Chapter Ten: Vampire Mosquitoes

  She said this, and everyone quieted down, listening carefully to her voice.

  A humming noise similar to an electric drill, but very small and faint.

  It was just an instant, the sound became more and more. Yes, that's right, not getting bigger, but more and more. It was like a sudden increase in quantity, from scattered to overwhelming. The five people in the cave were momentarily frightened into inaction.

  Jiang Liu maintained his pose of holding up the flashlight and looked at the top of the cave saying 'There shouldn't be any bee nests here, right?'

  "That's it, we definitely can't outrun a horsefly," said Ma Si Zhe.

  Cheng Shu took out his flashlight and looked around 'It doesn't sound like a hornet's nest, this sound is more like...'

  Before Uncle Cheng finished speaking, the buzzing sound got closer and closer, as if it was swirling above our heads. I picked up my flashlight and shone it on the top of the cave, and the scene was indescribable - a swarm of small black insects had formed a ball and were hovering above, and when they were illuminated by the light, they seemed to be startled and charged towards us.

  "Uncle Cheng shouted 'The flashlight is off, run quickly!'"

  When we heard Uncle Cheng shouting, we rushed to the depths of the cave. We didn't care what was inside, just kept crawling in. The buzzing sound was right behind us, and Jiang Liu didn't know if he had been bitten or hit his head, but just kept yelling "Ah yo! Ah yo!"

  As we ran and ran, the sound from the cave grew fainter and fainter. We were also exhausted, leaning on the ground panting heavily.

  "What's the hurry? Can such a small bug be fatal?" Jiang Liu asked while patting his leg.

  Ma Si Zhe crawled up beside me and asked if I had been bitten, I shook my head, Ma Si Zhe let out a sigh of relief.

  "If you don't understand, then don't show off, that's called asking for trouble! One bite from the mosquito and your life is over!" Cheng Shu scolded Jiang Liu.

  "Xī Shī Wén? The name sounds pretty good."

  Ma Si Zhe gave me a glance, "Xishi Weng, I'm still talking about the greenhead horsefly. Can't you have some culture? That's a kind of highly toxic fly that feeds on the blood of corpses, usually not many in number, didn't expect so many this time. Just those we saw earlier, if released, would cause big trouble."

  I was speechless with contempt, thinking that this thing is more terrifying than any biochemical weapon.

  "Insects that feed on corpses, how can there be so many here? Where did all these animal corpses come from for them to feed on?" Jiang Liu asked in puzzlement.

  "So we must be extra careful, who knows what unexpected things might happen ahead." Cheng Shu said with a tense expression. "Be more alert later."

  Ma Si Zhe gave me a glance and then gave me a complacent look.

  Before leaving, Ma Si Zhe repeatedly asked to bring the two guns he brought with him. I think that if there really are ghosts or gods, guns can't solve the problem, and it's better not to bring them, so we can travel lightly. But Ma Si Zhe scolded me, saying "Fool, bringing a gun is for protection against people, who told you to use it to shoot zombies?" Nowadays, Ma Si Zhe speaks in jargon all the time, and "zombies" are insider terms used by morticians to refer to corpses.

  "If you can't even protect people, and another life is lost because of you, I'll be guilty of a great sin"

  "Come on, come on, I'll be brave, with this thing in my heart, I feel at ease." Marx Zhe looked at me anxiously and explained with a smile. "Who knows what's in the tomb? What if we run into a fierce beast, we won't die waiting."

  Ma Si Zhe's actual combat experience is more than mine, and I couldn't use common sense to consider the situation in the tomb. As for what Ma Si Zhe said, it can't be ruled out either, so I compromised.

  Ma Si Zhe's eyes seemed to be saying 'what's up, didn't I tell you so'

  I ignored him and followed Uncle Cheng forward.

  Passing through the place just now, a team of people were still frightened and walked even more cautiously, carefully listening to the situation on both sides. The cave began to be quiet and frightening, I could hear everyone's breathing sound rising and falling. It went on for a long time like this.

  "We should have left that hole by now," Ma Si Zhe said, turning his head back.

  All the way through, unimpeded, like a well-dug tunnel, just waiting for us to walk in. I reckon if we keep walking like this, we might as well be walking through a tunnel, from one end to the other.

  As I walked on, the path in front of me suddenly turned into a small road paved with stone slabs, all of which were uniform in size and polished. I squatted down to take a closer look and found that the stone slabs and the stones at the entrance of the cave were actually the same kind.

  At least this can prove that the cave is not naturally formed but man-made.

  "This road is getting more and more comfortable, I wonder if there will be a red carpet soon," said Jiang Liu as he walked forward. Suddenly, the stone slab under his foot sank down a bit.

  Ma Si Zhe shouted 'Come back quickly'

  But it was too late, in just a blink of an eye, Jiang Liu had vanished.

  "Jiang Liu!" I shouted several times, but no one responded. The green brick that had fallen with Jiang Liu earlier returned to its original shape, as if nothing had happened, perfectly intact.

  "It should be here, only valuable things will have anti-theft devices." Cheng Shu said calmly. "The direction is correct, let's think of a way to avoid this device and move forward."

