Capítulo 1038: Chapter 648: Escape
The cave was pitch black, so dark that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Only by venturing further inside could one vaguely make out some outlines.
Liu Hun and Wu Dao spent some time figuring out that there were actually several passageway entrances around them. In other words, they were essentially standing at a fork in the road, completely unsure of which path to take.
Moreover, no one knew what dangers lay ahead. If they chose the wrong path, they might not only encounter danger but also get lost, making it even more difficult to reach their destination.
“Brother Liu, what should we do now? Although we just dodged a disaster, this place feels lifeless, and it’s so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face. I’m worried…” Wu Dao trailed off, but Liu Hun understood what he meant.
“What can we do? We can only rely on luck. If we can find the exit, even if we’re off course, it’s no big deal. Being alive is what’s important,” Liu Hun sighed helplessly.
After hearing Liu Hun’s words, Wu Dao thought it over and realized it was indeed true.
Since the entrances to the passageways were practically the same for them, they decided to randomly choose one path and continue forward.
After walking for about ten minutes, they suddenly noticed that the passage was becoming increasingly narrow.
“Brother Liu, the way ahead won’t be a dead end, will it? If we keep going, we might not be able to move forward soon,” Wu Dao cautiously followed beside Liu Hun, still talking.
Liu Hun did not respond to Wu Dao because he also had no idea what was going on in this eerie place.
Since they were already here, the two could only grit their teeth and continue onward.
“Hmm? There seems to be a passageway map here.” After walking a bit further, Wu Dao suddenly pointed to a corner of the wall, surprised, and asked Liu Hun.
Upon hearing this, Liu Hun stopped and walked up to Wu Dao, studying the map on the wall under the faint light.
“This indeed is a map of the passageway, and where we are now must have been left many years ago; wait, this… this is actually left by the ancient Lorland people?” Liu Hun glanced at it and suddenly looked shocked.
“Lorland people? Brother Liu, you can’t mean the people from the ancient Lorland Kingdom, can you?” Wu Dao scoffed at Liu Hun’s remark.
In world history, the ancient Lorland Kingdom has always been just a legend, not to mention that the desert they were in bore no relation to the ancient Lorland Kingdom.
“I studied some strange texts back in the day. Although I’m not very familiar with these characters, I can confirm that they are indeed the Lorland writings recorded by the ancient Lorland people,” Liu Hun stated in a deep voice.
In the darkness, Wu Dao gazed at Liu Hun’s somewhat indistinct figure, and his expression gradually turned solemn. He confirmed, “Brother Liu, are you telling the truth? Are these writings truly left by Lorland people?”
“I know what you’re thinking, and I understand this all seems somewhat unbelievable, considering the ancient Lorland Kingdom has been extinct for so long, long buried in the sand sea, but here, it is the tomb of Lorland’s King!” Liu Hun declared firmly.
“What? The tomb of Lorland’s past? This… such a massive passageway, completely forged from bronze, is truly the tomb of the Lorland King? This is astonishing. If this were reported, it could definitely become the eighth wonder of the world,” Wu Dao whispered as he inhaled deeply.
“I haven’t finished speaking yet,” Liu Hun rolled his eyes and continued, “it’s just that there are also some Japanese texts annotated beside it, although the text only records some passageways and markings, and nothing specific is noted.”
“Japanese text? How is that possible? Could the Japanese have discovered the Lorland King’s tomb long ago?” Wu Dao asked Liu Hun in surprise.
If the Japanese had discovered it, they would certainly have proclaimed it to the world long ago given their national behavior, instead of it being unknown until now.
“I mentioned that specifics weren’t documented above. You’re asking me, whom should I ask? Nevertheless, there was indeed a passageway entrance marked, so let’s try it out,” Liu Hun shook his head, fixing his eyes on the darkness ahead, took a deep breath, and continued walking.
Seeing Liu Hun tread forward, Wu Dao didn’t hesitate and quickly caught up.
The two continued for about another ten minutes and eventually arrived at a bronze door. However, the bronze door wasn’t locked, and despite Wu Dao’s efforts, he couldn’t open it.
“Based on what I saw on the map earlier, this bronze door is the exit. Although there is another passageway, it was marked with a big red X as if warning people to stay away.” Liu Hun commented as he stared at the bronze door in front of him.
“Brother Liu, I think we’d better not argue about this issue right now. This place is too eerie, and we have more pressing matters to attend to. I don’t want to spend my life stuck here, never seeing the light of day again,” Wu Dao spoke sadly to Liu Hun.
“You’re implying you want me to open the bronze door? Sorry, but I have no way of opening it either.” Liu Hun sighed.
