The Natives of This World Are So Fierce - Chapter 42: Almost buried alive
The downpour came so suddenly that the junk and old cars in the scrapyard seemed ready to topple in the wind and rain.
They had barely left the guard booth when the makeshift structure collapsed with a crash, apparently because the rain had undermined its foundations and windblown debris had struck it.
Amid the chaos, the three police officers could not make out any other path, but Old Ode's house was faintly visible.
"Go, go, go! Get over there!"
"Watch your step!"
"Damn it, there's water everywhere!"
"My phone's still in the booth!"
"Forget your phone! Your life matters more. Move!"
The weather was already chilly at this time of year, and now the rain was cold enough to cut to the bone.
Trudging through the mud, the three officers stumbled toward Old Ode's house.
Out of a certain wariness, Old Ode had sent his family away on vacation. He had made a tidy sum from the crystals lately, anyway.
To outsiders, he said he was worried about criminals attacking them, but only he and his family knew what he truly feared.
His greed for wealth, however, made it impossible for him to abandon the Mine Shaft. With police officers taking turns on watch as well, he had chosen to stay.
He had noticed the downpour long before. When he dimly glimpsed the officers rushing toward him through the window, their flashlights bobbing, he immediately got up and opened the door, ushering the three drenched men inside.
Only after the door slammed shut did the three officers breathe a sigh of relief.
Then they began shivering uncontrollably. They were absolutely freezing.
Old Ode bustled about, fetching dry towels, old clothes, and hot water, and even lighting the fireplace.
Yet his gaze still kept drifting through the window, peering toward the Mine Shaft through the impenetrable curtain of rain.
Such fierce wind and rain, yet not a single flash of lightning. It had come far too suddenly.
In the woods, the group had descended into chaos as soon as the downpour began.
"Oh, damn it!"
"Now do you see why we brought rain gear?"
"Stop talking and get the damn raincoats out! Umbrellas are useless in this wind!"
"Hey, don't grab!"
Mark, Joey, Jenny, and Su Su scrambled over one another, while Doudou, who hated water most of all, had already put on an oversized raincoat and curled up in a tree.
Even with the large tree sheltering them, the four were half-soaked by the time they had their raincoats on.
Their bodies were cold, but their hearts burned with excitement.
None of the four were fools. There was no need to explain where this rain had come from.
Qin Xiaoxia was already gone. Presumably, he had headed for the Mine Shaft.
They could only turn their excitement toward Doudou up in the tree.
This was on a far grander scale than when Haohao had been rescued. Su Su clasped her hands, her voice trembling, though whether from cold or excitement was hard to tell.
"Doudou! Has Mr. Qin made his move? Has he gone to the Mine Shaft? Will he be all right?"
The other three all stared at Doudou with childlike curiosity.
"You know nothing of power! A little mine shaft is no match for my big cousin's magic power."
Doudou did not poke his head out. Beneath his raincoat, he was eating a sandwich whose taste he found rather objectionable.
Su Su smiled. She had known Mr. Qin was the best!
Then she seemed to suddenly remember something.
"Uh, right. What about Jack and Joseph? Will they be all right?"
Finally remembering what mattered, Su Su and the others asked with some shame.
"Heh heh, that depends on their luck. If they're far enough back in the queue..."
There was not a trace of pity for human lives in Doudou's words, nor, naturally, any mockery of their having forgotten whether their friends would live or die.
Qin Xiaoxia had already overturned the makeshift guard booth, and the Los Angeles police officers who had been in his way had run off to shelter from the rain.
The torrential rain automatically parted around Qin Xiaoxia. On the ground beneath him, the water always flowed around his shoes.
This time, controlling his self-created Reaction Formula with magic power had been an unprecedented success, and he still had plenty to spare. It gave Qin Xiaoxia tremendous confidence.
He stood alone before the Mine Shaft, gazing into the great hole that seemed ready to devour anyone who approached.
"Now it's just you and me!"
In his vision, the waves of magic power spilling from him were like powerful whips, scattering the normally invisible "smoke" around him.
An intensely alluring song now drifted from within the Mine Shaft.
It was like a gentle murmur, like a seductive invitation.
The sound was merely a melody, yet it conveyed meaning without words.
"Come, come, everything you desire can be yours. Come, come, come here. Your strong body and pure soul will merge with me, and I will give you everything, everything..."
Qin Xiaoxia smiled.
When it sensed danger, a Corrupted Crystal Mine that had yet to fully form reacted just like certain animals in nature. Unfortunately, its attempt to strike first had little effect on him.
"Right, you're a mine. Running away would be a bit difficult. Then I'll do as you wish and come inside."
He strode into the Mine Shaft.
The converging rainwater served as the perfect guide, pouring down toward lower ground and seeping deep into every crevice of the Mine Shaft.
On the surface, the tunnel was not deep. He reached its end after only twenty meters.
But its true core lay elsewhere.
"Underground!"
As the words fell, so did Qin Xiaoxia's right fist, gathered magic power surging through it.
Boom!
Fragments mixed with water exploded outward. Pulled by gravity, Qin Xiaoxia fell underground along with the rubble.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Hoarse cries rose around him, like the last gasps of someone suffocating.
By the time Qin Xiaoxia straightened from his half-crouch, more than a dozen naked figures had surrounded him.
For Qin Xiaoxia, who could see as clearly at night as in daylight, certain parts of these fellows were rather glaring.
Seven of them were especially unusual.
Their bodies reflected faint light even in the darkness, and crystals had grown over portions of their skin.
These seven are already beyond saving.
Qin Xiaoxia silently reached his verdict.
As for the others...
He glanced at the other ten figures, hoping Jack and Joseph were among them.
Qin Xiaoxia took his stance, intending to knock these "people" down first. But before he could strike, every "person" around him rushed at him with a howl, far faster than he had expected!
Yes, all seventeen figures charged at once, paying no heed to whether they had room to move.
Qin Xiaoxia was no master fighter, after all. He also instinctively held back from seriously hurting these people, and the underground space was cramped to begin with.
He only managed to send three crystallized figures flying with three thuds before the dozen or so remaining people "buried" him beneath them.
Crack, crack, crack...
Pinned at the bottom, Qin Xiaoxia braced himself and tried to stand. Under the strain of his tremendous strength, the bones and muscles of the figures piled on him made a series of teeth-grating noises.
These fellows were far stronger than he had imagined. With his current strength, he actually could not break free immediately without crippling them.
Cracking sounds rang out overhead and from every direction.
The corner of Qin Xiaoxia's eye twitched violently.
Fuck! This goddamn mine shaft is trying to bury me alive!
Both the people in the distant woods and those in Old Ode's house felt a slight tremor beneath their feet. The rain was so loud that it drowned out the noise instead.
While they still had no idea what was happening.
Only a few seconds seemed to pass.
An enormous boom erupted, followed immediately by violent shaking of the ground.
Old Ode and the three officers could barely stay on their feet inside the house. Bottles and cups fell all over the floor, and the windowpanes rattled incessantly in their frames.
"Damn it, an earthquake! Get outside!"
In the woods, Doudou was shaken right out of the tree, but Su Su reacted quickly and caught him.
His little hands pushed aside the raincoat hood blocking his view, and he looked toward the Mine Shaft.
Burning Purple Tendrils filled the sky.
He shrank back in fear, then frantically slapped Su Su's head.
"My big cousin's done it! Hurry, go help him out! I'll hold the fort here!"