Chapter 167: Your Face Has Disappeared
Seeing two Big Rats being dragged in from the wall by Lin Yan grabbing their tails, even though Wu Xie had mentally prepared himself, his hand still tightened involuntarily, almost squeezing the little White zombie from a ball into a flat pancake.
“Ying?” The little White zombie expressed dissatisfaction and jumped back onto Lin Yan’s head. Wu Xie looked at it apologetically, but then his gaze was firmly drawn to the thing in the Rat King’s and its little follower’s mouths: “What are they gnawing on?”
It looked like… wood?
Lin Yan glanced at it casually and let out a soft “oh”: “Seems like the local specialty insects, there are tons of them down below, these two are eating like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. If they weren’t already this big, I’d think I picked up two bears… No idea where all that stuff goes after they eat it.”
Local specialty insects? Wu Xie shivered. The only thing here that could be called a local specialty insect, and that they’d encountered before, seemed to be one thing… He looked closely, and the Rat King was reluctantly biting the back half of an insect. That thing was very familiar indeed… So the Chi Gu was actually this weak? Being treated like a buffet item?
The Rat King and its companion were eating happily when suddenly their surroundings changed, several familiar two-legged beasts appeared, the insects right by their mouths were gone, and they were utterly confused for a moment: “Squeak squeak squeak?”
Lin Yan casually stroked the Rat King’s sleek, oily head: “When we came up earlier, one of them was ambushed by who-knows-what. I was focused on climbing up and didn’t notice. By the time I did, the Rat King had already avenged it, dragging several of these insects over to eat in front of me. Later after we came in, there was a place down below full of these insects. It seems after eating them, the Rat King and the others got this scent that scares the insects. Eating a buffet turned into total chaos, nearly tearing up everything down there.”
Wu Xie suddenly understood. He’d thought the lead Big Rat had this ability due to natural predation—after all, rats are omnivores, eating insects is reasonable enough. He didn’t expect it was a consequence of eating too many? So how many had these two eaten to scare off all those Chi Gu across the mountains and fields?
At this thought, his expression became a bit subtle: “Master Liang said this insect is called Chi Gu. The builders here raised them in stone masks, specifically to control the people and corpses that came in. We encountered them on the way up, and it even turned Uncle Tai’s corpse into that… Mountain Monkey? I don’t know how to put it, but it looked a lot like a Sea Monkey, just without scales… Speaking of the builders, Lin Yan, you’ve been in here a while—do you know who the builders were?”
Lin Yan was stunned for a moment: “Most of the time after I came in felt like a dream, I didn’t pay attention to looking for clues. Oh right, on the outermost coffin up top, there seem to be some relief sculptures. Going up to check might help. But…” He glanced at the hexagonal bell on Lao Yang’s ear that had already been sealed: “Don’t you feel like this place… is a bit familiar?”
“Familiar? No, where’s the familiarity?” Wu Xie was stunned, recalling if he’d encountered anything familiar along the way, but after thinking it over, he came up empty.
Lin Yan sighed and pointed upward: “If you shrink this bronze tree proportionally, doesn’t that make you think of something?”
“Shrink proportionally?” What tree looked anything like this bronze tree? Wu Xie thought for a long time, but his mind was still blank, nothing came to mind.
It wasn’t really Wu Xie’s fault; normal people might not make the connection. It was just that Lin Yan had indirectly climbed the entire tree, sparking some thoughts: “Do you still remember the coral tree under the underwater tomb?”
“You mean…” Wu Xie froze. He recalled the shape of that coral tree, then thought about the larger branches of the bronze tree on the way up. The more he thought, the more it seemed similar. Except the coral tree had several bronze bells hanging on it—can’t say there’s no connection, it’s exactly the same… Wait, bronze bells?
Wu Xie widened his eyes and looked at Lao Yang: “Lao Yang, be honest—where did you get that bell?”
If the bronze tree and the coral tree from the underwater tomb really had some connection, that meant Wang Canghai must have been here! He very likely got inspiration from here for the later underwater tomb layout! If anything, maybe… the Lu King’s Palace even had his hand in it!
