Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 41

"Ah..." the young master screamed in terror, frantically swinging his entrenching tool at the head of the cockroach-like monster. But the monster was already a corpse and felt no pain. No matter how hard he hit it, it wouldn't let go.

Seeing the grotesque and terrifying smile on the cockroach-like humanoid monster's face, its gaping maw seemingly ready to bite the young master's neck, I disregarded my fear and rushed forward, wildly slashing with my bronze sword, almost cutting the cockroach-like humanoid monster to pieces. Huang Zhihua also came to help, and with great difficulty, we managed to rescue the young master from the cockroach-like humanoid monster's ghostly claws...

We frantically took photos of the old house again, and with the help of Huang Zhihua and Ya Tou, we finally managed to clean the bright red beetles off our bodies.

"What is this thing..." the young master asked, panting heavily, still shaken.

What was that? I didn't know what it was, but I knew in my heart that the danger wasn't over. The ghastly green shadow that had been floating above us like a ghost was still lurking somewhere here, ready to attack us at any moment, turning us into corpses, or even into something like that cockroach-like humanoid monster...

"Strange, strange!" Huang Zhihua, gripping a military bayonet, was also panting heavily and asked, still shaken, "This is an ancient tomb, how come there are still rotting corpses here?"

Indeed, this is an ancient tomb. If the body hadn't been placed in a fine coffin, it would have rotted away long ago, even the bones would have decayed. How could there still be a body that wasn't completely decomposed?

I looked down at the four cockroach-like humanoid monsters scattered around us, all oozing yellowish-white pus and emitting an unbearable stench. Remembering the shoe I'd seen earlier, a thought struck me, and I frowned, saying, "They might not be ancient artifacts..."

The young master let out a deep breath: "Old Xu, are you crazy? If it's not an ancient product, could it be...?"

Someone got in before us... maybe they took another route, but unfortunately they couldn't get out. I explained that large ancient tombs don't necessarily have only one entrance. If the old man from the South could find the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye, then naturally other experts could find other entrances as well. It's not surprising.

Huang Zhihua looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked, "Old Xu, based on these half-rotten corpses, I'm afraid we can't determine that someone else has entered, can we?"

I nodded and immediately recounted what I had just discovered. Huang Zhihua and the young master were dumbfounded—it's too late, after all.

"It's over, it's over..." the young master muttered to himself. "This time we're doomed. If they take all the treasures, we'll have made a wasted trip." He really was greedy for money, risking his life. He had just returned from a brush with death, and now he was already thinking about the treasures again.

The girl, who was terrified, shook her head and said, "It's absolutely impossible for anyone to get here before us. Someone might be able to get in, but they might not be able to get out."

I don't understand why the girl is so confident, but the most urgent thing right now is not to discuss this, but to find a way out as soon as possible.

Just then, I heard a sobbing sound beside me, so heartbreaking...

I was immediately startled. I had heard that damned crying several times, all because of that ghastly green ghostly figure. I looked up sharply, and sure enough, there it was, a ghastly green shadow floating around the stone pillar above my head before drifting away to one side.

I don't know what got into me, but I followed without hesitation. As soon as I moved, the young master, Huang Zhihua, and the maid naturally followed as well.

The young master looked up at the ghastly green ghostly figure floating above us and asked me in a low voice, "Old Xu, are you crazy? This thing..." He gestured and pointed to the sky above him.

I didn't speak, but shook my head at the young master while staring intently at the ghastly green ghostly figure. This time, the ghastly green ghostly figure didn't take the opportunity to ambush us, but instead floated and flew to the opposite wall. Under the watchful eyes of the four of us, it suddenly turned around and crashed into the opposite wall at an astonishing speed.

Then—before our very eyes, it inexplicably vanished from the stone wall.

The four of us looked at each other, feeling uneasy. The young master couldn't help but ask me in a low voice, "What is this thing? Old Xu, you're knowledgeable, do you know?"

