Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The bronze door closed completely behind him.

The last glimmer of light from the outside world vanished, leaving only the limited field of vision cut by the beam of a flashlight in the darkness. The air instantly became heavy, carrying the cold smell of aged dust and rocks.

The door seemed to separate not only space, but also time—outside the door was the present world where there was still a chance of survival, while inside was the netherworld frozen for thousands of years.

Everyone stood still, afraid to move.

The flashlight beam swept frantically across the surroundings, illuminating a small area: beneath their feet were smooth bluestone slabs, the cracks filled with black clay. Ahead, the darkness seemed bottomless.

Xie Linyuan's beam of light was the most stable. He shone it forward, the beam extending for more than ten meters before being swallowed by darkness. But he could see the closest sight clearly—a downward spiral staircase.

The staircase, about three meters wide, is made of stone and has carved railings along its edges, with stone beasts crouching on the railings. The staircase spirals downwards along the inner wall of a huge cylindrical space, with no end in sight.

"This is..." Professor Zhou Xu'an's voice sounded faint in the empty space, "A spiral tomb passage? This kind of structure has never been seen in Zhou Dynasty tombs..."

"Get down," Xie Linyuan said.

He stepped onto the stairs.

The sound of his footsteps echoed softly in the vast space, humming as it traveled deeper into the room. The stairs were sturdy and firm. He walked slowly, each step landing precisely in the center of the staircase, avoiding the edges where they might weather.

The team caught up.

Eight live-streaming spheres hovered above the heads of eight people, their indicator lights glowing like faint fireflies in the absolute darkness. The live stream signal was still transmitting—some special technology was used, no one knew. The chat was scrolling wildly, but no one was watching.

[All viewers of ID: We're inside!]

[Suffocating feeling: This darkness... I can't even breathe through the screen]

[ID Architecture: Spiral Staircase! This engineering feat was a miracle in ancient times]

[ID Death Count: Xu Jiashu is dead, Zhou Hao is dead, eight left]

[IDs flooded the screen with prayers: You must get out alive!]

The procession descended in silence.

There were only footsteps, breathing, and the rustling of backpacks.

Chen Man gripped Wang Yihan's arm tightly, her nails digging almost into her flesh. Wang Yihan let her hold on, her other hand holding a flashlight, the beam trembling slightly. Kun Ge walked behind them, his lips pressed into a thin line, no longer engaging in any live-stream interaction, simply following mechanically. Liu Desheng kept his head down, his eyes fixed on Xie Linyuan's heels, not missing a single step. Jiang Shouyi walked beside Professor Zhou Xu'an, the compass needle in his hand completely malfunctioning, spinning wildly. Lin Guoce brought up the rear of the group, walking backwards, occasionally shining his flashlight back to where he had come from, wary of those behind him.

The steps seemed endless.

After walking for about ten minutes and circling downwards at least four or five times, I still couldn't see the bottom. The center of the space was a pitch-black void. When I shone my flashlight towards the center, I couldn't see the other side; I could only see floating dust particles dancing in the beam of light.

"How deep must it be..." Liu Desheng murmured.

No one answered.

Xie Linyuan stopped.

He crouched down, shining his flashlight on the railing at the edge of the steps. The stone beasts on the railing were strangely shaped—human faces, animal bodies, and bird wings, their crouching postures resembling both guarding and kneeling in worship. The eyes of the stone beasts were inlaid with black stone, the same material as the thin slices.

He reached out and touched the stone beast's eyes with his index finger.

The keen sense of touch from the fingertip revealed that behind the stone was a cavity containing extremely fine mechanical structures, like some kind of sensor.

He withdrew his hand.

"Don't touch the railing," he said.

The sound produced a slight echo in the spiral space, making it sound exceptionally clear.

Everyone stopped and looked at the guardrail.

"Is there a secret mechanism?" Lin Guoce asked.

"A sensor." Xie Linyuan stood up. "Touching it might trigger something."

"What is it?"

Xie Linyuan did not answer and continued walking.

The group became more cautious, with everyone staying close to the inside of the steps and away from the railings.

We went down three more laps.

A dark red stain appeared on the edge of the steps ahead.

Xie Linyuan stopped, and the beam of light shone on him.

The stain had dried and turned black, seeping into the cracks of the stone slabs. Scattered around the stain were several pieces of cloth—the fabric was long since rotten, but it was clearly made of coarse linen. Next to it was a broken bronze spearhead, heavily corroded.

"Someone has been here." Professor Zhou Xu'an squatted down, carefully picking up a piece of cloth while wearing gloves. "Not a modern person. The way this cloth is woven... is very ancient."

"How long?" Lin Guoce asked.

"At least a thousand years old." The professor looked at the bronze spearhead. "The shape of this spearhead is also from the Zhou Dynasty. Someone... came in shortly after the tomb was built."

"Then I'll die here," Liu Desheng said.

