Underworld Corpse Battle Arc (19)

I stared blankly at Dad, then shifted my gaze to the colossal monster slowly inching toward us.

"Why me? Was this part of your plan all along?" I couldn't help asking.

Dad shook his head. "I just wanted to tell you that if you want to understand these things, you have to become a true tomb raider. What people like us do is the most despicable thing in the world. For funerary objects, for money, for survival, a tomb raider must stop at nothing. Sometimes, to achieve our goals, we have to do things that are extremely cruel. If you can do it, it proves you are qualified to carry the burden of our Yuan family."

Dad was indeed a master planner; even in such a dire situation, he hadn't forgotten about me, his son. When he had me follow him down here, he must have anticipated this exact moment.

Yet, why would Dad suddenly make such a demand?

Upon further reflection, a lot of things became clear to me.

He was doing this simply to force me to give up pursuing those secrets. Now that I had brought him the map, Dad and the others would most likely head to the Mirage Snow Forbidden City, just as Peanut had said. Deep down, Dad didn't want me to tag along. Therefore, he was using this opportunity to make me see clearly what kind of person I really was, to make me understand that I simply wasn't cut out to be a tomb raider. For the past twenty years or so, Dad had constantly tried to stop me from walking down this path.

Yet, Dad was right. If I couldn't even bring myself to do this, I truly had no right to follow the old man into this trade.

If all my assumptions were wrong, then there was only one other reason Dad had handed this task over to me.

He was beginning to distrust the people around him.

Perhaps, after hearing what I told him, Dad really had started to harbor suspicions about Erlengzi of the Liu family. If someone like Erlengzi could be a mole planted right beside him, Dad would naturally wonder whether the others might have issues as well. Thus, he wanted to drag me into the fold of tomb raiders so that he would at least have one fiercely reliable person by his side.

Thinking about all this, I realized how hard Dad's life truly was.

Actually, if it came down to it, handing this matter over to me really was the most fitting choice. Yao Hui had already become like this; leaving her in this world any longer would probably yield no good outcome. If the former Yao Hui truly still existed somewhere within, she certainly wouldn't want anyone to see her current self.

Such a pretty young girl... Suddenly, I found the thing before me utterly detestable. Yao Hui had no right to choose; she could only let herself be manipulated by the monstrosity Dad had spoken of. Even if this creature was now a part of Yao Hui, it was still vile.

With that thought, I nodded at Dad.

"Alright. I'll do it."

Dad looked toward the terrifying mass of snakes and said in a low voice, "You only get one chance. You must hit her head."

Qin Feng looked over and said, "Master, isn't this too difficult? I... I can't even see the woman's head right now."

"It's still too far. Once she gets closer, you'll see it," Dad replied.

"Closer still? Master, you can't let Young Master do this. What if..." Qin Feng didn't finish his sentence, but I understood what he meant.

The snakes were packed too densely, and how big could a person's head possibly be? Let alone hitting it, if I were just standing right in front of it, I'd practically be a dead man already.

Therefore, Qin Feng expressed fierce opposition to Dad's arrangement. But no one here could ever overrule Dad, and since the choice rested with me, Qin Feng was powerless to stop it.

I told myself this was the ultimate trial for me to become a tomb raider, and no matter what, I had to pull it off.

*Yao Hui, if I fail to grant you release, then just tear me to shreds,* I thought to myself as I took a step forward.

"Master..." Erlengzi tried to persuade him further, but Dad silenced him with a gesture.

The swarm of snakes was now less than seven or eight meters away from me. Honestly, under these lighting conditions, finding a human face amidst that writhing mass of giant serpents was utterly impossible.

Yet, many seemingly impossible things turned out to be manageable once you actually set your mind to them. Besides, since Dad had said so, I figured I would still be able to spot it.

Suddenly, a profound wave of terror washed over me. In this state, the mere thought of seeing Yao Hui's face grafted onto a snake's head made my scalp crawl.

The chilly aura was already washing over my face. Looking ahead, it seemed like a writhing miniature mountain had materialized before me, and a crushing pressure instantly enveloped my entire body. Subconsciously, I raised the slingshot, only to feel that my action was somewhat ridiculous.

Glancing sideways over my shoulder, I saw that Dad's face was veiled in darkness, rendering his expression unreadable.

Regardless of what I had thought beforehand, this visceral fear in reality was something I simply could not evade. I couldn't help wondering: *Is this really going to work?*

Trying to shatter a mountain with a single pebble... a feat like that...

"Young Master, look up!" Erlengzi shouted suddenly from behind. I tilted my head back and saw a giant serpent, easily twice the thickness of a fat man, rearing high above the rest of the swarm.

