Chapter 52 The Fifty-second Chapter Fire Evil's Ability (3)

  The water demon child smiled and said, "Thanks." The water demon child put the oil lamp on the ground, stepped on Huo Xiao's back, grasped with both hands, and half of her body entered the collapsed opening. After a moment, she withdrew her body. The water demon child jumped off Huo Xiao's back and changed to a mischievous appearance, laughing: "Monkey! As you wished, this tunnel is indeed adjacent to the big pit next door! The collapse here was caused by the edge of the falling house hooking onto the large stone in the soil, bursting the wall of the pit. Quick! Monkey, let's hurry back along the road and find the location of the pit where Yan Ge and others fell. We can then open the bottom of the birdcage and rescue Yan Ge and others!"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yī was overjoyed, stretched out both hands and grasped Shuǐ Yāo Er's hands, excitedly saying: "Too great, too great!"

  "Ouch, that hurts! You're going to kill me, you damned monkey!"

  "Sorry, sorry!"

  Shuiyao'er smiled and picked up the oil lamp that had been placed on the ground, then rushed to get in front of Huoxiao Xie and hurriedly followed the road back.

  The two returned to the crossroads again. Shuiyao'er stopped and looked around, pointing to the right path of the road they came from, saying: "This direction! No mistake!"

  The two continued to move forward, and this tunnel was not long. After walking about a hundred steps and turning two corners, they had already reached the dead end. Shuiyao touched one side of the wall all the way, and slowly said: "The pit where Yan Dage fell should be behind this wall. The soil on this wall is obviously filled later."

  "Alright!" Huo Xiao Xie swung his hoe and was about to strike.

  "Hey, you monkey! What are you doing with your hairy hands and feet? Where are you going to dig to?"

  "What can be done if it's not dug up?"

  "Look at you, still trying to be a thief? Even if you were a thief, you'd be a stupid one! Stay here, I'm going to test your footwork!"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yé said: "Measure steps?"

  The water demon didn't even bother with him, and instead took out an object from the backpack behind her back. The fire little devil leaned in to take a closer look, and saw that the object in the water demon's palm was a round compass-shaped thing, with a glass dial in the middle, inside which floated a magnetic needle on a disc marked with the directions east, south, west, and north. Around the dial were two steel rings etched with degrees. The water demon twisted the outermost ring to align the markings on the two rings.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yé asked: "What is this? A compass?"

  Shuiyao'er said, "That's right, it's a compass, but it's also a tool used by the Water family to measure distance, called a double-ring instrument. It's not valuable in itself and can only be used with the Water family's body method. The scale on this double-ring instrument is measured based on my own height and stride, so I'm the only one who can use it accurately."

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié looked at the double-ring instrument again, then glanced at the black backpack on Shuǐ Yāo ér's chest. The backpack was very small and about half the width of Shuǐ Yāo ér's shoulder. It seemed to be made of black leather and appeared to be a single piece without any obvious zippers or openings. Upon closer inspection, two thin seams could be seen on the surface of the backpack, which was likely where Shuǐ Yāo ér inserted her hand to retrieve items. The backpack lay flat against Shuǐ Yāo ér's back and was almost imperceptible under her black clothes. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié couldn't help but praise: "How many treasures do you have in this backpack of yours?"

  Who would have thought that the Water Demon's face would change so drastically, with a frosty expression saying: "You dare to think about hitting my backpack! You'll lose your little life immediately!" Fire Little Evil wasn't seeing this for the first time either. When they were riding the same horse as the Water Demon before, the Water Demon had also warned him like this. Fire Little Evil's heart turned cold and he quickly nodded.

  The little water demon's face changed again in an instant, reverting to its mischievous appearance, and laughed: "Monkey, I'll be right back, you stay here and don't move."

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié's voice responded, Shuǐ Yāo ér made a ghostly face at Huǒ Xiǎo Xié and turned to leave. In an instant, Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was alone again, surrounded by darkness that couldn't be pierced by five fingers.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié let out a soft sigh, and sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. He thought back to all the strange encounters he had experienced since leaving Fengtian, and sighed at how vast the world was, where nothing was impossible. The people who became thieves were also vastly different, with skills that were unprecedented and unheard of. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié pondered, thinking that with skills like those of Yán Jǐng Tiān and Shuǐ Yāo ér, stealing a wallet or something would be as easy as reaching into one's own pocket. They must not have been struggling to survive like he was, so what was the point of their cultivating such thieving skills?

