Nie Jiuluo bolted to the side – the same principle as running in curves when fleeing: while the opponent charged straight, she needed to change direction.
Sure enough, after just a few steps, she heard a heavy thud behind her. Nie Jiuluo gritted her teeth and, without looking back, spun around with a sweeping slash: whether she could wound this creature was purely a matter of luck.
Unfortunately, perhaps because she was running too fast or her arm wasn’t long enough, the blade tip swung through empty air about half a meter from the creature’s eyes.
Missing her strike, Nie Jiuluo quickly raised her left hand, shining the flashlight directly into the creature’s eyes, attempting her previous tactic. However, the creature merely blinked and swung its arm violently.
That swing unfortunately knocked her flashlight away. The beam spun circles through the air as it flew, and worse, her left hand went instantly numb from the impact. She almost wondered if some fingers had flown away with the flashlight.
Nie Jiuluo’s mind went blank.
Just then, something struck the creature’s head, not just once but in rapid succession, accompanied by Yan Tuo’s loud shouts: “Hey, hey! Brother Peng, over here!”
Yan Tuo had rushed to the equipment pile and was throwing whatever he could grab. Too weak to lift anything heavy, he could only throw safety helmets, rubber boots, old oil lamps, and such.
Despite the dire situation, Nie Jiuluo couldn’t help but find it amusing: Brother Peng? They were on brotherly terms now?
Though amusing, she knew Yan Tuo was buying her time. While the creature was momentarily stunned, Nie Jiuluo darted sideways to retrieve her flashlight – it was too dark down here, and though holding the light made her a target, without it they’d be blind.
Just as she grabbed the flashlight, she heard a violent rustling behind her. “Brother Peng,” presumably irritated by the bombardment and familiar with Yan Tuo’s voice, temporarily abandoned her to lunge at him. With one bound it scaled the equipment pile, which was too loosely stacked to hold its weight, causing equipment to cascade down the sides.
Nie Jiuluo shouted: “Yan Tuo, hide! Don’t speak!”
While calling out, she switched the flashlight to strobe mode and aimed it directly at the creature.
Though the Di Xiao had excellent night vision, with one eye blinded it couldn’t help being affected. Its nose was also practically destroyed, likely filled with the smell of blood, severely compromising its sense of smell – it could only rely on hearing and light sensitivity to locate its prey.
Yan Tuo dropped flat against the ground, and by luck, the scattered equipment partially buried him, leaving only half his face visible as he caught glimpses of You Peng perched atop the equipment pile.
Given more time and patience, You Peng could have found Yan Tuo, but between its frustration from injury and the maddening strobe light flashing at its side, it couldn’t endure anymore. With a muffled roar, it turned and charged furiously at Nie Jiuluo.
This was exactly what she’d been waiting for!
Nie Jiuluo met You Peng’s charge head-on. When they were about three or four meters apart, she quickly switched the flashlight to maximum brightness, dazzling You Peng’s eyes before throwing it forcefully upward.
Throughout their fight, she’d kept the flashlight in hand, creating the illusion that “where the light is, the person is.” She was certain that You Peng’s injured eye couldn’t distinguish in that instant that the person and light had separated.
You Peng indeed fell for it, pushing off with its hind legs to leap toward the light.
Now!
Nie Jiuluo didn’t stop moving, swinging her dagger upward with all her might in another vicious slash. This time she didn’t miss: the blade tip cut diagonally from You Peng’s left waist up to its right ribs, practically disemboweling it in midair.
Having landed the strike, she didn’t stop to check the damage but continued her charge forward, scrambling up the equipment pile and rolling down the other side. Seeing her descend, Yan Tuo quickly rose to support her, breaking her momentum.
Both crouched behind the equipment pile, panting heavily but silent.
On the other side, You Peng had missed its aerial grab and taken the gut wound, hitting the ground with a rolling impact and letting out an ear-piercing howl.
