Chapter 20 Chapter 19 Ghost on the Wall

The lame old man Wang said to the three fat men, "Fat man, you can't see it wrong. The underground water system of the Gunlong Dam is actually an underground riverbed under the old Yangtze River. After a long time, it was discovered by the ancients. It is used as a waterway for transporting materials. If you look at the landform of the riverbed near here, it is at least thousands of years old. If the front is really blocked, this waterway should have been flooded long ago, and it is our turn to come in." I looked in front of me, and saw that there were black holes, and said: "This kind of underground river bed is usually formed by the erosion of water flow all year round. The entire mountain body may have been eroded long ago and it is riddled with holes. I don't know how many large and small river beds are there. It is normal for the river to change its course in the cave. However, no matter what it is, there must be a waterway leading directly to the outside world, or even an underground river. Anyway, the flow is getting lower and lower. In a few hundred years, the entire Gunlong Dam will collapse."

The three of them looked at the river in front of them while talking, and with the light of the torches in their hands, the bamboo raft moved forward along the river. Halfway along the way, you can see many large and small caves on both sides of the cave wall, with traces of artificial drilling, and they are arranged very neatly.There is a dark coffin in each cave, only half of the body is exposed.On the stone steps below the cave wall, from time to time, one can see the dead bones of a person, the clothes and so on have been rotted, and there are some things like clay pots, the original appearance of which can no longer be seen clearly.

The scenes on the entire dark river bed are very bizarre.From the looks of it, it should be the scene where the Cuban branch raised slaves and prisoners of war and chiseled caves in western Hubei.However, the time is too far away from now, and in such a humid environment, the specific situation can no longer be discerned. We walked downstream along the river, and we couldn't help being a little surprised when we saw the scenes on both sides of the water cave.It was originally estimated that the Wu clan was just a small branch of the Ba clan that gathered in the Yangtze River Basin in western Hubei thousands of years ago, and the scale should not be too large.But looking at the current situation, just looking at this underground river that almost passes through the entire Gunlongbazi, the manpower and material resources used back then were definitely not small.From this point of view, the scale of this site built in the underground channel of the Yangtze River may far exceed our expectations.

The bamboo raft traveled farther and farther on the dark river bed, and soon the sides of the river narrowed.Not long after, I heard the faint sound of rumbling water suddenly coming from the opposite side of the river. Everyone was shocked, and the three fatty's complexion changed, and he took a breath and said, "No way! Could it be a waterfall in front?" The sound of the water on the opposite side was rumbling, but even after hearing the sound of the water flowing louder and louder, At the moment we are in a straight line in the river bed, and there is no way to escape.We held the torches in our hands high, looking for a possible way out.The speed of the bamboo raft has also increased. It can be imagined that the dark river ahead has entered a terrain with a huge drop.

Finally, the end of the long and narrow underground river bed was finally seen, and it could be seen from a distance, in the crack of the huge mountain, blocked by a dark wall.Under the reflection of the torches, it could barely be seen clearly that it turned out to be a brick wall twenty or thirty meters high, with some faint light shining through it. That huge wall runs across the entire river, and in the dark water hole, it is like a moat, blocking everything.Fortunately, the foundation of the wall was not on the river bed, and the river passed through the wall and merged into the river channel behind the brick wall.Looking in the direction of the water flow, the sound of rumbling water can be heard from a distance, as if there is a waterfall over there.

Now is not the time of the year when the old Yangtze river system has the most abundant water, but everyone can still feel the impact along the speed of the water flow.If it was on weekdays, the entire channel of the underground river might be swallowed by the turbulent Yangtze River water and covered in a cloud of muddy sand. Seeing the bamboo raft along the river, getting closer and closer to the huge wall, and hearing the sound of rumbling water opposite, everyone felt an inexplicable panic.Lame Wang's face became even more ugly, and he cursed: "How is it possible, there is no road ahead? If we go any further, we will all be washed into the dark river under the underground abyss by the current. The sun is gone." Hearing this, everyone dared not move forward rashly, I asked the three fat guys to control the speed of the bamboo raft, and decided how to pass after everyone was ready.

The three fat guys cursed, the flow of the last part of the river was too fast, the boy supported the bottom of the river with a bamboo pole, and although he tried his best to stop the raft from moving forward, he still rushed across the length of tens of meters in one breath. of the river. At this time, seeing the sound of rumbling water getting louder and louder in the cave ahead, Mr. Wang's crippled face turned ashen, and he grabbed my arm: "This is troublesome now, the front must be the legendary underground waterfall, the drop is too big , directly through the underground river hundreds of meters underground. If the bamboo raft falls into it, all of us will die.” The sound of the rumbling water was already close to our ears, and we were already terrified by the sound before we saw its shape. At this moment, the slightest delay could no longer be tolerated, everyone's expressions changed, and the three fat men suggested that everyone abandon the raft and run away.

