Chapter 68

A person who had most likely been soaked here for over a hundred years could actually still give you eye signals and mouth shape reminders.

At this moment, the shock brought by his action even exceeded that of the one sitting on the bed.

Not only Li Zhuiyuan, but everyone was constantly looking back and forth between the big door and the big bed, and naturally, they all saw that person's guidance.

It was just that Runsheng always listened to Li Zhuiyuan, while Tan Wenbin only took the initiative to play a role when livening up the atmosphere, but never spoke too much during the decision-making process.

Only Xue Liangliang reached out and grabbed Li Zhuiyuan's arm, adding a little force toward the direction of the bed:

"Xiaoyuan, make a decision."

Xue Liangliang secretly gave his attitude. He wanted to go toward the bed.

This was also Li Zhuiyuan's choice.

Sometimes, those dazzling complexities of human nature, intrigue, and positive and negative logic can all be discarded. When examining the question, you only need to grasp the key point:

One must know that those four Qing dynasty people should have encountered the same situation back then, and should have made the most normal choice of rushing into the door, and then they turned from corpse-salvagers into bed-carriers.

Actually, there was no need for that person to take the initiative to remind them. When the four of them appeared in the image of bed-carriers, Li Zhuiyuan already had a choice in his heart.

The reason he waited a while longer was just like taking a few deep breaths before bungee jumping.

"Rush past under the bed!"

Everyone immediately began to run and sprint. This scene was very similar to the huge snake-mouth door when they first entered the underground palace and went up the stairs. It belonged to voluntarily delivering themselves to someone's mouth.

In an instant, seven of the eight bed-carriers all dropped their originally level gazes toward the four rushing up.

The golden curtains slowly propped up, and the woman's long hair inside also gradually separated to both sides.

Li Zhuiyuan saw her face. It was a human face, but the whole face was full of snake scales, and what flowed in her eyes were also the vertical pupils of a snake.

The four ran to the bed. The other three all quickly bent down to avoid hitting their heads; only the boy was the exception.

While running under the bed, Li Zhuiyuan noticed out of the corner of his eye a jade pendant hanging from the waist of that "Qing dynasty reminder."

The boy subconsciously reached out and grasped it.

There might be some identity information about this person on the jade pendant. Although your reminder failed to influence my choice, I still accept this favor of yours.

If I can still find your descendants or successors, I will return the favor to them.

At truck driver Zhu Yang's house, Li Zhuiyuan had already let Xue Liangliang remit the money.

Li Sanjiang hadn't taught the boy much about the technique of corpse-salvaging, because most of his set was wrong.

But the boy learned one very important thing from Li Sanjiang, and that was the kindness of a corpse-salvager.

It was just that this tug didn't pull it off, but instead almost made him stumble.

Li Zhuiyuan decisively let go and didn't want it.

He couldn't stop or follow the big bed just to untie a jade pendant.

Finally, the four drilled out from under the bed, and ran out for another distance in one breath, coming to the edge of the water pool.

The eight bed-carriers and the one on the bed just "watched" them and didn't take action against them. He didn't know if they weren't interested, or if they had more important things to do.

"Ding..."

The jade pendant that hadn't been pulled off earlier fell from the waist by itself, and then rolled down all the way, coming before Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and picked it up, blew on it, and saw five characters engraved in a ring on it: "Fengdu Yin Zhiwang."

Fengdu is also Fengdu, now belonging to Fuling, Sichuan Province. It is not far from Wanzhou where he is now.

The surname Yin is relatively rare, and he is also an orthodox corpse-salvager. As long as there are really descendants, it shouldn't be difficult to find them.

After putting away the jade pendant, he looked up and saw that the eight-person bed-carrying group had already arrived in front of the big door.

"Hou Gege giggle..."

The laughter still kept coming from inside the door, and the woman's face behind the door was still poking out non-stop.

The edge of the bed hit the door, making a rumbling sound.

Tan Wenbin asked in surprise: "No, is the way to guide ascension to the Pure Land just this simple and crude?"

Xue Liangliang asked back: "Otherwise, do you really believe there is such a thing as ascension?"

