?

  The moment I touched this thing, I was stunned. Was there a corpse under the cauldron? But why didn't I discover it when I used the probing claw just now?

  Because I was wearing autopsy gloves, after grabbing the hand that was soaking in the black water, I didn't feel much nausea, and immediately pulled it up, pulling out half of the arm from the surface of the water. The thing below was very heavy, I estimated that this was a male corpse's hand.

  The hand I pulled out of the water was purple and swollen from being soaked in black water, with layers of wrinkles on the skin. It was smaller than a woman's hand when held in mine. Dr. Zhang was startled too, then whispered, "Pull it up and take a look."

  I nodded, slowly straightened my body, and prepared to pull the corpse out of the cauldron. However, after pulling for a while, something that made my scalp tingle happened - this hand seemed to be endless!

  I pulled all the way to the end, and the length of my hand leaving the water surface was already two meters long, and it seemed that there was no end to it. Damn! Was the corpse inside still a relative of Wan Nu Wang?

  Just as I was startled by the long, seemingly endless hand that I had pulled out of the water, Zhang suddenly shouted: "Be careful!" Unfortunately, she spoke too late. Before I could react, the hand that I had pulled out of the water suddenly moved on its own and grabbed my wrist, pulling me into the dark water with a jerk.

  A thick, sticky liquid suddenly submerged the bare skin, and I was caught off guard, taking several big gulps. The sticky and slippery feeling was like swallowing a lot of fly eggs at once, making me feel nauseous and wanting to vomit. But before I could even throw up, that hand pulled me down continuously, and my legs reached into the lower part of the cauldron. Unbeknownst to me, a one-person-wide underground opening had been opened below, and that hand was stretching out from that underground opening. Who knows if it's some kind of monster's lair down there.

  I couldn't care less about the nausea, in the dark water I struggled and flailed about, with no weapon on me, the only thing that could be used as a weapon was that vaginal speculum.

  It is shaped like a hand, with the four fingers of the front segment curved into hooks and the tip extremely sharp.

  In the chaos, I pulled out that probing claw and fiercely struck at the long hook that grabbed my wrist. One hit and it retracted its hand. Seizing the opportunity, I hastily emerged from the water surface. Dr. Zhang already stretched out his hand to me, urgently saying: "Quickly, come up."

  I hastily grabbed Dr. Zhang's hand and desperately crawled out of the cauldron, but to my surprise, that thing stretched out of the water again. Dr. Zhang exclaimed, "Behind you..." I was startled, didn't think twice, kicked back with one foot, but what was behind me wasn't a person, it was just a hand, so I didn't kick anything, instead, my foot kicked against the inner wall of the bronze cauldron, instantly triggering a loud, resonant sound like a Buddhist bell.

  Right after that, the belt around my waist tightened and I was pulled backwards with great force. The power was so strong that I almost fell into the black water on my butt. Zhang was also unable to escape and was dragged down with me. In the chaos, I didn't have time to think about anything else and quickly grabbed the hook to try and catch it again. However, the thing seemed to have a mind of its own and after being tricked once, it wouldn't be fooled again. After pulling me into the water, it grabbed my foot and started dragging me towards that hole.

  The entrance of the cave was slippery all over, it was all that black water, and it was very tortuous. I was dragged by it, my whole body was soaked in the waterway, and I couldn't breathe at all. I slid through the entrance like a slide.

  Before long, I couldn't hold my breath any longer and a large amount of black water poured into my nostrils and mouth. My brain was throbbing with pain due to lack of oxygen, and my consciousness was barely clear. In a daze, I thought: Is this thing intentionally trying to drown people to death? Isn't that just like a water ghost?

  At this time, my head suddenly felt a weight, and a soft object was pressed against my brain. It took me a while to react, and I realized that Zhang had also been caught. Due to the narrowness of the cave, she was above my head, and I estimated that she was even more unbearable than me. At this moment, it was upside down, and what was pressing against my head was self-evident.

  Just as Zhang and I were about to drown, the water around us suddenly disappeared. Then, we were thrown onto a hard stone wall with great force. In a daze, I heard someone shouting: "That thing has come out again!"

  "Don't panic! Fire!" is the voice of passerby A!

  My face was covered in black water, and I couldn't even open my eyes. The sound of gunfire filled the air, as if something was being attacked. Dr. Zhang next to me had already started vomiting. I had swallowed a belly full of black water, and my throat and mouth were sticky and numb. My stomach churned, and when I turned my head, I began to vomit violently. By the end, not even acid could come up from my stomach, and I was on the verge of fainting.

  I casually rubbed my eyes, and found that Dr. Zhang opposite me was like a black mud person, only because of panting with her mouth open, revealing some pink color, even her teeth were black, and there seemed to be a kind of black rotten cotton-like thing on top, I felt nauseous just looking at it, I guess I wasn't much better than her.

