American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 378 The Lost Temple of the Tainos! (10,000-word chapter, not filler.)
[3:55 AM]

The moment Lin Yu'an surfaced, Ruiwen felt her heart, which had been hanging in suspense for over half an hour, finally settle back down.

She strode forward and, by the dim light of her headlamp, saw the undisguised excitement on Lin Yu'an's face. She knew then that this dangerous reconnaissance would surely yield significant results.

"How is it?" she asked anxiously in a low voice, while reaching out to help him unload the heavy side-mounted gas cylinder from his body.

“It’s better than we expected,” Lin Yu’an said succinctly, “and…it’s also more complicated.”

He didn't elaborate immediately, but glanced at the diving computer on his wrist: "The tide has started to come in, we must leave here immediately, Mike is still waiting for our message."

Without another word, the two quickly retrieved the guide rope and glow sticks, and began to evacuate along the waterway they had come from as fast as possible.

The return journey was slightly easier due to familiarity and the slight buoyancy of the rising tide. But as they approached the waterway exit, they felt the power of the sea.

The once gentle flow of water has now transformed into a powerful, inward-flowing undercurrent, propelling them forward and signifying that the sea is reclaiming its territory.

"quick!"

The two swam with all their might out of the waterway and back to the open coastline.

Looking back, in just over half an hour, the tide had risen by nearly half a meter, and most of the mudflats that were originally exposed and smelled fishy had been covered by seawater again.

In another hour, this place will once again become a turbulent coastline, locking all the secrets deep inside once more.

"Ghost Nest, 'Ghost One' and 'Ghost Two' have safely returned to the observation post." Lin Yu'an sent the signal of their return to the microphone in the distance via walkie-talkie.

"Roger that! Well done, kids!" Mike's voice was filled with a relieved joy. "I'll be waiting for you here. I've made some hot coffee!"

The journey back to camp became much lighter because a huge weight had been lifted from my heart.

When they returned to the abandoned plantation hidden deep in the jungle around 5 a.m., chilled and exhausted, a rich aroma of coffee instantly dispelled all their fatigue.

Mike was already waiting by the car. He handed over two thermos cups filled with piping hot coffee, his eyes full of concern and expectation.

The three sat around the still-warm engine hood, and by the starlight and the faint red glow of the camp, Lin Yu'an recounted all the findings of the thirty-minute underwater reconnaissance in detail.

He talked about the secluded and winding underwater tunnel, and about the Tainuo rock paintings that shocked him and proved the presence of ancient people.

When he spoke of the two mysterious forks at the end of the passage—one leading downwards into the unknown, and the other upwards overflowing with air—Raven and Mike's breathing became rapid.

Lin Yu'an took a sip of his scalding hot coffee and made his final conclusion, "So I think the treasure might be just beyond that fork in the road leading up to it, where there might be a dry cave."

"Great!" Raven was so excited she almost jumped for joy. "Then we can just go in through that fork in the road tomorrow night!"

“Yes,” Lin Yu’an nodded, but then his tone changed and his expression became serious. “But that’s where the problem lies. We only brought basic equipment and knew nothing about the size, structure, or internal environment of that cave.”

He paused, looked at his two companions, and voiced his biggest concern and a startling guess:

"Most importantly, we did not expect the main passage to be blocked. I suspect... the passage below was likely blocked by someone."

This conclusion stunned both Raven and Mike.

“Man-made blockage?” Mike frowned. “Why do you say that? Isn’t it normal for caves in karst topography to be blocked by landslides?”

“No, that’s not normal.” Lin Yu’an shook his head and began to explain his reasons in detail, every detail of which was very convincing.

“At the entrance to that downward passage, I saw a lot of unnatural, parallel abrasion marks. If it were a natural landslide, the entrance would be blocked by rubble of varying sizes.”

"But those marks look more like friction marks left when a heavy object was dragged into that narrow gap."

"There was also an anomaly in the water flow. I could feel a continuous suction at the cave entrance, which proved that the entire cave system was connected. But when I approached the main downward passage, the water flow there was almost still, with even a slight swirling motion."

"This doesn't conform to fluid mechanics. The only explanation is that the inside of the channel, not far away, is 'blocked' by a huge obstacle, preventing the water from flowing smoothly."

He made the final, and most chilling, conclusion:
"Based on these two points, I have a bold guess: the treasure hunter used this complete main passage. But for some reason we don't know, he sealed off this main passage from the inside when he left."

