Before we could react, Jiang Feng was violently slammed against the wall by the bat. I winced in pain just watching.
With a pained cry, Jiang Feng fell into the water. Seeing the bat preparing to retrieve him from the water, I quickly pulled out my gun and started firing wildly at it.
Even with both hands on the gun, after a few shots, the recoil still made my hand ache.
I didn't know how many shots I'd hit. The bat suddenly flew towards us. We quickly ducked as the bat passed by, almost brushing against us. A strong gust of wind swept over me, making me exceptionally clear-headed.
As soon as the bat flew past, I scrambled up and fired a few more shots at it.
Only when the bat fell into the water did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Hurry and save him!" Jiang Lingxi snapped back to reality and shouted.
Hearing this, I no longer cared about tying a safety rope to myself and immediately dove into the water, swimming towards Jiang Feng.
Fortunately, the current wasn't very strong. When I found Jiang Feng, he had already lost consciousness. I grabbed him by the back of his neck, keeping his head above water, and then began to swim back.
When we were still a few meters from the metal boat, Fatty tossed down a rope. I grabbed the rope, and together with Jiang Lingxi, they pulled me back.
After getting Jiang Feng onto the boat, I saw a horrifying gash on his forehead. I took out gauze from my backpack, quickly disinfected and bandaged it, then said, "We need to get ashore immediately!"
At this point, I couldn't be bothered with the bodies anymore. The three of us, pulling the chain, towed the metal boat back quickly.
Upon reaching the shore and getting Jiang Feng off the boat, I was already exhausted.
I had never felt so tired before. I sat on the ground, not wanting to move at all.
Fatty and Jiang Lingxi weren't any better off; both were panting heavily.
"Damn it, has that bat become a demon?" Fatty cursed. "Master Xiang, have you ever seen such a big bat?"
I shook my head. "Never."
Jiang Lingxi asked, "Could it be a Golden Crown Flying Fox?"
I had heard of Golden Crown Flying Foxes; they are the largest known bats in the world, typically living in tropical rainforests. It was impossible for them to be here.
Besides, even the largest Golden Crown Flying Foxes aren't as big as the one we encountered. This one was no longer simply a bat.
"I think we should hurry back. This place is too dangerous," I said, catching my breath.
Checking on Jiang Feng, although he had woken up, his condition wasn't good.
Besides the wound on his forehead, his right hand was fractured, and his right knee was likely shattered.
It made sense, considering the violent impact. Anyone would be unable to withstand it.
It seemed likely that the two bodies in the water earlier were also attacked by the bat.
Fatty carried Jiang Feng on his back, and I carried the backpack. The three of us then returned to our original spot.
Glancing at the time, we realized we had been down there for over six hours.
It was already past seven in the evening.
I tugged at the rope that had lowered us, and soon there was a response.
Fatty and I tied Jiang Feng to the rope first. Then we pulled the rope to signal, and soon those above pulled Jiang Feng up.
Next was Jiang Lingxi, and Fatty was third.
After they had all gone up, I was left alone in this place, looking at the dark surroundings, feeling a bit unnerved.
I comforted myself, telling myself I had a gun and shouldn't be scared.
The more I tried to reassure myself, the more flustered I became.
It took about ten minutes to descend from the opening above, but going up was much slower, taking more than twenty minutes.
I counted every second, and I didn't just stand there foolishly, but kept slowly turning in circles.
I lit all the glow sticks from my backpack and threw them in all directions, ensuring that every direction was clearly visible.
Finally, the rope was lowered. I quickly tied myself to it and gave the signal.
My body slowly moved upward, my feet leaving the ground.
Watching the nearly extinguished glow sticks below, I shone my flashlight down.
As I ascended about three to four meters, I saw the last glow stick, about to go out, suddenly move.
I froze and shone my flashlight in that direction. I only saw a black shadow, about the size of a person, flash by at extreme speed.
I swallowed, felt around my body, took out my signal gun, and fired in that direction.
The signal gun's light was much brighter than the glow sticks. As I fired,
I clearly saw a human-like figure standing in the corner of the wall.
The figure had long hair, its face was obscured, and it was wearing a greenish-brown military uniform!
I took a deep breath, my heart pounding in my chest!
Damn it, could this be a Japanese zombie?
I gritted my teeth, pulled out my pistol, aimed it at the thing, and was about to shoot when it actually raised its head.
A face emerged from the long, messy hair. The entire face was covered in cracks, and a pair of blood-red eyes stared at me eerily.
Just as I was about to fire, the signal flare's light slowly extinguished. In the last moment before plunging into darkness, I saw it seem to smile at me!
I shivered, my hands and feet involuntarily trembling.
By the time I was pulled out of the passage, I was still shaking all over!
I had never seen such a creepy smile!
"Master Xiang! Master Xiang!" Fatty's voice sounded in my ear, and I slowly came back to my senses, looking at him somewhat blankly.
"What's wrong with you?" Fatty asked. "I've been calling you for ages, why do you look like you've lost your soul?"
I licked my slightly dry lips, looked around. Da Kui was standing by the burning gasoline barrel, looking at me with a smile.
"Where is Uncle Jiang?" I asked Fatty.
"Someone's already taken him away," Fatty said.
"His injuries..."
Before I could finish, Da Kui walked over and said, "Don't worry, we have doctors. We guarantee he won't die."
A cold wind blew past, making me shiver involuntarily.
I was still wet all over. Down below, it wasn't very cold, but now that I was out, I felt like my clothes were about to freeze.
If it weren't for the fire nearby, I probably would have turned into an ice sculpture by now.
Fatty told me to quickly take off my clothes and then found me a set of dry clothes to change into.
I didn't stand on ceremony and quickly changed into the dry clothes. After warming myself by the fire, I finally recovered.
"Feeling better?" Da Kui asked me.
I nodded.
"Alright, Master Qu is waiting for you to return. Let's go," he said, exchanging a few words with the people guarding the cave entrance, and then led us towards the village.
All the way, I was still thinking about what I had seen when I was coming up.
I dared say that was definitely not a human. As for what it was, I had no idea.
Could it really be a zombie?