Volume Three, Seeking Antiquity and Immortality Chapter Four: Decaying Mechanisms

After that conversation, the group soon separated once more, each inspecting the equipment they carried.

By a little past nine o'clock in the evening, Manager Zhao gave a wave and whispered, "Let's move."

Following Manager Zhao, the group arrived halfway up a hillside. "Based on geomantic surveying and instrument detection, we can confirm that the tomb chamber lies directly beneath this spot," Manager Zhao said, pointing at the ground and instructing Lu Yi and the other trial-takers, "Start digging now."

With that, Manager Zhao stepped aside alongside the grave-robbers, leaving only Lu Yi, the other trial-takers, and Xu Tianyi behind. Lu Yi exchanged glances with the members of the three other teams, shrugged, picked up a shovel, and began moving dirt.

The grave-robbers standing off to the side frowned deeply as they watched more than a dozen people huddled together, hacking awkwardly at the earth.

Noticing that Xu Tianyi's arms were trembling slightly and that he kept wiping sweat from his forehead, a sharp-eyed trial-taker hurried over and said, "Little brother, you look exhausted. Why don't you go rest over there? I'll handle this work."

Xu Tianyi nodded gratefully and said, "Then I must trouble you, big brother."

"It's nothing, nothing at all. My name is Liao Kuang," the trial-taker said as he elbowed Xu Tianyi aside.

Seeing this, Lu Yi told Shen Yixue and Yuchan to take a break on the side as well. He told Shen Yixue to rest because, as a mage, she shouldn't waste her physical stamina unnecessarily, whereas he sent Yuchan away purely because she was a hindrance. While everyone else was shoveling dirt out, she was shoveling it right back in—and she wasn't slow about it, either.

After a few more people stepped back to focus on clearing the soil and cooperating with those in the pit, an unusual sound suddenly rang out.

One of the trial-takers straightened up abruptly and announced, "I've hit something!"

Guo Qiang and Old Immortal Luo immediately slid down into the pit. The two men brushed away the surface dirt, revealing a black, stone-like object to everyone.

They each tapped on it with their hands, then dug around its sides before furrowing their brows. Guo Qiang asked, "Manager Zhao, did you bring a portable drill?"

"Yes." Manager Zhao immediately motioned for someone to retrieve a compact drill and handed it to Guo Qiang.

Guo Qiang frowned as he started the drill. After a brief attempt, the stone slab bore nothing more than a white scratch. He shook his head and said, "No good. The tomb roof seems to have been sealed with special materials. Without explosives, we probably won't be able to break through by tomorrow."

Old Immortal Luo nodded as well, adding, "At this point, we either need to find the side walls and hope for a weak spot, or locate the tomb gate."

Manager Zhao shouted to the trial-takers standing nearby, "What are you staring at? Break out the Luoyang shovels and map out the size of the tomb chamber for me."

Old Immortal Luo measured the directions once more with his compass, then pointed in a certain direction. "Probing this way. Whoever's Luoyang shovel goes deeper than the others, shout out."

Lu Yi and the others began driving their shovels into the ground at regular intervals. After advancing several dozen meters, they finally located the tomb gate.

The heavy stone door soon came into view. Gazing at the two-meter-high stone entrance, Lu Yi gave it a tentative push, but predictably, it didn't budge.

Huzi chuckled softly, "For a king's tomb of this caliber, there's bound to be a door-blocking stone behind it. There's no way you can push something like that open easily."

"That's right. Now let's just hope the stone behind this door is bar-shaped rather than spherical," Guo Qiang said as he put on a pair of gloves. He pulled out a specialized tool and tinkered around the gap of the door, his face suddenly lighting up. "It's bar-shaped. Looks like we have a chance."

As Guo Qiang exerted his strength, a loud rumble of stone hitting the floor echoed from behind the door. He pressed his hands against the stone gate and shouted, "Get a few people over here to help me push the door open!"

Hearing Guo Qiang's call, Lu Yi and several other trial-takers stepped forward together.

Guo Qiang looked at them and instructed, "Remember, take a deep breath in a moment, and hold your breath as soon as the door is opened. This ancient tomb has been sealed for centuries, so it's bound to have some toxic gases."

Accompanied by a grating friction sound, the tomb gate slowly swung open. Lu Yi faintly caught sight of a wisp of black vapor escaping from the crack. At that exact moment, a startled scream rang out from above the dirt pit.

Hearing the cry, Guo Qiang's expression changed instantly. He hurriedly let go and scrambled back up to the top of the pit.

Lu Yi glanced at Yuchan, who was squatting by the edge of the pit and still looking vacant. Knowing there was no major issue, he remained unhurried, walking at the very back and waiting until everyone else had climbed up before he made his way out.

By the time Lu Yi reached the top of the pit, only Yuchan remained by the edge. The moment Lu Yi drew a breath, a foul, pungent stench assailed his nostrils, prompting him to quickly pull Yuchan back a few steps.

Without even checking the situation below, Guo Qiang glared at Xu Tianyi and roared the moment he climbed up, "What are you howling for?"

Xu Tianyi, still shaken, stammered, "I... I thought I saw a black shadow emerge from the crack in the door just now."

Lu Yi narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself that something had indeed come out. He looked over at Shen Yixue, but Shen Yixue simply shook her head at him, leaving Lu Yi looking slightly bewildered.

Meanwhile, the other trial-takers were questioning their teammates, but it appeared none of them had spotted the shadow either.

