Card Room

【Chapter 373, General's Tomb】

The corridors of the underground tomb were damp and cold, and the only sound in my ears was the sound of everyone's footsteps. Such an environment is weird, especially when everyone is silent, the atmosphere becomes even weirder.

It was pitch black ahead, and everyone quickly took out the Ye Mingzhu—with the help of the light of the Ye Ming Pearl, it was possible to see that the ground was paved with mud, and the surrounding walls were also earth walls, without a single brick.

This should be the entrance to the ancient tomb?

Sure enough, after walking for a while, everyone saw a stone gate in front of them.

Strange totems are painted on the door, and there are two lamps beside the stone gate, which are always on. Although the light is dim, the lamp oil in it seems to never burn out.

After everyone approached, the wick began to shake slightly, casting strange ghost images on the surrounding walls, like two will-o'-the-wisps floating in the dark night.

Ye Qi was not afraid of these phantoms, and asked curiously, "This ancient tomb is at least several hundred years old, right? Can the lamp oil burn for so long?"

Just as Lu Jiuchuan wanted to go up to have a look, Yu Hanjiang was worried that he might be injured and that he might not be able to hide in case of encountering an organ, so he reached out to stop his brother, and went to check the two lights by himself.

After careful observation, Yu Hanjiang said: "The lamp oil added here should be a special material, which is different from the oil lamps we have seen." After he finished speaking, he looked at Xiao Lou again, as if he was waiting for Xiao Lou's explanation.

Xiao Lou walked up to him and watched for a few seconds, and said, "This is an 'eternal lamp'. The light can burn for hundreds of years without going out. Putting an everlasting lamp in the tomb, besides illuminating the underground tomb, there is also a kind of particularity--faithfulness." If a person of the Buddha wants to seek liberation after death, he will use his body as a lampstand and his heart as a wick to increase his precepts and deeds as fuel, and his wisdom and enlightenment are like a lamp."

The teammates listened carefully. Several times before, Professor Xiao led everyone to lie in the secret room. He has a wide range of knowledge, so when he told the meaning of the eternal light, the teammates didn't find it strange at all. On the contrary, they thought it was normal for Professor Xiao to know. After all, Xiao Lou is a top student who "others are still looking at the questions, but he has already submitted the answers".

But the four of Lu Jiuchuan and Xiao Lou's team are cooperating for the first time.

Listening to him quickly explaining the meaning of the ever-bright lantern, Lu Jiuchuan admired "the person my brother likes is really smart"; Chu Huaying was expressionless, but listened very carefully; Tang Ci looked indifferent; Mr. Gui Lao smiled lightly She smiled, did not interrupt him, and continued to listen to his explanation.

"It's also the first time I've seen a real ever-burning lamp. The lamp oil added here should be the legendary beeswax." Xiao Lou said.

"Beeswax?" Lu Jiuchuan frowned slightly, "Is it the secretion of bees?"

"Well. To be precise, it is a fatty substance secreted by worker bees, and it is also the material for building honeycombs. The ancients were very wise. They melted honeycombs with hot water and refined them into 'beeswax'. They used beeswax to make lamp oil and burned it The speed is very slow, and if it is placed in the tomb, as long as the oxygen continues, it can burn for a long time, which is also the origin of the eternal lamp." Xiao Lou explained seriously.

"Professor Xiao is right." Mr. Gui suddenly said in a low voice, "Archaeologists have discovered the ever-burning lamp in the Dingling Tomb of Emperor Wanli, and confirmed that the material used to make lamp oil is beeswax. As for the so-called ' Mermaid cream and lamp oil', there is no conclusion in the scientific community." Gui Yuanzhang looked at Xiao Lou, "I didn't expect that you would be interested in history and archaeology at such a young age?"

"..." Xiao Lou realized that he had met a real expert, and his ears immediately warmed up, and he said, "Senior, I just like to read some miscellaneous books and have learned about this kind of knowledge. Compared with you, what I know is only It could be considered fur."

Gui Yuanzhang is a famous calligrapher, a professor of history, and has profound knowledge. Xiao Lou's father is a fan of Gui Lao, and he has a collection of Mr. Gui's cursive script at home. Xiao Lou is also embarrassed to play tricks in front of the old man.

Gui Lao said very gently: "There is no need to be modest. The square secret room encountered this time may not necessarily be a real ancient tomb in history. It is more likely that the gatekeepers refer to some historical books and set it up randomly. For the tomb of an ancient general, we don’t need to worry about dynasty and history, we need to find the exit of the ancient tomb first.”

