Chapter 49 There Are Thirty-Five

Although I couldn’t see anything, I could imagine what was going on around me. The shadows in the stones must have surrounded us.

I began to recall what I had seen on the ground: sixteen, seven, ten, four… a total of thirty-seven. If those two had just been burned to death, then we would have to face thirty-five.

I couldn’t see them, and didn’t know whether Fatty had been injured, but I wasn’t very afraid. I didn’t have the energy to entertain foolish ideas, so I grabbed the drill rod, and focused all my attention on my ears.

Fatty was far away with no one around him. He had probably got a little impatient and got separated from us, but I could still hear his intense breathing. I desperately kept my breathing low at this time, the evil side of me thinking that these monsters should just go to him.

The stalemate didn’t last very long, and of course it was Fatty who blew it first. He snorted and shouted with a loud cry, “Fuck! Let’s do this!” I didn’t know what he hit, but chaos erupted over there, and something cried out. At the same time, like a flock of startled birds, those things hissed and turned into a disorderly mess, all headed straight for Fatty.

I swung the drill rod to try and help, and within two steps I bumped into a lump of something that was slippery and greasy. Before I could react, however, there was suddenly a loud scream in the darkness, and strong gusts blew everywhere. I was knocked to the ground and felt a sharp pain on several parts of my body.

I grabbed a claw with my hand, but immediately released it. Then I blocked it with my hand and was soon caught in a scuffle.

After a few minutes, however, I heard a muffled sound and the thing was kicked away. I scrambled to my feet, but Poker-Face pressed down on my shoulder and said softly: “Don’t talk, don’t move!” As he spoke, a strong gust swept towards Fatty.

The feeling in my heart was very strange. I wanted to go up and help, but I also felt that I had to listen to what Poker-Face said. As soon as he removed his hand, I suddenly felt like something was wrong with my shoulder. I felt it and realized that the place he had just held down was covered in blood.

The amount of blood wasn’t from cutting himself, so he had to be seriously injured. It sounded like Poker-Face had the upper hand fighting in the dark just now, but he obviously didn’t have much of an advantage.

I heard Fatty’s heart-wrenching screams come from the other side. They weren’t the cries of winning the upper hand, but the roar of being cornered and terror-stricken.

I usually imagined what the others would feel if one of us had an accident, but in hindsight, as long as Poker-Face was there, I always felt that it was impossible for such a thing to occur. But this feeling was gone now, and I immediately feared that Fatty would be killed here.

“Back to the wall!” Poker-Face’s voice appeared at Fatty’s position. As his voice reached my ears, I heard more confusion over there. There were shrieks, the thumps of something falling on the ground, and Fatty’s bawling all mixed together.

My mind was blank, and I couldn’t think at all as I held my drill rod tightly in my hands. I couldn’t move and could do nothing besides listen to the movements coming from over there. I already knew that it was useless for me to go over there in such a chaotic situation. Since I wasn’t a person with excellent skills, Fatty might even kill me by mistake.

I didn’t know how long this state lasted, but suddenly, the surrounding voices all disappeared, and there was silence.

I didn’t dare move, because I was unsure what the situation was like. Were they both dead? Or had all the stone men been killed? Or both?

After listening carefully for a while, the flashlight suddenly lit up on one side with a “snap” and I turned to look. Poker-Face stood there holding Fatty in one hand, and my flashlight in the other.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched him limp to my side, put Fatty down, and then sit down on the ground. Both of them were covered in blood, and bleeding from open wounds.

In the blood smeared all over his body, I saw that the Qilin tattoo had appeared on him again. This time, it not only appeared on his shoulders, but also on his upper body. The black tattoo appeared extremely complicated, and when I looked closely, I could see that it was the black fire at the Qilin’s feet which seemed to have burned up and spread to his whole body.

As I stood there dumbfounded, he handed me the flashlight, grabbed my hand, and pointed the light at a hole in the wall where a fissure made by the shadows had appeared in the rock.

“These are the channels formed by these things’ activities. I just looked at them. They may lead to the outside.” He said. “Take your tools and get out of here.”

I immediately nodded: “You rest first; I’ll check your wounds. If it’s okay, we’ll go immediately. Shit, I thought we were goners this time. You really convinced me; I didn’t expect you to be so good.”

Poker-Face leaned against the rock wall behind him and said faintly, “Fatty and I can’t go with you.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” I scolded.

Poker-Face suddenly smiled at me and said lightly, “It’s a good thing I didn’t cause your death…”

I paused, only to see him cough and spit out a big mouthful of blood.

“You…” My mind buzzed as he looked at me with a smile, slowly lowered his head, and then sat there as if he were just resting. But all around me was complete silence.

<Chapter 48 Charcoal> <Table of Contents> <Chapter 50 Escape>

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Updated 11/17/2021