Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Shadow of the Fire Man

  These three people stood in the stone cave not far from me, with their heads bowed and their waists bent, looking extremely strange. And when I saw them, this feeling of being deceived became even stronger.

  I think I understand now, this little rascal is actually the descendant of that old corpse-playing man. What surprised me was that girl, although in this dark and gloomy cave, she was wearing an exceptionally clean and tidy outfit, with a pale face, black hair tied up and draped behind her head. She wore a long blue skirt, if I hadn't met her in this broken cave, I would have thought I saw a fairy from heaven descending to earth.

  Because this girl is really beautiful, so beautiful that people yearn for her.

  In the darkness, I lost my mind. After a long time, I felt as if someone had hit me on the head with a stick and suddenly woke up. Turning back, I saw that in the pitch-black cave behind me, there was a corpse crawling towards me like a snake. The appearance, combined with the dark cave, made people's hair stand on end.

  It was obviously a snake corpse, a snake corpse in the corpse monster. However, at this moment, the snake corpse seemed to have lost my position and was jumping up and down between the stone walls, making a hissing sound in its mouth.

  I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and my heart was still a little afraid. But at this time I had already reached the end of the road, with no way out. In front of me was a stone cave where three people were, if I went in, who knows what situation I would encounter. No time to think, I hid behind a rock.

  But at this time, the snake corpse behind me was still moving around, and it brushed against the stone on my body several times. Listening to the sound of fingernails scratching against the stone, my heart was also racing. But my gaze wasn't on the snake corpse, I was attracted by another even more eerie scene.

  That eerie scene took place in a cave not far from me, where a stone chamber was lit up with flames.

  All that could be seen was a fire burning inside the stone cave, with three people crouching in front of it. The old man had a ferocious face, his skin like old tree bark, and his eyes gleaming with sharp light. A boy and a girl, two small children, had curiosity on their faces, as if they were watching something extremely strange.

  I shifted my gaze to the fire and looked at it carefully. Slowly, I discovered some clues. The fire was burning with flames that were jumping up and down on the net. Upon closer inspection, the flames seemed to be two human figures. What's even more bizarre is that the flames left two shadows on the wall, which clearly showed two people constantly fighting each other.

  That scene is just like a shadow puppet show. Shadow puppet shows were very popular during the Qing Dynasty, where a piece of cloth was used to block out the light, and a lamp was lit behind it, the brighter the better. Then someone would hold a small figure made from animal hide on top of the cloth, and the other side of the cloth could see this little person. The performer would then grab this little person and continuously make movements, while singing.

  But peony can cast a shadow, which is strange. A flame can also cast a shadow, and this makes me feel like my worldview has been turned upside down.

  Three people remained motionless in front of the spark, and after a long time, the old man finally made a move. He slowly squatted down, his two hands slowly stroking the pile of fire.

  That pile of fire looked ordinary, just a few branches propped up, the flames were light yellow, and black smoke was sputtering out with a 'hiss'.

  The old man muttered to himself, his hands waving strangely over the flames, which seemed to have a life of their own, swaying back and forth with his movements.

  In the old man's waving, I saw two clusters of human-shaped flames swaying more violently. Suddenly, one cluster of flames went out, leaving only one person-shaped flame. Then, the old man waved his hand again. To my surprise, I saw that the flame slowly left the fire heap and floated in mid-air.

  Suddenly, the old man turned around fiercely, letting out a fierce cry from his mouth, and pointed to a corner of the cave with his hand. I clearly saw that at this moment, the human-shaped flame was like a vicious dog, its movements becoming extremely frantic in mid-air.

  Take another look, in the corner where the old man pointed, there was actually a corpse lying. At this moment, the spark suddenly drilled into the corpse. Before the spark entered the corpse, I also heard a shrill cry, your voice is like a monkey's.

  And when the spark drilled into that corpse, it actually twitched slightly. Then, the corpse flipped over and crawled up from the ground.

  I was shocked by the scene in front of me, and my body involuntarily shrunk back. Although it was a small movement, I didn't expect it to expose me. As I shrank back, the rocks behind me made a loud rustling sound.

  In the stone cave, the old man was like a vigilant cat. After hearing this sound, he suddenly turned his head, and his wrinkled face flashed with a sharp light. A boy and a girl also turned their heads at that instant. Although these two looked normal, I didn't have any good feelings in my heart when I saw them. Don't forget, I had hit the little brat before, and the girl had been touched by me.

