The story of Rose starts with being a brother

Chapter 550 Heavenly Palace on the Clouds (Sixteen) Three Groups of Strangers
"Zhang Wei, you're finally awake!"

Inside the passageway between the two tomb chambers, Tang Youyou and the other two looked at Zhang Wei, who had regained consciousness, with surprise and delight on their faces.

As for the "smelly" question the other party had just asked, the three of them tacitly chose to ignore it.

Still somewhat dazed, Zhang Wei asked again, "What happened?"

"We should be asking you that," Tang Youyou said. "You said you went to visit relatives for months without any news, and when we finally heard from you, it was that you went into Changbai Mountain and your fate was unknown. It scared us to death, you know?"

"Yes, we rushed to Changbai Mountain to rescue you. We went up the mountain and down into the tomb. We almost died here just now."

Hearing Tang Youyou and Lu Ziqiao's words, a flash of memories crossed Zhang Wei's eyes.

At this moment, Zeng Xiaoxian also spoke up: "Zhang Wei, when we found you just now, you were lying on top of a female corpse. What happened?"

"..."

Zhang Wei was taken aback, and then his expression became extremely interesting.

"I... I'm lying on top of a female corpse? Wasn't I holding Jian Ning?"

"..."

An awkward and strange atmosphere filled the air. Tang Youyou and the other two looked at Zhang Wei as if they had seen a ghost.

"Zhang Wei, not only did you cheat on Jian Ning, but the person you cheated with was a female corpse! And what's more, you actually fantasized that the corpse was Jian Ning!" Lu Ziqiao patted Zhang Wei on the shoulder. "You're something else, Zhang Wei! You've got guts!"

"I……"

Zhang Wei was speechless for a moment. A series of images flooded his mind, making him somewhat incoherent as he said, "No, I can explain!"

He paused for a moment and then explained, “I had a dream before that Jian Ning got into an accident and was pulled into a coffin when we got married. So I came here to find her, opened the coffin and rescued her, and then… then I went home and continued the wedding.”

"..."

Zhang Wei gave a brief explanation, but the other three looked at each other in bewilderment.

"I didn't understand. Ziqiao, did you understand?"

"I don't understand, Auntie, did you understand?"

"I don't understand."

"..."

Zhang Wei scratched his head helplessly, and finally said, "I thought I had already taken Jian Ning out, but who knew... who knew that in the blink of an eye, the three of you would be in front of me."

"What do you mean? You're disappointed to see us?" Zeng Xiaoxian said irritably. "Do you know you're bewitched? If we hadn't come, you'd still be frozen there like a living dead!"

"Is...is that so?" Zhang Wei chuckled dryly, then asked with lingering fear, "Then how did you save me?"

"..."

Tang Youyou and Lu Ziqiao both looked at Zeng Xiaoxian.

"You should thank Teacher Zeng for this," Lu Ziqiao said, winking.

Meeting Zhang Wei's strange gaze, Zeng Xiaoxian quickly said, "It's nothing. I just happened to have some water with me, so I rinsed you off and woke you up."

"Oh, that's how it is."

Zhang Wei nodded. He didn't know why, but he felt that the three men's eyes were strange.

After looking around, Zhang Wei, who had regained some strength, slowly stood up and asked, "Are only the three of you here?"

"Of course not, everyone from both suites in the apartment came, even Dali and Xinling." Tang Youyou sighed at this point, "It's just that the three of us got separated from the main group."

"Dali? Xinling? Why are they here?" Zhang Wei asked in surprise. He really didn't expect that he would cause so many people to come looking for him.

As an orphan, it would be a lie to say I wasn't moved.

"That's a long story. I'll tell you later. First, think about how to get out of this hellhole," said Lü Ziqiao.

The joy that had just begun to rise in everyone's hearts was immediately extinguished when the topic of how to leave came up.

"I know how to leave!"

As soon as Zhang Wei spoke, the three of them looked at him with strange eyes.

"You?" Tang Youyou chuckled. "You almost turned into a dried-up corpse and ended up living happily ever after with that female ghost. How could you possibly know how to leave?"

"No, I really know!"

After a pause, Zhang Wei said awkwardly, "I went out in my dream."

"In a dream?"