Tan Wenbin shook his head: "No, it's not that. I just feel that at least it should be slightly more beautiful and romantic."

"Creak..."

The big door, which was originally only half-hidden, was slowly pushed open by the hard and powerful bed legs at this moment.

At the same time, in the water pool behind the four, there came a continuous "crack..." sound.

The four immediately turned their heads to look, and discovered that the water level of the pool where the bed was originally placed and the eight dead were hidden was rapidly dropping.

Xue Liangliang: "There is a switch under this, which should be connected to the big door above. If one opens, both open."

Accompanied by the gradual opening of the big door, the drop speed of the water level in the pool continued to accelerate, and soon it leaked out seven or eight out of ten, and a hole appeared at the bottom.

Tan Wenbin: "It looks like a bathtub plug has been pulled out."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Perhaps, this is the real way out?"

Tan Wenbin didn't understand: "But isn't it facing downward?"

"Hou Gege giggle..."

"Hou Gege giggle..."

At this time, the laughter behind the door suddenly became dense.

The four turned their heads to look and discovered that the woman's face behind the door had changed from one to two, and then to four, eight... Soon, on both sides of the big door, from top to bottom, it was crowded with women's faces.

They were all laughing, and the laughter was very eerie.

Tan Wenbin swallowed his saliva: "So many?"

Li Zhuiyuan's ears trembled slightly, and he said: "More than that."

Accompanied by the big door being completely hit open, the faces hanging behind the door crawled out. That's right, they crawled, because behind this face was a body similar to a gecko, but the proportions of the hands and feet were much shorter than ordinary geckos, and the whole body was covered in mucus. The four feet had almost degenerated, and it was simply relying on the body to squirm rapidly.

Like a snake, but not a snake, and he didn't know if it had evolved or degenerated.

And all the women's faces were very uniform, almost all of the same style.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that this image should be the true face of the woman on the bed. She turned into a snake, while the snakes turned into her.

They had crawled out.

At first, it was along the door frame, and then it gushed out from above, dense and numerous, almost becoming a black torrent. In the torrent, countless identical human faces squeezed against each other, forming a hideous laugh.

"Damn!"

Tan Wenbin couldn't help but burst out a swear word.

The others had the same feeling. If they had chosen to rush into the door earlier, wouldn't they have fallen directly into the nest of this thing?

Thinking about this picture made one's scalp numb.

Most of the gecko-snakes crawled along the upper end of the underground palace. Accompanied by the "burning" of the white bone bonfire, a large number of fireflies were gathered above at this time. They were devouring the fireflies; this was their feast.

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly figured out some things. In this underground palace, there seemed to exist a kind of life cycle.

Whenever the fireflies here multiplied to a certain degree, the gecko-snakes inside the door would make sounds, as if calling for their mother to feed them.

Then the snake-faced woman sitting on the bed would control the dead to carry the bed, leave the water pool, walk up the steps, and push open the big door leading to the Pure Land.

This was indeed the Pure Land, but it didn't refer to people outside going in, but the things inside coming out to dine.

The appearance of him and the others was more like acting as a catalyst. It could be a flashlight or a torch, or just a little noise made by humans, which might have caused the fireflies to be awakened and revived in advance. The gecko-snakes inside the door, sensing the movement, also took the opportunity to issue a call, advancing this dining process.

In a certain sense, this was also a kind of anti-theft mechanism.

Because of the advance triggering, the number of firefly hatchlings was definitely insufficient, not enough for such a large number of gecko-snakes to eat, so the remaining living things in the entire underground palace would naturally become their targets.

At this moment, the gecko-snakes in front had already fallen from above and pounced on the white bone pile and those hundred-beast specimens, specifically eating the fireflies inside. The gecko-snakes that came out from behind already couldn't find food, and many had already squirmed rapidly toward the location of the four.

There was nothing to hesitate about. Even if the door under the water pool led to hell, they had to jump at this moment. Going to hell was better than being eaten by this group of things, or even worse... being parasitized.

"Go down!"