"Only the vent located at the top was left as the sole entry and exit route."

"Why would they do this? Wouldn't it make things more difficult for them to retrieve the treasure?" Raven wondered.

Lin Yu'an shook his head, indicating that he couldn't think of a reason for the time being: "So we can't just hope that the upward fork in the road is safe. What if it's just an inaccessible 'skylight'?"

"We must prepare for the worst and develop a backup plan to deal with the dangers in the main passage below."

Mike nodded in agreement: "Lin's guess is not without merit. In an expedition, Plan B is always more important than Plan A."

"We must assume that the downhill path is blocked, and the uphill fork is our only hope. At the same time, we must be prepared for things to happen that are beyond our expectations."

“Alright, let’s rest now,” Lin Yu’an glanced at the sky in the east, which was beginning to lighten. “After dawn, we have a whole day to prepare for the final battle tonight.”

[Day 11 of sailing, daytime]

After a night's rest, the three of them had greatly recovered their energy.

As the sun rises and casts its warm rays upon the abandoned plantation, the camp transforms into a highly efficient tactical workshop.

Mike was in charge of maintaining and upgrading the equipment, while Lin Yu-an and Rui-wen undertook another equally important task—"creating alibis".

Lin Yu'an said, "We can't stay at the camp all day. If those two patrolmen suddenly decide to come and visit and find that we're missing, it will arouse unnecessary suspicion. Our identity is that of a documentary film crew, so we have to do what we're supposed to do."

So the two of them took a set of professional photography equipment, a DSLR camera with a telephoto lens, a tripod, and a drone for aerial photography, and left the camp, heading towards another stretch of coastline in the opposite direction of the "Mouth of the Whale".

This area is also part of Los Heidiss National Park and is dotted with many clearly marked Taino caves.

Their purpose in coming here was to conduct filming openly and legitimately, leaving behind reasonable "evidence" of their day's activities.

Under the sunlight, Raven changed into an explorer-style khaki shorts and shirt, looking dashing and spirited.

Like a true archaeologist, she held up her camera and photographed the exposed rock walls painted with simple totems.

Lin Yu-an then piloted a drone, overlooking the magnificent karst coastline from the air and capturing the grand scenery.

Their behavior was entirely in line with the normal activities of an academic research team. Even if someone were observing from a distance with binoculars, they could not find any flaws.

Around noon, as they sat in the shade of a cave, eating a simple lunch, Mike's voice came through the walkie-talkie, carrying a hint of barely perceptible tension.

"Ghost Nest calling, something's up."

Lin Yu'an and Ruiwen felt a chill run down their spines and immediately replied, "Received, please speak."

"About ten minutes ago, a speedboat without AIS activated sped in from the open sea and was approaching the direction of the whale's mouth. Judging from its course, it didn't look like an ordinary fishing boat."

This unexpected situation immediately put Lin Yu'an and Ruiwen on alert.

"Are they patrol officers?" Raven guessed.

“Not sure,” Mike’s voice was steady. “I’ve locked onto it with high-powered binoculars. There are three people on board. They didn’t go near the shore, but anchored about a mile from the mangroves, and then… started fishing.”

"Fishing?" This behavior puzzled Lin Yu'an.

“Yes, they look like ordinary tourists,” Mike continued, “but I have a feeling something’s not right. I’ll keep an eye on them. You guys stay safe, stick to your plans, and don’t show anything unusual.”

"clear."

This little incident, like a dark cloud, added a touch of uncertainty to the expedition. They didn't know the ship's origin or purpose, but its appearance undoubtedly added a potential risk to tomorrow night's operation.

In the afternoon, Lin Yu-an and Rui-wen finished filming and returned to the camp with a memory card full of "materials".

"Is that ship still there?" Lin Yu'an asked Mike.

“They’re still there,” Mike shook his head. “They really did fish there all afternoon and left in the evening. I must be overthinking it.”

They didn't have time to investigate further. Night was beginning to fall.

The final battle is about to begin.

The three sat around the map, making final tactical arrangements.

“The situation has changed, and the plan needs to be upgraded.” Lin Yu’an’s voice was unusually serious. “Considering the existence of that unidentified vessel, we must assume that we may not be the only players in this area.”

Pointing to the map, he outlined the final action plan: "Tonight, Raven and I will go into the water together. We'll bring all our equipment, including spare air tanks and a 200-meter guide rope."