"Yes, the exit is inside the coffin in the tomb chamber ahead. In my dream, I took Jian Ning out of the coffin."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Lü Ziqiao asked in surprise, "You mean that coffin in the tomb chamber that's entirely made of ice?"

“Yes,” Zhang Wei nodded, then asked, “Have you met before?”

"More than that, we couldn't find a way out of that tomb for a long time, and we almost opened the coffin," Zeng Xiaoxian said.

"It can be opened. In my dream, I was holding Jian Ning as we crawled out of it."

"..."

Listening to Zhang Wei's words, the three of them were somewhat skeptical, finding it hard to tell whether he was talking in his sleep.

But there were no other options at the moment, so the three of them had no choice but to trust Zhang Wei this once.

However, just as he was about to leave, Lü Ziqiao turned back and picked up the half-cup of boy's urine from the ground.

Seeing this, Zhang Wei couldn't help but ask, "Ziqiao, you even poured yourself iced tea in the tomb!"

"Pfft!" Tang Youyou couldn't help but laugh out loud, but when she saw the three of them looking over, she quickly shut her mouth. "Sorry, I just remembered something funny."

Zhang Wei was even more puzzled now, feeling that something was off ever since he met these three people.

"Are you... hiding something from me?"

After asking that question, Zhang Wei suddenly realized something and subconsciously took two steps back, saying, "Could it be that I'm the one dreaming right now? And you guys are the fake ones? Tell me, where did you hide Jian Ning?"

"..."

Lu Ziqiao, who was about to leave, rolled his eyes, walked up to Zhang Wei and smiled, "Zhang Wei, I have a way to prove whether what you're saying is true or false."

"How do you prove it..."

"Oh~"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Wei let out a howl and nearly knelt down.

Lu Ziqiao withdrew his fist and blew on it: "How about it? Do you still feel like you're dreaming?"

"No, no!" Seeing that Lu Ziqiao was about to try again, Zhang Wei quickly waved his hand, "It's real, not a dream!"

From this point on, the three-person team was officially transformed into a four-person team.

The four returned to the icy tomb, where the eerie black coffin still sat silently in the center.

"Zhang Wei, are you sure this coffin can be opened?" Zeng Xiaoxian asked in a low voice.

"Yes, we just suddenly bumped into a ghost here."

Lu Ziqiao paused here, then continued, "But speaking of which, the female corpse you were holding was quite beautiful, so you didn't lose out."

"you……"

Zeng Xiaoxian's face twitched as he said, "Why are you saying these things at a time like this!"

"No, we're just worried that something terrible might happen if we push the coffin open."

"I don't think...it's likely!"

"What do you think?" Zeng Xiaoxian snorted. "You can mistake a female ghost for Jian Ning even in your dreams. Who knows if there's an exit or something deadly inside this coffin? I, for one, don't agree to open the coffin."

"I agree!"

Tang Youyou then raised her hand and said, "Anyway, there's no other way now. Besides, wasn't the point of us to open the coffin in the first place?"

"I agree!"

Lu Ziqiao shook the half-cup of "golden holy water" in his hand and said, "We didn't have glutinous rice and black donkey hooves before, but now we have this. If there really is a female ghost after the coffin is opened, I'll just splash it on her face."

At this point, Lu Ziqiao took out a bottle of water from his bag and handed it to Zeng Xiaoxian: "Teacher Zeng, drink more water. If this half cup of 'holy water' isn't enough, you'll have to keep providing ammunition."

"..."

At this moment, Zeng Xiaoxian really had an urge to strangle Lu Ziqiao.

"Can this thing ward off female ghosts?" Zhang Wei asked, looking at the "iced tea" in Lu Ziqiao's hand.

"This is our secret treasure; it can ward off evil spirits!"

"I have a treasure too."

As Zhang Wei spoke, he began to pry open the coffin lid.

"Holy crap, why are you opening the coffin right away?!" The others were shocked and quickly prepared themselves. To everyone's surprise, the coffin lid wasn't as heavy as they had imagined. Although Zhang Wei seemed to be struggling a bit, he managed to slowly slide the lid open all by himself.

"squeak--"

The sound of the ice coffin opening wasn't loud, but as the sound continued, the men tensed up, some grabbing "holy water," others wielding entrenching tools, and still others taking a sip of water and preparing to loosen their belts.

Amidst the tension, the coffin slowly opened.

