Ancient tomb excavation traces

I was initially gripped by fear and hadn't paid any attention to what was happening here; all I wanted to do was run. Now, looking around, it was indeed eerily quiet...

Bao Cai asked, "Could it be that these women were killed by the things that burst out of their bellies?"

Bajian immediately retorted, "Then why did those who were fast also fall over? They didn't have children!"

Qiu Yue said speechlessly, "No, didn't you notice that only a small portion of these eggs are showing, and they've stopped hatching now?"

Bajian looked around at himself and said, "That's strange, everything really stopped all of a sudden. What happened?"

The young Taoist priest said, "It was the sound of bells. I heard them ringing a few times during the fight, but they're not ringing now. It seems the formation has been broken..."

Upon hearing this, Bao Cai's eyes widened, and he exclaimed with delight, "It's the warehouse manager! I didn't expect him to be so reliable at such a crucial moment!"

I breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving this answer, but the place we were standing in was hardly a good spot; it was littered with corpses, resembling a mass grave.

Upon seeing this, I said, "This place is full of dead people, and the yin energy is so heavy. Now that we have rescued Bajian, let's go and meet up with Master Ku."

Bajian and Baocai, who had been restless for some time, quickly agreed. But then Qiuyue said, "Wait!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks, watching as Qiuyue crouched down, looking with affection at the still-burning little fire monkey. She then took out a pair of gloves from a leather pouch hanging at her waist. After putting on the gloves, she picked up a piece of firewood from the ground, lit it with the fire monkey's flame, and handed the torch to the young Taoist priest. Then, she carefully patted out the flames on the fire monkey with her non-scorching gloves.

After the fire was extinguished, she affectionately patted the little monkey's head and said to us in a deep voice, "Your companion has been saved, but what about the fire monkey's companion?"

Looking at the fire in the little fire monkey's dark eyes, I wanted to slap myself for being so heartless. I only remembered my companion and almost forgot about this little monkey who had helped us and rushed to our aid time and again.

At this moment, it looked at us sadly. Although it couldn't speak, I seemed to understand something from its expression.

Bao Cai looked at the little fire monkey with deep guilt and said, "What do we do now? We only found Ba Jian, and the little fire monkey can't talk. We don't know if it really wants to find its companions. If it does, these corpses have been acting so strangely for so many days, I'm afraid its companions' lives are in danger..."

Before Bao Cai could speak, the little fire monkey lowered its head and let out a soft, childish cry. In the midst of its cry, I could faintly hear a strange noise coming from behind me. I frowned and turned around to look. Apart from the female corpse lying there with her belly ripped open and half of an egg exposed, there was nothing unusual. I turned back, thinking that I was just being too sensitive, so I didn't take it to heart.

At that moment, we were all squatting down, not knowing what to do. The little fire monkey seemed to sense our worries. It tilted its head, then quickly turned around and leaped up the giant tree.

Everyone stood up. Bao Cai looked at the giant tree that the fire monkey had leaped up with a reluctant expression and said, "Is it going to leave us?"

"Who knows..." I felt a little sad too.

Everyone stood there for a few minutes, but the little fire monkey still didn't appear. Bao Cai really thought that the fire monkey had left. He sighed and said, "It's gone just like that..." But then he heard a creak.

Our hearts, which had been heavy with anxiety, were instantly ignited. A hint of joy appeared on the young Taoist's face. The little fire monkey climbed down from the tree, and behind it, more...

I took a deep breath. It was just a skin; the fire monkey's marrow seemed to have been sucked dry. I was horrified. The little fire monkey cried out sadly, clearly this was its companion. We didn't know how to comfort the little fire monkey carrying this skin; we could only feel its pain.

After a long while, the young Taoist carefully picked up the fire monkey's skin from the ground and said to us, "Perhaps this little fire monkey is trying to tell us that its companion is dead and that we don't need to stay any longer."

At that moment, I felt an overwhelming pang of sorrow, an indescribable feeling. I stroked the sensible little fire monkey, and now I finally understood what it had been doing when it disappeared. It was probably going to find its friends, but it was too late. We arrived too late; there was nothing we could do for it.

