Grave Robber - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Story

Another two monsters pounced on him and one of them bit his arm. Xiao Bei suddenly felt weak. His fingers loosened and the leg that he was using to kick with was scratched. He rolled on the ground, wanting to throw off these monsters that were on him; giving his final struggle.

“Píng!” A gunshot was heard and Xiao Bei felt the weight on his body disappear. He hurriedly got up and continued to run forward. Behind the stone wall stood a man in black. He was carrying a rucksack on his back and in his hand was a pistol. His whole body was covered in dirt and his sleeve cuff was torn in half, he was like a farmer who just ran out of the basement. The only eye-catching thing about him is that this man, who was around 1.8 meters tall, had a baby face, not matching the cold aura that surrounded his whole body.

However, this was not Xiao Bei’s current main focus. Since that man took action to help him get rid of the monsters that were on his body, without delay, Xiao Bei seized the opportunity to escape.

After two consecutive shots, Xiao Bei finally reached the man’s side. While gasping for air, he asked the man for help, “Quick! Quick! Close the stone door!” Xiao Bei rushed to the stone door and pushed it with all his strength.

For who knew how many times did the man fired his gun, the gunfire continued to resound till there were no bullets left; it was then that he went to go help Xiao Bei close the stone door.

During the process of closing the stone door, Xiao Bei felt it seemed heavier compared to when he pushed it open. He assumed that it must be because he was seriously injured.

Suddenly, a monster pounced over. All the fur on its entire body stood up, it’s bloody mouth was wide open and it was issuing wū wū cries. It managed to grab hold onto the man’s wrist!

Monsters were surging towards the stone door and were already nearing it but there was still a gap which was as wide as a person or else they would definitely be able to stop those monsters in their tracks. There was also a monster behind them and it was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws; glaring at them like a tiger watching its prey. It was itching to chew them up and swallow them into its belly.

Another claw stretched through the stone door and frantically waved around as if wanting to grab out the two people behind the stone door. Currently, most of its body had already squeezed through the gap.

Xiao Bei was angry, he rushed forward and ruthlessly punched it, sending it back. However, as Xiao Bei was now relatively closer to the monster that had already managed to pass through the stone door, now his back had another wound. That man remained unmoved and expressionless as he continued to push the stone door.

Finally, the stone door issued a heavy sound, completely sealing the passage between the two men and those monsters. When the door closed, there were bits of dark purple flesh remains and also a whole section of the claw which was crushed.

At this time, Xiao Bei was busy fighting the monster that was behind him. He kneed that monster’s belly.

“Kāchā!” The man elbowed the monster’s forelimb and its bones broke.

Xiao Bei silently thought, “Such powerful strength!” However, his hands did not want to stay idle. Xiao Bei grabbed hold onto the monster’s hemp like fur, he pulled then pushed the monster down.

Píng!

The man eventually reloaded his gun and pulled the trigger.

Immediately after looking at the motionless monster, Xiao Bei weakly collapsed onto the ground and desperately gasped for air.

The whole tomb was dead silent. This caused Xiao Bei to remember the nightmare that had haunted him for 20 years. Like the current situation, that place was quiet and hair-raising.

Xiao Bei’s rapid breathing was like him questioning about this tomb: In this tomb where dangers lurked on every side, exactly how many hidden traps are there?

Xiao Bei was once again perplexed.

After kicking away the corpse that was on Xiao Bei’s body, the man in black sat down. His eyebrows wrinkled. Using his teeth as a scissor, he tore as well as bit off a stripe from his clothes and used it to tightly bandaged the scratched wound on his wrist. Now he pulled out a dagger from his waist area and cut along the wound to release a large amount of black blood.

Xiao Bei could clearly see the sweat dripping down from the tip of his nose, but the man’s expression did not change. From the beginning, he did not let out a sound or even say a single word. He was like a frozen ice cube.

“What are these things?” Xiao Bei curiously asked. He knew that the man was not dangerous as the man’s every action were right before his eyes, otherwise he would have already been shot dead.

The man cast a glance at Xiao Bei, but did not utter a word and continued with what he was currently doing; cutting open several wounds. Afterward, he put down his bag and rummage through it. From within he took out a handful of glutinous rice wine and sprinkled it on his wounds.

When the glutinous rice had slowly turned completely black, he would throw them away and sprinkle some more on this wounds till the color of his blood turned back to normal.

Xiao Bei was surprised to see the man pry open a bullet and sprinkled gunpowder onto his wound. He then washed his wounds clean with the mineral water in his bag before bandaging them. Our of curiosity, Xiao Bei asked, “Can this method help to detoxify?”

