Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

Inside the stone hall, a faint blue light flickered at the wellhead, illuminating eight silent, hanging bronze chains.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" stood before the activated beast head. Zhang Qiling held the unified jade eye in his hand, the vortex at the center of the jade eye slowly flowing under the blue light. "Zhang Qiling" held the jade tablet with the character "Qi" on it, the tablet slightly warm, and there seemed to be an invisible connection flowing between it and the jade eye.

The two exchanged a glance without speaking, and simultaneously pressed the objects in their hands against the beast head—Zhang Qiling's jade eyes were embedded in the indentation on his forehead, and the jade plaque bearing the inscription "Zhang Qiling" was placed on his chin.

Perfectly fitted.

A moment of silence.

"Click, click, click..."

A series of crisp, clicking sounds rang out from inside the animal head, from the depths of the shaft, and even from the other seven animal heads around it! Immediately afterwards, the eight bronze chains that had been stationary began to slowly retract upwards simultaneously! This was not a preparatory retraction of a single chain, but rather a synchronized and stable lifting of all eight chains, producing a neat and heavy "clattering" metallic friction sound that echoed deafeningly in the empty stone hall.

At the same time, the complex runes on the well wall, starting from the top, lit up one by one with a ghostly blue light, like lit light strips, and rapidly spread downwards! Wherever the light passed, carved steps and grooves appeared on the well wall, intersecting with the chains but more slender, seemingly for people to step on and climb! These steps and grooves were not vertical downwards, but spiraled downwards, surrounding the smooth well wall, forming a complex and ancient descent system together with the eight vertical chains.

"The chains are for stability and emergencies; the real path is those 'steps' on the well wall," Xie Yuchen analyzed quickly, looking at the well wall where the light spread. "Look at the angle and spacing of those spirals; the requirements for balance and landing points are extremely high. Ordinary people simply cannot walk on them. This wasn't designed for 'walking' at all..."

"It was designed for 'Leap'." Zhang Qiling put away the jade tablet and looked at the raised steps that were clearly visible under the dim blue light, with considerable spacing between them, and were not completely horizontal. He understood. This was a "path" prepared for people with superb lightness skills and body control.

"Holy crap..." Fatty Wang stared at the bottomless, spiraling "heavenly staircase" of the vertical shaft, his face turning green. "Is this supposed to be a path? It's for grasshoppers! With my size, one wrong step and I'm..."

"You don't need to step on it," Zhang Qiling calmly interrupted him. He looked at Wu Xie and Fatty, then at Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu. "The four of you, we'll take you."

Zhang Qiling nodded in agreement. He figured that with the skills of Hei Xiazi, A Ning, and Jiang Xun Gu, he wouldn't have much trouble going down there.

"That's settled then," Black Bear stretched his wrists and ankles, grinning. "Perfect for a workout. Dumb Zhang, you take Flower Master and Xiuxiu? I'll take this Little Jiang. Miss Ning should be fine on her own."

Ah Ning checked her gear, especially the anti-slip soles and grappling hooks on her shoes, and nodded.

"Hold on tight." Zhang Qiling said simply to Wu Xie and Fatty, and walked between them. He grabbed the handle of Wu Xie's clothes on the back with his left hand and the weight strap on top of Fatty's backpack with his right hand.

"Zhang Qiling" then walked over to Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu and grabbed their equipment belts in a similar manner.

"Wait, wait a minute!" Before Fatty Wang was ready, he suddenly felt his feet slip and was lifted up by a steady and enormous force. The wind howled in his ears, and the scene in front of him plummeted!

Zhang Qi was quick. Instead of taking the spiral staircase, he leaped directly into the vertical shaft! He fell at an extremely fast speed, but just before passing the first spiral staircase protrusion, he lightly touched the edge of the protrusion with his toes, suddenly slowing his descent. At the same time, he used the momentum to shift his body sideways, landing precisely in another groove several meters diagonally below.

With a twist of its toes in the groove, dissipating the momentum, its body glided downwards like a great bird, swooping towards the next step below. The movements were fluid and effortless; even carrying two large people, its figure remained stable and graceful, rising and falling and weaving through the eerie blue light and the darkness of the deep well, like a night owl soaring between cliffs.

"Zhang Qiling" followed closely behind, his style even more concise and direct. Carrying Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu, each descent and leverage was incredibly precise, without any unnecessary frills, like a precisely calculated trajectory, descending rapidly and steadily along the spiral staircase. Huo Xiuxiu kept her eyes tightly closed, while Xie Yuchen endured the dizziness, trying hard to observe the runes on the well walls that were rushing past them.

Hei Xiazi chuckled and told Jiang Xun Gu to "stay close." His figure blurred, and he drifted into the well like a falling leaf. He didn't step entirely on the steps, but instead occasionally used the chains for leverage or hooked his toes on tiny protrusions in the well wall. His movements were unpredictable and elusive, yet he always managed to find the next landing spot with incredible precision, his speed almost as fast as Zhang Qiling, who was carrying him. Jiang Xun Gu didn't dare to be careless. He took a deep breath and used his movement technique to keep up. His movements weren't as agile as Hei Xiazi's, but they were steady and solid. Every step he took landed precisely on the steps, closely following Hei Xiazi's figure.