I hurriedly pressed the boy's body, and cursed: "Damn, the water is so fast now, where are you going? Don't panic, the river here is flat, and you will die if you fall. I think the only thing to do is hold on first. Bamboo raft, think of another way to escape." The sound of rumbling water surged like a tide, and the bamboo raft traveled another seven or eight meters, and finally stopped at a black stone gate.The surrounding light was very dark. We used a torch to detect the surrounding situation a little, and found that the buildings were all made of wood and stone. Judging by the degree of corrosion by the water flow, it had been many years.

There are many layers of stone gates of this kind of wood and stone structure, extending to the deepest part of the river, and it seems that they directly lead to the huge brick wall three or four feet away. We waited anxiously on the bamboo raft. As time went by and we didn't find any other passages, everyone began to lose their temper.At this time, in the dark environment, the most fearful thing is to wait for a long time, which will completely wipe out people's patience bit by bit. The three fat men held a bamboo pole and spit into the dark river water, the bamboo pole in their hands stirred the water surface and rattled: "This river itself is very wide and not too long, but it just can't get through. The wall opposite is also evil enough, who the hell would build such a weird building here, so that it is tightly blocked. Or, let's take the risk to find out the truth?"

The surrounding environment was pitch black, and with only the light from the torch in my hand, I couldn't see the surrounding situation clearly. After hearing what the fat man said, the bamboo raft became quiet. "Are you sure?" I asked. The three fat men pursed their lips and nodded.To be honest, when I saw the huge wall across the riverbed opposite, I also thought it was a bit weird, so I planned to get off the bamboo raft to see what happened first.Unexpectedly, as soon as I was about to leave, I felt my wrist tighten, and the silent dead face suddenly grabbed my hand, put the index finger to his lips, and made a silent gesture to everyone.