Hearing Xu Tianyi's words, Old Immortal Luo checked his compass again before shaking his head at Guo Qiang. Guo Qiang frowned and asked, "Did you really see a black shadow?"

Xu Tianyi nodded heavily. Guo Qiang gritted his teeth and said, "You must have seen things. A few of you, go ventilate the inside. Once that's done, we'll push the door open and go straight in."

After resting for a short while, Guo Qiang waved his hand again, and Lu Yi and the others pushed the stone gate open fully. Thanks to the previous ventilation, the foul odor was no longer present.

Several flashlight beams swept across the tomb tunnel, and some of the trial-takers already wore eager, expectant expressions.

Guo Qiang turned back to look at everyone. "Listen up, all of you. You've all seen the width of this tunnel. If we all walk in together, we'll definitely end up crowding each other, so I'm splitting us into three teams."

Guo Qiang pointed at Lu Yi and another team of trial-takers. "You two teams will form Team 1 and go in first, taking the lead."

Next, he pointed at the remaining two trial-taker teams and Xu Tianyi. "You will form Team 3 and bring up the rear, entering last. The rest of the people will stay with me, entering after Team 1. If any situation arises, we can support the front and rear teams in time."

Hearing this arrangement, the trial-takers assigned to stay in the back with Xu Tianyi beamed with delight. As for why Guo Qiang arranged it this way, he was undoubtedly wary of that black shadow and wanted to stay in the middle—the place with the most people and, in his view, the most muscle. The trial-takers were naturally happy to oblige, since none of them took mere evil spirits or phantoms seriously anyway.

Lu Yi drooped his eyelids slightly. Serving as the vanguard? He had anticipated this exact scenario when he made his previous move. Shrugging, Lu Yi walked in with Shen Yixue and Yuchan. As for the other team, even though they felt resentful, they lacked a suitable excuse at the moment and could only follow Lu Yi's team inside.

Footsteps echoed continuously through the tomb tunnel. Lu Yi swept his flashlight around, observing that the walls were built from dark, block-like stones whose textures were entirely natural, devoid of any artificial carving.

While glancing around, Lu Yi suddenly stepped on a stone brick, and a faint, subtle click of a mechanism sounded. Lu Yi immediately let out an "whoops" and pulled Shen Yixue and Yuchan down to the ground. As he pulled them, a bag of food flew out from Yuchan's backpack.

The other team following closely behind Lu Yi muttered curses under their breath while simultaneously diving to the floor.

At the same time, Guo Qiang and the others trailing in the rear immediately halted their steps and retreated defensively.

"Ah, my food!" Yuchan cried out in alarm, springing straight up from the ground. Lu Yi wanted to pull her back down, but he instantly realized that since Yuchan cared more about her food, the current situation posed no immediate threat to her. Realizing this, he stopped trying to hold her back.

Yuchan took a few steps forward, bent down to pick up the food, and happily stuffed it back into her backpack. She blinked in utter confusion at Lu Yi, who was lying flat on the ground, then calmly walked back to his side and squatted down once more.

The rest of the group stared at Yuchan in utter speechlessness. Yet from beginning to end, nothing whatsoever happened in the tomb tunnel.

Someone in the rearmost team whispered, "What's going on? Could it be a delayed mechanism like a falling rock trap?"

Huzi angrily complained, "Delayed your head! Didn't you see that the tunnel has an arched ceiling?"

After exchanging a few quick words with Yuchan, Lu Yi climbed back up from the floor, grumbling incessantly, "Who on earth built this road? They couldn't even level the stone bricks properly. It made me step into a dip and take a tumble. Hiss, that hurts."

Lu Yi pushed himself up using Yuchan's shoulder. Turning around, he saw the other team still lying flat on the ground. Feigning extreme surprise, he asked, "What are you all doing down there? Did all four of you trip?"

"Oh, I get it. Did you guys think I triggered a trap?" Lu Yi laughed, then adopted a mocking tone. "Are you guys idiots? I already said this is a centuries-old tomb; what kind of mechanisms would still even work?"

All four members of that team cast eerie, baleful glares at Lu Yi, their demeanor making it seem as though they were ready to hurl abuses and start a fistfight at any second.

Huzi and Guo Qiang quickly walked over to Lu Yi. At a glance, they saw a stone brick tilted halfway up, making it look as though Lu Yi had genuinely tripped and fallen.

Huzi looked around and soon discovered some small holes on both sides of the tunnel. Illuminating them with his flashlight, he fished out some decayed wooden splinters from inside using a piece of iron wire. "Looks like a concealed crossbow mechanism, but it's completely rotted away."

He looked at Lu Yi and said, "You really are lucky to stumble upon a mechanism that's completely defunct."

Lu Yi chuckled. "I told you, if there were that many dangers in a tomb, who would ever dare undertake massive excavation projects? If you accidentally dug into a tomb, you'd just drop dead without even knowing why."

Huzi shook his head and dropped the subject, though a trace of suspicion clearly lingered in his eyes as he looked at the captain of the other team, a player named Wuyou.

Guo Qiang gave a light cough. "Alright, since there's no danger, let's keep moving."

The two teams totaling seven people resumed their advance. This time, the other team visibly maintained a bit more distance from Lu Yi.

Along the way, the three of them did step on a few more loose stone bricks, but none of them triggered anything. This sequence of events left even Lu Yi slightly stunned, leading him to momentarily wonder if the Ring of Fortune had secretly activated. As they walked, the tunnel suddenly widened, revealing that they had finally reached a tomb chamber.