Chapter 232

Although we knew we were trapped on top of the giant elephant and could only hold on for a while, we certainly couldn't hold on forever, and we were devising countermeasures when, unexpectedly, those poisonous snakes arrived with such ease, especially the large snake that constantly dripped red saliva from its mouth, surrounded by ten paces of poisonous mist—let alone letting it bite us, even getting slightly close would likely poison us to death, so we had no choice but to evade its sharp edge and hastily flee to the exposed half of the giant statue's head.

I grabbed Shirley Yang's arm and ran, but she still couldn't forget the commemorative inscription on the wall, saying it was a vicious curse by numerous martyrs against "E Luo Hai Cheng." I told Shirley Yang, now is no time to care about these things—if we slow down half a step, the snakes will bite us to death; any words can wait until we escape upward.

Taking advantage of the brief moment when the black snakes rushed in eagerly, I followed Pangzi and the others upward to the top level, feeling the cold wind blast my face at this height, with no way left to escape, since the giant statue had lost half its body, this place equated to an exposed half-layer cross-section; the grotto's remnant walls were uneven, and nearby there were no suitable stone slabs to block the snake swarm. Pangzi strained every muscle, summoning all his strength, and dragged up a stone slab that had collapsed from the wall toward the opening.

Just as the stone slab was about to seal the entrance, I saw two black snakes like two arrows released from a bow, their hard black scales tearing through the air, emitting two low, swift "whoosh" sounds, they shot up from below; this kind of black snake is short and thick, extremely strong and powerful, using the elasticity of its body, it can leap several meters through the air, coming with fierce momentum—when the tactical light flickered, the poisonous snake had already flown before our eyes.

Due to the narrow terrain atop the giant statue's head, the five of us were spread around the perimeter; I worried that firing might hit our own people, and if we couldn't kill both poisonous snakes in one strike, once these wind-like mutant snakes got a chance, casualties among us would be inevitable. In desperation, I casually grabbed a backpack from the ground as a shield, held it in front—immediately the two black snakes bit down on the backpack simultaneously; I didn't wait for them to release and fall, but flung the backpack from high altitude; the backpack, with the two black snakes attached, fell into the darkness, and only after a long while did we hear the sound of it landing, transmitted up the cliff face.

At this moment, Pangzi had already pushed the stone slab to completely block the entrance; seeing me throw the backpack down, he stomped his foot anxiously: "Old Hu, your broken pack has nothing left in it—why didn't you throw that? Instead you threw mine—now it's perfect, the remaining bit of spirit turtle shell, first-aid supplies, oxygen tank, gas mask, and half-eaten fish are all gone… but if we can still go down, maybe we can retrieve them." After saying that, he had me help him pile all nearby movable stones at the entrance, even if it only bought a few more minutes; thinking of those vicious poisonous snakes made our legs go weak—among all threats we've ever faced, these black snakes capable of killing in an instant are the worst.

Although the snake swarm's advance was temporarily halted, our situation didn't improve at all—being in this extremely lofty and perilous place, even those born with bear hearts and tiger gall couldn't help but feel fear. Pangzi simply dared only to look at his own feet, not daring to glance downward. Shirley Yang stared blankly at the nearby ruined wall. Axing had already awakened from her drowsiness, tightly closing her eyes, unsure whether she feared heights or seeing this giant statue filled with martyrs' resentment. Ming Shu's face was ashen as death, kneeling on the ground with eyes closed, muttering incessantly: "Great Compassion, Great Mercy, Savior from Suffering, Guanyin Bodhisattva..."

Shirley Yang came to after a while, walked over and said to me: she had discovered on many stone walls in the lower level two broken eye symbols; the magic-country people worship eyes, and in all their totems, even if there is a bleeding eye, it is a form of soul liberation through bleeding martyrdom, but it is absolutely impossible to have a ruptured eyeball—this represents the collapse of destruction and power; thus, like the world's other theocratic religious systems and regimes, in the end times of rule, those living under theocracy begin to gradually doubt their faith, they feel this death ritual is worthless, yet religion still holds absolute dominion; in this situation, individual will is pitiable—they are driven by fate to a dead end, yet secretly carve curse marks before death; since the stone carvings are black, they went unnoticed, and moreover, as time passed, more and more people carved curses before death—the "Feng Erosion Lake" below the "E Luo Hai Cheng" is clearly destroyed by a massive ground collapse disaster, yet this ruptured eye symbol is massively and secretly carved inside the "Da Hei Tian Ji Lei Shan" deity statue that controls various ore powers—is this merely a coincidence? Or did the curse truly come true? This ancient theocratic kingdom originated in eye worship, and likely will ultimately perish by the eye.