“Mike, your mission is even more important than last night. You will not only serve as our communications hub, but also as our sentinel. Use radar and night vision to monitor all activity within a five-nautical-mile radius.”

"Once any vessel or personnel is spotted approaching the whale's mouth, immediately alert us via underwater communication. The alert signal consists of three long pulses, repeated every 10 seconds."

“Received.” Mike nodded emphatically.

“The underwater section,” Lin Yu’an looked at Ruiwen with a serious expression, “is the main downward passage that I suspect was blocked by someone. We must check its condition one last time before entering the upper branch road.”

He took out a handheld sonar scanner from the equipment box. It looked like a large flashlight and had a circular transducer at the front.

“Raven, your mission is crucial. Outside the cave entrance, you'll be responsible for using this sonar to scan and probe that downward passage. I know that in such a narrow, rocky environment, signal interference will be very severe, and we might not be able to get a complete 3D map.”

He paused, pointed to the sonar screen, and emphasized, "But you don't need to build a complete model; you only have two goals."

"First, by observing the intensity and attenuation rate of the echo, we can determine the approximate material of the blockage—whether it is loose, unevenly dense natural rocks, or a more flat, uniformly dense man-made object, such as a cement wall."

"Second, by using the maximum detection distance, we can estimate how far the blockade point is from the entrance."

"I used this time to carry my equipment, re-check and secure the safety ropes leading to the fork in the road above, and be ready to enter at any time."

"Ultimately, as long as your detection results can corroborate my guess of 'artificial blockade,' we will immediately implement Plan B and enter through the safer, upward path."

“If we successfully enter the cave, Raven will be in charge of perimeter security and preparation for salvage, while I will be in charge of exploring the core area. Our goal is to complete all exploration and initial salvage within sixty minutes, and then evacuate immediately.”

"Do you understand everything?"

"understand!"

As night deepened, the tension in the air seemed to solidify into a tangible reality. This time, they would no longer be reconnaissance soldiers, but a determined assault force.

The secret of three hundred years will be completely revealed tonight.

[On the night of the operation, at 2:45 AM]

"The ninety-minute window has officially begun." The steady voice of the microphone came through the walkie-talkie.

On the coastline, Lin Yu-an and Rui-wen were already fully equipped with their diving gear. Unlike last night when they were lightly equipped, tonight they were truly "fully geared up."

Each unit uses a more professional side-mounted bottle configuration, ensuring ample gas supply and flexibility in confined spaces.

In addition to her diving knife, Raven also carried a small harpoon gun for emergencies, while Lin Yu-an had an extra waterproof bag on his waist containing miniature tools for clearing obstacles.

"Mike, what's the situation on the surface?" Lin Yu'an was doing a final check on his dive buddy, carefully confirming the position of every quick-release buckle on Raven's buoyancy controller.

"Everything is normal, radar is clear, night sky is clear. It looks like tonight is yours."

"Very good. Let's go."

The two stepped once again into the familiar waterway leading to the secret mangrove forest. Having learned from last night's experience, they moved much faster and soon reached the entrance to the cave hidden beneath the rock face.

"Do you remember the procedures from last night?" Lin Yu'an asked, making a final confirmation.

“Of course,” Raven said, expertly checking her side-mounted gas cylinder. “Enter the main passage, follow the guide rope for about fifty meters, and reach the fork in the road you marked. Then, execute our plan.”

“Absolutely correct.” Lin Yu’an said no more, gestured to Raven, and the two of them dived into the water and disappeared behind the dark entrance.

The underwater world remained silent, with only the sound of bubbles exhaled by the two echoing in their ears.

Lin Yu'an skillfully laid out the brand-new 200-meter-long guide rope ahead, while Ruiwen followed closely behind, holding a high-powered diving flashlight and vigilantly observing the surroundings.

Soon, they saw the ancient Taino rock paintings on the cliff face, and the glowing anchor point that Lin Yu'an had left behind the night before. They had reached the crossroads that would determine their fate.

They don't need any language; all communication is done in the simplest and most efficient way—through light language and gestures.

Lin Yu'an stopped and turned to face Raven. He first pointed to the bottomless crack in the main passage below, then to the sonar scanner hanging on Raven's waist, and finally made a shrug to indicate "inquiry".

"Your turn. Begin the probe."

Raven understood immediately, gave Lin Yu'an a clear "OK" sign, and then swam toward the main passage crack.

