Chapter 72: Sea Monkey Reappears!
Seeing that they were about to go out, Fatty took the lead in embracing freedom. He really wanted to do so, but just before reaching the exit, he saw a dark shadow flash ahead: “Who?!”
He slammed on the brakes, and Lin Yan behind him wasn’t so lucky. He was also moving fast, and by the time he saw Fatty stop, it was too late. He didn’t even have time to think about how such a large person like Fatty could stop so abruptly. He only had time to put his right hand up to shield his forehead before crashing into Fatty’s back. As he pushed Fatty forward, due to the relative force, he was also thrown backward, causing a chain reaction “car accident” with Wu Xie.
As for Zhang Qiling? He had already reacted when Fatty stopped. Before he could pull Wu Xie back, Lin Yan had already crashed into him. So, he simply sidestepped and watched Lin Yan, who was crashing into Wu Xie, brush past him, avoiding him perfectly.
“Ah!”
Lin Yan got up, clutching his waist, and turned to see Wu Xie curled up on the ground, desperately holding his stomach: “Lin Yan, do you have a grudge against my stomach? You hit me once when we first met, once in the Lu King’s Palace, and now you’ve hit me again!” Lin Yan sheepishly touched the back of his head, one hand still on his waist, and the other busily helping Wu Xie up: “I just didn’t expect it! Fatty stopped so suddenly, and I didn’t have time to brake. I didn’t expect him to be so heavy, and I, a living person, crashing into him, would be bounced back! Don’t worry, it won’t happen again!”
Wu Xie heard this and felt a wave of exasperation. Who could have expected that! His two bottom ribs were still aching faintly, and he hoped they weren’t broken! After they got out, he needed to go to the hospital for a check-up, just in case there were any lingering effects. However, that last sentence from Lin Yan felt strangely off.
If Wu Xie had been living ten years later, he would have known what “making a flag” meant and what it meant to be a complete disaster. Besides, flags are different for different people. If Zhang Qiling made a flag, it might not fall, but if it were Lin Yan and Fatty. Heh, perhaps a rapid face-slap was already on the way!
After the two of them managed to relieve some of their pain, Lin Yan saw Fatty dart back into the cave entrance, looking alertly outside. He couldn’t help but ask, “Fatty, what did you see? Was it a zombie or a sea monkey?” After these few frights, he felt his psychological resilience had greatly increased, and he felt that even if he encountered something strange and unusual again, he wouldn’t be scared out of his wits.
Fatty squatted down, peering out of the tomb-robbing hole, cautiously sticking out half his head: “I don’t know. I just saw a figure flash past, couldn’t see clearly.”
He turned back to look at Lin Yan: “But, young comrade, you’ve got quite a bit of momentum! Originally, there was this big stone slab here—” he gestured, indicating it was almost the size of the entire tomb-robbing hole entrance, “—you knocked me right out of the way, and that stone slab was gone just like that!”
Zhang Qiling arrived at the tomb-robbing hole, touched the edge, and muttered to himself: “This shouldn’t be right?”
“What’s wrong?” Fatty asked him. Zhang Qiling shook his head without answering and directly squeezed through. Fatty tried to stop him but it was too late: “Hey, be careful, what if there’s something up there—”
Fatty was a little worried about him, gritted his teeth, and went out. The first glance he took at the room made him freeze—the room before him was lit with a dim yellow light. Above, he could see starry-like luminous pearls covering the ceiling. Around the room were four giant bronze mirrors, and in the center of the room. The golden body, guarded by the Heavenly Palace model.
“It’s here.” Zhang Qiling murmured in an extremely quiet voice. Ignoring the three who were stunned by the main tomb chamber, he walked directly to the model, looked up at the golden body, as if contemplating something.
The three of them stared dumbfounded at the grand hall. It was exactly as Zhang Qiling had described—it could only be described as magnificent—no, in Wu Xie’s eyes, it could be called opulent! He looked at the Golden Silk Nanmu pillars. Although he wasn’t as greedy as Fatty, he really had an impulse to take a pillar with him.
Fatty snapped out of his daze amidst the splendor, patted the shoulder of the person next to him: “Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, we’re rich! Look at these pillars! These luminous pearls! This porcelain! These treasures! If we take even a little bit back, we won’t have to worry for the rest of our lives!”