I said, weren't you just thinking about these things? Sometimes I don't know whether you're clever or stupid—our lives probably only have these dozen or so minutes left, what's the use of thinking about this? Even if it's not the curse coming true, the theocratic rule of E Luo Hai Cheng is bound to self-destruct through excess injustice; they've dominated northern Tibet for years, their harm even continues to now, so this ancient city's destruction by any natural or man-made disaster is no surprise—but I just wish an earthquake would come now, so we could die dragging those poisonous snakes down with us, jade and stone burning together.

Shirley Yang said to me: "You're so open-minded—then I'll ask you, since we're not going to live much longer, do you have anything you want to say to me?"

I glanced at the other three people, began to feel they were a bit in the way, so I told Shirley Yang: "In this situation, what can we even say? The thing I regret most is that my will isn't firm enough—I couldn't resist the temptation of US dollars and beautiful women, letting you talk me into settling down. Originally it wasn't a big deal—I came back from Shaanxi and didn't plan to do grave-robbing anymore; in the future I could join the American people in studying finance and stocks, striving to become a Wall Street financial shark, dealing with those oil tycoons, mafia godfathers, Mickey Mouse types…"

Shirley Yang said: "You're talking nonsense—you might have already formed a habit, but I'll still tell you about E Luo Hai Cheng." Suddenly lowering her voice, she said to me: "In E Luo Hai Cheng, most eye totems are singular, while the ruptured eyes on the wall are pairs—I have a feeling that the rupture refers to Da Hei Tian Ji Lei Shan, and the two eyeballs separately indicate that E Luo Hai Cheng suffered two major disasters; this place indeed once experienced a major disaster, but whether the space experienced it once or twice cannot be known."

Shirley Yang wasn't worried about us dying here; her keen intuition seemed to detect some strange change in the air here—perhaps there will be a turning point. Axing's eyes are a key element—since her eyes discovered the hidden resentment in the deity statue… actually, it's not so much that she discovered it, but rather her eyes awakened the statue's tragic memory. Since then, the atmosphere here has grown increasingly strange—maybe the second disaster will happen soon; whether we can escape alive depends on whether we can seize this opportunity.

I know Shirley Yang's lineage is special—she seems to have an innate subtle sensitivity to what's about to happen; since she believes we still have hope to live, I've gained some hope in my heart, and I'm also not ready to give up, so I stood up again and repeatedly examined the terrain, but after looking, my heart turned completely cold—no matter how great one's abilities, without growing wings, there is absolutely no way to escape; just as I had barely escaped the nightmare-like curse of the ghost cave, I had just fled the tiger's den, only to encounter the dragon pool drumming waves—how could our fate be so unfortunate? Why can't we just have a "giant turtle shedding its golden hook, shaking head and swaying tail, never to return"? The giant statue beneath our feet tilted slightly toward "Ji Lei Shan" direction, the remaining half of its head leaning obliquely against the steep cliff, two arms extended forward from the elbow joints, embedded into the mountain body—the statue's angle between cliff and wall is very small; now we've reached the topmost level, the ground is also sloped—I don't know whether this statue was intentionally made this way, or due to a design flaw causing its tilt.

I no longer had the heart to ponder these things; I looked at the remaining few people—each listless—and thought this time we were surely done for, but one must not lose dignity even in defeat, so I said to everyone: "Comrades, it's regrettable we won't see the day of victory, but man proposes, heaven disposes—if one is destined to die by water, one will not die by fire; we've all done our utmost, yet still lacked a bit of luck—I think if we die this time, we die; resigned to fate, I now declare personally: when the poisonous snakes crawl up, I will jump directly from here without hesitation—I'd rather be smashed to pieces than let those snakes bite me, so when the time comes, none of you had better try to stop me."