The hexagonal bronze bells from the corpse-hiding cave, the hexagonal bronze bells from the underwater tomb, and this one on Lao Yang’s ear!
Lao Yang looked puzzled: “Didn’t I say? I picked it up from that coffin outside.” Wu Xie suddenly wondered, aside from that blackened corpse outside, were the other corpses like Uncle Tai’s also related to the bronze tree? Could the bronze tree here be connected to the one in Xinjiang? Or…
No, if Lao Yang’s mother could be revived by this ability, why not Uncle Tai and his men? He suddenly thought, Lao Yang said that before they touched the bronze tree, Lin Yan might have already been unconsciously using this ability. Does that mean…
He abruptly turned to Lin Yan, hesitating to speak: “Lin Yan, that… before you touched the bronze tree, did you have any particularly special feelings?”
“Special feelings? What kind? Hungry? Though I was indeed so hungry I wanted to eat the bronze tree.” Lin Yan touched his chin, lost in thought. Even now, he hadn’t figured out where this sudden hunger came from. It seemed like after he inexplicably discovered he had this ability, the feeling vanished. Seeing the bronze tree in front of him no longer made him want to gnaw on it.
But if he wasn’t mistaken, it felt like this ability was innately his? Was it due to his physique from crossing over, or… related to that thing his soul brought with it?
Come to think of it, that thing hadn’t made a peep since it last emerged. He’d thought gaining the bronze tree’s ability would let him find it, but after trying for a long time, it was futile. He’d gotten so bored he even made a 3D projection map showing Wu Xie and the others’ position—though they arrived right after he made it, he still couldn’t figure out what exactly was in his soul.
Whatever, this kind of thing… better leave it to Zhang Qiling. Greater power, greater responsibility, right? He was already with Wu Xie, basically someone’s mobile blood bag. Surely that someone would take care of him? In a team fight, protect the squishy healer first! Him and Wu Xie as squishy and healer, plus Fatty as tank and Zhang Qiling as warrior—perfect team comp!
Wu Xie shook his head: “Not that kind, it’s…” His lips moved a few times; even he thought the idea was a bit crazy, but on second thought, it was quite reasonable: “Did you ever think Uncle Tai and the others would be waiting for us ahead?”
Lin Yan was stunned; this was something he hadn’t considered. Could those corpses in the small coffins be because subconsciously he was wondering where the others were? Damn, that might actually be possible! So the Shuangyu Jade Pendant thing was purely his imagination? No, if he was already unconsciously using this ability by then…
He wouldn’t have actually created a Shuangyu Jade Pendant, would he?! If that was real, it was downright ridiculous! But if anything, those two guys who came back to life up top did seem somewhat related to him…
If someone knew the exact time those two unlucky bastards tied up top woke up and did the math, they’d easily realize it was precisely when Lin Yan and the others were resting on the little beach by the waterfall. And at that time, Lin Yan subconsciously kept feeling like Uncle Tai’s other companions might be ambushing them ahead, even suspecting Uncle Tai was lying about the others being dead.
So the question is, if someone knows they’ve been revived, are they still themselves? Those two up top… can they even be called human?
As if sensing a threat from Lin Yan’s subconscious, the two tied up top shuddered all over, an inexplicable panic rising from the depths of their hearts. Boss Wang was using a blade from his cuff to saw at the rope, but Wu Xie’s equipment choice was good—the rope was too sturdy, and after all this time, he’d only sawed through less than half.
Li Pipa sensed his pause and, suppressing his inner panic, whispered: “You… why’d you stop?”
Boss Wang looked grave: “Do you have a strange feeling? Why do I feel like we’re about to die?”
An inexplicable panic swept over them both. Li Pipa couldn’t hold it together anymore and hoarsely asked: “You… you feel this too? Me too! Are we… are we really going to die? I’ve only been revived for a day! One day! I don’t want to die! Do you have a way? You have a way, right? Your ancestors were appraisers, you must know lots of secret methods! Save me! I finally came back to life, I don’t want to die!”
As he spoke, his voice began to tremble, his whole body shaking in fear, wildly shaking against Boss Wang, trying to get a response.
