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墨書 Inktalez
"Oh no, Old Sun, that's a living Zongzi," Fat Ma's voice was filled with urgency.
All of us were breathing a bit heavily, our eyes nervously fixed on the direction of the Zongzi. When the fat guy said it could talk, I initially didn't believe him, thinking he was just scared out of his wits.
Before Fat Ma could explain further, a strange voice echoed: "Don't run away." I shivered unexpectedly and said in a trembling tone, "Fat Ma, you were right."
The Zongzi had been nearly shredded by Fat Ma's machine gun, yet it still stood upright, its mouth moving as if it were speaking.
It really was talking! We were completely stunned.
"Better to avoid trouble than to invite it. I think we should make a run for it!" Fat Ma suggested.
This time, no one opposed him. After a unanimous agreement, we prepared to flee.
Just then, another voice suddenly emerged: "Bronze Fish... Bronze Fish..." The voice was eerie and cold. I had just turned around when I froze in place. "Did you hear that? Is it saying Bronze Fish?"
"It really does sound like it, Old Sun. You better hide the fish well; I think this Zongzi has its eyes on it."
Fat Ma's words jolted me into realization, but I still found it hard to believe. A suddenly zombified Zongzi wanting to steal my Bronze Fish? Who would believe that? But honestly, part of me did believe it! If a Zombie Zongzi could talk, what else was impossible?
"Could it know something?" I asked.
"That's possible," Niren replied.
The Fat Master, however, was unconcerned. "Old Sun, why don't you hand over the Bronze Fish to me for safekeeping? You can go chat with Zongzi and see if he really knows anything," he said, laughing heartily.
Instantly, everyone looked at him with disdain.
But honestly, I was quite curious to see what was going on.
"What do you think, Mud Man?"
After a moment of silence, Mud Man replied, "Better to believe it exists than not. I'll go take a look."
"I'm going with you," I said, pulling out the Bronze Fish and handing it to the Fat Master. He looked slightly surprised but quickly composed himself. "Old Sun, do you think I, Fat Master, would be afraid of a mere Zongzi? I want to have a chat with it too."
Seeing that the Fat Master was serious and not joking around, I prepared to take back the Bronze Fish. To my surprise, he changed his tone. "I'll hold onto it for now and give it back after I finish chatting with Zongzi."
I was momentarily speechless but decided not to argue.
The Fat Master strode confidently ahead, full of himself, while Mud Man and I followed closely behind. Zhang Tong and the others wanted to join us but were dissuaded by me.
A sense of unease crept into my mind. Both the Fat Master and Mud Man were seasoned veterans in Panning for Gold but had never encountered a situation like this before; it could be tricky.
"Old Sun, Mud Man, when Fat Master is negotiating later, try to keep your comments to a minimum."
"What if you can't handle it?"
"As long as someone can talk, Fat Master has never been unable to manage," he said with a proud laugh.
"Bronze Fish," the words tumbled out of Zongzi's mouth, still unclear, but as we got closer, they became a bit clearer. It sounded almost like a gentle chant, though the voice left much to be desired.
As we approached even more, the Fat Ma wasted no time and shouted directly at Zongzi, "Hey, you dead Zongzi, are you trying to say something to us?"
Zongzi ignored him, continuing to chant, "Bronze Fish, Bronze Fish," sending chills down our spines and making us feel quite uncomfortable.
Seeing that Zongzi was unresponsive, Fat Ma called out a couple more times, but Zongzi remained indifferent. The Fat Ma grew annoyed and cursed, "Damn it, can't you hear me talking to you?"
I stood by with the clay figure, watching the spectacle unfold. Surprisingly, Zongzi showed no intention of attacking us.
After some time passed, Fat Ma's patience wore thin. He rolled up his sleeves as if preparing to confront Zongzi. I quickly grabbed his arm.
"Old Sun, don't try to stop me; I have to deal with it," he insisted. With that, I released my grip.
Fat Ma took a couple of steps forward but paused when he realized no one was holding him back. He turned back to me and said in disbelief, "Old Sun, Clay Man, how do you think I should handle it?"
The words came out of Fat Ma's mouth, yet he made no move to act. After about a minute, he retreated and muttered, "A wise man does not hold grudges against a fool; I'll let you off today."
Both the clay figure and I couldn't help but laugh.
Fat Ma's face turned red as he quietly complained to me, "Old Sun, why couldn't you hold me back just now?"
"With that kind of momentum, I couldn't stop you either!"
Fat Ma fell silent in frustration. Throughout this time, I had been observing; it seemed that Zongzi wasn't really talking to us but rather having a conversation with itself.
No matter how I thought about it, it felt as if it was speaking to us, because the content seemed to be related to us. I glanced at the Zongzi still chanting the words Bronze Fish, and it became even more terrifying; it was as if it was trying to tell us something, but it wasn't very clear.
The Mud Man suddenly said, "Fatty, take out the Bronze Fish!"
Both Fatty and I looked at the Mud Man in surprise. The Mud Man didn't look back at us but continued to stare at the Zongzi.
Should we take it out? Fatty asked me.
I agreed almost without thinking. When Fatty pulled out the complete Bronze Fish, the Zongzi, which had been chanting Bronze Fish, immediately fell silent.
