Volume 5 Chapter 10 The Hundred-Legged Dragon God

After Chen Pi’s iron bullet flew past, the flickering flame instantly dimmed again, and the shadow of the person over there returned to being blurred, and suddenly everything was unclear again. The iron bullet finally hit somewhere, making a crisp sound, rolling to the ground, and the sound echoed in the empty Ling Palace, making people’s skin crawl.

The moment the firelight flashed, everyone was startled by the shadow, and Shunzi was even more panicked, screaming in a low voice, “What is this thing!

Hua Monk immediately covered his mouth to stop him from speaking, and everyone’s hands subconsciously pressed against their knives.

Chen Pi Asa waved at us, telling us not to be so nervous, then gave Hua Monk a wink, and the latter immediately jumped a few steps onto the side of the lamp slave, and put out the fire with one hand.

I had to admire Chen Pi A Si’s calmness. In such a strange environment, no one would think of extinguishing the light source beside them.

Once the lantern slave was extinguished, the surroundings suddenly became dark again. The darkness, like a thick fog, suddenly surrounded us, while the lantern slave on the other side appeared even brighter.

We “clicked” and extinguished our flashlights, holding our breath and watching the shadow over there. The darkness around me suddenly stimulated my nerves, and I suddenly felt my heart beating very strongly.

The shadow was obviously that of a person, but most of the body was still hidden in the darkness, making it feel very strange. It was his unusually long neck, and some things on his body that seemed to be spines or tentacles, which looked like they weren’t human. Instead, it was a kind of… a kind of bird.

I instinctively felt a chill, and my heart was pounding. This shadow definitely wasn’t a mummy. Could there be someone else here?

Who was he? How did he end up in the spirit palace on the top of the snowy mountain? Could it be that the avalanche here had attracted the attention of the border guards, and this person was a PLA soldier exploring the area?

No, even if the avalanche had occurred in the valley, it would have taken at least a day to get here, let alone if it had been discovered.

I suddenly realized that this spirit palace was a trap set by Wang Zanghai. The person who falls into the trap will never expect what awaits him in the trap. Could this shadow be the monster that Wang Zanghai arranged to be here when he set the trap?

We dared not breathe, staring at the shadow, hoping to deduce something from its movements and shape. At the very least, it would let us know whether this thing was human or something else.

But strangely, the shadow also stood there straight, like a clay sculpture, not even shaking. It didn’t seem to be alive at all.

After waiting for a while, and seeing no movement from either side, the fat man began to lose his patience and said softly, “Something’s wrong. If it were alive, it would move. This thing is motionless. Could it be that we’re mistaken and that’s the shadow of those lantern slaves printed on the pillar?”

Ye Cheng said, “Nonsense. Aren’t the lantern slaves standing on the side? How could they have walked over here by themselves?”

The fat man said softly, “Didn’t you say that the spirit of heaven and earth can turn into spirits? Maybe the stone lantern here has become a spirit and can move on its own.

I was uncomfortable with what he said, and I didn’t have the wisdom to judge what the fat man said. A few months ago, I didn’t even believe in zongzi. Now the zongzi I’ve seen can be used to play mahjong on two tables. I really don’t dare to judge whether there are monsters or not. But the fat man said that the stone lantern has become a spirit, and I feel that it is more of a joke. The more dangerous the situation is, the more unreliable the fat man’s words are, which is also very related to his personality.

But the fat guy was right about one thing: as long as it was a living thing, it would definitely move. Even if it was a dumpling, it couldn’t stand there like a stone.

No matter what it was, we couldn’t just stand here. Although I couldn’t see it, I knew that the area was crawling with “wall-crawlers.” If someone else was bitten, it wouldn’t be fatal, but the lack of medicine and clothing on the snowy mountain would be fatal.

We had a quiet discussion, and several people basically agreed with me. The fat guy said in a very low voice, “Then let’s not admire its figure here, let’s sneak over and take a look. If it really is a person, we’ll just beat the hell out of it!”

Several people agreed, and I felt a gust of wind next to me. I was already anxious to get over there, and it was pitch black, so there was no way to form a line or anything. I had to steel myself and head toward the only light.

The light slave was not very far from us. After walking a few steps, the shadow became clearer and clearer. The more I looked, the more strange it became. Unconsciously, an ominous feeling became stronger and stronger. When I almost approached the area that the light could reach, I subconsciously slowed down, lurking in the darkness, slowly and gently approaching.

The black shadow was almost ten steps away from me. I squinted at him, and little by little, my heart beat faster and faster, and cold sweat began to come out non-stop. I prayed to God not to let me see what I didn’t want to see.

