Ancient tomb excavation traces

(The desert section is quite long; it was originally intended to be completed in two parts, up and down, but I'm not going to be so particular about categorization. The adventures and subsequent background story analysis took a lot of time and effort, so I hope you'll read on patiently. Remember to subscribe, give monthly tickets, and consider donations after you finish!)

Just as I was breaking down, fate deepened our despair. The only ray of light shining down from above was slowly obscured by a thick cloud. I turned around, and Bao Cai and Qiu Yue's faces darkened instantly, filled with unspeakable panic. Soon, shrill screams filled the air around us—triumphant laughter. The undead swarmed down, bringing a storm of blood and gore. Their movements were like eight-legged spiders, crawling grotesquely across the ground. Some of the corpses were so broken they were unrecognizable as human.

The fortress had collapsed, and the female corpse rushed past the three of us. Seeing the situation was bad, I hurriedly moved to the side, but as I had seen before, there was hardly any space left by the hanging vines, and one female corpse after another was hanging from them. My dodging would undoubtedly benefit some other restless undead.

They reached out to me, and like Tang Sanzang, I frantically dodged one demon after another. But no matter how I tried to escape, there was nowhere I could find refuge in this demon's lair. Just as I retreated, a masked female corpse grabbed my shoulder. When people are about to die, they'll fight to the death. I'm not a hero, but I've followed our ancestors up and down mountains and into the earth for a while, experiencing dangers I never dreamed of. Although each danger was more perilous than the last, I realized that since death was inevitable, there was no need to cower in fear.

When the female corpse grabbed my shoulder, I quickly dodged, but her nails were very long, and as I pulled away, they still grazed my cheek, breaking the skin.

A searing pain shot through us; these corpses were all covered in corpse poison. If we didn't end the battle quickly and use the goblin fruit to detoxify, we would surely die a horrible death.

Perhaps the pain stimulated my nerves, and I shouted, "Damn it! I'll fight you to the death!" Although I lost my Mongolian knife, Qiuyue gave me a battle sickle. She said that the battle sickle belonged to one of her dead comrades. It had no name, but it had a distinguished record of battle, having slain zombies and all sorts of insidious creatures. It was one of the best weapons in the Nine Kingdoms, which were superior to the others.

For some reason, I found the scythe quite handy. Its long handle, sharp blade, and gleaming cold light made it perfect for one-on-one combat. Being prepared prevented me from panicking. As the female corpse, her face slashed, lunged at me with a screech, I took a step back, preparing to swing the scythe. But the thing came at me with such force, and I misjudged its attack range. I was instantly knocked to the ground. Falling like that meant I was nothing more than easy prey for a pack of lionesses.

The light above my head was growing dimmer and dimmer. One female corpse after another lunged at me, ready to rip out my heart and lungs, and rip out my intestines. I bared my teeth, held my scythe horizontally, and kicked my legs incessantly, like a dying frog being turned belly up, trying to stop these monsters from getting closer. But this undoubtedly exposed my hands. A drop of sticky, cool stuff dripped onto my hand. Without even looking, I could probably guess that it was the liquid secreted by the rotting corpse.

I was sprawled on the ground, desperate to get up, but I didn't know how many corpses surrounded me. I was afraid that if I stood up, the wave of corpses would slam me down again. They exhaled cold breaths, and one after another, grotesque faces approached me. I noticed that their faces were constantly secreting liquid, melting like wax. The masks that were originally on their faces were slowly peeling off. Finally, with a clatter, a mask fell and hit me right in the eye. A dull pain shot through me, and I instinctively closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I almost vomited. Half of the face was intact, but the other half was completely rotten.

Seeing this bizarre scene, I remained silent in terror, watching as the masks on the faces of the female corpses surrounding me kept peeling off. The process of removing the masks was like childbirth, incredibly arduous. I suddenly realized that half of these masks were originally part of their faces.

They were half-hunched over, making vomiting "uh uh..." sounds, their chests heaving violently, their heads hanging in front of me. I never dreamed that such a horrific scene would appear before me one day. For a moment, I felt my heart had stopped. I couldn't smell the stench of the dead, and my mind went blank.

They kept vomiting, and there were sounds of fighting and shouting all around, but my world was quiet.

After these women removed their masks, their festering mouths were exposed. Because of the dim light, I could see that their teeth were stained with blood. The bloodstains were mottled, dark in color, and disgusting, making me think of the scene of them chewing human flesh!

My hands went limp with fear, and the scythe slowly slipped from my grasp. The terror had reached its peak, leaving only a suffocating feeling, like a raging tsunami that gave me no time to breathe, threatening to engulf me instantly. My mind stopped thinking about where my comrades were, whether they were still fighting to the death…

Just when I thought my time was coming to an end, the scythe fell limply to my chest. A dull pain struck my heart, and for a moment, my mind went blank, as if I had been hit with a stick. I stared wide-eyed at the layers upon layers of corpses lying in front of me. They were all vomiting for no reason, and countless sticky liquids flowed uncontrollably from their mouths, dripping onto my body and the ground. They looked like women who were drunk and vomiting violently.

I froze as I pulled the scythe from my chest. It was a close call. If the blade of the scythe had been aimed at me and smashed down, I would have really killed myself.

Seeing the female corpse suddenly move, a strange thought popped into my head: could these women be disgusted by my body and vomiting like crazy here? Of course, this was just a self-comforting thought. At this moment, it was a good time for me to escape. I braced myself on the ground with one hand, ignoring the nauseating smell and the sticky feel, and carefully got up. Just then, I suddenly heard a "Ah!", the rustling of leaves from the branches above, and the sharp cry of a fire monkey. The cry startled the birds that were perched there and almost ruptured my eardrums.

At the same time, Bao Cai cried out, "Ah! Xiao Ba! Xiao Ba!" He was clearly extremely anxious, his words were incoherent, and his tone was unusually strange.

What I saw earlier was that half of Hachi's body had already been pulled off the branch, and now things might be...

I dared not think about it. I gripped my scythe tightly, preparing to attack the female corpse who was only half a body length away from me. But then I noticed that the female corpse's chest and abdomen suddenly swelled up. The bulge was rolling inside her body, and it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest.

What the heck? I was completely stunned. Just then, Qiuyue, who was on the outer edge of the circle of corpses, shouted, "Feng Liu! Get out of the way!" Before I could even recover from the strange rolling of the corpses, I suddenly heard a huge "bang!" The female corpse surrounding me exploded in front of me. Countless liquids and rotten flesh splattered into the air, and the mud and withered leaves on the ground also joined in. I saw sparks and smelled sulfur and saltpeter... (To be continued.)

I like tomb raiding.