Chapter 167

Deep in my heart I desperately warned myself that unless absolutely necessary, I must take the "Yuchen Pearl" out. So I took turns carrying Shirley Yang on my back with Pangzi, but Pangzi suddenly lost his balance, fell to the ground as if he had stepped on something and tripped. Thanks to his thick skin and tough flesh, it was nothing serious. He was cursing and about to get up when I saw dozens of "Zombie Persons" crawling down from the dark rock ceiling above. They obviously sensed our presence, no longer fighting each other to bite the giant worm, but quietly surrounding us.

The bullets were all used up, and the "Chicago Typewriter" had also been casually thrown away by us on the road. Only Shirley Yang's set of mountaineering pick and engineer's shovel remained. I and Pangzi each took one, and there was also a small-caliber Type 64 pistol in my hand. With these few things, how could we possibly resist so many Zombie Persons? I had heard that when a person dies in water, they will not die by fire. It seems we are destined to be bitten to death by worms.

At this moment Pangzi discovered that the thing that had tripped him earlier was exactly the bronze box we called the "Pandora's Box." On the ground lay scattered items, all previously dug out from inside—several artifacts of the local barbarians: the skeleton of a mountain ghost, a bottle containing an embryonic jade, and the exquisite and splendid "Toad Palace."

I recalled that this ghost toad was a source of disaster, so I first kicked it aside, then used explosives to lure away the Zombie Persons. I then lifted the lid of the "Toad Palace," raised the Type 64 pistol, and fired five consecutive shots, smashing the blue, eerie three-legged monster toad inside. When this ancient meteorite affecting air concentration shattered, the air in the entire "Gourd Cave" seemed to tremble as well.

The Zombie Persons panicked for no apparent reason. They seemed to also know the importance of the "Toad Palace," sensing imminent disaster. They were extremely sensitive to changes in the air. Although they were not yet dead on the spot, they became restless, fell into chaos, stopped paying attention to us three, and scattered in all directions. Some even stumbled blindly into the "Corpse Cave."

Pangzi said to me: "This is truly a case of mistaken aim turning into a lucky hit. We should make a run for it while we can." As he spoke, he casually picked up the jade bottle from the ground and stuffed it into his torn backpack. Seeing an opening, I carried Shirley Yang on my back together with Pangzi, grabbed the backpack, and broke through to escape.

The ground was everywhere covered with barbarian female corpses serving as hosts for Zombie eggs, layered upon layered, countless in number. Each face was twisted, and their numbers were strangely huge, making one want to vomit at the sight. We stepped on layer after layer of female corpses and climbed to the gap in the middle of the "Gourd Cave," entering in single file.

On the other side of the "Gourd Cave" lay the fossil forest submerged by groundwater. The water level here remained unchanged. We arrived here after running nonstop, still carrying a large living person. This was thanks to having eaten more than half a stick of wood essence in the valley—the formed ten-thousand-year-old timber fungus, which is by no means a common thing. After eating it, I felt as if I had inexhaustible strength and energy, but now even that is beginning to fail.

I and Pangzi were both gasping for breath. Shirley Yang's consciousness had fully returned, and her strength had somewhat recovered. I seized the moment to treat her leg where the corpse poison had struck, replacing the old dressing with fresh glutinous rice and timber fungus. The removed glutinous rice had already turned as dry and black as charcoal, proving it could indeed draw out the corpse poison. Mixed with timber fungus, it seemed remarkably effective.

Taking advantage of the medicine change, I caught my breath for a moment, about to move into the water, when suddenly from behind the cave mouth, a multi-legged flesh worm like a fire dragon leapt out. This worm was several times thicker than a large water tub and nearly ten meters long. I and Pangzi immediately realized: this was exactly that old worm wrapped in dragon-scale copper armor. It had been gnawed in half by the Zombie Persons, then sucked in by the black-headed meat coffin, which had devoured all its copper armor, exposing its naked worm body. It leapt here, seemingly also fleeing for its life.

Seeing several white Zombie Persons biting and gnawing on its body, I hurriedly said to Pangzi: "Commander Wang, why don't we also hitch a ride? If we keep running on foot, we'll surely vomit blood from exhaustion!"

Pangzi agreed with a shout, already swinging the mountaineering pick. He drove the pick into the worm's body. I had Shirley Yang tightly embrace me, locking all our load-bearing straps together. I followed closely behind Pangzi, and at the instant the giant worm passed in front of me, I fiercely stabbed downward with the engineer's shovel and the paratrooper knife. A tremendous forward force pulled us upward.

The "Huo's Immortal Worm" howled as it plunged into the water, sending up countless splashes, startling the various giant insects in the fossil forest into fleeing in all directions. I only heard the wind whistling in my ears, completely unable to see where I was. Shirley Yang clung tightly to me from behind, not daring to loosen her grip. I silently prayed in my heart: May the ancestors of the Gold-Seeking Sect protect us, and may we never crash into a fossil tree. Just as I thought this, I felt my whole body turn cold, and following the worm, I sank into the water. My heart jolted—I had long lost track of where I had thrown my portable oxygen tank. If this continued, we would have no choice but to let go and swim to the surface. I felt Shirley Yang pinch my shoulder with her hand, knowing her body was weakened after poisoning, making it inconvenient to stay underwater long. I prepared to let go, but then the giant worm arched its body and surged upstream toward the water surface. I immediately realized it needed oxygen more than we did.

