Chapter 64: Map

Chapter 64: The Map

Shen Zhitang closed her eyes, feeling the yellow dog gnawing at her injured foot, dragging her forward. Her left foot throbbed with excruciating pain, blood gushing out and soaking her entire pant leg. She gritted her teeth, refusing to utter a sound. Her combat skills weren't as strong as Brother Jianguo's or Brother Han's, so she could only excel at enduring pain.

What was this dog trying to do? Where was it taking her? She had no idea. Earlier, when she plummeted from the stone pillar, Black Girl had heroically leaped beneath her, cushioning her fall and saving her from certain death. But her left leg was fractured, a severe injury. She had swallowed a Heaven-Mending Pill, but recovery wasn't that quick; she'd need at least a day or two to heal.

She had feigned death to preserve her life. Black Girl was no match for the yellow dog, so Shen Zhitang secretly instructed her to take her phone and fetch help. The phone contained a pre-recorded distress audio that would play automatically. If they heard it, they would come to her rescue. The trail of blood she left behind could serve as a guide, leading them to her.

But she couldn't place all her hopes on them; she had to find a way to save herself.

She hadn't become a high-level executive yet—she couldn't die.

She quietly cracked open an eye, observing her surroundings. Torches blazed, casting a hazy glow over the deep, winding passage. The yellow dog was clearly dragging her back the way they had come, yet for some reason, this passage looked entirely different from before. Shen Zhitang gradually realized that the tomb was "active." Like railway tracks switching, the tomb passages likely shifted periodically, forming entirely new paths.

If that were the case, the moment the tomb passages changed would be her best chance to escape.

Pressing one ear to the ground, she heard the clicking sounds of mechanisms from below, growing louder and closer. It was time. She suddenly opened her eyes, kicked the yellow dog in the head with her right foot, slipped off her left shoe, and raised her hand. The miniature pistol hidden in her sleeve fired several shots, leaving the yellow dog bleeding profusely.

Once the bullets were spent, the yellow dog retreated a few steps, its malevolent, flickering, fiery eyes fixed on her as it opened its reeking maw, ready to pounce. Shen Zhitang rolled away, moving toward the darkness from which the clicking sounds emanated.

The next moment, she distinctly felt the ground beneath her shifting. The low growls of the yellow dog from the opposite side of the darkness abruptly vanished. Her heart pounded wildly as she fought back fear and reached out, touching a stone wall that hadn't been there moments before. It was this wall that now separated her from the yellow dog.

This was no place to linger. Afraid the yellow dog might find a way around to her, she took off her undershirt and tied it around the wound on her left leg to staunch the bleeding. Then, dragging her injured leg, she limped deeper into the tomb passage. She had lost too much blood, and the effects of the Heaven-Mending Pill she had taken earlier were wearing off. The remaining pills were in her backpack, lost in the stone pillar chamber. Waves of dizziness washed over her.

*Don't faint, don't faint,* she warned herself, gritting her teeth as she pressed on. Suddenly, she saw the beam of a flashlight ahead and heard faint voices. Her heart leaped with joy—whoever was using a flashlight had to be Brother Jianguo and the others. She quickened her pace, leaning against the wall as she entered a carved tomb gate beneath green tiles and soaring eaves.

Inside, she saw two people—a man and a woman. The woman was wearing an outdoor jacket and seemed to be carving something on the ground. The man was tall, over six feet, with a square face and a short black beard. He looked familiar.

*Who was he again?*

A flash of insight struck her, followed by a surge of deep fear.

She remembered—this man was Sang Wannian.

What was going on? Why was Sang Wannian here? Wasn't he at the Gates of Hell? Shen Zhitang instinctively wanted to flee. Taking advantage of the darkness and the fact that the two hadn't noticed her, she edged backward silently. Just as she was about to exit the tomb gate, she heard the yellow dog calling from outside:

"Shen Zhitang—where are you—"

"Shen—Zhitang—where are you—"

Her body froze, and she didn't dare move.

"Miss Zhou, you're the expert in this area. Do you have any idea what's going on here?" Sang Wannian asked.

The woman referred to as Miss Zhou said, "This should be the tomb of Emperor Min of the Li State, recently constructed. Emperor Min passed away last year and was buried here just a few months ago. Look at the map I've drawn—we're here, and the main tomb chamber should be over there. Although the tomb passages shift, there are only three in total. They switch back and forth, which can be confusing at first, but if you observe carefully, you can find a pattern. The most troublesome thing here is the corpse vipers. Be careful—they're attracted to body heat and can cause hallucinations."

