"All of this is just my speculation," Mao Guizhi said, "The reason I came here is to prove these speculations."
"The ancient corpse you're looking for can confirm these speculations?" I asked.
"Yes," Mao Guizhi replied, "That ancient corpse is an ancestor of my Mao family. He was ordered to come here to build an altar back then and never returned..."
"You mean this place was built by your ancestors?" I was taken aback.
Mao Guizhi nodded, "That's what's recorded in my Mao family genealogy..."
"Then..."
As soon as I spoke, she interrupted me, "I know what you want to ask, but unfortunately, there isn't much information recorded above, so there's no information about this altar."
I let out a sigh, a wave of bitterness washing over me.
After that, neither of us spoke again, mainly to conserve our strength.
I don't know how much time passed, it felt like five or six hours, maybe more.
I started to feel waves of hunger, a very intense hunger that left me weak and listless.
Besides hunger, I was also extremely thirsty.
We had drunk the last of our water. Now, all I had on me were a few battery sections that hadn't been installed, and nothing else.
I figured since I couldn't get out anyway, the batteries were useless, so I took out the flashlight and replaced the spare battery.
As I turned on the flashlight, I saw Mao Guizhi slowly open her eyes and look at me with confusion.
I stood up, holding the flashlight, and looked around, trying to find any mechanisms or anything of the sort.
But I found nothing. The surroundings were all bare stone walls.
Reluctantly, I took out my dagger and started to chisel at the wall.
"It's no use. White marble is very hard. You're just wasting your energy," Mao Guizhi said.
I turned to look at her, sighed, and sat down on the ground.
An unprecedented sense of powerlessness washed over me, gripping my throat so tightly that even breathing became difficult.
Thinking back on my life, it felt like I hadn't accomplished anything, and now I was going to be buried here.
And the one accompanying me was a woman I had met less than a few hours ago...
Just as I was about to close my eyes and rest, I suddenly heard a voice, a voice that seemed distant and ethereal, barely perceptible.
At first, I thought I had misheard. Then, I suddenly realized something and quickly pressed my ear against the stone wall.
"Guizhi, is that you? Where are you?"
I was stunned. Wasn't that Fu Honglang's voice?
Startled, I shouted at the stone wall, "Brother Fu! We're here! Brother Fu!!"
My sudden shouting caused Mao Guizhi, who was sitting not far away, to move closer. When she pressed her ear against the stone wall, we both heard Fu Honglang's voice simultaneously.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"Where are you now?" Mao Guizhi replied.
"I'm in front of a stone wall. This seems to be a dead end..."
"We're behind the stone wall!"
I never expected this "stone wall" to become our sound-transmitting wall!
My heart leaped with joy. We were finally saved!
Mao Guizhi explained how we were trapped. Fu Honglang said, "Don't act rashly. This kind of mechanism is usually a 'jueguan' (absolute mechanism)..."
What he called a "jueguan" was a mechanism that, once activated, could not be stopped and was typically a one-time use.
For example, the Dragon Fire Glazed Roof was a mechanism found in a tomb from the late Northern Song Dynasty, built by the Jurchen people.
A layer of extremely thin glazed tiles was laid in the hollow space of the tomb chamber, with Western Regions Dragon Fire Oil placed on top of the tiles, followed by another layer of glazed tiles, and finally the earth fill.
As soon as any external force entered, the roof would break upon contact, and the Western Regions Dragon Fire Oil would ignite upon encountering air.
This was also a self-destruct device. Once someone attempted tomb raiding, it was essentially a mutual destruction.
Once activated, such mechanisms could almost never be reset, hence the name "jueguan."
Soon, Fu Honglang's voice from the stone wall fell silent. I shouted a couple of times but received no response. I didn't know what he was doing.
Mao Guizhi told me to be patient, "He'll definitely find a way to get us out..."
Hearing her say that, I had nothing more to say.
About half an hour later, Fu Honglang's voice came from the stone wall again.
He said he was preparing to blast open the stone wall using ammonium nitrate explosives.
Upon hearing this, my heart couldn't help but panic.
The space we were in was already small. Once the blasting began, we would have nowhere to hide.
And what if the cave collapsed from the blast?
As if sensing my worries, Mao Guizhi said, "Don't worry, his demolition skills are very impressive."
She added, "His wife is also here. If he didn't have absolute confidence, he wouldn't do this."
I gave a bitter smile, unsure of what to say at the moment.
Ammonium nitrate explosives are most commonly used in quarries. Usually, when using such explosives, a pneumatic rock drill is required to drill a hole in the place to be blasted, insert the explosives, and then connect them with detonators.
This type of blasting requires considerable skill because the amount of explosives and the detonators need to be calculated.
If one lacks blasting experience, using too much explosive can cause a collapse, while using too little will not achieve the desired effect.
Fu Honglang was just a "grave robber." I was truly concerned about his demolition skills.
However, at this point, it was the only way to save us.
We could only leave it to fate...
Shortly after, a series of knocking sounds came from the stone wall, indicating that Fu Honglang had begun drilling holes for the explosives.
After about twenty minutes, the knocking stopped. I pressed my ear against the stone wall. Fu Honglang said, "Get ready. I'll count to three, and we'll start counting together. When we reach one hundred, I'll begin the detonation..."
"Okay!"
"One... two... three..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Mao Guizhi and I began counting together.
"Thirty... thirty-one..."
We retreated to the innermost part, our backs to the stone wall, protecting our vital areas.
"Fifty-two... fifty-three..."
My heart was pounding in my chest. As we neared one hundred, I placed my backpack on my head.
"Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred..."
The moment Mao Guizhi finished speaking, there was a deafening "boom" that made my eardrums ache!
After a moment, I slowly turned my head and realized that the stone wall hadn't moved at all.
I was stunned, thinking: Did it not explode?
Just as this thought crossed my mind, the stone wall suddenly collapsed. Smoke billowed out, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of explosives.
Through the smoke, I saw Fu Honglang's figure. He was fanning away the smoke with his hand, coughing as he said, "Cough, cough... Wife, are you okay?"