C46

However, after walking a few steps, they saw an even more shocking scene. Not far away, in the center of the island, there were countless stones piled up in a big circle. The walls were also filled with all sorts of sharp branches, as if to prevent people from climbing over the wall.

This spectacular scene completely stupefied them.

Suddenly, they heard some rustling sounds again. Qiao Mu gestured for Su Qin to lean down and put out the electric light together with him. Fortunately, the sky was already starting to brighten up, and things could basically be seen clearly.

After a while, Qiao Mu led Yang Jie and slowly crawled towards the location of the sound.

Very soon, they saw a gap in the stone wall in front of them that looked like a huge door. Beside the door, there were two Toad Man s slowly climbing.

Qiao Mu laughed and asked Yang Jie: "What do you think this looks like?"

Yang Jie also laughed and said: "Do you still need to ask, the army camp!"

"Yes." "A military camp, with walls, guards, and even a commander. It seems that Zhao Zhiyou has a deep history regarding the war. "

Qiao Mu looked around again and realized that there were two big wooden boats parked on the green lake. He guessed that Toad Man must have gotten them from the Flower Snake Village, no wonder he didn't find any boats at the Flower Snake Village.

"Brother, have you ever seen a toad sailing?" Yang Jie joked.

If he was not in this tense situation, Qiao Mu would have been amused by Yang Jie's words.

"What do you mean? If we want to find that cave, we have to go through this stone wall. " Qiao Mu said to the two of them.

Yang Jie and Su Qin nodded, the two of them had already made their decision.

He began to think about how to get through the stone wall.

Qiao Mu suddenly felt that the main problem wasn't the stone wall because with just the two Toad Man s at the entrance, he could easily solve it with the military blade in his hand. But the key was, they didn't know what was going on inside the wall.

"You guys wait for me for a while, don't run around." Qiao Mu decided to investigate. Fortunately, the so-called stone walls were made of crushed stone, and were not airtight, so there were gaps.

He quickly found a gap between the broken rocks. Through the gap, he could see that there were quite a few Toad Man s inside the wall, almost all surrounding a pile of broken stones. There were also two or three Toad Man s moving the broken stones and continuing to build the stone wall. Aside from that, there were also tools such as shovels, shovels, wooden sticks, hoes, etc., which seemed to have been taken from the Flower Snake Village.

Just as Qiao Mu was about to leave, he suddenly heard some movement not too far away. He felt that it was strange, so he crawled over, and saw three Toad Man s staggering about, each holding onto a wooden stick.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that there was a small cave there. However, the ground around the cave entrance was uneven, and it was also a slope, so it was not easy to be discovered.

How come there's a hole?

He turned back and asked Su Qin.

"At that time... I did find a hole! The hole is quite big. " Su Qin replied.

"The hole you are talking about should be inside the stone wall. The hole I saw outside was quite narrow, I think because it was a slope and the terrain was poor, it wasn't surrounded by stone walls. After all, we are going to reach the lake." Qiao Mu analyzed.

"In other words, the cave is by the lake?" Yang Jie asked.

"Yeah, right next to the lake." said.

Su Qin's eyes widened, but she suddenly thought of something and said: "Uncle Qiao, I just remembered that when we entered the cave, there was indeed a fork in the road, but we did not take the other road, could it be... Is that the entrance to the cave outside? "

"That's possible! It's very possible! " On second thought, Qiao Mu realized that the opportunity was right in front of them.

"That's easy..." If we want to go to the cave, we don't even need to go through the stone walls. "Right?" Yang Jie said.

Qiao Mu thought the same as Yang Jie and said: "That's what I meant too, let's go."

"However, you said there were three Toad Man s at the cave entrance." Yang Jie was worried again.

"It's fine, leave it to me." He waved the sword in his hand.

Thus, the three of them came to the place where Qiao Mu was previously hiding. With a single glance, they could clearly see the entrance to the cave and the three Toad Man s.

Qiao Mu paid attention to the terrain and planned his course of action.

Just as Qiao Mu was about to move, Yang Jie pulled him back and said: "Be careful, those Toad Man s seem to like attacking people's throats. They are very smart!"

