Chapter 168: Wuhu~ Takeoff!
Wang Qi still didn’t know what had happened. He was still struggling hard to get rid of the rope. Hearing Li Pipa’s words, he only thought he was injured somewhere on his face, so he yelled at him impatiently: “Shut up, loser!”
Li Pipa was choked by his words, plus his face was still continuing to disappear, so he was terribly scared for a moment and didn’t know what to say.
Master Liang saw the two below still moving like that and felt his worldview collapse. He had lived for decades; where had he encountered something like this? He was so scared his legs went soft for a moment, unable to run, just watching Wang Qi struggle over toward him, even thinking of jumping up.
After a long time with no reply from the two, Wang Qi couldn’t help but look up at Master Liang, but from below upward he could only see the constantly trembling flashlight light. He frowned: “Master Liang, what are you doing? Why haven’t you pulled us up yet? Hurry and help us untie this rope!”
Master Liang didn’t answer him; the light just gradually drooped lower, shaking even more violently.
Wang Qi just felt somewhat baffled: “Why are you shaking?” He turned back to look at Li Pipa’s position and only saw Li Pipa behind him with his head drooping, kneeling on the ground as if his legs had gone soft: “Why aren’t you guys talking?”
For some reason, he always felt his voice was a bit blurry. He cleared his throat, not paying it any mind; it was probably because this was like half a secret room, with echoes inside.
Master Liang could no longer think straight, because as Wang Qi spoke, he clearly saw under the flashlight light that Wang Qi’s face was disappearing bit by bit, and that last sentence came from just half a lip. And behind him, Li Pipa’s neck part was completely gone, with only the upper half of his face drooping in front of his body.
Just as Wang Qi looked toward Master Liang again, that half head thudded to the ground with a dull sound, like a ripe watermelon hitting the ground. The remaining small half head that hadn’t disappeared splattered red and white everywhere, while the disappeared neck area didn’t have even a drop of blood, only clear bone and muscle textures retracting into his clothes.
Wang Qi never got the chance to say the rest.
After his remaining small half face disappeared, his body staggered forward a few steps, dragging Li Pipa’s half body forward a bit, and also fell beside the inside of the coffin chamber.
After the two, including their clothes, completely disappeared, Master Liang shakily sat down slowly, feeling his mind blank, unable to think of anything, left only with Wang Qi’s gaze fixed on him before disappearing.
Unlike Li Pipa’s gaze full of fear before disappearing, Wang Qi’s gaze was fierce and threatening, with a trace of the arrogance from a big tycoon that he had never liked.
But now it was gone.
Master Liang thought and thought, then actually breathed a sigh of relief. If only Uncle Tai were here now, unfortunately…
He didn’t know how much time passed, but the surroundings were still completely silent. Master Liang suddenly snapped back to his senses and suddenly thought that Wu Xie and Lao Yang might still be below; otherwise, who tied the ropes on Wang Qi and Li Pipa? He looked at the ropes left in place after the two disappeared, shakily stumbled down to carefully collect them; what if they came in handy.
But who would have thought, not long after, they really did come in handy.
Below, Lin Yan thought and thought and felt something was off. If Boss Wang and Li Pipa were alive because of his subconscious belief that they were alive, then now that his subconscious already knew they were really dead, didn’t that mean these two people wouldn’t exist? Then what about the bodies they left above—would they disappear directly or would some accident cause death? This was a problem.
At first he really thought it was the Shuangyu Jade Pendant incident from Xinjiang that had intruded, but although there seemed to be that kind of rumor here too, it apparently hadn’t been researched by anyone? No, still not right. Why were the things Wu Xie knew almost the same as what he knew before crossing? Could it be… He suddenly thought of what Lao Yang had said before.
All this started after he touched the bronze tree branch.
Could it be that this spacetime itself didn’t have this event, but because his subconscious thought it was like this, it became so in others’ cognition too? Were the things in Wu Xie’s memory also fabricated by him because of the bronze tree’s power?
Based on the fact that the bronze tree’s power doesn’t decay with distance, could it be… that in everyone’s impression—or rather all relevant people’s—there really was now a Shuangyu Jade Pendant legend? And all this was done by him? What was this, group hypnosis?
