Human Gu
"Impossible! Don't scare yourself. My dad said there are no ghosts in this world. There must be something strange about this place. Let's go out first." Ye Jing'an said.
"Okay..." Qiu Zimu picked up the bag and walked back tremblingly with a flashlight.
When they reached the second turning, Ye Jing'an pulled Qiu Zimu aside and said, "No, we didn't come from here before. I don't remember taking this U-shaped fork in the road when we came here."
"Ah? Where did it go wrong? It seems like it started to branch off from here." Qiu Zimu asked.
"I guess we took the wrong turn from the beginning," said Ye Jing'an.
The two retreated to the place where they had rested before. There were two forked roads, and Qiu Zimu took the other road.
"Wait!" Ye Jingan sat down where he had just rested.
"Why are you still sitting down? Aren't you afraid? Get out of here quickly, I'm scared!" Qiu Zimu said with a sad face.
Ye Jing'an shone the flashlight on the opposite wall, his face becoming somewhat embarrassed. He said to Qiu Zimu, "I was sitting facing you just now. I remember there was a road behind me that we had never walked on, so we should have come from the tunnel on my right."
"You must be remembering it wrong. There's a wall over there!" Qiu Zimu said.
"I think I'm remembering correctly. Wait for me to check the track!" Ye Jing'an looked at the track and found that it didn't show the terrain. He just looked at the orange-yellow route. The overlapping point was indeed facing the wall. "What's going on? Where did this wall come from?"
"I... I don't know." Qiu Zimu's voice changed, and it seemed that he was almost frightened.
"Is this some kind of mechanism? What did we encounter?" Ye Jing'an's heart was finally at ease. Although he had always said that there were no ghosts, when the candle disappeared, he really couldn't help but think in that direction.
After knowing that the wall was playing tricks, he felt relieved. After all, mechanisms are man-made and much easier to deal with than those illusory things. If he really encountered a ghost, he really didn't know what to do. Ye Jing'an looked around carefully. There was no place to hide the mechanism. He raised his eyes and stared at Qiu Zimu.
"I really don't know... How about we change our surnames and you can live in this house." Qiu Zimu said with a look of crying and laughing.
Ye Jingan sighed and said, "We can't go back, so we can only walk forward blindly and wait for your father to come and rescue us. This place is trapped, and there might be some valuable treasure hidden inside. We might be mistaken for thieves and killed, and your father will come to collect our bodies."
"No way, my father won't kill me. I am his only son. I haven't finished learning witchcraft yet, and I haven't even started learning it yet." Qiu Zimu said.
"Guess why your dad didn't let you come to the Worm Valley?" Ye Jing'an snorted coldly. This time, he was really screwed by this Qiu guy. It was also a family forbidden area. His family had the ancestor living in his house, taking you to eat and play. Qiu Zimu's family couldn't get out after entering, making it seem like he was risking his life.
Qiu Zimu chuckled dryly, his heart chilled. His Gu worm began to stir again. Now it seemed the reason for the Gu worm's agitation was more likely the latter. There must be some danger waiting for them. He wasn't even afraid of being beaten by Qiu Ningyuan. He just hoped his father would find him soon and get him out. He didn't want to stay here for even a second longer.
"Hush!" Ye Jing'an tilted his head and listened carefully, "Did you hear any sound?"
"Ah...?" Qiu Zimu's voice trembled, "Don't scare me."
"It seems to be coming from the front. Let's go over and take a look." Ye Jing'an pointed to the darkness ahead.
At the end of the corridor, turn left and your view suddenly opens up to a large square space. There are many oddly shaped jars on the ground, and there is also an iron-doored cell with several people imprisoned inside.
Qiu Zimu took a closer look and called out, "Uncle." There was no movement from the people in the cell.
The man leaning against the wall on the far left was the man with the scar on his face whom he met yesterday. Ye Jingan rolled up his sleeves and said, "Old Qiu, he's the one who wants to harm me!"
"Yes, it's my uncle." Qiu Zimu raised his voice, "Uncle, can you hear me?"
Qiu Zimu's uncle didn't react at all, but the man next to him suddenly twitched and opened his eyes abruptly.
The two were surprised to discover that he had no eyeballs, and his eye sockets were filled with dense insects. Then, except for his uncle, the facial features of the others imprisoned inside began to distort, and their hands and feet assumed strange positions. Many crimson insects crawled out of their mouths and eye sockets.
"It's over!" Qiu Zimu didn't know what was going on, nor did he recognize this kind of insect. But his years of experience raising Gu told him he had to run. The Gu worms in his jar were like crazy, jumping and biting around. He probably thought the previous agitation was caused by these insects.
More and more bugs swarmed out, and those few people collapsed on the ground with only a layer of skin left. Qiu Zimu felt a chill run into his heart and dragged Ye Jingan back.
"Slow down, your feet hurt and you can't run fast! Don't you know how to control insects? Tell them to stay away." Ye Jing'an didn't react to what was happening.
Qiu Zimu roared, "Do you think I can control this?"
"Huh?" Ye Jing'an was confused. He always thought Qiu Zimu could control any insect. This was the first time he saw him afraid of insects.
