With the combined efforts of several people, the path was cleared quickly. In just over ten minutes, a rough passage had appeared, leading directly to the small green drum.
By this time, Wu Tianzhen and Fatty were both panting heavily. They slumped onto the ground, the Black Gold Ancient Saber clattering against the support in the rear with a crisp sound.
"...If this keeps up, Fatty will be skinny as lightning!" Fatty declared boastfully, only to be cruelly refuted by Wu Tianzhen.
"Tell me when you can eat only three bowls of rice for a meal," Wu Tianzhen said, catching his breath. He felt like he was seeing stars, twinkling with a childish charm.
"Oh my, what's wrong? Why are you so tired? It can't be that bad," Hei Yanjing's voice, full of schadenfreude and mockery, came from the side. He was hopping from side to side, incredibly irritating.
This guy, who had been exuding charm all along, had no understanding of the toil of those working behind the scenes. But Wu Tianzhen and Fatty were so exhausted they couldn't be bothered to retort, merely expressing their "friendly" sentiments of eight thousand words with their eyes.
"I haven't found an exit. This small green drum is the most suspicious thing I've noticed in this space."
Xie Yuchen, still the most diligent and dedicated worker, hadn't struck this drum like the others. He had saved it for last to study.
"This drum is indeed quite strange..." Wu Tianzhen recovered and walked forward. He always had an abundance of curiosity for such peculiar things.
The drum was still made of human skin and bones, but it was entirely green. It was unclear what pigment had been used, but it retained its vibrant hue after many years, looking as if it had just been painted.
Wu Tianzhen gently touched it, feeling that the coating was exceptionally smooth, like a layer of keratin.
"So, what are we doing now? Getting ready here, then collectively wishing this drum a Happy New Year!?"
Fatty had no interest in human-skin drums, which were both inauspicious and worthless. He glanced at the faint black patterns visible on it, feeling that the underworld had just escalated.
"I thought there might be some mechanism, but it seems to be just a simple drum," Xie Yuchen, whose skill with mechanisms was not low, examined it and fell into thought. "If all else fails, we'll just have to strike it like before."
"I don't know why," Wu Tianzhen's comedic cells became active again in the more relaxed atmosphere. "Us standing here in full battle array to beat a drum really looks like we're knocking on someone's door, hahaha."
"And then a ghost bride comes out?" Xie Yuchen quipped, then his expression turned serious.
"I'm ready. I'm starting."
The Dragon-Patterned Staff gently tapped the surface, producing a clear sound, distinct from the previous white drums. It was rapid and sudden, like shattering a glass bottle, spreading out instantly, yet with a strangely piercing and grating quality.
Wu Tianzhen's eardrums even hurt for a moment, as if a tiny needle had pricked them.
But after this sound, nothing emerged from within.
"...What, nothing?" Wu Tianzhen held his breath, waiting for over ten seconds, almost suffocating from the intense tension.
But soon, a series of cracking sounds followed, like popping corn kernels, enveloping them layer by layer in the surrounding space.
"No, there's a reaction." Xie Yuchen quickly realized the problem. He abruptly turned his head to look in the direction they had come from. Indeed, he saw a patch of dark gray climbing up from the waterway.
"There's nothing inside this drum; it's a signal transmitter."
...The gray centipedes, which had been stalled in the waterway, and the black insects still remaining in the other white drums, had now become agitated by that crisp sound, breaking through obstacles and surging towards them!
The group fired their guns, blasting away the leading insects, but they couldn't be cleared quickly or effectively. They could only fight and retreat, making their way back to their previous positions.
"These bugs are too troublesome, we need to retreat to the other side of the waterway!" Wu Tianzhen, once again surrounded by centipedes, was on the verge of tears. He shouted, "There's also a stone gate blocking the other side, Fatty can blow it open again!"
This would have been a good idea, had there been no unexpected events.
The moment Wu Tianzhen finished speaking, a deafening "clang" echoed, shaking the entire ground three times. Dust and smoke billowed everywhere, like a landslide.
When everything settled and they looked again, the waterway on the other side had collapsed for some reason. Fallen stones had completely sealed off that end. To blow it open now would be to dance on the edge of death, potentially causing a secondary collapse.
Fatty almost choked. He wanted to speak but stopped, then took a deep breath. "Tianzhen, you see it now, don't you? I didn't say anything this time; it was entirely caused by your power!"
Wu Tianzhen: ... (Expression identical to the famous painting "The Scream")
Xie Yuchen hadn't witnessed the enthronement of the Evil Sea King in Yingzhou with his own eyes like Hei Yanjing, but he now fully understood the immense power of his childhood friend.
He pondered the rationality and scientific basis of this ability for a long time, then chose to give up.
...This was probably like "the Earth is a sphere," a conceptual power.
In the sealed, cramped space, the bugs crowded in relentlessly. Although there was no immediate danger to their lives, they were incredibly annoying. Just as Fatty was about to disregard everything and deploy his bombs—
From the depths of the waterway, a sound of stone grinding echoed.
And along with it, the Black Gold Ancient Saber suddenly began to hum!