Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 68

But how to get out became a problem again. The rock walls were coated with the previously seeped venom, and the iron chains lay on the ground. The group couldn’t climb out of the cavern.

Tang Yu could have used her teleportation ability to get to the octagonal stone slab opening, but she didn’t want to expose this newly acquired power so soon, especially since not everyone here was an ally.

Li Chengjian, however, was unfazed. He took out two lengths of climbing rope from his backpack, connected them end to end, tied a triangular grappling hook to one end, and used a crossbow-like device to shoot the rope up toward the opening. A climbable rope was now in place.

Tang Yu couldn’t help but marvel; the professional equipment for tomb exploration was truly on another level.

Li Chengjian climbed up first and then lowered another rope for everyone to tie around their waists as a safety line. Tang Yu and Jin Ye didn’t need it, but Zhou Zhou and Xiao Li did.

At this point, both Tang Yu and Jin Ye were covered in wounds. They were afraid of infecting Xiao Li, so they had to trouble Zhou Zhou with carrying her. Zhou Zhou didn’t expect to be a porter again. She silently chanted in her heart, Fine, I’ll be a porter twice, just twice.

The group used the rope to climb back up to the altar. Before leaving, Tang Yu dragged the eight iron chains from the ground up with her.

These chains were extremely heavy, and the links were inscribed with characters. Tang Yu remembered that Li Chengjian could read the snake script, so she asked, “What’s carved on these?”

Li Chengjian examined a couple of links and said, “They’re some onomatopoeic words, with no real meaning. They look like some kind of shamanic charms, probably to suppress the snakes… What are you taking these for?”

Tang Yu pursed her lips and smiled, her mind already running calculations. These iron chains had been able to restrain such enormous pythons and had even chipped her Startling Dragon knife, which meant their hardness was exceptionally high and their quality was excellent. She had to take them back to forge some weapons and recoup her losses, right?

Besides, the two giant snakes hadn’t come up yet. Standing on the altar steps, she looked down. The climbing rope was nowhere near wide enough for them to climb; they would have to rely on these iron chains.

They had already guessed that the chains were coated with snake poison, which was why the smaller snakes hadn’t dared to approach. But now there was no better way. The snake king and queen would have to endure it. Their scales were so thick they should provide some protection.

Tang Yu tied one end of the iron chains to the eight stone pillars on the altar and let the other end hang down to the bottom of the cave. Zhou Zhou seemed to have taken a liking to the two snakes. Seeing Tang Yu lower the chains, she shouted into the cave, “Good babies, climb up the chains. Don’t worry about the poison, I’ll wash you clean when we get out.”

After a moment, Zhou Zhou whispered, “I wonder if they can understand.”

Tang Yu smiled. “They probably can’t understand the words, but they’re intelligent enough to get the meaning.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the golden-eyed giant snake shot up one of the chains. Its massive body pulled so hard that the stone pillar shook. Just as Tang Yu thought the pillars on the altar wouldn’t hold, the golden-eyed snake burst through the octagonal stone slab and climbed out of the altar.

When both snakes had climbed out and stretched their bodies within the cavern, Tang Yu once again marveled at their astonishing size. They were ten meters long, with a diameter thicker than what a person could wrap their arms around.

The scales that had touched the chains quickly turned black and began to rot. It was a good thing they were so large; a smaller snake would have been killed by the poison long ago.

The two teams stood on the altar and began searching for an exit.

Tang Yu suddenly remembered something and asked Jin Ye, “You said you were ambushed before. Who ambushed you?”

Chen Deming’s group had been by the altar at the time, which meant there must have been other people in the tomb.

“The ones we saw before, that large group.”

Zhou Zhou turned to the side and added, “Lan Lin was there too.”

Tang Yu: “You exchanged fire?”

“Yes. The moment they saw we were zombies, they opened fire. Although one of Song Lengzhu’s team members tried to mediate, it was useless. My leg injury is from back then.” Jin Ye pulled at her cargo pants, revealing a burn mark from an explosion.

Jin Ye continued, “The two sides fought while chasing each other into the tomb passages. Those people had probably just arrived in the main chamber and weren’t on guard in the passages. Many of them triggered traps and died, and some others scattered to who knows where. We were already familiar with the passages, and Li Chengjian knows a thing or two about these mechanisms, so we managed to avoid them.”

Jin Ye and her group’s route hadn’t been entirely safe; they had even encountered a “ghost wall” that made them walk in circles. Fortunately, they had shared their location with Tang Yu and had a compass in their backpack. They picked a direction and forged ahead, eventually finding their way out.

Tang Yu nodded, wondering if the members of that large group would find their way to this altar.

