(Tearfully begging for votes and flowers)
The spotlight had likely short-circuited when the front of the raft dipped into the water earlier.
Shirley Yang slapped it a few times, but there was no response.
Left with no choice, the group relied on their headlamps and flashlights to observe their surroundings.
Very quickly, they realized that beyond the beast's mouth lay an extremely narrow waterway—only about four to five meters wide.
The passage was almost perfectly straight.
They couldn't see the end at all.
Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pangzi immediately used their bamboo poles to push against the rock walls on both sides, trying to slow the raft.
Before long, the raft drifted directly beneath the upside-down hanging figurines.
All of them instinctively glanced at the figures—
Passing so close it was almost face-to-face.
These human figurines all had their hands bound behind their backs.
From their posture, they clearly appeared restrained.
Their surfaces had turned dark brown, covered in a moss-like growth.
Their facial features were blurred, almost unrecognizable.
Yet somehow—
Even from their forms, Xu Lang could still sense their agony.
"Strange… these figurines are different from the usual soldier or performer figurines found in Han Dynasty tombs in the southwest," Shirley Yang said softly as she carefully avoided brushing against them.
Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pangzi hadn't noticed anything unusual yet.
Xu Lang spoke slowly, "Judging by their shapes—men, women, old, young… all kinds. And their posture… bound. Could they be slaves?"
"That actually makes sense," Hu Ba Yi nodded.
Everyone kept their voices low, as if afraid of disturbing the hanging figures.
Xu Lang shone his flashlight toward the ceiling and saw numerous bronze chains.
The chains were heavily corroded, and each figurine was suspended from one.
In some places, the chains hung empty—
Clearly, the figurines once attached there had fallen into the water below at some point.
"Old Hu… Lord Lang… don't these things look like hanging corpses?" Wang Pangzi suddenly said.
Hu Ba Yi inhaled sharply in fright.
"Fatty, if you can't speak properly, then don't speak at all! And another thing—you call me Old Hu but call Xu Lang 'Lord Lang'? What kind of seniority is that supposed to be?"
Wang Pangzi grinned.
"No problem—we'll each stick to our own."
Hu Ba Yi was still fuming when Xu Lang suddenly stopped his flashlight and pointed toward the riverbank.
"Look over there. There's a figurine on the shore."
Shirley Yang also turned her wolf-eye flashlight toward it, examining carefully.
"These figurines… they may look like Han-style stone figures, but something feels off."
After saying that, she looked toward the bank.
"Old Hu, Fatty—bring the raft over. I want to take a closer look."
Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pangzi pushed the raft toward the shore.
Just as Shirley Yang was about to jump off, Xu Lang stopped her.
He wasn't trying to prevent her actions.
After all, knowing the plot was one of his greatest advantages—interfering too much wouldn't benefit him.
But a reminder was still necessary.
Especially since this world seemed even more dangerous than what he remembered.
At the very least—
In the original storyline, these Shong worms didn't carry that eerie black aura.
"Shirley Yang, remember to wear gloves. There may be poisonous insects inside these figurines," Xu Lang said.
Shirley Yang nodded, put on her gloves, and thanked Xu Lang.
Then she jumped onto the bank, crouched beside the figurine, and took out her paratrooper knife.
With a careful motion, she made a small cut.
Just like the one they had seen on the road earlier—
This figurine also had only a thin outer shell.
Inside—
Were shriveled maggots and dense clusters of insect eggs.
The sight was nauseating.
Xu Lang stepped closer to take a look.
These insects had long been dead.
There was no trace of black aura.
Without that aura, the Golden Silkworm Gu couldn't absorb anything.
What a waste, Xu Lang thought, saying nothing.
"These figurines… were made from living people," Shirley Yang said.
Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pangzi, still on the raft, were both shocked.
"Living people?"
"That cruel?!"
Shirley Yang nodded.
Before setting out, they had thoroughly studied records of King Xian of the ancient Dian Kingdom.
King Xian had been a sorcerer king—
Most skilled in dark rituals and forbidden arts.
Among them, the most infamous was Shong sorcery.
This technique used the souls of the dead as a medium for black magic.
The more painful the death, the stronger the resulting sorcery.
After examining the figurine, Shirley Yang quickly pieced things together.
These were products of Shong sorcery.
Living people were bound and forced to swallow a "Shong catalyst."
Then, special materials were used to seal all seven orifices of the body.
Afterward, they were hung upside down from bronze chains within the cave.
Most would suffocate to death.
But the truly horrifying part came after death.
Those who died quickly were the lucky ones.
The real nightmare was for those who remained alive.
The so-called "Shong catalyst" was actually a mass of Shong worm eggs.
Inside the body, these eggs would hatch—
Turning into Shong worms that consumed the host's flesh and fluids from within.
Bit by bit, they hollowed out the human body—
Until nothing remained but an empty shell of skin.
Because the body's orifices had been sealed, the worms inside existed in a near vacuum.
They would not continue to grow—
Instead, they entered a long state of dormancy.
And so—
What hung throughout this cave…
Were all human-skin figurines.
After hearing Shirley Yang's explanation, Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pangzi looked again at the countless hanging figures—
Their scalps tingling with dread.
"Bad luck… let's go, let's go! Get away from these damned hanging corpses!" Wang Pangzi urged.
Once Shirley Yang returned to the raft, Hu Ba Yi and Wang Pangzi immediately pushed off with force—
Eager to leave this horrifying stretch of river as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile—
Xu Lang crouched at the back of the raft.
His eyes gleamed with anticipation as he stared ahead into the dark waterway.
He knew—
What was coming next.
A feast—
Belonging to the Golden Silkworm Gu.