With less impact, this bone is nailed a little looser than the previous two, but it shouldn't be a big problem to use it for leverage in the short term.
Xiao Cheng drooped its end again, pushing it deeper inside, and then tentatively pulled it upwards.
"How about it?!" Fang He found several more bones, waiting to throw them to Xiao Cheng.
The corpses had all gathered at the foot of the rock wall, completely ignoring Fang He's actions.
Xiao Cheng guessed that their attacks should have a priority, and the first priority should be those who try to escape.
For example, myself right now.
Now she was quite a distance from the ground, and the sun was even closer, scorching her mercilessly, causing a burning pain.
She dared not be careless at all. Although the horde of zombies didn't seem very smart, there was no guarantee that one of them wouldn't suddenly get it and catch up to her and give her a good beating.
What's more, there's a hidden merman behind it all.
It's already surprising that he let himself climb up here.
Xiao Cheng hadn't expected to exploit this loophole. Compared to the merman's sudden kindness, she was more inclined to believe that a larger conspiracy was hidden behind it.
Having climbed to about one-fifth of the way up the rock face, Fang He was no longer able to throw the broken bones up.
Xiao Cheng could only climb up one tree at a time, her progress slowing down more and more. Most importantly, she had no way back now.
As his strength rapidly depleted, Xiao Cheng mechanically wedged the broken bone into the rock face. Suddenly, the soil on the rock wall loosened, and chunks of earth, along with the bones, tumbled down and crashed into the pile of corpses.
Xiao Cheng was startled, her heart skipped a beat.
She looked up at the rock wall above, where more and more clods of earth were peeling away, eventually revealing a narrow cave hidden behind the mud.
The sun disappeared instantly, and the black fog spread again, filling the air with a pungent, fishy stench.
The horde of corpses below suddenly fell silent, frozen like sculptures, motionless, before collapsing one after another like dominoes.
Inside the cave, a pair of blood-red pupils flashed by, followed by a pair of hands covered in rotting flesh that reached out, grabbed Xiao Cheng by the neck, and dragged her upwards.
Before Xiao Cheng could utter a sound, everything went black, and she completely lost consciousness.
I don't know how much time has passed.
Xiao Cheng felt as if her consciousness was sinking into a quagmire, becoming extremely heavy.
The faint chanting echoed in her ears, drifting aimlessly and unreal, haunting her like a nightmare.
The burning sensation from the scorching sun still lingered on my skin, and a dull ache spread through my neck, followed by a sticky, slightly cool feeling.
Xiao Cheng suddenly woke up with a start and raised her hand to press down on the thing that had fallen on her neck.
"Who?!" she shouted alertly.
What came into view was a face that was almost entirely reduced to a skeleton.
It's that merman.
Fang He's description at the time was not an exaggeration at all; the merman in front of him was even more rotten, with broken flesh clinging to the bones.
Only the huge fish tail, near the tail fin, still had a few scattered scales remaining, emitting a dim, pale golden glow.
Xiao Cheng was pressing down on the mermaid's hand, which revealed its bones.
"You're awake."
He must have been trying his best to force a smile, but he clearly couldn't. The remaining muscle tissue in his face twitched involuntarily, oozing pale yellow pus.
And his voice.
If the mermaid's singing voice was heavenly, his voice was so awful it was like being in hell.
But it does seem to be in hell.
Xiao Cheng didn't respond. She released his hand, sat up, and subtly moved to the side, her muscles tense, ready to retaliate at any moment.
"You're incredibly brave to try and escape from hell in that way."
The merman's tone sounded strange, and his words were unclear. It took Xiao Cheng a while to realize what he was trying to say.
“I didn’t want to kill you, after all, I sensed the same aura on you… albeit a faint one.”
“But as for him…” The merman pointed down and laughed exaggeratedly, “I do want to teach him a little lesson.”
Xiao Cheng remained silent, as she had no idea what the merman's stance was.
She cautiously glanced around the area out of the corner of her eye.
The cave was dark, but quite spacious, and had everything one would expect; it was clearly the dwelling of this merman.
He had been hiding inside the rock face all along.
“I know you have a lot of questions right now,” the merman continued, “but you just need to listen to me.”
Xiao Cheng guessed that he had probably been alone here for too long, which had forced him to become a chatterbox, and he even seemed a little mentally unstable.
“I know He has seen you, that woman, or rather… my sister.” The merman continued his conversation. “You probably wouldn’t believe it, would you? Someone like me is actually His brother.”
He chuckled self-deprecatingly, his voice becoming even more hoarse, almost completely inaudible.
Then he suddenly coughed violently, as if he had choked, and coughed up a large amount of foul-smelling fragments of internal organs.
"Cough cough... I'm like this, I'm like this because of her." He finally managed to stop coughing, and casually wiped his lips, which could barely be called lips.
Xiao Cheng: "..." It seems we're about to get into a family drama.
“But it doesn’t matter. Now that you’re here, I’ll soon be completely free.” The merman seemed to have thought of something interesting, and a hint of anticipation flickered in his scarlet eyes.
“You’ve come… I have a chance to escape this life, to escape this body that I find disgusting, to escape this voice… I have a chance to become a god.”
His tone became increasingly paranoid and manic as he stared intently at Xiao Cheng, as if he were looking at some great savior.
"Do you understand what I mean? You're so smart, you must understand, right? This is my deal with the casino, my bet with Him... Now that you're here, I'm already halfway there."
The male merman suddenly reached out and grabbed Xiao Cheng's shoulders, but she nimbly dodged.
"Just talk, don't get physical." Xiao Cheng spoke first thing upon arriving. "If you want to achieve your goal, you'd better show some respect, understand?"
The male merman was somewhat taken aback by her attitude, but he still complied and took two steps back to create distance between them.
“I know, I know… I respect you.” He said somewhat excitedly, “You have passed my test, you are the one He took the initiative to meet, and you even have the aura of a merman.”
"You're perfect, you're the perfect... my replacement."
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