  After a while, I started looking for the source of the sound. At this time, I found that the gunshot came from the other side of the river. On the other side, there was also a flashlight glow, but it was too far away to see clearly. If I hadn't heard the voice of passerby A just now, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to determine who those people were.

  In front of us seemed to be a dark and murky river, illuminated by the firelight, only to see that the water in the river was all a kind of black and sticky liquid, under which something was constantly stirring, as if something was about to emerge, but the firepower of Passerby A and his companions was too strong, and that thing occasionally poked out its head, only to be beaten back down.

  Mr. Zhang coughed violently for a while, then fumbled out a flashlight from his bag and lit it up, after which I could see the surroundings clearly.

  It seems to be an underground river, and at this moment, we are beside the underground river channel, with our backs against a black stone wall. This kind of stone wall appears to be made of the same material as that Qilin sculpture.

  The light followed Zhang's movements and hit the top of my head, I thought I was thrown down from above, but now that I look at it, the top is also a black stone wall, completely sealed. My heart moved, could it be that Zhang and I were dragged all the way into this black river?

  Obviously, Zhang was also thinking about this issue. She quickly shone the light on the riverbank, and the entire river became even clearer. There were countless suspicious objects floating in the river, and the water was murky and motionless, as if it were a dead river.

  I gazed for a long time, and the river's surface seemed to be floating with dense, tangled human bones. Occasionally, I could even see a few skulls. Thinking that I was thrown out of this very river, and then thinking about the corpses in the river, my stomach started to ache with cramps.

  What did I do to provoke anyone? The beef soup cooked from the rotten corpse well has already made me feel sick, and now it's even being drunk directly. This is really perverted.

  Miss Zhang's flashlight had been scanning the water surface, and after a moment, she calmly analyzed: "It's dead water. I estimate that this was once a river where bodies were washed up." Seeing my confusion, she explained: "In ancient times, there were also large rivers in the Western Regions. People who drowned would drift downstream and easily get stranded at bends in the river. This underground river may have been left here because of changes in the river's course. The corpses inside must have rotted into black water over time. If I'm not mistaken, both ends of this river are dead ends."

  I found it strange and asked: "Why is this corpse-seeking belt connected to the mechanism of the bronze tripod?"

  Mr. Zhang thought for a moment and then shook his head, saying "I don't know." It was like asking in vain.

  At this time, the thing in the river had already sunk down, and it was roughly stunned by the intense firepower of passerby A. There had been no sound from that side for a long time, and passerby A seemed to have been observing us all along. After a moment, he squatted down and took out something from his equipment bag, swung it in the air in a circle, and then threw it over to us.

  After receiving the thing, I realized that it was a mountaineering claw. Then, passerby A faced me and pointed to the high wall behind me, saying: "We want to come over."

  I exchanged a glance with Dr. Zhang, and her eyebrows furrowed as she said, "Enemies meet on a narrow road." It seems she didn't want to see Road Person A either, but unfortunately, I had to follow him to find out what happened to the oil bottle, even if it meant putting up with each other's presence.

  Pretending not to hear Zhang's words, I picked up the mountaineering claw and climbed up along the uneven mountain wall behind me. Another hiker, A, also climbed up the opposite mountain wall, about 4 or 5 meters above the ground. He made a gesture towards me, and then I found a protruding rock nearby and fixed the climbing claw onto it. In an instant, the rope was tightly stretched at a height of about 5 meters above the river.

  There are four people on the other side of the river: Little Dragon Girl, Old Sun and Four Eyes. Passerby A takes the lead, carrying equipment and crossing the river first.

  He was very clever, putting that rope higher, making the rope form a slope. He wrapped a leather belt around the rope and grabbed it with both hands, just like a flying man in the air, quickly sliding down from high to low, looking like he was used to doing this kind of thing.

  Before long, the six of us gathered together. The German little dragon girl immediately handed us towels. After tidying up a bit, Dr. Zhang smoothed his hair by his ears and spoke in a calm and polite tone to Road Person A: "Mr. Qi, nice to meet you."

  Passerby A nodded, the corners of his mouth still couldn't be seen curving upwards, and the glasses he wore covered up about two-thirds of his face, making it impossible to discern his expression.

  "Of course, I'm delighted. I hope Dr. Zhang won't leave the team again and remember our mission this time." Passerby A said calmly, turned around, sat down cross-legged, seemingly not planning to take any further action. Mr. Zhang smiled and whispered something to the German beauty, Xiaolongnv's expression changed to one of sudden realization, she quickly rummaged through her equipment bag and took out some food for us.

  Those with the surname Zhang were treated relatively well, and before meals they would even use water to rinse their mouths, spitting out the rotten flesh from between their teeth. I could only stand by and spit out mouthfuls of water, this thing had probably been soaking in water for too long, the stench had already disappeared, but anyone with a pile of rotting human flesh stuck between their teeth would lose their appetite. I shook my head at the little dragon girl who was offering me food, turned around and spat out mouthfuls of water, after spitting for a while, a hand wearing gloves handed over a water bottle.