Chapter 19 Palace Hall Entrance (Part 3)

The others heard my shout and immediately turned around. Ye Cheng cried out in shock and took a big step back, quickly followed by everyone else. Pan Zi instinctively raised his gun and loaded another bullet into the chamber but didn’t fire.

(Strangely enough, for some reason I had never heard of anyone using a pistol to shoot a zombie in a tomb. Ever. I didn’t know if this was some rule set by our ancestors, or if it was because there might be some unknown consequences if you did so. When I asked Monk Hua about it later, he said that the superficial reason was that many corpses contained corpse poison. If a zombie still had liquid in its body, then the liquid would splash out in all directions when it was shot, poisoning anyone in the nearby vicinity. In addition, the sound of gunfire could easily attract more trouble. But as for the real reason, he didn’t know.)

Fatty was just thinking about how to put the cigarette into his gas mask to smoke it when he was startled by our sudden movement. At first, he had no idea what was going on, but when he saw that Pan Zi’s gun was pointed at the space beside his head, he realized that it wasn’t aimed at him and immediately turned and looked over his shoulder.

As soon as he came face-to-face with that person, Fatty seemed to freeze in shock, and the cigarette fell from his hand.

The person lying on Fatty’s back was huddled behind his shoulders in a ghostly manner. They didn’t even react when Fatty turned his head, so the two of them just continued to stare at each other in what some would call an affectionate manner.

I felt like my head was about to explode. Where did this guy come from?! When we came in just now, we had all swept our flashlights around the area. Although we weren’t meticulous about it, it should have been impossible for such a big person to hide here. This meant that when we came in just now, this “person” wasn’t here. But how could they suddenly appear on Fatty’s back like that?

Could it be someone from A Ning’s group messing around? Or maybe it was the ghost of a sacrificial victim who died in this tomb?

I had seen a lot of strange things before, but as I stood there in the gloomy underground tomb, I suddenly felt uncomfortable all over—my scalp tingled, my hair stood on end, and I suddenly felt as if something was lying on my back.

Fatty’s face had gone pale and he was sweating profusely, but he still kept his cool once he came back to his senses. Hardly daring to move, he slowly made a finger gun with his hand, presumably urging Pan Zi to shoot.

Pan Zi waved his hand, silently telling him to move his head a little so that he could aim properly. But at this time, Monk Hua suddenly raised his hands and whispered, “Wait. We need to see if that’s a living person first.”

“How can that thing be called a living person?” Pan Zi asked softly.

Monk Hua motioned for him to stop talking and then slowly moved his flashlight’s beam to the place behind Fatty’s shoulder. As soon as the light hit them, that person immediately turned their head towards us, revealing a face that was simply indescribable—the whole face was sunken in, with only a big hole where the nose should be and eye sockets so deep that they almost looked deformed. The person’s two eyes reflected the flashlight’s beam and their mouth looked like the beak of an owl.

Pan Zi hesitated, lowered the gun, and then looked at us, “Isn’t that a fucking owl?”

How is that possible? I asked myself. The air quality here is such that it’s basically impossible for anything to live here. No owl can survive in this kind of place. And if it really is an owl, it’s too fucking big.

But looking at that face, it really was very similar to an owl. And owls didn’t make any sound when they flew. Maybe it silently flew down from the ceiling and landed on Fatty? But why didn’t Fatty notice it?

Sweat was pouring down Fatty’s face like a waterfall as he continued to urge Pan Zi to shoot with one hand and reached for the knife at his waist with his other hand—he probably decided to make a move when he saw that we weren’t going to do anything. I quickly waved my hand at him, silently telling him not to move. It was better to figure out what this thing was before we antagonized it.

Fatty bared his teeth at me in protest.

To our surprise, as soon as he showed his teeth, the person on his back finally reacted—that sunken face twisted, and the person leaned back and suddenly opened their mouth wide. Fuck! That mouth was full of two-inch-long fangs; this definitely wasn’t a bird. The fangs grew bigger and bigger as the mouth opened wider and wider, soon exceeding the limit that a human mouth could stretch.

