"You're overpraising me; I'm not even halfway there!" I shot him a provocative glance, and sure enough, his smile faltered. I grinned smugly and began to climb. During the ascent, I encountered several decaying corpses. Just as I finally reached the beam, I looked up to see a few rusted chains hanging down from the center. Glancing over at Lime and Xianxian, who had already climbed to a very high position, I was shocked to see a suspended coffin directly above me! It seemed their target was that coffin.
I grabbed one of the chains and continued climbing while keeping an eye on their movements. It was clear that Lime was climbing much faster than Xianxian; at that moment, he had already reached the coffin. I couldn't tell what he was doing up there, but I noticed Xianxian frowning anxiously and climbing even faster. It seemed there might be something very important hidden inside.
Thinking this, I quickened my pace, but unexpectedly, Lime suddenly fell down. Startled, I looked closely and realized he was still holding onto a rope! I let out a quiet sigh of relief as he dropped down to my height, then he said to me with a serious expression, "Get down quickly."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xianxian jumped down as well, angrily asking, "What were you doing up there?!"
Lime ignored him, but I heard a grinding sound from above. Suddenly, something blood-red fell down towards Lime's position. Lime jumped and grabbed another chain just in time. It was then that I saw what had fallen: it was another Peeling Monster. However, unlike the previous one, this creature had not only peeled off its face but had almost lost all its skin!
Shock! Terror! Nausea! Could this be the legendary Blood Corpse?
Seeing the Blood Corpse lunging towards me, I instinctively dodged but lost my grip and fell straight down. With no foothold in mid-air, I crashed into someone below. That person yelled out, and I recognized it was Xianxian's voice. He cursed under his breath and kicked me, saying, "Let go of me!"
With that kick, I snapped back to reality and realized I was clinging to Xianxian's thigh!
I had no idea when I had managed to grab onto him, but if I listened to him and let go now, I'd truly be an idiot. So I shook my head repeatedly and replied, "No way! I'm not letting go even if it kills me!" Ridiculous! If I fell from this height, I'd end up crippled! There was no way I'd be that foolish; instead, I tightened my grip to avoid slipping down.
"Damn it!" Xianxian cursed at me before extending a hand and saying, "Hold on tight; I'll pull you up."
Seeing that Xianxian's pants were nearly falling off made me feel embarrassed about clinging to his thigh. So I grabbed his hand instead. Initially planning to step on him to climb up further, I was surprised when he yanked me up instead. I couldn't help but wonder if people who delve into tombs have incredible strength? Both Lime and Xianxian seemed surprisingly strong despite their slender appearances; they were almost like oxen! How could there be such a huge difference among men?
As I grabbed a vine to steady myself, I said "thank you" to Xianxian, who merely shot me a sideways glance without responding. I didn't want to engage him further, as the surroundings had started to grow noisy again. I noticed that the Blood Corpse had somehow jumped onto a person, who was screaming while trying to swat it away. But the Blood Corpse was not easy prey; it bit the person and killed him instantly.
I couldn't bear to watch any longer, so I turned my head away and saw that Lime had come up beside me. He had found a longer rope from somewhere, one end tied to a beam above and the other end handed to me.
I took the rope, and Lime said, "Run to where it's safe; I'll find you in a bit." With that, he drew the knife from his waist, seemingly ready to leap towards the Blood Corpse.
"Wait!" I called out to him. He turned back to look at me, and after hesitating for a moment, I still couldn't bring myself to speak. After a while of silence, he finally asked, "What's up?"
I glanced at Song A, Pei Zi, and others who were grappling with the vines and said awkwardly to Lime, "Can you save them too?" I nearly bit my tongue saying this; even though I knew they might not be good people, watching them die right in front of me was something I just couldn't handle. It felt terrible.
"Okay." He looked at me and agreed without hesitation. Then he swung into action like on a swing; whenever he reached someone, he would cut the vines binding them with his knife. Although his movements remained graceful and fluid, I sensed they were somewhat slower than before. By the time I reached the ground, those people were falling one by one. When I looked up, Lime was already engaged in combat with the Blood Corpse.
At that moment, Xianxian ran over to me and nudged me with his arm, curiously asking, "What's your relationship with Lime?"
I glanced at him and proudly replied, "We're friends. What's it to you? Do you have a problem with that?"
He looked at me skeptically and said, "Friends? With that weird temper of his? That's surprising. You don't seem all that special either!" He then began to scrutinize me shamelessly.
"I may not be special, but I'm curious why you're trying to find someone to impersonate my dad to deceive me," I shot back at him. I hadn't forgotten about that!
To my surprise, he clicked his tongue twice and said, "I knew I couldn't fool you; those people just wouldn't believe it." He laughed afterward, his smile dazzling yet irritating. I impatiently asked, "Who are those people?"
Xianxian looked at me as if I were an idiot and then cheekily replied, "Why should I tell you?"
He really is asking for it! I shot him a glare and decided to ignore him. Looking up, I noticed there was only one person above; the Blood Corpse had vanished. Lime was vigilantly scanning the surroundings. After waiting for a while without seeing any sign of the Blood Corpse, he jumped down.
"Feng Zi, I think we should leave here quickly. It looks a bit ominous," Song A said as he walked over to me, his face filled with concern.
"Leave?" I looked at him in surprise and asked, "How do we leave? Aren't we going to look for Sudai?" I intentionally asked this question; on one hand, I wanted to see Song A's reaction, and on the other hand, I wanted to know if they were really in cahoots...
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