Volume 5Chapter 45: An unsolvable mystery

We took a few steps back and found that a pale blue mist was rising from all the cracks in the surrounding rocks at an alarming rate. Almost instantly, the mist began to envelop our knees and lower, and a layer of fog began to form in front of our eyes, which continued to rise. Soon, the flashlight light was almost useless.

Then we heard a series of bugle calls coming from the other end of the ravine, melodious and beautiful, and they echoed around the ravine several times. Countless dark shadows, following the bugle calls, appeared in a long line in the fog at the end of the ravine.

I couldn’t react in time. People here have either died or run away, and it’s long been out of control. How come there are so many people suddenly? Are there other teams here? But it didn’t seem like it. There were too many people.

The fat guy on the side had already gone pale, as if he already knew what was going on. He stammered for a long time before he could finish his sentence: “The army of the dead is passing through!”

The army of the dead? I was very confused and wanted to ask him, but he covered my mouth and made a gesture that absolutely did not want to talk. We put down our flashlights and then retreated backwards, hiding behind a large rock.

The team walked slowly towards us, and I could even see the shadow of the flag being waved by the person in front. The team was four people deep, walking in perfect formation. Soon they came from the far end of the rift valley and stood in front of us.

As I watched, I involuntarily felt a tingling sensation in my scalp. I saw that the person at the front of the team was wearing worn-out armor from the Yin and Shang dynasties, holding a flagpole in his hand, and someone behind him was carrying a horn. Although they were carrying such heavy loads, they walked as if they were floating, making no sound and moving extremely fast. Looking at their faces again, I almost bit my tongue off. They all had extremely long faces, with the length of the entire head being twice that of an ordinary person.

The team passed in front of us like ghosts, not noticing us, and walked straight into the gap in the bronze gate. All the soldiers were exactly the same, as if they were made of paper.

Neither of us dared to speak, hoping that these people would pass quickly. At this moment, suddenly, the hand of the fat man holding my mouth shook. I looked closely and saw that the Mian Youbing was wearing the same armor and walking in the middle of the group.

I almost screamed out, “Is Mian Youbing dead? Has his soul been taken by these evil spirits?

But then I saw that behind him was his black and gold ancient sword, and the way he walked was completely different from the other soldiers. I knew right away that he was still alive.

What did he want? Could it be… I suddenly had a very bold thought—could it be that he wanted to sneak in?

The kid is crazy! My heart started to race, a long-lost fear welled up in my heart, and my breathing started to become rapid. I wanted to go up and stop him, but the fat guy held me down tightly and wouldn’t let me move.

I saw that Mian Youping had noticed us and turned his head to look at us. He suddenly smiled meaningfully and moved his lips, saying, “Goodbye.”

Then he walked into the bronze gate and disappeared into the darkness in an instant. I stared at him in a daze, my head almost exploding.

Soon the entire team of “Yin soldiers” walked into the bronze gate, and the ground shook violently. The giant gate instantly closed into a whole.

I sat down on the ground, feeling powerless. What was going on? What did Mian Youbing want to do? Were those really the soldiers of the underworld?

Fatty ran over to pick up the flashlight and looked at the huge door in shock, a little delirious.

But there was still no time for us to be dazed. The fog around us gradually dissipated, and we immediately heard the sporadic calls of strange birds coming from the end of the rift, getting louder and louder.

Fatty suddenly reacted and yelled at me, “Hurry up! The birds are flying back again. This time we won’t be so lucky.”

I was suddenly sobered up by the fat man’s shout, and immediately turned around and followed the fat man to the other end of the rift valley, the direction in which Pan Zi and the others had fled.

The rocks under the rift valley were like hills, extremely difficult to climb. We had just climbed out a short distance when the cry of the strange bird was already very close. I couldn’t help but pray in my heart that if I had died just now, it would be fine, but if I survived and then died in the same place, it would be really not worth it.

Our wounds had already gone from pain to numbness. Some people say that when people are nervous, they forget the pain, but now I can’t even feel my own feet, and I can’t run fast even if I bite my teeth. Fatty and I had to hold each other up and run as hard as we could. We couldn’t stop, because if we did, we wouldn’t be able to start running again.

We crawled and rolled our way deeper and deeper into the valley. I quickly lost consciousness and didn’t know what I was doing.

After climbing over a huge boulder that looked like a small hill, we came to a fork in the valley. Three huge mountain cracks appeared before us. I was a little confused. Which one should we take? We thought that the rift would go all the way to the end, and we would meet Pan Zi at the exit. We didn’t have any food or water, so even if we could get out of the rift, we would still be dead.

When we got to the Sanmiao entrance, we saw an extremely ugly arrow carved on the side of one of the huge fissures. The arrow pointed in a direction.

Fatso cursed, “That old Pan Zi is really lazy. He can’t even make a pretty arrow.”

I didn’t expect them to leave an arrow for us, so I said, “You don’t have to worry about that. It’s fine as long as it works!” I couldn’t say much more, so I gritted my teeth and squeezed into the gap.

The gap here was much narrower than the rift valley, so the strange bird couldn’t fly very smoothly. Once we got in, we felt much more at ease.

Soon we saw the light of a flashlight in front of us. I was suddenly shocked. I thought, according to their pace, they should have run very deep by now. Why is there a flashlight here? Did they encounter an accident and die here?

After running a few steps, we saw Pan Zi and a few foreigners walking back with their backs full of bullets. It looked like they wanted to come back to rescue us. Pan Zi was overjoyed when he saw us, but then he froze and asked, “Just the two of you? Where are the others?”

I said, “Forget it, it’s too tragic. Hurry up and go, those birds are still following us.”

We could hear the birds’ cries, but we couldn’t see anything in the sky. Without flares, we couldn’t see the strange birds with our flashlights.

Pan Zi waved his hand and immediately went back. The last person lit a cold firecracker to lead the way. One of the foreigners saw that I was injured and carried me on his back. The group quickly retreated to the end of the crevice.

I hadn’t been carried by anyone in a long time, and I was not used to it, but the cold firework light suddenly aroused my interest in the numerous murals on the rock walls around the crack. Unfortunately, we ran too fast to take a good look.

The mournful cries gradually faded, and it seemed that the strange birds had given up the chase. In fact, as soon as we saw Pan Zi, our hearts were much more at ease, knowing that we would probably not die. The people he brought were all good shots in Ning’s team, so even if there was a real encounter, they would not be at a disadvantage.

Thinking of Aning’s team, I thought of Aning, and I asked Pan Zi if he had seen her.

Pan Zi said not to worry, that the beautiful girl had been knocked unconscious and carried back.

We had been running for a long time, and the gap was getting narrower and narrower. Finally, we could only pass one person at a time. The air suddenly warmed up, and we slowed down. At this time, two more people appeared in front of us. They were the night watchmen. When they saw us coming back, they all shouted in joy.

I wanted to ask why the temperature was so high here, and I saw that there were several hot springs near Pan Zi’s camp. I immediately relaxed completely, and a sense of weakness spread throughout my body, almost fainting on the spot.