Chapter Thirteen: The Strange Jiang Liu

  I've never experienced this feeling, it's like being trapped in a nightmare. I tried several times but couldn't hear any sound, and for the first time, I felt fear from the bottom of my heart. This is different from the fear I had when I was running for my life before, I never thought about what would happen if one day I became deaf.

  Ma Si Zhe was still winking at me, and I followed his gaze upwards. It turned out that the stalactite above me had started to move, like a snake. One of them was smashed into fine pieces. Presumably it was just about to attack me when Ma Si Zhe shot it into its current state.

  I hastily ran towards the two of them, only to realize that no matter where I ran, it wasn't a good choice. Hundreds and thousands of human bones were scattered all over the inside of the cave, and no matter where I ran, I couldn't truly get far away from them. The sight of those white bones wriggling together was quite spectacular.

  I darted a glance upwards, my feet moving swiftly as I sprinted to Marx's side and kicked him hard. My mouth opened wide in a shout at Marx, but since I couldn't hear my own voice, I couldn't control the volume. But I really used all my might.

  "Ma Si Zhe, are you crazy? If I were beaten to death by you just now, I would peel off your family's window every night!"

  Ma Si Zhe was shouted by me to cover his ears, a white shadow flashed over his head, Ma Si Zhe quickly pressed me and Jiang Liu down to the ground, but still didn't forget to argue. I only saw him opening and closing his mouth without making any sound, which made my heart even more annoyed.

  "Shut up and don't tell me anything else, I'm deaf now."

  This is the first time in history that I have spoken to Marx with such a hard gas. For many years, I was suppressed and despised, but now I finally turned over the peasant slave and sang a song, it's just that the price is a bit high.

  Ma Si Zhe gave up communicating with me and directly dragged me to run. But in the blink of an eye, we were trapped tightly.

  The human skulls that were originally hung on top in various strange shapes all fell down and formed a wall of people, surrounding us in the middle. We walked in one direction, they gathered in that direction, as if they had life, with the purpose of trapping us.

  "Hmmph, it seems like you're really not going to let us leave today, huh?" Ma Si Zhe spat out a wad of saliva.

  The human bones gradually gathered, more and more, leaving less and less space, if I wait any longer, I'm afraid I'll be trapped to death. I clenched my whole body's strength and kicked hard, but there was no change at all. This kick was like kicking a copper wall and iron wall. My foot sole was numb from the shock. Jiang Liu picked up a stone from the ground and smashed it forward fiercely, the human wall was loosened a bit.

  He turned around and smiled at me, "Still, a stone is harder than your legs."

  But in my eyes, he just flashed a brilliant smile at me and said something, like watching TV with the mute button on. Damn it, not being able to hear anything felt like constipation, suffocating.

  Jiang Liu held the stone in his hand, smashing it down fiercely, and skeletons began to fall from the human wall. Ma Si Zhe grabbed one of the skeletons' spines and with a burst of strength, snapped it into two pieces. When did this kid become so skilled? Back when he was in college, he would get into fights with people from the physical education department and need twenty or thirty people to back him up, but now he can snap human bones with his bare hands.

  We stood facing over a hundred eerie skeletons with nothing but our bare fists. Gradually, we all lost strength and were forced to retreat step by step. Strangely, as we retreated, the skeletons behind us didn't dare follow, as if they were avoiding something extremely terrifying, leaving a path open behind us. I had no time to look back, my foot slipped into emptiness, and I fell into the water pool from before.

  I splashed a few times, the water was not deep, but it was cool enough, it was that kind of bone-penetrating coolness. Ma Si Zhe pulled me out of the water with his hand, I was soaked all over, didn't have time to tidy up my clothes, just roughly wiped the water on my face.

  It gradually became clear that we didn't have any effective way to deal with them. The corpses were no longer satisfied with just approaching us, and they began to take action. One of them wrapped its arm around Jiang Liu's neck, strangling him until his eyes turned red. The strength in that hand was incredibly powerful, and it took both me and Ma Si Zhe working together to pry it loose. Just as we had managed to free Jiang Liu, another one wrapped itself around my foot. With a sudden jerk, I was slammed violently to the ground, dazing me so much that my vision began to blur.

  Ma Si Zhe stepped on the human skeleton with one foot, then grabbed the arm of that thing, using his foot as a fulcrum to lift it up fiercely. I heard another cracking sound of bones shattering.

  "What's this thing supposed to do?" Ma Si Zhe asked me while dodging the entanglement of human bones.

  "Who knows, maybe it's your sworn brother inviting you for a drink." I said gruffly, rubbing my shoulder which had just been slammed to the ground.

  "There's no need to find something so ugly to lead the way"

  "Besides, if you're going, it's your own business, why bring us along?" Jiang Liu nodded in agreement with my words.

  As we were talking, another skeleton wrapped itself around my foot. I stretched out my hand to brush it away, but as soon as I did, the skeleton that was wrapped around my foot automatically retreated back.

  What does this mean? Are you looking down on me? I stretched out my hand and the skeleton in front of me shrank back as if it had been startled.

  "Ah, I didn't notice there was a special function!" Ma Si Zhe exclaimed as if he had discovered some treasure.