I sighed, and after a long pause, I whispered, "I suspect it's... the Upper Corpse of the Three Corpses..."

Huang Zhihua asked me, puzzled, "Are there really three corpse gods?" I didn't know how to answer that question. Yes or no, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't believe in three corpse gods either, but—this is an ancient tomb, a tomb from a thousand years ago, where anything can happen.

"What do we do now?" the girl asked me. I knew what she meant. The entrance was blocked, and we had no choice but to venture deeper into the tomb so that we could get out.

I sorted out the jumbled thoughts in my mind and said, "According to the symmetrical Yuan Li, there should be another way out on this side of the stone wall. Moreover, we can now basically guarantee that, in addition to the four of us, others have entered this tomb chamber. Regardless of their mentality or whether any of them can get out, it doesn't matter now. What matters is that there is another way out here."

The girl seemed to have calmed down a lot now, nodding busily. The young master and Huang Zhihua hurriedly echoed her. However, the young master was still the young master; a leopard can't change its spots. He actually smiled strangely, leaned close to me, and whispered, "The capable should do more, Old Xu. Since you're so smart, then this difficult task of opening the stone chamber will be entrusted to you."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him and sneered, "If you don't want to die here, nobody slack off. Finding a way out is the most important thing. That green ghost could come back at any moment." Startled by my words, the young master immediately rushed to the stone wall, frantically touching it, searching for a way out. But the stone wall was smooth and slippery; where was there any way out? I stood there for a long time, puzzled. Even if this tomb required a great deal of skilled craftsmanship, it was impossible to find such a large, intact stone wall anywhere. And even if such a large stone wall existed, how did the ancients transport it here?

Could it be that ancient people really had the ability to move mountains and fill seas? As I pondered these wild thoughts, I carefully observed the stone wall.

Huang Zhihua gently patted my shoulder and asked in a low voice, "Old Xu, do you think... the entrance to this stone wall might be related to the thirteen stone pillars?"

Stone pillars? Indeed—the stone pillars here are strange, but the entrance to this stone wall has absolutely nothing to do with it. I'm always a bit puzzled by these thirteen pillars. Thirteen, if we exclude the central pillar, then it's twelve… the twelve Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches?

Hearing Huang Zhihua's words, the young master seemed to understand, tugging at my clothes and asking, "Old Xu, do you think these twelve pillars represent the twelve constellations? The one in the middle is..." "You my foot!" I snapped, annoyed. Constellations are foreign stuff; his imagination is truly something else. While the young master and I were talking, the girl reached along the stone wall. The wall was smooth as a mirror, and through the beam of our flashlights, her shadow was cast indistinctly on it, looking rather eerie...

"Brother Xu, come here quickly..." Suddenly, the girl exclaimed with delight, as if she had discovered something. Before the girl could finish speaking, a sharp sound of chains being pulled rang in our ears, and the wall, which had been as smooth as a mirror without a single crack, slowly and irregularly split open to both sides.

A way out?

The young master and I exchanged a glance, both overjoyed. We hadn't expected the girl to find the way out so haphazardly. But before we could speak, the girl suddenly cried out, "Brother Xu, save me...!"

From within the crack in the wall, in an unknown space, a shimmering red glow rushed towards the girl... vibrant, dazzling, and eerily strange. Although I couldn't immediately discern what it was, I knew in my heart that this thing—was probably the small, glowing red beetles that had attacked us earlier. Although these things were only the size of a fingernail, they swarmed everywhere, and I could tell that they probably clung to corpses to survive; once bitten, the consequences would be unpredictable.

Thank goodness, we were well-prepared for this trip into the Shadow Kunlun Eye of Wind. We were all wearing lightweight, sealed water-resistant gear, plastic protective gloves for injuries, soft-soled boots, and gas masks. If we hadn't had the equipment we had when we went to the Guangchuan Royal Tomb last time, we probably would have become food for these corpse worms long ago.