However, as I got closer and closer, I gradually realized that God might not bless people like us who rob graves. The thing in front of me became clearer and clearer, and suddenly I couldn’t even move my feet. I just felt weak all over, and in the end, I couldn’t move at all.

I can’t even describe what I saw in words. It was just a huge “centipede” shape, but I don’t know if it was a centipede. I know the biggest centipede can grow to more than a meter, but this one was obviously bigger. The centipede was like a snake, raising half of its body and winding around a lamp. The neck we saw was actually just the shadow of its two large fangs and long tentacles. Countless long legs hung down, and the entire giant insect was motionless, as if it was sucking in the gas that evaporated from the lamp oil.

In the centipede family, the Galapagos centipede in the Caribbean can grow to 40 to 60 cm, but no one has ever found one that is more than a meter long. With such a huge body, the lifespan of this insect is probably thousands of years.

I could hear several people groaning around me, and I even heard the fat guy say very softly, “You old fart!” Apparently, the other people who had come over to see it had also seen it, and they couldn’t believe their eyes. I thought of the black giant tombstone with the engraving of a centipede dragon that we had seen on the way, and suddenly I understood why the dragon of the Dongxia people had a thousand legs like a centipede!

It seems that after they retreated into the mountains, they saw such a huge centipede and deified it as the incarnation of the dragon.

In a state of confusion, I heard someone whistle a few times, meaning, “Go back!” At that time, I didn’t know who said it, and I unconsciously retreated. I kept retreating and didn’t know where I was. Looking around, it was pitch black.

After Hua Monk had extinguished the lanterns on our side, we had no target to retreat to, and when we retreated, we all scattered.

I turned on the flashlight again, thinking of lighting a lantern to attract their attention, but I saw the shadow of the giant centipede swaying not far away. The lantern next to it suddenly went out, and the giant centipede disappeared into the darkness.

I suddenly remembered what Shunzi had said about centipedes having a tendency to seek out heat, and I suddenly felt that something was wrong. At the same time, from a distance, Hua Monk lit a cold firework and shouted, “Everyone, don’t light the lantern slaves!

I heard many feet crawling on the floor, extremely fast. I didn’t know where it was crawling. Anyway, the sound was getting louder and louder, so I quickly ran.

In the chaos, I heard the fat man call out in the other direction, “Why don’t you light it? Light this thing and temporarily delay the big bug. If you don’t light it, it’s going to come straight at us? We can’t outrun it with all those legs.”

Hua said, “No! I smelled the lamp oil, and there’s also bug-scented jade in the oil. Once the smell spreads, more of these—these things will crawl out, and it’ll be even more trouble.” He paused for a moment, obviously not knowing how to call this giant centipede.

I heard that there might be more than one, and my heart immediately went cold. I ran towards Hua’s cold firework, while also shouting, “What should we do with this one?”

Hua said, “I’ll have a way when we get there. Be careful behind you. This kind of bug crawls very fast!”

Soon I rushed to the side of the monk according to the cold fireworks, and all of a sudden there were many light spots from flashlights all around. Several people rushed out of the darkness, and we were out of breath and unable to speak. The fat man covered his chest and looked at the darkness around him, then asked the monk, “Okay, we’re here. What’s the plan? Hurry up! That thing is coming over right now.”

He listened to the sound of the creepy crawling, but when he listened, the sound disappeared. It seemed that the big bug had not followed, but had stopped.

Hua also panted heavily, coughing and patting his backpack. He said, “Actually, there is no special method. We still have explosives to blow it up.”

The fat man laughed and said, “Okay, this glorious task is yours. You go, I will take care of the old man for you.”

Hua said, “I don’t need to go. I’ve already set it up. Someone will go.”

I suddenly felt a chill on his face, and at the same time realized something. I turned around and asked, “Where is Langfeng?”

Hua didn’t say anything, just looked at the darkness on the side and said, “Get ready. It’s coming.”

Before he finished speaking, there was a loud bang, and a dazzling flash of light suddenly appeared in the darkness. We all fell to the ground reflexively, and a large amount of wood debris rained down on our heads. The entire floor shook violently, and the plank almost hit my nose. The shock wave was not very strong, but the sound was very loud. It made my eardrums buzz, and I couldn’t hear anything for a while.

I looked up and saw the direction of the explosion. The floor had been blown out into a large crater, and the edges were already burning. The entire head of the giant “thousand-legged centipede dragon” had been blown to pieces, and it was still writhing. The place of the explosion was where we had just placed Langfeng.

