Drawing Out Poison

My heart sank, for my head was already inside the left side chamber, making it extremely difficult to turn around. My face nearly scraped against the cold ground before I finally saw what was grabbing my foot.

It was a soldier, riddled with holes, mercury oozing out, but not quite dead—it was the one that had grabbed my ankle!

"Hey, Xiao Tian, hurry up and get in here!"

Fatso was squatting in front of the stone gate of the left side chamber, urging me, "Otherwise, that thing might crawl in here too, and that would be bad!"

"I'm being pulled back!"

My eyes reddened in panic, and from the corner of my eye, I vaguely saw two soldiers approaching. Without wasting time to explain further to Fatso, I wriggled out, following the pull of the soldier on the ground. Turning my head, I saw the two approaching soldiers had already raised their long halberds and were stabbing at me.

Perhaps it was the potential unleashed between life and death, but I managed to roll away just as the halberds were about to reach me, less than fifty centimeters away.

Clang!

The soldiers' halberds missed and stabbed into the ground!

My eyes lit up, and seizing the opportunity, I quickly sat up. Since my foot was still being held by another soldier, my range of movement was limited, and I couldn't stand up. I could only sit on the ground and, using the strength of my waist, swung the Hundred Spirits Knife at the waists of the two soldiers.

The Hundred Spirits Knife lived up to its reputation as a precious blade, extremely sharp. I didn't even feel any resistance as I cut the two soldiers in half, their stinky mercury splashing all over me. But now wasn't the time to worry about these details. I looked around and saw that the soldiers who had been repelled by Rosa and Zhang Jinya were once again closing in on me, less than twenty meters away. Not daring to delay, I used the Hundred Spirits Knife to chop off the hand of the soldier holding my ankle and scrambled back towards the stone gate of the left side chamber. This time, I rolled in smoothly. Fatso and Zhang Jinya, who were guarding the gate, quickly removed the jack that was propping it open, and the tomb door fell shut with a bang, sealing me in darkness.

The scene just now was truly harrowing. If I hadn't dodged quickly, those two soldiers would have probably nailed me to the ground. The thought alone was terrifying. After escaping death, I leaned against the tomb door, panting heavily, and after calming my nerves a bit, I glanced at Fatso and said softly, "Fatso, thank you."

I was genuinely grateful to Fatso. After being pulled out by the soldier on the ground, Zhang Jinya kept urging Fatso to close the door, but it was Fatso who insisted on not doing so. Otherwise, even if I had escaped the ordeal just now, I wouldn't have been able to enter the left side chamber and would have ended up dead.

"What are you talking about? Aren't we brothers?"

Fatso grinned and said with a smile, "I wasn't fair to you before, but considering how you refused to let go in the main burial chamber, I've accepted you as a brother. In this world, finding a brother who would risk his life for you is... hard! Now that I've recognized you as a brother, I couldn't just stand by and watch you get dragged out and killed."

I felt moved. Closing the door at that moment would have been the most rational choice, but Fatso didn't do it, which meant he truly accepted me from the bottom of his heart. At that moment, I suddenly didn't blame Fatso for tricking me at the beginning. After all, among the whole team, only Zhou Jing and I were unknown to him, and he didn't feel right tricking Zhou Jing because he was too young, so of course, he tricked me.

After getting to know each other, I found that Fatso was actually quite agreeable, and at least I was sure of this friendship!

It was then that I suddenly remembered Fatso had been bitten by a large rice dumpling (zongzi) and quickly asked, "By the way, how's your wound?"

As soon as I mentioned it, Fatso's face turned green. It seemed that in the urgency of the situation, he had forgotten about his injury. Now that he remembered, he jumped up, "The wound! Right, right! The wound! Xiao Tian, come and help me check it!"

