Chapter 14: Don’t Mess With Anyone Except The Reckless Man!
Wu Xie turned his head to look down at the platform. It was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything clearly, only his Third Uncle’s voice kept coming from there.
“Nephew, is there a Fatty beside you? Is Panzi there too?”
“Yes, Third Uncle, what’s wrong? Also, why are you guys here? Where did you come from?”
“Stay away from him! We found this Fatty’s corpse on the way here! Take a good look, does he not have a shadow?”
Wu Xie turned to look at where Fatty was. He had just settled Panzi on the ground and was observing the surroundings along the platform with his mine lamp. He looked carefully at Fatty’s feet, but the light source wasn’t strong enough to see clearly, making it difficult to observe whether Fatty had a shadow.
So he turned to look at Lin Yan, who was examining the female corpse: “Lin Yan, Lin Yan! Hurry and help me see, does Fatty have a shadow?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed Lin Yan was quietly reaching for the female corpse’s belt. Seeing him turn his head, he retracted his hand, and the beads that were originally on the female corpse’s belt disappeared, leaving Wu Xie speechless. Was he treated like he was blind, with things being taken right in front of him?
Lin Yan looked up with an innocent expression: “Huh? What did you just say? I didn’t hear clearly, say it again.”
Wu Xie couldn’t help but shake his head and smile: “Just take it if you want it, no need to hide it from me, Lin Yan. I called you to see if Fatty has a shadow under his feet.”
Lin Yan was stunned: “A shadow? Why do you want to see if he has a shadow? Do you suspect he’s a ghost? But when he pulled me out of that hole earlier, his hands were clearly warm, he’s a living person.”
Wu Xie was a bit confused: “But Third Uncle just said they saw Fatty’s corpse on the way here? Could there be two Fattys?”
Hearing him say that, Lin Yan discovered a blind spot: “You just said. your Third Uncle asked you to see if Fatty has a shadow?”
Wu Xie nodded: “Yes.”
Lin Yan’s expression turned serious: “Considering I’m this close to you, if you could hear your Third Uncle speaking, I should have been able to hear him too. But before you asked me to help look for a shadow, I didn’t hear anyone speaking at all. Are you having a hallucination?” He glanced at the male corpse beside them, not daring to look at its face this time: “Does this Green-Eyed Fox Corpse really have the ability to cause hallucinations?”
Wu Xie was taken aback for a moment, feeling uncertain: “What you’re saying makes sense. But that voice was definitely my Third Uncle’s. If it were a hallucination, it should only repeat one or two sentences with no logic. Isn’t that how novels and TV shows are written? But this Third Uncle’s voice can even talk to me! Could it be that Third Uncle’s voice was too faint, and your attention was on the corpse, so you didn’t hear it?”
Lin Yan was also taken aback: “Now that you mention it, that does seem a bit possible?” He tilted his head and thought: “Why don’t you try to test it again?”
Wu Xie pondered for a moment and thought it made sense. So he softly called down again: “Third Uncle, the light here is too dim, I can’t see clearly. Why don’t you come up, and we can all be together? Lin Yan is with me too.”
After hearing the reply from Third Uncle’s voice, he felt a chill down his spine: “Lin Yan? Is anyone surnamed Lin? Among the people who came down with us, where is there anyone surnamed Lin!” How could this be? He almost felt like laughing. Lin Yan had been with him almost the entire way; he was sure Lin Yan was a living person. If not, there was only one possibility – he had been in a hallucination since they left Jishi Land. So there was only one possibility: he had indeed fallen victim to a hallucination, likely after looking at the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse’s eyes! He just didn’t know why Lin Yan had also looked but didn’t fall into a hallucination.
He turned to look at Lin Yan again. Seeing his serious expression, Lin Yan immediately understood: “Did that Third Uncle’s voice reply to you again? I still can’t hear it. So. I guess you really are hallucinating.”
Wu Xie nodded.
He and Lin Yan made eye contact for a few seconds, then he suddenly scratched his head: “Since I’m definitely hallucinating, then. how do I break free from this hallucination? This hallucination seems to just be Third Uncle’s voice telling me to be careful of Fatty, and there’s nothing else. It’s not luring me to do anything.”
