【Texture】(30, 31, 32)

Author: Wandering Traveler
, July 15, 2015, first published on sis,
Chapter 30.
Although I was chatting with the two women, my mind was actually focused on remembering the route we were taking. When I
stood at the center of the T-junction and looked left and right, a question arose.
If my memory of the direction was correct, the right-hand passage should lead to
the path that led to the labyrinth. But for some reason, there was a monster's corpse in the left-hand passage
…
Along the way, when I encountered forks in the road, I chose the path with signs of fighting or combat. The reason
was that these signs or monster corpses proved that Mr. Tang's group had taken this path. And
following this line of thought, while confirming the approximate location and route in my mind, I realized that Mr. Tang's group
seemed to be heading towards the labyrinth. However, at this moment, when the fork
in the road appeared, I noticed that Mr. Tang had suddenly changed direction…
While I was thinking, Lu Zhaohui behind me unexpectedly exclaimed, "Huh?" She leaned against
my back and said, "Tang Hui and the others seem to have gone to the left... but shouldn't the right side be
the path to the entrance? Why did they suddenly turn left after getting here?" Hearing Lu Zhaohui's words, I realized that
I wasn't the only one with a clear head. This Aunt Lu Zhaohui, like me, although
chatting idly with me and Zhou Jingyi, was perfectly aware of what was going on.
"Aunt Lu, you noticed too? What do you think we should do now? Should we go to the right and find a way to the entrance passage? Or
should we continue along the path Mr. Tang and the others took and try to find them and meet up with them?" At this moment, I also changed
how I addressed Lu Zhaohui. Although Lu Zhaohui looked to be no more than thirty years old,
after she confirmed that she was nearly fifty, I had no choice but to elevate her to the status of an elder, just like Zhou Jingyi.
You know, women are extremely sensitive about age; they always say they're younger than they are, and I've never heard of anyone intentionally trying
to look old. Although I preferred to follow Mr. Tang's path, since Qiangzi was very
likely there, I also considered that I was now responsible for protecting two women. If I could get them
into a relatively safe tunnel first, it would be easier for me to act alone and then enter to find Qiangzi
. Therefore, I decided to listen to Lu Zhaohui's opinion. Her previous
actions had convinced me that she was a woman of considerable insight!
After seemingly pondering for a moment, Lu Zhaohui offered her thoughts. "I think following Tang Hui and the others should
be the right thing to do. Although we all believe that the right path leads to the entrance, we've never been this way before, so
nobody knows for sure what the situation will be like. On the left, Tang
Hui and the others will clear the way, so even if monsters block our path, they'll encounter them before us. It should be safer to go along the left. As for whether we can get out, Tang Hui is
an expert! He wouldn't choose an escape route randomly. After all, he's with about ten people..." Lu Zhaohui
's analysis made sense, so I immediately turned left and moved forward. Zhou Jingyi didn't say anything, just followed closely behind. We had only gone
about ten meters when a rustling sound came from behind. Zhou Jingyi and I looked back and
saw several white figures moving quickly towards us from the end of the original right-hand passage
.
Seeing this, I immediately put Lu Zhaohui down and asked her, "Does your foot feel better now?" Lu Zhaohui
understood the situation and nodded. Without a word, she braced herself against the wall, gritting her teeth
and enduring the pain as she took a step forward. Without my permission, Zhou Jingyi immediately went to support her. The two women, supporting each other,
followed Mr. Tang's route.
I followed sideways, constantly glancing back warily at the movements of the white shadows in the distance. At this moment,
I was extremely grateful to A-Can's group who had passed through here earlier. If they hadn't lit the ever-burning
lamps along the sides of the passage, illuminating most of the space, even if we had heard the noise, we wouldn't have been able to
spot these white-clad monsters darting around in the passage and prepare any precautions.
Watching the monsters' movements from afar, I suddenly realized that their actions were somewhat strange. They
didn't seem to have noticed the three of us in the same straight passage, but instead quickly crawled to
the fork in the road and then turned directly into the passage that the two women and I had come from
.
"What the hell? Didn't they see us? Even though we were dozens of meters away,
how could they not notice us, two women and I, such obvious targets? Why did we turn that way?" I was a little confused
, but the monsters didn't charge directly at me, so I avoided a confrontation, which
was a good thing. Although I knew these monsters' weakness was their heads, I wasn't confident I could
actually stop them with my gun. Now that I was sure they weren't chasing me, I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly
caught up with the two women. Since we had spotted the white-clad monsters again, it meant we might
encounter a battle with them at any moment. Therefore, Lu Zhao firmly refused my suggestion to continue carrying her and chose to continue
forward with Zhou Jingyi's support.
When we reached the end of the passage and turned a corner, we found that the passage was pitch black. Ah
Can's group obviously hadn't explored this place, and after Mr. Tang and the others entered the passage, they probably only focused on moving forward
and didn't light the lamps on both sides as before.
"I have a spare headlamp in my backpack..." I reminded the two women, while simultaneously keeping
a watchful eye on the passage behind us, gun in hand.
Zhou Jingyi immediately pulled the headlamp from Lu Zhaohui's backpack, turned it on to illuminate the passage, and quickly helped
Lu Zhaohui into the dark tunnel. I followed behind, cautiously protecting the two women.
When the light disappeared around the corner of the passage, we were completely plunged into darkness, the only
source of light being the headlamp Zhou Jingyi carried. This caused the three of us, who had been talking to each other the whole way, to suddenly realize...
Under considerable psychological pressure, I stopped talking and simply groped my way forward.
In physics, light is always inextricably linked to time. Previously, I found this
incomprehensible. But after walking in the dark for a while, I realized that physicists had
good reason for connecting the two…
Walking in the dark, the fear of the unknown was secondary; the most crucial thing was that I seemed to have lost my
sense of time. I didn't know how long I had walked, so naturally, I couldn't make reasonable calculations or judgments about the distance. All I knew
was that the passage seemed endless, constantly twisting and turning…
All of this stopped with a sudden, low scream from two women. Seeing this, I quickly rushed ahead of them
. In the light of my headlamp, I understood why the two women screamed.
A large number of corpses suddenly appeared in the passage ahead, countless in number. A large amount of dark liquid flowed on the ground, indistinguishable as
blood or something else.
At this point, it was indeed unreasonable to ask the two women to go first. I immediately took
the headlamp from Zhou Jingyi and took on the responsibility of scouting, while the two women supported each other, clinging tightly to my back, and
proceeded cautiously. Upon approaching this area, I discovered that the passage was almost entirely littered with the corpses of white-clad monsters.
There were at least thirty or forty of them. Even I felt a chill run down my spine…
Although they were monsters, their appearance wasn't too different from humans. The two women and I felt as if
we were walking through a pile of dead bodies. As we walked, I observed the cause of death of these monsters. As I looked, I
couldn't help but gasp. All the monsters' bodies showed large areas of corrosion. It looked as if
they had been burned alive by corrosive substances like sulfuric acid. Yet, apart from the strong
stench of blood, there was no pungent odor of strong acids or alkalis.
"How powerful!" I felt an extreme fear of what had caused all this! I
had fought these monsters before and knew how powerful they were. They were incredibly fast, and aside from their heads, the rest of their bodies
were extremely resilient to blows. Previously, Li Chao and his team had clearly hit one of the monsters with two bullets, but
because they weren't hit in the head, the monster, aside from the initial impact,
wasn't affected in any way. But these monsters before me had clearly been
swiftly and collectively wiped out using the same method in a very short time. I couldn't even imagine what it must have been like…
Finally, we safely passed through the section of the passage piled high with monster corpses. The two women took the headlamps and went
ahead of me again; for them, leaving this area as quickly and as far as possible was the best option.
While continuing to act as the rearguard, I glanced at the dark passage behind us
. To my surprise, perhaps because my eyes had slightly adjusted to the darkness after groping around for a while
, I could vaguely make out the general layout of the passage behind me using the dim light reflected from the headlamps.
This brought a slight sense of calm to my tense heart. Whether in combat or exploration,
the most important thing is to be able to successfully grasp the information and situation of the surroundings. Since entering this dark passage, I have always been worried about
being suddenly attacked by monsters from behind due to poor visibility. Now that I have adapted to the dark environment and can observe some areas
, this possibility has been greatly reduced.
However, before I could rejoice for long, I suddenly realized that there seemed to be a white shadow
hanging far behind us in the passage behind us. After discovering this, I immediately became alert. However, in order to avoid
causing unnecessary fear and pressure to the two ladies in front, I finally decided to observe and monitor
the movements of the white shadow behind us on my own.
