In the movie "The Descent 1," women like Sarah were able to fight ogres with tools like wrenches and even kill several of them, not to mention John Reed, who was a physically strong man. Therefore, Ryan Carter didn't want John Reed to die—or more precisely, he didn't want John Reed to die so meaninglessly.

After running a few steps, he reached the lower end of John Reed's rope. Ryan Carter stretched out his arm and tied the end of the rope to his own arm, then turned and ran to the other side, effectively pulling the lower part of the rope taut and lifting it up. As John Reed slid down the rope, just before hitting the ground, Ryan Carter's pull caused him to glide a short distance at a low angle along the rope. This distance essentially saved John Reed's life: most of the gravitational potential energy from his fall was converted into horizontal kinetic energy and dissipated through friction with the rope. Even when Ryan Carter finally let go and John Reed hit the ground, he just rolled a few times, scraping his skin a bit, but he was otherwise fine.

"Jian, you scared us to death! What happened to you? How could you make such a rookie mistake?" June was the leader of this expedition. If anything happened to anyone during this activity, she would bear the greatest responsibility. So when she saw John Reed stand up, she immediately stepped forward and scolded him.

"I..." John Reed was at a loss for words. He couldn't exactly say it was his first time using this kind of rope.

"Alright, as long as you're okay. Just be more careful next time. John Reed probably just made a careless mistake this time," Ryan Carter stepped in to smooth things over.

Sarah and Beth began disinfecting John Reed's minor wounds with cotton balls and alcohol. Soon, everyone would need to crawl through the cave, which meant frequent contact with the surrounding sand and dirt. If the wounds weren't disinfected and treated first, they could easily get infected.

Megan Foster also slowly lowered herself down the rope. She was very slow, but much steadier than John Reed, and landed smoothly.

"Wow, it's so beautiful here." After helping John Reed with his wounds, Beth started filming with her DV camera. Indeed, inside the pit there was trickling water and sparkling stalactites. The beams from the headlamps on everyone's helmets reflected off the surfaces, creating dazzling glimmers—it really was beautiful.

"Mhm, it really is gorgeous. By the way, June, what's next? Where's the cave we need to crawl through?" Sarah asked June.

"Follow me," June called to everyone, leading them to a corner where there was a very narrow and deep cave entrance. "This is the entrance to the cave. Our adventure starts here."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go in!" Beth was already impatiently waiting on the side.

"Alright, I'll go first. You all follow me, and make sure not to get separated," June was a strong woman, decisive and efficient. She stuffed her adventure pack into the cave first, then crouched down and crawled in herself.

The cave entrance was very narrow—even for someone as slim as June, it wasn't exactly easy to squeeze through. Fortunately, everyone in the Chinese team—Ryan Carter, Megan Foster, and John Reed—were all on the slender side. If the main god had brought in some newcomers who were overweight, there would have been no way to get through this cave. But it seemed the main god had already considered this.

June went in first, followed closely by Beth, then Sarah. At this moment, Megan Foster, who had been standing next to Ryan Carter, asked him, "Are we... supposed to go in too?"

Ryan Carter nodded and said, "We haven't received the main god's notification that we've completed [Main Quest 1] yet, which means we're still some way from fulfilling its requirements. If we don't go down with them now, when time runs out, the main god will just erase us. Erase—do you know what that means? It's like clicking on a file on your computer, right-clicking, and deleting it. It's easy and simple, but so decisive that you don't even have a chance to resist. I'll go first, you two follow me closely."

Ryan Carter crawled into the cave as well. The reason he insisted on going in before Megan Foster and John Reed was actually because he remembered a scene from the original movie "The Descent 1." After the female protagonists crawled into the cave together, they encountered a very tight spot. Each of them struggled to climb up, and when it came to the last person, the cave suddenly began to collapse. The last woman barely made it out with the help of her companions—if she'd been even a little slower, she would have been buried alive. And it was precisely this collapse that blocked Sarah and the others' way back, forcing them to wander deeper into the underground world in search of an exit. It was also because of this that they stumbled into the ogres' lair.