Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The hand emerged from the crack in the cocoon; it was dry, with long, sharp nails that gleamed a deathly gray in the eerie green light.

Immediately afterwards, the crack widened, the entire cocoon shattered, and something fell out.

It was humanoid, but twisted beyond recognition. Its body was wrapped in tattered gray cloth, and its hair, reaching its ankles, completely obscured its face. It fell to the ground, its joints cracking, then slowly stood up.

One eye peeked out from the part of its hair; it had no pupil, only the whites of its eye.

"Forbidden... Forbidden Woman?" Professor Zhou Xu'an's voice trembled. "Ancient records state that the Jingjue Kingdom has Forbidden Women, who are created from living people to guard the tombs..."

Before he could finish speaking, more cocoons began to burst open at the top of the cave.

Click, click, click...

One, two, five, ten... more than twenty cocoons burst open at the same time, their contents falling like raindrops, hitting the ground with dull thuds. Then one by one they stood up, their gray cloths tattered, their long hair trailing on the ground, their pale eyes staring at the crowd through their hair.

"Retreat! Retreat to the wall!" Lin Guoce roared.

People hurriedly retreated to the edge of the cave, their backs against the stone wall. The Forbidden Women began to move, their movements stiff but not slow. They did not pounce immediately, but spread out, slowly approaching in a semi-circle.

The flashlight beam swung erratically across them, illuminating the shriveled limbs and twisted joints beneath the gray cloth. A strong, stench of decay filled the air.

Kun's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. Chen Man and Wang Yihan clung to each other, their faces deathly pale. Several soldiers raised their guns to aim, but their hands trembled.

"Fire?" a soldier asked.

"Wait," Lin Guoce said, staring at the forbidden women, "They haven't moved yet..."

Before the words were even finished, the forbidden woman at the front suddenly accelerated and pounced on the soldier closest to her! Her long hair whipped like a lash, striking straight at his face!

The soldier instinctively pulled the trigger; the bullet struck the Forbidden Woman in the chest with a series of thuds, but she only swayed slightly, her momentum undiminished. Her long hair wrapped around the soldier's neck and tightened!

The soldier's eyes bulged out, and he made a gurgling sound in his throat before instantly suffocating.

"Fire!" Lin Guoce shouted.

Gunfire erupted. Bullets struck the Forbidden Women, creating holes in their bodies, splattering out thick, dark red liquid. But the Forbidden Women seemed oblivious to the pain and continued their assault.

A female ghost lunged at Kun Ge. Kun Ge screamed and crawled backward, but Chen Man and Wang Yihan pulled him back. The female ghost's long hair had already reached Kun Ge's ankles.

Black Bear charged from the side, his military knife striking the long hair with a metallic clang, severing only a few strands. The Forbidden Woman turned, her long hair like a snake, coiling around Black Bear's wrist. Black Bear released his knife and retreated, but was a step too slow; his wrist was caught, and a sharp pain shot through him.

Xie Yuchen stabbed repeatedly with his short dagger, striking the Forbidden Woman's arm joint. Her arm went limp, and her long hair loosened slightly. Huo Xiuxiu's dagger flashed, severing the hair that was wrapped around the Black Bear's head.

But even more forbidden women flocked to the scene.

Wu Xie and Fatty stood back to back. Fatty slapped wildly with an entrenching tool, but the Forbidden Women's bodies were hard, and the tool only left shallow marks. Wu Xie stabbed at one of the Forbidden Women's eyes with his dagger, but it was brushed away by her long hair, and his arm burned with pain.

Professor Zhou Xu'an and Jiang Shouyi were protected by soldiers in the middle. The professor was still muttering, "The Forbidden Woman... neither dead nor alive... must be beheaded... must beheaded..."

The scene was chaotic.

Zhang Qiling gripped his knife, about to strike.

Zhang Qiling reached out and stopped him.

"I'll do it," he said.

Two words, spoken in a cold, clear voice.

Zhang Qiling glanced at him, nodded, sheathed his sword, and took a half-step back.

"Zhang Qiling" strode towards the direction where the forbidden women were most concentrated.

He walked slowly, but each step was steady. His black clothes almost blended into the darkness under the eerie green light, with only the blade in his hand gleaming coldly.

Three witches pounced on him simultaneously. Their long hair, like a net, enveloped him from three directions.

"Zhang Qiling" moved the instant his long hair reached his body.