"empty?"

Tang Youyou's surprised voice made Lu Ziqiao and Zeng Xiaoxian open their eyes. When they mustered up their courage to look over, they were shocked to find that the coffin was empty.

No, it can't be said to be completely empty; there's a small cloth bag inside.

"I told you my dream wasn't for nothing!" Zhang Wei chuckled as he took out the small cloth bag from the coffin, opened it to reveal three books, several talismans, and a compass inside.

"This is my secret weapon. I also brought glutinous rice with me, but unfortunately I lost it because I didn't put it with me."

“We’ve used the glutinous rice we found.” Tang Youyou said, touching the open coffin with her hand. “Hiss! It’s so cold. This looks like an ice coffin.”

"An ice coffin?" Zhang Wei was taken aback. "Why didn't I see it in my dream?"

"What I'm more curious about is how you managed to throw these things into the coffin," Lu Ziqiao asked curiously.

“This…” Zhang Wei’s face showed a hint of embarrassment. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “When I rescued Jian Ning in the dream, she said she didn’t like these things, so I didn’t take them with me.”

"..."

"Oh, I understand!" Lu Ziqiao suddenly exclaimed, causing the others to look at him in confusion.

"According to my analysis, this is probably the case. When Zhang Wei came to this tomb chamber, he opened the ice coffin and was then bewitched by the female ghost inside. He mistook her for Jian Ning and thought he was taking her away, but in reality, he was carrying her to the stone platform in the previous tomb chamber."

After a pause, Lü Ziqiao continued, "Remember the water we saw under that stone platform before? I guess it was the water that melted from the ice on that woman's body!"

After listening to Lu Ziqiao's analysis, Tang Youyou and Zeng Xiaoxian's eyes widened. They looked at each other and then at Zhang Wei: "Is that so?"

"This...uh..." Zhang Wei stammered for a while before nodding and saying, "It should be like this."

Even more exciting things happened in the dream: after taking Jian Ning out, they continued their wedding ceremony, and when they entered the bridal chamber, they got carried away and started playing a role involving a female ghost and a lawyer...

Now that I think about it, how could Jian Ning possibly be that kind of person?

I was truly bewitched.

"Alright, let's not worry about that for now. Zhang Wei, do you think there's an exit from this coffin?" Zeng Xiaoxian asked urgently. "I really don't want to stay here for another second."

“Oh, I remember there was a mechanism on the side of the coffin,” Zhang Wei said, pressing a button inside.

Then there was a "click" sound, as if something had been opened. A crack appeared under the bottom of the coffin. Zhang Wei put his finger into the crack and pulled, and the bottom of the coffin was pulled open, revealing a dark passage.

Upon seeing this, the other three were overjoyed.

"There really is an exit!" Tang Youyou exclaimed happily. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Hurry up and go!" Lu Ziqiao echoed, about to climb into the coffin, but found Tang Youyou and Zeng Xiaoxian standing to the side watching him, as if waiting for him to go down.

"Why aren't you moving?"

“You carry the ‘holy water’ and go down first. I’m afraid your hand will slip and spill it on my head while you’re up there.”

"..."

Lu Ziqiao rolled his eyes, shone his flashlight into the passage, and then went down first, followed by the others.

Zhang Wei took one last look at the tomb chamber before crawling into the coffin.

"Zhang Lang~"

Zhang Wei paused before descending into the cave, then looked back at the tomb chamber, which remained unchanged.

Am I hallucinating?

Zhang Wei shook his head and jumped down.

……

On the other side, in the abyss beneath the stone bridge.

"I was so scared just now, Sister Fei. Luckily you grabbed the chain above, otherwise we would have definitely fallen to our deaths."

"Hehe, you have to thank Guan Gu. He fell from a different spot than us, and the rope just happened to get caught on the chain. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to grab you! I just didn't expect that a big man like him couldn't even hold onto the rope."

"Damn it, do you think you two are light? I also have to guard against those birdmen's sneak attacks! You jumped off the cliff and pulled me down with you!"

In the moat below the abyss, the three people who had just fallen were walking down the moat channel while keeping a close eye on the human-faced owls circling overhead.

"I wonder how Wensheng and the others are doing?" Chen Meijia looked up and sighed. "Now we're all separated."

