Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The brazier in the stone chamber crackled and popped.

The burning black grease emitted a strange smell, like burnt rubber mixed with animal fat. But that little bit of light and heat seemed especially precious after enduring the cold of the underground lake and the stench of the blood pool.

Eight people sat around the brazier, and no one spoke.

The three corpses had been dragged to a corner and covered with a tattered rag. But the stench of blood still lingered in the air, mixed with the smoke from burning grease, creating a nauseating odor.

Xie Linyuan sat in the furthest spot from the brazier, his back against the stone wall. The black gold ancient sword lay horizontally on his lap, and he was wiping the blade with a cloth—it was stained with blood from when he killed the three cannibals, and the blood had congealed, turning a dark red.

His movements were slow and meticulous. The cloth wiped the blade, the guard, and the hilt. Each movement was performed with complete focus, as if he were doing something very important.

Indeed, this is very important. The knife must be kept clean and sharp. The next battle could come at any moment.

Lin Guoce was examining the items found on the body: two broken kettles, several pieces of compressed biscuits (expired twenty years ago), a rusty multi-tool knife, and the diary.

The diary was thick, with a leather cover and worn edges. Lin Guoce carefully opened it and read it page by page.

The handwriting was messy, and some parts were blurred due to water damage. But he could still piece together some information:

"On June 12, 1983... a group of seven of us went into the mountains... Old Chen said there was a large Zhou Dynasty tomb here..."

"June 15th... Found the entrance, in a crevice on the mountainside... It's bigger than I imagined..."

"June 18th... I'm lost... The map is useless... The structure here changes..."

"On June 21st... Xiao Zhang died... He fell into a deep hole... We heard him calling out for three days down there, and then he fell silent..."

"June 25th... food is almost gone... Old Wang suggests eating..."

The words at the end were torn off.

Lin Guoce turned to the last page.

There was only one line of text, written very large and forcefully, the ink soaking into the back of the paper:

"Don't go down!!!!!!!!!"

Seven exclamation marks.

Lin Guoce closed his diary and looked at Xie Linyuan.

"Twenty years ago, someone came in. Seven people. In the end..." He glanced at the three corpses in the corner, "...and they ended up like that."

Xie Linyuan didn't look up and continued wiping his knife.

"Will it be like that if we go downhill?" Liu Desheng's voice was dry.

"Not necessarily," Lin Guoce said. "We have Mr. Xie."

All eyes turned to Xie Linyuan.

He wiped the knife, put away the cloth, and sheathed it. The movements were fluid and without any unnecessary actions.

"Take a two-hour break," he said.

Then close your eyes.

The meaning is clear: Stop asking, go to sleep.

But no one could sleep.

The light from the brazier danced on the stone wall, casting jagged shadows. Occasionally, the sound of wind drifted from the passageway outside, like someone weeping. Although the three corpses in the corner were covered with cloth, the bulges beneath the cloth always drew the eye.

The chat was still flooded with messages, but the content had changed:

[ID Timeline: 1983! Forty years ago!]

[ID's sense of despair: Seven people became three, and they ate their teammates...]

[ID Warning: The last page says "Don't go down!"]

[ID Selection: Will they listen?]

Chen Man huddled beside Wang Yihan, her eyes wide open. "Sister Yihan, will...will we end up like that?"

Wang Yihan squeezed her hand: "No. We have Mr. Xie."

She didn't sound very confident when she said that.

Xie Linyuan is very strong, but is he strong enough to fight against the entire Ancient Tomb? Is he strong enough to fight against hunger, darkness, and despair?

Those seven people from twenty years ago must have thought the same thing when they first came in.

Jiang Shouyi was flipping through the soaked book, "A Collection of Secret Feng Shui Techniques"—it had come into his hands after Xu Jiashu's death. He turned to a certain page, and his finger stopped.

"Here..." he murmured, "'The underground palace has nine levels, each with its own death trap. There's only one gate to life, at the lowest point.' Nine levels... Which level are we on now?"

No one answered.

Professor Zhou Xu'an was taking notes: the dimensions of the stone chamber, the structure of the brazier, and the blurred murals on the walls. His glasses reflected the firelight, his hands were steady, but there was sweat on his forehead.

Kun sat closest to the brazier, his hands trembling. He took out his phone; the screen was long dead, but he still pressed the power button. Black screen. He gave a wry smile and put the phone away.

Liu Desheng stared blankly at the flames in the brazier.

Two hours passed in deathly silence.

Xie Linyuan opened his eyes right on time.

He stood up and stretched his shoulders. The Qilin tattoo on his shoulder blade was still burning hot, even hotter than before. This stone chamber, or something beneath it, was causing the tattoo to react.

"Let's go," he said.

The team packed up their things. They couldn't bring the fire from the brazier, but Lin Guoce found some materials that could be used as torches—rags wrapped around wooden sticks, soaked in the grease from the brazier, which could burn for a while after being lit.