  In the darkness, it was quiet and still, nothing could be seen. Huo Xiaoyao didn't even know if he had his eyes open or closed, but he felt a bit drowsy. In a daze, Huo Xiaoyao only felt that there was a growing light in front of him. When he opened his eyes wide to take a closer look, the light suddenly spread out and surrounded him, turning into an endless sea of flames. Huo Xiaoyao was alone, trapped in the fire. He tried to shout for help but couldn't make a sound, yet he could still hear himself constantly calling out "Father! Mother! Save me!" But no one responded to him. A figure emerged from the flames, a masked man wielding a shiny curved sword - a Japanese samurai sword with the character "Ying" (Shadow) engraved on it.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié let out a low hum, flipped over and got up. Suddenly, the surroundings were quiet again. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié was drenched in sweat, panting non-stop, and exclaimed in shock: "Could it be that I had that strange dream again? What's going on? Why did some things appear in my dream?"

  Not daring to be careless, I shake off my spirits and run back and forth in place.

  The water demon held the double-ring instrument and returned to the pit that had just been descended. Taking the entrance of the pit as the starting point, it adjusted the north-south direction with the double-ring instrument and walked slowly along the wall in a straight line. Every step would rotate the degree ring once, sometimes the outer ring and sometimes the inner ring. The water demon's footsteps were even, its pace consistent and very steady. After walking for a while, it would carve a mark on the wall, then return to verify again, repeating this process without stopping, slowly heading in the direction of Huo Xiaoxie.

  Originally, when stealing things deeply buried underground, if there are heavy soil and rocks in between, even with a tunnel leading to the general direction, saving the trouble of re-excavation, but because the tunnel is curved and not straight, it often differs by a fraction of an inch and goes astray by thousands of miles. Therefore, well-prepared thieves usually need to take measurements on the ground first, grasp the distance on the surface, so that when they go down into the tunnel, they won't lose their direction.

  Shuiyao'er uses the double-ring instrument to determine the north-south direction and starting point. The outer ring represents the outer deviation angle, and the inner ring represents the inner deviation angle. With Shuiyao'er's stable pace, they can roughly accurately find the location of Huoxiao Xie when digging. Shuiyao'er also believes that the main hall of Luoma Inn is likely to be a huge iron cage, so it's best to find the position of the door and window without iron bars, allowing two people to sneak out with Yan Jing Tian and others.

  The Shui family is very particular about gathering intelligence, drawing maps and mastering the terrain are all compulsory courses for the Shui family. When Shui Yao'er arrived at Luoma Inn, during her spare time while eating, she had already walked around the main hall once, and had a relatively accurate understanding of the length and width of the house, as well as the position of doors and windows. It's not that Shui Yao'er anticipated that something unexpected would happen later, but rather that whenever the Shui family arrives at a place, if time permits, they will do such measurement work. For the Shui family, grasping more intelligence, whether useful or not, can be used to prepare for unforeseen circumstances and prevent accidents.

  The water family is not good at digging holes and walking underground, the water demon does this, although it can also be done, but in the eyes of the earth family, it seems a bit clumsy. Generally speaking, in unfamiliar tunnels, finding the vertical position on the ground surface, without human help on the ground surface, there are three-point straight line method and right-angle rope method, but here the water demon and fire little evil will not use, temporarily not to be said.

  The water demon used a lot of time and finally slowly felt the position of Huo Xiao Xie. Huo Xiao Xie was jumping up and down in place, and Shui Yao Er was very curious, asking: "Monkey, what are you jumping for?"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yè finally saw Shuǐ Yāo ér return, and was also very delighted. He said: "It's too dark here, I'll jump up and down, won't fall asleep. Oh! Shuǐ Yāo ér, you're back?"

  The Water Fairy laughed and said: "Isn't this a waste of words? I'm standing right here, of course I've come back!"

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yé said: "What should we do now? How can we dig?"

  Shuiyao'er adjusted the double-ring instrument, scratched a mark on the wall with her hand and said: "Dig here! If it's correct, behind this earthen wall should be the window of the main hall."

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié drank a loud "good", picked up the hoe, and walked over to make a digging sound. The hoe stabbed into the soil with a "poof" sound, about one finger deep. This earth wall could withstand the force, but there was no response. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié exerted some strength in his hand, and a large piece of mud on the wall was pried off. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié exclaimed with joy: "It's not difficult to dig!" His whole body seemed to have endless energy, swinging the hoe with a loud whooshing sound, continuously digging at the wall surface. In an instant, he had already dug out a small pit over a foot deep.