Qiao Mu patted Yang Jie's shoulder and replied: "I know, I knew it since the beginning. You guys wait here for me."

Qiao Mu then used a few rocks as a cover and held the blade tightly in his right hand. He squatted the entire time and when he was close to one of the Toad Man s, Qiao Mu fiercely rushed out and stabbed towards Toad Man's chest.

With this cut, green blood spurted out from Toad Man's chest and he let out a few cries. Qiao Mu was afraid that Toad Man's life vein wasn't in his heart, so he chopped at Toad Man's head a few times. Then, the other two Toad Man s rushed towards Qiao Mu.

After killing the Toad Man, Qiao Mu immediately fell into a struggle with the other two Toad Man s. Very quickly, one of the Toad Man s was stabbed in the stomach by Qiao Mu, but Qiao Mu was also hit in the shoulder by the Toad Man and almost fell down from the pain.

At this time, the Toad Man who had his abdomen pierced by Qiao Mu rushed towards Qiao Mu like crazy. Qiao Mu's hand raised and his blade descended, the sword directly stabbing into Toad Man's head, but just happened to be the other Toad Man who pounced on him from the side.

At that crucial moment, Su Qin and Yang Jie rushed over. One of them held onto a wooden stick that they picked up from the ground, the other held onto a stone, and used their lives to smash towards Toad Man's head. Toad Man was instantly knocked down and Qiao Mu was able to breathe. He pulled out his blade and added a few more cuts to Toad Man's head before he was finally able to finish the job.

After a fierce battle, Qiao Mu panted heavily. He understood that if it wasn't for Yang Jie and Su Qin's help just now, he would not have been able to survive.

Qiao Mu didn't say much as the three of them walked into the cave.

When they entered the cave, they discovered that the passage was even narrower than the cave entrance and slightly tilted. Su Qin remembered that the cave at the other end of the cave had similarly slanted its way in, but it was a little wider than this path.

Of course, Qiao Mu was the first to walk. He turned on the flashlight and shone it everywhere. He could see traces of water everywhere in the cave. It was extremely humid. It should be connected to the nearby lake.

Because it was the source of the stench, the stench that filled the cave was so strong that it made them feel as if they couldn't breathe.

As they gradually went deeper in, the three of them became more and more nervous. In truth, even now, Qiao Mu still could not understand why they came to this cave, could it be just to help Su Qin find the unknown Su Hong? Or was she subtly obeying Zheng Huiling's orders? It was hard to tell.

They slowly walked to the three-way exit and the most painful memory of their lives instantly surfaced in Su Qin's mind. Because at that time, Su Hong had been sucked away by a strong gust of wind and this place became the last place where they were going to separate.

Suddenly, an earthquake like sound came from the depths of the cave, followed by heavy breathing. It was obvious that the huge rotting corpse, namely Zhao Zhiyou and General Zhao, was still inside the cave.

Seemingly at the same time, Qiao Mu saw a ball of light in front of him, and a gentle breeze blow directly towards him. In the wind, however, it seemed to contain boundless hatred and rage, and Qiao Mu understood that Zhao Zhiyou's resentment had already been accumulated for a thousand years.

"Forward?" Qiao Mu stopped and confirmed.

The three of them were well aware that they were hovering near the entrance to hell, and every step they took seemed to bring them closer to it.

"Let's go." Yang Jie held Qiao Mu's hand, she knew that there was no turning back now.

Su Qin walked in front of Qiao Mu and Yang Jie and said, "Let me take the lead. With mother's protection, I should be fine."

Qiao Mu permitted Su Qin to do so.

The three of them proceeded forward slowly, and soon, they arrived at a large pit filled with green water. At the same time, the three of them felt that something was crawling over the top of the cave. When the light shot out, the worms immediately dispersed. Qiao Mu guessed that these things were probably afraid of the light.

"What are they?" Yang Jie asked while trembling in fear.

"It looks like an insect." said.

"Then why does it look like this?"

"Should... is another great symbol of Zhao Zhiyou. "

"Another great symbol?"

