Chapter 272: Third Night: Mud Pit

Fortunately, the drop wasn't high, and there was water and mud below, so no fatal injuries. But I noticed the current was very strong, pulling me downstream. I floundered a few times, grabbed onto something underwater, gritted my teeth and struggled to stand up, only to find my miner's lamp hanging halfway up the cliff, out of reach.

After a moment to recover, I checked that nothing was broken, then looked around. I couldn't see clearly, only feeling that I was standing in a swamp, my feet sinking into the mud. The area illuminated by the miner's lamp above showed that the rock face I had fallen from was probably part of some ruin.

I was puzzled—how could there be a cliff behind those trees? And where was the person who just spoke? Was he clinging to the tree like a gecko? I shouted loudly, but there was no reply. It was as if that person had deliberately lured me into falling. Suddenly I remembered the voice I heard during the day, and thought: Damn, damn, I really am hallucinating. Could this forest be messing with my nerves?

I floundered a few more times, swam to the edge of the cliff, grabbed a protruding rock to steady myself, and using the extremely faint light reflected off the stone wall from the miner's lamp, I started to climb up. But the moss was too slippery, and there was nothing to grip. I tried several times but slid back down.

I tried different sides but none worked. The only way forward was to follow the rock wall downstream into the swamp, where it was pitch dark. But with the current so strong, there was bound to be a well opening or a steep drop nearby. If I slipped, I could be pulled into a whirlpool or washed down a small waterfall—even if I survived, I'd be badly battered.

After hesitating for a moment, I realized my situation was truly dire—either wait until dawn or hope someone came to rescue me. I absolutely refused to wait until dawn, so I immediately shouted "Help!" a few times.

They might be nearby. It was so quiet here, if I shouted loud enough they might hear.

But things didn't go as I wished. I shouted for a long time until my throat was hoarse, but there wasn't even an echo. It was eerily quiet all around—so unnaturally still that there wasn't a single sound in the darkness to give me any hope.

I couldn't shout anymore. I was so frustrated—why did every unlucky thing happen to me? I took a deep breath to calm myself and checked my watch, wondering when the fog would clear. Once the fog lifted, visibility would improve, and the miner's lamp could illuminate a wider area. Then maybe I could find a way to climb up, or I could find something underwater to knock the lamp down.

I looked at my watch. Based on yesterday's experience, the fog shouldn't last more than a few hours—that was manageable. I found a rock protrusion to lean on, adjusted to a more comfortable position, and looked around. I thought: I can't see anything. How am I going to kill these hours?

Having both feet in the mud made me very uneasy—this feeling was definitely unpleasant. I remembered the story Panzi told me, and at that moment I felt as if bugs were burrowing into my feet. I kept lifting them out to check, but it was just an illusion.

This illusion made me restless. I tried to climb up the rock to get my feet out of the water, but I failed every time. Summoning my courage, I felt my way along the rock wall to the side, keeping my feet close, hoping there might be something underwater I could step on to get out. Or perhaps I could step on some branches or debris to use as a tool to knock down the miner's lamp.

As I moved my feet, I indeed stepped on something. But it wasn't a branch—the feeling made me shudder.

It was fine and thin, like human hair.

I started breaking out in a cold sweat. I now had an extremely aversive memory of hair. For the first few weeks after returning from Xisha, I almost felt nauseous even touching my own hair.

I immediately pulled my foot back, not daring to extend it again. But as I moved, I kicked something else—this time it was soft. I suddenly realized that there might be large things sunk in the mud here.

To be cautious, I turned on my watch's blue light and shone it into the water. That blue light was originally designed only to let people read the electronic watch in the dark; it barely penetrated the water. So I had to squat down and submerge my watch into the water.

Then I was stunned. Under the ghostly blue light, I saw a person sunk in the mud, buried in it, with hair swaying like seaweed in the current.

My hand trembled as I moved the light. I found this was a corpse, and a fresh one at that. Although completely encased in mud, I could see he was wearing a field uniform very similar to Fatty's.

Then I noticed something was off. Turning the watch, I tried to look further ahead and found that the mud at the bottom ahead was full of dead people, all sunk in the mud, limbs intertwined like a mass grave after a slaughter. And all of them had died recently.

I pulled the corpse in front of me out of the mud. It was extremely heavy, as if filled with lead. I immediately saw the various gear on his waist—exactly the same as what Fatty and Panzi carried.

