Ghost City North Slope Chapter 2 The Ghost Army Passing By

We entered the inn, and by the time we had settled in, it was already late at night. The men in black stayed in one room.

Since Han Xin was a girl, she had her own guest room. Kaizi, Old Zhang, and I slept in the rooms directly adjacent to hers.

After lying down, I could not shake the feeling that today's events were extremely suspicious.

When we first set out, with the team of men in black, there were sixteen of us in total. Now, after losing six men, only ten remained, and even excluding the wounded, we only had six able-bodied people left. Under these circumstances, if we continued to push forward, I truly had no idea what might pop out next.

Should their objective turn out to be the anthropomorphic tomb Old Zhang had mentioned, extracting ourselves from the situation would become exceedingly difficult.

Thinking that caution was always the best course of action, I drifted off into a deep sleep shortly after catching a whiff of a strange, lingering fragrance.

When I woke up, it was already four or five in the morning. I discovered that the so-called desolate desert inn was merely an illusion; we had actually been lying in the middle of a barren wasteland all along. Old Zhang and Kaizi were still fast asleep, completely unaware of the truth.

I witnessed something I refused to believe, yet was seeing with my own eyes. In the distance, an ancient plank road seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, along which a procession was approaching from afar. Some people were driving carts, others walked in front holding long halberds, some sat clad in armor on chariots drawn by several horses, while others rode high-stepping steeds trailing behind the carriages.

Some of the figures lacked a left arm, others lacked a right arm, and some were even missing their entire heads. Seeing that the chariots were heading directly toward where we were located, I immediately woke Old Zhang and Kaizi. Once the two of them were awake, I hurriedly roused the rest of the group to leave. Noticing that Han Xin was still asleep, I shook her awake, helped her away from the path the procession was advancing upon, and afterward, everyone concealed themselves.

I asked Old Zhang what was going on.

Old Zhang rubbed his eyes with his hand, stared straight ahead, and said, "This must be the Hundred Ghosts Crossing Path! I've heard bits and pieces about this sort of thing before, but I always took them for mere legends.

To think I'd actually witness it with my own eyes! The village elders used to say that prior to a massive earthquake in a certain place, a team of archaeologists ignored the local village chief's warnings and insisted on going to excavate a site they had chosen. As a result, the archaeologists looked over at the road to their left and saw it packed densely with horse-drawn carriages. Some of the drivers lacked hands, some lacked arms, and others were missing half their heads.

The carriages were piled high with skeletons and human skulls, though the specters had no intention of attacking them. Seeing this, the group began counting the skulls.

They counted all the way to the very last carriage, but in the end, they were so startled they forgot to include the total number of carriage drivers. The next day, the Tangshan earthquake struck, and the casualty toll matched the exact number of skulls they had tallied!"

Hearing this, everyone finally understood the situation.

Gradually, the red sun rose slowly in the east.

With the rising of the sun, the temperature of the wilderness increased significantly, instantly transitioning from the biting cold of night to the warmth of day. Everyone let out a long sigh of relief.

After organizing our equipment and resting for a short while, we set off again. The terrain ahead was no longer as desolate as before. As we walked, we unconsciously arrived at the location Old Zhang had spoken of.

Old Zhang took the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams compass from his military backpack and studied it carefully for a short moment.

He muttered some incantations under his breath from time to time. Soon, the compass needle steadied, and Old Zhang looked at it, announcing, "This is the place!"

He pointed toward a narrow pass ahead, and Kaizi asked with a puzzled expression, "Wait, Brother Zhang, what... what is this?"

Old Zhang shrugged and replied, "This is it. This mountain pass is the entrance. If I'm not mistaken, the exit should be around the Dragon's Tail."

Seeing that Old Zhang had taken charge, the group followed him inside. The wounded men in black were supported by their uninjured companions, while Kaizi helped Han Xin. Guided by Old Zhang, everyone entered the ancient ruins of the anthropomorphic living-human tomb.

From a distance, an ancient, intricately carved stone stele came into view. Scattered all around the carved stele and its surroundings were heavily decayed human skeletons and the rotting remains of animals, presenting a thoroughly lifeless and terrifying scene.

The carved stone tomb stele prominently bore the large characters: "North Slope of the Ghost City."

Due to the immense passage of time, nothing could be discerned without a closer look.

Passing the tomb stele and moving further inward, what met the eye was a massive bronze-carved door. Where the two doors met, there was a carved bronze circular disc the size of a bowl, engraved with strange patterns. Written prominently across the center of the bronze disc were the words: "Those who enter this gate shall suffer eternal damnation."

Flanking the carved bronze door were two carved stone evil beasts, their eyes staring fiercely. Old Zhang furrowed his brows and remained entirely silent.

At the stone base of each carved beast sat a bowl-sized carved stone disc clearly inscribed with ancient characters.

The base of the evil beast on the left was inscribed with "Qiongqi," while the one on the right bore "Taotie."

Old Zhang remarked, "Our luck is terrible this time; we've actually arrived at the Gates of Hell!"

Kaizi, standing nearby, asked with a perplexed frown, "Brother Zhang, since... since we're already here, should we go in or not?"

Old Zhang shook his head and replied, "Kaizi, you're young and don't understand the ways of this place. If we rush in blindly, forget about unearthing treasures, we won't even know how we died. Let me think!"

At that moment, Han Xin spoke up. "Mr. Feng, since Kaizi and Brother Zhang don't know what to do, why don't you tell me how to proceed?"