After such a long period of running-in, needless to say, seeing the dead face's movement, I knew that he must have sensed something was wrong again. I immediately gave up the idea of ​​taking the risk, and stood on the bamboo raft holding my breath, and the other two people fixed their eyes on the dead face in black. Lame Wang hurriedly asked what was going on with Dead Face, and if he had noticed something was wrong again. The dead man's face was blindfolded by the black cloth, and he could not see any emotion. He slowly raised his arm, pointed his index finger at the opposite wall and said, "There is a woman in the wall." What he said made everyone feel horrified, such an evil thing, how could it come right away?Along the way, we all had an inexplicable trust in Dead Face, and we always felt that we would be much safer with him by our side.But this time, everyone couldn't help but have some doubts.The wall on the opposite side on the bed of the dark river is indeed a bit weird, but how could there be a woman inside the wall?And even if there is an interlayer, can the eyes of the dead face still see through? Only Old Lame Wang nodded thoughtfully. The third fat man and I couldn't believe it, and looked at the dead man's face again. His face was a little pale, expressionless as always. The old cripple coughed dryly twice, and hurriedly said, we'd better not touch that wall, it's not clean everywhere.Let's move forward quickly, see if there are any other ways, leave this place early, and don't worry about what ghosts are inside the wall... Dead Face suddenly spoke again. He pointed to the wall across the river bed and said to everyone, "The woman in the wall is alive." The third fat man was stunned, and said, "No way. Little brother, look at the poor environment here, at least it has been thousands of years old, even if there are any women... now, no matter what, they have to become a woman. With bones." I nodded and said, "Yes, you must have misread it. How could there be a woman in this wall? I can't think of the purpose of people doing this before." As soon as I said this, the third fat man cursed and asked, "Then what should we do now? Should we go or not? Let me give you a good word..." But Dead Face said: "Let's get closer first, the things in this wall are too fierce, I'm not sure." "Closer? Well, let's go, Three Fatty! Keep going! But you have to take it easy, don't take the raft and let's fall into the underground waterfall." I immediately said, the current situation is blocked from left to right , only by continuing to move forward, may one be able to find a way out! But I always have a strong sense of insecurity in my heart, and I am afraid I will encounter a hard stubble this time! All of us put up all our energy to prevent the bamboo raft from overturning suddenly, and to take care of each other so that we would not be caught off guard.The third fat man supported the bamboo pole, his big face was flushed from holding back, and he even exerted all his strength to feed.The bamboo raft moved along the two sides of the river, scraping against the jagged rocks, and moved little by little. This lasted for six or seven minutes, and we were less than three meters away from the pass of the river.With the light of the torch in his hand, he could vaguely see the situation on the opposite side. Standing on the bamboo raft, the cave leading to the underground waterfall is cut off by a huge wall tens of meters high.The specific situation is unclear, and some vague mysterious and strange symbols and similar text marks can be recognized on the top, but the whole wall immediately appears huge when standing under it, and people standing in front of it feel a little small and insignificant. As it traverses the river bed, the surface of the entire wall is soaked, and some parts become quite blurred, and the wall surface feels smooth and transparent.It doesn't seem to be an ordinary rock or brick wall, but it is somewhat similar to some glazed jade. And at the same moment, we all saw the figure of a woman vaguely revealed in that huge wall. It was a woman with loose hair and gorgeous clothes. The moment I saw the person in the wall, I didn't pay much attention, but the next moment I realized, how could there be a woman with such well-preserved clothes in this place? Everyone's hearts sank immediately, looking at the figure in the dark wall opposite, they all felt a kind of cold air rushing straight to the top of their heads. "This...what the hell is this?" I cursed softly. "Fucking ghosts know." The third fat man couldn't help shrinking his neck, and sneezed, "We won't...won't encounter monsters, right?" "Don't talk nonsense. There are no monsters in this world. But if it's a person, how did she get into the wall?" I couldn't make up my mind either. The third fat man looked around, took a deep breath, and said, "Hey, I said Er Ba Ye, do you still remember the legend about ghosts climbing the wall that we heard when we were young?" As soon as his words fell, the surroundings immediately fell silent for two or three seconds, and a chill came down my spine. The so-called ghosts on the wall is a widely spread folklore in Northeast China. It is said that in some unclean places, people often see women crying on the wall inexplicably in their sleep.After the wall was opened, it was found that there was an interlayer inside without knowing when, and there were things like women's hair, red headbands, or embroidered shoes. No one knew how these evil things got into the wall, and no one knew what happened to the figures that often appeared inexplicably. This phenomenon is difficult to explain. Folks in the Northeast often think that this is due to bad feng shui, which has collided with evil spirits. Since the things that appear in the wall are not artificially put in, they are bewitched by evil spirits.According to legend, these houses with ghosts on the walls cannot be lived in. Basically, the owners of the houses will die strangely for no reason. The legend of ghosts climbing the wall has been circulating for hundreds of years, and I don't know where it came from. Especially in the rural areas of Northeast China, it is spread so seriously and magically that every place has its own version.I didn't think about it in this direction at first, but now that Fatty Three said that, I couldn't help shivering, thinking, this kind of evil thing won't be so unlucky for us to encounter today. "No?" I hesitated. "Fatty, I haven't seen a ghost on the wall in my life, but judging by the posture, we've seen it today." The uneasiness in my heart became more and more intense. Looking at the long-haired woman looming on the dark wall opposite, I still felt something was wrong: "Impossible, maybe this is just a female corpse hanging on the wall, not as evil as we said." "No one can say that, anyway, Fatty, I'm terrified. Use a torch to see if there are any problems around." The fat man said. With a bit of luck, I held up a torch and carefully took another look. The cave was surrounded by dark shadows, and I couldn't see the outline, and I could barely make out some decayed wood and stone structures.We approached carefully for a while, and soon the bamboo raft came to a place less than two meters away from the wall. As the distance got closer and closer, with just one glance, everyone was horrified to find that there was more than one woman in the dark wall