Chapter 158: Falling From The Sky
Wu Xie heard Master Liang say this and quickly whispered for him to shut up first. He stopped to listen to the sounds from below. Only after feeling no movement did he relax with a breath: “Speak softer. It was hard enough that those things didn’t follow us. Do you want to lure them over?”
Master Liang’s face, flushed red from holding his breath with effort, turned deathly pale at these words. His hands and feet went limp, nearly causing him to fall. Luckily, Lao Yang supported him from below: “You, be careful!”
Master Liang muttered twice: “I, I just thought of what those things are.”
Wu Xie finally came back to his senses. What had he just heard? Miao Jiang’s gu? While urging them to keep climbing up, he asked curiously: “What is this Chi Gu you mentioned?”
Lao Yang couldn’t help nodding. He hadn’t encountered these things last time he came, and he knew nothing about them. If Master Liang knew exactly what they were, that would be great. If he knew their weakness, they wouldn’t fear these insects anymore, and climbing upwards would be more reassuring.
Master Liang stopped to pant twice, took a breath, and continued climbing up. He spoke intermittently about the origins of Chi Gu: “These things were from the ethnic minorities back then. Sigh, I should have thought of it earlier. How could the Western Zhou have done something like using a bronze tree for blood sacrifice? It was probably a small ethnic minority kingdom nearby that learned Western Zhou’s smelting techniques and made it themselves. This Chi Gu, as the name implies, is a type of gu technique—”
Halfway through, Lao Yang grew impatient: “We’re not here to listen to stories. You, tell us what its weakness is. What do we do if we encounter it?”
Master Liang was choked up but didn’t mind. After all, not everyone liked to figure out the whole story. Right now, knowing its exact origins and weakness was more important. He picked up where he left off: “The source of this Chi Gu is said to be from before the Qin Dynasty. This insect can make controlled creatures aggressive. If I’m not mistaken, behind the mouth of that mask is where the ancients raised Chi Gu.”
No wonder when that mask was put on Uncle Tai’s face, it made the sound of devouring flesh and blood! Wu Xie felt a chill run through his body inexplicably. With a sudden jolt, the speed at which he climbed while holding his breath actually quickened a lot.
Master Liang said the creatures controlled by that thing become aggressive, but they hadn’t attacked earlier probably because their companions were controlling Uncle Tai’s corpse. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t chase after once that insect finished controlling it!
So the question was: “Master Liang, what is this thing afraid of?”
Master Liang only gave a bitter laugh: “I don’t know either.”
Lao Yang was both shocked and scared: “You, you know what this thing is, and you fucking say you don’t—don’t know what it’s afraid of?”
Master Liang rolled his eyes towards the sky. He didn’t even turn his head to look at him; he didn’t have the strength now. Even the act of climbing upwards was supported by his willpower: “It’s already good that I know this much! These things aren’t in every official or unofficial history book on the street. It’s already good that I found related records and remembered them! That’s not right. This thing is said to be very aggressive. Why didn’t it attack us before?”
Lao Yang’s eyes lit up: “Could it be that we have—have something on us that they’re afraid of?”
Wu Xie sighed helplessly: “If we had something on us that they’re afraid of, they wouldn’t have surrounded us from the start, and Master Liang’s feet wouldn’t have been touched by that insect! If Lin Yan were here, it would be great. I see these mountain monkeys only dare to bully us when Xiao Bai Bai isn’t around. If it weren’t for Lin Yan climbing too fast.”
While speaking, Lao Yang looked upwards and could vaguely see the top. The surroundings were no longer artificially carved stone walls but more like a natural cave. He couldn’t help but perk up: “Hurry! Faster, we, we’re almost there!”
In his excitement, he stuttered and his voice uncontrollably grew louder. Wu Xie felt like slapping him: “Shut your fucking mouth! What if you lure the mountain monkeys over? With so many, how can just two of us fight them?”
Master Liang wanted to say he counted as a person too, but considering his condition, if this breath left him, he’d probably collapse on the bronze tree and be unable to move, truly unable to help. So after wanting to speak but stopping, he obediently shut his mouth.
