Ancient tomb excavation traces

Before the young Taoist could finish speaking, a gust of cold wind swept through, followed by smoke filling the entire west room. Seeing this strange sight, I covered my mouth and nose, instinctively backing away, secretly alarmed: How could such a small thing have so much air to exhale? How was it produced? Before I could get any answers, I saw my companions standing there blankly. I was filled with doubt and called their names, but they didn't even blink, like wooden figures.

At a time like this, how terrifying would it be if everyone turned into statues? I looked at the tomb guardian beasts on the bronze platform and found that their faces were even more ferocious than before, as if they were alive, and a kind of green aura was faintly emanating from their bodies. This aura was very eerie and strange.

Seeing that something was wrong, I immediately tried to push the young Taoist priest and the others, but there was no response at all. I kept calling out to them while watching the commotion in front of me, my heart filled with anxiety.

Just then, a strange howl suddenly broke the silence. My heart skipped a beat, and I saw the green shadows on the tomb guardian beast twisting and breaking off from its body, floating above the tomb guardian beast's head like ghosts.

I was shocked and thought to myself: How could this be? Could this be the soul of a tomb guardian beast? How could that be? These things are just small statues used to guard tombs, how could they have souls? I stepped back in astonishment, praying in my heart that the young Taoist priest and the others would react quickly, but as I was sweating profusely, they still did not move.

Soon, a burning fear climbed up my throat. I swallowed hard. Facing the two-headed, bulging-eyed tomb guardians, I lost my composure, thinking about how painful it would be for their fangs to pierce my flesh.

Thankfully, after a few minutes, the young Taoist priests finally moved. I was overjoyed, but then they suddenly collapsed to the ground, panting heavily like people who had just escaped a fire. I asked them worriedly what was wrong, but they seemed not to hear me at all.

The howls of wild beasts filled the bronze chamber, sending chills down one's spine. I looked around, and streaks of bluish-green, slightly translucent shadows whizzed past my ears. I covered my head, staring at the monster with its tongue lolling out and eyes like copper bells, its gaping maw aimed at Bao Cai's head. I immediately drew my Mongolian knife. But the rusty red figure was a step ahead of me. He leaped in front of Bao Cai, and with a swift twist of his blade, mercilessly slashed at his head.

I screamed in horror as I saw half of Bao Cai's face sliced ​​off in an instant. Blood gushed out like overflowing water, layer upon layer, onto his cheek. One of his eyes fell to the ground along with the severed part. His face still bore the look of terror from before. He looked at me, then his knees thudded to the ground, and he collapsed limply.

Blood spread from his head, flowing onto the bronze floor... The knife strike happened so fast that I stood frozen in place, staggering back a step. But soon, I realized what had just happened.

"Bao Cai!" I called softly, staring at the person on the ground, my heart pounding. Ignoring the various tomb guardian beasts whistling past my ears, I rushed to his side. He lay on the cold bronze ground, one eye staring at Chu Ba, clearly dying with his eyes wide open.

"Bao Cai!" I called his name in disbelief. The time we spent together had left a huge blow to my heart with his death.

"No... wake up!" I was in excruciating pain. Just as I was about to give up, I suddenly felt a warm sensation on my face. My hand trembled as I touched it, and when I looked again, it was blood. At the same time, a dark shadow was crashing down on me. I looked up and saw a headless male corpse wearing a rusty red linen shirt. Behind him stood Chen Yi, his face contorted with madness.

I watched in disbelief as Chen Yi, as if possessed, kept swinging his knife, hacking at the tomb guardian beasts he couldn't even touch. After a few swings, he suddenly turned to face me, walking step by step, menacingly close to me. I could see the shadow of a tomb guardian beast in front of me, like a sinister venomous snake, luring Chen Yi closer.

I didn't know if what was happening before my eyes was real or not. If it was real, it was far beyond my imagination. If it was fake, the feeling was all too real. Facing Chen Tai's ferocious appearance, I raised my machete, my hands trembling uncontrollably, and said to Chen Tai, "Old Tai, it's me, Liu Zi, wake up..."

I had never pleaded with Chen Yi like this before, because there was no real tension between us. Yet, he stared at the tomb guardian beast in front of me, his focus completely elsewhere. I was incredibly anxious. Just as he raised his sword to me, I saw him cry out as a silver needle was inserted into his neck. He pulled it out, turned back angrily, and Lan Quexi gripped the dagger in her hand, aiming it at his forehead.

"No...stop!" I shouted. But like the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, the young Taoist priest grabbed the Miao girl's head and twisted it coldly. With a crack, the girl instantly lost all signs of life.

What's going on? My breath caught in my throat as I stared at Lan Quexi with lifeless eyes. I collapsed to the ground with a thud. The shadows of the tomb guardian beasts darted among us, seemingly oblivious to each other, locked in a relentless battle against thin air.

In just a few minutes, three people had died, leaving only Chen Yi, myself, and the young Taoist priest. I held my head, unable to accept this reality. If they couldn't see me soon, and if the shadow of the tomb guardian beast passed by me, I would be next to die. Realizing this, I suddenly understood: rather than dealing with these things and causing the death of my dearest friends, I would rather do nothing.