Lu Jiuchuan is a man of action. Hearing this, he stepped forward and knocked lightly on the stone door.

There was a muffled sound in the ear, which showed that the stone gate was very thick, and it could not be broken or pushed by manpower, and it must be opened by a mechanism.

Lu Jiuchuan asked: "Will the mechanism be these two lamps?"

Xiao Lou scanned the surroundings and found no other mechanisms, so he said, "See if the two long-burning lights can be turned?"

Hearing this, Yu Hanjiang stretched out his hand and tried to rotate the ever-burning lamp in front of him. Lu Jiuchuan, who was standing on the right, also walked over, imitating his younger brother's movements, and turning the ever-burning lamp around.

Shimen didn't respond.

Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan looked at each other, and tried to turn in the opposite direction... Shimen still didn't respond.

Xiao Lou took a step back and carefully looked at the totem on the stone gate.

The patterns of those totems were very messy. While he was wondering, Gui Yuanzhang suddenly said: "The totems on this stone gate are half inscribed in Yin and half inscribed in Yang. Together, they form a pattern similar to Taiji."

After all, he is an expert in calligraphy, and he can see characters such as Yin engraved and Yang engraved much more clearly than ordinary people. If Xiao Lou remembered correctly, Gui Yuanzhang's own seal was inscribed on the painting and calligraphy collected by his father.

Yin engraved patterns will be sunken into the plane, while Yang engraved patterns will protrude out of the plane, which will be more obvious to the touch, but if you just look at it with your eyes, it is easy to confuse the two together.

As soon as Senior Gui reminded him, Xiao Lou quickly understood the meaning of the pattern.

In the Taiji diagram, there are many animal patterns, all of which are interference factors. The whole painting looks like a scene of sacrifice by the ancients. Eliminate distracting items, and you can see a man and a woman with two big thumbs. In the pattern on the left, the woman's left hand is facing upwards, which is clockwise; in the pattern on the right, the man's hands are facing upwards, but it is reversed counterclockwise.

Xiao Lou quickly analyzed the mechanism's solution: "The left permanent light turns clockwise once, the right permanent light turns counterclockwise twice, and the rotation speed of the right is twice that of the left. Try to ensure that the two lights turn to a good position at the same time."

Hearing this, Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan took action.

Those who make one circle need to slow down, and those who make two circles need to speed up, so that the two lights can be aligned synchronously.

Xiao Lou is not sure whether it is necessary to be synchronized. He only thinks that the dance movements of a man and a woman on the pattern are synchronized. If you turn the long light one fast and one slow, you may not be able to turn on the mechanism.

Facts have proved that his carefulness is not wrong.

When Yu Hanjiang turned the long light on the left for one turn, the light on Lu Jiuchuan's right turned two turns, and they clearly heard the "click" sound of the organs on both sides aligning at the same time. Immediately afterwards, the surrounding ground suddenly began to vibrate, and there was a loud "bang" in everyone's ears, and the heavy stone door slowly rose in front of them, revealing a dark corridor.

Yu Hanjiang glanced at his elder brother and said, "Go in?"

The door just now was just the entrance to the labyrinth. If Mr. Gui and Xiao Lou hadn't analyzed the opening method of the mechanism together, they might have spent a lot of time just in front of this stone door.

Shao Qingge thought with a smile—Professor Xiao used to solve the maze, and Lao Mo knew the way, and now Mr. Gui Yuanzhang, who understands history, has been added. The next customs clearance will be much smoother.

Anyway, Shao Qingge has always won in square pieces, so he couldn't help much, so he simply followed Xiao Lou silently and didn't speak.

As a result, after walking a few steps, Ye Qi suddenly said: "Look behind you!"

Everyone suddenly turned their heads, and the heavy stone door that was slowly opened just now was suddenly lowered after they entered the maze. The loud sound of "boom" was like a heavy hammer hitting everyone's hearts. .

Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly: "As soon as we entered the maze, it blocked our back path, which is really a common trick of the Ace of Diamonds."

Lu Jiuchuan said bluntly: "It doesn't matter, anyway, we can't go back and go out through this door and continue forward."

Xiao Lou looked at his feet with the help of the light from the night pearl.

Unlike the muddy land in front of the stone gate just now, after entering the ancient tomb, the ground is paved with bluestone bricks.

The stone bricks look old, but they are clean. The cold underground environment makes people feel a bit of biting chill when they step on the stone bricks. Xiao Lou humbly asked Gui Yuanzhang: "Senior, do you know this kind of brick?"

