Faced with the chilling river water, the South American Tapir chose to dive straight into the river. It would rather risk drowning to its heart's content! After accomplishing his objective, Sheyan immediately released the Tapir. Then, he proceeded to the side of the river and carefully inspected it.
The flow of the river wasn't great, but it wasn't small either. Judging from its direction, it flowed towards the Kijuju Marshland. This signified that one could borrow the water's power to travel there. Most of the wild animals in this small river could drink the water directly. This meant that after simple boiling and other simple processing, even ordinary people could drink the fresh water directly.
More crucially, after following the river for a short distance, 3 kilometres away from the Kijuju Marshland, Sheyan spotted a rocky mountain that wasn't commonly seen here. This rocky mountain was roughly the size of a man-made mountain range constructed in a park. Evidently, if one were to choose a campsite, one would definitely prefer to lean against the safety of a mountain range. At the very least, it would lessen one's pressure during vigilance.
Soon after, Sheyan discovered an easy to locate cave within a valley of the rocky mountain range. An anaconda had treated this place as its home. Very quickly, Sheyan ordered this 8 metre long anaconda to move out of its home with its tail between its legs.
As everyone knew, snakes weren't creatures fond of movement. Apart from their lightning fast pouncing speed when hunting, even when fleeing, they possessed a breathtaking languid grace. Once they were satiated, snakes could even remain in their nest for months without moving! Therefore, under normal circumstances, a snake's nest would cause the least amount of damage to the original environment. This was unlike pigs, bears, and other creatures. After living in a place for two or three days, the place could only be described as a pen.
After entering the cave, the first thing Sheyan noticed was an astonishing pile of molted snakeskin. It seemed like that unlucky anaconda had resided here for a considerable period of time. Instead, Sheyan's gaze immediately shifted to the walls of the cave, where clear traces of smoke could be seen. Indeed, although Bernard Fokke had left this place hundreds of years ago, Little Lord Fokke was only forty years old when he died. When he discovered that his family was on the brink of collapse, he had followed the logbook of the main storyline to find this place. At most, it was only a span of 10-20 years.
Under such circumstances, even though the traces left behind by Bernard Fokke had long been blown away by the wind and rain, in the unique environment of this cave, the traces left behind by Little Lord Fokke could still provide considerable assistance to Sheyan! Even Mbenga's doubtful helpers were rejected by Sheyan. This was because he was afraid that Mbenga's carelessness would destroy any possible clues.
Within the depths of this cave, Sheyan swiftly unearthed many valuable items … … .two wooden planks with the Fokke family emblem, two skeletons, several rotting ropes, a candle made from half a mermaid's oil. On the cave walls, one could clearly see long and short carvings. Finally, Sheyan found several linen clothes that emitted a moldy stench.
Truthfully speaking, Sheyan had expended a considerable amount of effort to find these items. Moreover, distinguishing these items wasn't an easy task. After expending a total of 4-5 hours, Sheyan abruptly burst into wild laughter after discovering these items, to the point of tears flowing down his cheeks.
Because Sheyan had finally found what he was looking for!!
Indeed, he could already sense that the greatest secret of Bernard Fokke's ability and identity as an ordinary human, and his ability to enter the depths of the Kijuju Marshland, was nearing.
From within these tattered items …..
From within these unremarkable tattered items!!
The wooden planks could prove that Sheyan had indeed found the campsite of Little Lord Fokke when he arrived in this world.
Although the westerners didn't have the custom of burying one to rest in peace like the easterners, the dead were still not allowed to be desecrated. The corpses of their companions would usually be kept and not left lying around. The two corpses within this cave undoubtedly indicated that Little Lord Fokke's escape wasn't unhurried, but rather extremely hasty. Thus, he abandoned his subordinates' corpses and was unable to bring them back to his homeland.
As for the length of the ropes, they were at least 50 metres long. Sheyan could still vaguely discern that they were extremely sturdy life ropes. This item was similar to modern day safety ropes. When a ship encountered a violent storm and had to ascend to the deck, one would have to tie this item to prevent being swept into the sea.
This also signified that Little Lord Fokke knew he was heading towards an extremely dangerous terrain. That place required ropes to be interconnected, allowing one to climb up and down. Therefore, everyone had to bring along a life rope. The remaining two bundles of life ropes most likely belonged to the two dead men.
