Chapter 411 Joy
Seeing that Pei Jingyun no longer paid attention to everyone, Shen Yuexi had to find another way out.
Time was running out, and everyone in the tomb was trying to figure out a solution. Mei Dai whispered something to Xiao Zhuo, while Chen Lan fumbled around the iron gate, trying to find a switch or something.
Shen Yuexi approached the iron gate and tapped it with her fingers. A dull metallic thud echoed, confirming it wasn't hollow. She considered asking Big Bear to collect some energy, but then, remembering Pei Jingyun's warning about the flooding of seawater into the passage, she decided Big Bear wasn't running low on battery, so she decided against taking the risk.
Chen Lan looked nervous and whispered to her, "Sister, maybe Madam Pei is deliberately deceiving us?"
Shen Yuexi wasn't sure either. Not to mention Pei Jingyun, even her own son, Xiao Beiheng, was beyond her comprehension. She preferred research to socializing, and understanding people wasn't her strong suit.
She walked over to Xiao Zhuo and Mei Dai and was about to ask when Xiao Zhuo whispered in their ear, "Yuexi, can Big Bear carve out a passage upwards like he did when he went down to Yuangu?"
Mei Dai heard the two whispering and knew it was a private matter, so she walked towards Chen Lan.
Shen Yuexi shook her head repeatedly: "Big Bear used up most of the battery on the beach, and now there is only a little left."
Xiao Zhuo frowned and said, "We only have two options. Either we ask Mother to tell us how to escape, or we can find it ourselves. Let's go to the iron gate and see if there is a mechanism there."
The two of them came to the iron gate together. Mei Dai squatted down and said, "I don't see any mechanism. If there is a gap, the four of us may be able to lift the gate up."
Pei Jingyun in the sarcophagus sneered, "Naive. This iron gate isn't designed to be opened and closed again. It's just a gate. Once it's lowered, it can't be raised again."
Shen Yuexi was about to reply when a loud bang came from the passage inside the iron gate, which seemed to come from a great height. Then she could vaguely hear the sound of water rushing against the stone steps, as if a small waterfall had appeared in the passage.
The four of them looked at each other. Chen Lan said to Pei Jingyun, "Mrs. Pei, what's going on? The lights are still on."
Pei Jingyun sat up from the coffin, glanced at the glass lamp on the wall, and said, "It's nothing. The gunpowder blasted the waterway a little earlier. Now even if you can open the iron gate, you can't escape."
Seeing that everyone was about to die, she was not afraid but laughed softly.
Listening to the sound of rushing water outside the gate, Shen Yuexi couldn't help but nervously grab Xiao Zhuo's sleeve and said to him, "Husband, what should we do now?"
Xiao Zhuo looked down at the gap between the gate and the ground. Water was already slowly overflowing from the bottom edge of the gate, quickly soaking the area where everyone was standing. He quickly pulled Shen Yuexi back to dry ground. Then he cut off his clothes with his sword, rolled them into thin strips, and stuffed them into the gap between the gates.
Without waiting to be reminded, Mei Dai and Shen Lan tore the hems of their clothes and filled the gaps in the iron gate.
Everyone fought to survive. The iron door was leaking in only three places, which were plugged with strips of cloth. The water flowed much slower, becoming a trickle. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and retreated to dry land near the sarcophagus.
Pei Jingyun sat in the stone coffin, laughing non-stop. Seeing everyone blocking the crack in the door, she shook her head and said, "It's useless. If you do this, you will only struggle a little longer."
The other three people stared at the door and no one listened to her.
Shen Yuexi stood at the edge of the sarcophagus and said to Pei Jingyun, "Mother, I know you've been tortured for so many years. Let's just let it go, no matter who's right or wrong. Even if you want to kill Xiao Zhuo and me, my child is innocent."
Pei Jingyun stopped laughing and shook her head, saying, "If you hadn't gotten pregnant with this man's child, I wouldn't have wanted you to die."
After saying that, she reached out and touched Shen Yuexi's face.
Shen Yuexi's heart trembled, but she didn't avoid it. She didn't want to anger Pei Jingyun at this moment. Fortunately, Pei Jingyun's movements were also very gentle, just like a real mother touching her child.
"Everyone's facing certain death, so I don't need to hide the fact that I really admire you," Pei Jingyun said, a rare warmth in her eyes. "You're probably the child most like me. You're strong-willed, unyielding, and capable of creating things that amaze the world... Except you're not as cruel as I am, haha."
"Mother, since you admire me so much," Shen Yuexi said quickly, "then please give us a way out."
Pei Jingyun put down her hand and said, "I told you it's impossible. The seawater has already flooded the passage, and this tomb will also be flooded. Instead of begging me, why don't you go talk to your man."
