Silent Yearnings Hidden Under The Night

Yang Changtian and the group soon arrived at the entrance of the cave , they dismounted their horses and Yang Changtian instructed one disciple to go and tend to the horses.

Mo Ling approached Yang Changtian , " Brother Yang , I'll take some disciples along with me to scout the area around the cave ."

Yang Chagtian nodded , " We'll wait till you're back to enter the cave , and bring Zhang Anying and some other disciples along . " Mo Ling nodded before leaving.

Yang Changtian sat down on a rock and pulled out a map. He went through the map of the underground cave system drawn by Wang Jinlong's scouts. The scout had marked a spot , with a red cross , this was the location of the lake , located inside a cavern that collapsed into a Karst Window around 100 years ago. .

" Mr. Yang." a quiet voice interrupted Yang Changtian , he looked up to see Da Xiong .

" What is it ? " Yang Changtian asked , putting the map away.

" Mr. Yang , today before leaving , my senior instructed me to hand this letter over to you once we arrive, " Da Xiong answered .

" Ms. Liu did ? " Yang Changtian asked surprised, he took the letter and opened it. It read;

' Mr. Yang , I examined the Crazies , they are infected with a zombie virus , it seems more advanced. Organisms infected with the zombie virus usually stay close to the origin source , therefore I predict that there might be crazies around the lake , but I am not sure. Just in case, I already asked Da Xiong to bring along some crossbows with sedative laced arrows . And as they are close to their origin source , they are likely to be more calm , therefore unlikely to be violent and attack you , but just in case please be on alert. '

Yang Changtian felt a headache coming , he turned to a disciple , " Go and tell Mo Ling and the others to come back."

He then turned back to Da Xiong , before letting out a deep sigh, " Your senior couldn't say this to me earlier ? "

Da Xiong shrugged, " She's a weird one. She likely didn't say it out loud because she wasn't completely sure. I've heard that during the founding days , the seniors investigated a haunting case in the southern territories , and they spent days without any progress , only for her to inform Senior Fan about a hunch she had but wasn't sure about . It turned out to be correct and Senior Fang was pissed at her for not telling him soon, but she just said that she couldn't say it before because she wasn't sure. She pulled similar stunts later , so now they don't even bat an eye. On the bright side , she did send us the necessary items. "

Yang Changtian shook his head hearing this , ' She sure is a weird one ' he thought to himself.

" Where are the crossbows ? " He asked .

Da Xiong turned around and signaled a junior to bring them over.

Yang Changtian walked over to the 3 crates that had the weapons . He pulled a crossbow out, he was surprised at how light and smaller it was. " It's lighter and smaller ."

Da Xiong nodded , " These are the crossbows senior Fang developed recently , they are smaller and lighter to make it easier to carry and handle , he also created a new launching system , so it's range is good too, with the limit being around 65 yards."

Yang Changtian turned the crossbow around, observing it. He lifted it and took aim . " Do you have any regular arrows , I don't want to waste any laced arrows."

Da Xiong nodded , immediately turning to ask a junior to bring over the arrows . The juniors came back with 2 smaller boxes filled with arrows and another bag , Da Xiong opened a box and took out an arrow handing it to Yang Changtian

Yang Changtian took the arrow , placing it on the launch area , he aimed towards a tree a good 40 yards away , he shot the arrow which embedded itself halfway in the tree.

At the same time , Mo Ling and the others came back. They witnessed Yang Changtian shooting , and they all broke out in applause. They were impressed with Yang Changtian's crossbow skills.

Mo Ling and Zhang Anying rushed towards the arrow embedded into the tree.

" Wow , Oldest senior brother , it's almost completely embedded into the tree." Zhang Anying marveled.

" You all , come here." Yang Changtian said .

" Brother Yang , we just left to search the surrounding area , when you called us back urgently. What is this about ? " Mo Ling questioned.

" Ms. Liu just informed us about a hunch she has . She suspects that there might be Crazies lurking around the lake , so she asked us to be on the lookout." Yang Changtian started .

Mo Ling turned to Da Xiong and snapped , " She couldn't say that earlier ? " .

Da Xiong just shrugged his shoulders , " If you have any complaints , just go tell them to her directly."

Mo Ling shut up after he heard that , he knew that Liu Ying wasn't someone who was easy to deal with , her gaze often sent shivers down his spine , so he wouldn't dare to say this to her.

Da Xiong saw the fear in Mo Ling's eyes and he smirked. ' Weren't you just acting all high and mighty ?' he said in his heart.

" That's enough." Yang Changtian said , " She isn't completely sure, and she also said that the Crazes are likely to be less violent here , but just in case she sent us some weapons."

" Weapons ? " Mo Ling asked curiously , he then turned to see the crates filled with crossbows." She sent these crossbows ? "

Yang Changtian nodded , " She laced the arrows with sedatives. You 3 take a crossbow each and distribute the rest among the people who have experience handling bows and crossbows. How many arrows do we have ? " he asked, turning to Da Xiong.

" Just these 2 boxes , but she sent us more sedatives. In case we ran out of arrows , she asked us to retrieve the arrows and wash them before lacing them with sedatives again. Ah , she also asked me to inform you that the sedatives used this time are stronger than before , so we shouldn't come into any direct contact with it. She even gave us some leather gloves to be sure that we don't touch the sedative directly."

