King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 233

I remember Xiaoyan once told me very seriously that to become a super hacker, one must have excellent mental fortitude. In any emergency, one must not become irritable, angry, or lose control; one must be as calm as a stone on a winter night.

In a sense, Kaku and Red Devil are somewhat similar, both being skilled attackers who excel at lurking and hiding. However, one is adept at long-distance raids and decisive strikes on the internet, while the other is capable of instantly sniping enemies from thousands of meters away in the real world.

By rough estimation, the space in front is about forty meters wide, more than twenty meters high, and its depth is unfathomable.

The snake's body glowed with a green light, like a shallow beach covered with seaweed, which occasionally made people feel dizzy.

"Look over there, hey, what's that?" the little red imp shouted, pointing into the distance with a pale face.

The first thing that came into view was a pile of gray things. After careful examination, it could be seen that it was an upright skull, swaying as it approached in the sea of snakes.

A few seconds later, the skeleton stopped about fifty paces away, and beneath it, the searchlight bracket on the roof of the jeep could be vaguely seen.

"Oh, that's... the missing jeep and the team? Bitten by snakes... bitten into skeletons by snakes?" Red Devil's teeth chattered incessantly as he managed to finish these few sentences, cold sweat streaming down his face.

Kaku removed the scope, held it up to his eyes, looked at it for only two seconds, then suddenly bent over and vomited violently. I should have stopped him; some terrifying things, the more closely one looks at them, the more unpredictable the damage they can do to one's nerves.

The little devil snatched the sight from his hand, but before he could use it, I took it from him.

"Get back to the car. We're not here to see a horror movie," I calmly ordered. Those horror scenes are unsuitable for minors, and even if you watch them carefully, it won't help.

Red Devil's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty: "Feng, actually I've already seen it clearly, there's a snake coiled up in the jeep—"

"Get in the car and fasten your seatbelt," I repeated in a low voice.

The little red devil staggered backward, grabbed the car door handle, and struggled to climb into the seat, his chest heaving violently.

The air began to thicken, whether from the venomous spray of the snakes or from the immense mental stress causing my lungs to sluggishly slow down, I felt an unbearable tightness in my chest. The fact that such a massive snake den was hidden beneath the dark, sunless mountain was truly beyond my expectations.

The southwestern border region has always been a place where mysterious events occur one after another, but there is no precedent for a "super snake cave" in the ancient records.

“Mr. Feng, I can’t take it anymore… My heart is pounding, I can’t breathe…” Kaku leaned against the hood of the car, veins bulging on his forehead. The gun was still in his arm, but his fighting spirit had been crushed by the surging snake formation, to the point that he shamefully sent out a distress signal, the greatest failure for a sniper.

"Kaku, those are all illusions. Everything you see through the crosshairs can be instantly destroyed by bullets. Your teacher must have taught you countless times that under a sniper rifle, everything will turn to ashes, whether it's a beauty or a beast, they will all become our victims."

I took the rifle from him, skillfully fitted the scope, and adjusted the scale. In crucial moments, even a genius sniper like Kaku is unreliable; you have to rely on yourself for everything.

“But… when my companions turned into skeletons, just a few minutes ago they were standing alive in front of me…” Kaku raised his hand to cover his eyes, no longer having the courage to look ahead.

Undoubtedly, he was a qualified sniper, possessing a natural shooting instinct and the ability to accurately complete missions according to his superiors' orders. However, he was not a skilled explorer, unable to adjust his mindset or adapt to unpredictable changes that might occur at any time. This was why he was recruited by Uncle Wei, serving only as a soldier and never becoming a general commanding others.

For people like them, the inability to achieve success in their lives is their inherent fate.

“People must save themselves first before they can be saved by others. You see, with just one pull of the trigger, all those illusions will vanish—” I quickly raised my gun, using my left elbow as a support, aimed, and fired in one smooth motion.

The gun fired, a short, hoarse sound. The spent cartridge ejected, bounced twice on the ground, and made a monotonous "clinking" sound.

I only glanced into the sights, but the eerie and terrifying scene was already deeply imprinted in my mind.

