For a whole 24 hours, the Demon Hunters walked and stopped on this spiral staircase. They took turns to rest and sleep before moving forward again. They slowly approached the surface that was 5,000 meters above the ground.
They still had a lot of compressed biscuits, but the clean water had been used up 11 hours ago. The group started to drink the water that the medical staff had used to wash their hands before the surgery. Naturally, this came with great risk, but if the water carried any germs, they would have been infected before they even drank it.
Lin Mo had been carried by the team members on a stretcher; Lou Xiaoning walked on her own, but she was still not allowed to wield a gun or any other weapon.
The higher they climbed, the narrower the space around them became. In the end, the gap between the staircase and the circular stone wall was less than one meter. It was like they were trapped in the stomach of a beast.
The whole staircase felt like it was going to collapse at any moment. Everyone could even hear the creaking of the wooden staircase.
This did not feel like an illusion because the dark red lines on the stone staircase and the stone wall had decreased in number. Instead, there were more cracks that looked like spider webs. It was obvious that the life force of the staircase was waning, and it looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.
In this strange place, even death could be destroyed. Gu Jun was reminded of the Mad Arab's words, "These stones are dying, disappearing, and being destroyed."
When they were several hundred meters above the ground, the morale of the team was extremely low. This was because everyone's physical and mental strength had reached a certain level. Their scalps were tense, and their bones were sore. Due to the lack of water, their mouths were parched, and their lips were covered in a layer of dried skin.
And the cursed spiral staircase that they were standing on had not reached the end.
This kind of physiological condition bred a sense of agitation. No matter how strong one's will was, it would continue to corrode them.
The Demon Hunters were the Special Mobile Force of the Eastern State Sub-Bureau, but this was the first time they had experienced such a strange space and such a challenge that gnawed at their will.
The higher they went, the more hopeless the situation became.
At that moment, another chilling situation occurred. Xue Ba used his night vision binoculars to see that there was a ceiling above, blocking the way out, but …
"Ah Jun, take a look." After a while, Xue Ba passed the binoculars to Gu Jun.
Gu Jun accepted the binoculars. At the end of the spiral staircase was a narrow platform. There was no way to go up. Less than one meter above the platform was the ceiling. It was also a stone wall, but in the middle of the ceiling, right above the platform, there was something that was obviously different. It looked like a thick stone slab.
The bottom of the slab was covered in strange patterns. They looked like they were carved by hand, and they were in the shape of flowers …
Gu Jun was suddenly reminded of Payani's hometown, the 'Home of Flowers', Sal. The stone slab should have the scenery of Sal on it.
However, the more he looked at it, the more his mind began to waver. His tired brain began to feel that there were illusions emerging … Were there illusions that could be triggered here?
But after a short while, that feeling didn't take shape, only aggravating the confusion in his mind.
There was no foreign script, lock, or other device at the bottom of the stone slab, but there was a very small gap between the four sides and the top of the slab. It seemed like it was designed to be lifted from the ground to reach the landing. Perhaps it could be pushed up from the inside.
"Captain Xue, I didn't find anything special." Gu Jun returned the binoculars to Xue Ba. "But I have a feeling that the exit is over there."
Xue Ba nodded, then asked the other team members to take a look as well.
Soon, everyone understood what was going on. If they wanted to get out, they had to destroy the barrier. Could they use a C-4 or a miniature missile to blow it up?
"You can't blow it up." Lin Mo immediately objected. He was feeling much better now, and there were no signs of parasites. "The stone slab is too close to the stairs! No matter how precise the control is, the shockwave will still affect the stairs, and the rubble will also fall down. If this stone staircase collapses just like that, we will fall a few thousand meters. "
"I don't think so either." This time, Gu Jun also shook his head because he could feel the fragility of the stones around them. They were even weaker than a piece of dead wood.
"Let's go up and take a look." Xue Ba led the assault team to the bottom of the landing at the end of the landing. They were within arm's reach of the stone slab.
