PCJ – Chapter 537 Ghost Infant

After walking just a few steps, Zhang Jiaohua heard a rustling sound behind him and quickly turned to look.

“Fat Cat! Get out here!” Zhang Jiaohua shouted. Fat Cat slowly and bashfully emerged.

“Why did you follow me?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

Fat Cat opened its mouth but could only let out a meow, stomping anxiously. It was already used to speaking directly with Zhang Jiaohua inside the Cultivation Diagram.

“Forget it, come along then. Fat Monkey didn’t follow, right? That group can’t be left unguarded,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Fat Cat shook its head quickly, indicating that Fat Monkey was still back there.

“Then let’s go,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Fat Monkey wouldn’t be willing to come down anyway—it was having too much fun. It patted Lao Qi on the face, and when Lao Qi opened his eyes, Fat Monkey stuck its chubby face right in front of him.

“Ah!” Lao Qi thought some monster had crawled out of the tunnel and fainted in fright.

Fat Monkey looked at him in dissatisfaction, tilting its head, confused as to why this guy was so useless.

It patted Lao Qi’s face again, but he stubbornly kept his eyes shut. Actually, Lao Qi had already regained consciousness but was too scared to open his eyes.

Fat Monkey started poking and prodding Lao Qi all over but quickly got bored and moved on to look for another target. Unexpectedly, several others had seen what just happened and learned to play dead like Lao Qi.

Taking advantage of Fat Monkey’s distraction, Lao Qi secretly tried to rub the rope on his hands against a piece of broken cement to cut it. But the tiny sound he made was immediately detected by Fat Monkey.

Fat Monkey jumped onto the beam, then launched down and slammed Lao Qi to the ground, making him scream in pain.

Fat Monkey, furious at being tricked, vented all its anger on Lao Qi.

It scratched at him with its claws—slowly and repeatedly—until Lao Qi’s face looked like it had been sliced into a grid. With his hands and feet bound, Lao Qi couldn’t fight back or dodge. Each claw strike drew blood, causing unbearable pain.

Lao Qi’s miserable cries completely crushed any escape thoughts the other tomb robbers had. This monkey clearly had no concept of life or death. If it killed someone, no one would even know who to blame.

Soon, Lao Qi’s wails weakened. Fat Monkey, seemingly tired, finally let him go.

Meanwhile, Zhang Jiaohua and Zeng Lei, accompanied by Fat Cat and Panther, continued deeper into the tunnel without encountering any resistance, reaching the end. But to their surprise, it was a dead end.

“How is that possible?” Zhang Jiaohua was shocked. He had expected a tough battle at the end of the tunnel—but there was nothing.

Zeng Lei was also stunned. “Didn’t you say the giant rats were being controlled? How could it just end here?”

“Yeah, this isn’t right,” Zhang Jiaohua muttered, scratching his head. He knocked on the walls and floor but everything seemed solid—no mechanism in sight.

“Could it really just be a dead end?” Zeng Lei asked.

Zhang Jiaohua shook his head. “No, we must have missed something. Let’s head back and search again.”

Panther suddenly dashed back, with Fat Cat following.

“Come on, follow them. Maybe Panther found something,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Got it,” Zeng Lei nodded.

Near the spot where the giant rats appeared, Panther began circling around.

“Panther found something!” Zhang Jiaohua hurried over.

He knocked on the ground again but still found nothing unusual.

“Woof woof! Woof woof!” Panther barked upward.

Zhang Jiaohua looked up and noticed something odd. A section of the ceiling seemed slightly off—not obvious, but unnatural. On closer inspection, he saw a thin gap. The passage was above them!

He searched around but couldn’t find a mechanism.

“Whoever designed this was too cunning. If not for Panther, we’d never have found it!”

Zeng Lei struck the ceiling with his Luoyang shovel, but it didn’t budge. Just a dull thud.

“Unless we blow it open, there’s no way through,” Zeng Lei said, shaking his head.

“Step aside. Let me try,” said Zhang Jiaohua.

He and Zeng Lei retreated. A flash of light appeared in Zhang Jiaohua’s hand—a glowing orb shot upward.

Boom!

A loud explosion. Dust and debris flew as everyone hit the ground. When the dust settled, a pitch-black tunnel above was revealed.

“Holy crap! Jiaohua, what kind of spell is that? Way better than a grenade!” Zeng Lei stared, stunned.

“Less talk, let’s move!” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Zeng Lei climbed up first, then helped Zhang Jiaohua. Panther leaped up effortlessly, and Fat Cat scurried up the wall.