The shape of the stain resembled a person lying on the ground, bleeding to death.

Xie Linyuan glanced at the railing above the stain.

The stone beasts on the railing have slightly open mouths with tiny holes inside their mouths.

He got it.

"Keep going," he said.

Bypassing the stains, the group continued downhill.

The atmosphere grew even more oppressive. A thousand years ago, people died here, the cause of death unknown. And they are now walking the same path.

Live stream chat:

[ID Archaeology Shocks: Tomb Raiders from a Thousand Years Ago?]

[A chilling thought: Did people enter the tomb as soon as it was built?]

[ID Logic Party: They might be martyrs or craftsmen who built it]

[ID under immense pressure: Stop analyzing, I can barely keep reading]

The slope of the spiral staircase begins to decrease.

After circling around twice more, the situation ahead changed.

The stairs connect to a platform.

The platform is circular, about ten meters in diameter. A stone pillar stands in the center, its shaft covered with densely packed characters. Along the platform's edge are four entrances in different directions, each dark and its destination unknown.

The team stepped onto the platform, finally able to temporarily escape the dizzying spiral staircase.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.

The flashlight beam was focused on the central stone pillar.

The writing was still the ancient hieroglyphic script, but more complex than what he had seen before. Professor Zhou Xu'an rushed to the stone pillar, his eyes almost touching its surface.

"This...this is a memorial stele!" he exclaimed excitedly. "It records the construction of this tomb...and the guardian clan..."

He quickly scanned the text, muttering to himself as he read: "'The king decrees, build a gate in the heart of the mountain, seal the Eye of the Underworld... The Zhang family, guarding the gate, will perform blood sacrifices for generations to solidify the seal...' The Zhang family! It really is a clan! 'On the day the gate opens, Yin and Yang will be reversed, and all things will return to nothingness...' It's that warning again..."

Xie Linyuan stood on the other side of the stone pillar, looking at the words on it.

He couldn't understand everything, but he could recognize some key characters: "张", "血", "门", and "封".

Zhang Qiling's fragmented memories surged.

The Zhang family.

Qilin blood.

Bronze door.

seal.

The fragments are gradually piecing together, but it's not yet complete. The fit is less than 80%, and the deep memories remain untapped.

Lin Guoce was inspecting the four entrances to the passage. Each entrance was about two meters high and one and a half meters wide, with downward-facing stairs inside. Above the entrances were different symbols: one depicted a mountain, one water ripples, one flames, and one whirlwind.

"Four roads, which one to take?" He looked at Xie Linyuan.

Xie Linyuan walked to the four entrances and checked them one by one.

The term "faqiu" refers to the subtle perception of airflow in the air.

The entrance to the mountain-shaped symbol has the weakest airflow, almost still. The entrance to the water wave symbol has extremely faint water vapor. The entrance to the flame symbol has dry air. The entrance to the whirlwind symbol has a slight airflow.

He pointed to the entrance of the water wave symbol.

"Where there's water, there might be a way out."

Lin Guoce nodded: "Then this one will do."

They rested for fifteen minutes. Everyone ate some compressed biscuits and drank water. The batteries were draining quickly, and the flashlight beams were not as bright as before. Lin Guoce asked everyone to conserve electricity, only using three flashlights, and the others would follow the beams.

Xie Linyuan's light was always on, and he was always at the forefront.

We set off again, entering the passage marked by water ripples.

The passageway was no longer a spiral, but a straight downward path. The steps were steeper, requiring the use of both hands and feet. The walls were damp, with more severe seepage, forming thin streams that flowed down the steps. The air was increasingly humid, and even breathing carried a damp chill.

After walking about fifty meters, the sound of water came from ahead.

It wasn't the babbling of a stream, but a deep, rumbling sound from some larger body of water.

At the end of the passage, there is another platform.

Outside the platform is an underground lake.

The lake was vast, and the flashlight beam couldn't reach the opposite shore. The water was as black as ink, the surface calm, but a rumbling sound came from the depths, as if there were undercurrents surging beneath the surface. Above the lake was a towering dome, from which countless stalactites hung, some with water dripping from their tips, falling into the lake with a tinkling sound.

Several wooden boats were moored at the edge of the platform.

The wooden boat was more intact than the one seen in the previous pool. Although the hull was decayed, the structure was still intact. There were oars on the boat, which were made of stone, heavy but sturdy.

"We need to cross the lake." Lin Guoce looked at the dark surface of the lake. "How big is this lake?"

Xie Linyuan squatted on the edge of the platform and shone his flashlight into the lake.

The beam of light pierced the water's surface for about a meter, beyond which lay thick darkness. Something was moving in the lake—not a fish, but some kind of slender, dark shadow, moving very fast and disappearing in a flash.

He stood up and looked across the lake.

His night vision allowed him to see the outline of the opposite bank—there were buildings. They weren't natural rock walls, but man-made stone platforms and steps.

"There's a road on the other side," he said.