"Have you forgotten? When Zhao Zhiyou was alive, his eyeballs were dug out by the two old women, weren't those bugs similar to eyeballs? I suspect that those worms were just ordinary underground worms in the past, and have mutated to this state. "

Yang Jie nodded, thinking that not only could Zhao Zhiyou's poison infect humans, it could even change insects.

As Qiao Mu and Yang Jie were discussing, they suddenly saw Su Qin suddenly stop and tremble all over.

It was only then that Yang Jie and Qiao Mu saw that there was actually a person standing in front of them. It was a giant who was tall and big with goosebumps all over his body, and his skin was completely festering. The giant stood at the edge of the pit, a steel knife in his hand, his back to them, wearing only a pair of tattered trousers. There was a bonfire beside the giant, and the fire was burning bright red in the cave.

The fire had clearly just been lit, otherwise they would have noticed it long ago. There was no doubt that the giants had discovered the three intruders.

In addition, in the big pit, Zhao Zhiyou was still holding onto a round rock that was lying on the surface of the water, and he didn't know if it was an illusion, but Su Qin felt that he had opened his eyes a little.

Under the suffocating silence, the giant slowly turned around. When he saw the giant's extremely small head, all of the blood in Su Qin's body seemed to have frozen. That face was extremely familiar and intimate to her, as if she was her father, Su Hong!

Everything was as she expected, her father Su Hong had truly inherited Zhao Zhiyou's will and became the guard by Zhao Zhiyou's side. It was just that she never thought that he would appear in such a manner.

Seeing Su Hong's decayed body, gloomy face, and empty eyes, Su Qin's tears started to fall unwittingly. Qiao Mu and Yang Jie immediately understood that the giant in front of them was Su Hong.

Su Hong breathed heavily, he glanced at the three people in front of him and immediately revealed a twisted expression, with his face full of wrinkles.

"Dad, do you still recognize me?" Su Qin asked, trembling.

Su Hong groaned, placed the steel blade on his shoulder, and slowly walked towards Su Qin.

Just as Su Qin was prepared to walk over, she was stopped by Qiao Mu.

"What are you doing? Your father doesn't know you!"

"Yeah, he's under control now!" Yang Jie also pulled Su Qin's arm.

Su Qin cried. She was in extreme pain and she felt like she was about to collapse.

Suddenly, Su Hong raised his steel blade high and roared. Qiao Mu saw that something was wrong and quickly followed Yang Jie to drag Su Qin away, running out of the cave.

Seeing that they were trying to escape, Su Hong immediately raised his blade and chased after them. His huge body moved, creating a loud sound. When they could not catch up, Su Hong once again let out a wild roar, and the eyes that were crawling on the ceiling of the cave seemed to have received an order, as they instantly swarmed towards Qiao Mu and the others, filling the cave with soft rustling sounds.

In such a critical situation, Qiao Mu had Yang Jie take the lead and rush straight to the cave entrance. He was in charge of the rear. Fortunately, he had both a flashlight and a military knife. As soon as the strange worms approached him, he would kill them with one slash. After taking care of more than a dozen of eye worms, they finally escaped from the cave.

When they arrived outside the cave, Qiao Mu and the other two almost collapsed. They felt as if they had just returned from hell and fortunately, Su Hong and the Eyeball Monster Worm did not continue to pursue them. Qiao Mu guessed that they were probably only in charge of protecting Zhao Zhiyou and did not dare to casually leave the cave.

"Are you okay?" Yang Jie asked Qiao Mu with concern.

Qiao Mu checked and found that there was really no wound.

Su Qin sat on the ground in depression. She had never thought that her father had already become a rotten corpse.

"Did you know, when I saw Su Hong just now, I was thinking about a question." Qiao Mu said to Yang Jie.

"What problem?"

