Book 3: Chapter 10: Clothes-Seizing Figurine


    It was a ceramic figurine that was usually buried with the dead. Poker-Face hadnt quite managed to rip its head off, but he had a strange hat in his hand that officials used to wear. The hat was made of wood and had been glued to this ceramic figurines head. When Poker-Face had wrapped his legs around the figure just now and twisted, he ended up breaking the hat off.


    I had seen many burial figurines before, so even if the style was different, I knew by its skin characteristics that it came from a sealed underground environment. The color had almost faded, which seemed to indicate that the stage of rapid oxidation after being unearthed had already passed. But it only took a single nce to know that this burial figurine was very special.


    This was because it was dressed in modern clothes and even its facial features had been repainted clearly. It was almost like someone was pulling a prank.


    I was certain that someone had put this outfit on it and the paint on its face must have been done pretty recently, so the culprits mustve been the people in these teams. But the color of the paint was strange and I didnt know where it hade from.


    The burial figurine was very tall, so after wearing these modern clothes, it looked just like a two-meter-tall man who was deliberately exposing his navel. But what made me feel sick was that his pockets were full of food that had already begun to mildew and rot.


    <em>What the hell is this?</em> There was a strong sense of strangeness in my heart and my instincts were telling me that this matter wasnt all that simple.


    The fact that this ceramic figurine had suddenly appeared here was particrly strange. The amount of difort I felt right now far exceeded the difort I felt during all the strange events I had experienced before. I figured this was my intuition kicking in, which had been honed from many years of conducting expeditions.


    My subconscious must have found something but my brain couldnt process it.


    I took a few steps back, not even willing to observe it carefully, and said to Poker-Face, "Wait for dawn."


    The corpses had suddenly moved by themselves and this ceramic figurine appeared out of nowhere. This forest was unremarkable but there was obviously something here. Such a dark environment obviously wasnt suitable for further exploration, so it would be better if we left first.


    Poker-Face nced at me, his expression proving that my intuition was correct. It was obvious that he also cared quite a bit. When he swept his shlight over the corpses, we could see that all of them still had their heads lowered and were sitting there motionless. He hesitated before saying, "It''s not over yet."


    "What''s the matter?" I immediately looked around, sweeping my shlight all over the area but not seeing anything.


    "Get the wine."


    "What?"


    Poker-Face looked at the ceramic figurine, "Wine. For ignition. Get it quickly."


    Immediately understanding, I nced at the dark forest and took a deep breath, <em>alright</em>.


    I hadnt been afraid of the dark for a long time now, so I didnt hesitate before starting my mad dash through the woods. It really was dark here. <em>Dear friends, don''t force me to be serious, </em>I silently thought to the darkness<em>. It will be you who suffers when the timees.</em>


    This time, I smoothly rushed out of the woods and saw that Fatty was almost done cooking the food. "Mr. Nave, tell Little Brother toe out for dinner, he said to me. Don''t always make me coax and beg."


    He usually drank while cooking, so when I saw that he was holding half a bottle of wine in his hand, I quickly snatched it and then lifted his wine bag up. He cursed me out for stealing, but I just turned and ran back into the woods. But I immediately became confused as soon as I entered because Poker-Face''s shlight wasnt on. It was pitch ck in front of me and I had lost my sense of direction so I didn''t know where he was.


    If he had turned the shlight off, then that meant something must have happened. I thought about it for a moment and then calmed myself down. With a self-deprecating smile, I also turned off my shlight and started walking in the dark woods. At the same time, I intentionally amplified my hearing and concentrated on my surroundings.


    It was safer to imitate his actions; plus, I could also hide myself.


    The forest was dark all around, but I soon heard movementing from all directions. After walking for six or seven minutes, I reached the depths of the forest and ran into something. When I reached out and touched it, I found that the shape of the thing I had bumped into was actually simr to the ceramic figurine from earlier. But after touching it a few more times, I realized that it actually was the ceramic figurine. The area in front of me was dark, so how did I just so happen to bump into it?


    But it was different from before. When I touched it, I immediately found that the clothes it was wearing were the same as the hoodie Poker-Face had been wearing just now.


    I froze for a moment. I was very familiar with the texture of Poker-Faces clothes since they were different from ordinary jackets. But why did Poker-Face put his clothes on this ceramic figurine? Did something unexpected happen?


    I took a few steps back and hesitated for a second before turning on my shlight. I had to know what happened.


    But just as soon as the light came on, a person rushed out of the nearby trees, swiftly turned off my shlight, and dragged me into the darkness on the side. The two of us ended up rolling, and when I was finally lifted up, I heard Poker-Face ask, "Wine?"


    I immediately handed him Fatty''s wine bottle. It sounded like he broke off the lid with his bare hands and took a big mouthful, so I flicked my lighter on in a fancy way out of habit and held it out in front of him right as he spit the wine out.


    He had arge lung capacity, so a huge me rushed out. In the bright sh of light, I saw that the ceramic figurine''s head had rushed right in front of us. I didnt know what it was, but something like a cobra''s hood seemed to be ring out behind it, expanding into a thin film that looked like a fin.