Gao Hai stretched his body, extended his legs, twisted his waist, and jumped a couple of times. After completing his basic warm-up exercises, he looked up at the cave entrance above.
That was very likely the entrance to the next area—the location of the [Turnaround Point].
Gao Hai had pondered many times why the Red Nut Gray Hole had an area named 'Turnaround Point' with a completely different naming style from other places. He had come up with various reasons, but without empirical verification, these were just unsubstantiated guesses. In the end, he had to try it himself to know the situation.
"Ha!"
His feet sank slightly, then he exerted force explosively.
In the next moment, Gao Hai jumped nearly three meters high, reached out, and easily grabbed the rock wall, climbing into the cave.
The pitch-black, dim cave was extremely narrow and somewhat damp. But for Gao Hai, these were no issues. He used his hands and feet together, quickly crawling up the cave to the corner platform, then turned the bend and looked down at Chika Fujiwara below.
"Hurry up."
Gao Hai extended his hand downward and said seriously to the girl.
"Mm, I-I got it."
Chika Fujiwara clearly couldn't jump over two meters like Gao Hai, so she dragged the office desk under the cave entrance, climbed onto the table, then "hey!" jumped up. Gao Hai easily grabbed her small arm and pulled her into the cave with one hand.
The headlamps on their heads swayed with their movements, flickering light and shadows in the narrow cave.
The cave here was so narrow that Gao Hai and Chika couldn't even squeeze side by side; they had to go one after the other. And if they advanced just a bit further, they would enter an even narrower and lower area where turning around or squatting would be impossible.
Gao Hai suddenly had a bad feeling.
He couldn't explain why, but he had experienced narrow areas before. In the area named [Artery], he had already felt what it was like to crawl on his belly. But now, facing this unknown cave, he had an unprecedented, extremely ominous premonition.
As if he had been to this place before.
As if he had seen this place somewhere before.
"Phew, are we setting off?"
Chika Fujiwara took a deep breath and asked Gao Hai.
"Mm, are you ready?"
After a slight silence, Gao Hai looked at Chika with no abnormality in his expression and asked.
"Of course! Rookie Explorer Chika Fujiwara is always ready—ow!"
The girl immediately puffed up proudly, raised her head, and cried out as her head bumped into the rock wall.
No matter the situation, Chika Fujiwara seemed to be a cute girl who could lighten the mood with a smile.
Gao Hai sighed inwardly, then turned to look at the dark, deep passage ahead.
"Alright, same as before: I'll go first, you follow behind. Remember the rules?"
Gao Hai's tone gradually became serious as he asked.
"Mm-hm, got it. Ensure you're crawling in a natural cave with no man-made traces. If you encounter a fork, retreat immediately—don't proceed. When you reach a place where you can't turn around, stay quiet, don't speak, and don't respond to voices."
Chika Fujiwara nodded repeatedly, clearly remembering the rules deeply.
"Good. Let's go."
Without further ado, Gao Hai lay flat on the ground first and crawled toward the depths of the cave.
Damp.
Chilly.
These were the first sensations Gao Hai felt.
His explorer suit rubbed against the uneven ground, pushing away small stones to avoid cutting his skin.
His helmet collided with the rock wall; Gao Hai realized his head was too high and had to lower it, his chin almost scraping the ground, before he could continue crawling forward.
Drip—
A water drop fell into his neck, bringing an even icier touch.
Gao Hai slowly extended his hand, grabbed the rock wall ahead, and dragged his body forward, crawling deeper.
"Phew..."
His breathing inevitably grew heavy.
Just at the start, Gao Hai realized this environment was more oppressive than the [Artery], far more suffocating than the [Artery] where at least squatting was possible.
He couldn't straighten his waist.
Even slightly lifting his upper body would be blocked by the cold, damp rock wall.
Gao Hai could only crawl slowly, inching his body forward in this unknown-length cave.
For a moment, he felt like he was imitating a snail, advancing excruciatingly slowly.
In that instant of distraction, the rock wall scratched the side of his ear, drawing blood and bringing stinging pain.
This snapped Gao Hai out of any joking thoughts; he refocused and continued crawling silently forward.
Drip—
Another water drop fell beside him.
The cave was quite damp, which made crawling slightly easier than in a dry one. But in this oppressive darkness, he had no mind for such thoughts and just kept crawling step by step.
Ten minutes, twenty minutes, or even longer.
Gao Hai finally crawled through this section and arrived in a new, larger cave.
The space was about the size of a van's interior, with few stalagmites or stalactites—a spot for a brief rest.
On one side of the cave, Gao Hai, munching an energy bar to replenish energy, found a rusted iron sign reading [Turnaround Point], with a sentence below:
[Now do you know why this place is called the 'Turnaround Point'?]
This made Gao Hai pause, then chuckle.