The skeleton leaned against the machine gun, held upright by a snake. The snake's body, like a fully inflated fire hose, passed straight through the skeleton's chest cavity, wrapped twice around the skeleton's neck, and its head stood upright side by side with the human head.

I have a strange intuition that these snakes are fundamentally different from common land snakes, and the differences between them are not just in their wings.

In such a vast sea of snakes, the time it takes for six living people to turn into skeletons is no more than five minutes. My bullet shattered the skeleton and also destroyed the hideous green snake, finally doing something for my fallen teammates.

A slight commotion arose within the swarm of snakes, which automatically parted to reveal the lost jeep. The engine was off, but it was being propelled forward by the many snakes surrounding it. Inside the driver's seat sat five strangely shaped skeletons. A snake snaked through the chest cavity of each skeleton, as if trying to merge seamlessly with the gray form.

The snakes seemed to be sentient, pushing the jeep all the way down the slope at our feet.

"Feng, here are some grenades—" Red Devil remained relatively calm, holding two grenades in each hand as he stood high on his seat. Despite his young age, he possessed more composure than Kaku, who had already experienced countless battles.

I shook my head, walked to the side of the truck bed, and pulled a black plastic gasoline can from under the canvas. This was a spare fuel container, one of the ten liters found in every Jeep.

Hand grenades have limited killing power against snake swarms. If a large number of hand grenades are thrown, the resulting chain explosions may damage the mountain's structure and cause unnecessary trouble.

I unscrewed the lid of the oil drum, tore off a piece of canvas, and plugged the opening, instantly turning it into a makeshift petrol bomb.

Kaku gasped for breath: "Unfortunately... there's not enough gasoline; it's impossible to destroy them all."

I took out a lighter and gave a wry smile: "Yes, let alone ten liters of gasoline, even if a large tanker truck drove in directly, it wouldn't work. It would be a drop in the ocean. Moreover, no one can predict what the consequences of dropping this petrol bomb will be."

The walkie-talkie rang again, and Gu Qingcheng's voice was slow and calm: "Feng, what happened to you? Tiger asked me to tell you that you must not act rashly."

Red Devil laughed loudly: "Rash advance? Can we be rash? There are probably tens of thousands of poisonous snakes ahead, covering the ground." He suddenly thought of something, dropped the grenade, reached into his pocket with his left hand, took out a Sony digital camera, and kept snapping pictures of the snake swarm.

"Wind, I am the tiger." Gu Qingcheng's voice disappeared, replaced by the tiger's dejected voice.

I held out my hand, and the little red devil knowingly tossed me the walkie-talkie.

“Feng, Xiaoxin once said that there is only one correct path. This five-pointed star array is full of dangers, so you'd better turn back and follow the route that Xiaoxin and I took last time. You also know that the contents of that book, the ‘Blue Heaven and Yellow Springs Scripture,’ are all incomprehensible heavenly secrets. We can only follow them and there is no need to investigate why, right?”

There was no anger or anxiety in the tiger's voice, only a calm narration as if the tiger had lost all hope.

I smiled calmly. He was right. No one could explain why there was a snake colony here. Without enough food, the snakes would starve and kill each other, dying in large numbers. They would never thrive like this.

“I understand, we will evacuate immediately,” I replied simply and clearly.

"That's good, I'll wait for you." Silence fell over the walkie-talkie.

I tossed the rifle to Kaku and made a shooting gesture: "Shoot through the fuel tank, but don't cause an explosion. We need to cremate these guys so they don't think humans are born to be snake food."

Kaku pulled a bullet from his pocket and showed it to me: "Reduce the ammunition by two-thirds, coat the bullet with special Vaseline, and that'll be enough to achieve the effect you want." His face was full of shame, probably secretly blushing at his earlier lapse in composure.

He loaded the bullet, aimed at the fuel tank of the jeep below, and after a monotonous gunshot, a strong smell of gasoline wafted over.

After taking his fill of taking photos, the little red devil started the engine, slowly reversed the car, turned it around, and was ready to leave at high speed at any moment.

With a "click," I lit the lighter. The flame flickered restlessly, like the faint prelude to a symphony.

