Chapter 160: Surprise Outside The Cave
There were a few chapter numbers wrong in the previous sections, but it didn’t affect reading. Now they’ve been fixed.
Although Wu Xie wasn’t someone with a fear of heights, looking down from upwards still made him feel afraid. On one hand, it was because of the height, and on the other, because of the darkness. Humans always have an instinctive fear of darkness, and most people can’t avoid it.
Unfortunately, Wu Xie was one of the majority. When he gripped the rope tightly, he momentarily wanted to close his eyes, but the last bit of reason in his mind stopped this impulse. He was afraid that if he hit the stone wall and the rope pulled him back, with his current stamina, it would be hard to climb back up.
For a moment, he actually felt an impulse to retreat.
Lao Yang saw him hesitating there and knew his childhood friend wanted to back out, so he quickly urged him: “Wu Xie, you, you aren’t scared, are you?”
“Who’s scared?”
Wu Xie reflexively shot back, then realized he was just pretending to be brave like Fatty, but the words were already out. Not going would make it seem like he really was scared. So he tried his best to look straight ahead without looking at the darkness below, and wrapped the rope around his hand two more times, but his legs still felt shaky.
“Are you coming over or, or not?”
Lao Yang urged him again from across. Thinking about it, there was no way back now. Without the Big Rat ahead, just the bunch of Mountain Monkeys on the bronze tree would be too much for him to handle. Wu Xie gritted his teeth and gave himself some psychological suggestion: If Lao Yang could make it, so could he—then he leaped forward.
But the moment he jumped, he regretted it. Damn, the feeling of the cliff wall rushing toward him was truly terrifying! Not even two seconds later, before he could react, he was almost pressed against the cliff wall. He hurriedly grabbed a protruding stone block to steady himself.
Before letting go of the rope, he vaguely remembered a question: “Lao Yang, is there any other exit from this place? How are we going to get back?”
Lao Yang didn’t have time to reply and quickly climbed over to him to pull up the rope—Wu Xie had wrapped it extra because he felt unsafe, otherwise it would have swung back once he let go: “If not, just, just come back this way!”
As he said this, his hands shook a few times. No one knew what knot he’d tied, but the rope immediately loosened and dangled down from the branch. After he found a fairly large cave to settle it and pulled it back into the backpack.
“You had this trick up your sleeve?”
Wu Xie followed him in and plopped down, feeling sore all over. After climbing the bronze tree for so long and outsmarting the Mountain Monkeys, anyone would be exhausted.
“What time is it now?”
He glanced at his watch; it surprisingly showed it was already six or seven in the evening. They’d been climbing the tree the whole time and hadn’t noticed time passing. But thinking about it, it made sense—they’d climbed straight up and down for a hundred or two hundred meters, with so many things happening in between, so it wasn’t surprising it took this long. Just this Big Rat
Wu Xie glanced at the cave entrance and discovered the Big Rat had followed them in. Seeing him look over, it gave him a tilted-head stare, but unfortunately, it didn’t look appealing at all, zero lethality.
Wasn’t it urging them to climb quickly before? Why wasn’t it in a hurry now? Seeing the Big Rat’s very human-like expression, Wu Xie couldn’t help but worry: So did this Big Rat actually understand him or not?
He scratched his head, ignored Lao Yang who had put the flashlight aside and was already lying down almost asleep, and tentatively asked the Big Rat: “Are you taking us up now, or later?”
The Big Rat’s ears twitched, but it stayed silent, just looking at him, which made him feel a chill: It could at least squeak and gesture before, why had it gone mute now?
Just as he hesitated whether to try communicating again, the Big Rat darted over to Lao Yang and sniffed him. Lao Yang was exhausted too, half-dreaming and visiting the land of dreams, when he felt something tickling in front of his face. Opening his eyes, he saw the Big Rat’s ferocious sharp teeth and thought he was about to be eaten, nearly jumping up in fright: “You, you stay away!”
The Big Rat didn’t do anything to him and ran over to sniff Wu Xie. Wu Xie instinctively wanted to dodge when it approached, but seeing Lao Yang was fine, he hesitated. What if this Big Rat had some other goal?
After sniffing both of them, the Big Rat quickly circled between them a few times, like a house dog before sleep, then flopped over onto its side and curled into a ball. Looking closely, even its eyes were closed.