Lin Yan nodded blankly, feeling a gust of wind blow past his ear, carrying a fishy smell. He couldn’t help but frown: “Good heavens, Fatty, do you have such bad breath?”
Fatty was taken aback, thinking, I wasn’t talking to you, why would I have bad breath? He then turned to look at Lin Yan, and his whole body froze—
Beside him, where were Lin Yan and Wu Xie! Lin Yan and Wu Xie were at least three meters to his right and front. The one whose shoulder he had patted was a sea monkey, staring menacingly at Lin Yan!
Fatty quietly and carefully withdrew the hand he had placed on the sea monkey. Fortunately, the sea monkey’s attention was focused on Lin Yan and Wu Xie. He didn’t startle it. He swallowed and quietly retreated a bit, lowering his voice: “Lin Yan, uh, don’t look back. I’ll count one, two, three, and then run. You guys go towards Zhang Xiaoge, understand?”
Huh? Why was Fatty talking like this? Lin Yan instinctively wanted to turn around, but remembering Fatty’s instruction not to look back, he managed to restrain his movement. He then reached out a hand and turned Wu Xie’s head back, who was trying to look back upon hearing the commotion.
Seeing Lin Yan nod slightly, Fatty relaxed a bit. Confirmed that the sea monkey had no intention of attacking, he quietly counted to three: “Three, two, one, run!” he shouted, retreating into the shadows of the pillars. Lin Yan, pulling Wu Xie who was still unaware of the situation, ran towards Zhang Qiling: “Xiaoge, save us!”
Zhang Qiling had already become alert when Fatty said “run.” Seeing the sea monkey chase after Wu Xie, he frowned. He first moved aside to let the two pass, then drew his knife and blocked the sea monkey’s path.
The sea monkey, which had not paid any attention to Zhang Qiling, casually swatted a paw to push him away. Unexpectedly, Zhang Qiling sliced with the edge of his knife, and a powerful force it hadn’t anticipated hit its palm. Its forward momentum caused it to stumble backward and fall to the ground.
It quickly got back up, shifting its attention from Wu Xie to Zhang Qiling in front of it. It didn’t know what was blocking it, but it knew that to attack Wu Xie, it had to defeat the person in front of it first!
Both sides were on the verge of battle, but the Sea Monkey seemed to sense the suppressive force from Zhang Qiling and began to slowly retreat! Just as everyone thought the Sea Monkey would flee, it suddenly charged towards Zhang Qiling. In less than a second, its large, fanged face was less than twenty centimeters from him!
Zhang Qiling remained calm in the face of danger, countering with his saber. With a pained screech, the Sea Monkey staggered back. A large gash marred its face, and half of its fangs were also cut off!
The Sea Monkey cried out in pain, its eyes flashing green light, as it slowly retreated. To everyone’s surprise, after only two seconds, it lunged at Zhang Qiling again, this time with even greater speed and ferocity! Zhang Qiling sidestepped to the left, preparing to attack its flank, but unexpectedly, the Sea Monkey feinted, bypassing him entirely and heading towards Wu Xie and Lin Yan!
Wu Xie and Lin Yan were still shaken, leaning against the pillars and watching the confrontation. To their astonishment, the Sea Monkey possessed intelligence and even knew how to feint, directly charging towards them! They exchanged a glance, one moving left and the other right, disappearing into the shadows of the pillars.
As it approached them, the green light in the Sea Monkey’s eyes grew brighter. However, after they separated, its steps faltered slightly, as if it were struggling to decide whom to pursue. After a moment of hesitation, it chased in the direction Wu Xie had disappeared. But within these brief seconds, Zhang Qiling, having recovered, arrived behind it!
He then powerfully pushed off the ground with his right foot, leaping into the air. His knees landed on the Sea Monkey’s shoulders, pinning its head, and with a twist of his waist.
When Wu Xie heard a “thump” and peeked out, he saw the fallen Sea Monkey and Zhang Qiling beside it, who appeared as if he hadn’t even been injured!
“Gulp.”
He swallowed. This was too powerful!
