Hedonist Prodigy

Chapter 86: Buried Alive

“Qiangzi, is that you? You really have nine lives; how did you survive this? This is fantastic!” Just as Jiang Feng was lost in thought, a voice came from ahead. Accompanied by the voice, two figures rushed towards him from the darkness.

Jiang Feng instinctively clenched his fists, preparing for a fight. However, the voice sounded somewhat familiar, which made him relax and loosen his grip.

A strong beam of a flashlight shone on his face, and the fat man, filled with surprise, recognized Jiang Feng’s appearance. His expression suddenly changed, and he let out a small exclamation, “It’s you! How did you end up here?”

The pockmarked man also looked a bit strange, exclaiming in surprise as he stared at Jiang Feng, clearly not expecting to see him here. Moreover, it appeared that Jiang Feng had sustained significant injuries.

Jiang Feng didn’t answer the fat man’s question; he was utterly exhausted and slowly sat down against the cave wall, closing his eyes. The fat man stared at him for a few moments before turning to the pockmarked man who had run over with him. They exchanged glances for a while, and then the fat man quietly said, “Boss, this guy…”

The pockmarked man waved his hand, interrupting him, and said, “Don’t meddle in unnecessary matters.”

The fat man chuckled bitterly and replied, “Don’t you find this strange? I think something is definitely wrong with him.”

The pockmarked man glanced at Jiang Feng again and said, “Less talk, we need to find a way out first.” With that, he led the fat man in another direction.

The area they were trapped in was not large, and the sounds of their footsteps occasionally reached Jiang Feng’s ears, but he paid them no mind. These two were just ordinary tomb raiders, drawn here by the treasures in the tomb. If they didn’t attack him, he could coexist peacefully with them. If they dared to make a move, he would fight to the death, ensuring they would remain here forever.

Soon enough, the fat man and the pockmarked man appeared before Jiang Feng again. The fat man was angrily cursing, “It’s over! This is the end! Damn it, isn’t this just playing with people? Not only can we not find Qiangzi, but how could an earthquake suddenly happen? This is really going to cost me my life!”

“No, this isn’t an earthquake. Smell that? There’s a faint smell of gunpowder in the air. If I’m not mistaken, this ancient tomb must have been blown up from the outside,” the pockmarked man pondered.

“Damn it, which freak did this? Are they trying to bury us alive? Do you think it was that b@stard Qiangzi?” The fat man suddenly had a realization and exclaimed, “Right, it must be him! That guy must have found something good and snuck out alone, worried that we would have designs on it, so he decided to blow this place up. As long as we die, he gets to enjoy all the benefits alone.”

“Although Qiangzi had explosives, they were just ordinary ones, and there weren’t many. There’s no way they could have this much power,” the pockmarked man replied.

“Then… what… is going on?” The fat man was at a loss for words.

“I don’t know,” the pockmarked man sighed.

“You don’t know? Oh heavens, how can you not know? Are we really going to be trapped here to die?” The fat man swallowed hard, his legs giving way as he fell to the ground, his face pale as he muttered to himself.

“Sigh…” Seeing the fat man like this, the pockmarked man sighed again. He had just carefully searched every corner of this place; unsurprisingly, with the collapse of the ancient tomb, every exit had been blocked. Now, he too sat down, looking utterly exhausted.

Jiang Feng listened to their conversation without speaking but finally understood why that old woman had said that greedy people would not have a good end.

According to the old woman, she had buried a large amount of expl0sives in the mountains long ago. At this moment, expl0sives detonated, causing the entire ancient tomb to collapse. Anyone who entered the tomb would either be buried alive or inevitably trapped to die here, even if they were lucky enough to escape being buried. 

The only thing Jiang Feng couldn’t understand was that he had already killed that old woman, so how could she still trigger the expl0sives, unless there were more than just her living in this ancient tomb. After a moment of thought, Jiang Feng stopped pondering; his immediate priority was to quickly heal his wounds. Otherwise, even if he didn’t get trapped here, he would still die from his injuries.

An hour later, Jiang Feng slowly opened his eyes. After an hour, his injuries had slightly lessened. Although he was still very weak, walking was no longer a significant problem. What made Jiang Feng feel regretful was that he couldn’t retrieve the silver needle that had been wrapped around his fingertip. If he could have, he could have performed acupuncture on himself, which would have sped up his recovery considerably. 

Nevertheless, Jiang Feng was still quite satisfied. He glanced at the two tomb raiders, who were also looking at him. The fat man was munching on some cookies, while the pockmarked man was drinking water. Their eyes met, and after a moment of hesitation, the pockmarked man reached into his backpack and tossed a bottle of water to Jiang Feng, saying, “This is for you.” 

Jiang Feng picked up the water bottle and remained silent for a while before saying, “Thank you.” 

