Chapter 105 The Real Gold Mountain
"Hmm, I'm fine. Where am I now?"
"We're still in that dead end. Do you remember when you fainted?"
Mu Chenyao, her head throbbing, struggled to sit up.
Seeing this, Luo Yin rushed to help her, afraid that she would faint again from the exertion.
"Take it easy. I gave you some medicine. I had no other choice but to stay here and rest for the night."
"Thank you, I'm almost fully recovered now."
Mu Chen's tone was calm, as if there was really nothing wrong. Luo Yin touched him to make sure he was okay and found that he still had a slight fever.
"You still have a slight fever; you need to take your medicine again."
"No need, put your clothes on, we're leaving."
Luo Yin explained what had happened earlier, and seeing that she hadn't taken it seriously, she understood.
"Team Leader Mu, don't push yourself. We're teammates in a mud pit now, we can't do without each other. You need to take this medicine to get better, you don't want to faint again, do you?"
Luo Yin's attitude was firm; she really didn't want anything to happen to her, otherwise the two of them would really not know what to do.
"Okay!" "I'll eat it."
Seeing that she agreed, Luo Yin felt much relieved. After a brief discussion, the two of them made a plan for what to do next.
"Judging from the time it's been at least 20 hours since we came down, the higher-ups must have discovered it."
But we can't expect them to show up right now, so we're still relying on the two of them.
“Let’s go this way; we didn’t come this way before.”
She pointed to the marks on the wall, which she had drawn when she came yesterday.
A faint crescent moon mark stands there.
Imprinted on the dark earthen wall, they would have been completely missed if they hadn't been paying special attention.
"Okay!"
Fortunately, they noticed the anomaly on the ground beforehand, so for a long time afterward, the two of them did not dare to walk too fast. After they had explored the surrounding environment, they found that the only easy way to leave traces was around the earthen wall.
After all, most local authorities only need to pay attention to the intensity of their actions to leave a trace.
And as long as you remember the approximate location, you won't forget many of the details.
Apart from the area they encountered.
"It's still no use. What exactly is underground and around here? Is it trying to wipe us out?"
Qin Chuan and Huo Sen realized that they had embarked on a path of no return, with no way back.
From that moment on, I felt heavy-hearted and suffocated.
But their reason told them not to get caught up in these emotions; they needed to stay calm, composed, and find a way out!
At that moment, Old Chen's words unconsciously came to mind.
“It’s no use investigating these things now. Fifteen hours have already passed, and their food can only be provided in two more days at most.”
Everything else is fine, but there's only so much water in the bottle, and once it's finished, there definitely won't be any left.
"The food down here is manageable, but without water and oxygen, it's definitely not going to work."
"Hossen, which way do we go now?"
Having no ideas what to do, Qin Chuan asked about the next steps.
“There are no signs of trampling in this area, so we need to continue searching in more places. There are no patterns to be found at the moment, so we will just rely on a carpet search.”
Thinking about it, he really was the only way. "Okay!"
The two of them, one in front of the other, quickly put on their backpacks and headed towards the passage on the right.
However, less than two minutes later, two calm and wise figures came running out from the other side.
The two figures quickly became a blur, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
A short distance away from them, came the sound of flapping wings.
"Buzz buzz buzz~"
"What is that thing? Why are you running so fast?"
Qin Chuan, who was at the beginning and end, shouted to the front while glancing back every now and then.
As the thing moved a little closer to him, Qin Chuan clearly saw a crossbow-shaped organ on the beetle's mouth, which was about an inch or two in size.
At that moment, Qin Chuan was truly shocked.
What is that?
Or is it a living organism?
Could it be a forgery made later?
Wait a minute, he's still being chased, he's alive and well.
"Wait for me, those things are coming after us."
Sensing danger for no apparent reason, Qin Chuan shouted and rushed forward.
Fortunately, the person in front led the way well, and after running for more than ten minutes, the thing behind finally disappeared.
The two of them marched for a long time, mobilizing all their muscles, which took quite a bit of effort.
"I turned around just now and saw that the beetle's mouth looked like it had weapons on it." He couldn't believe it when he thought about it; it was something he had never heard of or seen before.
Wait a minute, he saw him today.
"Didn't you see it just now?"
After resting for a while, Hosen finally managed to catch his breath and spoke.
"What do you see?"
