The Little Hole Full of Gold Coins

"You must know which way it ran off!" said Lu Zhe.

"Well..." Ning Shu sighed, "I don't know."

Lu Zhe nodded. "Yeah. You all be careful at the camp. Shen Bing and I may need to wait a bit before returning!"

"Hey, why do you need to wait?" asked Ning Shu.

"That thing disappeared from here, but it didn't leave through the hot spring cave! Remember? I suspect there's another passage here, and it may have gone through that passage!"

Hearing Lu Zhe seriously discuss survival matters, Ning Shu realized she had missed an important piece of information, and felt a bit regretful.

"Did you find any footprints?"

"I looked earlier, but the bushes are too dense, and rainwater washes away traces all the time, so the information is very messy! I think if we knew which direction it went, that could be important information."

Ning Shu sighed. "Sorry, Lu Zhe, we were just discussing something silly earlier, and didn't see which way the gorilla went."

Lu Zhe nodded. "It's okay, we'll look for other clues."

Suddenly, Ning Shu remembered another clue. "Oh, that's right, Lu Zhe! If we find that thing, we'll know which way it ran!"

"Which thing?"

"It's..." Ning Shu blushed. "Ah, I can't say it out loud!"

"The one we used?"

"Yes..."

Lu Zhe understood instantly!

Shen Bing sighed faintly. "Ah, it's really tiring being the Sea King, with so many little treasures..."

After two minutes of explanation, Lu Zhe and Shen Bing finally understood what had happened.

Checking the battery, only 5% remained. Lu Zhe bid farewell to the four girls, folded up the aircraft, and wrapped it in plastic.

"Let's keep looking, and if we can't find it, we'll head back..."

"Mm!" Shen Bing smiled. "I didn't expect that you'd already conquered little Ning!"

"At most, it ends a kind of suffering."

"Ah, then tell the truth, between me and little Ning... whose experience was better?"

"Well... both were pretty good!"

"Hmph, men always try to placate!"

The two chatted idly as they searched along the parts of the volcano's base that weren't submerged, and after circling around, they finally found that thing at 15 degrees east of south.

And on top of that thing, there was a small hole.

This hole was about 2.5 meters off the ground, very round, with a diameter of only about 60 centimeters - just big enough for that large gorilla to crawl through!

"This might also lead to the Leaning Island, so if possible, we won't need to dive underwater every time we come in."

Shen Bing nodded. "Yeah, but how do we get up there?"

"We'll need to travel light!" said Lu Zhe, thinking it over. "Let's put the big tools and stuff from our backpacks in the Bird's Nest shelter first, then you can step on my shoulders to climb up, and I'll follow behind you. Once we're up there, we can switch positions!"

"No need, I can stay in front the whole time!"

"But what if we run into that gorilla in the hole?"

Shen Bing took out her gun and smiled. "I can have a chat with it!"

"Yeah, you're getting more and more professional!" Lu Zhe felt that he should occasionally let Shen Bing take the lead, since she was a female police officer, and too much frustration wouldn't be good for her mental health and growth.

The two left the aircraft at the Bird's Nest shelter, taking only a paratrooper knife and two handguns.

Lu Zhe bent down. "Come on!"

"I'm not as light as Fu Er, so be careful!" said Shen Bing.

"Don't worry!"

Shen Bing took off her sandals, her slender, fair feet stepping onto Lu Zhe's shoulders, making his thoughts wander a bit.

Shen Bing's feet were so smooth and delicate.

With deft, agile movements, Shen Bing quickly climbed up into the hole.

"I'm up!"

"Is there anything inside?" asked Lu Zhe.

Shen Bing looked inside. "Nothing at all!"

Then she extended one leg out. "Grab my foot and come up!"

Lu Zhe smiled wryly. At a height of 2.5 meters, he could easily get up there by any method.

But could he refuse Shen Bing's kind offer?

He jumped lightly, grabbed Shen Bing's ankle, and she pulled him up with force.

"We work well together!"

Lu Zhe smiled wryly. "Feels like a male and female bandit duo."

Then he looked around. "Doesn't this hole seem like it was newly dug? Orangutans don't have talents for digging holes, do they?"

"Not sure! But we have guns, so what are we afraid of? I'll crawl in first, you follow behind me."

Seeing Shen Bing's enthusiasm, Lu Zhe didn't say anything, only cautioning, "Be careful!"

Shen Bing took out a slow-burning match, providing them with precious illumination.

Shen Bing crawled forward with the match, Lu Zhe following closely behind!

They found that the walls of the hole were very clean.

But the further in they crawled, the narrower the space became.

After crawling for about fifteen or sixteen minutes, the diameter of the hole was only about 40 centimeters, and it was difficult even for Shen Bing to keep going. How could an enormously large gorilla possibly have crawled through here?

"I think we went the wrong way! Why don't we turn back?"

"But we've already come this far, why not see what's ahead?"

"Okay, let's check it out. But I'll go first when we turn back."

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

They continued crawling forward, fortunately the hole didn't narrow any further, maintaining a width of around 40 centimeters.

"If we weren't on an island, I'd definitely think this was the work of tomb raiders."

"What kind of person would bury a tomb on an island? Jack Sparrow or Luffy?"

"It is strange that there would be a hole like this on the island."

"Not really strange at all, pangolins are skilled at digging holes like this."

As they spoke, Shen Bing noticed a change in the path ahead. Initially sloping upward at about 10-15 degrees, it suddenly went over a peak and then downward at around 30 degrees, and the opening of the hole also seemed to widen compared to before!

"I feel like from here we could crawl back to the camp!"

Lu Zhe sighed. "Even if we could get back to camp this way, I don't want to go through this path anymore. It's too stuffy - I'd rather dive through the hot spring pool."

Just as he spoke, Shen Bing suddenly cried out, her body sliding forward. Lu Zhe reacted quickly, grabbing her ankle, but there was nowhere to brace themselves.

He spread his legs to try and slow their slide, but it only reduced the speed a bit!

Soon, Lu Zhe lost his last foothold, and they fell while he held onto Shen Bing's foot.

In the darkness, Shen Bing couldn't see anything, but Lu Zhe caught a glimpse of a shimmering golden scene!

In a flash, he hugged Shen Bing tightly, trying his best to shield her body.

The two fell and hit the ground together. Shen Bing felt like all her bones were about to shatter!

"Are you okay, Lu Zhe?"

"I'm almost dead, what do you think?" Lu Zhe sat up too.

He looked around, and what met his eyes were rotten boxes full of rust-covered gold coins glittering all over.