  I still haven't calmed down from the shock 'Leave? Where to go? Jiang Liu fell down'

  "May each rest in their own destiny."

  Cheng Shu's four words made me feel a chill in my heart, if I were the one who fell down today, what would happen to me? Would those people all let out a sigh of relief and then return to Hangzhou to collect their pay?

  No, we... I'm still holding on

  "What's the mechanism in the tomb for, you're a professional, you should know. Jiang Liu is likely to be unlucky, we don't need to waste our energy." Cheng Shu's tone was not very kind, and it seemed like he didn't leave me any room for maneuvering.

  No one helped me in this situation, and I was definitely going to die if I went alone. Just leaving Jiang Liu unattended made me feel uncomfortable, what if he wasn't dead, that would be equivalent to us killing him. Huo Ying didn't want any more trouble. I turned my pleading gaze to Ma Si Zhe.

  I glanced at Ma Si Zhe, he didn't look at me, avoiding my gaze, and walked straight ahead. I felt a little lost in my heart, thinking that at least he would still be on my side.

  Unexpectedly, Ma Si Zhe walked to the place where Jiang Liu had just fallen and felt around the edge of the brick with his hand. Then, with a burst of strength, he actually flipped the whole thing over. "Dead man, what are you staring at? Lend a hand!"

  I quickly walked over to help Ma Si Zhe hold up the brick, and Ma Si Zhe shone his flashlight downwards.

  Cheng Shu is a bit unsteady on the edge. 'Ma Zhe, why are you also so stunned? What if there's some kind of mechanism?'

  "I won't," Ma Si said solemnly.

  "How did you know it wouldn't work?" Uncle Cheng burst out in anger

  "Because this is not an organ at all, it's the entrance." After finishing speaking, Ma Si Zhe looked at me for a moment. I didn't react in time, and Ma Si Zhe jumped down. All I heard was a muffled sound, and then Ma Si Zhe shouted from below "Come down, it's not high!"

  I didn't think much and turned around to follow him down. The program uncle upstairs looked at Huo Ying, and Huo Ying also followed me down.

  Ma Si Zhe's "not high" isn't really "not high", I feel like I have a few seconds of falling time. For a moment, I wasn't mentally prepared and was thrown off quite badly.

  "Ma Si Zhe, your grandfather! Look up yourself, it's at least two stories high. You tell me it's nothing, then how tall is something?"

  "If you really have something on me, then I won't be able to stand here and scold you"

  I took a deep breath, you little devil are quite ruthless.

  I heard footsteps behind me and turned around cautiously, only to find it was Jiang Liu.

  Nothing's wrong, is it?

  Jiang Liu's voice was a bit strange, not as spirited as before, but somewhat dull. Could it be that he had heard what Uncle Cheng said earlier? Being abandoned by someone you trust would make anyone feel uncomfortable.

  Just now when I came down, I was busy arguing with Ma Si Zhe and didn't have the heart to look around. As soon as I took a glance, I was attracted by a stone tablet in front of me that was half a person high. On the stone tablet was written:

  Thirty-six feet deep from the main hall

  The stone tablet was embedded in a block of earth wall, with the font twisted and distorted, as if left over from construction.

  This is undoubtedly a signpost, indicating that the road we have taken so far is correct. I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement in my heart, as if everything was laid out before me, and behind this wall, there was everything I wanted.

  "Nowadays, there are rarely any tombstones in the tombs, unless it's an imperial mausoleum that is definitely not going to be robbed. This place really has some meaning." Cheng Shu didn't know when he followed up and said to himself behind him.

  "What should we do now?" I don't want to dwell on the unpleasantness before, maybe he has his own way of doing things, it just so happens that it doesn't get along with me. If everyone who runs a gang is as timid as me, they would have been killed in the streets long ago. The fact that Uncle Cheng can mix and mingle like this shows that he has his own reasons.

  "We can't just dig a ditch, the workload is too big and there's nowhere to pile up the soil"

  Cheng Shu smiled and looked at Ma Si Zhe's expression that was trying hard to hold back a laugh, I knew then that I had asked another question that exposed my low IQ.

  "Exploring the tomb is definitely not possible, and we're not here for archaeology." Cheng Shu took out the metal detector he had asked me to prepare earlier. Unlike those used in archaeology, this metal detector could pinpoint locations down to the centimeter, but it couldn't detect metals too far beneath the surface, making it more suitable for use within tombs.

  I looked down and saw on the instrument panel that there was a metal object one meter ahead.

  What does this mean? The wall in front of me is not an earthen wall?

  I walked forward and touched it with my hand, it was indeed mud. I picked up the military knife and scraped it against the wall, and surprisingly heard a piercing sound. There really is metal inside this wall!

  It took us five people about an hour to scrape off that layer of soil, and the metal inside the wall gradually became visible.

  What appeared before us was a door, about two meters high, painted red. Due to its age, the red paint had peeled off. Upon closer inspection, countless copper rivets were inlaid on it, like some kind of decoration.

  According to the stele records, entering from this gate and walking a short distance should lead to the main hall.

  We pushed the big gate open together, and in the falling dust, I heard a heavy object fall to the ground behind the door. With this sound, the copper door was slowly pushed open.