"What's wrong, sir?"

Dante, seeing my sudden shout, was immediately puzzled. "Aren't we about to open it? What are we waiting for?"

Everyone, including the leader, looked at me with puzzled expressions, trying to find a suitable reason.

I felt a little awkward at that moment, though it wasn't anything serious. It's just that this stone slab had been sealed here for who knows how long, the air underneath was stagnant, and I didn't know if it was poisonous.

I cleared my throat and said,

"Don't be too nervous, everyone. I think it's safer to test it with a torch before opening it. After all, we don't know how much time has passed, and the gas inside might be harmful."

Only then did Dante realize that they would take torches down to check before going down into the cellar. If the torches went out, no one should go down into the cellar, otherwise their lives would be in danger.

The chieftain then realized that what I said made sense, so he had two more torches brought, lit them, and stuck them in front of the stone slabs. Then, people pried the stone slabs apart.

If any gas is emitted, the torches will be the first to be affected.

After telling everyone to be careful, the burly men began to work together to pry open the stone slab, but what happened next surprised everyone.

They thought the stone slab would be very heavy, but to their surprise, when everyone put all their strength into it and pried it up, the stone slab bounced up like a wooden board.

"Everyone be careful!"

I yelled, and immediately the shotgun was in my hand, the muzzle already pointed at the exposed dark tunnel entrance.

After a while, the tunnel entrance remained quiet, and nothing unusual happened.

Moreover, the two torches standing at the entrance of the tunnel were not affected at all, and continued to burn steadily.

"Um... sir. Aren't we being a little too nervous? There doesn't seem to be any danger. It's just that this stone slab is strange; it looks quite thick, so how come it's so light?"

At this moment, Dante looked at the stone slab that the group of people had almost pried off with their combined strength, his eyes filled with doubt.

I put away my shotgun and went to Dante to examine the stone slab that had been easily knocked off.

I tried lifting the stone slab by myself and found that it wasn't difficult. The weight was at most around 20 pounds. Even a piece of wood of the same volume would probably be heavier.

Moreover, I've never seen this stone slab before. The feeling when I touch it isn't the coolness that stone has, but rather a warm, smooth feel, like wood.

Could it be some kind of prehistoric petrified wood fossil? But in my memory, petrified wood isn't exactly light, at least not as ridiculously light as this strange stone slab in front of me.

No wonder Dante and his companions were able to pry it open so easily; even one person could easily lift it with such weight.

I threw a torch into the passage, and after a while the torch continued to burn, showing no signs of being affected at all.

"That's strange..."

I muttered to myself. That shouldn't be the case. It's been sealed off for so long; the ventilation must be terrible. Without enough oxygen, the fire should have gone out.

But everything was contrary to my expectations; the torches inside did not go out and continued to burn just as they had outside.

I was still convinced there was absolutely nothing wrong with this. Before we left, I had Dante use a trap to catch a live bird. I immediately told Dante...

"Dante, tie that bird to a thin string and put it in the tunnel to take a look."

"Oh! Yes, sir."

Dante caught the fluttering bird in his backpack, began tying its legs with a rope, and then, holding the end of the long rope, lowered the bird into the dark tunnel.

Seeing that it had escaped Dante's grasp, the bird quickly flapped its wings and flew deeper into the passage.

Since ancient times, tomb raiders have had two principles when exploring caves. First, if the torches used for probing go out, then the cave is off the table and cannot be entered. Second, in an oxygen-deficient environment, no matter how many people go, they will all go in without making a sound.

The second method involves releasing a bird with a long rope tied to its leg into the cave to explore, provided there is oxygen in the cave and the torch can burn normally.

The presence of oxygen does not mean that the air inside is safe. If there is toxic gas mixed in, people who inhale it will still die.

Many tomb raiders skip the first test but ignore the second, which is why some tombs end up with a number of unfortunate tomb raiders buried with them.

These birds are not very tolerant of poisonous gas. If there is any abnormality in the air inside, the birds will definitely be affected after being pulled out, and in severe cases, they will die directly.

As the trembling rope continued deeper into the tunnel, I took out a large flashlight from my backpack.

After adding some nutrient solution, I waved my hand a few times, and the blue light emanated from it.

At first, the people of the Asada tribe were very curious about what that thing I took out was. When they saw the familiar blue light and left a bright spot of light deep in the dark passage, they were surprised.

Even the usually composed chief was taken aback. This was the first time they had ever seen such a magical contraption, and their tribe's glow sticks didn't have such a long beam distance.

The leader immediately grabbed Dante excitedly and asked...

"What is this thing? It looks like the light source we use, and it can shine so far!"

Dante smiled and proudly took another flashlight out of his backpack. Hearing this, Su Su also pulled out the same flashlight from her backpack.

"What! They actually each have one of those amazing things!"

This really shocked the locals. They thought that just one was already quite remarkable, but they never expected that three of these creatures would appear all at once.

Su Su smiled indifferently.

"It's nothing special. It's very common in our tribe. Everyone has one. It's just an everyday tool."

Hearing Su Su's incredibly sophisticated words, the natives were all stunned. Holy crap, everyone in your tribe has such a powerful artifact, and it's just a common tool?

Dante smiled and explained to the chieftain.

"It is indeed as Su Su said. Our tool, sir, is called a flashlight. It is a product that you modified based on our lighting stick."

Upon hearing this, the leader suddenly realized, "No wonder I thought this light looked so familiar; it turns out it was created by modifying one of our own things."

Thinking about this made the leader feel a little better. After all, it was made by borrowing our tools. Otherwise, this grape would have been sour to his core.

The chieftain's gaze towards me grew even more solemn. Is this the deity of the Mira tribe? And what's that flashlight called again? I really want one too…