39: Chapter 39 Holy Fork Bell

Liao Su was in the lead, crouching low as he squeezed into the rock crevice.

The rock walls on both sides were covered in thick moss, glowing with a dim, dark green light. Wu Xi followed behind, his six Tentacles pressed tightly against his sides, brushing against the moss and causing it to fall in rustling flakes.

"Damn it, this place is eerily sinister." Qi Ling's voice pressed in from behind, his rough, raspy breathing brushing against the rock walls and striking out faint, fragmented echoes.

Something was wrong—the thought flashed through Wu Xi's mind.

The crevice grew narrower as they walked; the walls on both sides squeezed toward the center like two mouths slowly closing, ready to chew anyone who entered to pieces alive.

Liao Su, in front, stopped abruptly.

His entire tail was taut like an iron rod, and the fur on his back stood on end, exploding into a spiky ball. A very low whimper rolled from his throat, as if he had seen a soul-reaping vengeful ghost.

Wu Xi raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and pressed them downward.

Qi Ling swallowed the nonsense that was about to spill from his lips. In the crevice, only the three of them's extremely suppressed breathing remained.

The Qi Wu Xi exhaled turned directly into white mist, flickering before his eyes, only to be dyed green by the light on the rock walls, looking just like corpse Qi.

Liao Su carefully hugged the wall, and as the three of them huddled together to look, the view before them suddenly opened up.

It was a circular clearing.

The rock walls overhead converged toward the center, forming an inverted bowl, with countless stalactites hanging down, as sharp as inverted teeth.

The ground around the stone platform was a dull, dark red—not the natural color of the stone, but the result of blood and minerals seeping in over the years.

In the center of the clearing stood a black stone platform.

The surface of the stone platform was covered in carved runes. They were moving bit by bit, like countless tiny worms burrowing under the stone—burrowing in, burrowing out—making one's scalp tingle.

Three zhang away from the stone platform, a massive Moon Beast was stationed with a few smaller Moon Beasts.

That thing's entire face was formed by dozens of intertwined pink Tentacles; it had no eyes, no nose, no mouth—only Tentacles.

Those Tentacles swayed in the air—long ones, short ones, some with forked ends—looking just like a mass of constantly writhing pink aquatic weeds. The rhythm of their swaying was eerily sinister; they weren't moving with the wind, but sniffing, probing, tasting every molecule in the air. Occasionally, the Tentacles would touch, making faint "pop-pop" sounds, like countless tongues licking each other, making the hair on the back of one's neck stand up.

Suspended above the stone platform was a bronze sacred fork bell.

The bell's body was covered in fine cracks, from which a dim golden light shone, flickering on and off, casting the surrounding air into alternating light and shadow. Something was moving inside the bell, expanding and contracting, pulsing like a beating heart. With every beat, Wu Xi's own heart gave a corresponding twitch.

The six Tentacles on Wu Xi's back stiffened abruptly.

The next second, they turned in unison toward the stone platform, suction cups fully opened, the feelers trembling as if electrified, and even his breathing stopped for a beat.

"Is that it?" Qi Ling leaned in, swept a glance at the sacred fork bell, then quickly averted his gaze as if burned, his voice suppressed to a mere breath.

Creak... Creak...

Like a large sack soaked in water being dragged across the ground; every movement squeezed out a sticky, wet sound.

Wu Xi turned his head sharply.

The Moon Beast leader moved forward a step.

The wet sound of skin rubbing against the ground grew closer, and the ground trembled slightly. Black mucus squeezed out from beneath its body, spreading in all directions. A strange, fishy-sweet odor mixed with the smell of rust drilled straight into their noses, making their temples throb.

Qi Ling leaned to Wu Xi's ear, his voice trembling with urgency: "Should we just charge in?"

Wu Xi shook his head, raised his left hand, and pointed his index finger straight at the Moon Beast leader's head.

Those pink Tentacles were drawing circles in the air; it wasn't random swaying, but a terrifyingly precise detection pattern.

Suddenly, one Tentacle stopped abruptly, pointing straight toward the rock crevice. It paused for a full blink of an eye before hanging limply down again, continuing to sway slowly.

Qi Ling's face turned pale instantly; he clamped his mouth shut, not daring to utter even half a word.

Wu Xi stared at that Tentacle, his mind racing. This thing's detection range seemed to cover every inch of the area around the stone platform.

The rhythm of the Tentacles' swaying was perfectly synced with its heartbeat and breathing—steady and unhurried, without a single flaw.

Qi Ling leaned in again, his voice shaking violently: "That thing has no eyes, right? Can we circle around to its back?"

"No. Before, when you were taken, it was most likely because your Ghoul scent was too strong. Take off your jacket and throw it to lure it away; I'll go get the bell." Wu Xi added, his gaze never leaving the Moon Beast's cluster of Tentacles.

Qi Ling's Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed hard: "Then what do we do? We can't just wait here until dawn, and this damn thing won't doze off."

No sooner had he finished speaking.

All the pink Tentacles on the Moon Beast leader's head suddenly stopped swaying at the same time.

Dozens of Tentacles turned in unison toward the rock crevice.

