"Stop talking nonsense, fish? Where did the fish come from!"
Dai An looked around, her anger escalating, her voice becoming louder.
Lo Qiong looked at me, apparently he was confident. I raised my hand and said, "Lo Qiong, tell us why there would be fish here?"
"I don’t know why there would be fish here, but in terms of the wound, I carefully examined the lower part of Wei Changping where he was bitten, and it was basically torn apart. It is clearly visible that these areas are all bite wounds, torn by sharp teeth. Within a few minutes, it is impossible for a single animal to do this, so. My first judgment is that Wei Changping's lower body was attacked by a group of terrifying animals in a short period of time."
Lo Qiong's first point was well-founded and it stunned Dai An, whose clamoring voice quieted down at this moment. Beside him, Gu Yu lit a cigarette, gesturing for Lo Qiong to continue.
"After confirming that Wei Changping was killed by a group of animals, I began to analyze what kind of animal could do this in a short time. My first thought was a wolf or a tiger, but I quickly denied it myself, as it is unlikely that these are bite wounds from large animals. Take a closer look at these wounds on Wei Changping. They are dense and small, some have obvious bite marks on the bones, all in a very small shape. This indicates that the one biting him is not a large wild beast. If it were a tiger, one bite could have crushed his bones. After confirming that it is not a large wild beast, I then focused on small creatures like mice. In the old forest, I have seen man-eating rats, there were a lot of them and after launching an attack on humans, they could eat all the flesh off a person's body within minutes. But soon, I found direct evidence that it was not man-eating rats, but fish, something similar to piranhas."
As Lo Qiong spoke, he pulled out a round bright piece from Wei Changping's lower body, somewhat resembling the colored pieces used as decoration on women's clothes in our era, it was covered in blood and he placed it in front of us. Everyone gathered to take a closer look, it turned out to be a fish scale!
"There are fish scales!"
Fatty exclaimed in surprise.
"What kind of trickery are you playing, where would there be fish here? I think this is a trap set up by you, causing the death of my brother!"
Dai An, in an emotionally charged state, raised the crossbow in her hand and once again aimed it at Lo Qiong.
"My brother has no reason to lie to you, and we cannot set a trap under your noses. I know you feel bad about your brother's death, but if we don’t find out the real cause of his death and keep blindly guessing, then we will all end up dead in the end!"
In fact, I was talking to Gu Yu, the boss, hoping he could understand the reason behind my words. Sure enough, as soon as I finished speaking, he walked up and pulled Dai An back, saying, "Put away the crossbow, you guys carry Changping out and place him in the Bai Guan passage outside. When we go back, we will take him home."
Dai An wiped away her tears, pushed away Fatty, picked up the already deceased Wei Changping, and walked away. Gu Yu turned to look at me. After a while, he said, "If my brother has another accident in the next treasure hunt, for whatever reason, my brother dies once, your brother will die twice, do you understand?"
Such a blatant threat, this guy, who was as aggressive as a mad dog like Dai An, was actually easy to deal with. The more difficult one was Gu Yu, a calm and steady man. Even his brother's death didn't make him lose his mind. I actually wished he and Dai An would go crazy, perhaps it would lead to them getting killed in the next treasure hunt.
Dai An quickly returned, and we continued to explore deeper into the first level. The darkness around us, coupled with Wei Changping's death, made us even more cautious, moving together as a group.
"What kind of treasure did Wei Changping just find?"
Fatty walked behind me and asked in a low voice.
"Damn it, you’re just full of questions, why ask me at this time! How would I know!"
I was nervous, Wei Changping was inexplicably eaten by a monster, and now that I was in the forefront, if anyone was going to die, it would be me.
"Hey, hey, I'm not just trying to get rich? Oh, by the way, when are we going to execute our own plan?"
The fat man chuckled, then got back to the point.
"Let's talk about it after passing the first level, don't be impatient. I feel like there are still more terrifying things to explore this time."
As I spoke, I crept forward cautiously.
After about a hundred steps, the stairs leading to the second floor finally appeared ahead. I carefully shone my flashlight, this is the time to be cautious. It's just like walking a tightrope. Often, the fall happens in the last few steps. The ground, the walls, and all around showed no traces of any mechanisms.
"Ba Xiaoshan, you go over alone first."
Gu Yu shouted from behind. The fat man was about to curse, but I waved my hand, then stepped out on my own. It was very dark, and I was getting farther and farther away from the people behind me. The stairs were right in front of me. It seemed like I could just leap over them, but I didn't dare. I felt unusually nervous, every piece of ground in front of me seemed like a huge pit about to collapse. The scene of Wei Changping's death flashed before my eyes like a revolving lantern. He lost his life just by taking a wrong step.
I took ten steps, but nothing unusual happened. There were about six or seven meters to the stairs, as I was about to continue to move forward, I saw something crawling on the ground. I quickly turned the flashlight, and there, under the light, was a small creature darting across the ground. It was brown all over, covered with rough dust and dirt. It had thin membrane-like fins on its head, jumping constantly, and indeed looked somewhat like a fish.
