Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 45

But then, I heard the girl's desperate screams. Worried about her, I couldn't help but open my eyes. What I saw terrified me.

I'm still alive, I haven't been crushed into a giant meat pie by the Bixi, but I'm not much better off. What... what is this? Damn it... I'm actually wrapped around a huge thing. I tried to lift my head and looked at myself in the dim light of the miner's lamp above me. Then I just closed my eyes and prepared to die and be done with it.

A snake... a huge black snake. I am now entangled in its massive tail, unable to move. In the distance, the young master is desperately holding onto the maid, while Huang Zhihua is holding a gun, aimed at the snake that is coiling around me.

Holy crap! I, Xu Sanqing, am incredibly lucky to have been entangled by an ancient ferocious beast that transformed into a snake...

My chest felt incredibly tight; I figured the serpent was choking me so badly I was about to suffocate. Looking up, I saw the Bixi, which had tried to crush me, lying belly up on the ground, flailing its limbs in vain. Although the Bixi was an ancient mythical beast, the eldest son of the legendary dragon, it was still—after all—the big turtle. Once someone flipped it over, it could only watch helplessly. However, this creature's weight was definitely measured in tons. If it weren't for the ancient mythical beast, the serpent, who among us ordinary humans could have managed to make it lie belly up?

“Brother Xu…” The girl broke free from the young master’s hand and ran quickly toward me. I was startled. Although I was currently entangled by the snake, I was not dead yet, and I did not want the girl to be buried with me.

"Go away, don't come any closer..." I managed to shout this out with almost all my might.

"Bang bang bang..." A series of rapid gunshots rang out. Huang Zhihua's marksmanship was absolutely superb; almost all the bullets hit the serpent's body, not a single one missing. But the serpent's hard scales were like cast iron; the bullets hitting it were practically useless. Meanwhile, the girl continued running quickly towards me—

"Brother Xu...I'm here to save you!" From afar, I saw the girl with tears streaming down her face.

This silly girl… A strange tremor ran through me. The young master, dagger in hand, charged after her, but alas, before they could reach the serpent, a massive shadow blocked their path. The remaining bixi (a mythical tortoise-like creature) crashed down on them like a mountain collapsing. I struggled desperately, trying to break free from the serpent's tail, but the more I struggled, the tighter it coiled around me.

"Waaaaah..." Suddenly, a shrill cry came from above my head. I instinctively looked up and saw a pale green shadow flash by.

"Damn it, how come this thing is still here?" I cursed inwardly, but I was also miserable. I was doomed this time. Neither the snake nor the pale green ghostly shadow, nor the tortoise, were easy to deal with. One of them would be enough for us, but now they had all appeared together.

The ghastly green shadow circled in mid-air before swooping down towards the ground, its target clearly the girl. The girl was terrified, her face turning pale. Huang Zhihua quickly fired a shot at the ghastly green shadow and pulled the girl away, managing to escape unharmed. Nearby, the young master, like a flea, was shouting and dodging the Bixi's pursuit at the entrance of the magnificent tomb chamber.

The Bixi seemed to be in a frenzy, but the young master was as slippery as an oiled eel, narrowly escaping several times. The pale green ghostly figure, having missed its attack, flew into the air, but in the blink of an eye, it swooped down towards me. I was terrified; I was now tightly bound by the tail of the serpent, unable to move my limbs, and I could smell the distinctive stench of snakes. The serpent's enormous body, with all its scales spread wide, was terrifying…

Apart from my head, which could still turn slightly, I couldn't move the rest of my body at all—I could only watch helplessly as the pale green shadow attacked me from above.

I was about to close my eyes and await death when, at that critical moment, my body suddenly loosened. At that moment, the snake actually released its tail, and I fell to the ground. Without giving me a moment to catch my breath, I rolled away.

At the same time, the serpent had already turned its head, and its huge triangular snake head crashed into the pale green ghostly figure.

I was so frightened that I scrambled away from the serpent, only to see the young master running towards me, yelling and shouting, with the Bixi in hot pursuit...

"Old Xu, save me!" The young master was so frightened that his face turned pale. I cried out "Ah!" but before I could say anything, the young master had already run behind me and very unkindly shoved me. I had just stood up and hadn't even had time to steady myself when he pushed me, and I fell heavily to the ground. Meanwhile, the other bixi rushed over.

