After Chenpi Ah Si's iron bullet flew past, the flickering flames dimmed again, and the figure over there became blurry again, and suddenly nothing could be seen clearly. In the end, the iron bullet hit somewhere, making a crisp sound and rolling to the ground. The sound echoed in the empty spirit palace, giving people goose bumps.
The moment the fire flashed, everyone was startled by the shadow. Shunzi was even more panicked and shouted softly, "What is this!"
Monk Hua immediately covered his mouth to stop him from speaking, and several people subconsciously put their hands on their knives.
Chenpi A Si waved his hands at us, telling us not to be so nervous, and then he winked at Monk Hua, who immediately jumped onto the lamp slave at the side and extinguished the fire with one hand.
I have to admire Chenpi A Si's calmness. In such a strange environment, no one would think of turning off the light source around him/her. Everyone hopes that it is as bright as possible around him/her. But in fact, in this situation, it is safest to stay in the dark.
As soon as the lamp went out, the surroundings suddenly became dark again. The darkness like thick fog surrounded us all of a sudden, but the lamp on the other side seemed brighter.
We turned off our flashlights, held our breath, and looked at the shadow over there. The darkness around me stimulated my nerves, and I suddenly felt my heart beating very hard.
This shadow was obviously a person, and most of the body was still hidden in the darkness. What made people feel very strange was the extremely long neck and some things on the body that looked like thorns or tentacles that made people speechless. It didn't look like a human, but a kind of... a bird.
I instinctively felt a chill, and my heart was pounding. Except for Menyouping, everyone else was around. This shadow definitely didn't look like Menyouping, so could there be someone else here?
Who was he? How did he end up in the spiritual palace on top of the snowy mountain? Could it be that the avalanche here had attracted the attention of the border guards? Was this person a PLA scout?
No way, not to mention that the avalanche happened in the valley, even if it was really discovered, it would take at least a day to get here. It would be impossible to arrive so quickly.
I suddenly thought that this Ling Palace was a trap set by Wang Canghai. Since it was a trap, it must be extremely dangerous. The person who fell into the trap would never imagine what was waiting for him in the trap. Could this shadow be the monster that Wang Canghai arranged here when he set up this trap?
We didn't dare to breathe, staring at the shadow, hoping to infer something from its movements and shape, at least to let us know whether it was a person or something else.
But the strange thing was that the shadow also stood there straight, like a clay sculpture, without even shaking. It seemed that it was not a living thing at all.
After waiting for a while, neither side made any movement. The fat man began to lose his patience and whispered, "Something is wrong. If it were a living thing, it would move, but this thing is motionless. Are we seeing things? Are those the shadows of the lamp slaves imprinted on the pillars?"
Ye Cheng said: "Nonsense, aren't the lamp slaves standing by? How could he walk over here by himself?"
The fat man whispered, "Isn't it said that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth can turn a pipa into a spirit? Maybe the stone lamp slaves here have become spirits and can move on their own."
I felt uncomfortable all over, and I didn't have the extra wisdom to judge what Fatty said. A few months ago, I didn't even believe in zongzi. Now, the zongzi I have seen can be used to play two mahjong tables. As for whether there are monsters, I really dare not judge. But when Fatty said that this stone lamp slave became a spirit, I felt that it was more of a joke. The more dangerous the situation is, the less reliable Fatty's words are. This is also very related to his personality.
But the fat man was right about one thing, as long as it was a living object, it must move. Even if it was a zongzi, it couldn't stand there like a stone. It was too strange that the shadow was motionless.
No matter what it is, we can't stay here forever. Although I can't see it, I know that this place is full of "wall crawlers". If someone else is bitten, although it won't be fatal, it will be a life-threatening situation due to the lack of clothes and medicine on the snowy mountain.
We discussed it quietly, and several people had basically the same idea as me. The fat man said in a very low voice: "Then let's not just admire its body here, let's sneak over and take a look. If it's really a person, we'll pin him down and beat him up!"
A few people answered, and I felt a gust of wind beside me. I anxiously ran over. It was pitch black and there was no way to form a formation or anything. I just gritted my teeth and went towards the only fire.
The lamp slave was not far from us. After a few steps, the shadow became clearer and clearer. It looked more and more strange to me. Unconsciously, an ominous feeling became stronger and stronger. When I was almost close to the area where the light could reach, I subconsciously slowed down, ambushed in the darkness, and slowly and gently approached.
The black shadow was almost ten steps away from me. I squinted my eyes and looked at him. Little by little, my heart beat faster and faster. Cold sweat began to break out. I prayed to God not to let me see anything I didn't want to see.
