Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 373 Bottom of the Sinkhole

If it weren't for the slight ripples on the water and the refraction of light, she would almost have thought there was no water at all, just a polished stone.

Above the pool, there is a small opening at the top of the cave, from which a thin stream of water cascades down, forming a miniature waterfall.

Calling it a waterfall is a bit of an exaggeration.

Because the water flow was so small, only about the thickness of her wrist, it fell from a height of about three or four meters and hit the surface of the pool, creating a fine ripple.

The sound of the water wasn't loud, but it was amplified in the enclosed space of the cave, and she could feel the coolness brought by the waterfall as it fell.

There was a gap at the edge of the pool, through which water overflowed without spreading along the other side of the pool.

Instead, it flows downhill along the terrain, forming a very small stream.

The stream is only about the width of a hand, and only a few centimeters deep. The current is slow but steady, and the water meanders through the calcified riverbed.

Xu Xiaoyan squatted down and put her hand into the stream to test it; the water temperature was even lower than the air in the cave.

The moment her finger went in, a cool sensation crept up her fingertip, making her involuntarily exhale a comfortable breath.

Xu Xiaoyan decided to follow the stream to see where it led.

The stream was flowing slightly to the right, but still trending downwards. It was slightly different from the path she had taken before.

She walked carefully along the edge of the stream, her feet treading on the slippery calcified deposits, constantly watching to avoid slipping.

The stream meanders through the cave, and the shape of the cave changes along with the direction of the stream.

The passage was sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, and the overhead height was sometimes high and sometimes low, but overall it was more open than the previous sections of the road, and the air circulation was better.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the stream suddenly stopped in front of a rock wall.

Xu Xiaoyan pointed her flashlight in that direction and discovered a very narrow crack at the bottom of the rock wall, about the width of her arm, extending diagonally from the ground into the depths of the earth.

The stream flowed into this crack and disappeared silently into the darkness.

She crouched down and reached her hand into the crack to feel the water flowing down her fingertips. The icy water flowed through her fingers and then disappeared into a deeper place.

She used the handle of her entrenching tool to test the depth. The handle went in almost halfway without encountering any resistance, and she had no idea how deep the crack was or where it led.

Unless she pries open the crack and carves a larger opening in the rock wall, she has no idea where the water goes.

But when she looked at the rock face, she realized it was thick and hard, and with the entrenching tool in her hand, she probably wouldn't be able to break through it even after a day and a night.

She shook her head and decided to give up on this direction; where the water flowed was not the most important thing to her.

Fortunately, the cave wasn't over yet. She stood up, walked around the crack, and continued walking out of the cave.

The moisture from the pools and streams made the air in this area exceptionally humid, and a thin layer of grayish-green moss grew on the cave walls, making them appear fuzzy when a flashlight shone on them.

In some places, you can see even smaller water droplets sliding off the stalactites, tracing an arc in the air before falling into puddles on the ground with a crisp sound.

The cave floor began to dry out, and the humidity in the air gradually decreased after the stream disappeared.

The direction of the channel seems to have changed; it is no longer a continuous downward trend, but has become a slight upward slope.

She didn't know what this meant, she just mechanically kept walking forward, marking the spot every so often.

After walking for about half an hour, her eyes suddenly caught something different.

At first, she thought it was an illusion caused by the light from the flashlight reflecting off the cave wall.

But even after she turned off the flashlight, the light remained, not from a flashlight, but from a softer, more diffused light with a slightly warm hue – sunlight!

Her heart skipped a beat, and her hands trembled slightly.

She turned her flashlight back on, quickened her pace, and practically ran and walked forward.

The passage became narrower and narrower, the rock walls on both sides drew closer and closer, and the overhead view became lower and lower, forcing her to bend over to pass through.

But the light grew brighter and brighter, pouring in from a small opening in the distance and illuminating the end of the passage.

Could it be a sinkhole?

She was so excited she almost cried out. She quickened her pace and ran toward the light, but tripped over some gravel and almost fell.

But she didn't care at all, she steadied herself and continued to rush forward.

At the end of the passage was an irregular opening, only about shoulder-width wide. She squeezed through sideways, and the light from outside immediately engulfed her.

Sure enough, what came into view was the sinkhole we had seen before!

She stood at the bottom of the sinkhole, looking up at the steep limestone cliffs all around her. Above her was an oval-shaped sky, a clear blue, with a few white clouds drifting slowly by.

The bottom of the sinkhole was much larger than she had imagined, at least the size of two football fields.

The ground was covered with all kinds of plants, including low shrubs, dense bamboo forests, waist-high weeds, and some wildflowers that she couldn't name.

The air was warm, carrying the scent of plants and earth, completely different from the cold, damp smell inside the cave.

Xu Xiaoyan stood at the bottom of the sinkhole, looked up at the sky framed by the cliff for a while, and slowly calmed down.

She decided to walk around the edge of the sinkhole first to get a clear understanding of the terrain and vegetation.

The four walls of the sinkhole are typical limestone cliffs, with an estimated height of about 60 to 70 meters.

The grayish-white rock surface is covered with grooves and pits formed by dissolution, and in some places, traces left by water erosion can still be seen.

At the very top edge of the cliff face, a ring of dense trees grows, their canopies forming a continuous expanse.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the tree canopies, casting dappled shadows at the bottom of the sinkhole.

The terrain at the bottom is generally low in the middle and slightly higher around the edges, but the difference in elevation is not significant, so it is not difficult to walk.

In the northwest corner of the sinkhole, there is a relatively dense forest of trees, some of which are taller than a person.

In the southeast corner there is a relatively flat open space with short grass on the ground. At the bottom of the cliff on the south side there is a small depression, about three or four meters deep.

When Xu Xiaoyan saw this natural depression, she was pleasantly surprised. With this foundation, building a bamboo house on it would be much easier.

After walking for about half an hour, she had roughly explored the bottom of the sinkhole and had a rough idea of ​​what it was like.

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