opposite.Surrounding her body, there were densely packed human-shaped shadows, which made people's scalps almost explode. Inside the entire wall, it seems that people are inlaid all over. After a rough count, there are probably at least hundreds of people. "His grandma's, I'm so damned!" The three fatty broke out in a cold sweat, "What the hell is going on with this fucking grandma? Could it be that the whole thing is a wall of corpses?" "Is this really a monster?" I've heard stories about ghosts on the wall before. At best, I can only find things like hair and embroidered shoes. How can it be so evil now?The entire interior of the wall is covered with corpses, which is really appalling. The three fatty shook his head: "Ghosts on the wall are just folklore in Northeast China after all. In the end, none of us have seen it. But such a big wall blocks the river, and the shadows inside the wall are all horrific. I'm afraid it's not a good thing, and..." He looked a little weird, "And, I always feel that the shadows in these walls are somewhat similar to the humanoid figurines we saw in the corpse cave." Hearing what he said, I immediately felt a thump in my heart, thinking, yes, the figures in these walls are the same as those corpse figurines before, no matter their posture or movement, they have a deep sense of death. So I followed his words and said, "You mean, the figures on the opposite wall are not monsters or ghosts on the wall, but were sealed in the interlayer when people built the wall?" The third fat man hesitated, and then he turned pale and said, "I don't know if the whole guess is true. After all, no one can guarantee whether there is any interlayer mechanism inside the wall." I looked at the figures on the opposite wall, and the more I looked at them, the more I felt an inexplicable horror shrouded in them: "I wonder, could this be used by the ancient Wu clan to carry out cruel punishments?" , those who have been condemned may have been sealed in the mezzanine of this wall?" "I'm afraid it's just that simple." At this time, the lame Wang coughed dryly and corrected, "In the past, people's work was definitely not so simple, and it all had its role in it. Those corpses are for cultivating a huge number of food. It is something that exists as a corpse of human flesh. The figures in these walls are also the same, there must be some secrets that we don’t know, and they are definitely not there just to scare people.” When I thought of the countless green-haired corpses that were bound by iron chains and hanging down in the cave, I shivered inexplicably. The role of the corpse wall is terrible.I suppressed the horror in my heart and said, "These are just our guesses after all." Old Lame Wang's expression was not very good-looking. Perhaps even he himself felt that his thoughts were too creepy. After a pause, he spoke: "Yes, these are all our conjectures now. These personal shadows What exactly is it, unless we smash the wall, there is no way to find out. We don't even know whether this shadow is a person..." At this point, his face turned pale, obviously thinking of it. Something rather dire. I took the bamboo pole in the hand of the third fat man, stretched it and knocked on the dark wall opposite, making a crisp sound of "thump, thump, thump".The walls appear to be very thick, and the whole body has a translucent texture, which should be piled up with some kind of crystal stone. I knocked a few times, but for some reason, my heart became more and more uneasy. I always felt that this wall didn't seem to block those of us who came later, but more like sealing the figures inside the wall to prevent some kind of Something is running out of it... Inexplicably, my heart skipped a beat, and I suddenly remembered the story about demon suppression that I heard told by the old man at home. In order to suppress some fierce and vicious demons, people with the right way would always build some buildings such as bell towers and lighthouses. The demon town is below.The situation they were talking about was so similar to the current situation where the living figure was sealed inside the wall. His grandma's!My heart is trembling. Could it be that the figures in this wall are all sealed monsters? If so, then what are these figures sealed in the interlayer of the stone wall? Thinking of this, I suddenly had a desire to pry into the secret, but deep down in my heart was followed by deep fear, and I couldn't help saying: "People in the past used such cruel and decisive methods to destroy these things. The fact that the figures are still alive and dead in the interlayer of the wall is enough to show the horror and hideousness of these things. If this is the case, if we release them by mistake, wouldn’t it be courting death? For the present plan, we It’s better to find a way out as soon as possible.” After hearing what I said, the three fatty nodded deeply.Then he turned his gaze to Dead Face, wanting to ask for his opinion. It was only then that everyone remembered that until now Dead Face hadn't made any gestures.I turned my head to look, and found that the dead face was no longer in the position just now, and I couldn't help but be surprised.Looking again, he didn't know when, he actually ran to a broken wooden and stone structure in front of the bamboo raft, and his eyes were fixed on the opposite wall. The three fat guys and I looked at each other, and both felt that something was wrong. At this moment, I heard Old Wang lame cough dryly, and the three of them walked over. We walked to the position close to the dead man's face and found that his face was gloomy, staring at the long-haired woman inside the previous wall, not knowing what he was thinking. I thought to myself, why is Dead Face staring at this thing?From the very beginning, this little brother has been brooding over the figure in the interlayer of the wall. Did he discover something else?Out of my trust in Dead Face along the way, my heart became inexplicably tense. At this critical juncture when the atmosphere was getting more and more dignified, there was a sudden "clang" sound, which shocked everyone. In this kind of pitch-black and dead environment where you can't see your fingers, what you are most afraid of is this sudden high-frequency impact sound, which is enough to scare people's hearts out. I hurriedly looked back, and saw the three fat guys standing there in a daze, and the end of the shovel in their hand fell on the raft at some point.At the same time, his face was pale, his eyes were wide open, and he stared at the opposite side. I wondered in my heart and was about to ask him what happened?At this time, I saw that the face of the cripple Wang who was standing next to the third fat man also changed, his whole body trembled, and he looked at me in horror, no, it should be said that he looked behind me. His face turned pale, and there was a "clack" in his throat, which was similar to the sound that can only be made in extreme fear, and he said stammeringly: "Look, look behind you!" I immediately realized that something was wrong, turned around immediately, and followed I looked over at the old cripple and the third fat man, and it was this look that sent a chill through my whole body. "Hiss!" I gasped and said hastily, "What's going on here?" I saw that on the high crystal wall opposite us, at some point, that weird figure seemed to be a little different from before.