Chapter Fifty-One: The Secret Chamber in the Cave

  Yang Cangcang shouted out loud: "Karamay, give me the explosives. I'm sure this thing doesn't like my blood either. I'll go throw the explosives into its mouth."

  Lao San hastily stopped him: "No way! How can this be done by a woman? Give it to me, anyway I've already been sucked in, no difference if I send it a bit more."

  "You're just a patient, so just stay put and don't make me have to come and rescue you if something goes wrong." Yang Cangcang said impatiently, looking at Old Three who was covered in bandages.

  Although Old Three's face was somewhat resentful, he must have been delighted in his heart. "Let's not argue about it anymore, I'll go," Karamay said seriously.

  Just then, the pike conger eel stretched out multiple tentacles towards them. Karamay hastily stood in front of everyone and intentionally let the eel entwine itself around him. I was on the shore, secretly worried for Karamay. The eel wrapped itself around him and didn't care about anyone else, sending him towards that bloody mouth. Suddenly, a thin white mist similar to water vapor emanated from all over Karamay's body. I remembered Old Xiao saying before that this is called Lingxiao Qi (溟涬之气), people with spiritual connections will emit this kind of Lingxiao Qi. The more transparent it is, the purer it is; white is secondary. It's like a natural instinct and isn't controlled by the person themselves. Karamay's surrounding air had almost turned pure white; I hadn't noticed it before on the road.

  Xiao Lao seemed surprised too, muttering to himself: "When did this kid's internal energy become so powerful?"

  The gas surrounding him temporarily protected Karamay from the injury of the tyrant leech, but it would only last for a short time. Karamay took advantage of the situation and quickly ignited the explosives he had prepared earlier, throwing them into the mouth of the tyrant leech. The leech didn't distinguish anything and swallowed them whole. The mist surrounding Karamay grew weaker, and he tried to struggle free from the tightly wrapped tentacles. However, the more he struggled, the tighter they became. The tyrant leech opened its large mouth and sent Karamay into it.

  "It's no good, if we're not sucked dry by this thing, we'll be blown up by explosives!" Old Three shouted.

  Xiao Lao said to Yang Cangcang: "Cangcang, try using the Huo Wei Di to see if it can subdue this thing."

  Yang Cangcang was stunned on the side, almost forgetting that she had this flute: "Enough, my old ancestor is still okay, my half-baked level..." She said as she quickly took out the flute and started playing.

  Although the leech didn't seem to be afraid of the flute sound, it appeared to be attracted by it and suddenly stopped moving. Karamay quickly seized the opportunity and struggled desperately to break free.

  I yelled at those people staring blankly on the river: "Hurry up and get ashore, the explosives are about to explode!"

  Before he could finish speaking, a deafening explosion sounded in his ears, accompanied by splashing water, fragments of the piranha, and fish from the river.

  Karamay broke free from the tentacles at the moment of the explosion, jumped onto the shore. The rest of the people heard my reminder and tightly grasped the mirror corpse, were blown back several meters, but nothing happened to them. The Overlord leech was almost reduced to fragments. Karamay sat on the shore panting heavily.

  I hastily went over and asked anxiously, "Are you okay?" Karamay waved his hand at me, indicating that there was no need to worry. The three old men in the river, Ceng Ceng and Fu Ma, all slowly approached the shore, Xiao Lao went to meet them, I suddenly remembered that the mirror corpse had bitten Xiao Lao before, and hurriedly reminded everyone: "Everyone be careful of the mirror corpse."

  The three of them cautiously looked down at their feet, and as a result, the corpse in the mirror did not change at all, until they reached the shore, it was still the same, drifting away with the river water.

  "Second brother, what are you warning us about?" asked Lao San in surprise.

  "Just now, Xiao Lao's corpse bit him before he went ashore, but I couldn't find any wound, it's quite strange, I guess it didn't bite him after all, I'm afraid you guys will also be affected by the bad luck." I explained.

  Lao San sneered and said: "This guy is probably a scoundrel, his heart is not right, the mirror corpse he reflects will also be crooked. He must kiss you once before you go ashore."

  Fu Ma didn't say anything, sat on the shore and rolled up his pants, starting to examine his calf from front to back. "Are you injured?" I asked.

  "...Nothing..." After searching carefully for half a day, he continued, "You mentioned that mirror corpse earlier. I felt a sharp pain in my foot just now, but I didn't pay attention to it. Now looking at the wound."

  Yang Cangcang suddenly furrowed her brow: "I think I felt it too, but I was looking at Karamay just now and didn't notice." She looked at her own legs and there were no injuries either.

  Old Three blinked his eyes: "Ah... I felt it too, there was such a moment."

  Yang Cangcang gave him a white eye: "You're really good at flattering, are you a monkey?"

  Karamay rested for a while, stood up and said: "Since everyone is fine, let's hurry up and leave. This place is very eerie, and we don't know what will happen."

  Everyone nodded in agreement, and Fu Ma said to me: "Let me carry Zi Han instead."

