Chapter 127: Main text Chapter 129: Source of the Gu Qi

Main text Chapter 129: Source of the Gu Qi

I continued to seize the time to say to Pangzi and Shirley Yang: "I haven't yet seen the realization of four modernizations, haven't seen Hong Kong's return to the motherland's embrace, haven't seen the completion of the communist monumental building, haven't seen red flags planted all over the world; I truly don't want to die, but now saying these is useless, I'll still pick something useful to say—don't grieve for me; for an old soldier, death is nothing; I am merely an inevitable part of humanity's happy history, to rest forever in the southern land of colorful clouds where flowers never wither."

Shirley Yang also gripped my hand tightly; although she wore a gas mask, I couldn't see her face, but from her icy, trembling fingertips I could feel she was crying; all I heard Shirley Yang say, haltingly: "Oldsoldcensneverdie, Theyjustfadeaway"

I sighed and said: "I've already had loess piled over my head, yet you keep speaking foreign language—I can't understand; save these words for when I'm reborn with an American household registration in my next life; I still have important things to tell you, don't interrupt—trying to tell you something serious is really a hassle."

I was about to settle my affairs when I suddenly felt that aside from some soreness, my body showed no abnormality so far; the muscle and bone ache came from being hit by that golden mask—even though I dodged quickly, I was still struck hard by the rocks. When I just noticed my gas mask was gone, I felt a bit at a loss, but these past few minutes I haven't felt anything unusual, which is completely different from any poisoning symptoms I know. I still have some doubts—could this be my final rally? But it doesn't seem so; does that mean those vivid red mists contain no poison?

Upon thinking of "poison mist," a flash of lightning crossed my mind—what connection could there be between the red mist in this gourd cave and the white mountain miasma in the valley above? The white mist is toxic, the red mist is not; does this monster's body contain some kind of passage?

Seeing my eyes stare blankly, Pangzi thought I had lost consciousness; in his panic he kept shaking my shoulders: "Commander Hu, haven't you still not given your important last words? Why are you about to roll your eyes? Wake up quick."

I shoved Pangzi's hand away with my arm: "When did we roll our eyes? Do you want to shake me apart? What was I just about to say?" The important last words I had just been thinking of had completely flown out of my mind; I told Shirley Yang and Pangzi: "I've noticed this cavern seems to have no poison gas; it appears to be the source of the gu mist in the valley, a workshop producing gu mist."

The two of them hadn't reacted yet, and in unison they exclaimed: "No poison gas? Does that mean you won't die?"

I was about to explain things clearly to Pangzi and Shirley Yang separately, but in a glance I saw that the cluster of red mist in the corner of the gourd cave had, at some point, expanded into a huge circle, enclosing the three of us; the heavy, sorrowful breathing sound within the red mist let out a wail again, the sound darting left and right as if doing rapid exercise; as the red mist thickened, I could no longer see what was inside.

The monster beneath the golden mask had its whole body artificially fitted with heavy armor plates, and its inner carapace was hardly different from that of an armored vehicle; even the flames of a propane torch probably couldn't harm it, and it seemed only its mouth under the golden mask was its sole weak point. Just now I took a risk, pressing my assault rifle against its mouth and firing, thinking I had killed it—my goodness, how must this mountain god die?

The red mist enveloping us was suddenly swept by a swift airflow and spread to both sides; the giant reptile with a golden face and blue armor protruded its body from midair—its golden mask's mouth had been smashed by the MIAI, leaving only a few fragments of gold embedded in the flesh; without the mask's cover, its grotesque maw was clearly visible, consisting of smashed flesh-teeth and jaw parts, revealing countless tentacles in the oral cavity, and continuously spurting yellow fluid from bullet wounds; this time it came back with a vengeance, trailing a fresh red stench straight for Pangzi.

The monster's approach was like a thunderbolt; Pangzi gasped, cursing, "Damn disgusting." He flung his legs apart and ran, but in the panic he tripped over the uneven, semi-transparent rocks inside the cave, falling flat on his face; he didn't even have time to shout in pain, rolled on the spot, turned, raised his gun and fired.

I also shouted: "Not good, that bastard isn't dead yet; this time we must eradicate it completely." I grabbed the "Chicago Typewriter" from the ground and opened fire; no matter which part of the monster's dragon-scaled bronze armor got hit, red mist would spurt from the seams of the plates or from its mouth.

