Fatty stared expectantly, "Brother Xiang, what do we do now…"
Before he could finish, I said, "It's just the two of us, and we have an injured person to carry. Do you think we can get out?"
"Then what?" Fatty asked.
I looked at Mao Guizhi, pondered for a moment, and then told Fatty, "You stay here to look after Wang Yang and Little Liu. I'll go in with sister-in-law to find people."
"Ah?" Fatty was startled. "Brother Xiang, are you sure you're not joking?"
"Do I look like I have time to joke with you right now?" I retorted impatiently.
Fatty looked like he was about to cry, "Brother Xiang…"
"If you don't want to stay here, that's fine too, but you need to think clearly. Whether we can get out once we go in is uncertain," I said.
Upon hearing this, Fatty gritted his teeth and said, "Alright then, I'll stay outside. You have to come out quickly…"
Honestly, I wasn't sure either.
However, what Fatty and I said were the facts. With just the two of us, plus an injured Wang Yang, getting out was basically impossible.
Let alone whether we could climb up, even if we did, how would we deal with those corpse beetles when we reached the stone bridge?
Unless Fu Honglang cleared the path, or Wang Yang wasn't injured, I really didn't have much confidence.
Of course, this was only one reason. The other was that Mao Guizhi hadn't told me how to contact Sister Ying yet.
If something happened to her inside, it would be impossible for me to see Sister Ying again.
Setting aside whether finding Sister Ying was my own business, what was Wang Yang's purpose in coming here?
Wasn't he in this state now because he wanted to find Sister Ying?
After a period of internal struggle, I decided to take a gamble!
Besides, Fu Honglang and Mao Guizhi were both extraordinary individuals…
"Sister-in-law, I'll go with you," I said to Mao Guizhi.
She turned to look at me, her brow furrowed slightly, "You need to think carefully."
I nodded, "Brother Fu's whereabouts are unknown. I think I should do something."
She grinned, "I didn't realize you were so loyal… Alright, if you want to go in with me, that's fine. But I have to tell you in advance that the mechanisms in here are no ordinary matter, and I might not be able to look out for you."
I nodded, indicating I understood.
Mao Guizhi tied a climbing rope around her waist and handed the other end to me, asking me to tie it on as well.
With that, she led the way into the passage he had come out of earlier.
As I stepped into the passage, I glanced back at Fatty. He was holding a flashlight, looking at me pitifully, "Brother Xiang, please be careful."
I nodded, turned back, and proceeded into the dark passage.
The passage was not large, and it became lower the further we went. After walking for less than ten minutes, I had to bend over to move forward.
Along the way, I didn't find anything unusual.
After walking for a few more minutes, Mao Guizhi stopped.
We were in front of a crossroad, and in the center of the intersection stood a stone figurine holding a trident with a fierce expression.
At its feet was a stone platform. Mao Guizhi squatted down and searched for something on the platform. Soon, she stood up and pointed to a passage, saying, "I've walked through both of these. Only this one is left that I haven't walked through."
I nodded and asked, "Sister-in-law, which passage do you think Brother Fu entered?"
She shook her head, "It's hard to say…"
Having chosen the path forward, Mao Guizhi continued onward.
I wasn't idle during this time either. Every so often, I would carve a mark on the wall with my dagger.
It was strange, the walls of the passage were very smooth, with nothing on them. The ground was paved with bluestone slabs.
Logically, the underground palace was ancient, and the passages should have had dust, but this passage was very clean, as if it had been cleaned by someone.
Not only was there no dust, but there were no spiderwebs either.
At first, I was a bit nervous when I entered the passage, but after walking for so long, I relaxed.
Mao Guizhi didn't say much. Every time I asked her something, she would only reply simply, seeming a bit absent-minded.
She said her purpose for coming here was to find the ancient corpse, but she didn't tell me what she intended to do with it.
I don't know if she was guarding against me or what, but she only said half of what she knew.
As we were walking, my foot accidentally kicked something. I shone my flashlight on the ground and saw something protruding from the gap between the stone slabs.
Just as I was about to examine it closely, Mao Guizhi, who was in front of me, suddenly turned back, "Careful!"
She pushed me hard, and I tumbled backward.
Just as my butt hit the ground, an iron spike shot out from between my legs!
Everything happened so fast that I didn't have time to react.
Mao Guizhi leaped over my head. The flashlight that fell from my hand illuminated the scene ahead, and I gasped!
Countless ground spikes shot out from the cracks in the stone slabs, piercing straight towards the ceiling!
I shuddered to think that if Mao Guizhi hadn't pushed me in time, I would have been impaled by now!
With that thought, I looked back at Mao Guizhi. She had taken out several luminous balls.
She gestured for me to get up, and I quickly scrambled to my feet, moving behind her.
She threw the luminous balls in her hand forward. As they hit the ground and walls, they began to bounce around.
I was stunned. Weren't these the bouncy balls I played with as a child?
Who would have thought these bouncy balls could be used like this?
I knew she was doing this to trigger the hidden mechanisms, and the method was good, but I felt it was a bit unreliable.
After all, ancient mechanisms were generally cumbersome, and such heavy mechanisms required a certain amount of weight to trigger.
For example, when a person stepped on the trigger point, if the weight was sufficient, the mechanism would activate.
If the person was lighter, they might not trigger the mechanism at all.
Therefore, these bouncy balls could at most trigger some lighter mechanisms.
After the light from the bouncy balls faded, Mao Guizhi looked at me and said, "Follow my footsteps carefully later."
I nodded.
Mao Guizhi leaned her body sideways, her back against the wall to avoid the ground spikes that shot out, and moved forward.
We were like two crabs, inching forward, moving very slowly.
It took us nearly twenty minutes to cover a distance of only a few dozen meters.
After passing through the ground spike mechanism, before I could relax, I saw another crossroad ahead.
In the center of the intersection, there was still a stone figurine, exactly the same as the one we saw earlier.
Had we come back again?