Volume 1 Chapter 4 The corpse hole

On the way here, we encountered many dangerous things. These guys are very powerful, and I trust them very much. So when Pan Zi said this, I knew what to do. The big guy A-Kui also gave me a wink, meaning that you should stay behind and don’t peek at anything. I couldn’t help but smile wryly. Why should I peek? You can knock out a cow with one punch, not to mention Pan Zi, a veteran soldier with scars all over his body. Our third uncle was a reckless fighter since he was a child, and that silent drag along is not like a good guy at all. I, on the other hand, have always been useless since ancient times. The saber that my third uncle forced me to carry felt too heavy and awkward to use.

I was thinking about what I should bring to protect myself when the donkey’s balls swam back. The old man slapped his pipe on his trouser leg and said, “Go! The boat is here.”

Sure enough, two flat-bottomed boats came out from behind the mountain one after the other. A middle-aged man stood on the front boat, paddling while yelling at us. The boat was really not small, and it seemed that it was more than enough to carry us and our equipment. The old man patted the ox’s neck and said, “Everyone, you don’t need to take your luggage down. I’ll pull the ox and the cart onto the second boat, and we’ll sit in the first boat. Save some energy.”

Pan Zi smiled and said, “Some things can’t be seen in water, so it’s better to carry them with you. If the cow jumps into the water later, won’t we be in trouble?”

The old man nodded and said, “You’re right, but my cow is not a water buffalo, so it will never jump into the water. If it does, I will help you all get it out, and you won’t lose a single thing.”

He then led the cow to the ferry and we followed behind, each carrying our own luggage. The middle-aged man was very skillful at rowing, and we reached the shore in a few strokes.

While the old man was driving the cow onto the second boat, I took a look at the middle-aged man who was rowing the boat. His skin was dark and very ordinary, but I don’t know if it was psychological or what, but I always felt that this person looked suspicious. I also thought of what my third uncle said about eating dead people’s flesh, and suddenly I felt that the more I looked at that person, the more terrifying he looked.

“When you get to the cave, please be very quiet and don’t disturb the river god,” the man said. The man said, “Especially don’t say anything bad about the river god.”

How long does it take to get through the cave? My uncle asked him.

“If it’s fast, it’ll take five minutes. The water is very fast inside, so it’s quick.”

“How can it be slow?”

“Yes, sometimes the water is against the current. You see, I just came out of the current, so now we must be going against the current. That will take a long time. It’s estimated to take 15 minutes. There are a few bends that are quite dangerous.”

“Is it bright inside?”

The man laughed: “It’s pitch black, how could it be bright? It’s pitch black,” but he pointed to his ears, “I’ve been rowing for more than ten years, these oars, just use your ears.”

“Can we use a flashlight?” Pan Zi raised the miner’s lamp in his hand, “It won’t get in the way, will it?”

“It won’t get in the way,” the man said, “but don’t shine it into the water, it’ll scare you to death!”

“What?” My third uncle smiled, “There are water ghosts?”

“What’s a water ghost? I don’t even know what’s in this water. You guys are really brave. You’ll see for yourself in a minute. Remember, just take a look. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a black mass of water. If you’re unlucky, you’ll see something that will scare you crazy.”

As he said, we could already see the hole. It was hidden behind the mountain wall, and we couldn’t see it when we were on the shore. We always imagined it to be a big hole, but when we actually saw it, we couldn’t help but cry out in alarm. We didn’t expect the hole to be so small, just 10 centimeters larger than the boat. The most terrifying thing was its height. If a person sat down, they couldn’t get in. They had to lower themselves to barely get in. With such a large space, if the person inside wanted to ambush us, we wouldn’t be able to move our hands and feet at all. Pan Zi let out a cry of surprise: “Damn, this hole is a bit too small, isn’t it?”

“This is still considered big. There’s a section inside that’s even lower,” said the old man behind.

Uncle San looked at Pan Zi, who smiled in a pretentious manner: “Ah, such a small hole. If someone inside is robbing us, we won’t be able to escape, will we?”

As soon as he said this, I saw the middle-aged man who was rowing the boat make a very subtle gesture, and the old man’s face changed. I thought to myself, there is indeed a problem. At this time, we heard a whistling sound, and the boat had already entered the cave.

Pan Zi turned on the miner’s lamp. The cave was bright at first, but soon all the light was left only by the miner’s lamp.

“Third Uncle, this cave is not simple,” said A Kui. “This is a cave of thieves!”

“A cave of water thieves, ancient and round, look at these traces, this cave is old, it seems that there should be another world in this cave.”

“Oh, this guy seems to have some background, he’s right.” The middle-aged man crouched down and knelt on the bow of the boat, holding the oar with one hand and pushing it forward with the other. But strangely, his oar did not touch the water at all, and he did not even breathe heavily. He then said, “I heard that this entire mountain is an ancient tomb. There are many water caves of this size and shape nearby. This is the largest and deepest one. As you can see, I’m afraid that the water was not so high at that time, and it should have been a dry cave at that time.”

“Oh, it seems that you are also an expert.” Uncle San politely handed over a cigarette. He shook his head and said, ‘What expert? I also heard it from those people who came here before. After hearing so much, I can only say a few words, and I only know so little. You must not say that I am an expert.’

Pan Zi and Da Kui’s hands were on their knives, and they were joking with the others. The atmosphere seemed very harmonious, but in fact, everyone was nervous. I thought to myself, there are five of us and only two of them. If we really fight, we won’t necessarily lose, but since they dare to fight, they must have made thorough preparations.

