Chapter Twenty-Six: Behind the Game

Peanut immediately said to Dumb and Qin Feng, "When you go down depends on your luck. Using this Seven Stars Diagram as the center, I've chosen sixteen stone slabs. Now, you'll play that game again. No matter who steps on whose foot, after seven rounds, if the seven points where you determine victory or defeat align with the Seven Stars Diagram, I think the entrance to the tomb passage will reveal itself automatically, without us having to search."

Only after hearing this did I understand what Peanut meant. If everything went as he said, we'd end up in the same situation Old Tan did—the ground would suddenly split open. By then, it would be too late to think about gear, so getting equipped first was crucial.

But what gave Peanut such certainty?

I glanced at that smiling face, and felt the depth of this man—unfathomable.

Dumb and Qin Feng exchanged a look, and waited for Second Uncle's nod before they went to the ends of the sixteen stone slabs Peanut had arranged. They stood back to back, while the rest of us watched quietly from the side.

"One-Five," Dumb called out first, then stepped left...

Whether it was their tacit understanding or something else, as they took those simple steps, I felt an odd sensation. The first seven rounds ended with Qin Feng winning, but only three of the victory points matched the Seven Stars Diagram reflected by the bamboo leaves.

The second seven rounds, Dumb won, and only two points matched.

...

Qin Feng and Dumb moved without any pause, clearly skeptical about Peanut's method and wanting to save time. Yet because their movements were so fluid, the strange feeling inside me only grew.

After the sixth seven rounds, only one point aligned. I turned to look at Peanut—at some point, his gaze had grown piercingly sharp, just as it had been when I first met him in the cellar. His injured right hand was secretly clenching, and he exuded a ferocity I'd never seen before.

"One... two..."

Second Uncle began muttering under his breath, and when I turned to look, I realized that this time, the first two rounds' victory points both landed on two star positions of the Seven Stars Diagram.

"Four..." The atmosphere suddenly tightened; everyone stared at Qin Feng and Dumb's feet, and started counting softly like Second Uncle.

"Six." I couldn't help but count too. Good heavens, was this mere coincidence or something else? The probability seemed at least one in a thousand. Yet, as Dumb and Qin Feng matched the seventh victory point to the final star of the Seven Stars Diagram, silence fell all around.

At that moment, everyone slowly turned their heads toward Peanut, whose eyes began to drift along some unseen trajectory.

Ten seconds passed—everyone stood frozen in place for ten whole seconds. Then, I started to tremble, but soon realized it wasn't me shaking—it was the stone slab beneath my feet trembling.

"It's coming," Qin Feng said quietly, then shouted, "Everyone, be careful!"

Before I could react, Peanut rushed to my side and grabbed my shirt from behind. Almost simultaneously, I felt the ground vanish beneath me, lost my balance, and started falling.

It was more thrilling than any roller coaster ride; though it lasted only a moment, I was so terrified my hair stood on end. I thought, even with preparation, Tan Wei must have been scared out of his wits when it happened to him.

As I fell, it felt as though the world around me vanished, but soon I distinctly felt my thigh slam against something hard—my organs nearly shattered. Luckily, Peanut was holding me, so the impact from my rapid descent didn't crush my tailbone. Otherwise, after rescuing Dad, the first thing he'd do would be to check me into the hospital's neurology ward for paralysis.

Once my footing stabilized, I immediately heard shouts and cries all around; some people had clearly fallen badly. Flashlights scattered beams everywhere, and my mind gradually cleared.

"Are you alright, young master?" Qin Feng's voice came from behind.

"I'm fine. What about Second Uncle and the others?" I asked, and noticed Qin Feng's anxious expression. "What's wrong?"

"The ground opened up in five or six places; Second Uncle and the others fell through another opening," Qin Feng explained, scanning the surroundings.

Looking around, there were only four of us left, including the three of us—Dumb was gone too. "What's going on?" I turned to Peanut, only to see he'd already walked over to a distant stone wall.

Qin Feng went to gather the other four, and I walked toward Peanut.

"Everyone's scattered—we should find the others..." I started to say, but stopped short.

By color, I assumed Peanut was under a wall, but as I got closer, I realized what stood before him was something massive, sticky, and hanging from the ceiling—like a gigantic silkworm cocoon. The gray threads immediately reminded me of the spiders outside the tower, and under the flashlight's beam, I saw it was somewhat translucent. Vaguely, I could make out a human figure inside the gray cocoon, arms and legs spread.

"What is this?" I recoiled a step in fright, and the others came over, equally horrified.

"It's a spider cocoon—the one inside is likely a corpse, drained dry," Peanut said calmly.

Many spiders hunt by trapping prey in webs, then wrapping them in silk to make spider cocoons, and then draining the food inside, bit by bit.

"Such a huge spider cocoon—how big must the spider be?" someone whispered behind.

I'd seen the shadow of the thing before, and thought this tomb really was a place for monsters. "Peanut, do you think the spider is nearby?" I asked him, fearfully.

Peanut smiled and shook his head. "No, you should ask whether a swarm of spiders is nearby."

"Ah?" Before I could ask further, Peanut raised his flashlight and shone it behind the cocoon. Following the beam, I was stunned. Within forty meters, the area was filled with these gigantic spider cocoons, one after another, densely packed—enough to make anyone’s scalp tingle.

Everyone behind me groaned in terror, flashlights sweeping forward, revealing only more and more densely packed gray cocoons. I wondered if the Eighteen Levels of Hell included a spider hell—if so, this must be it.

"So many cocoons—is this where the giant spiders store their food?" I stared at the shadows inside the cocoons, heart pounding; some were clearly human, some animals, and others were strange shapes I'd never seen.

"Whether it is or not, we can't stay here," Qin Feng said, scanning the area with his flashlight.

Behind the cocoons was impenetrable darkness—we had no idea how deep this chamber was, or how many more cocoons lay within. The room wasn't tall, maybe four meters at most, with no pillars. Thinking of the height beneath the tower, I felt this was some kind of mezzanine.

Soon, Qin Feng returned to us. "There are no exits behind us or to the sides. We can only go forward, along the cocoons."

I swallowed hard and whispered, "If we walk through, won't we run into those monsters?"

"We have weapons, and with seven of us together, we should be fine," Qin Feng said steadily as always. "Don't worry, young master, the brothers here won't let anything happen to you, even if it costs us our lives."

I knew I was the most useless in the group—here to rescue someone, but unsure if I'd just become a burden. As I pondered, Qin Feng suddenly pulled a dark object from his backpack and handed it to me. "M92F, fifteen rounds, here's the safety—very easy to use."

Before I could respond, Qin Feng pressed the cold pistol into my hand. I hesitated, and then heard Peanut chuckle beside me, "Wasteful."

"What waste? Jealous because I've got a weapon? Humph, it's not like I don't know how to use it." I thought, don't look down on me—I've never used a gun, but I've seen plenty of American cop movies. It's just a pistol. Trying to look the part, I tucked the gun into the back of my waistband.

Peanut glanced at me, then took the lead, walking through the gaps between the cocoons. I followed him, Qin Feng by my side, and the other four behind us.