After getting the update, Tang Yu refocused on finding the exit.

She had suspected before that this altar and the underground palace were not built at the same time. The murals in the main tomb chamber had confirmed her guess; the altar was indeed established earlier than the palace. Furthermore, the presence of modern skeletons in the bone pit suggested there had to be a separate entrance and exit.

Tang Yu saw that the giant snakes were crawling on the cavern’s rock walls without being harmed, so she prepared to step over the bones and walk onto the rocks beyond the eight stone slabs to explore the cavern’s perimeter. But as soon as she took a step, a giant snake used its body to push her back.

Looking closely, she saw ripples forming under the snake. A thin layer of black water had surfaced on the rocks. The snakes were unaffected, but it would surely be disastrous for a human to wade through it.

With that, they were trapped on the stone slabs.

Just as everyone was at a loss, the two giant snakes suddenly lowered their heads toward them and flicked their tails.

What did that mean?

Tang Yu was completely baffled.

The snake crawled in a circle on the spot, then pressed its entire head to the ground.

Beside her, Song Lengzhu seemed to have understood. She touched the snake’s scales, and with a push, vaulted onto the back of the golden-eyed snake.

The giant snake didn’t resist, tacitly accepting her action.

Tang Yu slapped her forehead. So that was it. The snakes wanted to carry them out. She first had Zhou Zhou and Xiao Li get onto the red-eyed snake’s back, then, avoiding the wounds on its body, she pulled Jin Ye and Li Chengjian onto its tail. The few iron chains were dragged along behind them.

Just as the two teams had settled, the door leading to the tomb chamber suddenly flipped open. Before everyone’s eyes, a figure stumbled and rolled onto the stone slabs.

It was a person wearing a small tank top and yellow cargo pants, all alone, with no weapon and no companions in sight. Zhou Zhou, sitting astride the snake, saw her and laughed. “Well, well, isn’t Miss Lan in a sorry state.”

Lan Lin shot her head up. She was covered in dirt, looking as if she had rolled in a mud pit. Seeing the two giant snakes looking at her, her face turned pale with fright.

But even so, upon hearing Zhou Zhou’s voice, Lan Lin straightened her back, trying her best to stand elegantly. While cautiously watching for the giant snakes to attack, she squeezed out a smile and retorted, “Professor Zhou, you’re not much cleaner yourself.”

The grudge between the two deepened. Both were smiling amiably, but their words were laced with barbs.

Tang Yu wasn’t surprised by Lan Lin’s appearance. Lan Lin possessed the ability of precognition and was clever; she should have been able to survive the tomb passages. It was just that this trip to Ghost Valley had cost her all her underlings, turning her into a lone commander whose elegance was a thing of the past.

Tang Yu had considered assimilating Lan Lin, but the other woman probably wouldn’t join her camp even if she became a zombie. The way Lan Lin stared at her was like a sword, which was understandable. Tang Yu had been the one to eliminate Lan Lin’s underlings; how could she not be angry?

The red-eyed giant snake sensed Lan Lin’s hostility. Its pupils narrowed into vertical slits, and it flicked its forked tongue at her.

This was a dangerous signal. Everyone here had some sort of grudge with Lan Lin. Even Song Lengzhu just watched from the side without saying a word.

Lan Lin hurriedly dashed toward the top of the altar. Her stamina was on par with Song Lengzhu’s. She quickly stepped onto the pile of bones, and just as they began to sink, she pushed off with both hands and flipped onto the altar.

Seeing that Lan Lin was about to jump into the hole in the altar, Zhou Zhou called out a reminder, “There’s a centuries-old ‘zongzi’ down there. Good luck to you~”

The only response that came back to Zhou Zhou was, “Good luck to you, my foot! You just wait for me!”

The giant snake retracted its head. Since Lan Lin hadn’t attacked it, it didn’t pursue her. The two giant snakes began to crawl. They didn’t move toward the darkness of the cave but instead climbed up the vertical rock wall next to the altar.

The sudden ninety-degree vertical climb made the people on the snakes’ backs cry out in alarm. They quickly bent over and hugged the snakes’ necks, or clung desperately to the iron anchors on their bodies. They were almost completely suspended in the air. It was a good thing their arm strength was better than that of ordinary people, so they managed to hold on tight.

In just three seconds, the giant snakes had already shot up to the ceiling. Now that they were closer, everyone realized that the ceiling was another stone slab, its size corresponding to the altar below.

The two giant snakes advanced side by side, simultaneously knocking over the several-meter-thick stone slab and bursting out of the cavern onto a flat surface.