He slid half a step to the left, avoiding the long hair in front of him, while simultaneously raising his black and gold ancient sword, the blade flashing like a bolt of lightning, slicing through the body of the forbidden woman on the left from bottom to top. From hip to shoulder, it was severed in one stroke. The forbidden woman's upper body slid off, her lower body still standing, black blood spurting out.

He didn't stop, his blade still swung, and slashed horizontally to the right. The long hair of the woman on his right curled up, and he lowered his head, the hair brushing past the top of her head. The blade sliced ​​across the woman's waist, severing her in two.

The third forbidden woman was already in front of him, her long hair wrapping around his neck. "Zhang Qiling" did not dodge. He reached out with his left hand, grabbed the long hair that was wrapping around him, and pulled hard! The forbidden woman was pulled forward. He thrust his right hand knife straight forward, the tip of the knife piercing through the forbidden woman's wide-open mouth and protruding from the back of her head.

He drew his knife, and the corpse fell to the ground.

Triple kill, five seconds.

The group of forbidden women seemed to be enraged, letting out sharp screechs as they all lunged at "Zhang Qiling".

Ten, fifteen, twenty... gray shadows surged like a tide, long hair formed a forest.

Instead of retreating, Zhang Qiling advanced, crashing headlong into the group of forbidden women.

His swordsmanship was expansive and powerful, each strike heavy and forceful. With a single slash, the Forbidden Woman was cleaved in two, hair and all. With a sweeping motion, three Forbidden Women were cut in half at the waist. His movements were devoid of fancy flourishes, consisting entirely of solid chopping, slashing, thrusting, and parrying, yet precise and ruthless, each strike fatal.

A forbidden woman pounced on him from behind, her long hair wrapping around his legs. Without turning his head, "Zhang Qiling" thrust his knife backward, the tip piercing the forbidden woman's forehead. He twisted his wrist, pulled the knife out, and the forbidden woman fell to the ground.

Three forbidden women pounced from the left, their long hair intertwined into a net. Zhang Qiling spun, his blade following his movements, tracing an arc. Where the blade passed, long hair was severed, limbs were torn apart, and the three forbidden women shattered simultaneously.

Five forbidden women surrounded him from the right, their long hair lashing out like whips. Zhang Qiling crouched low, his long hair sweeping over his head. He pushed off with his feet, lunging forward, his blade flashing like a tiger among sheep. Each strike took down a forbidden woman, black blood splattering on his face and body, but he didn't even blink.

The last forbidden woman lunged forward, her long hair wrapping around his wrist holding the knife. "Zhang Qiling" formed a claw with his left hand, gripping the forbidden woman's face, his five fingers digging into her skull! At the same time, his right hand plunged the knife into the forbidden woman's heart, twisting it.

The old woman collapsed.

He shook the filth off his hands and stood still.

All around, more than twenty corpses of forbidden women lay scattered on the ground, black blood flowing in pools. A strong, pungent stench permeated the cave.

Zhang Qiling stood in the center of the pile of corpses, his black clothes stained with blood, and blood dripping from the tip of his knife. He took a slight breath, his expression still cold and indifferent, as if he had just casually cleaned up a pile of trash.

Everyone was stunned.

Kun Ge's mouth hung open, unable to close it for a long time. Chen Man and Wang Yihan stared wide-eyed. The soldiers gripped their guns, their hands still trembling. Professor Zhou Xu'an murmured, "This...this..."

Wu Xie swallowed hard. He knew Zhang Qiling was strong, but he hadn't expected her to be this strong. More than twenty forbidden women were wiped out in less than two minutes.

Black Bear whistled: "Dumb Zhang, awesome."

Xie Yuchen's eyes were deep. Huo Xiuxiu let out a soft breath.

Zhang Qiling walked to "Zhang Qiling"'s side, glanced at him, and nodded.

Zhang Qiling nodded and shook the blood off his knife.

The levitating live-streaming sphere filmed this scene from above, the camera panning across the corpses of the forbidden women scattered on the ground and the black-clad man standing amidst the pile of bodies.

The comments scrolled by:

[The prophet: I knew it!]

[A master at silencing skeptics: This fighting power...]

[The guy's fan club: My husband's gone berserk!]

Lin Guoce snapped out of his daze, took a few deep breaths, and directed his soldiers: "Check for casualties! Clean up the battlefield!"

The count revealed that one soldier was dead, strangled by the witch. Black Bear had deep bloody marks on his wrists from being strangled by her hair, but was otherwise unharmed. Most of the others sustained minor injuries.