She detached the handheld sonar scanner from the equipment attachment point and carefully aimed the probe deep into the tunnel. She turned on the instrument, and a fluorescent green screen lit up in the dark water, illuminating her focused face.

Lin Yu'an didn't sit idle. He swam to the side and carefully examined the rock face leading to the fork in the road above with his headlamp, while maintaining absolute vigilance towards Raven.

Time ticked by, and Raven frowned, her fingers flying across the sonar's control panel. The clutter on the screen was making her increasingly irritated.

Suddenly, she stopped moving.

She suddenly raised her head, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She quickly swam to Lin Yu'an and used the beam of her flashlight to attract his attention.

Then, she began to make a series of precise diving hand signals:
She first extended her index and middle fingers and pointed to her eyes (to represent looking).

Then he made a flat gesture with his hand (representing flatness).

Then, she extended her right index finger and slammed her left fist onto it (representing "hardness").

Finally, she held up one finger, then five, repeating the gesture (representing the number "15"), and pointed to the passage below.

Lin Yu'an instantly deciphered this silent intelligence: "I found a flat, hard object 15 meters below!"

This result perfectly confirms his bold guess last night that it was "manually blocked"!

Lin Yu'an gave Ruiwen a thumbs up, indicating "Well done." Then, without hesitation, he pointed to the fork in the road above, which was emitting faint bubbles, and made a forward gesture.

"Suffice the information. The main road below is blocked. Execute Plan B!"

Without further hesitation, the two swam one after the other toward the narrower fork in the road.
The intersection was narrower than it had been the night before, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

Lin Yu'an skillfully removed the side-mounted gas cylinder from one side, pushed it in front of him, and then turned his body completely to the side. Only then did he manage to squeeze through the jagged rock crevice as if passing through the eye of a needle.

Raven followed closely behind in the same way, the cold rocks brushing against her wetsuit, sending a chilling sense of claustrophobia through her. After passing through a short passage only three or four meters long, the view suddenly opened up ahead, and the two of them felt the powerful upward buoyancy almost simultaneously.

They immediately stopped paddling with their flippers, relaxed their bodies, and let the buoyancy lift them slowly upwards.

Lin Yu'an turned off his headlamp and made the same gesture to Raven.

The world instantly plunged into absolute darkness and silence. They could feel themselves rising, but they didn't know where they were going. This feeling was like a mysterious ascension, full of unknowns and anticipation.

"Splash—crash!"

With two crisp splashes of water sounding almost simultaneously, their heads finally broke free from the water's confinement.

Lin Yu'an removed the secondary regulator and tentatively took a breath. The air was unusually humid, carrying a strong, damp smell of earth, limestone minerals, and some unique odor he had never smelled before.

Although the air is polluted, the oxygen content is sufficient, and you can breathe normally.

Instead of immediately turning on his headlamp, he first took a multi-functional gas detector that he had prepared beforehand from his waist.

A faint green light appeared on the screen, and a few seconds later, a series of safe data were displayed—oxygen content 20.1%, and concentrations of harmful gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were all zero.

“Air safety,” he whispered to Raven, who had also surfaced.

After confirming that the environment was safe, Lin Yu'an turned his headlamp back on.

A beam of bright light pierced through the ancient darkness in an instant!
When they swept the beams of their headlamps around, even with the most intense mental preparation, they were still completely stunned by the scene before them, and for a moment they forgot to breathe.

This is an inland cave so enormous that it defies description.

The cave ceiling was so high that the beams of their headlamps couldn't even reach the very top. They could only see countless huge stalactites and stalagmites of various shapes hanging down from the darkness above or growing out of the ground.

Some resemble the enormous pipe organs in a Gothic cathedral, quietly awaiting to be played; others are like frozen, giant white waterfalls, full of dynamic beauty.

There were even more strangely shaped stalactites, which cast bizarre and colorful shadows as their headlamp beams moved.

The surfaces of the rock walls and stalactites are covered with a layer of sparkling calcite crystals, which reflect the light into dazzling starlight.

The place they came up from was an inconspicuous circular pool on the side of the cave, no more than ten meters in diameter. The surface of the water was as calm as a mirror, like a "skylight" connecting two worlds.

Beyond the pool, there was a vast expanse of dry ground covered with a thin layer of white calcification, stretching silently into the endless darkness in the distance.

It was eerily quiet here, as if time itself had frozen.