Lin Yan thought for a moment but couldn’t figure out the purpose of this hallucination: “I don’t know, anyway, everything in this tomb is quite strange. Since it’s a hallucination, why don’t we just ignore it? I heard that hallucinations can only lure people, and if you don’t pay attention to it, it should be fine.”
Wu Xie nodded and turned his attention back to the key in the female corpse’s mouth. Although what the hallucination said might not be true, he still remained cautious and didn’t use his hand to touch the female corpse’s mouth.
“Then how do we get it out? What do you think this key opens? I don’t see any treasure chests here! Oh, there really is one here!”
Previously, he had been afraid to look towards the male corpse because of the fox corpse, but with a sweep of his eyes, he discovered that the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse was holding a small treasure box. If his guess was correct, this key and treasure box were likely a matching set.
Lin Yan looked and said with a strange expression: “You’re saying this treasure box is placed in plain sight, and the key is right beside it. How much did the owner want their treasure to be stolen? Is there such a tomb owner?”
Wu Xie also felt something was wrong, but since it was all out in the open, his curiosity was piqued by the things in the treasure box, and it wouldn’t take much effort to look.
Just as he got up to take the treasure box from the fox corpse’s hand, the shadow beneath him was covered by a larger one, accompanied by Lin Yan’s roar: “Wu Xie, be careful! Dodge quickly!”
He looked back and saw Fatty Ye behind him, his face flushed unnaturally, his whites filled with bloodshot veins, holding a dagger, looking like he was ready to kill.
His first thought was: “Third Uncle’s voice was indeed a hallucination! Fatty Ye isn’t he casting a shadow!”
When Fatty Ye slashed at him with the dagger, he finally remembered to dodge. But he forgot to put down the box in his hand, and in dodging, he didn’t completely avoid it.
At this critical moment, a shadow flashed by and knocked Fatty Ye half a step to the side, and the dagger plunged into the fox corpse’s thigh. Fatty Ye’s thrust was powerful, and it wouldn’t be easy to pull out now; the dagger was stuck in the fox corpse’s bone. Even more terrifying was that with the dagger inserted, the fox corpse let out a shriek of anger and surprise, as if it were still alive, sending chills down everyone’s spines.
Wu Xie looked closely and saw that it was Lin Yan who had knocked Fatty Ye over. Failing to hit his mark, Fatty Ye abandoned the dagger and lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck. Behind him, Lin Yan was pulling his right arm back, but Fatty Ye was strong and powerful. Lin Yan was losing a lot of blood and hadn’t rested properly, so he couldn’t match Fatty Ye’s strength and was dragged along, falling onto the corpse as well.
Seeing that it was no use, Lin Yan tried to pull Fatty Ye off Wu Xie while calling for help: “Panzi! Come here quickly! If you don’t come, your Third Master Xiao will be gone!”
For some reason, Panzi seemed not to see Fatty Ye when he lunged earlier. Only when Lin Yan called out did he look over: “What’s wrong with Third Master Xiao? What are you doing to the corpse? Where is Third Master Xiao?”
Goosebumps erupted all over Lin Yan, and a chill shot up to his scalp: “Can’t you see? Fatty Ye is possessed and wants to kill your Wu Xie. I can’t pull him off! Help me pull him off!”
Panzi’s face became grim, and his gaze swept around him: “What are you talking about? I really can’t see where Third Master Xiao and Fatty Ye are. I only see you holding the male corpse’s arm and doing God knows what!”
Lin Yan was going crazy. He was starting to wonder if he was hallucinating, or if everyone else was.
Fatty Ye, while strangling Wu Xie, roared ferociously: “Damn it, I’ll choke you to death! You little brat, you tricked me!”
Lin Yan saw that his strength wasn’t enough to pull Fatty Ye away, and Wu Xie could only weakly pry at Fatty Ye’s hands, struggling to breathe. So, he gritted his teeth and grabbed Fatty Ye’s neck instead: “I’m not as strong as you to hold you, but I can choke you unconscious, right?”
Fatty Ye’s face immediately turned red and swollen. Even if he was hallucinating, his instincts were still there. He instinctively began to struggle, and in the ensuing chaos, the three of them, along with the two corpses, rolled into a heap.
In the panic, the back of the female corpse’s neck was kicked by someone. The key in her mouth shot out, and the mechanism in her throat was triggered, firing several silver needles. One of them hit the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse directly in the right eye.