The four jumped into the water pool together first, and then jumped into the underground hole. There were steps below. This time, Runsheng walked at the very end.

The first gecko-snake to follow in spat out its tongue and pounced from the wall of the tunnel.

"Bang!"

Runsheng slapped it with a shovel, but the other side's reaction was very sensitive. Its body shrank, dodging this shovel, and then after its body rapidly retracted, it suddenly straightened and sprang into the air, pouncing toward Runsheng.

The speed was so fast that Runsheng didn't even have time to swing the shovel again, but just as the gecko-snake was about to pounce on his face, Runsheng grabbed it with his left hand.

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

It was very painful. That woman's face was full of suffering. After observing it at close range, he discovered that this wasn't a human face at all, but a weird appearance formed by the squeezing of the skin tags on its face.

It was very much like the origami very popular among students now, where each side had different patterns or words written on it. After the fingers propped up its four corners, the big mouth in the very middle opened completely.

"Slap!"

Runsheng slapped this gecko-snake hard against the wall. The force was sufficient, directly slapping it to pieces, and the fishy, foul juice splashed.

Next, it was the second and third. Runsheng retreated while slapping. He had to cover the rear for his teammates behind and buy time.

Accompanied by more and more gecko-snakes rushing into the tunnel, Runsheng also gradually became unable to support it. Two gecko-snakes took advantage of the chaos to bite his left arm and right thigh, and one even circled to his back, sticking to his back, mouth open, sucking on it like a suction cup.

"Runsheng, come over quickly!"

Xue Liangliang's shout came.

Runsheng immediately stopped resisting and ran backward with all his might.

Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin each stood on one side of the tunnel. When Runsheng ran past, the two joined forces to pull the two bronze plates from the grooves on their respective sides and crashed them together.

"Squish!" "Squish!"

Several gecko-snakes were crushed like this.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A series of impact sounds came from outside. A large number of gecko-snakes hit the door, but fortunately, the door panel was strong enough and successfully completed the obstruction.

This gate had no bolt and couldn't be locked. Both sides could be pulled open, but the premise was lateral force. But obviously, the gecko-snakes outside didn't possess this ability.

Tan Wenbin looked at the gecko-snakes on the ground that continued to squirm and make "giggle giggle" laughter even after their bodies were clamped, and raised his foot to step on them one by one, crushing them completely.

On the other side, Runsheng tore off the two that were biting his arm and leg. Along with them, he also tore off two pieces of his own flesh. Grabbing one in each hand, he clapped them together.

"Slap!"

He slapped both to pieces together.

Li Zhuiyuan wanted to come up to help him grab the one on his back, but Runsheng dodged to the side.

"Xiaoyuan, don't touch this, move aside."

After speaking, Runsheng used his own back to hit the wall of the tunnel on his side, directly pressing it into meat paste.

"Ah..."

But he didn't feel much pain when he pulled out the flesh earlier. At this moment, when he squeezed the one on his back, the pain felt like it went straight to the depths of his brain.

When Runsheng's back left the wall, he discovered that the gecko-snake, which had already turned into meat paste, was still hanging there, relying on a mouthpart embedded in the flesh of Runsheng's back.

This one wasn't eating meat; it was preparing to parasitize!

Probably, this was the reason why the four Qing dynasty corpse-salvagers would end up as bed-carriers.

Runsheng reached back and grabbed it.

"Brother Runsheng, no..."

Before he could finish the reminder, Runsheng tore that thing off his back hard.

The mouthpart inside didn't stay inside, because it tore off a piece of flesh the size of a mahjong tile.

"Ugh..."

Runsheng shuddered. It looked like it was actually a little comfortable.

This was probably a kind of numbing effect produced by some substance secreted when the gecko-snake parasitized, just like using a fingernail to pinch a bump bitten by a mosquito.

Xue Liangliang's eyes kept scanning anxiously. Everyone's clothes were wet and wet again. He really couldn't find suitable disinfection and hemostatic supplies.

Runsheng, however, calmly took out the iron box containing "cigars" from his pocket. After opening it, the thick incense inside hadn't been dampened. The iron box made by Auntie Liu personally had a very good waterproof effect.