I was trembling as I suddenly understood what was going on—Third Uncle's team was here! Chapter 31, Third Night: Hidden Corpses. Looking at the corpse again, I noticed that all these bodies were waterlogged and grey, but not severely decomposed. Obviously they hadn't been dead long. The corpses weren't pale from soaking in the muddy water, but rather slightly blue, which seemed unusual.

There were so many dead here, all recently deceased—obviously these were Third Uncle's people. I remembered the empty camp and couldn't help shuddering. These people must have been bitten to death by cockscomb snakes and then transported to this mud pit.

Were these the ones who got into trouble first? Or the survivors from Third Uncle's group? Was Third Uncle among them? I suddenly remembered the shout of "Young Master Xie" I had heard earlier. I wondered: Could it be that it wasn't a person calling me, but the vengeful spirits of these men, guiding me to find this place? My head throbbed, but the watch's blue light went out again, and darkness returned.

I turned on the watch light again and felt the pockets of the corpse before me. From his pants pocket I pulled out a wallet, waterlogged and extremely heavy. I weighed it in my hand and threw it at the light spot on the cliff wall. The first throw missed. Then I unclipped the flashlight from his belt and tossed it—as soon as I let go I knew it was wrong, but it was too late; the flashlight had flown off. I was about to slap myself, but this time it worked. The bush holding the miner's lamp was hit, and the lamp slid down, fell into the water, and sank.

I grabbed a rock protrusion with one hand and stretched the other as far as I could, barely reaching it, and fished the miner's lamp out. The flashlight was very light but was swept a few meters downstream by the current and disappeared.

I shone the miner's lamp around, and now I could see more clearly. This was part of the swamp, like a round pool. The water flowed to one side, and the lamp showed that downstream there was a stone ruin carved with animal heads. The water flowed into the open mouth of the beast—just as I thought, there must be a well opening below, and going there would be dangerous.

I started going upstream, tied the miner's lamp to my waist, and moved along the rock wall. As I shone the light, I saw the swamp was littered with corpses, most of them sunk into the mud with only stiff hands or other parts sticking out. The entire bottom of the pool was covered.

I tried to avoid the corpses as I walked, but there were too many—I couldn't get through without touching them. The mud on many bodies was washed off by the current I stirred up. I noticed that on their necks, there were two black puncture wounds. The entire neck was black, fading to blue around the edges.

I suddenly understood—they were all bitten to death by snakes. No wonder there were no signs of fighting in the entire camp. They could have been bitten in their sleep, or they could have been attacked en masse while marching here.

I adjusted the miner's lamp and nervously searched their faces one by one, looking for Third Uncle.

I didn't want to see Third Uncle, but reason told me I couldn't avoid it. It was like parents identifying their child's body—I had to confirm but really didn't want to. However, with the mud covering them, it was hard to recognize. I looked at each face one by one and didn't find anyone who looked like Third Uncle, but I couldn't be sure none of them were him.

Just as I was about to give up, my miner's lamp fell on one face. This face wasn't completely covered in mud. I instinctively stopped and suddenly realized the face looked familiar—then I recognized it.

It was A Ning! Her eyes were closed, her body in a very strange pose, with only a thin layer of mud covering her. The livor mortis on her face was already very noticeable.

I was almost suffocated. I looked around and thought, the snakes had actually transported her body here too! The more I thought about it, the more chilling it became: What is this mud pit? Is it a place where they store food? Then could huge pythons come here to feed? I felt extremely uneasy—this place wasn't safe. I had to leave immediately.

As I thought, I swung the miner's lamp around, looking for somewhere to climb. Soon I spotted some tree vines hanging into the water upstream. I clamped the lamp between my teeth and swam over. A few strokes and I grabbed hold of a vine.

The fog had already thinned a bit. I gritted my teeth and climbed up the vines, but then I remembered what Poker-face said—"Mud repels snakes." So I went back down, scooped up a handful of mud, and smeared it over the places where the water had washed the mud off my body. Then I climbed up again, all the way to the branch the vines were wrapped around, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Following the branches, I walked to the center of the crown. Just as I was about to climb down the tree, I suddenly heard a splash from the pool. Something else had fallen in? I shone the light toward the sound and saw ripples near the edge—something had rolled down from the bank. The lamp illuminated that corner, and I saw a mass of red intestine-like things—a tangled heap of many cockscomb snakes. And in the middle of them, something seemed to be wrapped up.

I looked closely. For a moment I saw a hand stretch out of the snake pile, and then I saw a chubby human head.

A chill ran through me. I realized it was Fatty.