Nie Jiuluo had never heard such a bone-chilling cry – it was like ten thousand ghosts wailing, making her skin crawl.
Just as she was about to cover her ears, she felt a violent impact on the other side of the equipment pile that made her stumble. Before she could react, Yan Tuo grabbed her right arm: “Run!”
You Peng had gone berserk, first ramming the equipment pile, then using its hands like giant shovels to dig frantically, as if trying to excavate them by force. With its size, its strength was no joke – picks, lamps, helmets, and shovels flew everywhere like rainfall.
Nie Jiuluo fled with Yan Tuo along the edge, but they’d barely covered any distance when an oil lamp struck Yan Tuo’s head, its thin glass shattering everywhere.
Her heart skipped a beat, and just as she was about to ask if he was all alright, something heavy hit her lower leg – it was an iron shovel handle, striking her shin as it whirled past.
Nie Jiuluo’s body jerked in pain, the dagger flew from her hand, and she collapsed to her knees, hands landing in broken glass, dragging Yan Tuo down with her.
The commotion immediately drew You Peng’s attention. Like an agile beast, it charged over with frightening speed.
Nie Jiuluo tried to stand, but her leg wouldn’t respond fast enough, and her body was unable to move it. Looking up, she felt a foul wind and saw darkness descending.
Her heart went cold as she squeezed her eyes shut, certain this was the end – her body would be crushed by this impact.
But the expected crushing force never came. Nie Jiuluo opened her eyes in surprise to see Yan Tuo had grabbed the iron shovel and was holding its head against You Peng’s chest, barely managing to halt its charge.
In the distant flashlight’s beam, Nie Jiuluo could dimly see the shovel’s blunt edge had sunk into You Peng’s chest, dark brown blood pulsing out, but the beast seemed completely fearless of pain as it surged forward.
Even at his strongest, Yan Tuo probably couldn’t have matched You Peng’s strength, let alone now in his weakened state. Though he gripped the handle with all his might, the force still drove him back against the cave wall.
Nie Jiuluo’s mind was roaring – though the handle end was blunt, with You Peng’s strength, another push would drive the wooden handle right through Yan Tuo’s body.
Ignoring her arm’s condition, she used both hands to help Yan Tuo try to push You Peng back, but immediately realized it was futile. In this pure contest of strength, her presence made no difference – she was insignificant.
The knife was lost somewhere, and there was no time to look for it. In desperation, Nie Jiuluo gritted her teeth and reached for You Peng’s blinded eye.
You Peng wasn’t stupid and knew the danger, instantly turning toward her. The shovel embedded in its chest turned with it, and the handle swept around, catching Nie Jiuluo in the waist and sending her flying.
As she was thrown, however, she suddenly saw a rope being lowered again.
Not just a rope – something was hanging from it…
“Hanging” wasn’t quite right – it looked more like something was climbing down, but it wasn’t Yu Rong, it didn’t even look human.
Before Nie Jiuluo could make out what was descending, it had released the rope and shot down through the air like a lightning-quick weasel or precisely launched missile, landing astride You Peng’s neck. It wrapped its hands around You Peng’s head, scratching, biting, and gnawing.
You Peng let out sharp cries of rage, thrashing wildly to throw off this attacker, but to no avail. Though much smaller than You Peng, this creature was incredibly nimble, climbing and leaping about, its sharp teeth and claws targeting You Peng’s wounds. For the moment, You Peng was entangled by it.
The scene resembled a strong man confronting a troublesome monkey – despite their vast difference in strength, neither could gain the upper hand for the moment.
Nie Jiuluo was completely bewildered by this sudden development: who was this now? Mayi? But wasn’t Mayi afraid of Di Xiao?
No time to think about that – the rope was down, and You Peng was temporarily occupied. This was their best chance to escape.
Nie Jiuluo struggled to her feet, her struck leg almost unable to support her weight. Fortunately, Yan Tuo came to help, half-carrying and half-dragging her along while returning her dropped the knife.