"Then let's cross the lake." Lin Guoce began inspecting the wooden boats. "Two boats, four people each. Mr. Xie, you and I will each take one."

Xie Linyuan shook his head.

"I'll take one," he said. "You guys take one."

"It's too dangerous, but separating is even more dangerous."

"There's something in the lake." Xie Linyuan looked at the water. "Split up; if they attack one, the other can go."

Lin Guoce remained silent.

This is the calmest, yet most ruthless, strategy—diversifying risk to avoid total annihilation.

"Okay." Lin Guoce finally nodded.

Two wooden boats were pushed into the water.

Xie Linyuan's boat carried only him. Lin Guoce's boat carried six others: Zhou Xu'an, Jiang Shouyi, Kun Ge, Chen Man, Wang Yihan, and Liu Desheng.

The stone oars propelled the boat slowly away from the shore.

The lake water was thicker than it looked, making rowing difficult. The boat moved very slowly, appearing like two tiny leaves on the dark lake surface.

Xie Linyuan rowed very fast. His arm strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, and each stroke of the stone paddle accelerated the boat. He quickly took the lead and headed towards the outline of the opposite bank.

Lin Guoce's boat followed behind, much slower. Six people were rowing, but their coordination was poor, causing the boat to sway from side to side.

The lake was calm.

There was only the sound of oars and water.

Xie Linyuan stopped rowing when he reached the center of the lake.

He sensed movement underwater.

more than one.

a lot of.

A slender, dark shadow rose from the bottom of the lake and converged on the two boats.

He gripped the black gold ancient sword tightly.

The first dark figure emerged from the water.

It's not a fish.

It's a snake.

But it wasn't a normal snake—its body was long and slender, covered in jet-black scales, its head was flat, and its mouth split wide to its gills, revealing a mouthful of fine, sharp teeth. Its eyes were cloudy white, without pupils.

It lunged at Xie Linyuan's ship.

Xie Linyuan slashed horizontally with his blade.

The snake's body was severed, and the two pieces fell into the water, from which black blood gushed out.

The smell of blood aroused the other shadowy figures.

Dozens, even hundreds, of black snakes leaped out of the water and pounced on the two boats.

Lin Guoce's boat was instantly surrounded. Chen Man screamed, Kun Ge pounded on the boat with his oars, and Liu Desheng nearly capsized in the chaos. Black snakes clung to the hull, some even trying to climb aboard.

Xie Linyuan's sword flashed repeatedly.

He cut off the black snake that lunged at him, and at the same time looked towards Lin Guoce.

A black snake bit Chen Man's calf.

Xie Linyuan flicked his wrist, sending a piece of wood flying out that struck the snake's head, causing it to fall into the water.

But more snakes surged up.

Lin Guoce swung his knife to slash at the snakes, but there were too many to defend against.

Xie Linyuan glanced at the opposite bank.

There are still 30 meters to go.

He took a deep breath and ran his left hand along the blade.

Blood droplets spilled into the lake.

The blood of the Qilin spread in the water.

The swarm of black snakes instantly panicked. As if encountering a natural enemy, they retreated frantically, diving underwater and disappearing from sight.

The lake surface returned to calm.

Only two boats and the floating snake carcass remained.

Xie Linyuan withdrew his hand and quickly bandaged the wound.

On Lin Guoce's side, everyone was paralyzed on the boat, still in shock.

"Keep rowing," Xie Linyuan said.

He was the first to row to the other side.

Five minutes later, the two boats docked one after the other.

The platform on the opposite bank is larger, with stone steps and railings. Behind the platform is a building carved into the mountainside—not a tomb, but more like a temple. The stone pillars, eaves, and brackets, though rough, are well-preserved in form.

The building's doors were open, but the interior was dark.

Two huge characters are engraved on the lintel.

Ancient seal script.

Xie Linyuan recognized him.

"Sacrifice Hall."

He said.

The group gathered in front of the door, looking into the darkness inside.

Spiral staircase, underground lake, swarms of black snakes, and now a sacrificial temple.

The scale of this ancient tomb far exceeds expectations.

And how far have they gone?

The tattoo on Xie Linyuan's shoulder blade continued to burn.

He gripped the hilt of his knife and stepped into the temple.

Darkness swallowed his figure.

The group hesitated for a moment, then followed them inside.

After witnessing the terror of the black snake swarm, the live stream chat was flooded with comments again:

[Shocking Scale: This isn't a tomb! It's a dungeon!]

[ID's stamina estimate: They've been walking for at least three hours and are still going downhill]

[ID Creature Encyclopedia: What kind of mutated species is that black snake?]

[The Secret of ID Blood: What's the working principle behind this guy's blood?!]

[ID's sense of despair: When can I get out of here...?]

Nobody knows the answer.

Including Xie Linyuan himself.

All he knew was that he had to keep going.

Reach the end of the secret.

Or, to the end of life.