The reason why he asked this was because he found that there were many strange patterns on the bricks on the ground and walls. He was afraid that there were some mechanisms hidden under the bricks. If he accidentally stepped on them, what if a bunch of poisonous arrows were suddenly shot from the walls?

Gui Yuanzhang squatted down when he heard the words, and Xiao Lou held up the Ye Mingzhu to borrow light from him.

The old man knocked the bricks on the ground with his hand, listened to the sound, touched the patterns on them carefully, and said: "The bricks are only engraved with some cloud patterns and dragon patterns, and the patterns have clear edges and corners. From the perspective of craftsmanship, it is likely to be tomb bricks after the Eastern Han Dynasty. This kind of bricks is more common in Han Dynasty tombs, and the patterns are just for decoration, without much reference value, and it is unlikely that there are organs hidden under the bricks."

Xiao Lou felt relieved, looked towards the dark passage ahead and said, "Everyone, pass through here as soon as possible."

After making sure that there are no traps under their feet, everyone's speed immediately increased.

After walking for half a minute, this dark passage came to an end, and a fork appeared in front of it.

Everyone held up the Ye Mingzhu and took a closer look. It was the same corridor to the left and right, so deep that it couldn't see the end. In the pitch-black underground environment, with gusty winds, everyone always felt uneasy, fearing that ghosts and the like would rush over from the darkness in the next moment.

Although this is a square secret room, who knows if the gatekeepers will deliberately set up some "accidents" to scare them?

After all, the four gatekeepers have always been unreliable.

Xiao Lou took a deep breath—to the left, or to the right?

In case the area of ​​this maze is very large, if you go the wrong way, you will waste a lot of time if you go back and try again.

Lu Jiuchuan turned around and asked, "Why don't we divide into two teams?"

Xiao Lou is also in favor of forming a team. Firstly, the team can explore two roads at the same time, saving half of the time; secondly, the twelve of them gather together, making it very crowded in the narrow passageway. , but they will collide with each other because their hands and feet cannot be used. Squad movement will be easier.

As for how to divide the team...

Lu Jiuchuan looked at Xiao Lou with gentle eyes: "Xiao Lou, you decide, you know everyone better, and the four of us obey the assignment."

Xiao Lou didn't hesitate, and quickly said: "I'm on the team with Han Jiang, Nine Brothers, Mr. Tang, Lao Mo, and Liu Qiao; I belong to the team of Senior, Sister Huaying, Mr. Shao, Xiaoye, and Long Qu. Mr. Shao You have a Li Qingzhao in your hand, you can leave a mark, and if you encounter a dead end, you will be sent back to the marked point. In addition, everyone took out the [Four-directional Arrow] card, and every time you pass a fork in the road, make an arrow mark to avoid getting lost. "

Xiao Lou actually thought a lot about this arrangement.

Li Qing took this card, he and Shao Qingge each got a card, and the two naturally scored a team. Mr. Shao's Insect King Card

It can't be used in the secret room of the square, and the combat power is average, so Chu Huaying, who is very strong in combat power, is assigned. This sister has killed many hunters with Lu Jiuchuan. With her, there is no need to worry about safety.

Mr. Gui is very familiar with history and archaeology, so his team can solve the puzzles of the mechanism smoothly. Long Qu and his wife can be in charge of investigation when necessary, Ye Qi is in charge of control, the configuration of the whole team is very comprehensive.

As for Xiao Lou's team, Yu Hanjiang's combat strength needless to say, Brother Nine is injured, and Liu Qiao's witch card can save lives at critical moments. Mr. Tang's legs can't walk, so it's easy to take care of them here.

He added Lao Mo in order to draw a map of the maze as soon as possible. If their team's direction is correct, he can use Li Qingzhao's mark to directly pass the other six people over; You can go back quickly and meet Mr. Shao.

The team has to take care of all aspects. After all, he is now the captain of the contract and must be responsible for every team member.

Everyone agrees with his arrangement.

If you think about it carefully, you will find that Xiao Lou's arrangement is the most reasonable plan at present.

After splitting into teams, Xiao Lou took out the reward card [Voice Earphone] from the previous level, sent one to everyone, and said: "Everyone put this in your ear, press it with your finger before speaking, and teammates in the distance can Hear it. The effective range of this headset is 10 kilometers, no matter how big the ancient tomb is, it will not exceed 10 kilometers, and we will keep in touch at any time."

Everyone quickly put on their earphones and tried a voice call. Everyone's earphones were normal.

Squads are also the best way to save time in the maze dungeon. After all, the four of Lu Jiuchuan are masters of A-level secret rooms and have experienced nightmare secret rooms. Gui Yuanzhang and Chu Huaying were very calm about Xiao Lou's decision.