The canvas was set ablaze, and with an effortless toss, the oil drum landed precisely under the jeep, instantly igniting the gasoline that had spilled onto the ground. A pungent, burning smell filled the air, and the hissing of the snakes suddenly intensified tenfold, accompanied by the sizzling sound of burning fat.

With two loud "booms," the oil drums and tanks exploded one after another, sending large swathes of flames flying and affecting the snakes further away. At this moment, an even stranger phenomenon occurred in the snake formation: the snakes closest to the fire took flight, their wings fully extended, like countless clumsy, strange birds.

Kaku stuck out his tongue in horror: "Mr. Feng, what are these things? Giant snakes that can fly through the air?"

The only saving grace was that they fled into the distance instead of attacking us on the platform; otherwise, the three of us would have been in considerable danger.

Until the flames died down, none of the snakes showed any intention of rushing toward the platform. I suspect they were under some kind of strange restriction, only able to move around below the platform, meaning they would only live in another five-pointed star array emitting white light, and would never cross the boundary.

Unfortunately, the second jeep wasn't as lucky as us; it rushed in and became a glorious but foolish stepping stone.

I got Kaku back into the car, and Red Devil drove us back along the same route.

"Didn't everything just now feel like a 3D horror movie?" Little Red Ghost was still in the mood to joke.

Kaku coughed loudly, clearly showing his displeasure with the red imp. When he saw his companion transformed into a skeleton entwined by venomous snakes, he must have been deeply shocked, both psychologically and physically, so he absolutely did not want anyone to joke about it.

"There were swarms of poisonous snakes ahead, why did they rush straight in? Are they extremely mentally deranged?" Red Devil raised his doubts.

Neither Kaku nor I were in the mood to answer him. The facts were clear, the tragedy had already occurred, so what was the point of trying to trace the source? Actually, I had the answer in my heart. When they rushed through the pass, there was probably nothing in front of them. It wasn't until they entered the second five-pointed star array that everything around them suddenly changed.

Since we have personally witnessed unbelievable events such as the disappearance of stone pillars, living people sinking into blue lava, and the emergence of ancient cities underground, what else is impossible or unbelievable? It's just that all those who ventured into the snake formation have already passed away, so no one can explain the horrifying events that unfolded.

“Mr. Feng, I believe that if my master had faced the snake formation just now, he would have… he would have lost his composure too. I hope you won’t tell anyone else what happened.” Kaku stammered, clutching his spear, looking dejected.

"Haha—" Red Devil sneered.

"Don't worry, what happened earlier is all in the past. You shattered your companion's skull and shot a poisonous snake, which avenged them. Red Kid, you saw it with your own eyes, didn't you?" I slapped Red Kid hard on the shoulder to stop him from saying anything reckless and hurting Kaku's pride.

What our team needs most right now is unity. Who is right and who is wrong, who shot the snake, who is the hero and who is the coward, none of that matters.

Red Ghost snorted: "Of course, Mr. Kaku's amazing sniping skills are something I deeply admire and admire to the point of prostration."

Kaku kept tugging at the straps on his spear with both hands, a hint of embarrassment in his expression: "Thank you both. I'm just a nobody, but I can't let my master down. Of course, I know I'm not really suited to be a ruthless gunman, otherwise I wouldn't have been willing to stay away from the battlefield."

The snake pit was left far behind us, and a silent dejection filled the three of us with an awkward silence that made communication difficult.

After we rejoined the team, everyone looked at the three of us with a mixture of surprise and admiration.

"Feng, what's going on over there?" Tiger slumped into his seat, his face full of anxiety.

"It's nothing, let's continue on our way. It seems we have no choice but to follow your guidance." I looked at the tiger and felt that he had become an absolute stranger.

"It's good that you're back, Feng. I was really afraid something might have happened to you, and then we'd all be leaderless—" Tiger's words made Gu Qingcheng and Uncle Wei change color at the same time, but they didn't react immediately out of consideration for me.

Part 5: The Blade of Distance

— Chapter 5 — The Pinnacle of the Last Pentagram —

I slowly shook my head: "Tiger, you're wrong. Miss Gu is the true leader of the team. Without her strong support, we wouldn't even have had a chance to enter the cave." To this day, the Flying Eagle team that Su Lun invited as reinforcements has been almost completely wiped out, with only Fei Yue surviving by chance. I am truly grateful for Gu Qingcheng's joining us, regardless of her true motives.

