Chapter Thirty-Six: Cold Eyes Watching from Afar

  "How is it that the more I listen, the less I understand? If you were afraid of being discovered by us and sharing the treasure with you, why did you bring Jiang Liu for the second time? Isn't that just adding another person? The more I hear Uncle Cheng speak, the more loopholes I feel there are. Many places can't withstand scrutiny. Could it be that he's still deceiving us until now? But thinking about it, nothing is impossible."

  Cheng Shu sighed and said, "Jiang Liu was secretly following behind me and Huo Ying. By the time we discovered him, he had already walked a distance away, so we had to bring him along."

  I sneered inwardly and didn't bother to expose him. Given Cheng Shu's character, if he didn't want Jiang Liu to follow, there were many ways to do it, including getting rid of Jiang Liu directly. How could he let Jiang Liu follow so easily? There must be something that Cheng Shu and Huo Ying couldn't handle on their own, and this matter was still hidden from me and Ma Si Zhe, so they pulled in Jiang Liu again. Anyway, that's what I'm guessing in my heart.

  I pretend to be no longer entangled, even if there are still many doubts in my heart, I'm too lazy to ask Cheng Shu again. Not a single true word can be asked out of him, and I'm fed up with it. When lies become something that one would rather die than say, then they're not called lies anymore, but pseudo-truths, or high-quality counterfeits.

  Ma Si Zhe couldn't help but notice the loopholes and inconsistencies in Cheng Shu's words, but he didn't ask any more questions. It was also unnecessary for us to dwell on why Cheng Shu brought Jiang Liu instead of us. Whether it was concealment or exploitation, what mattered most was finding a solution and getting out.

  "Are you sure there's really a treasure here?" I asked, changing the subject.

  "That stele clearly wrote, shaking the world treasure, hidden in the underground space at the end, should not be wrong" Uncle Cheng continued to say "When we find the treasure, after we go out, turn our hands, get the money, one share per person" Uncle Cheng quickly won over us two.

  Ma Si Zhe burst out laughing, "Haha, Uncle Cheng is being polite, but we've actually gotten a great deal!" Then he put one hand on my shoulder, "Right, Sun Yi?" I smiled wryly and curled up the corner of my mouth.

  Cheng Shu heard this and laughed, getting up from the ground. He shook hands with us two and patted my shoulder, then turned to Jiang Liu and Huo Ying and said, "Who says young people are all foolish? You're quite clever!" Everyone burst out laughing in harmony.

  Ma Si Zhe turned his head and changed his face in an instant, whispering to me: "Dessie, after we get out of here, I'll make sure he doesn't get a single penny."

  Ma Si Zhe still had a smile on his face after turning around. His expression changed quickly, just like a professional actor.

  "Cheng Shu, what happened just now upstairs? Why are there so many moths flying around the coral?"

  "Don't mention it, it's all because of that careless Cheng Shu," said Cheng Shu, glaring at Jiang Liu. Jiang Liu looked down in shame and didn't dare to retort.

  It turned out that the coral below looked good for climbing, but the situation above was not like what it looked like below. When they climbed halfway up, the branches of the coral above were already sparse and couldn't be reached, so Cheng Shu and Jiang Liu waited at the halfway point, while Huo Ying swung the rope upwards, hooking onto a branch above, then climbed up along the rope.

  Cheng Shu and Jiang Liu stayed where they were, waiting for Huo Ying. After a while, not seeing any movement above, Jiang Liu began to study the layer of stuff wrapped around the coral outside. He touched it with his hand, but couldn't figure out what it was, so he made two cuts with his knife. Miraculously, the cut opened by the knife instantly closed again.

  "Cheng Shu, what is this?"

  "Don't always study that thing, what if it's really something that can't be provoked?"

  Jiang Liu didn't listen and thought about how to get a piece of it down. A knife wouldn't work, what about water? Jiang Liu took out his canteen and poured some on top.

  "Don't do that, or we won't even have water to drink later." As soon as Uncle Cheng's words fell, a series of cracking sounds came from upstairs. At first, they were faint, but gradually became clearer. Jiang Liu was so scared he didn't dare move. Uncle Cheng went up and slapped him, "Fool, I told you not to move!"

  Before long, the moths on the coral began to wake up, slowly flapping their wings. Not long after, they flew off the coral and rushed towards Jiang Liu. Jiang Liu was so frightened that he lost his grip on the coral and fell from it.

  Just as they were about to fall, the moths on the coral rose up and surrounded Jiang Liu. Then, Cheng Shu and Huo Ying were also attacked by the moths and fell from above.

  Isn't this moth supposed to be waterproof? How can it not survive once it touches water?

  "But what was it that you just applied to us?"

  Ma Si Zhe waved the empty water bottle in front of Cheng Shu and said, "It's the water that Sun Yi and I filled up in the cave earlier. I don't know why, but everything in this tomb is afraid of this water. Originally, we only planned to use it to drive away the moths, but unexpectedly, it also has anti-inflammatory properties."

  "Oh, this is strange too." Cheng Shu took over the water bottle and fiddled with it for a while.

  "When did you catch up with us?" Huo Ying finally spoke up beside him.

