Chapter 7: “ordinary Person”?
Wu Xie was beside him, grimacing in pain, while Lin Yan looked completely calm and composed.
Now Wu Xie was starting to doubt that Lin Yan was the “ordinary person” he had described himself as. Would an ordinary person just frown slightly after being cut, without even changing expression? He, an ordinary university graduate, was already in so much pain he wanted to cry!
Actually, Lin Yan was just thinking about the plot and had no time to think about his own bleeding.
He didn’t know if it was the Butterfly Effect from one extra person, but the plot started to differ from here, so he had to think hard about the subsequent plot to increase his chances of getting out alive, to avoid being sold by the old fox or accidentally screwing himself over.
Being sold by the old fox was still okay; he could think of a way to get out himself, since many things were known—though he couldn’t recall them now, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t remember when he saw them later. But if he screwed himself over, heh, where would he put the face of a transmigrator! Huh? It seemed like he hadn’t had much face so far anyway—the tomb was one he was forced into, the blood was one he was forced to shed, and this asshole protagonist beside him was also a thigh he had chosen to hug himself.
Lin Yan felt like crying but had no tears inside—why was it so miserable when it was his turn! Where was the promised golden finger? The system? At least give him some life-saving ability! Why did he have nothing but the clothes on his back! He didn’t even remember the plot much! If he’d known he’d come here, he would’ve memorized it properly. Speaking of which, why could he recite Naruto backwards and forwards but didn’t go there? What the hell was this! Damn it!
So what was the next step? What was in the main tomb chamber? Seemed like some Seven Star Suspicious Coffin? He didn’t remember who triggered the mechanism and separated everyone. He vaguely recalled Wu Xie was alone, Mute Bottle disappeared somewhere, who was the old fox with? And the last one left alone was who? Damn, he remembered nothing! Wait, no, there was one pretty important. Right! Wang Pangzi! The Iron Triangle’s first meeting! How did he forget that.
“That’s good.” Lost in thought, Zhang Qiling’s voice came from beside him. He poured alcohol on Lin Yan’s arm with one hand, stuffed a piece of gauze into his hand, then turned to disinfect and bandage Wu Xie.
Lin Yan only felt a stinging pain spread from the wound throughout his body in an instant, his whole body numbing from head to toe, a rush of qi straight to the crown of his head, unable to speak a word in that moment.
“.” Damn it! If he weren’t still numb, that middle finger in his heart would already be up! Couldn’t you give some mental preparation!
Wu Xie let out a big yell of pain, but halfway through he was glared at by Zhang Qiling and stopped abruptly. Coming back to his senses, he glanced at the stone coffin, his legs shaking twice, nearly unable to stand.
Heh, rookie! He shot him a mocking look. Sure enough, without comparison there’s no harm—looking at it this way, he seemed much better!
At this time, Lin Yan didn’t realize at all that he had just been numbed from pain and couldn’t cry out, and wasn’t much better than Wu Xie. Both were rookies!
Wu Sansheng and the others had already passed the stone coffin and were waiting at the passage entrance. The three quickly passed by the stone coffin from beside it to rendezvous with them. Still the old fox leading, Wu Xie and Lin Yan, having just bled, could only follow slowly at the back, with Zhang Qiling beside them, clearly protecting.
They said they were walking slowly, but if not for feeling a bit weak from the blood loss, they could have run like hell—anyway, the farther from that coffin behind them the better! What good thing could want their blood? Hurry up and get out of there!
The stone walls in the passage were engraved with dense characters. Wu Xie, who had studied this, was very interested, but after looking for a long time and unable to decipher them, he gave up and turned his interest to Lin Yan.
“Lin… Xiaoge.” Lin Yan’s calm ferocity during the bloodletting had somewhat scared him.
“Didn’t it hurt just now?” He cautiously sidled up to Lin Yan and asked. The surroundings were so quiet with only footsteps that he subconsciously lowered his voice.
Lin Yan glanced at him—could he say he’d been thinking about things and distracted from the pain?
“It hurt, but I have a high pain tolerance, so I probably don’t show it much.”
“So you’re pretty tough?”
“You could put it that way?”
Sure enough, a tough guy! Could someone like this be an ordinary person? Wu Xie was the first to not believe it!
Seeing Wu Xie’s admiring look and the old fox’s meaningful glance, Lin Yan belatedly realized: Damn, he had overacted!
Unknowingly, they had walked nearly half an hour, and the corridor finally changed from downward to upward. Everyone knew the end was near and quickened their steps in unison.
Just then, they discovered a tomb-robbing hole beside them, which looked recently dug, the soil still quite fresh.
Panzi frowned: “Third Master, it seems someone really got here first!”
Wu Sansheng squatted down to look, touched the soil, stood up and patted his hands: “Looks like it wasn’t dug inward, but outward from inside, and very hastily. The tomb-robbers inside probably encountered some danger and had to risk digging a tomb-robbing hole to escape! They didn’t enter the same way as us; there must be other exits.”
Panzi followed up: “Third Master, by that logic, the treasure inside might still be there? They dug so hastily, probably couldn’t take much. So we continue?”
Wu Sansheng nodded: “Keep going inside.”
Wu Xie seized the chance to ask: “Third Uncle, aren’t we going down this tomb-robbing hole? Maybe it leads straight to the main tomb chamber?”
Not only Wu Sansheng, even Lin Yan smiled. Sure enough, still a naive rookie young comrade!
Wu Xie watched everyone pass him one by one and continue along the corridor, momentarily baffled. What did that mean? No means no, what’s with those expressions? It was only when Lin Yan passed, patted his shoulder, and gave him a “you’re on your own” look that he suddenly got it.
“Ah! A tomb-robbing hole is for escaping, so of course inside… I get it! Why didn’t any of you say anything!”
Wu Sansheng was his third uncle and would only roast him, Panzi and Da Kui were watching the show, Zhang Qiling was too aloof, only Lin Yan seemed quiet but friendly to him. So he caught up to Lin Yan: “Lin bro, why didn’t you remind me?”
Lin Yan glanced at him: “Didn’t you think watching the show was fun? Naive young comrade?”
Wu Xie pouted, his face showing some grievance, which made Lin Yan find it even funnier.
Wu Sansheng saw the atmosphere behind them gradually warming up and didn’t stop it. Originally, bringing Lin Yan down was a test in his plan, but after the earlier events, he had somewhat changed his view.
Though Lin Yan’s background was unclear, he might serve as one of the hidden pieces.
And Lin Yan knew none of this; he was fully focused on getting out alive and then staying far from all protagonists and supporting characters to live his peaceful parallel world life. Who could’ve thought some things couldn’t be avoided just by wanting to dodge them.
Or rather, from the moment he transmigrated and got involved with Wu Xie’s group, his fate was no longer his to control—someone would always pull him into the game, intentionally or not.
