Chapter 62 A Scream of Agony
Teddy's move left us all speechless. Before we could react, he said, "Remember, we agreed that if you help us find the key, I'll give you Anthony's medicine, and then you have to leave!"
The four of us exchanged glances, and Isidora looked at them with clear reluctance.
Murray spoke up, "Yeah, we did agree on that, but we never said they had to leave right after getting the key, Teddy. Let Mr. Williams and his team stick around a bit longer. They might be more skilled in some areas."
Lorenzo added, "We don't really want to go in. How about this, Teddy? You give us the medicine, we'll leave first, and if you need us, you can come find us."
Teddy gave us a cold look, reached into his bag, and pulled out a small box, handing it to Anthony. "Here it is. Soak the sheepskin in the bottle, take it out, and brew it with hot water before drinking."
Anthony was briefly surprised, as if a realization dawned on him, and he nodded while accepting the wooden box. Together, we made our way to the cave entrance.
"Anthony, I think this is what you drank before," Lorenzo said with a bitter smile, standing at the cave entrance and looking at the waterfall in front of him.
Anthony didn't respond, opening the wooden box to reveal a small bottle wrapped in sheepskin. We all recognized it instantly—it was the bottle of corpse oil!
It was now confirmed that Anthony's remedy was indeed corpse oil.
When Harlan died, the bottle of corpse oil Anthony found must have been the medicine Harlan left for him. Teddy and the others just didn't know it.
Anthony sighed. "Harlan was good to me, leaving me medicine even in death. But this medicine, oh—"
But it wasn't all bad. These two bottles of corpse oil should last Anthony for a few years, giving us time to find another solution.
"I don't want to drink it anymore!" Anthony pleaded with a desperate look at Lorenzo. "Come on, man, you gotta figure something else out for me. There's no way this stuff is meant for human consumption!"
Alicia suddenly came over. "Dad, I just remembered, the legs of those three fat ancestors were covered in this corpse oil."
"Oh, it seems this corpse oil belonged to those three ancestors," Lorenzo replied.
Anthony felt even more nauseous after hearing that.
We stood at the cave entrance, and Isidora came out, bringing us some food from Murray's cave. She said the other family members had already passed away.
We had no choice but to wait for Teddy and his team to find a solution for their people. By 5 PM, there was still no sign of them emerging.
Alicia even leaned against the cave wall and took a nap. The sky began to darken.
"Lorenzo, should we go in and check it out?" I asked.
Lorenzo stayed calm. "Let's wait a bit longer. I don't think there's any danger inside."
Isidora didn't dare to go in either. As night descended, she returned to Murray's cave to fetch more food for us. Unfortunately, the grim news was that two additional family members had taken ill.
By around 7:30 PM, it was completely dark.
Standing at the cave entrance, I gazed out into the pitch-black valley, where only a few faint lights from other caves flickered, accompanied by the soothing sound of cascading waterfalls of different sizes.
Suddenly, we heard a strange noise from inside. We quickly moved closer to the stone corridor and listened carefully.
The depths of the stone corridor were pitch black and silent.
A few seconds later, a miserable scream echoed, making us shiver involuntarily!
"Oh no! Is there really danger inside?" Lorenzo motioned to me. "Dennis, come with me. Anthony, stay outside and protect Alicia and Isidora!"
"Dad, I want to go too!"
Alicia grabbed my arm, but Lorenzo pulled her back. "Alicia, be obedient!"
Seeing Lorenzo's unprecedented serious expression, Alicia hesitated, then squeezed my hand tightly. "Be careful."
Returning the squeeze, I joined Lorenzo in swiftly donning the headlamps we had purchased earlier. With the lights switched on, we dashed into the stone corridor.
After that scream, the cave fell silent again.
Soon, we reached the stone door.
The heavy stone door was still open, and the floating lights inside were still on.
"Lorenzo, what are these lights?" I asked.
Lorenzo observed from the doorway. "They should be some kind of jade. Look."
Following the light, we clearly saw countless stone pillars of various shapes inside. The tallest was about 18 feet, and the shortest was over 6 feet. The tops of the pillars were adorned with orange stones, emitting a faint glow like jade.
"These things should be quite valuable!" I couldn't help but exclaim, looking at the many jade-like stones.
Lorenzo shook his head slightly. "No. These things are a bit like our modern artificial glass, not worth much."
With that, Lorenzo led me inside. I glanced at the compass on my wrist; we were heading southeast.
The cavern was vast, and the light illuminated a distance of approximately 60 feet ahead, revealing only a scattering of rocks besides the stone pillars.
Approaching the closest stone pillar, I reached out to touch it. The surface was cold to the touch, and upon closer scrutiny, it appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary.
We continued forward, and suddenly I felt something different behind the stone pillar. Turning around, the headlamp illuminated the back of the pillar, and the sight made my eyes widen!