“These two aren’t ordinary animals,” Zeng Lei chuckled.

“Zeng Bro, you were undercover with those tomb robbers for a while. Did you ever find out what tomb this is?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

“They figured out I was a mole long ago and didn’t spill anything. My time down there was almost wasted. If you hadn’t come, I’d be dead. But I did overhear Ma Fusong say something—he claimed this was some treasure vault Empress Dowager Cixi hid. The traps are to keep others from stealing it. Supposedly, there’s a tunnel from the palace straight to it. Who knows if it’s true—or if the treasure’s even still here,” Zeng Lei said awkwardly.

“These tomb robbers bet everything this time and lost their lives,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Zeng Lei nodded. “Evil never prospers. They had it coming.”

“If we really find the treasure, what will you do?” Zhang Jiaohua asked with a smile.

“What else?” Zeng Lei grinned.

“Let’s go see what treasure’s here. Don’t forget we still have a big villain to deal with,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

The secret passage sloped upward and soon ended at a stone door.

Zeng Lei searched around but found nothing. “Looks like it’s up to you again.”

Woof woof.

Panther barked twice.

“Wait,” Zhang Jiaohua raised a hand.

“What? Panther found something?” Zeng Lei asked.

“That stone door might be fake,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Panther clawed at a side wall, and dirt started falling.

“Dig here!” Zhang Jiaohua said.

Using a shovel, they discovered the soil was freshly filled—soft and loose. The stone door had misled them.

“This tunnel might’ve been dug by rats?” Zeng Lei guessed.

“Possible,” Zhang Jiaohua nodded.

The winding tunnel took over half an hour to dig through. Eventually, they uncovered a large chamber filled with square wooden crates.

“No way—this might really be a treasure vault!” Zeng Lei gasped.

“Let’s open one and see,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

They pried one open.

Creak…

The wooden box was remarkably well-preserved. Inside was a golden Buddha statue.

“Golden Buddha?” Zhang Jiaohua tapped it—no sound. Solid gold.

“If this really belonged to Cixi, it could be pure gold,” he said.

Suddenly—

Screech!

A piercing cry erupted.

Zhang Jiaohua and Zeng Lei both turned pale.

A white figure leapt from the crates straight toward Zeng Lei. Maybe it saw him as the weaker target.

Woof woof!

Panther lunged and knocked it down.

They looked closer—it was a naked infant!

“What the hell is that?” Zeng Lei gaped.

“A ghost infant!” Zhang Jiaohua had only heard of it in stories from old Taoist masters—he’d never seen one before.

The ghost infant wasn’t ordinary. Surprised by Panther’s attack, it flipped midair, kicked Panther off, and somersaulted into a crate to hide.

Panther, embarrassed, chased it, but the ghost infant dodged cleverly, always using the terrain to evade.

Fat Cat lay lazily nearby, avoiding the fight—not wanting to steal Panther’s thunder and face its wrath later. Its intelligence far outpaced its strength.

“Why isn’t Fat Cat helping?” Zeng Lei asked.

“It’s lazy,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Meow,” Fat Cat glanced helplessly at Zhang Jiaohua.

Panther grew more frustrated and aggressive. The ghost infant, too, picked up speed.

Then Panther made a sharp turn and intercepted the infant’s escape route. Caught off guard, the infant smashed into a crate.

Roar!

The ghost infant let out a beast-like growl.

“What the hell is that thing doing?” Zeng Lei shouted in shock.

Blood tears flowed from its eyes—it looked terrifying.

“Damn! It’s going all out!” Zhang Jiaohua warned, casting a protective talisman on Zeng Lei.

The ghost infant let out another screech—a sonic attack that felt like knives stabbing the ears.

“Cover your ears!” Zhang Jiaohua shouted.

Zeng Lei had already done so but still grimaced in pain.

Panther stumbled back.

Zhang Jiaohua quickly used his spiritual power to resist the ghost infant’s attack. Although he felt slightly uncomfortable, he wasn’t seriously harmed.

The ghost infant seemed to notice that its attack was somewhat effective and immediately repeated the same tactic, letting out a series of shrill screams. The continuous mental assaults forced Zeng Lei to retreat repeatedly. Zhang Jiaohua cast several protective barriers over Zeng Lei, finally giving him some relief. However, because he had to protect Zeng Lei, Zhang Jiaohua couldn’t spare the effort to directly confront the ghost infant. Drill Leopard (Zuan Shanbao) kept retreating under the onslaught—though it was clearly in pain, it could still barely endure the attacks.