"A fish?"
I muttered in surprise. Suddenly, my mind tightened. Could this be the strange fish that Luoqiong had just mentioned? But it looked like just one. It shouldn't be able to kill me!
I quickly pulled out my three-edged spike, and turned to shout at the fat man and the others, "I saw a strange fish. Don't come over, I'll find a way to kill it. What's wrong with you? Can't you hear me?"
I saw the fat man and the others looking very pale. At the same time, their eyes kept rising, as if they had seen something huge. Suddenly, there was a strange rumble behind me. I slowly turned around, and in the darkness, it seemed like something was staring at me! I gradually moved the flashlight upwards. I saw countless strange fish clinging to the walls. These strange fish were densely packed on the walls like bats, as if they were swarming locusts.
"Darn, so many!"
I was startled. Suddenly, the ground in front of me burst open. With a "bang," I turned my head in shock, and saw the ground in front of me rupturing as a group of creatures darted out from the soil, biting towards my body.
I quickly swung the three-edged spike, sending several fish flying, then turned and ran back. As I ran, the ground behind me erupted one after another. When I looked back, those creatures seemed to twist into a rope, constantly rushing up from the ground, sharp teeth heading towards me.
"Fat man, run, quickly!"
I ran frantically, shouting as I ran. Everyone turned and rushed towards the exit. But before they ran a few steps, the ground in front of them also burst open, and another group of strange fish surged from underground, launching an attack.
"What the hell is this? How can fish bite people on the ground? Luoqiong, be careful, there are fish nearby."
We watched out for each other, standing back to back. After killing many strange fish, the fish group began to maintain a distance from us, but they did not give up their attack, moving back and forth, as if searching for the right opportunity to strike.
"Brother Zhu, what on earth is this?"
Luoqiong asked nervously.
"I don't know, I've never seen anything like this before."
Zhu Zi seemed confused and unable to make sense of it.
After thinking for a moment, I suddenly shouted, "I know! I've seen this thing in 'Strange Tales from the Mountains and the Wilds.' This thing is called mudfish! They are amphibians that can survive in water or damp soil. Shanghai's altitude is relatively low, and this underground palace is very deep, digging further down would reach underground water, so the soil is moist, perfect for these mudfish to live! They are carnivorous, attracted by the smell of blood, and are very scary and difficult creatures to deal with!"
The variety of land creatures is actually quite extensive, but most of them are not well-known. According to the records of "Mountain and Wild Tales", the first discovery of the mudfish was made by a farmer working in the fields. "In the desolate marshes, a farmer tilling the land noticed a strange fish burrowing into the mud. He pursued it and caught it. Its nature was as fierce as a tiger, with sharp, interlocking teeth, and it was feared to be fatal."
This is a record about the mudfish from "Mountain and Wild Tales", but I never thought that encountering the mudfish for the first time would be so terrifying!
"The hell, why are there so many of them!"
Holding a trident, Fatty's eyes widened and he shouted loudly. Around us, there seemed to be five or six groups of mudfish swimming back and forth. A large amount of dust was flying in the air, and on the ground, these mudfish seemed to treat the hard soil as if it were water, coming and going without a trace.
We had already killed about ten mudfish in a row, and the ground was covered with bodies and bloodstains. But obviously, this did not make the remaining mudfish retreat. On the contrary, the smell of blood stimulated more fish, and their agitation and aggressiveness grew stronger.
"We need to find a way to escape! Everyone must stick together, slowly move towards the direction of the palace gate, back to back."
In desperation, Zhu raised his voice and waved his hands, directing the remaining people towards the gate. We moved very slowly, back to back. With our movement, the mudfish group moved with us. Occasionally, one or two mudfish would not be able to resist and would attack, ending up as corpses under our hands.
"What are they waiting for?"
As we moved, Luoyung suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"Never mind what they're waiting for! How are we supposed to know what these earth animals are thinking? Hurry, let's get out of here first!"
Fatty swung the trident once and nailed a mudfish trying to bite his foot, then wiped off the blood from the trident and shouted back.
"Wild wolves in the mountains also act like this, but that's because the alpha wolf hasn't ordered an attack. They often observe their prey and only strike when the prey is exhausted or weakened. These mudfish give me the feeling of wild wolves in the mountains!"
Luoyung was very nervous, his instinct kept reminding him that it was very dangerous now.
Our movement was effective, and we could already see the direction of the exit, and everyone seemed to have eased up a bit. But I always felt that something was not right; for these mudfish, we were their food. Would they spare the food that was already in their mouth? Behind us, Zhu shouted excitedly, "We're almost there, we can already see the exit!"
But just as the opportunity to escape was about to come, a sudden mishap occurred! At the exit, a row of iron bars suddenly rose up, plunging out from below the ground and piercing through the top layer, completely sealing off the exit.
