Chapter 410: Stone Shadow: Hair

In an instant, two judgments flashed through my mind: what the hell was this thing? I hadn't noticed it before—if it had been here all along, maybe it was just a grown version of the little balls beneath me? If not, then it was alive, and that meant trouble.

The metallic clang was especially clear. I looked around and thought, could this be a cry for help or a warning? My mind raced as I tried to find an escape route, but I realized there was no way out. If something had happened to Xiao Hua because of this thing, I was in even worse shape—he could at least bang things in frustration, while all I could do was smash my head against the wall.

Yet, despite the panic, my mind was unusually clear, rare for me. I didn't wait for the thing to reveal itself; instead, I grabbed a rolled-up bamboo slip from a recess.

Heavy—weighing five or six jin. Having handled only thin paper rubbings before, the weight of the bamboo slip filled me with awe. I swung it and smashed it into the hair.

The bamboo slips were originally tied together, but after all these years, the silk threads had rotted into dust. When I grabbed them, they held their shape, but as I flung them, they scattered like flowers scattered by a goddess, crashing into the clump of hair.

I could clearly feel something solid inside the hair as the bamboo slips clattered to the ground.

I watched warily, thinking that if the thing moved, I'd jump down immediately, not caring what I stepped on, and just bolt out of there.

But the thing didn't budge. It was completely still, like a dead object.

I kept my guard up, filled with reluctance. I wanted it to move so I could run away, but since it didn't, it might be harmless. Maybe it was just a post set up here long ago, covered with hair. That meant I had to get past it.

Listening to the piercing sound, I steadied myself, hesitated no longer, and gritted my teeth to move forward. With each step, I grew closer to the thing.

Imagine: in the darkness, a huge mass of eerie hair standing there, with no idea what was inside. My flashlight beam swept back and forth, occasionally catching it, and that uncanny feeling was deeply unsettling. In the end, I simply stopped looking and just crawled as fast as I could to get past.

Throughout the process, the back of my head went numb, and I felt the hair prickling my neck. I gritted my teeth and mocked myself: only when I could get through this without flinching would I truly be desensitized.

But as I crawled, a sudden chill hit me, and I stopped to steady myself.

The back of my neck really itched. I moved, but instead of easing, it got worse.

Chilled to the bone, I suddenly realized it wasn't my imagination.

Holy shit, that thing was now behind me! I started shaking violently, all my senses focused on the back of my neck. I could almost picture it—if I turned around, my face would bury itself in a mass of hair.

In that instant, something inside me made the decision. I jerked my head backward to knock the thing away and then run, but a dull thud echoed, and my skull exploded with pain and ringing—the thing behind me was as hard as iron.

I hit it with all my force, leaving nothing in reserve. Pain wasn't the word for it. Dazed and dizzy, I blacked out, my hands going limp. When I came to, I was already rolling in a pile of hair.

I struggled up, my hands full of hair, the pottery jars underfoot crunching as I stepped on them. In the chaos, my flashlight fell from my mouth and rolled into the hair pile. I didn't dare look for it. I felt small heads under my hands, hair tangling in my nails—the texture was like wads of wet rags, and liquid oozed out from the hair as I pressed down.

No time to feel disgusted. In the confusion, I immediately took off running. Ahead was pitch black, with only Xiao Hua's flashlight at the far end. My steps were uneven, but I didn't care. Soon, jars broke under my feet, cutting my ankles several times—I knew I was bleeding, but I couldn't feel the pain.

I ran all the way to the flashlight, and suddenly the jars gave way. I tumbled out and found myself in a small stone chamber, the harsh metallic sound ringing in my ears.

It felt like hell. I called out, "Big Flower!" only to realize I'd said the wrong name. I couldn't stand upright here either, so I got up, hunched over, and looked around. I saw Xiao Hua's flashlight propped in a recess on one side, but there was no sign of him—no idea where he'd gone.

At the same time, a strange object caught my eye.

It was an iron plate, as large as a round table, placed in the center of the stone chamber. It looked extremely ancient, covered with strange carvings. As Xiao Hua had said, it was actually spinning. The irregular metallic noise came from inside the iron plate, like a giant electric bell.

I also noticed that the bottom of the plate was connected to the rock, and there was a dull sound of hinges beneath. Clearly, the plate's power came from inside the rock.

But where was Xiao Hua? The space was so cramped—where could he hide?

I picked up his flashlight, then felt the sharp pain in my foot. Gritting my teeth, I looked back toward the entrance but couldn't tell if that thing was coming. Listening to the irregular clanging, I wondered: could Xiao Hua be inside this plate?

The iron plate was huge, but there were no holes on top.

To test it, I took out my hammer and, while watching the entrance, struck the iron plate. Unexpectedly, the knocking sound from below changed in response, as if answering me.

"Damn!" I cursed in anger. That was too playful—how did you get down there? I immediately circled it looking for an opening, but the entire plate fit flush with no gaps.

In the darkness, the sound of pottery jars breaking came from the tunnel. I inhaled cold air, sensing that thing approaching. I limped around trying to find something to block the entrance, but to no avail. Desperate, I kept searching while shouting, "Tell me how to open it!"