“We…we did it! We really found it!” Raven removed the regulator, her voice trembling slightly with excitement, echoing in the vast cavern.

"The operation has only just begun." Lin Yu'an quickly regained his composure from the shock. He was the first to climb up the slippery edge of the pool, then turned around and reached out to drag Raven and their heavy equipment up one by one.

Instead of rushing to explore deeper, he first activated the portable signal booster he was carrying, pointing the antenna in the direction of the "skylight" they had come from.

"Mike, Mike, respond if you hear me. We've entered the dry cave, all is well."

A hissing sound came from the walkie-talkie, and a few seconds later, the microphone's voice came through intermittently: "...Roger!...Great!...(buzzing)...Signal...very weak...Be careful!"

"The signal is too weak to maintain continuous communication." Lin Yu'an turned off the equipment. "From now on, we can only rely on ourselves."

This fact instantly brought Raven, who had just been excited, to her senses. They could lose contact with the outside world at any moment.

“Alright, Raven, proceed according to plan.” Lin Yu’an’s voice was steady and powerful, dispelling the unease. “Establish a safe evacuation point, open this, and place it by the pool. This is our lifeline.”

He took a high-powered LED camping light out of his waterproof bag. When Raven pressed the switch, a soft yet bright white light instantly illuminated the entire pond area as if it were daytime.

This light source not only provided them with a sense of security, but also served as an absolute psychological anchor—no matter how far they ventured into the depths of the cave, as long as they could see this light, it meant they had found their way back to the surface.

Raven quickly gathered the spare gas cylinders and emergency supplies next to the light source and checked the sturdiness of the guide rope, setting up a simple but fully functional support point.

The two formed a standard tactical advance formation. Lin Yu'an, holding a high-powered flashlight and an unsheathed diving knife, walked half a step ahead of Ruiwen, responsible for lighting, scouting, and guarding.

Soon, they left the small "safe zone" illuminated by the camp lights and headed towards the deeper, darker center of the cave...

The cave floor was surprisingly flat, covered with a layer of bird droppings and calcified dust that had been compacted over time. Stepping on it produced a soft "rustling" sound, which was particularly clear in the dead silence.

“This place… is too big.” Raven’s voice echoed in the vast space, tinged with awe. “It’s like we’re walking inside a giant’s skull.”

"And why is there bird droppings?"

Lin Yu'an swept the beam of his flashlight upwards, and at the end of the beam, they saw a dense mass of black shadows.

“They’re bats,” he whispered. “A huge number of them. Don’t shine bright lights on them, so as not to disturb them.”

"Bats?" Raven asked, puzzled. "How did they get in? Wasn't the entrance underwater?"

“We came in by waterway.” Lin Yu’an’s gaze swept across the dark cave ceiling that seemed to reach the top of the cave. “But they have aerial corridors. Look at those higher rock walls, there must be vertical cracks leading here, which are like highways to them.”

They proceeded cautiously, walking for about a hundred meters, until they reached a more spacious central chamber. Here, they witnessed their first astonishing discovery.

On a relatively flat, massive rock face, there are countless Taino rock paintings that are far more complex than those they saw in the underwater tunnel!

The enormous spirals, concentric circles, the faces of gods, and scenes of hunting and sacrifice constitute a grand prehistoric mural.

“My God…” Raven put down the detector, staring blankly at the scene before her. “This…this isn’t a treasure cave at all…it looks more like a lost Taino temple!”

“That’s right,” Lin Yu’an’s eyes were also filled with shock, “The treasure hunter is just a latecomer.”

-

This discovery added to the cave's mystique. Raven turned on her action camera and captured the breathtaking scene, providing them with the most authentic visual record of their "academic expedition."

After finishing her recording, Raven picked up the metal detector again, her face filled with new confusion: "Strange... If this is a temple, where is the treasure? The detector hasn't been giving any significant feedback."

“Keep going,” Lin Yu’an said, his gaze drifting deeper into the darkness of the cave. “This cave is much bigger than we thought. If I were the treasurer, I wouldn’t leave things in such an obvious place.”

They bypassed the massive rock-painted wall and continued exploring deeper into the cave. After walking about fifty meters more, the terrain began to slope gently downwards, and the air became more humid. They entered a relatively narrow, corridor-like passage.

On both sides of the passage, some low walls and stone platforms, built of stone and long since collapsed, began to appear, with broken pottery and animal bones placed on them—this was clearly the area where the Taino people once lived or performed rituals.

