Chapter 10: Feed The Corpse Beetle Or Feed Xiaoge, That’s The Question
“Ah!” Two screams merged into one. As the light fell, it hit something unknown, and in the dull collision, both of their vision turned into complete darkness.
“Lin Xiaoge, do you, do you have another light?” In their panic, it was unclear who was holding onto whom. Lin Yan heard the question and rummaged through his and Fatty’s bags.
“I don’t know either, let me look. Calm down first.” His tone suddenly shifted from panicked to angry, “Even if you can’t calm down, you shouldn’t be touching my thigh!”
“Ah?” Wu Xie looked confused. He had only grabbed Lin Yan’s hand while sitting up; how did he end up touching his thigh?
Hiss, something’s wrong. Why is this hand so cold, and completely still?
“Ah! There’s a dead body! Quickly, the light! Light! Light!” He shook off the cold, sticky hand. The corpse’s icy touch still lingered on his hand. He crawled towards the direction of Lin Yan’s voice, using both hands and feet.
“Stop yelling, stop yelling, I’m looking, I’m looking! What’s with you singing? ‘Deng deng deng deng deng,’ this one should be it!” He fumbled out a cylindrical object with a round head. Touching the bottom, it was indeed a switch. Ha, an old-fashioned flashlight.
As the light turned on, both of them were startled.
Not far in front of them, there was indeed a corpse, and it looked like it had been dead for a long time. After Wu Xie shook its hand off, the entire body was in a strange posture. Corpse beetles were crawling all over the corpse; the large ones were almost as big as Wu Xie’s palm, and the small ones were thumb-sized.
And the thing that had been brushing against Lin Yan’s thigh, which he thought was Wu Xie’s hand, was a bag crawling with corpse beetles. A few beetles had even crawled onto his leg. He hurriedly swept the bag and the beetles off with the flashlight.
Wu Xie’s scalp tingled. He instantly scrambled behind Lin Yan, yet curiously poked his head out halfway to observe the corpse.
Then he saw the mine lamp that had fallen beside the corpse.
“Yo ho, this isn’t broken yet.” He happily dodged the corpse beetles and picked up the lamp. He examined it carefully, “That boss really didn’t lie to me. He said it could withstand a fall of over three meters, and it actually can.”
He rummaged through his bag and found a new battery, installing it. The light turned on again, and the two light sources illuminated the tunnel brightly, making the dead body on the ground seem less terrifying.
Lin Yan stood up and walked to Wu Xie’s side, suppressing his disgust as they observed the corpse together.
Of course, only Wu Xie was observing seriously. Lin Yan, with a look of disdain, glanced at the corpse and then turned to explore the underground cavity.
This place looked like a rudimentary cellar. The walls were made of stacked bricks, and a breeze could be felt. There should be ventilation holes. Apart from the place they fell, which was a dead end, the other end disappeared into an area beyond the reach of light, its destination unknown.
Wu Xie soon got some results.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Yan turned his head, and he had already searched the corpse inside and out. Everything from its pockets was laid out neatly on the ground.
“Male, around forty years old. Cause of death, estimated to be a fatal tearing wound to the abdomen. Items carried on his person: a wallet, some cash, and a train station locker ticket. The belt buckle has a stamped number. This is the situation at the scene.” With the safety provided by the light and Lin Yan’s relaxed expression, Wu Xie’s youthful impetuousness took over, and he immediately gave Lin Yan a forensic report from the first crime scene.
Seeing Wu Xie’s playful demeanor, Lin Yan naturally didn’t want to be outdone, “So, Doctor Wu, do you have any deductions related to his identity and cause of death?”