Wu Xie walked to the corpse of a forbidden woman, used his dagger to pry open the tattered gray cloth, revealing the shriveled body beneath. The skin was a deathly gray, tightly covering the bones. In the chest area, there was a hole the size of a bowl, its edges charred black, as if something had ripped out the heart.

"Look at this," Wu Xie pointed to Professor Zhou Xu'an.

The professor leaned closer, examined it carefully, and said gravely, "These are... traces of human sacrifice. Hearts were dug out and used to create forbidden women to guard this place. Judging from the way the wounds were treated, it's very ancient, at least from before the Han Dynasty."

Jiang Shouyi was also examining the other corpses and found similar holes in the chests of each of the "forbidden women." "They weren't just guards," he said, "they might also have been... sacrifices."

"What are we offering this sacrifice to?" the fat man asked.

No one answered. Everyone looked at the bottomless black hole in the center of the cave.

The black hole stood silently with its mouth open, and an iron chain hung down into it, its destination unknown.

Zhang Qiling walked to the edge of the black hole, squatted down, placed his hand on the edge of the stone, and closed his eyes to sense it. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes: "There's something down there."

"Alive?" Zhang Qiling asked.

"It doesn't seem like it." Zhang Qiling stood up. "It's something else."

Wu Xie walked over and shone his flashlight into the depths of the black hole. The beam disappeared into the darkness, unable to reach the bottom. But he could faintly hear a very faint sound, like the whispers of countless people, coming from the deepest part of the hole, mixed with the sound of the wind, barely audible.

"What... is down there?" Wu Xie murmured.

"The Ghost Cave," Professor Zhou Xu'an suddenly said. "The eyes that the people of Jingjue worship may be a symbol of this Ghost Cave. Legend has it that the Ghost Cave connects to another world, and the Queen of Jingjue could communicate with the gods through the Ghost Cave."

"Gods?" the fat man scoffed. "I think they're monsters."

The professor shook his head: "It's hard to say. But the sudden disappearance of the Jingjue Kingdom is very likely related to this ghost cave."

Zhang Qiling walked to a stone pillar and looked at the rusted iron chain on it. The chain was as thick as a forearm, badly rusted, but still sturdy. He reached out and tugged at it, but the chain didn't budge.

"These chains," he said, "are for fastening things."

"What are you tying up?" Lin Guoce asked.

"Zhang Qiling" did not answer, but looked at Zhang Qiling.

Zhang Qiling was also looking at the chains. He walked along the chains to the edge of the black hole and leaned down to look. Deep inside the black hole, the whispering sound seemed to grow louder.

"We need to go down and take a look," Zhang Qiling said.

"Now?" Wu Xie asked.

Zhang Qiling shook his head: "Get ready. Tomorrow."

Lin Guoce glanced at his watch: "Let's rest today. Treat the wounded and replenish their strength. We'll go down into the Ghost Cave first thing tomorrow morning."

The order was given. People found a relatively flat area at the edge of the cave, cleared a space, and set up a makeshift camp. They dared not approach the black hole, nor the coffin-shaped caves.

Dinner was eaten in silence. No one spoke, only compressed biscuits eaten with water. The soldiers dragged the Forbidden Woman's body to a distant corner and piled it up, but the stench of blood lingered.

At night, they kept watch in pairs. Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" were on the first shift.

The two sat on the edge of the camp, looking in the direction of the black hole. An eerie green light emanated from the rocks at the top of the cave, casting a sinister glow over everything.

"There's something down there," Zhang Qiling suddenly said. "It's very dangerous."

"Hmm," Zhang Qiling replied, "I felt it."

"I'll leave tomorrow."

"Together."

silence.

After a while, "Zhang Qiling" said, "Those forbidden women, the holes in their chests are their hearts."

"Digged alive."

"Sacrifice".

"Give the following items."

A brief conversation, yet packed with information.

The two fell silent, keeping watch over the night.

In the distance, Kun and the others huddled together asleep, but their sleep was restless, occasionally startled. Chen Man sobbed in her sleep, and Wang Yihan patted her back.

Wu Xie and Fatty were sleeping side by side, Fatty snoring. Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu sat back to back, resting with their eyes closed. Hei Xiazi was sharpening his knife.

Late at night.

Deep within the black hole, the whispers seemed clearer. It was like countless people talking in one's ear, but the content was incomprehensible, only sending chills down one's spine.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" turned their heads at the same time and looked at the black hole.

In the darkness, it seemed as if countless eyes were watching them.