adminI looked over at him and felt that the object resembled a smaller human head, but it lacked facial features and was covered in black mud, surrounded by fine, beard-like strands.
“What the hell is this?” I asked.
The fat guy tossed it over, and I caught it mid-air, realizing it wasn’t large. After washing it with water, the black mud quickly came off, revealing a green, rusted surface underneath.
I shook it and said in confusion, “Damn it, it’s a military canteen.”
“A canteen?”
“An old model, from decades ago. I recognized it as soon as I saw the shape; I have one at home. Look, there’s writing here.” I turned the canteen over.
Indeed, there was a series of stamped letters on the bottom, but they were not deeply engraved, making them hard to read—possibly indicating the place of manufacture.
We exchanged glances, both wondering what was going on. How could this canteen have floated up from this hole? The space beneath the water should be a riverbed piled with gravel and pottery shards. Although we didn’t know what it looked like thousands of years ago, it had certainly looked like this for the past few hundred years. How could a canteen exist here?
The fat guy said, “Could it be something left behind by the reactionaries that fled here?”
“That’s possible,” I replied, “but the real question is, how did this thing end up down here?”
“Maybe a reactionary came here and happened to fall to their death in the hole.”
I shook my head. “Impossible. This kind of balanced structure can only exist once. If it had collapsed before, it would either be a hole or filled in by later sediment, and wouldn’t create a pit covered by pottery shards.”
“How do you know?” the fat guy asked.
“Boss, it’s common sense,” I said.
“Well, it could have drifted down here from somewhere else; the space below is all empty,” he suggested.
“Theoretically, that’s possible, but in reality, it’s difficult. The canteen would float and get stuck on the hollow ceiling; it’s not that easy to drift around.”
Before I could finish speaking, I suddenly felt something move beneath my feet. I immediately spread my arms to maintain balance and warned the fat guy, “Be careful, it’s going to collapse again!”
But the fat guy cursed, “Your common sense is wrong.”
I looked down and saw a massive object rapidly rising from the dark pit, reflecting a series of shimmering scales, followed by a basketball-sized yellow eye.
I was stunned. What was this?
The fat guy pushed me and shouted, “Run! Run! Run!” Before I could react, he yanked me and we bolted out. The fat guy was acting like a madman, pulling me with all his strength. I could tell we were genuinely fleeing for our lives, and I grabbed the quiet guy, rushing out.
In the water, it was nearly impossible to run; the resistance was too great, and the ground was littered with sharp pottery shards. I only managed to take a few steps before stepping on a sharp edge and fell into the water, thrashing around as pain shot through the soles of my feet.
Then the fat guy and the quiet guy also fell. The fat guy’s backpack broke, but he didn’t even look back; he shouted, “Don’t stop!” and used all his strength to stumble forward. I heard a deafening sound of rushing water behind us. Turning around, I saw an enormous python rising from the water, like a green dragon emerging from the depths.
Seeing the size of that snake, I suddenly remembered.
Heavens! Isn’t that the mother snake?
How is this possible? The giant serpent depicted in the relief actually exists, and it’s still alive!
I thought to myself, “This is it,” gritting my teeth and continuing to run forward, only to hear a sound behind me like a raging torrent of water. What should I do? I could only run a few steps at a time. I stumbled countless times while running, not knowing how many times I fell; my feet were twisted, and my body was covered in wounds.
Many people have experienced this: when fleeing from danger, a person relies on that initial burst of adrenaline. As long as that energy hasn’t been spent, even if they are slashed a couple of times, they don’t feel the pain. So I sprinted like crazy, falling and getting back up, my feet were raw, and I didn’t even know how many cuts I had. In my panic, I lost all sense of distance and didn’t know how far I had run. Finally, my foot suddenly stepped into a dip, and I tumbled down. Below was a deep pit, and I was instantly plunged into the water.
I reacted quickly, stabilizing myself, but it was so sudden that I swallowed several mouthfuls of water and couldn’t find my footing no matter how hard I tried.
