Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The forests to the northeast were denser than those we had traversed before.

The trees were tall, their branches and leaves intertwined, blocking out the sun. Underfoot lay a thick layer of humus, soft and spongy, exuding a damp, musty smell. Vines, like giant nets, blocked the path, requiring a knife to cut them away.

Zhang Qiling walked at the front, holding an old bronze compass in his hand. The pointer trembled slightly, pointing in a fixed direction. "Zhang Qiling" walked beside him, their eyes scanning the surrounding vegetation and rocks. The two walked quickly but with unusual stability, as if the rugged terrain beneath their feet did not exist.

The people behind were struggling to keep up. Wu Xie stumbled along, his glasses fogged up. Fatty Wang, panting heavily, swung his knife and cut a thick vine blocking their path. "Brother, how much further?"

"Ahead." Zhang Qiling didn't even turn his head.

After walking for about half an hour, a rocky slope appeared ahead. The slope was very steep and covered with slippery moss. At the bottom of the slope, a dark crack could be vaguely seen, about a meter wide and no more than two meters high, like a wound that had split open in the mountain. A slight breeze blew out from the crack, carrying the unique coolness and earthy smell of the ground.

"Is this it?" Xie Yuchen walked to the crack and looked inside.

"Hmm." Zhang Qiling put away the compass and bent down to go inside first. "Zhang Qiling" followed closely behind.

The crack was deeper inside than it appeared from the outside, and initially very narrow, requiring one to move sideways. After walking for about ten meters, it suddenly opened up into a natural, sloping passageway. The walls of the passageway were rough rock, without any signs of human intervention, but the ground was relatively flat, as if it had been formed by long-term erosion by water. The earthy smell in the air was stronger, mixed with a very faint, indescribable sweet-smelling odor.

"This taste..." Huo Xiuxiu frowned.

"It looks like blood, but it doesn't," Ah Ning said softly.

"Earthly energy." A brief explanation of "Zhang Qiling".

The passageway descended gently. Crystals began to appear on the rock walls on both sides, reflecting a fine, colorful light under the headlamp. Some resembled crystals, while others were unidentifiable.

"Look at this." Wu Xie pointed to a large cluster of crystals on the rock wall. The crystals were dark red, and it seemed as if liquid was slowly flowing inside. The shape was very similar to... a closed eye.

"The mineral vein has undergone abnormal changes." Xie Yuchen examined it carefully. "Influenced by the earth's energy, it has formed special crystals. The reason why the Prince Xian's tomb was chosen here may also be because he was interested in this geological vein."

They continued deeper. The passageway began to branch off, but Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" always chose one without hesitation. Sometimes it was based on the wind direction, sometimes on the humidity or temperature difference of the rock face, and sometimes just a glance at the compass.

"These two young men have an amazing sense of direction," Jiang Xun Gu exclaimed sincerely as he followed behind.

"I'm used to it," Black Bear said.

After walking for about an hour, signs of human intervention appeared ahead. The rough rock walls had been replaced by neat rows of bluestone, and the ground was paved with stone slabs. The passageway had widened, allowing three people to walk side by side.

In the air, the faint, sweet, fishy smell began to be mixed with a very faint, burnt odor.

"We're almost there." Zhang Qiling stopped and listened intently. The depths of the passageway were deathly silent.

"Is it the same place as before?" Zhang Qiling asked.

"It should be." Zhang Qiling nodded.

The group quickened their pace. Rounding a bend, a broken stone door appeared ahead. The door was ajar, its hinges broken, and the door panels were covered in cracks and signs of impact. From within, a familiar, eerie blue light shone faintly.

They pushed the door open and entered.

Before them stood the enormous cavern, its dome inlaid with a "starry sky." A white marble platform stood silently in the center, surrounded by utter devastation. The remains of eight golden-armored corpse kings lay sprawled on the ground in various contorted positions, fragments of dark gold armor, dried and blackened flesh and bone, and congealed blackish-red fluid covering the area around the platform. A faint stench of burning and a stronger, sweet, acrid smell lingered in the air—the remnants of the previous poisonous miasma, though now much thinner.

