Actually, oil lamps in a tomb chamber might not be considered particularly rare, perhaps just normal, everyday items. However, for tombs like this, designed to deter grave robbers, they would often feature numerous anti-theft measures.
The mechanisms within the tomb were one aspect; beyond that, there were certainly other special arrangements.
In short, they were all things that could easily claim a life.
Methods like using poison were not uncommon.
Nie Chongyang walked over to examine the oil lamp in front of the stone door in the new tomb chamber, saying, "I wonder if these oil lamps can actually be lit, or if they have any special functions."
Curiously, he reached out to touch one of the oil lamps.
Originally, Nie Chongyang intended to pick up one of the oil lamps to examine it.
But in the next moment, Nie Chongyang was merely holding the lamp's bowl and let out a sound of confusion.
"Hm?"
Seeing Nie Chongyang's reaction, Liang Ping immediately asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen? Or did you discover something?"
Hearing Liang Ping's question, Nie Chongyang let go and turned to say to Liang Ping, "These oil lamps can't be picked up; they're fixed here, very securely. They can't be moved or rotated at all."
When Liang Ping heard Nie Chongyang say this, he also walked closer to observe.
He also tried for a while but found the result to be the same as Nie Chongyang had said; these oil lamps could not be picked up, nor could they be moved or rotated even slightly. Every single oil lamp was like this.
Liang Ping looked at these oil lamps and said with some confusion, "Are they all fixed in place? But isn't this a bit too secure?"
Nie Chongyang nodded and also said, "I think so too. It's quite strange. I thought things like this might be mechanisms."
Hearing Nie Chongyang say this, Liang Ping replied, "It's not impossible."
Nie Chongyang looked at Liang Ping and asked, "What does this mean then? If they're all fixed, and if they were mechanisms, they should be movable, at least rotatable, right?"
Liang Ping shook his head slowly and simply said, "We need to verify the specifics, but we can't jump to conclusions too early."
"This kind of experience was passed down by Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox."
Although Nie Chongyang didn't understand much, upon hearing Liang Ping's latter remark, he immediately said, "Alright then, I trust your conclusion."
Liang Ping tilted his head and looked at him helplessly.
"You trust the authority of what Little Fox and Ye Tiancheng said, not me, right?"
Nie Chongyang smiled slightly and said, "Isn't it all the same? Who we trust doesn't matter. We're partners, after all. I'm also trusting your memory."
Liang Ping looked at Nie Chongyang with a hint of confusion, as if asking, "Don't you remember?"
"Nie Chongyang" paused abruptly.
"..."
Suddenly, there was a bang in the tomb chamber. Liang Ping, without anyone knowing when, had drawn the weapon at his waist and struck the "Nie Chongyang" before him.
Subsequently, the figure of "Nie Chongyang" began to distort and become ethereal, eventually vanishing completely from Liang Ping's sight like smoke.
Liang Ping wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
He had been guarding against the possibility of his companion being replaced. When Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox were still with them, the four of them had been doing this.
As a result, they hadn't discovered anything unusual.
However, out of caution, they continued to act according to this principle, habitually testing each other incidentally in their conversations, without needing to deliberately think about it; it had become an unconscious behavior.
Liang Ping had just done so habitually, and discovered that Nie Chongyang seemed a bit strange.
But Liang Ping also worried he might be mistaken, so he subtly tested a few more times in secret. Only after truly confirming he wasn't mistaken did he draw his weapon and attack the "Nie Chongyang" before him.
He didn't know when it happened. Nie Chongyang had been by his side all along, yet he had been replaced.
When did it happen?
At what point did it all occur?
Liang Ping tried hard to recall.
He felt the most likely time was when they left the room to meddle in other people's affairs and suddenly fell. Liang Ping thought that if Nie Chongyang had an opportunity to be replaced, it might have been then.
They fell in a panic, and then it was in pitch darkness.
Later, although they verified each other, identity verification was not something that could be perfectly proven with just one or two attempts. After all, some powerful methods of substitution could even read the memories of the replaced person.
Liang Ping still remembered that when Ye Tiancheng's wife, Hou Mingzhu, was replaced, the imposter also possessed Hou Mingzhu's memories. If it weren't for the fact that the other party might only know the memories but couldn't emulate the emotions, it would have been a truly difficult task to expose them.
However, the reason the other party was discovered so quickly was that Hou Mingzhu was Ye Tiancheng's wife. Ye Tiancheng would not be completely unaware of her. Moreover, Ye Tiancheng and Hou Mingzhu's biological daughter, Ye Qingcheng, had personally witnessed the process of her biological mother being replaced by an unknown entity and was frightened.
