Ancient tomb excavation traces

Master Ku said, "Your words are all guesses. The way the tree roots grew could just be a coincidence. How can you determine that these are dragon bones? How can you be sure they lead to an ancient tomb?"

The young Taoist priest looked up and met the master's eyes, saying, "It's true that I can't be sure, but if you feel it carefully, the area under these tree roots isn't stuffy; it should be open. There's no such thing as a coincidence in this world."

Hearing the young Taoist priest speak so seriously, everyone focused their attention and sensed it. Only Bajian, Qiuyue, and Kushi could sense anything. Baocai and I felt nothing at all. It was like ordinary people going on a mission with some Marvel superheroes. They had already foreseen the danger, while we were still foolishly hiding, unaware that danger was approaching.

However, there were also things we could understand. At this moment, the little fire monkey, listening to us talking, suddenly broke free from Qiuyue's arms and ran to Baocai's side. It quickly took out the ring that Baocai had given us earlier from Baocai's bag, and then squeaked "Squeak... Squeak..."

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Bao Cai was the first to react. He happily hugged the fire monkey, quickly retracted his ring, and exclaimed, "Heavens! How can there be such a clever monkey in this world?" Then, he looked up at us, his eyes gleaming with golden light, and said, "It must be trying to tell us the way to the treasure. Maybe, as the fortune teller said, this is a passageway. Haha, what a coincidence..."

Seeing his greedy expression, I shook my head helplessly. Master Ku was stunned for a moment, but judging from the Fire Monkey's reaction, he seemed to have silently accepted the fact that the tree root was a dragon bone passage.

But going forward along this path is too strenuous. Tree roots aren't like buildings, where you can build them at the perfect height. They will inevitably grow to varying depths due to natural causes. We can still crawl on our knees from where we are now, but no one can guarantee that we won't have to crawl like turtles as we go down. It's too tiring... I suddenly felt like giving up.

Just then, Bajian, who was acting as a sentry, shrank back and whispered to us, "It seems that the vines have run dry, and the monster babies... uh... their necks..." He couldn't finish his sentence, clearly indicating that the situation outside was terrible.

Bajian swallowed hard, staring blankly at me, and said, "Young Master, have you noticed that they seem to have some kind of fine hair sticking out from their necks? Very fine hair..."

The light was dim, and given Bajian's description of the fine hairs, I obviously didn't have the eyesight to see them properly. I shook my head and lowered my voice, saying, "I can't tell, but we can't stay here any longer. We should hurry up and leave. They can sense our presence. Once they've evolved and come after us, they'll jump into these tree crevices. We're too big for them to be as agile. If that happens, we'll be wiped out in this corner, like meat in a meat grinder..." I told myself, and I couldn't help but shudder.

The young Taoist priest and the treasurer, without even looking outside, already knew it was time to escape. So they urged us on, saying that the path through the gaps in the trees could only accommodate one person at a time, the road ahead was unclear, and there were deadly pursuers behind us. Just thinking about it made me break out in a cold sweat.

However, no matter how unknown the road ahead may be, we must try to survive. The young Taoist priest arranged who would go first and who would go last. The first one would be the storekeeper, the second one would naturally be the girl, the middle one would definitely be our weakest trio, and the young Taoist priest would bring up the rear.

Kushi, accompanied by the fire monkey who was guiding the way, and Akizuki had already moved forward one after another. To avoid being jostled in case of unexpected situations, we kept a certain distance from the people in front of us before proceeding. Just after Akizuki disappeared into the darkness, Hachiken suddenly cried out "Ouch!" The cry was very clear in the narrow tree path. I asked him what was wrong.

He said dejectedly, "Something bit me. It hurt at first, but now it's incredibly itchy!" He reached to scratch his butt, but before he could, he suddenly cried out in a trembling voice, "Oh no! There's a sound, and...something's crawling over!"

My heart skipped a beat, and I hurriedly said, "Look, the monster baby is catching up!" Then I asked him, "Little Eight, can you hold on? We have to get out of here!"

Bajian gritted his teeth and said, "No, if it were a strange baby, wouldn't you be able to hear it? I can hear the sound is very faint and very dense."

Upon hearing this, the young Taoist priest raised his torch and hurriedly pulled down Bajian's pants. Bajian, embarrassed, was about to pull them up when the young Taoist priest gasped. I was also astonished. In the firelight, I saw a huge worm crawling on Bajian's buttocks. Its body was thick black with brightly colored patterns resembling butterflies. What was most unbearable was that its body was covered with fine hairs, half of which were already embedded in Bajian's buttocks. If these hairs were poisonous, they would be impossible to pull out, like having a thorn stuck in your hand.

I was horrified, my hair stood on end. Bajian noticed our strange expressions and quickly asked us what was wrong. What had bitten him? I knew Bajian was wary of Mao Banlan, and I was afraid that he now knew he was possessed by this insect and dared not speak out.

Bao Cai's mouth was already twitching. He seemed to know something about insects. I gave him a look and shook my head, telling him not to tell Ba Jian the truth. He swallowed and kept his words to himself.

Ahead, Qiuyue was already calling us, and I responded, "Coming right away!"

Although the young Taoist priest was knowledgeable and experienced, he was at a loss as to how to deal with such a huge worm. At this moment, Bao Cai took a deep breath and suddenly calmed down. Like a veterinarian in the apocalypse, he stepped forward when everyone else was in despair.

He forced himself to remain calm as he took the torch from the young Taoist priest. Ba Jian tried to scratch his buttocks, but Bao Cai grabbed his hand. Ba Jian cried out that it itched, and Bao Cai feigned a smile, comforting him, "Don't rush, you shouldn't scratch this thing carelessly. If you scratch your buttocks... your buttocks will rot. Bear with it, I'll take care of it for you." When Bao Cai said this, he tried his best to control his tone, but you could still hear the panic in his voice. In the firelight, I saw that his forehead was covered in cold sweat and his hands were trembling. Clearly, this hairy patch was not an ordinary poisonous plant.

Knowing he couldn't help, the young Taoist priest peeked out to check on the strange infants. But before he could even look up, his expression changed. I followed his gaze and saw several brightly colored hairs hanging from the crevice in the tree, about to fall down and land on us.

The scene was horrifying, but what was truly terrifying was that grotesque faces peeked out from between the trees, their heads half-hidden in a sinister manner. These infants wore eerie smiles, like the grotesque puppets from the movie *Dead Silence*. I had never felt such despair. So many faces, staring at us with such cunning, and among them, I wondered how many venomous, terrifying caterpillars swarmed! (To be continued.)

I like tomb raiding.