Hearing this, Lao Yang jolted too and spat on himself twice: “Oops, for, forgot! But look, we’re almost there and they haven’t caught up. Maybe they won’t catch up?”
Wu Xie shook his head: “Not necessarily!” After saying that, he stopped again to listen carefully. It seemed there was still no movement. Could these mountain monkeys just let them go like this? Weren’t they supposed to be very aggressive? Although Master Liang’s info was hearsay, this was too inaccurate!
Hearing no movement, he casually swung his flashlight downwards, intending to check if everything was normal before leaving. Unexpectedly, he really discovered something.
“Hm?”
“What’s wrong?” The resistance from the rope behind suddenly increased. Lao Yang realized Wu Xie had stopped and quickly stopped to look back at him, fearing something had happened to him.
Wu Xie hesitated a bit. He always felt like his flashlight had swept over something just now, but… For safety’s sake, he went down two steps towards the corner where something had flashed by: “What is this?”
Seeing this, Lao Yang also shone his flashlight backwards. With no light source ahead, Master Liang was plunged into darkness and had no choice but to stop. As expected, once he stopped, he nearly collapsed on the branch. Moving even a bit caused his whole body to ache.
Looking at the less than ten meters left above, Master Liang wanted to cry but had no tears. He didn’t know what these two behind him had discovered. Couldn’t whatever it was wait until they got up? Stopping here, if danger came, what if he had no strength to run? They wouldn’t leave him to die, right?
The light from Wu Xie and Lao Yang’s two flashlights illuminated that side brightly. Sure enough, behind a branch, they discovered a shadow that didn’t belong to the branch. That thing was actually hidden very perfectly, but unfortunately, with two flashlights shining from two directions, the shadow behind it betrayed it.
“This is…” Why was this thing so familiar? Wu Xie frowned and continued sweeping the flashlight downwards.
“Fuck, this thing caught up. Why no sound while climbing the tree this time?!”
Wu Xie sucked in a cold breath, scared into pulling Lao Yang and turning to climb upwards. Master Liang heard what they said and knew it must be those mountain monkeys controlled by the mask catching up. He grew even more limp: “You, don’t leave me behind!”
How to climb with a person? Lao Yang looked at Master Liang with a fierce glint in his eyes, but Wu Xie in front stopped: “Fuck, no more running!”
Why not run? Lao Yang quickly drew his gun and stood beside Wu Xie: “Wha, what’s wrong?”
Wu Xie said through gritted teeth: “You forgot, we can’t outrun these things at all! These mountain monkeys have been here who knows how many years and know the place like the back of their hand. In tree climbing, we really can’t beat them. Better to take them all out here!”
Hearing this, Lao Yang drew his dagger too: “Okay, you say it. How? Do, does this thing have a weakness?”
Wu Xie exhaled heavily, forcing himself to calm down. In the flashlight’s range, the mountain monkeys had emerged from the darkness, approaching them one by one from below.
After several seconds, Lao Yang turned to Wu Xie. Seeing sweat on his forehead and him muttering to himself without giving a clear answer, he sighed inwardly. No matter what, he had brought Wu Xie here, so he had to protect him fully.
So he tentatively raised his hand and fired at the nearest mountain monkey.
The muzzle flash startled everyone. Master Liang screamed, but halfway through, Lao Yang’s glare made him swallow the rest. The mountain monkeys were thrown into chaos and retreated quite a bit. The one Lao Yang aimed at shrieked, the bullet grazing the mask and sparking, but leaving only a scorch mark.
“Holy shit! This, this thing isn’t afraid of guns?”
Wu Xie gasped at the sight, his hands and feet turning ice-cold. The gun was their most powerful weapon. If even that didn’t work, what could resist these mountain monkeys?
“Fuck!” Lao Yang cursed, his ferocity ignited. He fired again at that mountain monkey. This shot hit the center of the mask squarely, shattering it almost into pieces.
The mountain monkey shrieked loudly, the sharp cry echoing in the narrow space, hurting everyone’s ears. Wu Xie’s eyes lit up: “It works!”
