Chapter 409: Stone Shadow: Strange Guy

"Spinning by itself? I couldn't imagine what that thing must look like, and I was burning with anger, wishing I could go over and see it immediately. I shouted at once, 'Think of a way to let me in quickly.'"

"Wait, I think something's not right," he suddenly called out. Instantly, the sounds fell silent.

"What the hell is going on? Stop being cryptic," I cursed.

This time, Xiao Hua didn't speak; only my shouts echoed in the stone cave.

If the situation ahead weren't so terrifying, I would have rushed over without a second thought. Compared to before, this deliberate act of being cryptic annoyed me even more. I waited a few moments and called out again, but Xiao Hua still didn't answer. I only heard the sudden sound of metal striking inside.

I couldn't help wanting to curse, but considering he was a legendary childhood friend and not that close, I didn't want to lose my temper directly. So I used my hammer to strike the stones nearby to show my impatience while continuing to shout.

After calling a few more times, the sound of metal striking inside grew louder and louder, as if he was destroying something.

"What the hell are you doing?" I said, growing nervous.

Still no answer. The only response was the sharp "clang, clang" sound, as if he was violently hitting that "iron plate." The sound echoed continuously in the cave—not extremely loud, but particularly jarring to the nerves, making one irritable.

I suddenly realized something was wrong. He had no reason not to answer me—we were both adults, and in this kind of situation, no one would throw a childish tantrum. Was he hitting that iron plate because he suddenly couldn't speak and was using it to signal for help? In just that one or two minutes, silently, had something happened on his end? But the iron plate was being struck very forcefully; from the buzzing sound, you could tell he was hitting it with all his strength. It was chaotic but not urgent, not like a call for help. It sounded more like he wanted to smash that thing to pieces.

I gave one last loud shout, but still no reply. I immediately turned back and crawled toward the entrance, picking up the walkie-talkie and calling the men below. They were all asleep, groggy. When I explained the situation, the Sichuan guy said he'd come up right away. As soon as I put down the walkie-talkie, I realized this wasn't right: climbing up would take over four hours. If something really happened, he'd be dead a dozen times over. Even if I went to pull him up, it would take at least two hours. That wasn't the way to handle it.

So I crawled back again. The noise inside was driving me crazy. I kept shouting; in this amplifier-like environment, my voice was very loud—there's no way he couldn't hear me. But he still wouldn't answer. I was frantic with anxiety, and I thought of Third Uncle and Xie Lianhuan.

"Holy shit!" I thought. Could it be that I was repeating their mistake? This was just too tragic. Damn it, what kind of mess was this?

I thought, if Xiao Hua croaked or got into trouble, how would I face the Xie family? Would our Wu family be labeled something like the "Xie family reaper"?

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" I stared at the hair on those strange jars in front of me. My mind was a complete mess, unable to think. At that very moment, I suddenly noticed the dug-out niches in the wall used to store ancient texts.

I looked at the gloves around me and my own hiking boots, gestured a bit, and suddenly thought of a way to get through. But my intuition told me it was definitely a bad idea, one that might drag me down too.

The piercing clanging disrupted my judgment, and that intuition was immediately swallowed by boundless anxiety. I took a few deep breaths, trying to suppress the heat, and carefully stepped out through the gap in the pile of rocks.

As I stepped down, the feeling of corpse beetle shells crunching under my foot made me inhale sharply. Those little balls covered in hair in front of me seemed to sense my entry; under the flashlight's beam, they instantly appeared even more eerie.

My method was actually very unsightly. The cave walls were full of niches for holding ancient texts. To avoid touching those disgusting hair balls below, I had to cling to the wall and step into the niches to move forward. It looked easy enough, but the problem was I had no retreat. I couldn't stop halfway. In such a cramped space, crouching while clinging to the wall, using only my fingers to grip the niches and hold my body steady—this was an extreme test of physical strength. If the cave were a bit taller so I could stand upright, it would be much easier.

That ear-piercing metal clanging was maddening. I gestured and tried climbing up first, and found it wasn't as hard as I imagined—especially when turning around and grabbing, like a Jesus Christ with appendicitis nailed to the wall. But if I was careful, I could keep my balance, which meant I could rest briefly.

So I took a deep breath and went up the wall. Using that first breath to not give myself a chance to retreat, I climbed more than ten meters in one go. The speed was surprisingly fast; I just didn't know if the movements were graceful.

After ten meters, my fingers were immediately exhausted, and I had to rest before continuing. With the flashlight clamped in my mouth, I saw the hair-covered things below me.

At this distance, it was much closer. They were little balls, and the parts inside seemed larger than those outside. I kept trying to convince myself that the fuzz on top was a new type of mushroom, but at this distance, it was unmistakably hair—very straight hair, still glossy.

What kind of thing could grow this? I felt disgusted and horrified. If you saw such a spread of hair anywhere in the wild, you probably wouldn't even have the courage to look. Moreover, hair was something that gave me deeper nightmares than others.

Despite the disgust, I had an anxious urge to part the hair and see what exactly that head-like thing underneath was. At this distance, I could just reach down and lift it up with a flick.

I couldn't stand looking any longer. I took a breath, turned around, and continued forward. Once that breath was spent, I couldn't go fast anymore and had to inch forward bit by bit. Half a foot below my feet were those hair clusters of unknown purpose. Every inch forward required finger strength. Some niches in the cliff were too small to step into firmly; I could only get the tips of my toes in. Soon my feet began to show signs of cramping.

Fortunately, this kept me highly alert, and the piercing metal clanging was almost shut out. All my attention was focused on my fingers.

I don't know how long I crawled. When I looked back, I couldn't see where I started anymore—the flashlight couldn't reach it. I figured I must have covered at least half the distance. The clanging still continued.

I relaxed a little, thinking that if so, the danger to him probably wasn't lethal. I was drenched in sweat and wanted to find a place to rest again. As I turned the flashlight, I suddenly felt something was off.

I had done that movement countless times, using the flashlight clenched in my teeth to look around. Every time, I saw only hair and the pitch-black cave walls. But this time, for an instant, something blocked my flashlight beam.

I turned back, and suddenly I saw, in the darkness about a dozen meters away, amid the original pitch black, something that was different from everything else here.

That thing was as tall as a person, but it was definitely not human. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. If I had to describe it, I could only say I saw a huge mass of hair standing there.

At first, I thought it was a Jinpo, but I immediately knew that was impossible because I didn't smell that fragrance. But there was definitely something inside that "hair," because the way the whole mass stood there—you could sense there was a living thing inside.

However, that thing didn't move; it just stood there. The hair emitted a very eerie luster under the flashlight, making one's whole body shiver.