Hu Yifei was also feeling heavy-hearted. After the three of them fell down, those strange birds rushed towards Wen Sheng like madmen. She kept seeing birds being killed and falling down from below, but the birds did not retreat for a long time.

Helpless, she could only shout for Wen Sheng to enter the hall first.

"But why did Wen-sang tell us to go down the canal?" Guan Gu asked, puzzled.

Hu Yifei shook her head, indicating that she didn't know either.

But at that moment, Chen Meijia, who was walking beside her, stopped in her tracks, shone her flashlight on her feet, and said with a pale face, "Now I know why he wanted us to leave first."

Beneath her feet, a crushed centipede was still writhing.

The three quickly raised their flashlights and looked around, only to discover that, at some point, the stone-patterned centipedes they had seen before were crawling down the wall.

"Quick... run!"

Hu Yifei shouted and rushed ahead, followed by Guan Gu and Youyou. They had already witnessed that the corpses of these centipedes would attract a large number of their kind.

They never expected to encounter these insects.

The three of them were now running with all their might along the canal. The moat was dry and the bottom was full of uneven stones. They helped each other and almost fell on the stones several times.

They didn't know how long they had been running, but they felt that it was getting darker and darker ahead. The beam of their flashlights could not see very far, but the three of them still dared not stop. As soon as they stopped, they could hear those rustling sounds in their ears.

After running for a while, Chen Meijia, who was exhausted, said breathlessly, "I can't do it anymore, I can't run anymore, my lungs are going to explode if I keep running!"

Hu Yifei and Guan Gu Shenqi, who were running ahead, were also panting heavily. After being stopped by Meijia, the two of them stopped to rest.

But to the relief of the three, after their frantic run, the rustling sounds seemed to have disappeared.

"Let's rest...let's rest for a while."

After Hu Yifei spoke, the other two immediately collapsed to the ground and began drinking water.

Currently, Hu Yifei is the strongest fighter in the three-person team. She knows that she has to take responsibility now, so she takes advantage of the break to scout out the surrounding situation.

However, her expression changed as soon as she saw this.

"What's that?" Hu Yifei asked, shining her flashlight in one direction.

Upon hearing this, Guan Gu and Mei Jia struggled to their feet and walked over. Following the beam of Hu Yifei's flashlight, they saw a fault line appear in the moat bed ahead. Below the fault line was a ditch about one meter deep and twenty meters wide, with countless black terracotta warriors standing in the ditch and countless bronze chariot remains arranged underground.

Upon seeing this scene, Chen Meijia screamed in shock; the black-clad servants standing there looked exactly like a pile of corpses.

"What is this?" Guan Gu Shenqi asked fearfully, gripping his katana.

Hu Yifei shook her head and said, "I don't know, but since Qin Shi Huang had terracotta warriors, it's normal for later emperors to have terracotta warriors as well."

However, Chen Meijia was more concerned about another question: "Should we go down?"

"Otherwise," Hu Yifei frowned. "Besides going down, do we have any other options?"

"But, I..."

Before Chen Meijia could finish speaking, Hu Yifei covered her mouth and turned to look behind her.

In the distance, some faint green lights appeared, accompanied by a chilling rustling sound.

"Alright, now we have no choice but to go down."

After saying that, Hu Yifei jumped into the ditch first.

After hesitating for a while, Guan Gu and Mei Jia saw that the centipedes were getting closer and closer, so they had no choice but to jump down as well.

The wreckage on the ground was a bit uncomfortable to walk on, but the three of them couldn't care less at the moment. The rustling sounds behind them were getting louder and louder, and they had to get out of there quickly.

But at that moment, Hu Yifei, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and pointed her flashlight and pistol at a servant in front of her.

"Who? Come out!"

Upon seeing this, Guan Gu and Youyou felt a pang of anxiety. Standing behind Hu Yifei, one gripped her samurai sword tightly, while the other reached for the dagger at her waist.

"Thump! Thump..."

Light footsteps echoed in the ditch, and in the beam of the three men's flashlights, a figure emerged from behind the servants.

"So handsome!" Upon seeing the person who arrived, Chen Meijia's expression changed, and she couldn't help but swoon.

Before the three men, a young man wearing a hooded windbreaker, with a cold face and a knife slung over his back, said indifferently, "This is not a place for you."

(End of this chapter)