Volume 2: The Secret Burial in the Cliff Ravine - Chapter 137: The Person Who Should Not Be Here

Ma Su rattled off a series of questions, which had clearly lingered in his mind for a long time. When Liang Yue had previously expressed doubts about Xing Mo, Ma Su must have had his own thoughts as well, though he had not dared to believe them and had continued to speak up for Xing Mo. It was only Xing Mo's bizarre appearance today that had reignited Ma Su's suspicions.

Xing Mo looked close to tears, shaking his head repeatedly. "Professor, it's really not what you think... Please, you have to believe me."

"How do you expect me to believe you? Then tell me first, why are you here?"

Xing Mo sighed, as if making a momentous decision, and said, "Fine. Actually, I followed someone in."

"Who?"

"It was... Zhou Zheng."

"Zhou Zheng?" Hearing this name, Ma Su was utterly surprised, but a cold sneer followed immediately. "Xing Mo, you are something else... Even now, you're still trying to cover things up. You know very well that Zhou Zheng is currently in the hospital, on the verge of death, and yet you... you actually try to pin this on him."

Before coming to Mount Niuyang, Ma Su had shown me a photograph of Zhou Zheng.

In the picture, Zhou Zheng was lying in a hospital bed, skin and bones, relying solely on nutrient solution to sustain his life.

Yet Xing Mo claimed he had followed Zhou Zheng to South Willow Village. Leaving aside Ma Su, even I felt that Xing Mo was merely changing the subject and desperately arguing for the sake of it.

However, looking at Xing Mo's expression, he didn't seem to be lying; his face was flushed red with anxiety.

At that moment, the white skeletons scattered across the ground once again emitted a rattling, grinding sound.

This left us no time to continue arguing over right and wrong, as everyone understood that those strange crawling bugs were on the move again.

True to expectation, the bugs pushed the bones aside, and a narrow, elongated passage opened up before us once more.

Simultaneously, a dense swarm of other creepy-crawlies appeared within the passage.

Yet these bugs were vastly different from the large ones responsible for clearing the path earlier. This new batch varied greatly in form and size, and their colors were dazzling, brilliant, and garish.

Although I knew little about insects, experience told me they were much like snakes: the more brightly colored they were, the more venomous they became. Thus, the creatures appearing in the passage must be intensely lethal, toxic bugs.

The rustling sound of the venomous bugs crawling was ceaseless, unsettling one's mind to the core.

We instinctively retreated backward, all the way until we reached the side of the altar.

As for those venomous bugs, they stopped crawling forward once they reached the vicinity of the altar, as if holding some sort of taboo.

"Someone is coming," Liang Yue said in a deep voice.

Sure enough, a figure was walking slowly from the far end of the passage.

We shone our flashlights forward and discovered that the person was completely enveloped in a black robe from head to toe, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed to stare at us. Catching that gaze gave me a jolt, as if I had seen it somewhere before.

Right, it was the dead person resting upon the altar. Their gaze was just as sharp, just as spectral.

The figure walked slowly to a distance of seven or eight meters from us and came to a halt.

Suddenly, I noticed that Ma Su, standing beside me, was trembling uncontrollably.

I glanced at Ma Su and saw his eyes fixed and wide, staring straight at the newcomer.

Just as I was about to ask what was going on, I heard Ma Su blurt out a cry: "Zhou Zheng?!"

At the same time, Xing Mo shouted out as well, his voice ringing out almost in perfect unison with Ma Su's.

He was Zhou Zheng?

I simply could not believe that the newcomer could be Zhou Zheng—the very same Zhou Zheng who was on his last breath and surviving solely on nutrient solution? It seemed plausible for anyone else to appear here, but Zhou Zheng was absolute the last person who should be in such a place.

Hearing the shouts from Xing Mo and Ma Su, the newcomer slowly removed the hood from his head.

An incomparably pale face was revealed. I had only seen photographs of Zhou Zheng and didn't have a deep impression of him, but as he took off his hood, neither Ma Su nor Xing Mo showed any great astonishment. Clearly, the newcomer was indeed Zhou Zheng.

A faint, uncanny smile played on Zhou Zheng's lips, and beneath that smile seemed to lurk a multitude of secrets unknown to us.

"Hello, teachers." Zhou Zheng bowed to Ma Su and Xing Mo, and then said indifferently, "I didn't expect you to still recognize me dressed like this."

"Zhou... Zhou Zheng, what on earth are you playing at? What is the meaning of all this?"

Zhou Zheng did not answer Ma Su's question. Instead, he unhurriedly began to take off the black robe he was wearing.

His movements were very slow, and his build was indeed extremely frail—the kind of weak-as-a-reed thinness where a sudden movement might cause him to fall apart.

Yet in this setting, Zhou Zheng still exuded a powerful aura, perhaps connected to the swarming, venomous bugs at his feet. The insects automatically parted to form a circle around the spot where Zhou Zheng stood, clustering around him like stars revolving around the moon.

Time itself seemed to slow down along with Zhou Zheng's sluggish movements. I glanced back and saw that Third Uncle was still sitting cross-legged in the same spot, and I could discern a faint wisp of vapor rising from the crown of his head.

As for the rest of us, sweat was seeping from our brows to varying degrees. Anxious as we were, gazing at Zhou Zheng, none of us dared to make any other move. We all shared a lingering intuition: a single inappropriate action could very well invite fatal disaster.

Zhou Zheng cast off the black robe, revealing underneath a garment remarkably similar to the one worn by the corpse upon the altar.

It was likewise a tunic as thin as a cicada's wing.

Such clothing only made Zhou Zheng look even more skeletal. I could even see his protruding ribs one by one.

Looking at Ma Su, Zhou Zheng said, "Teacher, you have always been someone I deeply respect. I have no intention of harming you, and I know you have many questions in your mind. We have plenty of time, so you can listen to me explain. However, I know none of you are pushovers. Let me make this clear beforehand: if anyone dares to try any little tricks during this time, don't blame me for being impolite..."

Zhou Zheng's voice was soft, but by the end, it carried an unbidden majesty. Before his voice even faded, the surrounding venomous bugs began to grow restless.

Xing Mo pointed at Zhou Zheng and rebuked angrily, "Zhou Zheng, enough is enough! Professor Ma is getting old and cannot endure this kind of torment from you. We have no desire to know about your wretched affairs. I advise you to stop this immediately, or things will not end well for you. Teacher, don't listen to his nonsense, let's go..."

With that, Xing Mo stepped forward, preparing to support Ma Su and leave.

Zhou Zheng raised an eyebrow. Without making any particularly dramatic move, the venomous bugs on the ground suddenly surged up en masse, flooding toward Xing Mo like a tidal wave.

"Watch out!" I shouted loudly to warn Xing Mo.

Fearing that Ma Su would be harmed, Xing Mo hurriedly let go of Ma Su and rapidly retreated a couple of steps.

We all knew that the space here was extremely restricted, and the venomous bugs were capable of infiltrating every nook and cranny. Relying solely on dodging meant there was simply no way to escape.