"Husband, please say something." Shen Yuexi grabbed Xiao Zhuo's arm with both hands and shook it.
Xiao Zhuo's face was icy cold, and he let Shen Yuexi shake her arms without saying a word. For him, who was so proud at heart, asking for help from the enemy who killed his mother was probably harder than climbing to the sky.
Seeing that Xiao Zhuo was indifferent, Shen Yuexi was about to persuade him again when she heard the sound of the gate falling to the ground. It turned out that the cloth strip blocking the gate could not withstand the water pressure and was washed away. A column of water gushed out from the gap and poured into the tomb chamber.
"I'll do it."
Chen Lan shouted, wading through the water to pick up the cloth strips, roll them up, and plug the crack in the door again. She realized the water pressure was so strong that if she left the current, the cloth strips would be washed away again. She turned around and shouted, "The cloth strips can't block the crack anymore."
As soon as she finished speaking, the water opened another gap on the other side of the gate. This gap was wider, and the water column was even faster, gushing out a full five feet. Xiao Zhuo rushed over, stuffed the cloth strip in, and directly inserted the tip of his long sword into the gap, barely blocking it.
The entire tomb floor was drenched in seawater, which seeped in through every pore, apparently impossible to stop. Everyone stood in the water, which had already reached the soles of their shoes, soaking their socks.
Everyone's face turned pale when they thought about what was going to happen next.
Mei Dai looked at Shen Yuexi's belly, knelt down on both knees in front of the sarcophagus, and said with tears in her eyes:
"Madam Pei, the grudges between you, Xiao Zhuo, and Shen Yuexi are your own business. Shen Lan and I are outsiders. Please give us a chance to live. On behalf of the soldiers and civilians of the four counties of Xiliang, I kneel before you."
Shen Yuexi wanted to pull Mei Dai up, but Mei Dai gently pushed her away and said, "Now I just want to survive. Dignity is useless to me."
Pei Jingyun glanced at Mei Dai and said with a smile, "Queen Xiliang, you are truly a woman who can bend and stretch. You acted out this heartbreaking drama so flawlessly. No wonder Emperor Yongde was bewitched by you. If I were a little dumber, I would have been moved by your rhetoric."
Mei Dai said sadly, "Madam Pei, I really want to survive. If I die, the Mei family will be extinct."
Pei Jingyun nodded. "That's true. You're the only daughter of the Mei family. So why did you come down with them? Did you think you had more people and could handle me? Besides, if I told you how to leave here, you would definitely take them with you, right?"
Hearing Pei Jingyun's words, Shen Yuexi felt both happy and worried. She was happy because Pei Jingyun's words meant she did have a way to leave. She was worried because, judging by Pei Jingyun's expression, it was clear she wasn't willing to say anything.
Mei Dai said: "I..."
"Haha, the tomb is only this big. It makes no difference whether I tell you or others. But I won't make it difficult for you," Pei Jingyun pointed at Shen Yuexi, "You just need to kill these two people, and I will tell you how to leave here immediately. How about it?"
Mei Dai fell into the water as if struck by lightning, unable to utter a single sound. Shen Yuexi hurried forward to help her up.
Pei Jingyun looked at the scene in front of her and burst into laughter until tears came out. She said:
"Don't even think about trying to be clever with me. You don't dare kill me because I'm the only one who knows how to leave here. But I'll never tell you. The only person who can save you is the one who wants to kill you. It's a desperate feeling, isn't it? Ever since I learned that bitch was pregnant, I've been feeling this desperate every day. Twenty-one years... how many twenty-one years does one have in a lifetime? Now these days of despair are finally coming to an end, and my heart is filled with joy. Look, the lights are going out."
Shen Yuexi looked at the wall and found that all the lights were flickering and were about to go out.
"Queen, come quickly!" Chen Lan shouted in panic, "Water is gushing out from several more places. We can't stop it!"
"I'm coming." Mei Dai shouted and ran towards the gate with water rushing through her body.
Water was gushing out from six or seven locations throughout the gate. Chen Lan blocked two, and Xiao Zhuo used his hands and sword to block three, but it was no use. Although the water had stopped, it trickled down their palms, soaking their sleeves. A longsword on the other side was lodged in the gap in the gate, water dripping down from its hilt.
The parrot Liuli could have landed on the ground, but now it had nowhere to land, so it had to land on Shen Yuexi's shoulder, flapping its wings and calling out "Yuexi, good luck."
Shen Yuexi no longer had the heart to care about the parrot. She held her head in her hands and watched helplessly as the water beneath her feet gradually submerged her ankles.
Pei Jingyun knew how to escape, but she refused to tell anyone. She had already been seeking death, and wasn't afraid of Xiao Zhuo's attack. How could a woman who had no fear of death, and was even filled with joy, be forced to compromise?
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