Ah Ning was the last to go down. She didn't jump down immediately, but instead untied a rope with a tiny grappling hook from her waist, aimed at a protruding step below, shot out the grappling hook to secure it, then pulled on the rope, swinging lightly out. When the rope swung to its lowest point, she let go, landing precisely on the target. She then shot out the grappling hook again, alternating in this way. Although she wasn't as graceful as the previous people who relied entirely on their lightness skills, she was extremely efficient and safer.

The levitating live-streaming sphere hovered around the wellhead for a moment, then suddenly accelerated and chased downwards! The camera plummeted at high speed, shaking violently, barely managing to capture the figures moving and rising rapidly against the dark blue well walls and the deep black background.

The green light left afterimages as it sped along at high speed. The live stream chat was instantly flooded with exclamations like "Holy crap!", "That's incredible skill!", "He's flying!", and "My mom asked me why I'm watching the live stream on my knees."

The wind whistled past my ears, mixed with the scraping of chains and the increasingly loud low-frequency hum coming from below.

The eerie blue light flowed like water, forming a band of light in the rapidly passing field of vision. The details of the runes on the well wall, the carved textures, and even the tiny cracks left by time flashed by in the high-speed descent, only to be quickly swallowed by the darkness.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" were unusually focused. They not only had to control their descent and leverage, but also had to constantly sense the subtle feedback from the jade tablet and jade eye in their hands, as well as the energy fluctuations of the "core" deep within the well wall.

The warmth emanating from the jade pendant acted like a signpost in the darkness, guiding them down the correct spiral path and avoiding nodes with chaotic energy fields or hidden traps.

After descending for about two or three minutes (but it felt like a long time), the bottom was still unfathomable, but the diameter of the well wall seemed to be slowly widening.

The pulsation and whisper of that "core" became almost tangible here, the air itself seemed to vibrate slightly in rhythm with that low frequency. The deep blue light intensified, becoming almost blinding.

Suddenly, Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" almost simultaneously felt a slight, directional pull from the jade tablet in their hands. The jade eye also became slightly hot, and the vortex spun a little faster.

"The left side," Zhang Qiling said in a deep voice.

Zhang Qiling immediately understood. Instead of continuing down the main spiral as he descended towards the next step node, he twisted his body, carrying Wu Xie and Fatty, and leaped sideways towards an area on the left side of the well wall that appeared unremarkable and was relatively dimly lit. There were no obvious step protrusions there, only a relatively smooth well wall with fewer runes.

"Zhang Qiling" followed closely behind, bringing Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu with him.

Seeing this, Hei Xiazi, Jiang Xungu, and A Ning immediately adjusted their direction and moved closer to that side.

Just as Zhang Qiling was about to crash into the smooth well wall, the light from the jade eye in his hand suddenly shone brightly! The well wall in front of him rippled like water, runes moved, and a door-like crack silently appeared! Behind the crack, there was no longer a vertical well extending downwards, but a relatively narrow horizontal tunnel. From the depths of the tunnel, a more solid, but seemingly "pure" blue light shone through.

The group passed through the gap one after another and landed at the entrance of the passageway. The gap quietly closed behind them, returning to the smooth well wall, as if it had never been opened.

The feeling of solid ground beneath their feet made Wu Xie and Fatty breathe a sigh of relief, their legs still a little weak. Xie Yuchen and Huo Xiuxiu were also pale-faced, still shaken.

"That was just now..." Wu Xie gasped for breath, looking at the closed well wall behind him.

"A fork in the road," Zhang Qiling put away the jade tablet and looked into the depths of the tunnel, "or the entrance to the 'Source Point.' Continuing down the main shaft leads to the most heavily contaminated 'core.' This might be a relatively safe... observation point, or a control node."

Zhang Qiling also sensed the energy fluctuations emanating from the passageway ahead. Indeed, although it was still powerful, it lacked the manic whispers and corrosive feeling, and instead possessed a sense of tranquility and antiquity.

The passageway was short, only a few dozen meters long, and at its end was a half-open archway that appeared to be carved from some kind of warm, white jade. Inside, the light was intense.

The group carefully approached the white jade gate. Inside was a small, circular stone chamber. In the center of the chamber, a slowly rotating, pale blue sphere of light, about one meter in diameter, floated in mid-air.

Inside the sphere of light, countless fine runes and starlight seemed to flicker and flow, radiating a pure and immense energy, yet without the slightest hint of violence or pollution. Below the sphere of light was a small jade altar, upon which lay an unfurled ancient scroll, neither silk nor leather, bearing clear text and patterns.

The walls surrounding the stone chamber are inlaid with many smooth, mirror-like crystal shards of various colors. Each crystal shard reflects a different, rapidly shifting scene—a vast starry sky, a crumbling earth, strange creatures, a grand ceremony, and… countless pairs of eyes watching from the darkness, some with pity, some with indifference, and some with madness.

The levitating live-streaming sphere flew into the stone chamber, and the camera slowly panned across the central sphere of light, the scroll on the altar, and the breathtaking images within the surrounding crystals.

After a brief silence, the comments section erupted again.

The secret of the "nuclear" seems to be just around the corner.