Chapter 250: Channel Fright (Send Some Traffic My Way)

Looking at the waterway entrance blocked by several interlaced stalactites, the livestream chat instantly erupted.

"Damn, that opening is so small, how do you get through?"

"Even a fairly strong person would probably struggle."

"We're done for, can't get through here."

"There must be other waterway entrances, surely there's not just this one."

In fact, it wasn't just the waterway entrance blocked by stalactites—a large area ahead had various Shi Zhu crisscrossing, forming an obstacle. Qin Yun slowed his pace, carefully dodging these Shi Zhu as he approached the waterway.

He didn't even need to measure; he knew that once armed up, there was absolutely no way he could pass through.

"As you all can see, there's been an unexpected situation with this waterway. According to the data, the original passage here was narrow, but it didn't have these stalactites blocking it. Clearly some unknown change occurred, causing the stalactites above to fall down."

Qin Yun's voice drifted calmly into the livestream.

"This waterway is a relatively close one. Of course I can continue forward to go around—the other side also has an entrance—but doing so would stretch my guide rope even thinner. So I plan to give it a try."

"Try? How do you try? You can tell at a glance you can't get through."

"Yeah, Qin-ye should just switch to a different opening."

"No need to stubbornly push through here."

"What is Qin-ye going to do?"

Qin Yun ducked his head and sank down, holding up his depth gauge in front of the camera.

"My current diving depth has already reached 85 meters. After passing through this waterway and two more similar spots, I'll enter the first layer of the underground river labyrinth—that's where the real difficulties begin."

As Qin Yun spoke, he began removing his equipment.

At that moment, at the sinkhole entrance, among Wei Heng's team members who had been keeping constant watch on their surroundings, someone suddenly shouted: "Holy shit, why is Qin-ye taking off his equipment?"

Wei Heng was startled, exchanged a glance with Lu Sicheng, and quickly had someone switch the camera feed to that underwater drone.

At the same moment, under the livestream camera, everyone saw a shocking scene.

In the footage, Qin Yun was undoing the buckles on his gas tanks one by one, keeping only the hoses connected. The helium-nitrogen-oxygen main tank and the side-mounted decompression bottle, along with the backplate, were swiftly unbuckled from his body and lifted off his shoulders.

Seeing this scene, the netizens were all speechless.

"Holy shit, Qin-ye, you really dare."

"If an undercurrent hits and washes your tanks away, you're dead for sure."

"666, badass."

"That bastard's got too much nerve. Taking a detour wouldn't kill anyone."

Forget them—even the professionals watching him operate this way were a bit speechless. Underwater gas tanks are a lifeline; if anything goes wrong, you'd really die without even knowing how you died.

But Qin Yun just went ahead and did it.

He gently cradled the Clumsy and heavy tank assembly with both hands, moving very slowly. Using buoyancy, he gradually pushed the equipment toward the waterway entrance. As the equipment entered the waterway, he himself slowly swam through after it.

He had already kept things very steady, but the waterway entrance still brushed against his body. Fortunately, his movements were slow enough, and these cold limestone walls were somewhat slick, so his body sliding against them didn't cause any sensation.

Holding the tanks, he swam bit by bit through the narrow passage. In just a short while, he had emerged completely—the entire process went very smoothly, without a single hitch.

Qin Yun quickly reassembled the tanks, securing them firmly to his back. He casually checked the pressure gauge—270 bar, stable, all equipment normal.

"Perfect, haha." His voice came through. "Although the waterway threw a little surprise, it didn't cost me much time."

The guide rope from the reel extended bit by bit with his movements. But no one noticed that at the waterway entrance, the guide rope was currently snagged on a sharp notch in the rock wall—a notch as sharp as a blade.

"Qin-ye's moves are something else. What kind of guts does this guy have."

"Badass, really not afraid of accidents. At this depth, this distance, what if you lose your tanks—how do you get back?"

"The word 'fear' doesn't exist in Qin-ye's dictionary."

"Qin is simply unbelievable."

The Douyin livestream viewers were sighing in amazement, and overseas on TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch it was even more so—amazing, unbelievable, these woefully inadequate exclamations pouring out endlessly.

Qin Yun's gaze swept his surroundings as he rapidly reconstructed the space in his mind. Only after completing a radar-like scan did he continue forward.

