Chapter 133: I’m Doing This For Your Own Good!
The mine tunnel was empty and eerily quiet. They had walked for so long, yet it was as if they had just entered—nothing had happened, not even a single fork in the path.
At this point, Wu Xie also felt something was off. He felt a bit uneasy, stopped, and asked the other two: “Did we miss any fork in the path?”
Lao Yang also felt something wasn’t quite right. This journey had been too smooth. That was the most abnormal thing. Since it was a mine tunnel, there shouldn’t be such a long passage without any branches. Mining operations leave plenty of tunnels and spaces to prepare for extracting ore once deposits are found. It was basically impossible for them to walk for over ten minutes without reaching the bottom. Unless…
Lin Yan and Wu Xie, who had already suspected as much, said in unison: “There’s a hidden passage?”
Wu Xie had simply deduced a reasonable conclusion based on the current situation, while Lin Yan, based on the original author’s tendencies, was already treating this place entirely as a tomb.
But along the way, they shouldn’t have missed anything on either side, and it was impossible for a passage to open upwards. The only possibility was…
“Underground!”
As Wu Xie spoke, his eyes lit up, and he turned back. Sure enough, halfway back, he saw an iron ring on the ground.
It was a trapdoor. Although the stone door connected to the iron ring was covered in dust, the scattered rust around it indicated someone had opened it recently.
Perhaps more than once?
Lao Yang was already silently preparing to pull the iron ring, but Wu Xie grabbed his hand: “Lao Yang, tell me the truth… are you still hiding something from me?”
Wu Xie felt like the reconciliation and forgiveness he had offered Lao Yang in the past couple of days had been wasted. This guy was definitely still keeping things from him! From that bronze tree branch to urging him to go to that tomb, even this mine… thinking back now, Lao Yang was the first to jump down, and it was he who hinted at taking this path when Wu Xie was confused. Now he even wanted to go down first!
This guy had definitely been here before!
Maybe even the talk of going to some Qing Dynasty tomb was just an excuse, and the real goal was just to get him into the place below this mine?
Wu Xie looked at Lao Yang coldly, feeling a pang of hurt in that instant. He wanted to ask Lao Yang, after all these years of close companionship, was he really someone who couldn’t be trusted in his eyes? Keeping everything from him, just like Third Uncle? Things with Third Uncle were still a mess, and now Lao Yang was doing the same?
He stared silently at Lao Yang for a few seconds, then turned his gaze to Lin Yan.
Lin Yan was caught off guard by Wu Xie’s sudden move, but he could now confirm that if Wu Xie’s guess was right, then below this was probably the tomb with the bronze divine tree! In other words, the place Lao Yang had been scheming to bring Wu Xie to. So… what was Lao Yang’s purpose in getting Wu Xie to come? Did it have anything to do with Wu Sansheng and the others?
After being stunned for several seconds, he finally saw Wu Xie frantically signaling at him with his eyes: Does this guy Lao Yang want us to go down? Should we go check it out or head back?
Lin Yan could tell that although Wu Xie was angry at Lao Yang, heading back was something he absolutely couldn’t accept. Not to mention his own curiosity, just based on Chinese temperament, having come this far without going in to see… that feeling could be summed up in four words: “We’re already here.”
Extremely apt.
We’re already here, so why not go in and take a look? What if there’s something good, or some once-in-a-lifetime wonder to witness? Not to mention anything else, the bronze divine tree definitely counted as one, though Lin Yan had also forgotten what that tree could do.
He didn’t know if it was a side effect of traversing, but his memories of the original plot were fading more and more. In just these few months, he had forgotten most of the later parts, and could barely remember place names and people.
Lin Yan even suspected that one day he might forget all the plot he hadn’t experienced yet. Maybe some vague world will was at work, preventing him from altering the life trajectory of this world’s son of destiny.
But what could he do? He was still counting on sticking with Wu Xie and the others to get by, so he couldn’t leave.
What role did Lao Yang really play in this plot? He didn’t remember Lao Yang appearing in the later parts. Lin Yan pondered: if he viewed Lao Yang as a limited NPC for this instance, then he definitely wouldn’t pose any life threat to Wu Xie. In other words, it might be okay to follow him for a bit?
Thinking of this, Lin Yan gave Wu Xie a slight nod, signaling that it was okay to go down, and there shouldn’t be too much danger.
Wu Xie trusted Lin Yan’s judgment. He subtly breathed a sigh of relief and focused on the still bewildered Lao Yang: “Lao Yang, tell me the truth. Was what you told me in Hangzhou just an excuse? You said you wanted to hit another Qing Dynasty tomb, or dig up a Han tomb in the Qinling Mountains or something—that was all just a pretext to trick me into coming to the Qinling Mountains? Your real goal is this place below the stone door, isn’t it?”
Lao Yang’s face flashed with panic for an instant, but he composed himself in less than a second: “Old Wu, you still don’t trust me? I-I told you before…” He put on a hurt expression, but given his track record, Wu Xie wasn’t buying it anymore.
Wu Xie suddenly raised an eyebrow, released Lao Yang’s hand, walked a few steps forward to Lin Yan’s side, and turned around: “Then tell me, if we leave now, exit this mine, follow Jia Zi Gou deeper in, and find other tombs, how about that? It’s all about the money, right? We can get it from other tombs too, no need to go down here. What do you say?”
Now Lin Yan also saw Lao Yang’s face change colors like a palette under the pale flashlight light, alternating red and white: “I-I don’t care. Even if you don’t—don’t go down today, I’m going down.”
Wu Xie felt a wave of disappointment wash over him. His remaining curiosity about what was under that stone slab was now gone. Lao Yang’s attitude made him exhausted, wanting to go straight home, lock the door, sleep it off, and upon waking, pretend he’d never met Lao Yang in this lifetime. Why did everyone have to be like Third Uncle, hiding things from him instead of just telling him?
With Third Uncle, it was somewhat understandable— it involved their previous generation and even the Nine Gates, so not telling him was something he could somewhat accept. But with Lao Yang, he had to admit time really changes people. In just three years, they weren’t as close as before, sharing everything, and now they couldn’t even tell each other the truth.
Did they really think he had no temper?
So Wu Xie sneered coldly, grabbed Lin Yan, and walked off without looking back: “Fine then, we’re leaving. You go down by yourself!”
Lin Yan was full of question marks. How did it fall apart just like that? He thought with Wu Xie’s personality, even if tricked, as long as Lao Yang insisted on going down, Wu Xie would soften and agree. This turn was unexpected! Was this instance just going to be skipped? He personally wanted to go down, but he couldn’t decide for Wu Xie, especially right after their fallout—if he dragged Wu Xie back, wouldn’t that make him lose face?
Lao Yang saw Wu Xie really leaving and opened his mouth behind them, clearly caught off guard too: “Old Wu! I-I was doing this for your own good! Some things I—I didn’t mean to hide from you, it’s just—you—you have to believe me. I’ve always treated you as my best friend! Really, no—no lie!”
Lin Yan turned his head. Lao Yang’s face was somewhat indistinct in the dim light, but he could tell Lao Yang didn’t seem to be lying.