Its entire body was snow-white, seeming to emit a faint luminescence in the dark. The pair of eyes on the giant snake's head were identical to human eyes, complete with eyebrows.

*Could this really be Yao Hui?* I wondered. *How could she have become like this?*

"Do it! Young Master!" Qin Feng barked loudly.

I felt my legs trembling uncontrollably, but gritting my teeth, I pulled back the slingshot and launched the cotton pellet straight at the serpent's head above.

Fortunately, the creature was exceptionally massive, allowing me to aim with ease. However, the moment the cotton pellet flew out, my vision was blocked, and I had no idea whether my shot had landed.

The giant snake's head jerked backward, and I thought I had succeeded. Yet, the very next instant, that head lunged forward at me once more, leaving me completely dumbfounded.

Seven parts terrified, three parts bewildered.

*Could it be... could it be that this blood-stained cotton pellet is useless?* Seeing the snake's jaws open wide, gaping like the vaulted ceiling of a grand hall, I knew my time was up.

In the future, my exploits could be used to educate impressionable young people overflowing with idle curiosity yet lacking in skill who dreamed of becoming tomb raiders—a grim reminder of what happens in the end.

Just as utter despair took hold of me, someone beside me suddenly snatched the slingshot from my hand and yanked back the elastic band toward the sky.

I heard a sharp *snap* from the rubber cords, and then... the serpent's jaws, which had been right before my face, suddenly burst apart. It was as if its head had undergone a silent explosion, and in the blink of an eye, the entire snake head shattered into countless pieces.

Black, foul-smelling blood and shredded snake meat pelted down on me like a shower of hail, forcing me to raise my arms to shield my head. Glancing slightly to the side, I saw that the person standing beside me holding the slingshot was none other than my father.

Suddenly, I noticed an extremely strange expression on Dad's face. He didn't look nervous at all; instead, his face bore an expression of profound dejection and helplessness. It was as if too many thoughts were swirling inside his mind, leaving him no time to process them, while his eyes grew eerily hollow.

Yet, very soon, I could no longer even see Dad clearly, as more and more debris continued to rain down from above. After a long while, the downpour finally subsided.

"Master! Young Master!"

I was nearly concussed from the impact, and only then did I see Qin Feng and Erlengzi running over.

By now, both Dad and I were covered head-to-toe in a wretched mess. All around us lay scattered chunks of flesh and gore, turning this already hellish place into a true abyss of suffering.

Catching my breath slightly, I began to complain loudly, "Dad, did you deliberately try to get me killed? What on earth just happened?"

Dad remained as he was, staring blankly into the distance as if lost in thought. After a long while, he finally turned and smiled at me. "If I hadn't made you go, how else would that thing have stuck its neck out? You're her man; naturally, it wanted you."

I couldn't help nodding, then muttered, "Oh, so you used me as bait? Wait, you used me as bait?!" Realizing what he had said, I wanted to lunge forward and choke the old man's neck.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Qin Feng rushed over to hold me back. "Since everything's settled now, we'd better get back up quickly. Second Uncle and the others must be getting anxious."

Dad waved a hand at me as well. "All right, a promise is a promise. From now on, you can come down into the tombs with us."

Though a fire burned in my chest with nowhere to vent it, I choked it back. "Then you have to tell me everything."

Without answering, Dad beckoned to Qin Feng to help support Erlengzi, and the group headed back toward the way we came. Before long, we once again laid eyes on the coffin of Manlang's son, and everyone picked up their black donkey hooves.

Since black donkey hooves were useless against that monstrosity, they now had to serve as makeshift bricks.

Upon climbing back up, we discovered that the coffin lid had already slid back into place.

"Master, that bastard has crawled back inside," Qin Feng whispered.

Dad nodded, and all four of us moved to the edge of the coffin. Dad placed his right hand on the coffin lid and gestured for me and Qin Feng to press down on either end.

"It's inside," Dad said after feeling the surface.

"What do we do now? When we head up, this thing might crawl out from behind at any moment," I said.

Earlier, Manlang's son had probably fled because it sensed the approach of the living corpse. Now that Dad had eliminated the living corpse, this creature remained our greatest threat.

Dad let out a deep sigh. "There's no choice. Manlang's son cannot be left alive."

Dad's words sent a chill straight down my spine. "Dad, are you planning to finish him off?"

"What, having second thoughts?" Dad looked at me.

I hadn't actually felt that way, but under Dad's gaze, I truly began to feel that this Manlang family had suffered far too terribly today.

Seeing that I remained silent, Dad turned his attention back to the coffin. He placed his hand in the center of the lid and instructed me once more, "No matter what happens inside, hold this down tight. Do not let go under any circumstances."