Due to the lack of sufficient light, even with the panoramic view, the livestream audience couldn't really call the environment beautiful—in fact, the various oddly-shaped rocks and the bizarre underwater sights made people feel an immediate chill.

This oppressive atmosphere accompanied the entire journey, and grew heavier the deeper he went.

To put it plainly, this underground river looks just like some scenic spots after the water level recedes—above, in front, behind, to the sides, basically all rock surrounding you. In a place like this, it's already nearly impossible for plants to grow.

After all, without light, photosynthesis can't happen.

The overall terrain can be understood as the crevice between the mountain body and the ground, some parts short, some deep. Qin Yun was currently weaving through the short sections, heading toward the deeper areas. Once he could continue his deep dive and had sufficient depth, he would stop moving forward and begin his descent.

And beneath the entire Giant Rock Enclosure Tiankeng group, there actually wasn't a fixed place where one could continuously descend.

The three-layer labyrinth is in principle straight up and straight down, able to reach the very bottom. But in reality, each layer of the labyrinth is extremely complex, requiring finding a suitable descent point to pass through.

Moreover, the underground river environment here was far harsher than other cave-diving holy lands.

Over the years, endless silt had accumulated on the floor here; he hadn't truly stood on solid ground even once so far.

Qin Yun swam quickly, and soon discovered the terrain here was beginning to rise again—the depth gauge, which had been nearly a hundred meters, started dropping. By the time he passed through another waterway, the depth gauge read 72 meters.

But the next waterway entrance plunged sharply downward. After he had descended a full 150 meters, a different scene came rushing at him with an overwhelmingly oppressive presence.

The view here began to narrow—the distance between top and bottom was extremely short, some places not even wide enough for a person to pass through. Massive Shi Zhu jutted at crooked angles ahead, and waterways like spider webs seemed to lead off into the unknown.

Qin Yun floated in the water, his voice calm.

"This is the first layer of the underground river labyrinth. As you can see, the distribution of these waterways—every branch is an exit. Because of the size of these waterways, the water flow here is even more turbulent."

"I'm just floating here, and I can already easily feel different forces coming from all directions."

The livestream audience watching this scene felt their scalps tingle. It was as if the open world had suddenly constricted, becoming extremely narrow, and the space was pierced through by Shanfeng-like Shi Zhu—vision blocked, unable to tell direction.

"Damn, how can this underground river be this eerie."

"Insane. If you got lost in there, wouldn't you be done for?"

"I'm getting scared."

"Jesus, the current depth is 152 meters."

"Tsk tsk, this is only the first layer of the labyrinth. There are still two more layers behind it. Only by passing through all three layers of the labyrinth's distribution is there a chance to create a miracle."

Even if one didn't understand the dangers of cave diving, seeing such a complex underground river labyrinth would still make one's whole body tremble.

Qin Yun's voice rang out once again.

"Don't be fooled by the countless waterway branches here— not every one of them leads to the second layer of the labyrinth. The vast majority are dead ends. If I make the wrong choice, I'll have to retrace my steps back the way I came. Hopefully I'll have a bit of luck."

After saying that, his body moved.

He chose a relatively close waterway. This waterway was two meters high and low, the massive rocks rough and coarse, and an extremely strong undercurrent surged out from this waterway.

"The undercurrents here are very strong. Everyone, if you go to experience cave diving, you must be careful of these undercurrents. Once you're swept into a crack in the rocks by the water flow and get stuck, you'll really be calling out to heaven with no answer, and calling out to the earth with no response."

Hearing Qin Yun say this, the netizens began to roast him one after another.

"Who the hell would an ordinary person go cave diving in a damn place like this?"

"Heh, I'm so full I've got nothing better to do, just tired of living, right?"

"Every time Qin Ye tells everyone this stuff, I just want to laugh."

"Hahaha, doesn't he know that the stuff he livestreams— no one could possibly pull it off?"

Qin Yun stopped his body, hammered a carabiner into the rock wall, secured the guide rope, then continued pulling the guide rope through the waterway. But the instant he had just passed through, an accident suddenly occurred.

The ground below suddenly collapsed. A powerful undercurrent burst forth from the mud beneath, instantly engulfing his body. The force of the water flow was tremendous; even he could no longer control his own body.

This force carried him rushing toward a rock crevice on the side, and the searchlight on his head shook violently.

The comment section instantly exploded.

"Holy shit, Qin Ye got swept away?"