"What is this?" Mu Xue noticed the change in Ning Yu's hand and asked curiously.
Ning Yu didn't answer. Instead, he aimed the metal needle at a small hole in the stone door and gently pushed it in. The metal needle went in smoothly, and then the stone door vibrated slightly.
"It's responding!" Mu Xue exclaimed in surprise.
However, before they could rejoice for long, the giant's footsteps grew closer, his heavy breathing seemingly echoing in their ears. Ning Yu's gaze fell on the stone door again. This time, he noticed some blurry numbers beside the groove… “Wait…”
Ning Yu pointed to the numbers next to the groove, which were almost completely eroded by the wind, his voice trembling slightly with excitement: "Look! There are numbers here!"
Mu Xue quickly leaned closer, squinting to make out the numbers. They were blurry, as if carved by some sharp tool and weathered by time, almost blending into the color of the stone door. "One…three…five…seven…two…four…six…eight…" she read haltingly, a hint of doubt in her voice, "What does this mean?"
The giant's footsteps grew closer, his heavy breathing like a death knell, pounding against their hearts. Ning Yu's mind raced, connecting the symbols on the stone, the symbols on the stick, and the numbers. "Wait!" he suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "Could these numbers correspond to the positions of the stone and the groove?"
He had casually stuffed the eight stones he found into the groove to keep the giant away. Now that he thinks about it, perhaps each stone had its designated place.
“One, three, five, seven… two, four, six, eight… odd and even numbers…” Ning Yu muttered to himself, his gaze quickly sweeping over the stones and grooves, “What if we arrange them in the order of odd and even numbers?”
Time was of the essence, leaving them little room for further thought. Ning Yu acted decisively, beginning to rearrange the stones according to his deduction. He first placed the stone marked "one" into the first groove, then the stone marked "three" into the third groove, and so on, placing all the odd-numbered stones into their corresponding grooves. He then placed the even-numbered stones into their corresponding grooves in the same way.
Mu Xue watched Ning Yu's movements nervously from the side, while also vigilantly observing the giants' movements. The giants were getting closer and closer, and the shadows cast by their massive bodies almost enveloped Ning Yu and Mu Xue.
As the last stone was placed in its place, the stone door emitted another rumbling sound, more intense and prolonged than before. The stone door slowly moved, opening a crack large enough to glimpse the dark space inside. However, the stone door did not fully open; it seemed to be stuck, remaining there.
"What happened?" Mu Xue asked anxiously.
Ning Yu frowned, looking again at the small stick in his hand. He recalled the scene where the stick had flicked out the metal needle, and a thought struck him. Perhaps this stick wasn't just a key to open the stone door; it had other uses.
He aligned the stick with the small hole on the stone door again. This time, he did not insert it directly. Instead, following the previous arrangement of the stones, he aligned the symbols on the stick with the small hole on the stone door and pressed down on different positions on the stick in turn.
"Click, click, click..."
As Ning Yu moved, a series of mechanical sounds came from inside the stone door, and the gap in the door gradually widened. The giants' footsteps were already close at hand, and their heavy breathing could be clearly heard.
Ning Yu's finger hovered over the last symbol on the stick, and he took a deep breath... "Click!"
With a crisp sound, unlike the previous dull thud, the stone door suddenly shook violently...
"Quick!" Ning Yu grabbed Mu Xue's hand...
With a crisp sound, the stone door trembled violently and slowly opened a crack just wide enough for one person to pass sideways. A dark, deep passage appeared and disappeared behind the crack, like the gaping maw of a colossal beast. However, for the giant standing so close, the opening speed was nothing short of a snail's crawl.
The giants' footsteps were deafening, and their foul breath sprayed onto Ning Yu and Mu Xue's napes, bringing a nauseating chill. One of the giants raised its thick arm high, like a battering ram, and brought it crashing down on them.
"It's too late!" Mu Xue roared, drawing the dagger from her waist, ready to fight to the death.
Ning Yu grabbed Mu Xue's arm and pulled her behind him, his eyes resolute: "No, there's still a chance!"
He slammed his body against the stone door and pushed hard with both hands, trying to speed up the opening. The stone door was incredibly heavy, as if it were one with the mountain, and remained completely still.
"I'll help you!" Mu Xue disregarded everything else, sheathed the dagger in her waistband, and with all her might, she pushed the stone door open with Ning Yu.
The stone door emitted a teeth-grinding scraping sound. With the combined efforts of the two, the gap finally widened a little more, but opening it completely remained a long way off. The giant's arm was already close at hand, and the howling wind whispered like the Grim Reaper, foreshadowing death's arrival.
Ning Yu gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. In this life-or-death moment, he suddenly remembered that he still had a "Power Enhancement Capsule" he had previously obtained in his system inventory. In this life-or-death situation, he couldn't care less about the potential side effects of the capsule. With a thought, the capsule instantly appeared in his hand.
Without hesitation, Ning Yu swallowed the capsule. A burning sensation instantly spread throughout his body, as if a flame was burning inside him. He felt an unprecedented power surge into his limbs and bones, his muscles swelled, and his bones crackled.
"Drink!" Ning Yu roared, exerting his strength once more.
This time, the stone gate finally moved noticeably. The gap widened rapidly, large enough for two people to pass side by side.
"Hurry up and go in!" Ning Yu shouted, pushing Mu Xue and leading the way through the stone door.
The instant they entered the stone gate, the giant's massive hand slammed down on the spot where the gate had been. Rocks crumbled, and dust billowed. Had Ning Yu not acted decisively, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Inside the stone gate, it was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Ning Yu groped along the stone wall, trying to find a light source or a mechanism. Mu Xue stayed close to Ning Yu, gripping her dagger tightly, listening warily to the sounds around them.
Suddenly, Ning Yu felt something step on his foot, making a soft "click" sound...
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