The ground was littered with bones, forming a bone-strewn path as far as the eye could see. Standing at the top of the stairs, my legs trembled, and I couldn't bring myself to walk over.
I could see the bleak white bones, but I felt something different. Since practicing the "Wudang Five Element Technique," I had developed a strong sensitivity to changes in the surrounding atmosphere. When I entered the dark passage, I felt that something was off about the surroundings, the atmosphere was too chaotic. It was like when an ordinary person walks into a morgue, no matter how bright and sunny it is outside, as soon as you enter, you'll feel a pervasive chill and a cold wind blowing. If an ordinary person felt this way, what about me? And at this moment, I felt a pervasive coldness ten times more intense than that in a hospital morgue.
There's something strange about this place!
I took out the bell given to me by Senior Han and rang it, causing the surrounding gloom to instantly disperse. The sensation was particularly pronounced, as if the air had suddenly become fresher and even the air seemed cleaner.
"Xiaoshan, what's the situation down there?"
The fat guy shouted from above.
"Don't come down yet. There's something spooky down here!"
I replied, then took a deep breath. Although the place was heavily shrouded in coldness and the white bones were chilling, I couldn't discern the presence of any ghosts or demons. Besides, the underground passage was already sealed off at the top, and Zhu Zi and the others didn't know when they would activate the mechanism. The only way out now was to traverse the underground passage, perhaps we could still find a way out.
As I continued ringing the bell, I walked forward, lightly treading on the bone-lined path. These bones looked old, with fine cracks visible on their surfaces. I didn't know from what era they dated, but they certainly couldn't belong to the post-liberation period. There were hundreds of skeletons here, indicating the death of as many people, but if so many people had died all at once after the liberation, the news would have spread across the city. Considering the construction timing of Xuanming Temple, I had reason to believe that all the bones here were likely from the Qing Dynasty or the early Republican era.
Slightly lowering my head and skirting past a hanging skeleton, I walked about ten meters forward, but the flashlight still didn't reach the end of the path. But up to this point, I hadn't seen any monsters appear!
I took a few steps forward, and as I shone the flashlight around, I suddenly saw a small white something darting through the bones, crawling out from between them!
What was that! I was startled, as I had indeed just seen a white something. But it disappeared incredibly fast.
I walked a few steps to the side, shining the flashlight forward. While people have different appearances when alive, all the skeletons look alike, giving the impression that they were all still alive. The pairs of dark, empty sockets seemed to be staring at me.
Could there be ghosts or demons present? I wondered to myself and waved the flashlight around. Suddenly, I saw another small thing darting through the bones, this time I saw it clearly. It was long and snakelike, but it couldn't be a snake because it didn't look particularly smooth. I hurried forward, but the small figure vanished again...
What could it be? It looks like some kind of animal, but there are only bones here and nothing for animals to eat. Could it be insects? That does seem possible, but I don't remember white insects, and they're quite large in size.
I stopped in my tracks and looked back. The path behind me had turned into complete darkness. Should I continue exploring ahead or go back to meet Fatty and the others? I hesitated for a moment, shaking my head and deciding to press on. Fatty has to take care of that girl named Shen Mengtian, and if they come down with me at this critical juncture and are attacked again, the girl's life would be in danger. Fatty and I at least have the ability to protect ourselves, but that girl might be afraid of even bugs. In any case, I have to reach the end of this bone passage. At the very least, I need to figure out where this path leads.
With renewed confidence, I moved forward, the sound of my shoes on the bones echoing "clack clack," every nerve in my head stretched tight. I was afraid that a bone might jump out and ambush me. Looking at these white bones, it felt as if I was looking at countless moving monsters.
After walking for about twenty meters, I still didn't see the end of the road, but the situation around me began to change. Strange sounds could be heard from all the white bones around me. "Snap snap..." It sounded like the sound of bones colliding. I had to stop and my heart was extremely tense. Could my wild guess have actually come true? Can these bones move?
I used the flashlight to sweep around and suddenly saw one of the skeletons tremble slightly. It startled me and I hurriedly stepped back. I am quite confident about my eyesight, and that skeleton definitely moved a bit.
"I hope the Grand Master protects me, don't let me encounter such strange things alone."
I squinted my eyes. At this moment, I was alone, without Fatty and the others by my side. If all those bones could move, I'd be done for!
Regardless, I had to make sure that the skeleton I had just seen had indeed moved! With a complex feeling, I raised the flashlight and slowly approached. The skeleton that had just moved was now silent, very quiet.
"Could I have been mistaken again?"
I squinted my eyes, feeling uncertain.
"Clack clack..."
Just then, as I walked up to the skeleton, the surrounding white bones moved again. The entire arm trembled slightly, and the bones turned over!