Before I could react to the girl's cry, the young master rushed forward and stood in front of her. But the red cloud in front of us was too fast, and I knew things were going badly. I quickly shouted, "Young master, take the girl and retreat!" Huang Zhihua brandished his military bayonet and neatly put away his pistol. At this moment, he probably understood that firearms—they seemed to have no effect on the corpse worms.

I brandished my ancient bronze sword and began wildly waving it at the swarming corpse worms. Unfortunately, I'm not a sword master like those in modern, flawless movies. Although I managed to knock down some of the glowing red beetles using the wind force of the ancient bronze sword, countless more swarmed over.

Huang Zhihua opened his mouth to call me, but after only saying "Old Xu", he quickly shut his mouth. There were just too many red glowing corpse worms this time. If the corpse worms before were the vanguard, the current corpse worms were the real army—an army pressing in.

I gave a wry smile, my mind racing: What to do? What to do?

The young master, seeing the opportunity, had already pulled the maid to retreat to the back. Although Huang Zhihua and I were holding off the enemy in front, there were too many corpse worms, swarming everywhere.

"Think of something quickly..." Huang Zhihua finally couldn't help but shout out. His voice, deep and hoarse, echoed through the empty tomb chamber through his gas mask.

A way? I hurriedly looked up. Since the passage to the stone chamber had been opened, we were all wearing miners' hats, and the light was dim and unpredictable, but we could still make out some details. There should be another stone chamber outside the first one. However, unlike the previous one, this one was filled with broken limbs and skeletons on the floor. Among the white, withered bones, countless glowing red beetles crawled densely.

Sure enough, these beetles were living off corpses. But why were there so many corpses here? I frantically swung my ancient bronze sword, wondering involuntarily—this didn't look like a burial pit. Burial pits didn't look like that, so... why were there so many corpses here? And why were they all incomplete?

Incomplete remains? A sudden chill ran down my spine. In the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum, on the high platform leading to the actual burial chamber, I had encountered a similar situation—limbs and remains scattered everywhere…

No! I couldn't help but shake my head. These corpse worms were different from ordinary corpse worms. Ordinary corpse worms would never attack living people so fiercely. So there's only one possibility: the corpse worms here were raised by the tomb's owner as needed. Then there must have been insect-proofing measures along the path to the main tomb chamber. Otherwise, the tomb owner's remains probably wouldn't have survived either, becoming corpse worm excrement. I doubt anyone would want to become food for insects after death.

Once I figured this out, I didn't care about anything else and shouted, "Everyone follow me, let's charge forward..." As I spoke, I was the first to swing the ancient bronze sword in my hand and charge forward.

Huang Zhihua brandished a military bayonet, protecting the young master and the maid, and charged forward behind me.

I was actually taking a lot of risks by doing this, because I didn't know how long the road was or where the forbidden areas for these corpse worms were. And how long could our masks keep out the water on our bodies?

Stepping into the stone chamber littered with corpses, I found myself engulfed in a sea of glowing red light. The luminous red corpse worms, which had not tasted fresh flesh for a long time, swept over me like a snowstorm, covering my entire body. If it weren't for the will to survive, I doubt anyone could have held on.

Even so, I felt my arms getting heavier and heavier. Although the corpse worms were light, they multiplied and, more numerous than snowflakes in a northern winter, they kept attacking us relentlessly...

My feet were getting heavier and heavier—it was difficult to walk, and the weight was almost too much for me to bear.

"Ah..." I heard the screams of the young master and the maid behind me. I had to turn around and see that the young master and the maid had fallen to the ground. I could no longer see their faces clearly. There were only dense worms covering their bodies, wriggling and searching for a way out.

Ignoring my own feelings, I turned back and desperately helped the girl pat the wound. The young master released the girl and rolled around on the ground, trying to crush the red, glowing corpse worms attached to his body.

"Damn it..." Huang Zhihua roared angrily. Now his body was covered with corpse worms, and even our miners' lamps were covered with them, making the already dim light even darker, blurry and ghostly...

