adminI was momentarily stunned and quickly realized that the stone slab above my head had definitely been lifted by someone. For a moment, I thought it was my uncle or An Ning, since there was no one else in the ancient tomb. But when I looked up, I saw a hulking, scaled sea monkey hunched over, looking down at me from a height. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of its shoulder, which was a bloody mess with a harpoon stuck in it. I sighed inwardly, thinking how unfair it was that this creature had come after me.
I hadn’t expected such a dramatic turn of events, and I was at a loss for what to do. Just then, someone tugged at my pants. I looked down to find it was the Silent Oil Bottle, signaling me to hurry down. Seeing the massive size of the sea monkey, I immediately understood his intention and scrambled to climb down. The tunnel below me was sloped, and since I was already cramped in with the Silent Oil Bottle, my movements were very awkward. In my flurry, I slowed down even more. Just as I had descended a few steps, the sea monkey let out a guttural sound and suddenly poked its head down towards me. I was so startled that I slipped and fell back against the wall of the tunnel.
Although my backside hurt tremendously, I used the momentum to slide down, thinking that perhaps fate was on my side. If I could quickly return to the tunnel, that massive sea monkey wouldn’t be able to squeeze in, at least giving me a moment to catch my breath. I thought my plan was brilliant, but fate had other ideas. Just half a meter down, I suddenly saw the Fatty blocking the way below, desperately trying to climb up while shouting, “Get up, get up! That chicken is climbing back up!”
I was taken aback and quickly turned to look behind him, only to see a large mass of hair already reaching the last turn of the zigzag. I cursed inwardly, realizing that misfortune often comes in pairs. I threw my lighter to the Fatty, telling him to hold it off for a moment, and raised my head to check the situation above. Just as I moved my neck, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. Turning my head, I realized that while the sea monkey’s shoulders were broad, its neck was surprisingly agile. In an instant of inattention, it had bitten down on my right shoulder.
This was a serious problem; its bite was perfectly placed, with its fangs digging deep into my flesh, causing me excruciating pain that nearly made me faint, but thankfully not injuring any bones or tendons. Just as I was about to struggle, it yanked me out of the tunnel entirely.
The sea monkey held me in mid-air, seemingly not intending to kill me immediately, but I knew that with a single jerk, it could easily tear me in half. At that moment, even fear couldn’t stop me from fighting back. I suddenly noticed the harpoon I had lodged in its shoulder, and in a desperate move, I kicked it. To my surprise, the kick landed perfectly, driving the harpoon in another four or five centimeters. It let out a howl and flung me away.
I used all my strength to roll several times on the ground, managing to cushion my fall. However, when I tried to stand up, my entire right arm had gone completely numb. The sea monkey, enraged by the pain, roared and lunged at me again, this time aiming straight for my neck, seemingly intent on biting through my throat.
It came at me with incredible speed, and I had no way to evade it, so I could only raise my hands to block. This was undoubtedly like an ant trying to stop a car, but if I didn’t do this, I feared I might lose my head. At that moment, the fat guy suddenly lunged from behind, grabbing the sea monkey’s foot and tripping it, causing both of them to tumble to the ground in a heap. The fat guy was surprisingly agile and attempted to climb onto the sea monkey’s back like Wu Song fighting the tiger, but the sea monkey was incredibly strong, and the fat guy couldn’t hold it down; it kicked him away with a single blow.
Seeing that the fat guy couldn’t subdue it either, I thought to myself that this was bad. Sure enough, the sea monkey bared its teeth at the fat guy and turned to pounce on me. I thought, “You bastard, are you targeting me?” I hurriedly reached for the air gun hanging at my waist, but then I remembered that earlier, when I was climbing the rock wall, I had thrown away that spear-like gun to escape smoothly, and now it was probably crushed into a twisted mess.
It was too late for regrets; the sea monkey was already in front of me. I thought it would surely bite my neck and tear my head off, so I closed my eyes and waited to die. To my surprise, it seemed to still have some energy left and stomped hard on my stomach. The force of the kick nearly broke my spine, and I spat out a mouthful of blood, almost losing consciousness from the pain. It wasn’t done yet; it raised its foot to stomp on my chest, but just as it lifted its foot, there was a loud “bang,” and I didn’t even know what had happened. I saw it get knocked away with a cry, tumbling several times.
I turned to look and saw the fat guy striding over like a deity, holding a large bronze mirror that was still vibrating. I was stunned; it seemed that this was the weapon that had caused the earlier loud noise. That fat guy’s strength was incredible; if that had hit a person, it would have surely killed them. I silently reminded myself never to offend him again.