With that, Han Xin pressed the muzzle of her gun against the back of Old Zhang's head. Kaizi tried to stop her, but she sharply scolded him into silence.

Yet, at that critical juncture, Kaizi, who had been pacing back and forth nearby, accidentally stepped on a trigger mechanism.

Immediately, I saw the two evil beasts gazing down at the crowd with a half-smile, their eyeballs glowing with a faint red light.

The carved stone evil beasts on both sides glared angrily, staring fixedly at the group. Having triggered the mechanism, Kaizi plunged straight down into a suddenly opened hidden compartment.

Seeing this, Han Xin immediately rushed to Kaizi's side, grabbing hold of his hands.

Because Han Xin lacked sufficient strength, half her body was pulled down after him by Kaizi's weight. Realizing the two of them were about to fall, Old Zhang immediately shouted for the uninjured men in black to come over and help. Once they managed to haul everyone up, only Han Xin and Kaizi had fallen through.

Old Zhang settled Han Xin to one side and pointed at the carved stone evil beasts, signaling me to watch out for traps. I looked back at Han Xin and asked, "Old Zhang, what about Kaizi..."

"Don't worry, I just took a look. This pit isn't very deep!"

Suddenly, one of the men in black with restless hands insisted on touching and fiddling with things, accidentally sitting directly upon a hidden trigger mechanism. With a sharp "creak," the mouths of the carved stone evil beasts parted slightly, and countless hidden arrows shot forth from their jaws, though the arrowheads were blunt.

Even though everyone reacted quickly and ducked, a few people were still struck by the short arrows. To save me, Old Zhang took several hits to his back. While dodging, I failed to cover my flanks and was also hit by the hidden arrows in my backside.

Once the crisis had passed, Old Zhang sternly warned Han Xin and her subordinates, "Beauty, keep your men in line and tell them to stop touching random things. Otherwise, even the immortals won't be able to save us."

Han Xin then declared, "Listen to me, all of you. If any of you get your teammates killed because of your recklessness, don't blame me for showing no mercy. I will enforce the rules by the book."

The men in black nodded in understanding. Old Zhang stood up and cautiously approached the main entrance.

After inspecting the situation, Old Zhang waved his hand, and the group stepped out of their hiding spots. Moving with lightning speed, Old Zhang reached the vicinity of the evil beast on the left base inscribed with "Qiongqi," his hand probing directly for the soul-镇 soul lock of the carved stone beast.

With a soft "click," the evil beast returned to its original state. Old Zhang then walked over to the other evil beast, followed by another "crunching" sound.

Immediately afterward, Old Zhang quickly retreated. In an instant, the earth shook violently, kicking up clouds of dust that filled the air.

Having no choice, the group scrambled back to their previous hiding spots, holding their military backpacks in front of them as shields. Following another deafening boom, the heavy bronze-carved tomb gate slowly groaned open, revealing a spacious passageway three meters wide and six meters high.

Sunlight refracted into the tunnel, illuminating a rough outline, yet a profound darkness still hung over us, waiting for our expedition to explore.

Old Zhang entered the ruins first. After steadying himself, he waved his left hand to signal that it was safe.

Only then did the rest of the group collect themselves and follow in Old Zhang's footsteps, arriving together before the open bronze-carved tomb gate.

Old Zhang glanced at the carved stone stele nearby and said, "North Slope of the Ghost City—this bodes ill! I'll go in first, and you all follow behind. Fengzi, take good care of Han Xin."

With those words, Old Zhang stepped ahead of everyone else and entered the ancient tomb.

Lighting a fire starter, he proceeded with extreme caution, while the men in black switched on their waterproof flashlights.

Soon, Old Zhang vanished into the long tunnel, and the dim light became extremely hazy. Even with waterproof flashlights and fire starters, visibility remained poor.

Then, with a screeching groan, the heavy bronze-carved tomb gate slowly began to close.

Followed by another deafening crash, the heavy door sealed shut completely.

At that moment, one of the men in black stammered, "Boss, are we... are we going to die in this place?!"

Han Xin jerked her arm away from my grasp and scolded the man fiercely: "If any of you are afraid of dying, it's still not too late to leave. For those who stay, anyone who dares speak of retreating again will find no mercy from me!"

She glanced around at the crowd. Seeing that everyone remained silent, she turned back around with my support and continued forward.

After walking for an unknown duration, a pale yellow firelight flickered in the distance. The pinpoint of light remained largely stationary, its hue growing increasingly faint.

Han Xin said, "Mr. Feng, I think we should split into two groups! It will be faster that way. We can rendezvous at the fork up ahead, what do you think?"

Seeing her insistence, I had no choice but to agree, and I entered the left-hand tunnel.

At first, there was nothing unusual, save for the howling of a biting cold wind that whipped against my body.

Before long, I heard footsteps echoing through the cavernous tunnel where I was now completely alone.

Some steps were hurried, others erratic, accompanied by the sound of breathing—the kind only a living person could make—sounding right beside my ear.

Those sounds seemed horrifyingly distinct within the dark tunnel, resembling something unseen, intangible, yet terrifyingly real.

Instantly, cold sweat broke out in beads on my forehead as the sound echoed by my ear once more:

"Fengzi!"

I turned my head backward involuntarily.

Behind me, there was nothing but darkness and more darkness. I realized the gravity of the situation.

Then, another voice sounded, and I felt an invisible pressure bearing down upon me from the front.