[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-grave-robbers-chronicles":3,"chapter-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-101":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Grave Robbers' Chronicles",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},15958,44,"Chapter 101: Awakening","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-101",101,"\u003Cp>The eight-millimeter rope indeed could not bear the weight of three people. With a crisp snap, the knot on the bronze tree side broke, and we swung like a pendulum in a large arc, crashing heavily into the cliff wall beside us, dazed and almost spitting blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Yang, at the bottom, took the hardest hit and momentarily couldn't hold the rope, sliding downward. He hurriedly grabbed a crevice in the rock to stop himself. Liang Shiye and I weren't much better off. My head scraped across a rock ridge, leaving a gash that bled profusely. Liang Shiye hung vertically, unable to get a good grip, and the rope slipped through his hand all the way down, only saved by Lao Yang below him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From above came the continued sound of stalactites cracking, threatening to break at any moment. I quickly reached out, grabbed a nearby stalactite, jumped over, and then pulled Liang Shiye over as well. Liang Shiye was terrified; looking up, he began to thank me, but before he could finish, a mask suddenly shot down from above and latched onto his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that instant, I seemed to see several crab-like claws extending from under the mask. Liang Shiye let out a muffled scream and tried to cover his face, but it was too late—the mask had already adhered. He desperately tried to tear it off, but it seemed stuck to his face, coming off a few times only to suction back on. I wanted to help him, but he thrashed wildly, and before I could get close, he knocked me back. I grabbed the rope again and slid down to Lao Yang's side to steady myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glanced at the abyss beneath my feet and cursed inwardly. Just as I was about to go back up to help Liang Shiye, I looked up and saw a large, hand-like black shadow descending from above, latching onto my face. My vision went black; I couldn't see anything, only feeling furry things crawling straight into my mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the panic, I held onto a rock crevice with one hand and tried to pry the mask off with the other, clenching my teeth to keep the things out. After just one pry, the mask fell off on its own. I quickly tossed it away, but unfortunately it landed right on Lao Yang's backside. He cursed loudly and knocked it down with his gunstock without hesitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I sighed in relief, but when I turned, four or five Chigu jumped onto my head. I shuddered in fright, raised my gun and fired four shots, but it was useless. Immediately, a dozen more surged over. Lao Yang and I retreated downward, hearing miserable cries. I looked up and saw that Liang Shiye had been overwhelmed; his body was covered in Chigu. He screamed and struggled, trying to slap them off, but for every one he knocked off, more swarmed on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I backed away while firing until my magazine was empty, but the situation didn't improve at all. The Chigu, like a tide, surrounded us from both sides. I turned to see the surrounding rock walls were already crawling with them. Their movements created a bizarre sound that filled my ears, nearly splitting my head. One moment of distraction and several would leap up, charging straight for our faces; a single slip could mean disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We kept retreating downward, but couldn't outrun these things. Soon we were completely encircled. Just as we were about to despair, Lao Yang fired his Paiziliao—a deafening blast that swept away a large patch of the Chigu above our heads. The nearest masks shattered like snowflakes falling around me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But within a second, the empty patch of rock that the Paiziliao had cleared was immediately covered by more Chigu. Seeing it was useless, Lao Yang quickly wrapped his head in his clothes and shouted at me, \"Old Wu! I'll cover you! Wrap your mouth and go get the torch!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked up and saw the torch still wedged in a protruding rock I had randomly chosen. There was a ring without Chigu around it—clearly these things were afraid of fire. But between me and the torch, the rock was densely covered in Chigu; there was no way to climb up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shouted to Lao Yang, \"No use! Can't climb up! Too many!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I'm out of ideas! Let's gamble!\" Lao Yang yelled back, swinging his Paiziliao wildly. \"Damn bad luck—why weren't these things here last time!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared at them, trembling inside. These Chigu weren't especially powerful, but there were just too many, and with their hard masks, they were hard to kill completely. And these were only the survivors after millennia of reproduction; it was unimaginable how many the ancients had made to protect this bronze tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Yang shook off the Chigu on him again and tried to climb to my side, but when he looked up at me, he suddenly froze and shouted, \"Old Wu, what's going on with you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was stunned—several masks were crawling up his shoulder toward the cloth covering his face. I yelled, \"What do you mean 'what's going on'? Watch out!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Yang snapped out of it, quickly slapped the Chigu off his shoulder, and said to me, \"Old Wu, don't you realize this is weird?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What's weird?\" I pulled him close and shouted impatiently, \"Now's not the time! Spit it out!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Look at yourself—there's not a single mask on you! Why aren't they crawling on you? Impossible!