Pangzi most feared dying by falling from a height, but such words certainly couldn't come straight from his mouth; hearing me say I planned to jump from tens of meters up, he quickly said dismissively: "I say Commander Hu, if you want to talk about staying calm in danger, you're still lacking compared to me—the poisonous snakes haven't even crawled into view, and you're already scared silly—do you think jumping down is brave? That's just the courage of a petty man—how can you not understand this simple truth? If you fall and turn into minced meat, do you think the snakes will spare you? No, they'll still gnaw all over your corpse—inside and out, you'll have to let the snakes bite you—why bother showing off by jumping down? I think we should just sit here, sacrifice this stinking skinbag by throwing it this way—let whichever snake wants to bite us do so—this way we can show we have style, principles, and taste as grave-robbing officers..."

Pangzi and I exchanged a few words; the other three thought we were indifferent to the impending death, but only we ourselves knew we were putting on a brave front—I had already sensed everyone's despair growing more obvious—just then Ming Shu suddenly exclaimed: "Oh no, these stones are finished… Lord Hu, please quickly think of a solution."

Although everyone knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, still our hearts sank—a large patch of dark red shadow appeared on the stone slab covering the passage, like blood seeping out from within the stone; among the vast swarm of black snakes below, one particularly thick-bodied snake spat out poisonous saliva that, upon contacting air, instantly turned into something like poisonous fungus, shaped like red straw mushrooms, which within seconds withered into black-red ash, nearly as strong as sulfuric acid—in fact, it could corrode a large hole in the stone wall.

Pangzi said to me: "Commander Hu, if you're going to jump off the building, you'd better do it now!" I cursed a few times—how could that snake's poison sweat be endless? I told Pangzi: "Even in death, I'll take a few poisonous snakes as a cushion." Saying this, I, Pangzi, and Shirley Yang pointed our guns at the place where the snake swarm had broken in; the last few rounds were chambered—even if we die, we must first take down that leading big snake; due to the overwhelming number of black snakes, our ammunition is nearly exhausted, and we never got a chance to shoot it—but this time we must kill that guy.

The restless noise from the snake swarm suddenly ceased—they should have first scattered, leaving an impact space, waiting for the stone slab to collapse before surging up like a tide; our breathing also grew rough, we stared with bloodshot eyes, fixed firmly on the entrance. Both humans and snakes were like bows drawn to full tension, each gathering strength, waiting to release. At this moment it was eerily still—the cool, sulfur-scented airflow in the underground canyon seemed to have solidified.

The tense atmosphere didn't just spread through the air—time itself seemed to slow down; in this space that felt frozen, suddenly came a strange "kakaka" sound. The sound started very faint, but after a few seconds it suddenly concentrated; we were on the giant statue's head, feeling as if heaven and earth were enveloped by this sound; everyone's attention was diverted from the entrance to these sounds, we didn't know what would happen, yet somehow felt these sounds were so familiar.

Our situation had already gone to hell—even if something else happened, at most it could only get worse; the originally frightened Axing suddenly spoke: "It's that mountain… the mountain is moving."

I saw under the flashlight beam that the tiny rubble on the giant statue's head was trembling; due to our bodies being tense and somewhat stiff, we hadn't felt any change underfoot; hearing Axing say that, I quickly raised the "Wolf Eye" flashlight and aimed the light at the cliff where the giant statue leaned; accompanied by the sound from within the mountain, countless fine cracks split in the cliff's crystal veins, growing longer and longer—on the mountain surface it looked as if teeth-baring, claw-waving coiling dragons were struggling to break free.

Ming Shu said: "It's over, it's over… originally there was still a chance to encounter water and find a middle path on the black northern side, but now that this mountain has collapsed, we might just… enter the earth and go to the underworld."

I thought: "Forget it—looks like we'll die from a mountain collapse, not from snake bites; although carrying and bearing a burden on one side is heavy, heaven has treated us well enough—this way of dying is far better than letting snakes bite us until our corpses turn black."

The sound of expanding fissures in the mountain immediately turned into rolling thunder, shaking people's hearts and souls—apparently the energy accumulated too long in the crystal veins of Da Hei Tian Ji Lei Shan is about to be fully released.

