Lu Zhe's remark "Rather than being born on the same year, month, and day, I'd prefer to die on the same year, month, and day" dispelled the romantic atmosphere in an instant.
Shen Bing sighed and gaped, immediately picturing the scene of Liu, Guan, and Zhang forming a sworn brotherhood.
"Alright, but if we ever need to make up for the wedding later, I'll have the final say. Otherwise, you might really turn it into a brotherhood ceremony."
"That wouldn't happen! But I have no issue with you deciding on the wedding. After all, the highlight is always the woman's beauty and gentleness. The man is just a prop."
"Hmph, good to know!"
They both stood up and observed the cave more closely. It had an irregular oval shape, with most of it formed by rocks except for the opening they had fallen through.
The cave was about four meters wide and two and a half meters high, with a two-and-a-half-meter-wide river channel running through the middle. The water was incredibly clear.
Lu Zhe was overjoyed and dipped his hand into the underground river, feeling a slight coolness on his fingertips.
"Ding! New freshwater resource discovered..."
He took a sip, and the water was refreshingly cool without a trace of sulfur.
Freshwater!
Truly pure freshwater!
"Great water! Shen Bing, hurry and have a drink!"
Shen Bing cupped some water and drank. "Hmm, it tastes like high-end mineral water."
After quenching their thirst, they used the spring water to give themselves a rough wash.
Shen Bing retrieved their clothes and washed them thoroughly, inside and out.
Putting them back on made them feel more normal, but the damp clothes still felt chilly in the cave.
Lu Zhe didn't mind, but Shen Bing felt slightly uncomfortable and sneezed several times.
Examining the direction of the cave, it came from the northwest, the direction of the volcano's base, and the water flowed southeast, towards their camp.
Northwest or southeast, which way should they go?
Since they weren't sure which path was passable, Lu Zhe chose the more likely option – following the water flow southeast.
"This way!"
After walking for two minutes, they came across a fork.
One path emitted steam and the smell of sulfur, while the other had a scent of herbs.
Lu Zhe clearly understood where these two paths led!
He intended to get out quickly, retrieve their aircraft, and record this "new route."
But seeing Shen Bing sneeze again, Lu Zhe knew she might have caught a cold and could get sick.
Although they had ibuprofen and various herbs, following the principle of avoiding illness in the wilderness if possible, he decided to take the path that seemed to lead to hot springs first.
"This way..."
"Why?"
"Trust me!"
Lu Zhe took Shen Bing's hand and entered the steamy cave. Soon, they saw a hot spring pool.
Larger than the first one, this second pool had a unique, elongated shuttle shape.
It was seven or eight meters long, widest in the middle and narrower at both ends.
The spring water flowed in from one end, where a smooth, rounded rock protruded from the water's force.
The water then overflowed from the other end, cascading onto the stone floor before draining into a hole about three meters away.
At its widest, the pool was about two meters across, with a raised stone platform on either side to prevent water from spilling over.
The water temperature was around 35°C (95°F), slightly cooler than the first pool.
It was unknown whether the temperature remained constant or fluctuated with currents or air temperature.
However, this temperature could maintain body heat while still feeling comfortable.
"Let's bathe before continuing," said Lu Zhe.
Shen Bing frowned. "I don't know, there's something odd about the shape of this pool."
"What's odd about it? It's a perfectly normal pool, completely clean without any monkeys!"
"The shape is just... weird."
"Nature, like the creator, shapes landscapes into unimaginable forms. Besides, I think the shape is nice!"
"Well, alright..." Shen Bing sighed, as her damp clothes did make her want to soak in the hot spring.
"We just put these on, and now we have to take them off again!"
"It's not that much effort to put clothes on, is it?"
"The effort isn't the issue, but there's one thing we absolutely, absolutely, absolutely must be mindful of..." Shen Bing raised a stern finger.
"What's that?"
"Restraint!"
Lu Zhe nodded. "You're right, we need to exercise restraint, or I really feel like I might stray from the right path."
"Yes, me too! What was the first line again?"
"The emperor's enterprise was left unfinished when he passed away prematurely!"
"Mmhmm..."
The two recited the Preface to the Prince of Teng's Staff together as they soaked in the hot spring.
Lu Zhe finally found relief from his fatigue after a day of hard work.
Shen Bing also felt the pressure on her chest ease significantly!
After another half hour, they had both cleaned their bodies and... had not relieved their fatigue?!
But the two had memorized the Preface to the Prince of Teng's Staff thoroughly, having withstood the temptation!
"I think that's enough, let's go!"
"Should we put our clothes back on? It's still quite chilly!"
"Or we could just use our clothes to dry ourselves first. It's just the two of us, an old married couple now..."
"Alright, but remember, we must exercise restraint!"
"Yeah!"
They dried themselves with their clothes, then continued along the other river channel.
The river flowed into a dark tunnel, like an underground sewer.
"Too bad we can't divert it to our camp..."
"This isn't bad either. The camp shouldn't be too far from here."
Looking up, there seemed to be some light ahead?
"If we're lucky, that's the cave exit."
They walked towards the light and saw a flat stone blocking the way.
Lu Zhe pushed it, opening the entrance significantly.
However, the pre-dawn darkness made it impossible to see more than a few inches ahead.
They could only hear the rain, sometimes drizzling, sometimes pouring.
Checking his watch, it was already 4:30 AM. In an hour and a half, daylight might arrive.
"Should we head back now or wait a bit?" asked Lu Zhe.
"Hmm, let's wait. The forest is too dark now. It might be better once it's light out."
"But the sun could also be covered by clouds!"
"That's always a possibility!"
"Yeah, let's wait here for a bit and watch the rain."
Shen Bing found a rock to sit on but immediately jumped up with an "Aiya!"
"What's wrong?"
"The rock is so cold!"
"Really?" Lu Zhe sat down. "I don't think it's that cold."
But then he realized that the difference in perception might be due to the differences between male and female physiology.
"Never mind, I'll just stand."
"But that'll be tiring." Lu Zhe thought for a moment. "Why don't you sit on my lap?"
"Um..." Shen Bing hesitated. "Alright, but we both need to restrain ourselves!"
"Absolutely!"
Shen Bing then sat on his lap.
"No wonder you're young, you're like a little heater!"
"Well, that's..."
After that, neither of them spoke for five minutes.
Finally, Shen Bing broke the silence. "Hey, why don't we... one last time?"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