The fox corpse let out a scream, filled with indescribable rage and panic. That scream alone jolted everyone awake. Fatty Ye, now clear-headed, immediately let go of Wu Xie’s neck and went to pry Lin Yan’s hands away, his strength so great that Lin Yan’s eyes teared up from the pain.
“Holy crap! Fatty Ye, go easy! This is my hand, not a radish!”
Fatty Ye, who could finally breathe freely, ignored him. He and Wu Xie, whose face was red and flushed, were gasping for air.
“Cough, cough, Fatty Ye, you really, really almost choked me to death!” Wu Xie said, rubbing his neck and looking at Fatty Ye irritably. Fatty Ye gave a foolish grin: “Didn’t your Old Lin almost choke me to death too? Fatty Ye was also affected, it was all a friendly fire, friendly fire!”
Wu Xie rolled his eyes: “Friendly fire my ass! If Lin Yan hadn’t reacted quickly, I would have been done for with your first dagger strike!”
Fatty Ye, knowing he was in the wrong, gave a dry chuckle: “Heh heh, well, what can I say, if there are good things in the tomb, Fatty Ye will give you more!”
Lin Yan rubbed his hands on the side: “It hurts so much! Fatty Ye, I want double!” He was calculating in his heart. He wasn’t getting paid for this trip, so a little profit wouldn’t be bad! Fatty Ye and Wu Xie both had connections; if they could sell something, wouldn’t his own world’s fortune be made? How wonderful that would be!
Fatty Ye nodded at him, also rubbing his neck: “We’ll all get some! This is Lu Shang Wang’s tomb! If nothing else, there’s bound to be a lot of jade and bronze!”
After resting for a while, they had time to look at the two corpses. The fox corpse lay on its side, its right eye already pierced, its face full of malicious resentment. The key that was in the female corpse’s mouth fell to the side. While they weren’t paying attention, the entire corpse turned to ash and was scattered everywhere by their chaotic fight.
Fatty smacked his lips, “Tsk, this is truly ‘even the ashes were scattered’.” Wu Xie nodded with lingering fear, his attention on the fox corpse, “It seems this fox corpse was indeed the culprit! Fortunately, this mechanism didn’t shoot at us, otherwise…” He shivered all over looking at the fox corpse’s empty right eye. If it had shot at them, let alone anything else, their bones would definitely have been pierced, and they might have been incapacitated!
For some reason, he always felt a astringent taste in his mouth. After his fright subsided, he suddenly remembered that something seemed to have fallen into his mouth. He looked around and indeed saw that the male corpse’s belt had broken, and the armor pieces from it were scattered on the ground.
“Holy crap! How did this thing get into my mouth?!” He frantically tried to force it out by probing his throat, but he couldn’t spit anything out.
“What’s wrong?” Lin Yan, having just recovered, heard his despairing cry and hurried over to look at him.
“I, I swallowed an armor piece from his belt!”
“Ah?” x2
Fatty and Lin Yan exclaimed in unison and hurried over to check on him. Lin Yan asked Wu Xie to lift his head and looked at his tongue, “There’s no residue in your mouth at all, it doesn’t look like you swallowed anything? Could it be your imagination, and it just grazed you without being swallowed?”
Wu Xie was stunned, “That makes sense, maybe it was just my imagination.”
Since their chaotic fight began, Panzi had been staring blankly. It wasn’t until now that he jolted back to his senses and looked at them, some sitting askew, “Third Master Xiao, how did you suddenly appear here? I didn’t even see you just now!”
Wu Xie smiled at him and kicked the male corpse beside them, “We’re fine, it was this Green-Eyed Fox Corpse causing trouble! We were all hit by hallucinations! If it weren’t for Brother Lin, we probably would have both been injured and died here!”
Upon hearing this, Panzi hobbled over and drew out his military knife, “Damn it, what a menace!”
With one slash, the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse only managed to let out a half-finished dying shriek before its head was cut off.
Wait, it’s done just like that? The incredibly powerful Green-Eyed Fox Corpse was gone with one strike???
Lin Yan and the other two watched as Panzi kicked the fox corpse’s head away with murderous intent. They all swallowed in unison, a common thought appearing in their minds: Damn! It’s better to provoke anyone than a reckless brute! He’s too brutally ferocious!