He took one out, put it in his mouth, chewed it, spat it into his palm, and then applied it to the wounds one by one.

Xue Liangliang hurriedly reached out to catch a handful and helped Runsheng apply it to the largest wound on his back.

"Is it useful?"

Runsheng shook his head: "I don't know."

After observing for a while, Xue Liangliang said in surprise: "Hey, it's really useful, it stopped the bleeding."

Runsheng leaned against the tunnel wall and sat down, panting.

But soon, he supported the ground with his hands and stood up: "Xiaoyuan, I'm okay."

"Brother Runsheng, you should rest for a while longer."

"No, it's nothing, just a little dizzy, a bit like the feeling of being drunk, but not tired."

This should be the residual influence of the numbing effect.

Seeing this, Li Zhuiyuan didn't act coy anymore: "Then let's continue walking. Let's have a good rest after leaving here."

The four continued to walk forward. This time, Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang walked in the first row, letting Runsheng walk at the very end.

Xue Liangliang: "Xiaoyuan, that gate just now felt like it was aimed at those things. Did we come down a bit late?"

"Actually, it's not late. When the big door above was pushed open, the small door under the water pool would open together. Only after the corpse water leaked out did it reveal itself. At that time, the big door was already wide open, and those things inside had already rushed out.

The only time difference we could fight for was to dive into the corpse water together when we sensed the water pool was leaking, and dive into the small door as soon as it opened enough for people to enter.

But we were all here for the first time, seeing this situation for the first time, so it was impossible to react that fast.

And this gate wasn't used for outsiders like us."

Xue Liangliang: "Hmm?"

Li Zhuiyuan shone the flashlight upward, hitting the top of the tunnel, and murals appeared:

"Here, it was used for her personally."

Xue Liangliang also looked at the murals on the top and nodded: "It seems that this place was a living area she designed for herself."

Tan Wenbin: "No, a grave, does it need to be decorated like this?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "This isn't a grave. The tomb owner never intended to sleep here for a long time. Even, when she 'moved' into here, she might not necessarily have been dead."

Tan Wenbin: "Buried without dying, would there be such a person in this world?"

"There are. Pursuits are different." Li Zhuiyuan paused, "The Bai family town is like this."

Xue Liangliang's expression didn't change. While looking at the murals on the top, he said: "The scene recorded on the murals should be the scene of the ancient Yong State, right?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Hmm, the woman on the bed might be the person in power of the ancient Yong State. It might be at the level of secular power, or it might be religious sacrifice."

The painting described the process of a woman with noble status being worshipped by everyone, setting out to impact the supreme faith in her heart. She commanded the construction of this place, selected the fiercest hundred beasts and the strongest warriors, and then walked up the supreme heavenly ladder. At the top of the heavenly ladder were clouds, and above the clouds was a giant python.

Actually, it was painted very much like a dragon, but it didn't have iconic features like dragon horns, and it spat out a long tongue.

Above the giant python's head was the sun, and the tail was the moon, implying that in her faith worldview, the giant python was the master of the alternation of the sun and moon.

In the last painting, the woman led the warriors and hundred beasts loyal to her, passed through the heavenly ladder, walked onto the clouds, and came before the giant python. This was the Pure Land in her eyes.

"Wait!"

While Li Zhuiyuan stopped his footsteps, he also stopped the team, and then, he began to retreat, scanning the flashlight fixedly behind the woman's position in each mural.

"Look, in the murals in front, whether the woman is accepting worship or commanding the construction of the underground palace, standing behind her is this relatively thin and darker figure. But in the last mural, the woman ascended to heaven, but he is not behind her."

The painting method of this figure was no different from the supporting roles around him, just darker and thinner. If it were just one painting, it might be a slip of the painter's hand, but apart from the last one, there was such a special "him" in every painting, so it wasn't an accident, but a necessity.

Xue Liangliang: "Indeed, it seems he was deliberately highlighted, proving that this person had a very high status at that time, or in other words, was someone the woman valued very much.

