Chapter 1 The Onset

The atmosphere instantly tensed to the extreme when we heard Old Wu’s horrific screams from the other end of the tomb passage!

Sister Hong stared at me with wide, frightened eyes, and asked in a low voice, "Rongsheng, what's going on? What happened to Old Wu?"

"We won't know what happened to Old Wu until we go over there!"

I replied in a hurry, and was about to run towards Old Wu.

But Sister Hong grabbed my arm tightly and whispered, "Wait! Rongsheng! You silly boy! What if there's danger over there? Don't rush over rashly!"

Sister Hong’s words were immediately seconded by Uncle Mei. After all, they were older than me, more stable in their actions, and more cautious.

Uncle Mei also said in a low voice, "That's right, Rongsheng. Judging by the sound, Old Wu seems to have been attacked. Don't rush over. Prepare to defend yourself first!"

With that, he took out a diving knife from his backpack and held it tightly in his hand.

I followed suit, took out my weapon, held the knife with both hands, and advanced slowly.

Sister Hong didn't seem to intend to fight. She wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, trembling like a frightened little animal.

I helplessly looked back at her and said, "Sister Hong, don't hold me. How am I supposed to fight like this? If we get attacked, we'll both die!"

Only then did Sister Hong timidly let go of me. She also took out a diving knife, gripped the handle with both hands, gritted her teeth and said, "If there really are any evil spirits, I'll... I'll fight them! Damn it!"

With our defensive weapons ready, we retreated step by step. At first, we could faintly hear Old Wu’s cries for help, but the cries grew weaker and weaker, until they were barely audible.

My intuition told me that Old Wu was probably done for.

Whatever he encountered must have been a fatal threat.

This also cast a layer of fear over my heart, a fear of the unknown.

As we retreated to the crossroads, I suddenly smelled a strong, bloody odor, mixed with a pungent, sour stench, like the smell of stinky feet after running two kilometers in cotton shoes in the dead of winter.

As soon as Sister Hong smelled the odor, she started to gag.

Uncle Mei, a longtime smoker with rhinitis, didn't react much to the pungent smell. He was even able to walk forward with a normal expression, calling out tentatively as he went, "Old Wu? Old Wu?"

No one answered us. It was deathly quiet outside the tomb passage!

Uncle Mei waved to signal Sister Hong and me to follow. He took the lead, rushing out with the diving knife in his hand, and roared as he swung the knife.

But Uncle Mei didn't encounter any danger when he rushed out of the tomb passage. No evil spirits attacked him. It seemed safe here for the time being.

Sister Hong and I also rushed out of the tomb passage, forcing ourselves to suppress the urge to vomit, and turned to look at the source of the bloody and foul odor.

However, when the light from our headlamps illuminated the scene before us, the three of us were almost scared out of our wits! The timid Sister Hong even threw away her diving knife and screamed, covering her face!

"Aaaah!"

We saw Old Wu huddled on the ground by the wall, a bronze tree branch piercing his chest. Blood flowed all over the ground. He was clearly dead.

At the same time, the tall bronze tree had collapsed with a crash, shattering into pieces.

When I saw the end of the branch piercing Old Wu's chest, I couldn't help but shudder. I thought, "Isn't this the same way the bronze figures on the bronze tree died? Old Wu has also become a living sacrifice, hung on a branch as an offering!"

This bizarre death made me start to speculate wildly. Could there really be some inescapable curse in this ancient tomb?

But just then, the foot odor continued to assault my nostrils. I felt nauseous from the stench, and pinched my nose as I looked down. I suddenly realized that Old Wu's wounds weren't just in his chest.

In addition to being pierced in the chest by a branch of the bronze tree, his face, head, and neck had also suffered severe corrosion. Just like the two roosters we encountered outside the wall, Old Wu had somehow been splashed with that corrosive liquid!

This puzzled me. Old Wu had been standing here the whole time. How did he get splashed with the corrosive liquid?

Could the bronze tree also contain the corrosive liquid?

Thinking of this, I carefully examined the broken bronze tree, but the cracks were clean, with no trace of any corrosive liquid. I checked the nearby walls and ground, but couldn't find any trace of the corrosive liquid.

The liquid seemed to have appeared on Old Wu out of nowhere.

I couldn't help but ask, "This is really strange! Old Wu wasn't just stabbed to death by the branch, he was also corroded by the liquid. What exactly happened?"

Sister Hong, seeing this, couldn't help but exclaim in horror, "It's the tomb owner taking lives! It's the tomb owner taking lives! Rongsheng, we must have disturbed the sleeping tomb owner. He's punishing us! He's killing the chicken to scare the monkeys! Old Wu is the chicken! We're all the monkeys!"

I was used to dealing with Jiang Yongguang, Xiao Liang, and the others, so naturally I didn't believe in ghosts and gods.

I turned to look at Uncle Mei and asked, "Uncle, what do you think?"

Uncle Mei was scratching his head at this point, gripping the diving knife tightly while frowning and examining Old Wu’s body. He shook his head and said, "Strange! It’s really too strange! Old Wu was standing there just fine, how did he die? And his death is too gruesome, as if he was sacrificed!"

The more Sister Hong thought about it, the more frightened she became. She couldn't help but retreat, grabbing my arm and saying, "Rongsheng, let's get out of here. Anyway, Old Wu is dead. Let's just carry his body, and Xiao Shuai's body outside the tunnel, and use these two bodies to feed the piranhas. We can take the opportunity to wade through the water and escape!"

When I heard this, I thought it was a good idea!

I didn't expect Sister Hong to come up with such a clever plan in her desperation!

With these two bodies as bait, we might be able to retreat unscathed from the piranhas' siege.

I couldn't help but hesitate, and turned to ask Uncle Mei, "Uncle, what do you think? Should we bite the bullet and continue looking for Boss Wang, or retreat first to save our lives?"

Uncle Mei said without thinking, in a firm tone, "I want to find Boss Wang!"

I understood what he meant. Only by finding Boss Wang could we hope to find out the truth about Aunt Mei’s death, and possibly find Little Mei.

So I nodded and said, "Alright, then let's continue looking for Boss Wang!"

Sister Hong didn't know our secret. She thought we were looking for Boss Wang just for the money. She couldn't help but stomp her feet and say, "Oh, my ancestors! What time is it? You're still thinking about money? Don't end up earning money but not having a life to spend it! Saving our lives is the most important thing! I'm begging you, let's go back the way we came, okay? I'm begging you..."

However, as the three of us were discussing heatedly, I suddenly heard footsteps coming from not far away. I quickly looked in the direction of the sound, and suddenly saw a tall, thin figure slowly walking out of the tomb chamber where the bronzes were displayed!