Chapter 67: Xie Lianhuan, Related To Wu Xie’s Grandfather Too?
A smiling mummy? Wang Canghai became a mummy? Lin Yan was thinking about these things and didn’t notice anything wrong.
At this time, Zhang Qiling suddenly stopped: “This path is wrong.”
The three people behind heard him say this and also stopped: “What do you mean?” The passage was already narrow, and Fatty was uncomfortable lying sideways, so he simply switched to climbing sideways: “This passage is too narrow. At a time like this, Fatty Ye envies you skinny guys. You don’t have to squeeze no matter where you go.”
Wu Xie looked at him with disdain: “Who would have thought that Fatty would come tomb raiding too?”
Fatty grinned: “Exactly, who would have thought that Fatty Ye is a Mojin too!”
Zhang Qiling listened to their banter and suddenly said: “Oh no, the walls are closing in. We entered the wrong door!” As soon as he said this, Lin Yan switched from the rear to the front and rushed toward the outside: “Damn it, Zhang Qiling, that’s not fair. You didn’t misread it, did you!”
Then they heard Zhang Qiling’s voice urgent from behind: “Impossible! When we came in, the mechanism’s operating principle was the same. Unless someone changed the mechanism after we passed out!”
They had walked slowly when coming in, but now they were sprinting out. Everyone wished their parents had given them two more legs. They didn’t want to be crushed flat in this tomb! Lin Yan was the first to reach the exit. He reached out: “Damn it, this door won’t open!”
“What’s going on?” Wu Xie thought he had some knowledge of mechanisms, so he climbed forward sideways and pushed: “It really won’t open!” He tried a couple more times and found that it wasn’t completely unpushable, but could only be pushed open a little bit! This situation was
“Someone outside has jammed the door shaft!”
Hearing this, Zhang Qiling at the rear didn’t come over. Amid Fatty’s cries of “We’re done for, we’re done for. I never expected Fatty Ye’s famous name to end with me being squished into a meat pie!”, he made a leap, braced his hands and feet against the walls on both sides, and climbed upward: “Go up!”
The three instinctively followed him upward. Although it looked like there was no difference between up and down, maybe a world of its own awaited? Lin Yan was the one who trusted Zhang Qiling the most. Although Zhang Qiling had messed up reading the life gate earlier, thinking that they all made it out alive in the end, he felt he could still trust him.
Fatty was still saying over there: “Sigh, this young comrade’s mind turns fast. If all else fails, before getting squished to death, we can still jump down, right? Better to crash to death than be crushed!”
Lin Yan’s expression was odd. He remembered that classic “dead fatty” joke, which was eerily similar to their current situation. He just didn’t know if Fatty would make an “ah” sound before the “bang” when he fell.
Zhang Qiling impatiently interrupted Fatty’s negative venting: “We still have a chance! Do you remember the tomb-robbing hole under that female corpse’s coffin?”
Fatty suddenly realized: “Young comrade, are you telling us not to give up until the last moment?” While climbing, he looked back at Lin Yan: “Young comrade, lend me the shovel from your backpack. Even at the last moment, Fatty Ye will dig a tomb-robbing hole from above!”
Zhang Qiling’s voice was filled with deep helplessness: “No, I mean, the person who could dig a tomb-robbing hole in the underground palace wall must have encountered some crisis too, like the situation we’re in now!”
Fatty, who had already climbed to the top, finally understood: “You mean, there’s also a tomb-robbing hole they dug here?”
Hearing they wouldn’t be squished to death, everyone’s spirits lifted. They hurried forward. Lin Yan originally wanted to go toward the door area, but Wu Xie yanked him back: “Why are you going that way? The person who dug the tomb-robbing hole must have encountered the same situation as us, with the door sealed shut. So, the tomb-robbing hole must be on the other side! Going toward the door side is definitely a waste of time. By the time you climb back, you’ll be crushed!”
Lin Yan felt a bit aggrieved: “Isn’t this normal thinking? If you come in from somewhere, you should go out from there, right? What if you end up in a place you don’t even recognize?”
Wu Xie rolled his eyes at him: “Why don’t you say what if you can’t dig through?”
