Chapter 25: A Twenty-Six-Year-Old Minor

I smacked He Yu hard on the shoulder. “Don’t just stand there! Move!”

The slap snapped him out of it. The two of us crouched low, eyes on the ceiling as we hurriedly backed toward the Coffin and Outer Coffin. We’d barely taken two steps when a beam of flashlight flickered—and in that brief flash, I saw it. A pale corpse clinging to the rock wall, gliding sideways like a spider.

“Shit! Is that a Corpse Reanimation?” He Yu clearly saw it too. He smacked his forehead.

That thing was in my line of sight for no more than two seconds, but the way it moved—long limbs scuttling sideways—sent cold sweat pouring down my back, soaking my inner shirt. It was fast. So fast that even my flashlight couldn’t track it.

I was just about to bolt when He Yu, who’d stopped behind me, tripped me up. I stumbled and cursed, “What the hell are you doing? It’s a Corpse Reanimation—run, damn it!”

He Yu’s voice trembled as he edged closer to me. “It’s not a Corpse Reanimation. Gan Ji, have you guys ever seen bugs this big where you’re from?”

I whipped my head around—and froze.

Clinging to the rock wall not far from the Coffin and Outer Coffin was a massive, centipede-like creature. Just one look was enough to give me full-body goosebumps.

This thing was enormous—far beyond anything I’d ever seen in nature. Its body was longer than the entire Coffin and Outer Coffin. Two whip-thick antennae twitched menacingly, and I had no doubt a single lash could flay a man alive. Even if you added me and He Yu together, we wouldn’t be enough to fill its stomach.

The corpse we’d seen earlier was clamped in the creature’s mandibles. So it hadn’t been crawling across the wall on its own—it was being dragged at high speed by this monster. In the next instant, the creature’s massive jaws clamped shut, crushing the corpse’s skull like a melon. Brain matter splattered down the rock wall, pooling on the ground.

I swallowed the urge to vomit and quickly gauged the distance to the Coffin and Outer Coffin—less than ten meters. But the creature was directly above it.

He Yu pressed close to me and whispered, “It’s still busy slurping up jelly right now, doesn’t care about us. But once it’s done, we’re next. Don’t panic. Listen—I’ll draw it away. You rush the coffin. Got it?”

He reached into his pack and pulled out a flare.

“When the flare goes off, don’t wait for me. Just run for the coffin. Understand?”

He Yu clearly had more experience than I did. I gave him an “OK” sign.

The monster was still gorging itself on the corpse’s remains. We edged closer to the wall. He Yu raised the flare toward the ceiling above the Burial Pit.

“Get ready. Here we go.” He rubbed his hands and started counting down. “Three, two—”

At “one,” we both bolted for the nearby coffin. The flare shot out with a loud pop. I glanced up—and froze.

Behind the rows of hanging corpses, just like prayer flags strung across the air, were swarms of those centipede-like creatures. Some of them were even bigger than the one we’d just seen.

The giant bug above the Coffin and Outer Coffin sensed the flare’s heat. It immediately dropped the corpse and scrambled madly toward the red glow. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief—when the red light blinked out.

“Fuck! What kind of cheap-ass flare was that? Those dumbasses must’ve bought knockoffs!” He Yu was already halfway into the coffin.

The giant bug’s tail knocked into the Coffin lid I’d flipped earlier. The lid spun a full three-sixty in the air, skimmed past my face, and slammed down over the Coffin and Outer Coffin, sealing it shut just as I reached it. At the same time, I heard rustling sounds from above—like the entire cave had come alive.

I cursed. Today really was the worst damn day.

I ran for the opening He Yu had crawled into, but before I could climb in, one of the bug’s antennae lashed me hard across the back. Even through my backpack, the pain was searing.

I lost my balance and tumbled headfirst into the Coffin and Outer Coffin.

“Help me out! Quick! I can’t move it alone!” He Yu was half-crouched inside a smaller coffin, gripping the lid with both hands.

I was thinner than him and could move more easily in the cramped space. I twisted around, hooked the edge of the lid with my foot, and kicked hard.

Thud! The lid slammed shut, sealing us in tight. But the bugs outside were still going berserk, slamming into the coffin lid over and over, making the entire structure shudder.