"D*mn!"
I cursed inwardly, this time I wasn't mistaken, the skeleton had definitely moved. I immediately raised the bell in my hand and shook it vigorously. The bones didn't react at all. The gloom around me gradually dissipated. Could it be that I was too tense and made a mistake? I tried to get closer and saw a slender creature slowly poking its head out from the skeleton. It looked like a snake, but not quite a snake. It had two long tentacles extending from the front of its head, its bone-colored body was segmented into dozens of sections, like a twisting bamboo. A large head with a pair of terrifying pincers in front.
This creature wasn't a snake, but it was about the same size as a small snake. I involuntarily stepped back a few steps, exclaiming, "Heck, it's a huge centipede!"
I hadn't expected to see a centipede in this lifeless underground bone forest, and it was a white centipede that I had never seen before. The longest centipede I had seen in the fields was about the same size as my finger, but the one in front of me was much larger. The head poking out from the white bones was about three to four centimeters long, and I could vaguely make out a body coiled among the bones, estimated to be about twenty centimeters long!
A white centipede over twenty centimeters long, glaring at me, it was frightening, to say the least. My legs began to tremble with nervousness.
It shook its head, and every movement pulled the arms of the nearby white bones. This was the reason why I had seen the white bones vibrating! I put away the bell and slowly drew a triangular spike from my waist. The bell was no use against this thing, but the spike could defend me. As if aware of the danger of the spike, after staring at me for a while, it slowly retreated and finally crawled into the white bones, disappearing under the light of the flashlight.
However, I did not relax because of this, its sudden disappearance only made me more nervous. Where did this thing go? Could it be secretly attacking me? In an instant, my head was filled with countless similar questions, like having a terrifying time bomb placed around my body.
Holding the flashlight in my mouth, I quickly took out "Wild Tales from the Mountains and Fields" from my pocket. Such a strange centipede must belong to the category of wild animals. I hoped "Wild Tales from the Mountains and Fields" had some information about it. Time and tide wait for no man. After flipping through several pages, I finally found the origin of this creature.
This white centipede was called the Bone Centipede, a type of wild animal that feeds on animal bones, sucking the bone marrow for its nourishment. They are completely white and look very dangerous, but are actually non-venomous. However, being bitten by them still carries the risk of bacterial infection. Their most lethal weapon is the enormous pincers on their heads. With one bite, they can crush bones, let alone human flesh. Fortunately, under normal circumstances, they do not actively attack living creatures, especially those much larger than them. With bones everywhere, this has become a suitable place for them to inhabit.
I heard the faint sound of many things approaching from all around me, which distracted me. Were the Bone Centipedes approaching me? I shone the flashlight around, but couldn't see anything. The white bones were the best cover for the Bone Centipedes, and the insufficient light made it exceptionally difficult to see anything around here.
I could only lower my head and continue reading "Mountain Wilderness Tales". There isn't much information about the bone centipede, and the accompanying illustrations are blurry, but it looks similar to the one I just saw. I was still relatively calm, until I read the last sentence. At the end of the page introducing the bone centipede, it was written "They like to live in groups, usually in groups of five to ten."
There are more than one bone centipede here. At this moment, the bones around me suddenly started moving. I was shocked and used a flashlight to see the bone centipedes moving between the bones. There were quite a few of them, and each one was very long, and their huge pincers made a terrifying sound when they collided.
"Damn!"
The most important thing wasn't even written in the first line. I quickly put away "Mountain Wilderness Tales" and began to retreat. Even though bone centipedes don't usually attack living creatures directly, I couldn't rely solely on the information from the book. Even if there were only ten bone centipedes here, it would be enough to tear me to pieces!
As I continued to retreat, it felt like something was chasing me. With every step I took back, the bones around me shook, and the unpleasant sounds mixed with my rapid breath, creating a terrifying pursuit.
"Xiaoshan, how's it going down there?"
I hadn't gone too far, and after retreating about ten steps, I could hear Fatty's voice. I quickly turned around and shouted, "There's a monster down there, you retreat first!"
"Okay!"
Fatty immediately replied. I held the tri-edge spike and continued to retreat faster, while the bone centipedes around me chased more ferociously. The previously quiet bone forest passage occasionally made terrifying sounds.
After about two or three minutes, I had retreated to the stairway. I leaned against the wall and slowly moved upwards. Under the flashlight, several white bone centipedes were crawling under the stairs, their twisting bodies and countless long legs made me feel sick and scared.