"Damn it, young master!" I cursed inwardly. I quickly rolled over and passed by. Bixi missed a step, lowered its head, and brought its large horns toward me. I quickly rolled over again to dodge, but at that moment, a piercing roar rang out, and Bixi's movements involuntarily slowed down by half a beat.

I didn't have time to investigate the source of the sound and quickly scrambled away—in my haste, I vaguely saw what appeared to be writing on the tortoise's abdomen...

I caught my breath, and Huang Zhihua ran over at just the right moment, pulling me up. He had a gun, which gave him a significant advantage in this situation.

The girl was so frightened that her face turned ashen. She gripped my hand tightly and wouldn't let go. I could feel her hand trembling. I wanted to comfort her, but when I opened my mouth, I couldn't utter a single word.

"What should we do? Old Xu, you're smart, come up with a plan quickly..." the young master called out urgently.

An idea? I, the relatively clever one, almost became his scapegoat. But in this situation, I didn't know what to say. Faced with such a vast disparity in power, all schemes and tricks seemed pale and powerless. The Bixi was standing less than two meters away from me, glaring at me menacingly. Beside me, the Huashe and the pale green ghostly figure seemed to be locked in combat...

In the Guangchuan King's Tomb, the reason I was able to sever the serpent's head with a single sword strike was because half of its body was embedded in the stone. Now it's intact, although such a thing is truly bizarre...

The ghastly green shadowy figure spun in the air and then mysteriously disappeared before our eyes, probably because it felt it couldn't gain any advantage and had run away.

The young master swallowed hard and asked in a low voice, "What do you mean by 'playroom'?" As he spoke, he pointed to the air.

I shook my head. At first, I always thought that the pale green ghostly figure belonged to the upper corpse among the three corpse gods, but I never found the body. Now it doesn't seem like it. Could it be that the pale green shadow is a guardian beast of the coffin?

The guardian beast of the coffin in the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum was that white fox, which ultimately died by crashing its head into the ground to protect the corpse. Could this one also be some kind of divine beast?

Of course, in essence, I believe more that Bixi and Huashe are guardian beasts of the coffin, after all, they are things from Chinese mythology.

Just as the ghastly green ghostly figure disappeared, the serpent's enormous body twisted a few times and actually swam towards us. I could almost clearly see the patterns on its body, and I could even smell the stench of rotting yellow sand.

"Clang, clang..." Just at this critical moment, suddenly, a piercing sound of chains being pulled rang out, as if a long-silent wheel was turning again, carrying a hint of eeriness and terror that made one's gums ache.

Rumble, rumble... Before we could even react, a violent roar sounded overhead... and streaks of dazzling purple lightning flashed by.

Lightning… How is this possible? I looked up at the sky, no longer caring about the menacing Bixi and Huashe beside me, or even the ghastly green ghostly figure lurking in the shadows…

My God! We are in an ancient tomb from a thousand years ago. Even if it thunders and rains outside, we would never hear it here. But now, I can hear it clearly, right above our heads, with lightning and thunder.

What shocked me even more was that—the instant the lightning struck, my vision blurred, and the bixi that had been standing about a meter in front of me vanished. I looked up and saw that the other bixi, which had been lying on its back, had also disappeared.

The snake twisted its body amidst the lightning and quickly retreated into the pool.

"What's going on? Why is it thundering here?" Young Master and Huang Zhihua asked simultaneously.

I looked up at the sky—of course, I couldn't see the sky, but above my head, in the pitch black, thick bolts of purple lightning roared incessantly.

"What's that?" the girl suddenly pointed to the sky and asked eagerly.

I looked up, and just then another bolt of lightning struck, illuminating the darkness that had been silent for thousands of years. I could see it clearly—it was a star chart. Indeed, amidst the lightning and thunder, a star chart hung high in the sky. But if that were all, I wouldn't be so shocked; it would just be some mysterious creation by skilled craftsmen. However, in the background of this star chart, a girl in a golden robe floated in the heavens.

"So beautiful..." the girl murmured in admiration.