Shirley Yang hurriedly told everyone: "No… it's not a mountain collapse, it's water—the underground lake's water is about to pour back; everyone quickly find a place to anchor yourselves, hold on tight, absolutely don't let go." The mountain's thunderous roar echoed all around, nearly drowning out her voice; Shirley Yang repeated twice before I heard clearly, then immediately understood her reference to water—from the terrain here, the underground lake suspended above the altar is not far from this giant statue; perhaps we delayed too long in the altar, and a violent, lasting crystal vibration caused many crystal layers to break off—Pangzi's nose was even chipped by a falling crystal tip; the remaining rock layers can no longer withstand the lake's pressure, although they held for a while, but since the mountain shell has cracked, the terrain of the underground great canyon is too low—any underground water from the high-altitude underground lake not flowing eastward will surge here, followed by a terrifying backflow of lake water to the northwest; the accumulated water in the underground lake will jet out from the ruptured rock fissures like a high-pressure water gun.

Everyone immediately pressed tightly against the nearby broken wall; Ming Shu hid beside me, still not forgetting to ask: "If the lake water surges out, will we not die then? Encountering water brings the middle path."

I cursed: "You big-headed ghost, even if the underground lake holds tons of water, it can't fill this great canyon—we being flushed down by water is no different from jumping off the giant statue ourselves."

Amidst the endless rumbling thunder, the lower-level snake swarm also broke through the stone slab blocking the entrance; those stones had already rotted to red mud; a black snake leapt into the air, leading the charge from the rotten stone cave; Pangzi wrapped one arm around the broken wall, raised his gun with the other, rested it on his shoulder, fired one-handed—the gunshot had already pierced through the meat eye atop that snake's head.

The dead snake fell from above, the remaining black snakes below became slightly disordered, their advance slowed; I also fired two shots with my M911 at the ground gap, but each person only had about ten or so rounds left—this situation can at most last one or two minutes; the sulfur stench in the nearby air, I don't know when it started, has become intense—must be the vibration of Ji Lei Shan causing a chain reaction in the canyon's base, and even the not-yet-dead lava flow is stirring—poisonous snakes fear this smell most, yet they're desperately crawling toward us. Although we shot dead a few black snakes, the others keep coming forward in succession, again surging onto the surviving half of the giant statue's head.

Just as we could no longer suppress the poisonous snakes rushing into the top level, suddenly the thunder from Ji Lei Shan vanished without trace, but the entire mountain and earth still underwent a faint, silent tremor—was it an illusion? Body and ground were trembling, yet there was no sound for half a day; in the vast, dark underground canyon, a deathly silence prevailed—even the poisonous snakes seemed to sense something was about to happen, momentarily forgetting to crawl; including us five, all living beings fell into a boundless panic.

Brief yet seemingly long silence. After lasting about a few seconds, suddenly came three earth-shattering stone-breaking sounds—from "Ji Lei Shan" three jets of water shot out, two of them spraying near the giant statue's chest, the third directly into the underground canyon; this water was like three silver-white giant dragons, each as thick as the statue's waist, carrying shattered mountain shell, sweeping through heavenly water vapor as it surged forward.

The black deity statue, already top-heavy and light-footed, though tall, had its interior hollowed out—this torrent struck it, and it began to sway. Its arms inserted into the mountain gradually detached from the mountain shell; facing the tremendous change between heaven and earth, human strength seemed utterly insignificant; we clung desperately to the broken wall, in the violent swaying we couldn't even stand—I never imagined that coming to Tibet would end with death by water; once the giant statue is struck by the torrent and topples into the underground canyon, we certainly won't survive—but now, besides trying to hold our bodies steady, there's nothing else we can do.

Those poisonous snakes were also frightened into weakness by the tremor from the giant statue, or like us, unable to act in the earthquake-like shaking—at this moment everyone panicked, had no attention to spare for the snakes, even if bitten, they dared not let go—I don't know who shouted: "It's going to fall."

Indeed, the giant statue wasn't swaying—it was slowly toppling toward the opposite of Ji Lei Shan; I felt my heart also sinking with the statue's tilt, as if about to fall from my mouth—suddenly I noticed Axing unprepared for the shift in balance, and she only had one usable arm; she rolled down from the low wall's edge—I couldn't let go, or I'd roll down from the head's damaged part too, but reaching with one hand wasn't enough, so I stretched out my leg to block her.

