Chapter 106

A large group of saber-toothed viperfish arrived quickly, the scraping sound of the iron leaves like wave after wave of tide, continuously coming from afar, the first few already reaching the edge of our bamboo raft beneath our feet. Although the bamboo raft was tightly bound, it could not withstand this horde of ravenous saber-toothed viperfish coming to gnaw at it.

In desperation, we had no choice but to swing our entrenching shovels to chop at the approaching fish schools. I swung my shovel into the water, and the entrenching shovel was bitten by saber-toothed viperfish as ferocious as mad dogs; I hastily raised my hand to fling them off, then looked down and couldn't help but break into a cold sweat—under the illumination of the mountaineer's helmet searchlight, the steel blade of the entrenching shovel actually bore several rows of interlocking tooth marks from being bitten.

However, this was only the first few saber-toothed viperfish that had swum over; many more fish schools were surging forward from behind. If we did not take effective measures, our bamboo raft would be torn to pieces by a large number of saber-toothed viperfish within tens of seconds. But the bamboo raft was still over ten meters from the exit of the Mushroom Rock Great Cave; now completely surrounded by saber-toothed viperfish, we had no way to paddle with equipment, and these final ten meters truly felt as long and distant as hell—we feared we would never be able to reach it.

Pangzi shouted anxiously: "This time we're really done for, I*** don't want to become fish food. Lao Hu, do you still have bullets in your pistol? Quick, give me a shot to the heart—I'd rather be shot dead than be eaten alive by these man-eating fish."

I was also feeling a bit numb at this point, gritted my teeth and said to Pangzi: "Alright, let's do it this way. I'll shoot you dead first, then I'll turn the gun on myself—we absolutely cannot let ourselves fall alive into the enemy's hands."

At this critical moment of life and death hanging by a thread, Shirley Yang suddenly spoke calmly to us: "Look at you two useless fellows! Usually you talk endlessly, full of ferocity and dominance, acting as if nothing under heaven is worth your attention. Now, before even passing Zhelong Mountain, you face this small predicament and think of suicide—what face will you have to speak before the world when you return? Now, you will all obey my commands."

Having said that, she raised her pistol and fired repeatedly into the dense concentration of saber-toothed viperfish in the water; the river water instantly turned red with fish blood. The surrounding saber-toothed viperfish, upon seeing the blood, cared not whether it was their own kind or not, and frenziedly lunged to tear at the wounded saber-toothed viperfish, slightly alleviating the imminent danger of the bamboo raft being bitten apart.

Shirley Yang didn't bother to put her pistol back, instead letting go directly, allowing the Type 64 to fall into the water; at this moment she had already flung the Tiger's Claw far toward the white cloud mushroom rock at the cave mouth, the steel cable of the Tiger's Claw wrapping three times around the rock pillar of the mushroom rock, the claw head firmly gripping the stone.

She had me and Pangzi pull on the Tiger's Claw's steel cable to swiftly drag the bamboo raft toward the shore at the cave mouth; under the three of us pulling, the bamboo raft's speed became several times faster than when we had been frantically paddling with the entrenching shovel. When we were still five or six meters away, Pangzi began throwing the fully loaded geological mountaineering packs one by one onto the shore, along with the two insect nets—each pack weighing forty or fifty pounds; shedding one made the raft much lighter, and its speed increased accordingly.

At this moment the scraping sound of the iron leaves intensified, as the large group of saber-toothed viperfish swarmed forward like maggots on bone; we no longer dared to stay on the bamboo raft, and immediately leapt onto the shore formed by piled-up ancient white cloud rock. As soon as our feet touched ground, the ropes binding the bamboo raft behind us snapped instantly, the entire bamboo raft fell apart, its fragments drifting in the water, and the damaged powerful searchlight sank along with it.

The saber-toothed viperfish school had gnawed clean the water wasps attached to the bamboo, yet still lingered nearby, swimming and circling unwilling to leave. Watching the fish tumbling and rolling in the water, I couldn't help but exhale in relief—at least we hadn't become fish food; otherwise, we would have perished here in this water-filled cave before even laying eyes on the Xian King's Tomb.

Suddenly, Pangzi beside me shouted: "Oh no, my backpack fell into the river."

I followed his gaze and was also startled—just moments ago we had thrown the three large packs onto the shore, but hadn't had time to retrieve them; the first pack thrown over had landed near the water's edge due to the distance, its contents heavy, and the shore's loose stones could not support it, so it slipped into the river. There was no foothold there; to retrieve the backpack we would have to jump in. Watching the large backpack about to be swept away by the current, while a large school of saber-toothed viperfish lurked nearby.

