As the Song soldier tinkered with the mechanism, numerous small holes suddenly appeared in the wall, from which dense scorpions emerged.
The turn of events caught us completely off guard. Wang Yang grabbed me and pulled me toward the center.
Wu Tingxiu also realized something was amiss and shouted to Song Bing, "What's going on?"
"This isn't the 'life gate'..." Song Bing replied, turning his head.
Bai Hanyan blinked, then began spinning the small compass in her hand. After a moment, she stated, "I'm sure that's the 'life gate'!"
Wu Tingxiu frowned, "It seems the exit isn't through the 'life gate'!"
Seeing the scorpions crawling down the wall towards the ground, Wu Tingxiu and the other two finally ran towards us.
The five of us huddled together, momentarily at a loss.
"Have you heard of one of the 'Eighteen Eccentrics of Yuncheng'?" Wang Yang suddenly asked.
"What eccentric?" I inquired.
"Eighteen Eccentrics of Yuncheng, three mosquitoes make a dish... I think the five of us are going to be side dishes for these things today," Wang Yang said.
At a time like this, he still had the nerve to joke!
Looking at the grinding stone turning behind us, I wondered if the people lying dead on the ground had been forced to jump into the grinding stone by these scorpions.
I had never seen this type of scorpion before; its head actually glowed green. It was obvious that a single bite would be fatal.
Wu Tingxiu, whether resigned to her fate or not, closed her eyes. Bai Hanyan's face was pale, and tears were on the verge of falling.
At that moment, Song Bing pulled out a bottle from his backpack. After unscrewing the cap, I smelled gasoline.
He took out tools from his backpack, poured gasoline onto it, grabbed a Zippo lighter, ignited the backpack, and hurled it away with force.
The scorpions, seeing the fireball, immediately swarmed toward it.
The sound of "crackling" erupted, and the aroma of roasted meat filled the air.
For some reason, when I smelled that scent, my mouth began to water, and I instinctively swallowed.
Wang Yang caught this subtle action and asked, "What? Hungry? Ever eaten roasted scorpion?"
I shot him a glance, thinking how carefree he was.
The fireball temporarily diverted the scorpions' attention. As more scorpions pounced, the fireball was on the verge of being extinguished.
Wu Tingxiu opened her eyes and asked, "Miss Bai, in which direction is the 'Du gate'?"
This time, Bai Hanyan didn't look at the small compass around her neck. She raised her hand and pointed at the stone table, "Over there!"
"A-Bing!"
Song Bing nodded and, without a word, extended his telescopic iron rod and charged toward the stone table.
Just as he was about to charge into the swarm of scorpions, he braced the iron rod against the ground, leaped into the air like a high jumper, and flew directly toward the stone table!
The series of actions amazed me.
Landing steadily on the stone table, Song Bing took out a grabber and inserted it into the stone wall.
Before I could observe his next move, the scorpions had already extinguished the "fire backpack" and were once again rushing towards us.
Wu Tingxiu pulled a crossbow from her backpack and shot an arrow at the wall of the stone table.
Instantly, a rope flew out with the crossbow bolt. Wu Tingxiu tugged the rope, took a leap, stepped on the grinding stone, and like Tarzan, reached Song Bing.
My eyes were opened wide; this woman was incredibly agile!
"Here!"
Wu Tingxiu shouted and tossed the rope back.
Wang Yang caught it and told me to climb onto the grinding stone quickly. I glanced at Bai Hanyan, who was trembling beside me, and with a soft heart, I said to her, "Hurry and climb onto my back!"
Bai Hanyan seemed to snap back to reality and hesitated.
"Quick!" I yelled.
I crouched down, letting her step on my back. Once she had a firm grip on the rope, I shoved her forcefully towards the stone table.
After pushing her, I realized that I might have touched her... posterior?
With Song Bing's maneuvering, the stone wall in front of the offering table recessed, and a passage instantly appeared.
When Wu Tingxiu tossed the rope over again, the scorpions were less than half a meter away from me!
Wang Yang grabbed the rope and said to me, "Give me your hand."
I extended my hand, and he tightly gripped my arm, saying, "I'll count to three, and we'll jump together!"
I nodded.
"One! Two! Three!"
As soon as he finished speaking, I put in almost all my strength, leaped to the edge of the grinding stone, and pushed off forcefully, swinging myself forward.
Just as I was nearing the stone table, I felt myself dip downwards!
I thought the rope had broken, but thankfully, the worst had not happened...
My legs were trembling when I stood on the stone table.
Looking at the dense scorpions on the ground, I found it strange: why wouldn't these creatures climb onto the stone table?
Without time for further thought, Wang Yang pulled me from the stone table and into the passage.
The passage was about one meter fifty to one meter sixty high. Being one meter seventy-eight myself, I had to stoop to pass through.
As for the width, it was estimated to be around sixty to seventy centimeters.
The passage was somewhat damp, and the air was filled with the smell of wet mud.
Discovering that the scorpions weren't pursuing us, my suspended heart finally relaxed.
Following the passage for about five to six minutes, I saw light and heard the sound of a flowing stream.
Finally, we had found the exit!
As we climbed out of the passage, we found ourselves by a small stream. The entrance to the passage was covered by dense weeds, making it difficult for anyone to discover.
Squinting, it took me a while to adjust to the outside light.
I was exhausted, so I plopped down on the ground and gasped for air.
"Damn it, I thought we were dead, but we actually got out," Wang Yang grinned at me.
I gave a wry smile and said, "You mentioned three mosquitoes make a dish earlier; how about you make me a dish now? I'm starving..."
"How about I go back and catch a few scorpions for you?" Wang Yang offered.
The mention of scorpions made me shiver, and I quickly shook my head, "I can't handle that kind of thing; if you want to eat, you eat them yourself."
As I said this, I noticed Bai Hanyan glaring at me with an angry expression.
I was a bit baffled; how had I offended this woman now?
Seeing her place her hand on her backside, I had a sudden realization, remembering what I had done when I pushed her earlier.
Damn it, is she going to hold a grudge over that?
If it weren't for me then, you would have become scorpion fodder.
"Xiang Fei!" Bai Hanyan called me, "Come here for a moment..."