Volume One, Chapter 13: Tonics

Amidst a hissing sound, the yellow-green pool water began to bubble like a pot of hot soup. The perfectly smooth surface broke open, revealing glimpses here and there.

Under the watchful eyes of all present, a gigantic segmented creature crawled out of the water.

Its head bore a pair of pincers and dark golden antennae, its body covered in bright scales, coiling and twisting all the way down to the bottom of the pool. It raised its upper body, revealing countless legs, dark red like decayed flesh, standing three to four meters tall, resembling a towering candleholder. Sticky murky droplets fell from it like diamond beads.

Everyone was stunned, their eyes fixed on the magnificent entrance of this worm king.

This colossal creature lacked strong muscles, terrifying roars, thick armor, blade-like fins, or clawed wings. Yet, like a soft octopus, it moved slowly with dense legs, evoking an innate fear in people.

I was momentarily speechless. My tongue seemed out of place, and shivers crawled down my neck and back, then from below up to my waist, back, and head, as if an ice-cold centipede was moving thousands of feet through my hair.

I suspected someone had secretly severed all the muscles below my knees. I slowly opened my mouth but could not utter a sound, my eyeballs nearly popping out, rolling toward my feet.

At that moment, all I wanted was to run. And quickly. No one could save me.

Before I could flee, I heard Master Qi muttering, “Hey, this big bug looks really strange. Do you think it’s a protected species?”

“It wants to eat you, and you’re wondering how to protect it?” I held the small chess tower, itching to knock some sense into him—our laws prioritize humans. Even if a giant panda attacks you and you kill it in self-defense, it’s justified.

“The giant centipede! This must be the giant centipede we encountered!” Old Five, one of the tomb raiders nearby, shouted sharply.

The piercing voice echoed through the empty tomb, chilling to the bone.

Master Qi, annoyed, raised his hand and lightly flicked Old Five’s neck, saying, “Giant centipede? Have you ever studied biology? This is a Bobbit worm!”

Bobbit worm.

Also known as the “worm of death,” “hell worm,” or “undersea meat grinder.” Because of its enormous size and aggressive nature, it resembles a giant sea centipede. It usually lives tens of meters deep under the sea, burrowing entirely in sand, waiting to ambush passing fish. Its biting force can split a fish in half instantly.

Worse still, this terrifying worm has almost no natural enemies. The longest known Bobbit worm measures about three meters, but experts speculate that if the environment is favorable, it could grow beyond five meters.

Fortunately, the Bobbit worm is an ambush predator; it has no eyes or brain, relying solely on five nerve antennae to hunt or defend its territory. Even so, we must not be careless, as there are records of such giant worms attacking humans.

“Apprentice, you just dived into the pool. How did the worm not bite you?” Master Qi asked in surprise.

I shook my head in confusion. Then, the Bobbit worm in the pool raised its body high like a spring, shooting out water, its head swinging like a huge pendulum, smashing fiercely toward us. It was clear it was about to bite.

Everyone saw this and quickly dodged.

“Run!”

In moments of danger, people express themselves in the simplest terms.

I said only that one word and immediately separated from Master Qi, forming a 60-degree defensive angle to cover everyone’s retreat.

Old Six, lying on the ground, was awakened by the commotion and foolishly followed us in fleeing.

Luckily, this ferocious giant worm had no eyes. It couldn’t see our exact positions and could only randomly spray water like a blind box, attacking those on the shore. As a marine creature, it couldn’t leave the pool. When an attack failed, it would retreat underwater like lightning, rest, adjust its direction, then surface to strike again.

We were forced to circle the pool nervously, dodging like playing a game of tag. But the courtyard was too small; no matter what, we couldn’t avoid the worm’s attack range.

“This isn’t really land, apprentice. There’s such a large seawater pool here, and the oxygen space is cramped—doesn’t it resemble a semi-wet underwater cave? We’re the fish who accidentally wandered into its territory!” Master Qi, the tallest among us, sometimes had to stoop to avoid hitting the low cave ceiling.

“How did this Bobbit worm survive and hunt before? What did it eat to grow this large?” I found it unbelievable.

Just now, at the bottom of the pool, I saw only many Tang dynasty pottery figurines, no small fish, shrimp, or aquatic plants—just stagnant water. The Bobbit worm is carnivorous and consumes a lot; with no food source in the water, it can’t survive on just water or chewing ceramics. Besides, there was no sand or mud to dig a lair. Such a large Bobbit worm had nowhere to live here. This environment was totally unsuitable.

“Is it possible that it’s like us? That it didn’t originally live in this tomb, but by some twist of fate, ended up here?” Master Qi’s eyes lit up as he turned to Old Five, “Hey, did you encounter anything strange in the underwater tomb?”

Old Five, still shaken, hesitated briefly before stammering, “Oh... When we first entered, our communication devices suddenly all failed. But soon, everyone heard a man’s voice from the equipment.”

“A man’s voice?”

“Yes. He claimed to be a descendant of the tomb’s enemy, wanting us to steal a treasure from the tomb. In return, he promised to guide us out safely,” Old Five recalled.

Master Qi and I immediately understood. This was that spy causing trouble again!

“Seriously? Why didn’t he say he was the reincarnation of Qin Shi Huang and have you rob the Qin Emperor’s tomb? You actually believed such nonsense!” Master Qi sincerely advised. “Go install an anti-fraud app on your phone. You got fooled by a silly trick—unbelievable!”

