As it got to be past eight in the evening, everyone gradually went into their rooms to sleep.
Fatty's snores were the loudest, filling the air with a rhythmic sound. By eleven o'clock, when everyone was almost asleep, I woke Fatty up.
The guy had been snoring a second ago, but the moment I called out, he flipped over and sat up, a smile of excitement on his face. "Ready to go?"
I made a "shush" gesture at him and deliberately spoke in my usual voice, "Fatty, my stomach's a bit upset. Can you come with me to the restroom?"
"Sure!"
After we got out of the room and grabbed our things, we headed straight for the stone statue pile without another word.
Halfway there, Fatty suddenly stopped. "Something's wrong!"
I asked him with some confusion, "What's wrong?"
"Someone's behind us..."
Fatty whispered, leaning closer.
Hearing that, I froze for a moment and was about to turn my head when footsteps sounded, growing closer. Then, a flashlight beam landed on us.
Turning around, I saw Jiang Yue walking towards us calmly. "Where are you two going?"
I hadn't expected this woman to follow us. I smiled and said, "Miss Jiang, you're not sleeping either?"
She chuckled, "During the day, I could tell what you were thinking. Don't think I don't know what you're up to."
Hearing her say that, I could only offer an awkward smile.
She continued, "Alright, hurry up. Don't get discovered later."
Fatty glanced at me, and I nodded. "What are you looking at? Let's go."
Before long, we arrived at the stone statue pile from earlier. It didn't feel like much during the day, but coming here at night, it felt eerily desolate.
"The yin energy here is really heavy. Even the air feels cold when you get here," Fatty said, glancing at Jiang Yue.
I knew he was trying to tease her and didn't bother saying anything more.
Upon reaching the cave entrance, we went inside.
The cave sloped downwards, and after walking about ten meters, we saw the iron door Fatty had mentioned earlier.
This iron door must have been installed in recent years. It was secured with a thick iron chain, which had a lock on it.
I walked over and tugged at the chain. "This lock might be tricky to open."
Fatty walked over with a smile. "I was prepared!"
He then pulled out a hacksaw blade. "Use this!"
I was surprised he had brought something like this on this trip.
"How do you have this?"
"It's called being prepared for anything..."
He then picked up the lock, preparing to saw it. I quickly stopped him. "Don't saw the lock, saw the chain."
"Why?"
"Are you stupid? If we saw the lock, it would be too obvious. If we cut the chain, we can put the chain back on when we come out, and without touching it, you wouldn't even notice."
Fatty pursed his lips. "Does it make a difference?"
"If there's any sudden situation, it'll buy us some time," I replied.
Fatty shrugged and started sawing.
The sawing sound against the iron chain made my teeth ache.
Fortunately, the chain wasn't that thick, and it was cut through quickly.
After taking down the chain, we pushed the door open, and a strong smell of blood wafted out.
I had been to a slaughterhouse once as a child, and the smell was almost identical to that.
Jiang Yue clearly hadn't smelled anything like this before. She covered her nose with her hand. "What is this smell?"
"Blood," Fatty replied.
It was a large stone chamber. I couldn't estimate its exact size. The walls on both sides were covered with strange symbols, appearing to be some kind of scripture.
The area was empty, with nothing else around. Only at the very back was there a stone statue, which was tall, at least four meters high.
Below the statue was a pool, and when we approached, we saw that the pool was filled entirely with blood.
And the blood was actually churning!
Fatty leaned in for a look and couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy crap! That much blood?"
Thinking that this blood had been drained from young girls, my brow furrowed. Jiang Yue, on the other hand, almost threw up.
"Superstition kills people!" I couldn't help but say. "Reporter Jiang, when we get out, you must write a good report. Then, let the police come and arrest that high priest."
Jiang Yue didn't respond but started taking pictures with her camera.
Apart from the blood pool and the towering statue, there was nothing else in this stone chamber.
We looked around but found nothing out of the ordinary.
"Damn it, we really lost out this time," Fatty grumbled. "This cursed place doesn't even have a single hair."
I was also disappointed. After all the effort to find this place through rubbings, there was not even a hint of the Marquis Sui's pearl.
Walking to the wall, I stared at the scriptures. Judging by the structure of the characters, it appeared to be Persian.
The walls were covered with what looked like "little tadpoles," completely indecipherable.
I felt a sense of confusion. The stone tablet outside was from the Tang Dynasty and used regular script. This indicated that the first people to come here were likely Tang Dynasty people.
Since they were Tang people, why would they come all the way here to worship foreign gods?
And from the looks of it, this deity wasn't any righteous god; it had a taste of dark ritual.
"Master Xiang, Master Xiang!!"
Fatty called out a couple of times, and I quickly snapped back to reality and walked over to him. He had found a handle in a corner.
This handle was made of iron and protruded from the wall, resembling a tractor's crank.
"What is this mechanism? Is it a hidden door?"
"Don't touch it randomly."
Saying that, I went over to investigate. I found a crack in the stone wall next to the handle.
"Is it a hidden door?" Fatty asked.
I wasn't entirely sure. "I don't know, but..."
Just as I was about to say, "It's better not to touch it."
Before I could finish speaking, Fatty had already started turning the handle.
With a "creak" of iron chains, the wall in front of us opened inward.
Fatty exclaimed with joy, "It really is a hidden door!"
I felt a lingering fear. That damned Fatty was truly audacious. If he had triggered some mechanism just now, we all would have been in trouble.
"Master Xiang! What are you waiting for? Hurry up!" Fatty beckoned to me.
Seeing that Jiang Yue was still taking photos, I called out to her.
Then, the three of us walked through the stone door and headed inside.
Who would have thought that as soon as we entered, the stone door would close on its own!
Before we could react, the stone door shut!
I froze for a moment and turned to look for the switch on the stone door. I found a similar handle inside, which finally put my mind at ease.