Abruptly turning backward, I lost my balance and landed squarely on my backside.
Only then did I notice that this wall was actually a "revolving door."
"Are you alright?" Wang Yang's voice rang out.
I shone my mining lamp on him and asked, "Why did you come here?"
He had a lot to say, and after a moment, he finally replied, "There are people in this tomb."
I didn't understand what he meant by that, and after a moment's thought, I asked, "You mean, besides us, there are other people in this tomb?"
Wang Yang nodded.
"So you came running here to chase someone?"
"Yes, the structure of this tomb is very strange, unlike ordinary tombs, and so far, I haven't seen a single coffin," Wang Yang said.
My brow furrowed. No coffin in this place, and other tomb robbers as well...
Why did it feel like things were getting more complicated?
If others had entered, why was Guan Hu, who was guarding outside, completely silent?
Or had he already been dealt with?
Another possibility was that those people had entered the underground palace from another entrance.
Thinking of this, I asked Wang Yang what we should do next.
He said, "Of course, we need to find a way out... Did you see those rats earlier?"
I nodded.
"That guy was incredibly fierce. The person I was chasing has already become their meal."
I froze, finding it hard to believe. "Then how are you okay?"
"Me?" Wang Yang gave a wry smile. "If I hadn't found this revolving door, I probably would have been gnawed to nothing left..."
Getting up from the ground, Bai Hanyan beside me was already a mess of fear and confusion. Seeing her pitiful state, I comforted her a few times, then began to survey the surroundings.
This was a small side chamber with a coffin bed in the middle, which was empty. The layout was similar to the front chamber, with nothing particularly special.
Finding no other exit, I felt a bit disheartened, and my stomach rumbled.
After all, I had run all the way here, which not only used up my energy but also thoroughly scared me.
I intended to take some compressed biscuits from my backpack to stave off hunger, only to find that my backpack had a hole in it, and everything inside had long since fallen out.
Taking off the torn backpack, I asked Wang Yang if he had anything to eat. He shook his head and said, "When those rats were chasing me, I threw my backpack away long ago."
"Why were those rats so big?" I asked. "What do they eat to grow?"
Wang Yang chuckled, "What do you think they eat underground? Nothing but the dead, of course."
He added, "Actually, they can't be called rats anymore. If I'm not mistaken, they should be corpse rats."
"Corpse rats?" I asked, confused.
"I heard it from someone. It's said that in Yuncheng, when people were buried in the past, they would put in a few cages of mountain rats as guardian spirits for the tomb owner... But over time, these rats would get hungrier and fight amongst themselves, eating their own kind. When they had eaten most of their own kind, they would start to prey on the corpses. Over time, these rats mutated."
Wang Yang paused. "These mutated rats are called corpse rats. They consider the underground palace their home, breeding and constantly eating anything that enters the palace, feeding on ants and insects."
"Then, if what you're saying is true, could those missing coffins have been eaten by those corpse rats?"
Wang Yang scoffed, "Do you think that's possible?"
"Didn't you say their teeth are incredibly sharp, capable of crushing stone?"
Wang Yang rolled his eyes at me. "Why do animals eat? Because eating provides the energy their bodies need. Do you think stone has energy?"
"That's not necessarily true..." I said.
Wang Yang sighed, seemingly too lazy to continue the conversation, and resumed searching the surroundings for an exit.
I stood before the wall with the inscriptions, studying the characters again.
These characters, like those in the front chamber where we first entered, all spoke of a person named "Jue."
I racked my brain but couldn't recall any prominent historical figure named "Jue."
However, perhaps this "Jue" was not a historical celebrity. If they were, they wouldn't have been buried in a place like this.
But speaking of which, how did Wu Tingxiu know about the Marquis Sui's Pearl here?
No, it should be asked how Bai Hanyan knew about the ancient tomb here?
After all, she was the one who led us all the way here.
With that thought, I walked over to Bai Hanyan. Seeing that her demeanor had recovered significantly, I asked her the question that was bothering me.
After listening, she said, "My grandfather calculated this place back then. At that time, he and the Wu family were already preparing to come, but something happened along the way, and they never made it here..."
"What happened?" I asked.
Bai Hanyan replied, "My grandfather fell seriously ill that year and never recovered. Without him to guide the way, the Wu family was at a loss, so they could only turn back."
Speaking of which, Bai Hanyan pursed her lips. "There are some things I shouldn't tell you, but given the current situation, where it's questionable whether we can get out alive, it won't hurt to tell you."
My interest piqued, and I listened attentively.
"My father always felt that my grandfather's death was very suspicious..." She paused here. "He suspects it was the Wu family's doing. He's been looking for evidence all these years, but he hasn't found anything."
"Why would your father suspect that?" I asked. "There must be a reason, right?"
Bai Hanyan said, "My grandfather died on the way back. After his body was returned, my father found some coded messages he left before his death. The messages recorded the location of this tomb, and also contained a sentence..."
"What sentence?"
Bai Hanyan glanced at me, hesitant. Just as she was about to speak, Wang Yang unexpectedly called out, "Xiang Fei! Come here and see what this is?"
His voice was urgent, forcing me to go and check on his situation first.
When I walked over, I found a character carved in seal script in front of a lamp niche.
The character meant "Kai," or "open." I told Wang Yang, and he looked puzzled. "Kai? Open what?"
I carefully stared at the candle holder inside the lamp niche and found that it seemed out of place. Then, I shone my mining lamp on the other lamp niches and discovered that the one in front of us was indeed special.
Thinking for a moment, I reached out to investigate. However, the moment my hand touched the candle holder and I gave it a gentle push, a "crack" sound echoed...