Boss Wang widened his eyes and turned to glare viciously at Li Pipa: “Deadbeat, shut up!” Unable to help it, he cursed in Guangdong dialect, then heavily exhaled (the following are all Cantonese dialogues; readers who know Cantonese please translate yourselves—for ease of understanding, I’ll write in standard Chinese): “How the hell should I know what to do? I don’t even know how we got revived! If you don’t want to die, think of something yourself!”
Seeing the rope was too hard to cut, he simply stood up—good thing Lao Yang hadn’t tied their feet too, or they couldn’t even walk now. Boss Wang was made extremely anxious by this increasingly heavy sense of threat. When he stumbled with Li Pipa to the edge of the coffin, he still couldn’t help asking: “Hey! Did your ancestral book say what’s actually down here? Your ancestor didn’t just focus on treasures and ignore everything else, right?”
“How could that be!” Li Pipa reflexively retorted, then took several deep breaths to calm himself down. Otherwise, with his current brain, he couldn’t recall anything.
“My ancestor wrote in the book… Down here, he saw Banajiemu? And also…” Even if not Manchu, Boss Wang as an appraiser naturally knew what Banajiemu meant, but he interpreted it as this place being a site for goddess sacrifices and didn’t think deeper, just urging: “What else?”
Li Pipa hesitated: “And also, the ancestor said that once you reach here, whatever you want… this place has it?”
Boss Wang rolled his eyes. Still thinking about treasures now? Just staying alive would be lucky! His sixth sense was already blaring alarms like crazy. He impatiently interrupted Li Pipa: “I mean danger, danger! Such a huge tomb—didn’t your ancestor encounter any dangers when he came?”
Li Pipa shook his head in confusion: “The dangers in the book were just people constantly falling while building the boardwalk. Nothing else… really.”
Boss Wang exhaled, staring at the high coffin edge, calculating how to get up with their upper bodies tied tight, when a thought bubbled up: “Too bad Master Liang doesn’t know which tree hole he entered and where he is now. If he were here right now…”
Before the thought finished, he heard a hesitant voice from above: “Wu Xie? Lao Yang? Are you in there?”
It was Master Liang!
The two exchanged a glance, excitement showing on their faces at the same time: “Master Liang, we’re here! Hurry and help us untie the ropes so we can come up!”
“You are…” After all, they’d only been together less than a week, so Master Liang couldn’t tell who was below from voices alone. Ignoring their shouting, he carefully shone his flashlight down. When he saw their faces, he clearly trembled: “Boss… Boss Wang?”
“It’s me, it’s me!”
Master Liang hesitantly turned his flashlight to Li Pipa: “Boss Li?”
“It’s us, it’s us! Save us quick!” Li Pipa shouted in surprise seeing Master Liang recognize them, but Master Liang’s flashlight beam suddenly froze, as if the person above had suddenly gone still.
Several seconds passed with no movement from above. Li Pipa probed: “Master Liang? You still there?”
“I…”
Master Liang was dumbfounded, his throat dry and itchy for a moment, his words coming out weak like the last bit of oxygen squeezed from his lungs: “You… are you two okay?”
Li Pipa was baffled. They were right here, sure tied up miserably, but no missing limbs or anything? Hearing Master Liang’s voice trembling, he felt even more anxious, not understanding what Master Liang was dithering about.
“You two… want to take a look at yourselves first?”
Master Liang felt like he’d been thrown into ice water in the dog days of summer, his whole body chilled to the bone—Li Pipa’s neck was missing a chunk outright, you could see the wall behind him through it. And Boss Wang, maybe he was especially unlucky; though he might not feel it, to Master Liang, a quarter of his right face was gone, and that area was still expanding…
Heh, just looking hurts. These two really feel nothing? If I go in, will I turn out like that too? Master Liang, who originally wanted to save them, hesitated at this sight. Though he had some knowledge of artifacts, he was really just a weakling, no match for Boss Li or Boss Wang.
If it was something even Li Pipa and Wang Qi (Boss Wang’s name) couldn’t beat or even notice hitting them, him going would just be delivering himself. Better to wait here for Lin Yan and the others to return!
Just as he spoke, Li Pipa finally turned to look at Wang Qi’s face. One look and he was stunned too: “Boss Wang, your… your face”