Did this mean they should sleep?
Lao Yang had a strange expression and pointed at the Big Rat curled up like a little pig, whispering to Wu Xie: “This isn’t also, Lin Yan’s doing, is it?”
Wu Xie shook his head in confusion, took the flashlight and went out to look around, scanning the surroundings but finding no other figures or movement from people or things, before reluctantly coming back.
Ever since entering here, the doubts about Lin Yan had only grown. Now with this Big Rat, it made him feel like his decades of materialism were gradually collapsing—although the previous tomb raids had already shattered it enough, but who could tell him, before encountering Lin Yan, this Big Rat was just an ordinary rat. How after one trip up with Lin Yan, not only could it lead the way, but now it had even learned to hint they should sleep?
Why was this world so unreal?
Thinking of Lin Yan’s magical “prophecy,” even with doubts in his heart, Wu Xie comforted himself that maybe Lin Yan had some other intention. But he was still quite worried. After all, now he and Lao Yang were together, while Lin Yan only had himself and White Zombie. Wait, no, with those two together, couldn’t they bulldoze many tombs? What exactly was he worrying about?
Seeing the Big Rat make no other moves, Wu Xie and Lao Yang looked at each other: How about… taking a nap first?
Lao Yang waved his hand: “Alright, without this rat leading the way on the, the rest of the path, I’m afraid we two wouldn’t, wouldn’t find the way—”
Before he finished, Wu Xie caught the flaw in his words: “What do you mean ‘wouldn’t find the way’? Didn’t you fucking come here before? You even said you’d give me big benefits once up top, but now without anyone leading, you can’t find it? How did you change your tune so fast? Spill it, what else are you hiding from me?”
Speaking of this, he wasn’t sleepy anymore! Wu Xie sneered, crossed his arms in an interrogating pose. Lao Yang was stunned, stammered for a long time without making any sense, awkwardly laughed twice, then waved his hand and turned his back to him lying down: “Sleep, sleep! I’m exhausted…”
Wu Xie was so angry he nearly fumed, itching to grab his collar and force out his real goal, but he knew Lao Yang well—if he wanted to hide something, no one, including himself, could pry a word out of him.
He glared at Lao Yang’s back for several minutes until his eyes ached, but the pretending-to-sleep back showed no movement. He simply lay down to rest too—damn it, who could outlast whom? Once up top, Lao Yang would have to tell him sooner or later. What was there to fuss about?
Once he relaxed, the soreness swept over him, and within minutes he was snoring softly.
Being glared at by him, Lao Yang felt chills down his back until he heard Wu Xie’s steady sleeping sounds before breathing a sigh of relief. He knew he’d pissed Wu Xie off again. But he didn’t expect Wu Xie not to press him but just watch for a bit before going to sleep himself.
Although he breathed a sigh of relief, Lao Yang still felt a bit lost. He understood that Wu Xie not asking him directly meant he no longer saw him as his closest friend. Wu Xie always spoke directly to friends, but now
He smiled bitterly to himself silently; maybe this was the price. Maybe after this trip, Wu Xie would never contact him again.
But that was fine too. He didn’t know how much time he had left. Before coming, he’d asked around about Wu Xie’s situation. Word on the street was that Wu Family Third Master Xiao had an evil nature, destroying a major tomb right after debuting. Maybe after this trip… he didn’t have much time left either.
He sighed silently; now he was truly wavering, unsure if this trip’s goal could be achieved, and how much time they’d have after. But then he thought, no matter how much time was left, he still wanted to see him one more time.
No longer thinking about these messy things, Lao Yang scooted to the side and fell asleep too. Luckily, it was too hot below, so it was somewhat warm here. Otherwise, sleeping in the dark cave, they’d all get sick the next day.
Not long after they fell asleep, rustling sounds came from outside the cave. The Big Rat, which had curled into a ball, alertly perked up its ears and lifted its head, hesitated for a moment, then walked toward the cave entrance.
Lao Yang’s flashlight had been left on before sleep, illuminating the outside a bit. Those sounds approached the cave entrance but retreated abruptly when the Big Rat neared, leaving a clear space about two meters in diameter. If Wu Xie and the others were awake, they’d surely exclaim that these were the Chi Gu scared off by the Big Rat earlier.