I knew it was bad as soon as I saw it. Fatty was definitely a goner! Pan Zi slammed the butt of his gun against his shoulder and aimed at the mouth, preparing to shoot. But at this time, I suddenly heard a whooshing sound and a strong wind flew past me as something was thrown into the palace hall from outside. It hit Pan Zi’s gun and deflected the barrel to the side, causing the fired bullets to whizz past Fatty’s ear. Fatty cursed in fright, “Where the fuck are you aiming at?”

I turned my head and saw that Chen Pi Ah Si and Shunzi had rushed into the hall. “Drop the gun!” Chen Pi Ah Si shouted at Pan Zi.

The thing above tried to bite Fatty’s neck, but Fatty immediately headbutted it in the face. As it reared back from the blow, Fatty twisted his body and grabbed that thing’s mouth, trying to throw it off his back. But somehow, that thing continued to cling to his back and couldn’t be shaken off no matter how hard he tried. “Damn it, somebody hurry up and help me!” Fatty shouted.

Ye Cheng drew his knife and prepared to go up, but I quickly stopped him, “No! The beam is about to collapse! Fatty, jump down quickly!”

Fatty apparently didn’t hear me at all and kept shouting, “You guys are so heartless! Hurry up!”

Chen Pi Ah Si suddenly swung his arm forward, sending an iron pellet directly towards Fatty’s leg. Fatty cried out in pain as his leg gave way and his foot slipped on the beam. Because of his movements, the whole beam suddenly cracked and sagged downward, causing Fatty to lose his balance and fall.

The height of the beam from the ground was such that it didn’t necessarily mean you wouldn’t suffer any injuries if you fell. But fortunately, there was a corpse hanging below, so Fatty was able to grab it when he fell down. It didn’t stop his descent, but it at least slowed his fall so he didn’t land as heavily on the rubble below. We all rushed over to take a look, but were surprised by what we saw—the thing on Fatty’s back was gone, and there was nothing there…

I suddenly remembered those bullet holes on the pillar and knew that something was wrong. I waved my hand and shouted, “That thing didn’t fall off! Watch your heads!” But before the words had even left my mouth, a shadow suddenly flickered above us like lightning, and Shunzi rolled to the ground, three bloodstains appearing on his left shoulder.

I immediately raised the gun I was holding, but the old Type-56 rifle was so much heavier than I imagined that I couldn’t keep my balance at all. I tried to lift the barrel twice, but couldn’t do it in the end. Fatty got up, took my gun from me, and randomly fired a short burst at the ceiling, causing a large number of tiles to fall down. We all pointed our flashlights at the ceiling in order to help him see, but when the dust finally cleared, we found that there was nothing up there. The thing was nowhere to be found.

“What the hell is that thing?” Fatty asked, sounding a little terrified.

“Why are you asking us when it was lying on your back? Didn’t you feel it? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Pan Zi cursed.

Fatty became furious and was just about to curse back at him, but then he suddenly paused. We all turned to see what was going on—fuck! That strange face was peering at us over Pan Zi’s shoulder, but Pan Zi didn’t seem to notice it at all!

We immediately backed away from him. As soon as Pan Zi saw our reaction, his face turned green and he shouted, “What are you guys doing?” But before he could turn his head and look behind him, the thing on his back suddenly opened its mouth wide, baring its large fangs.

Fatty raised the gun and fired, blowing half of that thing’s head off with a loud bang. A shower of green liquid splashed all over us, and an extremely unpleasant odor suddenly filled the air.

I thought things were finally settled, but when I took another look, I realized that I was wrong—there was another face vaguely visible inside the remaining half of that huge mouth!

“Damn it!” I heard Shunzi quietly shout from the side. Then he swooped in and hit Pan Zi hard enough to send the other man flying. After Pan Zi fell to the ground, he rolled over and sat up, knife already in hand (I didn’t know when he had time to arm himself). Then he reached behind his back and tried to stab that thing with his knife.

But the thing was already gone. Instead, the one behind him was none other than Shunzi, the man who had just knocked him to the ground. The knife plunged straight towards him, but fortunately, Shunzi reacted quickly—he grabbed Pan Zi’s hand and twisted it away from himself while shouting, “Who fired just now?!” 

<Chapter 18><Table of Contents><Chapter 20>

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Goodbye short chapters. I’ll miss you (ಥ﹏ಥ) Next update may be delayed to Saturday or Sunday. Or not. Who knows? I’ve got prior engagements so just depends on how much I get through. Til next time~~