“But that man, he really was capable. He knew this tomb very well and actually led us all the way to the main burial chamber,” Old Five hesitated. “But there were so many treasures, we just grabbed what we wanted and didn’t follow his instructions farther. He got angry and said he’d punish us.”

“Oh? How did he want to punish you?”

“I don’t really know. We heard a blast underwater that sounded like the mountain exploding. We panicked, hurriedly moved our loot out, and passed by a large pool,” Old Five gestured. “Then that giant centipede appeared!”

That explained it. Apparently, the spy threatened the tomb raiders to fetch the treasure. When they refused, he blew a hole, letting seawater flood in to kill them. The Bobbit worm nearby, hunting in the sand, was unfortunately sucked into the underwater tomb.

The pools in the tomb must be connected. The huge worm couldn’t find a way out or any fish to eat, so it wandered hungry from pool to pool. Starving for days, it grew desperate and attacked any movement near the shore.

“Officer, don’t worry about the worm’s origin now. Let’s first think about how to get out,” a nearby archaeologist whispered, tugging my sleeve. He hadn’t let go since earlier.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get everyone out. I keep my word,” I told them, having everyone press against the courtyard’s stone walls, as far from the dangerous pool as possible. I racked my brain for a plan.

First, the worm’s emergence blocked the fourth stone door—our escape route. We were unarmed and couldn’t confront it directly.

Since we couldn’t retreat the way we came, we had to circle around to the fifth stone door and hide there temporarily.

But when everyone cautiously crowded before the fifth stone door, they discovered a hopeless fact: the door was intact, and no amount of pushing could open it!

I had no time to hesitate. Desperate, I switched on the radio and shouted inside, “I’ve got the Tang dynasty chess jar—if you want it, let us out quickly!”

“Officer Shi, don’t panic. Once you open the fifth door, there’s a path behind it. You can get out,” came the spy’s leisurely reply.

I sneered. “We’ve encountered a hungry giant worm ready to devour us all. If you don’t tell me how to open that door, I’ll toss these two chess jars down its throat first.”

Before I finished, the worm lunged aggressively toward the shore, its scales just centimeters away from us.

Missing its strike, it growled angrily, then swirled back into the water to rest.

The spy, hearing the commotion, grew anxious about his precious jars.

He quickly instructed me on opening the door:

“Officer Shi, don’t worry. The fifth door is probably blocked by falling rocks—an internal ‘self-locking stone’ trap. The door gap has widened from underwater tremors. Just find a long stick, poke it into the gap, and you can pry it open.”

I turned and peered through the gap, seeing a long stone jamming the door from behind.

This “self-locking stone” mechanism is an internal door lock common in ancient tombs, designed to block thieves. It works by placing a long stone inside the door, which automatically wedges to prevent opening from outside once closed.

However, this trap supposedly appeared only in the Ming dynasty, so it’s strange to see one in a Tang tomb.

“Probably damaged by the explosion, a long stone fell from the ceiling and jammed the door. The spy only said ‘maybe,’ meaning he didn’t know for sure. This isn’t an original trap,” Master Qi explained. “We need a special unlocking tool—a ‘hook nail.’”

Right. To open this kind of door, archaeologists use a tool called a “hook nail key”: a thin iron rod with a semi-circular end, resembling a police baton.

You insert the hook through the door gap, catch the stone, then slowly lift it while pushing the door until the stone stands upright, allowing the door to swing open. This method reportedly comes from old tomb robbers’ experience.

But where could we find such a stick?

The next moment, a long stick appeared before me.

“A collapsible police baton, outer diameter three centimeters, inner about two,” Master Qi smiled, pulling out his baton with confidence.

As expected from my master—reliable indeed. I praised him and urged him to insert the baton and lever the stone, then called everyone to push together.

But although the slim baton fit the gap, Master Qi’s wide palm quickly hit the doorframe, preventing him from pushing further.

“No good. We need someone with smaller hands,” he said, looking down at Old Five’s slender fingers.

Everyone looked at the tomb raider.

“Me? Are you sure, officer?” Old Five wiped sweat nervously. “This is my first time robbing a tomb with a police baton. I’m kinda nervous.”

“Enough talk. You know how to open the self-locking stone trap, right?” I urged him. “Help open the door now. Once everyone’s safe, we’ll settle accounts properly.”

Old Five’s trembling arm visibly shook as he slid the baton into the gap. The stone wasn’t a standard trap, and the baton wasn’t a true hook nail, so he struggled, twisting his wrist and turning red-faced. Finally, he managed to pry the door open.

We slipped inside smoothly. Behind us, two tomb raiders rushed in like wild boars, crashing shoulders with a loud thud.

In the pool, the Bobbit worm burst out one final time. It seemed to realize we were escaping—the prey slipping away. This time, it struck with full force, lunging far. Its longest antenna barely missed the raiders’ heels by centimeters.

“Hey, are you inside already? Are the two chess jars safe?” the spy called anxiously over the radio.

Clearly, those Tang dynasty chess jars meant a great deal to him.

“This big bug’s in for a feast. I’ll give it a tasty treat to nourish itself,” Master Qi said with a grin, bending to pick up the noisy radio.

With a flick of his hand, he made a perfect shot.

The arc soared and landed precisely into the giant worm’s gaping mouth.