Wu Xie pushed up non-existent glasses with his left index finger, “Based on my deduction, his identity should be someone who came down before us, meaning he was the original owner of the abandoned camp outside. Judging by his equipment, he wasn’t here for exploration. Given that his companions took almost everything useful from him after his death, his identity can currently only be inferred from the number on the belt buckle. This number could be his personal identification or the identification of their entire team. Without more clues, this is the only deduction possible. As for the cause of death…”
He smiled bashfully, “For the cause of death, I can only tell it was a tearing wound; I can’t determine what caused it. Perhaps there’s a fierce animal in the tomb. Otherwise, these claw-like marks wouldn’t be so deep and long; they’re at least a handspan wider than ours. Thus, these corpse beetles must be ruled out first.”
Lin Yan rolled his eyes at him, “There’s more than just corpse beetles in a tomb.”
At this point, both of them thought of something simultaneously, and their bodies stiffened.
Exchanging glances, the two simultaneously shouted, “Blood Corpse!”
Although they had forgotten whether a Blood Corpse would appear here, the fact that this corpse died here meant that the place they were currently in was definitely not very safe.
So the two exchanged glances and instantly divided their labor, with one watching one side and the other watching the other, searching for a passage out.
Wu Xie muttered as he searched, “In ancient times, especially during the Warring States period, to prevent tombs from being occupied after completion, craftsmen would usually dig secret escape passages. This means that there are no dead ends in the tomb in the true sense of the word; there must be a way out. Ha, found it!”
He called out to Lin Yan, having his mine lamp shine towards a small door diagonally upwards. The small door was about a person’s height from the ground, with a rotten wooden ladder below it. Thus, the two began a serious negotiation over who would go up first.
“Rock! Paper! Scissors!”
“Best two out of three!”
“Rock! Paper! Scissors!”
“This is unscientific!”
“I’m counting on you!”
Benefiting from Third Master Xiao’s explosive luck, Lin Yan took a deep breath and lifted him from his calves. Wu Xie, after reaching upwards, began to use his arm strength to climb up, reducing Lin Yan’s burden. Unexpectedly, as soon as Wu Xie’s head emerged, he saw a familiar person.
“Panzi!”
“Third Master Xiao! What are you doing here?”
“We were just walking and fell in here! We just found the way up. Never mind that, Panzi, come help quickly!”
With Panzi’s help, he climbed up and then turned back down to pull Lin Yan. “Quick, help me pull Lin Xiaoge up too!”
As soon as his head poked down, Wu Xie’s face turned pale: “This is bad, get up quickly!”
Lin Yan looked bewildered. At this moment, Panzi also poked his head down, his face also changed. He took out a gun from his clothes and fired a shot downwards.
Lin Yan was startled. The bullet grazed his face, and he didn’t even feel it. “What are you doing! Damn it, are you trying to kill someone!”
Wu Xie grabbed his hand, which was frozen in mid-air, and pulled with all his might: “There are Corpse Beetles all behind you! They’re bigger than your head!”
“Holy crap!” Hearing this, Lin Yan jolted, his feet acting like springs. He was pulled up by the combined force of Wu Xie and Panzi. He was the first to move, “Quick, let’s go! I don’t want to become food for Corpse Beetles!”
As he spoke, the Corpse Beetles were already crawling up the stone wall. Wu Xie’s lips turned white with fear, and he ran forward, following behind Lin Yan. The sound of Panzi’s gunshots was incessant behind them. Lin Yan didn’t look back: “Panzi, stop shooting! If you had that time, we would have already run away!”
Panzi cursed and chased after them, panting heavily: “I can’t even shoot anymore, I only have one glorious bullet left!”
Lin Yan saw a fork in the passage and quickly stopped, turning back to ask Panzi: “Quick, where should we run?” Panzi replied irritably: “How should I know? This place is a labyrinth! I was wandering around and finally found you guys here, I didn’t expect to have to go back in!”
Wu Xie caught up, gasping for breath: “Just pick one! This place should be an escape tunnel built by ancient craftsmen! It should lead out! Even if it doesn’t, it’s better than feeding the Corpse Beetles here!”
Lin Yan and Panzi thought this made some sense. They exchanged glances, and just as they were about to choose a tunnel and dive in, a figure rushed out from inside.
