Chapter 148: Main Text Chapter 150: Pulling the Tongue

Main Text Chapter 150: Pulling the Tongue

Only hearing a series of terrifying laughs coming from deep in the ancient tomb did I realize that the Pangzi I had been holding underwater had disappeared; this Pangzi, while my attention was drawn to the dehydrated black 'tongue', actually sneaked into the deepest part of the tomb passage.

I felt very strange: we had already found the 'tongue', so why was he still emitting that cold, weird laugh? Could it be that Pangzi really was no longer Pangzi? The evil spirit in the 'witch's clothes' attached itself to Pangzi through this piece of 'tongue', just so we would bring 'her' into the king's tomb's underground palace!

Shirley Yang said to me: "Oh no, there's still something in Pangzi's mouth, and that tongue parasite fell into the water; if we can't find it, soon we won't be able to save him."

I said to Shirley Yang: "As long as it's not a possession, we should split up; I'll go ahead and catch up with him, you quickly find that half of the tongue in the water, then meet us before the underground palace."

Shirley Yang nodded in agreement; since both Chicago Typewriters were stored in the waterproof backpack and couldn't be taken out immediately, she gave me her own Type 64.

I took the gun, bolted off, following the tomb passage toward the laugh, running and constantly cursing Pangzi in my heart for being penny-wise and pound-foolish, yet also very worried about what mishap might befall him this time; I didn't know what else was in his mouth—at best he'd lose his tongue and become mute for life, at worst he'd lose his little life in this 'Xian King's Tomb'.

At this moment, in order to catch up with the Pangzi ahead, I didn't have the leisure to notice whether there were any traps in the tomb passage; holding up the 'Wolf Eye' flashlight, I strove forward in the black water that was waist-deep.

This tomb passage had no branches; first a stone stairway, then it became extremely spacious, with dozens of bronze figurines and bronze horses displayed on a huge stone platform, along with bronze chariots. As I just reached the platform, I faintly sensed something off; these bluish-gray bronze figurines and chariots were somewhat unusual. However, unlike the strange bronze figures in the main hall of the Heavenly Palace, these bronze chariots and horses, though fairly standard, all seemed to be missing something.

Just as I was about to examine them closely, I heard a woman's sharp laugh coming from behind the bronze chariot, so I temporarily ignored the bronze figurines and horses and rushed straight forward; I saw that behind the bronze chariot was not the 'underground palace' gate I had expected, but a stone slope built of greenstone, with a pitch-black cave mouth at its base. On each side there was a rammed-earth mound; I had never heard of an ancient tomb with such sealed earth mounds in an underground palace, and for a moment I couldn't figure out what this signified.

The laugh that had just been coming from this area suddenly stopped; the surrounding environment was very complex, with many objects whose purpose I didn't know, so I had to slow my steps. Using the flashlight's beam, I searched gradually.

On the ground lay many ancient male corpses, arranged haphazardly; at a rough glance there were at least a hundred of them. Their ears and noses had been cut off, their eyes gouged out; although I couldn't see what their mouths looked like, I estimated their tongues had also been pulled out, after which they were drenched in hot wax while still alive, having endured the torture to the full. They were made into this present state; seeing it shocked me, and I gripped my gun tighter.

Ahead, aside from the black hole in the stone slope, there was no other way out, aside from the corpses scattered everywhere. But where was Pangzi's trace? In the darkness, fearing my sight might fail, I could only shout softly: "Commander Wang, where are you? Don't hide; hurry up and get out here."

I shouted twice, but no one answered; I looked back at the tomb entrance, which was also pitch black. Possibly Shirley Yang was still in the water looking for the witch's 'tongue'. Although I knew there were three living people in this ancient tomb including myself, I couldn't help feeling startled, as if the gloomy underground palace left only me alone; I had to keep calling out to Pangzi: "Commander Wang, rest assured, the organization's policy toward wayward youths has always been lenient; as long as you step forward, we will certainly overlook your past deeds."

While I was shouting the policy announcement, I suddenly heard a faint 'shush-shush' sound under my feet; I quickly lowered the 'Wolf Eye' and saw Pangzi with his back to me, lying in a heap of corpses in a corner of the ancient tomb, doing something, completely oblivious to the flashlight's beam.

I didn't dare startle him, tiptoed around to his front, and then discovered that Pangzi was actually gnawing on a wax corpse; my heart raced, I lifted my leg and kicked him, sending him falling backward, then lunged forward and straddled his belly, gripping his neck and asking: "You really have let an evil spirit possess you, what the hell are you chewing that corpse for? Aren't you afraid of corpse poison?"

Pangzi was pinned under me, his face full of panic; he clutched his mouth with one hand while waving the other wildly; I lifted my leg to pin his arms, exerted all my strength, used my left hand to squeeze his big face, pried open Pangzi's mouth, and his mouth immediately emitted a series of eerie laughs.

