Chapter 13 The Big Black Dog

Walking along this dark passage, the stench of blood grew stronger and stronger.

Ahead was the Crystal Palace. Afraid that the bloody smell might have something to do with Sister Xiaomei, I quickly asked Old Wei, who was leading the way, "Old Wei, is the end of the passage near? How much further?"

Old Wei replied, "I don't know either. It's all dark up ahead..."

Before he could finish speaking, he yelped and said, "Wait, it's getting brighter up ahead! The passage must be ending. There aren't any light-absorbing materials up there!"

Hu Wazi was also concerned about Sister Xiaomei. Hearing this, he rushed forward, taking two steps for every one, only to suddenly exclaim, "Holy crap!"

I quickly asked him, "Hu Wazi, what's wrong?"

Hu Wazi said in a deep voice, "I know where the bloody smell is coming from. There are dead people up ahead!"

We hurried forward and came to Hu Wazi's side. Looking down, we indeed saw several corpses.

Seeing these dead people, I couldn't help but curse, because the way they died was extremely gruesome, far more gruesome than the deaths of those mice under Silver Snake's command.

They didn't seem to have been killed by people, but rather as if they had been disemboweled by some wild beast. There wasn't a single piece of good flesh left on their faces or necks, and their clothes were tattered.

The scene almost made me vomit.

Even Old Wei, who had been in the business for many years, couldn't take it and dry-heaved, covering his mouth.

At this moment, I noticed another detail—scattered around the corpses were several crossbows with arrows attached. Seeing these, I immediately turned back and asked Silver Snake, "Sister Snake, is this the group that ambushed you?"

Silver Snake walked over to take a look, especially squatting down to examine the crossbows, and nodded decisively. "It's them! It's them! Hahaha... they deserved to die! They've suffered retribution. Look at how they died, even worse than my poor brothers! I feel relieved! I feel so relieved!"

Hu Wazi also squatted down beside Silver Snake, carefully examining the wounds on the corpses. He narrowed his eyes and said, "What kind of animal bit them? How could the wounds be so big?"

Xiao Liang immediately thought of the stray dogs we had encountered in the underground palace before and asked, "Could it be stray dogs? That old woman must have raised a lot of stray dogs. The Crystal Palace is just ahead, so maybe there are some surviving dogs there."

Xiao Liang's theory made sense, and I nodded slightly in agreement.

Hu Wazi examined the wounds again but shook his head. "I don't think so. A dog's mouth isn't that big. How could it bite out such large wounds?"

Old Wei agreed with Hu Wazi's statement and analyzed, "Logically speaking, these tomb raiders have crossbows in their hands. The weapons are lethal enough to take down not just one or two stray dogs, but even several living people. I think whatever killed them must be some other animal..."

"Damn, what other evil things are there in this underground? I feel like this Qu Shang Underground Palace is getting more and more strange," Yun Jie said timidly.

At this time, Old Wei asked Silver Snake, "Girl, how many people ambushed you back then? Take a look and see if they're all dead here."

There were roughly three corpses that had been bitten to death.

Silver Snake replied, "There were at least seven or eight people who ambushed us, far more than this. They've probably only been half-killed, and the other half have gone to the Crystal Palace."

Hearing this, Hu Wazi immediately stood up and waved in the direction of the Crystal Palace, saying, "Enough talk, let's hurry to the Crystal Palace. This Crystal Palace is indeed strange. I won't feel at ease until we find An'an!"

I also agreed, saying, "Yes, let's hurry over."

Old Wei nodded and continued to lead the way, taking us out of the end of the dark passage.

Leaving the unlit passage, the environment outside suddenly opened up. A sweep of the flashlight around revealed a large natural cave.

Looking ahead, the Crystal Palace was not far away. Walking along this natural cave, we could reach the entrance of the Crystal Palace in two or three hundred meters at most.

As soon as I saw the Crystal Palace, I immediately became excited and couldn't help but quicken my pace, catching up with Old Wei and Hu Wazi in front.

Hu Wazi couldn't control his emotions and shouted loudly towards the Crystal Palace, "An'an! An'an! Are you there?"

Old Wei quickly said in a low voice, "Shhh! Hu Wazi, don't shout. Be careful of enemies in the Crystal Palace. You're just stirring up trouble!"

Before he could finish speaking, I suddenly heard a low growl coming from the direction of the Crystal Palace entrance.

The growl sounded a bit like a stray dog, just like the growls of the stray dogs that the old woman had raised before. But upon closer listening, the growl was louder than the previous stray dogs' sounds and exuded a murderous aura!

"Careful! It's probably the beast that bit the tomb raiders!" I quickly reminded.

Before I could finish speaking, a black shadow suddenly flashed out of the Crystal Palace!

The black shadow was tall and large. At first glance, it looked as if a brown bear had escaped from the zoo!

Taking a closer look, I recognized it as a large black dog, which looked a bit like a German Shepherd, but its bloodline was probably not pure. It was a cross between a German Shepherd and another type of dog.

However, its size was much larger than the average German Shepherd, even larger than the largest Alaskan Malamute I had ever seen! This wasn't a dog at all! It was like a bear!

Old Wei and the others were also startled when they saw this beast.

Hu Wazi cursed, "Holy crap! That old woman didn't tell us a single truth. Didn't she say that all the dogs she raised had been killed by us? There's still a big one hiding in the Crystal Palace!"

I saw the red light flickering in the dog's mouth, obviously all blood. Taking a closer look, I saw half a corpse at its feet, which looked like the remains of a tomb raider from its clothing.

I frowned and said, "This beast is eating dead people. Look, its mouth and front paws are covered in blood!"

"Damn it," Old Wei said in a deep voice, "Could it be that the old woman raised these dogs on dead human meat? She said she was going out to find food for the dogs, but I think she was just looking for dead tomb raiders to feed this beast!"

Silver Snake immediately nodded and said, "That's very possible! This Qu Shang Underground Palace has a great reputation in the underworld, and countless people come here for the name. Who would have thought that they would all become dog food in the end!"

As she said this, the bear-like dog roared angrily and pounced towards us!

The Xiaoling Guards were quick-witted and quick-handed, drawing their guns and firing. For a moment, gunshots rang out in front of the Crystal Palace, making my ears ring!