My first reaction was that there was a mouse. In this mountain village, mice are quite common, and an abandoned wooden house is practically a paradise for them. However, when I was rummaging through the items earlier, I didn’t find any signs of mice, so I felt a bit surprised. Perhaps it was startled by the banging on the floor and came out. We had been knocking around everywhere, except under the bed, so it must have hidden there.

I hadn’t anticipated this situation. I wasn’t particularly worried about the metal box getting chewed up, but if the mouse started gnawing randomly and managed to pry open the latch, it could pose a danger. I felt a bit anxious and immediately crawled toward the dark compartment, slapping the floor a couple of times to scare the mouse away.

Sure enough, as soon as I slapped the floor, there was a sudden commotion from that side, as if it had been startled, but the mouse didn’t come out from under the boards. Animals that live alongside humans are quite clever; they can assess the situation and probably think that hiding inside is safer than jumping out to escape.

I don’t like mice, especially since the ones here are likely mountain mice, which are a more aggressive type and may bite if provoked. I didn’t dare to recklessly pry open the boards, so I waited for Fatty to come and handle it.

Fatty, completely unconcerned, had been holding in some frustration, and now he found a perfect outlet. He muttered, “You’re messing with someone powerful; you should know who you’re dealing with.” While repositioning me to block the mouse’s potential escape route, he carefully pried open a wooden board, crouching down and forming a claw-like grip with one hand.

We exchanged glances to signal that we were ready. After taking a deep breath, Fatty made his move, suddenly prying the board open and reaching down. He grabbed twice, and in his excitement, he leaned back too far and bumped his head against the bed board, causing him to immediately recoil in pain. But he was quite dedicated; before he cried out in pain, he urged me to grab quickly!

There was a flurry of activity in the dark compartment. I was worried that if the mouse got startled, it might actually knock the latch off, so I didn’t think too much and reached down to feel around, trying to force it out. To my surprise, I grabbed something as thick as a bowl. The thing immediately struggled, and my mind went blank. Damn! Was it not a mouse, but a snake?

This was disastrous for Fatty; after all, Guangxi is the place in China with the most venomous snakes! Just as I thought to let go, Fatty rushed over to help me, gripping my hand and saying, “Hold on, don’t let go!”

My face turned pale as I let him hold my hand, and together we pulled the thing up. I said, “Well, at least we caught something; I’ll stew it for A-Gui later—What the hell is this?”

Fatty immediately let go, and I saw that what had emerged from the dark compartment was, astonishingly, a gray human hand!

I screamed and immediately flung the hand away, thinking, what’s going on? The hand quickly retracted back into the compartment, grabbing the metal box and starting to tug at it with great force. After a couple of unsuccessful tugs, it began to pry at the surrounding wooden boards.

Fatty and I were both stunned. It took a while for Fatty to react, and he shouted, “Damn it! It’s a thief!”

I also realized that someone was underneath the floor, trying to steal the box. The fat man immediately got angry, cursed loudly, and hugged the iron box, dragging it out from the hidden compartment. At that moment, I saw that one side of the wooden board of the compartment had been pried open, and that hand had reached in through that hole. However, the hole was too small for the box to be pulled out.

As soon as that hand noticed the box was being taken away, it quickly retreated toward the hole. The fat man wouldn’t let it go and rushed to grab it, catching hold of the wrist, and called for my help. But before I could reach down, that hand had already wriggled free and disappeared into the hole. Then we heard a series of crashing sounds from beneath the floor; that person was clearly scrambling away.

The fat man quickly crawled out and shouted to the silent oil bottle, “Hey, go outside and cut him off!” Looking up, I saw that the silent oil bottle had already broken through the window. The fat man was energized and turned to me, saying, “Xiao Wu, keep an eye on this box!” As he spoke, he shook his fat and rushed out, shouting, “Hey, surround him from both sides!”

I pulled the box out from under the bed, feeling my heart racing. What the hell was going on? Whose hand was that? How could it be so terrifying? Damn it! It really scared the life out of me!

After panting for a long time, I wasn’t sure if it was the humid heat of the place or something else, but I still couldn’t catch my breath. I leaned the box against the side and heard the fat man shouting outside, “Damn it, where did he go? Did he burrow underground?” His voice was getting farther away, clearly indicating that he had run off.

I wanted to take a deep breath and go help them, but suddenly I heard the sound of wood cracking again from under the bed. I froze for a moment, then gasped, realizing something was wrong. Damn it! Could it be that he hadn’t left? Was this a diversion?

I hurriedly looked down at the bed and saw a person crawling out from that hidden compartment, coming straight towards me.