Richest Rag-picker

Gripping the small object in his hand, he glanced down into the pitch-blackness below, then let it go.

He was stuck in this awkward spot, neither at the top nor the bottom, surrounded by smooth stone walls. It was the perfect opportunity to use this object to test the depth.

RATTLE... RATTLE... THUD...

The moment Fang Chenyi let go, a rattling sound echoed from below, followed a few moments later by a distinct thud as it landed.

This instantly excited Fang Chenyi:

’Holy shit, I’m finally almost at the bottom!’

It had only taken a dozen seconds or so from release to impact. Based on the object’s weight, he calculated he was probably only one or two hundred meters from the bottom!

His initial excitement was quickly replaced by frustration. He knew there were only about a hundred meters left, but he didn’t even have a rope. ’How am I supposed to get down a hundred meters?’

’If I jump, I won’t even need the full hundred meters. A fall from just ten meters would probably be enough to kill me.’

’Slide down?’

That wasn’t entirely out of the question. With these smooth stone walls and this angle, it was basically like one of those slides at an amusement park.

The only problem was, slides aren’t very wide, so you can press your feet against the sides to control your speed. This was different. It was a smooth surface nearly five meters wide, leaving his feet with no purchase at all.

’Besides, who knows what kind of place is at the bottom?’

’If it’s just more smooth stone at the bottom, that’d be one thing. But if there’s a trap or something, I’d be a goner for sure.’

He rummaged through his woven bag one more time, but still no rope. The inflatable raft, however, did catch his eye.

’A hundred meters... would it be safer to slide down in the inflatable raft?’

The idea was a good one. Reality, however, was cruel.

After Fang Chenyi took out the inflatable raft, inflated it, sat inside, and untied his tether, he was stunned to find that the rubber simply wouldn’t slide on the stone surface.

His shock gave way to a surge of elation. He couldn’t ride the raft down, but... ’Haven’t I just found something that can help me slow down?’

He grabbed his dagger, cut a length from his parachute cord, and used it to secure the inflatable raft behind him. Then, he sat down on the stone slab.

The moment Fang Chenyi let go of the rope holding him, his body shot downward, sliding rapidly.

Whenever he felt he was going too fast, Fang Chenyi would press down slightly on the raft, and his speed would immediately decrease.

He had to admit, the feeling was absolutely exhilarating!

As he continued sliding, Fang Chenyi couldn’t help but mutter to himself, ’Dammit, if I’d known it would be this much fun, I wouldn’t have bothered rappelling for so long. My arms are killing me.’

Rappelling a hundred meters would have taken a while, but sliding down like this took no time at all.

Mentally calculating the distance he had slid, Fang Chenyi began to slow down.

BANG!

Just as he was slowing down—perhaps because he had pressed down a little too hard—the inflatable raft suddenly exploded with a loud bang.

Fang Chenyi instantly lost his balance. Fortunately, his physical conditioning was excellent. He twisted his body with all his might and managed to avoid sliding headfirst down the slope.

THUMP.

He had just righted himself when, with a sudden THUMP, his world went dizzy.

’Shit, I hit something!’

It turned out the ground beneath him had leveled out from a slope to a flat surface. Inertia carried him forward, making him skid for another dozen meters or so before he slammed into something with a solid thud.

The impact had been so hard that even with the protection of his tactical helmet, it took Fang Chenyi a long moment to come to his senses.

He shook his swimming head, took off his helmet, detached the tactical flashlight from it, and mounted it on the M4 slung across his back. Only then did he lift his head to see what was in front of him.

But as his gaze lifted, what he saw gave him such a fright that he nearly opened fire with his M4.

"Holy shit!"

He cursed aloud, instinctively scrambling backward.

Once he had backed away several meters, he cautiously turned his gaze forward again.

The sight made Fang Chenyi gasp, a cold chill running down his spine.

The thing in front of him was exactly what he had crashed into.

And he recognized it at first glance: a skull. A massive skull.

To be precise, it was the skull of a snake.

But the sheer size of it was astounding. ’Holy hell, if you didn’t see the long skeleton trailing behind it, you’d think this was the skull of a dinosaur!’

He swept the beam of his flashlight over it and took a deep breath. ’Could this be the Cobra from Brother Compass? Is this place its lair?’

He moved the M4’s beam off the skeleton and began to scan the surrounding area.

Fang Chenyi found himself in an immense chamber, dozens of meters high and wide.

And the massive skeleton lay right in the center of the chamber.

’Wasn’t this supposed to be the location of the Sea God’s Relic? How can there be nothing here except this skeleton?’

He mustered his courage and took a walk around the perimeter, but to his dismay, Fang Chenyi discovered there was absolutely nothing else in the entire chamber besides the giant skeleton.

Fang Chenyi was on the verge of a breakdown. ’I went through all that effort and took such huge risks to get down here, and all that’s waiting for me is a pile of bones? This is a fucking joke.’

He made another, more careful circuit of the chamber, but still came up empty.

’Don’t tell me the treasure is underneath this thing’s body?’

You had to admit, the guy had guts. Faced with this enormous, unknown skeleton, he wasn’t the least bit afraid.

In fact, he was already scheming about the skeleton itself.

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The treasure could very well be underneath the skeleton. With that, Fang Chenyi aimed his flashlight beam directly at the massive frame and began searching it inch by inch.

A moment later, his theory was confirmed. He’d found something!

He ran the flashlight beam back from the skull, and near the abdominal region, Fang Chenyi was stunned to discover a pair of massive, bony claws.

Seeing the claws, Fang Chenyi’s eyes went wide, and he couldn’t help but wonder:

’Claws? But isn’t this a snake’s skeleton? How could it have claws? Is it not a snake? Could it be... a...?’