When I was young, my father told me that as a treasure hunter, it was normal to encounter strange things in life.
But I never imagined that one day I would encounter a "zongzi"!
Not to mention me, I noticed that even Fu Honglang's face changed. At some point, he was holding something dark in his hand. I took a closer look and realized it was a black donkey hoof.
Fatty and Song Bing fought the zongzi on both sides, but it didn't last long before Fatty was sent flying by it.
Although Song Bing was skilled, he was clearly at a disadvantage against such a monster.
"Let me!" Fu Honglang shouted and charged forward.
He raised the black donkey hoof in his hand and smashed it towards the zongzi's face.
The black donkey hoof hit the zongzi's face directly, but to everyone's surprise, the zongzi showed no reaction. Instead, it slammed Fu Honglang away.
Although Song Bing had dodged the attack, he didn't dare to get close.
The zongzi's eyes were wide open, like two copper bells, with no whites, only a dark red color.
It looked towards me and then charged forward rapidly, leaving me no time to prepare. Just as I was about to run, the zongzi was in front of me. Its arms were very long, reaching down to its knees.
Its fingernails were like blades. As it grabbed at me, I used my backpack to block, and the backpack was instantly torn open.
I had no doubt that if that grab had landed on me, I would have been disemboweled.
In just a moment of distraction, it grabbed at me again. However, this time the force was not as great as before, and its target didn't seem to be me, but Jiang Lingxi on my back.
As expected, it fiercely pulled Jiang Lingxi from my back, hugged her, and then slammed me away, rushing directly into the darkness.
By the time I reacted and shone my flashlight, I only saw a blur.
With a "clang," the lights overhead flickered on again, and Yang Hanxue also arrived.
It turned out he had gone to the power room. He said the power had been cut off, and he had gone to check.
The surroundings were brightly lit, but there was no sign of the monster.
"Xian Ye, are you alright?" Fatty limped towards me.
I got up from the ground, my chest aching. After catching my breath, I said, "I'm fine..."
"That zongzi is really damn hard to deal with! It seemed to be coming for Sister Lingxi," Fatty said.
Indeed, why would the zongzi grab Jiang Lingxi?
"That's not a zongzi!" Fu Honglang said as he walked over, looking disheveled.
"Not a zongzi?" Fatty was taken aback and asked.
"No, if that thing were a zongzi, my black donkey hoof would have subdued it earlier. But when I hit it just now, it showed no reaction," Fu Honglang said.
At this moment, Yang Hanxue also spoke, "In my opinion, it really isn't a zongzi."
"Then what is it?" I couldn't help but ask.
Everyone looked at each other, and no one could give a clear answer.
"No matter what it is, at least we can be sure that it's a creature from the yang realm," Yang Hanxue said, pointing to the dark liquid on the ground. "I shot it just now, and it's injured."
Looking at the somewhat disgusting viscous liquid on the ground, my stomach churned.
"As long as it's something from the yang realm, there's a way to deal with it," Yang Hanxue said. "It must be here. Once we find it, we'll find a way to kill it."
"Old Yang, I don't mean to be discouraging, but that thing is not simple. With just a few of us..."
Fu Honglang was halfway through his sentence when Yang Hanxue interrupted, "It's fine. Leave that thing to me. You guys find that girl and head straight for the exit."
"Can you handle it alone?" Fu Honglang asked.
Yang Hanxue smiled and said, "Don't worry, even if I can't handle it, I can still escape."
After everyone had made their plans, Fu Honglang crawled on the ground and sniffed the monster's "blood," then pointed in a direction.
We all became alert. To be safe, except for Yang Hanxue and Song Bing, none of us used guns.
After all, our marksmanship was not as good as theirs, and if we fired randomly, we might hit each other.
"There's something over there," Fu Honglang said, pointing to a pile of wooden crates not far away.
As soon as he said that, we all tensed up. I gripped my dagger, Fatty held a sapper shovel, and Yang Hanxue and Song Bing slowly moved towards it.
In a gap, Yang Hanxue found Jiang Lingxi. Fatty and I quickly rushed over and pulled her out.
We breathed a sigh of relief when we saw that Jiang Lingxi was not seriously injured.
"Where's the zongzi?" Fatty whispered to me.
I shook my head and made a "shushing" gesture to him. I hoisted Jiang Lingxi onto my back, and we quickly retreated.
"You guys go first!" Yang Hanxue said.
I nodded and didn't waste any time. I quickly carried Jiang Lingxi on my back and headed back the way we came.
But before we could get far, gunshots rang out.
I wanted to turn back to check the situation, but with someone on my back, I couldn't see clearly.
Fatty turned back and was stunned.
Seeing his reaction, I became even more curious, so I stopped and turned around.
This was the first time I clearly saw the monster's appearance!
It was less of a monster and more like a bat-like humanoid.
"Damn! Did this guy merge with a bat?" Fatty exclaimed.
The monster was about 1.56 meters tall, with hands and feet, and hair on its head. However, it had a pair of bat wings on its back and was wearing a tattered Japanese soldier's uniform.
It also had fangs in its mouth!
I suddenly thought of the research laboratory by the underground river. Could this creature be a new species created by the Japanese?
It was quite possible!
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and go!" Fu Honglang said, seeing that Fatty and I were standing still.
I snapped back to reality and quickly left with Fatty.
As for how Yang Hanxue and Song Bing dealt with the monster, I didn't know.
When the three of us reached the entrance, I asked Fatty to tie Jiang Lingxi to my back with a rope, and then I climbed the rope ladder, slowly ascending.
Because I was carrying someone, my speed was not fast. Every time I climbed a certain distance, I would be exhausted and have to rest for ten seconds before continuing to climb.
When I climbed out of the hole, at that moment, I felt like I had come back to life...