However, as the sight got closer and closer, I gradually realized that God might not bless people like us who steal graves. The thing in front of me became clearer and clearer. Suddenly, I couldn't even move a step. I just felt weak all over. Finally, I was frozen there, unable to move.
I can't describe what I saw in words. It can only be described as a huge centipede-shaped thing, but I don't know if it is because it is too big. I know that the largest centipede can grow to more than one meter, but this one is obviously bigger. The centipede raised half of its body like a snake and wrapped around a lamp slave. We saw the neck, but it was actually just the shadow formed by its two large poisonous jaws and long tentacles. Countless long legs hung down, and the whole giant insect was motionless, as if it was absorbing the gas evaporated from the lamp oil.
Among the centipede family, the Caribbean Galapagos centipede can grow to 40 to 60 cm, but one that grows more than one meter has never been found. With such a huge body size, this insect's lifespan is probably thousands of years old.
There were moans from several people around, and I even heard the fat man say very softly: "It's your uncle's!" Apparently several other people who came over also saw it, and began to not believe their own eyes. Thinking of the giant black tomb sealing stone with a centipede dragon carved on it that we saw halfway, I suddenly understood why the dragons of the Eastern Xia people had centipede legs!
It seems that after they retreated into the mountains, they saw such a huge centipede and transformed it into the incarnation of a dragon.
While my mind was in chaos, I heard someone whistle several times, which meant: "Get back!" I didn't know who said this at the time, so I stepped back unconsciously. I kept retreating and retreating, and I didn't know where I was retreating. Looking around, I saw pitch black.
It turned out that after Monk Hua extinguished the lamp slaves on our side, we had no purpose to retreat. As soon as we retreated, we all dispersed.
I turned on the flashlight again, thinking of lighting a lamp to attract their attention, but I saw the shadow of the giant centipede not far away sway, and the lamp next to it suddenly went out, and the giant centipede disappeared into the darkness.
I suddenly remembered what Shunzi said about centipedes tending to be attracted to heat, and I immediately felt something was wrong. At the same time, far away, Monk Hua lit a cold firework and shouted, "Everyone, please don't light the lanterns. Everyone, look at my cold firework and gather here."
In the dark, I heard the sound of many feet crawling on the floor at a very fast frequency. I couldn't tell where they were crawling. Anyway, the sound was getting louder and louder, so I ran away quickly.
In the chaos, I heard the fat man shouting from another direction: "Why not light it? Light this thing to temporarily hold back the big bug. If you don't light it, it will come straight towards us? It has so many legs that we can't outrun it."
Monk Hua said, "No! I smelled the lamp oil, and there is also dragonfly in it. Once the smell gets out, more of these - these things will crawl out, and then it will be more troublesome." He paused, obviously not knowing what to call this giant dragonfly.
When I heard there might be more than one, I immediately got scared. I ran towards Monk Hua's cold fireworks while shouting, "What should we do with this one?"
Monk Hua said, "I will have my own way when I get there. Be careful behind you, these bugs crawl very fast!"
Soon I rushed to the side of Monk Hua according to the cold fireworks. Suddenly, many flashlight spots appeared around us. Several people rushed out of the darkness. We ran out of breath and couldn't even speak. The fat man covered his chest and looked at the darkness around him, and asked Monk Hua: "Okay, we are here. What can we do? Tell me! That thing is coming soon."
As he said this, he went to listen to the cramp-inducing crawling sound, but when he listened, the sound disappeared, as if the big insect did not follow him, but stopped.
Monk Hua was also panting heavily, coughing and patting his backpack. He said, "It's not a special method. We still have explosives. Let's blow it up."
The fat man burst out laughing when he heard this and said, "Well, this glorious task is handed over to you. Go ahead, I will help you take care of the old man."
Monk Hua said, "I don't need to go. I have already arranged everything. Someone will go naturally."
I suddenly felt a chill on his face, and at the same time I realized something. I turned around and asked, "Where's Lang Feng?"
Monk Hua said nothing, but just looked at the darkness to the side and said, "Get ready. It's coming."
Before I finished speaking, there was a loud bang, and a dazzling fire suddenly flashed in the darkness. We all fell to the ground reflexively, and a large amount of wood chips rained down on our heads. The whole floor shook violently, and the bouncing wood almost hit my nose. The shock wave was not big, but the sound was very loud. My eardrums were buzzing, and I couldn't hear anything clearly for a while.
I looked up at the direction of the explosion and saw that a big hole had been blown out on the floor, and the edge was already burning. The entire head of the huge 'millipede dragon' was blown to pieces, and it was still twisting constantly. The place where the explosion occurred was actually where we had just placed Lang Feng.
