Chapter 288: Three Choices

Just then, we all saw a flash of red light, and then that person completely disappeared, extremely fast; for a moment we were all stunned, it seemed like something had dragged him inside.

Before we could react, a scream came from that well opening, and then he was thrown out; before he hit the ground, the upper half of a giant python shot out from the well tunnel, wrapping around him in midair.

This was a giant python that had just shed its skin; I had expected to see a brownish-gold snake, but what I saw was blood red; I immediately understood—damn, this really was the same kind of snake.

The shooting had already started nearby; in the narrow space, the sound of the shotgun nearly deafened my ears.

The python that had just shed its skin, with scales still soft, was immediately torn open, but unfortunately the lead bullets were too weak; enraged by the intense pain, the python smacked that person against the well wall, and he fell down; then it spiraled down the cistern wall like a whirlwind, its massive body sweeping several people away.

Third Uncle's men were terrified, and several bolted; Third Uncle shouted, "Hold steady! Don't run!"

But these people really didn't listen to him at all; several dove into the tunnels and scattered in escape.

Third Uncle cursed in anger; I pulled him as we fired and retreated into the tunnel.

If everyone had worked together and fired a volley at the python, even the Dragon King would have been blown apart, but at a moment like this people panic and can't judge the situation.

We were the slowest to retreat; the giant python charged at us in an instant; I fired two shots, but the python's head dodged too fast, and I didn't hit a vital spot; I had forgotten when I last shot at a clay pigeon; I was out of practice at hitting such fast-moving targets.

Meanwhile, Black Blind had already dragged Third Uncle into the tunnel; Third Uncle yelled at me to hurry up; I immediately turned, but as I was halfway in, my scalp suddenly tingled; looking over Third Uncle's shoulder, I saw a large mass of black shadows surging from deep in the tunnel, crawling toward us rapidly.

"Behind us!" I warned immediately.

They whirled around; shining their flashlights, we saw over a dozen Cockscomb Snakes as thick as a bowl, surging like a blood-red tide; it seemed the gunfire here had disturbed them.

Black Blind immediately turned and fired, blasting the front wave away; the gust of wind from behind me arrived, and Third Uncle yelled "Raise your arm!" I quickly lifted my arm; his gun extended from under my armpit, and with a loud bang, the giant python behind me was knocked back; then I heard Black Blind firing again; he was even laughing: "Too many! Can't hold them off!"

I thought this guy was really a madman; turning around, I saw that many of the well openings were starting to crawl with red Cockscomb Snakes, clumps of them; while reloading, I moved aside to let Third Uncle climb out, and looked for a well opening without Cockscomb Snakes, then looked for Fatty, only to find that Fatty was already gone; I couldn't help cursing his lack of loyalty—he'd run off so fast.

I looked at each one, finally found a well opening, and immediately crawled in, shouting to Third Uncle; Third Uncle and Black Blind moved over while firing, but it was too late; the Cockscomb Snakes were incredibly fast, almost flying through the air, and had already crawled up from the well opening where I was, making high-pitched clucking sounds; I blasted them into pulp with one shot, but the well mouth was instantly surrounded by snakes again.

Third Uncle told me to go on my own, that he would find a way; as he said this, he and Black Blind retreated toward another opening without snakes; I cursed, fired another shot, and ran wildly backward.

As I ran and reloaded, I found only six bullets left; these bullets were large and heavy, and I hadn't brought more for convenience; my personality really is annoying—something always goes wrong at critical moments.

I had already experienced how fast those snakes were; I knew that while running I couldn't be distracted at all, otherwise there would be no chance of survival; gritting my teeth, I started sprinting, my mind only thinking, "Mud! Where is there mud?"

After dashing through several forks, I saw a crack in the tunnel wall, filled with sand and dirt; I paused for a second and immediately squeezed in; the space inside was larger than the one I had seen earlier, and I immediately spotted a large number of piled-up mud cocoon skeletons.

Saved, I thought; I immediately pulled out my canteen, and hearing the sound of ■■■■ approaching, I poured all the water onto a mud cocoon, mixed the mud on the human bones, and roughly smeared it all over myself; after that, I pushed that dead body toward the crack opening to block it roughly, then curled up in the depression, closed my eyes, and pretended to be dead.

In an instant, the snakes arrived; they immediately coiled around the miner's lamp and canteen I had dropped and started biting them; some snakes didn't notice me in the crevice and continued crawling forward quickly, but a few stopped, seeming to notice something odd in the crack, and peered inside.

I thought, how eerie—these snakes really do have intelligence; but then I saw several snakes carefully crawl in and start coiling around the mud cocoons, as if searching for my whereabouts; in a moment, several crawled onto me.

I closed my eyes, held my breath, feeling like my heart was about to jump out of my throat.

Those few seconds felt like a year; suddenly I felt a chill on the back of my neck, and broke out in cold sweat—suddenly remembering, oh no, I was in such a hurry that I forgot to smear mud on the back of my neck.