Axing was still quick-witted—she grabbed my leg, thus avoiding falling through the gap first; at this moment the deity statue tilted at an unimaginable angle, yet suddenly stopped, not continuing to fall—it seemed caught on something on the cliff; I seized the chance to grab Axing and look beneath the statue—immediately my head buzzed.

Since the giant statue itself is not parallel to the canyon's course, slightly offset, after toppling its head just happened to brace against the eastern cliff; the cliff bears many exposed ancient fossils, under the statue's weight the collapsed fragments clattered down; moreover, the statue not only endures the violent impact of the underground torrent, plus its own weight after tilting, it is now precariously poised—it could at any moment slam against the cliff and collapse outright.

The situation was perilous; I felt my whole body burning up, drenched in sweat, and the air grew thick and hazy—everywhere was damp, misty fog. Then I realized it wasn't fog at all, but steam: underground lava had surged up, met the lake water, and boiled the lower waters. Falling in would be like dropping into a pot of dumplings—you'd be cooked in one flip.

Shirley Yang pointed and said, "Look, what's that over there?" I followed her gaze; though water mist swirled, the proximity let me make out a faint white shadow stretching between the canyon cliffs. Though the canyon was originally dark, molten lava seeped from fissures in the lower cliffs, casting a dark red glow above—otherwise, nothing would be visible.

I strained my eyes to see clearly, but the more I looked, the blurrier it became—seemed like a white bridge suspended on the cliff face, unlikely as that was, but I had no time to dwell on it. The snake swarm had been driven mad by heat and would soon cover the giant's head. Whatever lay ahead, I had to climb first—otherwise, in a moment, even if not bitten to death, I'd end up boiled in the water.

We leaned on the broken walls of the upper level and approached. There, where the giant's head and shoulders met the cliff, lay a massive fossilized vertebral column of some ancient creature—its long spine and pelvic bones at both ends coiled and sunken into the mountain rock, while a long central section of skeleton hung suspended in midair.

The giant's weight kept causing the rock to collapse; it was about to fall. I hurriedly called for everyone to climb onto the fossilized skeleton, shouting as I pushed Shirley Yang and Uncle Ming up. Axiang was seriously injured—she couldn't possibly crawl across the suspended bones alone, so someone had to carry her. But Pangzi suffered from vertigo; making him carry her might doom both. So I volunteered to carry Axiang, fastened a quick-release buckle, and after preparing, urged Pangzi to hurry. Pangzi glanced back at the poisonous snakes emerging below, where scalding underground water boiled—no way to die would be pleasant. He gritted his teeth, steeled himself, closed his eyes, and felt his way to the fossil's edge before climbing up.

I brought up the rear, carrying Axiang, as the giant could collapse at any moment. I glanced back: the red-salivated giant snake had shoved the other black snakes beneath it and climbed to the top layer. The snakes had delayed their ascent because they all wanted to escape the rising heat quickly, and this large snake had pushed ahead first. Without thinking, I raised my hand and fired—emptied my pistol's five rounds into the chaos. No time to check if I hit; I tossed the empty gun aside and scrambled onto the bleached-white fossil skeleton.

As soon as I got on, I felt how unstable the fossil was—under rolling heat waves, it swayed and trembled, as if a slight force might cause it to disintegrate. Five of us climbing at once was indeed too many, but there was no delay, nor could we go one by one. I told Axiang to close her eyes and not look down, though I myself felt dizzy up there. I gritted my teeth, cleared my mind, and clawed forward desperately.

The colossal prehistoric fossil seemed embedded in a horizontal mountain fissure. The location felt familiar—like where I'd seen those white earth Guanyin statues below. The thought flashed and faded. Pangzi moved slowly ahead; I dared not urge him from behind, but the scorching air and loose, rattling bone fossil were nearly exceeding everyone's psychological limits.

The water vapor at this height began to weaken; the lake might have nearly drained. My mouth was dry, my mind foggy—I operated on pure inertia, climbing vertebra after vertebra. Suddenly, gunfire cracked ahead, jolting my dazed mind into slight alertness. I looked up: Shirley Yang was firing at clusters of white shadows. Those earth Guanyin, as we neared the horizontal fissure, had burst from caves. They swarmed the fossil, likely fearing the snake swarm would come this way. In the gunfire, the Guanyin erupted in chaos—many fell from the cliffs, the survivors scattered and vanished.

