Chapter Thirty: The White-Bearded Corpse Descends

  As I turned around, that eerie face was stuck tightly to the back of my ear. I glanced at it with my peripheral vision and almost got scared out of my wits.

  That face was full of wrinkles, with a long beard covering half of it. The most terrifying thing was that there were no eyes on that face, the eyeballs seemed to have been dug out alive, and the flesh around the eye sockets had turned outward.

  It's just a face, and at this moment it's stuck to my back. What's strange is that I don't feel any weight at all. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed there was someone on my back.

  I and Ma Si Zhe are both waiting to see what he will do next. I clutched the black donkey hoof that I had previously taken out of Ma Si Zhe's bag, just in case something unexpected happens, it would be good to stuff it into his mouth in time. To be honest, after the previous experience, I didn't quite believe in the effect of the black donkey hoof.

  A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead as the white-bearded old corpse, which had been quietly lying on my back, suddenly began to move.

  His mustache suddenly moved like countless earthworms, slowly crawling. As if it had a sense of touch, it slowly swept across my body, around my armpits, and encircled me in a circle. Holding the two of us tightly together.

  I could feel the whiskers slowly shrinking, I was on the verge of suffocation, and I gave Marx a signal. Marx gripped the knife in his hand tightly, quickly approached from the side, and slashed at the chin of the white-bearded old corpse. The old corpse, despite having no eyeballs, perfectly dodged Marx's sudden attack.

  Then the beard suddenly pulled me back, and I lost my balance. I was dragged backwards, and with the water in the tomb, I felt like I was surfing.

  I struggled to turn over and stuffed the black donkey's hoof into his mouth, he suddenly froze there. I was surprised that this thing actually worked this time.

  Although the corpse was fixed, the beard wrapped around my body did not relax at all. The more I struggled, the more urgent it became, and now the situation couldn't be delayed any longer. The water coming out of the coffin had already risen to the waist of Ma Si Zhe and me. Ma Si Zhe was sweating profusely but still couldn't untie it.

  I thought of a plan and leaned in close to the old corpse, letting Ma Si Zhe dodge. Before Ma Si Zhe could ask what I was doing, I pulled out the black donkey hoof that I had stuffed into the white-bearded old corpse's mouth.

  The old corpse suddenly flew into a rage and flung me violently to one side. I crashed into the tomb wall and fell into the water with a splash. When I got up from the water, I felt dizzy and my vision blurred.

  Detestable is the black donkey hoof in my hand, I don't know where it was thrown by him just now. I searched for a circle in the water and didn't find it. When I stood up, the old corpse scanned around and found my position. I saw his movements a bit suspicious, could he be relying on the heat of human body to identify directions?

  I watched him approach me step by step, with the idea of trying again, and then dived into the water. The old corpse didn't move after all. Marceau might have wanted to come and help me, and was walking towards us.

  I poked my head out, spat out a mouthful of water and said 'this thing is directional based on heat' before quickly shrinking back into the water before that old corpse found me.

  Ma Si Zhe heard me say that and also dove into the water. The old corpse floated on the surface of the water for a while, turning in circles, but couldn't find any trace of us.

  Just as I was rejoicing that this was a perfect plan, Ma Si Zhe suddenly emerged from the water. Lao Shi immediately turned towards him. Ma Si Zhe took a deep breath and dove back in.

  Looking at the water in front of Ma Si Zhe, wave after wave of bubbles rising up, I started to think that this wasn't a good idea. I forgot that Ma Si Zhe can't swim at all, and now the water is already almost chest-deep. If the water rises higher than us later on, Ma Si Zhe might actually drown.

  I pinched my nose and swam over to Ma Si Zhe, just as I reached his side, he suddenly darted out from the bottom of the water and took a big gasp of air. Seeing that old corpse starting to walk towards Ma Si Zhe, I quickly stretched out my hand and pulled him back. Ma Si Zhe was kicking his legs wildly in the water.

  No time to bother with him, I quickly pulled Ma Si Zhe and swam to the coffin.

  I always thought the key was on the coffin, and I was searching around it. Ma Si Zhe suddenly became excited, and kicked me with his foot. Although I couldn't feel any pain underwater, his action was really big.

  I looked at Ma Si Zhe and saw him stretching out one hand with his finger pointing upwards.

  As I looked up, I saw the white-bearded old corpse hanging upside down from the top of the grave, its face staring straight at us under the water. The reflection on the surface of the water made that face even more terrifying. As the ripples spread, the face also swayed back and forth on the surface of the water.

  The long beard floated on the water surface, I sped up my movements, quickly searching for the mechanism we had touched before. A sound came from above my head, I looked up. The old corpse had already stretched its face into the water, and the beard floating on the water surface suddenly turned bright red.

  Ma Si Zhe was already on the verge of suffocation, his entire face scrunched up, and he was purple from lack of oxygen. In my panic, I fumbled for the mechanism on the inner wall of the coffin, and this seemed to be the right choice, as the water inside the coffin was suddenly sucked back out.

  As the water on top of his head was sucked away, the face of the old corpse on top of his head also got closer and closer to us. I don't know if it's an illusion, but I actually saw a strange smile on his face. I looked down at the coffin, and the entire coffin board had sunk in.

