I knew that I only had one chance, either I could injure the opponent with one blow, or I would be killed. I didn't dare to be careless at all, I held the long sword tightly, and kept adjusting my position, making sure that the blow would be effective.
In just a blink of an eye, I could clearly see the whole picture of the snake's head, but at this moment, a strong wind suddenly rushed from behind me. My attention was all focused on the black snake, and when I felt the wind approaching and wanted to turn around, it was too late.
I just felt two hands suddenly clasping my shoulders, and Shi Heshang's roar suddenly rang out behind me: "Brother, hurry up!"
I relaxed my tense body in an instant and let Shi Heshi pull me up into the air. As soon as my feet left the water, the black snake broke out of the water, and the rectangular belly scales on its neck almost touched my toes and slid into the air. However, under Shi Heshi's pull, I was like a piece of wood hanging in the air, and I crashed into the rock wall behind me in the direction of the rope.
I was still in mid-air when I saw the black snake suddenly turn around, like a long black rainbow across the water, and swooped down in front of me.
My shoulders were tightly grasped by Shi Heshang, and he must have hooked his feet on the rope and hung upside down in the air. Neither of us could use force to attack the opponent in the air, and the only thing we could do was hope that the rope would swing faster.
But contrary to our expectations, the black snake pounced at lightning speed, leaving us no chance to escape.
In the blink of an eye, the snake head with tongue spitting out moved to within half a meter of me. The black concubine standing on the snake head suddenly laughed strangely, leaned down and stretched out her claws towards us...
At the critical moment, Lao Du, who was standing on the platform, suddenly shouted angrily: "Open fire, hit hard!"
More than 30 guns roared at the same time, and dense fire snakes instantly blocked Hei Fei's way. The black scales on the snakes' heads were also lifted up by the bullets. The flying scales and interweaving firelight instantly blocked my sight, and Shi Heshang and I crashed into the rock wall without any surprise.
It was not until then that I freed my hands to grab the rope behind me, and climbed up the cliff one after another with Monk Shi.
Lao Du shouted angrily: "Quickly pull the rope! Open fire, and the others provide cover fire!"
At this point, I no longer cared about the scene behind me, and only knew to crawl towards the platform. I just saw Lao Du half-kneeling on the platform with a gun in his hand and firing at us, but I was startled by Xie Wanhua behind him.
Xie Wanhua pulled out a dagger from somewhere, held the climbing rope hanging on the edge of the platform with one hand, and pressed the blade of the dagger against the edge of the rope.
"Xie Wanhua, what are you doing?" As Shi Heshang roared, Lao Du suddenly turned around. When he saw Xie Wanhua's movements clearly, his first reaction was to point the gun at Xie Wanhua's head: "Stop it!"
Xie Wanhua gently pulled the blade: "According to our agreement, Wu Zhao and Shi Bucong should help me open the secret burial. Now is not the time for them to come up, they should return to the water to fight the Black Concubine, right?"
"Bullshit!" While Shi Heshang was furious, I suddenly heard the sound of a heavy object falling into the water behind me. When I looked back, the black snake had already fallen into the water. The already turbid water surface was covered with a bright red blood stain as the snake fell.
The black snake must have been seriously injured by the repeated gunfire from the armed police.
I don't know if the black snake has become spiritual, but the Black Concubine standing on the snake's head must have seen that we had already started a quarrel. She was waiting for Xie Wanhua to cut the rope and let me fall into the water again.
Lao Du pointed his gun at Xie Wanhua and said, "Xie Wanhua, shut up."
Xie Wanhua gently swiped the dagger and said with a smile: "Brother-in-law, you don't have to bluff. You won't shoot because you are a policeman. Policemen are not allowed to shoot casually, right?"
"You..." Although Lao Du held the handle of the gun tightly, he refused to pull the trigger.
I raised my voice and said, "Xie Wanhua, you should have figured out that there is no so-called secret burial under this pool. You wanted to throw us in, but you were just testing Lao Du's feelings. You wanted to test whether he has you in his heart, right?"
I took advantage of the other party's silence and shouted loudly: "In this situation, even if Lao Du is a policeman, he can shoot because you are threatening our lives and safety."
"You deliberately provoked Lao Du to see if he would make an exception and not shoot because of you. If Lao Du doesn't do it, you win, and you win your sister Xie Wanqiao."
Xie Wanhua didn't seem to expect that I would suddenly mention her sister's name. She was stunned for two or three seconds before shouting, "Shut up!"
I said quickly, "Before he died, Tom called out your sister's name twice. He wanted to tell me that you are also a patient with mental illness, right? You always wanted to surpass your sister, right?"
"Your sister will always be a shadow in your heart. Even if you are better than her, you still want to surpass her. Even if what she has obtained seems insignificant in the eyes of others, you still want to be better than her."
