Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 352 Passage

When Cui Bian was narrating the incident, he had never thought of going out by the same route again. Since the dead body in Yong'an Canal was able to escape from this place, there must be another exit inside.

Now that he was here, he had to take a thorough look to make sure his trip was worthwhile.

The secret passage under the bed was like an extremely steep but very smooth intestine. If someone above threw something from the hole, it would roll down at a very fast speed. I don't know if the person who built the passage was lazy or he was too tall. He wanted to turn his head in the middle, but there was no way because his head would fall down.

He was not sure if there was anyone guarding down there, so he could only move down carefully, twisting his butt little by little.

After moving in the dark for almost an incense stick of time, the air, which was originally stuffy with the smell of earth, suddenly felt slightly flowing, and he could feel the increase in humidity with every breath. He knew that the end was approaching.

The space was so narrow that it was impossible for him to draw his knife. As the humidity in the air grew, his elbows and knees that were stuck in the passage were soaked with water vapor. Cui Bianxu lowered his head and looked down through the gap between his legs. It was still pitch black without any light.

In the current situation, we can only assume that the people below have just taken in a few people and they should not be here at this time.

Thinking of this, Cui Bianxu withdrew his hands and feet that were leaning against his surroundings, and used his strength to quickly fall down. As the moisture quickly penetrated his outer robe, he suddenly felt his whole body relax, and the feeling of stagnation that lasted for more than an incense stick of time disappeared in an instant.

The surroundings were still pitch black. He knelt on one knee motionlessly, maintaining the posture of falling, and carefully reached out his right hand to touch his feet.

The soil is still moist.

His eyesight was hindered and all his actions had to be controlled by his ears. He didn't dare to make any sound, for fear of alarming the people here and affecting his own hearing.

Fortunately, his five senses were sharper than those of ordinary people, and he quickly determined that there were no living people, at least in the place where he was.

After confirming this, he took out the tinder without hesitation, and with the faint light he finally saw where he was.

This is a man-made tunnel, less than ten feet wide and high.

The hole he fell into was right at the base of the wall. The ground at the hole was slightly concave, probably caused by a heavy object. Going further ahead, he could see several clear dragging marks. He squatted down and took a closer look, and saw some dark red spots. He picked up a handful and smelled the familiar rust mixed with a fishy odor.

This is scattered blood.

After walking forward for more than ten meters along the drag mark, a bright light suddenly appeared. Cui Bianxu quickly covered the tinder and hid in the darkness to observe. He could faintly hear light snoring. He walked forward a few steps. The snoring became clearer, and a unique animal stench came.

This is....

A hint of surprise flashed through his mind. He had smelled this pungent and fishy smell before on the tiger in the residence of Duke Weiguo Li Jing. However, the Duke Weiguo had always taken good care of that tiger, so even if there was a smell on its body, it was not as strong as the one he smelled now.

So, the reason those failed 'experimental products' were able to be cleaned up was that they were fed to tigers?

This speculation made him breathe slowly. There were many ferocious beasts in the mountains, and those who had eaten human flesh and those who had not were two completely different concepts. This mountain beast was eating human flesh all day long. If Wu Sanniang let it out in the future, wouldn't it bring disaster to Chang'an?

He kept his face tense, tried to suppress his breathing, and slowly squatted on the ground, groping and smearing the foul and bloody soil on his face and head.

After he had done all this, he stood up again and tried his best to make his movements smaller and lighter. His snoring was extremely steady. He walked forward ten steps and finally saw the tiger locked in the huge iron cage. Its fur was shiny and its bulging belly showed that the beast had eaten a lot at night.

This place was probably specially used to house tigers. In addition to the large iron cage, there was also a long and filthy table. The original color of the table had long been lost, with large patches of dark red and black-red covering it. A bone-chopping knife with minced meat hanging on it was casually placed on it.

There is nothing else.

The pitch-black passage was on the other side of the iron cage. If one wanted to get through, one had to walk past the cage. Smelling the pungent smell of blood and feces, Cui Bianxu calmed himself down and walked towards the cave entrance quickly and lightly with his hand on the hilt of the knife.

One step, two steps....

Suddenly, the snoring stopped.

My heart skipped a beat and I turned around quickly, only to see that the sleeping tiger had opened its mouth wide at some point, with the corners of its mouth stretched wide, revealing a mouthful of sharp yellow and white teeth.

Its eyes were not open yet, as if it was just yawning, but Cui Bianxu had already quickly drawn out his long sword and rushed straight towards its open mouth.

Never let it make any sound!

'Chi'

The long knife was inserted straight into the tiger's mouth, and the sound of the sharp blade entering the flesh and hitting the bones and teeth made people's scalp numb.

The sudden severe pain made the tiger start to struggle without any hesitation. It wanted to bite the long knife off, but failed due to the pain. It opened its mouth again to roar, but could not make any sound because of the long knife in its mouth. It had to retreat desperately to try to get the long knife out of its body.

The huge body suddenly hit the iron cage, and the iron cage made a harsh friction sound as it shook.

Such a huge creature must have much stronger vitality than humans. Cui Bianxu decisively drew out another dagger, and stabbed his arm through the gap in the iron cage into its heart.

Blood splattered on his face and body. He could feel the tiger under his hands, which was originally resisting him vigorously, suddenly stiffened. However, this stiffness lasted for a few breaths, and then it sank. The big black and yellow-skinned tiger fell down dejectedly, and blood kept flowing from its mouth and nose.

Cui Bianxu slowly drew back his two swords and then quickly stabbed the tiger several times in the body until the tiger's eyes slowly closed, and then he sheathed the swords.

There is no need to keep a beast that eats humans.

Gotta speed it up.

He wasn't sure where the people inside were, or whether they had heard anything.

This passage was the same as the previous one. I lit the tinder and continued to move forward. This time I didn't walk too long, but a dim light appeared about ten feet away.

The humidity underground was too heavy, and coupled with the hot blood that the tiger had just spurted out and his own sweat, he now felt sticky and dirty all over. His wet clothes stuck tightly to his skin, making him feel uncomfortable every time he moved.

Even though he was mentally prepared, Xiao Cui, who was hiding in the dark, was still shocked when he peeked in.

They actually dug so many small holes half a person's height underground!