That mountain monkey staggered backwards, clutching the mask in confusion, its upper limbs twitching like a Parkinson’s patient. After not even four or five steps, it wobbled and fell to the ground, the mask in its hand shattered.
With the mask falling, the mountain monkey froze like it was paused. The surrounding mountain monkeys observed cautiously, then ignored their companion and slowly surrounded the group again.
Wu Xie counted: over a dozen mountain monkeys, nimble on the tree. Even an expert couldn’t guarantee hitting every shot. He could tell Lao Yang’s shot was lucky. The modified gun wasn’t accurate anyway, more for deterrence. Its power was decent up close, but at range, bullets drifted, and even if not, the damage was much less.
He quietly elbowed Lao Yang and whispered: “Lao Yang, are you confident?”
Lao Yang gave a bitter laugh: “My, my marksmanship was never, never great. You, you?”
Wu Xie shook his head with a bitter smile: “I haven’t practiced much either. If Uncle Tai were here.”
Thinking of Uncle Tai who had died below, they both fell silent involuntarily. Whether that Uncle Tai was a copy or the original, a veteran tomb raider’s marksmanship would surely be better than theirs, right? Too bad his gun was down there with no chance to retrieve it. Otherwise, one more gun would mean more confidence, no?
Lao Yang watched the approaching mountain monkeys, gritted his teeth, and fired again, but it missed. His face paled: “If, if we keep missing, we don’t have enough bullets to waste. We’ll have to fight hand-to-hand eventually!”
Wu Xie looked left and right. His only close-range weapon was a small dagger. Even the military shovel was with Lin Yan. If he had a military shovel as a weapon now, he’d have more confidence.
Fuck, were they going to die here? Wu Xie thought desperately. He hadn’t burned to death in the Lu King’s Palace, hadn’t drowned in the underwater tomb. Was he going to be bitten to death by mountain monkeys here, then wear a mask and turn into a tomb-guarding mountain monkey? He didn’t want that kind of death at all!
He looked below and gritted his teeth, thinking if worst came to worst, he’d jump down. No intact corpse was fine, as long as he didn’t end up like Uncle Tai as a mask host.
Master Liang saw the mountain monkey dodge the bullet, his eyes lighting up. Hearing Wu Xie and Lao Yang’s helpless talk, he shakily interjected: “That… I have a guess. Want to try it?”
“What guess?” “Speak!”
Both turned to look at him, startling him so his voice weakened: “I, I just thought… That mountain monkey dodged your bullet. Maybe they still fear bullets? Then I thought, if the bullet doesn’t hit the mask’s weak spot exactly, they don’t need to fear it. So I guess maybe they’re afraid of the bullet’s byproduct?”
“Byproduct what?” Lao Yang was puzzled; his education was limited, and he really didn’t understand much. Wu Xie’s eyes lit up: “I get it! It’s the sound or the flash! They fear loud sounds or bright light! No, earlier Lao Yang was so loud and they still surrounded us. That mountain monkey screamed like that and they didn’t retreat, so it’s not sound. It must be the flash!”
Lao Yang slapped his thigh and fired again, forcing back the approaching mountain monkeys. He regretted: “No wonder that torch went, went out. Probably these things did it! They fear firelight, so they extinguished our torch, then followed—followed our flashlight light! Should’ve brought that torch!”
Wu Xie shook his head: “Just a torch or flashlight light definitely isn’t enough, or they wouldn’t dare surround us now. But don’t we have something else?”
While speaking, he fired two shots too. One missed as two mountain monkeys dodged, the other luckily hit a mountain monkey’s wrist, forcing a shrill cry. The entire wrist nearly separated with skin and bone, dangling by a bit of skin. The wound was pitch black, without even blood, like it had dried up!
“Brighter? Fla, flare!”
Lao Yang came to his senses, quickly opened his backpack and took out the flare, excitedly asking Wu Xie: “Whe, where to shoot?”
Wu Xie was about to say to shoot at the stone wall when something dropped from above—
“Squeak squeak squeak—”