Additionally, I don't know if it was like this in ancient times, but anyway, many times now, when targeting a certain project, often the main official is just a nominal position, while the person who actually handles the specific operations below, that is, the actual person in charge of the project, is the deputy."

The woman's status in the mural was absolutely highlighted, which was probably the political correctness of that period, while the character behind the woman should be the real pusher who led and helped the woman ascend to the high position of the Yong State, build the underground palace, and guide her ascension."

Li Zhuiyuan: "However, that pusher, in the end, didn't go to the Pure Land to see the big python."

After a brief silence, Xue Liangliang and Li Zhuiyuan said at the same time:

"She was deceived."

It was very obvious that the altar or ascension pool above was not the Pure Land result the woman wanted.

The current her was more like a tool being parasitized, like a key, responsible for opening and closing the door here, maintaining this cycle within the underground palace.

Tan Wenbin asked cautiously: "That, two big brothers, I don't have any other meaning. I just want to know, shouldn't we hurry up and go out now? Analyzing this, what is the significance?"

Xue Liangliang answered: "If everything here belongs to that woman, then we are probably safe now. If not, then we have only truly entered here in the true sense."

Hearing this, Tan Wenbin's mouth twitched.

Li Zhuiyuan shone the flashlight forward: "Let's go. Let's be careful. It's not time to lower our guard yet."

Not long after leaving the mural area on the top, steps going upward appeared.

This was good news. For the four who wanted to leave here, all paths going upward were worth trying.

Walking and walking, an arc-shaped arched door appeared on the left and right sides in front, looking like the design of a side chamber in a tomb, but when the flashlight shone inside, he discovered that it was empty inside, with nothing.

Tan Wenbin: "Was it robbed by water monkeys?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "No, water monkeys can't lick it this clean."

After scanning it again, Li Zhuiyuan confirmed: "I think it's more like after fooling the woman above, nothing was put here below at all."

Continuing to walk forward, two more pairs of side chambers appeared, still empty. This further corroborated Li Zhuiyuan's guess.

Finally, directly in front, a big arched door appeared.

According to the habits of underground architecture, after the side chambers, it should be the main burial chamber.

On both sides of the arched door, a man and a woman wearing leather armor were kneeling respectively. Their images were very similar to the two among the hundred beasts in the underground palace above.

On the wall behind the two, there was a small snake head respectively, from which water kept flowing out, dripping onto them.

Runsheng: "Very thick water corpse stench."

The corpse had been watered for so long, could it not stink?

Runsheng twisted his neck, took a deep breath, and picked up the shovel.

He was actually already exhausted, and his state wasn't good, but at this time, he had to go up.

Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang each clutched their flashlights, preparing to follow Runsheng up after the corpses revived. It was the last step. If they wanted to go out, they had to fight for their lives.

The posture was set, but the two corpses didn't mean to revive and turn into dead. He didn't know if it was because the four weren't close enough, and the timing to trigger them hadn't arrived.

Li Zhuiyuan at this moment raised the flashlight to shine upward again, and two murals appeared above.

One painting was of a ship on the sea, with a person standing on the ship. The ship and the person were very small, located in one corner; the focus was on the diagonal opposite end, in the seabed, where there was a huge building. This building was very strange, looking like a seabed underground palace, but looking at it as a whole, he discovered it had a head, horns, and long whiskers, like a giant beast, and above it floated the sun and the moon.

This shape, this scene, couldn't help but make Li Zhuiyuan think of the scene described to him by Zheng Haiyang's mother in the mental hospital.

Could it be that this person who deceived the noble woman of the Yong State above had once gone to sea and been there?

In the second painting, the man was standing on a mountain, surrounded by mountains, and a woman was kneeling at his feet.

The meaning connected together was that the man had been to that mysterious place in the East Sea, then returned to the ancient Yong State in the Southwest, and then took this woman as his believer.

If he had really been there, then had he brought anything out?

Or... was the one who returned here really still him personally?

At this time, Li Zhuiyuan perceived a breath of unease, vaguely provoking his nerves.

Walking the Yin too much gained another effect, and that was that sensitivity to a certain aspect was greatly strengthened. Of course, this wasn't a good thing. If it continued to be severely strengthened, he would sooner or later become neurotic.

