Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

[P.S. Attention everyone, the protagonist Zhang Qiling -> Keep the original name. Zhang Qiling -> Keep the original name. Adding "Zhang Qiling" makes it clearer, right?]

The break is over.

Lin Guoce stood up and brushed the wet mud off his trousers. "Keep moving forward. Keep your distance, watch your step and your head."

The team got moving again.

Zhang Qiling was still walking at the very front. "Zhang Qiling" stood beside him, half a step apart. The people behind them followed, stumbling along.

The passageway stretched onward, its slope becoming gentler, but also more damp. Water droplets condensed on the stone walls, dripping down. The musty smell in the air grew stronger, mixed with an indescribable sweet-smelling odor, like rotten fruit.

We walked for about half an hour.

There's a corner ahead.

Zhang Qiling stopped before the corner. "Zhang Qiling" also stopped at the same time.

The two exchanged a glance.

"There's something there," Zhang Qiling said.

"Many," Zhang Qiling replied.

The team behind immediately tensed up, gripping their weapons tightly. Flashlight beams focused around the corner.

Zhang Qiling took a step and turned the corner.

"Zhang Qiling" followed.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

A huge natural cave. The ceiling is so high that it is impossible to see the top, and countless stalactites hang down. The ground is uneven, filled with pebbles of varying sizes and puddles. In the center of the cave, several thick, man-made stone pillars stand, with indistinct patterns carved on them.

But what truly drew everyone's attention was the depths of the cave behind the stone pillar.

There were things piled up there.

Many. Very tall.

It's a skeleton.

Human bones. Beast bones. Mixed together, piled into a small mountain. Scattered around the pile of bones were rusted weapons, broken pottery shards, and rotting cloth. Spanning a long period of time, some bones had turned black and brittle, while others still bore a dark red hue of blood.

Above the White Bone Mountain, at the top of the cave, hung many strips of cloth-like objects. They were grayish-white and swayed slightly.

It's a cocoon.

Huge, translucent cocoons. Each one was the size of a bucket, containing dark shadows inside, with the outlines of arthropods vaguely visible.

"Where...where is this?" Kun's voice was dry.

Professor Zhou Xu'an's eyes widened, his breathing rapid: "A burial pit... or a sacrificial site? So many skeletons... look at those weapons, some from the Warring States period, some from the Han Dynasty... and even earlier..."

Jiang Shouyi's face turned pale: "Those cocoons..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

"Click."

A very faint cracking sound came from above the pile of bones.

A cocoon has broken open.

Black, fingernail-sized things poured out of the opening. One, two, ten, a hundred... like a burst dam of black water, instantly covering the cocoon, and then flowing down the pile of bones.

It is a corpse beetle.

They are entirely black, with a glossy carapace and sharp mouthparts. They move extremely fast, making a rustling sound, like silkworms gnawing on mulberry leaves, but magnified a million times.

The breaking of the first cocoon is like a signal.

"Click, click, click..."

One cracking sound followed another. The cocoons hanging overhead burst open one after another. Black tides surged from each breach, converged, and poured down the mountain of bones, overflowing the ground and rushing towards the cave entrance.

Not hundreds, not thousands.

It's tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Millions.

The black tide submerged the Bone Mountain, filling the pits and hollows of the ground, covering the rubble, and forming a constantly advancing, undulating black carpet. The rustling sounds coalesced into a roar, filling the entire cavern. A pungent, foul stench assaulted the senses, making one want to vomit.

"Corpse beetle! Run! Run back!" Lin Guoce roared hoarsely.

The crowd erupted into chaos. People screamed and turned to rush back into the narrow passageway. But the passageway was too narrow, allowing only one or two people to pass at a time, and they quickly became stuck at the corner, pushing and shoving each other in complete disarray.

"Get out of the way! Let me through!"

"Don't push! Ah—!"