After advancing for a while, I confirmed the existence of the white shadow and realized that the white shadow seemed to be consciously
tracking us. Lu Zhaohui had difficulty walking, and even with Zhou Jingyi's help, it was difficult to maintain a normal
pace of movement, so she always walked fast and slow. And the white shadow moved slowly as we moved slowly
. As we sped up, its speed increased as well, maintaining a
constant distance from us…
“No, although we don’t know if it’s a person or a monster, we absolutely shouldn’t let it keep following us.
” Just as I was considering whether to use a corner or some other advantageous terrain to ambush this
tail behind us, a shout suddenly came from ahead!
“Stop! Move again or I’ll shoot…” Hearing the voice, the two women didn’t stop; instead,
they moved faster with ecstatic joy, shouting back. “Don’t shoot… it’s us!” The concealed defenders
didn’t fire, but immediately turned on their lights. When they saw that it was Lu Zhaohui and Zhou Jingyi, several figures quickly
emerged from the darkness and rushed to meet them. They were all members of the tomb raiding gang,
led by a man named Lu Laosan. He clearly recognized Lu Zhaohui, and seeing the two women in their disheveled
state, he hurriedly came over to help them up while asking them questions with great surprise. "Mrs. Lu? Didn't you
go that way with Boss Li and the others?" "We were separated by those monsters. We had to turn back to find
you." Lu Zhaohui replied. Lu Laosan nodded, then led his men to protect the two women in the middle
.
Realizing I had finally encountered other people, I quickly followed. When Lu Laosan saw me, he immediately showed
a shocked expression, and at the same time, a joyful voice rang in my ears.
"Brother Ping...you're not dead? You're still alive?" Qiangzi rushed to me from behind the crowd and
grabbed my hand. His joy was evident on his face. I knew he was happy, but this was
n't the time for catching up. I shook his hand, then let go and patted his shoulder. "I'm fine
...Isn't Mr. Tang with you?" Hearing me ask about Mr. Tang, the tomb raiders at the scene all showed
distressed expressions. "He's here, but..." "But what?" I hurriedly asked. You know,
The reason was that I felt it would be safer to travel with Mr. Tang. However, the expressions of the tomb raiders
clearly told me that Mr. Tang seemed to be in trouble. This meant my original plan to
escape with Mr. Tang's group was likely to be jeopardized.
"When you came over, did you see those dead monsters?" Lu Laosan asked.
"Yes, didn't you kill them?" Lu Zhaohui retorted.
"Mr. Tang killed them all by himself! He fainted because he used too much energy cleaning up those things
. We can't move without his command, so we can only stay here,
resting and waiting for him to wake up," Lu Laosan explained with a bitter face.
"Where is he? Show us!" Lu Zhaohui became anxious. Although they were all
tomb raiders, the situation they encountered was something they had never experienced before. The centipede corpses in the tunnel
, the labyrinthine underground palace, the one-eyed white-clad monster… only Mr. Tang seemed to know something about
the origins of these things. Therefore, for the people here, Mr. Tang was the only hope that could lead everyone to escape
. Lu Zhaohui was also aware of this, so after learning that Mr. Tang had fainted, she was naturally eager
to know his current condition.
Hearing Lu Zhaohui's words, Lu Laosan and the others called the three of us to go and check on Mr. Tang's condition.
Before turning to follow them, I looked back at the passage behind me. The white figure that had been following us had vanished
without a trace.
Since the white figure was no longer following, I stopped thinking about it. Now that there were more people here,
some of Lu Laosan's group would naturally be monitoring the passage.
It was more important for me, Lu Zhaohui, Zhou Jingyi, and I to quickly check on Mr. Tang's condition.
Guided by Lu Laosan and Qiangzi, we found
Mr. Tang lying unconscious in the corner of a small stone chamber on the side of the passage. Upon seeing Mr. Tang, Lu Zhaohui immediately took his wrist and
checked his pulse.
After a minute, Lu Zhaohui seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and said, "His pulse is basically normal
... It's probably due to overexertion. Let him lie down and rest for a while; he should wake up naturally. By the way
, did he lose a lot of blood earlier? I feel like he's lost a lot of blood. What happened?
" Hearing Lu Zhaohui's question, Lu Laosan and Qiangzi exchanged glances for a moment, and finally Lu Laosan
explained the reason. "He really bled a lot! I only just realized how powerful Mr. Tang was...
You didn't see it. Before, as we charged here, Mr. Tang, to alleviate the potential pressure on Boss Li's side
, had us keep firing to attract the monsters we encountered. When we got here,
there were dozens of monsters following us. Then Mr. Tang blocked their path, cut his arm with a knife,
smeared the blood on the blade, and fought the monsters alone with that bloodied dagger. I don't know
what kind of magic Mr. Tang used, but the monsters that touched his blood were burned like they'd been doused with sulfuric acid... Because
there were so many monsters, the blood on the dagger ran out, so Mr. Tang kept cutting his arm and smearing the blood on it. So
... in the end, although he killed all the monsters, Mr. Tang himself collapsed..." "I see.
" Lu Zhaohui nodded after hearing Lu Laosan's explanation. "Thankfully, although he lost a lot of blood, it
's not life-threatening yet. Oh, right, I remember you prepared some sugar. Quickly get a kettle and
prepare some sugar water for him. As soon as he wakes up, give it to him to drink. That will help replenish some of
the blood he lost. Hmm, you bandaged the wound on his arm. That's all." As she spoke, Lu Zhaohui
checked the bandages on Mr. Tang's arm and let out a long sigh.
Watching Lu Zhaohui's skillful examination, I couldn't help but secretly ask Zhou Jingyi beside me, "Aunt Lu
, is she a doctor?" Zhou Jingyi answered softly. "Although she's not a doctor, she told me before that she
served as a health care nurse for a high-ranking central leader for many years. Basic first aid shouldn't be a problem for her." Hearing
Zhou Jingyi's explanation, I immediately felt relieved. Someone who could serve as a health care nurse for a central-level leader
would naturally have excellent nursing and first aid skills. Since she said Mr. Tang was alright, the problem probably wasn't too
serious. However,
despite saying that, Lu Zhaohui was still very concerned about Mr. Tang's condition, so
she stayed by his side to observe and care for him until he woke up. Zhou Jingyi also stayed behind, while Lu Laosan and I
came out of the tomb chamber and, together with Qiangzi and the others,
sat and rested in the passageways on either side of the tomb chamber, waiting for Mr. Tang to wake up and recovering our strength.
The tomb raiders at the scene had long lost their initial excitement and joy at discovering so many funerary artifacts.
They leaned dejectedly against the wall, sighing and lamenting…
“What the hell is this tomb? Why are there those biting monsters everywhere?” “You were right
… So many brothers have died this time. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have come.”
“Who told us to be greedy? Mr. Tang said we couldn’t dig up that stone tablet! You fucking insisted on prying it open!
Before we touched that tablet, we were fine. Once we dug it open, first that strange sound, then the monsters jumped out
…” “You have the nerve to say that? I remember when Boss Li said to start, you ran
faster than anyone else to grab the crowbar, right?” “What do you mean? Looking for a beating?” “Don’t admit it?
All the brothers here saw you running over with the crowbar all the time!” “Fuck your mother…”
Lu Laosan, sitting next to me, realized the situation might get out of control and quickly intervened. "Shut up, all of you! Do you have
too much energy and nowhere to use it?" "Lu Laosan, what did you say? Who do you think you are! In front of us brothers ...""What boss are you talking about?" "Bang..." I pulled out my pistol and fired 　　a shot directly above the speaker's head. The person who had started taunting Lu Laosan was about to stand up and attack him when I shot him.

Startled, I sat back down. The others present were also momentarily stunned by my actions…
“Anyone who says another word, I’ll shoot them right now! Mr. Tang is in charge here
… Until he wakes up, all of you shut the hell up! Anyone who wants to die, try it!” My old soldierly thuggishness
kicked in, and I viciously threatened everyone. After I finished speaking, everyone wisely shut their mouths
…
Humans are fragile creatures. In the face of danger, the most selfish and ugly side of a person's heart will
be exposed. If this situation is allowed to continue, there is a high possibility of infighting among us
. The best way to prevent this is to
nip it in the bud! There are many ways to nip it in the bud, but I chose the most direct and effective method:
direct, violent intimidation!
These people are unruly tomb raiders; reasoning with them or using words of encouragement is
useless! In situations where the future is uncertain and life and death are unknown, the effect of using money to win people over and appease them will be greatly reduced.
When other methods fail, demonstrating violence is the most reasonable course of action.
Seeing that I fired the gun and spoke up in time to suppress the scene, Lu Laosan showed me a grateful expression. He
had a clear understanding of the current situation, knowing that if I
hadn't decisively used gunfire to suppress them, their argument might have turned into a real fight.
