Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
I shuddered violently, quickly pulling my thoughts back, not daring to dwell on them any longer. Just imagining it was enough to drive a person insane!
Old Qiao tossed the rope down again, and I caught it. I turned to A Chen and said, "You go first!" A Chen shook his head lightly. "I can hold on a little longer; you go ahead!"
Liu Zi, hearing this, cursed loudly, "You all better not move! I'm going first!" With all his strength, he began to "swim" towards us, but the more anxious he became, the more he sank instead of moving forward.
Just then, a sudden whoosh echoed as a triple-stranded Safety Rope flew through the air, landing right by my junior brother. He reacted quickly and raised his hand to catch it. Third Granduncle Master's voice came from the other end of the rope, "Tie the rope to the Copper Door and everyone climb over!"
My junior brother shouted back, "You old fox! Why didn’t you come over sooner?"
Third Granduncle Master yelled, "No time for nonsense! If I don’t come over, how can I help you idiots? Stop talking and hurry up!"
Hearing Third Granduncle Master's words gave Liu Zi a boost of confidence. He urged us to move quickly while adjusting his position to swim towards the Copper Door. Suddenly, it seemed like he had activated some cheat; he swam faster and better than before. His body not only stopped sinking but began to float upwards gradually.
Everyone watched in astonishment, almost doubting that he had been pretending all along! Just then, that damned Corpse Bug bit me on the backside again. I nearly froze in place as I watched Liu Zi's solo swimming performance.
Back in reality, A Chen and I weren’t having such luck; we were still struggling to swim slowly and laboriously. It was nearly impossible to fight against the swarm of bloodthirsty Corpse Bugs below us with just our own strength. We could only rely on the rope my junior brother had thrown over to speed up a bit, but we still moved slowly with each step sinking deeper.
Suddenly, a flash of green light caught my eye, and A Chen exclaimed in pain. Turning my head just in time, I saw that a Corpse Bug had jumped out of the sand and bitten him on the nose. Just as I prepared to reach out and help him swat it away, I felt a sharp pain on my left cheek—damn it! I had been bitten too!
" Brother Qian Yi, catch this!" As the voice fell, a cleverly crafted dagger flew towards me. I hurriedly reached out to catch it and swept it across my left cheek. Just as I got rid of one bug, three more sprang out from the Quicksand simultaneously, biting into my neck and face. The pain felt like flesh being torn away!
In the quagmire, a sudden flash of blue light erupted from the quicksand. I squinted to see what was happening, and to my horror, countless blue Corpse Bugs shot up from the quicksand, charging straight at me and A Chen, targeting any exposed flesh—my head, face, neck, arms, chest… anywhere they could bite, they showed no mercy! With a single strike, they would take both skin and flesh.
Neither A Chen nor I expected these creatures to be so ferocious. We were momentarily stunned, unsure of what to do until someone suddenly shouted, “What are you waiting for? Get over here!”
It was as if we had awoken from a dream. We hastily waved our hands at our faces but dared not make any sudden movements. Each step felt like sinking deeper into the sand. Damn it! I wanted nothing more than to bolt away, but my body felt heavy and sluggish. Here we were, just waiting to be slaughtered—it was infuriating!
That rascal Liu Zi had already managed to crawl ashore as if he had some kind of cheat code. He had three Corpse Bugs clinging to his backside. Liu Zi let out a howl as he flipped over and sat up. With a loud pop, a mass of dark green pus erupted from beneath him. I couldn’t believe it; the stench was worse than stepping in a pile of dung!
A Chen and I exchanged glances and immediately stopped our frantic flailing. If that stuff splattered on our faces, it would be nearly as bad as being disfigured! Sure, losing a few chunks of flesh was something I could endure, but this was pushing it!
About four minutes later, A Chen and I finally made it to shore. When we looked at each other, I nearly jumped out of my skin; I could hardly recognize him! His face was marred with jagged blood wounds about an inch long—narrow but deep cuts that oozed bright red blood, mingling with sweat and gradually diluting into a crimson hue. The sight was shocking and grotesque, reminiscent of a horror movie’s vengeful ghost. My heart raced at the thought!
Suddenly, I felt an itch on my face as an icy hand brushed against me. My heart skipped a beat; goosebumps prickled all over my body as my heart pounded loudly… Oh no, please don’t let this be what I think it is!
But curiosity got the better of me; even if it meant seeing how I might die, I couldn’t resist looking. Suppressing the urge to scream, I turned my head slightly and let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Cold sweat poured down my back—it was A Li using sterilized gauze to tend to my wounds.
As soon as my mind relaxed, the aches in my body surged forth—not just my face but also my neck, arms, chest, stomach, legs… every part of me hurt. Looking down at my clothes revealed numerous large tears exposing raw flesh beneath; there were definitely over a hundred wounds.
Time was limited. After quickly treating our injuries, Old Qiao had securely tied the Safety Rope to the door hinge at the top of the Copper Door. The rope stretched across the quicksand, suspended two meters above the surface. Third Granduncle Master on the other end had also tied his rope high up somewhere.
I tugged on it; it felt reasonably tight. However, with so many people using it, that middle section would surely sag under their weight—everyone seemed aware of this fact. I said, “Just in case, let’s go two at a time: Qiao Master and Dui together; A Li and I together; A Chen and Liu Zi together.” Then I turned to A Chen and said, “You guys go first.”
A Chen paused for a moment, seemingly surprised that I would arrange for them to go ahead. Liu Zi impatiently urged him on, and they quickly hooked themselves onto the Safety Rope and began moving forward with agility.
As they ventured further into the center, the Safety Rope, as expected, became increasingly heavy, yet it maintained a minimum distance of half a meter above the sandy bottom, preventing them from sinking completely. During this time, several Corpse Bugs jumped up, nearly biting their backsides, but both managed to dodge them skillfully.
I finally breathed a sigh of relief in my heart; if their combined weight was manageable, then the two groups behind us should be fine as well.
Seeing them successfully navigate through the low-hanging danger zone in the middle and already walking quite far ahead, my junior brother grabbed my arm and said, “ Senior Brother, are you stupid? You let those two go first. Do you think Third Granduncle Master will care about our lives?”
I was taken aback; I hadn’t thought of that. No wonder A Chen looked at me like that earlier. But then I thought, “Isn’t Master over there? With him around, we should be fine.” I glanced back and confirmed that A Chen and Liu Zi had already moved far away and couldn’t hear us anymore. Still, I asked, “What’s going on with Master? Has he betrayed us? And you, Old Qiao, where did you get this map? If anything goes wrong this time, we’ll all be in trouble because of you!”
Old Qiao stroked his beard and chuckled, “Well, this is a long story—”
“Don’t give me the formalities,” I interrupted him hastily. “Just tell me what you really want to do here.”
Old Qiao smiled and said, “Naturally, I’m here for Tomb Raiding.”
“Tomb Raiding?” I struggled to suppress my anger. “Are you out of your mind again? Have you forgotten why we came here? There are plenty of places to raid tombs; why do you have to get mixed up with Third Granduncle Master and his crew? Don’t you know what kind of people they are? Once we get back to Luoyang, there are so many tombs to choose from. Right now, we need to get out!”
Old Qiao and my junior brother were both taken aback at the same time and exchanged glances. My junior brother asked, “Get out? Where do we go?”
Comment 0 Comment Count