Lin Chun and I glanced at the cave entrance.
Neither of us could fit, let alone a giant monster.
"Does this mean there isn't a giant monster inside?" Lin Chun asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know, but there probably isn't anything of value here. Let's leave."
Lin Chun nodded, and we retraced our steps back into the cave.
After this incident, both of our moods had clearly shifted.
The existence of those monsters had made us uneasy.
"We need to speed up our efforts to improve our strength," I said.
"Indeed," Lin Chun nodded. "If those monsters attack our city, we're finished..."
As he said this, Lin Chun's gaze flickered. It was clear he was genuinely worried.
This was one of the reasons why I trusted him.
Logically, I could have found any one of the surviving mercenaries to work with me.
But I chose Lin Chun specifically.
Partly because he was the first to willingly join me, and partly because he wasn't inherently bad.
Or rather, he had the capacity to care about the entire city and the people around him.
Compared to combat strength or anything else, I felt this was precisely the most important thing.
Fortunately, Lin Chun didn't disappoint me.
"Brother Lu, I have a suggestion..." Lin Chun said after thinking for a moment.
"Tell me," I replied with a smile.
"Our primary objective for coming out here was to improve our strength. Now that we have nowhere specific to go, I think we could investigate these monsters!" Lin Chun said seriously.
"We can try, but don't get your hopes up too high," I said with a smile.
I knew that the cave entrance had been there for a long time, and the monsters within might have escaped ages ago.
It would be impossible for us to track them.
Lin Chun seemed a bit persistent. "I think we should try..."
"Then let's go..." I said with a smile.
Hearing me agree so suddenly, Lin Chun looked surprised. "Brother Lu, are you sure you won't try to stop me? If my guess is wrong, it could put both of us in a very dangerous situation..."
"Actually, I was thinking the same thing. Since we don't have a specific target right now, finding one might be good," I said with a smile.
Lin Chun nodded, and we returned to the storage room.
We peeked into the passage from the floor and then found some sticks to pry open the opening.
With our eyesight, we could see that there were no other signs inside, and nothing had passed through there for a long time.
"We can't squeeze in. Digging it wider would be troublesome," Lin Chun said dejectedly.
"We just need to know where the exit is," I said with a smile.
"But we still can't stand in there," Lin Chun said helplessly.
"Go get some bed boards," I instructed.
Lin Chun, though a little confused, did as I asked and soon returned with a pile of bed boards.
Without a word, I stuffed all the bed boards into the hole. Then, I tossed in anything flammable.
"Brother Lu, are you going to block it up?" Lin Chun asked.
"No," I replied, and a ball of flame condensed in my palm.
I threw it in directly.
Soon, flames erupted.
I quickly pulled the monster's corpse over and used it to block the entrance.
"What is this..." Lin Chun asked, confused.
"Let's go!" I said, and we both ran out again.
Not long after we emerged, we saw smoke rising in the distance.
"Go!" I said, grabbing Lin Chun, and we rushed towards where the smoke was drifting.
Although it didn't look too far away, it took us nearly half an hour to get there.
The terrain was difficult to navigate.
When we arrived, we discovered the smoke was coming from under a pile of weeds.
We cleared the weeds away and indeed found a cave entrance.
The opening wasn't very large, about the same size as the one inside.
"Brother Lu... do you think the monsters can come out from this opening?" Lin Chun asked.
I nodded. I had already thought of this.
If nothing unexpected happened, many of the monsters inside had likely already escaped.
However, it had been a long time, and we didn't know where those monsters had gone.
But as long as they were still alive, they were a threat to us!