I reached the stairway, and at this moment, a bone centipede from below suddenly climbed on the wall, obviously trying to chase me. I was terrified, grabbing the edge of the dark passage. Then I pushed up and jumped out of the dark passage. At that moment, the bone centipede also poked its head out, its huge pincers fiercely snapping, narrowly missing my leg and only tearing my pants, leaving a large hole.
I dared not stay, I flipped out of the stone coffin. The bone centipede was bold, climbing along the edge of the stone coffin as if it was going mad, seemingly trying to chase and kill me.
"Wow, such a long millipede!"
Fatty called the centipede a millipede and turned pale when he saw the bone centipede, not to mention the scared look on Shen Mentian's face behind him, she was clinging tightly to Fatty's arm, shivering all over.
"This is a bone centipede, its large pincers can crush bones. There are several below. Let's kill this one first!"
Seeing that the bone centipede below didn't follow, I made up my mind. If we didn't kill it, we would never be able to go down.
"Hey Fatty, let's coordinate. If we don't kill this thing, we'll never be able to go down."
I shouted, and Fatty immediately nodded, walking to my side and then suddenly shouting, and wielding the tri-edge spike to strike. The cautious bone centipede immediately backed off, and at this moment, I rushed from the other side. I raised the tri-edge spike and stabbed down, and the sharp tip of the spike pierced into the bone centipede's body. There was a clang, the body of the bone centipede was as hard as bone. But I had used enough force and the tri-edge spike was sturdy enough. It had pierced the entire body of the bone centipede, nailing it to the bottom of the stone coffin.
"Squeak..."
Thick blood flowed out from the pierced bone centipede's body. It let out a miserable cry, its upper body wanted to attack me, the huge pincers kept snapping, but I didn't let go. Its upper body was not enough to attack me and Fatty.
"Wow, is this thing worth anything?"
Fatty was truly fixated on money. He mentioned money in three sentences. I rolled my eyes at him and said, "You only care about money. There are still several more below, why don't you go down and bring them up yourself."
Fatty was speechless and scratched his head, looking at me somewhat embarrassed.
The bone centipede was exceptionally tenacious, twisting and struggling for a while before it finally went limp. Seeing it was dead, I pulled out the tri-edge spike.
"What's the situation down there?" asked Fatty curiously.
"I haven't reached the end, but it shouldn't be far. There are nearly ten giant centipedes below, each with this size. And the underground passage is a terrifying path paved with white bones. It should be the only passage leading deeper into this stronghold. I'm not sure if there is a way out," I said.
My words brought a moment of silence. The others didn't open the mechanism, was it because it was broken or they didn't want to open it? The implications of the former and the latter are completely different.
"Can't we just stay here and wait for someone to rescue us?" sobbed Shen Mengtian, breaking the silence. She was clearly frightened. At least it was temporarily safe here, and with me and Fatty to protect her, staying was indeed an option. But I shook my head and said, "No, I have a brother who was taken away. I have to save him no matter what. There may still be other mechanisms in this room, but we can't find them now. The dark passage is the only way to keep going. I definitely have to go down."
Fatty didn't say anything. Shen Mengtian shook her head, saying, "But you can't go down now, can you? Didn't you say there are many of these white centipedes down there?"
I looked back at the dark passage and said after a moment of contemplation, "Let's figure out a way to kill these centipedes one by one."
"How?" Fatty asked skeptically.
I looked at the stone coffin, then said after a moment, "Fatty, you stay up here to watch over, and I'll go down first to lure them to attack me. If only one comes at a time, we'll kill it directly. If there are several at once, we'll use the lifting mechanism!"
Shen Mengtian didn't understand my meaning, but Fatty and I had been friends for many years, and he immediately nodded in agreement, showing that we had an understanding.
Jumping into the stone coffin, I looked down the dark passage, shining my flashlight and slowly walking down. I could hear the sound of the centipedes crawling as soon as I reached halfway. These earth creatures were still there!
I cautiously made my way down and finally saw the centipedes lurking at the foot of the stairs. They seemed somewhat hesitant, but they never crawled up the stairs. It was as if the stairs were a minefield that these centipedes, terrifying as they were, dare not cross.
"Interesting," I murmured softly. Then I slowly approached, and the centipedes confronted me one after another, only about ten centimeters away. I waved my arms, continuously luring the centipedes from below, but they wouldn't come up.
"You won't come up, huh? Alright, if you don't come up, I'll take action!" I said, advancing a little further. I was now closer to the centipedes, and then I raised the three-pronged spear and fiercely stabbed down. One centipede that couldn't dodge in time was pierced on the spot, crazily writhing on the three-pronged spear, while the other centipedes were startled and quickly retreated. I held up the three-pronged spear and stepped back to the top of the stairs, then stepped on the head of the centipede.
"Since you won't come up, I'll kill you one by one!" I sneered.