“How could this happen… wasn’t it you, Brother Liu, who said…” Wu Dao hadn’t finished speaking when Liu Hun approached the bronze door, pointed at the stone lion beside it, and then said to Wu Dao, “In principle, there are always two lions guarding the door, but there’s none here. Take a closer look, the dust on the ground is much less compared to other places, which means the other lion on this side was deliberately moved away. I’ve seen this type of mechanism before, relying on the weight of two stone lions to balance each other. In other words, with one stone lion missing, we simply cannot open this bronze door.” Liu Hun explained slowly.
“Can’t open it? Then what do we do now?” Wu Dao was somewhat dumbfounded.
He had no interest in understanding the mechanism of this bronze door. He just wanted to leave this cursed place as soon as possible. The longer he stayed here, the more oppressed he felt inside.
“We can only check the other exit. Although I’m a bit worried, we have no other choice now.” Liu Hun shook his head, a bit helpless.
As for Wu Dao, he didn’t care about such things at all, as long as there was an exit. Even if there was some danger, it couldn’t be more terrifying than the Yellow Sand Python and those undead skeletons they encountered before.
Liu Hun understood Wu Dao’s character well. He was careless and fearless, which was good at times, but now Liu Hun had to be cautious because he couldn’t count on Wu Dao at all.
The two turned back and re-entered another passage. After about twenty minutes, they found another small bronze door identical to the one they encountered before.
However, this time, in front of the two small bronze doors were two small stone lions.
“Wow, there are really two stone lions here. That’s right, Brother Liu, you know how to open this mechanism, don’t you?” Wu Dao asked Liu Hun excitedly after noticing the two stone lions beside them.
Although Wu Dao came from a big family, it was his first time doing such an adventurous task, and he’s always been interested in relics left by his ancestors.
“Wait, are you sure we want to go inside?” Liu Hun asked Wu Dao with a somewhat pale face while looking at the bronze door in front of them.
“What now? If you can find another exit, I wouldn’t mind; didn’t you say earlier that there are only these two exits?” Wu Dao said to Liu Hun, feeling a bit frustrated.
He initially thought Liu Hun was fine, but now he realized that Liu Hun did things very hesitantly, like a woman.
“Turn the stone lion on the left one and a half times, and then turn the one on the right in the opposite direction one and a half times. Remember, no more, no less.” After speaking, Liu Hun stared intently at the ancient characters inscribed on the bronze door in front: No Entry Allowed, Trespassers Will Be Executed!
The fact that these words were engraved by the people of Loulan here indicated that inside was not ordinary; moreover, Liu Hun hadn’t told Wu Dao that the map only showed the exit at the place they’d just been, here was just Liu Hun’s guess.
This meant that the map didn’t confirm an exit here, and if they opened the bronze door, they might not find an exit inside and might instead trap themselves in a crisis.
“Don’t worry, this small task is definitely doable!” Wu Dao slapped his chest, confidently assuring.
Following Liu Hun’s instructions, Wu Dao used all his strength to slowly turn the stone lion.
After Wu Dao turned the two stone lions to the positions Liu Hun mentioned, he slumped onto the ground, wiping the sweat from his forehead while panting heavily.
“Damn, it really exhausted me. These stone lions don’t look heavy, but they turned out to be incredibly heavy.” Wu Dao complained while catching his breath.
“Creak, creak…” A crisp sound rang out, and the next moment, the approximately two-meter-tall bronze door in front of them slowly opened.
“Thud, thud…” As soon as the bronze door opened, a series of torches on either side of the passage ahead ignited, casting bright light throughout the space.
“Whoa, what’s going on?” Seeing this, Wu Dao was instantly startled.
“This type of flame is called Ghost Fire, made from a special fuel by ancient people. It ignites as soon as it comes into contact with outside air,” Liu Hun explained to Wu Dao while keeping his eyes on the end of the passage ahead.
The passage seemed to stretch endlessly, but intuition told Liu Hun that up ahead was like a demon waiting to devour them if they dared to venture in.
“So that’s it, damn, it scared the hell out of me. I thought I’d encountered a ghost in broad daylight.” Wu Dao patted his chest, breathing a sigh of relief.
“If you’ve rested enough, let’s keep moving.” Liu Hun glanced at Wu Dao and urged him.
“Can’t you let me rest a few more minutes? These stone lions were really heavy; no way, next time you do this kind of thing, then you’ll understand.” Wu Dao complained to Liu Hun.
Despite his complaints, he still stood up, dusted off his clothes, and walked step by step with Liu Hun towards the front.