The monster several times tried to charge forward, but each was driven back by the MIAI; finally, after being riddled with bullets it grew frantic, advancing under a hail of fire, using its massive body to sweep wildly at us; its movements were too fast, and it kept vanishing into the red mist, making the assault rifle unable to lock onto its mouth. I saw that if the assault rifle didn't get close enough to strike its vital point, it couldn't be stopped, but now there was no time to dodge, let alone attack—helpless, I just whistled and quickly retreated to the curved rock wall of the gourd cave, using the jagged transparent stones by the underground water as cover.

With water on one side and a narrow path on the other, plus the monster's enormous size, its attack range covered almost the whole cavern; the three of us, who had been spread out, were now forced by its advancing bulk into a corner, with no way to retreat.

All I heard was the heavy armor plates scraping against the stones on the ground, pressing sideways; just one thrust, extremely fierce, stirred the cave's airflow creating wind pressure that stung the skin.

At this point we had nowhere to retreat or evade; the situation was critical, with no time to talk; Shirley Yang quickly gestured to me and said only one word: "Explosives."

I immediately understood her meaning—she wanted me and Pangzi to find a way to restrain it, buying her time to kill it with explosives. We instantly split into left and right routes, with me and Pangzi concentrating on the right; the monster indeed was drawn by us, turned and lunged to bite; Shirley Yang was about to seize the opportunity to slip through a gap on the left and hide behind the nearby rocks, but who knew the monster feinted west then struck east, extremely cunning; seeing our crossfire on this side, bullets rained down like hail, sweeping toward it—if it charged straight in it would surely suffer, yet it deliberately exposed a weakness, turned and went to bite Shirley Yang.

This came as a great surprise—none of us expected that a mere creature, just huge in size, could be so cunning; we were completely caught off guard. Shirley Yang's rifle had long run out of ammo; relying only on a Type 64 pistol couldn't repel it. Fortunately her reflexes were lightning fast; she drew the "Golden Steel Umbrella" from her back and barely managed to block the monster's mouth—this impact also sent the umbrella flying, landing on a stone to the side.

Shirley Yang, relying on her light agility, executed a side roll to evade to one side; but this spot was already a dead end formed by recessed rocks on the ground, leaving no room to maneuver, so she reached out and pulled her ice axe, preparing for a final strike. The armor plates roared, the beast bellowed like thunder—only a golden flash in the red mist shot straight at her. Knowing she couldn't possibly block it head‑on, she leapt upward, hooked her ice axe into a crevice in the overhead rock, pushed off the wall with her feet, and swung her body sideways. The instant she left the ground, the monster's huge maw, bristling with tentacles and jaw parts, snapped shut on the very spot where Shirley Yang had just stood—there was a loud crack, and the stone beneath almost shattered.

From the moment we dispersed left and right until now, it had been only an instant; we watched helplessly, unable to rush to her aid—by then Pangzi and I had red‑rimmed eyes, and without a second thought we didn't wait for the monster, regarded as the mountain god, to make its next move; we discarded our empty‑ammo MIAI, both drew our ice axes, silently hooked them onto the dragon‑scale bronze armor plates, and leapt onto the monster's massive body. I resolved in my heart to first disable its weapons; this one‑eyed creature had its single eye hidden behind the golden mask, tiny compared to its huge body—if we blinded it, things would be easy.

Using hands and feet together, we quickly climbed to its head; Pangzi and I shouted in unison, having already swung our ice axes round, we brought them down on the eyeball at the center of the golden mask; all I heard were a few pops like bursting balloons, the monster shuddering in pain, yellow fluid splattering from its head—I didn't know whether this deep‑yellow liquid was its blood; it smelled horribly foul, like dead fish left to bake in the sun, and we were all splattered with it, fortunately non‑toxic.

Seeing that it worked, I was about to press the advantage and deliver more lethal blows, but the monster's body shook violently, making my footing unsteady—I lost my ice axe and fell off its back.

Pangzi, however, clung tightly to the monster; he drove his ice axe deep into its heavy armor, ignoring the constantly puffing red vapor and the yellow slime covering his head and face, he thrust his hand into the monster's eye and jerked out a handful—who knows what it was, red, green, yellow, like spilled dye, perhaps also some thick nerve fibers; the monster howled in pain, thrashing its head wildly, and this made Pangzi lose his grip; he was flung into the water, where the flailing "corpse‑float" quickly spread outward, formed a vortex, then swiftly collapsed, enveloping Pangzi in its center—in an instant his trace vanished.