When the man saw that the blood on Xiao Bei’s body was still red, other than knitting his brows, there was finally another expression on his face. He inserted back the dagger into the scabbard at his waist and threw the whole thing to Xiao Bei.

“Take it and follow me.” The man’s voice was very cold; this was the first time Xiao Bei heard him speak.

“È,” Xiao Bei was stunned for a moment. “Thank you. Also, thank you for the dagger.” The first thank you was because Xiao Bei remembered that he had not expressed his gratitude to the man for saving his life, but who knew whether the man understood his meaning?

Xiao Bei felt dizzy as he did not know how to answer the man’s question. His words became a bit incoherent.

“You didn’t get poisoned?” The man had asked.

“Didn’t, but……” Xiao Bei shook his head.

Before Xiao Bei finished his sentence, a fatty carrying an engineer shovel in his hand suddenly came in through the burial chamber entrance. When he saw the man in black that was sitting down on the ground, he laughed out loud, “Hā hā hā, Xing Man Tian, there’s a time when you are defeated, eh?” The fatty’s voice was rough, like the generator in the ’70s.

Xiao Bei’s words were abruptly interrupted and he had to swallow them back down.

“You are also no different, ah! Dead fatty, why haven’t you been caught by the Zong Zi?” Xing Man Tian coldly responded.

It looked like these two were acquaintances and they often bickered with each other. In Xiao Bei’s mind, he tried to figure out something. This man’s name is Xing Man Tian? A very strange name.

It should be a nickname, right? Xiao Bei’s mind felt at ease when he remembered that most of the grave robbers have nicknames.

Also, looking at the two’s attire and equipment, they, even more, confirmed the two’s identities.

“Who is this little brother ah?” The fatty now then noticed Xiao Bei who was at a side. He laughed and patted Xiao Bei’s shoulder, “Seeing you look like this, it does not look like you come here seeking for fortune. It can’t be!”

As he was speaking, his wrist suddenly moved and turned, from his sleeve he took out a dagger and pressed it against Xiao Bei’s neck.

Xiao Bei was shocked and thought in his heart: Damn it, does he wants to silence me?

Xing Man Tian suddenly spoke, “Fatty, release him, we still can use him when finding things.”

The fatty hesitated for a moment before putting away his dagger. This process was so fast that it made Xiao Bei wondered how the fatty was able to do it so quickly with his body filled with fats?

“Yí? This kid did not bleed and is completely fine?” Suddenly, the fatty noticed something astonishing and circled around Xiao Bei.

“Don’t know, I was just about to ask.” Xing Man Tian shook his head.

“Maybe, it is because he had eaten something?” Remembering that Xiao Bei still got things to say but was interrupted, he added another sentence to his question.

Xiao Bei exclaimed in surprise, “Ah! How did you know?!” In his heart, Xiao Bei signed in relief for finding the way out of his current predicament as he nearly said the truth. He absolutely cannot let them know of the gem that can repel poison! One must not lack a heart that is on guard; Only heaven would know whether they would kill for the treasures. Compared to repaying with kindness, his little life is still far more important.

Xiao Bei did not believe that these two people would let his answer slide so after thinking for quite a while, he continued his nonsense. “Was it a black pill? It is around as big as a fingernail and is actually quite bitter ah.”

The fatty sneered, “You dare to eat unknown things?”

Darn it, I was exposed! Xiao Bei quietly clenched onto the dagger; his mind was unusually calm and was working at a rapid speed.

“That, I also don’t know what I ate, ah! I inexplicably fell into this place and previously fought with a monster till it fled. You can ask him, it is the same as those behind that door!” Xiao Bei showed a panic expression while pointing at Xing Man Tian. “At that time I could not move and then a cat came to me, holding that thing in its mouth. It stuffed that thing in my mouth. Afterward, who knew why, but I was able to move.” As he was saying, he spat twice onto the ground to show his disgust when he recalled that time.

Both Xing Man Tian and the fatty’s eyes became big, “Did you mean a black cat?!”

This time, Xiao Bei was shocked!

“How do you know the cat was black!?” This was not the time to put on an act. Xiao Bei really wanted to know the reason. Previously, he mixed the facts and lies together to avoid other’s suspicion but he had never thought that the two had also seen that cat before! That damn black definitely got problems!

The two did not answer but their face revealed a relieved expression.

“Come to think of it, this is such an uncommon situation, ah. Damn it, we were played by an animal! Now there’s this unlucky fellow, fine, now we have an additional one more teammate! Darn it!” The fatty harshly spat his saliva onto the ground. He was no longer wary of Xiao Bei. Contrary, he went to talk about his and Xing Man Tian’s encounters.