For a moment, everything became quiet again, but at the same time, a strange atmosphere began to spread.
"What do you want to take it out for, Mud Man?" Fat Ma asked.
The Mud Man kept his gaze fixed on the Zongzi's reaction and then said, "Just hold it; you don't need to do anything." The Zongzi seemed to be staring intently at the Bronze Fish in Fatty's hand. Although I didn't know if it had eyes, its face was indeed directed towards Fatty.
Fatty felt uncomfortable under its gaze: "Mud Man, what are you up to?" Suddenly, he cursed, "Dead Mud Man, you don't plan to use me as bait, do you?" After saying that, Fatty didn’t wait for any orders from the Mud Man and put the Bronze Fish away.
At that moment, the Zongzi moved and charged towards Fat Ma. Its body was already riddled with holes, and now it looked even more grotesque.
Fatty didn't wait for us to say anything and cowardly turned to run. The Mud Man and I were still frozen in place when Fat Ma threw out a remark: "If you want Fat Master as bait, I'm not that stupid."
The Zongzi failed to catch up with Fatty and turned its attack towards me and the Mud Man. Realizing what was happening, we also started to run.
Fat Ma ran faster than a ghost.
They saw Fat Ma running wildly and immediately understood the situation. Residual Anger and Huang Lin wasted no time in fleeing.
"Comrade Zhang, aren't you going to run?" Fat Ma shouted as he passed by.
But Zhang Tong kept looking back.
I, along with the Mud Man, took off running. I was slightly injured and lagged behind. I glanced at Zhang Tong ahead of me and urged her to hurry.
Yet she stubbornly waited for me before she ran.
Zongzi, trailing behind, seemed to have gone mad as well.
Huang Lin and Residual Anger had already climbed up the rope, while Fat Ma stood at the cave entrance urging us to hurry.
When we finally arrived, I let Zhang Tong go first. After she ascended, the Fat Ma said, "Old Sun, hurry up."
I didn’t hesitate because Zongzi was only a few meters away from catching up. Once I got up, it was Mud Man's turn. Fat Ma held the rear, but as everyone made it up, Zongzi was just a step away from Fat Ma. In a panic, Fat Ma yelled out and quickly grabbed the rope with both hands, wrapping his legs around it as he cursed, "Damn it! Pull me up!"
We didn’t dare hesitate and pulled him up with all our might. However, Fat Ma still got caught and let out a piercing scream that sounded like a slaughtered pig.
Once we finally pulled him up, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
At that moment, I glanced back at the cave entrance and heard Zongzi muttering, "Don't run... don't run..." After a while, it transformed into Bronze Fish again, but this time we no longer believed it.
Although I didn't know why it could speak, after what had just happened, we dared not investigate further.
Residual Anger and Huang Lin had already begun to retreat outside, gradually moving back. But at that moment, I saw those glowing eyes again.
I was startled, my eyes wide open like bells, staring intently. The clay figure that hadn’t retreated was doing the same, fixated on those two glowing eyes.
“Let’s not worry about it for now; let’s get out first.”
In a narrow situation, if danger truly appeared, it was not something we could handle.
I instinctively agreed and began to back away.
When everyone gathered together again, they looked as if they had escaped from hell, each expression different from the last.
Fortunately, everyone was fine; only Fat Ma and I had issues.
A small chunk of flesh had been gouged from Fat Ma's backside, causing him to curse the ancestors of that Zongzi for generations.
After tending to his wound, he continued to grumble: “Damn it, this time I really took a big loss.” Soon his anger was directed at me and the clay figure, giving us both a thorough scolding. He accused us of disregarding the bond of Revolution by making him bait. The more he spoke, the more he reminisced about old times—how Fat Master had sacrificed himself for righteousness and how he had helped me and the clay figure back then.
Finally, both the clay figure and I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Enough! Just tell us what you want.”
A glint of cunning flashed in Fat Ma's eyes. He immediately said with righteous indignation: “Old Sun, what do you take me for?” Then he added, “Old Sun, return what I entrusted to you earlier!”
I glanced at Zhang Tong, and he looked back at me.
Fat Ma's backpack was still in Zhang Tong's hands, filled with the Mingqi we had collected this time. Zhang Tong's expression was somewhat reluctant, but he ultimately handed it over to me.
When I passed the backpack to Fat Ma, he couldn't hide his smile. After putting the backpack away, he returned the Bronze Fish to me, and I was momentarily taken aback.
Fat Ma scoffed, "Old Sun, look at that face of yours. Do you think Fat Master would covet something so trivial?"
After I accepted the Bronze Fish and stored it away, I didn't argue with Fat Ma because I knew it would only be self-deprecating.
At that moment, everything settled down again. However, I still remained wary of those glowing eyes. After a quick bite to eat, we realized that everyone had exhausted quite a bit of energy and hadn't rested for a long time. I glanced at my watch; we had been here for nearly three days.
As I familiarized myself with that number, I felt quite surprised—three days had passed without me realizing it. Looking at our rations again, we had about one day's worth left. This meant that if we couldn't find a way out within a day, we would likely face starvation. Starvation wasn't the worst part; the most terrifying thing would be running out of water, which meant we wouldn't survive more than three days.
So until we found an exit, we had to conserve our water and food supplies.
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