The ground was littered with the corpses of our former kind, and our bodies were covered in insects. Before long, these insects, with their unwavering spirit, would bite through our protective clothing and suck our flesh and blood...

Are we destined to be buried here today? The shadow of death draws ever closer, and I've even given up resisting, instinctively brandishing my ancient bronze sword to scare away the corpse worms before me...

The young master rolled on the ground several times before finally managing to stand up, swaying unsteadily. Like a madman, he brandished a dagger, but unfortunately, even his dagger was covered in swarms of corpse worms, making it seem to have no effect whatsoever...

Old Xu... what should we do? I vaguely heard Huang Zhihua calling me.

What to do? I looked up; the miner's lamp was growing dimmer, completely blocked by the corpse worms...

Light? In that instant, it was as if I saw a ray of dawn in the darkness. Why were these corpse worms attacking us so specifically? They weren't intelligent beings, so—was their attack because of the light? If there was another light that could distract them, wouldn't we be saved?

In the dark underground world, they are luminous themselves, so they should not be phototropic. Because they have been in darkness for too long without light, their eyesight has deteriorated and they have eventually lost it all.

But these red, glowing corpse worms were different. They glowed naturally, lived in groups, and naturally possessed vision. Thinking of this, I hurriedly shouted, "Flare...quick...flare..."

Huang Zhihua frantically rummaged through his backpack for flares, took the gun off his back, loaded it, and without my permission, fired fiercely into the distant darkness.

The flare drew a pale white line in the empty underground world, falling into the distance. Then I felt my vision go blind for a moment. In the distance, a dazzling white light ignited. But in that instant, I vaguely saw two gray shadows swaying in the distance, which seemed to be people.

Like many phototactic insects, the red glowing corpse worms swarmed forward with great speed.

The red, glowing corpse worms that had been clinging to us also pounced on us, making us feel much lighter. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief; although there were still corpse worms sticking to us, they weren't as cumbersome anymore. I pulled the girl up, and almost simultaneously, Huang Zhihua grabbed the young master and fired another flare in one direction.

This time I could see clearly that about ten meters ahead, there were white stone steps leading upwards, but on those steps, I clearly saw two gray figures flash by and disappear...

However, there was no time for us to think. The flare's light wouldn't last long, and soon the corpse worms would return. The four of us, like stray dogs, fled quickly towards the other side, even though there was greater danger and something more terrifying waiting for us there.

We have no other choice!

We moved very quickly, covering the distance of about ten meters in the blink of an eye. There were rows of white stone steps. When I was the first to step onto the steps, the red glowing corpse worms that had been sticking to me seemed to be hit by something and fell off one after another. Those that had time flew back far away, while those that didn't fell directly to the ground and turned into black liquid, which was extremely disgusting.

Sure enough, there were other powerful insect-proof facilities along the passage leading to the main burial chamber, so the corpse worms no longer posed a threat here.

We stopped on the white stone steps, panting heavily. The young master and maid were terrified. Although it had only been a short time, just three to five minutes, we had already come back from the brink of death.

“Old Xu… how do you know those corpse worms are attracted to light? I heard the old man say that underground corpse worms generally don’t have eyesight… huff huff…” Huang Zhihua asked me, his hands on his knees, bent over, panting heavily.

"Damn it!" I cursed angrily, knowing that the old man he was talking about must be the old man from the South. Huang Zhihua must have been preparing to go into the ancient tomb with us, so he must have consulted the old man beforehand. But could we really trust the words of that old fox?

Those corpse worms themselves glow, and their eyesight won't deteriorate even after a thousand years! I explained.

I supported the girl with one hand and held the bronze sword in the other, looking around. I didn't know what material the stone steps here were made of. Under the light of the miners' lamps above our heads, they had a faint translucent color, like mutton fat jade. It was the same material as the Yellow River Dragon Coffin and the high platform on the pool in the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum. When I saw this, I was certain that the tomb master of the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye must have some kind of connection with the Yellow River Dragon Coffin.

