"Sister-in-law, why did we come back here again?" I asked, walking up to the stone effigy.
Mao Guizhi shook her head. "This isn't the path we were on just now."
She squatted down and wiped the dust off the stone platform at the base of the stone effigy. "This is a new fork in the road, and there are no markings I made on it."
"Which way should we go now?" I asked.
Mao Guizhi stood up and looked at the other three corridors, a look of hesitation on her face.
After a moment, she said, "Logically speaking, the mazes in underground palaces are more or less connected to the Five Elements or the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams. But the maze here has no clues at all."
From her words, it seemed she had already tried to figure it out.
Generally, designing a maze requires very meticulous logical ability.
Complex mazes are not necessarily difficult to solve, while truly difficult mazes are often very simple.
This is because the most important aspect of a maze is the "distraction route," which is nothing more than a means of distraction.
It gives the person entering the maze the illusion of having "already passed."
The simplest way to break this illusion is to make markings.
Of course, the maze designer would have also considered this.
Besides this, the maze designer would also leave a "shortcut."
That is, the so-called shortcut, and that shortcut is basically only known to the maze designer.
To prevent people from finding the shortcut, the designer would certainly use illusions or mechanisms to mislead them.
Just as we were debating which corridor to take, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the corridor on the left!
Upon hearing this sound, Mao Guizhi, without the slightest hesitation, dashed into the corridor on the left.
Seeing this, I could only follow quickly. After all, we were both tied together with climbing ropes.
Entering the corridor, we quickened our pace. After walking for four or five minutes, the gunshot sounded again.
Mao Guizhi also shouted, "Old Fu! Is that you?"
Her voice seemed to be muffled by something; it was dull, and there was no echo at all.
This struck me as strange. Logically, if we could hear the gunshot, her voice should have been able to travel far as well.
Without time to think, we walked for a few more minutes and came to a stone wall.
It was actually a dead end?
What was going on?
Where did that gunshot come from?
"Bang!"
This gunshot sounded almost beside us, extremely clear, startling me.
Mao Guizhi and I looked at each other, neither of us seeming to understand what was happening.
This corridor was only this large, and now there were only Mao Guizhi and I. Where was the gunshot coming from?
"Bang!"
This time, we were both prepared. The moment the sound occurred, we both involuntarily looked at the stone wall beside us!
The gunshot was coming from the stone wall!
Mao Guizhi walked up to the stone wall, tapped it lightly with her hand, and then pressed her ear against it.
"Xiao Xiang, move away from me," Mao Guizhi said.
I took a few steps back. She gestured for me to stop and then had me place my ear against the wall as well.
Next, she cupped her hand around her mouth and spoke a sentence towards the wall.
Soon, I heard her clear voice in my ear: "This is a Shi Biela..."
Shi Biela, I knew very well. The only place where such a thing still existed was the Forbidden City.
This was a special alarm device that could transmit sound over long distances.
According to historical records, Emperor Shunzhi ordered the installation of many "Shi Biela" at the entrances to the outer court and inner court.
In the event of an emergency, all one had to do was insert a cow's horn into the Shi Biela and blow, and the alarm would be heard in various other locations.
During the Jiaqing era, there was an incident where the Heavenly Way Society invaded the Forbidden City. At that time, Emperor Jiaqing Yongyan was in Rehe during the autumn hunt. The Heavenly Way Society divided into two groups and attacked from Donghua Gate and Xihua Gate.
The guards at Xiehe Gate blew the Shi Biela, and the imperial artillery camp received the message and immediately rushed to block them, ultimately succeeding in suppressing the Heavenly Way Society.
Walls that transmit sound like this are mostly hollow inside, although the materials vary.
To make the sound travel far, white marble is the best choice.
What I didn't expect was that this underground palace would also have a device similar to a Shi Biela. What was the purpose?
Could it be that it was specifically set up to disrupt those who entered?
If that's the case...
With this thought, I quickly looked back at the path we came from.
Seeing no change behind us, just as I was about to relax, a stone wall suddenly descended from the sky, directly sealing off our way back!
With a "boom," I was caught completely off guard.
The moment the stone wall fell, it actually began to move slowly towards us!
With a dead end behind us and the stone wall closing in, the final outcome was chilling to even imagine!
I had no doubt that they intended to crush us into a meat patty!
I quickly rushed forward, trying to push against the movement of the stone wall, but it was useless.
I leaned against it with my entire body, and I was still being pushed back by the stone wall!
Seeing this, Mao Guizhi also rushed over, pulled out a small crowbar from her person, and forcefully jammed it into the gap beneath the stone wall.
The stone wall, catching on the crowbar, slowed its descent and finally stopped.
Only then did I realize that my back was covered in sweat, and my mouth felt dry.
"Sister-in-law..." I looked at Mao Guizhi and licked my dry lips.
Her expression was grave as she shone her flashlight around. Clearly, she had no solution.
So, even if we weren't crushed into a meat patty, being trapped here made it impossible to get out.
Death itself wasn't terrifying; the most frightening thing was waiting to die.
This was because, during the wait, a person's will would be gradually destroyed, a truly torturous state.
About half an hour passed. Mao Guizhi and I had tapped every inch of this cramped space, finding no possibility of escape.
Finally, we both sat down against the wall.
Fortunately, I had brought my backpack with me when we came, and there was still a bottle of water inside.
We shared it, and the light from the flashlight gradually dimmed.
This was a precursor to the battery running out.
I took out the spare batteries from my backpack and was about to replace them when Mao Guizhi said weakly, "No need to change them."
Hearing her words, my mood also became heavy.
It made sense. What was the use of light now, trapped in this godforsaken place?
I sighed, turned off the flashlight, and put the spare batteries into my pocket.
Leaning against the stone wall, my emotions gradually shifted from initial unease and irritability to calmness.
I began to recall many things, remembering my father and my grandfather...
Could it be that I was really going to meet my end here today?
Thinking this, I felt a pang of melancholy and regret...