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Contrary to what he had thought, the dwelling place of the Tengu Spiders wasn't on the mountain ridges but inside a cave at the end of a swamp. Watching those strange creatures burrow into the cave, Xiao Buli stopped in his tracks and began to observe his surroundings.
The entrance of the cave was covered in a sticky layer of decomposing clay soil, coated with a layer of slimy mucus that was rather unpleasant to look at. However, this was good news for him, as if he encountered danger inside the cave and his invisibility spell failed, he could still rely on his Earth Escape Skills to make a getaway.
Thus, after a mont of hesitation, he still crawled in.
Although he could escape through the earth, Xiao Buli remained extrely alert, ready to make a quick exit at the first sign of trouble.
The depth and length of the hole were unknown; he walked for quite so ti without seeing the end but eventually ca across a fork in the path.
There were three passages at the fork. The first was extrely narrow, only as wide as a bucket, and with his size, he simply could not squeeze through. The second was a flat passageway over two ters high, located right in the middle of the fork, with traces of fresh blood dragged across the ground.
It was clear that this was the Tengu Spiders' chosen path where they brought their food, either to store for later consumption or to feed their young or leader. Xiao Buli had no interest in either possibility.
However, the third passageway was a round tunnel over a ter high, inconspicuous and located at the edge of the cavern, which could hardly be noticed unless looked at closely. Moreover, it was sealed by a layer of green mucous mbrane.
Instinctively, Xiao Buli felt that this might lead to the Tengu Spiders' egg-laying chamber, so he burrowed into the ground and moved forward a short distance before surfacing once again.
The further he ventured into the tunnel, the more bizarre the surroundings beca. From ti to ti, he could see the veins of tree roots faintly beneath the layer of mucus on the walls. The deep black color resembled the blood vessels of a creature, and walking down such a passage felt like traversing the intestines of so colossal beast.
This sinister feeling grew stronger until, after a few minutes' walk, the path suddenly opened up into a vast chamber. The floor of the chamber was covered with pools of green mucus; inside, there was a strange object, which was a massive tumor-like growth on a huge crystal stone jutting down from the roof of the chamber.
The crystal stone had an odd color, emitting a faint, reddish halo, seemingly a peculiar type of gemstone. Its glazed surface suggested that it might have fallen from the sky.
The massive tumor-like growth hung above it, nurous tentacles stretching out from the tumor to cling to the crystal, while half of the tumor itself was buried in the muddy earth at the top of the cavern, seemingly fused with the stone.
The more he looked at it, the stranger he felt, with an urge to blow it up. However, he did not act on it. The pools of mucus confird his guess; this place indeed seed to be the egg-laying chamber, and tonight was the night of the full moon. He decided to wait for a while.
After looking around for a bit, he noticed many cocoon-like objects around the tumor. When he hovered the mouse over them, they displayed an option to open.
Xiao Buli thought to himself, could these be the eggs of the Tengu Spiders? But the size of the eggs seed too large, and besides, it had just gotten dark, not even night yet. While thinking this over, he clicked to open one, and the mont the cocoon cracked, a torrent of mucus burst forth. Even through the screen, Xiao Buli felt disgusted as a human corpse was revealed within the mucus.
He clicked to search and obtained 26 copper coins and a pair of damaged leather boots.
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(Heh, still able to pick stuff up!) Xiao Buli imdiately beca interested. He wasn't too keen on those ragged equipnts, but he felt it was very likely he could find quest items, like an unsent letter or sothing of the sort. Opening another cocoon, he found another corpse inside. This ti he ca upon a rusty iron sword and 17 copper coins.
The third corpse yielded a large gold ring, with attributes of charm 1. This little trinket was worth so money, but Xiao Buli didn't see even a shadow of the quest items he wanted. After opening a few more cocoons, so contained human corpses, while others held monkey corpses. It seed that although these Tengu Spiders would eat anything, they had a preference for primates.
There was only one cocoon left. Xiao Buli thought he wouldn't mind another bump on his head and opened it without much hope, but this ti he found sothing beyond his expectations.
Refined Iron Chainmail: Armor 24, reduces piercing damage by 30%, Strength 3, Stamina 4.
Equipnt Description: Made from premium refined iron, this armor offers exceptional defense. The multiple layers of added armor pieces provide improved resistance against piercing damage.
Xiao Buli was delighted. This piece was a deep blue equipnt, far better than what he was currently wearing. His luck was incredibly good. Although chainmail was quite heavy and could slightly affect speed and agility if one didn't have enough strength, his strength was now over twenty, so the weight didn't bother him much. But wait, why did this equipnt look so familiar?
As he pondered, he stored the equipnt in his bag and took another look at the corpse. It was clearly a male corpse, different from the others with its short hair, no longer than a finger. This was strange because, given that the ga was set in a background akin to ancient China, both n and won typically had long hair. Could it be a player?
Hesitating, he decided to take a risk to get a clearer look. He equipped the Patrol Lantern and under the faint light, he finally saw the face of the corpse. His face imdiately stiffened, and any joy from finding the equipnt vanished—it was Zhao Yunlong!?
Xiao Buli stood there in shock, his mind a jumble. For a brief mont, he thought he might have seen wrong, but after reexamining the corpse in the light of the lantern, he was certain it was Zhao Yunlong. The skin had turned blue-black, indicating he had been dead for a long ti. The mucus not only preserved his corpse but also the expression of fear he bore at the mont of death.
It looked like he had died a long while back, but how could that be possible? What were Zhang Yaoyang and the others doing in the Desolate Mountains, a place where not even birds would relieve themselves? Where were the others? Could it be that all these corpses were left by them?
Startled by his own conjecture, Xiao Buli hurriedly checked and found another corpse that appeared to be a player, though he didn't recognize the person. It could be a mber of the White Tiger group or perhaps so other player. Relieved that it wasn't soone he knew, Xiao Buli finally relaxed a little.
Xiao Buli suddenly rembered he was carrying the Soul Absorption Pearl. He took it out and pointed it at the corpse with no reaction. Clearly, Zhao Yunlong's soul had long since dissipated.
"Rest in peace, buddy," Xiao Buli muttered to the corpse, a sense of sorrow for a fellow creature rising unbidden within him. He had to get to the bottom of what had happened, he thought to himself.
After a short while, the tumor suddenly began to move, like a beating heart, making huffing and puffing noises that caught Xiao Buli's attention. His spirits raised; he still had unfinished tasks to attend to and tried to push the heaviness in his heart to the back of his mind.
A huge flesh canal extruded from the end of the tumor, and a crystal-clear, football-sized white worm egg was forcefully squeezed out from it. It plopped onto the mucus-covered ground. Xiao Buli instantly understood; it seed that the corpses wrapped in the cocoons were ant to be als for these larvae.(
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