  At that moment, we looked at each other, just like two silent trees, speechless. I don't know how long it took, the depressing atmosphere was suddenly broken by a strange cry. In the corner of the stone cave, the corpse had completely climbed up and was crouching with its body shrunk, cautiously hiding in the corner, looking like an old mouse. It was a rat corpse.

  The old man looked at me, still silent, the air seemed to have solidified. And beside him, that little kid suddenly picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at me.

  A loud crack, the stone hit the stone next to me and shattered. The child was not satisfied, he squatted down and picked up a few more stones to throw, but each time he missed. The child got angry, he actually ran towards me, as he approached, he grasped the stone and slammed it hard on my body.

  But I'm not a wooden stake, so I stretched out my hand and caught the stone. The child's face was red with anger, and he wanted to run closer. However, the old man grabbed the child's collar and pulled him back like a toy. The child shouted in discontent: "Don't stop me, I want to beat him to death, how dare he appear in front of me!"

  The child's voice was a bit milky, and I couldn't help but laugh. The old man severely scolded the child, and the child immediately stopped talking. However, the girl next to him glared at me fiercely at this time, covering her chest with her hands. I could feel that if the old man wasn't there, she would have eaten my heart out.

  Two little brats, not worth worrying about. I shifted my gaze to the old man. The old man remained silent, but a hint of mockery flashed in his fierce eyes: "I didn't expect you kid to still be alive. I'm a bit surprised. Are you satisfied with this place?"

  I gritted my teeth and thought of last night's scenes, and in my heart was a surge: "Old mixed hair, hurry up and let me go back."

  Scolded by me, the old man didn't get angry. He sneered twice: "You want to go back like this? Then I'll just not let you go back, how about that?"

  The old man sneered and turned around, "I'm a person with no special features, I like watching plays. Look, I just refined a corpse monster, but this corpse monster hasn't drunk blood and has no combat power, why don't you play with it?"

  I gritted my teeth instantly: "Old mixed hair, if you want to kill me just say it straight out, if you have the ability then kill me now."

  The old man smiled and said with a sarcastic tone: "How boring is that, right?"

  As we were talking, the old man suddenly rushed out and grabbed me, then threw me into the hole. In mid-air, I kept punching his arm, but it was no use. I finally landed on the ground, not far from the mouse corpse. And at that moment, the mouse corpse stared at me for a second, and its pale face actually showed an interested expression.

  Then, the mouse corpse walked out from the corner, staring at me while constantly crawling on the ground. Suddenly, it rushed towards me.

  I was stunned for a moment, knowing the situation was critical, and quickly got up and ran. The mouse corpse, however, chased after me relentlessly at this time. I panicked, looking towards the three people at the door while running, only to see the old man's face cold and unfeeling, without any sympathy, while the child laughed loudly and clapped his hands: "Great, great, let's see how you die today, you mangy thing."

  Among the three, only the girl's face was somewhat normal, neither gloating nor sympathetic, like a bystander. A wave of despair welled up in my heart, and I summoned all my strength to run wildly. But this cave is small, and the mouse corpse chased after me relentlessly, and at that moment, I had no magic tools on hand, was it really heaven's will to destroy me?

  While running, I suddenly felt a thrill in my heart because I saw a drum the size of a palm in the corner. And this drum was my human skin drum. I remembered that apart from me, this drum was useless in anyone's hands and had no effect at all.

  I'm afraid the old man can't use this drum, so he casually threw it on the ground. The mouse corpse was approaching step by step, and I rushed forward frantically at this time, grabbed the human skin drum with one hand. Then I hit it hard, and a loud "boom" sounded, that mouse corpse suddenly let out a frantic scream, then turned around and slipped out of the hole.

  I'm exhausted, and I see the mouse corpse escaping from the hole, I almost collapse to the ground. Looking towards the entrance of the cave, the three people's faces are full of surprise, especially the old man, he seems to not believe what is happening in front of him. At this moment, I hug the human skin drum, and coldly laugh at him, laughing with all my might.

  The old man walked over with the girl and child, all the way to my face, his expression even colder. Suddenly, he snatched the human skin drum from my hand, striking it twice but not making a sound.

  He sneered: "How interesting, really interesting. I didn't expect that this broken palm-sized drum of yours would have such an amazing ability. It seems that you're not as simple as I thought. How about making a deal?"

  I glared at him fiercely: "You old scoundrel, how dare you still have the face to submit a proposal with me?"

  The old man shook his head and turned around: "If you don't want to, then just stay here. The world is vast and time is long, I believe that one day you will understand."

  After finishing this sentence, the old man turned around and walked away. He took two little kids with him, step by step into the darkness.

  And I saw those dark creatures in the darkness getting closer and closer, inch by inch.