Half Immortal

to find the path.
We’ll come up with ideas.
Shouldn’t you have some invitations?”

“Oh, you have a plan? Let’s hear it.”

Before Lin Zhen could finish speaking, Yu Feizhou had already stretched out his hand and handed out two tins of power to Yan Wei.
“If you have an idea, give it a try.
I exchanged it just now, and it doesn’t cost any invitations.
It doesn’t matter if it’s useless.
Don’t take it to heart when Lin Zhen speaks openly.”

Yan Wei took the tins of power.
“Thank you.”

Without delay, he put on a new pair of gloves, hung the flashlight on top of the pocket of his windbreaker, squatted down, and began to work.

Lin Zhen eyed Yu Feizhou.
“Aren’t you quite accommodating?”

“I just think that Yan Wei is cute, and he’s not stupid.” Even in such a deep and treacherous environment, the voice of Yu Feizhou was still clear and gentle. “Let him try.
If he fails, a few invitations are nothing to me.
Yan Wei is not very strong.
We can try our best to protect him.”

Lin Zhen: “…”

He withdrew his bow and crossed his arms.
“Cute?”

“Yes.”

“Not stupid?”

“Correct.”

“Not very strong?”

“…?”

“Protect?”

“What are you trying to say?” Yu Feizhou was taken aback for a moment.

Lin Zhen just smiled playfully.

Yan Wei had already sprinkled the insect-attracting powder on several diverging paths.
He slowly arose and said, “Because the bottom of the well is damp, we’re underground, the many scattered bits of insects we’ve seen, and the rock crevices more insects must be hiding in, there must be a large number of insect nests here.
I sprinkled insect-attracting powder at each fork.
After a while, a large number of insects will come out from all directions.”

As he spoke, he opened a tin of insect repellent and sprinkled some on Yan Mingguang first.
The other party didn’t move, letting him scatter the powder.

After he finished dispersing the power on Yan Mingguang, Yan Wei began sprinkling it onto himself with disgust and resignation, adding, “Once they’re attracted, they will feel the insect repellent powder on us and disperse.
We’ll be able to see the tracks of their return to their nests.”

Lin Zhen also sprinkled some on himself with doubt.
“Drawing them in and then driving them away.
Are you playing with insects?”

“…” Yan Wei gave the insect-repelling powder to Yu Feizhou.
“When they leave, they’ll instinctively return to their nests, and we can roughly tell which fork has the least amount of insects – that place should have the fewest insect holes hidden in it.
There’s nothing evil about the insects here.
They’re just ordinary little insects afraid of people.
If the matron often goes back and forth at the bottom of the well, then the insects must have built their nests away from places where people often travel.”

The powder sprinkled on the ground had already attracted several different types of insects.

The four of them had already seen ghosts.
Such insects that are unable to harm people won’t scare them. 

Sure enough, as Yan Wei said, after the surrounding insects crawled out in groups, they were driven back by the insect repellant.
Yan Mingguang pulled out a few matches, lit them, and chucked them at the spot sprinkled with the insect-attracting powder, destroying it.

The surrounding insects instinctively scattered, and there was only one path where there were the least amount of bugs visible to the naked eye.

Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang silently walked forward with the whip.

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Yu Feizhou’s expression constantly kept changing.
In the beginning, he allowed Yan Wei to try it as he wished.
Later, Yu Feizhou was astonished to find that the path actually appeared.
Finally, he smiled.
“You really are bright.
Why don’t we go ahead? If something happens, we can protect you.”

Before Yan Wei could speak, Yan Mingguang, who walked in front, seemed to be dragging the whip faster.
Yan Wei had to quicken his pace and move forward.

They met several divergences in the path again, and Yan Wei repeatedly used this method to determine the way.
The footsteps of the four people intertwined and echoed slightly in the narrow cave, but for a moment, a low and hoarse voice came from the front.

“The stars are shining, the moon is hanging…”

“This is a mountain and river bestowed by God, this is a fertile field, this is a blessing from heaven…”

“It’s raining, it’s raining, the crops are going to grow…”

“Let’s hold up our umbrellas…”

“…”

“The stars are shining, the moon is hanging…”

“…”

–It was the voice of the matron.

Yan Wei and the others didn’t need to communicate.
They all subconsciously lightened their footsteps and quickly moved ahead.

This time, they didn’t have to travel far.
The matron’s singing loudened.
They saw that the path ahead grew wider and wider before finally stopping in front of a large cave.

Yan Wei stood behind Yan Mingguang and witnessed the situation ahead.

It appears that below the well, this was the innermost section of the cave.
There were no other paths besides theirs, and at the end of the road was where the matron stood.

The large cave was decorated like a house, with a few candles around, but perhaps for fear of lack of oxygen, hardly any candles were lit.
The candlelight swayed slightly in the underground breeze.

The matron stood in the middle of the cave.
In front of her was a desk with cutting tools and various instruments of different sizes neatly arranged beside the table.
At the center of the table…

–Was evenly spread out human skin.
Blood remained stained on the bones.

