Since it was not the expertise of Ye Tiancheng and Liang Ping, they naturally did not crowd to the front, wasting time.
Ye Tiancheng and Liang Ping tacitly made way, leaving the spot for the little fox.
The little fox walked closer, studied the content of the inscriptions, and soon figured out what they meant.
He then distributed the gold ingots and gold peanuts he had obtained.
After separating them by number, design, and pattern, they were inserted into the four blank porcelain plates, followed by a click.
On the side of the wooden cabinet, a palm-sized small drawer suddenly popped out.
This small drawer was also very shallow, probably less than three centimeters deep.
Ye Tiancheng happened to be standing nearby and directly took out the contents of this small drawer.
He took out the items and then showed them to the little fox and Liang Ping for them to examine together.
It was a circular jade ring, yellowish-green in color.
Or rather, if it wasn't jade, it would be something like jadeite or marble. It was likely not an ordinary object and would correspond to other mechanisms.
Liang Ping looked at the jade ring, frowned in thought, and then vaguely recalled something.
He immediately said to Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, "I think I know where this thing is used."
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox immediately looked at Liang Ping.
Liang Ping told them, "Do you remember the blank book we placed earlier, the one with the desk that had all the writing implements? I remember there was a slightly recessed circular groove next to the inkstone."
"I didn't know what that was for at the time, but after seeing this jade ring, I felt that this thing might be used there. Judging by its size, it looks very suitable and should fit perfectly."
Upon hearing Liang Ping's words, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox immediately recalled it.
The three of them walked over to the desk together and tried it out.
They found that the jade ring was indeed about the same size.
The little fox said somewhat worriedly, "What if it's not used here? If it fits so perfectly, what if we can't get it out after putting it in?"
Ye Tiancheng patted the little fox's head and said, "Worrying about nothing. This isn't a complete, solid jade ring. It's a jade ring. If the edges fit perfectly, you can just take it out from the center hole."
The little fox realized his thought process was flawed and sheepishly replied, "Oh, right."
Ye Tiancheng placed the jade ring into the groove, and the next second, a square pattern on the tabletop suddenly popped up. Then, the wooden board of the tabletop flipped over with a click, revealing an empty groove underneath.
In this empty groove, there was a golden object, likely a key.
Ye Tiancheng picked up the key.
The little fox said from the side, "This should be a key... it is a key, right?"
"The style looks a bit strange, but judging by its shape, it should be a key."
Liang Ping said from the side, "This is indeed a key, the kind used for old locks. Nowadays, except for some very remote and poor rural areas, there probably aren't many households that still use those old-fashioned locks."
"After all, those things are very insecure, and can be opened with a simple poke."
The little fox's eyes widened slightly, and he said in surprise, "Then what do we need this key for? When we encounter a lock, won't we be able to open it ourselves directly?"
Ye Tiancheng thought for a moment and said, "We shouldn't think that way. After all, it's a lock that has been passed down for thousands of years. It's been used for thousands of years, and only now have new lock styles been introduced. There should be some merits that make it not easily picked."
"Otherwise, there would be no safe places in the past."
"The insecure locks that can be easily picked, which we know of, are probably those used by ordinary families. They can't afford better ones, so their anti-theft capabilities would be significantly weaker."
"Even the locks we use now, aren't some of them very easy to pick? You can use wire or hairpins to pick them, or more crudely, just smash the lock with something and it'll open."
The little fox nodded.
He felt that the person who created this place had made it so complicated, setting up so many mechanisms, they wouldn't have created anything useless. Therefore, these things should still be somewhat useful.
In any case, Ye Tiancheng took the key.
Besides this, they found some books in certain places, containing content that seemed useful but was rather obscure and difficult to understand. Or, some content could not be matched with any corresponding mechanisms, possibly located in areas they had not yet explored.
Anyway, they collected these books first.
They would keep them to read slowly, and eventually find a use for them.
In addition, they encountered some stone slab mechanisms, some of which could be pressed, and some were flip mechanisms. Thus, after some time, Ye Tiancheng and the other two gained some more items, such as bells, tokens, and so on.
However, regarding the token, Ye Tiancheng and the other two immediately thought of where it should be used.
This was because it was too obvious.
Ye Tiancheng and the others remembered that the stone door directly facing the secret passage in the tomb chamber they were in earlier had a groove of the same shape and size at the position of the door ring in the middle of the stone door.