Xiao Lou looked at Mr. Gui and said, "Senior, I will trouble you to lead the team first."

Gui Yuanzhang nodded: "Okay, you guys are also careful."

Lu Jiuchuan simply waved his hand: "Split up and act separately, if there is a problem, make a voice contact."

*****

【Chapter 374, Maze Distress】

Voice headsets are great team communication devices.

Usually, everyone speaks without interfering with each other. Only when the earphone is lightly pressed with a finger, the voice will be transmitted to the whole team. The two teams act separately, as long as there is no emergency, there is no need for frequent calls to communicate with each other.

After detachment, the six of Xiao Lou walked towards the left fork.

Tang Ci is in a wheelchair and has limited mobility. Liu Qiao wanted to help him push the wheelchair, but before her hands could touch the wheelchair, Tang Ci calmly refused: "Don't worry, my wheelchair is electric. I can walk on my own."

After hearing this, Lu Jiuchuan smiled slightly, looked at Liu Qiao and said, "Little girl, don't worry, he made this wheelchair himself, and there are control buttons on the armrest, which can walk straight and turn around, and it is almost comparable to an intelligent robot." .Of course, if you encounter stairs or steps, there is nothing you can do. If you can’t get on the wheelchair, I will help you at that time.”

Liu Qiao withdrew his hand, nodded slightly, and said, "I have a lightness skill card here. If Mr. Tang needs it, when he encounters a step, he can use the lightness skill card to fly up."

Tang Ci glanced at her, his expression still indifferent, but his eyes softened slightly: "I'm sorry about your sister's matter, but the Intelligence Bureau can't find any news about her. What does this mean? I think you should Clear. Don’t think too much, first clear Zhou Chang and the S-level secret room behind.”

Liu Qiao lowered his head and said nothing, and lightly clenched his fists by his side.

Lu Jiuchuan was puzzled: "Sister?"

Yu Hanjiang glanced at him, he immediately understood, and didn't ask any more questions.

Just at this time, a downward step appeared in front of him.

With the help of the light of the night pearl, there is no end in sight, and the steps lead to nowhere. The deep black hole is like a wild beast with its mouth wide open, trying to swallow everyone up.

Old Mo said: "The downward steps? This can't be a three-dimensional maze..."

The planar maze is naturally much simpler than the three-dimensional maze. The three-dimensional maze not only needs to pay attention to the change of direction, but also pays attention to the interlacing of space. I don't know how many floors this maze has.

There was only one road in front of them, everyone looked at each other, Yu Hanjiang said decisively: "Go down and have a look."

At the same time, Mr. Gui's voice came from the earphones of the six people: "We found a step on our side, leading to a deeper underground."

Xiao Lou replied: "We are too, seniors be careful."

After exchanging information with each other, the twelve people slowly descended the steps.

The steps are very narrow, and each floor can only accommodate half an adult's foot. Moreover, the water on the bricks will be very slippery when stepped on. Of course, Tang Ci's wheelchair is not convenient to move on such steps. Liu Qiao originally wanted to hand over the card of [Body Light as a Swallow] to Tang Ci, but Tang Ci refused: "Good intentions, you keep your own self-defense, I have a way."

I saw him summon two mechanical ants, about 20cm long mechanical ants, although the size is too large compared to normal ants, but the appearance is made lifelike. There are two camera-like things on the two antennae of the ants, which can feed back the surrounding scenery they see at any time. It is very convenient to use it to find the way.

Under Tang Ci's instruction, the two mechanical ants quickly climbed down the stairs.

Immediately afterwards, an iron cable flew out of the armrest of Tang Ci's wheelchair, and the front end of the barbed iron cable was firmly sucked on the stone bricks of the wall. The wheelchair seemed to have found a track, and followed the iron cable to the steps. The black hole below slides down faster than Liu Qiao's qinggong.

Liu Qiao stared at him blankly.

Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang, and Lao Mo also looked at each other in blank dismay.

Lu Jiuchuan's eyes darkened, and his voice was hoarse: "I've never seen his wheelchair have so many functions. Xiao Tang... He made a lot of preparations to go to the S-level secret room with us."

Naturally, I also endured more pain than everyone imagined.

The successful development of this complex wheelchair is not a matter of a day or two. In the course of the experiment, will he fall all over his body with cuts and bruises? Nobody knows.