Sang Wannian looked frustrated. "Why would they put such disgusting things in a tomb?"

"You don't understand. The royal family of the Li State believed they were incarnations of vipers. They thought that after the emperor's death, his soul would continue to exist on the vipers, achieving immortality," Miss Zhou explained. "All the sacrificial corpses here are meant to nurture the corpse vipers. They believed that as long as the corpse vipers lived, the emperor wouldn't truly die. We're lucky—the tomb is newly built, so there aren't many corpse vipers yet. We just need to be cautious. By the way, have you decided which divine power you want to cultivate?"

"Miss Zhou, I'll choose whichever path you choose," Sang Wannian said with a grin.

"..." Miss Zhou's expression was cold, her tone stiff. "I advise you not to choose the same path as me. Otherwise, when we encounter rare materials, will you compete with me for them? And, Mr. Sang, I really don't like you."

"Why?" Sang Wannian sounded hurt. "What's wrong with me? Tell me, and I'll change."

"Your education level is too low. You're not a match for me. I require my teammates to have at least a master's degree. If it weren't for..." Miss Zhou glanced beside her, and Shen Zhitang noticed someone standing there, though the figure was almost entirely shrouded in darkness, making it hard to see clearly. Miss Zhou paused and said, "If it weren't for your sister's formidable prowess, I wouldn't have accepted you."

Just as Sang Wannian was about to argue, Miss Zhou's ears twitched, and her eyes sharpened. She pressed his shoulder, signaling him to be quiet.

"There's something outside," she said.

The two moved stealthily toward the tomb gate, turning off their flashlight. Shen Zhitang could see nothing now, and her panic grew. What were Sang Wannian and Miss Zhou? Why were they here? No matter what, Shen Zhitang felt they couldn't be human. She couldn't let them see her.

The yellow dog's calls outside the tomb gate were faint and intermittent. She didn't dare go out. But Sang Wannian and Miss Zhou were moving closer, and she was leaning against the tomb gate, making it easy for them to spot her. Shen Zhitang clenched her teeth and silently shifted to the side. There was no sound in front of her. The darkness felt tangible, heavy as iron, pressing down on her. She couldn't sense Sang Wannian and Miss Zhou's positions.

*Had they left?*

But she hadn't heard the door open.

She clenched her fists, waiting quietly. The low growls outside the tomb gate had also disappeared. In the darkness, it seemed only the frantic beating of her heart could be heard.

There was a rule among Dreamwalkers: it's best not to enter the dreamscape alone. Always find a teammate. Because being alone was too lonely, too terrifying. Even if your teammate was an idiot, it was better than acting alone—at least you wouldn't die in solitude.

And once fear overwhelmed a person, they might do irrational things. At that point, the probability of death skyrocketed, far exceeding the risk of having an idiot teammate.

Shen Zhitang couldn't take it anymore.

She pressed her digital watch, and a light suddenly illuminated the area. She saw two pairs of sickly, decaying limbs standing right in front of her. Her scalp tingled as if pierced by countless needles. Without looking up, she knew those two unknown creatures were surely staring down at her.

So, "Sang Wannian" and "Miss Zhou" hadn't left—they were right beside her.

In an instant, her heart felt like it had exploded, and she let out a loud scream.

Something stuffed her mouth, silencing her. A sharp pain shot through her left leg, as if someone was severing it. Her vision darkened as she struggled desperately, but her body felt trapped and immobilized by the darkness. Was she going to die? Was this really the end? She felt utterly beyond saving.

Actually, she didn't care much about death. As an Outsider, one had to be prepared for it. Being too attached to life meant succumbing to the endless fear in long dreams. She just wondered—if she died in the dream, would she see her mother? Would her mother blame her for not taking good care of Shen Zhili?

"Mother? What mother?" a voice said impatiently in her ear. "I'm not your mother. If you want to call someone, call me ancestor."

*Huh?*

Trembling, she opened her eyes. The two unknown creatures were gone. Instead, Zhou Xia was crouching beside her, holding a lighter in one hand and a long, thin black worm in the other, roasting it over the flame. Black Girl lay beside her face, extending a slender red tongue to lick her cheek.

"I've been calling you from outside," Zhou Xia said, clearly annoyed. "Why didn't you answer?"

