Chapter Thirty-Two: The Nameless Cave

  To be honest, my heart is filled with countless question marks at this moment. I vaguely feel that this old Taoist is speaking evasively and dodging the issue, and it's likely that this assessment won't be simple! Along the way, I've been probing and asking indirect questions, but this old Taoist just wouldn't open his mouth, and with a few words, he sent me away.

  They followed them and turned around for half a day, finally stopping at a secret pile of weeds behind the mountain. Just as I was looking around, suddenly, I heard a whistle from the old Taoist's mouth, and in the blink of an eye, two animals with leaves on their backs drilled out from the weeds beside me!

  Mountain tortoise! The legendary Mountain-moving Taoist's tortoise shell! I never thought that after all these years of climbing the mountain, until today, I finally get to see it! All I saw was the old Taoist's hand shaking, a white and dry medicinal cake fell into my hands. On the stone wall in front, with one stroke, a small circle appeared before my eyes!

  Another whistle, and these two little things are flying with four claws, dancing like the wind. Before long, they have dug out a hole mouth of about half a meter high! I am amazed in my heart, this thing is really useful! No wonder the records and rumors about this thing are all praises, it's really nothing to say!

  Just as I was looking carefully, Nie Kun burst out laughing. Looking at this old fellow, he seemed to have changed into a magician, pulling out a small coal miner's headlamp. After lighting it up, he tossed it at me: "Kid, don't say Uncle doesn't care about you, it's pitch black inside, shine a light so you won't trip over your own feet!" After that, he started smiling mischievously.

  Look at him, that despicable look on his face, I really want to give him a kick! This guy is so talented, he can even step on his own feet while walking. Just as we were joking around, my cold-faced grandfather suddenly spoke up: "Wang Can, once you go in, it's every man for himself. Don't disappoint us, no matter what, you must come out alive!" After saying this, he turned around and didn't look at me again.

  I was slightly stunned, and in my heart I thought: See? It's really that serious! This is absolutely not a normal assessment! Before I could even react, Nie Kun, this old rascal, had already walked to my side, stuffing a rusty curved knife and an old backpack into my hands.

  All I saw was that he no longer had a playful expression, but instead looked at me with a serious face, patted my shoulder and said "Kid, we've been through a lot together, if I could go with you, I'd definitely go in with you, but... Ah, let's go, remember you're tougher than you think, no matter what happens, you must survive, come out alive!" After he finished speaking, I saw that this old rascal, who always had a playful smile on his face, actually had some moisture in the corners of his eyes.

  My heart felt a warmth, and I was actually a little moved. I opened my mouth but didn't know what to say, so I just patted his hand, looked at the old Taoist with a glance, lowered my head and walked into the black hole! ?? Si Xiao Yin Men 32

  I walked like that without looking back, not because I was brave, but because I didn't want them to see my trembling legs. As I moved forward with a nervous heart, I don't know how long it took for me to get used to this fearful mood. After calming down, I began to observe the cave. It looked like an ordinary hole in the ground, but this broken hole was much harder to walk through than I had imagined - or rather, it was hard to climb. It was also too narrow, and although I could lower my head when entering, it became increasingly cramped as I went deeper. With one hand covering the miner's lamp on my head and the other holding a knife to clear the way forward, all I could feel was the dampness of the surrounding soil and a pungent earthy smell that hit me right between the eyebrows!

  I don't know how long I crawled, but a fork in the road appeared in front of me. Looking at the two holes on either side, I secretly cursed: This old road is really not careful, before entering, why didn't you give me a topographic map? Now it's good, which way should I go?

  I was suffocating in my heart, and suddenly the miner's lamp on my head shook. With the faint light, I saw something at a glance on the left fork road tunnel entrance! Hurriedly climbed a few more steps, wiped off the mud on top with my hand, and an old tea bowl appeared before my eyes. I stared for half a day, feeling a chill in my heart, was this supposed to be a riddle for me?

  Just as I was panting and gasping for air, I suddenly remembered the backpack on my back! Due to the chaos at that time, I had actually forgotten this lifesaver! Hurriedly, I lifted my hand and took off the backpack. Opening it up, I felt relieved, only to see that inside, apart from dry rations, medicine, and some tools, there was a folded piece of paper with a clear "44" written on it.

  I was touched by a smile, it seems that these two are still good to me! With emotion in my heart and without stopping my hands, I hastily opened the paper, only to see twenty-three big words written on it:

  "Protect your headlights, don't step on them! —— Uncle Nai Kun's clever trick is here! No need to thank me, no need to thank me!"

  Damn it! I thought this old guy had a change of heart and reformed, but after all the fuss, he's still just an old pimp from Chunxiang Institute, one foot in and one foot out! Ah! With tears streaming down my face, I tore up that "high trick" into shreds and threw it on the ground, then trampled on it several times. After spitting it out, I muttered to myself: What a great move, truly shameless!

  Squatting on the ground, hands propping up my chin, helplessly rolling my eyes. In my heart, I kept repeating a sentence: What should I do now?! At this moment, the stone on my neck suddenly moved, and I was startled. I quickly took it off. It turned out that this stone was slowly shaking and rolling towards the hole on the left!

  Looking at the stone on the ground, I gritted my teeth and thought to myself: "Forget it! I'm not here for sightseeing anyway, who cares which way it is? Let's just go in first!" With that thought, I picked up the stone and took a glance at the tea bowl, thinking to myself: "Grandma's, this one will do!" Having made up my mind, I didn't hesitate any longer and ducked into the left cave entrance.

