Wei Shengnan's move to tackle me was very sudden. I was caught off guard and fell to the ground, hitting my head on the ground and making my vision go black.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
Immediately afterwards, I heard a whooshing sound and the clanging of metal hitting stone.
In the chaos, I shone my flashlight around and saw countless arrows shooting through the air.
Once the arrows stopped, I shook my head: "How is everyone? Are any of you hurt?!"
Xu Hu's voice came immediately afterward: "Cao Shang has been hit by an arrow!"
I turned my head and saw that Cao Shang had four or five bloody holes in his body and was lying on the ground convulsing.
Wei Shengnan ran to Cao Shang's side and checked him over: "Press on his wound and give me the first aid kit!"
Just as I was about to reach out, I heard the sound of iron chains coming from the entrance. Then I grabbed Wei Shengnan's arm and shouted, "Run!"
Wei Shengnan looked at me in disbelief: "What did you say?"
I pulled her hard: "There are traps here! Run!"
Cao Shang, still feeling no pain due to the surge of adrenaline, said, "Don't worry about me, you guys go!"
"Thump!"
Just then, a heavy thud was heard from behind. Qu Ruilin shone his flashlight on a huge stone sphere and shouted, "Run!"
Xu Hu and Cao Shang were fellow disciples. Even at this critical moment, he bent down and carried Cao Shang on his shoulders, running wildly behind us.
"Boom!"
The sound of the stone ball rubbing against the ground and the walls of the tomb passage was like a death knell, amplified by the narrow space.
My heart was pounding as I ran at the front of the group.
Besides the stone ball chasing us, I was more worried that there might be other traps ahead.
The tense situation left me no time to observe my surroundings. If the designers had taken this into account, another volley of crossbow bolts would have surely killed us.
Strangely, no other mechanisms appeared ahead of us, and after running for more than ten meters, the tomb passage suddenly narrowed.
At the entrance to the "U"-shaped tomb passage, there were also arched marks, which looked as if they were specifically used to block the stone sphere behind it.
The inner, narrower tomb passage is about five meters long, but seven or eight meters high, ending at a staircase that occupies half the height.
Why did the designer block the stone ball? Was it to trap people inside?
But that doesn't make any sense at all!
Although I didn't know the purpose of this narrow passage, I knew that staying meant certain death, so I steeled myself and ran in.
"call out!"
As soon as I entered the narrow passage, I heard a whooshing sound. My first thought was that I had accidentally triggered a mechanism. But when I turned around, I saw Wei Shengnan holding a longbow, still in a shooting posture.
The arrow with the grappling hook flew precisely to the top of the steps, and I gave Wei Shengnan a thumbs up.
My praise wasn't for her archery skills, but for her sense of crisis.
Although there is no danger in the narrow passage at present, Wei Shengnan has already prepared an escape route for us.
The Wei family certainly has a knack for protecting their team.
"Bang!"
As Xu Hu, who was running at the back, entered the narrow passage, the stone ball crashed into the outer wall and got stuck perfectly in the groove.
Before we could even feel relieved, the sound of porcelain shattering suddenly came from inside the walls on both sides, followed by the sound of running water.
I shone my flashlight around and saw that liquid was flowing out of many water injection holes in the wall.
The steps ahead weren't a dead end, so this mechanism wasn't meant to drown us, nor could it create a pool of water for us to pass through. So he shouted, "The water's poisonous! Climb up from the front! Quickly!"
Qu Ruilin was the first to run down the steps and waved to Wei Shengnan: "You go first!"
Wei Shengnan didn't hesitate either. Qu Ruilin grabbed her feet and pulled her up by the rope behind the arrow.
Qu Ruilin escorted Wei Shengnan upstairs, then nodded at me and said, "You!"
I had not received any relevant training and knew that refusing would delay everyone's time, so I grabbed the rope and, with the help of Wei Shengnan and Qu Ruilin, climbed up by stepping on the holes in the wall.
The hole beneath my feet wasn't leaking water. Judging from the angle, it was the firing port of the crossbow. As for why the crossbow was hidden in the stone, I guessed there must be other passages in the tomb, specifically used to install these mechanisms.
There are many water injection holes on the walls on both sides of the narrow passage, but not all of them are flowing water out.
Judging from the previous cracking sounds of the porcelain, these water inlets were likely porcelain jars filled with liquid, which would have cracked upon impact. Some fragments may have blocked the inlets, or the inlets may have become clogged over time, or the water in the jars may have evaporated.
Since entering the tomb, we have encountered three dangers. Even if the tomb raiders can dodge the crossbow fire and the impact of the stone balls, they will be trapped here.
And these dangers may only be a small part of the complex web of traps.
It was precisely because most of these water inlets were abandoned that we had time to escape.
Wei Shengnan and I worked together to pull Qu Ruilin up, then threw the rope down again: "Xu Hu, come up quickly!"
"Save Cao Shang first!"
Xu Hu dragged the unconscious Cao Shang to the bottom of the steps and tied a rope around his armpit: "Pull him up!"
Moving an unconscious person is very different from moving a normal person. Because Cao Shang wouldn't cooperate, our movements became very difficult.
It took a lot of effort to pull Cao Shang up. By then, his pupils were dilated, and he had already lost all signs of life.
Immediately afterward, Xu Hu below also let out a scream.
Shining a flashlight into the narrow passage, they discovered that several more water inlets on both sides had been opened, and the water had already reached Xu Hu's feet.
His shoes, which he was standing on in the water, had melted away, and his feet had turned into bones.
Because he lost his balance, he fell directly into the pool of water and began to howl and roll around.
His clothes were corroding at a visible rate, and his skin and muscles began to dissolve, exposing the bones underneath.
Seeing the miserable state of her men, Wei Shengnan threw the rope over: "Xu Hu! Grab the rope! I'll pull you up!"
At this point, half of Xu Hu's body had been melted away, and he could no longer hear our shouts, letting out a scream that sounded inhuman.
My eyes twitched as I watched the liquid being poured in through the inlet.
This is the Pancha Dharma Water that Naropamo kept boasting about when he went to the Tang Dynasty.
When I first met Mr. Wei, we speculated that this stuff was sulfuric acid.
But now it seems that this tea-making method is probably more complicated than that, because sulfuric acid alone could not possibly corrode a person in such a short time.
In just a few seconds, Xu Hu's body was almost completely dissolved, his bones floating in the liquid, bubbling like cola.
Seeing Xu Hu die a gruesome death before her eyes, Wei Shengnan knelt on the ground in anguish: "Senior Brother!!"
Of all the people in the Wei family, the one I find most agreeable is Xu Hu, who has a steady personality and is approachable, so I chat with him quite a bit.
Xu Hu once said that he and Wei Shengnan grew up together and learned their skills together since childhood. They had a deep bond, but Wei Shengnan, out of consideration for the young lady's status, never called him "senior brother".
When Wei Shengnan finally spoke, the two were already separated by death.
I can understand Wei Shengnan's feelings at this moment. We have gone through countless difficulties in order to find the tomb of the evil monk.
Upon entering the tomb passage, the original group of eight people dwindled to only three.
What kind of crisis awaits us next is still unknown.
I had originally intended to give her some time to calm down, but seeing the rising water level, I suddenly realized something was wrong: "The water is about to flood the crossbow's firing ports! Given the bizarre design of this tomb, once the objects inside are corroded, it could trigger other mechanisms! We need to leave now, immediately!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com