sbdcsierra Chapter 429 Ape?!
Chapter 429 Ape?!
"We thought we had found refuge..."
Yang Guojun hesitated for a moment, then closed his eyes in anguish.
"But when we got to the main burial chamber, the few surviving team members... suddenly went mad, attacking and tearing at each other like wild beasts... I, I pretended to be dead and lay down in the pile of corpses, and that's how I managed to escape..."
He opened his eyes, looked at everyone, and said in a low voice:
"I discovered this dark room by accident while I was fleeing in a panic. Later, I hid here and, relying on my previous knowledge of microbiology and observation, I slowly figured it out..."
On the coffin and chains grew a very peculiar mold. Its spores, the dust itself, could affect the central nervous system, producing intense hallucinations and triggering the most primal violence and fear within… just like eating certain highly poisonous mushrooms, driving someone completely insane, making them unrecognizable to even their closest relatives!
spore?
Everyone was astonished that this dust could be so dangerous!
Yang Qing suppressed her lingering fear, but was even more concerned about her father's living conditions these past few days:
"Dad, how did you survive all these days hiding here?"
Yang Guojun pointed to the pile of nearly empty, poorly packaged compressed biscuits in the corner and said with a wry smile:
"We survived entirely on these, taking only small bites when we were extremely hungry." He then pointed to the lower part of the rock wall on the other side of the dark room.
"As for water... there's always a way out. There happens to be a hidden seepage hole here, with a trickle of fresh water. Although it's not much, it's enough to sustain life."
He paused, then looked around the makeshift shelter.
"Now it seems that this secret chamber was probably not naturally formed, but rather a glimmer of hope left when the tomb was built, or rather, an observation post or a refuge."
The crowd looked at the meager supplies and felt heavy-hearted. They had more than a dozen mouths to feed, and those few biscuits were undoubtedly a drop in the ocean.
Zhong Yuemin wasn't preoccupied with food; he had plenty of it in his space. He was more concerned with finding a way out. Looking at Yang Guojun, he asked in a deep voice:
"Professor Yang, you've been here for so long, have you found any other exits? Or rather... escape routes?"
Logically speaking, a tomb of this size, with so many people buried alive with it, must have been for high-ranking officials or nobles, if not an emperor. The craftsmen who built it would likely have been killed and buried with the deceased.
If there were any clever individuals among them who didn't want to die, they might have secretly prepared an escape route for themselves during construction.
Upon hearing this, Yang Guojun glanced at Zhong Yuemin with slight surprise, and his opinion of the young man who had recently "accidentally" injured him became more scrutinizing and appreciative.
"Captain Zhong, I didn't expect you to know so much about these ancient tombs."
He nodded, his tone certain.
“That’s right, that’s what I think too. And I’m almost certain that such an escape route exists.”
"Oh? Why are you so sure? Professor Yang, have you discovered some clues?"
Zhang Haiyang couldn't help but interject, asking eagerly. All he wanted now was to leave this awful place and breathe some fresh air.
Yang Guojun adjusted his broken glasses and analyzed:
"First of all, it's basic common sense: if this tomb were completely sealed off and isolated from the outside world, we would have all suffocated from lack of oxygen long ago and wouldn't have survived until now. This means there must be a hidden ventilation shaft connecting it to the outside."
Then he went on to state the more crucial findings:
"The second point is about those spores. I have observed them for a long time. This special mold grows almost only densely on the iron chains binding the coffin and on the surface of the coffin itself, while it is very sparse in other areas. This does not conform to the rule that spores are randomly scattered and grow evenly."
Everyone's attention was completely drawn to the tomb, leaving only Professor Yang's voice in the room.
"Later, I finally figured out the reason..."
Yang Guojun's tone took on a chill.
"It's because of the 'thing' inside the coffin. It needs to come out and move around, crawling in and out, which inevitably means it frequently comes into contact with the iron chains and the coffin. Some substance it carries, or its own characteristics, such as water or plants, just happen to provide an excellent 'breeding ground' for the growth of this special mold. That's why the spores are concentrated there!"
A glint flashed in Zhong Yuemin's eyes as he astutely grasped the crux of the matter: "Professor Yang, you mean... that thing not only knows the exit, but may even... go out to forage regularly?"
"Probably!"
Yang Guojun nodded emphatically, his face grave.
"It needs to find food. What else would such a huge creature eat? Without an outlet, it would probably have starved to death long ago. The mantis monsters in this underground river system may be one of its food sources, but it may not be enough."
It may very well travel along some unknown path to a place even further, perhaps... closer to the surface, or even beyond..."
Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly remembered the roaring sounds coming from the main burial chamber. Because of the tension and oppressive atmosphere, they had all forgotten to ask about it.
Zhang Haiyang swallowed hard and asked the question that everyone feared most and most wanted to know:
"Professor Yang... what exactly is locked inside that suspended coffin? Could it be... the leader of those humanoid praying mantises? Or... something even more sinister?"
"It's not a praying mantis, it's...it's..."
Yang Guojun recalled the figure, "It looked like an ape... but definitely not any of the kinds we know!"
He gestured with his hands, his fingers trembling slightly:
"That beast was covered in thick, moss-like green fur, and even its fingernails and the fangs protruding from its mouth were that eerie emerald green. When it stood up, it was at least two meters tall, and its skeleton was frighteningly large. I have never seen such an 'ape' before."
"Apes?!"
Everyone was astonished!
Wang Ye said,
“Professor Yang, that deep growl didn’t sound like a primate at all. It was creepy. It sounded more like the roar of a giant feline!”
As an agent of Bureau 749, he had a better understanding of the files on various anomalous creatures.
Yang Guojun shook his head.
"I can't explain it either, I can't express it accurately. Only when you actually see it can you truly understand!"
Then he revealed an even more chilling fact: "Since you've been to the main burial chamber, you should have seen the corpses on the ground, right? Those are just the ones that have been left recently. That beast is nocturnal. Earlier, the corpses... and many more, were all dragged away and eaten by that beast."
Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions changed drastically. An unknown, possibly mutated or even more bizarre "green-haired ape," chained and suspended in a coffin, could escape at night and feed on human corpses... Just imagining this scene was enough to send chills down their spines and make them tremble uncontrollably.