Chapter 064 The Seal Above Her Head Loosened

In such a cramped space, the power of the explosion was drastically amplified. The deafening roar seemed to tear at their eardrums, and the shockwave left their bones weak and trembling.

Li Tianque was blasted away by the tremendous force, sprawling groggily on the ground and not coming to his senses until the pain forced him awake.

Groping toward the source of the pain, he found several stone horseshoe crabs had already bitten through his clothes. His bare torso was pinned by another, its terrifying sucker gnawing hungrily at his flesh.

Forcing himself upright, Li Tianque used his kilovolt gloves to electrocute and knock the creatures from his body.

Fatty Bi came running back at that moment, panting heavily as he hefted Li Tianque up from the ground and gasped, “Brother, you’re incredible! Where did you get the explosives…”

“Let’s talk later… We need to go… I have no idea if the blast blocked off the passage completely—let’s get out of here, fast!” Li Tianque’s ears were still ringing so badly he couldn’t even make out what Fatty Bi was saying.

After helping Fatty Bi clear the clinging stone crabs from his body, the two set off deeper into the narrow tunnel.

Without a flashlight, Li Tianque was forced to use the light from his phone, while Fatty Bi led the way with a power bank that had a built-in torch.

There were no stone crabs embedded in the tunnel walls here, but through the thick rock, they could still hear the persistent scuttling of pincers all around them.

Clearly, those countless horrifying creatures were still active elsewhere in the cave. Li Tianque couldn’t be sure whether the path they were on would eventually connect to those other regions.

One thing, however, was certain: aside from this route, there was nowhere else to go.

Li Tianque had never been on an outdoor adventure before. His only similar experience was as a child, crawling through a mountain air-raid shelter with friends. Back then, they had stumbled upon the abandoned corpse of a child, the rotting remains crawling with maggots—a memory that haunted him to this day.

Now, all these years later, as he once more found himself in a sealed cave, the stifling claustrophobia returned with a vengeance.

At first, Li Tianque managed to suppress his fear, but the longer they remained underground, the more restless and unnerved he became.

Worse yet, he found his headache intensifying and his vision blurring. He couldn’t tell if it was a lingering effect from Danni’s bite, or if the seal on his head was loosening again…

“Brother, are you cold? I’ve got a vest here—you should put it on!” Fatty Bi said, rummaging through his backpack and handing Li Tianque a red life vest.

“Achoo…”

Li Tianque sneezed loudly. Even after putting on the vest, he still felt chilled to the bone. After all, they had sweated profusely in the cave earlier, and the heat from the pipes had made that area nearly unbearable.

Though the explosion had temporarily raised the temperature in the air, as they moved further away, the temperature dropped rapidly, and Li Tianque felt a creeping cold.

After walking for a long while, the tunnel widened enough for them to walk side by side.

As they continued, Fatty Bi suddenly exclaimed in delight, “Hey! Brother, I think there’s an exit up ahead!”

Li Tianque looked in the direction of his voice, and at the edge of Fatty Bi’s power bank flashlight, he saw a stretch of empty rock wall.

The rock wall was clearly some distance away, and at the very end of the beam was what appeared to be a vast open space.

“Careful! The exit might be a cliff,” Li Tianque warned.

“Cliff or no cliff, as long as there aren’t any of those disgusting stone things, I don’t care!” Fatty Bi replied, hurrying toward the opening.

They reached the mouth of the tunnel and shone their lights forward. Sure enough, they were standing atop a high ledge.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a sheer drop, but rather a steep slope, with rough handholds hewn into it—clear signs that people had traversed this path before.

Below the slope was an area about the size of a basketball court, scattered with jagged rocks. In the northeast corner loomed a huge, indistinct black mass.

From its outline, it might have been the collapsed remains of a structure, or perhaps the trunk of a long-dead tree.

There was no sign of any other exit below; it seemed to be a dead end.

“At least we’re safe for now…” Fatty Bi breathed a long sigh of relief.

“Wu Miaoran! Wu Miaoran!” Li Tianque called out into the empty space, his voice echoing harshly in the silence.

But no answer came, no matter how long he waited.

Fatty Bi shook his head, exasperated. “Damn it, this is so weird. If Old Wang and your friend jumped down the well like us, they should’ve taken the same path. Even if, like you said, this cave is some sort of looping labyrinth, they probably didn’t get out either. But look at this—there’s not a trace of either of them, as if they vanished into thin air! Too damn strange!”

Li Tianque shot him a glance, feeling puzzled himself. Fatty Bi’s every move suggested he was a selfish man, not the sort to risk his neck for a companion.

Someone like that would never have gone down the well to save a friend without ulterior motives.

Since he had, there must be another reason—likely something to do with “Old Wang,” the teammate he kept mentioning.

For the moment, Li Tianque needed an ally and didn’t probe further. He replied calmly, “It’s possible they found another route and escaped from there. There must be several forks up ahead—we only took one, so there could be other possibilities. Of course, it’s just wishful thinking; they might have already been eaten by the stone crabs.”

“Damn it, what rotten luck, I never should’ve—” Fatty Bi stopped mid-sentence, shone his power bank at his feet, and muttered, “Well, since we’re here, we might as well take a look below.”

Li Tianque eyed him but said nothing, following him down.

After all this ordeal, both men were exhausted.

Fatty Bi pulled two bottles of energy drink from his backpack, cracked one open, and drained it in one gulp.

Li Tianque opened the other, dented bottle and slowly poured it into his mouth.

The sweet liquid slid into his stomach, and he found himself craving more. He could have drunk an entire barrel and still not been sated—he had never felt this thirsty before, nor realized how delicious an energy drink could be.

Dragging their weary bodies, they reached the open ground below the rocky slope. Just as they were about to rest, Li Tianque’s headache worsened, and his vision grew even blurrier.

He sank to the ground, massaging his temples, while Fatty Bi sat beside him, wiping sweat from his brow.

Regulating his breathing, Li Tianque’s gaze drifted unconsciously toward the enormous black mass nearby.

By the faint glow of his phone and Fatty Bi’s torch, he thought he saw a shadowy figure hovering atop the ruins.

Startled and elated, Li Tianque slapped Fatty Bi’s arm. “Hey! Brother Bi, look over there! There’s someone!”

He pointed his phone’s flashlight in that direction. Fatty Bi, equally surprised, aimed his power bank torch at the spot.

The beams didn’t quite reach, still unable to illuminate the area clearly.

Li Tianque dashed toward the black mass, the light bobbing with his movement.

As he drew closer, the figure atop the shadow became clearer. But when he finally got a good look, Li Tianque was struck with terror!

He saw a hanging corpse with a tongue stretched grotesquely long, suspended in midair!

End of chapter.