Just then, the metal detector, which had been silent all along, suddenly emitted a faint but clear "beep" sound in Raven's earpiece!

"Stop!" She immediately crouched down and focused the detector's probe on the ground on one side of the corridor.

The signal source was very small and shallow. Lin Yu'an carefully brushed away the surface dust with his diving knife, and soon, a metallic object gleaming with a dim light was revealed.

It was a Spanish silver coin that was so badly corroded that it was unrecognizable. Judging from its design, it was also a product of the early 18th century.

"Looks like we're on the right track!" Lin Yu'an put away the silver coin. "It's probably something the treasure hunter dropped along the way."

Encouraged by this discovery, they quickened their pace. After walking several dozen meters along this "corridor," the space opened up again. They seemed to have reached the deepest part of the entire cave.

The sight before them made them both stop in their tracks, feeling a deep sense of confusion and a chill run down their spines.

Two holes suddenly appeared in front of them.

The entrance on the left is a huge, bottomless cave, which looks no different from the passages of other caves.

The cave entrance on the right, however, appears extremely strange and abrupt. Its shape is very regular, a standard square about two meters on each side, and the rock walls around the entrance show obvious smooth marks as if they had been polished by modern cutting tools.

More importantly, the entire opening was completely sealed off by a thick layer of modern cement, which had an industrial gray color!
“Cement…” Raven’s voice was tinged with disbelief. She took a few steps forward and reached out to touch the cold, rough cement wall. “Are you kidding me… How can there be cement here? We’re in a secluded underground cave!”

Lin Yu'an didn't say anything, but quickly stepped forward and carefully examined every detail of the cement wall.

The thickness and texture of the wall, as well as the treatment of the joints with the rock face, all demonstrate an extremely professional construction standard that emphasizes long-term sealing.

He looked again at its location and direction in the cave, and a startling thought struck him like lightning!

“I understand…” he murmured to himself, his voice filled with the shock of sudden realization, “This road… this blocked road is the main passage that you detected with sonar, Raven, that was ‘deliberately blocked’!”

Raven reacted instantly, deeply shocked. They had come in from a side path above, circled around, and finally arrived at the other end of the main passage—the "main entrance" completely sealed off by modern technology!
“But…who did this? Why seal this place with cement?” Raven’s gaze darted back and forth between the two openings, her mind a jumble of confusion. “No, the timeline doesn’t match up. There was no such cement three hundred years ago!”

Her gaze finally settled on Lin Yu'an, and she posed the most crucial question: "Could it be... other treasure hunters? Who discovered this place first?"

Lin Yu'an did not answer immediately. Leaning against the cold cement wall, his brain was working at high speed, reconnecting and filtering all the clues.

Clue 1: A group of people, descendants of pirates from three hundred years ago, have also arrived here.

Clue 2: The fact that they went to great lengths to transport materials underwater and seal off the main passage suggests that they were either hiding something extremely important or preventing anyone from entering again.

“Raven,” Lin Yu’an began slowly, “Let’s make a hypothetical scenario. You possess modern technology, come to this cave, and discover a secret item that may be a thousand times more valuable than gold and jewels, but you cannot take it with you. What would you do?”

“I…” Raven thought along his lines, “I would choose the most secure and hidden place, and then… seal the entrance in the most thorough way, just like they did.”

“Absolutely correct.” Lin Yu’an’s eyes sharpened. “Therefore, it is almost certain that behind this concrete door lies a secret belonging to those who came after.”

“Then what do we do?” Raven looked at the solid concrete wall and felt helpless. “We can’t just smash it open with our bare hands, can we? It looks at least half a meter thick.”

Lin Yu'an walked up to the cement wall and rhythmically tapped it from top to bottom and from left to right.

"Thump...thump...knock knock..."

He closed his eyes and listened carefully to the differences in the echoes. The echoes in most areas were dull and muffled, proving that the walls were very thick. But when he tapped on the lower center of the wall, the echo suddenly became somewhat hollow.

“Found it.” He opened his eyes and drew a circle at the spot. “This is the weak point. This wall isn’t solid; it’s hollow behind it. And the thickness here is probably less than twenty centimeters.”

“Even if it’s only twenty centimeters, we can’t beat him…” Raven stopped mid-sentence because she saw Lin Yu’an make an unbelievable move.