Li Zhuiyuan grabbed Tan Wenbin with both hands, leaned his forehead against his back, and closed his eyes.

This time, he didn't say the time, because if he couldn't solve it well, whether he could wake himself up or not didn't have any significance.

Walking the Yin succeeded.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his head. Runsheng and the other two were gone. In front of him, the man and woman were still kneeling on both sides of the arched door. In the central position, a third person appeared.

He wore gold-threaded luxurious clothes and a snake-shaped mask on his head, looking very heroic and mysterious.

A big and a small person, just staring at each other like this.

After a while, the boy said:

"You are really not human; you are a dead."

On that ship, the people who had gone to sea to that place, the ones known to have returned, were Zheng Haiyang's mother and Zhu Changyong, but they had all turned into dead.

As for the others who stayed on the ship, they all went crazy.

Before Zhu Changyong finally hugged that turtle and jumped into the shredder, he actually didn't look like a person anymore. His body was severely rotted and bloated, and one eyeball had already exploded.

The reason the mysterious masked man in front of him wore a mask was very likely to cover the changes in his body.

He bewitched and deceived the noble woman of the Yong State to build this underground palace, actually also for himself. He wanted to survive, he wanted to recover and become human.

But the latter clearly failed, and even whether the former succeeded remained to be seen.

Because apart from the sense of mystery in his image, the other side didn't give him much pressure in terms of perception.

Li Zhuiyuan still remembered the "good friend" of Wei Zhengdao buried under the peach tree at the bearded man's house;

Although that person turned into a dead and was about to dissipate, the pressure he gave him when walking the Yin was indescribable in words. The twenty peeled and boiled shrimp led by Ding Dalin and Secretary Jin were the best proof.

Li Zhuiyuan later once suspected whether it was because of him that no dead dared to appear near his hometown for several months afterward. After all, there was already a tiger lying on this mountain.

The only one who jumped out during that period was an outsider from the sea.

Since you aren't that powerful and terrifying, then I don't need to be too afraid of you. You are just a pitiful person who, after deceiving "her," relied on the underground palace she built to hide below and linger on your last breath.

"The exit should be in the main burial chamber behind you. When you designed and built this place, you must have fantasized that you could recover one day. I don't believe you would trap yourself to death here.

Let us pass. We want to leave here. We promise we won't touch anything in your main burial chamber."

The masked man turned and walked to the kneeling male corpse. He raised his hand, and a bell appeared in his hand. He began to shake the bell.

Inside the male corpse's body, the sound of breaking eggs came. Immediately after, from the male corpse's mouth, a snake head poked out. The snake head danced following the bell sound, and then drilled back into the male corpse's body.

Immediately, the male corpse's body moved. He picked up a sword on the ground and stood up.

Obviously, the masked man rejected the "non-aggression treaty" proposed by the boy, and actively launched a provocation.

In reality, Runsheng and the other three saw the male corpse stand up, facing them.

Runsheng said: "Xiaoyuan is walking the Yin. You protect Xiaoyuan well."

Xue Liangliang responded: "Hmm, Binbin, you protect Xiaoyuan well. Runsheng and I will go up together."

"I understand." Tan Wenbin turned his head to look at the boy leaning on his back. He was originally just habitually checking the boy's situation, but after looking, he was immediately shocked, "Damn, Xiaoyuan's eyes are bleeding, bleeding a lot."

Runsheng and Xue Liangliang heard this, but didn't turn their heads to look, instead continuing to stare at the male corpse walking over step by step in front.

If this hurdle couldn't be passed, whether Xiaoyuan was blind or not didn't matter. Everyone would very likely not even have their lives.

"It's okay, we can handle it!" Runsheng comforted, "He isn't a mercury corpse, we can handle it!"

Xue Liangliang heard the reluctance in Runsheng's words. With Runsheng's personality, if he could really solve it, he would say "We can kill him!"

Furthermore, it wasn't just one male corpse. Most likely, the female corpse next to him would also get up later.

