Chapter 108: The Hand

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But they had not come here as tourists, nor were they investigating the mystery of the Buddha head’s disappearance. After pausing briefly, they prepared to continue onward. Just then, they suddenly heard movement ahead. Someone immediately swept the area with a flashlight, then raised his gun and called out, “Who’s there?”

As soon as one man raised his weapon, everyone else did the same. At that moment, a woman’s voice came from within the darkness.

“Plan A.”

Sichuan Boy let out a sigh of relief. “All right, one of our own. Come out.”

After he spoke, a woman emerged. She carried an enormous backpack and wore camouflage fatigues. Though she looked thoroughly disheveled, it did nothing to diminish the fact that she was an attractive and delicate-looking woman.

Even after she had uttered the words “Plan A,” they remained extremely wary in that environment. Chen Dongfang and the others kept their guns trained on her while Sichuan Boy and the rest stepped forward to search her. Only after confirming that she posed no danger did Chen Dongfang approach and ask, “Who are you?”

The woman blinked. “My name is Bai Jin. I was the one who sent the distress signal earlier. You should know who I am now, right? Can you give me something to eat?”

After saying this, she flushed slightly. “I haven’t eaten in three days.”

She truly seemed to be starving. She ate three cans of beef, followed by some compressed biscuits, and finally drank a little water. Then she glanced at the six young men staring wide-eyed as she ate.

“Aren’t you going to have something yourselves?”

No matter the circumstances, women were a catalyst for a man’s fighting spirit. Before A returned, the team had nearly fallen apart. Now, the appearance of such a beautiful woman—who was also a member of the expert group—undoubtedly rekindled hope in the six soldiers.

Once they had eaten their fill, the six of them chose Chen Dongfang as their representative to inquire about the situation. Bai Jin looked at their youthful faces and said, “Given how strictly this matter was classified, you probably know nothing about it. Since you treated me to a meal, I’ll explain. Beneath us lies the ruins of an ancient and mysterious religion. The headless statues you passed earlier were part of that religion’s traditional rituals. Unlike other religions, which worship their gods, this mysterious faith seemed to have a grievance against every deity in existence. They created statues, then cut off the statues’ heads in order to trample all the gods beneath their feet. Of course, you could also understand it as their attempt to create a place where the gods had abandoned mankind. Our purpose in coming here was to uncover the secrets of this mysterious religion.”

Soldiers might not worship the gods, but though ghosts and deities could be disregarded, they must never be offended. Thus, these men could not help admiring the religion’s audacity. In the language of martial-arts fiction, it might well have been called a demonic cult.

Sichuan Boy in particular had become a devout believer after the incident with the protective talisman. His face had gone pale as he murmured, “Aren’t they afraid the gods will punish them?”

While everyone remained absorbed in the mysterious religion Bai Jin had described, Chen Dongfang asked, “What did you discover? And if so many of you came here, why are you the only one left?”

“The others went farther ahead, beyond that door. Perhaps because I was the only woman on the team, they took special care of me. But the truth is, they went through that door a long time ago and still haven’t returned. Beforehand, they told me that if they hadn’t come back within two days, I was to send a distress signal to the outside. Unfortunately, the radio broke down after I sent the signal. I wanted to leave, but there’s a shadow on the road ahead. Without the captain’s protection, I can’t get out.”

In the end, the six men held a brief meeting. They decided to accompany Bai Jin to the stone door ahead and take a look, but they would not enter. With A absent, no one knew what this woman’s true identity was. Moreover, according to her account, the rest of her team had vanished behind that door. There was undoubtedly some unimaginable danger within.

They advanced roughly five kilometers before finally reaching the door. It was an ancient stone gate. Two statues stood before it, appearing somewhat like qilin, though perhaps not quite. After enduring the ravages of time, both stone figures had weathered so severely that their original features were almost impossible to discern.

“They went inside through this stone door, and they still haven’t come out. Hurry and rescue them!”

Upon arriving, Bai Jin seemed suddenly frantic, evidently consumed with concern for her teammates.

They had not originally intended to open the stone door. Yet the door seemed to mark the end of the mountain itself, giving the impression that once it opened, they would be able to see the landscape beyond. After expending so much effort along the way, they wanted to open it and take a glimpse inside. Even if they did not enter, they could simply close it again if necessary. That had been their thought at the time.

But just as they opened the stone door, A’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Stop!”

It was already too late. Countless arms abruptly thrust out from beyond the doorway, writhing like the tentacles of a savage octopus. There was no time to evade them. After Sichuan Boy let out a furious curse, the arms dragged him through the doorway. Another man was pulled in with him.

The remaining men reacted at once. They raised their machine guns and fired at the arms. Bullets tore them apart in an instant, exploding them into foul, bloody mist. Yet the speed at which the arms regenerated far exceeded the speed at which the men could shoot.

They retreated while firing, but the arms pursued them relentlessly. At that moment, A suddenly charged forward. Instead of using his gun, he drew a flexible sword from his waist. In his hands, it moved like a silver serpent, severing countless grasping hands as it flashed through the air.

“Close the door!” he shouted while wielding the sword.

“It’s too late!” my father, who had returned with A, called out.

With that, he walked forward, drew a dagger, and slashed open his own palm, allowing the blood to drip onto the ground. The arms seemed to catch the scent of it. Abandoning their attack on A and the others, every one of them surged toward my father, Ye Tianhua.

He did not attempt to evade them. He simply allowed the many hands to seize him.

Once the arms withdrew beyond the stone door, A shouted, “Close it!”

Only then did the others, who had been frozen in shock, rush forward and slam the stone door shut.

No one knew how much time passed before the shaken men finally recovered their senses. It was then that they noticed something: when A had returned, he had been carrying a female corpse on his back. The body now lay on the ground.

Everyone took one look and recognized her.

It was the woman who had claimed to be Bai Jin.

“The thing that lured you into opening the door was a ghost,” A said. “I found her corpse ahead.”

Chen Dongfang was worried about my father and the others who had been dragged inside. He asked, “What kind of monster was that? How could it have so many hands?”

A shook his head.

“What do we do now? Tianhua and the others will be all right, won’t they?” Chen Dongfang asked.

A gazed at the stone door. “Haven’t you realized it yet? Even that shadow could not take Ye Tianhua’s life. He belongs here.”

First the shadow had killed people; then a female ghost had lured them into opening the door so that they could be sent to their deaths. The four soldiers who remained were truly terrified. It was not that their resolve was weak. They had been trained in the army to kill—to defeat enemies on the battlefield—not to deal with ghosts and monsters.

A seemed somewhat guilty about the soldiers’ pointless sacrifice. He said, “The shadow is gone. I intend to enter through this stone door and take a look. After all, our mission is to rescue the experts. Of course, if you want to turn back, you may. I give you permission.”

The result was predictable. Two of the men left, leaving only Chen Dongfang, Tang Renjie, and A.

Chen Dongfang stayed because he was worried about my father’s safety. Tang Renjie’s decision to remain surprised him somewhat. Tang Renjie merely smiled at him.

“I was too frightened earlier and disgraced myself once. If I leave again this time, I’ll never be able to hold my head up for the rest of my life.”

Because of those words, Chen Dongfang’s dislike of Tang Renjie diminished somewhat.

No one was perfect. Perhaps when he had accepted my father Ye Tianhua’s protective talisman, he had simply been too terrified to know what he was doing.

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