I shone the 'Wolf Eye' flashlight with my right hand into his mouth, and instantly saw clearly; thus I finally understood, exactly as Shirley Yang had guessed: Pangzi's mouth indeed contained something—a woman's head had grown on his tongue, to be precise, a tumor-like thing.

It was yellowish and not large, only the size of a thumb pad; at a glance one might think his tongue had grown a thick layer of 'tongue coating', but that 'tongue coating' had complete facial features, very much like the face of a young woman sleeping with her eyes closed.

The tumor on Pangzi's tongue resembling a woman's face, though closed-eyed and motionless as if in a drowse, had this face's 'contract' constantly opening and closing, emitting a series of cold laughs; I thought it was this 'mouth' that was laughing, I don't know how Pangzi provoked such a vicious curse, but the 'mouth' on his tongue seemed to have a particular fondness for human flesh; after entering the tomb passage he could no longer control 'it', and to avoid biting me and Shirley Yang he ran deep into the tomb passage to gnaw on those corpses.

At this moment Shirley Yang also arrived; she used 'Poseidon's Brilliance' to illuminate underwater, finally found that half-length black 'woman's tongue', and hurried over; seeing this extraordinarily bizarre scene, she was also astonished, and quickly placed the semi-petrified 'tongue' on a dry stone slab, poured some solid fuel on it, and lit it with a lighter.

As soon as Shirley's 'tongue' caught fire, it immediately gave off a foul smoke, and in no time turned to ash; at the same time I shouted to Pangzi: "Don't move, stick out your tongue straight, I'll pull it out for you."

Using that nearby fire, I heated the Russian-style guard's paratrooper knife twice, had Shirley Yang hold down Pangzi's head, used two fingers to pinch the human-head-shaped tumor on his tongue, and with the paratrooper knife I hooked and pulled it out; blood spurted out, inside seemed to be a bone spur; feeling nauseated and not bothering to examine further, I shook the blade and tossed it into the fire together with the 'tongue', burning both to nothing.

Pangzi remained conscious, knowing our actions were entirely to save him; despite blood gushing from his mouth, he kept his mouth open without making a sound, and only when the tumor on his tongue was pulled out did he loudly cry out in pain; although his tongue had a large tear, he could finally speak.

Shirley Yang quickly took out a toothpaste-like 'elastic protein' hemostatic gel and applied it to Pangzi's tongue to stop the bleeding; I saw that Pangzi was still alive, although his tongue had been cut a sizable notch by the paratrooper knife, his speech might be slurred for a short time, but this was already a blessing in misfortune—after all he hadn't lost an arm or a leg and become disabled—and I breathed a sigh of relief.

We were temporarily exhausted, unable to investigate the location of the underground palace's stone gate, and didn't want to linger long among those corpses, so we retreated to the stone platform where the bronze chariots and horses were placed to rest briefly.

Shirley Yang told Pangzi: "Just keep your mouth open and your tongue out for now; close it only after the wound dries, otherwise touching the pond water will cause inflammation."

I took out a cigarette, lit one for myself, then pretended to offer one to Pangzi; Shirley Yang hurried to stop me, and I laughed at Pangzi saying: "Chief, you need a smoke to calm your nerves—have you learned your lesson this time? Truly a bloody lesson; if I may say, you deserve it—who let you follow the habit of picking up scraps and getting away with everything?"

Pangzi's mouth wound wasn't too serious, and that elastic colloid protein was quite effective; after a while the wound healed, Pangzi rinsed his mouth with water to wash away the fresh blood, and with remorse he declared he would never again catch whatever came his way, and from now on would only take the most valuable things.

I said to Pangzi: "If I could fix this flaw of mine, I'd write my 'Hu' character backwards; we don't need you to write a written self-criticism, we only hope that in your occasional free time you can set aside some moments to dig deep into the roots of your mistaken thoughts, compare them with the current favorable situation at home and abroad, express your determination to correct your errors, and put that determination into concrete action."

I had teased Pangzi a bit, then suddenly remembered something, I put on a serious face and asked him: "Currently the organization still regards you with suspicion; although the curse on your tongue has been removed, whether your thoughts and ideology have been affected is hard to say; who can guarantee you're still the same you? You might already have become a spy infiltrating our pure unit."

Pangzi protested loudly, speaking with slurred words: "Commander Hu, if even you don't believe me, I'd really rather die—better to smash my head against a wall; if you don't believe you can test me—you say whether we're jumping into an oil pan or rolling on a nail board, as long as you draw the plan, I'll immediately make it; otherwise, when we later open the coffin and retrieve the Xian King's burial goods, you'll see my skill—even if the Holy Mother Mary herself came over with her breasts exposed saying this coffin holds God, I'd still handle it flawlessly."

I quickly held Pangzi's mouth shut: "Enough, enough, you should accumulate some virtue beneath your mouth; we can consider your issue settled, from now on just do meritorious service to atone for your crimes, but there's one thing you must clarify: exactly how did you grow such a… thing on your tongue?"