Chapter 98 - 96: Inside the Cave

Chapter 98: Chapter 96: Inside the Cave

Hu Zhiming walked over to the side of the cave. He patted the stone and examined it carefully.

He asked a nearby geologist, "When you were conducting your tests, didn’t you find this cave wall strange? Is it possible this is a tomb passage built by ancient people?"

The man shot him a look. "If this were really a tomb passage, the area would have been sealed off long ago and reported to the cultural relics department. There’s no way they’d let you people in."

Hu Zhiming thought about it and realized he was right. If this was a tomb passage and there was an ancient tomb here, they would never have been allowed inside.

"Then what’s going on? Why is the collapsed rock face so smooth?"

"The miraculous workmanship of nature is more wondrous than we can imagine."

"It’s like certain natural phenomena that seem peculiar but actually follow their own rules."

"This was caused by the geological structure. As for the specific reason, we’ll have to wait for the analysis results."

"Oh."

Even though the man had explained, Hu Zhiming felt like he hadn’t explained anything at all. The main issue was that this cave was just too strange.

Hu Xia slapped him lightly. "Can’t you see these marks? They were clearly formed by fracturing rock, and there was friction."

Lin Feng also took a look and saw that the cave was shaped like a triangle, which did indeed look like a collapsed structure.

’It wasn’t carved out directly by some great power as I’d imagined,’ he thought. ’But a great power must have been involved somehow, or the mountain wouldn’t have collapsed so suddenly.’

"Come on, everyone put on a hard hat. We’ve already conducted our tests, but you still need to be careful of falling debris."

The group put on their hard hats and followed the man deeper into the mountain. Soon, they saw the geological survey team.

They were holding various instruments, recording data from inside the mountain and analyzing the cause of the fracture.

The path ahead suddenly opened up, and everyone who had followed them in stood stunned.

"What... what is this? Don’t tell me this was also formed by the collapse?"

Ahead of them was a cave nearly two hundred square meters in size, supported by several stone pillars that had not collapsed.

In the distance, they could faintly see what looked like a small pool, and it had water in it.

"This is the epicenter of the entire collapse, so the area that caved in was largest here, creating the scene you see now," someone next to them explained.

"Look at this protruding rock. It indicates that in the cavern below, there were also supporting stone pillars, which is what formed the current topography."

As the surveyors explained this, the excitement on their faces was impossible to hide.

"That pool up ahead is the center of the collapse zone. It formed a pool connected to the waterway below."

"The water level of the pool is the same as the water level in the valley outside. According to the principle of communicating vessels, this place is connected to the water outside."

Lin Feng and the others walked forward, wanting to get a better look at the pool in the middle.

"Sir, it won’t collapse again, will it?"

"Rest assured, if it weren’t safe, you wouldn’t be in here. We’ve already determined that the area below is tightly blocked by the collapsed rocks. Not even water can get through."

"Otherwise, the water from the valley and this pool would have long since drained away through the original underground river."

Lin Feng looked up at the ceiling. It was about three to four meters high and irregularly shaped due to the collapse.

From this, he could tell that the mountain’s interior was not a single solid mass; the rock was layered like stacked slabs.

He heard someone nearby say, "The interior of this mountain is very strange. It has many tilted rock layers, which is also why it collapsed into its current state."

Looking at the cross-section of the rock, the group understood what "tilted rock layers" meant.

They walked a circle around the huge cavern and realized it was a great spot. With just some simple repairs, it could be opened to tourists.

After walking a few dozen meters forward from the massive cavern, their surroundings suddenly brightened. They had reached the exit on the other side.

It was only then that they realized a cave must have already existed here before; the collapse had just widened it.

Otherwise, a collapse zone that ran straight through the mountain couldn’t have formed.

Walking out of the cave, they discovered that the slope on this side of the mountain was even more gradual than what they had seen from the drone’s perspective.

Although Lin Feng’s old family home was here, he had moved to the county town very early on and had few childhood memories of the place.

Looking at the hillside, he felt it was even better than the area around Lin Xian Village. He could even faintly make out abandoned terraced fields.

Gazing into the distance, he saw mountains stretching beyond the horizon. The sound of crashing water carried from far away.

They knew that was the waterfall the drone had filmed, with a drop of twenty to thirty meters.

This side was also overgrown with scrub and trees. Turning it into a tourist attraction would require a great deal of time and money.

"Brother Lin, this place is huge. If we really develop it, there could be a lot of activities to do."

Lin Feng gazed into the distance. "Developing it won’t be easy either. We’d have to build a road in from West Mountain. Otherwise, it’ll be too difficult to do with just manual labor."

Besides, he knew there were wild animals deep in these mountains.

The wild boar they had hunted last time had run from here over to West Mountain. With the recent environmental changes, creatures like bears had even appeared.

"Then we’ll just have to develop it slowly."

Lin Feng had wanted to check the condition of the tea and fruit trees on this slope, but he found the entire mountain covered in weeds and trees, with the tea plants hidden among them.

’This isn’t the right time to imbue this place with Lin Xian Tea. It needs to be cleared out first.’

After getting a handle on the situation, they returned through the cave to Lin Xian Village and found a large crowd of tourists had gathered.

If Yu Hua and his people hadn’t been holding them back, many would have tried to go see the collapsed cave for themselves.

Some tourists who had brought drones were using them to film. He heard that someone’s drone had even crashed into the water.

Curiosity had made these tourists completely forget about visiting the Arrow Tower.

If there was anyone in the village right now who didn’t care about the collapse, it was definitely Wu Jiaxing.

The guy had been restless ever since he woke up, fidgeting like a monkey.

Wan Qianqian tried to console him, "Stop pacing. My parents aren’t going to eat you."

"Your parents must be really unhappy with me. I’ve held you up for so many years. They probably want to kill me."

"Well, who can you blame for that? You’re the one who left without saying goodbye. Hmph!"

"My fault, it’s all my fault. My dearest Qianqian, can you help me think of a way to get through this with your parents?"

"Are you an idiot? My parents have wanted me to get married for ages. Now that I’ve found you, what do you think you should do?"

"What should I do?"

Wan Qianqian rapped him on the head and gave him a look that said, ’Figure it out yourself.’

’I’ve already given him such an obvious hint, and he still can’t figure it out. Does he really expect me to be the one to propose?’

When Wu Jiaxing saw Lin Feng and the others return, he rushed over, looking for their help.

Hu Xia ran over and whispered a few words to Wan Qianqian, then glanced at Wu Jiaxing. ’That guy is so lucky,’ she thought.

She pulled her brother aside and said a few words. Hu Zhiming then pulled Wu Jiaxing aside and started giving him ideas.

"Brother Wu, Sister Wan’s parents are definitely going to have some complaints about you, so you need to show enough sincerity this time."

"How do I show enough sincerity? I’m panicking so much my mind’s a complete blank."

Hu Zhiming clapped him on the shoulder. "Sincerity, of course, means marriage. She’s been looking for you for so many years. You know exactly what her goal is."

"Sister Wan even said her parents want her to get married. She’s not getting any younger. You should hurry up and prepare. Propose to her as soon as her parents get here."

"Right, right, right! Propose! What do I need for a proposal? I have to go buy a ring first..."

Once he had a plan, Wu Jiaxing moved with lightning speed. He told Lin Feng and his mother, then headed to the county town to buy everything he needed for the proposal.