The ingenuity of ancient mechanisms was in no way inferior to modern machinery.
When the candlestick was righted, a seam appeared on the wall.
Wang Yang and I pushed with all our might and discovered it was actually a stone door.
Behind the stone door was a flight of stairs leading down. We exchanged glances, and I asked, "What, is there a second level?"
Wang Yang shook his head, seemingly contemplating whether to descend.
Bai Hanyan walked over, holding the compass around her neck, and said, "This is the location of the 'Shang Men' (伤门), which is considered a position of great ill fortune…"
"Should we go down then?" I asked.
Wang Yang replied, "This is the only path now. Either we go down, or we fight those rats outside. You choose."
The thought of those rats made me uneasy all over, so I said, "To hell with whether it's lucky or not, let's go down first. If it doesn't work out, we can always come back."
Wang Yang said, "Alright then, I'll go first, and you two follow behind me."
I took out the dagger Bai Hanyan had given me and offered it to Wang Yang. To my surprise, he not only refused but also gave a suggestive smile, saying, "This dagger wasn't given to me."
The three of us had only one mining lamp, which Wang Yang had me tie to my head.
The stairs were narrow, and the three of us descended in a single file.
Each step was taken with extreme caution. After about two or three minutes, we reached the bottom.
We were in a space about twenty to thirty square meters. It was clearly not a tomb chamber.
Many things were placed on the ground. A quick glance revealed mostly bottles and jars.
Among them were various types of ewers, with "huzi" (虎子) and "jishou" (鸡首) being everywhere.
"Are these all burial objects?" I asked.
Wang Yang looked around and said, "They probably are. Let's check if there's an exit around."
I nodded and took down the mining lamp, shining it around. The lamp's range was small, so I could only illuminate one area at a time.
As I moved the lamp to the left, I vaguely saw a person!
Startled, I moved the light back. I saw a creature with a green face and fangs staring directly at me!
I was so scared I almost fell to the ground!
"It's a pottery figurine," Wang Yang said.
His words helped me regain my composure. I took a closer look and indeed saw a pottery figurine.
However, its appearance was incredibly terrifying, and at first glance, it was quite frightening.
After searching without finding an exit, we all sighed and decided to go back up.
Before leaving, Wang Yang asked if I wanted to take some things with us.
I rolled my eyes at him. "We're not tomb robbers, why would we take anything? Besides, carrying these things would just be a burden."
"It seems you're quite principled," Wang Yang chuckled.
"I just want to get out of here."
We returned to the previous tomb chamber, completely at a loss.
The only way out was to face the rats outside.
"Get ready. We'll charge out in a moment. I'll draw away the rats, and you two climb out through the hole you came in." Wang Yang said.
I gave a wry smile. "It's not that simple. Do you know why I crawled in through that hole?"
Wang Yang looked at me with confusion.
I said, "I was forced to crawl in through there by something… That footprint you found earlier likely belongs to that thing."
"What did it look like?" Wang Yang asked.
"How would I know? I didn't dare to look! I was too busy escaping. No matter what it looked like, it was nothing to mess with." I said.
Wang Yang actually smiled. "If it were a zombie, it would be manageable. I'm just afraid it might be something strange and unusual."
I was a bit confused by his remark. Shouldn't zombies be the most terrifying?
Wang Yang took off his jacket, leaving him in just a vest. I noticed a tattoo on his shoulder.
This tattoo was very strange, circular with many symbols on it.
But the most important thing was that I had seen this tattoo before!
It was on the very night Sister Ying left!
The two people who helped Sister Ying move her things had this exact same tattoo on their arms!
What exactly was this Wang Yang?
And what did that tattoo represent?
My mind struggled to process it, and I couldn't figure anything out.
Wang Yang then tied his jacket and placed the candlestick, which had been in the lamp niche, inside it.
"Are you guys ready?" Wang Yang asked.
I collected my thoughts and glanced at Bai Hanyan beside me. She nodded.
Wang Yang took a breath and asked me to give him the mining lamp. He continued, "You guys should still remember the general location of the entrance, right?"
I nodded.
"After I go out, you count to ten, and then come out." Wang Yang instructed.
"Do you have a plan?" I asked.
Wang Yang replied, "If I don't have a plan, this is all we can do. Do you have a better idea?"
True, all we could do now was gamble.
Just as he was about to push open the revolving door, a "bang" sound came from outside.
Before we could react, the sound was repeated several times.
Gunshots!
Among our group, there was only one person with a gun, and that was Song Bing, who had come with Wu Tingxiu!
Wang Yang's eyebrows shot up. "We have reinforcements! Let's go out together!"
With that, he forcefully pushed open the revolving door, and the three of us emerged outside.
We saw Wu Tingxiu and Song Bing back-to-back. Wu Tingxiu was holding a gun, while Song Bing had an iron bar in his hand.
They were clearly surprised to see us suddenly appear.
But before we could speak, "squeaking" sounds erupted all around.
"Quick, go!" Wang Yang shouted.
I grabbed Bai Hanyan and bolted. Along the way, I stepped on the corpses of some rats.
"Manager Wu, you go first, I'll cover the rear!" Song Bing's voice rang out.
Within a few breaths, I reached the entrance of the burrow we had crawled into earlier.
Just as I was about to squeeze in, Wu Tingxiu called out to me, "Xiang Fei! This way!"
I looked in the direction of her voice and saw her standing by the entrance of a passage not far away.
I hesitated for a moment, then without further ado, pulled Bai Hanyan and ran towards her.
Who would have thought that at this moment, something suddenly landed on my head!
Wu Tingxiu, not far away, raised her gun and aimed at me. Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger. In an instant, the thing on my head fell to the ground.
Only then did I see clearly: it was a large, grayish rat!
Damn it, what bad luck!
I cursed inwardly, took two quick steps, and in a blink of an eye, I was in front of Wu Tingxiu, rushing into the passage with her.
"Jump!" Wu Tingxiu shouted from ahead.
Before I could understand what she meant, my feet suddenly gave way, and after a feeling of weightlessness, I slammed hard onto the ground…