Chapter 3: The Adventure Begins

  About a minute later, several bedrooms had been swept almost clean, and everyone returned to the living room.

  The fireplace in the living room was burning brightly, and the temperature gradually rose, becoming very warm. Sarah, Beth, and Juno each sat down on the sofa, while Zhao Jian and Su Mu Ran had no choice but to sit together on the other side of the sofa. Although they tried their best to pretend to be familiar with each other, their facial expressions and body language still seemed a bit stiff. This was inevitable, after all, they were strangers to each other, and neither of them was an actor by birth, so it was impossible for them to act perfectly and naturally.

  Fortunately, Sarah and the others did not find anything unusual about Zhao Jian and Su Muran, because in their memories, Zhao Jian and Su Muran were originally quite introverted and cold. They couldn't even understand themselves why they became friends with Zhao Jian and Su Muran. Perhaps making friends is just a matter of fate.

  "Hey, ladies, want some wine?"

  Xiao Xuan held a tray in his hand, on which was arranged a row of wine cups, filled with bright red wine.

  "Awesome! Xuan, I love you to death!" Beth couldn't help but cheer and kissed Xuan's face, then picked up a glass of wine.

  "Xuan, you always think so thoroughly, it's comfortable going out with you." Ruo Nu also praised Xiao Xuan and took down a cup of wine.

  "Thanks, Xuan." Sarah also said a thank you and took down her own wine glass.

  Compared to the performances of the three female protagonists, Zhao Jian and Su Muran looked a bit down when they took their wine cups, but they both put on very happy faces. However, both of them were shocked by Xiao Xuan's performance skills in their hearts, and also fortunate that there was Xiao Xuan who could replace themselves to interact with these three female protagonists and liven up the atmosphere, otherwise it might have been possible to be suspected by these three women.

  "Come on, everyone, cheers!" Xiao Xuan raised his own wine glass.

  “cheers！”

  Everyone raised their glasses and took a sip of the wine in their hands, the atmosphere in the living room became very lively due to the wine, and everyone started chatting idly.

  "Xuan, thank you for sending me the postcard, thank you for your concern, I'm really touched. God is my witness, you are the most important friend in my life, I will always love you." Sarah suddenly grabbed Xuan's hand to express her sincere gratitude.

  Su Mo Ran was lowering her head to drink at this time, but her ears were paying attention to Xiao Xuan's reaction. She naturally understood that it was impossible for Xiao Xuan to have sent a postcard to Sara before, and this must have been arranged by the main god beforehand.

  However, Xiao Xuan's reaction was still impeccable. He had already analyzed that this postcard should be the so-called "self" sent when he heard about Sarah's husband and daughter dying in a car accident.

  At this time, Xiao Xuan naturally stretched out his hands and gave Sarah a hug, patted her back gently and said softly:

  "I'm really sorry, I had something on at the time and couldn't go with you."

  "No, no, no, as a friend, you've already done enough, thank you."

  Sarah pressed her face against Xiao Xuan's shoulder, and tears had already welled up in her eyes. It seemed that the death of her husband and daughter was a permanent pain deep within her heart. Then, as if she realized her own loss of composure, Sarah wiped away her tears and forced a smile:

  "Sorry about that, I lost my composure, haha, let's continue drinking, cheers!"

  "Good, let's drink, cheers!"

  "Cheers!"

  "Cheers!"

  ……

  The little gathering didn't last too late after all, since there was a planned cave expedition tomorrow, everyone went back to their rooms to sleep very early.

  The next morning, Ruo Nu started knocking on doors one by one, shouting for everyone to get up.

  "Lazy pigs, wake up! Departure at 7 o'clock, don't be late!"

  Everyone got up and washed, Zhao Jian already had obvious dark circles under his eyes, it can be seen that he didn't rest well last night. Also, after clearly knowing that he entered the so-called main god space where life and death are always on the line, ordinary people really find it hard to sleep at night. Zhao Jian only knew that he spent the whole night thinking about his future, his family, some friends, and his life in real society. As he thought, dawn broke.

  Unlike Zhao Jian, Su Muran woke up early in the morning and was still refreshed and energetic. It was clear that she had a good rest last night, giving off an invigorated feeling. As she washed her face, Xiao Xuan stood behind her, holding a cup of milk, drinking it while lost in thought as he gazed at Su Muran's back.

