Chapter 56 Chapter Fifty-six Entering the Ghost Fire Cave

When Thomas entered the will-o'-the-wisp hole, a burst of icy cold swept over his skin and rushed all over his body, as if he had just jumped out of a frozen lake.His feet landed on the slippery ground with a thud, and the world around him grew darker, and a ray of light emerged from under his feet.He fell backward into Teresa's arms.She and Chuck helped him stand upright.Miraculously, Thomas' spear didn't catch any of them in the eye. If it weren't for the light from Teresa's flashlight piercing the darkness, it would be absolutely dark in the will-o'-the-wisp cave.The moment Thomas figured out where he was, he found that they were standing in a stone cylinder about three meters high.The inside of the cylinder was very damp, and the inner wall was covered with bright oily stains, extending tens of meters in front of them until they disappeared into the darkness.Thomas peered up from where they had come in—it looked like a square window into a vast, starless sky.

"The computer is over there," Teresa said, distracted. She shone a flashlight down the tunnel: a meter or two down, there was a small piece of greasy square glass, emitting a dark green light.Beneath the glass is a keyboard, recessed into the wall at an angle that makes it easy to type while standing.Now it's there, waiting for them to enter their password.Thomas couldn't help thinking that this seemed too easy to be true. "Enter your password!" Chuck yelled, patting Thomas on the shoulder. "Hurry up!" Thomas gestured for Teresa to do it. "Chuck and I were on guard so none of the monsters could get in." He only hoped that the people outside had managed to divert the monsters' attention to the pathways of the maze and keep the creatures away from the cliffs.

"Okay," Teresa said—Thomas knew she was smart enough not to waste time arguing.She walked to the keyboard and screen and started typing the code. etc!Thomas called her in his heart, are you sure you know the password? She pulled her face and turned to him. "Tom, I'm not stupid. Yes, I'm smart enough to remember—" A loud bang above and behind them interrupted her, and Thomas jumped up.He turned to see a Griever plop into the hole, as if enchanted by the square of the dark sky.The monster retracted its spikes and legs as it entered the hole—and the moment it landed with a creaking thud, a dozen sharp and disgusting objects popped out again, looking even more dangerous than before.

Thomas held Chuck behind him and held out the spear to the monster, as if that would hold it back. "Go on, Teresa!" he yelled. A slender metal club protruded from the monster's damp skin, its front splayed out to form a long limb with three spinning blades, and it came straight for Thomas' face. He gripped the spear with both hands, pointing the knife-bound end forward.The robotic arm with the blade was only two steps away from Thomas, ready to cut his skin into pieces at any time.With one step left, Thomas tensed his muscles and swung the spear with all his strength toward the top of the cylinder.The spear sent the mechanical arm flying, the arm rotated in an arc, and hit the monster back with a bang.Screaming in rage, the monster took a few steps back and retracted its spikes.Thomas gasped.

Maybe I can resist it, he said quickly to Teresa, come on! I'm almost done.she answered.The monster's spikes reappeared, and it came swiftly, the other arm protruding from the skin and shooting straight forward, the giant pincers on it moving quickly to grab the spear.Thomas swung the spear, this time overhead, striking with all his might.The spear hit the middle of the giant tongs, and there was a huge metal impact sound. After a burst of creaking, the entire arm was uprooted and fell to the ground.The monster let out a loud, piercing scream with a mouth-like thing Thomas couldn't see, and backed away again, all the spikes gone.

"These things can be beaten!" Thomas exclaimed. I can't type the last word!Teresa said to him in her heart. Thomas barely heard her or understood what she was saying.He shouted again, seized the moment when the monster was weak, and rushed forward bravely.He swung his spear vigorously, jumped on the round body of the monster, and after a loud crack, he chopped off the two metal arms of the monster.He raised the spear over his head, stood firm - he felt his feet sink into the fat - and drove the spear down quickly into the monster's body.When Thomas thrust the spear deep into the monster's body, a sticky yellow liquid sprayed from the monster's flesh and splashed his legs.He quickly pulled out his spear, jumped down, and ran back to Chuck and Teresa.

Thomas watched with morbid fascination as the monster twitched uncontrollably, spraying yellow oil all over the place.Spikes protruded from its skin repeatedly, and the legs on its body twitched wildly, stabbing itself from time to time.Its movements quickly slowed down, its blood -- or rather its fuel -- ran out, it lost its strength, and it died. After a few seconds, it stopped moving.Thomas couldn't believe it was real.He couldn't believe it at all.He had just killed a monster that everyone had feared for two years. He glanced at Chuck behind him, who stood with his eyes wide open.

"You killed it!" said the boy.He laughed, as if this move would solve all their problems. "It's not that difficult," Thomas whispered, turning to watch Teresa frantically typing on the keyboard.Only then did he realize something was wrong. "What's going on?" he almost shouted.He ran to stand behind her and saw her keep typing the word PUSH repeatedly, but nothing was displayed on the screen. She pointed to the square of dirty glass with nothing on it, but the green light that showed it was working. "I typed in all the words and they showed up on the screen one by one. Then something beeped and the words disappeared, but the last word couldn't be typed in. No response at all!"

After hearing Teresa's words, Thomas felt a chill all over his body. "Uh...why?" "I don't know!" She tried again, and again.Nothing at all. "Thomas!" Chuck called from behind them.Thomas looked back and saw that he was pointing at the opening of the will-o'-the-wisp—and another monster was crawling in.It lay on top of its dead brother, and another monster began to enter the hole. "Why did it take so long?" Chuck yelled. "You said you just put in the code and they're turned off!" The two monsters adjusted themselves, opened their sharp thorns, and moved towards them.

"It's not asking us to type the word PUSH (PUSH also means 'press'-translator's note)." Thomas said absently, not talking to Chuck, but just trying to find a solution to the problem... I do not understand.Teresa said.The monster is constantly approaching, only a few steps away from them.Thomas felt that his will was gradually weakening. He stabilized his feet absently and raised his fist.It should have worked, the cipher should have— "Maybe you should press that button," Chuck said. Startled by the casual remark, Thomas turned to look at the boy, with his back to the monster.Chuck pointed to a spot near the ground—just below the screen and keyboard.

Before he could walk over, Teresa had already knelt down.Out of curiosity, and out of a momentary hope, Thomas also sat on the ground to see more clearly.The moaning and roaring of the monster came from behind, claws scratching at his shirt, a stabbing pain in his back, and he forced himself to stare intently.There is a small red button on the wall, only ten or twenty centimeters above the ground.There were four black letters printed on it, so clear that Thomas couldn't believe he hadn't seen them before. The pain intensified, and Thomas came out of the trance.The monster reached out with two devices, grabbed him, and pulled him back.The other end went around Chuck's back and was slashing at the boy with a long knife. a button. "Click!" Thomas yelled, louder than he could have ever imagined a human being could make.Teresa did.She pressed the button and everything fell silent.Then, from the depths of the dark tunnel, there was a sound of a door sliding open.