Ancient tomb excavation traces

These masked figures all drew their knives at their waists. I felt uneasy and instinctively shouted at them, "Put down your weapons..." As I said this, I pressed the knife against the shrine maiden's throat, hoping they would learn their lesson. However, I didn't want to hurt her, so I controlled the force just right, but the shrine maiden was terrified. Her whole body was stiff, a cold, fearful stiffness.

I felt a little embarrassed. I thought that women in ancient times must have been very conservative, and that she must have felt uncomfortable being so close to me. But then I remembered how she had been so unreasonable and demanding earlier, almost to the point of wanting to kill us, so my guilt lessened a bit.

The six masked men still hadn't stopped. I carefully backed away, the young Taoist priest beside me warily saying, "Something's not right..."

In fact, I felt the same way, but I couldn't believe this witch posed no threat to them whatsoever. However, looking at their sinister grins, my heart pounded with uncertainty, like someone stripped of their armor, about to be riddled with bullet holes. Sensing the danger, I lowered my voice and said to the witch, "Let them go, put down your knives, or you'll die!"

To my surprise, I felt a warmth on the back of my hand – tears! The priestess was crying, and in my moment of confusion, I unconsciously released the knife from her throat.

Looking again at those strange-faced men, their ugly faces revealed cunning expressions, and one of them, holding a torch, was staring at the witch with a sinister gaze. Suddenly, someone screamed, and a large number of Gu worms flew up with the sound. I cursed, "What a bunch of bastards! They don't even care about their own people!" Then I shoved the witch aside and ran away with the young Taoist priest.

I hadn't run far when I suddenly heard a piercing scream. I turned around and saw the witch had been stabbed in the arm by a masked man. She was clutching her wound, her face filled with panic. Just then, a "thump, thump, thump" sound came from the darkness. It was a deer, angrily weaving through the masked men. Upon seeing this, the masked men raised their knives and began hacking at it.

The young Taoist priest and I stopped abruptly, staring at the sudden turn of events. For a moment, our minds went blank. I thought to myself: If they're going to deal with someone, they're going to deal with us. Why are they fighting with their own people?

I stared blankly at the witch lying on the ground and the deer with multiple stab wounds, my feelings incredibly complicated. First, I like animals and think they are sentimental. Second, I felt a little guilty because I was the one who gave the deer the two bloody wounds.

Perhaps out of disgust at seeing a group of men bullying a woman, or perhaps out of admiration for the deer's loyalty, I raised my gun and shot at one of the masked men who was hacking the most fiercely. This time, I aimed very accurately and hit him directly in the shoulder. His frenzied appearance instantly twisted, and he glared at me fiercely. Taking advantage of this, the deer lowered its legs and allowed the witch to possess it.

I thought to myself, what a spiritual animal! Even with its flesh torn open, it was still thinking about saving its master. No wonder the people of Chu thought it could communicate with heaven and earth!

The problem now is that I only have three bullets left in my high-quality replica Makarov pistol, making it impossible to take down the masked man in one go. I thought to myself, "I'll fight to the death; those worms are too difficult to deal with." Just as I was racking my brains, the deer, ignoring its wounds, carried its master and ran away. I thought to myself, "It's running away incredibly fast!" But tragically, those people were bloodthirsty and wouldn't let the wounded witch go. One of them pounced and slashed at the witch on the deer's back.

The witch was utterly exhausted and fell from the deer. The young Taoist rushed over and helped her up, while I fired another shot at those who were near them. Seeing his two companions lying on the ground, bleeding profusely, the masked man immediately stopped his attack and crouched down to observe.

Although we had guns to threaten them, these Gu worms were not afraid at all. They flew towards the three of us with a "clucking" sound, forming a ferocious giant mouth. I thought to myself: Holy crap!

In the critical moment, the deer appeared before us, raising its hooves to shield us from the attack. At that moment, I clearly realized that it was sacrificing itself to buy us time. Seeing that there wasn't a single unharmed spot on its body, my heart ached. Watching the venomous insects clinging to its body, it cried out pitifully. I gritted my teeth, hardened my heart, grabbed the witch's hand, and ran towards the mountain stream.

After running only a few steps, the witch struggled, crying out that she wanted to go back. I completely understood her feelings, because back in high school, my family had a Labrador named Dafei. We were very close, but later it was stabbed to death while trying to save me. I was heartbroken during that time, as if my heart had been torn apart. I was gloomy and depressed, and my room was filled with drawings of Dafei. Later, my grandfather said that Dafei died so that I could live, and if I were to become so depraved, then its sacrifice would have been in vain.

I adapted my grandfather's words to comfort the tearful witch. She seemed to understand, but in the end, biting her lip, she followed me.

And so, the three of us inexplicably ended up together, each lost in our own thoughts, and ran to the mountain stream, where Bao Cai had been waiting for quite some time. When he saw the witch, he looked utterly bewildered. I briefly explained the situation to him, and he was incredibly shocked, asking, "What's going on here?"

The witch was lost in her grief and didn't speak; we didn't have time to care about her. I had Bao Cai take off his tattered blouse, then tied it to a branch and lit it with a lighter. The flames leaped up quickly. We looked around; it was a large place, with outstretched branches and dense foliage overhead, like a natural tree hollow, making us feel uncomfortable and oppressed.

Looking down at the ravine, it was very narrow, only about three meters wide, with cliffs on both sides over ten meters high. Just when we were in utter despair, the sound of the silver dragon cascading down the opposite ravine gave us hope.

In the extremely dim light, I vaguely noticed a strange protrusion on these mountain walls. I was filled with doubt, so I walked closer to the mountain stream and shone the firelight on it carefully. At this moment, I felt my scalp tingle and unconsciously took a step back.

Bao Cai came over and asked me what was wrong. I said in a panic, "Human faces...it's all human faces..."

"A human face?" Bao Cai's tone changed upon hearing this.

Because the firelight couldn't illuminate everything, I hesitated and took a few more steps. The young Taoist priest followed me, and when I saw the eerie faces on the mountainside obscured by moss, I swallowed hard. This combination was nothing short of bizarre. I didn't know why these things were on the mountainside, but their existence must have witnessed some kind of history.

If it weren't for the low trees blocking the way, and if I continued uphill along the stream, I might have encountered more faces huddled together, staring blankly at me. The sheer scale of this undertaking was terrifying; I wondered what its purpose was. I glanced at the injured witch not far away and thought: perhaps she knows the answer, but now is not the time to ask…