She was indeed very beautiful... but for some reason, even though it was just a fleeting moment, I felt that the face of the girl in the golden robe was very familiar, as if I had seen her somewhere before.

I looked up at the sky. In this ancient tomb—this very tomb—there was such a complete star chart! And what was that girl in the background of the star chart? How was this ever made? Moreover, I was certain that the star chart and the girl would only appear briefly in a flash of lightning. A slight chill touched my face; it was raining… It was raining eerily in the ancient tomb?

"Oh no, it's raining!" the young master exclaimed. Thunder followed by rain seemed to conform to the laws of nature, but this was an ancient tomb... I absolutely couldn't believe it was really raining. But there was no denying it; it was definitely raining, and in the blink of an eye, while we were still stunned, the rain was already pouring down.

"Oh no, Lao Xu... Look!" Huang Zhihua cried out in alarm.

I hurriedly turned my head, and was instantly dumbfounded. My God... the pool that had been as still as a corpse a moment ago had now unleashed a monstrous torrent, the turbid water rushing and roaring towards the shore. The scene was strikingly similar to the Yellow River floods of my childhood... We have to get out of here! That was my only thought. Staying by such a pool was extremely dangerous—no, from where we were, it couldn't even be called a pool anymore; it was practically a miniature version of the Yellow River... roaring and surging as if it wanted to devour everything.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and in the blink of an eye, the water at our feet had accumulated to a great depth. The water in the pool also submerged the stone steps in an instant and rushed towards us.

After thinking for a moment, I made a quick decision and ran towards the tomb's entrance. Our only way out was to hide inside the tomb and devise another plan; otherwise, we would surely drown.

"Brother Xu, your sword..." The girl followed behind me and hurriedly handed me the bronze ancient sword that I had just lost.

"Thank you!" I said casually, but in the blink of an eye, my gaze fell on the girl's pale face, and I was instantly struck dumb, my whole body trembling and unable to move.

The young master next to me tugged at my sleeve and asked anxiously, "What's wrong? Let's go..."

"Ah..." I snapped back to reality, a jolt running through me—the girl? No wonder the girl in the golden robe in the starry sky background looked so familiar; it turns out...it turns out her appearance is remarkably similar to the girl...

The young master first ran to the entrance of the tomb chamber, touching this and that... For such an ancient tomb, opening the tomb chamber door was definitely not an easy task. At the entrance of the tomb chamber, the two bixi that had attacked us earlier stood upright with their heads raised... as if telling a story of a thousand years of silence.

Above us, lightning and thunder continued to flash, and the water was already knee-deep. The young master, probably in a hurry, pounded on the Qilin relief on the stone door and shouted, "Is anyone inside? Taking shelter from the rain, open the door quickly..."

I couldn't help but smile wryly. What kind of time is this to be joking? Later I found out that the young master wasn't joking at all; he just instinctively cried out in his anxiety.

"Clang... clang..." Just after the young master finished shouting, the stone door of the tomb chamber, which had been tightly closed, emitted a muffled echo and slowly slid open to both sides.

"Get out of the way!" I hurriedly pulled the maid and the young master back five or six steps. Who knows if there are any traps or mechanisms when the tomb is opened? It's always better to be careful.

The stone door of the tomb chamber slowly slid open to both sides. Strangely, at the same time the stone door opened, there was a sudden deathly silence above our heads. The rain stopped, the thunder disappeared, and even the pool of water not far away returned to its original calm. Everything was as if nothing had happened, except that the water on the ground was still very deep, which proved that everything had just happened.

In fact, I have serious doubts about what exactly caused all this rain and thunder.

If this were some kind of machine, adding a little poison to the rainwater would have absolutely no chance of us surviving; there's really no need to drown us in the raging Yellow River. Such a simple thing—if I could think of that, how could the brilliant person who designed the mechanism not have considered it? However, I'm almost certain that there's no poison in this rainwater; it's just ordinary water. But in the tomb, if everything just now wasn't an illusion, where did it get such a huge commotion, and what's with all that water?

As I thought about this, I looked down at the water that was up to my knees. The water was very murky, like the Yellow River, full of mud and sand.

