Chapter 36: Jumping into Quicksand

I hurriedly bent my knees, trying to crouch on the eaves like Lu A’yao, but the moment I looked down, all I saw was a pitch-black abyss. My legs instantly gave out, and I ended up kneeling on the ledge instead. But I didn’t care about looking ridiculous anymore—I started scanning the darkness, searching for He Yu.

Lu A’yao crouched beside me for about two minutes before decisively standing up. Grabbing onto an iron chain, he said, “I’m going down to take a look.”

He didn’t wait for my reply and immediately began descending along the chain. I cursed under my breath and quickly grabbed a chain to follow him. No matter what horrors awaited below, there was no way I was staying put this time.

Lu A’yao moved fast—there was no chance he’d slow down for me. So I kept my eyes on the beam of his flashlight as it dropped lower and lower, inching my way down with my family’s ancestral “turtle-speed technique,” clinging to the chain bit by bit.

At one point, just as I reached a certain spot, the light around me suddenly vanished. A cold sweat broke out on my back. I froze, waiting for Lu A’yao’s flashlight to reappear.

But there was no light.

Darkness swallowed everything around me. Lu A’yao had become a tiny speck of light devoured by the shadows. Aside from the faint glow of my own flashlight, there was nothing—no response, no sign of life. The shadowy figure from earlier flashed through my mind again, and my legs began to tremble.

All around me were swaying corpses hanging from chains. A few drifted so close they almost touched my face. I realized I could no longer see the upper brackets or the dragon pillars on either side. At some point, I had unknowingly entered the middle of the corpse cluster.

Idiot! I cursed myself a thousand times over.

Panic was the last thing I could afford. I grabbed a chain for support and ducked behind one of the hanging corpses, switching off my flashlight.

I tried to stay hidden and silent in the dark. That way, if someone attacked, I’d at least have the element of surprise. But with the flashlight off, I couldn’t see a thing and had to rely solely on my ears.

The sand still poured steadily from the dragon pillars into the Quicksand layer below. I could hear the gritty crunch of the shifting sand. The silence was so complete I could hear my own heartbeat. Cold sweat trickled down my forehead, but I didn’t dare wipe it away.

I clung to the chain for ten long minutes before I suddenly felt a tug from below. I shifted to the side. A moment later, the chain was yanked again.

What the hell? Even ghosts are this playful now?

I looked down and saw a human-shaped figure frantically reaching for my foot. I jumped back in fright, but when I looked closer, I realized—it was He Yu!

He was hanging directly beneath me, surrounded by layers of upside-down, waterlogged corpses. The closest one was barely half a palm’s width from his face, trapping him in a suffocating ring of death.

He Yu reached out a hand toward me. He couldn’t speak, but it was clear—if I didn’t help him soon, he’d be smothered to death. The stench from those wet corpses was unbearable. Even if he didn’t suffocate, he’d be choked by the smell.

I looked around for something useful. Aside from my flashlight, I had nothing. Seeing He Yu’s desperate hand slow down, I panicked. I spotted a nearby chain and leapt toward it. The chain trembled beneath me but held.

I grabbed the same chain I’d used earlier for support. Many of these chains were badly rusted. I wrapped both arms around it and gave it a hard yank. The chain snapped instantly, and the corpses hanging from it tumbled down.

The chain was heavy, and the one beneath my feet started to sway. I spread my legs and sat on it, gripping the chain tightly. Then I began swinging the heavy chain in my hands toward He Yu’s position. After a few swings, I felt the momentum build and hurled the chain down.

At the same time, I shouted, “He Yu! Get down!”

He Yu reacted fast. The moment I yelled, he pulled his hand back. I was a beat too slow—the chain slammed into my waist, knocking down a bunch of ancient corpses and dragging me down with it.

Just my damn luck!

I reached for the chain, my fingernails scraping against the metal, but I couldn’t get a grip. The next second, someone from above grabbed my wrist.

A flashlight exploded in my face, and a rotting, grotesque face lunged straight at me. I screamed and kicked the wet corpse hard. It flew several meters away, then suddenly twisted midair and dove back toward me like it was alive.

“Goddamn it, Lu! This corpse is moving! Let go of me!”

My wrist was released, and I started falling again. But this time, I was ready. I spotted a chain below, grabbed it, and steadied myself. Just as I was feeling proud of my quick reflexes, I looked up and saw He Yu falling too.

I reached out to catch him, but the guy, despite looking skinny, was heavy as hell—like a dead pig. The strain shot pain up my right arm, and I nearly got dragged down with him. The air was filled with the clanging of colliding chains.

“How the hell is that corpse moving?! Did you flirt with someone’s wife or something?!” I yelled.

He Yu steadied himself. “Screw you! This is some serious freaky shit! I climbed the same damn way as you two! Why is it that nothing happened to you guys, but the moment I came down, I got swarmed?! Next time, I’m bringing a damn machete, even if the King of Hell himself shows up!”

“Must be karma,” I said with a grin, finally getting a good look at him. His body was covered in bloody scratches from the corpses’ nails.

“You’re seriously still joking right now?!” He Yu grabbed the back of my collar and forced me to crouch on the chain, then kicked a wet corpse climbing up behind me straight into a dragon pillar—no hesitation at all.

Lu A’yao’s soft whip cracked down from above, and he landed beside us. Only then did I realize he’d swung over from another chain. No way in hell I’d dare attempt that.

“The ones above have gone berserk. They’re all climbing down. We can’t hold them off—we need another plan,” Lu A’yao said quickly, looking at me.

He Yu helped me up from the chain. “Whether we make it out of here alive depends on you now!”

Wait—me? Why the hell did he sound so confident?

Before I could respond, He Yu grabbed Lu A’yao. “Old Lu! You and I will hold them off. Give him time to think of something!”

With that, the two of them charged into the horde of corpses, wielding flashlights like clubs, smashing heads left and right. I clung to the chain, forcing myself to think fast.

The tomb walls were sealed—digging out was impossible. With our gear, we’d be corpse food before we made a dent. This funnel-shaped trap was practically inescapable. Either you never disturb the balance, or you break it with brute force.

We had no long poles, so I couldn’t confirm whether the sand below connected to an underground river. I looked up. Ancient corpses were crawling toward us from every direction, climbing the walls and chains like centipedes.

There was no retreat.

So I shouted, “I only have Plan A! What now?!”

“What the hell is Plan A?! Suicide by Quicksand?!”

He Yu smashed a corpse’s skull with his flashlight.

Lu A’yao swung over in an instant, lashing away a corpse that had gotten too close. He stood in front of me. Dozens of corpses were already climbing the chain, and the connection point was creaking ominously.

“I’m serious! Do you two trust me or not?!” I shouted.

He Yu kicked another corpse down. He was nearly buried in the pile now. “Shit! Fine! I trust you! I’d rather suffocate than get eaten alive by these things!”

I trusted my gut. There had to be water beneath the sand. I looked down at the Quicksand layer, still sinking, and leapt.

Lu A’yao retracted his whip and jumped right after me.

From above, He Yu’s voice echoed: “You two—couldn’t you wait for me?!”

The Quicksand was fast. The moment I landed, half my body was already buried. Within a minute, only my head remained above the surface. I took two deep breaths, filled my lungs, and began thrashing my limbs to sink faster.

The sand quickly swallowed me whole. My chest ached from the pressure. I could feel myself sinking faster and faster. The sand grew damp just as I was running out of air.

Then it was like being flushed down a giant toilet. I spun in the current, slammed the back of my head against something hard, and everything went black. The pain knocked the breath out of me, and the familiar sensation of drowning surged up.