Yang Changtian nodded , " Da Xiong go distribute the crossbows , and also inform the others about Ms. Liu's warning," He then turned to Mo Ling and Zhang Anying , " You two heard him , be sure not to come into contact with the drug."

Mo Ling and Zhang Anying nodded solemnly before grabbing 2 crossbows each. Da Xiong grabbed a crossbow for himself and pulled out 4 pairs of gloves from the bag , he handed the gloves to Yang Changtian , Mo Ling and Zhang Anying.

They wore their gloves and Da Xiong distributed the arrows and gloves , and they regathered.

Yang Changtian turned to look at his group , " I'm sure Da Xiong filled you in about the situation , so I need you all to be very alert ."

" Yes ! " all of them yelled collectively .

Yang Changtian nodded , and turned to enter the cave.

The opening of the cave was damp and smelled bad , likely due to the bat excrement , coating the cave floor in a thick layer. The light began fading , so Yang Changtian and the others pulled out torches and lit them , before descending.

The cave opened up into a cavern that split into 2 paths , Yang Changtian asked Mo Ling to hold his torch and he pulled out the map. After the checking the map , they chose the path on the right that soon lead into a slope going down.

" Everton , watch your step , the humidity inside the cave has made the cave slippery , and there are loose rocks on the slope, " Yang Changtian warned.

One wrong move and you could dislodge a rock , eventually causing a rockfall or you could slip to your death. So everyone sat down and propelled themselves down the slope slowly .

Soon the group reached the ground , further in they discovered another bigger cavern with stalactites and stalagmites. Water was dripping from the stalactites and hitting the floor causing an eerie dripping sound to echo throughout the pitch black cave.

" This is the final cavern, we have to descend another slope before reaching the lake." Yang Changtian pointed towards the darkness.

The group slowly moved towards the other slope dodging sharp stalagmites created by the very dripping that created the stalactites . Their torches casting eerie shadows that dance around the cave.

Soon they reached another slope , steeper than the last one. It was almost a complete drop down.

" We need ropes to descend this ." Yang Changtian turned towards Zhang Anying , " Did you bring the ropes ? " he then turned to inform the others to get ready to propel themselves down using ropes.

Zhang Anying looked at Yang Changtian sheepishly , "Oldest senior brother , you didn't tell me to pack ropes." he replied meekly.

Yang Changtian immediately whipped his head around , Mo Ling also stopped what he was doing to stare at Zhang Anying in disbelief.

The already silent and cold environment somehow got quieter and colder , as everyone tuned to stare at Zhang Anying.

Yang Changtian pinched his nose bridge hard , he straightened up before taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

" Do I need to spell everything out for you ? We're going underground , so obviously we're going to need ropes . Just how stupid can you be ! " Yang Changtian reprimanded , while his voice wasn't harsh or loud , it was somehow worse than him yelling.

" Oldest Senior Brother , I really didn't think - " Zhang Anying began.

" Think ?! Of course you never think ." Yang Changtian cut him off harshly.

Da Xiong felt sorry for Zhang Anying , " Mr. Yang , I brought some ropes , we can share them. Brother Zhang made a mistake because he was too eager to help out."

Yang Changtian turned towards Da Xiong , " You brought ropes ? How many ? "

Da Xiong waved the juniors he brought along to come closer , he opened their bags and pulled out a rope from each bag. There were 3 ropes , then Da Xiong opened his own bag before pulling out another .

" We didn't bring much , just enough for each of us person " Da Xiong replied sheepishly , " Senior told us to bring our own supplies so we don't bother you Mr. Yang. But the ropes are very sturdy and strong , so we can share them among the group. "

Yang Changtian sighed deeply before nodding , " Thank you ." he then turned to everyone , " We'll share the ropes and descend , 2 people stay here to make sure nothing goes wrong , we'll use these stalagmites as anchors , choose ones that are strong and sturdy. Now let's get to work."

Everyone scattered and jumped into work at that, Da Xiong took up the task of selecting the stalagmites , and Mo Ling helped him with tying the ropes.

Zhang Anying tried apologising to Yang Changtian ," Oldest Senior brother , I'm sorr-"

" Stop apologizing all the time Anying , take some time and think just how many issues you've caused during this journey. Today , if Liu Ying didn't tell Da Xiong to bring their own ropes , we would have to postpone this mission for later. Time is running out , we have to get to the bottom of this soon , or if it spreads, it's going to cause more problems. And here you are , somehow messing the most basic things up. Next time you're going to stay in camp and do nothing."

Zhang Anying wanted to protest , but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Yang Changtian's disappointed look, so he just nodded.

Mo Ling and Da Xiong finished their work and approached Yang Changtian .

" Brother Yang, we're ready to descend." Mo Ling informed.

Yang Changtian nodded and grabbed one rope and got ready to propel himself down , he then asked the other's to follow suit and jumped down . The surroundings were pitch black , they had to put their torches out temporarily as they needed both of their hands to grab the rope.

Yang Changtian couldn't see anything. And the cave somehow smelt worse , it smelt like decay .

After a while Yang Changtun felt his feet touching something solid , so he kicked his feet to confirm he had indeed reached the ground. He stepped down and tugged the rope , indicating that the next person can come down now.

Mo Ling and Da Xiong who climbed down along with Yang Changtian also reached the ground. The three of them pulled out their torches and relit them.

The torches illuminated the cave , and they noticed a faint light coming from the end of a long corridor. They had reached the lake.