When Song Bing woke up, it was already evening. Seeing me and Fatty keeping watch by his side, a faint smile appeared on his haggard face, and he thanked us.
"Brother Song, there's no need to be so formal among ourselves," I said. "How did you get bitten by a snake when you went in?"
He sighed and said, "There was a passage behind the Buddha statue, and the passage was full of snakes. When I went in, Miss Guan had already moved the Buddha statue."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but exclaim, "Is that woman really not afraid of death?"
"I suspect she'll go in there again," Song Bing said.
I was taken aback. "Surely not, didn't you say it was full of snakes?"
"Do you think if she wants to go in, she can't deal with those snakes?" Song Bing paused. "But there's something very strange."
"What?"
"Those snakes seemed to not harm her."
I was confused. "What do you mean?"
Song Bing explained, "I mean, those snakes didn't attack her. When I went in to find her, she was already covered in snakes, but those snakes acted as if they couldn't see her, winding around her."
I blinked and looked at Fatty, who was also staring at me with his eyes wide.
We stared at each other, finding this whole thing incredibly bizarre.
Could it be that she raised those snakes?
Of course, that was impossible, but Song Bing had no reason to lie to us, and he wasn't the type of person to do so.
Although Song Bing had received the antivenom and passed the critical stage, he couldn't be discharged yet.
The doctor advised him to rest for a couple more days in the hospital. So, after discussing it, Fatty and I decided to go back and check the situation first, and he could join us once he recovered.
That very night, Fatty and I rushed back to Shiziling. By the time we arrived, the sky was just starting to turn gray.
We hadn't slept all night, so we didn't rush to Xiaoqing Temple. Instead, we slept until noon before heading there.
However, when we arrived, Xiaoqing Temple was in chaos. The tomb, which had been perfectly fine, had collapsed!
Professor Zhang was directing people to excavate from the outside, and even the Taoist priests from Xiaoqing Temple had come to help.
Fatty and I searched everywhere but couldn't find Bai Hanyan and Guan Zhenwan. When we asked Professor Zhang, his answer left us completely bewildered.
Professor Zhang said that Guan Zhenwan, Bai Hanyan, and his two students were all trapped inside the ancient tomb.
I asked him what happened. He explained that when their group went in to investigate, there was an earthquake for some unknown reason. The situation was urgent, and Professor Zhang was closer to the entrance, so he ran out through the passageway.
Just as he got out, the ancient tomb collapsed, trapping everyone else inside.
"Professor, did you see any snakes when you went in?" I asked.
"Snakes? What snakes?" he asked, looking puzzled.
Unwilling to reveal that we had already been inside, I fabricated a story. "It's like this, there seem to be venomous snakes around here. When we were digging, I saw several crawling out from inside, so I was just asking."
He shook his head. "There were no snakes inside… This tomb has very high research value. Its collapse is a huge loss."
Hearing him say that, I felt a bit helpless. The people trapped inside were of unknown status, and he was still concerned about the tomb's value?
However, I also knew it was pointless to argue with an old scholar like him, so I quickly set out to find the people Guan Zhenwan had brought to rescue them.
The search and rescue operation continued throughout the afternoon, and the ancient tomb was finally dug open. To our dismay, the interior had already collapsed to an unrecognizable state. If anyone were inside, they likely wouldn't have survived.
Just as everyone was at a loss, I noticed a hole.
The depth of the hole was unknown, and beside its entrance stood a Buddha statue, which reminded me of the one we had encountered earlier.
Song Bing had mentioned that there was an opening behind the Buddha statue, and those snakes had attacked him from there.
Could it be that they had all gone down into this hole?
With this thought, I asked Fatty for his opinion.
He said, "Brother Xiang, I think it's best if we don't rush in. Let's have people excavate the surrounding area first. Once we're sure they aren't there, we can go into this hole to look for them."
I scanned the surroundings. "To dig all this open, how long will that take? Will it be done in a few days?"
"Then what's your plan?"
"Let's get prepared quickly and go look for them immediately."
"Just the two of us?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
"But…"
"What, are you scared?"
Fatty chuckled. "Not scared, but isn't it too risky for just the two of us? Didn't you hear Song Bing say it was a snake's nest?"
I replied, "We can find some realgar and smear it on ourselves, then we'll be fine."
"Will that work?"
"Are you coming or not? If you don't, I'll go alone." I said impatiently.
Fatty gave a helpless sigh. "Fine, fine, I'll go. It's enough, isn't it?"
We first went to Shiziling and managed to find some realgar. As soon as we returned, we packed our gear and entered the hole.
The diameter of this hole was about 1.45 meters, and it extended downwards. We could only walk in a duck-like posture inside.
Initially, the slope wasn't too steep, but after about ten minutes, it became very steep, and we ended up sliding down on our bottoms.
Moreover, the sliding speed kept increasing, and we eventually crashed heavily onto the ground.
Fortunately, I had the foresight to use my backpack as a cushion upon landing, saving my backside from a painful impact.
However, despite all my precautions, Fatty fell on top of me, almost suffocating me.
"Ouch! Brother Xiang, are you alright?" Fatty yelped even as he pressed down on me.
"You fatso, get off me! If you don't move, I'm really going to be in trouble!"
Fatty quickly got off me, and I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After catching my breath, I began to assess our surroundings.
It turned out to be a network of caves below. We faced four or five openings in front of us, and we had no idea which direction to go.
"Brother Xiang, look, what's this?" Fatty asked, walking over to an opening.
I walked over and found a hairpin next to the opening. This kind of hairpin was clearly meant for women.
Could it be a marker left by Guan Zhenwan and the others?
Thinking this, I shone my flashlight into the cave. "They must have gone in here."
Fatty pulled out a telescopic rod and poked its head inside. "Brother Xiang, are you sure?"
"Let's go in and see first," I said.
Fatty took the lead, and we squeezed into the cave.
I had no idea how many meters we were below the surface, but the temperature inside was significantly warmer than outside. Wearing a padded jacket, I was sweating profusely, my back drenched.
"Brother Xiang, there's light ahead!" Fatty exclaimed with a grin. "Could they be in there?"
I looked towards the distance and noticed that the light was a bit unusual, as it was a faint green glow emanating from not too far away.