Bug Mountain, Bug Sea, Bugs

Not long after confirming that all the villagers had evacuated, Xiao Liu carefully took out a small bottle of liquid from her backpack and cautiously sprinkled it around the bottom of the pit. She then spread black gunpowder as a fuse, leading it outside the pit, about ten steps away. Xiao Liu, trying to curl up her over two-meter-tall body, used flint to ignite the gunpowder.

The air immediately filled with the smoke and burnt smell of burning gunpowder. The characteristic "hissing" sound of the gunpowder suddenly stopped, followed by a loud explosion! Xiao Liu waited patiently for the dust to settle, then hurriedly ran to the edge of the pit to observe. A large hole was exposed in the deep pit, indicating that the explosive power of the liquid exceeded that of the black gunpowder. It was unclear where Xiao Liu had obtained it.

"Lao Luo, you were right. That strange woman is indeed peculiar," Lishun whispered to Lao Luo, who was lying beside him.

"Lao Luo may be old, but my mind is still sharp. When we chose to settle here, we thoroughly investigated everything unusual. That black stone floor was dug up long ago. Ha, do you really think we're naive country folk? Since someone is playing tricks, they must have used some insect repellent to bring the insects here, thinking we would be scared off?" At this moment, Lao Luo didn't seem like a simple farmer. His demeanor suggested he had either been a soldier or fought in several tough battles. "This time, that strange woman came here herself, and I knew she had her eye on the black stone floor. We haven't had any tools to dig it up for decades, so we let her do it. If there are any treasures, we'll make her give them up!"

"That's right! That's right!" Wang Zheng nodded and fiddled with the matchlock musket in his hands. The old musket didn't shoot far, but its power was considerable. Hundreds of iron pellets would be enough to incapacitate anyone.

While Lao Luo and the others prepared, the strange woman calling herself Xiao Liu first used a torch to probe the cave entrance and dropped a stone to test the depth. Estimating that it wasn't very deep, she lowered a rope and slowly climbed down.

"These bumpkins, living on top of a treasure trove and not even realizing it! This is a huge ruin! The entire village is built on top of it. Almighty gods, if I can obtain any treasure this time, I might become the next Seed!" The tall woman muttered to herself with a smile. "When I return, let's see who still dares to mock me as a freak! I'll make everyone address me as Assistant Xiufen, not that damned Big Xiufen!"

Assistant Xiufen had good reason to be excited. After the pit was blasted open, the revealed entrance pointed directly towards the back mountain, clearly leading to a large underground palace. Although the air inside the entrance was slightly damp and cold, it wasn't suffocating, indicating that the construction techniques were far superior to those of the current era, ensuring that anyone entering wouldn't suffocate.

Despite her height exceeding two meters, the tall woman could walk upright in the tunnel. She seemed to know the direction to go, taking out two small crossbows from her backpack and attaching them to her legs. She held a torch in her left hand and constantly used its light to examine the map in her right hand.

'This map is really blurry, damn it,' the tall woman grumbled, trying to make out the directions in the flickering light. 'This is a fork, this part shouldn't be accessible, this is a door, so if I turn here, I should be there...'

Following the map, it guided Xiufen to a spacious hall. The hall was constructed with some strange blue bricks and was completely empty. Due to the solid and airtight construction, she hadn't encountered any insects or rats during her journey, and the hall was almost dust-free.

Xiufen looked at the empty hall and then at the map, unable to resist shouting loudly, "Damn it! The map clearly marks this place! Why is there nothing here? Where are the treasures? The valuables? Even some vases or jars would do!"

'Wait a moment!' Xiufen seemed to remember something and unfolded the crumpled map again, studying it carefully. Suddenly, she understood, 'This symbol indicates an important location, not on this level. So, the treasure is below the hall?'

Generally, the more robust a person is, the more straightforward their mind tends to be, but this strong woman's eyes clearly showed intelligence. She first carefully checked if there were any traps or hidden doors in the hall. Then she spent a long time considering whether using explosives would also blow her up. Once she was sure everything was safe, she dug a hole in the center of the hall with an iron bar, placed the remaining liquid explosive and black gunpowder in the hole, and laid a long fuse.

Boom! Even from a distance, Xiufen felt a wave of heat hit her face. Her ears rang painfully, and although she couldn't hear clearly for a moment, she knew there was no immediate danger, so she didn't hesitate. She ran back to the hall, and her guess was correct; there was indeed another level below the hall.

Without hesitation, the strong woman jumped down to the second level and used her torch to light the area. The passage wasn't large, and not far ahead was an iron door. Pushing the door open led to another hall, and even from the doorway, she could see something strange in the center of the hall.

It was a coffin, a semi-transparent coffin.

To Xiufen, this must be what the map indicated. She eagerly entered the "chamber" but didn't rush to open the coffin. Instead, she carefully examined the surroundings with her torch to ensure there were no dangers before turning her attention to the object.

'It must be something very ancient, maybe pre-war?' Xiufen examined the coffin. It was sturdy and appeared to be connected to the ground. The semi-transparent coffin walls reflected the torchlight, revealing that the coffin was almost filled with a liquid.

'I've heard that long ago, people wanted to achieve immortality, so they created these coffins and placed themselves inside just before death. These coffins were usually stored in very cold places in groups of dozens or even hundreds to preserve the bodies from decay.' As she looked at the coffin, Xiufen was still puzzled, 'Why is this one placed here alone? Is it because the person was special, or is there another reason? No matter, I'll open it and see.'

