The scenic area was filled with mountain roads. Sometimes it was a steep hillside, sometimes it was a deep valley, and sometimes it was a cave. During the day, it was a good place to explore and relax, but at night, it was a dark and barren mountain range where one couldn't even see one's own fingers. There was no other way. The management committee of the scenic area didn't install street lights in the scenic area. In fact, they didn't need to, because at night, the scenic area was closed and didn't welcome visitors. Without tourists, there was no point in installing street lights.
Li Yulan was in a hurry to knock on the door and neglected this point. Fortunately, the staff of the scenic area was very friendly and lent her an LED flashlight. So Li Rui and Li Yulan took the only flashlight in their hands and walked into the depths of the valley.
The mountains were quiet, especially at night. It was so quiet that it made people feel weak. Occasionally, there were a few owl cries in the air, forming a continuous echo in the valley, which made it even more cold. The sky was painted, and the stars were twinkling. The mountains in front of them were like giant beasts standing in the darkness. One after another, they made people feel pressured and at the same time, they felt a little strange. People who didn't walk the mountain roads at night couldn't understand this strange feeling.
After walking for about ten meters, Li Rui handed the empty bottle to Li Yulan and took the heavy flashlight from her hand. He held her hand with the other hand and slowed down. He said softly, "Walk slowly, don't rush." Then he sighed, "Actually, you don't have to come with me. You can just wait outside. I know the way." Li Yulan was happy to be held by him. She snuggled up to him and said, "Anyway, I have nothing to do. I'll go with you and stay with you for a while."
The two chatted and laughed along the way. Although they didn't do anything intimate, they were immersed in tenderness and couldn't extricate themselves. Unknowingly, they arrived at the destination of the trip, Fairy Cave.
The Fairy Cave was called a cave, but it was more like an exit of the Fairy River from the Taihang Mountains. The entrance of the cave was located at the bottom of a cliff in the deep valley of the scenic spot. It was short and narrow, with a height of less than two meters and a length of five or six meters. The entrance of the cave was covered with grass and moss. From a distance, it looked like a woman's indecent place. Li Rui always felt that the real reason for the cave's name was its shape, and not because there was a fairy inside. The Fairy River flowed steadily from the cave entrance, without any waves. Following the low river channel in the valley, it flowed day and night to the plains in the southeast direction.
Li Rui was very familiar with the Fairy Cave. He used to come here often because the Fairy Cave was one of the most important water monitoring points in Qingyang City during the flood season. On the outer stone wall of the Fairy Cave, there was also a hydrographic height measuring column engraved by the Shuanghe County Water Conservancy Bureau. Once the height of the river exceeded the warning line, the downstream area had to be careful, as it was likely that there would be a flood. Now, Li Rui shone his flashlight on the measuring column. Naturally, he remembered the days when he was in the flood prevention office of the Municipal Water Conservancy Bureau. Thinking about himself now, he felt a little emotional.
"How are you going to go down?"
Li Yulan asked with concern, looking at the railing in front of her. The Fairy Cave was three to four meters above the roadside of the mountain road where they were. In order to prevent tourists from accidentally falling into the river in the valley, the management of the scenic area had specially built a railing that was more than one meter high. Outside the railing, there were ten to twenty centimeters of rock corners, and below that was the uneven mountain wall and overgrown shrubs. It was barely enough for people to get down. At the bottom of the valley was the deep pool formed by the river beside the Fairy Cave.
Li Rui shone his flashlight on the mountain wall below for a while and said, "Hold the flashlight for me. I'll climb down to get some water." Li Yulan grabbed his arm and asked, "Will it be dangerous?" Li Rui smiled and shook his head. "No, there are many places to rest. With my skills, climbing up and down is no problem at all. Don't worry." After saying that, he handed the flashlight to her and took out his phone, wallet, and other water-sensitive things and put them on the ground by the roadside.
Although he was confident that he could safely reach the bottom of the valley, he still put down these important things just in case. It could be considered as a precaution. Besides, without these things on him, it would be easier to climb up.
"You must be careful. Climb slowly!"
When Li Rui climbed over the railing, Li Yulan was so nervous that she warned him again. Li Rui smiled at her, squatted down, stretched out his right leg, and stepped on a protruding mountain wall below. After he steadied himself, he carefully climbed down. Li Yulan aimed the flashlight at the bottom of his body, not daring to deviate at all. The night was as dark as ink. Li Rui slowly climbed down in the condensed light and gradually approached the bottom of the valley.
