In the vast underground cave, such a sudden cry for help, echoing with each shout, couldn’t help but send chills down one’s spine.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao looked towards the sound, but the range illuminated by their headlamps was limited, and many spikes obstructed their view. They could only hear the voice, not see the person.

Gu Rong turned his little head. This small helmet could see a tiny ant from 1000 meters away. It quickly scanned and pinpointed the man calling for help.

Gu Rong pointed his little finger in the man’s direction and said: “Uncle stuck in that rock crevice.”

Following the direction Gu Rong pointed, Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao carefully searched for a while and finally saw a strange man trapped in a rock fissure. He wasn’t one of the sixteen people who had entered the cave together.

Hesitating for a moment, the two carried Gu Rong and walked over.

Only upon getting closer did they discover that the man’s head and legs were outside, but the middle part of his body was firmly stuck in the rock crevice, wedged tightly, unable to break free.

The man looked to be in his thirties and was still wearing a helmet, but the headlamp had already gone out, apparently out of battery.

Hearing footsteps, the man immediately wept with joy: “Save me! Please, please save me! It’s so good to see you! I thought I would definitely die here, and never get out…”

It was unknown how long he had been in the darkness; he was no longer accustomed to light. The beams from the trio’s headlamps made him uncontrollably keep his eyes shut.

The man clung to them like a life-saving straw, eyes tightly closed, speaking urgently: “I’m a villager from Gu Family Village! When I was about to exit the passage, I unfortunately encountered the passage moving and got stuck here. I don’t know how long I’ve been stuck. I thought I would die here… I waited for a long, long time, always waiting for someone to come. Finally, someone has come…”

As the man spoke, he sobbed wuwuwu. The despair and loneliness of near-death made him completely unable to control himself.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao exchanged a glance, momentarily speechless.

This man looked very normal; there was no tumor on his head. Although his face was dirty and his mouth chapped from dehydration, he was still a living person. From his appearance, he seemed completely intact, with nothing abnormal.

Hearing no reply, the man struggled slightly. He had been stuck for too long, and his movements were small, as if he had no strength left: “Why aren’t you talking? Please, pull me out! I really am a villager from Gu Family Village!”

Just then, Zhuang Yu spoke: “How long have you been stuck here?”

Hearing a voice, the man was overjoyed: “A long, long time! I don’t know how long! It’s pitch black here, my headlamp died quickly. I’ve been stuck in the darkness all this time, couldn’t see anything, couldn’t feel the passage of time. I think… It’s been several days? If I hadn’t met you, I might have really died.”

Gu Rong interjected: “Then, how to pull this uncle out?”

Hearing this milky baby voice, the man paused. Gu Rong had spoken a sentence earlier, but from a distance, the man hadn’t heard clearly. Now, hearing Gu Rong’s voice, the man was stunned for a long moment, then said excitedly: “Little fool? No, no, Rongrong! It’s Rongrong! You’re Gu Laohan’s Rongrong, right! Look, I know you! I really am a villager from Gu Family Village!”

According to the setting, Gu Rong hadn’t spoken in Gu Family Village before. But Gu Rong was the only child in the village. Hearing a child’s voice, it must be Gu Rong.

Seeing the man actually recognize Gu Rong, Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao, besides being surprised, felt relieved. It seemed this man was telling the truth.

Shen Hanxiao smiled: “You’re stuck pretty tight. Let’s try pouring some lubricating oil, see if we can pull you out.”

The man repeatedly said: “Thank you, thank you, thank you! After I get out, I will definitely repay you!”

Shen Hanxiao bought a bottle of lubricating oil from the system store and poured it all into the rock crevice.

The two placed Gu Rong on a flat rock nearby. Waiting until it was sufficiently lubricated, the two worked together, grabbing the man’s two legs and pulling backward with all their might.

Unexpectedly, with one pull, he actually moved easily, very smoothly.

However, halfway out, the two froze completely, immediately letting go of the legs they were holding.

They saw the legs, half of which were originally stuck in the rock crevice. After pulling, the legs came out, but—only the legs came out.

As soon as Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao let go, the two legs fell directly to the ground.

But the man was still stuck in the rock crevice. His lower body had no legs, but something else was growing there. A huge worm, replacing his legs, was attached to the man’s waist.