Tang Ci stayed alone for half a year in the underground factory where he studied machinery. In order to avoid revealing his identity, he rarely communicates with the outside world. After losing his legs, he did not give up on himself, and rarely showed sadness and sadness. Instead, he relied on his own technology to develop intelligent robots in reality, studied hard, and made such an intelligent wheelchair by himself.

The strength of this man made Xiao Lou admire and feel distressed.

Even if he loses his legs and sits in a wheelchair - he has never been weak and does not need the protection of his teammates.

He will protect himself.

Lu Jiuchuan took a deep breath, resisted the tingling pain in his heart, and followed quickly.

Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou and others also walked down the steps quickly. Liu Qiao and Lao Mo walked last, and she handed the handkerchief that came with the Kongming Lantern card to Lao Mo, and said softly, "Uncle Mo, this handkerchief can be used to draw pictures directly with your fingers."

She just wanted to be a little helpful.

Mo Xuemin remembered that his daughter was only a few years younger than Liu Qiao, so he couldn't help smiling, patted the little girl on the shoulder, and said, "Okay, I'll give you this handkerchief from now on, so it's convenient for me to draw pictures at any time."

Tang Ci's wheelchair stopped on a flat ground.

His mechanical ants explored the way ahead and gave him feedback information—there was no mechanism for touching or stepping on this downward step, and a relatively wide platform appeared at a depth of about 10 meters. It's also the reason why Tang Ci dared to hook the wall directly with iron cables to let the wheelchair slide down.

At this moment, Tang Ci and his mechanical ants stayed on the platform.

There is a door on each side of the platform, and there are still lights on the left and right sides of the door, but the lights here are off.

The beeswax had not burned out, and it was not known why the two lamps went out.

With the help of the light from the night pearl, Xiao Lou quickly saw the pattern on the door—similar to the stone door entering an ancient tomb, and also painted some scenes of ancient priests, with men and women dancing on it. According to the dancing movements, Xiao Lou Lou analyzed the opening method of the organ.

"The permanent light on the left, clockwise twice, and the right one counterclockwise."

Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan quickly went to open the stone gate.

This is a closed stone room of about 4 square meters. The whole room is empty, but there is a compass hanging on the wall. Tang Ci asked the mechanical ants to enter the room to explore the way. After confirming that there is no mechanism, Xiao Lou walked in and looked at the compass carefully.

There are many spell-like things on the compass, ignoring the messy patterns, you can clearly see the signs of east, south, west and north on it, Xiao Lou said: "This is the compass for the ancients to identify the direction, that is, the ancient version of the compass. "

Lao Mo excitedly said: "Great, with a compass, we can accurately locate the underground position, and it is also convenient for me to draw a map of the maze, so that I won't get lost halfway."

Xiao Lou took down the compass.

But the strange thing is that he turned the compass left and right in his hand, but the pointer on it remained motionless.

Yu Hanjiang wondered: "Could it be bad?"

Xiao Lou thought for a while, and said, "Open the stone gate on the opposite side and have a look."

Everyone retreated to the platform, and Xiao Lou continued to analyze the opening method of the mechanism according to the pattern on the door.

On the other side of the stone room was a wooden box, unlocked.

After opening it, it was found that there were some damaged clothes and a bronze mirror inside. Xiao Lou picked up the bronze mirror, and as a result, his face in the mirror showed a strange distortion, like a ghost, which shocked him a lot.

In the dark secret room, suddenly seeing my own face distorted and deformed, it really makes my spine shudder.

Yu Hanjiang immediately grabbed his shoulder lightly, grabbed the mirror in his hand with the other hand, and took a picture of himself.

The appearance is also distorted and deformed.

Lu Jiuchuan leaned over and asked, "Is it the demon mirror?"

"..." Yu Hanjiang frowned and looked at his elder brother: "What do you mean? Both Xiao Lou and I have become monsters?"

Lu Jiuchuan laughed: "Adjust the atmosphere, otherwise it will be strange."

Xiao Lou: "..."

Before, he thought Brother Nine was handsome and manly, but after getting in touch with him, Xiao Lou discovered that this brother's personality was completely different from Yu Hanjiang's. Yu Hanjiang never joked. He looked serious and indifferent on the surface, but he was really good at caring for others. Lu Jiuchuan likes to joke and ridicule. No matter what troubles he encounters, even if his arm is cut open by a knife, he still puts on a very relaxed look.

The only thing in common is probably the blood in their bones. Both of them are not afraid of death, and they are very persistent in their identified goals.

Xiao Lou took back the bronze mirror from Yu Hanjiang's hand, looked at himself in the mirror with a strange appearance, and said seriously; "This should be... the Yin-Yang Mirror."

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