After a few shouts, I suddenly noticed that the part where the plate's base connected to the rock was movable—it seemed I could lift the edge of the plate and pull out the axle inside. I immediately crouched and lifted. Since the plate was spinning, its edge caught my shoulder, forcing me to walk along with it while pushing upward.

At first, it was extremely heavy, but once I raised it the width of a palm, it suddenly gave way. I lifted the entire plate, pulling out the iron axle underneath. The iron plate stopped spinning. I caught my breath and saw that the black iron axle was hollow, with an oval hole leading down, like a pipe.

The knocking continued, and I could feel the vibrations traveling up the axle to my shoulder. Obviously, Xiao Hua was down there. I didn't want to give up, so I tried to call out again, but what came out startled me.

The sound I made was garbled, nothing like what I intended to say.

I swallowed. I couldn't tell when it started, but my throat felt uncomfortable. When I tried again, I found the muscles around my throat couldn't exert force—my voice came out strange and faint.

I bit my lower lip and thought: this is bad.

It wasn't that my throat was blocked, but that the muscles in my nasal cavity and vocal cords felt paralyzed. I could still inhale from my lungs, but I couldn't produce a loud sound.

I strained, managing a few hoarse cries, then realized something was wrong. This wasn't psychological—I genuinely couldn't speak.

I hadn't noticed when it started. It wasn't that Xiao Hua didn't want to talk; the environment here was problematic—something seemed to paralyze the vocal cords.

Could it be because of the hair I touched earlier? As I thought about it, I really felt something fuzzy in my throat, a wave of nausea, but that was obviously impossible, because Xiao Hua hadn't touched any hair and yet he couldn't speak either. To have been hit so silently, maybe it's something in the air here.

No wonder he kept knocking. But what now? I didn't need much strength to hold up the iron plate; clearly there was some sort of lever mechanism underneath. As long as I lifted it a little, the mechanism would engage. But if I let go, based on past experience, the plate might either get stuck or slowly press down. Xiao Hua might have gotten trapped because he misjudged that.

Although I felt like even a blind gut could tell you not to take such a risk alone, I couldn't understand why Xiao Hua made that mistake. But there was no time to think about that now. Even if I could immediately crawl into the hole, once the iron plate pressed down, I'd likely end up trapped just like him. For now, I had to see what was going on down there.

I pushed the iron plate up with all my strength, almost to the very top. I released it slightly, and sure enough, the plate didn't fall immediately. Instead, it made a "clunk," stuck for a moment, then slowly sank back down, just as I had predicted.

I rubbed my shoulder, checked the passage to see if anything was happening, then quickly leaned over and extended my flashlight into the shaft's opening, shining it downward.

Immediately I saw the complex mechanism below. Most of it consisted of black iron chains covered in some indescribable cotton-like material, tangled together and constantly trembling. Strangely, I felt it would be very difficult to get down there. The parts below were so cramped that even with Xiao Hua's build and his bone-contraction technique, I wasn't sure he could make it through. But I couldn't see Xiao Hua.

I stood up, pushed the iron plate to the top again. By now I couldn't make any sound, so I reached my hand into the shaft and knocked.

Sparks flew from the iron walls as I knocked, but Xiao Hua still didn't show his head. The knocking sound conducted back up the pipe hadn't changed at all. I was burning with anxiety, unable to curse out loud. Could he be not only mute, but also deaf and blind?

Finally, I steeled myself, pulled a bundle of bamboo slips off the wall, and, caring nothing for their priceless value, tossed them straight down. That worked. Almost immediately, the knocking stopped. I shone the flashlight wildly below, hoping to see Xiao Hua, or even just any part of him.

Sure enough, a shadow appeared amidst the iron chains and parts. At the same time, I heard a dull noise—not a human sound, but the heavy grinding of stone against stone.

Suddenly I felt something was off, and something was wrong. Because I was certain that shadow was definitely not Xiao Hua.

Just then, the metallic knocking sound started up again, but not from under the iron plate—it came from the passage on the other side.

Baffled, I turned to listen, and immediately saw that clump of hair had appeared in the beam of my flashlight. The strange knocking was coming from it.

If this were just some terrifying encounter, I had confidence I could handle it calmly. But facing something completely inexplicable, I really didn't know how to react.

What the hell was going on? Just now the sound had come from below—I couldn't have misheard—but how did it suddenly shift over there?

I stared at the clump of hair, unable to tell how the sound was produced. But I couldn't worry about that now. I lowered the iron plate, letting it fall slowly as it resumed turning. I raised my hammer, wiped off my cold sweat, and prepared for a big fight.

Without Poker-face and Fatty by my side, I was definitely nervous, my legs weak. I thought about how this would end. If I kicked the bucket here, would Fatty and Poker-face sigh at my grave, lamenting that the guy just couldn't make it without them? At that moment, I deeply regretted splitting up with them so easily.

But judging by the speed of that clump of hair moving, it seemed I wasn't completely without a chance.

That grating knocking sound wasn't exactly the same as the one from below—probably because it was striking something different, a little less harsh. I watched the thing move so slowly it was almost imperceptible, my heart burning like charcoal, even entertaining the thought of launching an attack.