That little hand had five fingers of equal length, and the arm was extremely thin, just as Panzi described, which was quite terrifying. The胖子 kept gesturing at me to stay still. I wasn’t actually very scared; if someone encounters too many unexpected events at once, they tend to become calm instead. At that moment, I felt like I was being pranked. Suddenly, I became very annoyed and really wanted to grab that hand and bite it hard.

Of course, reason kept me from moving, and the胖子 used Panzi’s gun to poke at that hand, trying to lift it off my shoulder. As soon as the gun reached out, that hand coiled around it like a snake and pulled it back. The胖子 was unwilling to let go, and with a shake of his big butt, he tugged against that hand.

I rushed over to help. The胖子 was strong on his own, and with my help, we could only manage to hold our ground against that thin arm. Just as we were about to give in, Panzi raised his hand and threw a military knife to the胖子. The胖子 cursed, and with a fierce upward slash, he sliced a piece of skin off that hand. Suddenly, the hand released its grip and wildly swung away into the darkness. The sound it made was surprisingly reminiscent of a snake. In that instant, both the胖子 and I lost our strength and fell flat on our backs.

The胖子, like a fat pig, jumped up and rushed over to see what was going on; it turned out there was a very deep crevice there. He squeezed himself in, but although it was quite spacious inside, the entrance was too small for his size to fit through. Frustrated, he waved his hand and angrily tried to pry at the stone bricks. To his surprise, the stone wall, which looked very solid, came down quite easily. He quickly said, “Look, there’s a big hole here!”

We gathered around, and the胖子 shone his wolf-eye flashlight inside, revealing that it indeed led to another world. The hole was dark and we had no idea where it led. We never expected that in the darkness of the wall, there was a very small passageway, and no wonder those corpses could appear and disappear so mysteriously last time.

Panzi touched the surface of the hole and said curiously, “It looks like it was dug by hand. Could it be a passage for those corpses?”

“You mean those corpses are inside?” The胖子 originally wanted to crawl into the hole to take a look, but upon hearing Panzi, he hesitated. Panzi whispered, “Don’t be afraid. When that little brother treated my wound earlier, I smeared his blood on my hand. Look,” he pointed to a bloodstain on his hand, “you guys should also rub a bit of saliva on your faces; it will definitely work!”

I couldn’t help but laugh, “You’re really something; that guy at least saved your life!”

Panzi smiled awkwardly and said, “At that time, I didn’t know why. I just felt it shouldn’t go to waste when I saw his blood dripping on the ground.” The胖子 couldn’t understand what we were talking about and asked, “What, is that little brother’s blood that powerful?”

We both nodded and shared the situation in the corpse hole with the胖子. He immediately became very interested in the blood on Panzi’s hand, exclaiming, “That’s great! In the future, when I go treasure hunting, I can show off a bit. Damn it, if anyone dares to blow out my candles, I’ll make them kneel on the coffin board.” As he spoke, he seemed eager to scrape that blood off Panzi’s hand.

Panzi said to me, “I don’t know what this small hole is for, but since we can’t get out of that stone maze, I think this is a glimmer of hope. Why don’t we go in and take a look?” I glanced at the eerie little hole that could only accommodate one person and felt a chill run down my spine; it seemed inappropriate to go in. However, if we didn’t take action, we would just be waiting to die here, so I nodded in agreement. The胖子 took off his belt and tied it around his foot, telling Panzi, “Just hold on to this belt, and I’ll lead the way.” Without another word, he crouched down and was the first to enter the hole. Then Panzi grabbed the belt and followed him in. I watched as they disappeared into the darkness, swallowed hard, said a quick prayer to God, and then steeled myself and crawled in after them.

The胖子 was crawling very slowly in front; in some places, he could barely get through and had to take a moment to catch his breath and shrink his butt to fit. Panzi, being pulled along behind him, was struggling and directly addressed the胖子, saying, “You better not fart again.” The胖子 was panting heavily in front and had no strength to respond. Seeing him so worn out and silent, I knew he was really exhausted. So, we moved like three little worms, inching along without knowing how long we had been crawling. Suddenly, the胖子 whispered, “There’s light!” Instantly, he quickened his pace, and Panzi, who was being tugged along, felt the belt tighten painfully and exclaimed for him to take it easy. The胖子 was crawling incredibly fast; given his size, it was a miracle he could move at this speed in such a small hole. I saw the light growing stronger and thought, could it be that we were really lucky enough to find an exit? This little hole actually leads to the surface? Finally, the胖子 was the first to crawl out of the hole. Just as he got out, I heard him scream in shock, “What the hell!!! Where exactly is this place?”