At this place, the shaking was even stronger, and the cracks on the stone were larger and more numerous, but they still managed to cut off the light from the outside.
They first used the barrel of the gun to reach into the space of the landing and tried to push the stone slab up. There was no movement. Then, they tried to push the stone slab to the left, to the right, and to the left. The movement from the left seemed to be the only way to flip it over.
"Let's try pushing it with our hands," Xue Ba said. In this kind of situation, pushing with their hands was more effective.
Currently, other than guns, ammo, water, food, and medical tools, the team had nothing else. Pushing with their hands was the most primitive and practical method.
Two members of the assault team stayed back to stand guard. Xue Ba and the other four faced the left side of the landing. They raised their hands and pressed on the bottom of the stone slab. "Three, two, one, push!"
They pushed at the same time. The faces of the five men were red, and their veins were popping. "Ah …"
The right side of the stone slab was pushed up a little, and light from the outside shone through the gap. However, they only held on for about twenty seconds before they had no choice but to let go. The stone slab instantly fell back to its original position with a terrifying 'bang'. The cracks on the stone walls around them grew larger …
The men were panting, but Xue Ba encouraged them with an excited tone. "There's light up there! This is the exit! "He did not mention that even when he was full of energy, he would not be able to push it, much less now that he was exhausted.
After this push, Xue Ba understood that it was a waste of energy for them to push the stone slab. Right now, every bit of energy was precious. The water was gone, and their stamina would only decrease as time passed.
Xue Ba asked everyone to stop for a moment and asked Gu Jun to come up and take a closer look.
However, other than feeling a little uneasy, there was nothing Gu Jun could do.
Xue Ba had no choice but to ask everyone to come up. With a serious expression, he said, "Earlier, we pushed it a little. There's light! As long as we have enough strength, we can push the stone slab to the left! Let's all give it a try. Use all our strength, and we will succeed on our first try. "
No one had any objections. Immediately, they all bent down and sat on the platform. Xue Ba's head was about to hit the stone slab.
In order to gather as much strength as possible, even Lin Mo, who was missing a leg, sat on the platform.
This was because they might fail because of his little bit of strength, and they might not have the strength to try a second time.
Everyone squeezed into their seats and leaned to the left. They raised their hands and pressed on the bottom of the stone slab, preparing to push it up together.
But suddenly, a horrifying thought rose in Gu Jun's mind. The sixteen different handprints on the big banyan tree belonged to sixteen different people, sixteen different people.
The handprints were strangely shaped, as if they were struggling. Pressing on the uneven patterns on the stone slab, didn't that cause the strange changes in their handprints?
It seemed that from the very beginning, no matter what happened, he would come up here. Either he was alone or a team, but he would still come up here.
This thought did not just appear in Gu Jun's mind. Uncle Dan, Lin Mo, Yang Henan, and the rest had the same thought. They frowned.
"Don't worry about it!" Xue Ba had been paying attention since a long time ago, because he already had this terrifying thought. He roared, "I don't care if you're thinking about it or not, it's just a trick of the enemy. Once we didn't die down there and arrived here, the enemy will use this to confuse us. Don't overthink it. Get ready to push! "
He didn't give them time to let their imaginations run wild, because panic would cause their bodies to weaken, and they wouldn't be able to use their strength.
"Three, two, one!" Xue Ba shouted. His muscles tensed. "Push!"
Suddenly, the sixteen members of the team erupted with all their strength. They gritted their teeth and roared as they pushed the stone slab with their hands!
This caused their faces to become a little twisted, and their eyes to widen. The gauze on Lou Xiaoning's right eye that had not yet healed was soaked in blood. The gray light outside shone again, and the arms that were pushing the stone slab were already trembling …
Of course, Gu Jun was also pushing with all his might. However, the illusory feeling that had been surging earlier suddenly intensified.
The blurry shadows were no longer silent. They surged madly before his eyes.
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