Qin Chuan was puzzled. He didn't know anything. He had just followed him into the cave and was still checking when he heard him shout "Run!" The guy couldn't care less about anything else; rushing was the most important thing.
“I just saw them shoot arrows from their mouths and hit the phantom of a rat on the ground.”
Qin Chuan picked at his ear. "Then, what did you say?"
He didn't hear wrong, did he? This isn't a lie, is it?
"Then several more arrows struck, and the rat fell to the ground." Hosen frowned. "I saw something was wrong, so I ran away without lingering."
"Now that you mention it, that thing seems really weird. Shall we go back and take another look?" He rubbed his arms, clearly still wanting to figure it out.
Hosen had already surveyed the place when he rushed in, and shook his head upon seeing this.
"Wait a minute, Captain Qin, doesn't your surroundings look strange?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Chuan examined the area closely and discovered two rows of parallel footprints under the flashlight beam.
"Indeed, there are two sets of footprints here."
"Judging by their size, it should be them."
"Very good!"
The two checked and confirmed that it was indeed the missing Luo Yin and Mu Dui.
The two followed the footprints for a while and deduced some clues: "Judging from the pattern, they should not have been injured. The footprints are solid and each step is firmly placed under their feet."
The footprints led southeast, and in the last stretch, they seemed to pick up speed and started running.
The last half of the footprint stopped abruptly on the stone wall in front of them.
"It ends here. This wall must be a trap too."
Qin Chuan swung the shovel fiercely, but managed to refrain from venting his anger on the wall, for fear of hitting it.
"Hmm, it seems they've also encountered danger, but this place always blocks our retreat, seriously hindering our progress."
Qin Chuan thought to himself, "That's right, it doesn't matter anymore."
Hosen stepped forward and patted the stone wall in front of him. He knew the depth of the sound from the dull thud.
Qin Chuan, who was standing next to him, understood what he meant. "You suspect that there's nothing behind this?"
"I'm not sure, but since they've been here, this is definitely the closest clue we can get to them."
After hearing what Huo Sen said, Qin Chuan thought about it and realized it made sense.
Thinking back on his earlier hesitation, he looked bitter. He was so tired of being tormented lately that he was always looking back and forth before doing anything, completely lacking the initial drive he had.
He looked at Hosen with some envy, feeling that the spirit he possessed was the kind of energy he should have, but now, all of that was gone.
He knew why, but the consequences of the change were something he couldn't even imagine.
"Shall we give it a try?"
"Before we take action, let's check the surrounding area for any hidden mechanisms or secret doors."
"Understood. Please report any issues immediately."
The two nodded in agreement, and for the next period of time, they were on high alert almost 360 degrees, having to guard against beetle attacks that could appear at any time, and also being careful of the places they stepped on.
However, the god of fate seemed to favor them, as the inspection revealed no extra traps or dangers.
Even more fortunately, Qin Chuan found a clue about five bricks near the ground on the south side.
"Captain Huo, do you think this is a handprint?"
Qin squatted down, excitedly shining his flashlight on the small, thin mark.
When Hosen arrived, he saw a pattern that looked like a child's five fingers imprinted on it.
"Look, all five fingers are there, but the tips are a bit thin and long." They look somewhat disproportionate compared to the thick palm.
"Something's not right. The more I look at it, the stranger it seems. Where did these child's handprints come from? They look like they've been there for a very long time, not just recently."
Qin Chuan felt a chill run down his spine and looked at him expectantly.
Hosen's face grew even more solemn, his dark eyes staring intently at the object as he looked at it again and again.
Finally, it was confirmed: "It's definitely not a child's."
"Oh, how so?"
"Adults' hands usually have two or three phalanges, and so do children's. But look at these fingers, even if they are worn down, they are at least longer than three phalanges, so it seems impossible for them to be human."
"Hiss, what could that be?"
And what is the purpose of placing this mark here?
Is it simply to instill fear and dread in those who come after?
"I'm not sure, but can you press it?"
Qin Chuan nodded. "Okay, I checked around here and there's an activity area. It looks like it was intentionally left out. Want to give it a try?"
At this moment, they were both afraid that they couldn't press the button, and also afraid that pressing it would produce something else.
The two remained silent for a moment, and then the atmosphere fell silent again.
"according to!"
"Then press it."
The two then spoke again, simultaneously.
"good."
"Creak!"
A soft, faint sound rang out in the quiet area, and the two men cautiously looked around.
Suddenly, the wall began to move, slowly shifting.