Yellow River water? A chill ran down my spine. Could it be that the mechanism was designed to utilize the Yellow River's water? Wasn't it afraid of drowning the tomb's occupant's remains? Just as I was lost in thought, the stone door to the tomb opened completely. The young master hurriedly took a few steps forward, about to peek inside, but at that moment, a figure swayed out from in front of the stone door. Caught completely off guard, the young master nearly bumped into it, letting out a cry of "Ah!"...

Huang Zhihua reacted quickly, pulling the young master back two steps. In the light of the flashlight and miner's lamp, I could finally see clearly: a deathly pale face, even showing signs of decay. But on this face, the corners of his mouth were split at an eerie angle, as if he were smiling—though no living person's smile could ever be so grotesque and terrifying. His eyes were open, and in their bloodshot depths, I could even see the boundless terror he felt before his death.

This is a corpse! Finding a corpse in an ancient tomb is nothing out of the ordinary, but—this corpse is wearing modern clothes... And what's shocking is that although his clothes are very dirty and dripping wet, whether it's because they've been soaking in water or because of the body's own decomposition fluids, I can still tell that it's a police uniform, proving that this person was a police officer in life.

Huang Zhihua stared blankly at the person who walked out of the tomb chamber, and actually asked stupidly, "Who are you?" Clearly, he did not regard such a person as a corpse.

I was horrified when I saw this and quickly shouted, "Get out of the way! He's not human..."

Yes, even if he was human in life, he is definitely not human now. In the beam of the flashlight, I vaguely noticed something behind him—damn it—it seems to be that thing again. The lower corpse among the Three Corpse Gods has been activated.

The girl's face was very pale. Her gaze was fixed on the police officer's corpse opposite her, and she muttered, "Professor...Professor..."

I know that the professor's death has always been a painful memory for Yaya, especially since his body was found in the Guangchuan Royal Mausoleum, which made it even harder for her to accept. Now, seeing something similar has brought back that pain.

I held the girl in my arms, hoping to comfort her, but for some reason, the image of the girl in the golden robe behind the starry sky appeared strangely in my mind... Her appearance was so similar to the girl's. Was it a coincidence, an illusion? Or was it something implied in the dream?

The four of us stood on either side of the tomb entrance, making way for the police officer's body, and watched as it walked out step by step. It seemed... it seemed... that it hesitated slightly as it passed Huang Zhihua, but still, oblivious, it continued to walk forward.

I watched it pass by me. Its clothes were completely rotting on its back, which was highly unusual, but—it was true. The front of its clothes were intact, but a large area on its back was completely rotten, and a pale face crawled on the exposed, decaying muscle...

The face was surrounded by countless tentacles, like mushy noodles, tangled together, an indescribable disgust. But—this grotesque face growing on its back was actually grinning at us menacingly, its two rows of pitch-black teeth completely exposed.

I don't know what this feeling is like, but my heart was pounding wildly, and just then, from behind the police officer's body, countless tentacles suddenly reached out towards me.

It has started attacking?

I felt my limbs go weak. Although I had witnessed such a mutation before, facing it again filled me with fear and helplessness, and I even forgot how to fight back. The Huashe and Bixi were both ancient mythical beasts. Although they could threaten my life, they were still just monsters. But this thing in front of me... was once one of our kind.

If... if I die here, will it turn out the same way?

I even had a strange thought in my mind: does it still retain memories of its past life?

"Bang bang..." Two bullets struck the police officer's body, but his body only swayed slightly, and countless white tentacles still reached out to grab me.

I yelled, closed my eyes, and instinctively swung my bronze sword, slashing fiercely at the white tentacles.

"Run!" I yelled, frantically swinging the ancient bronze sword in my hand. At that moment, the police officer's corpse turned around, staring coldly at me... I wasn't seeing things; he was laughing, a狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) laugh...

I knew how sharp the ancient bronze sword was, so I cut off many of the white tentacles on the police officer's body with a single stroke, and they fell into the water.

Chapter Ten Ghost-Faced Mushroom

I heard Huang Zhihua's horrified scream: "What the hell is that? Everyone, get out of here! I'll cover you!" I didn't have time to look back. The police officer's corpse was already swinging its arms, viciously grabbing at my neck. I tried to back away, but with one movement, I stumbled. My feet felt incredibly heavy, as if bound by ropes. I hurriedly looked down...

