?

  Chubby was running fast in front of me with a flashlight, and I didn't see clearly what it was at that time. So I asked panting: "What's that thing?"

  "Carrot."

  I almost fell over, radish? Did I hear that wrong or did fatty's brain get smashed? I immediately opened my mouth to educate him: "There are things that have their own timing and pace, even if you really want to eat radish hot pot, you can't be greedy at this critical moment, I'm ashamed of you."

  Fatty snorted, saying: "Nonsense, that's just a big radish, covered with corpses on top, and there are even green leaves growing on its head. I, Fatty, would never mistake it."

  I saw the fatty speaking with a serious face, and I knew I was thinking crookedly. At once, panting heavily, I said: "You, you going to catch up now is useless, it's just sending yourself to be someone else's nutrient."

  Chubby unexpectedly didn't refute me, but anxiously said: "Heavens, that radish has all sorts of strange and bizarre corpses hanging from it, and...and I also saw the Blind Man's people up there, the situation is probably changing, let's hurry up and catch up."

  My heart skipped a beat, the Black Blind Man's people? They've set up an ambush? Just then, Fatty stopped in his tracks, and I felt a chill wind blow fiercely towards me, and I couldn't help but look forward, only to see a vast emptiness ahead.

  The road under our feet ends here, and we stand at another exit of the ice cave. Along the faint light, we can see that what's beneath us is an endless abyss. It was only then that I realized the surrounding ice walls had gradually been replaced by rocks. We were standing in a rocky cave mixed with ice.

  The fat man turned his head and looked at me, with sweat all over his forehead. He said, "Lost the chase, that thing went down." With the faint light of the flashlight, I could see a trail of black sticky liquid on the ground, probably left behind by the injured creature. The liquid led to the entrance of the cave and flowed down along the cliff wall, disappearing from view further away.

  At this moment, the ground beneath our feet is an endless abyss, and in front of us is a void. The path behind has been sealed off, leaving no way to search for a route. The only rope we had was left on the ice wall, and now we are almost at a dead end.

  I took the flashlight from Fatso's hand and shone it on the cliff wall below, finding that there were many things to cling to. We should be able to get down if we're careful. But in this situation, we didn't have any safety measures, not even a rope, and the entire cliff was straight up and down. Even professional rock climbers wouldn't be able to handle this without equipment. I looked at Fatso, who had a regretful expression on his face. "Tianzhen, you really shouldn't have followed me," he said. "At least Fat Grandpa would have someone to collect his body. Now it's all over for us two - we'll be making thousand-year-old dumplings here."

  I'm completely at a loss right now, staring into the endless darkness in front of me, feeling anxious but strangely not desperate. Maybe it's because I've been through too many near-death experiences, and this time I'm actually the first to calm down. I look at Fatso who's sweating profusely and say: "We should be deep inside the ice wall by now, and going up probably leads to that human-shaped mountain I saw earlier. The elevation difference between these two places is huge, so there must be a fault line somewhere. We need to find it."

  Fatso quickly calmed down, wiped the sweat from his forehead and frowned: "Tianzhen, I think Hei Xiangzi and the others probably didn't take this path. Think about it, if we hadn't smashed open that ice cave, we wouldn't have seen that big radish. Hei Xiangzi and the others must have taken a different route and were ambushed by the big radish. Since the big radish ambushed Hei Xiangzi's group and then ran into us, it means the paths in this mountain are probably the same. If we follow the path of the big radish, we might be able to find Wen Jin and his party's trail. If what you said is true, that this is the Tianyuan Coffin, I estimate that your Aunt Wen Jin has already entered the tomb."

  Fatso's analysis is very thorough, if we follow the route of the big radish, then we must go down to the bottom of the cliff, but what's at the bottom of the cliff, we have no idea, what if it's the lair of the big radish? Moreover, we currently don't have any equipment for rock climbing, this cliff is more dangerous than the one we climbed with Xiaohua in Sichuan, it's completely vertical, going up like this without any protection is just playing with our lives, I almost have no confidence at all.

  So which path did Wen Jin and his friends take?

  Fatso only said that he saw Hei Yanzi's people, but there was no Wen Jin and Hei Yanzi originally. In this case, they are now safe. However, I have a time difference of over ten days with Fatso. During these ten-odd days, did Wen Jin and the others enter the interior of the Tianyuan Coffin? Or, were they also trapped somewhere like me and Fatso, perhaps already...

  Various speculations kept popping up in my mind, but I eventually dismissed them one by one. Fatso was getting anxious at the entrance of the cave, constantly coming up with new ideas. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "All roads lead to Rome, the brave get rich, the timid starve, on a narrow road, the courageous win. Come on, let's do this!" I knew Fatso was going all-in now. Looking at his scrawny body, I suddenly had an idea - if we tore off our clothes and used them as ropes, it would be over 10 meters long, which could serve as a safety net.