The passage fell silent again.
After an unknown amount of time, a man's cough came from the stone chamber where Mr. Tang was resting. Lu Zhaohui's
voice followed immediately. "Mr. Tang is awake!" Hearing Lu Zhaohui's voice, the people in the passage stood up and
rushed into the tomb chamber.
Mr. Tang sat leaning against the corner, holding a water bottle, drinking the sugar water that had been prepared for him. He
coughed as he drank. At this moment, his face was pale, and his movements were extremely slow.
Seeing us enter, Mr. Tang frowned and gave instructions. "What are you all doing in here?
Those scoundrels outside are here. Are we all just going to sit here and wait to die? Go out and keep watch." Hearing Mr. Tang say this,
the people who had come in quickly retreated. Mr. Tang saw me in the crowd, pointed at me, and then called out to me
. "You stay here for a moment." I immediately turned around and walked to Mr. Tang's side, and then, at his gesture,
sat down opposite him.
"Cough cough... You're really lucky! You woke me up when you fired the gun, good job
! Ms. Lu just told me about how you saved her. You're really amazing! You actually took down three
corpse puppets all by yourself and managed to bring two ladies all the way here to find me." Mr. Tang said while drinking water.
"Corpse puppets? You're saying those white-clad, one-eyed monsters are corpse puppets?" "What they're called isn't important. At least
we can handle them! I called you here to tell you that if we want to get out of here, we'll probably need your
demolition skills." Mr. Tang finished speaking, tilted his head back, and drank the remaining sugar water in his kettle in one gulp.
"You mean, I need to use explosives to blast a way out from here? This is inside the mountain; a slight
mishap could cause a landslide and bury us! Can't we go out from that entrance over there?
I've already discovered the corpse puppets' weakness; we just need to blow their heads off. We have a decent number of men now; if we
use our ammunition sparingly, we should be able to hold out until we get there!" Hearing Mr. Tang say this, I couldn't help but offer
my suggestion.
"Once you enter the underground palace, you can't go back to the Fuxi Path! You either have to find the entrance to the Nuwa Path and
get out from there, or you have to find a way to carve out another path to escape from here," Mr. Tang
explained, leaning against the wall and panting.
"Why is that?" I looked at Mr. Tang, puzzled.
"You know about Yin Demons and the Transformation of Yang Land. I thought you understood! It seems you don't know much after all
!" Mr. Tang frowned, looked at me, and sighed. "I finally understand now
! We've all been tricked by that bastard Wang Sen! This isn't a tomb at all. It
's actually a prison! The entire underground palace is used for exorcism! The stone tablet that A-Can and the others found earlier was the
soul-suppressing tablet of this underground palace! Unfortunately, Boss Li wouldn't listen to my advice and insisted on prying it open.
That's why we were attacked by those corpse puppets. Fortunately, although the tablet fell, it wasn't completely
damaged. So what it was suppressing should still be under its control. However, the falling tablet also destroyed
some mechanisms in the underground palace. So I'm sure that besides the corpse puppets, many other things will soon
follow. Especially that labyrinthine building that separated the tunnel from the underground palace, we absolutely cannot go in there again.
" Although Mr. Tang didn't explain it very clearly, I understood what he meant. At this moment, the entrance to the underground palace and
the labyrinthine building connected to the entrance are more dangerous than other parts of the underground palace. Therefore, going back the way we came is not advisable.
"So what should we do now? I'm fine with blowing things up. But
how much explosive do we all have in total? Trying to blast a tunnel out of here to the outside world with that much explosive is simply
impossible!" "How could it be possible! What do you think I brought people into this tunnel for?
I was planning to attract the zombies while finding a way out for my brothers who were following me. Originally, I thought it was
a gamble of life or death, but you followed me. I think it might really be fate." Mr. Tang actually
smiled slightly, tilting his head as he spoke, gesturing for me to lean my head against the stone wall.
Although I didn't know Mr. Tang's purpose, I still did as he said and leaned my head against
the stone wall beside him.
"Press your ear against it and listen carefully..." Mr. Tang then added. I shifted my body further, pressing my ear
against the wall. After listening quietly for a while, I suddenly discovered that ...I could faintly hear the sound of flowing water. At that moment, I finally understood 　　what Mr. Tang meant by "a way out"...

"Is there an underground river nearby?" I turned to Mr. Tang, looking at him with surprise.
"You're absolutely right! No matter what you're building, water is essential. Without water,
how could the builders construct it? Look at the floor and the stone bricks on the walls of this underground palace, those carvings. Every single one of
them required water to make. When we first came down to the underground palace, I guessed that there must be an
underground water vein around it. The amount of water used to build such a large underground palace is astonishing. The craftsmen who built this couldn't
have drawn water from the rivers outside the tunnels and brought it in. With their ingenuity, the most likely thing
they would have done was to find a way to dig a passage to the nearest underground water source and then draw water from there." Mr. Tang realized
that I understood his point and then elaborated on his idea. "When I led my men to this passage
, we discovered it was clearly a separate extension. And as you've noticed
, the number of burial chambers along this passage is far fewer than in the central area of the underground palace, and the floors and walls
are very rough, with exposed soil in many places. As for rooms, it seems that besides one at the corner
, the only other one is the one we're in now. I've thought about it, and this shouldn't be a burial chamber, but
rather a room used by the craftsmen who built the underground palace to store materials or other items. Therefore, I believe
this passage isn't part of the underground palace, but rather a transport route used for construction.
If we continue down, we should be able to find the place where the craftsmen dug to fetch water. Perhaps we can find
a way out there. If not, we can try to blast
a path along the underground river with explosives..." "I see. If we're going to use explosives to clear a path, my presence increases our chances of success
." I nodded. "I understand. I'll go out right away and have them inventory all the explosives and detonators
. Knowing the quantities will help me calculate the usage. By the way, when do you plan to take us
away?" Mr. Tang asked, catching his breath. "I might need to rest a bit more.
I used too much energy dealing with those zombie puppets." Seeing this, I immediately got up to go out and inventory the explosives and detonators. Remembering Lu Laosan
's description of Mr. Tang's methods for dealing with the zombie puppets, a thought suddenly struck me. I turned to Mr. Tang and asked,
"I heard you say you have friends around here? Is one of your friends named Wang Lie?
"
Mr.
Tang, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them again after hearing my question. He stared at me
for a while, a hint of surprise in his eyes. After a moment, he spoke. "Are you talking about
Wang Lie, the one who runs a loan company here?" Hearing Mr. Tang say this, I realized he indeed knew Wang Lie. "
That's right! I'm talking about him." "So you know him too. No wonder you know about Yin Demons and the
Land of Transformation. ...You're right, he's one of my friends here. He's my colleague
. I should have informed him before coming here, but I neglected. Now
, I can't contact him." Mr. Tang shook his head, answering calmly, then sighed,
closed his eyes again, and leaned against the wall to rest.
Seeing Mr. Tang's attitude, I realized he didn't want to waste his energy
talking to me about Wang Lie and the others. So I gave up on trying to get more information about Wang Lie and the others from him.
Leaving the stone chamber, I went to the passage, grabbed Lu Laosan, and briefly told him about Mr. Tang's plan.
Without a word, Lu Laosan immediately gathered everyone together, explained the situation, and then asked everyone to
take out all the explosives and detonators they had and hand them over for me to count.
After counting, the haul was quite substantial. After clearing out all the explosives and detonators, they filled one and a half backpacks.
I called Qiangzi over to help me carry half a backpack, and after organizing the rest into another backpack, I carried it on
my back.
Having finished counting the explosives, we didn't know how much longer Mr. Tang would need to rest. We took out the canned
food and dry rations we had brought to replenish our strength. Seeing us eating outside, Zhou Jingyi came out of the room,
took two cans from us, opened them, and shared them with Lu Zhaohui and Mr. Tang. Then she came out, took
a can, and while eating, sat down next to me and curiously asked,
"Yan Ping, what did you and Mr. Tang talk about just now? I think I heard you talking about Yin Demons and Reincarnation
Land? What are those things?" "Well, actually, I don't know much about them. I've only heard
some generalities from friends. Yin Demons seem to be some kind of invisible ghost..." Since I had nothing else to do, I ate
my luncheon meat can while briefly telling Zhou Jingyi what I had learned from Han Zhe about Yin Demons
.
The woman seemed to take my stories as fascinating anecdotes to accompany her meal, listening with increasing interest,
constantly asking questions while eating. She seemed to have forgotten our surroundings. Even
after finishing her food, she seemed unsatisfied, still bombarding me with questions. Just as I was starting to get annoyed
, Mr. Tang helped the still-unable-to-move Lu Zhaohui out of the stone chamber. Upon seeing this, Zhou Jingyi
stopped pestering me and quickly took over from Mr. Tang to help Lu Zhaohui.