  After everyone had finished washing up and tidying, they all gathered together to take a group photo. In the photo, everyone was smiling. Xiao Xuan looked at the photo and couldn't help but think that after this mission ended, how many people in the photo would still be alive?

  Then everyone changed into adventure clothes, carrying their own adventure bags, and followed Juno into the deep mountains and old forests. The initiator of this adventure was Juno, and the cave to be explored was also chosen by Juno.

  Walking in the mountain forest, Ruo Nu loudly reminded everyone of the safety rules for cave exploration.

  Actually, these rules are already familiar to Sara and others who often go on adventures, but Ruo Nu still emphasizes them every time, which is also a reminder before the adventure. However, for Sara and others who have been through this many times, Zhao Jian and Su Mo Ran listened very seriously, because they had no experience in cave exploration before and could only rely on temporary learning.

  Moreover, there should be man-eating monsters in the cave as shown in the movie. When that happens, the situation will become extremely critical. Whether Sarah can be protected is uncertain, and protecting oneself first is the most basic thing to do. As for who will go to protect Sarah closely to complete the main task, in Zhao Jian's and Su Mo Ran's hearts, that person is the only veteran in the team - Xiao Xuan. In fact, from the time they started moving forward, Xiao Xuan has been deliberately accompanying Sarah by her side.

  "The first rule of cave exploration: follow the plan we've made and absolutely no arbitrary changes are allowed!"

  "What about the second item?"

  "Rule number two: never leave your post."

  "Hmm, continue."

  "The moment you turn off the flashlight, you will feel that everything around you has suddenly become very dark. Don't panic, because it was already pitch black to begin with."

  "Ah ha."

  "You may be dehydrated and lose your sense of direction..."

  "Right, right, right."

  "There may also be claustrophobia, panic, delusional disorder, visual and auditory disturbances..."

  "Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense."

  ……

  Several women were chatting and joking while repeating the essentials of the cave exploration, but Su Mo Ran was quietly reciting these essentials to himself many times in his heart.

  "It's almost here, just ahead." Zuno said, pointing to a valley below.

  "Oh yeah, it's finally almost here."

  "Haha, if I didn't hurry up, I wouldn't have had enough energy to get out of the cave."

  Xiao Xuan's gaze was constantly scanning the surroundings, and then his eyes caught a glimpse of a goat skeleton hidden under a pile of fallen leaves. Seeing animal carcasses in the mountains was a very normal thing, and Ruo Nu and the others must have also seen it. However, what Xiao Xuan noticed was that there were dense tooth marks on the goat skeleton. Yes, they were tooth marks. The teeth of some carnivorous animals in the mountains would never leave such tooth marks. These tooth marks were actually very similar to human dental impressions.

  This must be what the man-eating monster ate.

  Junuo was really unlucky, casually finding a cave, it turned out to be the lair of the man-eating demon, and the main god's [Main Quest 1] made us have no choice but to follow him into that lair, this is truly going to the tiger mountain knowing there are tigers.

  Xiao Xuan thought to himself, subconsciously touching the ring on his nameless finger. It was a spatial storage ring that he had exchanged for 500 reward points. The space inside was only one-tenth of a cubic meter, very small, but Xiao Xuan had already stored a lot of food, water, and medical supplies in it. Of course, there were also several guns. After entering the cave, the supplies in the ring might really be lifesaving. Moreover, the cave's space was cramped and narrow, and even slightly larger backpacks couldn't be brought in, so everyone's supplies were very limited.

  Finally, the doline appeared in front of everyone. This is a pit about 10 square meters in size. It's a big hole, and there will be smaller rock caves below. We'll go down from here first, and then proceed to the real cave exploration.

  "Tie the rope to that tree over there, and tie the other end around yourself. Be careful and slowly lower yourself down," Juno shouted to everyone.

  "No problem, then I'll go first." Sarah seemed a bit eager.

  "No, wait a minute, I'll go down and take a look first."

  Xiao Xuan stopped Sarah, joking that Sarah was the protection target of their own team, how could they let her go first. If something happened to Sarah, the current three people in the Chinese team would be directly wiped out by the main god.

  "Alright... be careful, Xuan, you go first." Sarah had no choice but to step aside and let Xiao Xuan go down first.

  After pulling and tightening the rope, Xiao Xuan slowly lowered himself down into the giant pit while controlling the rope. When he was halfway down, a black shadow suddenly pounced on him.