Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 130 Human Puppet Gu

As luck would have it, just after they followed the water into the cave, the weather outside changed, and a light drizzle began to fall.

Inside the cave, the weather was quite different from the sweltering heat outside. As soon as Hu Ming entered the cave, he felt a cool breeze blowing in.

At first it felt cool, but it quickly became cold.

Hu Bayi turned on the searchlight and shone it into the water. The water was relatively clear, and every now and then, you could see the shadows of some fish swimming by.

At this moment, Hu Bayi reached out and felt the water temperature; it was icy cold, even somewhat bone-chillingly cold.

"strangeness!"

"Southern Yunnan is like spring all year round, so how come the water here is so cold?" Hu Bayi wondered, and began to observe his surroundings.

Yang Xueli seemed to know something. "It's probably because the snowmelt from the mountain flowed in, or it's because we just came in and the temperature difference between here and outside is too big, so our bodies aren't used to it yet."

However, while Yang Xueli was speaking, Hu Ming clearly felt the surrounding water flow speed up.

Hu Ming immediately warned, "Watch out, the current is picking up, hold on tight!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the water flow accelerated, and the bamboo raft also sped up, while the surrounding river channel began to narrow.

At the time, they made the bamboo rafts very large so that they could carry equipment and people, without actually taking into account some narrow spaces.

Fortunately, it drifted forward for a while longer, and after turning a corner, it left that narrow place.

The fat man looked around in confusion and said, "This place isn't quite what the landlady described. Have we gone the wrong way?"

"Mingzi, I don't see any forks in the road!"

Hu Ming stared silently into the darkness ahead. Ever since entering this cave, he had had a bad feeling, though he didn't know where it came from.

Therefore, he could only be cautious. As the fog in front of him gradually dissipated, Hu Ming felt that he was almost at the place of the human puppet gu.

At this moment, he said to Hu Bayi and the others, "Try to lower yourselves as much as possible, don't stand up."

"This way the bamboo raft will go faster."

In fact, Hu Ming was on guard against the human puppet gu that might suddenly appear at any time.

After rounding the narrow bend, the area is now much more spacious.

Hu Ming recalled for a moment that the human puppet gu were not only found at the foot of Zhelong Mountain, but also in the nearby mountainous areas, and some of them had fallen down and been washed away by the water.

Just then, Hu Ming saw a figure faintly appearing on the stone wall in front of him, indicating that they had reached a place where the human-shaped terracotta warriors were densely packed.

"Mingzi, there seems to be a figure over there!" A little further ahead, even Hu Bayi spotted it.

"It's obviously not alive, ignore it, let's go!" The thing was disgusting, and Hu Ming had no interest in studying it.

Hu Ming knew that these corpses used to raise Gu poison belonged to slaves, and he had no habit of touching floating corpses.

"Alright!" Hearing Hu Ming say that, Fatty rowed the bamboo raft even harder. Facing this godforsaken place, Fatty wanted to row out as soon as possible more than anyone else.

Yang Xueli suddenly asked curiously, "Hu Ming, it seems you know what this is?"

Hearing Yang Xueli's words, Hu Ming sighed, nodded, and said, "These are all corpses used for raising Gu poison, mostly slaves from ancient times. There's nothing to see here."

At this moment, Hu Bayi also recalled the rumors. After glancing at Hu Ming, he asked with some doubt, "Mingzi, are you saying this is the legendary Human Puppet Gu?"

Hu Bayi had read about it many times in books before, but there wasn't much description. Even though his grandfather had told him and Hu Ming about it, he still couldn't recognize it at a glance.

"Yes, those are the things. Oh, and the insect repellent medicine, take it out and sprinkle some around the bamboo raft to prevent those Gu worms from gathering around later."

As they were talking, Hu Ming noticed a ring of white things floating below the edge of the bamboo raft. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be small white insects.

"Damn it! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"Old Hu! Those bugs have swarmed us!" the fat man exclaimed anxiously.

Seeing this, Hu Bayi immediately sprinkled the insect repellent powder along the edge of the bamboo raft. It seemed, however, that it had no effect.

"There are more and more bugs!" the fat man thought anxiously.

The bamboo pole he was using to propel the boat was now surrounded by these tiny white insects, and they were getting close.

"Oh right, don't we still have those herbs the landlady gave us? Let's try those!"

Upon hearing the fat man's reminder, Hu Bayi immediately placed the insect-repelling herbs that the landlady had given him beside the bamboo raft.

Soon, the surrounding Gu worms began to disperse and no longer gathered together.

"Hey! That's amazing!"

"This thing works pretty well!"

"I should have just brought this!"

"It saves me the trouble of carrying so much unused medicine powder!"

At this moment, Hu Ming was slightly surprised, thinking to himself, "This proprietress is probably not simple!"
"That proprietress is probably not simple!" Yang Xueli said, voicing everyone's thoughts as she looked at the scene before her.

However, after thinking about it, Hu Bayi felt it was nothing.

"Maybe they've lived here for a long time and know what's useful!"

Then, Yang Xueli shook her head and said, "How would she know these herbs are useful if she doesn't come to a place like this?"

At this moment, Hu Ming looked at the herbs on the bamboo raft and continued to study them. Soon, he seemed to understand something.

"Looks like we're pretty lucky."

"If I'm not mistaken, this proprietress is probably a promising young woman, and her status is likely quite high!"

"If it's the Black Miao, then we're in big trouble."

Upon hearing this, the fat man looked surprised and had no choice but to believe it. He then said, "That's good. It's good that we didn't encounter the Black Miao."

Hu Bayi glanced at the fat man and said, "Fatty, you can't be prejudiced when you say that! What's wrong with the Black Miao? Although their methods are a bit ruthless, they don't use witchcraft on just anyone."

"If you don't provoke them, they won't harm you if they have no grudge against you. That's a fact."

The fat man didn't believe him and said, "Who knows!"

"Besides, what if it's a shady business?"

"By the way, you said the road we're taking is different from the one the landlady told us. Could she have been wrong?"

The fat man looked at everyone, wanting to know the result.

Seeing the fat man's fear of Gu magic, Hu Ming chuckled and said, "Fatty, do you have paranoia?"

"What...what illness?"

"You're the one with paranoia," the fat man finally realized.

"Alright, the fact that these herbs work is enough to show that the proprietress meant well. Let's all relax and not worry, no one wants to harm us!"

"We're probably here because the heavy rain outside made the current so strong that it swept us all in."

"However, it turned out to be a lucky accident!"

"Looking at it this way, this is the right path."

Hu Ming understood. The road the landlady was referring to was actually the narrow bend in the road they had just crossed; it was the sightseeing route they took as tourists.

(End of this chapter)