The strong woman took out a small bottle containing a light yellow liquid. She carefully opened the bottle and dripped the liquid onto what appeared to be the seam of the coffin. Where the liquid fell, a pungent white smoke rose, and Xiufen's expression showed satisfaction with the effect.

Just as she was about to lift the coffin lid, which had been corroded through by the liquid, she suddenly heard a bang behind her. She felt a powerful force hit her back, sending her flying! She crashed into the coffin and slid to the ground. The force was significant enough to make the sturdy coffin shake visibly!

Unfortunately, future Assistant Xiufen, whose hearing was still affected by the earlier explosion, was caught off guard and easily knocked down by the villagers.

"I told you not to fire the musket so quickly! She might have brought out something valuable!" Lao Luo was somewhat exasperated; the younger generation was too impulsive.

"Sorry, I just saw her about to open the coffin and was afraid she'd damage the treasure inside, hehe," Wang Zheng said, though he was secretly thinking, 'The older they get, the more timid they become.'

"Don't rush to open the coffin, first make sure that woman is dead." Lao Luo wisely stopped Wang Zheng and Li Shun. To prevent any strange things from the woman, he had Wang Zheng throw two throwing knives into her legs. Seeing no reaction, they slowly approached her, but Lao Luo always felt something was off, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The hall wasn't very large, roughly forty steps in diameter. With the coffin in the middle, it was only a few steps to reach the woman. When Lao Luo was about seven or eight steps away from her, he suddenly remembered a problem! From the time she was shot to now, the woman hadn't moved at all! That was the issue!

Usually, when someone dies from a gunshot, unless they are completely shattered, the body will twitch due to residual electrical impulses in the motor nerves. Of course, Lao Luo didn't understand this scientific principle, but having lived for several decades and having wandered the wastelands in his youth, he had seen many corpses after gunshots. It just took him a moment to recall these experiences.

"Everyone, stop! Something's wrong!" Just as Lao Luo shouted, Wang Zheng, Li Shun, and the three other strong men didn't understand what was happening. Suddenly, the supposedly dead woman's body sprang up from the ground!

To be precise, she didn't stand up but twisted her body and bent her legs, kicking off the base of the coffin with great force! Using this momentum, she rolled over and quickly pulled out the two throwing knives. Xiufen must have been desperate, as she showed no signs of pain from pulling out the knives. With a flick of her wrist, the two knives flew toward Lao Luo and Wang Zheng.

The distance between them was only seven or eight steps. Xiufen, using the force from her kick, managed to slide sideways to about ten steps away. Except for Lao Luo, who made a dodging motion after shouting, the five men including Wang Zheng had no reaction. Lao Luo, being older, didn't fully avoid the knives. However, Xiufen, in her haste, wasn't very accurate. One knife embedded itself in Lao Luo's shoulder, and the other in Wang Shun's calf.

Only then did everyone react. The four men who could move quickly advanced, their spears and pitchforks aimed at the strong woman. Xiufen, after throwing the knives, didn't stop. She reached for the crossbow that had fallen nearby after being hit by the musket, raised it, and fired!

This time, her aim was true. One of the strong men fell immediately, the arrow piercing his eye socket. He was clearly dead. Unfortunately, the other crossbow had flown somewhere when she fell, or else she might have taken down two men.

Xiufen discarded the crossbow, and at the same moment, the weapons of the remaining three men struck. The mysterious strong woman didn't have time to speak before Li Shun's dagger pierced her heart! The other two men's spears and pitchforks missed her body.

"Cough, cough," Lao Luo gritted his teeth and pulled out the knife, while Li Shun, who was uninjured, quickly bandaged his wound. "We were still too careless. That woman must have been wearing something protective; the musket couldn't penetrate it. Fortunately, Li Shun was quick and killed her."

"Father, don't talk now. Thanks to your warning, otherwise, if we had rashly approached and lifted the coffin, we wouldn't have been able to dodge her crossbow, and being hit by such a large coffin would have turned us into mush," Li Shun said as he tightened the bandage, causing Lao Luo to groan in pain.

Wang Zheng sat next to Lao Luo, while the other two mobile strong men searched the tunnels around the hall to see if there were any valuable items on this level.

This level wasn't very large, and the two men quickly returned. One of them excitedly presented a strange knife to Lao Luo, "Father, we found these in a small room! There are many, of different weights, mostly square, very sharp, and they haven't rusted despite being stored for many years! Truly excellent knives!"

"Hmm, good, good. I've seen these knives before in the wastelands. They were commonly used by a gang called Chushi. It's said that members of this gang practiced daily with these knives and a round black hemispherical shield. In their slang, a few skilled users of these weapons could handle dozens of opponents, and a master could handle hundreds," Lao Luo panted, then asked, "Did you find those small shields?"

The two men answered regretfully, "We saw those shields, but they are heavily rusted and unusable."

"Well, even if they weren't rusted, we wouldn't know how to use those specific skills. Don't be too greedy," Lao Luo consoled everyone, then sighed, "So many good things from our ancestors, but so few have been passed down. What a pity, what a pity."

"Everyone is tired. Wang Zheng, can you still move?" Lao Luo looked at Wang Zheng, who nodded and replied, "It's just a minor injury, no big problem, that damn woman!"

"Never mind, the person is dead already. Li Shun took out the dry rations, and everyone ate what they could manage to get some strength back. Then we'll search that woman first, and open the coffin afterward; perhaps there's something good waiting for us!" Old Luo chuckled and reminded the others, "Be prepared when you open it; who knows what might be inside."