As for the mermaid's oil candle, it was obviously used for illumination. Firstly, it burned for a long time, and secondly, it wasn't easy to extinguish. It was equivalent to our current wolf fang flashlight.
As for the last few pieces of rotting clothing, they appeared rather sturdy. With a single glance, one could tell it was used to resist the cold. Everyone definitely had one, and it must have been specially prepared for the two dead men …... hell, this was a tropical primitive jungle, where the annual temperature exceeded 28 degrees! This place was famed for being humid and stifling. The meaning behind Little Lord Fokke's warm winter clothes, and even one for each of them, could be imagined.
The carvings on the walls were of varying lengths, but they were rather worrying. On average, there were 30 short carvings, and one long carving. This naturally made people think that it was a calculation of time. If a short mark represented a day, then a long mark represented a month! If that was the case, it would make more sense. Furthermore, according to the carvings, these people had stayed here for an accurate period of 5 months and 16 days.
Thus, combining these crucial hidden factors together, fleeing in panic + life rope + wolf fang flashlight + winter coat, the overall environment was a tropical rainforest. Thus, with the combination of these key words, Little Lord Fokke's destination was very simple. Without a doubt, it was a dark, complex terrain, frigid and dangerous place. Moreover, this place appeared in the middle of a tropical rainforest … ….
Therefore, the only explanation was – that place was an underground cavern!
This conformed with Sheyan's previous judgement of entering the core region of the Ndipaya Empire. Forcefully barging in was impossible, and the only two possible paths were either through the air or underground. Since the Ndipaya barbarians could utilize a dried up underground river as the main passageway to the outside world, why couldn't there be another secret passageway?
Of course, many mysteries existed within. For example, why didn't the local Ndipaya barbarians discover and block off this passageway? Why was Bernard Fokke able to escape unscathed after committing his evil deeds? Furthermore, why was he able to ensure that his descendants could safely utilize this passageway several hundred years later? It could be said that only after Lei Feng unearthed the secrets within would he be able to uncover them.
"Excellent, the facts have proven that my conjecture is correct." Sheyan exited the gloomy cavern and took in a deep breath of fresh air.
"Then the next step is to search for that theoretically existing passageway. Oh right, 5 months and 16 days! If Bernard Fokke, who had just ascended to the continent of Africa, stayed here for 5 months and 16 days, then why did Little Lord Fokke, who had followed his ancestor's diary to search for clues, stay here for such a long period of time? Could it be that the truth of the matter is like this …... they're waiting! Yes, they're definitely waiting for a certain period of time! Only during this period of time, will that damned secret passageway truly reveal itself! "
Thinking of that, Sheyan immediately grabbed the drunken Mbenga.
"Hey, dark-skinned bro! Will anything special happen in your hometown within a year? Or perhaps, is there some bizarre legend that will only happen after a long period of time? "
When Mbenga heard that, he immediately exclaimed in high spirits.
"It's said that after consecutively slaying 10 male lions and consuming their plaything, one's capabilities will be even more ferocious than a male lion!"
Sheyan replied.
".... and then?"
Mbenga shrugged his shoulders and continued.
"If one can obtain the stamen of a King Flower that blooms once every 10 years, one can obtain the heart of the blackest lady in the village."
"Big bro, can we not talk about matters related to women?" Sheyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he asked.
Following that, Mbenga continued narrating several legends. Sheyan didn't directly ask him about matters related to the Kijuju Marshland, because if Sheyan probed further, Mbenga would suffer from a splitting headache and groan loudly. In the present world, this was known as' Forced Amnesia '. In order to protect oneself, the human body selectively forgets exceedingly horrifying memories, causing great harm to the sufferer. In order to treat this illness, one could only bring him around. As long as he immersed himself in the environment, he would slowly recall relevant memory fragments.
This was the reason why Mbenga was able to discover those hidden treasures. Moreover, it was also the reason why he would repeatedly make the most accurate judgement during critical moments, such as when his life was in danger. Therefore, no matter what, Sheyan had to bring Mbenga along by his side. Because once they encounter danger, those experiences he had previously obtained could very possibly become a strand of hope for survival. (To be continued. If you like this work, I welcome you to donate your recommendation votes or monthly votes to * * (qidian.com). Your support, is my greatest motivation.)
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