Tomb raiding: following the plot while tearing up the script

Jie Lianhuan felt like he was having a very, very long dream.

In my dream, I couldn't see day or night; everything was a hazy, empty, and oppressive gray.

He didn't know what he was running away from; he just mechanically kept walking forward, even though he was exhausted and panting, he dared not stop.

"Uncle Three!"

"Uncle Three!"

"Uncle Three..."

Suddenly, I heard Wu Xie's voice calling my name. At first, it was just a vague sound, as if it were very far away from me.

Gradually, the sound grew closer, clearer, and also more...noisy...

Wu Xie's calls for "Third Uncle" were incessant, as if it wasn't just one "Wu Xie" calling him, but a whole group of "Wu Xie".

The moment this thought crossed his mind, Wu Xie's figure actually appeared before him. At least twenty or thirty Wu Xies stood in front of him, their grayish-white inorganic eyes staring straight at him, constantly calling out "Third Uncle".

What horrified him even more was that these innocent creatures... each of them had a long, red tail trailing behind them, its fine scales gleaming with an eerie light...

……

"Innocent!"

With a startled cry, Jie Lianhuan awoke from his nightmare and sat bolt upright.

"Third Uncle!" "Third Uncle!" "Third Uncle!"...

The cacophony of sounds overlapped with the scene from his dream, and the strange, exaggerated cries of "Third Uncle" from Wuxie echoed in his ears, sending chills down Jie Lianhuan's spine before he could even see what was happening in front of him.

Large drops of sweat dripped from his forehead, hitting the back of his hand and splashing up in a spray.

Whether it was from a nightmare or from poisoning, his mind was still buzzing, and with 'Third Uncle' filling his ears, he couldn't think straight at all.

Li Chunchun's reaction at this moment was purely based on her years of experience surviving near-death experiences.

Although Xie Lianhuan was not quite lucid at this moment, he instinctively sensed danger. His back was soaked with sweat, and the hair on the back of his head stood on end. He instinctively wanted to roll on the spot and escape.

"Snapped……"

"Well……"

As Xie Lianhuan raised his hand to support himself and prepare to escape, he heard a 'snap' and felt a sharp pain in his hand. The pain stimulated his brain nerves, and his confused consciousness instantly cleared.

Raising his numb right hand in front of him, Jie Lianhuan looked at the mousetrap stuck in his hand, unsure how to express his feelings.

In short, it can be summarized in three words: Gansu-Ningxia brewing...

(Wu Xie: Old Deng, you should be grateful. The only reason we didn't use a wild boar trap was because Ah Li didn't bring one. Otherwise, you wouldn't be in so much pain right now.)

Gritting his teeth, Jie Lianhuan removed the mousetrap from his hand, and only then did he have the energy to take a look at his surroundings.

The voices around me didn't stop; they were calling out "Third Uncle" with great enthusiasm in their innocent voices.

Jie Lianhuan looked at the mousetraps arranged around him and his lips twitched.

Outside this ring of mousetraps were three rings of small iron cages, each containing a pheasant neck. The voices calling "Third Uncle" just now came from these pheasant necks.

His clothes were dry, and his body was surrounded by rat traps and small iron cages arranged like a wreath. Jie Lianhuan had the illusion that he had already died a short time, as if someone would come to say goodbye to his body and pay their last respects to his remains at any moment.

The empty cave was brightly lit by the incandescent bulbs. Apart from the croaking of pheasants, there was nothing else to hear. Looking around, there seemed to be nothing but corpses covered with white sheets scattered all over the ground...

and many more! ! ! !

Covered with a white sheet?

Corpses everywhere?

Jie Lianhuan's scalp tingled again; he suspected that if this continued, he might go bald from fright.

Imagine that your body has been clearly dressed differently, placed upright, and surrounded by makeshift items instead of wreaths, with corpses covered in white sheets all around you...

Is he already dead?

So what's going on with me right now?

Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)?

Holy crap, this is the first time I've ever made zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)! What's the process for making zongzi? Can anyone give me a beginner's tutorial?

"Third Master!!!" Pan Zi's excited voice was like a ray of light, tearing through the gloom of the innocent-looking man with the pheasant-like neck, and shining on Xie Lianhuan.

"Panzi." Xie Lianhuan turned his head stiffly and met Panzi, who was standing at the entrance of the cave with excitement in his eyes. For some reason, he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

"Third Master, you're awake? How are you feeling? Are you feeling better?"

Panzi was carrying a basin of hot water. He quickly stepped forward and carefully kicked open a few small iron cages.

We can't be careless. These pheasant necks were all carefully selected by Master Li, and were used by Fatty and Blackie for their experiments. If one of them gets injured, he's afraid the other masters will hang it up and use it as bait to catch snakes.

The mousetrap was triggered and caught on the thick military boots with a dull thud, but it still couldn't break through the defenses of the official product. Panzi finally overcame all obstacles and arrived in front of his third master.

Seeing his master's pale face, white lips, and beads of sweat on his forehead, Pan Zi almost burst into tears on the spot, but was forcibly interrupted by Xie Lianhuan.

"Where is this? How did you get in? Where did Wuxie go? What's with these pheasant necks? Are all our people dead?"

Pan Zi was stunned by the barrage of questions. His already slow-moving brain couldn't handle so many questions and it seemed to freeze up.

Panzi moved his lips and stammered for a long time before finally matching the answer with the solution to the problem.

"Young Master brought me into the cave. He is in the next cave. The pheasant was released by Young Master to protect you. Those people are still alive."

Pan Zi, a simple-minded and honest man, answered in a serious and methodical manner.

Jie Lianhuan took a breath, rubbed his head which was throbbing from the noise, and thought, "What the hell is this 'protecting me' thing...?"

That little brat clearly wanted to send me away!

Of course, they've even put up the wreaths...

Pan Zi carefully helped him up and found a place as far away from the necks of the noisy pheasants as possible to sit down. Jie Lianhuan breathed a sigh of relief for his ears, which had almost stopped working.

Thinking about what he had experienced before he lost consciousness, Jie Lianhuan gestured for Pan Zi to tell him about their journey.

Speaking of that, he's wide awake now!

Jie Lianhuan listened expressionlessly as Pan Zi excitedly recounted their experiences on the road. His pale face clearly screamed, "Are you kidding me?!"

Panzi's description is really too unreliable. Are you guys venturing into the rainforest or on vacation?

Vines that obey commands? A small courtyard with built-in defense that you can take anywhere? A small boat that can navigate swamps? And Wuxie who can single-handedly confront a giant python? ???

Are you talking about Wu Xie or Wu Song?