Mr. Tang seemed to have recovered considerably, although he still appeared somewhat weak. However,
judging from his movements, he seemed to be able to move freely.
"Lu Laosan, you take two men and lead the way! Yan Ping, Qiangzi, and I will stay behind to cover the rear.
The rest of you will protect Madam Lu in the middle. Don't stray too far apart, and if anything happens, warn us immediately! Alright
, everyone has rested and eaten. Let's set off now." Mr. Tang's previous display of power,
effortlessly eliminating dozens of corpse puppets, established his absolute authority among the group. Therefore, when he gave
his instructions, everyone immediately and unconditionally obeyed. Our group then headed towards this ...i=62> The journey began deeper into the passage. 　　The further the passage extended, the worse its construction quality became. The once neatly paved stone slabs gradually...

The rocks diminished until they disappeared, and the walls on both sides did the same, even revealing exposed rocks. Eventually,
the passage we were walking through became almost identical to the tunnels above the underground palace. As we walked, Qiangzi's
gaze towards the protruding rocks on the walls changed as he kept an eye on the passage behind him.
He muttered to himself as he walked, and Mr. Tang and I were puzzled by his behavior. Just as I was about to ask him
, he suddenly stopped in front of a rock protruding from the side wall. He repeatedly
shone his headlamp on this inconspicuous rock.
Mr. Tang was surprised by Qiangzi's sudden stop but didn't say anything. Having walked for some
time, he simply notified the two groups ahead to stop and rest. After giving the order,
Mr. Tang went to Qiangzi and asked him why he had stopped. Qiangzi didn't answer immediately. Instead,
he took the entrenching tool from my hand and forcefully chopped a small piece off the rock. Under the light
, the exposed surface of the ore reflected a metallic white luster.
Qiangzi examined the rock for a long time, finally trembling with excitement. He could barely speak
… "It…it really is…it’s a silver mine! I actually found it! I finally found it! Dad
and the others weren't wrong, there really is a silver mine here. There's a silver mine under Phoenix Mountain, and it's right here! But
…but…why? The mine is right here, so obvious…those ancient craftsmen must
have discovered it too! But…but why didn't they mine it?" Qiangzi was overjoyed to have finally discovered the
legendary Phoenix Mountain silver mine that had been passed down for generations in their mining family. Mr. Tang, on the other hand, looked thoughtful
. After a long while, he finally spoke. "Damn it, who
built this underground palace? What a grand scheme! To use it for exorcism, they actually sacrificed an entire silver mine!" Hearing Mr. Tang speak
, Qiangzi and I both focused our attention on his face.
Before we could ask, Mr. Tang explained himself. "I just realized it too
… this underground palace is probably surrounded by this silver mine. Brilliant, truly brilliant…
the person who built this underground palace is an unparalleled genius! To prevent anything inside from escaping, they've implemented layers of defense!
They even used a silver mine…" Seeing our puzzled expressions, Mr. Tang further
enlightened us. "You both know that silver can ward off evil spirits, right?" Hearing Mr. Tang say this,
Qiangzi and I both nodded. Silver, in both Eastern and Western mythology, is imbued with
connotations of purity and holiness. In some modern Western legends, silver weapons are
powerful tools against many demons and monsters. For example, the legendary werewolf is most afraid of silver bullets. And in Eastern customs, adorning
children with silver locks to ward off evil spirits is a common tradition.
Thinking of this, it suddenly dawned on me. "You mean, the reason the original builders chose to
excavate the underground palace here at Phoenix Mountain was because of this silver mine. To enclose the entire underground palace with the silver mine area? To
prevent the monsters suppressed within from escaping?" Mr. Tang nodded solemnly. "I've thought about it for a long time, and
this is the only possible reason! Otherwise, as Qiangzi said, those people who built the underground palace had
already dug up the location of this silver mine, so why didn't they mine it? Such a silver vein
would have been an astonishing fortune for any vassal state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods! Mining it would have quickly made the country rich and powerful.
But look, the people who built the underground palace only carved out a passage here,
completely ignoring the obvious ore on both sides. They couldn't possibly not recognize that these rocks are silver ore.
There's only one possibility for why they didn't mine it: they deliberately didn't! Their purpose was to use this thick
layer of silver ore to block the filth inside the underground palace." Just as he said this, the passage suddenly trembled slightly for no apparent reason
... Qiangzi, Mr. Tang, and I all showed expressions of horror!
"An earthquake? Or is someone blowing something up?" Mr. Tang leaned against the wall next to him and asked me in a low voice
.
I felt the tremor pass quickly; if it were an earthquake, it wouldn't last so short. I immediately
told Mr. Tang my assessment. "It's an explosion..." Mr. Tang frowned. "Could it be that Boss
He's group used explosives to clear a path?" I casually replied. "Perhaps..." Mr. Tang lowered his head and thought for a
while, then shook his head, seemingly not entirely agreeing with my assessment. However, although he disagreed, he
didn't dwell on the matter. Instead, he immediately called ahead to announce that the rest was over and we should set off again.
After advancing a distance, one of the tomb raiders who had been guarding Lu Zhaohui and Zhou Jingyi in the middle of the path
ran over from the front, looking quite nervous. Upon seeing the three of us, he reported to Mr. Tang. "Mr. Tang, Lu
Laosan has found a fork in the road ahead. He doesn't dare to make a decision on his own, so he sent word that he wants you to go ahead and make the decision!
" "Okay, I understand. You stay here and keep watch on the rear with the other two. I'll go ahead." Mr. Tang
agreed, then turned and patted my shoulder. "You're in charge of the rear. If any zombies follow,
stop them if you can. If there are too many and you can't stop them, just use explosives to collapse the passage behind. In short
, ensuring the safety of personnel is the top priority right now!" After seeing me nod, Mr. Tang immediately set
off quickly ahead. The messenger stayed behind as instructed by Mr. Tang, and together with Qiangzi and me, took on
the role of the rearguard. I vaguely remembered this person; I should have seen him at the tunnel camp, but I didn't know his name
. Qiangzi, having been with them for a longer time, knew the man's name. Seeing him
stay behind in place of Mr. Tang, he realized I didn't know him. So, as we walked, he introduced him to me
.
"Brother Ping, his name is Luo Zhendong. He's friends with Brother Leopard; they're both from Taiyuan, Shanxi. He used to take good care of
me." Hearing Qiangzi say this, Luo Zhendong and I smiled kindly at each other, chatted for a bit, and then ...i=61> They quickly became familiar with each other. 　　"Leopard told me about you before, he really admires you! Back in those tunnels, if it weren't for you..."

"If we had blown up the tunnel, he and Mr. Tang might have been swallowed by that monster. You're practically Leopard's savior
. And Mrs. Lu mentioned you on the way here, saying you took down three one-eyed monsters all by yourself.
That's amazing... Mr. Tang handled most of the ones we encountered before."
After a few words, Luo Zhendong began to flatter me.
"It's nothing much, that monster's weak point is its head. Hitting other places isn't very effective. But if you
can get a headshot, one shot will solve the problem..." I wasn't annoyed by his flattery at all; on the
contrary, I was very willing to share my experience in dealing with the zombie puppets with him. After all, in this situation, if
we encountered a large group of zombie puppets again, I definitely wouldn't be able to handle it alone. If Luo Zhendong could learn from my
experience and help, it would be a good thing for me and everyone here.
Hearing how simple I made it sound, Luo Zhendong gave a wry smile! "Brother Ping, we all know that the monster's weak point is its head
!" "But we don't have your mental fortitude, to aim so accurately! You don't know, it's not just me
, all of us, when we face that monster, hearing that hissing sound from its mouth, our
hands tremble uncontrollably. Just being able to pull the trigger is a feat. How can we possibly aim and shoot..." Luo Zhendong
said, and Qiangzi chimed in, "That's right, me too. Don't laugh at me, Brother Ping, but when we
encountered those monsters, all I could do was run with everyone else. I don't know why, but hearing
that sound from the monster's mouth makes my hands and legs shake. Just being able to take a step and escape is a struggle." " Sigh, Ping-ge, after all,
you've been in the army, you've been trained, your mental fortitude is much better than ours..." Qiangzi said, and I immediately
felt doubtful. Although I had been in the army, I didn't think my military service experience had significantly improved my mental fortitude
. For soldiers, the true spiritual baptism can only come from the battlefield. During my time in the army
, the border was peaceful, so naturally I never went to the battlefield. I don't know about Luo Zhendong's situation, but
in my impression, Qiangzi's mental fortitude wasn't bad. I remember a few years ago, Yan Guang and his gang
had a fight with another gang of thugs. During that fight, the other side used a gunpowder gun, and Qiangzi couldn't dodge in time
; his left forearm was beaten bloody, even the bone was exposed. But even in that situation, Qiangzi
still fought frantically, and later, because of this "heroic deed"... He successfully became
a minor leader and core member of Yan Guang's gang. An ordinary person seeing their bones exposed
would likely experience extreme fear, but Qiangzi seemed completely unfazed. His psychological resilience
was definitely beyond that of ordinary people. Even now, Qiangzi admitted that facing the corpse puppet, he was so terrified he couldn't even hold his gun
steady. I vaguely realized that this couldn't be explained simply by psychological strength
.
