Chapter Fourteen: Hou Yi, Chang'e and He Bo

  Everyone lost the motivation to speak, we quickly found the mechanism, and once again shouldered our burdens. Everyone had a belly full of worries, but couldn't say anything. We returned to reality once more, the dark passageway and temporarily stopped mechanisms formed a stark contrast with the rapid running.

  After walking out of the passage again, we came to another space. I calculated that this should be the sixth floor. Walking up three more floors should be the exit of this Hundred Eyes Heavenly Array. Apparently, we are not far from escaping danger.

  This space has once again returned to its simple tone, those glowing plants have reappeared, and this time, in the central position of the space, a beautiful woman's statue stands again. At first, we thought it was another Chang'e statue. As we walked closer, we found that it was a more beautiful woman than Chang'e. Who is she?

  The carvings on this layer are obviously a bit too corrupt, which is a reflection of Hou Yi's life of luxury and indulgence after losing Chang'e. The old man explained that in history, Hou Yi has always been a hedonist, leaving state affairs to Han Zhongli and living a life of pleasure himself. It seems that losing his beloved woman was not a small blow to Hou Yi, and he relied on this extravagant life to numb himself. I wonder if Chang'e on the moon can monitor Hou Yi's changes at this time.

  But this layer has two carvings that leave a deep impression. One is Nüwa giving Hou Yi a bow - the divine bow. I don't know if it's a reward or a satire. Another one is at the entrance of the cave we are about to enter, which is Hou Yi meeting another woman by the water. The woman in the painting is that statue, the beauty who is even more beautiful than Chang'e.

  The old man pointed at the beauty and said: "This person should be Mei Fei."

  I said: "Who is Mo Fei?"

  Wu Feng hastily added: "Meng Po, it is said that she was the wife of He Bo, but Hou Yi accidentally saw Meng Po and was attracted to her, and even gave He Bo a green hat. Later, He Bo was enraged and had a duel with Hou Yi."

  I smiled and said: "This is indeed in line with the character of wearing a green hat. What's the result?"

  Wu Feng said: "As a result, Hou Yi shot an arrow into the eyes of He Bo, and He Bo was defeated. Meng Po was taken away by Hou Yi."

  I chuckled and said, "This River God is quite unlucky. His wife had an affair with someone else and even got his eyes shot out by a rival in love. I reckon no woman will marry him from now on."

  Wu Feng spread his hands and said, "It's beyond our knowledge." Then he turned to Su Yi on the side and said, "Come on, Chang'e sister, take a look at your former love rival."

  Su Yifei kicked her foot towards Wu Feng, but it was clear that Wu Feng's movements were much better, and he dodged to the side with a flash. I found it strange that she could kick me so accurately, and I couldn't even dodge. Ignoring the chase on one side, I carefully observed the carving and finally found a button at Princess Meng's eyes after searching for half a day.

  A few people packed their bags, pressed the button and took off again. My day was spent in a rush. Seventh floor, I counted silently in my heart, that kind of impulse to escape danger made my footsteps quicken involuntarily.

  The seven-layered space shrunk again, with a statue standing in the middle. There were more things that appeared, but they didn't have any appeal. Anyway, it was just those things, but this statue was relatively special because it was obviously a monster.

  The old man rushed out of the passage and saw the statue at a glance. He whispered: "River God."

  Hebo, this might be the only god in the world of gods who wears a green hat. Originally being a god, being cuckolded by a mortal is already quite embarrassing, but after fighting with that mortal, he ended up getting his eye poked out, now that's humiliating to the max! However, taking a closer look at Hebo's appearance, I think it would take someone as exceptional as Hou Yi to defeat such a monster.

  I nudged Wen Long with my elbow and said, "Tell me, if you were to fight the River God, who do you think would win?"

  Wen Long glared at me, then looked at the statue of He Bo and said: "These conditions are not even valid. First of all, this He Bo is also a figure in mythology. Even if he were real, what kind of monster would I be able to defeat with just nine bullets? Maybe I could shoot it down."