At the same time, in Li Zhuiyuan's perspective, after the masked man awakened the male corpse, he still felt it wasn't enough. He walked toward the female corpse.

The masked man raised the bell again, but this time, before he could shake it to hatch the snake eggs, the female corpse opened her eyes first.

The masked man was stunned.

The boy revealed a smile.

In the underground palace, eight people carried the coffin, four of which were mercury-refined corpses, infinitely loyal to the master during their lifetime, enduring huge suffering when they died;

The other four were also predecessor peer dead, which counted as the most difficult type of dead. Even if he himself had a chance to try to control Yin Zhiwang who was making mouth shapes, one against seven had no significance.

Moreover, the woman on the bed was still there. She was almost a corpse demon, good at bewitching. With her there, he had no chance to use Wei Zhengdao's black leather book at all.

Now, it was different.

A happy choice of two. You choose one, and I choose one.

Just when he was talking and confronting the masked man earlier, Li Zhuiyuan had already been trying to synchronize with the female corpse, and also read her memory, and even completed the correction of her memory.

The difficulty of the latter was actually not great, because what he needed to weave wasn't a lie, but a statement of facts.

When she opened her eyes and saw the masked man appearing here, she could know the truth.

Because he shouldn't have appeared in the master's underground palace!

"Your master was deceived and harmed very miserably by him, her body was occupied by snakes, and she has been enduring painful torture. Go, avenge your master!"

In reality, the female corpse awakened. She grabbed the sword at her side and stood up.

This scene made Runsheng, Xue Liangliang, and Tan Wenbin feel cold in their hearts.

But soon, a scene that made them dumbfounded happened. They saw the female corpse rush up, pierce the male corpse with one sword, and then press the male corpse under her body, biting him frantically.

Li Zhuiyuan also opened his eyes at this moment. The bad news was that his vision was blood-red, and the good news was that he wasn't blind yet.

"Quick, rush into the main burial chamber, find the exit!"

No matter who won between the female corpse and the male corpse, they would eventually take action against the outsiders who didn't belong here in the underground palace.

Runsheng wanted to carry Li Zhuiyuan, but saw Tan Wenbin take the lead in carrying the boy.

Seeing this, Runsheng didn't say anything more, took the lead in rushing into the main burial chamber, and Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin followed closely. The four of them just "passed by" between the male corpse and female corpse who were tearing at each other.

The decoration inside the main burial chamber was very sloppy. To be precise, there was no decoration at all. It was almost an all-natural stone cave. In the center of the stone cave was a golden and magnificent chair, on which sat a masked man, his hands placed on the armrests of the chair.

In the rocks above the chair, there were countless honeycomb-like hole structures, from which black-red juice kept dripping down.

This juice either dripped onto the masked man, or gathered toward his feet after landing.

Runsheng sniffed: "It's the blood of that thing."

It was the blood of the gecko-snake. So, the masked man was also a link in this cycle. The woman sitting on the bed above who dreamed of ascending to heaven to see the snake god was just a chess piece of his, continuously cycling, feeding those gecko-snakes for him.

Behind the big door of the underground palace was the old nest of the gecko-snakes. When food wasn't enough, they would also kill each other, and the blood would be collected, and through the holes, finally gathered at the masked man's place.

He was relying on this method to delay his own dissipation.

Li Zhuiyuan had to admire his construction ability. If the enthusiasts of landscape micro-ecosystems in reality knew of his existence, they would probably be afraid of rushing here overnight hoping to get a learning opportunity.

As for the big thing that attacked the exploration team above earlier, he was afraid it wasn't the king among the gecko-snakes that killed each other. Logically speaking, in an ecological environment like the exploration area, it was impossible to give birth to such a large species group, but who told him there was someone below who built this system, which would raise one every few decades or a hundred years?

Li Zhuiyuan even suspected that the reason Yin Zhiwang's four found this place last time was very likely really to solve this big thing that harmed the people.

Being able to go to sea during the Spring and Autumn period, and after going to sea, being able to return to the Southwest, bewitching and manipulating a small country to do things for him.

