There were messy footprints on the steps in front of the stone gate. Zhang Junjie's backpack was gone, and the stone gate opened inwards through a crack just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Xiang Wan cautiously peered inside. The floor was covered in jars, arranged around a stone platform in the center. Beyond that, visibility decreased. To avoid being confronted by the Pharaoh again, Xiang Wan slipped inside and tried to slam the door shut, but she wasn't strong enough. She sighed and gave up.
The jars were short, barely reaching halfway up to their calves, and sealed with mud. Some were broken, the cracks filled with dust, revealing some black stuff inside, as hard as stone.
"Don't touch it with your hands, you'll regret it."
007 suddenly spoke, startling Xiang Wan.
"Where did you go? I called you but you didn't respond."
"Ahem, this system certainly has important matters to attend to."
"Could it be that she's afraid of snakes?"
"No, no, this system is wise and powerful, unparalleled in the world, how could it be afraid of such a long worm without legs?"
"Oh, then let's go back to that tomb chamber later and see what exactly it is."
"Tch, go ahead and die if you want. You think you can scare this system? No way!"
Xiang Wan shook her head. With the system's company, things were indeed much better.
"What is this black thing? Why do I regret touching it?"
"If I say it now, this system is afraid you won't make it to the end. Let's forget about this question; you'll find out eventually."
Xiang Wan was quite obedient; if she didn't want to touch it, she wouldn't touch it, as she thought it would get her hands dirty.
It was a rectangular, enclosed chamber, surrounded by a heavy stone platform in the center, and densely packed with jars. Luckily, she didn't have trypophobia, or she probably would have fainted in a heartbeat.
Xiang Wan tiptoed among the jars, looking for a place to step. She dared not make a loud noise and cause unnecessary trouble.
She searched the secret room but found nothing else. So she went to the stone platform in the middle, sat down to rest for a while, and had something to eat.
The soft chewing sound seemed somewhat jarring in the quiet place. Xiang Wan felt uneasy, quickly ate a compressed biscuit, drank some water, and then got up to leave. Before she even stepped off the stone platform, she heard the stone door creak and slowly close.
Holy crap, did we run into some kind of trap?
Xiang Wan thought back carefully. Besides the jars, there was only this stone platform. She followed the order she had come up, even matching her footprints one by one, until she stepped off the platform, and nothing happened. Wasn't this a ghost? Undeterred, she went over it again, but still found nothing unusual.
She got up, intending to go check the stone gate again, when she heard a "click-clack" sound coming from above, starting with one and then countless others, as if she were surrounded by it. Her neck stiffened as she looked up, and she nearly wet herself in fright: countless mummified corpses were hanging down above her, and most terrifyingly, the "click-clack" sound was coming from inside their heads—their upper and lower teeth were constantly clattering together, then starting to fall, one by one like rain. A tooth landed on a jar, bounced once, and then hit the ground. Then, the jar began to shake, the shaking becoming increasingly violent.
"Xiao Qi, where's the exit? Quick!"
It was raining teeth all around Xiang Wan, but there was nothing on the stone platform she was standing on. She dared not run around, so she stood in the middle of the platform and quickly hung the bomb around her neck.
"There's no exit, only that stone door, but you're too far away. How will you get there?"
How do we open the stone door?
"It can't be opened. Those two people destroyed the mechanism. We can only break it down by force."
Xiang Wan felt a chill run down her spine. Those two weren't going to die so easily, as she knew. She only had one bomb; if she didn't blow the door open, she was doomed.
Before long, all the teeth of the mummified corpse on its head had fallen out, and then fist-sized objects fell down and hit the jar, causing it to crack and countless tiny black snakes to crawl out.
"Damn, snakes again?" Xiang Wan's scalp tingled. Soon, black creatures crawled into the crevices, intertwining with the fallen objects. Xiang Wan looked closely and saw that these things had black carapaces and moved incredibly fast. There weren't as many as black snakes, but their speed was impressive; wherever they went, a large number of black snakes were bitten to death. They looked very much like the creatures she had seen in modern movies.
"How much must such a big beetle eat?"
The system was still in the mood to talk about this, so Xiang Wan ignored it, quickly took out a lighter, lit the alcohol lamp in her backpack, and then burned the spare thin shirt.
None of those things intended to be placed on the stone platform yet, but Xiang Wan dared not be careless. She was all alone; if anything bit her, she would be finished.
While these things were still fighting amongst themselves, Xiang Wan lit the fuse of the bomb and was preparing to throw it at the stone gate when the opportunity arose.
"Once you throw it in the right spot, there's no second chance."
The system's voice suddenly became tense, but Xiang Wan remained calm. Life or death hung in the balance, and with the system by her side, she wasn't at a loss.
Sparks ignited inside the bomb. Xiang Wan silently counted "one, two, three" in her mind. In the blink of an eye, the bomb was thrown out as soon as the last count was finished. When it reached the stone door, there was a loud "boom," the entire secret chamber trembled, and the stone door slowly tilted downwards.
Xiang Wan spat and brushed the dust off her face. Damn it, it was all the remains that had fallen from the mummified corpse. It was incredibly disgusting.
The black snake and the beetle were stunned, pausing for a moment. Without delay, Xiang Wan abruptly threw her nearly burnt-out shirt forward. The creatures, fearing the firelight, scattered to the sides. Xiang Wan leaped away, firing a shot at any that tried to jump at her.
The creatures reacted and swarmed towards Xiang Wan. Xiang Wan dodged left and right, getting close to the stone door, but her gun was almost empty. She kicked a jar, which cracked with a crack. The black snakes inside emerged and crawled towards the nearest beetle.
Seeing that her trick was somewhat effective, Xiang Wan continued kicking as she walked. Just as she was about to leave, a beetle fell from above and landed on her shoulder, startling her. She immediately flicked it away with her dagger. The thought of a beetle crawling under a person's skin sent chills down Xiang Wan's spine. She quickly ran down the steps and rushed into the passageway on her right. The rustling sounds behind her were incessant; she dared not look back, running forward with all her might.
"Turn right ahead, there's a fork in the road."
The system was very efficient at this point, and Xiang Wan turned to the right without any hesitation.
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