Cave Refuge

Looking at the cleared water area under their boat, everyone's faces turned awkward. If it was necessary to sacrifice someone to remove a blocking coffin, even if they sacrificed everyone on board, it would still be difficult to leave surrounded by dense coffins.

Furthermore, in the coffin that had previously opened in the distance, a creature resembling a water snake emerged. But when the water snake dove into the water, the coffin did not disappear. If they encountered that kind of coffin, they wouldn't know how to make it disappear.

Just as everyone was lost in their thoughts, the coffin that had trapped Little Five suddenly resurfaced. This time, after it rose to the surface, it shook continuously like the other coffins, as if something inside wanted to break out.

Seeing this, someone immediately thought it might be Little Five seeking help. Consequently, a member of the Guard Squad immediately aimed his gun at the corner of the vibrating coffin and fired, intentionally aiming at the corner to avoid injuring Little Five inside with a penetrating bullet.

When the bullet hit the lid of the coffin, it slid to one side as usual. As the coffin lid gradually slid aside, everyone stared at it intently, wanting to find out if the shaking was caused by Little Five's cries for help.

But when the coffin lid completely slid off and revealed the interior, everyone's mood became much more somber. Indeed, a creature had crawled out of the coffin, but it was not Little Five. Instead, it was a primate with very short legs but extremely long arms.

Although no one had ever seen such a creature before the disaster, spontaneously, a name came to everyone's mind: the water monkey.

As if it had heard everyone's thoughts, after the coffin lid completely vanished, it immediately leapt from the coffin and dived into the water, leaving an empty coffin behind.

Looking at the scene below the deck, everyone knew Little Five might have died. What's more, there was a feeling that the water monkey that had just dived into the water was the creature that the coffin had transformed Little Five into.

It was this association that made the atmosphere among everyone on the deck immensely heavy.

"Jason, try moving the boat forward," someone suggested.

Hearing the Guard Squad Captain's suggestion, Jason Jefferson instinctively tried to control the Companion Spiritual Treasure to move forward. However, just as he attempted, Jason's expression turned ugly, "It can't move, the boat is stuck as if mired in cement. It seems we must clear these blocking coffins or the Companion Spiritual Treasure won't be able to advance."

Listening to Jason's words, everyone's faces turned quite awkward.

At this moment, Dong Tianyu suddenly had an idea and asked Jason, "Do we have an extendable pole on board?"

Hearing Dong Tianyu's inquiry, Jason frowned and countered, "How long of a pole do you need, and why do you need it now?"

"I have an idea for those coffins below. I want to try something."

Before Jason could respond to Dong Tianyu's suggestion, the Guard Squad Captain motioned to his members to fetch something from the ship's hold.

There wasn't one long enough pole, but they could join multiple wooden poles together, which would certainly meet Dong Tianyu's requirements.

Dong Tianyu took the assembled extendable pole and immediately pounded it down on one of the coffins below. As usual, the coffin instantly opened, revealing a cache of goods that brought everyone back to Little Five's situation.

Thus, although everyone was on the deck, they all subconsciously and unanimously gripped the railing tightly, preventing any accidental falls.

Dong Tianyu was about to use the long pole to press down hard, attempting to explore the depth of the space inside the coffin. But when Dong Tianyu inserted the pole deep into the coffin, it seemed bottomless, like a void. Despite adding two more sections of wooden poles twice, the coffin's depth remained unfathomable.

Because of this realization, everyone suddenly understood that the goods they saw filling the coffin might just be an illusion. Initially, Little Five had fallen into the coffin and landed on the goods, which could all have been mere illusions and not reality. Perhaps after falling into the coffin, Little Five had simply disappeared; everything they had seen was likely an illusion.

But just as this thought emerged, everyone immediately realized this idea was wrong; if what they previously saw of Little Five was an illusion, the vaguely manifested struggling expressions could not have been so realistic. Moreover, they couldn't use water as a warning signal if it were just an illusion.

Therefore, compared to the illusion hypothesis, others were more inclined to believe that after Little Five fell into the coffin, he was immediately controlled by something. Initially, because Little Five was not completely controlled, he was still able to promptly notify Liu Zi that he was in danger and urged Liu Zi to immediately stay away.