I nodded. Then, I watched as Dad's right hand—which possessed six fingers—shaped itself into the form of a hand blade, with his fingertips resting firmly against the coffin lid.

This was only the second time I had ever seen Dad use his right hand in this manner. Judging by the way he was channeling his strength, I knew whatever he was about to do was extraordinary.

Was he planning to pull that thing out straight through the wooden lid? No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than Dad's right hand plunged directly into the solid wood of the coffin. With a faint crunching sound, his entire right hand sank completely out of sight.

I stared in absolute astonishment, marveling at the sheer force behind that strike.

Before I had time to process it, a series of dull thuds echoed from inside the coffin, followed immediately by the frantic thrashing of whatever was trapped within.

Fortunately, thanks to Dad's prior warning, I exerted every ounce of my strength to press down on the lid, preventing the creature from pushing it open.

Dad's arm was trembling, as if his right hand was grappling with something inside. The commotion within grew increasingly violent, and I felt as though my grip was slipping.

At that exact moment, Dad suddenly jerked his arm upward, yanking a dark, grotesque mass out of the coffin.

In a fraction of a second, all movement inside the coffin ceased entirely. When I looked back at Dad's right hand, I saw, to my horror, a heart crawling with writhing maggots.

The heart had already stopped beating, but the swarming maggots squirming across its surface created an illusion of a false pulse—it was the most sickening sight imaginable.

Dad tossed the object onto the ground, and Erlengzi, standing nearby, promptly stomped on it.

"We're done here," Dad motioned for us to stand up.

I glanced at the coffin, feeling a strong urge to pry it open and take a look. But after a moment's hesitation, I decided against it.

Next, we had to climb back up the steep slope. Since Erlengzi's physical condition could no longer support such strenuous activity, Dad told him to stay at the bottom for a moment; once we reached the top, we would immediately send people down with a rope harness to haul him up.

"Be careful down there," I told Erlengzi before starting the climb.

Erlengzi smiled back at me. "You better worry about yourself, Young Master, and make sure you don't slip."

Without further delay, Dad took the lead, I followed right behind him, and Qin Feng brought up the rear to guard my back.

Perhaps driven by a desperate desire to get out, I felt an endless surge of energy. Dad moved with agility, and I matched his pace step for step, prompting Qin Feng behind me to constantly remind me not to slip.

I thought to myself that my current state was at absolute peak performance—how could I possibly slip? Look, I could already see the light shining from above.

Faintly catching sight of Third Uncle and the others waiting at the top, I grew even more excited. Just as I prepared to put a little extra effort into my climb, my foot suddenly lost traction, and I went hurtling backward down the slope.

In the pitch darkness, though Qin Feng threw out a hand to catch me, he ultimately failed to grab hold.

My mind went blank as I tumbled head over heels all the way back to the bottom of the pit.

The impact was so severe that the moment I landed, I realized my left arm was entirely unresponsive—it felt as though the bone had fractured.

Just as I opened my mouth to cry out for Erlengzi, a strange rhythmic sound reached my ears: *Thud... thud...*

Our lanterns had all been left behind at the bottom. Straining my eyes upward through the gloom, I saw Erlengzi crouching beside the shallow coffin, wielding a black donkey hoof and smashing it down repeatedly onto something inside.

Looking closer, I saw that lying right in front of Erlengzi was the corpse of Manlang's son. Its chest had already been torn wide open—the handiwork of Dad—but far more horrifying was that its head and shoulders had been smashed into an unrecognizable pulp.

A sudden sense of eeriness crept over me. Erlengzi looked utterly possessed, not even turning his head to look at me. His face was twisted into a ferocious grimace, slick with sweat, as his left hand gripped the donkey hoof, beating the corpse of Manlang's son with the relentless fury of a deep, unyielding vendetta.

Paralyzed by the terrifying, savage look on Erlengzi's face, I momentarily forgot the pain in my body. He seemed like an entirely different person, showing no intention of stopping whatsoever.

I didn't dare call out to him.

Erlengzi probably harbored a deep, burning resentment over losing his arm; if it had been me, I might have acted the same way. Yet, something still felt deeply wrong...

Suddenly, Erlengzi stopped. He took a deep breath, turned his face toward me, and flashed an eerie, sinister smile.

In a hoarse voice, he whispered, "Don't tell the others."

After letting out a couple of chilling chuckles, Erlengzi turned his fierce gaze back to the corpse of Manlang's son and raised the donkey hoof once more.

In the silent, secluded valley, the only sounds I could hear were the pounding of my own heart and the rhythmic, sickening impact of bone and flesh breaking. The person before me now felt utterly alien.

The more he smashed, the more excited Erlengzi became; the smile on his face widened, glowing with a joy so intense it seemed he wanted to scream out loud.

