HCB Chapter 23 Ancient Tomb (Second Play)
Chapter 23 Ancient Tomb (Second Play)
Yan Huai covered his head with one hand and reached behind him with the other. It was empty. This time, he was right.
The system's data was once again thrown into disarray by Yan Huai's behavior: "Host, the Corpse Beetle King swarm is following us. You need to move 47 meters behind you, then 30 meters to the right at a 10° angle, and finally 199 meters due south to reach the location of the Dragon-Slaying Stone."
Ang ang!
Having regained his bearings, Yan Huai started running again, but as he ran, he realized something was wrong. He had walked 51 meters when he entered the passage leading to the Broken Dragon Stone, right? What about the last 199 meters...?
Yan Huai realized something, gritted his teeth, raised the branding knife in his hand, and slammed it backward. The impact on the blade felt exactly like the bullet that A Ning had fired at him earlier...
Yan Huai felt annoyed just thinking about that two-faced woman, and swung his knife again, killing a whole bunch of the Corpse Beetle Kings behind him.
Of course, just as the system predicted, Wu Xie and his group on the other side also suffered the same fate as the Corpse King.
Among the branches and leaves of the Hydra Cypress in front of them, a corpse, suffocated and wrapped in vines, dangled and swayed.
Wu Xie helped the injured Da Pan walk in front, while Fatty and A Ning, who had joined them at some point, followed behind them. Zhang Qiling walked at the back, his shirt nowhere to be seen, and the ink unicorn tattoo on his left shoulder was faintly visible.
As for Wu Sansheng and Da Kui, they were separated back in the Seven Star Suspicious Coffin Tomb, and we don't know how they are now.
The group of people who had finally managed to get together were all somewhat disheveled, but when they saw the hydra cypress vines that seemed to cover the entire cave, they still couldn't imagine that this was the main burial chamber of the entire ancient tomb.
"The entrance to this cave is too high, how are we going to get down?"
Da Pan's lips were pale and cracked, and the equipment he had been wearing on his back was gone. His leather jacket had probably been torn by corpse beetles, and there wasn't a single patch of good flesh on his exposed skin. Compared to the tough guy he used to be, he was now a completely different person.
"You think you can go down in this state?" Fatty Wang glanced at Da Pan with disdain. Although his tone was irritating, what he said meant something else entirely. "Let me go down and scout out the way for you and tie the ropes properly before I help you down!"
Before he finished speaking, Fatty Wang had already pushed aside Wu Xie and Da Pan. He stood at the cave entrance for a while, weighed his options, then hooked a vine over, tested its sturdiness, and then slid down onto it.
"Fatty, slow down!" Wu Xie looked at the lump of fat swaying on the vine, feeling somewhat frightened.
"Don't worry!" Fatty Wang held his breath as he slowly slid down, but he still wouldn't let up, "When your Fatty Grandpa went down into the tomb, you were still peeing and playing in the mud!"
"You fatso, you're the one who pees and mixes mud!"
Wu Xie grinned, picked up a small pebble from the ground and was about to throw it at Wang Pangzi, but after thinking about it, he put it down. However, before putting it down, he rolled his eyes at Wang Pangzi angrily: "With your size, you don't even need to be mixed up, you'll turn into mincemeat if you fall down!"
"Hey? You white-coal-mixed-with-black-coal bastard, why are you cursing your fat grandpa here!"
Wu Xie ignored Wang Pangzi's ramblings and kept an eye on the vine in Wang Pangzi's hand as he looked down. If he slid down another seven or eight meters, he should be able to reach the floor of the tomb.
However, it's unclear whether it was because what Wu Xie feared most came to pass, or whether something auspicious was happening to Wang Pangzi's ancestral grave.
Just as Fatty Wang was about to swing down to the small hole below to rest his feet, a blue human face suddenly appeared at the entrance. He was so frightened that he immediately pulled his feet back. Because of this action, the vine he was holding also began to twist and sway, forcing him to hang in mid-air like a spinning top.
All the people above heard was Wang Pangzi's strange cry, and then the lump of meat slipped and rolled. If the latter hadn't reacted quickly and grabbed the vine with his leg, he would have really turned into mincemeat by now!
"Fatty, are you alright?!" Wu Xie stuck his head out, and Da Pan, fearing he might fall, reached out and grabbed him by the back of the collar.
"What the hell is that? A human face popped out!" Fatty Wang was shocked and furious. He swung his hand back with force and kicked the human face in the process.
Unable to see what was happening, Wu Xie hurriedly asked, "What's going on down there? What kind of face is that?"
"It's alright! Little Innocent, just be careful when you come down later. Something else might jump out of that hole down there!"
"I know, be careful!" Wu Xie didn't quite understand how Fatty Wang addressed him, and just obediently agreed.
But not long after, Wu Xie breathed a sigh of relief. He felt that his worries were unnecessary because Fatty Wang had already successfully descended to the ground of the tomb.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. However, just as Wu Xie was about to go down to help, the floor of the tomb suddenly began to shake strangely.
Wu Xie felt that this did not resemble an earthquake, nor did it resemble the activation of a mechanism; rather, it resembled a tremor caused by some large-scale movement.
Just as the group was filled with doubt and caution, Zhang Qiling's expression suddenly changed. He pulled Wu Xie behind him, stood at the cave entrance, and shouted to Fatty Wang below, "Come up quickly!"
"Hey buddy, what nonsense are you talking about! Do you think it was easy for me to get down here?" Fatty Wang put his hands on his hips, looking smug. "You're not afraid I'll keep my treasures down there, are you? Don't worry, I have professional ethics. I'll wait for you to come down before I start!"
"Fatty! Come up here!" Wu Xie must have seen something, because he waved his hands around like a whirlwind with a look of terror on his face.
Fatty Wang sensed something was wrong. The faces of the people above him were almost identical to the face of the man he had just kicked. He turned around and looked behind him—Holy crap! Corpse beetles blown in by the wind! They came like they were free!
His fat muscles tightened, and Fatty Wang yelled as he tried to climb back up the vines he had just come down from, but coming down and going up were two completely different things! Even if he used all his strength, he couldn't climb over the six-chelicered corpse beetle!
"Ugh! Don't bite my butt, I'm going to bite you!"
Da Pan lit some cold fireworks and gave some to A Ning, but it only barely scared off the corpse beetles that were climbing up the cave entrance. Wu Xie grabbed the vine that Wang Pangzi was climbing and pulled him up with all his might, his face red with anger: "Fatty, you need to lose weight!"
Looking at the situation below, Zhang Qiling's gaze turned cold. He quickly slashed his palm with a knife and dripped the blood onto the howling Fatty Wang. Otherwise, with so many corpse beetles, it would be too late to save Fatty Wang once he was pulled up.
Sure enough, as soon as the corpse beetle came into contact with Zhang Qiling's blood, it rolled off Wang Pangzi's body as if it had been doused with sulfuric acid.
Fatty Wang breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up and climbed even harder, saying, "Thank you so much, buddy! You saved my life today. From now on, if you tell me to go east, I'll never go west!"
Zhang Qiling ignored Fatty Wang and, seeing him climb up to the cave entrance, said to the others, "Let's go back!"
So, the group, who had just arrived at the main burial chamber, immediately took off running back into the passage they had come from. Fatty Wang shouted as he ran, "Why is this corpse beetle acting like it's lost its guardian!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiling's expression flashed. As he ran, he stopped the swarming corpse beetles at the very back, his face quickly turning pale: "To the left!"