Lin Yu'an slowly pulled out a dark green, oval-shaped metal lump with pineapple-patterned surface from the inconspicuous waterproof bag at his waist.

An M67 fragmentation grenade!

"Where...where did you get this?!" Raven's eyes widened in disbelief. She was certain that this powerful military weapon hadn't been included in the previous equipment inventory. There was no way it could have been brought into the country through any legal means.

Lin Yu'an's expression remained completely unchanged. While expertly checking the safety catch and pin of the grenade, he offered a half-truthful explanation:
“Remember Ricardo? When I asked him to help me get the ‘legal possession certificates’ for our firearms, he gave me this.”

This reason seems reasonable, after all, for someone with Ricardo's background, getting a grenade might be as easy as buying a bottle of rum.

Although Raven still had doubts, she chose to believe in the current situation.

“How do we detonate it? Just throw it?” Raven asked. “That’s too dangerous; the shrapnel will tear us to pieces.”

“Of course not.” Lin Yu’an shook his head, a smile that was a mixture of confidence and madness on his face. “We’re going to build it a ‘cannon’ so that it can direct all its power in one direction.”

"Raven, give me a hand! Let's move some stones! Let's find the hardest, heaviest limestone blocks!"

Despite her confusion, Raven immediately took action.

In this huge cavern, the two of them began to move, like primitive people, a dozen or so stones of varying sizes but all quite heavy, from the surrounding collapsed areas and corners of the rock walls.

Lin Yu'an first used the handle of a diving knife to create a shallow positioning pit at the weak point of the wall (the junction of the upper and lower concrete layers) that had been identified by previous tapping.

Next, the most crucial step began.

He directed Raven, and together they began to use the heavy stones to build a compact stone platform, layer by layer, in front of the cement wall.

He continued until he reached the weak point in the target area, then placed the M67 grenade, safety pin facing outwards, steadily on the stone platform.

Finally, arrange the stones in a staggered pattern, layer upon layer, to completely envelop and compress the grenade from the back and sides.

Only a small energy release channel, about the size of a bowl, was left directly in front of the blast point.

A temporary "energy-concentrating turret" using the most primitive materials but containing ingenious physical principles was thus completed.

Looking at the masterpiece made of stones and a hand grenade, Raven finally understood Lin Yu'an's intention: "You want to use the weight and density of these stones to create a 'constraint field' and forcibly change the direction of the grenade's explosion?!"

“That’s right,” Lin Yu’an gave her an approving look. “When the grenade explodes, the energy that goes backward and to the sides will be instantly absorbed and reflected by this stone formation.”

"All the shockwaves and fragments will be forced out through the only opening in front, forming a brief but powerful 'jet.' Though rudimentary, it's enough to penetrate the wall's weak points."

He attached the guide rope to the safety pin of the grenade, extending the other end to a distant bunker. A makeshift pull-to-fire fuse was thus set up.

"We step back."

The two quickly retreated to the entrance of the narrow corridor and hid behind a huge stalactite.

"Cover your ears and open your mouth!"

Lin Yu'an gripped the end of the nylon rope tightly and gave Raven a final reminder. Then, he pulled sharply backward!
A soft "click" came from afar; it was the sound of the safety pin being pulled out.

The two immediately ducked behind cover.

The five-second fuse time seemed to stretch to an eternity in the deathly silent cave.

Immediately afterwards——

A deep, muffled sound, yet filled with terrifying penetrating power, rang out!

The sound was not like an explosion, but like an invisible battering sledgehammer slamming into a concrete wall.

The entire cave shook, and they could clearly hear the sound of rocks being blasted to pieces and crashing into the walls at high speed! The shockwave that spread outwards was indeed mostly absorbed by the simple stone formation.

The explosions subsided quickly.

Lin Yu'an stood up first. After confirming that Ruiwen was alright, the two of them cautiously walked towards the center of the smoke-filled cave.

The scene before me was filled with a raw and efficient aesthetic of violence.

The makeshift stone array had long since been blasted away, reduced to rubble. And on that sturdy concrete wall, at their pre-ordained weak point, a massive hole, nearly a meter in diameter, its edges riddled with spiderweb-like cracks, had suddenly appeared!

The power of the explosion was perfectly concentrated on a single point!

"Come on, let's see what the secret of the latecomers is!"

They stepped over the scattered stones and cement debris, one after the other, and entered the warehouse that had been violently opened!

(End of this chapter)