The Unorthodox Tomb Raider

"No."

An extremely young voice came from the darkness.

"No? Then what era is this tomb he's talking about from?"

Old Tai was somewhat puzzled.

"I can't say for sure what this is right now, but once we get there, I'll know exactly which era this tomb belongs to."

"I am Liang," said Liang Shiye calmly.

When Lao Tai heard the noise coming from Er Mazi's side, he stopped paying attention to Lao Yang and got up to walk towards Er Mazi's side.

The stone door had been flipped up, revealing an entrance that was nearly two meters wide. Looking inside from the outside, it was pitch black.

There seemed to be a very steep stone staircase leading directly underground. Wu Xie wrinkled his nose and smelled a strange odor.

Wu Xie felt that the smell was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was for a moment.

Er Mazi shone his flashlight on himself and, without thinking, was about to climb down when Lao Tai grabbed him.

Old Tai pointed at Fang Yun and Wu Xie.

"When are you going to get rid of this clumsy habit of yours? When you come with me, use your brain a little. You dare to just barge into an ancient tomb whose age is not even known. Let those two kids go down first."

Fang Yun and Wu Xie seemed to be of little use to this group of desperate criminals.

The only useful person is Old Yang, who has been to ancient tombs before. Even if Fang Yun and Wu Xie die here, it won't make a big difference.

"It's alright, I'll go down with you. There's no danger around here."

Fang Yun said softly.

Wu Xie strapped the flashlight to his hands, braced himself on one side, and cautiously tested the stone steps below with his feet first.

It felt quite stable underfoot, so Wu Xie stepped on it a couple more times, realizing that Fang Yun was right. There shouldn't be any major dangers on the outer perimeter, and this path should be safe.

Wu Xie shone his flashlight down and saw that it was almost a straight mine tunnel. The flashlight beam couldn't see what was at the bottom.

The surrounding stone walls were greenish, very damp, and somewhat slippery.

"Kid, keep this whistle with you. Blow it when you get to the bottom. If you don't hear it within an hour, you'll never see your buddy again."

Old Tai's tone turned cold.

Wu Xie took the whistle and ignored Lao Tai outside. He paddled a couple of times and entered the tunnel. Fang Yun followed closely behind Wu Xie.

After walking for about two minutes, Fang Yun looked up but could not see any light above.

"These almost straight stone steps are very difficult to climb. The passage was not properly constructed during the excavation. Some parts are very deep and some are very shallow. In the shallow parts, you can only hold on with your fingers. So don't walk too fast, slow down a bit."

Fang Yun gave instructions.

"Old Yang should be safe in their hands for now. Even if we don't give them a signal, they won't make things difficult for him for the time being. After all, Old Yang has been to this ancient tomb before and knows some things about it. Why don't we slip away first?"

Wu Xie quickly replied.

"Are you scared out of your wits by that pistol? If there were other passages in this ancient tomb, would Old Yang have gone to look for another exit? As I said before, not just anyone can come and go freely in this ancient tomb. Once inside, I can make them die however I want. For now, just act like you normally do and pretend to be scared."

Fang Yun said calmly.

Wu Xie found Fang Yun's words very reasonable and calmly began to climb downwards.

About eight minutes later, the course of the mine tunnel suddenly changed.

The originally straight stone steps now have a slight angle, making them a little easier to climb.

The rocks in this section have clearly turned reddish-brown. This type of stone is probably granite, containing some mica, and is very hard.

The change of direction in the mine tunnel was probably to avoid this magma.

"That's about enough. It's time to give those idiots up there a signal. We need to make the act more convincing."

Fang Yun said calmly.

Wu Xie took out the whistle from his pocket and blew it a few times; the sound transmission effect in the mine tunnel was quite good.

Soon a whistle blew from above.

Wu Xie knew these people would come down soon, so he continued downwards. The mine tunnel was now very level. He could still hear the sound of water below, which grew louder as he got closer, as if there was a waterfall nearby.

"Fang Yun, there's a warm current here, and it seems to have a strong sulfur smell. This kind of smell is usually associated with volcanoes. Could this be a volcano?"

Wu Xie asked curiously.

"Currently, there is a possibility of a volcano, but it cannot be completely confirmed yet. Let's continue down. That group of people will be coming down soon. These desperate criminals will move faster than anyone else once they know there is no danger below."