No, more than group hypnosis; maybe in Lop Nur, there really was now an altar of unknown age, a scientist named Peng Jiamu, a… jade pendant carved into fish shape! Just didn’t know how much of the altar’s truth the bronze tree had created. Maybe in this lifetime, he still had a chance to solve this riddle?
So the question is, if this place is destroyed, how long can the bronze tree’s power last? Looking at Wu Xie’s still confused gaze, Lin Yan sighed inwardly: Based on Wu Xie’s protagonist’s law, this place was inevitably going to be destroyed; just didn’t know the reason. Of course there was a way—if Lin Yan subconsciously believed this place wouldn’t be destroyed, maybe… it really could be preserved?
So now it was a contest between the bronze tree and the protagonist halo, huh? This was pretty awkward… Lin Yan scratched his head; he himself didn’t believe this place could be preserved, okay?
Just then, the corpse cocoon illuminated by the flashlight light fluctuated for some reason, and the yellow reflection on the coffin well’s inner wall shook violently, drawing all three people’s gazes over.
Lao Yang looked at Wu Xie suspiciously; Wu Xie also looked at Lao Yang suspiciously. Now it was just the two of them holding flashlights, so the suspect could only be each other. But when Wu Xie’s gaze went over, Lao Yang’s flashlight was on the ground, so…
“Wu Xie, is your hand shaking?” Lao Yang glanced at the corpse cocoon and asked Wu Xie suspiciously, but Wu Xie shook his head: “No, how could I shake at a time like this?”
Lao Yang nodded; thinking about it, Wu Xie wasn’t the type to cause trouble in this situation, so the answer could only be one thing.
The three’s gazes focused on the corpse cocoon; Lin Yan’s gaze became intrigued: This was… the bronze tree starting to act up?
He sensed it; none of the three present had done anything weird or thought any messy things, so why did this corpse cocoon move on its own? Could it be that besides this bronze tree, this corpse cocoon was originally here, not conjured up by Wu Xie?
That made some sense; if it was Wu Xie’s imagination, why imagine a coffin—why bother imagining an amber? As for Lao Yang, with his limited knowledge, even if he luckily knew it was a corpse cocoon, why bother making this thing? Still that sentence: why not imagine a coffin they were all familiar with? That would be even more real, right? Just for this thing’s face being visible from outside?
Under their gaze, the corpse cocoon suddenly fluctuated again, like… the thing inside was moving. Wu Xie sucked in a cold breath and stuttered to Lao Yang: “Lao Yang, this, this thing isn’t alive, is it?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, they drew Lao Yang’s glare. Wu Xie thought it over and nearly slapped himself—why say something bad like this thing being alive? What if it really came alive because of him? Lao Yang had also said his power was unreliable, needing someone to guide his subconscious; now he could only pray that his subconscious hadn’t reacted to that wave yet, that this thing was really dead… No, this thing could only be dead; it absolutely must not come alive!
Damn, if this three-to-four-meter-tall giant came alive, how to fight it? Just being squeezed in this small space would kill them! Oh right, there was Lin Yan! Wu Xie slapped his forehead, finally remembering that in this bronze tree, Lin Yan was the biggest boss: “Lin Yan, hurry and make this thing settle down!”
But when he turned to look at Lin Yan, Lin Yan’s expression was very ugly; if not for confirming Lao Yang hadn’t caused trouble, he would have thought it was Lao Yang’s doing—otherwise why would this thing move inexplicably?
The two rats beside him weren’t afraid, though; they’d seen plenty of dead people—not just seen, but eaten many! They couldn’t understand why everyone’s expressions were bad; they just ran to the slightly fluctuating corpse cocoon on their own. The Rat King leaned next to the amber, sniffed, got stimulated by the thick woody scent with blood on the corpse cocoon into sneezing, shook his head, and ran back to Lin Yan’s side.
Its follower saw the boss come down and originally wanted to go too, but just then, the pair of eyes right in front of it opened.
The huge corpse in the corpse cocoon met the big rat’s eyes eye-to-eye through the amber. For some reason, the rat eyes, originally full of curiosity and cruelty, gradually turned bloody, and its body also began to tremble…
“Squeak?” Seeing his follower not come back, the Rat King turned his head, tilting it to look at it, his little head full of question marks: Huh? Where’s my little bro? Why’s he staying put?