Thinking of the bugs crawling out of people's eyes and mouths just now, Ye Jingan got goose bumps. If he were bitten by them, he would probably end up like those people. When traveling, you want to eat more delicious food, but now, he has become a delicacy in the mouths of bugs.
Ye Jingan didn't care about the pain in his feet anymore. Saving his life was the most important thing. After all, the good days hadn't started yet. It would be a waste of money to die here. He put his arm around Qiu Zimu's shoulders and jumped forward desperately on one foot.
These crimson little bugs were much faster than the slowly crawling millipedes outside. The tunnel was surrounded by them on all sides, and the concrete slabs underneath were no longer visible. There was only a dense and surging sea of black and red bugs. The crowded and colliding sounds of the red bugs gave the two men goosebumps. The worst thing was that the bugs had already caught up with them.
"Ahhh, they are coming! My dear ancestor, where are you?! Things are really getting out of control, come quickly!!!" Ye Jingan took off his clothes and fanned the insects.
Qiu Zimu looked at the increasing number of insects and felt a chill in his heart. He would rather see a ghost. Seeing that Ye Jing'an was still fanning, it was completely ineffective. Sooner or later, he would be swallowed by these insects. He pulled Ye Jing'an and ran back.
In their haste, they were completely lost. They had no idea if they were on the way home. They just ran in the direction of the fork in the road, making the fewest turns possible. After turning an unknown number of forks, Qiu Zimu bumped into something. He felt like it was a human-shaped object.
How could there be someone down there? Whatever I thought came true!
Qiu Zimu's scream startled Ye Jing'an, who grabbed him and said, "What are you yelling about? Run!"
"Ghost! There is a ghost..." Qiu Zimu shouted.
Qiu Ningyuan slapped him and said, "Don't yell at me, run to the back!"
"Dad? Great!" Qiu Zimu was awakened by the beating and pulled Ye Jingan back to hide, "They are catching up!"
"I'm not blind! Stay away and don't cause me any more trouble!" Qiu Ningyuan picked up the dagger and slashed it across his palm, spilling blood around the tunnel. The poisonous insect pounced on the bloody area and stopped chasing.
Qiu Ningyuan took out a packet of white powder and sprinkled it on the area where the poisonous insects were. In his hand, he held a bronze bell engraved with many animal patterns, shaking it and muttering something. After hearing the bell, the poisonous insects began to retreat.
Qiu Ningyuan drove them back to the previous trap. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until all the poisonous insects returned to the human skins. He sprinkled a lot of white powder around the cell and waited for a long time until the insects were no longer moving. Then he completely lost control and leaned against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief.
Qiu Ningyuan looked very embarrassed at this time. His mouth was pale, he was sweating profusely, his clothes were soaked, and blood was dripping from his hands.
Qiu Zimu felt very uncomfortable and asked weakly, "Dad, are you okay?"
"What do you think?! Didn't I tell you not to enter the Insect Valley? And you summoned all these incredible things to me!? Fortunately, you two encountered the mechanism inside and let me know that someone came in. I hurried back to save you, otherwise you would be dead now!" Qiu Ningyuan roared.
"I'm sorry..." Qiu Zimu lowered his head.
"Go back!" Qiu Ningyuan kicked Qiu Zimu hard, making him kneel on the ground.
Ye Jingan helped the man up and said, "Uncle, I'm sorry for causing you trouble. I was curious about what was inside, so I dragged Qiu Zimu here. You can scold me!"
"Just wait for your dad to deal with you!" Qiu Ningyuan was so angry that he dragged the two of them out.
In the living room, Qiu Zimu and Ye Jingan sat obediently on the stools, with bitter faces, ready to be taught a lesson.
Qiu Ningyuan bandaged his wound and drank some tea, his anger subsided a lot. When he walked into the living room and saw the two unlucky children, he got angry again. He grabbed Qiu Zimu's ear and said, "You little bastard, how many times have I told you not to go in there? Did you ignore my words?"
"Oh, it hurts, it hurts, don't pull my ears..." Qiu Zimu said weakly.
"You still feel pain? Let those bugs eat you to death!" Qiu Ningyuan raised his hand and slapped his thigh.
Qiu Zimu had never been beaten since he was a child, and he had never even seen his father raise his hand to slap him. It seemed that he was really in big trouble this time.
Qiu Ningyuan calmed down for a while, then said unhappily, "Pack your things and go train with Jing An. I have important things to deal with at home, so don't make trouble for me at home!"
"Dad, what's going on at home?" Qiu Zimu asked in a low voice with his head down.
"Don't ask too much. You don't need to know now." Qiu Ningyuan said expressionlessly.
"What's under that insect valley? I saw my uncle..." Qiu Zimu's voice became lower and lower.
"Human Gu. Our ancestors required us, the younger generation, who learn witchcraft, to do more good deeds and not use witchcraft to harm others, otherwise we will be punished by Gu." Qiu Ningyuan sighed, waved his hand and said, "Alright, you will know about these things later. Go and rest."
Qiu Zimu walked back to the room with his ears drooping.
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