What's most chilling is that the pit is filled with the skeletons of dead people, scattered everywhere. There's no end in sight. How many people died here?
The sight startled everyone, while another officer called out from the edge of the pit, "Xiao Liu, Xiao Liu, did you hear me?"
The police officer, Xiao Liu, who had fallen in, didn't even hear any cries. Several people at the edge of the pit shone their spotlights into the pit and finally spotted Xiao Liu's backpack directly below.
However, the person was no longer recognizable as human. Two hands were stretched out in mid-air and raised upwards, and the body was covered with countless tiny, black, beetle-like creatures.
Xiao Liu's mouth was wide open, but countless worms poured out. When the powerful spotlights from Lan Gaozhang and his men shone on him, only his outstretched hands remained fleshy. Then, the worms swarmed onto his hands. Wherever the worms went, only bones remained!
What is this scene? And what strange thing is this?
The people standing by the stone pit were probably stunned!
Li Jinlong exclaimed in shock, "It's...it's a corpse worm! Everyone, get out of the way, quick!"
The Blue High-Ranking Officers also saw the corpse worms that had devoured the flesh and blood of the policeman crawling up the stone pillar toward the pit on their side. They were quite fast, and they were even able to avoid falling off the smooth stone surface!
The few people watching there probably immediately realized the danger and all stood up and quickly retreated.
Li Jinlong had only heard of corpse worms, but had never actually seen them. Other tomb raiders like him and the Wang brothers had studied them.
Carcass worms do exist in the world, but their species and numbers are relatively small, found only in North America. They are generally called two things: burying worms or hammer beetles. They belong to the largest order of insects—Coleoptera—and the family burying beetles. There are approximately tens of thousands of species worldwide. Most burying worms feed on the dead and decaying carcasses of animals, transforming them into substances that are more easily recycled in the ecosystem. They act like natural scavengers, playing a role in purifying the natural environment.
Some of them live in beehives like honeybees; some species in particular live in caves and feed on bat droppings.
However, the corpse worms in the tunnel are not any of the existing 175 types. These are the legendary Corpse King Worms from an ancient tomb-raiding tradition. Any living or dead animal body will be devoured by these worms in less than a minute, leaving only a pile of bones. If these corpse worms from the Ten Thousand Corpses Pit were to escape into the tunnel, these sixteen people would be reduced to a pile of bones in less than a minute!
Professor Yang Guang understood even more. He was both shocked and excited. He had actually seen two of those creatures that had only existed in ancient legends today!
Although I saw them, I also understood how dangerous they were. If I wasn't careful, they might just add another skeleton to the underground cave!
Everyone panicked, and only Li Jinlong and a few others, including Lan Gaozhang, had seen the corpse worms. They stepped back and shouted, "Everyone, get out! Get out of here right now!"
Zhou Xuan naturally knew there was danger, but his icy aura couldn't detect that far. However, he did detect that the area under the fallen rock was hollow, and there was a mechanism underneath. Anyone who stepped on it would fall into the deep pit below. He just didn't know that there were these corpse worms in the pit below.
Seeing the frightened expressions on the faces of Lan Gaofeng and Li Jinlong, and their flustered movements, Zhou Xuan knew something was wrong.
In his mind, Lan Gaoli had always been someone who remained calm and composed in the face of adversity. His unflappable demeanor suggested that nothing could faze him, but now his expression betrayed a hint of panic. Could there be something terrifying in the pit? Something even more terrifying than the highly toxic "wax"?
However, this is possible, since the poisonous creature can only survive in a pool of water. As long as it doesn't come into contact with the water, it's not dangerous. So, although the poisonous creature is extremely toxic, it's not actually that dangerous.
Lan Gao rushed to the back and shouted at Wei Haihong and Zhou Xuan, "Third brother, little Zhou! Quick, let's go!"
Although the Wang brothers, Qiang and Sheng, had never seen these corpse worms before, they knew quite a bit about the strange creatures passed down by their fellow thieves. However, they had never actually seen them in person. But having just witnessed the power of these corpse worms, they quickly turned and ran.
As the corpse worms approached the passage above the pit, Zhou Xuan sensed their icy aura. His expression changed, and he quickly handed the flashlight to Wei Xiaoqing, who was empty-handed, shouting, "Here, take this!" He then grabbed Fu Ying with one hand and Wei Xiaoqing with the other, before saying to Wei Haihong, "Brother Hong, hurry up and go, don't linger!"
To be honest, they had no choice but to run, because everyone else had run away, leaving only the four of them at the back.
As Wei Haihong ran, he looked back. The dark beetles were moving very fast and there were so many of them. Although they were only in this passage, they gave the impression of covering the entire mountainside.