"It has to do with Zhao Zhiyou's grievance. We have already hypothesized before, that Zhao Zhiyou and Tian Yu'er had a strong grudge before they died, and then fused with some special substance in the lake water, resulting in the rotting poison. It should all be because of her hatred towards Zhao Zhiyou. After all, Zhao Zhiyou had burned his lover to death, tortured her to death, and completely torn apart her originally beautiful and free life. But Zhao Zhiyou, what is his grievance for? "

"The same principle!" Yang Jie bluntly replied, "Before Zhao Zhiyou died, he was also tortured, and his eyeballs were gouged out by others, they would definitely be filled with grievances!"

"Yes, your thoughts were the same as mine from the beginning, but when I realized that Su Hong had already become Zhao Zhiyou's puppet, I felt that it wasn't so."

"Then what happened?"

"Think about it, who was Zhao Zhiyou when he was alive? He was a general that had experienced many battles and had seen many bloody scenes. How could he be afraid of this? Or perhaps, did he not have the awareness of the cruel torture he would suffer if he was captured by the enemy one day? I think that in the eyes of a general who marches and fights all year round, this is a matter that should be said for nothing. In fact, as long as death is worth it, they might feel honored instead.

"Oh …" That makes sense, but that's not it. What is it? "

"I didn't understand it at the beginning, until I saw Su Hong. Then, I remembered that Zhao Zhiyou tried to find a leader who could inherit his will, and Su Hong was once again the person he picked …"

"What does that mean?" Yang Jie was still confused.

"Description... What Zhao Zhiyou truly hated was the betrayal of his subordinate, Yang Xin! Think about it, because Yang Xin betrayed him and caused his carefully planned military camp to be breached from the inside, his resentment would naturally skyrocket and his anger would be hard to quell. Then, after about a thousand years, he gradually understood the unfathomable nature of human beings. He had to rely on a more stable and direct way to control his subordinates, so he decided to use the corruption poison to control everything, including people, insects, and even corpses. He had even re-established an army camp on the Small Snake Island to satisfy his twisted resentment and had Su Hong act as the vice-commander like Yang Xin. More... I feel that even now, he still hasn't completely awoken, the entire process will probably take several years or more, but he is definitely very satisfied. After all, he believes that using the poison to control his own body is the most reliable method, and there won't be any traitors like Yang Xin. "

Yang Jie tried her best to digest it after listening for a long time.

"In other words, Zhao Zhiyou's grudges are even scarier than Tian Yu'e." Yang Jie said.

"Yes, Tian Yu'er's hatred was nothing more than pure hatred towards Zhao Zhiyou, but Zhao Zhiyou was a type of ambition. An intention, I simply do not dare to imagine what would really happen when Zhao Zhiyou wakes up." said.

"Then... Su Hong, he's... What kind of person is he? " Yang Jie couldn't help but ask on behalf of Su Qin.

"Essentially, Su Hong should be no different from those Toad Man, they have all disappeared, and are just Zhao Zhiyou's puppets." Qiao Mu said with some regret.

"I don't agree!" Su Qin suddenly stood up.

Qiao Mu and Yang Jie were stunned at the same time. Qiao Mu asked: "What do you disagree about?"

"I don't agree with my father being like those Toad Man. I keep having the feeling that … "He hasn't lost consciousness yet. He may be temporarily controlled by that monster, but he definitely knows me and …" Su Qin said excitedly.

"Little sister, listen to me, I understand your feelings very well, but your father is indeed under Zhao Zhiyou's control now, and has become Zhao Zhiyou's number one puppet. Honestly speaking, we do not wish for that either." Yang Jie said.

"What makes you think so?" Qiao Mu asked Su Qin.

"Intuition, Uncle Qiao. Don't you always believe in intuition?" I could tell from the way Dad looked at me that he knew me. "

Qiao Mu was silent.

"Uncle Qiao, Sister Yang, can you trust me this once?" Su Qin asked with a pleading tone.

"What do you want to do?" Qiao Mu asked.

"I want to go into the cave again, find my dad, and try... Wake him up in front of him. " Su Qin's voice was soft but filled with determination.

Qiao Mu and Yang Jie did not dare believe it, especially Yang Jie, she anxiously replied. "No way, how can we do that!"

"Let me try. You guys wait here for me. If I'm not out for a long time, you guys might as well leave." Su Qin continued.