Shirley Yang and Uncle Ming had already reached the relatively safe fault in the cliff, but Pangzi was still some distance behind. I was blocked behind him, unable to hurry even if I wanted. Then came a thunderous boom—the giant finally collapsed, sending up scalding water spray; the bone fossil nearly shattered. Opposite, Shirley Yang frantically signaled us. I looked back—and nearly lost my grip in shock: the giant snake, blood streaming from its body, had climbed onto the vertebral fossil during the collapse, accompanied by several black snakes. The large snake seemed mad, biting and flinging aside the snakes before it like a black whirlwind as it wound upward.

Shirley Yang tried to provide covering fire, but the angle was poor—she couldn't hit it. I had no choice but to shout for Pangzi to hurry, but he was trembling all over, slower than a turtle. Seeing the giant snake approach, I noticed his pistol holstered on his tactical belt. I told him to grab the bone and hold on, then, still carrying Axiang, I lunged forward, snatched his gun—weapons were scorching hot—and thought to turn and shoot, but with someone on my back, I couldn't balance. Fortunately, one hand clutched his tactical belt, suspending Axiang and me in midair, while the other fired repeatedly. The approaching snake took a bullet to the belly; its tail, coiled on the fossil, jerked and slid into the deep valley.

My hand gripping Pangzi's belt grew numb and sore—I quickly dropped the gun and grabbed the belt with both hands. Pangzi, weighed down by me and Axiang, slipped downward, the belt nearly choking him into vomiting foam. Suddenly summoning ferocity, he began inching us forward, step by step, toward the cliff edge. Shirley Yang provided timely covering fire from opposite. I climbed the fault with Axiang on my back, and Pangzi joined me, both of us flat on the ground, unable to do more than gasp—while Axiang had already been rendered limp by the steam.

After a while, Pangzi rolled over and said: "What kind of animal fossil is this……damn, it's really solid."

I felt utterly shattered—every bone ached—and it took a long while to recover. That was too close; I never thought I'd leave that black idol alive. Uncle Ming said: "Though we avoided the water and fire calamity, now we face the earth entrapment—this cliff fault is too high to climb, and we're no monkeys. Stuck here, it's as good as dead."

I said: "No, ever since I saw the earth Guanyin, I've thought of an escape—though we lack wings and can't fly here, so I dismissed the idea. But we ended up finding life in water, by yin-yang accident, and this place absolutely has a way back. The earth Guanyin love heat, fear cold, are expert diggers—no rock or soil layer can stop them. They're not just subterranean; their surface activity centers on hot spring zones. Their tunnels are wide for moving food—Pangzi could crawl through. We can dig our way out."

Uncle Ming rejoiced: "Though I saw some cave entrances earlier, they're a thousand doors within doors—like a maze. Even with a compass, you'd keep turning and never get out. Could Little Brother Hu actually find a way out in here?"

Before I could answer, Pangzi chimed in: "The tunnels dug by these earth Guanyin—in our old mountain countryside deep valleys, there are countless such holes, because their burrows are wide, so hunting dogs love to dig them out to flush the Guanyin and slander them—these past years, they may have been eaten to extinction, so these tunnels were dug from outside in. That's their habit: look for the triangular claw marks on the tunnel walls to tell the direction—ignore direction, or focusing on it will only confuse you further."

With an escape route now clear, no one lingered. We plunged into the maze-like "Guanyin Cave" below. The terrain gradually rose; when hungry, we pulled out a few earth Guanyin to eat. After wandering about half a day in the Guanyin single cave, we finally emerged from the underground labyrinth—outside, stars twinkled, it was deep night. We found we weren't at high elevation, but in a mountain valley—distant mountain shadows hazy, the sound of forest springs, a desolate chill, that sheer cliff with only a slit of sky, as if the underground canyon had been lifted out—though here the terrain was even more narrow and oppressive, feeling familiar. Scattered animal bones lay on the ground; we looked around, assessing our position. Then I suddenly realized: this was one of the two burial trenches—specifically, the other bone-storage trench. As long as we kept westward, we'd meet up with the ox team replenishing the meridians.