"No! How could this happen? Who triggered the mechanism, who was it!"
Dai An roared in anger, grabbing Luoyung and Fatty and questioning them sternly. But none of us could answer. Because no one had touched the mechanism; these thick iron bars had risen from the ground on their own, as if someone had intentionally blocked our way out.
Zhu quickly ran to the side of the iron bars and tried to slam them a few times, but the bars didn't budge. Fatty followed to take a look, then whispered, "Although these iron bars are heavily rusted on the surface, they are actually very sturdy. You can't break them, and all of us combined can't break them either."
"So what do we do?"
Shen Mentian looked stunned. The girl's face turned pale in an instant. Gu Yu remained silent, reaching into Dai An's backpack and pulling out a bag, which, when opened, was filled with homemade landmines.
"If we can't break them, we'll use explosives to blow them open. Anzi, set up the landmines. We cannot cut off our own way out."
The power of the landmines was not small, but setting them up was a bit tricky. Just as Dai An bent down to start setting the bombs, the mudfish that were lurking suddenly attacked. Two groups of mudfish rushed straight at us from both sides.
"These earth animals are coming, be careful!"
Fatty raised the trident, and just as the fish were about to pounce, a lit landmine flew past Fatty from behind and landed in the heart of the mudfish group. A moment later, a loud explosion, the shock wave nearly knocked Fatty over, the mudfish group completely shattered, dozens of mudfish lay in a pool of blood. A pungent smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
"Damn, you almost blew me up with them."
The fat man brushed off the dust on his body and cursed. Dian coldly snorted and turned to continue setting up the explosives. I could tell from the look on his face that he probably really wanted to kill the fat man just now.
Another group of mudfish confronted Zhu Zi and Gu Yu. Gu Yu pulled out three small black stones from his waist, each about the size of the glass marbles I played with when I was a child. He held them with four fingers and suddenly threw them into the approaching mudfish group. The three black stones fell into the group and immediately released a large amount of black gas, which was very thick and spread outward very quickly. Zhu Zi quickly covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve and whispered to me, "This smoke is poisonous. Hold your breath quickly."
The black gas dispersed, and the originally aggressive mudfish group suddenly became quiet. I dared not breathe, but I kept staring at the black gas. In just about a minute, the black gas dissipated, and a pile of corpses appeared on the ground. Each mudfish's body was intact but lifeless. Their brown bodies had turned black, and black liquid continuously seeped from their bulging eyes.
"Turns out they all have some skills."
Zhu Zi spoke as the black gas dissipated.
"When navigating in the world, you always need to keep something handy for self-preservation. Zhu Zi, it looks like you didn't get to use your self-preservation skills, did you?"
After glancing at Zhu Zi, Gu Yu spoke.
People who walk the path always need to keep their cards hidden. If you lay all your cards out on the table, you deserve to die. Accumulate yourself; the stronger the foundation, the longer you'll live.
"The explosives are set, and I adjusted the amount. It shouldn't bring down the entire palace, but it should break these iron rods."
Confidently exclaimed Dian, and everyone stepped back. After lighting the fuse, Dian ran far away. In a few seconds, there was a loud explosion, and a huge black smoke engulfed us. My ears even ached momentarily.
"That was powerful. Did the iron rods break? I see more batches of mudfish coming from behind."
Zhu Zi shouted, and I waved away the dust before looking. I was stunned. The iron rods in front of us hadn't been blasted apart. They remained intact.
"How could this be?"
Dian was also stupefied. He had been confident in his measurements of the explosives. It should have been an easy task to break these iron rods, but the result was beyond our expectations.
"An, what's going on?"
Gu Yu's expression also changed. If the iron rods couldn't be broken, it meant that our way out was still closed. We could perish at any moment. Dian hurried over and carefully checked, and finally made a discovery after a while! He gently peeled off the rust on the iron rods, revealing the true nature of the metal hidden beneath the rust spots.
"This isn't iron, it seems to be some other type of metal."
Dian waved the stick in front of him, then said after scrutinizing, "This seems to be titanium. Who the hell could have refined titanium metal three hundred years ago?"
Titanium is harder than iron, and Dian had been careless and not checked the material of these rods. From the outside, titanium and polished iron look very similar and are often confused.
"Don't waste time. Now is not the time for investigation. Prepare for the second blast, this time increase the amount of explosives. We have to get out of here."
Gu Yu's tone contained some displeasure, which came from his nervousness, making him impatient.
But Gu Yu's command was not met with a response. Dian stood there stupidly without moving.
"What's wrong?"
Gu Yu asked in confusion.
"Boss, we don't have enough explosives with us..."
This is the scariest and most desperate thing I've heard today. Gu Yu's face changed in shock, and he couldn't maintain the calm and composure he had before. Our faces turned ashen with fear!
"I didn't expect to use so much explosives. If we add the remaining amount to the amount just detonated, it's enough to break these sticks. But..."
Dai'an dared not continue because Gu Yu had already shown a murderous look.