The woman in white laughed in extreme anger. “None of those who entered will leave alive!” She raised her finger to point at Yu Qing. “I will let you know what it means to be unable to live or die!”
Her tone was filled with hatred.
Due to the losses caused by the raid back then, such as the puppet warriors that even now could not all be fully restored, she had been forced by the situation to assess and target the weakest one, thinking she could control him. Only then did she show herself. She had not expected that this person she thought she could control would expose her so easily!
When the ancient tomb was first excavated back then, facing the raid of a group of people, she had never shown herself because she knew that once she was exposed, the consequences would be unimaginable. The outside world would probably dig this underground palace to the very bottom to find her.
The reason the ancient tomb had survived the raid unscathed was because the outside world felt it was not worth making a big fuss over.
Once her existence was known, they would spare no cost, and the consequences would be more than she could bear.
This time, just as she said, she was truly ruthless. None of them would leave alive!
Yu Qing immediately mocked, “It seems quite a few people left alive back then, didn’t they?”
In fact, Jin Huahai beside him was one of those who had left alive back then. Since he dared to enter again, it showed it was not too terrifying. So he had no reaction to the woman in white’s threats, believing that as long as he was sufficiently careful and cautious, there would not be too big a problem.
Having been angered and then mocked, the woman in white was instantly furious. One could say she lost control of her emotions and fiercely lunged at Yu Qing.
Swish! The sword in Mu Aotie’s hand came out, cutting her down on the spot, splitting her in two with a single stroke. She fell to the ground with a thud.
On the ground, the woman in white, split diagonally, had a miserable smile on her face. She said to Yu Qing with a sinister smile, “How could I tell you the truth as soon as you opened your mouth? The location of ‘Xiaoyun Jian’ that you know is fake!” After speaking, she revealed her original ghost foetus form and stopped moving.
Yu Qing was speechless. He had not believed from the start that the other party would spill everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube. This was also the reason he had decisively given up. However, she did not need to say it out loud. By saying it, she was clearly trying to sabotage him.
To put it bluntly, she did not want the Sinan Office people to protect him in leaving, so she could kill him.
Sure enough, the eyes of the entire Sinan Office group turned to stare at him.
Jin Huahai asked, “She said it’s fake. What’s the situation?”
Yu Qing was not a block of wood either. He had words to salvage the situation. “Mr Jin, I cannot guarantee whether it is true or false. However, her saying this at this time, the intention to sow discord is very obvious. It is nothing more than not wanting me to leave. Do you think it is true or false?”
He threw the question back for the other party to answer himself, letting the other party bear the responsibility himself.
The corners of Jin Huahai’s mouth tightened. He understood. Regardless of whether it was true or false, he had to get the person out. Discerning true from false was not his concern. If he could not get the person out, that would be his responsibility.
He immediately asked, “This underground palace is no different from a maze. Are you certain you know where the other exit is?”
Yu Qing took out the map. “I already got the map from that woman.”
Jin Huahai: “Why would she give you a map? How could the map she gave you be trusted?”
Yu Qing: “It will not be wrong. I followed the map once and found the location of the exit to investigate.”
Jin Huahai immediately stared at the map and asked, “Where is the exit?”
Yu Qing was about to point it out, but suddenly stopped. “I will lead the way.”
He still wanted to keep an extra card in hand. The more guarantees he had, the less likely he would be abandoned along the way.
Jin Huahai did not press him, but fell silent. His eyes flickered, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Yu Qing waited for a while. Seeing no response for a long time, he grew somewhat anxious and said, “Mr Jin, we cannot hesitate. Let’s go quickly.”
Jin Huahai suddenly sighed, “If we cannot determine whether ‘Xiaoyun Jian’ is true or false, we cannot leave.”
What was the situation? Yu Qing was stunned, then exclaimed in shock, “That woman was clearly sowing discord. Are you actually taking it seriously?”
Jin Huahai said in a deep voice, “Do you think we came in here to play? Do you know how difficult it is for us to enter once? We bear an important mission. We cannot afford the consequences of leaving without authorisation!”
As for what the mission exactly was, the other accompanying personnel did not know either. They would not know the truth beforehand. They were purely acting on orders.
Yu Qing retorted, “What other mission could you have coming here? You are definitely here for ‘Xiaoyun Jian’.”
The corners of Jin Huahai’s mouth tightened, as if he had made a final decision. He said in a deep voice, “Lead the way!”
Yu Qing breathed a sigh of relief and immediately pointed to the path they had come from. “This way!”
The group quickly moved. Jin Huahai could not let Yu Qing take risks at the front. He sent over a dozen people to clear the path in front, while Yu Qing directed from the middle.
When passing through the green route area on the map, everything went smoothly without any abnormalities.
However, the smoother it was, the more it raised Yu Qing’s vigilance. He worried this was the calm before the storm.
As expected, not long after entering the red route area, trouble came.
“Beep beep beep…”
As soon as the group reached a hub space where four passages intersected, a relatively large space, the loud clanging chirp of Big Head rang out first.
Jin Huahai and the others were wondering what kind of thing on him was making noise, but Yu Qing had already shouted first, “Everyone be careful!”
As soon as the words fell, the sound of running came from the direction of the four passages.
The three brothers looked towards the noise and discovered they were puppet warriors. Countless puppet warriors swarmed in to attack from the four passages.
The two sides instantly engaged in combat, instantly fighting with great intensity.