"Indeed, you immediately know why it's called the 'Turnaround Point'."
Gao Hai murmured, looking at one side of the small clearing—the path ahead. It was another narrow cave passage; from the entrance alone, it was clear this would be even narrower and darker than the previous section.
The so-called Turnaround Point was a turnaround path meant to make one retreat.
For the timid, arriving here would break their courage, preventing further advance.
But he wouldn't back down here.
Not just a narrow cave—even hell, he had to charge through now.
"Ugh... uwaaah..."
As Gao Hai thought this, Chika Fujiwara's wail suddenly reached his ears.
He turned to the cave entrance they had just emerged from. A small hand flailed there, struggling to grab the rock wall but unable to break free.
Gao Hai walked over, squatted, and looked at the pink-haired girl desperately trying to squeeze out.
"G-Gao-kun, I'm stuck."
Seeing Gao Hai, Chika Fujiwara immediately showed a pitiful expression.
Through his Blessing, he confirmed she was alive—definitely Chika.
Considering the rules, Gao Hai said nothing, just grabbed her extended hand and yanked hard.
"Uwaaaah, it hurts hurts hurts so much uwaaah—"
Under Gao Hai's strength, the girl was pulled out smoothly. But from her pained expression and clutching her chest immediately after, the experience was clearly awful.
Mm, clear wear at the chest— she really got stuck. What to say? As expected of E-level combat power? A dimensional strike compared to Maki and Kaguya's AA-level.
But this combat power was a huge disadvantage in such terrain.
Gao Hai pondered, looking at the cave they just exited, then at the narrower area ahead.
Certainly, if they proceeded like this, with Chika's figure, she'd get truly stuck—to death.
In that case, some measures were needed.
"Take off your top."
Gao Hai unslung his backpack and said seriously to Chika.
"Eh?"
The girl, not understanding, paused.
"Hurry, take off your top."
Gao Hai said impatiently, pulling bandages from his pack. He tested their toughness, then looked at Chika, who was hesitantly unzipping and removing her explorer suit, covering her chest.
"Bra too."
Gao Hai said mercilessly.
"Eh eh eh, this too?"
The shocked girl instinctively stepped back, then eyed the bandages, realizing his intent.
"If you don't want to die here, obey. This isn't the time for acting cute."
Gao Hai approached calmly.
"I-I got it..."
Her cheeks fully flushed, Chika Fujiwara turned her back to Gao Hai, trembling as she removed her last restraint.
No direct view of the big white rabbits was disappointing, but now wasn't for that. Gao Hai tore off a bandage length, quickly went in front of her, said "Inhale, chest out, head up," and wrapped it around.
"Ugh..."
Chika wailed immediately.
Gao Hai wrapped more bandages around her chest, tying a tight knot behind to bind her proud curves securely.
"Can you breathe? Try inhaling and exhaling."
After finishing, Gao Hai asked the uncomfortable girl.
"It's... okay, just a bit tight..."
Chika Fujiwara, struggling to breathe for a while, raised a hand in a V-sign to Gao Hai and smiled.
"Good. Rest well, then we'll go. Eat something to replenish energy first."
Gao Hai handed her a chocolate energy bar, stayed half-bent, turned, and sat aside, slightly facing away.
"Mm, thanks, Gao-kun. Without you, I definitely couldn't have reached here."
Though the binding was embarrassing and breathing hard, knowing it was for her survival, Chika thanked him sincerely.
"Mm, just rest well..."
Gao Hai replied calmly, emotionless.
But unseen by Chika, his hands trembled slightly.
Just now, wrapping the bandages, he had touched a bit. That indescribable softness... tsk, if only more...
{Hai-kun, Auntie and I got a tape—early base cave investigation record. A six-man team passed the 'Gentle Slope' without anomaly attack. They encountered something heading deeper at the 'Great Cliff'. Auntie and I think they got trapped in an extremely narrow cave area and met something. The records mentioned... Hai-kun? Why no reply?}
{...Waiting for you to finish.}
Maki's message came perfectly timed, leaving Gao Hai momentarily speechless.
Soon, he adjusted and communicated seriously. Chika had also rested, regained energy, and prepared for the next area.
"Staying here long makes me think I'll get claustrophobia sooner or later. The last instance already made me fear door knocks. Instance after instance, my mental state will break eventually."
Gao Hai murmured, lying flat first, eyeing the deep, narrow passage ahead.
Ahead of the [Turnaround Point] was likely the true [Blood Vessel].
From [Heart] here, many anomalies encountered, but none core obsession strength.
If Red Nut Gray Hole had two core obsessions, the next [Blood Vessel] likely held the second. This would be one of the most dangerous areas.
Gao Hai took out the cloth doll, had it scout ahead, then crawled in slowly.
In the dim light, a water drop seeped from the rock wall and fell in Gao Hai's view.
Drip—
________________________________________
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