"Let's go! Follow me! Whether it's a mule or a horse, we'll know once we take it out for a walk!"
Lou Gao waved his hand with overwhelming bravado and stepped first into the deep cave entrance. The torchlight immediately stretched his imposing figure, casting flickering shadows on the uneven cave walls.
"Larvitar!"
Although Larvitar hadn't detected anything tasty, the excitement of exploration quickly replaced its confusion. Its short limbs propelled it like a streak of gray lightning, instantly overtaking Lou Gao and charging to the front of the group!
Its crimson eyes shone like twin little lamps in the darkness, cautiously scanning the path ahead. At the same time, its claws, capable of effortlessly tearing through rock, were far from idle.
"Shasha—"
"Crack! Crash—"
Larvitar began to "reinforce" and "clear" the jagged cave passage violently carved out by the Black-Patterned Rock Python.
With dexterous movements, it scraped away overly sharp rock edges, pushed loose rubble to the side, and even carved shallow anti-slip grooves in steep or slick areas.
Its actions were efficient and precise, like a natural-born cave engineer. It had transformed a brutal passage left by a massive beast into a primitive but safe "simple tunnel" for two humans to traverse.
With Larvitar leading the way, Lin Xia and Lou Gao's descent became significantly smoother.
However, as they delved deeper, the passage proved to be far from a simple downward path.
The Black-Patterned Rock Python had dug in an extremely rough and chaotic manner.
The tunnel began to twist and wind, like the trace of a giant python writhing madly through the depths of the earth.
What made things even more troublesome was that after roughly half an hour of progressing forward, a fork suddenly appeared!
Not one fork, but three!
Three pitch-black entrances gaped ahead like the jaws of a predator, appearing without warning at the end of the passage, each leading in a different direction.
Each tunnel looked similar: deep, dark, exuding the same earthy stench.
"This…"
Lin Xia held up his torch, the light flickering across the three entrances, illuminating his slightly tense expression.
"Teacher, how can there be so many forks? Did the python just dig randomly? Here a hammer, there a stick?"
Lou Gao stopped as well, his thick brows furrowed. He raised his torch, carefully inspecting the three entrances and the surrounding cave walls.
He ran his hand over the texture and moisture of the walls, tilted his ear to catch the faint whispers of wind coming from each tunnel, and even crouched down to examine the python's crawling traces on the ground, almost buried beneath the rubble.
"Something's not right…"
Lou Gao muttered, the confusion in his eyes growing.
"The crawling traces of this beast are too chaotic. It seems… it wasn't simply moving or digging for food…"
Lin Xia looked at his teacher in thought, his own doubts reaching a peak.
"Teacher, why do you think this Black-Patterned Rock Python left so many winding, irregular forks? For mining? For nesting?"
"This structure is too chaotic—it doesn't resemble a nest at all. Could it… have gotten lost inside?"
Even Lin Xia felt the idea was absurd.
Lou Gao's body suddenly stiffened when he heard Lin Xia's question!
He abruptly looked up, his eyes flashing with a sharp, brilliant light as if lightning had cleared the mist! He slapped his shining forehead with a crisp "smack" and laughed out loud in sudden understanding.
"Hahaha! Yes! I understand now! Of course! A deception! What a cunning beast!"
Lou Gao pointed at the intricate tunnels and the dark forked entrances, excitedly explaining to Lin Xia and Larvitar:
"Lin Xia! We've all been deceived by the appearance of this passage! This is not a randomly dug mine, nor the true nest entrance! This was carefully laid out by the Black-Patterned Rock Python, a maze-like deception!"
Lou Gao walked to one of the forks and pointed at the widest one, which retained the strongest scent of the python.
"Look at this one. The traces are the freshest, the scent the strongest. At first glance, it seems like its main path, right? But if you carefully examine the wall wear and the crawling marks on the ground, you'll see it didn't go far before twisting and turning sharply!"
"This is very likely a deliberately left 'false main path,' designed to lure pursuers into dead ends or traps!"
Lou Gao then pointed at a narrower tunnel with a slightly weaker scent.
"This one looks unremarkable, but the walls are relatively smooth. That means it moved in and out more cautiously or perhaps more 'regularly.' And this one…"
Lou Gao pointed to the third tunnel.
"The walls show obvious signs of fresh claw marks covering older ones, which means it was deliberately 'worked on' recently, to hide something!"
Lou Gao's voice carried the excitement of a sudden revelation.
"This beast is far from unintelligent! It knows full well that the mineral vein core it's guarding is a priceless treasure, attracting the greedy, whether other powerful underground Soul Beasts or daring human prospectors like us!"
"The reason it dug all these winding, irregular passages, even creating dead ends and forks on purpose, is clear: to confuse, delay, or even trap intruders!"
"Using such a complex and chaotic passage maze can greatly disrupt a tracker's sense of direction, draining their patience and stamina."
"Once an intruder gets lost in the maze, becomes frustrated, makes noise, or exposes their position, it can strike from ambush at the perfect moment! Didn't it try to ambush us before, bursting out suddenly from behind the rock walls?"
Wisdom flickered in Lou Gao's eyes as he continued analyzing, his voice lowering unconsciously, as if afraid of alerting something.
"For prospectors like us, carrying tools and digging through the cave, these complex passages can easily make us lose our way, wasting a lot of time."
"If geological changes occur, and some tunnels collapse, it could completely trap us. Furthermore, this irregular digging utterly disrupts our investigation, leaving us at a loss!"
"That's why the surface vegetation is so dense, with no trace of a mine, the beast's deception starts right from the surface, extending all the way to the entrance of its lair!"
"As for its true nest and the mineral vein core…"
Lou Gao's face broke into a confident smile, his eyes scanning the solid black rock walls around them.
"It must be hidden somewhere deliberately 'wrapped' by these chaotic passages, or intentionally 'avoided' to remain concealed!"
"These winding tunnels are like layers of tightly wrapped cloth, hiding the real treasure in the innermost, least noticeable corner!"
At this point, Lou Gao no longer hesitated. Turning decisively to Larvitar, who was listening curiously to his analysis, he said.
"Don't bother with these messy false paths! They're all tricks of that beast!"
He jabbed his finger forcefully at a thick section of black rock wall with no passages connected to it and shouted boldly.
"Don't follow these tunnels! Pick any direction and break straight through this wall! I want to see what kind of earth-shattering treasure is wrapped behind this 'layer of cloth'!"
"Larvitar——!!!"
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