Tang Yu slid off the snake’s back and looked up. They were still in a cavern. However, a faint light was filtering in from the left side, and they could even see an arched cave entrance. A damp wind blew in from the opening, sweeping away the stuffy tomb air that clung to them.

This cave showed more obvious signs of human activity. Old bedding, pots, and bowls were piled nearby. Next to the stone slab the giant snakes had broken through, there was even a vertical stele. The stele was carved with snake-like script, with modern characters annotating it below. It read “Altar of Xianqi” in four large characters, with a line of notes underneath.

Tang Yu took a closer look and found that the stele was quite new, no more than fifty years old. It recorded in detail how the Xianqi clan had survived in the deep mountains to this day. Their population had dwindled, but they had still maintained the centuries-old custom of offering living people to the altar. It was only later that they switched to using live livestock as substitutes, all in the hopes of praying for a deity to descend and strengthen the Xianqi clan.

There was a circle of holes around the stone altar. Judging by their position, they were directly above the bone pit. Those human or livestock skeletons had been deliberately thrown down.

Below the bone pit was the accumulated liquid that could peel skin and melt flesh. One could only imagine the kind of torture the sacrifices who were thrown down alive must have suffered.

These surviving mountain dwellers probably didn’t know that two giant snakes were imprisoned below, nor that it was their ancestors’ tomb chamber. They had offered fruits, wine, and flower garlands around the altar, but now everything was rotten and withered.

Just as the group was marveling at this unspeakable sacrificial ritual, several gunshots suddenly exploded in their ears. Tang Yu turned to see Song Lengzhu putting away her gun. Lying haphazardly in front of her were four zombies. These zombies were dressed in modern clothing but wore strange snake-shaped silver ornaments on their heads. Their skin was dark, suggesting they were mountain dwellers.

Looking at the bedding in the cave, Tang Yu understood most of it. The zombie virus had also broken out in these deep mountains. The descendants of Xianqi must have hidden in this altar for refuge, but in the end, they couldn’t escape the fate of being zombified.

No wonder they had encountered a bear infected with the zombie virus in the mountains. These mountain dwellers must have turned into zombies and roamed the mountains.

However, the number of these mountain dwellers was extremely small. Tang Yu and the others hadn’t encountered a single living zombie on their way here.

The group led the two giant snakes toward the cave entrance. Judging by the depth, this altar should still be on the mountainside.

After so long without seeing the sun, it was now noon. They had spent an entire night in the tomb. The sudden light made it impossible for them to open their eyes, and Tang Yu instinctively squinted.

The mountain wind, carrying a hint of moisture, brought fresh air. Tang Yu couldn’t help but take a few more deep breaths. The sun felt so good, the air was so fresh. Tang Yu felt a fondness for this warmth, showing no self-awareness of being a zombie.

The “ding” of a mission completion notification sounded at that moment. Tang Yu understood that the tomb exploration mission was officially over.

The altar’s cave entrance was on a cliff face, where a man-made wooden plank road had been built. The plank road was well-preserved. Following it, the group finally returned to the mountaintop. The two giant snakes climbed directly up the cliff.

Stepping onto soft soil and smelling the fragrance of green grass again, everyone felt a mix of complex emotions.

Tang Yu’s and Song Lengzhu’s teams stood facing each other, distinctly separate. Everyone remained silent, unsure of what to say.

Their relationship had become difficult to define during this journey. To call them partners, they weren’t nearly familiar enough. Besides, the old and new grudges had only been deliberately ignored for the sake of survival; they hadn’t been written off.

To call them enemies, that wasn’t quite right either. Throughout the journey, not only had Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu saved each other countless times, but even the members of Jin Ye’s and Xiao Qi’s groups had lent each other a hand in dangerous situations.

Amidst the silence, Song Lengzhu stood against the wind. Though her clothes were filthy, her posture remained ramrod straight. Her eyes, reflecting the sunlight, shone brightly as she quietly gazed into Tang Yu’s eyes, her face betraying little emotion.

Tang Yu, however, couldn’t meet Song Lengzhu’s gaze so openly. She shifted her eyes away, looking at Song Lengzhu’s wound instead. The strip of cloth from Tang Yu’s jacket was still tied around her right leg. The fabric had dried, and the bl00d had naturally scabbed over. Her center of gravity was still on her left leg. It seems, Tang Yu thought, Song Lengzhu doesn’t have a rapid healing ability.

In the end, the two teams said nothing. They tacitly chose different directions and parted ways without a single word of farewell. This reticence, in turn, seemed strange.

Tang Yu scratched her head, tossing that bit of inner conflict to the nine heavens. Her mind was quickly filled with another emotion.

They were going home!