Not long after, the three of us rear guards arrived at the fork in the road. After checking the markings left by Mr. Tang and Lu Laosan
, we chose to turn left again.
As soon as we turned, the light in Qiangzi's hand illuminated something terrifying. The entrance to the left passage... A few meters away in a corner,
a mutilated skeleton lay on the ground. As I passed the skeleton, I suddenly noticed that
a section of its left rib was neatly missing, as if it had been cleanly sliced off by a huge cleaver.
Continuing forward, we encountered several more skeletons on either side of the passage. Qiangzi and Luo Zhendong were busy walking, but I
noticed that these skeletons were almost all like the first one, with missing left ribs…
However, seeing skeletons in succession made Qiangzi and Luo Zhendong feel a certain unease. As they walked, they
glanced at each other, both puzzled as to why Mr. Tang had chosen this passage. But just as
the three of us were wondering, shouts came from the passage ahead:
"Rear guards, hurry up! Everyone, assemble!" "Upon hearing the summons, the three of us
quickened our pace to catch up with the main group. After joining the others, we discovered a rather vast pit
-like space before us…
In the center of the space was a large, sunken pit, scattered with numerous bones. Due to its age,
many bones were half-buried in the soil, almost fused with it.
Mr. Tang squatted solemnly beside the pit, holding a lantern and observing the situation while deep in thought
. The others, perhaps worried about disturbing Mr. Tang's concentration, huddled together at a distance, awaiting his
further instructions. I approached Lu Laosan, who was closest to Mr. Tang and the pit, and whispered, 'What is this
place?' Lu Laosan lowered his voice. 'I think it's a burial pit, very common in Spring and Autumn Period tombs.'"
However, Mr. Tang seemed to disagree…” I tended to agree with Lu Laosan’s view. During the Spring and Autumn
Period, the practice of funerary sacrifice was prevalent. Although Mr. Tang said this underground palace was a cage used to suppress some demon
, it was also indeed a tomb. After all, the coffin in the main burial chamber didn’t seem like mere decoration.
Moreover, there was a real epitaph stone tablet for Xia Nan. Since it was a tomb, the presence of funerary pits seemed
natural.
However, neither Lu Laosan nor I were absolutely confident in our opinions. After all, among us
, Mr. Tang was ultimately the one most qualified to speak on this underground palace. Therefore,
we could only wait silently until Mr. Tang made his judgment and decision.
After a while, we noticed that Mr. Tang’s expression gradually softened from serious to relaxed, and
finally, he even showed a slight smile. This made those of us who had been focusing on Mr. Tang’s expression
breathe a sigh of relief.
Mr. Tang stood up with a relaxed expression and looked at us.” " This isn't a burial pit, it's a sacrificial pit.
It doesn't contain human sacrifices. It's all bones of animals like cattle, sheep, and horses. This is the actual
foundation stone for the underground palace!" He then swept the beam of his lantern across the space opposite the pit. "
There should be another passage on the other side. Lu Laosan, you take some men to pinpoint the entrance. Yan Ping, the three of you continue to guard the entrance.
I'm going to find the inscription tablet; the rest of you rest here."Upon hearing Mr. Tang's order, the two groups that were summoned quickly took action.
They sprang into action. Lu Laosan, leading two men, groped their way along the edge of the pit towards the dark space on the other side.
Mr. Tang circled around from the other side of the pit, and after taking a few steps, he called out again, "
There are lampstands here too. Anyone have a lighter? Light them all!" After Mr. Tang finished speaking, two more
people ran out from the group and, following Mr. Tang's instructions, lit the lampstands along the edge of the space one by one.
Qiangzi, Luo Zhendong, and I, as instructed by Mr. Tang, stood guard at the entrance of the space. Soon, light
came from behind us. The three of us turned around and looked, finally seeing the actual situation inside the space.
This space was quite large, even larger than the camp in the tunnel above us. The walls around the space
were much more elaborate than those of the outer passage. Like the main burial chamber in the underground palace, the walls were made of stone bricks. Therefore,
the stone lampstands extending from the walls, which were common in the underground palace, were also present here. However, these lampstands were clearly
uncarved, simply extending stone pillars.
The entire space was arranged in a square shape around the central sacrificial pit. The pit was vast, roughly
the size of two basketball courts. On a raised stone platform in the center of the pit stood a massive bronze square
ding (a type of ancient Chinese cooking vessel). Visually, it appeared to be more than twice the size of the Simurong Square Ding in the museum's collection. On either
side of the ding stood two stone warrior statues, exceptionally tall, their leather armor meticulously carved, even
the seams along the edges faintly visible. The warriors had solemn faces, exuding imposing power, each holding a
large, broad sword, standing opposite each other on either side of the ding.
Seeing the massive ding and the lifelike warrior sculptures, those present couldn't help but whisper among themselves. Luo Zhendong,
looking back, shook his head in regret. "This is a real treasure, it's just a pity it's too heavy
. If we could get it out, we'd be living the high life for the rest of our lives..." I heard Luo Zhendong still thinking about
taking things from here, and I couldn't help but warn him. "Zhendong, what time is it? Still thinking about getting rich? We're
lucky we even got out of here alive! Those one-eyed monsters probably appeared because you pried open that
stone tablet in the underground palace! Learn from your mistakes. Everything down here has an evil aura, it's best not to touch it
!" Hearing me say this, Luo Zhendong chuckled twice. "Brother Ping, I heard you and Qiangzi came down here
to explore and take pictures, not like us. That makes sense. We're used to it.
Seeing these ancient artifacts, we're just tempted! You're right, leaving is the most important thing
. I dare not touch anything in here again." At this moment, Mr. Tang, who was on the right side of the pit, called out loudly in this direction. "
The inscription is here, it looks like it's in bronze script. Anyone here who recognizes it, come here." The
tomb raiders who remained looked at each other, and finally someone stepped forward, calling out to Mr. Tang, "I recognize some, but
not all of them." Mr. Tang immediately waved him over. "It's alright, recognize as many as you can." Upon seeing Mr. Tang's call
, the person who stepped forward immediately ran over. On the other side, Lu Laosan also found
the entrance to the passage opposite the pit. Without further instructions from Mr. Tang, he, like my group, simply stood
guard at the entrance.
Zhou Jingyi had somehow slipped to my side. She was clearly terrified of the bones scattered throughout the pit
, and whispered to me, "Are these really all animal bones? No dead people?" I
knew a little about ancient rituals, and considering her fear, I decided to explain a little to reassure her
.
"Mr. Tang said it's a sacrificial pit, not a burial pit. If it were a sacrificial pit, there shouldn't be
any human bones in it. During the Spring and Autumn Period, human sacrifices were rare. Generally, the so-called '
three sacrificial animals' were used. The most common animals were horses, cattle, and sheep. I remember that the Records of the Grand Historian recorded that
when Duke Xiang of Qin, the founding monarch of the Qin state, established the Qin state, he used three each of foals, yellow cattle, and rams to sacrifice to Heaven
and declare Qin as a vassal state. Yellow cattle and rams are easy to understand, but foals seem to specifically refer to red foals under two years old
. Hmm, there seem to be a lot of offerings in this sacrificial pit. It seems that the sacrificial ceremony held here
was even more grand than the sacrificial ceremony held when the Qin state was founded." Hearing my confident answer, Zhou Jingyi patted
her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'm relieved. Walking over there just now, those skeletons gave
me the creeps. If all the bones in here were dead, I really wouldn't dare stay here for a second longer.
" Seeing Zhou Jingyi's current state, I couldn't help but complain to her. "I told you not to follow me, but you wouldn't listen
. You actually ran into the tunnel by yourself. Back then, weren't you pretty brave? How come you're
so scared now?" Zhou Jingyi glared at me, pouting as she immediately retorted. "
I used to play in these mines around Phoenix Mountain a lot when I was a kid. This time,
I was just walking a bit further in, what's so scary about that? Isn't it your fault I'm here? You were detained, and I came in without a warning, making
me detained like you! Aren't you to blame?" "You…" Hearing Zhou Jingyi shift all the blame
onto me, I was momentarily speechless. In that situation, who the hell
knew who came in? Now, Zhou Jingyi has fully displayed the shamelessness unique to women,
pointing the finger at me as the direct person responsible for her being detained. My face involuntarily twitched...
