Everyone walked forward with their own thoughts. Yan Yan broke the eerie atmosphere and said, "I trust all of you, which is why I invited you all to cooperate. I hope you won't take Shi Yuhan's words to heart. We still have a lot of things to do."
I nodded and said, "Yes, we must unite within our group. Only in this way can we complete our mission."
Fatty also nodded in agreement. Xu Yang said in a sarcastic tone, "I'm just afraid some people are trying to sow discord."
As he said this, he glanced around at everyone. Song Yiran slapped him and said, "Don't listen to his nonsense. We must unite."
Shi Yuhan's face looked extremely ugly, as if Xu Yang's words were aimed at her.
Fatty pulled Shi Yuhan and said, "Goddess, you're on our team. Don't worry about your grandfather."
Shi Yuhan nodded but said nothing. The atmosphere eased a bit, and everyone continued walking.
"There's water ahead," Xu Yang said.
"It looks like a small garden."
Everyone followed behind and came to a spacious and peaceful place with a small stream and surrounded by flowers and plants.
Yan Yan looked around and said, "Let's rest here."
After hearing this, everyone relaxed. Fatty followed Shi Yuhan to look at the flowers and plants. Xu Yang pulled Song Yiran to sit by the flowing water. Yan Yan and I sat in front of the stone wall. I looked around. The environment here was much better than before.
It was like someone's garden. The surrounding stone walls were polished very smoothly, making it very pleasant. Yan Yan sat beside me, flipping through the book he had brought, looking for records about this place.
While flipping through the book, he asked me, "Is there any record about this place in your manuscript?"
I was stunned by this sudden question. Looking at him, I said, "The first one is about this place."
Yan Yan looked at me, indicating for me to continue. I swallowed my saliva and continued, "The first article in the manuscript is about the Qin Dynasty. A long time ago, my ancestors came here and encountered a lot of strange things."
"A lot of people died. Those who went back didn't live long either and died soon."
"This tomb is very sinister. There are many traps inside. What we encountered just now was only a small part when we first entered. There will be many more difficult problems later."
"Another thing is that this tomb is very large. It seems that a great deal of effort was put into it. Everything inside is top - notch. That's why even though it's a sinister tomb, there are still people willing to come here and risk their lives."
Yan Yan looked at me and nodded, saying, "Many things here have changed because of the many tomb - robbers who have come here. This place used to be stagnant water, looking like a sewer. But now it's like this. It's really unexpected."
I looked at the green grass, colorful flowers, and flowing water here. It was just like a paradise. How could it be a sewer? A sewer stank, while here there was the fragrance of flowers. The only thing missing was insects and beasts.
The others were like they were on vacation, enjoying the grass and the fragrance of flowers in the tomb.
"Yan Yan, have you ever thought that the blood butterfly might have come out from here?"
I looked at Yan Yan. He shook his head and said, "I haven't considered this problem. After all, one blood butterfly doesn't prove anything."
I always felt that something was fishy. There was no blood here for the blood butterfly to feed on. How could it survive? Did it rely on the flowers? Then the only thing that seemed to be a problem here was not the dead servants but this peaceful place.
I stood up and looked around warily. I didn't find anything strange. Everything was just too normal.
Yan Yan pulled me and said, "Relax. Don't be so tense."
"Don't you think it's very strange?"
I looked around and pointed at everything here and asked him, "Why are there these things in the tomb? There's no nutrition and no sunlight. What do these things rely on to grow?"
Yan Yan didn't say a word. He pursed his lips tightly, digesting what I had said.
"Come here! Look at what this is!"
Xu Yang suddenly shouted loudly. We quickly ran over. Xu Yang pointed at something floating in the water.
"Look, what's that? Why is there such a thing in the water?"
It was a cluster of pupae tightly grouped together. The bright red pupae made a sharp contrast with the clear water and swayed constantly in the water.
"I've never seen such a thing before," Fatty said excitedly.
Song Yiran rubbed his temples and said, "You won't be so happy later. These are probably the pupae of the blood butterflies. It seems that this place is not as peaceful as it seems."
Song Yiran was right, which confirmed the problem I had just mentioned to Yan Yan. If that was really the case, there were big problems here. It was just that everyone had relaxed too quickly and didn't notice the problem.
"How long will it take for these pupae to hatch?" Fatty asked.
Shi Yuhan said, "They're already this red. It should be soon."
The pupae of the blood butterflies were white at first. They would suck blood to nourish the butterflies inside. The redder the pupae, the healthier the butterflies inside, and the closer they were to hatching. Such a large cluster of pupae would be even more difficult to deal with once they hatched.
"Suck blood? Where does the blood come from at the bottom of the water?" Fatty laughed. "Are you guys joking?"
Yes, the water was so clear. Where did the blood come from? Song Yiran frowned and pointed at a part covered at the bottom of the water and asked, "Is that a human foot?"
I looked in the direction he was pointing. There was clearly a pale and shriveled foot. It was just skin and bones. It was estimated that the blood of the owner had been almost sucked dry.
Fatty hid behind Shi Yuhan. Everyone was on high alert. If we had noticed the problem here earlier and left earlier, things might not have turned out like this.
The cluster of red pupae looked extremely prominent in the clear water. The butterfly pupae swayed constantly with the flow of the water and showed signs of hatching.
"They're hatching!"
Xu Yang shouted, "Be careful!"
Everyone retreated from the water's edge, got their things ready, and were prepared to fight the blood butterflies to the death at any time. There was a splashing sound by the stream. The blood butterflies were hatching from their pupae. The stream churned, giving birth to a large number of lives.
"Whoosh!" The blood butterflies emerged from the water. The weight of the water on their wings forced them to land on the grass. They flapped their wings, shaking off the water droplets.
The water that landed on the grass nourished it, carrying the nutrients of the blood. This was why the flowers and plants here were still in good condition without sunlight or nutrients.
We stood aside while the blood butterflies circled in the air. We few men (not counting Shi Yuhan as a girl for the moment) were full of vigor, which instantly attracted the attention of the blood butterflies.
A large number of blood butterflies circling in the air was still a great pressure. One carelessness could lead to death. If bitten by a blood butterfly, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The blood butterflies swooped towards us. Xu Yang was in the front. He lit a torch and constantly waved it at the blood butterflies in the air.
"Sizzle!" The charred blood butterflies fell to the ground. The rest of us quickly looked for wooden sticks on the ground. We tore off pieces of cloth from our clothes or trousers, wrapped them around the sticks, lit them, and quickly joined the battle.