It was clear that this token should be used there.
Since Ye Tiancheng and the other two had thought of the corresponding location, they immediately rushed over, walked to the stone door, and placed the token into the groove of the door ring in the middle of the stone door.
After the token was fitted into the groove, the stone door creaked open.
Upon entering, Ye Tiancheng and the others were somewhat curious, looking at the scene inside the door.
The little fox exclaimed, "Why are there cages here?"
Ye Tiancheng and Liang Ping looked in the direction the little fox was pointing, saw the cages the little fox mentioned, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Ye Tiancheng said, "Your tone is so surprised, it makes it sound like you're talking about cages for people. These small cages might have held small animals or something."
The cage wasn't that small, but Ye Tiancheng felt that humans couldn't fit inside.
Besides that, the room behind this new stone door contained many tools, seemingly with various miscellaneous uses. One could even see parts of mechanisms that appeared to be in the process of being made.
This seemed to increase the difficulty of finding useful parts.
But Ye Tiancheng and the others didn't care. They swept everything away. If it was useful, they'd use it. If not, they'd carry it without complaint, as they didn't have to carry it themselves; they had storage space.
Moreover, some of the materials used to make these mechanism parts could be felt to be made of very special materials.
And even if Ye Tiancheng and Liang Ping didn't need these special materials, the little fox was particularly in need of them. Some of these were things that couldn't be bought with money, making them truly precious.
Even if they weren't used to unlock mechanisms, they were very useful to keep.
After the three of them had searched everything, the little fox curiously circled the cage and said, "I wonder what this thing is used for. It's really a bit strange to have it here."
Liang Ping thought for a moment and said, "This cage is not small, but it's not very big either. If it were for humans, perhaps only human infants could fit inside."
As soon as Liang Ping finished speaking, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox both cast chilling glances at Liang Ping.
The little fox frowned in thought and then said, "I still hope this thing is used to cage some small animals. If it were for human infants, I really can't imagine what the purpose of the person who did this would be."
"But, it's definitely not for anything good, which makes sense."
Liang Ping also sighed softly.
In his profession, he had handled many cases and done a lot of work related to such matters. If children encountered such things, very few of them would end up well. In any case, they would almost certainly meet an unfortunate end.
Even if the perpetrator was eventually punished, those vibrant young lives would be gone forever.
Ye Tiancheng said from the side, "We can only see a cage now, with no other clues. Let's not guess wildly and scare ourselves."
Liang Ping and the little fox both nodded.
Ye Tiancheng then handed over some of the books he had collected to the little fox. These items might be useful for opening mechanisms. Even if they weren't used for that, keeping them for the little fox might be helpful later.
Ye Tiancheng felt that he only half-understood these things, but even a partial understanding was enough for him to discern that they would be useful to the little fox.
He said to the little fox, "Keep these safe. Besides opening mechanisms, some of these things seem to be useful for what you're learning. I vaguely remember that the content of what you're learning is similar to this."
The little fox took them, opened the books, and flipped through them briefly.
Then, the little fox said to Ye Tiancheng, "They are indeed useful. Although not everything recorded in them is from a proper path, it can broaden my knowledge and thinking, and might be of great help in the future."
Ye Tiancheng nodded and said, "Yes, I think so too."
Then, they flipped through them again, and the little fox reached a conclusion about a certain mechanism.
He said, "No wonder there are so many tools here. This mechanism here seems to be a one-time activation item to open it. That means a new one must be used each time, and the old one will be scrapped."
Ye Tiancheng frowned slightly upon hearing the little fox's words.
Ye Tiancheng asked the little fox, "Can you make one? Will it be troublesome?"
"If it's too difficult, we can look around; there should be some ready-made ones here."
However, after hearing Ye Tiancheng's question, the little fox shook his head and explained to Ye Tiancheng, "Things like these disposable items are usually not made too complicated, otherwise, it would be troublesome for them to use them themselves. Generally, they wouldn't go through so much trouble."
"So, making one yourself isn't that difficult."
"I've made quite a few props myself. It's not too difficult, as long as you find the corresponding production method and know what prop to make. Coincidentally, I remember that one of the books I just collected has relevant content."
"Hmm... I remember the production tools are, I think, over here?"
The little fox said, and also started searching.