When we set out, we had categorized all our equipment; this backpack contained butane spray canisters, which could be used with a lighter to emit flames three to two times; since they were not easy to obtain, we had only managed to get this one bottle, originally intended for use during the grave-robbing operation as a precaution. Moreover, the pack also held six oxygen bottles the size of water jugs, refillable, along with a measuring tape, diving goggles, and a respirator—these were all essential underwater gear for raiding the Xian King's Tomb built in the lake; besides these, there were many other important items—precisely because the backpack held many gas-filled devices, it had not yet sunk to the bottom.

If this backpack were lost, we might as well tuck our tails between our legs, sound the retreat, and head home immediately. Seeing this, Shirley Yang was also anxious, wanting to use the Tiger's Claw to hook the backpack back, but the Tiger's Claw was still tightly wrapped around the mushroom rock, and in her urgency she could not free it.

I knew that if we delayed further, these supplies would be washed away by the water and lost. In my hand I only had the entrenching shovel; seeing a fissure on the inclined rock face on the shore, I didn't hesitate and used the entrenching shovel as a rock (wooden wedge), driving the entire blade vertically into the crack, then applying lateral force—the entrenching shovel lodged in the rock fissure. I reached out and tested it, finding it very firm, so I suspended my entire body over the river surface, one hand gripping the triangular handle of the entrenching shovel, the other reaching into the water to grab the backpack that had just drifted past from below.

The backpack was firmly grasped in my hand, and my heart eased—unexpectedly, a saber-toothed viperfish suddenly leapt from the water, opening its saw-tooth dagger-like mouth wide, and viciously bit the back of my hand in midair.

The flesh on the back of my hand was instantly torn away, the pain making my whole body tremble, nearly causing me to fall into the river. I endured the pain and did not release the backpack. Then several more saber-toothed viperfish employed their carp-leaping-over-the-dragon-gate technique, jumping out of the water one after another to try to bite me; my body was suspended in midair, and due to the backpack's weight, I could not dodge at all.

Thanks to Pangzi and Shirley Yang pulling me back from behind, I narrowly avoided being torn apart by the frenzied fish. I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, examined the injury on my left hand—fortunately not severe, only a piece of skin and flesh bitten off, though blood continued to flow, at least no tendons or bones were damaged.

Shirley Yang hastily took out medicine to bandage my hand: "You're too reckless. Is human life more important, or equipment? If the equipment is gone, we can just let the Dust-Resisting Pearl last a few more days in the Xian King's Tomb; but losing one's life is no joke."

I said to Shirley Yang and Pangzi: "This minor injury means nothing. If I don't today demonstrate Hu某人的 abilities, the American advisory team might again say we are incapable. Right, little fatty?"

Pangzi laughed: "Old Hu, what you just did counts for nothing—trying to steal a chicken but ending up losing the rice, letting the fish take a bite of you. We'll have the general hold the rear; when we reach the Xian King's Tomb later, you'll just watch Pang Ye's prowess; let you open your eyes and know what 'there are mountains beyond mountains' means."

Shirley Yang first applied Yunnan Baiyao to stop the bleeding on the back of my hand, then applied a layer of hemostatic glue on top, then wrapped the wound with waterproof tape to prevent water intrusion and infection, and finally gave me a penicillin injection.

I quickly waved my hand: "No, no—I'm lightly wounded and won't leave the front line, and I also feel a bit dizzy from needles; we didn't bring much of this antibiotic anyway, so let's save it for now."

Shirley Yang wouldn't take no for an answer, had Pangzi press me down to the ground, and forcibly administered the injection before letting up. Since the environment in this cave is complex and we don't know what other dangers might exist, we didn't rest. After determining our direction, seeing that the riverbank was barely passable, we shouldered our equipment and prepared to launch Operation 11, traveling along this underground canal to exit the river passage.

We proceeded along the riverbank, seeing that this waterway, excavated for the construction of the king's tomb, was quite impressive in scale. Originally I thought the Xian King was merely a grassroots heavenly king who had split from the ancient Dian Kingdom, and his tomb wouldn't be too large. But merely from observing the tunnel that pierced through the mountain, that person skilled in witchcraft, alchemy, and... 【text corrupted】

As we walked deeper into the dark cave, after advancing for nearly an hour, the riverbank suddenly revealed a collapsed section; loose stones would slide into the water with a single step, making it impossible to stand—clearly this route could no longer continue, so we had to find another natural cave to pass through. Not long after, we heard the sound of water roaring from the opposite cliff face, but although we could hear the flowing water, there was no way to detour. We then raised our wolf-eye flashlights to search in all directions; this place is a natural dissolution rock group landform within the mountain body, with many large and small cavities on the large mountain rocks.