  I looked up at the face, then down at the coffin, gritted my teeth and pushed Marx into the coffin. I jumped in after him. A massive amount of water rushed in behind us, and we were swept away by a whirlpool before being flushed into a narrow tomb passage. The water flowed down the slope to the bottom of the passage, leaving us suspended in mid-air.

  Water kept flowing down from above, fortunately that old corpse didn't follow us down, and the two of us could finally catch our breath.

  Ma Si Zhe weakly said, 'I found out I'm a fire sign, just afraid of water bubbles.' It's strange to say, Ma Si Zhe wasn't afraid of heaven or earth, but was afraid of water and snakes. Coincidentally, both were present in this tomb.

  "Cheng Shu has a point," said Ma Si Zhe with a cough.

  Which one

  "Legends are more reliable than historical sites."

  Ma Si Zhe is talking about the story of that sheep herding kid I told them before on the mountain. Actually, when this story just started, I didn't take it seriously at all, always thinking it was nonsense. Now it seems, reality has surpassed legend.

  Speaking of Cheng Shu, "do you think those three people went where"

  Ma Si Zhe shook his head, "I now think this tomb is just a bottomless pit. We've been walking for days and there's no end in sight. If Cheng Shu and the others are intentionally hiding, we'll be exhausted to death and still can't find them. Let's not waste our minds thinking about them anymore. They're after wealth, we're after fruit, let's just not interfere with each other. Since they don't plan on helping us, once we get out, I won't give them a single penny. If I make it out alive, I'll definitely make sure they can't survive in this line of work."

  "Wow, you guys in this line of work still settle accounts after the fact?"

  "Can't you speak in a more civilized tone?" Marx glared at me. "Ah, I'll pay the money first, and then he'll get us both killed in the tomb. By that time, the money will be his, and so will the grave goods. What a ridiculous deal this is!"

  "Okay, you're a pro. Take out the things in your bag and count them, see what's missing."

  We both emptied out our backpacks, and the laptop was ruined from being soaked. The camera was also broken. The map we had finally obtained was gone without a trace after only a few glances. Fortunately, the compressed food was all packaged, and Marx's bag still had several flares and a few black donkey hooves.

  I wrung out my clothes and wiped the gun, wondering if it would still fire. Marx carefully arranged his things, I looked at the black donkey hoof in his hand and couldn't help but ask 'where did this rumor about the black donkey hoof being able to subdue zombies come from?'

  Ma Si Zhe cleared his throat and said, "This is a long story."

  To make a long story short

  Ma Si Zhe was blocked and turned his face away, saying 'I won't say anything'.

  "Shut up or I'll suffocate you."

  "If you insist on asking me, then I'll tell you"

  ‘…….’

  The legendary immortal Zhang Guo Lao, the divine beast under his seat is a donkey. According to legend, Zhang Guo Lao often rode this donkey to practice medicine and display magical skills, so in folklore, Zhang Guo Lao's donkey was regarded as a sacred object, believed to have the effect of warding off evil spirits and taming zombies.

  However, not all donkey hooves can be used to subdue zombies, only those that are over 50 years old have this effect.

  "Is it done?"

  Ma Si Zhe nodded 'Mm, done. What's wrong, not exciting? Then I'll make up some more for you.'

  I patted my butt and stood up: "Stop making things up, shouldn't we think about where to go next?"

  Ma Si Zhe also stood up 'Do you need to think about it? Of course, we're going up' Ma Si Zhe pointed to the slope of the tomb path.

  Why

  "You didn't see all that water flowing down just now, and you still want to go down? Haven't you had enough of being soaked?" He said, turning around and walking up the slope of the tomb path. I shouldered my backpack and followed behind him.

  My flashlight and Ma Si Zhe's had both broken down, fortunately he still had a spare one wrapped in waterproof cloth in his backpack. When he pulled it out, I almost fell over calling him my idol.

  Although it's not as bright as the previous one, it's enough for lighting the way.

  Ma Si Zhe and I walked in the tomb passage one after another, chatting about what we had seen along the way and sorting out the clues we had discovered.

  I feel that the things I've seen and experienced on this journey are really too messy, if I don't sort them out regularly, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to get a clear picture later. After I get out, I'll write a book to record what I've seen and heard on this journey. I reckon it will be the new version of Liaozhai's Records of the Strange.

  We walked for about a few hundred meters and saw through a burst of bright light in front of us, we exchanged a glance 'Damn, are we not going to get out?'

  We quickened our pace to the bright place and found that this was not the end of the tomb passage. As we stepped out of the cave entrance, we were stunned again by the scene in front of us. This impact was even greater than the last time at Tongtian Hall.

  In front of us, a pit appeared with a depth of over ten meters and a diameter roughly the size of two playgrounds. Inside this deep pit, I saw an enormous coral reef that stretched all the way to the top of the tomb, so high that it seemed to have no end.

  The coral body is dark red, black and yellow in three colors, surrounding the mountain around this deep pit, like a earth building, surrounded by a circle. Not far apart, there is a cave like where I and Marx came out.

  I looked over and saw a few figures vaguely in the depths of the coral pit, this time I didn't panic, at a glance I could tell it was Uncle Cheng and them.