I immediately understood what Monk Hua had done. No wonder the "Thousand-legged Dragon" didn't catch up with us just now. It was led over by the unconscious Lang Feng, and Monk Hua pressed the explosives on him.
I couldn't believe my eyes. I turned around to look at Monk Hua and Chenpi Asi. They both had no expression on their faces, as if this matter had nothing to do with them.
Chenpi Ah Si saw my expression, patted me on the shoulder, and said softly, "Three steps in front and four steps in back, didn't your grandfather teach you that? If it were me, they would do the same to me. To do this job, you have to have this awareness."
"Third steps ahead, four steps behind" is a local dialect of the Tufuzi. It means that before doing something, you should consider three steps ahead and four steps behind. The Tufuzi live underground, and every move is life-threatening. Therefore, before you do anything, you must consider what will happen in the next three steps and how to deal with it. If you find that you cannot solve it, you can't do it. And you must develop a habit of such consideration.
I also understood the purpose of Chenpi Ah Si's words. In fact, in Lang Feng's situation, his chances of escaping alive with us were very slim. What he meant was that he would die sooner or later, so it would be better to let him die quickly.
My grandfather also mentioned this in his notes. When you are underground, sometimes it is too late when you realize the danger, so you should consider it before the danger occurs. Tomb robbing is a delicate job and requires courage. In ancient times, there were countless people who went into ancient tombs half-heartedly and became buried with the dead.
But having said that, it was really unfair for Lang Feng to die like this, and it made me feel scared even if I stood next to Chenpi A Si.
Unfortunately, I couldn't express my feelings at this moment, so I had to take a deep breath and try my best to pretend nothing had happened.
The fire in front gradually went out. The wooden boards here had been frozen for many years, and the gaps were full of ice particles condensed from the moisture in the air. The more they burned, the more ice particles appeared, and the harder it was to burn.
We walked towards the hole on the floor. My steps were very heavy, as I was afraid that I would see some body parts. Fatty and Panzi did not react much, as they seemed to be used to this kind of thing, or they thought it was useless to show their frustration. Fatty saw that I was a little bit upset, so he patted me and said softly, "Forget it, he is their man anyway, and he may have killed someone. You will have to pay for what you did."
Shunzi didn't understand what was going on and was almost scared to the point of following us stupidly.
I walked to the hole in the floor and shone the flashlight downwards. A large hole was blown out in the bricks under the wooden floor. The corridor reinforced with black stone slabs was also cracked, revealing a gap. There was nothing underneath.
I know what is below because this part of the palace is built on a steep slope, but the floor is flat, so there must be a triangular space supported by beams and columns below. All buildings built on steep slopes or cliffs, such as the Potala Palace, have such a structure.
There was cold wind blowing out of the gap, which was obviously connected to the outside world. I recalled that the triangular space below was also surrounded by white slurry walls. I didn't know what the situation was, but there was wind blowing out, and it seemed that I could get out from here.
There was obviously something wrong around here. The ground was covered with centipedes. If we insisted on going out through the main gate, it would become more and more dangerous. At this time, a hole was blown out, which allowed us to escape.
The fat man jumped into the pit that had been blown up. The hole below was not big enough for one person to pass through, so it had to be dug bigger. Monk Hua also jumped in to help . The fat man asked me if it was okay to keep digging like this.
I told them not to do anything rash. The stone corridor was already frozen brittle in winter, and the explosion just now must have completely destroyed the bearing structure underneath. We don't know how high it is below, and if it collapses suddenly, it won't just take down one or two people, most likely the entire ground nearby will sink, and the Ling Palace will become our burial mound.
So we tied a rope around the fat man and Monk Hua's waists, and tied the other end to a huge pillar on the side. We all buckled our buttons on the ropes so that we could take care of each other in case of a collapse.
After everything was ready, the fat man started to hit the stone slab below with a hammer. Unexpectedly, after just one hit, he suddenly heard a "crack" sound from under his feet. He actually broke one of the beams below, which were as thick as a bowl. His foot sank all the way down to his thigh.
I was startled and thought it would collapse. Fortunately, only my foot sank in. The fat man cursed very badly and tried to pull his foot out.
After pulling for a long time, the foot reached the knee but could not be pulled out. The fat man himself felt a little strange. Suddenly his face changed and he shouted, "Oh no, something is pulling my foot!" As he said that, he slid straight down.
Monk Hua hurried over and grabbed his hands, pulling them up with force. Others came over to help and pulled his feet out, but they were unable to pull him out of the brick pit. It seemed as if something underneath was really grabbing him.
Ye Cheng turned on the flashlight and shone it downwards, and everyone gasped. They saw a purple hand stretched out from the hole in the stone corridor that was collapsed by the fat man, and it tightly grasped the fat man's ankle.