  The old man said at this time: "Is it a myth?"

  "What's wrong?" Wu Feng said, "Old man, have you got a new idea?"

  The old man nodded and said: "I'm thinking that since this thing is carved here, it may no longer be a myth."

  "Old man," Wen Long said, somewhat disbelieving, "if this monster really appeared, it wouldn't be a joke. Look at its body, its build... if it really existed in history, humanity would be doomed."

  I also agree with Wen Long's statement. Looking closely at the River God, it is obviously a big fish that has become a spirit. His lower body is almost like a fish, while his upper body is that of a young and handsome man. To be honest, Comrade River God looks quite like a handsome man, no wonder in mythological stories, he is described as a playboy. With this image, I estimate that if placed in modern times, wherever he goes, he would become the new fashion trend for plastic surgery.

  The old man said, "Actually, I don't know whether to believe that such things really exist or not. However, all the myths we've seen on our way here have been recorded in a realistic state. If what's recorded here is true, then this River God is probably real too."

  Wu Feng looked up at the statue of He Bo and suddenly asked, "If it's true, then doesn't that mean that the gods of ancient times weren't just myths, but actual living beings?"

  The old man nodded and said, "Actually, someone told me about these things before, I just laughed at the time, now it seems that maybe he was telling the truth, I was too superficial."

  "Who is it?" This was the question I most wanted to know in my heart.

  The old man didn't answer, he looked at me and then looked at Wu Feng. Wu Feng said with a hint of realization: "It can't be, right?"

  I knew Wu Feng had already guessed the answer, so I looked at him, ready to get the answer I wanted from him. Wu Feng smiled awkwardly and said: "You know this person." I nodded and waited for him to continue speaking.

  He suddenly changed his tone and said: "Wait till you see him again, ask him yourself."

  I'm so angry I'd like to smash this guy who speaks half-truths with a brick. Too bad there isn't even a brick around here to pick up.

  The old man interrupted my daydreaming, saying: "Alright, after we go out, you follow us to see that person. Now, you and Wen Long are in charge of finding the mechanism, and we'll take pictures of all the carvings on this floor."

  I glared at Wu Feng and saw him flash a sly smile at me before following the old man to work. I rushed to the calculated entrance, where there was a carving of Hou Yi shooting an arrow into He Bo's eye. From the proportions, He Bo was much larger than Hou Yi, at least two circles bigger. Hou Yi and Chang'e were riding together on horseback, with Hou Yi holding his bow in one hand and making a releasing motion with the other, as if the arrow had already been shot. Following the direction of the bow, I saw He Bo preparing to make a fatal swipe at Hou Yi from top to bottom, and the arrow was flying towards He Bo's eye. Then I saw the mechanism - He Bo's eye was actually the button.

  "I've found it!" I shouted loudly. No one paid attention to me, and when I turned back, I discovered that all of them were intently examining one of the carvings. I walked over to them helplessly and said again in a loud voice: "I've found the mechanism."

  Everyone was motionless, only Su Fang looked at me and said: "You come over and take a look at this."

  I took a glance at the carving and finally understood why they were attracted to this carving. On both sides of the carving, there stood two people, both with human faces and snake bodies. The one on the right was a woman, who had appeared several times before, so I recognized her as Nüwa at once. The one on the left, however, was a man.

  I took a glance at Su Wei and asked: "Who is this?"

  Su Yu Bai gave me a glance and said: "You don't even know this, you're so ignorant. This is Fu Xi."

  I let out an "oh" and continued to look at the carving, this time I saw the position of the main body, where something was placed, it seemed a bit off. I rubbed my eyes and looked at that thing again. An idea occurred to me: Could it be, is this how River God was born?