Zhou Gousheng and Ma Tiedan, who were running at the very back, were pushed by the people behind them and fell to the ground. The black tide surged up instantly, submerging their ankles.

"Help! Help—!" The screams lasted only half a second before being swallowed by a rustling sound. The two rolled and thrashed on the ground, but more corpse beetles crawled onto their bodies, burrowed into their clothes, and covered their mouths and noses. A few seconds later, the two stopped moving, leaving only two slightly twitching silhouettes covered in black.

This scene completely shattered the psychological defenses of the remaining people. Their broken cries and screams almost lifted the roof off the cave.

Wang Lei, Liu Min, and Zhou Ting collapsed to the ground, huddled together, waiting to die. Kun Ge desperately pushed Chen Man and Wang Yihan towards the tunnel, shielding them behind him, and swung his entrenching tool to swat at the approaching carrion beetles. But for every few he killed, dozens more would immediately take their place.

The soldiers fired wildly, bullets hitting the black tide and splashing up a few "waves," but these were instantly filled in. Incendiary rods were thrown out, the flames only temporarily pushing back a small area; more corpse beetles swarmed in from both sides, avoiding the flames.

"Back behind the stone pillars! Form a circle!" Black Bear shouted, drawing his military knife and slicing a corpse beetle that had crawled to his feet in two. Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu stood back to back. Xie Yuchen had somehow acquired a pair of short sticks, which he wielded with impenetrable speed, knocking away any approaching corpse beetles. Huo Xiuxiu's face was pale, but she gritted her teeth and gripped her dagger.

Wu Xie and Fatty were shielded in the middle. Fatty was wildly slapping with an entrenching tool, while Wu Xie futilely kicked at the approaching corpse beetles, his face as pale as paper.

The live broadcast ball hovered high above, the camera shaking violently as it captured this hellish scene.

The live chat was flooded with expressions of terror:

[ID Prophet: It's all over, it's all over!]

[ID to shut down so-called experts: This number... is simply impossible to kill!]

[ID Bro's Fan Club: Bro, help!]

[ID: Chicken You're Too Beautiful: I'm going to die!]

The black tide had reached the edge of the crowd. The soldiers on the outermost perimeter were crawling with corpse beetles, screaming and flailing about. Despair enveloped everyone.

Just then.

A clear, sharp whistle with a strange rhythm suddenly rang out!

It's Zhang Qiling.

He had somehow found himself standing at the front of the crowd, facing the surging black tide, and removed his right glove. He bent his index and middle fingers and pressed them to his lips.

Ghost whistle.

The sharp whistle, like a needle, pierced the rustling roar of the carrion beetle swarm. The whistle rose and fell, carrying a certain ancient, commanding rhythm.

The swarm of corpse beetles at the forefront suddenly paused. They seemed to be disturbed by the whistle, their movements becoming hesitant and chaotic, bumping into each other and spinning in place. But the corpse beetles behind continued to surge forward, pushing and shoving the front. The whistle's range only covered a small area in front.

There were too many corpse beetles. The ghostly whistle could interfere, but it couldn't completely dispel them. After a brief pause, the black tide began to slowly and persistently advance again.

Zhang Qiling frowned slightly, the whistle continued, and his left hand was already on the hilt of his sword behind his back.

Just then.

Another figure walked up to his side.

It is "Zhang Qiling".

He didn't blow the whistle. He extended his left hand and brushed his right hand against the tip of his left index finger.

A small, bloody gash appeared.

Bright red blood beads, which seemed to have a dark golden sheen in the dim light, seeped out.

He flicked the drop of blood with his finger toward the ground in front of him.

A drop of blood traced an extremely thin red line, landing at the very forefront of the black tide.

"Sizzle—!"

A soft sound, like cold water dripping into hot oil.

Centered on the spot where the blood droplet landed, the corpse beetles within a radius of about three meters reacted as if they had been branded with a scalding hot iron, frantically retreating and trampling each other. The corpse beetles further back collided with their retreating brethren, causing a brief period of chaos.

