Monkey with mask

  A monkey wearing a mask

  Seeing their expressions, I was almost scared stiff too. I didn't want to know what they saw, but the three of them looked at my chest simultaneously, at the bronze head in my arms. At this moment, I felt that the stiffness on its body seemed to have disappeared, and it was slowly leaving my palms, moving forward by itself.

  "That's a joss stick, hurry up and throw it back, don't let it touch your body for too long!" Lin Ruoshui shouted at me.

  I felt the hair on the bronze-headed, tail-sporting creature's body standing up, as if it was starting to get a bit prickly. I stood there in a daze, unsure of what to do next, but my eyes were fixed on Lin Ruoshui. I saw his anxious expression and somehow felt a little comforted - it seemed she finally cared about me, even if this concern was based on such a dangerous foundation. At least in this regard, I had beaten Wu Liuqi.

  Lin Ruoshui's hand had already reached out to me, and in this cave, I couldn't move any faster. But the bronze-headed man in my arms had already started moving, and I felt a sudden pain in my chest. When I looked down, I was shocked to see that the short knife held by the bronze-headed man had already stabbed into my chest, up to the hilt.

  "Ah!" I let out a miserable cry, and my body fell backwards, as if it was already destined that I would die here.

  As I fell backwards, I saw the bronze-headed man swiftly dashing towards the exit of the cave and pouncing on Lin Ruoshui, Wu Liuqi and others. Moqi was too weak to dodge in time, but fortunately, Wu Liuqi pushed her down to the ground just in time. The bronze-headed man landed on top of Wu Liuqi instead. Although he was short in stature, his movements were extremely agile, and his sharp claws kept swiping at Wu Liuqi's head and face. Lying in the thief's den, I felt a sense of joy.

  But Wu Liuqi was not one to be trifled with, and he suddenly let out a loud cry, exerting all his strength. In an instant, he had grabbed the bronze-headed man's neck in a death grip. Although the latter kicked and struggled on his arm, Wu Liuqi didn't care in the least. With his right hand still gripping the man's throat, his left hand picked up the rusty ancient sword and swung it horizontally, slicing off the bronze head which fell to the ground with a thud, rolling five or six meters before hitting the wall and coming to a stop.

  Its body didn't bleed, as if the blood inside had all dried up. Instead, a black gas emerged and instantly dissipated. The body then fell to the ground, shattering into pieces that dispersed like ash.

  "Are you okay?" Lin Ruoshui had already pulled me out of the cave and gently placed me on the ground, occasionally checking the short knife at my chest. The blood had dyed the front of my clothes red, and I was in extreme pain.

  "I'm fine, thank you. If there's a next life, I just want..." Before I could finish speaking, I saw Lin Ruoshui grab the knife handle.

  I had originally planned to take this opportunity to confess my feelings to Lin Ruoshui, hoping she could understand my heart, but who knew she didn't hear a word, and before I even finished speaking, she had already pulled the dagger out of my chest, and with her other hand, quickly pressed a piece of gauze on top, while shouting a few times at Wu Liuqi, Wu Liuqi took out a small jar from his backpack, scooped out some black stuff and applied it to my wound.

  "Don't worry, this is our family's secret wound medicine. Even if you're shot by a bullet, it can bring you back to life, let alone your superficial injury!" Wu Liuqi said with a smile.

  Is it just a flesh wound? I could clearly feel the knife tip wandering inside my body, but to him it was just a flesh wound. Fortunately, after he applied that black ointment, my wound did have a slightly cooling sensation and the pain lessened somewhat. At this point, Lin Ruoshui directly took off my clothes and wrapped gauze around my chest several times before tightening it firmly.

  As soon as we came in, Momo and I had already become a burden on this operation. I really don't understand if Lin Ruoshui will regret her decision to bring us two useless people to rob the tomb. I guess she's now so angry that she doesn't know what to do.

  Seeing me sitting there weakly, Wu Liuqi went to find that bronze head and carefully examined it with a flashlight, but found that this bronze helmet seemed to be completely covered on the thing's head, without any opening mechanism, just like a jar head.

  "What's wrong with this guy? Who would bring something like that?" said the bronze-headed man.

  "This isn't something a human would wear, it's what a monkey would wear. Didn't you see that tail?" Wu Liuqi said.

  "It's visible that it's visible, but I couldn't think of how monkeys would appear here? Our place hasn't had monkeys for a long time." I said.

  "This monkey is not from here, but was brought by that foreigner to steal the tomb. This bronze head was forcibly put on the monkey when it was young, and then controlled its head to stop growing and remain the size of this bronze pot. It's really cruel." Lin Ruoshui said.

  "Why did this happen? Why would this foreigner die here?" I asked.

  "He brought this monkey to find the tomb, perhaps it's not his own, but rather bought at a high price. This bronze-headed monkey is specifically used for finding tombs, and they are agile, easily digging tunnels themselves. Once they bring up things from below, the monkey owners will know about the tomb situation. Generally, only the Seeker of Dragon's Gate sect uses this method to find tombs, but it has been lost for a long time. It seems that the person who mastered this technique has moved abroad." Lin Ruoshui said while repeatedly examining the bronze-headed helmet.

  "Is it possible that carrying this bronze canister will stop its growth, keeping it at this small size forever?" I asked.

  "Yes, but it seems that there must be something in this tomb that's affecting it. Generally, animals are more sensitive than humans, and if there's any bad aura, they can sense it first, but they're also the least likely to get rid of it after being infected. It's precisely because of this instability that using animals to find tombs has been banned for a long time, and in today's social environment, it's not allowed either." Lin Ruoshui said.