Such a character, if he hadn't turned into a dead, didn't need to hide himself here. If he developed normally, he was afraid that he would have his name in history, and even legends and stories.

At this time, the masked man's chest kept heaving, and he grabbed the armrests of the chair with both hands, seeming very much wanting to stand up, but his body was too weak, weak to the point that even as a dead, he didn't even possess the ability to stand up.

No wonder he didn't take action himself earlier, but used the method of walking the Yin to call the thugs at the door.

Seeing him still struggling, Runsheng directly smashed a shovel at his chest.

"Bang!"

His chest was very brittle and directly caved in.

This effect even startled Runsheng himself. It was the first time he had encountered such a fragile dead, but he still smashed another shovel without hesitation, at the masked man's head.

"Bang!"

The mask flew out, and the head exploded like a bitter melon.

Why was it a bitter melon and not a watermelon? It was because the body under his clothes was already very thin, very thin, like a shrunken dried corpse.

As a dead, not even being able to maintain moisture proved that he had long since reached the end of his rope.

Now, he could finally be considered completely quiet.

"Here, here is a stone ladder dug out, we can climb up." Xue Liangliang had already walked behind the chair. There was an arc platform here, which could be climbed upward.

Runsheng shouted: "Go!"

Li Zhuiyuan was being carried by Tan Wenbin at this time, and then he watched Tan Wenbin deliberately come to the headless corpse of the masked man and reach out to rummage through his clothes.

Tan Wenbin was very afraid. His hands were shaking. After all, even if it was a dead corpse, and it was such a weird guy in such a place, even if the head was gone, going to touch his clothes was still very scary.

But Tan Wenbin was trying his best to overcome it. Soon, he touched a bell: "Xiaoyuan, do you want it?"

"Hmm."

The boy knew that Tan Wenbin was trying hard to find his own role in the team. No matter how fearful or disgusted he was in his heart, he was also increasing his team value.

At the last touch, at the waist, Tan Wenbin pulled out a handful of black paste, like rotted straw.

"Damn, it wouldn't be shit, would it!"

Just as Tan Wenbin was preparing to shake his hand and throw it away, Li Zhuiyuan was suddenly overjoyed: "Keep it well, Brother Zhuangzhuang!"

"Ah?"

Although he didn't know why, since Brother Xiaoyuan wanted it, then even if it was shit, Zhuangzhuang would stuff it into his arms and bring it out.

That wasn't filth... Li Zhuiyuan saw it. That was rotted bamboo slips.

A bamboo slip that could be carried by the masked man all the time, what kind of secrets would be recorded on it?

The value of this secret was countless times more precious than the bell.

And rotted bamboo slips could also be restored to extract the text on them. Li Lan used to do this.

"Binbin, hurry up!"

"Coming!"

Tan Wenbin didn't stop anymore, carried Li Zhuiyuan to the arc, and began to climb the ladder. This ladder was relatively steep. Xue Liangliang was the first, Tan Wenbin was the second, and Runsheng was supporting from below.

Everyone was clear that freedom was above, so everyone burst out with extremely strong potential and climbed up desperately.

Climbing and climbing, Xue Liangliang saw shaking appearing in front of him, and the entire upward passage began to tremble, as if something was about to drill out from inside.

"Climb quickly, it's coming!"

After shouting, Xue Liangliang continued upward, and the people below also quickly followed. After the four went up for another distance, the side wall of the position they had just passed was broken, and a huge long body drilled out from inside, but it didn't go upward to pursue the four, but went straight down.

Because Li Zhuiyuan was being carried, he could keep looking down. He counted the length of the body and sighed again... it's really long.

Soon, rumbling sounds came from below. That thing entered the underground palace and seemed to have caused a collapse. This chain reaction was no less than a small earthquake. Terrifying smoke and dust rushed up from below, completely wrapping the four.

Fortunately, the distance of the four from the top wasn't far. Everyone used their last bit of strength and finally crawled out from a rock crevice that couldn't be more ordinary in the outside world.

All four lay paralyzed on the ground, facing the sky, breathing fresh air, looking at the sun and the blue sky:

"Finally out..."

(End of chapter)