Each person made a torch, and with the addition of a flashlight, the lighting problem was temporarily solved.

The stone chamber had two exits: one was the one they came in through, and the other was against the opposite wall, blocked by a pile of debris.

Xie Linyuan moved the clutter aside, revealing a small stone door.

The door was low, requiring one to bend over to pass through. A symbol was engraved on the door: a downward arrow ending in a circle.

"Downwards," Professor Zhou Xu'an said. "Just like the diary says, they were also going downwards."

Xie Linyuan pushed open the door.

Behind the door was a steep, wet slope. The torchlight could only illuminate a dozen meters ahead before darkness descended.

He went down first.

The others followed.

The slope was long. After walking about 100 meters, the slope became gentler, and a platform appeared in front of us.

The platform is circular, about fifteen meters in diameter. There is a hole in the center of the platform.

The cave was very large, over three meters in diameter. The edges of the cave entrance were smooth rock, seemingly naturally formed, but also showing signs of human intervention. The cave was very deep; when the torch shone down, the bottom was not visible.

A breeze blew up from the cave, carrying a damp and cold scent.

Sounds could still be heard coming from inside the cave.

It's very light, but it definitely has a light weight.

thump.

thump.

thump.

It sounded like something was hitting the rocks, coming from very deep inside.

Everyone stopped at the edge of the cave and looked down.

"Is someone down there?" Chen Man whispered.

"The person who fell twenty years ago?" Liu Desheng said, "Little Zhang? He knocked on the ground for three days..."

"Forty years," Lin Guoce said. "He died long ago."

thump.

The sound rang out again.

This time it's clearer, like metal striking stone.

Xie Linyuan squatted down by the cave, picked up a stone, and threw it down.

The sound of the stone falling lasted for a long time before a faint thud could be heard – it was far away, at least tens of meters deep.

He took a rope out of his backpack, tied one end to a protruding rock at the edge of the cave, and threw the other end into the cave.

The rope, about thirty meters long, hung down and disappeared into the darkness.

"I'll get off first," he said.

"It's too deep," Lin Guoce said. "The rope isn't long enough."

"That's enough for one section," Xie Linyuan said. "I'll jump the rest."

"Jump? Twenty meters?"

Xie Linyuan did not explain.

He grabbed the rope, braced his feet against the cave wall, and began to slide down.

His movements were swift and coordinated, like a professional rock climber. A torch was stuck to the side of his backpack, its light flickering with his movements.

The people above were all peering through the hole.

Live stream chat:

[ID Deep Fear: How deep is this hole?]

[ID Rope Brigade Expert: This guy's moves are so professional!]

[ID worried: What if we don't have enough rope?]

Xie Linyuan slid down about ten meters until the rope reached its end.

He stopped in mid-air and looked down.

The torchlight illuminated the cave walls, revealing that they widened below ten meters, forming a massive hollow. The bottom was faintly visible as a pile of rubble.

The distance is approximately twenty meters.

He loosened the rope.

The body fell.

But it wasn't freefall. He adjusted his posture in mid-air, tapping his feet against the cave wall three times, each time slowing his descent. At the same time, he spread his arms to maintain balance.

After the third attempt to break through the wall, he was only five meters away from the bottom.

He curled up and rolled over.

Upon landing, the knees bend, and the body rolls forward two times to dissipate the impact.

Then he stood up, completely unharmed.

The torch was still in my hand; the light flickered a few times, then became steady.

He looked up and shouted, "Come down!"

The sound echoed in the cave.

The people above looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Jump...jump down?" Kun's voice trembled.

"The rope can only go up to ten meters," Lin Guoce said. "We'll have to figure out the rest ourselves."

"I can't do it!" Chen Man cried. "I'll fall and die!"

Xie Linyuan was waiting downstairs.

Two minutes later, Lin Guoce was the first to come down. He climbed to the end of the rope, looked down, gritted his teeth, and jumped down.

His landing wasn't so graceful; he tripped and fell, but he wasn't injured.

Then it was Professor Zhou Xu'an's turn—Lin Guoce caught him below. The professor jumped with his eyes closed, was caught, and the two of them fell down together.

Next were Jiang Shouyi, Kun Ge, Wang Yihan, Chen Man, and Liu Desheng.

Everyone screamed as they jumped and landed in a disheveled state.

But they are all alive.

After the last person, Liu Desheng, jumped down, the rope suddenly came loose.

The knot tied at the entrance of the hole somehow came undone.

The rope fell down and piled up on the ground.

Everyone's expression changed.

"There's no going back," Liu Desheng murmured.

Xie Linyuan picked up the rope and put it away.

"Keep moving forward," he said.

The space at the bottom of the cave is very large, like the bottom of an underground cavern. There are jagged rocks, some of which are covered with glowing moss, providing a faint light.

