Zhang Haike pushed aside the mud and immediately discovered that in the sludge he had vomited, there were countless tiny leeches. These pure black leeches were as thick as noodles, writhing incessantly in the filth, resembling a bowl of living noodles. Zhang Haike picked one up and realized that it looked different from the leeches he usually saw; its body was covered in small bumps. Upon closer inspection, he saw that these were all white eggs coated in mud, densely packed together.

Zhang Haike clicked his tongue and carefully examined his own skin, cold sweat breaking out on him. He could vaguely see countless tiny protrusions beneath his skin, with numerous minute bumps all over. There was no sensation; it was hard to notice unless one looked closely.

The others were still busy washing the man’s stomach, joking and cursing. Zhang Haike shouted, “Stop messing around! We’re going to die!” The others quieted down and gathered around, only to see Zhang Haike using a dagger to pierce his own skin, cutting deep until a black leech covered in eggs emerged. He used the dagger to lift it, blood gushing out and dripping onto the ground, causing the leeches in the filth to crawl toward the blood.

The leech he had lifted writhed on the tip of the knife, and Zhang Haike’s expression twisted in agony. He lit a match and burned it to death. Looking at other parts of his body, Zhang Haike felt almost hopeless; everywhere he could see was faintly lined with black, and almost all of his skin contained these leeches.

“When did they get in?” he asked. “It was when we were in the mud; you all should check yourselves.”

The others immediately took off their clothes and examined their bodies. Upon seeing the situation, everyone collapsed in despair, as all of them had the same condition as Zhang Haike; there was hardly a spot on their skin that didn’t have leeches beneath it.

“They entered through the pores. In the mud, they were in a dormant state, probably only the thickness of a hair. Once inside, they fed on blood and grew larger.”

“What do we do? If we dig them out, we’ll end up as minced meat.”

“Use fire to drive them out,” Zhang Haike suggested.

“They’ve grown so big after sucking blood; they probably can’t even come out.”

“Better to suffocate inside than let them eat us alive.”

The underground space had insufficient oxygen; otherwise, Zhang Haike would have boiled the water in the tank. They could only use fire to sear close to their chests. Soon, a rich aroma of roasted meat filled the air.

Zhang Haike thought that even if the leeches didn’t come out, they would be roasted alive inside. However, after trying this, he realized something was wrong. The leeches were immediately disturbed by the heat; he could clearly feel all the leeches burrowing back into his body. Previously, he had only felt itching, but soon he began to experience excruciating pain.

They had no choice but to stop. The others went into a frenzy, starting to use knives to cut open their own bodies. Zhang Haike managed to calm down: “Don’t panic; this isn’t a dead end.” He looked around and said, “When our people came here before, these leeches must have already existed; they were fine. When we looked at the corpse earlier, we didn’t see them sealing their pant legs or anything, which means they had a way to deal with this. Let’s search for it.”

A few people began searching through the few items in the earth temple, but there were simply too few items to find anything, only that water jar remained. Could it be the water in this jar? They immediately used the water from the jar to wash their bodies once again, this time scrubbing especially hard and earnestly, as if they wished to inject the water into their skin. After they finished washing, they found it ineffective, and thus all calmed down, the leeches also becoming still.

“That little ghost said we would definitely die. Could it be that he knows there are these bugs in the mud?”

“But he jumped in too! If he knew, how did he overcome it?”

Zhang Haike, panting heavily, recalled the rumors he had heard earlier—that the mute oil bottle was a child with the strongest hereditary traits in his family. Although this hereditary ability wasn’t essential, only those who inherited it could enter some special, perilous ancient tombs.

“His blood,” Zhang Haike suddenly realized. “His blood keeps these bugs away from him. Damn, last time he was here, those Zhang family members used him to draw blood to avoid these bugs.” He stood up abruptly. “No more resting. Before these bug eggs hatch inside us and kill us, we must find that little ghost. Only he can save us.”

They set off immediately.

They walked forward for what felt like an eternity—at least a day and a night. They had completely delved into the ruins, yet still had not found any trace of the mute oil bottle; it seemed he had taken an entirely different path. By the next evening, Zhang Haike and the others arrived at the edge of the ancient city that had already been explored.

The so-called edge meant that the previous explorations by the Zhang family ended here. This edge was an ancient ship, sunk in the mud. Inside the cabin, Zhang Haike saw three dried corpses of children piled in a corner, clearly orphans from the Zhang family, who had died from bloodletting, with obvious wounds where blood had been drawn.

The children were only seven or eight years old. Zhang Haike felt a surge of anger mixed with helplessness, as the black lines on his body grew thicker, allowing him to clearly feel the contours of the eggs beneath his skin.

“There’s no way out. This place is too vast; we can’t find any other passage, and it’s impossible to find him. Maybe we should just go back home immediately; my father and the others will have a way.”

“You heard that little ghost say it—if our family finds out we’ve been here, we’ll be killed,” Zhang Haike replied. “Besides, it will take time to get back home. By then, not to mention the leeches, even the eggs will have hatched. We only have one chance to survive.”

“What do you mean?”

“We need to cause serious destruction here, very serious destruction, to make him come and stop us,” Zhang Haike said. “The structure here isn’t stable; we brought explosives. We need to create a big enough tremor to make this place collapse. We’ll blow it up every two hours. No matter where he is in this ancient city, he will definitely come to stop us.”

“What if he doesn’t come and just runs away?”

“Then we’re dead, so there’s no need to consider that possibility,” Zhang Haike said. “But I believe that since he went through so much trouble to come back here, he definitely won’t give up easily. Our chances of winning are quite high.”