  I nodded, and when I turned my head back, my heart suddenly skipped a beat. Where's Wu Zihan? Just now, my attention was completely drawn to that water leech, and when I reached the shore, I had left Zihan behind me. I even deliberately looked around, but no one came over. Now, there is no one behind me. Where did Wu Zihan go?

  "Did you see what happened earlier? Did he wake up or was he taken away? I didn't see anyone come in, did I?" I asked, at a loss.

  Fu Ma shook his head and said: "I didn't notice?"

  I quickly looked at Xiao Lao, who was the second person to land after me. Xiao Lao also had a bewildered expression: "When I landed, there didn't seem to be anyone else here?"

  "Zhou Junyang, where have you taken Zihan? Hand her over to me quickly!" Yang Cangcang's face was full of anger, with a waist-pinching gesture and an expression that seemed like she wanted to devour me. I couldn't help but smile wryly, not knowing what to say, which made me deeply realize the truth of those words: never provoke a woman, especially one who is in love.

  "He's at it again, does he have Cotard's syndrome or something? Who knows if he just left on his own, you didn't see that, Second Brother." Third Brother said with some disdain, "Xuanxuan, you don't know, last time Wu Zihan did the same thing, pretended to be dead and ran off without even saying goodbye to us. We only met him again at the Scorpion's Tomb later on."

  "But he woke up, why didn't he greet us before leaving? I don't believe it." Yang Cangcang covered her ears, shook her head hard, and repeated in her mouth: I don't believe it, I don't believe it, I don't believe it...

  I also find this matter suspicious. I remember Wu Zihan saying that the last time he went missing was because of Director Zheng's appearance. This time, if he woke up and saw us in danger, there's no reason for him to ignore it and leave on his own. Could it be... I didn't dare believe my own conclusion at the time: could something have taken Zihan's body away while my attention was focused on the river? But why?

  Karamay coughed lightly and said to us, "Everyone, let's not argue anymore. Zihuan brother often does things that are beyond our expectations. If he woke up and left in a hurry, he must have had his reasons for leaving. Let's not guess, maybe we'll meet him ahead, let's hurry on the road."

  Our path ahead was a long, narrow tunnel, about two meters in diameter, which was relatively spacious. The tunnel seemed to be man-made, with signs of excavation, but I had no idea where it led. Yang Can can pouted and stopped talking, storming off to the front, while I felt guilty and kept my head down, barely speaking a word along the way.

  Karamay patted me on the back and said, "It's not your fault, no need to blame yourself."

  I nodded slightly, and Karamay walked straight to the front, leading the way. I looked at Karamay's back, and the more I looked, the more familiar it seemed, but I just couldn't remember where I had seen him before. I quickly patted my head, looks like I've got a case of suspiciousness again.

  I feel that this tunnel has been rising all the time, which seems to have confirmed Xiao Lao's speculation. This should be the underground of the ancient palace of the King of Taishan. But why was this underground built? When I crossed the river earlier, the bronze human head at the bow of the boat said that he pulled many corpses every day. Were they referring to those blue demons? I gradually feel that I have entered a huge maze, and there are thick suspicious clouds here.

  I thought we were making good progress, but suddenly Karamay stopped in his tracks. The few of us stood there staring at the wall, and just as I was about to ask what was going on, Karamay made a "shh" gesture towards me, indicating that I should turn off my flashlight.

  I looked in the direction of their gaze, and saw a circle of yellow light on the wall. The light was very thin and surrounded a rectangular shape. Subconsciously, I understood that this rectangle should be a door, and the light was leaking out from the gap between the doors. There must be a secret room inside this wall.

  Karamay signaled us not to make any sudden movements, he quietly approached the door crack, wanting to take a look at the situation inside. As soon as he got close, the light inside suddenly went out, startling us.

  "It's all been discovered, what's there to be afraid of? Let's go take a look." Lao San said loudly and was about to push the door open when Xiao Lao reminded him from behind to beware of traps behind the door.

  Karamay and Lao San pushed hard, the stone gate rotated open, revealing a dark and mysterious room inside. We all shone our flashlights at the same time, and suddenly we all gasped in unison.

  "There are so many people in this small room." Lao San said with a gulp.

  The person in Lao San's mouth is not a living person. This secret room is full of slender glass jars, at least several hundred, each containing a transparent liquid with a corpse inside, and those corpses are all staring at us with their eyes open for some reason.

  I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat: "This... this is the specimen room?"

  "You see on the table..." Fan Ma said loudly.

  In the very center of the house, there was a round stone table with a bloody plate on it. Old Three plucked up his courage and walked in to take a closer look.

  "Be careful, Ah Long." Old Three nodded. I found that the corpses in the glass jar seemed to have moved slightly, their eyes staring fixedly at Old Three as he walked into the house.

  Suddenly, Lao San slammed the flashlight to the ground and ran back with a loud shout: "That plate... is... is a human heart, and it's still beating!"