The fat guy was furious at this point. Without waiting for the sea monkey to get back up, he charged over and delivered another blow with the same loud “bang.” The sea monkey’s face was deformed from the impact, and it rolled away several meters. Unfortunately, the sea monkey was very robust, and these hits didn’t cause it any serious injury. However, it recognized the fat guy’s strength and no longer dared to charge in. Instead, it scurried up a pillar and roared at the fat guy from above.
At this moment, I realized that this was indeed the room where the oil bottle had mentioned the model of the Heavenly Palace was kept. The most direct evidence was the four enormous paintings on the walls. I couldn’t take the time to examine whether the contents of these paintings matched his description, but I was certain that the scene here hadn’t changed at all in the twenty years since they left. However, I was surprised to find that this room was not as large as he had described. The only thing that truly matched his depiction of grandeur was the nearby golden silk nanmu pillars, which were indeed thick enough for three people to embrace. The rest of the items could only be considered luxurious at best.
The fat man struck a decisive blow and became arrogant, cursing, “Fuck you! I’ve knocked down countless zongzi (rice dumplings) before; you, a mere broken monkey, are nothing in front of me.” As he said this, he tried to throw the mirror, but the copper mirror was quite heavy. After using all his strength for those two strikes, he found he couldn’t lift it again and ended up wobbling in place for several circles.
The sea monkey was very cunning. Seeing that the fat man was struggling, it suddenly jumped down from the pillar and pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. The fat man, caught off guard, was pinned down and couldn’t push it off. As a result, he took a solid slap from the sea monkey, which tore off a chunk of his skin. The fat man had never suffered such a loss before; his eyes turned red, and with a roar, he bit down on the monkey’s face. The sea monkey screamed in pain and jumped back several steps to escape.
I saw a large piece of scales torn from the sea monkey’s face, blood gushing out, making it look even more ferocious. However, it was also stunned by the fat man’s reaction and became cautious, starting to observe us from a distance, seemingly trying to find a flaw in the fat man’s defense. At this moment, the fat man was also barely holding on; I could see he was struggling to catch his breath, clearly exhausted.
After a few minutes of standoff, the sea monkey, being an animal, couldn’t maintain its focus like a human. It yawned, turned its head, and began to look around. Soon, it noticed that the mute bottle was gritting his teeth, trying to cover the stone slab over the hole. The slab was very heavy, and it was difficult for one person to lift it; he could only drag it inch by inch. Seeing that the mute bottle was alone, the sea monkey’s killing instinct flared up again, and it let out a loud roar as it charged over.
I was startled, not expecting this creature to have some sense, knowing it could take advantage of the weak. I shouted, “Watch out!”
The mute bottle sensed the gust of wind behind him and had no choice but to drop the stone slab. He rolled away to dodge the attack, but the sea monkey pounced again. I knew the mute bottle must have the ability to deal with this creature, so I wasn’t too worried. I saw him run a few steps forward, luring the sea monkey to a nanmu pillar. Suddenly, he leaped up, stepping onto the pillar with one foot, and then pushed off, spinning in mid-air. Both his knees landed heavily on the sea monkey’s shoulders, forcing it down almost to its knees. I didn’t know what kind of skill this was, but my eyes lit up. However, the sea monkey was incredibly strong, and this move barely affected it. The mute bottle didn’t stop there; instead of jumping down immediately, he clamped his legs around the monkey’s head with his knees and twisted his waist with force. There was a crisp snap, and the sea monkey’s head was twisted unnaturally 180 degrees, its neck bone completely broken.
This series of moves was completed in almost a second, simply a one-hit kill. The fat man and I were left with our jaws dropped, feeling as if our own necks were being pulled. I thought of the head of the bloody corpse and realized it must have been twisted off in the same way. I couldn’t help but gasp; this move was too brutal, and I felt sorry for the sea monkey.
After the Mysterious Oil Bottle jumped down, he hurried back to move the stone slab. I saw a bunch of hair already emerging from the hole made by the thieves, so I quickly called Fatty to help. Fatty used his usual method, first using a lighter to force the hair back down, and then he and the Mysterious Oil Bottle together replaced the green slate back into its original position. The ghostly woman below was quite unwilling and slammed against the slab several times, trying to break it open. Fatty, fearing that it would crack the slab, simply sat down on it, firmly pressing the hole shut.
The sound of the impact continued for ten minutes. Unfortunately, with Fatty and the stone slab in place, it was not something an ordinary person could lift. Fatty was exhausted from the shaking, and only then did the commotion below finally calm down. He cursed under his breath and collapsed onto the floor, not moving.
Seeing that the danger had passed, I breathed a sigh of relief. At this point, my right hand had regained some sensation, allowing for slight movement. I noticed the Mysterious Oil Bottle had walked over to the southeast corner, so I hurried after him. The mirror there had indeed been moved, and there was a pitch-black hole in the wall, only half a person high, which looked very deep inside, though I had no idea where it led.