There was no time to think while running back, because the corpse worms were very fast, and they were only six or seven meters behind Wei Haihong, who was at the back. Zhou Xuan shouted as he ran, "Brother Hong, hurry up!"
Wei Haihong's foot slipped while running, perhaps due to nervousness or running too fast and too tired. This caused him to fall in the passage, while the corpse worms were less than three meters away!
In a panic, Zhou Xuan immediately released Fu Ying and Wei Xiaoqing's hands and shouted, "You two run!" After saying that, he quickly turned around and pressed his hands on the stone slab. Without hesitation, he unleashed his full power of icy energy, transforming the corpse worms within a six- or seven-meter radius behind Wei Haihong into golden worms!
Zhou Xuan had used his ice energy too forcefully, causing him to feel dizzy for a moment. However, he struggled to stay conscious and, taking advantage of the moment when the corpse worms within a six- or seven-meter radius transformed into golden worms, grabbed Wei Haihong and dragged him away. But as soon as he stood up, he saw that Fu Ying and Wei Xiaoqing hadn't left; instead, they were staring at him. He couldn't help but angrily say, "What are you looking at? Run!"
At this moment, tens of thousands more corpse worms surged over the golden worm's surface, making the situation even more critical.
Zhou Xuan's use of ice energy was too powerful, consuming a lot of energy. Ice energy is the most energy-intensive because it converts molecules, and the corpse worms seemed to be endless, but his ice energy was not inexhaustible! The time it took to run back was much faster than the time it took to come. He passed through the entrances of several passages and then returned to the small stone chamber with six entrances.
Everyone else remained there, unsure which passage was safe. Li Jinlong was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He had heard about the traps and dangers of the Nine Turns and Eighteen Caves from the older generation. Left side, turn left when you encounter a road, but which side is left?
Fu Ying and Wei Xiaoqing ran in first, followed by Wei Haihong and Zhou Xuan. The people inside shone bright lights and could see that the corpse worms were already fifteen or sixteen meters away!
Zhou Xuan took a few breaths, then said to Professor Yang Long, "Professor Yang, give me your nephew's jar!"
Yang Guang was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "What?"
Upon hearing Zhou Xuan's shout, Li Jinlong immediately understood. He quickly pulled Yang Guang in front of him, ripped off the backpack on his back, unzipped it, and took out the sealed jar.
Yang Guang immediately understood what Li Jinlong and Zhou Xuan meant and quickly said, "No, don't open it... don't open the jar."
After catching his breath, Zhou Xuan said angrily, "Pedantic!"
These professors and scholars always value research above all else, but they don't seem to consider their current situation. Once the corpse worms arrive, everyone will turn into skeletons. How can he possibly survive?
Li Jinlong carefully opened the sealed bag. He then opened the jar and looked at the corpse worms in front of them; they were only four or five meters away.
Li Jinlong spotted the spot and threw the jar over. The water in the jar poured out and flowed horizontally to both sides of the passage. The two streams, now dry, bounced back and forth on the stone slabs.
The surging corpse worms paused briefly when they reached the water's edge, seemingly afraid of the water as well. But there were too many corpse worms behind them, and those in front couldn't stop moving. The ones behind trampled and overturned them, layer upon layer, until they collapsed in front and plunged into the clear water. The lights from the people in the stone chamber shone on this spot, and they could clearly see the purple smoke rising. The corpse worms instantly turned into smoke.
The two nephews bounced and fell into the corpse worms. Smoke rose up, and a circle of corpse worms turned into smoke and rose up from the center of the crab's body.
The people in the stone chamber breathed a sigh of relief. They had temporarily stopped the corpse worms, but they were worried again. If they didn't find a way out and escape quickly, the nephew's tears would dry and disappear. Sooner or later, the corpse worms would come over, and that would be the end for all of them!
Li Jinlong cried out anxiously, "Left side, left side, which side is left side?"
The senior official hesitated for a moment, then said, "Don't think about it anymore. We'll go through the third cave. The second cave is out of the question because the correct path is to the left of the passage we came from. The first passage has corpse worms, so that's not the way we came from, nor is it the correct passage. Therefore, we've eliminated the second one. There's no time; let's hurry, the water's almost dried up!" To find out what happens next, please log in for more chapters. Support the author and support genuine reading!
Volume One: The Lotus Buds Just Begin to Emerge, Chapter 105: Desperate Situation
The two also saw that the corpse worms were almost about to cross the nearly wiped-out poisonous melon. "The situation is urgent. The decision of the Blue High-ups is undoubtedly correct. In any case, we must find another passage."
Li Jinlong and his two nephews ran ahead. Although there were unknown dangers ahead, the danger of the corpse worms behind them was right in front of them. It was always the best choice to keep the visible dangers as far away from them as possible.