The strange ox left, continuing its endless search.
Zhang Qiling briefly recounted his conversation with the skeletal remains in the ox's belly. Fatty and Wu Tianzhen listened with a sigh.
"What a sin, this King Li," Fatty shook his head, sighing with disappointment.
"He dreamed of riding a snake to heaven, pushing others into a fiery pit. Truly inhuman!"
"Most importantly, after coming all this way, his entire residence, apart from the gateposts and the pet snake, had nothing of value. Does that make any sense?!"
"It doesn't make sense!"
"If I had known, I would have carried off that pillar back then. Perhaps I could have used it to smash that snake just now!"
"Fatty, why are your thoughts always like this?" Wu Tianzhen couldn't stand it. "Hasn't Little Brother's treasure seal filled you up yet? Carrying off pillars, be careful King Li doesn't jump out of his coffin to find you!"
Zhang Qiling flexed his left hand, finding the wound on his palm had already begun to close, and would not reopen unless he exerted himself violently.
Although he generally did not participate in Wu Tianzhen and Fatty's bickering, he did not appear out of place.
He simply stood there, attending to his own matters, and to others, he seemed inseparable from the other two.
Fatty and Wu Tianzhen both knew that although Zhang Qiling was unwilling to join their conversations, he listened attentively when they spoke.
It was a peculiar feeling; with some people, even after a short time, the bond and memories were enough to last a lifetime.
[Detected Host successfully portrayed Little Brother's hidden tenderness. Portrayal degree +3]
[Current Portrayal Degree: 53%]
[Ability Unlocked: Thunder Hearing]
Zhang Qiling, who was listening intently to judge if Fatty and Wu Tianzhen were secretly mocking him: ...?
Is it possible that he wasn't actually role-playing?
What were the system's judgment criteria? And what was "hidden tenderness"?
His mind was in turmoil, but his face remained impassive. Zhang Qiling was so engrossed in brainstorming what "hidden tenderness" meant that he even missed a part of Wu Tianzhen and Fatty's conversation.
Until, suddenly, he caught a word in Fatty's speech.
"Riding a snake to heaven?" he repeated, puzzled.
At this moment, Wu Tianzhen and Fatty suddenly realized that when they were looking at the murals, this guy had logged off and wandered off to who-knows-where. xxs
"Oh!" Fatty slapped his forehead and sidled up to Zhang Qiling, hooking his shoulder.
"I forgot that Little Brother was doing an extreme challenge back then. Come, come, Fatty will tell you!"
"It's about that old fellow King Li. He wanted to transform himself into a four-legged creature with ox horns and a snake's tail. He even painted a mural saying he was going to ride a snake with horns on his head to the heavens!"
"Isn't that ridiculous, hahaha!"
...
King Li conducted human experiments for the ox horns, and the murals also showed that he successfully transplanted the ox horns...
But why was he stepping on a snake, instead of growing a snake tail?
Wu Tianzhen clearly also realized the problem.
After hearing Fatty's words, he suddenly stopped smiling, lowered his head, and pondered the newly discovered puzzle.
"Although I don't know what prevented King Li from having a snake tail, he should have ensured he was always bound to that giant snake to achieve his ambitions."
"Why weren't they together..."
"Together."
Zhang Qiling suddenly spoke. He had figured it out, regarding why the giant snake, despite having venom, had never used its poisonous attack.
Because...
"King Li's coffin is inside the belly of the giant snake."
Perhaps King Li, fearing his coffin would be corroded by the snake's venom, had specifically modified the giant snake, turning it into one incapable of releasing poison.
Upon saying this, Zhang Qiling immediately turned, intending to return to the site of the giant snake's corpse. Wu Tianzhen and Fatty quickly followed.
"Wow, so he hid in the snake's belly," Fatty sighed. "No wonder those oxen couldn't find him no matter how hard they searched. This guy is truly a master of hide-and-seek!"
Wu Tianzhen was about to agree when a violent tremor suddenly came from the passageway, and he almost fell to the ground.
"Rumble, crackle-crackle—"
A strange sound, like stones grinding on the ground, was heard. Zhang Qiling suddenly thought of something, his expression changing.
"Quick!"
With that, he rushed out.
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty had now perfected the skill of their bodies automatically following his words without needing to comprehend them. Before they could react, they were already running behind him.
They saw Zhang Qiling stop in the distance, staring fixedly ahead.
... The path they had come from was gone!
[What the heck! How did it become a wall? We just came from here! This was a straight path!]
[That commotion just now, could it be some mechanism activated?]
[? This is too outrageous! How can a mechanism be this powerful after so many years? Where is its power source?]
[Damn, could King Li have come back to life?!]
[Yes, yes, yes! King Li crawled out of the snake's belly himself to push the wall!]
...
"Little Brother, this..."
Zhang Qiling tapped the stone wall in front of him. It was solid. The wall was very long, even blocking the underground river channel.
The sound of the mechanism moving came from both ends of the path; the direction they had just come from must also have been sealed.
Fatty heard it clearly and, leaning against the wall, resigned himself.
"Alright, now we're caught like turtles in a jar!"
"Who said they were a turtle?" Wu Tianzhen had blind faith in Zhang Qiling. "Little Brother definitely has a way! Right, Little Brother?"
Zhang Qiling: ...
If it were a few minutes ago, he truly would have had no solution.
But just now, because of the mysterious "hidden tenderness," he had acquired a skill called Thunder Hearing, which allowed him to discern complex terrain through sound propagation.
Honestly, he almost suspected the system could predict the future, giving him such a coincidental skill.
... Could it be that the system intervened and pushed this wall?
"Gun."
He extended his hand towards Fatty. Fatty was stunned and handed the gun to Zhang Qiling, saying, "Little Brother, can this wall really be broken with bullets?"
He leaned closer to feel the thickness of the wall, his admiration boundless.
"Wow, as expected of Little Brother, this gun truly has a different power in your hands than in ours!!"
Zhang Qiling: ...?
Why did you think of that?
And why did Wu Tianzhen also look at him with such convinced admiration?
He didn't understand; he was greatly shocked.
Twitching his lips, he offered no explanation and fired a shot into the open space.
Invisible sound waves spread out. He closed his eyes and listened. The terrain wherever the sound waves reached appeared like a printed map in his mind.
There was no path forward or backward, but beneath the adjacent river channel, there was a large cavity.
Opening his eyes, he suddenly drew his Black Gold Ancient Saber. With immense force, he struck the riverbed, creating a large, deep hole.
The river water, carrying a bewildered swarm of moon worms, rushed into the deep hole. The ground beneath seemed to be endless; a massive amount of river water poured in without any sign of overflowing.
In a short while, all the water in this section of the underground river, blocked by walls at both ends, had drained into the earth.
The exit was revealed.