A levitating live-streaming sphere floated in from behind, hovering in mid-air above the cave. The camera panned across the horrific aftermath of the battle.

The comments scrolled by:

The prophet: He's back again...

This is designed to quell any dissent from so-called experts: it's enough to make your scalp tingle.

The male fan club: Our husbands were here last time...

"Check it first," Zhang Qiling said. He and "Zhang Qiling" walked to the white marble platform. The platform was empty, except for the shallow trough where the Muchen Pearl had been placed. Zhang Qiling reached out and touched the bottom of the trough, then leaned closer to smell it.

Zhang Qiling crouched down to examine the hidden compartment mechanism on the side of the stone platform. The mechanism was intact, but the inside was empty.

"Most of the poisonous miasma has dissipated, but not completely." Xie Yuchen walked to the remains of a corpse king and carefully probed the gaps in the armor plates with a metal probe. A faint wisp of dark green mist still seeped out from the gaps, but quickly dissipated into the air. "It seems the ventilation here is poor; the remaining corpse poison will require more time to purify."

"Look here." Aning pointed to the depths of the cave, to the wall carved with a giant eye swirl pattern. The wall was still intact, but the groove in the center of the pattern, where a small jade piece had once been embedded, now emitted a soft white halo, which was out of place with the surrounding dark blue "starlight".

The crowd gathered around. The white light in the groove was stable and not dazzling, like a luminous pearl.

"The jade piece and the jade eye resonate?" Huo Xiuxiu guessed.

Zhang Qiling took out the unified jade eye from his robes, and then took out the small jade piece. He first brought the jade eye close to the wall. The jade eye did not react. But when he brought the small jade piece close to the glowing groove, the small jade piece also lit up slightly, its light matching the frequency of the white light in the groove, as if it were breathing.

"As expected," said Zhang Qiling.

"There's something else behind this wall," Wu Xie said.

"Last time I was only focused on taking the beads and didn't look at them closely," Fatty Wang said, scratching his head.

Zhang Qiling gently pressed the glowing jade piece into the groove. It fit perfectly.

"Buzz..."

A deep tremor emanated from within the wall. Then, starting from the center, the stone lines of the wall, carved with swirling eye patterns, seemed to come alive, rippling and flowing like water. The swirling patterns began to rotate slowly, very slowly, but with a heavy, all-crushing force.

At the center of the swirling vortex, where the groove was located, the light distorted, gradually forming a recessed, blurry entrance. The entrance was pitch black, but a wind could be felt blowing from within, carrying an even colder and more stale atmosphere than the outside.

"The passage," Xie Yuchen said.

"Let's go." Zhang Qiling was the first to step into the swirling, dark entrance. His figure was instantly swallowed up.

"Zhang Qiling" was the second to enter.

The others took a deep breath and followed in turn. The moment they stepped into the entrance, they had the illusion of passing through a curtain of icy water; their vision went black for a moment, then returned to normal.

Behind them, the vortex on the wall slowly stopped spinning, returning to its original stone carving pattern, only the light in the central groove dimmed. The entrance had vanished.

They stood in a completely new passageway. The passageway was narrow, allowing only two people to walk side by side, but it was high, its ceiling disappearing into the darkness. The walls on either side were no longer rough rock or bluestone, but a fine, grayish-white stone, its surface polished so smooth that it could vaguely reflect a person's image. There were no lights on the walls, no luminous stones, only the beams of their headlamps and flashlights reflecting back and forth on the smooth surface, illuminating what lay ahead.

The path beneath our feet was a downward slope, steeper than any of the previous sections. The stale air carried an indescribable sense of "oldness," like a library sealed for centuries, or an ancient coffin buried deep underground.

"This road... is really well-constructed." Jiang Xun Gu touched the smooth wall. "This stone doesn't seem to be from this area."

"It looks like it was brought from somewhere else." Xie Yuchen touched it as well. "It's dense, absorbs light, and has a strange sound transmission." He tapped it with his finger, and it produced a dull, short "thud" sound that barely echoed.

