Chapter 32 Hide Behind Me
This method is very simple. It is based on the principle that combustion requires oxygen to determine whether there is oxygen in the tomb.
However, these backward ancient people certainly didn't know what oxygen was, so she didn't explain it in detail.
After a quarter of an hour, Xu Chuchu pulled up the candle and found that it was still burning, so he nodded and said, "Okay, let's get ready to go."
She took the lead in tying the rope prepared nearby around her waist and asked someone to slowly lower her down.
"Remember, if I pull on the rope like crazy, you have to pull me up quickly." She pulled the rope back and forth as a demonstration. "If I shake it gently, it means it's safe below, you can come down."
When everyone heard her speak so seriously, they were secretly frightened.
Xiao Yu looked unhappy: "Are you sure you can handle it? Why not..."
Shao Mingjie also patted his lower back and said, "That's right, Brother Xu... No, Master Xu, why don't you let me go down and explore first? Although I'm not as good as you at finding tombs, I have fought on the battlefield and killed enemies before. I'm definitely better than you with your thin arms and legs."
Xu Chuchu saw that Shao Mingjie had really put aside his grudges towards her after last night and was calling her a brother. Although she felt that his words were a little bit silly, she didn't mind and smiled brightly at him: "Don't worry, I know my limits."
After saying that, he didn't hesitate any longer and slowly climbed down from the cave entrance.
After being safely lowered to the bottom, she lit the tinder, made sure there was no danger around, and gently shook the rope.
The people above were also paying attention to the movement of the rope. Seeing the signal sent by Xu Chuchu, Xiao Yu also tied himself up, stood at the entrance of the cave, and prepared to be the second to go down.
"Wait, Brother Xiao!" Shao Mingjie suddenly stopped him.
"What?" Xiao Yu frowned. "You're not going to say it's dangerous down there, so you want me to wait up there too?"
Shao Mingjie waved his hand and said, "How could that be? I naturally know that Brother Xiao is more capable than me."
He leaned closer and lowered his voice, "But let me get off first. Xiangshi Xu is a woman after all, and there's only a small space in the tomb. What if...right..."
Xiao Yu understood halfway through the words.
He didn't refute anything, nor did he look at Shao Mingjie's somewhat uneasy expression. He nodded and stepped aside.
Shao Mingjie breathed a sigh of relief and asked someone to take him down first.
One after another, the first batch of eight people came down, including Xu Chuchu, Xiao Yu and Shao Mingjie, as well as five of Shao Mingjie's capable subordinates.
"Are you all here?" Xu Chuchu held up a small tinderbox and explained the precautions. "We're going to enter the corridor soon. You all follow behind me. Wherever I go, you go. Don't step on anything, don't touch anything too much, and don't run in front of me no matter what you see."
"And the most important thing..." She glanced at everyone's expressions, "If you see the wooden sword on my back start to shake on its own, run back immediately. Don't stop for a moment. Go back to where you just came down and shake the rope to ask them to pull you up. Do you understand?"
It sounded a bit creepy, but no one raised any objections. This was something everyone had already agreed upon upstairs, and after they came down, they would follow Xu Chuchu's instructions in everything.
"Let's go." Xu Chuchu was the first to walk into the corridor.
This mausoleum was built on a large scale, and the corridor alone was wide enough for three people to walk side by side.
But Xu Chuchu still asked everyone to line up in a column. She walked in front, followed by Shao Mingjie, and then Xiao Yu.
Xu Chuchu was responsible for so many lives, so she moved very carefully. She chose to walk on the left side, reminding everyone not to lean against the wall, and then she walked and stopped along the way, studying the compass at the fork in the road before choosing one.
Because there was almost no light in the tomb, every time she stopped, Shao Mingjie would bump into her.
"Brother Shao!" Xiao Yu couldn't bear to watch any longer and grabbed Shao Mingjie's shoulders from behind. "Walk slower and don't bump into Xiangshi Xu all the time. It would be bad if you get hurt."
Xu Chuchu was studying the compass and said casually, "It's okay."
Shao Mingjie wasn't hit hard, just his shoulder and hand occasionally bumped into her, but it wasn't enough to knock her down.
I remember that when she was in high school, she was also a bus rider, so squeezing in was no problem for her.
Xiao Yu said nothing more.
Shao Mingjie also seemed a little embarrassed and asked her, "Xiangshi Xu, isn't our progress... a little slow?"
Xu Chuchu sighed that this guy was still as reckless as ever, so he said, "Look at your feet."
She lowered the tinderbox a little, then stepped hard on a large tile next to them.
A gust of dust was stirred up, and the floor tiles became loose, swaying from side to side and then turned upside down.
"It's actually a movable plate!" Xiao Yu was surprised.
Shao Mingjie even squatted down and looked under the floor tiles: "There's still space underneath!"
"That place down there isn't for living people," Xu Chuchu said patiently. "Although these mechanisms are old, stepping on them could cause an accident. Just follow me and don't get lost."
After seeing the mechanism, everyone became much more vigilant.
Shao Mingjie didn't dare to urge her anymore and carefully kept a distance from Xu Chuchu, for fear of causing any harm to her.
Fortunately, Xu Chuchu was also very steady and did not trigger any mechanisms along the way. After figuring out the general situation, he seriously introduced the structure of the tomb to them.
"...The mausoleum is centered around the main burial chamber, with corridors extending in all directions. Some are equipped with mechanisms to prevent tomb robbers, while others lead to the various side chambers," she said. "The side chambers also hold burial objects, but they're generally not valuable. They're just daily necessities for the deceased in the afterlife, along with paper horses and paper figurines. Therefore, tomb robbers generally avoid these areas and only go to the main burial chamber."
She suddenly stopped and pointed above her head: "Look, there is a tomb robbery hole here. It must have been dug by the last batch of tomb robbers."
When they looked up, they saw a pitch-black hole above their heads. At first glance, it looked like a huge mouth of the abyss, which was about to swallow them all from top to bottom.
"Be careful." Xiao Yu was the first to react. "We've already had an encounter with tomb robbers. We could run into them at any time."
After being reminded, Xu Chuchu stopped talking nonsense and led the way quietly.
"The main tomb chamber is just ahead. There are no traps in the main tomb chamber." She paused again, "But... the door to the tomb chamber has been smashed open."
Xiao Yu seemed to have sensed something. He walked forward sensitively, touched the ground near the tomb door with his hand, and then reached out in front of him to smell it.
"There's blood, not yet dry. It was spilled not long ago." He whispered to everyone, "Blow out the fire. Everyone stay alert."
In the pitch-black tomb, the fire sticks were quickly blown out one by one. Everyone was unable to adapt to the darkness and could not see their hands in front of them. They were all very nervous.
Xu Chuchu took a few tentative steps forward, trying to find out what was going on, but her arm was suddenly grabbed and she was pulled back.
"Hide behind me." Xiao Yu's voice rang softly beside her ear. "You're not afraid of the dead, but are you so reckless with the living?"
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