Only then did Yu Qing realise that these hundred or so Sinan Office personnel had actually not brought any weapons. They were actually fighting with their bare hands.
Despite having no weapons, most of those puppet warriors were still no match for them.
“Be careful, among these fake zombies, there may be real zombies hidden!” Jin Huahai roared a reminder. Having entered before, he clearly had some experience.
The loud clanging sounds of intense collisions proved his words. Among them were indeed real zombies hidden.
Yu Qing, who was surrounded and protected in the middle of the crowd, reminded, “These are not zombies. They are puppet warriors.”
Jin Huahai turned back to ask, “What do you mean?”
Yu Qing: “I don’t know either. I can’t tell the difference. That’s what the woman herself said.”
There was no time to say more. The situation suddenly seemed to spiral out of control.
A large number of real and fake puppet warriors poured in like a tide. Ghost foetuses pounced and bit when they got close. Even if they were no match, their numbers caused chaos on the scene.
The strength of this group sent by the Sinan Office was not weak. Large numbers of ghost foetuses were sent flying by them like chopping melons and vegetables. Yet they still fearlessly charged forward.
To stop the intruders, they truly spared no cost.
What was more terrifying was that many ghost foetuses had transformed into the appearances of the Sinan Office personnel on the scene. Taking advantage of the chaos to pour in, they instantly made the scene a frantic mess. In the rush, it was impossible to tell friend from foe.
Jin Huahai suddenly shouted, “Try to back against the stone wall to reduce the area exposed to enemies!”
Many people immediately did as told, backing against the stone wall to resist the chaos before them.
However, before long, a terrifying thing happened.
Blood flowers successively splattered on the chests or abdomens of those against the wall, as sharp blades broke through their torsos.
The wounded roared in grief and struck back, beating the ghost foetuses attached to the stone wall into revealing their original forms.
In this single incident, most of the Sinan Office personnel fell.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, who were tightly guarding Yu Qing on his left and right, turned pale with shock. The swords in their hands were gripped even tighter, occasionally slashing at the ghost foetuses pouncing towards them.
Yu Qing, discovering that he was still standing in the central area of the hub space and had barely moved, suddenly turned his head to look at Jin Huahai beside him who was protecting him. There was shock in his eyes. He then looked around.
Suddenly, tentacles emerged from nowhere, drilling along the ground. They wrapped around the fallen wounded and directly dragged them away, knocking over many ghost foetuses.
Yu Qing, who had noticed the abnormality through the gaps of the flashing human figures, shouted, “Don’t let them take the bodies away! She wants to awaken more puppet warriors. Cut the tentacles!”
Some did as told. Most were too busy saving themselves.
Jin Huahai had another view and shouted, “Don’t get entangled. Go, break out!”
The survivors immediately cleared a path, instantly killing their way through a road of sticky green fluid.
That large group of ghost foetuses mixed with puppet warriors could not stop them either. They could only pursue all the way, but gradually slowed down and stopped…
The group ran to an intersection. When Yu Qing took out the map to confirm their position, he looked at the number of people remaining on the scene and discovered that apart from the three of them brothers, of the hundred or so people from the Sinan Office who had entered, only thirteen remained, including Jin Huahai.
The losses were heavy! The grief on the faces of the Sinan Office personnel was obvious. A group of people with considerable strength had actually easily fallen to a group of weak evil spirits. It truly should not have happened!
Jin Huahai, who had been observing the surroundings, suddenly asked, “What did you mean just now by awakening puppet warriors?”
Yu Qing stared at the map without speaking, not knowing what he was thinking.
Nan Zhu answered, “Earlier, we saw in a place that the parked puppet warriors seemed to number over ten thousand, but almost all of them had been killed back then by the Sinan Office and Qianliu Mountain. They were reassembled and repaired. To reawaken them, that woman said the blood of over a hundred people was needed. She had even asked us to get it before. With you losing so many people at once, it is probably enough for her to awaken nearly half the puppet warriors.”
Hearing this, a Sinan Office person said in a deep voice, “If that is the case, do you still remember where they were parked? Destroy them before they are awakened!”
Nan Zhu nodded, “We know.”
However, Jin Huahai raised his hand. “Those puppet warriors are actually not that terrifying. What is truly terrifying are instead those seemingly weakest ghost foetuses. Their ever-changing abilities can take advantage of any opening at any time, making them impossible to guard against, such as earlier… alas!
Back then, when large numbers of people entered, after we discovered the transformation abilities of these ghost foetuses, we adopted countermeasures. Companions agreed on code words between themselves. Who knew these ghost foetuses would transform into you before him, and into him before you, extracting code words from both sides, causing us huge losses.”
Another person said, “Chief, are we just going to let this go?”
Jin Huahai: “The most important thing for us right now is not fighting and killing, but leaving here as soon as possible.” He pointed at Yu Qing, indicating that the secret on him was the most important.
The others thought about it and agreed, suppressing their desire for revenge and venting their anger.
Seeing that he had convinced the others, Jin Huahai asked Yu Qing again, “Have you confirmed the position? How far is it to the exit?”
Yu Qing extended his finger onto the map. “We are here. The exit is here. It is not very far.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, who were helping light the way nearby, almost simultaneously froze. They could not help but exchange a glance. Seeing the other’s reaction, they knew they had not seen wrong. The so-called exit that Old Fifteen was pointing at was actually that underground valley where they had first encountered the woman in white.