The laughter was sudden, and not only I heard it, but everyone did.
Of course, aside from Fatty and Jin Qiaoyue.
Fatty was sleeping like a log, and Jin Qiaoyue was still unconscious.
The moment that voice sounded, A Yuan sprang to his feet from the ground.
"Who?!"
He stared at the corner not far away, already drawing his pistol and dagger.
Knife in his left hand, gun in his right.
To be honest, I was also startled by the laughter.
Fu Honglang also assumed a defensive posture, picking up a wooden stick.
Just as I was preparing to find something to defend myself, the laughter sounded again: "Heh heh heh..."
This faint laughter drifted through the great hall, sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes seeming to come from the left, sometimes from the right, making it impossible to pinpoint the source of the eerie sound.
"It's over there!" Fu Honglang twitched his nose and pointed to a corner not far away.
As we looked in that direction, a black shadow flashed past.
At that very moment, A Yuan fired several shots in that direction.
The gunshots were exceptionally clear in the hall, "Bang! Bang! Bang!"
At this point, Fatty was woken by the gunshots. He sat up, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and looked at me blankly.
I didn't have time to explain, so I scanned our surroundings vigilantly.
Fu Honglang looked around while sniffing the air.
Soon, he pinpointed the monster's location again.
He pointed upwards. By then, I had already gotten the flashlight. When I shone the light on the spot he was pointing at, we finally saw the creature's appearance.
Long hair hung down from its head, and dimly, a wrinkled face could be seen. The eyes on that face were like two bronze bells, and the pupils were entirely white!
Judging by its build, it seemed to be a person.
It had limbs, but its hands and feet were incredibly shriveled. Its bones were clearly visible on its back, and its skin was all yellowish-brown, with many sores, some of which were oozing liquid.
It was clinging to a stone beam above, emitting a series of "Heh heh heh" sounds.
"What... what is this thing?" Fatty asked, his sleepy face instantly startled.
No one could answer him. To be honest, I didn't know what this creature in front of me was either.
However, I soon thought of a word to describe it – a Zongzi!
Only this word could describe this thing. I never expected to encounter a Zongzi one day.
A Yuan raised his gun and, without hesitation, fired two more shots at the monster.
As the gunshots rang out, the monster leaped, dodging the bullets, and landed on the ground!
It was then that I noticed that although the monster's leg muscles were very developed, like frog legs, its entire body was covered in muscle.
Before I could observe further, the monster used both its feet and charged towards us at extreme speed.
In the blink of an eye, it was in front of us!
"Ah!"
A scream. When we saw the monster's position again, Fu Kui's arm had been torn off by the monster!
I hadn't even seen how it happened!
Blood spurted from Fu Kui's arm. A Yuan quickly rushed over and began to wrestle with the monster.
I clearly saw A Yuan's gun hit the monster, but the creature acted as if it were unharmed, its movements still swift.
The monster was incredibly strong; it almost broke a nearby pillar.
Although A Yuan was skilled, he was at a disadvantage against this thing, unable to gain any advantage and could only try to keep it at bay.
"What are you waiting for?! Hurry and leave!" Fu Honglang shouted, rushing over to help Fu Kui up from the ground.
Fu Kui's face was ashen, and her body was covered in blood, a terrifying sight.
Fu Honglang unbuckled his belt and tied it around her wound, helping to stop the bleeding.
Fatty and I picked up Jin Qiaoyue and followed Fu Honglang as we ran out of the great hall.
As we fled the hall, a loud noise erupted from within, indicating A Yuan had used a grenade.
The deafening explosion caused the ground to tremble slightly.
"Stay close to me!" Fu Honglang said, then supported Fu Kui as they headed towards the city.
Fatty and I could only follow closely behind him.
Not long after we left, A Yuan caught up. He looked injured; I noticed his clothes were torn in several places, and there was a lot of blood on his chest.
"Where's the monster?" I asked.
A Yuan sighed and said, "Don't know..."
Don't know?
I was stunned. It seemed even A Yuan hadn't managed to kill the monster.
We walked through several alleys and took a long detour, finally arriving at a relatively large abandoned house.
Finding a reasonably safe spot, we all began to rest.
To avoid attracting the monster, Fu Honglang used his jacket to block the flashlight's beam, then had A Yuan tend to his wounds.
The scene was too gory, so I didn't look too closely.
Fu Kui had lost a lot of blood. Although A Yuan had treated her wound, she had still fallen unconscious.
After all, at her age, enduring such a severe injury and surviving was already remarkable.
"What exactly was that thing?" Fatty asked.
"If you ask me, it was likely a Zongzi," I replied.
"Zongzi?" Fatty blinked a couple of times.
"Besides calling it that, I don't know how else to describe it," I said.
"Damn it, I didn't expect this ancient city to hide a Zongzi! If I had known, I should have brought the black donkey hooves earlier."
A Yuan, who was treating his own wounds, suddenly spoke, "That wasn't a Zongzi."
His words made us all look at him.
As he applied alcohol to his wounds, he calmly said, "It was probably a person..."
"A person?" I was taken aback.
"Uh... it had body temperature and a heartbeat."
"What kind of person is like that?" Fatty exclaimed. "Is that still considered human?"
"I'm not sure about that," A Yuan said indifferently. "But I can confirm it was a living creature. And it was very strong and very intelligent..."
Fu Honglang frowned, "Could it be an original inhabitant of this ancient city?"
"Are you kidding me?" Fatty said. "If it were an original inhabitant, how would it have lived until now?"
"Who knows..."
Listening to everyone's discussion, even I felt a bit lost, unable to define the monster for a while.
After A Yuan finished treating his wounds, we chatted for a bit. Soon, there was light outside, suggesting it was dawn...