He Yu grabbed me and yanked me out of a compartment filled with burial objects. He dove first into the tunnel beneath the small coffin, and I followed close behind.

The stench hit me instantly—sickening and foul. The wet corpse must’ve been right next to my right hand.

We crawled in silence. The tunnel floor was slick with Burial Fluid, coating our clothes in black slime. I gagged several times but forced it down, focusing instead on my aching knees. I practically dragged myself through the next few dozen meters by sheer willpower.

After nearly a hundred meters, the Burial Fluid began to thin out, and the air grew fresher. But my stomach was still churning. I was afraid if I kept going, I’d end up puking on He Yu’s back.

He Yu stopped in a slightly wider section of the tunnel. He pulled a black plastic bag from his pack, dumped out some compressed biscuits, and handed me the bag.

“Here, use this if you need to puke. Then come back.”

I hadn’t eaten much, so even after dry-heaving for a while, not much came out. But the smell—it clung to everything. I’d never smelled anything like it. It turned my stomach just thinking about it.

“It’s normal,” He Yu said, patting my shoulder. “I puked the first few times too. You get used to it.”

Then his expression changed. “But seriously, that many corpses… and bugs that size… that was terrifying.”

My face was pale—partly from fear, partly from vomiting.

I shot him a glare and shook off his hand. “You told me this was your first time out with Tian Yuqing. You really think I believed that? Still pretending to be some innocent sixteen-year-old? ‘Yuqing-ge’ my ass. The way you flipped that coffin lid—looked like you’ve done it a hundred times.”

He Yu’s acting was nowhere near Tian Yuqing’s level. From the moment I nearly fell to my death, he hadn’t acted like any normal teenager. I’d suspected from the start that he just looked young. And now, even after all this, he was still playing the naive kid.

He Yu gave an awkward laugh. “Well, I didn’t exactly lie. This is my second time out with Tian Yuqing. And hey, I never said I was underage. I’m twenty-six, thank you very much. A fine specimen of manhood.”

He stroked his chin. “Damn, all that skincare really paid off. Handsome as Pan An, in the prime of youth!”

I rubbed my temples, annoyed. “Alright, spill it. Why did Tian Yuqing insist on dragging me along? What was with all the theatrics to scare me? And you—don’t tell me you just ‘randomly’ picked this tunnel.”

He Yu hesitated, then suddenly clutched his head and flopped onto the tunnel floor. “Ow, ow! That fall earlier really messed me up. My memory’s all fuzzy!”

“Say one more word of bullshit and I’m leaving you here.” I grabbed him and yanked him up.

He Yu quickly zipped an imaginary zipper across his lips, then scooted closer with a sheepish grin. “Master Gan, Young Master Gan, Heir of the Gan Family—don’t be mad. I was just trying to lighten the mood, you know? Fine, I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything, alright?”

I stayed silent, waiting.

“Heh, it’s not that complicated, really. Tian Yuqing brought you along because you’re the only one in the team who knows anything about mechanical traps. Word is this tomb is full of them. Plus, your Gan Family is known for brains among the Five Masters. Having you here is a safety net. And, well… you make great bait to lure out that bastard Lu. Win-win, right?”

I was speechless. I stared at him. “And this tunnel?”

He Yu waved his hands frantically. “Whoa, whoa, I swear—this is my first time in this tomb. I really did pick this tunnel at random. I don’t know anything about passageways or where they lead. And yeah, Tian Yuqing told me to lie to you. If you’re mad, be mad at him. Let’s not fight over this, okay?”

I sighed. Ever since I joined this team, not a single person had told me the truth. I had no one to blame but myself for letting my guard down. Everything Fourth Brother warned me about—I’d tossed it all to the wind.

As He Yu talked, he pulled a crushed pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and grinned at me.

“Man, pretending to be underage is exhausting. Almost as bad as pretending to be an idiot. Hey, you ever pretended to be a dumbass?”

I looked up at the ceiling, exasperated. Pretend? Hell, I was the dumbass—spun in circles by these people, naive to the core. I didn’t need to pretend.

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—Pan An (247–300 CE) was a Western Jin dynasty poet and official, famed for his exceptional handsomeness and literary talent. Women were said to throw fruits at his carriage out of admiration, and his name became a byword for male beauty in Chinese culture.