Daomu Biji Volume 8 Chapter 38
The situation inside was exactly the same as what Fatty said. Although Ghost didn't explain the principle behind these tunnels, I could also roughly guess that these mechanisms must have been skillfully designed using human psychology and natural fissures in the mountain. Maybe we would find more clues after we went further in.
Using this entrance, we could enter the tunnel that Fatty had gone through all kinds of hardships to get out of. We went in hunched over, and because Ghost and Fatty said there wouldn't be any danger, we walked quickly without any worries. We used a flashlight to shine on the rock wall of the tunnel and searched the entire way for the unusual shadow that Ghost had mentioned.
The entire wall was a translucent green and our flashlight was wrapped in a green cloth Ghost had given us so it would act like an X-ray lamp we could see through. Obviously, the stones here were especially suitable for the penetration of green light.
In this light, we could even see the skin of some of the shadows that were closer to the surface. I hadn't got a good look at these things before, and what I saw now was more than a shadow. I found that the faces of these things were especially strange. The smaller the shadow, the more similar the face was to people, but if it was larger, the face would be very long. Among the green stone, they all had their eyes closed as if they were asleep.
Fatty told me not to get too close since Ghost said these things would gather in places with high temperatures, so we couldn't stay in one place for too long.
All the way through, we tried to concentrate all of our energy on watching, for fear of missing a shadow, but we didn't see the kind of “strange” Ghost had mentioned.
“Do you think this is unusual?” Fatty would rather pursue a policy of being wrong than to let one slip by, and as soon as he saw something strange, he would say, “Look at this shadow, just like Zhao Benshan. Is it this one?”
“I don't think that ghost had the chance to know Zhao Benshan, so he wouldn't think something was wrong with the shadow.” I said.
“What about this?” Fatty pointed at the other one, which was a shadow making a swimming pose. “Doesn't this look like the dog paddle?”
“I don't think the difference has to do with looking at them, it's definitely not that simple. Otherwise, there'd be a problem with all the shadows here.” As I said this, I couldn't help but have some misgivings about whether Ghost might have overestimated our ability to judge. Fatty shook his head and said he didn't think Ghost would make such a mistake in that situation. The guy was a spy and it was impossible for him to give an “inaccurate account.”
I had to believe it. The two of us continued to move forward, looking at the shadows one by one, and soon our activities became a test of our imaginations.
“Look, this shadow seems like it's choking on something.”
“s.h.i.t, look at this one, the chest is very big. Why is there a tail underneath?”
In fact, it was quite interesting at first, and it could also relieve our anxiety, but we looked so much that we eventually didn't even have the desire to speak. We just mechanically looked at one shadow after another.
I didn't know how long it was since we went inside. I didn't see Xiao Hua or find the shadow and the tunnel seemed endless. Just as we were on the verge of sleepwalking, we suddenly saw a strange shadow!
Fatty and I woke up almost at the same time. We both shivered and looked at each other, and I realized that Ghost was really right and we had found it. And indeed, as long as we paid attention when looking for it, we'd never miss it.
This was definitely a shadow that made people feel very strange. What we saw in the rock wall had very long hands and feet that even exceeded its height. According to the proportions, it was like a shadow formed by five snakes twining together, or a dancer wearing a long dress with long sleeves.
“Hands past the knees Liu Bei, eh.” Fatty muttered, “This twenty-headed body is truly the same as the descriptions.” (TN note: Liu Bei was a warlord at the end of the Han dynasty who was said to be REALLY tall with long arms that extended beyond his knees and ears so large that he could see them.)
“Why is this shadow different from others? Is it a deformity?” My heart felt a little uneasy as I illuminated it with a flashlight. But this shadow was quite deep in the rock, and when the flashlight shined on it, there was only the dark shadow and nothing else.
“What's next?” Fatty asked me, “What did he say? I forgot.”
“Find this shadow's core location and use the oil there. Where's our oil?”
Fatty took out the canteen and gave it to me: “Here, save some.”
“It's okay. Don't we still have you when we run out?” I said. I took the canteen and immediately poured the contents on the ground.
“You d.a.m.n psycho, you think I'd allow you to do such inferior things with my G.o.dly fat?” Fatty scolded, “And we don't have any equipment to boil the oil anyways.”
As soon as the oil reached the ground, it began to seep through and I found that the rock surface there seemed to have been roughly chiseled, but in fact the lines on it showed skill. The oil immediately began to spread rapidly and flowed to one place.
“There's the way.” Fatty said, and we walked slowly along the direction the oil led. After a few steps, we saw a fork in the tunnel in front of us. It was very small and we could only bend down to enter.
“d.a.m.n, why didn't we see it just now?” Fatty said, “How did this hole come into being?”
I got to the front of the fork and found the tunnel was wet, and after feeling around, found it was very sticky. I felt it was strange and then a thought flashed through my mind. I suddenly felt as if I understood the principle of how this mechanism operated here.
But I didn't understand it even when I thought about it carefully, and while I was in a daze, I suddenly saw the mouth of the fork light up with a white light, as if there was a flashlight over there.
When I looked at it immediately, I saw a source of white light in the depth of the tunnel. It wasn't as bright as a flashlight, and I couldn't see clearly because it was far away and there was a backlight.
I used the flashlight to counteract the white light, shining it more than ten meters in, only to find that there was no one inside. Fatty also saw it and shouted at the hole, “Who's there?”
When I moved the flashlight away, the white light dimmed.
“What was that just now? Fireflies?” I asked.
“Those are some amazing fireflies. The light was so bright, how big was the bug? At least as big as my shoes.”
“Then what kind of light was that? Was it a ghost fire?” I said, “The white light was too real just now. I think it's an artificial light source.”
“You have no imagination.” Fatty said, “Judging from my life experience, that light should have been a mobile phone.”
“Mobile phone? Is it Xiao Hua's?”
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Random note: Sorry I skipped uploading yesterday, I actually did get about 20 pages done but I needed a break after going almost nonstop for a month. I used that time to finish watching the King's Avatar (it's good, you all should check it out on Netflix) and can I just say that Yifan and Mo Fan are just the most precious cinnamon rolls EVER.