...To be honest, even if I'm not afraid of being laughed at, I didn't realize we had arrived at the secret door that Miyuki mentioned, based solely on visual observation.
However, after being reminded and focusing my attention again to observe carefully, I finally noticed that extremely subtle abnormality.
In my opinion, it's really too much to ask someone to notice such subtle differences on their first visit without knowing the specifics.
It was a hidden door formed by stacked brick and stone walls. The edges of the bricks fit together perfectly, almost seamlessly. Not to mention, the texture of the lime and mud filling was almost identical to that of the neighboring walls. Only a few clues could be found from the differences between the cracks and those elsewhere.
"It feels like they built the wall first, and then forcibly shoved a door onto it." I gently touched the barely perceptible gap between the mortar mortar with my finger. "Was some extremely thin layer of filler removed in the middle?"
"I don't know about that."
Shen Xue extinguished the oil lamp and hung it on the nearby torch stand, spreading her hands and saying, "The only thing I know is that from here on out, we must proceed with extreme caution in all our actions."
That's natural.
After noticing the gap in the hidden door, I extended my senses slightly to check the situation on the other side. Although Miyuki had explained that it was an underground emergency passage in the inner city that few people would usually pass through, I couldn't be careless.
Do you know the route map across the street? Where exactly does it lead?
We took the long cloaks that were handed to us, which were enough to cover our basic appearances, and put them on each other, then pulled up the brims of our hats to cover ourselves up as well.
“One leads to the greenhouse garden in the church’s backyard, another leads to the bottom of the wishing well at the foot of the goddess statue, and the third extends all the way out of the city, which looks like an escape route.” Shen Xue paused, “However, in this kind of weather, the road outside the city is probably buried by snow and is completely unusable.”
I nodded and wrote down the three routes.
Alice, now fully prepared, leaned over and asked eagerly, "How do we open this door? By brute force?"
As she spoke, she placed her hand on the brick wall, looking as if she were about to exert force.
Miyuki quickly stopped her: "No, no need. Although it looks like a single, intact wall, there are actually some tricks to opening it."
She took two steps back, as if trying to identify something, then suddenly bent two fingers and tapped twice on a stone brick that was waist-high. She then jumped up and gently touched the stone brick above her head.
Strangely enough, the sounds produced by the object, which should have been made of stone, were different from those heard when striking a stone. The former was a hollow sound with a faint echo, while the latter was pushed in slightly and made a soft cracking sound, as if some mechanism had been triggered.
The secret passage was quiet for a few seconds. Then, the seemingly heavy stone door retracted its protruding part and slid down silently, revealing a passage wide enough for one person to pass through.
The light emanating from the moonstone pierced through the doorway and streamed in from the other side, casting our shadows long and crisscrossing on the wall. Fortunately, Fifi was always there as a light source, preventing our eyes from being blinded by this sudden appearance of light.
The pale red fledgling peeked out and flapped its wings as if it wanted to fly away, but after looking around for a moment, it only spread its wings slightly before settling back down on my shoulder.
Meeting our curious gazes, the only person in the know nodded in confirmation: "Yes, it is a mechanism. The former is the mechanism to disarm the trap, while the latter is responsible for opening the door."
"If someone happens to know the secret here and is lucky enough to find the door, but doesn't know the correct order to open it, they will be riddled with holes by the traps that follow."
She pointed to the wall behind her, which also had many small cracks, as if there were hidden needles embedded deep inside, but because they were hidden so deep, they could not be easily touched from the outside.
After surveying the surrounding area, Miyuki took the lead and stepped into another secret passage, with Alice and I following closely behind.
Then she wiped the floor tiles not far away with her foot again, and the hidden door closed silently.
This is a short wall located next to an L-shaped corner, not near the end of the corridor, so there's no need to worry about being spotted by someone who happens to be wandering in the passageway ahead, nor is there any need to worry about someone walking without looking where they're going and accidentally bumping into the wall near the corridor, thus revealing the secret of the hidden door.
"On the left is the road leading out of the city, with several trap rooms in the middle. On the right is the road leading to the inner city. After turning the corner, there is a temporary storage room ahead."
Shen Xue walked ahead with ease, as if she were walking in her own home, without the slightest awkwardness or discomfort.
But she then fell silent, standing in front of the open wooden door for a few seconds before stepping aside to reveal the scene before her.
I was shocked by what I saw.
This was not my first time entering those hidden, unknown underground spaces. Not long ago, I had explored several mountain retreats left behind by sorcerers or legendary figures.
But I can say with absolute certainty that none of them are as breathtaking as what I have seen before me.
How can I describe what I saw? Extravagance, or lavishness?
Countless objects with gold trim were piled up in this not-so-small room, and countless gold coins and diamonds were scattered on the floor, forming small mountains. The colorful jewels shone brightly under the light of the mermaid candles, surrounded by a hazy iridescent halo, so bright that they could almost blind people in an instant.
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