"I..." Shen Zhitang noticed two pairs of charred long feet extending from the darkness in the corner of the tomb chamber. Those two strange creatures had been subdued by Zhou Xia. Shen Zhitang explained, "I thought it was the yellow dog chasing me, calling for me. I... I think I was hallucinating. I just saw Sang Wannian and a woman named Miss Zhou. Were those two corpses Sang Wannian and Miss Zhou?"

"No, they were two primate-human hybrids," Zhou Xia said, standing up and kicking the two corpses. "You've been infested with corpse viper venom for too long. It's causing delusions."

Shen Zhitang looked down at her left leg. Zhou Xia had cut an incision, and the long worm he was roasting was the corpse viper he had extracted from her body. She understood now—this "corpse viper" was venomous and had caused her hallucinations. That was why she had mistaken the two ancient corpses for Sang Wannian and Miss Zhou and had mistaken Zhou Xia calling for her outside for the yellow dog.

Perhaps finally relaxing, her stomach growled. Her backpack was left at the stone pillar, and now she had nothing. Swallowing her pride, she asked Zhou Xia for a few packs of ration bars. Chewing on the biscuits, she dragged her injured leg toward the spot where Sang Wannian and Miss Zhou had been speaking in her hallucination. The ground was empty, with no engraved map markings, and the patterned tiles were different from those she had seen in the hallucination.

It was indeed a hallucination—not to be taken seriously.

Just as she was about to leave, she felt something was off. Looking at the threshold of the tomb gate and the seams of the floor tiles, she noticed that the ground in her hallucination seemed lower than the current one.

"What did you see in the hallucination?" Zhou Xia suddenly asked.

Shen Zhitang recounted what she had seen. After listening, Zhou Xia clicked his tongue and said, "What you saw was Sang Wannian during his first dream."

"What?" Shen Zhitang didn't understand.

Zhou Xia walked over, feeling along the seams of the floor tiles, and said, "This tomb has been modified."

Shen Zhitang was bewildered, but he didn't explain. Instead, he extended two fingers and cut along the floor tiles. Sparks erupted from his fingertips, and two patterned tiles were cleanly lifted. Shen Zhitang noticed that his right hand had burn marks.

He carefully lifted the tiles, and Shen Zhitang saw a layer of wax-coated spheres beneath, each the size of a finger, laid thickly across the surface.

Zhou Xia carefully removed the wax balls one by one, placing them aside.

Once everything was cleared, a layer of ancient bricks was revealed beneath. The style of these bricks was identical to what Shen Zhitang had seen in her hallucination.

At that moment, both of them noticed markings scratched into the bricks with a stone—a simple map.

"The hallucination was real," Shen Zhitang murmured. "It really happened. Before I entered the dream, my teacher told me that if I was lucky, I might see messages from thousands of years ago here. Could it be what I just witnessed?"

Zhou Xia didn’t seem surprised, though his expression grew solemn.

He stared at the map and inscriptions on the bricks, deep in thought, pondering something.

Unlike Liu Jianguo, who was more easygoing, Shen Zhitang didn’t dare to ask. She quickly committed the map to memory and said, "Let’s go."

Zhou Xia carried her on his back, instructing her to hold the flashlight and light the way. Just as they were about to leave the tomb chamber, Shen Zhitang clearly saw the shadow of a woman flash past outside.

Zhou Xia’s footsteps halted.

"Is there still a corpse viper in my body?" Shen Zhitang gripped Zhou Xia’s shoulder tightly. "I think I’m hallucinating again."

"It’s not a hallucination."

He had seen the woman too.

Zhou Xia stepped out of the tomb chamber, and Shen Zhitang shined the flashlight in the direction where the woman had disappeared. The end of the tomb passage was pitch black, with nothing visible. Moreover, the passage they were in now was different from the one they had entered earlier—there were no candle flames along the walls, only rows of Terracotta Generals facing each other.

Suddenly, both of them heard a faint, eerie woman’s voice echoing from the depths of the darkness. It was spoken in an ancient language Shen Zhitang couldn’t understand. But she noticed his brows furrowed deeply.

Zhou Xia spoke, responding in the same ancient tongue. No further sound came from the darkness—only silence, as still as death.

Zhou Xia suddenly said, "Turn off the light."

Shen Zhitang immediately turned off the flashlight, and Zhou Xia swiftly changed direction and began to run. He moved without making a sound. Though Shen Zhitang couldn’t see anything, she could feel their rapid pace. She dared not make a sound, covering her mouth tightly. In the void of darkness, she could only hear her own breathing and heartbeat.

A few seconds later, she heard the thundering footsteps behind them.

Something was chasing them, and there were many of them.