We turned off the lights and searched along the river, mainly to find Duan Jinyan and his group. Coupled with what we had just experienced and the eerie wind, I was constantly on edge. When I saw the dark figure rushing towards me, I instinctively aimed ahead and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
Gunshots rang out suddenly, making everyone's ears ring. When Qu Ruilin saw me fire, he immediately raised his knife and shouted, "Manjing, stop the boat!"
As Qu Ruilin roared, the beams of flashlights shone around us. I held the gun in my right hand and pulled the steel pipe back onto the boat with my left. At the same time, I drew my machete, ready to rush forward and fight to the death. But when I looked up, I froze on the spot.
The river channel after this bend is much wider than before, and has turned into a large cave.
Under the beam of the flashlight, a skeleton was floating in the water, as if it were clinging to our boat. It must have been brought up by the current stirred up by our speedboat.
What makes this skeleton so terrifying is that it was recently formed. Its skin and muscles have all disappeared, but there are still many red muscles and yellow and pink fats clinging to its bones. It's clear that it hasn't been in the water for long, and the bloodstains on its body haven't been washed away yet.
Looking at the skull in front of him, Song Laosan shone his flashlight on the river ahead, then on the cave wall beside him: "Look, there are bloodstains on this wall. They must have been made by someone scratching themselves. The bloodstains are bright red, which means the person died recently and in a very painful manner!"
Lin Que glanced at Song Laosan and said, "Isn't that obvious? The flesh on the skeleton is still there, how could it have been dead for too long!"
Qu Ruilin looked at the skeleton in front of him, thought for a moment, and said, "From the time we heard the screams to the time we arrived at this location, it was no more than five minutes. In such a short time, a living person was reduced to a skeleton. What exactly is underwater?"
I shook my head: "I don't know what's in the water, but this person shouldn't have died when Duan Jinyan and the others were attacked."
Song Laosan was completely confused by what I said: "Xiao Duan, what do you mean? I don't understand."
"Look at his ribs!"
I shone my flashlight on the left side of the skeleton's chest: "Although he's just a skeleton now, none of his bones are damaged. However, both of his left ribs show signs of fracture and internal wear, indicating that he suffered a puncture wound! Along our journey, only the section of the river we've come from has horn stones for protection, so this person was probably injured there. Because of the rapid current and the fact that he was discovered relatively late, he was accidentally injured."
Lin Que scratched his head: "If that's the case, doesn't that mean he's Duan Jinyan's subordinate? Since this person just screamed, it means they didn't run for long!"
“Look at the bloodstains on the wall for yourselves. There are two places. One is on a protruding rock high up, where a line of blood has flowed down. However, the handprints are not messy, which means that this person was hanging high up before he died and fell into the water because he was exhausted.”
I lowered the flashlight beam and shone it on a patch of bloody handprints not far above the water level: "Look at these handprints below. They're much more chaotic than the ones above. This means he was attacked in the water and desperately tried to climb ashore, but to no avail! If his teammates had been there, they should have helped him escape instead of leaving him to struggle alone here for so long."
"The gecko shedding its tail is Black Robe's consistent practice."
Jiang Man spoke up from behind: "During the several times our Jiang family captured Duan Jinyan, we also injured the people around him. The men in black robes are a group of cold-blooded animals, devoid of any emotions. It's perfectly normal for the injured to be abandoned or even silenced. They would never waste their time on an injured teammate, so it's highly likely that this person was abandoned. It was precisely for this reason that Duan Shenxing deduced that he wasn't attacked with Duan Jinyan and the others, but stayed here after being injured, and then hid because he discovered something. When we heard the screams, it should have been when he couldn't hold on any longer."
Song Laosan glanced at the mangled skeleton in front of him, then at the injured arm of the Wei family member: "Since this guy has a broken rib, it means they swam across the river. And since there's only one skeleton here, it means the others weren't attacked. So how did they avoid those things in the water?"
Qu Ruilin pushed the skeleton back into the water and didn't continue the topic: "In any case, we can at least confirm that this guy is Duan Jinyan's subordinate. He shouldn't be able to hold on for long while he's injured, which means that Duan Jinyan and his men won't be able to escape for long either. Turn off the lights and keep chasing!"
"Don't turn off the flashlight, turn it on and chase after them!"
After thinking for a moment, I said to Qu Ruilin, "They abandoned their injured teammates to reduce their burden and leave as soon as possible, so they should have already left us far behind. If we travel with the lights off, we'll be too slow."
"That's true. Something that can turn a living person into bones in just a few minutes is definitely not a pleasant thing. It's safer to have the lights on."
Song Laosan turned to look at the boat behind him: "Wei girl, is there anything that can save your life?"
"then!"
Wei Shengnan rummaged through her bag and then threw something that looked like a weight, with talismans engraved on it and painted with gold paint, onto our boat.
Lin Que looked at Wei Shengnan with a bewildered expression when she saw the things that had fallen on the boat: "Big sister, are you kidding me? Didn't we say we needed something to save our lives? Why did you give us that weight?"
"Don't talk nonsense. This thing is called the Eight Treasures Exquisite, and it is the treasure of the Wei family! Legend has it that this thing was forged from the brow bones of eight kings and nobles, combined with celestial black iron. It was one of the magical artifacts of the Dao Ancestor Laozi during his lifetime. It is a rare magical artifact and also the token of the Wei family's leadership."
I turned to look at Wei Shengnan: "I never expected that Grandpa Wei would entrust this to you!"
"So what? You got the Judge's Record too!"
Wei Shengnan paused for a moment: "Legend has it that the Eight Treasures Exquisite Scroll carries the aura of an emperor. If you carry this into a tomb, you will be protected from all evil spirits and evil spirits will be driven away. This thing in the water can swallow a person in a short time. If it is something specifically used to guard a tomb, then perhaps the Eight Treasures Exquisite Scroll can play a role."
"Whether there are dates or not, you can't go wrong by taking a shot."
Song Laosan hung the Eight Treasures Exquisite on the bow of the boat and turned his gaze away from the bloody handprint on the cave wall: "Loosen the rope and continue on!"
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