"Father, the people above just came."
"When?" Green turned his neck. Resting on the coffin board for a long time made the back of his neck a little sore, but it was still bearable.
The monk relit the lantern for him to look at the map. In the dim light, another passage could be seen marked. "Just now, it rained again."
"Is it raining heavily?"
"Not big, just like before, so I didn't wake you up."
Listen carefully to the sound of water on the other side of the rock crevice, where the water from the ground converges into strands. Perhaps it was because his hearing was particularly sensitive after he had just woken up. The water seemed to be a little stronger than before, washing away the silt and sending out a rotten rhythm like a shriveled vein.
"Wake me up directly next time. No matter what happens, don't wait." Green ordered, "How many times has it rained recently?"
"About three or four times?" After thinking for a moment, the monk gave the answer.
Summer is full of these unseasonable showers, which come and go quickly. They barely penetrate the soil, and even less seep into the ground, only causing the water layer in the corridor to rise slightly.
The impact on search is not as great as expected, and it will not hinder walking if it does not reach the ankles.
When they gathered in the hall, they could clearly feel the increase in water volume. The waterfall overflowed the cracks on the stone steps, spread over the black moss, and covered everything under the distorted light and shadow of the water surface.
And the hexagonal deep well is still swallowing a terrible amount of water insatiably, and the bottom seems to lead to a terrifying endless void that will never be filled one day.
Only the monks who were guarding the hall reported that the sound of falling water seemed to be getting louder and thicker. It reminds one of a giant cauldron that is gradually being filled.
The team was still taking turns to go out, and the monks who held the power of violence given by the Heavenly Father inevitably began to feel anxious. They had never been able to find a place where they could display their abilities openly.
The light they had discovered earlier was like bait thrown into the water to seduce them, and they searched for it but disappeared.
"How long have our people been out?" Green looked around the stone room. There were still water marks on the boots of the team who were stationed and resting, and Vadin was among them. It seems that there was a rotation not long ago.
"It's been a while."
"Can you call them back?"
"It's probably too late. They should have already walked through the hall." The monk sat down next to Green and put his hand to the lamp flame to heat it. There was always a sense of moisture near the water channel.
"You're too worried. It's just a light rain, about the same as before. There's no need to stop the search for this. We also want to find those damn infidels as soon as possible and leave this place as soon as possible."
Of course, I am not questioning the caution of the young priest, but there is too much light rain in summer, and sometimes it stops before the outgoing team comes back. For this reason, it seems a bit unworthy to go back to the team that just left.
Green was silent for a while, tapping the map. Based on several experiences, this is not unreasonable. Forcibly interrupting the search will also aggravate the anxiety.
But some words are like a thorn stuck in the skin, and from time to time there are small but sharp warnings when you want to take action.
"You can go up and take a look again later. If the rain doesn't stop, call our people who are guarding the hall back first. The returning team should not go out again for the time being."
"Of course, as you wish."
The stone room became quiet, and the church staff naturally adapted to this quiet atmosphere, which was consistent with the solemn church environment that required whispering.
The priest spent the past few days alone studying the incomplete map under the lamp, trying to discover some hidden patterns.
Get rid of anxiety. He meditated on the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, and if this was a test, he would not let the Lord down.
Holding back his irritation, Green continued to follow the branches spreading out like roots one by one. New passages had been drawn on the map, but most of the forks were still blocked and a small part had no end. As his fingertips followed the dotted or intersecting lines, he began to speculate - whether these unexplored branches were actually blocked at some point further upstream, thus limiting the flow of waterways after showers. Magnitude of change.
Who went underground to destroy them?
That may have been a long time ago, otherwise it would not be described as "gouge marks similar to those on the remains of the birth of the kingdom."
It is hard to imagine that in those ancient times, someone spent a lot of manpower and time destroying these older tunnels.
But why do they do this?
Green was immersed in clueless conjectures until the monks finished their rest one after another and began to whisper their daily prayers.
A piece of news was delivered to his ears - the rain hadn't stopped yet.
"Wardin, come here." Green closed the map and realized that he had overlooked a small thing. In places where the weather cannot be used to estimate time, he should bring a large hourglass to keep time.
"Any orders? We will leave soon."
"No, wait for now, it's been raining for a while." Green held his shoulders and suppressed the restlessness rising in his heart, trying not to let it show on his face, "You bring people Go and call back the sentry in the hall.”
"I'll go right away."
Wading nodded and left, immediately leading a few people over the crack.
After a moment, a slightly muffled voice came through the narrow gap, "Green, the water flow has become a bit stronger, but it's not a big problem. They will definitely come back in time now."
"I understand." Holding on to the ground, the priest stood up and walked to the crack of the rock. The sound of treading water quickly faded away.
Vadin didn't keep him waiting long. Soon, several monks, who were all wet and shivering, followed back to the stone room.
One of them sheepishly suggested shortening the shift, and the humidity in the hall seemed to have reached a level that faith could not overcome.
The priest coughed a few times and nodded in agreement, his calm attitude unchanged. But as his right-hand man and the person who knew him best, Vadin realized that his mind was not here at all.
Like a caged beast, Greene walked from one end of the room to the other, glancing subconsciously at the crevices that led to the waterways each time. He finally couldn't hold it any longer and asked the sentry stationed in the hall to confirm the passing time of the two groups outside.
However, the darkness blurred the sense of time too seriously. After getting the inaccurate answer, he paced significantly faster.
"Damn it, I told you to return as soon as you noticed the change in the water flow, why didn't they take it seriously."
At least half of the people present lowered their heads. After being cautious at first, most people actually became more or less contemptuous.
If they encounter a not too big change in the water flow, they will probably want to seize the time to explore the branch road before returning to avoid having to make an extra trip.
"Wardin, take someone with you." It took a little too long, and an unreasonable premonition appeared in my heart, like a cold that penetrated from the skin and flowed back into the heart, causing the beating of life to skip a beat.
He believed in his intuition and regarded it as a revelation, "No, I will go by myself, Vadin, you stay here, and make the decision for me if there is anything."
Ordering all the items as quickly as possible, hanging the sword on his belt, Father Green took the resting monks and squeezed through the cracks in the rocks, lit the torch, and headed to the hall without covering his tracks.
As he walked down the waterway and approached the exit of the passage, Green unexpectedly found that he walked very easily on this section of the road. Even if the flames flickered, it did not affect a stable layer of light floating on the water.
After rushing forward for a while, he realized belatedly that it was not the light from the torch in his hand, but the dim light coming from the hall below, refracted from the entrance of the cave through layers of water mist and traveling retrograde.
Like the remaining light of some dying celestial body.
Oh my god!