It originally wanted to go back and see what was up, but was hooked back by Lin Yan’s foot: “Stay here and don’t move.”
He looked seriously at that big rat; ever since those eyes opened, this rat’s behavior had been off, just like… like the feeling he had before when bewitched by the bronze tree to climb up, a bit like… possessed?
Now not only was the corpse cocoon trembling slightly, the big rat was shaking too; its tail tip was shaking so fast it was a blur, the whole rat somewhat blurry from the high frequency, like a photo shot out of focus, yet its eyes stayed fixed staring at the corpse in the corpse cocoon; the scene was terrifying for a moment.
Wu Xie instinctively felt something wrong and quietly retreated two steps toward Lin Yan, preparing to have Lin Yan phase through the wall and take him out if danger arose—oh right, almost forgot Lao Yang.
Wu Xie looked at Lao Yang; Lao Yang was looking thoughtfully at that rat, not knowing what he was thinking. Would making a sound now get noticed? Wu Xie hesitated a bit, but finally made an extremely soft sound with his lips: “Hey, hey!”
Lao Yang snapped back, about to open his mouth, but Wu Xie hurriedly put his hand to his lips and made a silencing gesture: You don’t want to live!
Lao Yang hurriedly covered his mouth, suppressing the urge to speak, quietly picked up the thing, circled behind the corpse cocoon, and walked to Wu Xie’s side.
Wu Xie finally relaxed, seeing no further movement from the rat and corpse cocoon, quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and poked Lin Yan’s arm: “What now?”
Lin Yan glanced aside, expression a bit serious, whispering in Wu Xie’s ear: “Something’s off… I originally wanted to take you through the wall, but I just tried with my hand and suddenly it didn’t work; seems like this corpse cocoon’s doing.”
Wu Xie frowned upon hearing this. Though he hadn’t fully accepted the bronze tree’s power yet, having it was better than not, right? If even Lin Yan couldn’t, then Lao Yang—he turned to look at Lao Yang, who shook his head at him and pointed at the corpse cocoon to indicate that was the source.
Wu Xie irritably scratched his head; couldn’t rely on these two—did he have to do it? The only thing he could think of now was climbing up the iron chain they came down on… He looked up; seemed like only ten or twenty meters, not high, but the premise was not alerting this corpse cocoon, which might be tricky.
Thinking it over, he still felt it better not to sit and wait for death here. Though he didn’t know what exactly was in this corpse cocoon or why it fixated on a rat, the more like this, the more off it felt—better to follow the Thirty-Six Stratagems and run for it first!
Thinking this, he didn’t hesitate, poked Lin Yan, and in his puzzled gaze pointed upward, mouthing: “We climb up?”
Lin Yan thought for a bit, nodded, reached out and somehow pulled out a rope, tightly tying his and Lao Yang’s and his own waists together, the other end tied to the bronze chain.
The little white zombie naturally jumped onto Lin Yan’s shoulder; the Rat King hesitated between his little bro and Lin Yan, but chose the long-term meal ticket, hugging the rope end with both hands, even wrapping his tail around Lin Yan’s ankle—though after being glared at by the little white zombie, he obediently wrapped it around the rope too.
Wu Xie had never asked what Lin Yan was doing until Lin Yan was ready, then he couldn’t help but ask curiously: “How do we climb up like this?”
But Lin Yan gave him a profound smile: “Though phasing through walls doesn’t work anymore, other things still do—who told you we were climbing up?”
???
Three question marks popped up over Wu Xie’s head; seeing Wu Xie’s puzzled gaze, Lin Yan and Lao Yang both couldn’t help laughing; at this moment, the two of them seemed like old friends of many years.
Lao Yang patted Wu Xie’s shoulder, leaned to his ear and whispered: “Wu Xie, afraid of heights?”
Afraid of heights? If he was, could he have slid down the bronze chain? What strange thing was Lao Yang thinking? Wu Xie was baffled for a moment like a monk scratching his head, but he soon found out.
Lin Yan smiled at him, exchanged a glance with Lao Yang, waved his hand, and lightly shouted a few words from his mouth: “Wuhu, takeoff!”
In Wu Xie’s dumbfounded gaze, he only felt his body suddenly sink down, then start shooting upward!
Sigh, application rejected, feeling down.