Blood from Zhang Qiling's fingertips, drop by drop, continuously spewed out and landed in front of the crowd, forming a discontinuous arc of blood about ten meters long.

Every drop of blood that hit the ground caused the corpse beetles in a small area to retreat. A thick, strangely oppressive stench of blood spread out.

The advance of the carrion beetle swarm was abruptly halted by this intermittent line of blood. They gathered outside the line, crawling restlessly, their rustling sound becoming even more piercing, but they dared not cross it.

The ghostly whistle stopped.

Zhang Qiling lowered his hand and looked at "Zhang Qiling".

The bleeding from Zhang Qiling's fingertip had stopped. He lowered his hand, his face paler than before, but his eyes remained calm. He looked at Zhang Qiling and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Neither of them spoke.

But everyone understood.

It was the blood of "Zhang Qiling" that drove back the corpse beetle.

A brief silence.

Then came the heavy breathing and suppressed sobs of those who had survived the ordeal.

Kun's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground, his entrenching tool clattering to the floor beside him. Chen Man and Wang Yihan hugged each other, tears streaming down their faces. Wang Lei, Liu Min, and Zhou Ting lay sprawled on the ground, staring blankly at the line of blood that had saved their lives.

The soldiers were panting heavily, their guns still pointed at the swarm of corpse beetles, but their hands were trembling.

Lin Guoce wiped the sweat and blood splattered on his face, then looked at the two figures standing side by side in front of him. He swallowed hard but said nothing.

The levitating live-streaming sphere slowly descended, providing close-up views of the scene inside and outside the bloodline. Inside the line, people were still in shock. Outside the line, a black ocean of corpse beetles surged and undulated, yet dared not cross the line.

After a few seconds of silence, the comments section erupted like a volcano:

[ID Prophet: Blood! It's blood! Same as last time!]

[ID to quell dissent from experts: Another guy's blood is useful too!]

[ID Guy Fan Club: Double the life-saving power! Double the sense of security!]

[ID: Chicken You're So Beautiful: I cried, I really cried.]

[ID: Innocent and Unfettered: I'm saved...]

Black Bear whistled and sheathed his military knife: "Alright, you mute Zhangs."

Xie Yuchen stared intently at Zhang Qiling's pale profile. Huo Xiuxiu whispered to Wu Xie, "His blood... is the same as Xiao Ge's?"

Wu Xie nodded blankly, looking at Zhang Qiling's back, then at Zhang Qiling himself, and the strange feeling in his heart became even stronger.

The fat man plopped down on the ground, panting heavily: "My god... I almost became a dung beetle's meal... You two, from now on, my life is yours!"

Zhang Qiling ignored the commotion behind him. He looked at the restless swarm of corpse beetles outside the bloodline, then looked up at the mountain of bones deep in the cave, and the even deeper darkness behind it.

"We can't stay here any longer." His voice was cold. "The smell of blood will dissipate. The corpse beetles have only been forced back temporarily."

Zhang Qiling nodded and pointed to the left side of White Bone Mountain. There, the stone wall had collapsed, revealing a narrower, downward-sloping crevice behind it. "Over there."

Lin Guoce immediately ordered, "Everyone! Follow the two gentlemen! Quickly!"

Despite their fear and exhaustion, the team helped each other as they trudged across the slippery ground toward the crevice. As they passed the line of blood, everyone unconsciously quickened their pace, as if the invisible barrier might vanish at any moment.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" were the first to enter the gap.

The gap was narrow, requiring one to turn sideways. It was even darker and damp inside.

But behind them, the lifeline drawn with blood firmly blocked the black tide of death.

Even after the last person squeezed into the gap, the swarm of corpse beetles outside the bloodline still paced anxiously, not daring to move forward.

Inside the cave, only a mountain of bones, broken cocoons, endless carrion beetles, and the fading, slightly sweet smell of blood in the air remained.