Rosa and Zhang Jinya didn't know about Fatso being bitten by the rice dumpling and asked me what was going on. After I recounted the events in the main burial chamber, Zhang Jinya immediately grinned, his big gold tooth shining in the dark, "Fatso, you're lucky this time. I happened to bring glutinous rice with me, just right to draw out the corpse poison, so you won't die!"

"Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier!"

Fatso started unbuckling his belt, "Come on, hurry up and treat me!"

Since the location of his injury was rather special, having been bitten on the buttocks by the large rice dumpling, Rosa turned away in embarrassment. I stepped up to help, and when Fatso took off his pants, I was taken aback.

Wasn't this too severe?

Fatso's entire buttocks and thigh were black, and near the waist, there were two bloody holes big enough to fit two little fingers.

I took one look at the holes and couldn't help but gasp. Was this the work of the rice dumpling? Damn, those fangs must be really vicious, probably even a Tibetan mastiff bite wouldn't result in such a wound. Black blood was still bubbling out!

"How does it look?"

Fatso asked uneasily, sticking out his buttocks, "Don't tell me there's no hope."

"The poison has already spread."

Zhang Jinya also grinned, "Fortunately, the poison hasn't reached your upper body yet. With more glutinous rice, it can still be drawn out. If we delay for another half an hour, I reckon the poison will invade your organs, and within three days, your organs will rot away. Once you stiffen up, you'll rise as a corpse, and you'll become a big rice dumpling."

"Then what are you waiting for!"

Fatso started complaining, "Hurry up and draw out the corpse poison! Don't you know I'm about to give out?"

"Fatso, I'm telling you upfront, if this works, you owe me your life. Once we get out, you'll have to give me one or two of the good things you've dug up over the years!"

Zhang Jinya was smug, forcing Fatso to agree. Then he smiled broadly, "Just watch, if I don't get the corpse poison out cleanly, then call me incompetent!"

I was speechless at his behavior!

So black!

Really damn black!

He wouldn't even let his acquaintances off the hook—Zhang Jinya was a real swindler!

But Zhang Jinya didn't feel that way. He took out a small cloth bag from his backpack, opened it, and it was full of white glutinous rice!

Zhang Jinya grabbed a handful of glutinous rice, made two more cuts on Fatso's buttocks with a dagger, and then pressed the rice onto the wounds. Fatso howled in pain, and as soon as the rice touched his skin, it immediately turned white and emitted a burnt smell, like that of charred flesh. In the blink of an eye, the rice in Zhang Jinya's hand turned black.

"Didn't expect that, there's quite a lot! Fatso, please don't fart, I've experienced your special talent, and I really can't stand it!"

Zhang Jinya chuckled, grabbing another handful of rice and pressing it onto Fatso's wound...

Thus, a peculiar scene unfolded in the side chamber—

A fat man screaming with his buttocks in the air, and a sleazy man with a big gold tooth in his mouth pressing on the fat man's buttocks and snickering...

The scene was too beautiful for me to bear to look directly!

However, Zhang Jinya's method of drawing out the poison with glutinous rice was indeed effective. After changing the rice several times, the black color on Fatso's body had disappeared, and the blood flowing from the wound gradually returned to a normal color. I silently memorized these techniques, in case I might need them one day.

"That's enough!"

Zhang Jinya, seeing the blood was red, immediately smiled and said, "Just find some water to wash the wound, and you'll be fine."

As soon as he said this, even he was stunned, and we all looked at each other, dumbfounded.

Water?

Where are we supposed to find water now?

When we first entered Gao Xianzhi's tomb, we actually brought water with us. However, during our escape, much of our equipment was lost, including the backpacks carrying food and water. Now trapped in this side chamber, where could we find water?

"I know a place where there's water."

Suddenly, a timid voice sounded behind me, a very pleasant female voice!

I was startled and instinctively looked at Rosa, who was leaning against the tomb door next to me, loading bullets into a magazine, clearly not having spoken. Moreover, the voice just now didn't sound like hers.

So, who was the one speaking behind me?

An inexplicable chill rose up my back...