Good heavens—what are these things? Clusters of white tentacles float on the water's surface, each only the size of a little finger, but there are so many of them. And now, these strange, tentacle-like things are tightly wrapped around my feet, even climbing up my trouser legs. Seeing these tentacles crawling all over me like worms, I felt a wave of nausea wash over me; my stomach churned violently. I struggled desperately, brandishing my ancient bronze sword, trying to pry the tentacles apart, but there were just too many of them.

Just as I was frantically trying to react, I suddenly felt a tightness on my head. Something was pulling my hair, causing a sharp pain in my scalp. Ignoring the tentacles on my feet, I looked up and saw the police officer's corpse with one hand gripping my hair tightly, pulling upwards. His half-rotten face, swollen and decayed from being submerged in water for so long, was a mess. And in that instant, his other hand swiftly reached for my neck! Damn it! People in desperate situations are usually braver. With a roar, I thrust the bronze sword in my hand fiercely into its chest.

The body of the police officer, who had previously been impervious to bullets, emitted a strange, inhuman sound, like that of a reptile, before collapsing straight down. Then, I clearly saw bright red liquid gushing from the officer's mouth.

Blood? I couldn't believe my eyes. This was blood, human blood? But wasn't this police officer's body already dead? I stared blankly at the officer's body lying in the pool of water. It was unbelievable. After a person dies, the blood congeals, and this officer's body had clearly begun to decompose. How could there still be fresh blood?

Then, something unexpected happened again. The corpse flipped over in the water, and the white, ghostly face that had been clinging to it suddenly detached itself and, using the current, swam quickly towards me. It was a parasite? I was startled, but an even greater danger awaited me. My legs were bound by countless tentacles, rendering me immobile. Now this thing was chasing me. Beside me, I heard the girl's screams and cries, the young master's angry curses, and Huang Zhihua's roar.

"Bang!" I went all out, raising my longsword and thrusting it heavily into the water. The white ghost face flipped over, dodging my bronze sword, but at the same time, "Bang!" a gunshot rang out. Huang Zhihua fired. I had to admire his marksmanship; the bullet pierced the very center of the white ghost face. I watched it tumble a few times on the surface, then all its tentacles shrank into a ball, and finally, it didn't move at all.

I let out a long sigh of relief and looked at Huang Zhihua. His face was pale, and he had long lost the composure a soldier should have. Indeed, although we had dealt with the white ghost face, countless tentacles remained in the water. These clumps of tentacles were disgusting, like worms. I even wondered if these things were mutated worms from a dead person's corpse.

"Go!" I shouted, dragging my heavy steps toward the tomb chamber without looking back.

"Old Xu!" The young master called from behind. "Give me a hand, I can't move!" His feet were bound by countless tentacles, preventing him from moving. "You have to leave, or you'll die here." I said coldly. But wait, these tentacles are too strange, and there are so many of them. It's impossible to clear them away one by one. The only way is to get into the tomb as soon as possible. These things definitely won't exist in the ancient tomb.

The entrance to the tomb chamber was only five or six steps away, a distance I could normally reach in two seconds. But now, it felt as if my feet weighed a ton. With each step, the tentacles on my feet tightened, constricting my calves and causing unbearable pain. Moreover, they were trying to climb up my feet.

If they climbed up, I couldn't help but turn around. The police officer's body lay not far from me, now covered by countless tentacles. In the beam of my flashlight, I could clearly see these tentacles passing through his mouth and nose.

I didn't want to die, and such a way of dying was absolutely terrifying. A chill ran down my spine, and I desperately strode forward. Huang Zhihua and the girl were close together. He supported the girl with one hand and used his bayonet to maintain his balance with the other. Everyone knew that falling into the water meant certain death. The only way out was to walk into the tomb.

I looked at the open stone door of the tomb chamber—in the dim light of the maid's miner's lamp at dusk, I could vaguely see a pale green shadow flash by. Under such circumstances, the young master could only drag his labored steps toward the tomb chamber entrance.

One step, two steps, three steps, and I finally stepped through the stone door of the tomb chamber, but at that moment, I heard a faint sigh, like the helpless groan of a woman confined to her boudoir, indescribably sorrowful, enough to bring tears to my eyes.