I stood up, and the shadows beside me howled like the wind in the corridor, wild and untamed. They whistled through my body, and waves of pain shot through my chest. Chen Yi lunged at me with his knife in hand. I looked up and screamed, and slowly lost consciousness.

When I awoke again, the west chamber was eerily quiet. The eternal lamp burned steadily on the bronze wall, without the slightest ripple. I lay flat on the floor, my mind blank, unsure whether I was alive or dead. If I were dead, I could accept not having to face the tragic death of my friend; but if I were alive, I couldn't bear the agonizing pain of separation.

I don't know if it was from crying or what, but my eyes were wet. The tragic scene from just moments ago played out in my mind, as if it were happening right before my eyes. In an instant, my heart ached as if it were being torn apart. I placed my hand limply over my eyes and wept bitterly. After crying for a while, I thought to myself: How could this be? I'm clearly dead, so why do I still feel so much pain? Don't dead people stop feeling anything?

Just as I was wondering what was going on, I noticed that there were others ahead of me crying, just like me, but they were crying even more bitterly—the kind of wailing and wailing. I thought to myself: What a coincidence, running into people grieving like me? Listening closely, the voices sounded familiar, like Chen Yu and Bao Cai. I was terrified, thinking, what's going on? Have the three of us already arrived in the underworld? Otherwise, why are we all crying so sadly?

"Alright!" I thought to myself. At least we'd be together in death. I might as well say hello and go to the next life together. With that thought, I sat up. The pain in my chest had subsided. Lao Tiao and Bao Cai were lying together, their brows furrowed and their faces streaked with tears. Lan Quexi was in the far corner, a silver needle stuck in her hand, and the young Taoist priest had his eyes closed. What puzzled me was that I remembered Chen Tiao had just chopped off Chu Ba's head, but now it seemed his head was still intact on his neck. And we were still in this west room, with a large pile of scattered tomb guardian beasts on the ground.

Most of the tomb guardian beasts lay intact on the ground, with only a few, like the dragon-shaped tomb guardian beast that Chen Yi had his eye on, split in two. Some of the scattered ones still emitted faint wisps of smoke.

Were all of these things knocked down by us? I stood up, and suddenly it dawned on me. I wasn't dead, and neither were the young Taoist priest and the others. We were just confused by the poisonous gas inside the fake tomb guardian beast. And just now, it was Old Chun's bad luck that he picked a tomb guardian beast that had been buried in a pit, which caused the hallucination.

After figuring out what had happened, I took out the medicated oil from Lao Tiao's waist and smeared some on their noses. Seeing Chen Tiao and Bao Cai hugging and crying, inseparable, I wished there was a camera at that moment to capture this heartwarming scene of the bickering couple, so I could show it off whenever they argued in the future.

Among them, Lan Quexi was the first to wake up. When she saw me, she said excitedly, "Young Master Feng, just now... I thought you..." She hesitated, her eyes moist, indicating that she had also been stimulated in the other world.

She told me that she knew the smoke was strange, so when she became fascinated, she inserted a non-poisonous silver needle into her hand to control her mind. However, the poison was too strong, and she was still led into the hallucination.

Before any words of concern could be uttered, everyone gradually awoke. Chen Tan and Bao Cai, the two unfortunate brothers, cried the most while unconscious. Now, Chen Tan's already thick eyelids were even more swollen, but being rather proud, he refused to admit it upon waking, only cursing and saying, "Damn it, we've been tricked! I've seen countless treasures throughout China's five thousand years of history, and I've developed a keen eye for quality, but I couldn't even spot this fake! So frustrating!"

Bao Cai, his eyes red, retorted, "You've always had terrible luck, yet you still insist on trying to steal gold. I win hundreds or thousands of dollars in the lottery, but look at you, when have you ever won anything! I even cried a lot when I saw you get hacked to death by those thugs..."

As they started their back-and-forth again, I really wanted to tell them about how they had been calling each other's names and tears had streamed down their faces while they were unconscious. But interrupting now would only make me look bad.

The young Taoist priest sat on the ground listening to their conversation, smiling without saying a word. He turned his gaze to me, and I smiled back, as if everything was understood without words.

After regaining consciousness, everyone recounted their experiences in their hallucinations. It turned out they had all had similar encounters: unresponsive companions, rampant phantoms of the tomb guardian beasts, and each helplessly watching their companions, drawn by the evil spirits, frantically swing their swords. If they had fought back, their companions might have died within the hallucinations—the hallucinations were incredibly realistic, including the pain and fear. But instead, they chose not to retaliate when death approached, refusing to harm their companions…

It's only after going through hardship that we truly understand the value of things... Although we sometimes joke around, in times of danger, we will always choose to help and support each other. We smiled at each other, suddenly realizing that our regard for one another had transcended life and death itself.

I had thought about how lonely and terrifying it would be to be all alone in a place like this... Thankfully, everyone is here now...