Luo Ling and the other two walked into the secret door and walked a few steps forward to a fork in the road. There were two staircases leading down and up. Both staircases were protected by heavy doors, but at this time, the doors were open. They chose to go down first.
As you reach the bottom of the stairs, the surrounding environment immediately becomes dark. All the rooms and passages previously had clear lighting, but the room below the stairs was very dim, as if the builders were unwilling to spend any more lighting materials here.
Ji Yijun drew his sword and used it to push open the half-closed door in front of him. A dark corridor appeared in front of the three people. They could see cells on both sides of the corridor, and many thick wooden fences were erected on the side close to the corridor.
"Is this the place we guessed?" Ji Yijun's voice unconsciously became softer, as if he was afraid of disturbing the undead hiding in the shadows.
"Let's go ahead and take a look." Luo Ling pushed Ji Yijun on the shoulder, and the latter had no choice but to move forward.
The cells on both sides of the corridor were mostly two meters square and looked very narrow and cramped. There was nothing in the cells except beds made of hay, but the hay had long since rotted into powder.
Some of these cells were empty, but most of them were filled with dead bones lying on the ground. Most of these skeletons were short and sturdy, and they were obviously the imprisoned dwarves.
"These people probably starved to death." Ji Yijun said. Most of the dwarves died while lying on the ground or slumped against the wall.
The three walked forward and found that there were horizontal roads in front of them, dividing the dungeon into small pieces.
"Let's split up and look for other exits. If this is just a dungeon, we can go up again."
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Walking through almost identical cells, one feels like being stuck in a loop, unable to escape. The only difference may be the different postures of the dwarf skeletons, which only adds a bit of horror to the heavy atmosphere.
Luo Ling prides herself on being bold, but after walking alone for a while, she feels more and more depressed. The sympathy in her heart has been squeezed into a corner, and now all that is left is a desire to escape.
At this moment, she heard Ji Yijun's voice not far away.
"Sister Luo Ling, come and take a look. There is a dwarf who has carved words on the wall."
She ran in the direction of the sound. When she found Ji Yijun, she found him standing in front of a slightly larger cell. The bars of the cell were replaced with iron pillars as thick as bowls. The dwarf skeleton inside had been scattered into a pile, but from the appearance of the leg bones, it could be seen that he died while sitting cross-legged in the middle of the cell.
"This person might be a strong one among the dwarves. At least he still had his own bearing when he died." Ji Yijun sighed, pointing to a place on the side wall and said, "The words are there. They should have been carved on the stone to stimulate fighting spirit."
"Great God of Forging, thank you for your punishment for sin. You let me see the miserable appearance of the human emperor in the last moments. He is about to die, even before me. This must be your punishment for him.
Everything here is coming to an end, but I want to pass down the last number: 1826 dwarves died here because of evil magic experiments. This death number was told to the later dwarves by the first dwarves before they died. It was almost cut off twice, but it still stubbornly passed down among the dwarves one after another. Those who recited this number before have died, and finally it came to me. Today, I will be the 1827th, and I hope this is a real end. "
"The dwarves died in batches due to experiments and starvation, but they still recorded the total number of deaths. It's really amazing." Luo Ling said as she looked at the dwarf's skeleton, "We will not let this story be buried. Rest in peace."
Morey also came over and said, "There's nothing important here, and there's no other way out. It should be a pure dungeon."
"No." Luo Ling shook her head. "There are very important things here. It's history and evidence, but more importantly, this dwarf told us that Emperor Rick returned to this base with serious injuries. Let's go, let's go on the road and chase him."
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The end of the upward stairs leads to a natural cave.
This cave had obviously been well maintained. Not only was a path easy to walk on opened up on the ground, but also lighting arrays of different colors were placed next to the stone pillars and stalagmites. Vines were planted between the rocks, and there were glowing underground mosses and lichens on the rocks.
There are pools of water every few steps. The water in the pools is very clear and seems to be connected to underground rivers. Occasionally, colorful fish will swim in them.
The scenery here was no worse than the southern karst cave attractions Luo Ling had visited before, and it was completely different from the prison cell just now.
"This place doesn't feel right. Why does it feel like a secluded path, like a paradise?" Ji Yijun reached out and scooped up some water in the pond, startling two small fish. "Could this be where the wizard couple lives?"
"It is very likely that many of the arrangements here are no longer functional issues, but aesthetic needs. And they are very different from the style of the Black Dragon Empire." Luo Ling agreed.
As the three of them continued to move forward, the cave quickly grew larger, and a stone house appeared in front of them. The house was two stories high, with a sloping roof, and looked a bit like a small church in the original world. The bricks and stones used in the house were very fine, and there were not only carved wooden doors and many windows, but also colorful crystals inlaid on the windows.
There are many reliefs carved on the front facade of the house. Those reliefs are not people. Above them are stars in the night sky, and below are mountains and rivers.
"It seems that I guessed right. This is where the Fresco couple live their daily life. However, I'm afraid these two people are born in the Year of the Rat. Why do they like to build a house in a hole in the ground?" Ji Yijun muttered.
"How do you know they usually live here? Many magicians have multiple residences. As the words in your ancient books say, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. When the Seven Towers chose to fight against the gods, the preparation time must have been more than one or two years. Many magicians would prepare shelters in advance. In case of failure in the battle, at least they would have a place to hide. I guess this is a shelter for the Fresco couple. Therefore, they also hid the commemorative engagement gift such as the Electric Winged Silver Dragon here. In the end, it was a good opportunity for the Black Dragon Empire to find this place." Morey said.
"Isn't it said that the Electric Wing Silver Dragon is a holy-level golem? Why don't they use it to fight against the gods? Why do they hide it instead?"
"Do you understand what gods are like? Do you know where their weaknesses are?" Luo Ling asked.
"Sister Luo Ling, you are making fun of me. How could I know that? I'm just about to move to the intermediate level."
"Then how can you be sure that this golem will be a powerful weapon against the gods? Perhaps in the eyes of these powerful men in the Holy Land who have some understanding of the gods, the Electric Winged Silver Dragon is useless in front of the gods?"
"Yes, if the battle between gods is also me slashing you with a knife and you punching me, or you throwing a fireball and I throwing a lightning bolt, that would be too cheap."
"Of course, I think there is another possibility as well. Which woman would like to use a token of love as a weapon?"
"All right."
As they were talking, the three of them had already reached the door of the house. Just as Ji Yijun was about to push the door open, he heard a quarrel coming from inside.
"It's Adan and Aura. They finally caught up with us."