Only half of the worm was visible; the other half was deeply embedded in the man’s waist, already grown as thick as the man’s waist. Upon contact with the air, it began to wriggle frantically.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao’s faces turned completely pale. Bile rose in their throats. They retreated repeatedly, looking incredulously at the scene before them.

This person had already become a host for the parasite. A worm grown this thick couldn’t have been trapped here for just a few days. Perhaps months, even years…

Gu Rong stood on the rock, pointed his little finger, amazed: “Mermaid bug!”

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Shen Hanxiao: “…”

006: […]

Livestream Chat: […]

Seriously, the description is quite vivid, but if the mermaid’s fish tail is replaced with a worm, it has absolutely nothing to do with beauty. However, why isn’t this scene censored for the baby? Truly Schrodinger’s mosaic!

The man still didn’t know what had happened. His legs had lost sensation long ago. He couldn’t feel that his legs were gone, nor could he feel the worm’s existence.

Seeing them stop pulling him, he asked strangely: “Why did you stop pulling me? I’m almost out! Quickly, just a little bit more.” The worm’s tail wriggled even more enthusiastically.

Waiting for a long time, the man didn’t get pulled further. At this time, his lower body had become a worm tail, thick at the waist but tapering to a point. Now, without needing anyone to pull, he just struggled twice, slid out of the rock crevice himself, and fell to the ground.

He couldn’t stand up, nor could he walk. He could only fumble around on the ground, crawling. Finally, his hands touched the two severed legs.

The man had kept his eyes closed all along. Now, he slowly tried to open a slit. Seeing the legs in front of him, he paused, feeling that the clothes on the legs were very familiar. Then, he turned his head, looking at his own lower body…

Seeing the fresh, wriggling worm tail, the man screamed, finally realizing that he had touched his own legs. “Ahhh, my legs! My legs…”

And just at this moment, the head-split Jones crawled out from a passage opening. Seeing Gu Rong, he immediately grinned sinisterly and rushed over.

“Run!” Zhuang Yu snatched up Gu Rong and ran towards another passage opening. Shen Hanxiao followed closely behind.

This cave was quite large, with many spikes. Shen Hanxiao used some unknown prop, directly pushing down a large number of spikes, blocking Jones’s path.

The sharp, cone-shaped spikes, several of them directly pierced Jones’s back, pinning him to the ground.

Jones was immobilized, appearing completely crazed, constantly waving his hands forward, trying to break free. And the worm on his head grew even longer, already reaching two meters, continuously wriggling forward.

Shen Hanxiao only glanced back once and got goosebumps all over.

After crawling into the passage, the group could still hear the man behind them, hugging his severed legs, sobbing wuwuwu.

–

After crawling to the next cave and successfully escaping danger, the two adults and one cub were extremely tired. They all leaned against a large rock, letting out long sighs of relief in unison.

Gu Rong sat between the two, legs stretched straight out, his milky voice saying: “Tired.”

Zhuang Yu patted Gu Rong’s small helmet. Shen Hanxiao also patted Gu Rong’s small helmet. Gu Rong also patted his own small helmet with his small hand pa.

Resting for a long time, the group didn’t want to move. Ever since entering the cave, they had been crawling constantly, either being chased by monsters or by Jones. This instance felt like a physical fitness test.

Gu Rong let out a small yawn and couldn’t help feeling sleepy.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao decided not to run for now, resting where they were. At least let Gu Rong get some sleep; after all, the child was still growing.

Gu Rong leaned between the two and fell fast asleep in less than ten seconds, clearly exhausted. The protective suit automatically activated warming mode; Gu Rong wasn’t cold at all.

After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, Gu Rong found himself lying asleep on a small air cushion. Beside him on the ground lay the unconscious Xiaoshan.

“?”

Gu Rong blinked his eyes, sat up from the air cushion, stretched lazily, and yawned. Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao sat on nearby rocks.

“Rongrong’s awake.” The two looked over simultaneously.

Gu Rong pointed his little finger at the newly appeared Xiaoshan: “Huh? Why is Xiaoshan Big Brother here?”

