Mo Yun hurried after Commander Li.
The depths of the mine tunnel were pitch-black. Only the lantern in Commander Li's hand gave off a dim yellow glow, swaying through the narrow passage.
The ground beneath their feet was wet, making sticky squelches with each step. A nauseating stench of decay filled the air, like a long-dead rat soaking in a foul ditch.
Mo Yun held his breath and stayed close behind Commander Li.
The two raced through the mine tunnel, one behind the other.
After several dozen breaths, the tunnel ahead suddenly widened.
It was a naturally formed cavern, only forty or fifty feet across. Dark red patches covered its walls, like traces of blood that had soaked in and dried.
At the center of the cavern, Mo Yun finally saw the Corpse Charm.
The creature stood about as tall as a seven- or eight-year-old child. A layer of wrinkled, dark blue-green skin covered its body, like a waterlogged corpse, coated in thick black fluid that dripped down its frame.
Its limbs were thin and long, less like arms than four withered branches. Five sharp black nails sprouted from their ends, each as long as a forearm.
What unsettled Mo Yun most was its head.
Its head was disproportionately larger than its body. It had no hair, and its crown was pitted as though someone had smashed it with a hammer. Dark red cracks covered its bald scalp.
It had no eyes.
Where its eyes should have been were two pitch-black hollows, with no eyeballs inside, only two flickering masses of eerie green light, like ghost flames.
It had neither a nose nor lips.
Only two black holes remained of its nose. Its mouth was a slit stretching across its entire face, containing no teeth. A long, thin black tongue