  "When you first climbed up the coral, Ma Si Zhe and I just crawled out of the cave on the second floor."

  "So you all heard what Uncle Cheng said about the stone piece just now?" Huo Ying asked, and I was stunned for a moment. What's with this tone of righteousness, why can't I hear it?

  "Hmm, I heard it" I still told the truth.

  Huo Ying nodded and didn't say anything else.

  Cheng Shu continued, 'The record on this stone slab only has one section. Judging from the content, there should be an upper half. We need to find that part in order to fully interpret it.'

  "It's all about luck, it's not an easy thing" Ma Si Zhe said, and I nodded in agreement "It's a bit challenging"

  It's not that I must deceive Uncle Cheng and the others, nor is it that I don't want him to know. It's just that if something really happens, at least there will be some chips in hand to exchange, so as not to let people throw them away casually.

  Cheng Shu turned his head and asked Huo Ying, "How is it? Is there any discovery this time?"

  Huo Ying shook her head. "Not far away, about the same as last time. When the moths flew up, I couldn't move forward."

  Cheng Shu angrily fanned Jiang Liu once: "You thing that can't even accomplish anything but always causes trouble!" Jiang Liu knew he was in the wrong and didn't retort.

  I looked up along the coral and couldn't see the top, it went straight into the tomb, so big that it made people feel awe-inspiring.

  I walked in and found that the layer of stuff attached to the surface before was actually those moths. I don't know what species they were, but their wings had a texture like asphalt.

  The moth flew away, revealing the true nature of the coral. It was indeed not natural coral, but I couldn't tell what it was specifically, it just felt like tree bark. As I touched its texture, I found it surprisingly smooth, unlike ordinary dry and withered tree bark, and there was even a hint of moisture inside, making me wonder if water would seep out the next second.

  I was concentrating on studying what this thing was when Ma Si suddenly shouted from behind me 'Sun Yi!'

  Before I could react, my waist was wrapped around by something. It suddenly pulled me up violently and slammed me into a branch, slamming me until I saw stars. Without giving me a chance to catch my breath, it swung me down again, slapping me onto the ground with my head facing downwards. I felt a metallic taste in my nostrils, and when I wiped my face with my hand, it was already covered in blood.

  I feel like I'm the epitome of being unlucky in the 21st century, it's always me! Every time it's me! Bullying people shouldn't be this bullying! I looked down and saw that the thing wrapped around my waist was a vine that had drilled out of the lotus root. Damn it! This is the second time, this time I'll let you see that I'm not so easy to bully either.

  I was burning with rage, just about to pull out the knife, when this thing suddenly yanked me upwards again. My backpack slid down my arm and the knife in the pocket fell to the ground, I almost laughed out loud.

  This thing picked me up from the ground and slammed me down, feeling like playing a trampoline, the difference is that every time it's really slamming into the ground.

  When I fell down again, Ma Si Zhe caught me from below and grabbed my foot. Huo Ying climbed up the coral twice and took out a knife to slash at the vines, but they didn't dodge at all. Huo Ying's knife slashed onto the stone, leaving no mark behind.

  Cheng Shu stood by and said, 'It's useless. This thing is probably attracted to the bloody smell on Sun Yi's body and won't let go until it smells fresher blood.'

  Ma Si Zhe didn't actually pull the vine, but only pulled off one of my shoes. I was pulled up again by the vine. This time, however, it didn't pull me very high, but stopped at a position more than three meters high. Then, from the vine wrapped around my waist, another vine slowly separated and crawled towards my face.

  It got closer and closer to my face, I hurriedly closed my mouth tightly and covered my nose, afraid it would drill in. But the strength of that thing was beyond what I could resist. It drilled into my nostrils from the gap between my fingers.

  It made my nose itch, and just as I was at a loss for what to do, something flew up from below. The tendril crawling towards me was suddenly attracted to it, releasing me as it wrapped around the thing.

  I took a look and it was actually a stone covered in blood.

  Ma Si Zhe covered his arm and came over to pull me up "Hurry up"

  I looked at Ma Si Zhe's arm, and his clothes were slowly seeping with blood. "You've cut your arm?"

  "Or else, cut the main artery?"

  Huo Yingling nimbly jumped down from above 'Come on, there's more than one vine up here'

  I turned my head and took a look, the coral was originally made up of vines entwined together, at this moment they all started to twist and turn, if they were all wrapped around, I reckon even draining Ma Si's blood dry would be useless.

  Cheng Shu walked in the front, I was hit by a car just now and my legs were not strong enough to walk, and I had to rely on Ma Si Zhe and Huo Ying to support me to walk with difficulty.

  I recalled that just now, Cheng Shu was saying some unpleasant words on the side which I could still accept, but Jiang Liu was also standing by with a cold expression, this made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. Previously, I even thought of Jiang Liu as one of my own people, it seems I was overthinking.

  But what surprised me the most was Huo Ying's actions, not only did she not turn a blind eye, but she also chose to help me. This left me somewhat perplexed, as Huo Ying was the kind of person who didn't get involved in things that didn't concern her, so why was she being so considerate towards me this time?