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked down and yelped in surprise. Then I glanced at Liang Shiye and Lao Yang; they were covered in Chigu that wouldn't come off, but I didn't have a single one on me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My heart skipped a beat. I immediately recalled that from just now, besides the one that flew to my face, not a single one had climbed onto me. In all the chaos, I hadn't noticed and thought I was just lucky. But now it seemed off. I quickly looked around and saw that although the Chigu were crawling toward me, as soon as they got close, they abruptly changed direction and crawled elsewhere, as if they were as afraid of me as they were of the torch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What's going on?\" I wondered. I tentatively reached out a hand to grab a nearby mask. Before my hand even touched it, the whole patch of Chigu scurried backward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked at Lao Yang, and he looked back at me. Both of us were baffled. Lao Yang exclaimed, \"Damn, that's badass! Did you accidentally get something on your hands? Check!\" I examined my hands immediately; aside from the blood and grime from my scrapes, there was nothing special.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How strange. What were they afraid of? Did they choose their hosts selectively?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the Chigu retreat like that, I remembered the scene where Poker-face drove away the corpse beetles, and a question mark formed in my mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wait... Could it be... blood?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Impossible. How could these ferocious things be afraid of my ordinary blood? I stared at my hand, confused, my mind a fog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, Lao Yang was overwhelmed. I instinctively reached out a hand toward him. What happened next made my jaw drop: the Chigu clinging to him fled as if sprayed with insecticide, exactly like the corpse beetles fleeing from Poker-face's blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No way!\" My jaw hit the floor. I thought, don't flatter me like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Yang still didn't understand what was happening; he was shouting to climb up and get the torch. I patted him and said, \"Wait—look, something's off.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I raised my hand and crawled a few steps toward Liang Shiye, who was already convulsing. With just a few steps, the Chigu in those spots receded like a tide, the orderly rustling of masks suddenly turning into a chaotic, frightened chirping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Yang stared at me in disbelief, as if I were some kind of monster. Ignoring him, I climbed up and placed my hand on Liang Shiye's face. The mask on him suddenly bulged. I grabbed it and yanked it off, pulling out a slimy, tongue-like appendage. Liang Shiye was half-unconscious, but as soon as that \"tongue\" was pulled from his throat, he vomited violently, soaking himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Chigu in my hand struggled fiercely, and the tongue thing was too disgusting. I slammed it against a rock, splattering green juice on my hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surrounding Chigu retreated but didn't go far, forming a large encirclement around us that kept closing in. Lao Yang quickly retrieved the torch and swept it around, pushing them back a little. Then Liang Shiye coughed twice, seeming to regain consciousness. Lao Yang also got the water canteen and collected the remaining rope. Unfortunately, our other gear and food were still up on the tree, and I didn't know if we could get them back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I poured water into my hand and moistened Liang Shiye's lips. He finally came around, and when he saw me, tears streamed down his face. I was dumbfounded and quickly turned him away. Lao Yang was on edge, nearly hysterical. I told him the torch would keep the Chigu at bay, so he should relax or he'd go crazy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He saw that the Chigu indeed stopped approaching and let out a breath. He planted the torch in the middle of us and immediately asked, \"Old Wu, what the hell? When did you become so badass? Why didn't you use it earlier? We got messed up for nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked at my hand and shook my head, \"I don't fucking know myself. I feel like I'm dreaming.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Yang took a little of the blood on my hand, sniffed it. He didn't believe I was that powerful either. He asked, \"When you came over, did you touch anything unusual? Think carefully—maybe you accidentally hit on something that's the nemesis of these mask things without knowing it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I thought about it. Everything I touched, they'd touched too. The only thing they hadn't touched was my blood. But it couldn't be. If my blood were that powerful, I would have shown it off in the Lu King's Palace instead of wasting so much effort. Then maybe it was because I got his blood on me back then, and it's still effective? No way...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shook my head, muttering denial to myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Advisor Liang listened to our account of what had just happened and asked us what was going on. With his face covered by the mask, he couldn't see anything. Laoyang, still eager to ridicule me, said to him, \"You don't know, our Old Wu just had a moment of glory. Here's what happened.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing Laoyang's account, Advisor Liang clicked his tongue and said, \"Little Wu, have you ever eaten something black, about this big—\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1794,"2026-05-28T17:13:44.893Z","2026-06-01T04:28:20.357Z",1,"deepseek-v4-flash","308455080ca19547928e92b7ee1de2d28e9461127d95806de64e870985feb6ac","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-102","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-100",513,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-grave-robbers-chronicles-cover.jpg"]