Chapter 137: Main Text Chapter 139: Bi Shui Zhi Xuan

Main Text Chapter 139: Bi Shui Zhi Xuan

The roar of the waterfall group's massive flow sounded like continuous thunder; at such close range it made our minds tremble. In this environment it was hard to stay calm, and as several old vines snapped, our bodies lurched downward—if it weren't for the safety rope around Pangzi's waist, we would have all plunged straight into the deep pool below.

But now this situation of being unable to go up or down has become even more deadly. Those Zombie Infants were originally half-human, half-insect; after this period, their bodies have undergone obvious changes—human traits have diminished while insect traits have become more pronounced, making them half-insect, half-ghost. Their hideous faces are too horrifying to look at directly.

They were crawling down the cliff from the Gourd Mouth in an endless stream, using the suckers on their bodies and the reverse hooks on their forelimbs to cling to the vines and rapidly flank us.

I was hanging head-down from the vines, the deep-green pool below making me dizzy; I hurriedly struggled to flip my body upright. This movement was too vigorous, and another of the vines holding the three of us snapped, sending me lurching down again—my waist nearly wrenched apart—but Shirley Yang managed to catch the rock wall with her ice axe, giving me a temporary foothold.

I gave a wry smile and said, 'Well, we've really kicked a hornet's nest this time.' As I spoke, I raised the MIAI and shot down two half-insect creatures that had crawled up to head height; one of them brushed against my body as it fell, emitting a foul stench that made me nauseous. I quickly pressed myself against the cliff face so its falling momentum wouldn't drag me with it into the deep pool—dropping from this height into the water is no joke; if the water isn't deep enough, it's hardly different from jumping off a building.

Shirley Yang, hanging on the cliff face, shouted at me, 'Lao Hu, these vines won't hold much longer—we need to move to the plank road quickly.'

I replied, 'Exactly, but this is a life‑risking maneuver—quickly pray to your God for a miracle.'

After saying that, I turned my head to look at Pangzi beside me; up high he dared not open his eyes, gripping two or three old vines with a death grip, the safety rope around his waist pulled taut, the rock bolts above likely unable to bear his weight much longer, while stone chips and plant mud kept pattering down.

The plank road had originally been below us at a slant, but after our sudden drop it was now nearly level. However, the gap of a few meters between us was an overhanging slope with no vegetation; to cross it we could only grab the vines and climbing rope, swing back and forth like a pendulum to build up momentum, then make one big swing onto the plank road.

I handed the MIAI submachine gun to Shirley Yang: 'Cover me. I'll get Pangzi across first, then you, and I'll bring up the rear.' There was no room for discussion—Shirley Yang gripped a thick vine with one hand, braced the gun stock with the other, and rested the barrel on the ice axe hooked to the rock wall to fire. She kept shifting her angle, knocking down the Zombie Persons that crawled close.

I slung my backpack onto Pangzi, lifted my legs, and kicked his butt hard. Pangzi instantly understood what I was after and shouted, 'I'm here to grave‑rob, not to* fucking do acrobatics!'

Before he finished speaking, Pangzi lurched toward the plank road with a trembling swing, but lacking strength his arc stayed under thirty degrees before he swung back. The vine he was gripping scraped against a sharp rock, snapping with two cracks, and the climbing rope tightened further, about to break.

I knew I had to give it my all—there was only one climbing rope, barely able to support Pangzi and his heavy gear, leaving just this one chance. If the force wasn't enough, my only option would be to fish him out of the river.

Just then I heard the MIAI's machine‑gun‑like firing stop; I guessed Shirley Yang's ammo was spent. The remaining magazines were in our packs, but on this cliff we couldn't reload. The situation had become urgent, so I summoned all my strength, first swinging sideways and backward to the limit, gripping the old vine and kicking straight with both legs at Pangzi's big butt.

I overexerted myself, my mind went blank, and all I heard was Pangzi's 'Ah!' as the climbing rope snapped—at that instant he landed on the plank road's stone slabs, but his legs still dangled in midair over the broken section; the plank road, already not close to us, had been depressed nearly a meter by his weight.

The stretch of ancient plank road nearest us was erected when the Xian King's Tomb was built—a spiral from top to bottom, looping around the cliff face. When we entered the valley we had seen dams that cut off the water flow; during construction those waterfalls were dammed, so part of the plank road once ran through here, but later it was likely washed away by the falls, leaving this a remnant section. Pangzi knocked loose several stone slabs, yet he managed to climb up, lying on the ground shaken, his life reduced to barely half, muttering 'Amituofo' over and over.