Just as I was thinking, suddenly the man with the oil lamp waved his hand and said, “Shh, listen! Someone is talking!” We immediately held our breath, and sure enough, we heard a rustling sound coming from the depths of the cave. I tried to discern what they were saying, but I always felt like I understood but didn’t understand. After listening for a while, I turned around to ask the middle-aged boatman if this sound often came from the cave, only to find that he had disappeared! I turned around again, and, oh no, the old man was gone too.

“Pan Zi, where did they go?” Uncle San shouted in a panic.

“I don’t know, I didn’t hear any sound of diving,“ Pan Zi was also panicking, ‘as soon as I heard the sound, I suddenly lost my concentration.’

”Oh no, we don’t have any corpse smell on us, I don’t know what will happen!“ Uncle San was annoyed, ‘Pan Zi, you fought in Vietnam, did you ever eat dead people!’

”You’re kidding, Uncle San, I was in the kitchen brigade at that time, washing dishes every day!” Pan Zi pointed at A Kui, “Fatty Kui, you’re the one who said that your family used to sell human meat buns. You must have eaten a lot of them when you were a child.”

“Bullshit! I made that up. Besides, these human meat buns were sold to other people to eat. Who would sell human meat buns and eat them themselves?”

I quickly made a gesture to pause: “You three add up to over 150 years old. Aren’t you ashamed?”

As soon as I finished speaking, the boat suddenly shook. Pan Zi quickly picked up the miner’s lamp and shone it into the water.

Pan Zi was so scared that his face turned white. He pointed at the water and his jaw clacked for a long time, but he didn’t say a word. Uncle San was afraid that he would pass out, so he slapped him hard and scolded him, “You’re useless! What are you mumbling about? The other two kids didn’t say a word, but you’ve been with me for so many years, and you’re eating shit?“

”My goodness, Uncle San, this thing is huge! I’m afraid we won’t have enough to eat.“ Pan Zi looked at the water with a lingering fear. He was originally sitting on the side of the boat, but now his butt had moved to the middle of the boat, as if he was afraid that something in the water would suddenly jump out and take him away.

”Pah!” Uncle San glared at him fiercely. “We have the tools and the people here. I, the third son of the Wu family, have been digging for so long that I have seen all kinds of monsters. Don’t you dare to fart here when you are fine.”

Pan Zi was also scared, but for him, it was more of a shock than fear. In such a narrow space, a huge object swept through the water, and for a moment everyone’s brains were cramping. Pan Zi looked around and said, “Third Uncle, this cave is weird and creepy. I’m scared. Let’s talk about it when we get out, okay?”

Pang Kui immediately agreed. In fact, I also wanted to get out, but I was Third Uncle’s original family, so I had to wait for him to make a statement before I could speak.

At this time, Uncle San looked at the oil bottle, as if seeking his opinion. With Uncle San’s personality, he would not care about the king of heaven or the old man, but now he seemed to be very wary of this kid. I couldn’t help but wonder, and turned to see how he would respond, but I found that he wasn’t listening to us at all. Moreover, the expression that was originally wooden and lifeless like a stone carving was gone, and his eyes were staring straight into the water, as if he was intently searching for something.

I wanted to ask Uncle San who this person was, but the situation was not appropriate, so I had to ask Pan Zi secretly. Pan Zi also shook his head and said he didn’t know, but he knew this person was good. He pointed at the man’s hand with his chin and said, “Look, how many years does it take to train a hand like this?”

I really hadn’t noticed the man’s hand before, but when I looked at it, I found it really unusual.

His hands, with particularly long middle and index fingers, immediately reminded me of the ancient technique of the two-fingered hole-searching technique of the General of the Mountain. I had seen a related record in my grandfather’s notes. The master of the General of the Mountain, with these two fingers, was as steady as Mount Tai, with great strength, and could easily crack the small mechanisms in the tomb. To practice such a unique skill, one must start training from a young age, and the process is bound to be excruciating.

I was still thinking about what he could do with his hands when I saw him raise his right hand and plunge it into the water like lightning. The movement was so fast that it was almost like a flash of white light, and his hand was already back. The two unusually long fingers were still holding a black bug. He threw the bug onto the deck and said, “That’s what it was.”

I looked down and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief: “Isn’t this a dragonfly? So the big shadow was just a lot of water fleas swimming by?”

“Yes,” the man said, wiping his hands on his clothes.

Although we still didn’t believe it, we were relieved. Suddenly, Fat Kui stamped on the bug with his foot, ‘Damn, I was scared half to death.’

But then I thought, no, how could there be so many dragon ticks moving at the same time? And these water ticks are too big! The stuffy oil bottle also didn’t seem very relieved, and it looked like he was thinking about it.

Pang Kui was still stomping on the corpse of the bug, which was already in a pulp. He was probably trying to save face after his earlier outburst. Third Uncle picked up one of the broken legs and sniffed it under his nose. He exclaimed in horror, “This is not a dragon tick, it’s a corpse tick.” We all froze, thinking it was bad. The name sounded ominous.

“My grandmother, this thing eats carrion, and there are a lot of dead things where it lives. It grows big when it eats well. It looks like there must be a place upstream where there are a lot of dead bodies. And it’s a really big one.“ Uncle San looked at the dark hole.

”Does this thing bite people?“ Da Kui asked timidly.

”If it’s the normal size, it definitely doesn’t bite people, but you can see the size of this one. I’m not sure if it bites people.” Uncle San looked puzzled. “These things usually stay in places with lots of dead bodies and don’t swim around a lot. How come there’s such a large group migrating together now?”

The oil bottle suddenly turned its head towards the depths of the cave. “I think they were probably fleeing for their lives.”

“What? Fleeing for their lives?” The fat man jumped. “Then what’s in the cave…”

The oil bottle nodded. “I always feel like there’s something inside coming towards us, and it’s not small.”