Lin Yan and Panzi reacted quickly, dodging to the sides, but Wu Xie wasn’t so lucky. He was run into head-on, and the two tumbled together.
“Damn it! Who was that!” The person agilely jumped up from Wu Xie and said, “You bumped half my life out of Fatty Ye!”
The three looked closely and saw it was the Fatty who had slipped away from under their noses in the main tomb chamber!
Fatty looked up and also laughed: “What a coincidence, young comrades!” Then he saw the corpse beetles crawling near his feet: “My god, what kind of things are these!”
They exchanged glances, and suddenly Panzi remembered something. He pulled out a fire starter from his arms, lit it, and threw it into the pile of corpse beetles. The corpse beetles that touched the fire starter rapidly dodged away, while the others, avoiding the fire starter’s range, continued to swarm towards them.
Seeing this, their eyes lit up, and they cheered in unison: “They’re afraid of fire!”
They retreated, huddling together, and frantically took out all their fire starters.
However, their fire starters were nowhere near enough. The fire was almost extinguished by the swarm of corpse beetles. Some corpse beetles had already climbed onto their feet and legs, forcing them to use gun stocks, flashlights, and mine lamps to push them away. Panzi had to help Wu Xie, resulting in him getting quite a few cuts. Their special pants were basically useless; the corpse beetles would leave bloody gashes with every grab. Panzi could grit his teeth and endure, but Fatty was already crying out curses in pain.
Just then, Lin Yan’s eyes lit up, and he held a bottle in his hand: “Everyone, back off!”
He scattered the contents of the bottle around them, then took out a fire starter and threw it on top, instantly forming a circle of fire around them: “Watch my fire style – Great Fireball Jutsu!”
Wu Xie’s eyes lit up: “You watch that too?”
Fatty cursed: “What time is it, and you guys are still discussing this!” He frantically swept the corpse beetles off them into the ring of fire, giving them a glare. “I was about to praise you, but then you pull this stunt on your Fatty Ye. You can’t be praised!”
As the flames from the alcohol began to show signs of being extinguished by the relentless wave of corpse beetles, they all fell silent.
“What do we do? Where do we go?”
Finally, Lin Yan spoke, looking at Wu Xie. Wu Xie looked at Panzi, Panzi looked at Fatty, and Fatty looked around, then sadly tilted his head to the sky: “Fatty Ye doesn’t know either! This place is like a labyrinth. We just walked and ended up here, almost fed to the corpse beetles. Sigh!”
As the ring of fire grew smaller, suddenly, the swarm of corpse beetles seemed to encounter a natural enemy and retreated like a tide. The four, who were at a loss, were stunned. They never expected a twist of fate that would leave them safe.
But Wu Xie suddenly thought of something. He swallowed and said softly, “Why do I feel like they were fleeing for their lives?”
Fatty shivered, his voice even quieter: “Does that mean something more terrifying than corpse beetles has appeared?”
Panzi already had his gun in hand, slowly turning his head backwards, looking as if he would shoot the moment anything appeared behind them.
Lin Yan’s voice was so low it was almost a whisper, echoing faintly in the quiet corridor, accompanied by an almost imperceptible rustling sound: “If I’m not mistaken, it should be a humanoid creature. The sound of its approach was like our footsteps. Coming now, and capable of scaring away corpse beetles, it can only be him, not Zhang Qiling.”
He and Wu Xie exchanged a look, simultaneously recalling their miserable experience of being bled.
Wu Xie suddenly froze: “Mute Bottle is called Zhang Qiling?” Panzi’s curious gaze also drifted over, and Fatty looked puzzled: “Who is Zhang Qiling?”
Lin Yan looked up helplessly. How could he forget Third Master Xiao’s damned curiosity! Was this the time to be concerned about that? He would have to make up excuses again later! Why couldn’t he control his own mouth!
The group slowly turned their heads, awkwardly holding their guns, flashlights, and mine lamps, ready to give the approaching thing a thorough beating at any moment.