They were taut in the air, with tiny slits opening at their ends—countless miniature mouths taking a deep, harsh breath toward the place where Wu Xi and the others were hiding. The mucus on the surface of the Tentacles glistened under the green light, standing up like steel needles, pointing fixedly in their direction.

It had discovered them.

All six of Wu Xi's Tentacles pressed tightly against his body, and he forced his heartbeat to its slowest, almost stopping it entirely.

But those Tentacles made no further moves.

The Tentacle that had first pointed at them slowly hung down, rejoining the swaying cluster of Tentacles.

The Moon Beast leader moved its massive white body, continuing to crawl around the stone platform, and the "creak, creak" wet sound returned to its original rhythm.

It hadn't confirmed anything. It was just testing.

The hand Qi Ling had placed on Wu Xi's shoulder suddenly let go, his palm covered in cold sweat. He leaned in and made a gesture with his hand: Do we go or not?

Wu Xi turned his head, his voice reduced to a mere breath: "Before, when the Moon Beast caught you, it was because your Ghoul scent was too strong. Take off your jacket, throw it out to lure it, and I'll go get the bell."

Qi Ling licked his chapped lips. He took off his jacket, balled it up in one hand, and picked up a piece of broken rock in the other.

He lowered his body, moving like a civet cat, slipping out from the shadows on the right side of the crevice, and silently hid behind a strange rock to the right of the stone platform.

Wu Xi counted his footsteps in his mind. One step, two steps, three steps—he was in position.

Qi Ling took a deep breath. First, he put all his strength into throwing the rock in his hand toward the rock wall to the left of the Moon Beast leader.

Crack!

The rock struck the wall, shattering into pieces and bouncing onto the ground. The noise in the deathly silent clearing rang out like a thunderclap.

The Moon Beast leader's cluster of Tentacles contracted violently. Dozens of Tentacles turned toward the left in unison, their pink ends trembling violently like a swarm of leeches that had smelled blood. Its massive white body turned as well, with a muffled "creak," moving toward the direction of the rock.

Now!

Wu Xi pushed off with his feet, shooting out from the crevice like an arrow from a bow. All six Tentacles were tucked back against his body, his footsteps were silent, and he had even stopped breathing completely. Liao Su followed closely by his feet, his belly hugging the ground, sliding like a gray shadow without making a sound.

Two zhang, one zhang, five chi.

The sacred fork bell was right before him. The cracks on the bronze bell were within arm's reach, and the golden light from within them almost shone onto his face. He could even smell the scent radiating from the bell—not the metallic tang, but the stench of aged blood mixed with the briny smell of sea salt, like the dampness rising from an ancient well sealed for a thousand years, drilling straight into his nose.

Wu Xi reached out his hand.

His fingertips were only three inches from the bell.

If he just pushed forward, he could get the item he had risked his life nine times out of ten to find, and he would be able to get out of this hellhole.

But just at that moment, a roar suddenly came from behind—it was a genuine scream, filled with heart-wrenching pain.

Wu Xi turned his head sharply, and his blood instantly ran cold.

The Moon Beast leader hadn't been fooled at all.

Its white body had stopped halfway; half of its Tentacle cluster was still pretending to face the direction of the rock, while the other half had long since twisted backward. An exceptionally thick pink Tentacle whipped through the air like a lash, wrapping tightly around Qi Ling's left leg, dragging him forcibly out from behind the strange rock and leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.

The bone blade in Qi Ling's hand hacked fiercely at the Tentacle with a muffled "thud," as if cutting into soaked, rotten cloth. A cut opened on the surface of the Tentacle, oozing dark red mucus, but instead of loosening, it coiled even tighter, making his leg bone creak and groan, appearing on the verge of snapping.

"Damn it! This ghost thing is playing us! It can see!" Qi Ling cursed, his hands digging desperately into the ground, his fingernails scraping against the stone surface with a harsh, screeching sound, sparks almost flying.

Wu Xi's fingertips were only three inches from the sacred fork bell.

Forward was his goal, the result of this life-risking journey. Backward was his brother, Qi Ling, with half his life hanging under the Tentacle.

"Don't come over! Get the bell!" Seeing him turn back, Qi Ling's eyes turned red, and he roared at the top of his lungs, spittle mixed with blood spraying out.

Wu Xi's six Tentacles sprang out simultaneously. The two at the tail end wrapped fiercely around a protruding rock edge, pulling hard and dragging his entire body toward Qi Ling's direction like a cannonball.

The Tentacles on the sides of his elbows spread open in the air, suction cups fully deployed, aiming at the pink Tentacle that was coiled around Qi Ling.

The two Tentacles on his chest were the first to coil around it—suction cup against suction cup, mucus against mucus—twisting fiercely.

The pink Tentacle, feeling pain, loosened for an instant. Taking the opportunity, Qi Ling used all his remaining strength to struggle free. Dragging his bloodied leg, he scrambled back behind the strange rock, managing to save half his life.

And the Moon Beast leader had, by this moment, turned around completely.

Dozens of pink Tentacles were all aimed squarely at Wu Xi.