  That thing looks like a container for cultivating organisms in science fiction, to be honest it's just like a large test tube. Inside should be some kind of ***, because I saw the sculptor's image carved with several groups of bubbles. Hebei is in the middle position of that test tube, and there are several pipes connected to his body. Although it has taken shape, this Hebei must be much smaller, he curled up like an infant over there, maybe he was just an infant curled up over there. Looking aside, next to this container, another identical container is drawn, with another baby Hebei inside. I went and looked at the entire structure, such containers are not limited to one, and they have layers. Carefully counting, five of these things were drawn in a row, looking up, it was divided into four layers.

  "His wife is old." I felt my voice was too loud, "This riverbank is still mass-produced type."

  No one answered, but I found that the old man in front of me was shaking his body obviously. He trembled and said: "According to legend, the ancient gods were all made by Fuxi and Nüwa. It seems that this myth is also true."

  "I pointed at that thing and said, 'No way, old man, this is just too damn ugly. This is basically a test-tube baby.'"

  The old man took a deep breath, stabilizing his emotions and said: "You're right, this is the test-tube baby. The technology used to create the ancient gods is the same as that of the test-tube baby. This carving is the evidence."

  I said: "But what's the point of them making so many River Crab? Are they going to rule the world?"

  The old man didn't answer. He walked towards the next sculpture. We had no choice but to follow him woodenly to the next one.

  When I saw the next sculpture, I clearly heard Su Yu make a vomiting sound. To be honest, I also felt a bit nauseous. Although the sculpture was colorless, the sculptor's superb skills had brought out all the details of this scene. It was a circular arena, and I saw Fuxi and Nüwa sitting on one side of the circular arena, carefully watching the scene inside. Inside the arena, it was a bloody scene. Those small river gods were all in this arena, they were killing each other. No, rather than saying they were killing each other, it would be more accurate to say that they were tearing and biting, because they had no weapons, so they could only use their sharp fingernails and sharp teeth.

  The river gods in the courtyard were all different, some were paired up and biting each other, refusing to give in. Some were ganging up on one, while others seemed to have been killed and lay dead on the ground. Other river gods were feeding on the corpses of their fallen comrades, and behind them, more river gods were pouncing on them. They clawed at each other's chests and bellies with their fingernails, tearing at each other's skin with their teeth. Although the entire sculpture was a uniform stone color, the bloody atmosphere still seeped through, making me feel suffocated. Su Yi had already run to the side and vomited.

  Wen Long took a few deep breaths, seemingly suppressing his own discomfort. Then he said: "Old man, what's going on here? This is no joke."

  The old man also took a few deep breaths, but the old man's endurance was limited, and he finally couldn't bear it and vomited. This is good, I was originally suppressing that feeling, and now I suddenly can't control it. Wu Feng is obviously in the same situation, except for Wen Long. When watching TV, training special forces, they all have to eat mice and insects, now it seems that there is still some use after all.

  After everyone had vomited to their heart's content, we finally moved away from the sculpture and sat down on the other side, took a sip of water, and alleviated that earlier feeling of having our stomachs turned upside down.

  The old man took a deep breath and said, "If my feeling is correct, what I saw just now should be some kind of selection."

  I looked at Su Fu, who seemed to be feeling a bit nauseous again, covering his mouth, but nothing came out. Wen Long said: "Old man, selection? What kind of selection is this? It's clearly just a fighting technique, I feel like it's more like the slaves in ancient Roman arenas killing each other."

  The old man nodded and said, "Right, that's the feeling. They created many River Gods, then selected the strongest one, adopted that method, and finally left the last one - the statue in front of us, the River God."

  "My goodness." Wu Feng said, having also caught his breath, "So, this River God was able to become a god after killing and eating so many of itself?"

  I found Su Wei's defenses collapsed again, and she ran to the side to vomit. I quickly got up and followed her over. Looking at her slowly calming down after half a day, I felt that if Su Yi was always like this, it would be pretty good, at least she looked more feminine, unlike when she kicked the shadowless leg, which was fierce. Wen Long took on the responsibility of taking pictures this time, because for us, no one wanted to go see that sculpture again. At least I felt that now when I think of that sculpture, a nauseous feeling immediately comes up.