After what felt like an eternity, Erlengzi finally tossed the bloody scraps of flesh and shattered bone back into the coffin. Slamming the lid shut, his shoulders slumped as if all his energy had drained away. He walked over to me and asked, "Young Master, what happened? How did you fall?"

With my brow tightly furrowed, I stared at him, thinking: *What on earth are you...* Before I could finish the thought, Qin Feng came sliding down the slope.

A few other crew members followed closely behind. Everyone immediately rushed over to check on Erlengzi, and soon enough, both Erlengzi and I were securely bound with ropes and hoisted back up to the tunnel above by our men.

Erlengzi had passed out...

Or at least, that's what it seemed like. Having lost an arm, lost so much blood, and having just done what he did, fainting was only natural.

Suddenly, I made up my mind not to dwell on this incident, resolving to banish it from my memory entirely.

Erlengzi was only human; losing an arm for nothing would naturally breed resentment, and it was understandable that he needed to vent that fury upon the corpse of Manlang's son. I couldn't blame him...

That very night, we left Wenxing Village. Sitting in the car, I felt as though this entire trip had been rushed beyond measure. Looking back now, the only part of the journey with any clear memory attached to it was the two days I had spent with Yao Hui. Once Third Uncle had been fully briefed on everything, he kept trying to strike up a conversation with me, but I barely acknowledged him.

Even more exhausted than I was seemed to be Dad. Once he got into the car, he didn't utter another single word, his eyes fixed steadily on the pitch-black night outside the window, brimming with sorrow.

I knew he was ruminating over the private plan known only to him, as well as the impending venture into the Mirage Snow Forbidden City. To make matters worse, we had now completely burned our bridges with the Li and Zeng families; our journey ahead would likely be fraught with peril.

After all the chaos caused by the Thirteen Roads, the faction was surely on the verge of splintering apart. The car sped onward toward Beijing. I asked Dad if heading to Beijing now wouldn't draw too much attention.

Dad replied that we needn't worry; if the Li and Zeng families truly wanted to exact revenge, they wouldn't dare make a move in Beijing. Going there now would actually be safer.

As dawn approached, our three vehicles pulled into the rest area of a gas station. Second Uncle ordered two tables of food. Everyone had been starved; the moment a dish was served by the waiter, the platter was scraped clean in under a minute. In the end, our group devoured a staggering fifty dishes before calling it quits. The restaurant owner kept a wary eye on us the whole time, terrified that we might all bolt without paying.

As we neared Beijing, I asked Dad again, "When are we heading to that place?"

Dad sighed. "Ah, this is a major undertaking. We must move quickly yet discreetly. The Li and Zeng families, along with others, are certainly keeping tabs on us right now. If they get wind of our plans, even reaching Xinjiang will spell disaster. That place isn't like here; your Third Uncle has to go back first to arrange everything properly. If things go smoothly, we can set out for Xinjiang in about ten days."

"Will Auntie be coming with us this time?" I asked.

"She's coming, but she won't travel with us. When the time comes, she'll be responsible for providing backup from the perimeter."

I nodded, then added, "Dad, do you have a safehouse in Beijing? Staying in a hotel doesn't feel very secure."

Dad smiled. "You don't need to worry about that; your Second Uncle will handle the arrangements. Besides, once we arrive in Beijing, I'll be parting ways with you all for a few days."

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing much. Just going to a place, and I'll be right back." As Dad spoke, his gaze drifted once more toward the car window.

Seeing him like that suddenly reminded me of something.

In Liu Jinsun's letter, he mentioned having run into Dad in some obscure corner of Henan Province decades ago. Yet, that place seemed to hold some kind of taboo for Grandfather and the others, carrying an exceptionally strange aura. Could Dad be planning to return there now?

Upon returning to Beijing, our group dispersed. Third Uncle headed straight back to Xinjiang to make preparations, while the rest of us—Dad, Second Uncle, Qin Feng, Xiaohu, and I—took Erlengzi to the hospital.

The events of the past few days formed only a tiny fraction of my life's experiences, yet within those few days, subtle shifts had already begun to take root. Naturally, as I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, I was entirely oblivious to it all. The only remnants left lingering within me were exhaustion, physical pain, and the lingering thrill of having finally been acknowledged by Dad as a true tomb raider.

In my dreams, I saw snow-capped mountains, howling bitter winds, towering glaciers, swirling blizzards, and the distant, haunting call of restless souls...

(This concludes Volume Two. A new journey begins tomorrow. Please support with monthly tickets; my ranking has dropped quite a bit. Thanks to Bingkuai and Dreammak for the cakes—I just saw them now. Your continued support is greatly appreciated!) (To be continued...)