Chapter 11: Behind You...

  "A thick fog is coming, everyone be careful." Pei Zi reminded us.

  I replied casually, but before long, the fog grew thicker and I couldn't help but stretch out my hand in front of my eyes to take a look. However, all I could see was my blurry fingers. This fog is too thick! I have no idea how it came about! As soon as I thought this, I lifted my head up, but in an instant, I realized that there wasn't a single person around me that I could see! I shouted out a few times, but didn't hear anyone respond. I couldn't help but recall the events that had previously occurred and cursed under my breath, "shit", how did this happen again? Have I become alone once more?!

  "Zi'er?"

  Just as I was getting a bit anxious, I suddenly heard a familiar voice. I was overjoyed and hastily asked loudly: "Dad, is that you?"

  "It's me." My dad's voice seemed to be coming from far away, yet it was also right next to my ear. I couldn't tell which direction he was in, so I asked loudly again: "Dad, why can't I see you?"

  "I'm just ahead of you, keep walking forward and you'll see me..."

  After my dad finished speaking, I took a few steps forward and unexpectedly saw a blurry figure in front of me. As I walked a few more steps, I saw my dad smiling at me, and this person was indeed my father! I joyfully ran towards him, but suddenly a snake appeared beside me, tightly coiled around my wrist. No matter how hard I shook it, I couldn't shake it off, and instead, it only got tighter. With my dad right in front of me, I couldn't get past this predicament, which made me furious. Without saying another word, I bit down on the snake, and then heard a blood-curdling scream. I was puzzled - could snakes even scream?

  Just then, a sharp pain suddenly appeared on her thigh, and Song Ah's voice came from beside her ear: "Feng Zhi, wake up quickly, wake up quickly!"

  I heard you, don't slap my face! I wanted to brush off the hand on my face, but damn it, I found that I couldn't move! Am I having a nightmare? Was everything just now a dream?

  "Want to do it again?" The voice seemed to be Su Dai, or so I thought, because my head started spinning again, but the next moment, another sharp pain, almost more intense than before, made me cry out "Ah!" and my eyes snapped open. Then I saw Su Dai holding an iron wire, about to poke my thigh again, so I hurriedly said: "Why are you poking me? I'm already awake!"

  I really woke up, Song Ah sighed and at this moment I saw two rows of teeth marks on his arm! Wasn't it a snake that I bit just now, but Song Ah? I looked at him, and Song Ah also looked at me, saying: "Feng Zi, take a look where you are now."

  Wasn't I just sleeping? Where else could I be? Thinking to myself, I looked down at my body and unexpectedly found a pile of bones! I immediately jumped up and asked in surprise: "How did I end up here?" Wasn't I just sleeping inside the tent?

  Su pointed behind me and said, "This flower can confuse people's minds. You were brought here by it. If we hadn't discovered that someone was missing in time, I'm afraid you would have ended up like them." What they were pointing at was the white bones under my feet!

  I turned back to look, the flower wasn't big, but it was densely packed. If it weren't for its man-eating habits, it should be quite a delightful sight. I sighed and asked: "Is anyone else hurt?"

  "Ah, Xiao Shan is gone too, you're luckier than him, we found you when it was digesting Xiao Shan..." Su Dai's voice grew fainter, but my heart felt increasingly stifled. We haven't even entered the tomb yet and people are already dying, who knows what will happen once we get inside.

  Su Dai helped me bandage my wound, and then we changed to another place to spend the night. At this time, Pei Zi walked over with a heavy face, looking somewhat self-reproachful, saying: "It's all because I wasn't careful and didn't discover those things, are you okay?"

  "It's okay, I'll be fine after a night's rest. But as for Xiaoyan... " It was clear that Pei Zi truly felt guilty, after all, they had been companions for so long and now he was just gone.

  "I'll take care of it on the small hill over there." Pei Zi let out a sigh, seeing that I really didn't have anything major going on, and put his mind at ease, saying: "As long as you're fine, next I'll try to head towards safer areas, although it might take an extra day, taking a detour."

  "En." I nodded, and Pei Zi walked out. I lay on the bed, thinking about the situation over the past few days. Maybe it's summer now, and our luck is relatively good, so we've only encountered two instances of heavy fog. When there was fog, we didn't wander around, but stayed in place, avoiding getting lost. Now that we've been walking for seven or eight days, it seems like we'll be later than expected by many days.

  I don't know if we were just lucky or because of the last time my dad and his friends had a narrow escape, but this time it really wasn't as thrilling as Pei Zi said. Although there was a small unexpected event on the way, we still safely arrived at where my dad and his friends had been before, and fortunately, Pei Zi quickly found the thieves' den they had dug that year.

  Looking at the narrow hole that only one person could crawl through, my heart was filled with mixed emotions, with excitement and eagerness being the strongest. Although I thought they might have already left, I still wanted to go in and search for clues. Of course, it would be best if I could see Dad, but if not, I'd look for any clues they might have left behind!

  "Thank you!" I happily said to Pei Zi and was about to go down first, but unexpectedly Pei Zi grabbed my clothes and said: "I'll go down first, you guys follow behind."

  "Are you going down too?" I was surprised, because Pei Zi was forced to come here by them back then. I thought he shouldn't want to enter this underground ancient tomb either? But Pei Zi shook his head and said firmly: "I don't want to regret it again, and our actual combat experience is also much more than yours, we can help you a bit."

  "Good!" Pei Zi was able to stay behind, of course, that's the best, so I didn't bother being polite with him anymore. After Pei Zi left, we all followed quietly and carefully.

  This pothole wasn't a straight drop, we'd gone down about ten meters when we reached the bottom, then it extended to the right. The inside of the cave was pitch black, I could only see Pei Zi's butt swaying in front of me. A few minutes later, Pei Zi suddenly disappeared, and before I could even speak, he let out an "ahh" and fell down with a thud, landing awkwardly on the ground.

  When I came to, the others had also fallen down. At this time, Pei Zi walked up to me with a flashlight and patted the mud off his body, saying: "Everyone's okay, it seems that part of the entrance was destroyed, fortunately not too deep."

  I was about to say it's nothing, but suddenly I saw something standing behind Pei Zi, so I swallowed my saliva and stuttered while pointing at his back: "You... you, your back!"