Fang Yun said calmly.

With his doubts still lingering, Wu Xie took a few more quick steps forward when suddenly a strong gust of wind nearly knocked him over.

Wu Xie quickly grabbed the wall next to him for support, and Fang Yun also gave Wu Xie a slight push from behind, which helped Wu Xie regain his balance.

Wu Xie raised his hand and used the flashlight in his hand to observe, only to find that he and Fang Yun had arrived in a natural cave.

The cave is about the width of two basketball courts and about three or four stories high. It extends to some unknown place on both sides. It's more like an underground passage than a mountain cave.

The surrounding stones have become very rounded after so many years of erosion, and the size of this cave clearly shows that it was not carved out by man.

There is an underground river at the bottom of the cave, and the sound of the flowing water is very rapid. The sound of water that Fang Yun and Wu Xie heard just now should be the sound of this flowing water amplified.

Wu Xie walked curiously toward the middle and found that the water temperature here seemed a bit high.

Wu Xie took a few more steps and the water was already above his knees, so he quickly retreated.

This place should be a rock vein.

Chapter 314 Intermittent Hot Springs!

The so-called rock veins are actually the same concept as blood vessels in the human body. In layman's terms, they are the blood vessels of mountains. No one expected that the mine would eventually hit a rock vein. It can only be said to be a coincidence.

Wu Xie thought that Lao Yang must have gone out along the underground river of the rock vein. Wu Xie looked carefully at both sides and found that the underground river channels on both sides seemed to be narrowing.

He could vaguely see something standing in the middle of the river on the left, but because of Wu Xie's angle, he couldn't see it clearly and could only vaguely sense that it was a person.

"Holy crap, what kind of place is this? It's so hot here!"

Er Mazi walked out of the mine tunnel with a strange cry.

Wu Xie looked at Er Mazi. Another young man was following behind Er Mazi. He wore glasses and looked scholarly. He was probably that Liang Shiye. Upon closer inspection, Liang Shiye was actually quite old.

Next came Old Yang, followed by a middle-aged man who had gained weight, and finally Old Tai.

"That's not right. There were five of them when they came in. I can't be wrong about that. Could it be..."

Wu Xie already had a guess in his mind.

"I must say, the environment here is quite special; rock veins are relatively rare."

Liang Shiye used a flashlight to observe the surroundings.

Er Mazi, still acting all energetic, took a few steps into the water before retreating.

"Uncle Tai, the water here is very deep, and it's very difficult to walk through. It's hard to wade through."

Er Mazi said with a frown.

"Tell me the truth, kid, how did you get out of here? Did you swim out?"

Old Tai sneered and looked at Old Yang.

“You can’t swim here. There are two iron chains under the water. I walked along the iron chains by feeling my way.”

Old Yang said with a start.

Seeing that Lao Tai was still staring intently at him, Lao Yang quickly ran ahead and kept feeling around in the water. He pulled up an iron chain that was thicker than his wrist.

"I'm not lying to you, this is what I said."

Er Mazi strode forward, shoved Lao Yang aside, and pulled on the iron chain a couple of times, his eyes filled with unease.

“Uncle Tai, the waterway is not a safe route. When Xiao Wang died before... if we encounter that monster again, we might all perish here.”

Er Mazi said with a worried expression.

Upon hearing this, Wu Xie knew that his guess was correct; there were indeed five people in the group.

However, one of them was eaten by a mutated piranha in the stagnant water outside, and the head that fell out after Fang Yun cut open its belly was that of the dead person.

"Don't worry, the water temperature here is already very high. No fish can survive at this temperature."

Liang Shiye touched the water and said nonchalantly.

"Really?"

Er Mazi chuckled twice, his tone filled with disbelief.

Just as Master Liang walked over and was about to put his hand on Er Mazi's shoulder.

Suddenly, a wave crashed behind Er Mazi, and in an instant, everyone was swept into the water, getting completely soaked.

A jet of water shot straight out of the water and sprayed towards the top of the cave, and the scalding water fell like rain.

The clerk was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he sat in the water trembling uncontrollably.

Old Tai seemed to be a worldly man who had experienced many ups and downs; he drew his gun almost the instant he stood up.

"Tell me, what exactly is this thing?"