I carefully opened my eyes and indeed saw a Cockscomb Snake, red to the point of black, coiled on my shoulder, seemingly interested in moving around to my back.

This is it, I thought; now I'll end up like Fatty.

Just as that snake slowly approached the back of my neck, suddenly a strange sound came from among the bones beside me; the snake immediately raised its head and looked in that direction; almost at the same time, something even more terrifying happened: the skeleton beside me suddenly moved, and a hand pressed onto the back of my neck, covering the spot I hadn't smeared with mud.

My scalp tingled; glancing with my eyes, I realized it wasn't a skeleton's hand but a human hand covered in mud; looking more closely, I saw that behind the dead person beside me, there was another person covered entirely in mud.

Who is it? I couldn't see clearly; I thought, so I'm not the only one who knows about the mud.

I didn't know how to feel; I couldn't even be happy; the atmosphere just felt incredibly eerie.

The Cockscomb Snake looked in that direction for a long time without finding anything; when it came back to look for the back of my neck, it couldn't see it either; it seemed very puzzled, making several cooing sounds, and kept searching around the back of my neck; I felt the snake's tongue touch my neck several times, but it just couldn't detect it.

I didn't dare move at all; I stayed frozen there for over ten minutes; only then were the Cockscomb Snakes suddenly attracted by some commotion outside, and they all quickly chased after it; this one also slithered out.

For a long time after they disappeared, I still didn't dare move, afraid they might suddenly return; only when the hand covering the back of my neck moved did it seem like a signal—I went completely limp and collapsed.

Just as I was about to turn around and see who it was, I suddenly heard a female voice whisper, "Don't turn around."

I was startled, but I turned around anyway; the person beside me immediately covered my eyes; my hand instinctively touched someone's collarbone, and I realized that person wasn't wearing clothes; then my hand was slapped, and I heard the female voice: "Close your eyes, don't look, take off your shirt."

I paused; before I could react, my shirt was already pulled off; after some ■■■■ fussing, it seemed the person was putting on my clothes.

When the hand covering my eyes was removed, I saw a woman sitting in front of me, very petite, wearing my clothes like an overcoat; looking at her face, I recognized her immediately.

"Chen... Wenjin... Auntie!"

In front of me was actually Wenjin! I was so stunned I couldn't speak, and asked incoherently, "You weren't caught?"

Wenjin straightened her clothes and looked at me, then burst out laughing: "What do you mean, 'caught'? What do you take me for?" Her demeanor was completely different from when we were chasing her earlier. After speaking, she used a skeleton covered in mud to block the entrance of this muddy well shaft, then used her canteen to scoop up mud and seal all the gaps. That's when I saw that the material binding the skeleton was actually her clothes and bra.

After she finished, she came back to look at me and smiled, touching my hair: "You've grown up too."

I stared at her, barely able to react, wanting to say something but my mind was blank.

This was all too surreal—before this, I had only seen her in photographs, and now she was smiling at me, and such a beautiful smile at that.

She looked at me, seeing how I was staring, and asked: "What's wrong? Can't process it?"

I nodded, thinking to myself, how could I possibly process this? She should have been a middle-aged woman with wrinkles, who had vanished over twenty years ago from a strange underwater tomb, spent all these years doing extremely secretive things, pulling the strings of countless people, creating countless mysteries. And now she was standing right in front of me, covered in mud but looking at me with a mischievous expression, her eyes and skin apparently even smoother than mine—how was I supposed to react?

She laughed and said: "When I saw how big you'd grown, I couldn't process it either. Thinking back, it's been over twenty years. Back then, you still wet the bed, and I even washed your diapers. You were such a funny kid, much cuter than you are now."

As soon as she mentioned my childhood, I immediately looked toward the gap in the seal. Thinking about it, I suddenly felt an incredible sense of wonder. Third Uncle had been scheming all along to find Wenjin, and now she was just a dozen meters away. I didn't know if he was alive or dead, but here I was, seeing Wenjin and even talking to her. If Third Uncle had followed me just a step faster, he would have met her by now.

"You're much cuter too..." I blurted out without thinking, scratching my head. "Aunt Wenjin... well, long time no see... I really don't know how to react. Should I burst into tears right now? Actually, I have so many questions to ask you... We've missed you... What the hell happened—damn, what am I even saying?"

Seeing me rambling incoherently, Wenjin made a shushing gesture, listened for a moment outside, then quietly laughed and said: "Who says it's been a long time? Didn't we just have tea together not long ago?"

"Tea?" I was stunned, thinking to myself, the last time I saw her she was in the swamp, and I didn't see her holding a teacup then.

Then Wenjin coiled her hair up on her head, making a Tibetan hairstyle, and wiped the mud off her face with her sleeve. I looked and was instantly stunned: "You! You! You're Dingzhu Zhuoma's daughter-in-law!"