Chapter 97: Encountering the Infant Corpse Again

The process had been grueling, but I’d finally figured out the pattern. With that, things became much easier. Chen Canghai would jump first, then it’d be my turn. I stood there watching him arc gracefully through the air in a perfect parabola, and I couldn’t help but feel a stab of envy.

Why was everyone so damn good at this? It was like I was the only clueless idiot on the entire ship.

I crouched slightly and slowly edged toward the rim of the stone pillar beneath my feet, carefully preparing for the jump. Just as I was about to leap, a strange squeaking sound suddenly came from behind me.

The moment I heard it, I froze. Chen Canghai clearly heard it too—he immediately looked up in my direction. I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but before I could get the words out, something lunged at me from behind. In an instant, I lost my footing and tumbled headfirst off the pillar.

I let out a scream as I rolled down the stone surface with that thing clinging to me. Instinctively, I reached out to grab the pillar, but my fingernails scraped against the rough stone and tore off in chunks, leaving bloody streaks behind.

As I fell, terror consumed me. I had no control over my body. In the chaos, my hand brushed against the cold hilt of the knife at my waist. Without thinking, I yanked it out and plunged it into the brittle rock.

It barely slowed me down. The descent continued almost unabated, and I could feel the blade rapidly shortening as it scraped through the stone. Before I could react, my body slammed into icy water. The moment I hit the surface, it felt like the water punched all the air out of my lungs, crushing my chest with unbearable force.

A mouthful of water surged into my windpipe. The pool was terrifyingly deep. I sank nearly ten meters before I managed to start swimming upward with everything I had. My left leg gave out with a sharp crack—it might’ve been broken or just twisted, I couldn’t tell.

With only my arms and one good leg, I forced myself to the surface as fast as I could. The freezing, foul-smelling water and the pain coursing through my body snapped my mind into razor-sharp clarity. Around me, strange black shapes floated on the water.

I had no idea what they were. They looked like lifeless objects, bobbing gently with the current. Everything around me was pitch black. I couldn’t see more than a meter ahead. I reached for the flashlight hanging from my chest but didn’t dare turn it on.

I was terrified that if I did, I’d find a rotting, grotesque face staring back at me, nose to nose.

This place was far more unsettling than the stone pillars above. Though I was in water, there wasn’t a single sound—no ripples, no splashes. It was a dead pool.

I didn’t dare call out for help. Before I fell, I’d clearly heard that thing land in the water not far from me. When it had clung to me, the stench was exactly like the infant corpse we’d encountered before. There was a good chance it had followed us through the gate.

I didn’t know where it was now. If I shouted, I might give away my position and put Chen Canghai in danger. So I had to rely on myself. I had to reach the shore before that infant corpse surfaced.

Panicked, I scanned my surroundings, hoping my eyes would adjust and help me spot something useful. Just then, a length of iron chain floated by and brushed against my hand. I grabbed it immediately and pulled it closer to examine. It was the same kind of chain Chen Canghai had shown me earlier—no doubt from the same collapsed bridge.

This chain seemed to be anchored to something solid on shore, which was why it hadn’t sunk. It angled upward, and a flicker of hope sparked in my chest. I clung to the chain and began swimming in that direction.

As I pulled myself along, I guessed that this might be part of the bridge’s remnants—some sections had fallen into the water, while others remained caught on the bank. That suggested the shore was wide enough to catch parts of the bridge’s frame and keep them from sinking.

After a while, my right foot bumped into some wooden planks. Many were broken, likely a small fragment of the bridge’s surface. It seemed to be resting on something soft and unstable—there might be more debris underneath.

Gripping the chain, I half-climbed, half-crawled onto the planks, moving forward while straining to hear any sounds behind me.

I was terrified. I didn’t dare investigate too much or pay attention to the odd texture beneath my feet. I just followed the remnants of the bridge until I reached a spot where I could touch the rock wall ahead. Only then did I stop. That short distance had drained me completely.

In front of me was a cave. The entrance was extremely narrow—barely wide enough for a person to crawl through. But the moment I touched the cave wall, I made up my mind. I had to go in.

I wasn’t carrying any gear. All I had left was a short claw knife at my waist. Every instinct screamed that I couldn’t stay on this iron chain bridge a second longer. So I crouched low and squeezed into the cave.

I was still bleeding, and I feared I might lose consciousness midway. I needed to find a relatively safe place as soon as possible. Gritting my teeth, I summoned every bit of strength and crawled forward for dozens of meters.

I’d never crawled through such a tight space before. The last time had been with He Yu, and having him there had made everything feel less terrifying.

But this time, without He Yu, I was barely holding it together. At first, it wasn’t too bad. I could still feel air flowing in through the cave, and the cool breeze helped me relax a little. But after crawling thirty or forty meters, the air grew still. The feeling was hard to describe—my chest began to tighten for no reason.

I knew I had to stop.

I was reaching my limit.

Being alone in complete darkness is terrifying. The unfamiliar environment made my heart pound and my breathing quicken. I curled up inside the narrow space, but there was barely any room. My feet were practically touching my head, and the cave ceiling pressed right against my scalp.

The sensation reminded me of the first time I went down one of those tube slides as a kid—so cramped it made me want to scream. I wanted to scream now too. In fact, halfway through the crawl, I broke down crying. But I couldn’t stop. Crawling forward meant I still had a chance. If I passed out at the entrance, I might never know how I died.

Just then, I coughed up another mouthful of blood. It smeared across my face as I curled up inside the cave. At that point, crying and screaming felt almost uncontrollable. I can’t even remember what I was yelling—my mind had completely unraveled. My body, acting on instinct, even tried to crawl back the way I came.

But there was no going back. I didn’t have the strength left to drag myself out.

Maybe it’d be better to just die here, I thought.

In the end, it wasn’t all that different from those Tomb Raiders you hear about. But without a doubt, I was a pathetic excuse for one—dying in some nameless cave, one leg broken, arms and back covered in gashes from that infant corpse’s claws.

My thoughts spiraled into chaos, and my vision began to blur. My head lolled to the side, and I collapsed inside the cave.