The pockmarked man smiled wryly and replied, “You don’t need to thank me. I’m not doing this out of kindness. It’s just that the three of us are trapped here now. It’s either we die today or tomorrow. If you die before us, we won’t be able to stay here. It’s better to be generous and let you live a few more days. When the time comes to die, we can die together.” 

The fat man made a gurgling sound in his throat and casually tossed a pack of cookies over, saying, “Boss, you’re really smart. How come I didn’t think of that? Buddy, just drinking water isn’t enough; you need to eat some cookies too. Make sure to try and live a bit longer. The last thing I want is for someone to die. If you accidentally turn into a zongzi, we’ll probably be dragged down with you.” 

Jiang Feng couldn’t help but chuckle, and although he felt a bit disgusted by the comment, he still opened the water bottle and started eating the cookies. He wasn’t a pessimistic person; after all, he had survived the collapse of the entire tomb, so now that he was still alive, he naturally wanted to seize any opportunity to survive.

After hastily finishing the food, Jiang Feng thought for a moment and said honestly, “I just heard you guys talking about looking for that Qiangzi. I’ve seen him before, but he’s already dead.” 

“He’s dead?” The pockmarked man’s expression changed dramatically. 

Jiang Feng nodded slightly and recounted what he had experienced earlier. As he finished speaking, both the pockmarked man and the fat man clearly gasped in shock. After a moment, the fat man pounded his chest and exclaimed, “Damn that old woman! Why is she so twisted? What kind of place are we in?” 

The pockmarked man trembled and said, “If you hadn’t killed that old woman, wouldn’t we have been killed by her too?” 

As he spoke, he exchanged glances with the fat man, both of their faces twitching involuntarily. After a while, the fat man slapped his chest and let out a breath, saying, “Thank goodness you killed that old woman. But I see you seem to be injured. Did that twisted old woman hurt you?” 

“No,” Jiang Feng shook his head and replied, “There are other people in the ancient tomb.” 

“Are they very strong?” The fat man’s eyes widened. 

“Very strong,” Jiang Feng had no choice but to say. 

The fat man seemed to think of something, his eyes flickering for a moment, then he sighed and said, “Well, strong or not, it seems that whether we get killed or just sit here waiting to die, it’s all the same. Early death or late death, it’s still death. Who knows, being killed directly like Qiangzi might even be a quicker way to die.”

Jiang Feng let out a helpless smile and changed the topic, asking, “Did you find anything while you were looking around just now?” 

“Besides this place we’re in, everything else has collapsed,” the pockmarked man sighed. 

“Why not try to dig a tunnel to get out?” Jiang Feng suggested. 

The fat man explained, “When the ancient tomb collapsed earlier, we were in a rush to escape. Now, aside from a bit of food, we only have a Luoyang shovel left. And as you can see, all that collapsed is large chunks of stone. Even if we wanted to dig a tunnel, we’d probably tire ourselves out before finishing it. It’s better to save some energy and live a few more days; that way, there’s still a glimmer of hope.” 

Jiang Feng smiled wryly, knowing he was right. He fell silent again, closing his eyes to focus on cultivating his Qi. 

The pockmarked man and the fat man watched him, unsure of what he was doing. After being terrified for such a long time and suffering immense psychological pressure from Qiangzi’s death, they felt utterly exhausted after eating a little and curled up on the ground to sleep. 

Inside the ancient tomb, the darkness was oppressive, extending infinitely in this place. The surrounding area was eerily quiet; aside from the breathing of the pockmarked man and the fat man, no other sounds could be heard. 

In the dim, enclosed space, time seemed to stand still. After the pockmarked man and the fat man fell asleep, Jiang Feng opened his eyes again. 

He stood up and walked over to the pockmarked man and the fat man, extending a finger to gently poke their acupoints for sleep. 

His body was injured, which accelerated the consumption of his Essence, leaving him extremely weak. However, every disadvantage has its advantage; while his Essence was depleting, his body was undergoing a vigorous self-repair process. 

But that self-repair was exceedingly slow. To fully recover, it would likely take at least a week, and right now, what he lacked most was time. Jiang Feng understood that he couldn’t just wait idly; doing so would be meaningless. 

He decided to take the opportunity to break through to the third level of body refinement. Although it was a risky move, if things went poorly, he could exhaust his last bit of Qi and perish here. 

However, if he did nothing, given his injuries and being trapped, there was no way he could survive and leave this place. 

Dying here without any understanding would be absolutely unacceptable for Jiang Feng. He still hadn’t figured out why he had soul-transcended to Earth, nor had he found any information about the Dan Tai Immortal. He had too many things left to do; he absolutely could not die now. 

Thus, Jiang Feng had no choice but to take the risk and fight for a chance!