I immediately understood what Hua had done. No wonder the “thousand-legged centipede dragon” didn’t chase us here. It was led away by the unconscious Lang Feng, and Hua Monk placed the explosives on him.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I turned to look at Hua Monk and Chen Pi A Si. None of them had any expression, as if this had nothing to do with him.

Chen Pi A Si saw my expression and patted me, saying softly, “Three steps forward, four steps back. Didn’t your grandfather teach you that? If it were me, they would do the same to me. You have to be aware of this in this line of work.

“Three steps forward, four steps back” is the slang of the earth workers. It means that when doing something, you have to think three steps ahead and four steps behind. The earth workers are underground, and every move they make is a matter of life and death. So before you do anything, you have to think about what will happen three steps behind and what you should do. If you find that you can’t solve it, you can’t do it. And you have to get used to thinking like this.

I understand the purpose of Chen Pi A Si’s words. In fact, in a situation like Lang Feng’s, the chances of him living with us are already very slim. What he meant was that sooner or later, he would die, so it might as well be a quick death.

My grandfather also mentioned this in his notes. When you are underground, sometimes it is too late to realize the danger until it is too late, so you have to consider it before the danger arises. Grave robbing is a meticulous job that requires courage. In ancient times, many people who went to the tombs on a whim ended up being buried with the dead.

But even though I said that, it was really unfair for Lang Feng to die like this. I suddenly felt scared even standing next to Chen Pi A Si.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t express my feelings at the moment, so I took a deep breath and tried to pretend that nothing had happened.

The fire in front gradually died down. The wooden boards here had been frozen for many years, and the gaps were filled with ice particles that had condensed from the moisture in the air.

The more they burned, the more they would not burn. We walked toward the hole blown out of the floor. My footsteps were very heavy, and I was afraid that I would suddenly see any of Lang Feng’s body parts. The fat man and Pan Zi didn’t seem to react much, as if they were used to this kind of thing, or maybe they thought it was useless to show their depression. The fat guy looked at me and patted me on the shoulder, saying in a low voice, “Forget it. They’re their people anyway. Maybe they’re carrying a debt of blood on their hands. You have to pay for what you do in this world.”

Shunzi still didn’t understand what had happened, and was almost scared silly, following us.

We walked to the hole in the floor, shone a flashlight down, and saw that the bricks under the wooden floor had been blown away, creating a large hole. The underground corridor, reinforced with black stone slabs, had also been blown apart, revealing a gap, and the floor below was empty.

I knew what was below because this part of the spirit palace was built on a steep slope, but the floor was flat, so there must be a triangular space supported by beams and columns below. All buildings built on steep slopes or cliffs, such as the Potala Palace, have such a structure.

There was a cold wind blowing out of the gap, obviously connected to the outside world. I recalled that the triangular space below was also surrounded by white plaster walls. I didn’t know what the situation was, but there was a wind blowing out, so it seemed that I could get out from here.

There was obviously something wrong with the area around here. The ground was covered with centipedes. If we tried to leave through the front door, I was afraid that it would become more and more dangerous. At this time, a hole was blown out, which just happened to allow us to escape.

The fat man jumped into the hole that had been blown out. The hole below was not big enough to allow a person to pass through, so it had to be dug out. The fat man asked me if it was okay to dig like this.

I told them not to be reckless. The stone corridors in winter are already frozen and brittle, and the explosion must have completely destroyed the underlying pressure-bearing structure. I don’t know how high it is down here. If it suddenly collapses, it won’t just be one or two people who will fall, it’s likely that the entire ground around here will sink, and the spirit palace will become our burial mound.

So the fat man and the monk tied a rope around their waists, and the other end to a huge pillar. We all buckled our buttons to the rope, so that in the event of a collapse, we could look after each other.

When everything was ready, Fatso started to hit the stone slab below with a hammer. He didn’t expect that after just one hit, there was a sudden “crack” from under his feet. The beam below, as thick as a bowl, had actually been broken by him, and his foot had sunk all the way down to the root of his thigh.

I was shocked and thought that it would collapse at any moment. Fortunately, it was only his foot that had sunk in. Fatso cursed and said a very ugly swearword, while trying to pull his foot out.

After pulling for a long time, he could not pull his foot out even though it was up to his knee. The fat man was a little surprised himself, and suddenly his face changed, and he yelled, “Oh no, something is pulling my foot!” and then he slid down.

Hua Monk hurried down to grab his hands and pulled them up with all his strength. The others rushed over to help, and pulled his foot out, but they could not pull him up to the brick pit. It seemed that something below really grabbed him.

Ye Cheng turned on the flashlight and shone it down. Everyone gasped. From the hole in the stone corridor that the fat man had stepped on, a purple, swollen hand suddenly appeared, grasping the fat man’s ankle.