Seeing that he was about to step on the ground at the bottom of the valley, Li Rui was either anxious or overconfident. When he was about half a meter away from the ground, he leaped down. Who knew that the rocky ground he was stepping on was extremely slippery because it was close to the river? When Li Rui's feet stepped on the ground, he slid down. Before he could react, he felt his body flip and saw the light from the flashlight shining down from above. The next moment, the back of his head suddenly hit the mountain wall behind him with a "dong" sound. After that, he fell on his back and was dizzy from the fall. He couldn't get up for the time being.
Li Yulan was standing on top and saw the scene of him falling down clearly. She was so frightened that her face changed drastically. She cried out involuntarily, "Li Rui, what happened to you? Are you okay? Li Rui, can you hear me? Why did you fall …? "
Li Rui smiled bitterly and shouted at her, "I'm fine. It's just a fall. It's nothing." As he spoke, he slowly sat up with his hands on the ground. After he got up, he felt some pain at the back of his head. He raised his hand and touched his back. It was wet and sticky. His heart skipped a beat. Could it be that he was bleeding? He looked at it with the flashlight. His hand was red and sticky. Wasn't that blood?! However, he wasn't too nervous or scared. He stretched his hand to the back of his head and found the wound. After a while, he felt it for a while. It didn't seem like he was bleeding, so he didn't care anymore. He got up and picked up the mineral water bottle that he had thrown down earlier and went to the entrance of the cave to get some water.
Li Yulan lit up the path for him and asked nervously, "What were you touching just now? Did you hurt yourself?" Li Rui smiled and said, "It's nothing. It's just a superficial wound. Don't worry, I'll go up right away."
After he finished speaking, he had already walked to the side of the deep pool formed by the cave. He deliberately went around the pool and tried to get as close to the entrance of the cave as possible. He wanted to receive the flowing water from there instead of using the stagnant water that had been gathered for many days. The river water was cold and pure. It had the fresh smell of nature. Not to mention whether it could cure diseases, drinking it would definitely be good for the human body. "Wah … wah … wah … wah … wah …"
Li Rui had just filled half the bottle when the sound of a baby crying suddenly came from the cave. He didn't hear it clearly at first, but when he finally heard it, he was so scared that his whole body trembled. His right hand trembled and the mineral water bottle in his hand fell into the water. It was quickly washed away by the flowing water.
Li Rui didn't have time to care about the bottle. He was so scared that he got up and took a few steps back. He avoided the entrance of the cave and stared at the entrance of the cave. His face was full of disbelief. Why was there a baby crying in the cave? Could it be that a child fell into the water? But that wasn't right either. That sound was more like the cry of a one-year-old baby. Babies were usually taken care of by their parents, so how could they fall into the water? Moreover, even if they fell into the water, they would be washed away by the flowing water. How could they go against the flow and end up in the Fairy Cave instead? Damn, could it be a river ghost?
Legend has it that there were water ghosts in the river. They were ghosts formed when children went to the river to play in the water and accidentally drowned. These ghosts were resentful because they had died unjustly. At the same time, they wanted to use someone's body to come back to life. They would wait for someone to enter the river, grab their feet and drag them to the bottom of the river to drown them. Then, they would use their body to come back to life … But this was only a legend. No one had ever seen a real river ghost. There was also no evidence to prove the existence of river ghosts. But if the crying thing wasn't a river ghost, what could it be?
Above, Li Yulan had been paying attention to Li Rui's movements. Seeing him suddenly take a few steps back, as if he had seen something scary, she was worried and nervous. She shouted, "What's wrong now?"
It would have been better if she didn't ask. After she asked, Li Rui became more and more frightened. He couldn't help but clatter his teeth. He gathered his courage and shouted, "There's … there's a child … a child crying in the cave." Li Yulan was stunned at first. Then, she burst out laughing and said, "That's not a child crying. It's the cry of a salamander." Li Rui was stunned and asked, "Salamander?" Li Yulan said, "Yes, salamander. Don't you know that there are salamanders in our Fairy River? Especially in the section of the river near the Fairy Cave. The water quality is good and the environment is safe and secluded. There are many salamanders living there. When these salamanders cry at night, it's like a child crying. People who live here are already used to it. "
When Li Rui heard that it wasn't a river ghost, he breathed a sigh of relief. He patted his chest and felt ashamed. He was a five foot tall man, but he was scared half to death by a salamander. If this spread out, wouldn't he be laughed at? Luckily, it was Li Yulan who was with him tonight. She wouldn't laugh at him, haha.
Just as he was feeling happy, he suddenly thought of something and turned pale with fright. He raised his hand to slap his forehead and shouted, "Aiya, my bottle fell into the water and was washed away!" Li Yulan said, "What? Say that again? " Li Rui said, "The bottle fell into the water. You … quickly take a flashlight and shine it on me. I'll see if it was washed away."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