This also led to the earlier exposure of the fake Hou Mingzhu.
Yet, even so, didn't Ye Tiancheng fail to discover that his wife had been replaced at the first opportunity?
Thinking of this, Liang Ping couldn't help but worry about Nie Chongyang's current situation and whether he was in any danger.
And whether there might be a substitute for himself by Nie Chongyang's side.
Could he see through the imposter and know that his partner had been replaced?
However, Liang Ping wasn't too worried about this question. Given Nie Chongyang's alertness, even if someone had replaced him, Nie Chongyang should not have taken longer than himself to expose them.
Besides, their profession wouldn't allow them to be easily deceived; if they were, they wouldn't be able to do their jobs.
Liang Ping temporarily suppressed the worry in his heart.
With Nie Chongyang's whereabouts unknown, he could only fight alone. He had to find a way to escape this cursed place as quickly as possible. He felt that being trapped in such a place for too long would surely lead to no good.
It was obvious even with his toes that a tomb chamber wouldn't be a normal place.
Especially in this location.
They were already in danger, in some unknown space, and there were no simple or safe places here.
As for Nie Chongyang's side.
Nie Chongyang was actually fine. Time rewound to before the accident. In Liang Ping's memory, it was when they were attacked and suddenly encountered an accident, causing both him and Nie Chongyang to fall into the tomb chamber.
However, in the eyes of the real Nie Chongyang, in a place he couldn't see, the ground beneath Liang Ping suddenly collapsed due to an attack. In the blink of an eye, Liang Ping fell through the caving ground.
Nie Chongyang, unable to deal with the enemy for a moment, tried to rush over to save his companion, but failed.
It was no use. The distance between them was not close at all, unlike the time Liang Ping almost got into trouble before. Nie Chongyang couldn't hold onto Liang Ping. Not only that, but Nie Chongyang wanted to jump down with him. However, the moment he rushed over, the caving ground miraculously returned to its original state.
Nie Chongyang was helpless at this point.
Moreover, in his haste to save his partner Liang Ping, he had neglected his own attack and took a hit, sustaining a serious injury. However, in the critical moment, his instinctive reaction and the combat awareness accumulated by Nie Chongyang over the years saved his life.
Nie Chongyang dodged the fatal blow. Although he was saddened by his partner's misfortune, he dared not be distracted at this moment.
Liang Ping's sudden accident did not mean he would definitely not return, but if Nie Chongyang met with any mishap at this time, the consequences were unpredictable.
Nie Chongyang knew that only by taking care of himself and surviving would there be any hope.
However, he relentlessly pursued the mutated girl who was attacking him. Under her close assault, coupled with Nie Chongyang's serious injuries, to evade her, Nie Chongyang could only begin to flee, running further and further away from the initial location.
For this reason, Nie Chongyang was unable to send word back to inform Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox about what had happened here.
This was because Nie Chongyang was already struggling to fend for himself.
He didn't care where he was running, only that he absolutely could not be harmed, and he ran at full speed.
He also didn't care if he stepped into any dangerous areas.
After all, if Nie Chongyang didn't run, it would be even more dangerous.
However, Nie Chongyang was surprisingly lucky. While fighting and retreating with the mutated girl, he was consistently fortunate enough not to step into any dangerous areas or encounter any accidents.
But Nie Chongyang could also be described as quite disheveled.
Meanwhile, on Ye Tiancheng's side, Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox waited for a long time without receiving any reply from Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping. They didn't know what had happened to them that caused them to suddenly be unable to even send messages back.
Moreover, after such a long time, there was still no news.
Under these circumstances, Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox could no longer sit still.
They had no choice but to take a gamble. They ran back to the inn where they were temporarily staying, hoping to extract some useful clues from Lin Yanshu or Lin Yanqin that could allow them to immediately help Nie Chongyang and the others.
However, upon their hurried return to the inn, Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox found that Lin Yanshu was not at the inn. For some reason, he had left with quite a few people.
They then went to Lin Yanqin, only to unexpectedly discover that Lin Yanqin and her illegitimate elder brother were communicating privately, and seemed to be having some disputes.
However, what Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox never expected was that although they had deceived Lin Yanqin, Lin Yanqin had actually been deceived by them and given them something extremely important: the only heirloom left by Lin Yanqin's mother.
This made Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox feel a pang of guilt.
But after leaving Lin Yanqin's side, Ye Tiancheng and Little Fox couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
Was the red ruby pendant that Lin Yanqin gave them really the original red ruby pendant? Didn't Lin Yanqin care so much about such a thing? She had lost it before and searched everywhere frantically; the pendant was extremely important to her, yet Lin Yanqin still handed it over, which was incredible.