Chapter 55: From Today, I Am!
They followed the direction the jar rolled in, picked up the searchlights and shone them inside. Several searchlights lit up the entire tomb passage brightly.
The straight tomb passage was entirely paved with white marble, with two lamp grooves on each side, each with lamp bases every meter inside. Further in were three jade doors, and the jar had already stopped in the middle of the jade door on the left.
“Is this thing leading the way for us?” Zhang Hao looked at the box in Fatty’s hand, then at the jar, somewhat uncertain. The others hesitated and nodded, feeling like their worldview from the past few decades had been shattered. Although A Ning and the others had long seen unscientific things like blood corpses and nine-headed serpent cypress, those were visible corpses, and no matter what, they had the courage to fight back! Instead, this kind of mysterious, unknowable thing frightened them more.
Damn it, a jar giving directions? This wasn’t Andersen’s fairy tales! But reality was right in front of them, leaving them no choice but to believe.
Just as they exchanged looks, mustered their courage, and were about to tentatively head toward the jade door in front of the jar, a hesitant figure moved: “Wu Xie?”
Wu Xie turned back blankly, and when he saw what Lin Yan was doing, he nearly cracked apart.
Lin Yan was holding a dagger, poised to pry at a floor tile, with his backpack unzipped beside him: “Wasn’t the oxygen tank out of oxygen before? I took out the spare one, freeing up some space in the backpack. Look, this white marble, such a big piece, is it valuable?”
Wu Xie was completely numb: “Yeah, it’s valuable, but aren’t you worried about the weight?” No, that wasn’t the issue at all!
Hearing the affirmative answer, Lin Yan’s eyes lit up, and he immediately started prying, thinking to himself: Nonsense, once inside, there might not be time or energy to grab treasures, too busy escaping with you! Besides, I might not even get the stuff inside, so of course grab what I can now!
Suddenly, Wu Xie remembered something and jolted: “Wait, don’t pry it yet!”
“Huh? What’s up?” x2
Wu Xie glanced to the side—good grief, Fatty, hearing him, had also set down his backpack, dagger in hand, ready to go! His hand was already in the tile seam!
Wu Xie took a deep breath: “Aren’t you afraid this floor tile has some mechanism?”
Lin Yan let out a long breath upon hearing this: “I thought you were gonna say something big. We’ve already stepped on these floor tiles; if there was a mechanism, it would’ve triggered long ago. Would it wait until now?”
Fatty rolled his eyes upon hearing this, his hands moving fast, prying up a piece in a few moves and stuffing it into his bag: “Hey, it’s actually kinda heavy!”
Over there, Lin Yan also pried up the one under his feet, weighed it: “Not bad, not too heavy.” Then he turned his gaze to the one beside it, thinking he could fit two more.
Fatty knew when to stop, but Lin Yan was still huffing and puffing away at prying tiles. Wu Xie watched from the side, amused and exasperated: They were seriously tomb raiding, and these two clowns!
A Ning clutched her forehead, desperately telling herself not to get mad, not to get mad—she’d paid for the consultant she hired, damn it! They were in a hurry! What the hell were these two doing?
She took a deep breath, forcing a stiff smile: “Consultant Lin, could you hurry up a bit?” The gritted-teeth iciness in her words startled Lin Yan, nearly making him slip, but he remembered: before coming down, the situation favored them; now it still did! He was stronger than A Ning! Among those who came down, aside from Wu Xie and Fatty, with Zhang Qiling confirmed as Zhang Hao since Xiaoge hadn’t appeared yet—that proved Zhang Hao was Xiaoge! Wu Yong was basically Wu Family too. Good grief, was A Ning Gin? The whole distillery full of fake booze series? And she thought she had more people?
Was he the type to be threatened by her? Obviously not! So he instantly got cocky: “No rush, almost done.”
When he leisurely packed the second piece into his backpack and stood up, A Ning’s face was still icy, but her chest was heaving visibly—she was clearly about to explode. Wanting to rile her up more, he walked to Wu Xie’s side and grinned at her: “About that… reward?”
A Ning glared fiercely at him, took a deep breath, then pulled a small box from behind her, handing it to Wu Xie with a slightly provocative smile: “The reward was negotiated between me and Mr. Wu. Has! Noth-ing! To! Do! With! You!”
Wu Xie took the box, still warm from A Ning’s body, tossed it elegantly to Lin Yan, and gave A Ning an apologetic smile: “That… actually I was getting it for him.”
A Ning’s smile froze on her face. In that moment, everyone except Wu Xie burst into laughter—Lin Yan and Fatty grinning wide.
Actually, Wu Xie was secretly thrilled inside; this finally paid back the grievances from under Lu King’s Palace! So satisfying!
A Ning was indeed something; in a few seconds, she exhaled and returned to her calm state, even managing a smile at them: “Looks like the grudges between us from under the underground palace are cleared? Then I’ll have to rely on you all for the cooperation ahead.”
She looked at Fatty, Lin Yan, and Wu Xie one by one, finally fixing her gaze on Wu Xie: “Right, Mr. Wu?”
Wu Xie was slightly stunned, then smiled back, but inwardly he was on alert: He’d only thought her ruthless before, but now she seemed flexible, eloquent, instantly turning passive into active. Plus what Lin Yan had said about her trying to harm him several times, his wariness of A Ning deepened. Watching her figure walk ahead, he silently kept his distance.
Fatty looked at the path ahead, hesitant to proceed: “This kind of bare road usually has issues. What do we do? Go straight or?”
Everyone looked at Wu Xie and Zhang Hao; these two seemed the only ones versed in mechanisms—Wu Xie from family tradition, Zhang Hao as expedition leader, naturally experienced. Fatty had some knowledge but wasn’t expert; clearly he excelled more in combat.
Zhang Hao walked a few steps to observe, then retreated, shaking his head: “If there’s truly a mechanism here, it should be a trigger type—sensing weight change and activating immediately, caught off guard. But these floor tiles are all identical; I can’t tell them apart.”
He looked at Wu Xie: “Are you sure Mr. Wu Sansheng and the others went through here?”
Wu Xie nodded: “Only one passage at the entrance; they definitely went this way.” He looked up at the lamp grooves on both sides of the tomb passage—dark voids, unknown what was inside. “They probably didn’t just walk straight through but used some other method. But we have no tools; walking along the side is too dangerous. We can only risk it through here.”
In such a long corridor, the most likely mechanism was a barrage of hidden weapons—this was a common underground palace tactic. Thinking of this, he glanced at Lin Yan, silently asking: Is it here?
Lin Yan subtly shook his head: Not sure, but be careful.
He nodded slightly, glanced at A Ning not too close to him, tightened his equipment, and carefully took the first step: “Let’s go.”
