Young men are usually talkative, but to appear more mature and composed, he suppressed the urge to speak, and several times he tried to chat with Cheng Shuang, he stopped himself by smoking.
Cheng Shuang couldn't stand the smell of smoke. Under the guise of observing her surroundings, she gradually distanced herself from the man, and touched the rough, uneven rock face to the east while wearing gloves. Her fingertips were slightly damp; she brought them to her nose and sniffed—it smelled like decaying flowers and grass, or like grass after rain.
Although she was curious about how to enter and exit the ancient tomb, Cheng Shuang wouldn't ask directly. Asking such a stupid question would undoubtedly expose her.
The little girl took off her gloves and softly exclaimed, "Truly a masterpiece!"
The man, still full of energy after stubbed out his cigarette, said, "That's nothing. Last time our team went down into a tomb with Professor Liao, that tomb was even more outrageous. There were living people buried with us, and their skeletons completely blocked the main tomb. The most amazing thing was that those skeletons were holding plates and weapons, maintaining the postures they had in their last moments before death. They were so lifelike that they must have been the tomb owner's servants and guards."
Cheng Shuang only caught four words in that sentence: "our team".
The man's identity has been confirmed; he is one of Professor Liao's bodyguards.
“Live burial was also rare in ancient times.”
The man scoffed, "That's still better than this. Professor Liao mentioned it after he came down, this is..." He quickly shut his mouth, glancing at the girl, "The professor said that some things have to be discovered by oneself, I can't reveal them."
"Let's go back!" He checked the time. "They should be done arguing by now."
"When will the others arrive? Are there any arrangements?" Cheng Shuang suddenly asked.
As the man walked back, he said, "Let's wait a few more minutes!"
So fast!
The young girl's heart skipped a beat for no reason. From the moment she arrived until now, the ancient tomb was so calm that it didn't seem like a death zone whose purpose was to stump its maintainers. She bit her lip and walked back quickly. Perhaps her behavior affected the man, because he also quickened his pace.
"I shouldn't have been so far from the professor," the man muttered, deeply regretting his neglect of duty because of his nicotine addiction.
The two men went from walking to running. Halfway through, they heard a noise behind them. Cheng Shuang looked back as he ran and saw the metal wall opposite the large stone gate making a rumbling mechanical sound. After about half a minute, the sound stopped, the metal wall opened, and five people walked out.
It turned out to be an elevator.
The little girl breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she had been a bit paranoid.
The man's expression turned somewhat grim. He suddenly stopped, looked into the narrow passageway ahead, and asked, "Did you hear anything?"
Cheng Shuang's brow twitched as she tried to recall the noise that had occurred the moment the elevator stopped. There was more than just noise; the ground seemed to have trembled. She looked up sharply. "It was the sound of a stone hitting the ground."
"The stone coffin is open!" the man cursed and ran towards the small passageway. He probably never imagined that the weak experts could work together to open the stone coffin.
Faint screams could be heard coming from inside.
Obviously, it was not the right time to investigate the reason. Cheng Shuang also ran after her, but her short legs could not outrun real adults. Before long, she was overtaken by the five people behind her.
However, things were far worse than expected. People kept running out of the small passageway, and everyone's face showed a look of terror as if the sky had fallen.
The screams continued unabated.
The old professor's voice rang out one after another.
Cheng Shuang's exceptional eyesight came in handy at this moment. She watched as a bloody hand clung to the passageway, and the old professor, his full head of silver hair trembling, peered out, only to be quickly pulled back by a withered, claw-like hand that hooked his neck.
Blood splattered out of the tunnel with a "plop".
The terrified screams echoed throughout the high, open space, layer upon layer, never ceasing.
"Damn it!" The five men who had crossed Cheng Shuang's path turned around and ran back. Clearly, with the only person worth saving, the professor, dead, they had no reason to stay any longer. Who knew what kind of monster would come out of the coffin? If they didn't run, were they just waiting to die?
Before knowing the monster's level and abilities, Cheng Shuang didn't want to court death. She quickly turned around, watching one tall figure after another pass by her, and ran as fast as she could.
Different screams kept coming from behind.
She silently calculated that about ten people had run out, and judging from the screams, at least four had already perished. The elevator descended at a rate of about half a minute, and a round trip took about a minute, so she had to catch the first wave of elevators, otherwise she would most likely have to face the monster head-on.
Although the rocking horse card could take her into the air, she wasn't sure if the monster would climb the uneven rock walls of the elevator shaft, or its attack range.
The little girl guessed that this vast marble space must have been built by the ancients to prevent monsters from climbing it. Professor Liao was probably the only one who understood the tomb's structure and could activate the large stone door mechanism, but he had already died in the passageway. Therefore, the probability of successfully isolating the monster in the marble space was extremely low.
As the only entrance and exit to the ancient tomb, the existence of the elevator is extremely important.
Cheng Shuang ran as fast as she could, with her bodyguards beside her. The first to rush into the elevator were the five people who had just come down from it. Fortunately, even though they were afraid, their humanity hadn't been completely extinguished. One of them pressed the elevator button and urged loudly, "Hurry up! Hurry up!"
"It can support two more people!"
Cheng Shuang and the bodyguard exchanged a glance. Without stopping, they looked back and saw only one person lying not far from them. He was running with wide eyes, his face flushed red. His heavy breathing stopped abruptly when he heard the shouts from the people in the elevator. In that instant, he looked down and saw a large hole pierced through his chest.
The monster had a huge eye on its face, and below that was a large mouth with a mouthful of sharp teeth, which bit down hard on his neck.
The man's throat emitted a hoarse sound, the light in his eyes was completely extinguished, and almost instantly he turned into withered bones, shattered beyond recognition.
Cheng Shuang didn't have time to see the monster's true face because the people in the elevator, with faces full of despair and terror, pressed the close button, and the elevator doors slowly closed.
The young girl practically gritted her teeth as she rolled into the elevator. However, just as the elevator doors were closing, the bodyguard stopped halfway. Seeing this, Cheng Shuang half-stood up, grabbed his waistband, and together with the others, pulled him in.
As the elevator doors closed a crack, they saw a large, blood-red eye. That eye made them feel as if they had fallen into the abyss of hell, chilled to the bone. They wanted to scream for help in terror, but they were powerless to put up any resistance.
The elevator's metal doors clicked and clattered as it ascended, the claw marks growing deeper and deeper. The group of people huddled in the corner could do nothing but tremble.
Seeing blood spreading from under the bodyguard, Cheng Shuang struggled to turn him over and saw five bloody holes in his back, near his heart...
The man was not dead yet, but the intense fear seemed to be more unbearable than the pain. His teeth chattered, and his eyes were unfocused and lifeless.
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