Chapter Sixty-Four: The Wax Cocoon

"You..." Zhuge Xuan stared at Peanut, wanting to say something, but finding herself unable to continue.

"Let's go," Peanut said, ignoring her. "Whatever the situation, continuing to move upward is the right path."

With that, Peanut set off. The Fat Man pondered for a moment and followed.

I looked at the expression on Zhuge Xuan's face and guessed what she was thinking. If only malevolent entities like the Ming Kui could enter and exit this place, then Peanut truly belonged to their kind. It was an incredible thought, but for some reason, whenever it came to Peanut, the impossible seemed to become a matter of course.

What was "Necro-transformation"? I didn't ask Zhuge Xuan. What exactly was Peanut? I didn't want to think about it right now.

"Don't think too much about it. We'll deal with whatever comes once we're out." It was hard to imagine that I would be the one comforting someone else this way.

Zhuge Xuan looked at me and finally moved her legs.

The path was terrifyingly quiet. The Fat Man kept wanting to say something to break the atmosphere, but the eerie surroundings stifled his words, leaving him deeply uneasy.

Although I was certain Peanut had a way out, I felt immense pressure whenever I saw those Dragon-Eye Phoenixes around us. We had walked quite a distance without finding anything else related to such strange birds. If these brick carvings were simply a stylistic preference of the tomb builder, they should have been visible everywhere. If they only appeared in this specific area, it wasn't a preference—it was a message.

"Is it a warning that such monsters are hidden nearby?" I thought, but dismissed it. I had seen a few of these supernatural things, but they generally remained tethered to certain established patterns. For instance, the spiders we encountered earlier, or the rats below—setting aside their supernatural nature, they were relatively normal creatures. In the current suffocating air, it was unlikely that any bird could survive. Furthermore, while the space didn't look small, if such monsters truly existed, they wouldn't have room to fly.

As I pondered, the sloping corridor came to an end.

Unconsciously, all four of us stopped and stared into the darkness ahead. Were the seven brick chambers still there? My brow furrowed, and Peanut’s expression was no longer as relaxed as before.

"Hey, don't you guys think the darkness at the top of the slope is a bit strange?" the Fat Man suddenly asked.

"Darkness?" I looked closely and noticed it too. The darkness there seemed thicker than what was behind us. If the space in front of you is pure black with no stray light, then no matter what changes occur within that darkness, what you see remains a flat void. But now, I could clearly feel the darkness above undulating faintly, like a black curtain swaying.

Peanut led us forward. Just as we were about to step into it, he slowly extended a hand. The scene that followed made the three of us gasp. The hand Peanut extended vanished instantly, as if it had been dissolved.

But soon, when he pulled his hand back, we understood what was happening. As I had suspected, the darkness wasn't a natural phenomenon; something was there. That something had blocked our sight, causing the illusion that his hand had disappeared. When he withdrew his hand, we saw clumps of pure black matter stuck to his palm. They looked like cotton fibers, drifting lightly in his grip.

"Damn it, this place really needs a deep cleaning. Look at this mold—it’s almost alive," the Fat Man muttered, convinced it was mold.

Peanut blew lightly on his hand, and the black fibers floated up, slowly drifting back into the darkness before us. I couldn't help but reach out to touch it, but as soon as I did, my hand felt numb, and I quickly pulled it back.

"What is this stuff? Why does it feel like it's scratching me?" It wasn't the usual sensation of itching; it felt like wading barefoot into a swamp, where weeds, insects, and nameless things brushed against your skin.

"These are 'Wax Cocoons'," Peanut said.

"'Wax Cocoons'?" Before I could press him, the Fat Man exclaimed and stepped back.

"What's wrong? Is it dangerous?" I looked at the Fat Man, then at Peanut.

The Fat Man’s eyes widened, and he quickly covered his mouth and nose with his hand. After mumbling an explanation, I hurriedly followed suit.

"Wax Cocoons" were, in essence, a type of mold, similar to the grayish-white mold found on stinky tofu. They could be natural or man-made, but either way, they were incredibly sinister. After a person died, their flesh would be carved off, salted, and dried in the sun, much like curing bacon. Then, the flesh would be placed in a place that never saw the sun—a place filled with extreme Yin energy—and treated with specific agents. Within ten years, these black fibers would grow on the remains.

"That is disgustingly foul," I couldn't help but say.

Zhuge Xuan added, "A Witch Tomb is like a demon; it needs constant feeding from the start. Using carrion is actually the 'better' scenario; in some places, they even use living people."

My heart tightened as I thought of the countless skeletons we had seen. Were those people the fodder for this tomb? The people who did this were heartless.

The Fat Man said, "Little Brother, looking at the scale of this, I suspect all the Wax Cocoons in the tomb are gathered here. Do you think the 'Witch Eye' is just behind this?"

Peanut didn't answer, but Zhuge Xuan nodded. "Wax Cocoons have a supernatural affinity. They congregate where carrion is piled up. By now, the flesh is long gone, so they follow the entity that consumed the most of it—the thing in this tomb that controls the Witch Eye."

After Zhuge Xuan finished speaking, I remembered what the Big Sister had said about the most terrifying thing in this tomb.

"Did the Big Sister tell you about this when you came?" I asked.

Zhuge Xuan gave a bitter smile. "She didn't even tell me this was a Witch Tomb. Perhaps only Professor Chen and his team knew."

I thought to myself that we were in trouble. I remembered the Big Sister saying that thing was incredibly powerful and impossible to deal with, only to be avoided through specific means. Now that the Ming Kui was dead, we had no way of knowing what those methods were. What would we do if we actually ran into it?

But we had no choice; we had to steel ourselves and push through the Wax Cocoons. The thought that the stuff had grown on human flesh, combined with that earlier sensation, was enough to make my skin crawl. The only small mercy was that we had a few masks in our gear, which would at least keep us from inhaling the stuff.

Once all four of us had our masks on, Peanut told us to hold hands and form a single line. It was easy to understand why. Once inside, our flashlights would be useless. In the absolute darkness, we had to trust the intuition of the person in front. If he walked straight, we walked straight; if he veered, we would hit a wall.

Peanut was in the lead, followed by the Fat Man, then me, and finally Zhuge Xuan. As I grasped her soft, slender hand, my mind drifted for a moment, and the fear of the Wax Cocoons receded slightly.

"Ahem, well... you'd better hold onto me tight. If anything happens, I can still protect you," I said, trying to sound brave.

No sooner had the words left my mouth than all three of them turned their gazes toward me and said in unison, "You?"

I thought to myself, damn it, they didn't have to be so disrespectful. I was at least a good-luck charm, right?

As I thought this, Peanut disappeared into the darkness. One by one, we stepped into what felt like a black mirror. Once the furry, suffocating Wax Cocoons enveloped me, cold sweat broke out. It was like walking through an ocean of rotting flesh. Everything was pitch black, and I had to rely entirely on my senses. The more I focused on my body, the more the cocoons felt alive. They crawled over my face and arms—it was more disgusting than being covered in caterpillars.

My hand, holding Zhuge Xuan's, began to sweat. Suddenly, she tapped the back of my hand with her other hand, as if to comfort me and tell me not to be nervous. I blushed instantly; it felt like a man being told by his girlfriend, "Honey, don't be afraid, it's okay."

Just then, Peanut’s voice came through his mask: "Turn off your flashlights."