Chapter 264: Adding Insult to Injury

We retreated from the mouth of the fissure back into its depths to lay low. Whenever we raised our flashlights, though, we could still see the murals on the opposite wall. The giant centipede returned to patrol every now and then. If I wasn’t mistaken, this was its territory.

There was no telling how high this cliff actually was. Our flashlights couldn’t reach the top, but going down wasn’t an option either. Once we hit the ground, without the protection of the fissure, we would end up as centipede dung the next time it came around. We were completely trapped in this crack, unable to climb up and terrified to climb down.

After retreating deep into the fissure, I wedged the sleeping bag containing Tian Xiaoqi into a rocky corner to secure it. Then He Yu and I shared some canned food to recover our strength. He Yu hadn’t rested in over twenty-four hours, so I told him to get some sleep while I kept watch.

I switched off my flashlight and leaned back against the fissure wall, staring out into the darkness. Just then, bursts of gunfire echoed in the distance. It sounded like a large firefight breaking out above us. I slowly crawled to the mouth of the fissure to listen. The sound was definitely coming from higher up the cliff.

The only group likely to have that many people and weapons was Fourth Brother’s team. But who were they fighting? Could it be that mysterious group from earlier? But those people should have died in the yellow mist long ago.

The giant centipede crawled past on the cliff wall again, its tail thrashing. I quickly pulled my head back and lay low. Here I was, barely able to save my own skin and completely helpless, yet still hoping Fourth Brother would come rescue us in the middle of a firefight. I almost fainted from frustration at my own foolishness.

He Yu and I took turns sleeping in the fissure. According to his watch, we stayed in there for three whole days. Outside, the firefight flared up intermittently, occasionally punctuated by the blast of a grenade. With the sheer volume of explosives they were throwing around, I felt like the mountain was going to be blown into a honeycomb or collapse entirely if they kept it up.

At first, we tried to work out the giant centipede’s patrol schedule so we could make a break for it, but its timing proved completely random. Once, He Yu and I had barely poked our heads out before it lunged at us, mandibles and legs thrashing, driving us right back into the fissure.

“Hiding out here isn’t going to cut it. We’re going to run out of food soon. Dammit, we have to risk it,” He Yu suggested.

I agreed with his idea.

We waited for a moment when the giant centipede was away foraging, planning to leave the fissure and climb upward using grappling hooks. We detached the hooks from all our ropes and secured them to our left wrists so they could serve as emergency supports if needed.

He Yu brought out a long rope and bound our right wrists together. It was a crude safeguard: if one person slipped or lost their grip, the other could hold them. The catch was that a single misstep could easily drag both of us down the cliff.

Once the ropes were secured, I led the way up. Being relatively light, rock climbing wasn’t particularly hard for me; I just needed to keep my body steady and pick the most efficient route and footholds. I charted the path of least resistance in my head as I led the ascent.

He Yu followed close behind. After climbing for over half an hour, we had covered about fifty meters upward, which was the furthest distance we had explored so far. I climbed into a triangular alcove formed by stacked rocks to take a break, pressing my back against the wall and bracing my legs against the stone to rest.

He Yu was directly below me, drenched in sweat. “Man, how much further, Xiao Yao? I’m hitting my limit. Listen to your brother: once we finish this job, let’s call it quits. Stop taking these risks with that Fourth Brother of yours.”

I was gasping for breath as well, my arms and legs trembling. I managed to shine my flashlight upward and caught a glimpse of the cliff-top platform. Estimating the distance, I said, “Thirty meters at most in a straight line. Give it one more push and we’re up there.”

Just then, I heard the familiar clattering sound of stone in the distance. Hearing it, both He Yu and I instinctively adjusted our positions to keep climbing. I yelled, “That thing is back! Hurry! Keep climbing!”

The giant centipede bared its mandibles with a piercing screech, its two massive antennae hot on our heels. I scrambled over a rock wall, paused for a split second, then lunged straight upward with all my might. My hands gripped a protruding rock, and I kicked my legs, gritting my teeth as I hauled myself up. The top platform was now within arm’s reach.

Once I found my footing, I turned to pull He Yu up, only to see that the distance between him and the giant centipede was down to zero. The moment I looked back, the centipede’s pincers hooked into He Yu’s trousers. He Yu let out a sharp cry. Those pincers were long and sharp, lined with barbs that had surely sunk into his flesh.

He Yu was instantly yanked downward by the centipede. He drew his Mountain-Cleaving Machete, trying to pry the creature’s pincers off, but the centipede’s carapace was as hard as steel. No matter where he stabbed, he couldn’t reach soft flesh.

“He Yu!” The moment the rope attached to me snapped taut, I turned, drew my Horse-Head Blade, and hurled myself down with a roar.

I landed right on the centipede’s head, and my Horse-Head Blade instantly sank into its carapace. I plunged the blade in two or three times with all my strength. The giant centipede’s deafening screeches under my attack nearly split my ears. On the third strike, its mouthparts finally released, tossing He Yu away.

Yanked by the rope, I tumbled off the centipede’s head as well. During the struggle, He Yu had dropped his Mountain-Cleaving Machete. Both of us were now sliding down the stone wall, unable to find a handhold.

At the critical moment, I jammed my Horse-Head Blade into a rock crevice with both hands to create friction. After sliding down dozens of meters, our momentum slowed as the blade caught on a rock. I quickly swept my flashlight around, spotted the fissure we had crawled out of, and swung the rope toward it, flinging He Yu inside.

I yanked my blade free, grabbed a nearby rock, and scrambled inside after him.

I tumbled a couple of times inside the fissure before coming to a stop, the blade slipping from my hand the moment I made it in. We had just slid down dozens of meters, and I had spent that entire distance pressing down on the hilt with both hands to force us to a stop. My palms were already raw and bloodied from the force against the handle.

Grimacing in pain, I ignored my own wounds and hurried to check on He Yu, who had tumbled into the crevice ahead of me. Both of his legs had been pierced by the pincers, leaving two gaping holes that were gushing blood.

“Hang in there!” I said, quickly pulling out the small amount of gauze left in my pack to wrap his wounds. As I bound them tightly layer by layer, his face turned deathly pale, so racked with pain that he couldn’t even make a sound.

It wasn’t until I was bandaging his second leg that he finally spoke. “If it weren’t for me, you’d have reached the edge of the cliff top by now.”

I shot him a glare. “What kind of talk is that? If you’re in trouble, of course I’m coming down to save you. When I was poisoned and we were out of food and water, didn’t you carry me on your back for so long? It’s just this centipede. It’s like it has a GPS installed in its head. The moment we slow down even a little, it catches our scent and comes right back.”

We had originally planned to make one final push, hoping we might manage to climb up. But after this accident, things were looking terrible. Our supplies were already dwindling, the temperature in the mountains was dropping, and now He Yu was bleeding continuously from bites on both legs. It was truly adding frost to snow^[1].

As I was trying to figure out our next move, a rustling sound suddenly came from the mouth of the crevice. He Yu and I both went on high alert. I quickly crouched down to pick up the knife off the ground, but before I could even turn around, someone came tumbling in through the entrance.