adminI cautiously crawled out of the hole, and outside there was only a small protruding area where I could stand; beyond that was a cliff. The drop was at least fifteen meters, and the wind was very strong. I had to stay close to the cliff face to observe the area.
I really didn’t know how to describe what I saw. In front of me was a massive natural cave, roughly the size of a football field. There was a large crack in the ceiling, through which moonlight streamed in, perfectly outlining the contours of the cave. My current position was against the western wall of the cave, with nothing to climb up or down. As I scanned the surroundings, I noticed that the cave walls around us were densely packed with holes—there were thousands of them, so numerous that it looked as if the wall had been swept by different calibers of super cannons a dozen times.
What was most shocking was that in the center of the cave stood a tree that was nearly ten stories high, so large that it would take ten people to wrap their arms around it and they still might not be able to encircle it. The tree was entwined with countless vines as thick as utility poles, which crisscrossed and almost wrapped around everything that could be entangled. Their branches hung down like willow twigs from the tree, some suspended in mid-air, others reaching the ground, and some vines even stretched in through the holes in the cave walls. Almost everywhere I looked, there were vines creeping in, even right at the edge of our hole.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there were many things hanging from the branches deeper inside. At first, I thought they were fruits, but upon closer observation, their outlines didn’t seem to match that description. These objects were hidden behind the thick vines, occasionally swaying in the wind, creating a very eerie atmosphere.
At the bottom of this natural cave, there was a stone corridor that started from a small structure resembling a sacrificial altar and extended all the way to beneath the tree crown. I could vaguely see that the end of the corridor was a stone platform with a dozen steps leading up to it, on which lay a jade bed, and it seemed there was even a person lying on it! The distance was too great; apart from a silhouette, I couldn’t make out anything else clearly. I dared not jump to conclusions.
The chubby guy was extremely excited, shouting, “Damn it, I really found it! This must be the main tomb chamber of that Western Zhou tomb. Lying on that jade platform must be the corpse of King Shang of Lu. This old Lu Shang is really quite unscrupulous, taking over someone else’s tomb and moving in for himself. Today, I, Fat Master, will act on behalf of heaven and deal with this unprofessional conduct, so you can see what happens when you dig up graves!” He was so caught up in his excitement that he didn’t even think about what he was doing, including cursing himself in the process.
At that moment, Panzi suddenly said, “You guys better not act recklessly. King Shang of Lu is very sinister; I believe there must be more to this place. I think we should find a way to get back to the ground through the crack above.”
I looked up and couldn’t help but gasp. It was already difficult to climb to the top, and we would have to hang upside down for a long distance just to reach that crack. We weren’t Spider-Man; how could we possibly do that? I turned to ask the fat guy for his opinion, only to see him already half of his body hanging over the cliff, completely ignoring Panzi’s words. Seeing how agile he was, I didn’t stop him. In just a few moves, he climbed down more than two meters to another opening. Just as he was about to continue down, a hand suddenly reached out from the hole and grabbed his foot.
The fat guy was startled and kicked at the hand, trying to shake it off. Then I heard a man’s voice coming from the hole: “Don’t move! If you take another step, you’re dead.” Upon hearing this, I was overjoyed; it was my Uncle San. I called out, “Uncle San, is that you?”
The man below was surprised and exclaimed, “Nephew, where the hell have you been! I’ve been worried sick! Are you okay?”
Hearing it was indeed Uncle San, I felt relieved and shouted, “I’m fine, but Panzi is injured! It’s all this fat guy’s fault!” As I tried to peek out to see, I realized that the hole below was in the dead angle of the rock I was currently on, and I could only see half of the fat guy’s leg. I had to give up. I then heard the fat guy shout, “Comrade, could you please not grab my foot?”
Uncle San cursed, “Where did this fat guy come from? Stop talking nonsense and come down! Don’t step around; whatever you do, don’t touch that vine.”
The fat guy asked, “Which vine? Is it this one?” and pointed with his toe. Uncle San shouted, “No!” Before he finished speaking, that vine, which had looked very ordinary, suddenly reared up like a snake, its end unfurling like a flower. At first glance, it looked like a ghostly hand. The vine was there, seemingly sensing the fat guy’s position. As soon as the fat guy made any movement, it moved with him, swaying left and right, like an Indian man charming a snake. I suddenly realized that the ghostly hand that Panzi had seen and that I had seen, which was as long as five fingers, was actually these vines.
That fat guy was quite something; he was actually drawing circles with his foot to tease the vine. I thought to myself, this guy is so unreliable; no wonder he can only go treasure hunting alone. If he kept following us, he would definitely get himself killed one day. Just as I was thinking this, Uncle San really got angry and shouted, “How long are you going to keep this up? Do you know what this thing is? Get down here now!” As soon as he finished speaking, the fat guy was in trouble; the vine wrapped around his foot and, in one swift motion, almost pulled him off the cliff. Back in the stone chamber, both the fat guy and I couldn’t even overpower a single vine; now, with no place to gain leverage on the cliff, it looked like the fat guy was done for. In a panic, I tried to find a stone to throw down to hit that thing, but the cliff was completely bare, and I couldn’t find anything to grab onto. Just as I was fumbling around, I suddenly felt a tightness around my foot. I looked down and realized, to my horror, that a ghostly vine had somehow emerged and wrapped around my foot as well. I immediately wanted to grab onto something, but it was too late; a tremendous force yanked me out. Before I could react, I was already in mid-air.
In that moment, it felt as if I were weightless, unable to grasp anything with my hands or feet, and then I was violently flung against the cliff wall. It was worse than crashing into it myself; it felt like I was just slammed into it! I was dizzy and nearly spat blood, feeling the vines tightening their grip, pulling me down with all their might. My hands were bleeding from trying to grab onto something, but I held onto nothing. Then came the free fall, with a fifteen-meter drop below me. I closed my eyes, thinking it was all over! I was definitely going to die.
At that moment, suddenly, three or four vines were attracted to me, curling over from the cliff. One of them was particularly thick and wrapped around my waist in an instant. I was twisted in the air like a pretzel, and then that thick, ghostly vine yanked me, causing the back of my head to scrape hard against the stone wall. My head buzzed, and I felt dizzy, as if the vines were dragging me along. I kept hitting branches and stones along the way, with no part of me escaping unscathed, and I was knocked senseless, seeing stars and nearly losing consciousness.
When I vaguely realized I was stationary, I suddenly felt extremely nauseous and dizzy. I wanted to open my eyes but found it seemed like there was a layer of sand in front of me. I took a few deep breaths and gradually regained my composure, and my vision began to clear. At that moment, I discovered that I was hanging upside down on a branch of a giant tree. Below my head was a stone platform that held a mysterious corpse. Upon closer inspection, I was greatly shocked to find that there was not just one corpse lying on the platform; beside the corpse I had seen lay a young female corpse, draped in white gauze, her eyes tightly closed and her expression peaceful. She even appeared somewhat beautiful, with no signs of decay, and if one didn’t look closely, they might think she was merely sleeping.
The male corpse lying beside her wore a bronze mask shaped like a fox’s face, was clad in tight armor, and had his hands crossed over his chest, holding a purple-gold box. I scanned the armored corpse several times, feeling an unsettling sensation, and upon closer inspection, I realized that through the eye holes of the bronze mask, the corpse’s eyes were actually open, with two cold, green irises staring directly at me.