  The next thing I knew, they were holding me up like a shield in front of them. Honestly, if it wasn't a matter of life and death, I would never have agreed to be held like an idiot.

  Now that the secret was discovered, things went much more smoothly. The two of them carried me along with no obstacles. Those white bones were all scared back to their original positions.

  It wasn't until much later, when we were resting, that we thought of discussing this matter. In fact, I don't know why such a situation occurred either. Is my physical constitution different from others? Innately warding off evil spirits? When I was in the archaeological team before, I didn't discover anything like this, and yet I hadn't encountered any fewer strange and bizarre things back then either.

  Otherwise, it's possible that after entering the tomb, I touched something that others didn't touch, and this possibility is a bit bigger.

  "Could it be because of that pool of water?" Jiang Liu guessed.

  "It's very likely that from now on, we'll be doing everything together, eating and using the same things. Just now you fell into the water, but we didn't"

  "What's with the tone full of envy? Want me to throw you into the water and see how you do?"

  "What if there are some after-effects?" Ma Si Zhe hastily shook his head.

  …….

  "Can you hear us talking now?" Ma Si Zhe asked me with a surprised face.

  I suddenly realized that I could hear voices at some point. My deafness didn't last long. This surprised me a lot.

  Ma Si Zhe saw that I had recovered and my mood was much better, only then did he tell me about what happened when he first opened fire.

  At that time, I was intently studying the map in my hand. Marx Zhe and Jiang Liu saw a flight of stairs at the other end of the cave. They wanted to call me over to take a look. Unexpectedly, as soon as I turned around, I saw the stalactite above my head moving, slowly stretching out its withered bone-like hand towards my shoulder.

  They were both so scared that they didn't dare to speak, fearing that the thing would suddenly strangle me to death. For a moment, Ma Si Zhe couldn't think of any other way out and fired a shot. Unexpectedly, the cave was too empty, the sound couldn't spread out, and it directly stunned me, fortunately I've recovered now.

  I was terrified after hearing the series of gunshots. At that time, if Marx's shot had been a bit off target, I might not have survived.

  "You said I came for a trip, wasn't bitten to death by the zongzi, but ended up being beaten to death by you, isn't it a suffocating way to die?" I glared at Ma Si Zhe in anger.

  Ma Si Zhe hastily patted his butt and stood up to change the subject "I'll take you to see that step"

  The platform Ma Si Zhe mentioned was in the corner of the cave, extending downwards, and it was bottomless. I shouted down below, but my voice echoed for a long time without any response. It's probably not shallow, so I looked at the two of them, wondering if we should go down or not.

  Ma Si Zhe shrugged his shoulders 'can't go down and can't help it, only this road'

  In such a dark situation, the flashlight is the only thing to rely on. The road under my feet is not flat, and the stairs are very steep, so I tread carefully with every step.

  Jiang Liu walked in the front, with wind under his feet, forming a contrast with Ma Si Zhe and my slow pace.

  Ma Si Zhe joked, "Jiang Liu, you must have eaten a lot of carrots six hours ago!" Jiang Liu didn't make a sound. Ma Si Zhe thought it was a bit strange and quickly walked past him with a playful smile. Just as he was about to speak, he froze there.

  Jiang Liu ignored him and continued walking forward.

  "It's all over now." I walked past Marx Zhe, and Marx Zhe grabbed my sleeve.

  Jiang Liu's eyes...are a bit strange

  Ma Si Zhe said something unbelievable to me. I suddenly remembered that before, I saw Jiang Liu's pupils become slender, was it not my illusion?

  I saw it once before

  My head started sweating, what's going on here.

  Ma Si Zhe said in surprise, "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Just as I was smoking, he lit a cigarette for me. When I looked up, his pupils suddenly became narrow and long, like a cat's."

  "What?!" Ma Si Zhe's face was full of surprise.

  "Is this what you saw?"

  "I just ran up in front of him, and the moment he turned his head to look at me, a green light flashed through his eyes. You know, like a wolf's, that kind of glow they give off at night."

  The more I listen, the more I feel a chill run down my spine. Could it be that Jiang Liu is not human after all? This possibility is small, as Jiang Liu was introduced by Master Ma's uncle. If he wasn't trustworthy, his uncle wouldn't have let him come over.

  It feels like watching a horror movie, where ghosts keep appearing, but as long as someone is by your side, it's not that scary. But if you suddenly discover that the person beside you is actually possessed by an evil spirit, the fear becomes more than just being scared.

  "Jiang... Liu!" I shouted from behind in a trembling voice. Jiang Liu heard my shout and slowly turned his head back.

  Nothing at all, no eyes glowing in the dark, no pupils narrowing, nothing changed.

  "It's nothing, just saying, don't get lost later" I smiled awkwardly.

  "Haha, okay, I'll slow down, you two catch up"

  Jiang Liu slowed down his pace, muttering to himself as he walked, "Today I don't know why, but everything looks especially clear."

  "What's going on? Why isn't it lit?" I whispered to Marx from behind.

  I don't know, maybe it's out of power

  "We must have been scared out of our wits by these people and seen a hallucination"

  "May be"