Amidst the twists and turns and unpredictable changes, the only ones in the group who remained composed were Gu Qingcheng and me. I could sense that when she looked at me quietly, her gaze was filled with an all-knowing calmness.

Red Imp abandoned his plan to cut through the black stone wall and immediately returned to Uncle Wei's car. Having experienced the terrifying event, he became much more obedient, quietly curling up in his seat without uttering a word.

The car entered the passage designated by Tiger, and proceeded at a medium speed in third gear, soon approaching a familiar mountain pass.

“Go further in, and the stone walls will automatically glow, illuminating everything.” He seemed confident, but Kaku and Red Imp were on edge again, fearing that the nightmare would repeat itself.

"Mr. Tiger, what's on the other side of the pass? Could it also be an endless snake formation?" Little Red Devil asked in fear.

The tiger stroked his beard and laughed: "Snakes? No, no, not a single one. It's just a flat road leading to the third five-pointed star array."

Red Imp lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands and exclaimed in a self-righteous manner, "Oh, I get it, I get it! The reason why all the snakes gathered in the cave just now is probably because they were following someone's orders. When this person gave the order, the snakes obediently gathered, and of course, no snakes appeared in other places."

This explanation received no response from anyone. The little red devil chuckled awkwardly a few times and then fell silent again.

As the car crossed the mountain pass, it indeed entered a passage with glowing walls. Its shape was basically the same as the snake pit we had just faced, but it was clean and empty, without a single snake.

Gu Qingcheng immediately ordered: "Full speed ahead, all team members, maintain a state of combat readiness."

Her face was not good; it was pale and gloomy, her lips were tightly pursed, and there was no smile in her eyes.

In this situation, no one could offer any better suggestions, and they could only let the driver floor the gas pedal to keep the speed at around 80 kilometers per hour.

When entering the third pentagram array, we took the second passage from the left front; when entering the fourth array, we chose the first passage from the right front; and when entering the fifth array, we again chose the second passage from the right front.

As I moved smoothly forward, I felt the terrain getting lower and lower, at least ten stories lower than the starting point at the tunnel entrance. However, without an altimeter, I couldn't make a more precise judgment.

Turning from the core of the fifth formation to the first passage on the left, barring any unforeseen circumstances, you should reach the narrow crevice the tiger mentioned within ten minutes.

"It's just ahead. That crevice can only be crossed on foot. It will take about three hours to walk through it, and then you'll see the round stone house on the other side of the cliff." Tiger's emotions also became excited because, like me, he was thinking about a girl he cherished very much.

Although we couldn't see the sunlight here, the white light emanating from the cave walls grew brighter and brighter, illuminating our surroundings as if it were a cloudy day, so it didn't feel stuffy. The air circulation was also quite smooth, and no one felt short of oxygen.

As the last mountain pass came into view, even the driver couldn't resist stepping on the gas pedal to the floor in excitement, and sped straight up to the platform at the top of the slope.

As if a bucket of cold water had been poured over it, the driver slammed on the brakes, and the car came to a sudden stop with a thud, causing the two cars behind to brake abruptly as well, the sharp screeching of their wheels gripping the ground filling the air.

Ahead is a slope that slopes downwards at nearly 45 degrees, about 30 meters long, followed by a two-meter-wide crevice in the rocks.

“That’s where it is, Feng. I used to carefully pass by there, but now—” The tiger covered his mouth with one hand, trying his best to control his emotions.

The crevice was at least twenty meters high, with bare stone walls on both sides, also gleaming white. However, the crevice wasn't empty; it was completely blocked by intertwined green venomous snakes, forming a grotesque wall of flesh and blood, roughly the height of three people stacked on top of each other. To pass through the crevice, one had to step on their slippery bodies.

The driver's face had turned from deathly pale to deathly green. He opened the car door hesitantly, slowly got out, and backed away, his whole body trembling from his teeth to his knees.

I have to forgive him for deserting at this point; after all, not everyone can calmly face such a massive swarm of snakes. Following the tiger's guidance, we reached the apex of the final pentagram array, only to encounter such a cruel end.