As the footsteps grew closer, a blood-covered figure appeared in the light. Just as Fatty was about to lose control and shine his flashlight on the figure, Wu Xie pushed down his raised arm, his face beaming with joy: “It’s Mute Bottle!”
Everyone’s expression immediately stiffened. They could see that Zhang Qiling’s physical condition was extremely dire. His upper clothes were practically in tatters, and there were bloodstains and wounds all over him, indicating very severe injuries.
Fatty Ye exclaimed, “It’s you, young comrade! You’re not dead?”
Zhang Qiling waved his hand, “Quick, we must leave. This place is not safe for long, it’s about to catch up!” Fatty, understanding, grabbed Panzi, whose legs were injured and he was limping, and they immediately plunged inside. Lin Yan and Wu Xie exchanged a look, instantly realizing what “it” referred to—the Blood Corpse that had taken a significant portion of their blood as a sacrifice! They hadn’t expected to alert it!
Wu Xie looked at Zhang Qiling with worry, “How are you? Can you still walk? Do you need to find a safe place to treat your wounds first?”
Zhang Qiling shook his head and walked up to Lin Yan, “Give me some of your blood.”
Lin Yan was stunned, “More? It’s out and you still want my blood?”
Zhang Qiling stared at him blankly, “Not for it, for me.”
“For you? You want my blood to…”
Wu Xie mused from beside them, “Mute Bottle, you want Lin Xiaoge’s blood. Is it because his blood helps you recover faster? Or can it even heal wounds? Like Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus?”
Zhang Qiling nodded, “Speed up recovery.”
“So, does Lin Xiaoge’s blood only work on you, or on everyone?”
“Only on me.”
Wu Xie looked enlightened, “So your blood, Mute Bottle, can deter Corpse Beetles, and Lin Xiaoge’s blood can help you recover faster. So… you’re Mute Bottle’s mobile blood bag?”
Lin Yan looked like he wanted to cry, but had no tears. First the Blood Corpse, then Zhang Qiling, and now everyone was after his blood. Heaven and earth as his witness, he was just an ordinary person before he transmigrated! However, compared to the Blood Corpse, he was willing to give his blood to Xiaoge, at least Xiaoge could save his life!
He gritted his teeth, rolled up his sleeves, and turned his head away, “Take it, take it. You’ll be happy once you’ve drained me dry!”
Zhang Qiling gave a slight nod, “Thank you.” He then pulled out a dagger and made a cut on Lin Yan’s bandaged wound before directly pressing his mouth to it and sucking.
Lin Yan gasped, “Damn! That really hurts! I feel like a blood slave being exploited by a vampire, and I’m even willing!”
Damn it! Once I get out, I’m going to rip you guys off for at least a hundred thousand, or I’m not done!
After a while, a muffled voice came from deeper in the tunnel, “You guys in the back, are you coming or not? If the big guy gets here and I don’t bring you along, don’t blame Fatty Ye!”
Zhang Qiling straightened up, hastily wrapped the gauze around the wound, and nodded at him, “Let’s go.”
That’s… that’s it? He bandaged Wu Xie before, but this is how he treats me? This is too much of a double standard! Lin Yan looked incredulous, while Wu Xie, somewhat indignant, pulled him along to follow Zhang Qiling.
“Calling him Mute Bottle, he’s really living up to the name, not even saying a word.” He glanced at Lin Yan, patted his shoulder, “It’s alright, he’s someone my Third Uncle hired for Jia Lama. When we get out, I’ll ask Third Uncle to compensate you. I guarantee you won’t be at a loss!”
Lin Yan looked at him, inwardly scoffing. Young man, you’re too naive. By the time we get out, everything in this tomb will be picked clean by you! You won’t be able to take anything out to sell! Besides him, everyone else who came down here either has a family and business like Wu Sansheng and Wu Xie, or is working for money like Panzi and Da Kui and Zhang Qiling. Only he! Came down here because he owed money! He’ll have nothing when he gets out! Thinking about it makes him sad!