The fat guy was still paying attention to me; he had run a dozen meters ahead but rushed back to try to pull me up. But before I could grab his hand, a flash of scales appeared, and an incredibly overpowering force surged through, pushing the water and dragging him and the oil bottle down with me.
This was life-threatening. The three of us struggled in the water, while the massive body of the python coiled around us like a train. The fat guy pulled out a dagger, but after seeing the size difference, he realized the dagger was no more effective than a toothpick and gave up.
The enormous head of the python emerged from the water in front of us, its scales glimmering like mirrors. It was so big that its presence made me feel like I was facing a clawless azure dragon.
How did that water bottle end up down here? Someone must have fed it to the snake, and it was dragged down into the sand. The three of us were no more than appetizers for it.
We struggled in the water, trying to swim out of the python’s encirclement, but we found we couldn’t control ourselves at all. As soon as the giant serpent moved, the water surged, creating immense pressure that threw us off course.
The fat guy refused to give up; he raised his gun and aimed at the snake’s eyes, firing twice. The giant serpent’s head moved a couple of times but showed no reaction, and the fat guy had to throw away the gun.
I told him not to waste his effort; we all knew that the gun wouldn’t do anything. We could fight against a giant python with double scales, but this creature was just too big. How could we fight it? Nothing would work.
The fat guy shouted, “No way! An elephant doesn’t eat ants; we’re too small. It wouldn’t be that easy for it to eat us.” Before he could finish, the snake’s head suddenly recoiled and lunged at him. The force was indescribable, and I was thrown out by the wave of water.
I got up and shouted for the fat guy, only to see him dragged far away along with the oil bottle, and the giant snake surprisingly missed its bite. The giant serpent, enraged by its failure, twisted its body, creating a massive wave, and its enormous scales reflected my handheld miner’s lamp, casting a kaleidoscope of illusions.
The fat guy shouted at me, “Hide!”
I immediately swam towards a stone pillar on the side. After a struggle, I managed to climb up. When I turned around, my scalp tingled; right in front of me was the head of a gigantic python, resembling a dinosaur, silently poking out and staring directly at me. There was no way to hide; the python was too big. I had swum a considerable distance, but it reached me in an instant—its direct attack range was probably within two to three meters. Up close, I realized the python was even more massive, and I couldn’t help but feel my legs go weak, causing me to kneel down. The giant python turned its head, looking at me with its enormous snake eyes, not attacking immediately, but its head kept moving.
I thought to myself that I was doomed. On the water’s surface, its attacks would surely be more accurate than in the water. However, after a few seconds, it still didn’t strike. I stared intently at the snake’s head and noticed that it seemed uncertain about something.
Suddenly, I saw the bright mining lamp shining on the snake, and it dawned on me. The lamp was extremely bright, and this snake had probably not seen any light for hundreds of years. It was likely blinded by the brightness.
I thought of a plan and slowly placed the mining lamp on the side of the stone pillar, hoping to slip away while its attention was distracted. However, there was almost no flat surface on the pillar to place anything; as soon as I set it down, it slid off. I was sweating profusely, and after several failed attempts, I reminded myself to stay calm and think of another way. I was quite impressed that I could still think clearly at this moment. If it had been before, I would have been completely terrified.
Suddenly, I saw the fat guy making hand signals behind the giant python’s head, as if he wanted me to toss him the mining lamp. I instantly understood his intention, took a deep breath, and with all my strength, I swung the lamp away from the snake’s head. A bright arc flew towards the fat guy, and the giant python was drawn to the light, immediately turning its head. At that moment, I dove into the water.
The python reacted instantly. Without thinking, I swam as hard as I could until I was completely exhausted, finally surfacing. I realized I hadn’t swum very far; the giant python was right behind me, its massive body sprawled around me. But it moved quickly and soon disappeared, seemingly burrowing into the sand below.
Before long, I saw the fat guy emerging from the water, carrying the oil bottle. I asked him what happened. He said, “I sank the mining lamp into a hole, and it chased after it. We need to go quickly; if it comes back up, we’re done for.”