Perhaps we really can find the answer here?

We rested for a while on the white stone steps, and the young master finally recovered. He asked me between breaths, "Old Xu, why do you think these underground creatures glow? We've seen corpse worms before, but they weren't like this."

I glared at him fiercely, but since I was wearing a gas mask, my gaze had no power whatsoever. Seeing that the girl was also looking at me curiously, I immediately explained that it was naturally someone who had deliberately cultivated corpse worms.

Someone is deliberately cultivating corpse worms? Huang Zhihua jumped up on the spot and asked, "Who's so bored? Are they crazy?"

I sneered and said, "You're crazy, but they're not necessarily crazy. This is a sure-kill trap. No matter who you are, as long as you enter the tomb, as long as you're a normal person, whether you're from ancient times or modern times, you must bring lighting tools. These corpse worms will swarm to the light. If we didn't have such sophisticated equipment this time, even if you knew beforehand that there were such monstrous corpse worms inside, you wouldn't be able to get through this."

In fact, no one knows when this ancient tomb was built. No matter who it is, all they can think of are the tomb raiding facilities of that time. They would never imagine that thousands of years later, there would be some sophisticated equipment. And ancient people would never have water-resistant clothing, plastic gloves, gas masks, etc. Even if they entered this place wearing metal armor, they would definitely not be able to get through this feast of corpse worms.

The large number of corpses here suggests that the tomb owner killed people and deliberately dumped them here, primarily to feed these red, glowing corpse worms, making them the most powerful guardians of the tomb.

Of course, another group of people, perhaps greedy tomb raiders, might have wandered into this place and become food for the corpse worms.

I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If we had encountered such a monstrous thing in the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum, we would probably have been reduced to ashes long ago, and even the toughest of us wouldn't have been able to escape.

Chapter Seven: A Striking Similarity

That damned old man from the south, I wonder if he knew beforehand that there was this terrifying corpse worm in the tomb, which is why he made us all wear waterproof gear and gas masks?

Thinking of this, I started cursing that damned old man from the south again.

The young master, in a very unladylike manner, plopped down on the white stone steps, panting heavily, and looked up at the ground not far away, where limbs and remains were scattered everywhere, and countless glowing red corpse worms were stirring restlessly.

The scene was extremely bizarre. I never even dreamed that I would one day stand on stone steps as smooth and beautiful as white jade, only to be faced with a scene that resembled a hellish landscape.

All the glowing red corpse worms remained far away, not daring to approach the white stone steps. It was clear that this place indeed had powerful insect-proofing measures. I had heard that many ancient tombs had insect-proof ramparts to prevent coffins from being eaten away by insects, so this wasn't anything unusual.

But the ground was made of tightly sealed stones. If there were any broken insect ridges or something, where would the smell come from? I wondered as I looked around.

"Old Xu... what treasure are you looking for?" The young master saw me looking around and quickly came over.

Treasure? I was both amused and exasperated. I glared at him and said with a wry smile, "What treasure could there be in this place? I was just looking to see what was here that made these corpse worms so wary."

Huang Zhihua stomped hard on the stone steps and said in a low voice, "Old Xu, do you think these stone steps are made of mutton-fat jade?"

I looked at the translucent stone steps, which emitted a faint halo and were exceptionally beautiful. The young master, maid, and I had already discussed this question, and we concluded that it was definitely not mutton fat jade, but a kind of jade-like stone. Perhaps such beautiful stones were abundant in ancient times, which is why they could be used on a large scale.

"Why don't you dig one up and take it back to study it? Then you'll know." The young master chuckled dryly twice.

“That makes sense,” Huang Zhihua nodded, his voice coming through the gas mask, sounding somewhat muffled. As he spoke, he actually raised the military bayonet in his hand and struck the ground, seemingly wanting to get a stone to take back and study.