"Look at that door, it's open!"
Indeed, a crack slowly appeared where there had been a dead end.
Judging from the design, it was only wide enough for them to squeeze in sideways.
"Walk?"
The two stood one in front of the other, peering inside with flashlights, hoping to see something.
But obviously there was no result; nothing could be seen clearly.
This stalemate was not a solution, so the two decided to go and see for themselves.
They stepped inside one after the other, walking side by side, and soon discovered more traces left behind.
"Look here, there's something on the wall."
Qin Chuan's excitement was dampened by his incomprehension: "These characters seem to be written in ancient script, I can't understand them."
Hosen followed and glanced at it, only to find that he couldn't understand it either.
However, considering the circumstances, it is likely that the builder of this place wrote it.
"I don't understand it either, let's look for others!"
After exploring the area, the two discovered that it was quite large, with three passageways in total, clearly indicating that it was a major transit point.
If we can find some clues here, it will definitely be of great benefit.
"Hey, there are clues here too, lots of little figures, this is...murder!"
Qin Chuan stopped speaking excitedly because he realized he could see the things carved on the stone wall clearly, but he didn't know how to start the conversation again.
Hossen followed and witnessed the same silent scene.
On the wall was a large picture, the most eye-catching of which was a large circle of people in the middle, with small figures lined up in groups outside the circle, forming a protective archway around the top.
At the very top are several life-size figures, and they are larger than the others.
They were clearly armed and dressed in fine clothes, indicating that they were people of high status.
It's much more important than other little figures.
"What are they doing..."
Hosen picked up where he left off, "Priest!"
"What kind of feudal ideas are these? They're obviously just a bunch of messy brainwashing stuff." Even though Qin Chuan knew that the border region had been chaotic since ancient times, he still felt uncomfortable when it actually happened to him.
"There's nothing to think about too much; you should have been prepared."
"I know I should be aware of this, but it still doesn't feel right to see it."
The two men looked at the painting with heavy hearts and roughly deduced its contents. "So it should record that a certain tribe living here held a large sacrificial ceremony at some time, and countless people were pushed to the altar to pray for something. But the result did not seem to be good. Their people not only did not receive salvation, but were also driven to hide here."
The reason they said this was because they found some more carvings not far from this stone wall.
The brushstrokes were clearly not done by a professional; they were messy, yet each stroke was profound and insightful.
It was clearly due to the person's emotions at the time, and as the scene was depicted, they seemed to have been chased and killed by something above.
Because wherever you go, there are rows of crooked little squares drawn on it.
The designs are strange, and the sizes vary; sometimes they are not evenly drawn.
"What is this thing? It looks weird."
Qin Chuan didn't see it at first, and Huo Sen didn't understand it either.
Later, Qin Chuan had a sudden inspiration: "Could this be a coffin?"
"What? Isn't this a coffin made of Phoebe zhennan wood?"
Luo Yin was first intrigued by the familiar scent, and then the fluidity of the scene caught her eye.
"Team Leader Mu, do you think I'm seeing things, or am I just imagining things?"
Luo Yin was practically pinching her own philtrum; she was even richer than Annie, who sold Dragon Balls for gold.
"It's true, I saw it too."
Mu Chen spoke with more excitement than usual.
"Ah, it's fake! I knew it must be a hallucination caused by not eating properly and fainting from hunger... No, it's real!"
"I told you it was real! Look how much this costs!"
The two of them were no longer afraid as they stood in front of more than a dozen coffins. These were not terrifying things; each one was a mountain of gold, something more valuable than a mountain made of gold.
Just think, that tree outside is over a thousand years old. If we had the chance to get all of them out of the country, how much money could we make?
Luo Yin dared not think about it, and she simply couldn't stop smiling.
Hehe, these are all true, right?
She carefully stepped forward and stood beside one of the more exposed coffins, her eyes shining as she stared at the gilded patterns that resembled the earth.
So beautiful! This is a true work of art!
Luo Yin took a deep sniff; it smelled wonderful!
She found something even more fragrant than gold—this is it.
Seeing the pleading look on her face, almost as if she were glued to it, Mu Chen said, "Alright, be careful of the coffins around you, try not to touch them, lest you encounter something."
"Hehe, Captain Mu, don't worry, I know my limits and won't touch anything recklessly."
Between safety and money, life is far more important.
Having money but not being alive to enjoy it—that is the greatest suffering in the world.
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