The difference was, the previous Chi Gu had been parasitic in the Mountain Monkeys, but now the Chi Gu… were a pile of masks layered thickly, like stone moss covering the stone wall. From afar, they’d seem like jagged stone walls, but up close, they’d send chills down the spine.
The Big Rat hesitated at the cave entrance, as if certain they wouldn’t come closer, then lay down again curling into a ball. The two inside noticed nothing wrong and slept soundly until the next day.
After exhaustion, the next day always starts particularly late.
Although sleeping directly in the stone cave left Wu Xie and Lao Yang with sore backs, overall it was better. Just stretching made their joints creak like long-neglected machinery, and Wu Xie always worried about accidentally twisting something.
Lao Yang’s flashlight had been on all night and was dead. He turned on his own and was surprised to find the Big Rat that had been between him and Lao Yang was gone. Had it run off on its own?
Looking over, the Big Rat was standing at the cave entrance watching them, still with that tilted-head, dumb look like it understood nothing. Honestly, he still didn’t know if this rat truly didn’t understand or was pretending, or if it only understood specific words, like “lead the way.”
But this cave entrance seemed… off somehow?
Still groggy from just waking, he instinctively checked his watch—good grief, five in the morning! They’d slept a good long while, over ten hours! Wu Xie turned to see Lao Yang still asleep and hurriedly shook him awake: “Lao Yang, wake up! We’ve slept for over ten hours!”
In other words, Lin Yan had been out of contact for nearly a day. And Master Liang, who was behind them… Thinking of Master Liang, he frowned, thinking something was wrong. He hadn’t left any mark for him; the chances Master Liang would find this side were slim. Would he just climb up the tree all the way?
By the way, if they climbed to the very top of this tree, could they really get out?
Lao Yang was unwillingly woken by the push: “Wh-what is it?”
Wu Xie pointed at the watch for him to see. Lao Yang then realized how long they’d slept and was puzzled: “We slept this, this long? No movement outside at all?”
He’d been underground before too, but he never slept soundly in places like this, always waking at the slightest sound. Before sleeping, he thought five or six hours at most, but waking up after eleven or twelve hours—had his body gone wrong?
Lao Yang’s heart sank. Seeing Wu Xie notice his bad expression, he quickly changed the subject: “After so long, that Master Liang still hasn’t come up?”
“Lao Yang, you—” Wu Xie was about to ask what Lao Yang was thinking to make his face pale, but the question distracted him. If there’d been any movement, at least they could know if Master Liang was in danger, but with total silence, they didn’t know where Master Liang was or if he’d missed their path.
Lao Yang thought for a bit and, seeing Wu Xie’s worried frown, patted his shoulder: “Alright, don’t, don’t think about it. This was his own choice. If something happens, it’s his fate. We’ve, we’ve done all we could, right?”
Wu Xie shook his head, still feeling heavy-hearted, but it did ease him a bit. He sighed inwardly; after all, he’d raided several tombs himself, seen plenty die right before his eyes, not to mention those he hadn’t witnessed. Why was he still unable to let go? Actually needing comfort from Lao Yang of all people, really…
The Big Rat watched them bickering with its neck tilted. If not for its slightly rising and falling chest, it would really look like a statue.
Wu Xie figured since it acted so human-like, it should understand some human speech. Though it hadn’t reacted to mentions of Lin Yan before, it still obediently led the way. Maybe try a few more times. So he approached the Big Rat, squatted about half a meter away, and asked in the gentlest tone: “Are you leading the way next?”
The rat seemed to really react to “lead the way,” flicked its tail, and headed outside the cave. At the entrance, it slapped its tail and tilted its head: “Squeak squeak squeak—”
Just like a big brother guide, inexplicably… cute?
Wu Xie patted his chest in shock. Had being with Lin Yan too long warped his aesthetics? He actually found this Big Rat cute? Must be an illusion!
At the cave entrance, they finally saw clearly what was circling outside. Both sucked in a cold breath in sync: “Holy shit!”
Their startled cries echoed three times, making the Big Rat, which had gone out first with over a meter of empty space around it, turn back to look at them: “???”
Headaches these past two days, took medicine and crashed out. Author will try to make up for it in the next couple days.