I helped Pangzi onto the plank road, but I'd used too much force—the last two vines supporting me snapped another one. The sole remaining vine could break at any moment; looking up I saw Shirley Yang reversing the MIAI's gunstock to knock a Zombie Person off her shoulder. On the emerald cliff, the hideous insects coated the surface like a thick layer of white maggots, forming a crescent‑shaped encirclement that now enclosed the two of us.

I quickly lunged upward, hooked a side vine with my hand, and shouted to Shirley Yang, 'It's your turn—go fast.' This was no time for modesty; Shirley Yang pushed off with her foot, swinging her body toward the plank road. It was also the first time she lacked enough force, needing repeated swings to build momentum; seeing this I intended to repeat my trick, raising my foot to kick her butt.

Shirley Yang, however, also lifted her feet, pushed off my foot for leverage, sprang toward the plank road, then let go and landed beside Pangzi. By then Pangzi had regained his senses, pulled another 'Chicago Typewriter' from his pack, and shot the Zombie Persons near me one by one into the deep pool.

Although the MIAI's firepower was strong, here it was like a drop in the bucket—it couldn't stem the wave after wave of half‑human, half‑insect monsters. Yet the ancient plank road might have some insect‑repelling secret; these creatures avoided the plank road altogether, instead swarming straight at me.

My entrenching tool and ice axe had been thrown away while I was swimming; all I had left was a Russian paratrooper knife. On this perilous cliff it was hard to use, so I simply snatched Shirley Yang's ice axe from the wall and started hacking wildly.

Under the covering fire of Pangzi and Shirley Yang's dual guns, I was temporarily safe from death, but being completely surrounded, I could only focus on self‑defense and had no chance to swing over to the plank road.

Shirley Yang had a brainwave and was about to throw me a rope to help, but at that instant the vine I was clinging to got gnawed through. These millennium‑old vines, though relatively brittle, are extremely tough. The Zombie Persons resembled a pack of mind‑less mad dogs; they didn't care about the barbs in their mouthparts, biting the vines and refusing to let go.

At this life‑or‑death moment I tapped into two hundred percent of my bodily potential. Feeling the old vine loosen, I lunged sideways to grab another vine before my body even began to fall—but this only moved me farther from the plank road.

Just as I got a firm grip on that vine, a red‑eyed Zombie Person lunged out of nowhere and latched onto my back, splitting open its four‑barbed maw to bite the back of my head; I felt a foul wind blast my nose and thought, 'Oh no.' If it bit me, those four monstrous jaws could engulf my whole head. I hastily jerked my head aside so it snapped at air.

The ice axe I was using as a weapon was meanwhile seized by another Zombie Person, leaving me unable to block the attack from behind. My head had tilted to one side, but I couldn't escape the reach of the Zombie Person clinging to my back; it turned its head and bit again, and I had nowhere to flee. Seeing the pinkish fleshy spines in its mouth lunging straight at my face, I knew it was coming for me.

A string of MIAI bullets grazed the skin at the back of my neck and flew past; the bullet severed the head of the Zombie Person on my back right at the neck. I only felt a hot flash on my neck, and a lot of insect blood splattered the back of my head.

I didn't have time to see whether it was Pangzi or Shirley Yang who fired, but the shooter who saved my life surely realized that blasting the insect's head would spray toxic blood into my mouth, so they used precise marksmanship to snap its neck. Although Shirley Yang's shooting is also excellent, her fire lacks that ruthless edge; the one who can hit vital spots directly and with such steady hands must be Pangzi.

The ice axe in my hand was firmly locked in the insect's jaws, and I was straining to wrench it free when suddenly three more Zombie Persons leapt from the cliff, imitating the one whose head had been blown off, and lunged straight at me; two of them were shot dead in midair by Shirley Yang and Pangzi's MIAI, while the third landed on my back.

I still had a headless insect corpse on my back that I hadn't managed to shake off; now another live one joined it, and the vine in my hand could take no more—it snapped instantly. At almost the same moment, supporting fire shattered the second insect's head into fragments, but I lost my balance, two headless insect corpses hanging behind me as I flipped backward and plummeted straight down.

All I heard was the thunderous roar of water; because my upper body was too heavy and my head light while my feet were heavy, I fell head‑first into the deep pool. Suspended in air, I saw only murky green, unable to tell direction—just a round shaft of light swaying, the sheer cliffs on all sides stretching down like iron walls. It felt as if I had dropped into a huge green funnel, icy cold all over, as though I were alone plummeting into the eighteen layers of the netherworld's caverns, infinitely far from the world of men.