I said sternly, "You lurked beside Yang Jiakai not only to seek revenge, but your greater wish was to make Yang Jiakai fall in love with you, just like he loved your sister. In the end, you lost. The one Yang Jiakai could not forget was Xie Wanqiao, not you."
"You had the opportunity to persuade Yang Jiakai to kill He Yang's family a long time ago, but you chose to do it eight years later. It's not that you don't want revenge, but you want to prove with your own hands that you have solved the hatred that your sister couldn't solve back then. In the end, you still lost. He Yang's wife actually died at the hands of Yang Jiakai, and your goal was not fully achieved."
I lowered my voice a little: "So, Lao Du is your last chance to prove yourself. If I hadn't appeared, you might have chosen a gentle way to slowly move Lao Du and finally take him for yourself."
"In the end, I exposed your true identity and ruined your last plan. That's why you came up with such a lame idea to gamble with your sister."
I said in a deep voice, "You can't win! Lao Du didn't shoot now, not because he pity you, nor because he loves you, but because you are Xie Wanqiao's sister. Do you know how to explain the phrase "love the house and love the dog"? "
"If there was no Xie Wanqiao, you would be a crow that Old Du hates everywhere. Even your cry would make him feel annoyed!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Xie Wanhua finally couldn't control her emotions, "I want to see if Zhengming will kill me for you!"
The moment Xie Wanhua raised the dagger, I knew the time had come to decide my fate.
I didn't have any confidence in what I said just now. After all, I'm not a psychologist. I was just betting on whether I could anger Xie Wanhua. I succeeded. Now it depends on whether Lao Du will really love the whole family or shoot decisively out of professional instinct.
The moment the cold light of Xie Wanhua's dagger shot down the rope, a loud gunshot suddenly rang out in the cave.
Before the gunpowder smoke from Lao Du's gun had dissipated, Xie Wanhua had already looked down at the gunshot wound on her shoulder in disbelief: "Brother-in-law, you..."
"Monk, do it!" As I roared, Monk Shi, who was standing above me, immediately grabbed a copper bell from his body and raised his hand to hit Xie Wanhua on the knee.
At the moment when the copper bell turned into golden light and flew straight towards the opponent, Lao Du rushed towards Xie Wanhua, apparently wanting to help her block the fatal blow, but his speed was far inferior to the flying copper bell, and the copper bell flew past him by a hair's breadth. Xie Wanhua, who was hit in the knee by the copper bell, fell into the water with her head raised to the sky while screaming.
Old Du, who had already fallen to the ground, quickly turned his body and reached out to grab Xie Wanhua's wrist.
Xie Wanhua raised her head and smiled: "Brother-in-law, I know you won't watch me die..."
Lao Du grabbed Xie Wanhua with both hands and shouted, "Come and help!"
The nearby armed police immediately rushed over, some tried to catch Lao Du, while others came to pull our ropes.
Xie Wanhua smiled and said, "Zhengming, I really like you..."
Lao Du said sternly: "Stop talking nonsense..."
"It seems that you like me too, otherwise, you should have shouted 'shut up'. You shout that to the suspects." Xie Wanhua smiled, "Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you."
Xie Wanhua shook her wrist lightly and slipped out of Lao Du's hand.
"Wanhua—" As Lao Du shouted, Xie Wanhua's voice could be heard faintly: "You finally called me 'Wanhua' again..."
It may be true that Xie Wanhua deeply loves Lao Du, and Lao Du may not be cruel to her.
Xie Wanhua can see through people's hearts but cannot see through herself. Lao Du can hold on to love but refuses to open his heart again. The choice made at the last moment is from their true heart, but everything is in vain.
Even if Xie Wanhua didn't die, what would happen? Lao Du had feelings, but he also had principles that he always adhered to. He would not let Xie Wanhua go, and Xie Wanhua would not let Lao Du's career be tarnished because of her. This is why she said "I won't make things difficult for Lao Du".
Of course, I only figured out these things later. At that time, my attention was all on Xie Wanhua who fell into the water. I saw Xie Wanhua fall into the water and was bitten on the shoulder by the black snake. After the black snake wrapped around Xie Wanhua, the "crackling" sound of broken bones also burst out in the cave.
I thought Xie Wanhua would be buried in the snake's mouth and end it all, but I didn't expect that she would struggle hard to get half of her body out of the gap in the snake's body: "Wu Zhao, I will never let you go even if I die! We will meet in the snake's belly soon!"
Oh no! I just felt something was wrong, and Xie Wanhua, who was struggling desperately, was dragged into the water by the black snake. This time, what rolled up from the bottom of the water was not blood, but a layer of dark purple liquid. (To be continued)