The group walked in silence, their moods heavy, none of them speaking.
They had witnessed burial pits lining their path, filled with dense clusters of human skeletons. As fellow humans, seeing such scenes inevitably evoked both horror and sorrow.
After passing the second human burial pit, they encountered a horse burial pit. Compared to the previous two, this one contained fewer skeletal remains, with more man-made horse-shaped terracotta figures.
It seemed that during that era, obtaining warhorses for burial must have been somewhat rare and extravagant. Even for a monarch, there were limitations to what could be accomplished.
However, compared to the first two pits overflowing with human bones, this burial pit felt inexplicably ironic to the group.
In that age, human life was truly cheap—people were treated like ants, their lives as worthless as grass. Sigh.
These burial pits posed little danger beyond the most hazardous threats like toxic gases and methane. No excessive mechanisms were set up here, so the group passed through quickly.
Of course, there were no fictional venomous insects like corpse beetles from novels either.
Such things definitely didn’t exist—over such a long time, even if they had been present, they would have long perished.
The entire tomb was divided into four major sections. The first section was the burial area. Now, the group was about to leave this zone and enter another section—the exit area of the tomb.
Yes, the front hall of the tomb, sealed by a stone slab at the main entrance, was a somewhat dangerous region.
“Wait a moment.”
Qiu Yunzheng stopped Gu Hanfeng from proceeding forward to open the tomb door. She had noticed the System’s map displaying the highest warning level—red—indicating extreme danger ahead.
“What’s wrong?”
Even the most pleasant voice became somewhat distorted through the gas mask. Gu Hanfeng inquired of Qiu Yunzheng.
“Hold on. The area ahead is very dangerous—the most hazardous part of the entire tomb aside from the central zone. I need to examine it carefully and identify any mechanisms we should watch out for.”
Hearing Yunzheng’s words, Gu Hanfeng said nothing more. He and another soldier, Guo Ziyi, simply positioned themselves on either side of her, standing guard.
They were currently on a platform leading to the front hall’s entrance, which was relatively spacious, allowing them to stand this way.
Bai Lishen showed no objection to waiting; in fact, he seemed somewhat pleased.
Bai Lishen took two steps forward toward the large door nearby, though he didn’t get too close. He simply scanned the patterns on it with his flashlight. The more he looked, the more astonished he became.
He had seen similar door patterns before, though they were less distinct now. The patterns were sparse, resembling those unique to King You of Zhou’s tomb door that he had seen in historical records.
But regarding King You of Zhou’s tomb—hadn’t it already been excavated? Moreover, the Zhou dynasty tombs shouldn’t be located in the outskirts of the capital. They should be in Qin Province instead.
Perhaps it wasn’t his tomb. It might belong to an earlier or later monarch. Once they reached the front hall, everything would likely become clear.
“Alright, be careful when opening the main door. There’s poison on it—a liquid more corrosive than sulfuric acid. If splashed, it could be instantly fatal, and even our protective suits can’t withstand it.Qiu Yunzheng carefully examined the dense text warnings marked by the System, along with the video footage the System had helpfully rendered for her through perspective.
“Host, your protective suits are really subpar. If we could intervene, this would be nothing. This level of damage couldn’t even breach our lowest-grade Protective Shield.”
“…How about this, 288, why don’t you go take a nap?”
Hearing 288’s unconsciously boastful and somewhat Versailles-like remarks, Qiu Yunzheng felt thoroughly exasperated, even a bit irritable. If the others present could see her expression now, they’d likely be shocked—why did the initially quiet and gentle girl suddenly resemble a lit firecracker, about to explode?
“But Host, 288 doesn’t need sleep. Fine, you just think I’m annoying. I’ll stop talking then.”
288 sounded a bit aggrieved. It was just bored and didn’t know what it had said wrong earlier to make Qiu Yunzheng keep ignoring it. The host’s temper was really strange—this little System was having a tough time.
288: ε=(′ο｀*))) sigh
Beneath her gas mask, Qiu Yunzheng’s eyes nearly rolled back so hard she thought she might develop cataracts. Internally, she was seething but had to suppress it forcefully. That damn System, 288—a total husky, no, worse than a husky—was so infuriating, (╬◣д◢).
Gu Hanfeng keenly sensed Qiu Yunzheng’s unusual mood—she seemed furious, but not entirely, or rather, not just furious. Could her System have said something again? Say what you will, but as the person with the highest mental strength scanned by the System, his sharpness was indeed commendable.
Upon learning the tomb door was sealed with poison, Gu Hanfeng wasn’t particularly surprised. After all, before the mission, they’d been briefed extensively on knowledge about tomb interiors.
Soon, the few people managed to safely neutralize the poison sealing the tomb door using tools. In truth, many of the tomb’s anti-theft Mechanisms posed little challenge to modern technology, as long as they proceeded with caution.
Plus, with Qiu Yunzheng—a veritable Ancient Tomb bug—able to foresee everything in advance, it was fair to say these ancient anti-theft techniques had met their match.
However, this tomb door wasn’t easy to open; it could only be unlocked from the other side. This was likely to prevent false deaths or not-yet-deceased burial personnel or animals from escaping to the front chamber and damaging other funerary objects.
Quickly, through the System’s scan, Qiu Yunzheng located the nearest and most easily accessible switch for the opposite door.
Following Qiu Yunzheng’s directions, Gu Hanfeng used a machine to drill a fist-sized hole above the door, inserted a hooked wire through it, caught the internal Mechanism, and pulled hard.
The Mechanism clicked open, and the door soon swung ajar.
Witnessing this, Qiu Yunzheng was intensely curious—though her curiosity was solely about that wire. But then she remembered she was currently mad at the System and didn’t want to engage with it.
So she didn’t ask after all. As for asking Gu Hanfeng—don’t be ridiculous, honey.
Qiu Yunzheng roughly guessed that it was probably a special metal internally developed by their Hua Nation, used to make tools.
What was 288 doing while not being questioned by Qiu Yunzheng?
It was currently sulking too, though it also felt somewhat curious about what Gu Hanfeng was holding. After just scanning it briefly, it quickly dismissed the matter.
Because it discovered this wire wasn’t particularly remarkable anyway.
It just had some hardened meteorite added to it—aside from being a bit harder, it had no other advantages. In interstellar space, it probably wouldn’t even attract a second glance.
Of course, this was merely 288’s internal monologue.
Because 288 had finally realized that whenever it said anything negative about Earth’s objects, Qiu Yunzheng would get angry. So 288 could only forcibly restrain its urge to speak.
Even though it didn’t actually have a mouth.