Liu Dashao rolled on the ground a few times with Wang Feifei. After Liu finally released her and turned his head to look, he saw that the snake, having failed to attack Wang Feifei, had changed its target and was now heading straight for Fan Debiao.
Although Fan Debiao was fat, his movements were surprisingly nimble. He sidestepped quickly to dodge the snake’s attack and then hastily retreated two meters away.
The snake lunged again and missed, crashing straight into the ground. It rolled over twice, coiled its body, and then sprang up from the sand, flying directly toward Fan Debiao.
No one had expected that the snake’s body could be both flexible and rigid, and also possess such potent venom—rivaling the desert cobra king.
Seeing the snake launch its second attack, Fan Debiao clenched his teeth in rage. If it weren’t for the fact that this snake could only be outsmarted rather than confronted directly, Fan, with his temper, would have already skinned it alive and eaten it. He turned again and narrowly dodged the snake’s strike.
This time, Fan lost his balance slightly when dodging. After turning, he didn’t land steadily and stumbled backward. The snake had failed three times already and now began to get angry. Its eyes turned blood red, and it emitted a series of “hissing” sounds. After coiling its body, it launched itself straight at Fan Debiao.
Fan, already off-balance, couldn’t dodge quickly enough. He could only lean back and fall. The snake, now enraged, seemed faster than before. Just as Fan was about to get bitten, his foot suddenly slipped and he fell backward.
The snake couldn’t stop itself in time. With a loud “crack,” it slammed headfirst into a stone pillar. In an instant, the snake fell to the ground, writhing in pain. It seemed the previous impact had been quite severe. This creature, after all, was just an animal—recklessly charging forward without the ability to think like a human.
Liu Dashao had been extremely anxious watching Fan Debiao nearly get bitten. Seeing that Fan was safe, Liu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Fan himself was quite frightened, his forehead soaked in cold sweat. He rolled over and stood up, wiping the sweat from his brow. Seeing the snake writhing on the ground, he sneered coldly. Without any effective weapon in hand, he grabbed the black donkey hoof and raised it high, smashing it directly onto the snake’s head.
This black donkey hoof might have been one of those prepared five years ago and was now extremely hard. It struck the snake’s head directly, splattering its brains out onto the sand, where white smoke immediately rose. Its venom was clearly far more potent than that of a typical cobra.
The snake lay motionless on the ground. Fan Debiao lightly kicked its body a couple of times to confirm it was dead. He exhaled in relief and then began cursing at the snake angrily.
At this point, everyone relaxed a bit and gathered around the snake. It had moved so fast earlier that no one had seen it clearly. Now that it was dead, Liu Dashao finally got a good look at it.
The snake was over a meter long, not particularly large, with shiny black scales. Liu glanced at the snake’s smashed head, which Fan had struck with the donkey hoof, and noticed something unusual—the snake had only one eye, and it wasn’t small at all, about the size of a prayer bead. Although the head was completely crushed, Liu deduced from the remains that this eye should have been located just above the tongue.
Liu Dashao didn’t visit zoos often and couldn’t even name all the major snake species in the world, so this strange snake was completely unfamiliar to him.
“It’s the Jiushi Yin!” Lin Miaoke suddenly exclaimed. “I’ve seen it in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.”
Those studying history and archaeology had, to some extent, researched the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Upon hearing Lin’s reminder, Liu vaguely recalled seeing a mention of the Jiushi Yin in the same text.
“This isn’t the Jiushi Yin,” Wang Zhicai said, adjusting his glasses. “The Jiushi Yin described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas is white, while this snake is black. It doesn’t match.”
“Could it be that the Jiushi Yin seen by ancient people appeared white due to some kind of light refraction, which is why the Classic of Mountains and Seas described it as white?” Liu speculated.
After hearing Liu’s analysis, Wang Zhicai nodded and said, “That could be a reasonable explanation. Ancient people didn’t have much scientific understanding—they simply described what they saw.”
“What’s the point of studying a dead snake? The big guy’s body is still exposed here. Should we deal with it or not?” Fan Debiao said impatiently, clearly tired of the discussion about the Jiushi Yin.
Hearing Fan’s words, everyone turned their gaze toward Wu Bai’s corpse, and the atmosphere immediately turned somber.
In an instant, three members of the entire team had died. What had started as a routine tomb raiding expedition had unexpectedly encountered so many misfortunes. Thinking about this, everyone felt deeply moved.
“Of course, we can’t just leave him here like this,” Wang Feifei said.
Everyone exchanged glances, then dug a shallow grave in the sand and buried Wu Bai there. Wang Feifei and Jackson both took out their Bibles, recited prayers, made the sign of the cross, and continued praying to help Wu Bai’s soul ascend.
Fan Debiao turned to Liu Dashao and asked, “Isn’t this kind of ritual something that Americans do? Why is the French guy doing it too?”
Liu replied, “Look at you, so uneducated. People who believe in Jesus all do this.”
Fan said, “But Wu Bai was Chinese. Will praying to Jesus really help him ascend?”
Sometimes Fan Debiao asked questions that Liu Dashao didn’t know how to answer, so he just told him to be serious.
Soon, Wang Feifei and Jackson finished their ceremony. Although they had encountered so many setbacks, they still needed to find their way to the ancient city. Wang Feifei urged everyone to look for an exit.
Fan Debiao immediately ran up the nearby staircase, but soon returned from the wall with a helpless expression, saying the exit had been blocked by sand.
Liu Dashao looked around. All he saw were solid stone walls. The only possible way out was back toward the place where they had originally fallen.
Liu approached and inspected the passage for a while. It was pitch black inside, so he had Jackson fire a flare into it. However, as soon as it was shot in, there was only a “sizzling” sound, and the flare didn’t ignite. It seemed this escape route was also not viable.
At this point, everyone’s gaze turned toward the stone door at the end of the walkway. Perhaps there was an exit there, though no one knew what unknown dangers might lie within. Wang Feifei gestured for everyone to proceed. They couldn’t just stay there waiting to die, so they had no choice but to go forward.
Before Liu Dashao had even turned around, he suddenly heard a commotion coming from inside the stone door, followed by a series of gunshots.
At the sound of gunfire, everyone immediately tensed up, rushing in unison to take cover beside the wall next to the stone door. Each person’s face showed varying degrees of anxiety. Liu Dashao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
The gunfire lasted for over a minute before finally stopping. Wang Feifei asked everyone if anyone knew what was happening, but they all shook their heads. Although the shooting had stopped, no one dared to enter recklessly.
Despite the danger, Fan Debiao, emboldened by his courage, slowly approached the stone door and peeked inside. Suddenly, another burst of gunfire erupted. Startled, Fan hastily retreated, but fortunately, Liu Dashao caught him just in time.
Liu checked Fan for injuries and found no signs of being shot. It seemed the previous shots hadn’t been aimed at Fan. Liu asked, “What did you just see in there?”
Still shaken, Fan wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied, “Damn it, I couldn’t see a thing. It was pitch black inside—I couldn’t even see the muzzle flashes from the gunfire.” As soon as he finished speaking, another burst of gunfire erupted from within.
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