Chapter 474: Dark Shadow

It wasn't until that dark figure completely disappeared that I realized the thing was really gone. Fatty and I exchanged glances, then immediately continued moving forward cautiously, crawling toward our destination.

This time we didn't dare rest at all. Half an hour later, we finally climbed up onto that stone platform. When we rolled over, Fatty and I were so exhausted we couldn't even roll our eyes. We found it to be a very rough stone platform.

There was a stone staircase in the middle of the platform leading upward. We walked up and found a copper door sealing the passage opening above. We pushed it, but the copper door didn't budge. Fatty said it might be a pull door, so he grabbed some patterns and pulled downward, but even after cracking his fingernails, there was no response.

Just as we were scratching at the copper door, sounds of falling objects began coming from the darkness again, and that huge creature hanging upside down from the ceiling moved toward us once more, this time very quickly.

Fatty reminded me: "Your watch has an alarm function. Set the alarm to go off soon, and let it chase the alarm."

Only then did I remember this trick. I quickly set my watch to alarm mode and hurled it away with all my strength. The clattering sound of falling debris immediately changed direction. Because the watch was too light, I hadn't thrown it very far.

In the light from the watch, I saw an enormous Miluotuo passing across the ceiling in front of us, its head raised and body coiled. This Miluotuo was so huge, it was like a giant gorilla; its green skin glistened with a jade-like luster under the flashlight beam.

It must be the male creator god in Yao mythology, a deity of violence and destruction, yet trapped here as a cleaner. We might be among the few fools in thousands of years who could entertain it.

The Miluotuo paused briefly, then extended its extraordinarily long arm toward the direction of the watch in the quicksand, looking both puzzled and interested. The yellow sand quickly buried the watch, and its sound was immediately inaudible.

My heart sank. I saw the Miluotuo listen for a while, then suddenly turn its head toward us.

Its face had no features at all, like a strange puppet.

Then it slowly approached the stone platform where we were. At that moment I suddenly noticed that its face was almost completely battered, covered with bullet hole scars.

We lay quietly on the stone platform while the enormous Miluotuo remained right above us. It seemed to know we were nearby but couldn't pinpoint our exact location, so it just hung there silently.

What I feared most was Fatty farting; he always made that mistake when nervous. Luckily, Fatty had matured a lot this time. The feeling was too damn eerie. My heart was pounding wildly. I felt it was because of the sound of my heartbeat that the thing kept hovering and wouldn't leave.

I didn't dare take deep breaths to adjust my state; I could only forcibly suppress my breathing slowly, but it was too hard under these circumstances.

It took me almost three hours to calm my heartbeat, and in the end it wasn't due to my own effort—it was because this state had lasted too long, my stamina couldn't take it, my consciousness began to blur, and only then did my heartbeat start to settle.

I started to let my mind wander, thinking, what to do? If this thing hangs here forever, we're screwed. We might end up as two mummies, completely suffocated by our own inaction.

I knew Fatty's character—he would never resign himself to death. At the critical point, he would definitely take a desperate gamble. But in reality, no matter what we did, we were just choosing the manner of our death.

What to do? What to do? What to do? I mentally inventoried everything on me, searching for something that could make a sustained sound after being thrown.

I went through all the items on me in my mind, and suddenly remembered Xiao Hua's phone.

I slowly reached my hand into my pocket—the phone was still there. I rejoiced inwardly, and my heartbeat quickened again. Slowly, I pulled the phone out.

"Good, hope there's still battery, God bless there's still battery!" I said in my heart, slowly flipping open the phone.

Unexpectedly, the moment I flipped it open, the phone, whose battery was already at zero, emitted a crisp low-battery warning sound.

I was completely startled. This sound was normally not loud at all, but now it sounded like a thunderclap.

Almost at the same time, I saw the huge green figure above immediately lower itself, its head right next to mine, no more than a finger's width away. It kept turning its head, as if searching for the source of the sound. I could see its green skin shifting constantly, almost reflecting my face.

I don't know what kind of nerves I had to be able, within those few seconds, to switch Xiao Hua's phone to the video playback page, pressing the button each time.

This damned broken phone would make a slight clicking sound; I pressed it a full six times.

The thing swung across close to the back of my head, arriving on my other side. At that moment, I finally brought up the video playback page, swung my arm, and threw the phone away.

The phone made a sound as it flew off the stone platform. Almost simultaneously, the huge Miluotuo began its attack, moving with incredible speed through the air toward that spot. I was right beside its head, and instantly I was hit, sent flying, and plunged headfirst into the quicksand.

Immediately I began to sink. When I thrashed up, I saw that in almost an instant, the thing had snuffed out Xiao Hua's phone. Its huge long arm swung a few times over the sand pit.

I didn't know if it had smashed Xiao Hua's phone; I only knew the phone and the watch must have met the same fate.

All around instantly fell silent again. I saw the huge creature's body slowly curl back up to the cave ceiling. I didn't dare breathe, letting myself slowly sink into the quicksand.

I had successfully lured the thing away from the stone platform. Now it was up to Fatty. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, I immediately sensed something was wrong—there was something in the sand!

Almost every part of my body felt a stinging pain at the same time, as if being gnawed by some insects.

Stone silkworms, I cursed inwardly. Just as Fatty had said, while I was in the quicksand, I was like dead meat to them. They were carnivorous insects; of course they would come to eat me.

While in the quicksand, I slowly reached my hand to an itchy spot. As I touched it, it was indeed a worm. These worms were as big as mantis shrimp. I grabbed one and pulled with all my might.

Its pincers were clamped onto my skin; I couldn't pull it off. I pulled harder, and felt my flesh tear open a gash.

The pain was excruciating, but no matter how much it hurt, I didn't want to be bitten by the worms. I immediately reached for another spot.

I barely managed to pull it off through gritted teeth. The sand stuck to the wound, making the pain even worse.

But at that moment, I suddenly noticed that all the pain on my body had lessened, and the sensation of being bitten by the worms instantly vanished.

Then I saw the sand around me start to boil, and countless stone silkworms began to swarm out from the sand, moving away from me.

This commotion was very loud, and the giant Miluotuo hanging from the top was immediately alarmed. Seeing those stone silkworms quickly crawling into the distance, it immediately chased after them.

I understood; this might be the effect of the blood in my body. I didn't know whether to be surprised or happy. I immediately made a hissing sound to Fatty. Fatty looked at this change in astonishment, leaned out, and reached out to pull me back up onto the stone platform.

I looked at my wound bleeding profusely and couldn't help cursing inwardly. Fatty said, "Damn, at this rate, you'll become half of Xiao Ge." "Stop talking nonsense, can we get up there?"

Fatty shook his head: "That bronze door is too sturdy. With our strength, we can't open it. But, I have a plan, it's just that we'll have to sacrifice you a bit."