“The stars are shining, the moon is hanging…”

“…”

“Let’s hold up our umbrellas…”

The matron sang the song dedicated to the mountain god with a solemn face.
In her hand was some object.
She appeared to be handling the human skin.

【She’s making an umbrella.
It looks like she didn’t just go down to drag the umbrellas out again.】Yan Wei clutched the whip and said to Yan Mingguang in his mind, 【She still goes down to make umbrellas.
The skin and bones… should belong to the player who died yesterday.】

【What are you going to do?】Yan Mingguang asked him.

After going down the well, although the two didn’t say anything, Yan Mingguang’s trust in Yan Wei had clearly increased.

He seemed to be very at ease with Yan Wei’s actions, and he believed without a doubt that Yan Wei had a plan in mind.

Yan Wei did have a plan.

He started planning from the moment he knew about the emergence of the first answer mode.

On the other side, Lin Zhen observed the matron, his dark red pupils full of curiosity — he looked interested in the process of making an umbrella.

Like Yan Wei, Yu Feizhou hid behind a rock wall.
He watched Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang.
Even though he didn’t speak, his eyes were asking Yan Mingguang whether to fight or not.

【Teacher Yan, I need the matron alive.
We have two of the girls’ phalanges.
Even if there’s a death trigger, we can resist an umbrella once or twice.】Yan Wei raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
【Go ahead, let’s tie up the matron.】

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The next moment, the whip tied to Yan Wei’s wrist shook, and the tail of the whip retracted.
Yan Mingguang grabbed the whip handle, raised his foot, and turned around.
He jumped up and swung the whip!

In the rustling of the weapon, the whip accurately flung away the tool in the matron’s hand.

“Yan, why did you take action so quickly? What if there’s a death trigger?” Yu Feizhou immediately ran out.
“Yan Wei, you hide in the back first.
Lin Zhen and I will help Yan Mingguang—”

His movements jerked to a halt.

The young man he allowed to hide stepped forward without hesitation and brought out a thick hemp rope from who knows where.
After Yan Mingguang knocked the matron down, Yan Wei ran towards the matron and tied her nimbly with the rope.

The candles’ flames swayed even more from their action-induced airflow, but the matron merely stared at them in panic.
The old body did not have a high capability of resisting, so Yan Wei effortlessly restrained the matron.

Seeing that matron was about to open her mouth, Yan Wei was worried that the old fool would expose a first answer point.
He grabbed something at the edge of the table, crumpled it, and stuffed the object into the matron’s mouth.

“Mmph…mm…mm…”

The matron was gagged, unable to speak.
It became clear to Yan Wei that the object he crumpled up was the blood-stained skin on the table.

Yan Wei: “…”

Fortunately, he was wearing gloves.

Yu Feizhou gawked at Yan Wei, his voice filled with shock.
“Yan Wei, you… how did you…”

Lin Zhen appeared to have no intention of attacking from the start.
He folded his arms leisurely and looked down at the tools on the table.
“You’re too rude to the elderly.
You don’t respect the old and cherish the young at all.
Aiya, it’s a pity that you interrupted the matron.
I won’t be able to learn how to make an umbrella using skin and bone.
It looks fun…”

Yan Wei didn’t bother to converse with the mental case.

He tightened the rope and pulled the matron, whose mouth was stuffed with human skin, up from the ground.

The docile look on his face completely faded away.
His eyes were deep, and he spoke with decisiveness.
“We’ve all finished exploring the bottom of the well.
To be honest, there are some clues under this well that I’ve already speculated.
I also know the origin of the skin and bone umbrellas.
This matron should know of all the details I have made conjectures on and even more.
The umbrellas, the well, and the ancient town of Ankang are all worth at least three first answer points…”

He looked at Yu Feizhou and Lin Zhen and vividly portrayed having a fallout.
“Gentlemen, a straightforward person does not resort to insinuations.
I’ll not only take the matron up, but after I go up, I also need you to help me do one thing with the matron — I’ll take the initiative to deal with Jiang Xiu.
You accept, and you can have a share of the three points.
However, if we can’t come to an agreement right now…”

Yan Wei casually picked up a sharp blade on the table and pointed the tip at the matron’s carotid artery.

He smiled and said, “If we can agree, the four of us will have three points.
If we can’t agree, I will kill the matron, and Yan Mingguang and I will take all the points.”

Yu Feizhou: “???”

Yu Feizhou was entirely dumbfounded.

His gentle face was now dull, and his empty eyes fell on Yan Wei, astonished and bewildered.

Lin Zhen, who had long expected this scene, picked up a tool and fiddled with it while faintly gloating at his misfortune.
“Cute?”

Yu Feizhou: “…”

“Not stupid?”

“…”

“Not very strong?”

“…”

“Protect?”

“…”

Lin Zhen put down the cutting tool and glanced at Yan Wei, who was dragging the goddess, and Yan Mingguang, who was guarding him.
He looked at Yu Feizhou’s expression, gave a deep sigh, and smiled once more, saying, “Seeing your reaction, my mind has reached a psychological balance, and I’m very happy.”