Chapter 47: The Deepest Part of the Tomb
"Nothing." Not long after, the two who had returned to investigate returned to the group. Yin Chuan shook his head and said to everyone, "By the way, Luo Mei, I want to ask, where did you get this monkey?"
"Well... I bought it from a monkey trainer. I thought one of them was particularly clever, so I bought it. It's like having an extra helper when I'm robbing tombs."
"Then why don't you give it a name? It feels a bit awkward to always call it 'monkey, monkey'."
"Hey, I wanted to give it a name, but the monkey seller told me that monkeys don't recognize names given to them. You can tame them just by calling them 'monkey'. I don't know why."
When Yin Chuan wanted to ask something else, the monkey on Luo Mei's shoulder squeaked a few times and jumped forward, seeming quite excited.
"It seems we are almost there!" Luo Mei said with a long sigh.
Sure enough, after walking for less than five minutes, they suddenly found themselves in an exceptionally spacious space. Although still pitch black, the feeling of oppression was completely gone, and even the air was much fresher.
"Is this the deepest part of Shen Wansan's tomb?" Master Lan rubbed his eyes and looked in the direction of the light. He saw a space large enough to accommodate seven or eight rooms. The surrounding walls were curved like a dome, reaching a height of five or six meters. The ground was low at the sides and high in the middle, forming a convex shape with a gentle slope. At the highest point, five huge rectangular stones were arranged side by side, their bases firmly embedded in the ground. But to the tomb raiders, they looked more like five enormous coffins.
"Could it be that Shen Wansan's body is buried in one of these five coffins?" Fan Zheng asked casually.
"I don't care where Shen Wansan is buried, but I care more about whether the secret treasure is here." Luo Mei said, staring at the five huge rocks in front of him.
"You're quite persistent!" Du Yunzhang said with a sullen smile, "Are you still thinking about that cornucopia?"
Luo Mei ignored Du Yunzhang and walked to the top of the protruding area, intending to check the five coffin-shaped boulders one by one.
"Master, I'm a little cold." At this time, the fifth concubine Yu Zhenzhu grabbed Master Lan's arm and said timidly, her teeth seemed to be chattering.
"Are you cold, little baby? I'll have someone light a fire and you'll be warm in a while." Master Lan comforted.
"You can't light a bonfire here!" Fan Zheng shouted from the side.
"Why?"
"We're in a catacombs now. The air isn't circulating, and if you light a fire, the air will be even less. If you want to die, don't take anyone else with you! And my lantern battery is almost out. We have to speed up!"
After hearing what Fan Zheng said, Master Lan also felt that he was in the wrong, so he had to comfort the Fifth Concubine with a few kind words and took off his coat and put it on her. Only then did the Fifth Concubine stop talking.
"How is it? Is the stone above a coffin? Do you need my help?" Du Yunzhang couldn't help asking when he saw Luo Mei on the high slope carefully observing the first huge rock on the left.
"Hmm... It feels like a coffin, but... I can't find the seam. Come up and take a look!"
Before Du Yunzhang could go up, Fan Zheng climbed up first and came to Luo Mei's side in a few steps.
Luo Mei was startled, "Why is it you?"
"Yes, the shape is indeed that of a coffin..." He did not respond to Luo Mei's words, but muttered while looking at it.
"You can come up too. Do you have a rope?" Luo Mei asked.
Fan Zheng pulled at his waist, and a rope about as thick as a finger appeared in his hand. "Is this enough?"
Seeing that the rope was about ten meters long, Luo Mei weighed the rope in his hand and said, "Okay, sure. Just do as I say..."
She tied two knots in the rope in her hand and put it around the far edge of the huge rock in the middle. She let Fan Zheng's rope tie the bottom of the huge rock in the opposite direction and fix it. Then, when her signal came out, everyone pulled the four top ends of the two ropes together to test whether there was a gap in the middle rock, and thus confirm whether this thing was a coffin.
So Yin Chuan and Du Yunzhang went up to help. Master Lan was pampered and didn't want to move, but Luo Mei glared at him and said, "No matter if you are a man or not, you have to come here!"
Frightened by her, Master Lan, though extremely reluctant, had no choice but to step forward and pull the rope. Thus, Luo Mei's rope was held by Master Lan at one end and Du Yunzhang at the other, while Fan Zheng and Yin Chuan held the other end.
"Everyone listen to my command! One... two... pull!" Luo Mei shouted, and everyone worked together. The two ropes were stretched tight, so that both ends of the huge rock were fully stressed.
Yin Chuan thought that even with the strength of five people and two ropes, it would be difficult to pull any of the boulders. However, he did not expect that as Luo Mei said, the bottom of the boulder in the middle actually felt a little loose.
"Hey! There's hope!" Du Yunzhang also sensed it and couldn't help but shout.
But at that moment, Du Yunzhang's rope suddenly slipped, and the loop around the top corner of the rock broke free. Du Yunzhang, weakened by this, was thrown backwards. He was now falling from the top of the convex slope. If he had hit the ground, even if he didn't die, he would have broken bones. Yin Chuan, on the other side of the slope, watched Du Yunzhang fly away. He didn't even have time to shout. He closed his eyes in terror, thinking, "Old Du, this is the end!"
At this critical moment, Linlang leaped to where Du Yunzhang was about to fall, stretched out her hands and pushed him sideways, instantly breaking the force of the fall. Du Yunzhang fell sideways to the ground, only bruising his arms and buttocks, luckily avoiding serious injuries.
"Lao Du! Are you okay?" Yin Chuan shouted to him.
Du Yunzhang was still in shock. He rubbed the sore spot on his arm and replied through gritted teeth, "I'm fine. Luckily, Linlang saved me. Sister Linlang, thank you so much!"
Linlang smiled slightly. "It's nothing. Let's not be so polite. When I was in danger before, didn't Brother Du always come to my rescue? Don't worry about this little thing."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Du Yunzhang was safe and sound. But before they could recover, Master Lan suddenly exclaimed in a perturbed tone, "What...what is that?" Just as he finished, there was a thud. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Master Lan inexplicably fall to the ground. Yin Chuan's sharp eyes suddenly noticed a pale yellow smoke cloud floating around Master Lan, gradually spreading towards the others.
"Is there something wrong with this cigarette?" Luo Mei, who was closest to Master Lan, subconsciously covered his mouth and nose, but it seemed too late. Luo Mei felt dizzy, his head heavy, and he fell to the ground.
By the time the others realized what was happening, they had all inhaled the smoke to varying degrees and collapsed one after another. After Yin Chuan watched Linlang fall, his limbs immediately lost control. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the fourth concubine at the bottom, staggering. He had no idea what happened next.
After an unknown amount of time, Yin Chuan regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he felt weak in his limbs, had a splitting headache, and felt nauseous.
"Linlang! Linlang! Lao Du! Lao Du!" He called out twice, but no one answered. Yin Chuan tried to stand up with his hands, but he couldn't get them to stand up. However, he felt his palms were wet, slippery, and a little sticky. In the surrounding lights that were still on, he turned his palms over and looked. Oh my god! His palms were covered in blood!
Is there anyone else who died?
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