In the end, I swallowed my anger and decided not to stoop to her level.
Seeing that I remained silent, Zhou Jingyi revealed a smug expression, arrogantly
turning away from me and walking back to Lu Zhaohui's side. Lu Zhaohui saw this and gave me a slightly consoling smile.
Seeing this smile, I had a strange feeling for a moment...
"Mom?" For some reason, the smile Lu Zhaohui showed at this moment unconsciously reminded me
of my own mother. I have never seen what my mother looks like, and I don't know what kind of smile she would give her children .i=60> However, the smile on Lu Zhaohui's face at that moment revealed a kind of gentle kindness, as if she were watching her own children 　　playfully bickering. This naturally made me unconsciously feel a sense of...

My mother's longing.
Understanding the reason behind this, I nervously avoided Lu Zhaohui's smile. I recalled
chatting with two women on the road, during which Lu Zhaohui jokingly expressed her desire to adopt Zhou Jingyi as her goddaughter. Although
probably none of the three of us took the joke seriously at the time, now I was reminded of my own
mother through Lu Zhaohui's words.
"If my mother were alive, she'd be about the same age as Aunt Lu, right? Hmm, no, my mother should
be older than Aunt Lu, well past fifty now..." Lost in thought, I watched as Mr. Tang and
the tomb raider he had summoned seemed to have finished deciphering the inscription and hurriedly returned, joining the others
.
The expressions on their faces were rather strange, a mixture of relief and
seriousness. After reuniting with everyone, Mr. Tang slowly spoke,
"We've finally figured out who built this place!" someone quickly asked. "Who were
they?" Mr. Tang answered solemnly. "This underground palace, the labyrinth, and those two spiral
passages above were all built under the supervision of Wu Zixu and Sun Wu!" Hearing Mr. Tang utter these two names, I
could hardly believe my ears!
Wu Zixu, who revived Wu and destroyed Chu; Sun Wu, the ancient military strategist… The fame of these two in Chinese history
even surpasses that of many emperors! And this strange underground palace we were in was actually
built by these two super geniuses, which almost gave everyone present a severe sense of unreality.
"Although we didn't recognize all the characters on the foundation stone inscription, we basically understood the meaning. This
underground palace was built jointly by Wu Zixu and Sun Wu under the orders of King Helü of Wu, with the purpose of suppressing evil spirits
." After realizing that we had seriously distrusted what he had said before, Mr. Tang
explained to us again what he had learned from the stone tablet.
"You mean, the Xia Nan buried here is a monster?" Although Lu Zhaohui trusted and
relied heavily on Mr. Tang, she still voiced her question.
"The inscription doesn't specify what kind of monster it is. However, judging from Xia Nan's
epitaph in the main burial chamber, Wu Zixu and Sun Wu must have had a reason for burying Xia Nan here. But all of that is irrelevant to
us now. What I want to say is that, according to the inscription on the stone tablet,
the location of the underground water source we are looking for should be at the end of the next passage!" As Mr. Tang spoke, he looked at me
.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I understood what Mr. Tang meant by looking at me. Once we found the connection between the underground water vein and this underground palace
, it would be time for me to play my role. Therefore, when Mr. Tang turned his gaze to me, I
nodded solemnly to him.
Seeing my clear statement, Mr. Tang stopped talking and instructed everyone to organize their equipment and items, preparing
to enter the passage entrance that Lu Laosan and the others were currently guarding.
Just then, everyone felt the ground shake again. Mr. Tang frowned. The others
seemed fine, but Lu Zhaohui suddenly became agitated. Seemingly overcome with fear, she collapsed
to the ground, clutching her shoulders tightly with her arms crossed, her whole body trembling violently. Seeing this, Zhou Jingyi
quickly knelt down and hugged her.
"Aunt Lu, what's wrong?" Lu Zhaohui looked up at Zhou Jingyi with a terrified
expression and stammered, "Did you hear me? Did you hear me?" Zhou Jingyi blinked repeatedly, clearly not understanding
what Lu Zhaohui was saying. Mr. Tang quickly knelt beside Lu Zhaohui and anxiously inquired. "Mrs. Lu,
what did you hear? Can you tell me?" "Can't you all hear me?" Lu Zhaohui's eyes widened in terror
as she shouted at Mr. Tang, "Such a loud sound? You can't hear me? Listen, listen...
Someone's calling, calling something like 'Anan,' 'Anan!'" Suddenly, Lu Zhaohui screamed, her voice trembling as
she cried out, "It's Xia Nan, it's that Xia Nan... He's become a ghost, chasing us
... Run... Ugh..." With a "smack," Mr. Tang suddenly struck Lu Zhaohui hard on the back of her neck, at
the acupoint Naohu. Lu Zhaohui immediately lost consciousness...
Mr. Tang stood up and shouted. "It's nothing. Mrs. Lu is probably just too nervous and is
experiencing auditory hallucinations. Yan Ping, I heard you carried Mrs. Lu all the way here, so you
should carry her again. Miss Zhou, you go with Yan Ping and help take care of her. Qiangzi, Yan Ping is your older brother, so you
should go with him too. Everyone, grab your things and get out of here immediately. I'll cover the rear!"
Mr. Tang shouted to Lu Laosan and the others guarding the entrance to the passage opposite the pit. "Lu Laosan,
you lead the way, let's go!" With Mr. Tang's clear instructions, everyone immediately sprang into action
. With the help of Qiangzi and Zhou Jingyi, I carried the unconscious Lu Zhaohui on my back. Luo Zhendong
took the backpack from me. Then, carrying Lu Zhaohui, I went around the pit and quickly ran with the group to
the entrance of the passage opposite the pit. As we entered the passage, I couldn't help but glance back at the stone chamber behind us, only to find that
Mr. Tang, who had indicated he would cover the rear alone, hadn't followed us around the large pit
. Instead, he had rushed directly to the giant cauldron in the center of the sacrificial pit.
Seeing this, I immediately stopped. I didn't understand what Mr. Tang was doing.
I stopped, and Qiangzi, Zhou Jingyi, and Luo Zhendong, the three people surrounding me, also
stopped in confusion. Turning around, they too saw Mr. Tang's strange behavior.
"What...what is he doing?" Zhou Jingyi stared wide-eyed at the center of the sacrificial pit, trembling as she
asked.
No one answered her, because apart from her, none of the three people present knew Mr. Tang's purpose.i=65> Mr. Tang ripped off the bandages from his arms, revealing them already covered in cuts and 　　bruises. He then pulled out his pure silver dagger from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and bit down. Then,

Standing before the giant bronze cauldron, Mr. Tang placed one hand gently on his chest, while the other drooped and then slowly swung upwards,
the gesture resembling a shield in one hand and a weapon in the other.
After watching Mr. Tang's next few movements, I immediately recognized what he was doing! He was actually dancing, and dancing the
"Dance of the Shield and Axe!" The Dance of the Shield and Axe is an ancient dance. However, this dance was not intended for entertainment
. In ancient times, it existed primarily as a military dance used to demonstrate formations and drills within the army
; in other words, it was similar to military gymnastics for ancient soldiers. Later, with
the advancement and improvement of military technology, the Dance of the Shield and Axe disappeared from the realm of military training, eventually evolving into a purely
sacrificial dance.
Just as I expected, after performing a few dance moves, Mr. Tang removed
the dagger from his mouth with his right hand. While continuing his axe and shield dance, he began humming the
tune of the "Fengping Music Chapter," a melody played during ancient imperial
sacrifices to Heaven, in his hoarse voice. "Could it be... could it be that Mr. Tang... he wants to perform a sacrifice to Heaven and Earth like the ancients? But the entire
ritual of ancient sacrifices is extremely complex, requiring several steps..." Watching Mr. Tang's actions,
I almost suspected he had gone mad!
You must know that sacrifices in ancient times were extremely solemn and sacred activities. Every step,
the music played, and the offerings were meticulously planned. I had once observed a replica of an ancient sacrifice
, and I vividly remember the complexity of the entire process.
For example, the "Fengping Music Chapter" that Mr. Tang was humming and the axe and shield dance he was performing
were already the fourth ritual in the ancient sacrificial ceremony, the initial offering, a step in presenting libations to the gods. Normally,
there are three steps before this: the first ritual, welcoming the Emperor God, and playing the "Shi Ping Yue Zhang" (Music of the Beginning of Peace);
the second ritual, offering jade and silk, and playing the "Jing Ping Yue Zhang" (Music of Enlightened Peace); the third ritual, presenting the sacrificial offerings, and playing the "Xian Ping Yue Zhang" (Music of Universal Peace)...