  I immediately started taking off my clothes, the outermost being a down jacket for cold mountain climbing, not including socks and only the thin inner garments could be torn. I had just taken off half of it when Fatso quickly reached out to hold me back, saying: "Tianzhen, although I'm very cold, I don't need your body warmth. I was just joking with you before, you wouldn't really want to offer yourself up, would you?" Fatso looked distressed, as if he feared I would pounce on him and rape him.

  I was so angry that I lost my temper and scolded, "What the hell is wrong with you? We're in a desperate situation and you still have the mood to joke around. Now we have no way out, we can only stake our lives on your plan. I'll tear up some clothes to make a rope, at least it's some insurance." The fatty listened and immediately patted me on the shoulder, saying, "Death can be heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather, Comrade Tianxin, your revolutionary consciousness has reached the level of a great man. If we really die here this time, we'll have died in vain." After finishing speaking, he started to undress me, afraid that I would change my mind.

  I was just about to curse when I suddenly heard a faint voice say in a sinister tone, "The immortal can fly over." My scalp instantly exploded. Who's speaking?

  Fatso also stopped in his tracks, his expression changed, and he suddenly looked around, after a moment, he swallowed hard, fixed his gaze on my belly, and said in a hoarse voice: "Tianzhen, your belly is talking."

  My heart skipped a beat, I quickly reached out to touch, and instantly pulled out the cicada from my clothes. Thinking that it had been in that corpse before, and now it was on me, I felt a chill run down my spine. This thing must have crawled onto me at some point, probably when I caught it earlier, but didn't get a chance to dispose of it before something unexpected happened, accidentally bringing it with me.

  I told Fatty about what happened, and he let out a sigh of relief, patted me on the shoulder, and said: "Scared me to death! I thought you were pregnant, and even if you were, the kid would be way too precocious!" I knew Fatty was just talking nonsense, so I casually gave him a punch and asked: "What did it say earlier?"

  Fatso curled his lip and said, "It seems like... people who live forever can fly over, tsk, this bug is awesome, naive, you give it to me, I want it." I casually handed the bug to Fatso's hand, but my heart always felt that something was off. While taking off my clothes, I pondered, and just then, I thought of a crucial point.

  This insect is telling us about past methods!

  At that moment, I myself felt a bit unreliable, but I suddenly remembered the legend told by Third Uncle. It is said that the spirits of ghosts are all over the cicadas, so, was the ghost of that lama also on this little insect?

  The fat boy was teasing the worm, wanting it to speak, and at this time, the head of the worm suddenly turned towards me. My heart skipped a beat, and in an instant, I felt a chill spread throughout my body. It was just a worm, but I felt like there were a pair of invisible eyes staring at me.

  Fatso cursed and said, "Damn, this bug can recite scriptures too? What a coincidence, you're being fooled by your third uncle again." Fatso's words brought me back to my senses, making me feel a bit amused. I thought about the bug's words, people who live forever can fly away... Is this just a coincidence?

  That horn came here, obviously also with a purpose, his goal is likely to be the Tianyuan coffin as well. That year, the horn had the tomb map in his possession, so will this horn have any clues about the Tianyuan coffin?

  As I calmed down, I sensed that something was off. First of all, the tunnel we were in was square and obviously man-made, so if someone had built it, there must be a way through. In fact, the air here was very cold and the wind was flowing, clearly this wasn't an entirely enclosed space, and there was also a familiar smell in the air.

  At first I didn't smell it, but just a moment later I remembered, it was the smell of gasoline.

  Someone poured gasoline somewhere here!

  I quickly kicked the chubby who was still playing with insects and said, "Get up." The chubby hugged his butt and said, "What's wrong, why are you in such a hurry? I'm having an emotional exchange with Heizi." Damn, it's only been a short while, and they already have names. I said, "Bring your Heizi along, we'll find the way next, who knows when we might need it." The chubby came to his senses and asked me what was going on, I asked him, "Don't you smell anything?"

  Fatso furrowed his brow, sniffed and suddenly burst into a loud scolding, saying: "Damn it, there's kerosene!" I said: "This place was built by humans, so there must be an exit. Let's find where the kerosene is and we can find the exit too. This flashlight is really useless."

  I and Pangzi immediately searched the wall of the cave, at this time, my flashlight suddenly shone on a place, which was on the edge of the cliff to the left, parallel to the entrance of the cave, about 7 or 8 meters away. Due to the light, only a vague outline could be seen, it seemed to be a bronze device.

  How did bronze artifacts end up on this cliff?