BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 35 A Gamble

In just a few moments, more than a dozen transparent holes had appeared in Xiong Wanyi’s body.

Even so, he didn’t collapse.

Clutching his wounds, he staggered backward several steps until his body hit the cavern wall. Leaning against it, he stared in shock at Che Qianzi, who seemed to have suddenly gone mad.

Che Qianzi did not immediately pursue him.

Instead, he opened his mouth and spat out the tongue-tip blood he had been holding for so long.

About half of the blood splashed onto Xiong Wanyi.

Contrary to the young Taoist’s expectations, Director Xiong showed no reaction whatsoever.

The severely wounded Xiong Wanyi no longer even had the strength to speak. He could only gasp desperately for air, looking as though he might stop breathing and die at any moment.

Holding his flashlight steady on the man, Che Qianzi remained silent and watched coldly.

Only when the figure seemed close to death did he finally speak.

“Still going to keep up the act?”

“I don’t care whether you’re really him or not. Once you stop breathing, I’m chopping you into pieces. I’ll just say I snapped like those crazy survey team members did. At worst they’ll call me mentally ill. Crazy people don’t go to prison for murder.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the blind “Xiong Wanyi” suddenly stopped gasping.

His blood-filled eye sockets turned toward Che Qianzi.

When he spoke again, the voice that emerged was completely different—hoarse, metallic, and unnatural.

“I’ve never failed before…”

“How did you discover the flaw?”

Hearing that, Che Qianzi instantly relaxed.

He let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

“Scared me to death…”

“I thought I’d actually stabbed the real Xiong to death. If that happened, my whole life would’ve been ruined.”

“No, first thing after getting out of here, I’ll quit being a Taoist, get married, and have children…”

“Thank goodness you’re fake. By the sacred decree, may the Supreme Lord Lao protect me…”

The fake Xiong Wanyi froze.

Then realization dawned on him.

Somewhat helplessly, he said:

“So you were gambling that I was fake too? I thought you’d actually spotted a flaw.”

“You think I’m blind?” Che Qianzi sneered.

“Isn’t the real Xiong Wanyi lying right over there?”

As he spoke, he pointed toward a cluster of stalagmites on the left.

The fake Xiong instinctively turned his head to look.

There was absolutely nothing there.

In that instant, he realized he had been tricked.

A sharp whistling sound cut through the air.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Che Qianzi had hurled his short sword.

As the fake Xiong dodged the flying blade, the young Taoist lunged forward.

In his hands was half of a broken stalactite.

Without hesitation, he smashed it toward the man’s head.

Bang!

The fake Xiong had no time to evade.

The heavy stone struck his temple squarely.

He crashed to the ground.

Before he could get up, Che Qianzi charged again and brought the stone down violently between the man’s legs.

For an ordinary man, that strike would have been crippling.

Yet despite having his head partially caved in, the fake Xiong seemed completely unaffected.

Rolling over, he threw Che Qianzi to the ground.

Just as he was about to finish him off—

Bang!

A gunshot echoed through the cavern.

The fake Xiong shuddered.

Immediately, he stopped attacking.

At the same time, Sun Desheng’s voice rang out:

“Brother! Where’d you go? The moment you came down, you disappeared!”

“Is that you up ahead?”

“Then who’s the other guy?”

The instant the gunshot sounded, everything before Che Qianzi’s eyes changed dramatically.

The magnificent stalactite cave vanished.

In its place was an empty mining tunnel.

The stalactite he had been using as a weapon was now nothing more than a palm-sized rock.

As for the “Xiong Wanyi” whose skull he had smashed—he had transformed into a middle-aged man wearing a geological survey uniform.

A massive hole had been smashed into his head.

Blood and brain matter flowed continuously from the wound.

Even so, it was obvious that the man still wanted to kill Che Qianzi.

Another gunshot rang out behind him.

Clearly, he feared the revolver.

Sun Desheng’s voice called again:

“Brother! Say something! Are you all right?”

The man wiped the blood and brain matter from his face.

Then he flashed Che Qianzi a chilling smile.

In the same metallic voice as before, he said:

“I’ll remember you.”

“Keep moving forward.”

“I’ll be waiting for you ahead.”

His eyes suddenly rolled upward.

Then his body stiffened and collapsed to the ground.

Seeing the man fall, Che Qianzi shouted:

“Sun! Get over here!”

This time, Sun Desheng wasn’t alone.

Ximen Lian, the company commander, and Feng Haiyang were all with him.

The only person missing was Xiong Wanyi, who had descended first.

When they approached, Che Qianzi picked up his short sword and pointed it at them.

“Stop right there!”

“Fatty Sun, where did we first meet? Think carefully before answering.”

“What kind of question is that?” Sun replied.

“You ran all the way out here just to ask me that?”

As he spoke, his flashlight beam landed on the corpse.

Immediately understanding what had happened, he answered:

“We met outside the Bureau. The first person we saw after entering was Xiong Wanyi.”

“Brother, what’s going on with the body?”

At that moment, Feng Haiyang finally got a clear look at the dead man’s face.

Too frightened to approach, he examined it from a distance.

“That’s Captain Liu Zhian from our survey team…”

His face suddenly changed.

“Wait a minute. He Hongjun, who was rescued earlier, said Liu Zhian was already dead. What’s going on?”

Satisfied that this really was Sun Desheng, Che Qianzi finally relaxed.

Pulling Sun and Ximen aside, he recounted everything that had happened.

Afterward, he glanced behind them and asked:

“I was probably bewitched by that thing.”

“The thing that trapped me seemed afraid of your revolver.”

“By the way, where’s Xiong Wanyi? Did he get trapped too?”

A troubled expression appeared on Ximen Lian’s face.

Turning toward Sun Desheng, he said:

“Great Sage, Old Xiong’s in serious trouble.”

“We need to get the Sixth Division here immediately.”

“This is beyond what our Second Division can handle.”

“Hurry.”

“If we’re too late, Old Xiong may not make it.”

Hearing the severity in Ximen’s tone, Che Qianzi asked:

“So Xiong really disappeared?”

“What do we do? Keep searching or go back first?”

“Will one of you say something instead of just standing there?”

Sun Desheng pondered for a moment.

Then he questioned Che Qianzi again about everything that had happened.

After confirming that the fake Xiong had only managed to fight him to a draw, he finally said:

“Not that I’m bragging, but we’ve already come this far.”

“No matter what, we have to bring Xiong Wanyi back.”

“Big Official, you and the commander head back first.”

“My little brother and I will keep moving forward.”

“Once we find Xiong Wanyi, we’ll regroup with you above.”

Ximen Lian could hardly believe his ears.

For all these years, Sun Desheng had always hidden behind others—especially Shen La.

When had he become this bold?

He had gone to America once and come back like a completely different person.

In the past, faced with something this dangerous, he would have stayed safely above ground and “coordinated the overall situation” without hesitation.

“Great Sage…”

Ximen frowned.

“Do you know something?”

Sun offered no reply.

Instead, Ximen turned to the company commander and Feng Haiyang, instructing them to return to the surface.

If any additional experts arrived, they were to remain on standby and contact the Bureau immediately, requesting specialists from the Sixth Division.

Neither the commander nor Feng Haiyang dared remain any longer.

The two men encouraged each other and hurried back toward the cave entrance.

Only after they had gone some distance did Sun Desheng finally turn to Che Qianzi.

“Brother…”

“You saved my life.”

“I don’t have your skills.”

“If you hadn’t gone down in my place…”

“There’s an eighty-percent chance I’d be the one finished right now.”

Then Sun Desheng began explaining everything that had happened after Che Qianzi descended into the cave…