After great effort we found a hole large enough for one person to squeeze through; we used mountaineering rope to drag our backpacks behind us, then passed through in sequence. Finally we saw a massive waterfall in the mountain; our exit point from the stone cave happened to be directly beneath the waterfall. Another stream flowed in from the opposite side into the river below the waterfall; following the water's direction, we saw faint brightness in the distance, as if the exit lay that way.

Shirley Yang said to me: "This water system converging into the waterfall is likely the route discovered by locals during quarrying. Judging by the nearby riverbed topography, it probably hasn't existed for more than a few decades; if it had existed earlier, when building the Xian King's Tomb they wouldn't have needed to construct canals in Zhelong Mountain."

I said to her: "Such dissolved rock formations from long-term water erosion are exactly what I learned during my time as a combat engineer—places like this, the entire mountain base has long been riddled by countless tributaries of the Lancang River like a sieve. Some areas have accumulated water depths exceeding hundreds of meters, and river currents shifting course inside caves are common; anyway, the water keeps flowing lower, eroding away rock and creating new tributaries—if this continues, Zhelong Mountain will eventually collapse."

The three of us talked as we walked, heading toward the bright area. Midway we saw some rock caves arranged rather orderly on the high cliff face, very much like artificial excavation. Below the cliff there were clearly visible stone steps, and on the ground we occasionally saw rotting human skeletons, along with some weapons and armor, all already decayed beyond recognition.

This scene matches exactly what the innkeeper's wife described at the Caiyun Guesthouse—should be where some rebels of the past used this place as a base to resist government troops. In Yunnan Dali and even along the Lancang River, such uprisings have frequently occurred since the Yuan dynasty. Because items are hard to preserve in damp environments, almost everything has rotted beyond use, and it's also difficult to determine exactly which dynasty they belong to. Judging by the degree of decay of those skeletons and the style of the weapons and armor, we can only speculate they might date from the early Qing period.

We have always entered the mountains and conducted grave-robbing on foot, disliking no hardship, and moreover able to come and go as we pleased. Although we abandoned the boat at the foot of Zhelong Mountain and marched on foot, each of us carrying many heavy pieces of equipment, we did not find it arduous. But having endured so many hardships along this route, we all wanted to get out of this cave as soon as possible, so we stopped paying attention to these remains and hurried on.

Following the water to its end, the river water still flowed forward, but then disappeared underground. This cave lies lower than the outside ground level, so from outside we cannot see this great river within the mountain. We then climbed up a slope of piled mountain rock; here there are traces of having been soaked by water, indicating that the recent large-scale rainfall across the country has greatly affected the large and small caves in Zhelong Mountain. In the middle of the scree slope, suddenly my eyes lit up—there was a clearly visible cave mouth that had once been collapsed by water flow, now exposed. Now the water has receded; in daylight, with the help of outside sunlight, it is very easy to find this entrance. The stone here is clearly man-made sealed; if not for the flood in the mountain, human strength alone would hardly be able to open it.

We put on our sunglasses, squeezed out from the cave, and finally succeeded in passing through Zhelong Mountain. Emerging outside, we looked back and saw ourselves standing beneath the sheer cliffs and dangerous peaks of Zhelong Mountain; above, the highest point was covered in thick clouds, and the exterior of Zhelong Mountain was nothing but dark green granite mottled with green traces, with countless broad-leaved vine plants growing on the cliff face—looking in every direction, everything was green; if one tried to find this tiny gap from outside, it would indeed be very difficult to locate.

Looking ahead, all around were mountains, with the terrain in between gradually descending, entirely vast primeval forest. The trees were lush and dense, all kinds of vegetation exceptionally dense, old trees' canopies blocking out sky and sun, with many unnamed strange flowers and rare trees, among which were scattered countless deep valleys and gullies, streams and dangerous shoals. Some valleys, under sunlight, clearly revealed every blade of grass and flower within, yet the more we looked, the more we felt they were unfathomably deep, mysteriously profound, making one dizzy; while other places were shrouded in clouds and mist, presenting a hazy and mysterious landscape.

This is a primordial land situated between the Nujiang and Lancang Rivers, blocked by snow-fed great rivers, completely isolated from the world. I took out the skin map to confirm the route into the Insect Valley.

Pangzi raised his binoculars to look down at the forest, stared for a moment, then suddenly grabbed my arm and shoved the binoculars into my hands: "No need to check the map—look over there, there are many golden butterflies; that valley must be right there."