from shakily holding onto the metal chain for half a day before I took a step down to climbing in a rhythmic fashion, I even had the intention of looking around. I saw clusters of orchids and slender grass growing from the crevices between the cliffs, little stars with purple and white flowers blooming on them.
In this darkness, I felt that the cliff seemed to be endless, stretching all the way down to the netherworld. Gradually, my arm started to burn like fire, my thighs started to spasm, and my body started to become weak, and just when I wanted to stop to rest for a while, my foot that was extended downwards stepped on empty air, and the groove that was following the chain all the way down disappeared!
I hastily withdrew my feet and looked down while holding onto the chain. The chain in my hand was nailed into a rock wall not far from my feet. Further down, it was pitch-black and I could no longer see anything.
Was this the end? In my heart, I thought that once this chain was discovered by the garrison and cut off from the middle, if it was the latter, I would no longer have the stamina to climb up again. What about Mao Tou? This fellow couldn't be luring us here on purpose to kill us for our wealth, right? I curled up on the cliff, all sorts of bad guesses rushing in. I wanted to shout for Mao Tou, but I was afraid of summoning patrols.
”Jump!” Just as I was unable to advance or retreat, I heard Mao Tou calling out to me with an extremely low voice beneath my feet. I looked down again and saw that it was still an unfathomably deep pitch black.
”Jump!” Mao Tou said again: ”It's very low!”
I hesitated for a while, thinking that it was impossible to go up anyway, so I steeled my heart and leaped!
In fact, my altitude was much lower than I expected. I was like a person who walked down the stairs in the dark. I originally expected to be on the first step, but in reality, I had already reached the bottom. I got up from the ground and walked over to the chain. I reached out my hand to touch it, and when I touched it, it was only about two meters off the ground. I shook the chain, and after a while there was a slight vibration on the chain, and I knew it was coming down.
This is because when I tiptoed, I was able to touch his legs. This allowed him to relieve the greatest fear of the unknown in his heart, so that San Mao was even more at ease. When he landed, he didn't even bother to squat on his butt.
We only saw a milky white halo in the distance. When I looked back at the cliff, it was already so dark that I couldn't see the top of it, and the metal chain was also hidden in the darkness, so I didn't know what ingenious arrangement it had made so that I wouldn't be discovered when we were developing the base. I shook my head and pointed ahead, saying, ”Let's go!”