Mr. Tang, however, simply skipped the first three steps. Would such a sacrifice be effective? I
was dumbfounded...
Mr. Tang's entire attention was focused on the bronze cauldron, unaware that the four of us at the entrance
were observing his every move. His expression was solemn, showing no trace of joking. I didn't move, and
the three people beside me didn't move either.
After Mr. Tang finished humming and dancing, he knelt before the bronze cauldron. Holding the dagger
, he forcefully slashed his left palm, then switched the dagger to his right hand and did the same. Moments later,
both hands were covered in blood… He then bit the dagger and used his blood-soaked hands to smear the blood directly
onto the rim of the bronze cauldron. Then, I witnessed an astonishing scene. The cauldron seemed to suck blood,
but the blood on the rim vanished instantly. Mr. Tang seemed to realize the blood wasn't enough,
so he repeatedly squeezed his wrists with both hands, causing more blood to flow, which he then smeared onto
the cauldron. Again and again…
Luo Zhendong watched, trembling with fear, and said, "Mr. Tang has already lost a lot of blood; he
'll definitely die from blood loss if this continues." Hearing Luo Zhendong's words, I turned and
put Lu Zhaohui down from behind. Then I said to Qiangzi… "Qiangzi, you carry Aunt Lu, I'll go pull Mr. Tang back
." Just as I finished speaking, a sound came from the passage we had come from.
"Tap...tap...tap...tap..." The sound was steady, as if a very heavy person
was walking steadily forward.
Hearing this sound, Zhou Jingyi, Qiangzi, and the others all showed expressions of fear.
"Yan Ping, forget about Mr. Tang, let's go quickly!" Zhou Jingyi grabbed my hand. I
shook off Zhou Jingyi's pull. At this moment, I suddenly realized the purpose of Mr. Tang's actions.
Clearly, Mr. Tang had learned some secrets of this underground palace while deciphering the stone inscription
. And he deliberately concealed this secret from us. The purpose was likely to prevent us from
feeling fear and despair. His decision to stay behind alone to cover the retreat was most likely because he planned to
deal with the situation alone. His dancing and offering of his blood before the giant cauldron clearly indicated he wanted to
achieve something through this sacrificial process.
"Qiangzi, carry Aunt Lu on your back! Jingyi, Zhendong, you two hurry up and go too…" I turned and
yelled at the three of them.
Qiangzi had already taken off his backpack and carried Lu Zhaohui on his back, but seeing that I was going back to assist Mr. Tang
, he immediately became anxious.
"Ping-ge, don't go over there! Something's coming! You should come with us!" "You don't know anything
! Without Mr. Tang leading the way, none of us will be able to leave here. If we're going to leave, we'll have
to drag him along!" This was actually my true thought at that moment!
I'm certainly not some selfless hero. I just clearly understand one fact. This underground palace
contains countless secrets. And right now, only Mr. Tang has some knowledge of these secrets
. Only with him is there any hope for us to escape successfully. Without him, we
are very likely to be trapped and die inside the mountain.
I know myself too well; in a sense, my personality is that of a gambler! When I
applied to the group company for a transfer to the Middle East as a war correspondent, wasn't I also gambling with my fate
? Either I achieved great success, or I died on the chaotic battlefield. And I've always believed that's the
fate a man should have. So when Qiangzi asked me to lead them away from here, I didn't hesitate
to turn back and assist Mr. Tang.
Seeing my resolute attitude, I rushed back into the stone chamber where the sacrificial pit was located. Zhou Jingyi suddenly gritted her teeth and
followed me in. Qiangzi stood there for a moment, then turned and tossed Lu Zhaohui to Luo Zhendong again .i=65> also turned back. Perhaps encouraged by the courage of the three of us, Luo Zhendong placed Lu Zhaohui on the ground.

Holding a rifle, I finally caught up.
The sounds coming from the opposite passage grew clearer, and Mr. Tang had clearly heard them too, his expression becoming increasingly
tense. But when he saw the four of us suddenly turn back and appear before him, he still showed
a look of shock.
At this moment, he was exhausted from blood loss. Even so, he still managed to
shout to us, "Go! I'll hold them off here!" He coughed loudly as soon as he finished speaking.
I jumped into the sacrificial pit first and rushed to him. "Without you leading the way, we definitely won't get
out. I'll carry you." After saying that, I reached out to pull Mr. Tang onto my back.
Mr. Tang used almost all his last strength to shake off my outstretched hand and explained breathlessly
. "No, if we can't activate these two stone golems through sacrifice to stop what's behind us, even if we
manage to escape, none of us will escape our cursed fate!" "What did you say?" Hearing Mr. Tang
say this, I stared at him wide-eyed, because I didn't understand what he meant for a moment.
Just as Mr. Tang was about to explain more clearly to me, the footsteps in the passage stopped...
At the entrance of the passage we had come from earlier, a tall figure appeared in our sight.
When we saw the figure's appearance clearly, Zhou Jingyi immediately let out a high-pitched scream!
To be precise, what we saw in front of us was not a person, but a living walking corpse! The whole body was covered
with heavy ancient armor, but a head protruding from the armor was not covered by skin. The entire head
was almost a skull wrapped in facial muscles, with a pair of blood-red eyeballs bulging out, the nose just two black
hollows, and the two rows of teeth in the mouth were unusually white, which looked particularly conspicuous.
Without hesitation, Luo Zhendong and Qiangzi raised their weapons and began
firing at the zombie before them.
Bullets struck the zombie's body accurately. The zombie was
knocked back a few steps by the force of the bullets, but then regained its footing. Its red eyes darted back and forth, scanning
the people in the sacrificial pit. Finally, its gaze settled on Zhou Jingyi, the only woman present. It grinned,
seemingly chuckling, and then strode towards her.
It seemed to completely ignore Luo Zhendong and Qiangzi, who had just fired.
Enraged by the zombie's disregard, Qiangzi and Luo Zhendong opened fire
again. Several more bullets struck the zombie, which only swayed slightly, without slowing its pace
. Zhou Jingyi was clearly stunned by what she was seeing, standing frozen in place, her
legs trembling violently…
As the zombie drew closer to Zhou Jingyi, Qiangzi and Luo Zhendong had no choice but to stop firing.
Firing again would likely injure Zhou Jingyi. The two could only charge at the zombie
, trying to stop it.
However, the zombie simply waved its hand, sending the two flying. I
couldn't care less about Mr. Tang at that moment; I leaped from the side and pounced on the zombie. The instant I touched it,
a strong stench of decay filled my nostrils, making me almost vomit on the spot…
The collision felt like hitting solid steel; I was thrown back and
landed on the ground. The zombie turned and glanced at me. At that moment, I had forgotten my fear and defiantly met
its gaze. The instant our eyes met, the stinging pain returned, and my vision was
once again enveloped in a golden halo. Two plumes of black smoke immediately billowed from the zombie's blood-red eyeballs…
At that moment, the zombie seemed to lose its balance, staggering several steps to the side.
Simultaneously, it opened its mouth and let out a shrill, piercing roar. However, only a moment later, the zombie regained its balance.
This time, it clearly abandoned its original target, Zhou Jingyi, and instead charged towards me. One
arm, now only a few slivers of muscle tissue clinging to the bone and exposing its white flesh, blocked its eyes, while its other hand
slammed down towards me.
I quickly rolled several times to the side, dodging the zombie's attack,
leaving a deep gash where I had been standing.
Realizing I had dodged its attack, the zombie turned and charged at me again. The zombie was
incredibly fast; I had only half-scratched my feet and didn't have time to dodge. Just as the zombie's arm was about to smash
into me, a gunshot rang out. Zhou Jingyi finally snapped out of her panic and
fired a shot at the zombie's back, causing it to sway. At the same time, Mr. Tang had somehow
appeared beside me, desperately swinging his silver dagger, striking the zombie's arm with
a clanging sound like metal clashing. The zombie's arm's trajectory changed, and I barely managed to dodge
the attack again.
"Blood... the sacrifice needs blood! Go quickly..." Mr. Tang gasped, struggling to stay
upright, blocking me and the zombie, shouting breathlessly.
On the other side, Qiangzi, who had just managed to get up, heard Mr. Tang's shouts and understood his meaning
. He wanted us to do what he did, cut our bodies, and smear our blood on the bronze cauldron as a sacrifice. He then
scrambled towards the cauldron.