The knocking sound is still there.

thump.

This time it's even closer.

Xie Linyuan walked towards the direction of the sound.

The others followed, carrying torches.

After walking about fifty meters, a corpse appeared ahead.

The body hung on the stone wall, pierced through the chest by several bronze chains and nailed to the wall. The body had dried into a mummy, but it was still recognizable as a young man wearing blue overalls from the 1980s.

The corpse was holding a hammer.

The hammerhead was made of stone, and the handle was made of wood, which had rotted away.

The wind blew, the corpse swayed, and the hammer in its hand struck the stone wall.

thump.

It turned out to be the case.

Xiao Zhang, who fell twenty years ago, wasn't quite dead. He was chained to the wall, still clutching a hammer. A gust of wind blew, causing his body to sway, and the hammer struck the stone wall.

I've been knocking on it for forty years.

Everyone stared at the corpse, speechless.

Xie Linyuan stepped forward and inspected the chains.

The other end of the chain was embedded deep in the stone wall. He grabbed the chain and pulled hard.

The chains remained completely still.

He tried again, this time using the power of the "Hunting Finger".

The chains remained unmoved.

These chains are not for locking people.

It is part of the seal.

He looked behind the corpse.

A huge rune was carved on the stone wall.

Similar to the runes on the Blackrock, but more complex. In the center of the runes is a groove, the same size as the Blackrock disc.

He took out the disc and compared it.

A perfect match.

But he didn't put it in.

His intuition told him that putting it in now would cause a problem.

He put away the disc and turned around.

"Keep going."

The group bypassed the corpses and continued forward.

The ground at the bottom of the cave began to slope downwards, and we went deeper and deeper. The air became increasingly humid, and water began to seep from the walls, dripping and dripping.

After walking about 100 meters, the sound of water came from ahead.

It wasn't the sound of dripping water, it was the sound of flowing water.

An underground river.

The river is about five meters wide, with a rapid current and dark water. On the opposite bank, there is a man-made platform with steps leading up to it.

There is no bridge over the river.

There are only a few rocks protruding from the water, spaced far apart, the closest being at least two meters apart.

Xie Linyuan looked at the stones.

"Jump over there," he said.

"I can't jump over it!" Kun said. "Two meters, I can't jump that far!"

"I have to jump."

Xie Linyuan first demonstrated.

He took a few steps back, ran up, and jumped.

His body traced an arc, landing steadily on the first rock. The rock was slippery, but he maintained his balance and didn't wobble.

Jump again to the second piece.

I leaped three times to the other side.

The whole process took less than five seconds.

He turned around and looked this way.

"One at a time."

Lin Guoce is the second.

He took a deep breath, ran up, and jumped.

He barely landed on the first rock, his body swayed, and he almost fell, but he managed to steady himself.

Then jump to the other side.

Then came Professor Zhou Xu'an—he couldn't jump across, so Lin Guoce pulled him across with a rope from the other side. The professor jumped with his eyes closed and was pulled across.

When Jiang Shouyi jumped, his foot slipped, and he almost fell into the river. Xie Linyuan reached out, grabbed his collar, and pulled him up.

Kun Ge was too scared to jump and cried. Wang Yihan and Chen Man encouraged him, and in the end he jumped with his eyes closed, fell on the other side, scraped his knees, but survived.

Wang Yihan and Chen Man encouraged each other and jumped together, and they both succeeded.

Only Liu Desheng remained.

He stood by the river, looking at the rushing black water, his face pale.

"I...I dare not..."

"Jump," Xie Linyuan said from the other side of the river.

"I'm going to fall!"

"Jump, or stay."

Liu Desheng gritted his teeth, stepped back, took a running start, and jumped.

He jumped too early; the distance wasn't enough.

The body is falling.

My hand could barely reach the edge of the opposite bank.

He clung to the rocks, his body dangling in the air, with black water beneath his feet.

"Help me!" he screamed.

Xie Linyuan looked at him.

Didn't move.

Lin Guoce tried to pull him away, but Xie Linyuan stopped him.

"Come up yourself," Xie Linyuan said.

Liu Desheng struggled desperately, kicking wildly against the rock face. He found a protrusion, used his strength to lift himself up, and finally climbed up.

He collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, tears streaming down his face.

Xie Linyuan turned around and looked at the stairs.

The stairs ascend, stretching into the darkness.

"Let's go," he said.

The team set off again.

No one noticed that as they crossed the river, several pairs of eyes were watching them from the darkness on the other side.

Red eyes.

Like those three cannibals.

But more.

There are at least a dozen pairs.

They emerged from the darkness after the procession had gone far away.

I walked to the riverbank, squatted down, scooped up some water with my hands, and took a sip.

Then they looked in the direction the group had left.

He grinned.