Chapter 9: Escaping the Beast's Jaws

The Sea Monkey pounded his chest twice with a thud, letting out two snarls, seemingly mocking him.

An unnamed fury surged within Wu Xiaoxie’s chest. He swiftly flipped himself up from the ground, grabbed the ceramic pot that had tripped him, and with a roar, hurled it at the Sea Monkey. “You miserable bastard! If you’ve got the guts, come and get me!”

The Sea Monkey blinked in surprise, then quickly caught on. Seeing Wu Xiaoxie armed, he didn’t engage directly; instead, he leapt up and climbed to the top of the passageway.

Wu Xiaoxie’s eyes brightened. Seizing the opportunity, he dashed swiftly into the jade gate on the left and pressed the hidden mechanism on the wall. The jade gate slowly descended.

Realizing he’d been tricked, the Sea Monkey roared furiously and accelerated toward the closing gate.

Wu Xiaoxie was nearly scared into fainting, silently counting time in his mind. Just as the Sea Monkey lunged forward, claws reaching into the narrowing gap, Wu Xiaoxie fired a volley of peanuts right at him.

The Sea Monkey screamed in pain and immediately withdrew his claws.

The jade gate closed smoothly.

Wu Xiaoxie collapsed to the ground, utterly drained, breathing heavily, his mind blank, and his body soaked in cold sweat.

“This damn thing... it’s way too intense.”

——

Meanwhile, Zhang Wuxun’s side of the story.

After Little Brother realized there was only one person in the corpse-raising coffin, he and Fatty hastened their water scooping.

Soon, the corpse floated to the surface.

To their shock, it was a bloated female corpse with twelve hands and twelve feet.

“Ugh,” Fatty turned his face away in disgust. “That’s just hideous—like salt on a wound, absolutely horrid.”

They padded the corpse with cloth and lifted it out, revealing a stone tablet at the bottom of the coffin.

Fatty couldn’t make sense of it and suddenly thought of Wu Xiaoxie. He glanced around, but aside from Zhang Wuxun crouching in the corner, no one else was there.

“Woodfish, stop crouching in the corner like you’re growing mushrooms. Where did Little Tianzhen go? Weren’t you two together earlier?” Fatty asked.

Zhang Wuxun looked up with a pitiful glance at Little Brother, his face full of gloom. “I lost Little Tianzhen.”

“What?!” Fatty was startled but, seeing Zhang Wuxun’s serious expression, squeezed closer and squatted down. “He’s that big—how could you lose him?”

Zhang Wuxun wrinkled his nose in disgust. “You stink! Stay away.”

Fatty rolled his eyes, muttering “nonsense,” but obediently shifted a bit aside.

“Come on, tell me—how did you lose Little Tianzhen?”

Zhang Wuxun then recounted what had happened earlier at the jade gate, omitting the parts where he rummaged through treasures and where Little Brother stopped him.

After hearing the story, Fatty slapped his thigh. “What do we do now? Little Tianzhen’s so fragile, he’d fall with just one push. If he really ran into those dumplings, it’d be over in a blink. Also, with that gate gone, how are we supposed to get out later?”

Little Brother silently glanced at Zhang Wuxun and said, “The gate will appear on its own when the time comes. No use rushing.”

Listen to him—does that even make sense?

Zhang Wuxun glared at him slyly, then tapped his system in his mind.

[Totong, is there any shortcut that goes straight to Little Tianzhen? Give me a hint.]

【There is a hole beneath the stone slab inside the corpse-raising coffin. You can enter through it.】

[Thanks, bro!]

Zhang Wuxun was worried but still cared deeply. In the original storyline, the iron triangle was split apart by traps like this. Little Tianzhen, although encountering the Sea Monkey, was unharmed. Fatty and Little Brother found a secret tunnel and finally reunited with him.

He had been too depressed to realize this earlier—thankfully, the system reminded him.

【You’re welcome. I will need to borrow the host’s body shortly.】

Zhang Wuxun immediately tensed. [What do you want to do with my body?]

The system’s voice sounded a bit helpless.

【Rest assured, host. It’s nothing immoral and will not harm Wu Xiaoxie or the others.】

[Really? Swear you’re not lying.]

There was a slight chuckle in the system’s voice.

【Absolutely.】

A pause, then added,

【I swear.】

[Fine. How long?]

The system had always been friendly to its host, and somehow, Zhang Wuxun felt deep down that it wouldn’t betray him.

【Very soon.】

Zhang Wuxun was puzzled. The system’s reply was less formulaic than before, with a faint trace of humanity in its tone.

What was going on?

He buried the doubt deep in his heart, focusing on the immediate priority: finding Wu Xiaoxie.

He stood up, walked around the corpse on the ground, and peered at the stone slab. Picking up the gun Fatty had set aside, he tapped the slab’s surface with the barrel. “There’s a hollow space underneath.”

“Why don’t we lift the slab and take a look?” Zhang Wuxun suggested.

Fatty thought that was a good idea, and Little Brother agreed.

They lit a torch and burned away the resin around the slab, then lifted it—revealing a large hole beneath.

——

[Holy crap, Totong, you’re awesome!]

Zhang Wuxun praised the system in his mind and was about to jump into the hole, but Fatty grabbed him.

“Where do you think you’re jumping? What if there’s danger down there?”

Fatty’s serious face was intimidating.

But Zhang Wuxun wasn’t fooled. He pointed behind him to Little Brother crouched by the corpse, “Look, the real danger is about to show up.”

Fatty was taken aback. “What?”

Before he finished, a small white-haired hand shot out violently from the corpse’s belly, grabbing Little Brother’s left wrist with tremendous strength. Little Brother struggled but couldn’t break free.

“Damn it!”

Fatty cursed and fired a full clip at the corpse’s belly.

Zhang Wuxun threw a silver dart that struck the white hand’s wrist precisely.

He suspected this little dumpling was the same one whose head he’d half chopped off earlier.

The white-haired little dumpling shrieked—a sound like a baby’s wail mixed with a ghostly scream, piercing their eardrums.

“Jump now! This thing can’t be killed.”

The earlier attacks had worked. Little Brother broke free and grabbed Fatty, ready to jump into the hole.

Zhang Wuxun had already shrunk his body and slipped inside the tunnel.

The hole’s entrance dripped sticky, black, corpse fluid—disgusting. Without shrinking, they’d be coated in filth.

Fatty wanted to refuse, but seeing the dumpling’s face pushing through the corpse’s belly, translucent and about to burst out, he yelled,

“Holy hell!”

He steeled himself, shut his eyes, and followed Little Brother into the tunnel.

Zhang Wuxun crawled through the slanting tunnel, dived underwater, returned to his normal size, and swam into a large pool.

Using the faint overhead lights for guidance, he saw a vague figure aiming something into the water.

Thinking it might be trouble, he surfaced and shouted, “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot! It’s me, a friend.”

Wu Xiaoxie was stunned, and in his heart cursed, “Woodfish?”

“It’s me, it’s me.” Zhang Wuxun wiped water from his face, but as he climbed ashore, a huge foot kicked toward him.