Mr. Tang noticed Qiangzi's movements out of the corner of his eye and, understanding Qiangzi's purpose, quickly stopped
him. "Qiangzi, yours is useless... You need Yan Ping's!" Qiangzi turned his head, staring blankly at Mr. Tang,
seemingly at a loss. I, however, didn't care about anything else and rushed to the bronze
cauldron as instructed by Mr. Tang. After frantically rummaging around, I finally pulled out the Swiss Army knife I had picked up earlier from my breast pocket
...
Mr. Tang, due to excessive blood loss, could barely stand or shout. Just as he called out to Qiangzi, a
zombie's outstretched arm grabbed his neck and lifted him into the air. But he was, after all, a "professional exorcist."
Even now, remaining calm, I struggled to raise my blood-soaked hands and grabbed the zombie's arm
. The moment we made contact, the zombie's arm sizzled, and wisps of
black smoke rose from the gap between the bloodied hand and arm.
The zombie let out another piercing scream, its white, bony fingers loosening their grip on Mr. Tang's neck.
Mr. Tang also released his grip, his body collapsing to the ground.
I took my Swiss Army knife and, mimicking Mr. Tang's actions, slashed my palm,
smearing the blood onto the bronze cauldron. Like Mr. Tang's blood, mine vanished instantly
. Just as I thought it wasn't enough and prepared to smear more blood, the entire stone chamber suddenly trembled
…
The stone statues standing on either side of the bronze cauldron emitted a dim light.
The zombie had clearly noticed… Realizing this, it abandoned its plan to continue attacking Mr. Tang, turned around, and charged towards
the passage we had originally intended to escape through. However, just as it passed a stone statue,
the statue suddenly moved. The massive sword that had been pressed to the ground was raised high by the statue's hands and slammed down heavily
in front of the zombie, blocking its path. Then, the other statue stepped forward,
standing in front of the zombie, and also swung its greatsword at it. In a moment,
the two stone warrior statues became the zombie's opponents, relentlessly attacking it with their greatswords. The zombie was forced
to retreat under the onslaught of the two stone warrior statues.
"Go...go quickly..." Seeing the stone statue begin attacking the walkers with its sword, Mr. Tang immediately screamed
at the top of his lungs. I had no time to think about what was happening. Hearing Mr. Tang's
scream, I almost reflexively turned and rushed to his side, grabbed his hand, and
dragged him onto my left shoulder. Carrying him, I ran towards our pre-arranged escape route
.
The walkers, seeing me carrying Mr. Tang, let out piercing screams, but no matter how they moved,
their path was blocked by the massive blades wielded by the stone statue warriors. They could only watch helplessly as I carried
Mr. Tang to the entrance.
Recovering from the initial panic... After firing a shot at the zombie, Zhou Jingyi quickly ran to the entrance
to observe. Seeing me carrying Mr. Tang, she rushed over to support me. Qiangzi and Luo Zhendong, both
intelligent men, realized the zombies were being blocked by the stone warriors and also rushed to
the entrance.
The four of us didn't speak; we all understood what to do! Qiangzi rushed to Lu Zhaohui's side, hoisted her onto his shoulder,
and sprinted into the passage. Luo Zhendong followed closely behind, dragging his backpack containing explosives and detonators.
Zhou Jingyi and I supported Mr. Tang as we followed.
After running for a while, Mr. Tang seemed to have regained some strength. Panting, he turned to me and said
, "Yan Ping, Miss Zhou can help me. You stay behind and do your part. To prevent that monster from
possibly rushing over from the puppet warriors, you'd better blow up this whole path!" "I turned my head and questioned. "
Detonating it is no problem, but this place is too narrow. If we detonate it, it's very likely that, like last time, the back will
collapse as well as the front!" Mr. Tang replied quite firmly. "If that's the case, then it's
our fate! If you're worried about being trapped here, you and Miss Zhou go, I'll stay and blast the tunnel
!" Hearing Mr. Tang's resolute words, I could only sigh.
Mr. Tang hadn't received any professional training in explosives, and if he stayed to blast the tunnel, he would most likely not understand
the dosage and the best blasting location. The result of the blast would most likely be the worst-case scenario I had anticipated.
Now, only I could take on the task he had assigned me once again.
Having figured this out, I immediately called out loudly to Luo Zhendong, who was running ahead.
"Zhendong, Zhendong..." Hearing my call, Luo Zhendong stopped and turned around to respond.
"Brother Ping, what's the matter?" "Leave the bag containing the explosives and detonators; I'm going to blow up the tunnel in the back! Come over here and
help Mr. Tang with Zhou Jingyi." "After hearing my words, Luo Zhendong immediately turned and ran back. He
handed me the bag containing explosives and detonators, then took over from me and Zhou Jingyi, helping Mr. Tang chase after Qiangzi
.
Watching their figures disappear from sight, I helplessly stayed behind, putting down
the headlamp Luo Zhendong had left me for illumination, and began digging grooves on both sides of the passage to set up explosive points.
At this point, the only tool I had was my Swiss Army knife. After meeting up with Mr. Tang and the others, I
gave the Type 81 semi-automatic rifle I had picked up to Qiangzi; he had dropped it
near the sacrificial pit in his haste. If he hadn't, the butt could have been used as a digging tool. Fortunately, this
passage was much narrower than the one above. In my opinion, just digging two explosive points diagonally above both sides of the passage
and placing a suitable amount of explosives would be enough to create a blocking explosion effect.
As I dug, I silently prayed, 'Please, please, don't let that monster break through the statue's barrier!'"
"If it appeared in front of me at this moment, I would definitely be dead..." Or perhaps my prayers worked
. After I dug two blast points and set up the explosives, detonators, and fuses, everything went
very smoothly.
I bent over, extending the fuse backward, making sure I had enough time to run backward
before the explosion. I took out a lighter and lit the fuse. Just as I stood up to run backward, I looked
up and saw a white figure standing below the two blast points, staring at me without moving...
It was that long-haired woman in white again!
I stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded.
Although both had long hair and wore white, and looked the same, I now realized the difference between her and the corpse puppet
! The corpse puppet seemed to only be able to crawl on all fours. But this woman in white, like an ordinary person, only used Walking on two feet. And at this moment, the woman deliberately swept her long hair, which had previously covered her face, to both sides, in my...

Her beautiful face was now fully revealed before me…
“How is this possible? How did she get here? Didn’t those two stone warriors in the sacrificial hall stop
her? Or is she even stronger than that zombie, breaking through their blockade? That’s impossible.
That zombie’s speed and movements seemed even faster than this woman in white, yet it was completely blocked by the two statues …” I was 　　utterly bewildered
by the reason the woman in white was here . 　　The woman in white realized I was looking at her and turned her face away in a panic. I didn’t believe her turning away 　　was due to feminine shyness. She was trembling all over, constantly trying to avoid my gaze, clearly 　　terrified of my stare. 　　Just as I was at a loss, the woman suddenly spoke. Her voice was low and husky, but 　　extremely magnetic, similar to a mid-to-low range female singer. She mumbled several words, but I 　　couldn't understand a word. I vaguely sensed her pronunciation was somewhat similar to the Hakka dialect of southern China. Unfortunately 　　, although I understand some Hakka, at this moment I only felt her language resembled 　　Hakka; I had no idea what she was trying to say or express. 　　The woman seemed to realize I couldn't understand her, and began gesturing repeatedly in front of me. She 　　pointed at herself, then at me, and made a dragging motion… 　　At that moment, I seemed to understand a little. It seemed she wanted me to take her away from here 　　. Realizing this, I found it utterly ridiculous. This woman in white was clearly 　　a monster existing in this underground palace, and now she was expressing a desire to leave. 　　Just then, I suddenly remembered that I seemed to have already lit the detonator fuse. Looking down, 　　I saw the sizzling fuse on the ground, now only half a meter away from the two detonators at their detonation points. I was so 　　focused on understanding the white-clad woman's words and actions that I'd completely forgotten why I was still there 　　. Realizing this, I stopped paying attention to her and turned to flee 　　. But as soon as I turned, I couldn't help glancing back at her. Seeing that I ignored 　　her and was about to leave, her beautiful face immediately showed extreme disappointment and sorrow, like 　　a young girl about to burst into tears. 　　Seeing her expression, I suddenly felt a pang of sympathy. And seeing her standing directly beneath the two blast points 　　, I was certain she would be severely impacted if she didn't move. Thinking this, 　　I didn't understand what was wrong with my mind. I turned and rushed to her side, grabbed 　　her hand, and dragged her deeper into the passage… 　　After running about ten meters with her, two muffled explosions sounded behind us. The explosive 　　blast came from behind me, and I felt a violent tremor before being blown away...

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