Since things had come to this, there was no use in being sad or upset. Bao Cai said that the fire monkeys had their own kind, and if all of this fire monkey's companions died, it would be bullied and shunned by the other monkeys. So in the end, everyone unanimously decided to take it with them, take good care of it, and be its companions and brothers.

After making this decision, the gloom in my heart dissipated a lot. The little fire monkey seemed to accept us new companions very well. After we dealt with the bodies of its relatives, it would sometimes jump on me and sometimes tease the little Taoist priest, adding a lot of joy to us.

The joyful atmosphere didn't last long. Just as everyone headed in the direction from which the bell had come, they heard a sharp cry similar to that of a night owl named Zichun. My hair stood on end instantly. The group stopped, and Little Fire Monkey turned around sharply and warned the dark tree trunk behind them.

"What's going on?" Bao Cai asked, looking timid and hesitant, as if he were being hoisted up.

Qiu Yue's expression darkened, and she said, "This cry is very similar to the cries of those things that just burst out of their bellies..."

I frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Didn't Master Ku already destroy the formation? How can those eggs still make sounds?"

We all turned our gaze to the silent, lost in thought young Taoist priest. His expression was solemn, clearly not expecting this turn of events. However, before we could get any answers, the hollow voice rang out again, this time not just once, but many times, as if calling for its companions.

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The young Taoist priest sensed something was wrong and urged us, "Go! Go! Something's not right about that thing!" He then pushed us forward.

He made me panic, and as I ran, I asked, "What's wrong?"

The young Taoist priest said, "Didn't you notice that those female corpses with eggs inside their bellies started vomiting after they met us?"

I hesitated for a moment, recalling the scene when I was surrounded by the female corpses and they suddenly vomited at me. At the time, I thought they were vomiting because they didn't like me, but now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like that's the case. So I said, "Indeed... I also find it strange. Why do they vomit when they see us? What's going on?"

The young Taoist priest said, "Miss Qiu has always dealt with the thinner female corpses; the fat female corpses have no interest in her at all."

Qiuyue walked around a giant tree and said, "The way you put it, it sounds like the ones attacking me are all fast-moving corpses."

Bao Cai, panting from running, still managed to chime in, "Could it be... that these... female corpses selectively target their enemies? Strong against strong?"

The young Taoist priest said, "No... I don't know if you've ever felt it, but when those obese female corpses approach us, we feel very tired."

"Yes!" Bao Cai, I, and Ba Jian said almost in unison, but Qiu Yue didn't seem to think so.

The young Taoist priest said, "Then I'm not wrong. I suspect that those obese female corpses will change when they come into contact with yang bodies. No, it shouldn't be said that it's the female corpses, but the eggs in their bellies. They may need our yang energy to be conceived, which means they are absorbing our yang energy."

"What!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

Qiu Yue said, "Now I understand why the little fire monkey's relatives turned into skin. Fire monkeys are extremely yang in nature, so those female corpses carrying eggs naturally wouldn't let them go. The little fire monkey that came to us was female, so it escaped this calamity."

I was utterly astonished and exclaimed, "Such a thing exists? To come into being from a male body? What kind of strange thing is that?"

Bajian, running ahead of us, said, "Although I don't understand, there's a legend in our village about a creepy insect spirit with many legs that took a liking to a young virgin. It transformed itself into a handsome man to attract her attention. At that time, a powerful Taoist priest happened to be passing through the town. He noticed the girl was emanating black energy and warned her, giving her a protective talisman. After that day, the insect spirit couldn't get close to the woman because of the talisman. However, being a centuries-old monster, it was extremely lewd. Originally, it wanted to mate with her and absorb her pure energy to transfer its power, but with the talisman, it changed its method. It transformed back into its insect form and lay at her doorstep, sucking her energy until the girl slowly withered away and died."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Yue said, "That's a bit of a stretch, but the meaning is similar. Anyway, you guys need to run fast and not get caught by that egg, otherwise you'll end up like that girl, your life force will completely disappear, and you'll end up looking like a withered corpse!"

Bao Cai was already exhausted, and upon hearing Qiu Yue's words, his legs went weak, and he almost tripped. At the same time, the branches behind me suddenly rustled. I jumped, turned around, and saw a dark figure that looked like a cat leaping over a wall, disappearing in the blink of an eye! (To be continued.)

I like tomb raiding.