Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 70 Human Face Chi Gu
(The previous chapters about the leave of absence have been made up; if there's a gap, go back three chapters.)
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Liang Shiye held the mask up to his face and gestured, "It seems like you have to open your mouth to wear this mask."

Looking at the mummified corpse, Wu Xiaoxie noticed that its mouth was indeed wide open, its eye sockets were two dry, sunken black holes, and its skin was so cracked that the muscle texture was visible. It looked like... a person!

A hot breeze swept by, and Wu Xiaoxie couldn't help but shiver, quickly turning his face away, unable to look any further.

The clerk suspected there might be something fishy about the snail shell, so he took out a pen from his inner pocket, inserted it into the small hole in the snail shell, and pried it open with force. With a snap, the snail shell broke open, revealing something that looked like a crab leg inside.

The clerk pulled it out and found it to be a beetle he had never seen before, strange-looking and somewhat creepy.

“It seems that this mask was worn under duress. Look at the patterns on it; they are exactly the same as the cloud and thunder patterns on the bronze tree trunk. It must be related to the person who cast this bronze tree,” said Master Liang.

Lao Yang exclaimed, "Huh...this worm seems to be missing half of itself."

Where did the other half go?

The three exchanged glances, then abruptly turned to look at the desiccated corpse on the ground.

Inside the gaping, dark mouth, the other half of the worm was attached to the tongue. The dried-up worm body extended down the throat, and without careful observation, one might mistake it for a dried-up, shrunken tongue.

Liang Shiye suddenly shouted, startling Lao Yang, who was about to curse. But then he saw Liang Shiye's face turn extremely terrified. He flung the mask far away and muttered, "Quick! Run! This bug might be alive."

The mask fell into the darkness, crashed into the branches below, and shattered.

A rustling sound came from all directions in the silent space.

Wu Xiaoxie suddenly recalled the fear of being dominated by the swarm of corpse beetles in the Lu King's Palace. Without time to ask questions, he hurriedly told the two people to scramble and crawl away from the dried corpses as they climbed up.

As Liang Shiye climbed up, he gave Wu Xiaoxie and his companion a brief explanation. It turned out that the strange insect was called a Chi Gu, a type of ancient Gu technique. This insect hid in the cavity behind the mask's mouth, penetrating deep into the throat to parasitize and affect the nerves of animals or humans, controlling them to attack intruders. They could also reproduce within the host's body. After the host died, they would enter a dormant state, waiting for the next host to approach and awaken them with the scent of fresh blood and flesh.

The sound of claws scraping against the tree trunk grew louder and louder, as if it were coming from all around them; they were surrounded!

The flashlight beam wasn't bright enough to see their surroundings, and they couldn't find the hidden enemy.

Lao Yang pulled out a signal gun and fired a shot straight upwards.

The signal flare fell and streaked across the area.

Suddenly, the rustling sounds grew louder, and countless eerie masks protruding from the branches within the visible area moved rapidly, dodging the scorching light source, some grinning, some grotesque, some weeping, sending chills down one's spine.

"Good heavens!" Lao Yang exclaimed, "Heavens above, how come there are so many!"

Liang Shiye really wanted to slap himself. Serves you right for spouting such nonsense; now it's come true!

"Two...two young men, what, what should we do?" Master Liang's legs were trembling. He had lived most of his life and had never seen such a terrifying scene. It was a miracle that he hadn't fainted on the spot.

Wu Xiaoxie was also panicked. There were just too many of them. As far as the eye could see, there were beetles with human faces on their backs everywhere.

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(End of this chapter)