Fine, the one who knows mechanisms makes sense! Lin Yan followed and climbed forward. Moving up and down before was okay, but lateral movement required even more stamina. He hadn’t felt it yet, but Wu Xie’s hands were already shaking.
The next time Wu Xie was about to slip down, he reached out and pulled Wu Xie’s backpack up: “Is the equipment too heavy? Let me carry it for you?”
“No, no need. I can manage.” Wu Xie gritted his teeth, thinking that Lin Yan was carrying even heavier stuff. He didn’t want Lin Yan to fall and get crushed because of the equipment. Worst case, he could just abandon his gear!
“It’s fine, I don’t think it’s heavy at all.” With that, Lin Yan directly grabbed the backpack strap and pulled it up, almost lifting Wu Xie straight up. Wu Xie felt a great force pulling him upward, so much that he barely needed to brace against the stone wall to maintain the height.
He turned his head and looked at Lin Yan in horror: “When did your strength get this big?”
“Oh, this? ” Lin Yan’s gaze dodged a bit. “I don’t know. It seems like after eating too many of those beads, my strength got bigger. But I haven’t tested it, so I don’t even know how strong I am.”
But soon Wu Xie witnessed it. He personally saw Lin Yan with a pack in front and one behind, climbing even more easily than him. Fine, fine. It felt like Lin Yan had cheats activated since coming down to the underwater tomb—getting jade bricks, zombies giving pearl… Can’t compare, can’t compare.
At this time, Zhang Qiling shone his flashlight: “We’re here!”
They looked forward and saw several lines written in blood above: “Wu Sansheng harmed me. No way out. Died wronged. Heaven and earth as witness—Xie Lianhuan!”
Wu Xie was stunned: “Who is Xie Lianhuan? Why does it say my Third Uncle harmed him?”
Zhang Qiling said dully: “He was also from our archaeological team. Maybe he has some connection to your Third Uncle?”
Wu Xie quickly asked: “What connection?”
But Zhang Qiling was already silently searching for the tomb-robbing hole around the words without responding. Wu Xie saw he wouldn’t answer and thought that surviving and getting out was more important right now, so he didn’t press further.
Lin Yan actually knew about this issue. If he remembered correctly, Xie Lianhuan and Wu Sansheng looked extremely similar, cousins or something? Anyway, some blood relation. He didn’t know if the one who appeared before Wu Xie earlier was Xie Lianhuan or Wu Sansheng. If the one who died here was really Xie Lianhuan, then who was the Wu Sansheng who claimed to be Xie Lianhuan later? Or… neither of them died here, and the one who died was someone else not in the report? Someone who looked extremely like them?
But this wasn’t the place to talk. The light was bad too, and eye contact with Wu Xie might not work. If he spoke directly and Zhang Qiling overheard, who knows what he’d imagine! Better to find an opportunity to talk after getting out.
But after climbing just two steps, Wu Xie stopped moving and whispered: “So that’s how it is!” His expression was extremely shocked, staring blankly as if lost in thought. Lin Yan was curious. Had he remembered who Xie Lianhuan was? He climbed over and saw Wu Xie’s complex gaze looking over: “I remembered who Xie Lianhuan is. I knew I’d heard this name before! So that’s it! No wonder Grandfather never let me play with Third Uncle when I was little!”
How did this involve his grandfather now?
Lin Yan carefully probed: “Your grandfather knows about your Third Uncle and Xie Lianhuan?”
Wu Xie nodded: “When I was little, I often heard Grandfather scolding Third Uncle and mentioning the Xie family, saying Third Uncle harmed their Xie Lianhuan and made our Wu Family unable to hold our heads up in front of the Xie family for life! So that’s it. Xie Lianhuan actually died here!”
If he remembered correctly, Hua Er Ye Xie Yuchen, the current head of the Xie family among the Nine Gates, was also related to Xie Lianhuan!
Lin Yan was secretly shocked. Did his grandfather know about the scheme between Xie Lianhuan and Wu Sansheng? If he did… Could the scheme not have been started by Wu Sansheng and them, but by Wu Xie’s grandfather’s generation? Was Wu Xie caught in the scheming of those families from birth? Including his own grandfather?
This… Lin Yan was speechless. This was really too much, too cruel to Wu Xie!
“What if Xie Lianhuan didn’t die?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Lin Yan regretted it!