Xiaoshan lay flat on the ground, eyes tightly closed. He showed no external injuries but was unconscious. The air cushion was a child-sized one Zhuang Yu had bought from the system store, only large enough for Gu Rong to lie on; there was no room for Xiaoshan.

Shen Hanxiao said, “Naturally, we found him while you were asleep.”

Actually, they hadn’t specifically found him. Not long after Gu Rong fell asleep, Xiaoshan had suddenly fallen out of a moving passage. He was already unconscious when he fell and showed no signs of waking up yet.

The two checked him; Xiaoshan wasn’t injured, just simply unconscious, which was a relief. It had to be said, Xiaoshan’s luck was very good.

But now Xiaoshan was unconscious. Forget bumping into him; they couldn’t just leave him here unattended now.

Zhuang Yu said, “Rongrong, are you hungry? Want to eat something first?”

After Gu Rong ate, if Xiaoshan still hadn’t woken up, they could only buy an isolation prop, temporarily place Xiaoshan here, and continue with their task.

Gu Rong immediately nodded his little head; his little tummy had been growling for a long time.

The two bought Gu Rong a child’s nutritional meal set, and each bought a boxed meal for themselves.

Shen Hanxiao said, “Don’t know where Lin-dalao went. Just crawling around like this isn’t a solution. We have no clues so far.”

“If just crawling around like this could find God’s Heart, then it’s purely down to luck. People from Gu Family Village go down into the cave every year and haven’t had any luck. We can’t be lucky the first time we enter the cave.”

Zhuang Yu said: “Correct. We’re just running blind right now, completely relying on luck.”

The two chatted for a while. After a moment, they looked back, and their eyelids twitched.

They saw Gu Rong had finished eating and was now squatting in front of the sleeping Xiaoshan, tilting his little head, looking at Xiaoshan’s face. First, he squatted on the left to look, then stood up, ran dadada to the right, squatted again, tilting his little head to observe. After observing for a moment, he ran dadada back to the left to look again. Repeating the above steps over and over.

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Shen Hanxiao: …

Is Rongrong possessed?

Gu Rong tilted his little head, looking left and right, up and down, his little face confused, unsure what he was trying to discern from Xiaoshan’s face.

Zhuang Yu asked: “Rongrong, what are you staring at Xiaoshan for?”

Gu Rong didn’t quite understand, asking strangely: “Xiaoshan Big Brother looks like Big Mountain Brother! Why does he look the same as Big Mountain Brother?”

Big Mountain Brother? Where did Big Mountain Brother come from now?

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao were both stunned. Shen Hanxiao chuckled: “Big Mountain Brother, who’s that? Xiaoshan’s brother? Then looking alike is very normal.”

Gu Rong stood up, tilted his snow-white little face up at the two, shook his head seriously, and said: “Not Xiaoshan’s brother! Big Mountain Brother, the lying down Big Mountain Brother!”

The two still didn’t quite get it, just smiled. Then, after two seconds, both their smiles froze, and the blood in their veins seemed to solidify instantly.

Big Mountain Brother, the lying down Big Mountain Brother? Lying down Big Mountain! Shenzhong Mountain!

Shenzhong Mountain resembled the profile of a young man lying flat. It only had the facial outline, but no features. People usually don’t recognize others based on their profile alone.

But Gu Rong, this little cub, always had a skewed focus. Now Xiaoshan was sleeping, in a lying position. Gu Rong had just been observing Xiaoshan from various angles and discovered that Xiaoshan’s lying profile was the same as Shenzhong Mountain’s profile!

Xiaoshan looks like Shenzhong Mountain? Is this a coincidence or…?

A chill crept into both Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao’s hearts. They didn’t dare think too deeply. The two also went over together to observe the sleeping Xiaoshan. Carefully recalling and comparing, they couldn’t help but be shocked.

Similar, too similar! Simply identical!

However, before they could ponder further, just then, a cold shout came from behind: “Run quick!”

They turned around and saw Lin-dalao crawling out of a passage. But before he could crawl completely out, the passage suddenly moved, disappearing without a trace. Lin-dalao also vanished from before them.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao were deeply shocked. Without thinking further, they immediately wanted to grab Gu Rong and run. But turning back, they discovered Xiaoshan, who had been unconscious all along, had somehow woken up.

He was now standing right behind them, looking at them expressionlessly.