  This cave, obviously much larger than the one I came to, can now be walked through with a stoop. After walking for about half an hour, a strange scene appeared before my eyes! It turned out that many large and small tree roots had drilled out of the cave in front of me! At first glance, it was like a group of demons dancing wildly, which was terrifying!

  I made my way through the roots of the trees in front, and as I walked deeper, it became increasingly difficult. In some places, I had to use the curved knife in my hand to cut through them one by one. As I continued walking, I felt that the surroundings were becoming cooler, but this coolness was not the kind you feel at night, rather a gloomy feeling. Just as I walked forward another ten or so meters, suddenly my headlamp flashed, and right in front of me on the left side, there was a withered human skin hanging before my eyes!

  "Ahh!" I let out a strange cry and fell to the ground, hastily using my headlamp to examine it carefully. It was indeed a piece of dried-up, purple human skin - a woman's skin!

  This woman's skin was like a hanged ghost, suspended between the roots of the tree! All over her body was a thin layer, empty and hollow. I stared with wide eyes, uncontrollably examining her carefully. The more I looked, the more frightened I felt, seeing that her whole body was dry and shriveled, her hair black and long. A sunken, strange face, really unpleasant to look at!

  It wasn't until half a minute later that I finally let out a breath. Damn, this thing almost scared me to death! In such a small space, surrounded by darkness, with sand and tree roots all around, a dead man's skin appeared, this is simply a damn ghost story!

  Fortunately, it was just hanging there and didn't make any moves. Thinking of this, I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and thought to myself: "Hmph, damn it, you almost scared me to death!"

  After hesitating for a long time, I turned my head to look back, but the road was too far away, and going back would be just as uncertain. Looking ahead again, the path was dark and deep. Who knows what strange things are waiting for me to discover at this place and time! Thinking back and forth, I let out a long sigh: "Ah, it's really damned difficult!"

  Gritting my teeth, I got up from the ground and recited all the heroic deeds in my mind. Only then did I muster up a heroic aura, staring at this dead face with a heroic expression, and walked towards it with big strides!

  As I walked, I muttered to myself in my heart: "I'm not afraid of you, I'm not afraid of you..." Damn it, unfortunately, just as I was passing by its side, these two useless legs of mine still involuntarily trembled with fear! Ah, really no use cursing! People say that being bullied by others is not as good as being bullied by oneself. Slowly move forward a bit... Since the two of them didn't listen to me, I could only inch forward slowly. Just as I was passing by it, I clearly felt a chill run down my chest. What followed was an eerie feeling!

  I don't know why I was thinking that at the time, maybe it's because I was too scared, my mind went blank. Just as I was facing it and about to pass by, I clearly discovered that this human skin had a problem!

  This dead man's skin, it absolutely wasn't stripped off by someone, because there aren't any obvious knife wounds on his body! I've heard that during the Ming dynasty, in the government offices, there was an organization called the Land Temple. It was set up between the main gate and the second gate, specifically for flaying people's skin. And it wasn't just about stripping off the skin, but also stuffing the skin with straw and hanging it outside to display to the public, this was called "flaying and stuffing with straw". This was a type of cruel punishment used by Zhu Yuanzhang to intimidate the officials and deter corrupt officials!

  There are two methods of peeling human skin, one is for the dead, which is to put the dead on a special peeling bench. A long incision is made in the middle of the spine, and it's considered elegant if it can be done with just one knife cut, peeling off a complete piece.

  There's an even more cruel one, it's for the living! It involves burying a person alive. After shaving their head, a cross-shaped incision is made on the scalp, and then mercury is poured into the wound. The person being tortured will feel as if thousands of ants are crawling under their skin, the pain and itching are unbearable! In the end, they won't be able to withstand this torture, their mind will collapse, and they'll crawl out of their own skin alive!

  But the human skin in front of me gives a distinctly different feeling, very special. At first glance, it can only be seen that it was not peeled off, but rather intact. The second glance gives an even more special feeling, what kind of feeling, I couldn't say for a while, just feeling extremely strange!

  My heart was already afraid, and later I didn't dare to think about it anymore. I simply turned my head and stopped looking at it, taking small cat steps, and continued to move forward. After walking with a quivering sound all the way, I finally let out a long sigh of relief. Just as I relaxed, I heard behind me at this moment, a woman's crying voice!

  My goodness! The next moment, I was covered in goosebumps, my scalp was numb! This ghostly cry was truly frightening, it scared the soul out of me! I didn't care about anything else, I just wanted to get away. I completely lost my rationality, without looking back, I took off running!

  Damn it, my mind is a complete blank, my thoughts are short-circuited. I cover my ears with both hands and don't even know how far I've run. Like this, in one breath, Liao Zhenzi ran wildly for about twenty minutes. Until he really couldn't run anymore, he panted heavily, sat down on the ground with a thud, looked back, and saw that behind him was a vast expanse of darkness: "Damn it, I can finally see nothing!"

  My goodness, I almost lost my life! I simply fell back and lay on the ground, not caring about the external injuries from the bumps and bruises along the way. I let out a long sigh and thought to myself: What a close call, what a close call! If someone had suddenly appeared and we had engaged in a fierce battle, even if they had killed me, I would have died without regret. But now, who knows how far away my destination is? I've encountered a female ghost, and almost got scared to death, nearly losing my life!

  Lying on the ground, I indulged in wild thoughts for over ten minutes, and I finally caught my breath. Sighing, I sat up. But just as I got up, suddenly, I was so scared that my soul left my body!

  All I saw was something floating alone in front of me, not far away! It turned out to be that piece of dry purple human skin again!