Chapter 461: Secret in the Cave

There were piles of old wooden crates, some of which had already been opened. Inside were large amounts of straw, all rotten and blackened. Stacked mortar shells could be seen inside; wherever the oilpaper was torn, the shells were completely rusted.

On the other side were several neatly arranged mortars and hunting rifles.

It seemed that the one who bombed us was indeed this guy.

"Most of them are useless." The guy suddenly spoke as I looked around. His voice was very slurred, still impossible to tell if male or female.

I turned to look at him. He handed me a military enamel mug filled with boiled water. I was surprised that he could talk. If he had just made strange noises, I could accept it, but now he could produce such easily understandable sounds. Later I realized that after all he was human; it's common for a person to be physically disabled but still have an intact voice.

"You?..." I didn't know how to start.

"Wu Sansheng, you've also gotten old." He was facing me, seemingly smiling, but on his face any expression looked extremely bizarre. "However, no matter how old you get, you still look like a person, unlike me."

I was startled, then suddenly realized I was wearing Third Uncle's mask. What surprised me was that he could call out Third Uncle's name. That meant this thing actually knew Third Uncle.

"You know me?"

"Mm, thirty years. You probably never imagined I was still alive."

"Who are you?" I suddenly sensed why he had brought me here. If he knew Third Uncle, then seeing Third Uncle suddenly in this desolate wilderness would certainly surprise him too.

I shook my head, casting away those thoughts I had seen on TV. In real life, of course, such things couldn't happen. I felt that he hadn't expected to see me either, and now he didn't know what to do, just wanted to reminisce a little.

But this guy had bombed us with mortars before. I wasn't sure if he knew I was in the team at that time, but judging by his merciless actions, he was not someone afraid of harming others. Killing someone was probably completely free of psychological pressure for him.

So I couldn't relax too much. I knew too little about him. If he had an old grudge against my Third Uncle, one wrong word and I might get killed. His trouser pocket was bulging; I knew there was a gun inside.

I pretended to think, then made a slightly shocked expression. "It's you?" I steadied my expression. "How did you end up like this?"

"Can't you guess?" He took a sip of water and suddenly asked, "Whose side are you on now?"

What? What did that mean? I felt like slapping myself. I suddenly felt "Alexander" — this conversation had too many leaps, containing too much information. Only people with a deep understanding could continue such a dialogue. I had no idea what aspect he was asking about. If this went on, I would slip up in less than three lines.

"On your side." I thought about it, feeling this was the safest answer.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I finished, he started laughing weirdly. "Wu Sansheng, on my side? What exactly happened outside to make you like this?"

"Times have changed."

"So now you also agree that all these things should not be known to the people of the world?"

"They shouldn't." I said.

He didn't speak again, and the atmosphere fell into a deep silence.

"I didn't kill them. Anyway, entering that building meant death. Better to die by my hand than inside that demonic building. That building can't have any more deaths; if more people die, that thing will be full."

I looked at the pit and then at the campfire outside, only a few meters away. The bodies were thrown here — wasn't he afraid of the stench of decay? At least he should bury them. This man was truly insane. Did he enjoy watching the bodies rot? He kept his distance from me and now, backlit, had become a ghostly silhouette. He repeated: "Once it's full, there will be no way."

I didn't quite understand and was about to ask further when suddenly I heard a strange sound from the bottom of the pit, as if there was something else down there.

What? Was there some beast raised in here? Were these corpses not rotting into bones but being eaten to bones? The torch at the bottom grew dimmer, and a few skulls rolled out from the darkness. "What's inside?" I asked.

Before I finished asking, something rolled out of the darkness. I took a look and was dumbfounded.

It turned out to be Fatty, completely stripped naked, hands and feet tightly bound, mouth gagged with cloth, rolling in the mud like a pig awaiting slaughter.

"How did he get here?"

"I saw him in the village. He's your man, so I didn't kill him," the man said. "He was looking for you around here during the day."

"Quick, let him go." I said.

The man pulled out a small knife from his waist and tossed it into the pit. Fatty immediately rolled over, turned his body to catch the knife, quickly cut the ropes, tore off the cloth from his mouth, and shaking his fat body charged up toward the pit: "I'll kill you!"

He had only taken a few steps when the ghostly figure reached behind him, pulled out Fatty's little dingdong, and aimed it at Fatty. I immediately intervened, "Same side, we're on the same side."

"Same side?" Fatty looked at me. "Third Master, your connections are too broad — you even do business with aliens?"

"Long story, long story." I signaled Fatty with my face.

Fatty was obviously furious. No one would feel good after being stripped and thrown into a mud pit. He cursed more than a dozen times in the pit before calming down, then shouted up, "Where the fuck are my clothes?"

The ghostly figure walked back, found a few pieces of clothing from the pile of junk, and tossed them into the pit. Fatty climbed up, covered in mud, grabbed me and asked, "What the hell is going on?"

I mouthed: "I don't know either. Don't ask."

Fatty cursed at the ghostly figure: "Monster! I was walking on the road just fine, and you fucking ambush me. If you've got balls, fight me one-on-one."

The shadowy figure ignored him and asked me, "Since you're on my side, why are you here?"

I sat down, briefly went over the entire story in my mind, and then gave him a rough summary, saying my nephew's friend was trapped in the Zhang Family Ancient Building and I had to go rescue him, and so on.

"Those people—do you have a relationship with them?" He lowered his head.

"You've seen them?"

"One of them, a young man, was carrying a knife," the shadowy figure said.

I immediately nodded. "Yes."

"They're already dead," the shadowy figure said. "They've entered that building and are no longer in this world."

I glanced at Fatty, who was rubbing mud off himself, completely not listening, just grumbling and cursing.

"Impossible," I said. "He saw them before—they were still alive, and…"

"You don't believe me?" The shadowy figure took a drink of water. "Both of you, come with me. I'll show you the truth of this place."