"Look at the ground." Ah Ning squatted down. The ground was also paved with this grayish-white stone, but in the middle of the slope, there was a straight, slightly darker mark, about a foot wide, coming from the darkness above and going down into the darkness below, as if it had been formed by the friction of a heavy object being dragged for a long time.

"Drag marks," Black Bear said. "From dragging a coffin?"

"Perhaps." Zhang Qiling looked down along the drag marks. The drag marks ended in darkness, their destination unknown.

The group continued downhill. The smooth passageway seemed endless, a monotonous descent with only blurry reflections on either side. The beams of their headlamps pierced the darkness, but their light didn't reach very far. Apart from the sounds of footsteps and breathing, there was only an almost vacuum-like silence, oppressing their eardrums.

We walked for a long time, so long that our sense of time became somewhat blurred. Finally, the drag marks ahead came to an end—leading to a door.

A massive, heavy stone door. The door was black, made of neither gold nor stone, and cold to the touch. It was devoid of any carvings or decorations, smooth as a mirror, so smooth that it clearly reflected their approaching figures. The door was tightly shut, perfectly sealed, with no discernible mechanism for opening or closing.

The drag marks disappeared in front of the door.

"No way out?" Fatty Wang stepped forward and pushed the door, but it didn't budge.

Zhang Qiling walked to the door and examined it closely. The surface of the door was exceptionally smooth, without a single seam. He stretched out his palm, placed it on the door surface, and moved it slowly, as if sensing something.

Zhang Qiling did the same. A moment later, the two withdrew their hands almost simultaneously and looked at each other.

"It's a whole piece," Zhang Qiling said.

"It's very thick," Zhang Qiling added.

"Then how do we get in?" Wu Xie asked.

Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu searched for the mechanism on the walls on either side of the door. Jiang Xun Gu and Hei Xiazi examined the floor. A Ning looked up at the lintel above the door.

"No gaps, no grooves, no mechanisms..." Xie Yuchen frowned. "It doesn't look like a door; it looks more like a sealed wall."

Zhang Qiling took out the unified jade eye again and stuck it on the smooth door surface. The jade eye did not react. He then took out the small jade piece and stuck it on, but the same thing happened.

"It's not a key," Zhang Qiling said.

Just as everyone was pondering, Wu Xie suddenly exclaimed "Huh?" He pointed to a spot on the door—where the beam of his headlamp was reflected, but at the edge of the beam, there seemed to be a small area of ​​reflection that was slightly darker in color than the surrounding area and had a very irregular shape.

"This place... seems a little different?"

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" immediately looked over. Indeed, on the smooth, mirror-like black surface, that small, palm-sized area seemed to have dimmed its reflection by a barely perceptible amount, as if... worn out? Or perhaps, it had been touched by something for a long time?

Zhang Qiling reached out and pressed his hand on the slightly darker area. It was cold to the touch, no different from the surrounding area. He tried pressing down, but there was no response. He rotated it left and right, but it didn't move either.

Zhang Qiling thought for a moment, then reached out his hand, but instead of pressing, he placed his palm completely against the area and slowly pushed it inwards—not with brute force, but with a restrained, continuous force.

At first, nothing changed. A few seconds later, the slightly darker area actually did slightly indent as "Zhang Qiling" pushed with his palm! Although it was only a hair's breadth difference, the door did indeed move!

It wasn't the door that opened, but rather a small section of the facade, like a pressed-down, extremely heavy flap, that shrank inward.

As the trapdoor sank inward, a series of extremely subtle yet incredibly complex clicking sounds emanated from inside the smooth, black giant door, like countless precise gears and mechanisms working together. The sound lasted for about ten seconds.

Then, before everyone's eyes, the smooth, mirror-like, seemingly seamless black door silently slid open from the middle to both sides, revealing an even deeper darkness behind it.

From behind the door, an aura emerged that was far more ancient, more silent, and seemingly more "empty" than before.