I do not know how long passed, but this heart-pounding doomed express train finally began to slow down, eventually coming to a stop. Since I had destroyed the Toad Palace, this half-old worm lost the foundation it relied on for survival. In the burial trenches on both sides, filled with complete elephant bones, it could no longer move. When we entered the valley, we had beaten it fiercely, making it vomit out all the red mist inside. It only recovered after we withdrew. Now it is exhausted, its net-like nerves gradually stiffening and dying. Though not yet dead, it cannot last much longer. Once the Corpse Cave catches up from behind, it will completely devour it.

I carried Shirley Yang down from the back of the "Huo's Immortal Worm." Seeing her corpse aura retreat a little on her face, I felt greatly relieved. By now we were utterly exhausted. Since entering the Shadow Dragon Mountain until now, less than three days had passed, yet it felt longer than three years.

I estimated that although the black-headed meat coffin behind us was still in hot pursuit, we had likely shaken it off by some distance. Moreover, the Corpse Cave attached to it was gradually expanding, which would slow its speed. The giant worm in the burial trench could also further delay it. So I and Pangzi carried Shirley Yang and crawled back to the secret passage entrance in front of the Mountain God Temple. We rested for five minutes to catch our breath, then we still had to keep running.

Pangzi rubbed the blue-and-purple bruises on his body as he asked me: "Old Hu, how long do we have to keep running before it's over? My legs feel like they've been filled with lead, and every part of my body aches. If we keep going, I'm afraid I'll lose my life here."

I panted and said to Pangzi: "That damn Corpse Cave is probably a kind of corpse gas attached to the meat coffin, forming a turbid mixture of clear and foul. It corrupts whatever it touches. I think only by luring it to the valley mouth do we have a slim chance of eliminating it."

The entrance to the "Insect Valley" is where the terrain rises and falls symmetrically. In feng shui, it is called the "Azure Dragon Halts Brush" point—left is the ox galloping, right is the elephant dancing, and the center resembles a suspended bell star gate. It is a place to separate purity from impurity, distinguish yin from yang, and expel harmful influences—the "Surveyor's Position." Once the Corpse Cave moves there, its chaotic qi will be dissolved. But whether this theory works is completely uncertain; we can only gamble on it, for besides this, there is no better plan.

I briefly explained my plan to Pangzi, picked up the water kettle, drank every last drop, then threw it aside. Now we needed to travel as light as possible. There was still some explosives left, so I had Pangzi blow up the entrance in front of the Mountain God Temple to gain as much time as possible. I then went into the Mountain God Temple to retrieve the food, batteries, flashlights, and other emergency supplies we had previously stored there.

After a brief rest of a few minutes, we set off in a hurry. The Mountain God Temple was already not far from the valley mouth, but the forest was dense and hard to traverse, with steep slopes on both sides and rugged terrain—truly a narrow gap carved by heaven between two mountains, where rocks form the gate. The dense vegetation in the valley, combined with the complex and winding waterways at the bottom, rocky and jagged, made our progress slow the moment we entered the valley.

Now our only advantage is our familiarity with the terrain. When we first entered the "Xian King's Tomb" from outside, everything inside was unknown, so we had to proceed step by step. Now, returning the same way, we have learned the details, so we no longer have so many worries.

The vegetation in this part of the Insect Valley could be described as a "Green Hell." What troubles us most are the countless poisonous insects breeding there. Pangzi went ahead to clear the path, while I supported the limping Shirley Yang from behind. As we pushed aside vines and searched for the way, Pangzi suddenly stopped, swung the engineer's shovel, and chopped off the head of a snake coiled on a tree. The snake's body twitched twice, then slipped from the branch and fell. Pangzi reached out and caught it, turned to me and said: "Later, when we get out, watch Commander Pang show you a trick—I'll stir-fry snake meat with an iron shovel. This is a skill I learned back when I was sent to Inner Mongolia for reeducation."

I urged Pangzi: "What time is it now, and you're still thinking about eating snake meat! Hurry up and move forward. Once we're out of the valley, you can eat whatever you want, as long as you've got enough!"

We were about to move forward when we saw a large flock of startled birds darting overhead, and far behind came the sound of vast tracts of trees collapsing. I quickly had Pangzi support Shirley Yang while I climbed up a nearby old tree to look ahead. The valley mouth was already not far, but behind us, the black-headed meat coffin had already caught up.

I shouted to Pangzi: "Hurry up! We'll be caught in just a few minutes!" Then I jumped down from the tree, Pangzi and I lifted Shirley Yang horizontally, and we sprinted off. After passing two dense red oaks, the two giant stones painted with eyes at the valley mouth came into view. Behind us, the thickets crashed loudly. Judging by the sound, the distance between us and the Corpse Cave was no more than twenty meters.

I suddenly thought: if we simply ran out of the valley mouth, once something went wrong, we would have no way to resist. So I stopped, had Pangzi carry Shirley Yang on his back, and turned toward the mountainside beside the valley mouth. The slope here was not as steep as the deeper parts, but we were utterly exhausted. Our heads ached as if countless tiny insects were gnawing at them, our ears rang incessantly, and we barely managed to climb halfway up when I pulled out the Xian King's head from my carrying bag. The blurred, distorted features of the head looked uncomfortable even in daylight, and moreover, this head seemed to have undergone some changes. I had no time to examine it closely. I used the Flying Tiger Claw to seize the Xian King's head, preparing to use centrifugal force to fling it out of the valley mouth. Whether we could escape the Corpse Cave's endless pursuit, and whether we could bring this important head back safely, all depended on this one move.