?

  Min seemed to understand a bit, furrowing her brow and saying, "Anyway, there's no other way, let's give it a try." Then, she turned her gaze to Second Uncle, whose expression had improved somewhat. He looked at me and nodded, saying, "So, what do we do now?"

  Although I had this idea, it was still a bit difficult to find that invisible fourth side with the naked eye. After thinking for a while, I asked my uncle for paper and pen and drew out our current situation.

  If my inference is correct, we are now likely in a circular tomb passage, but the unique feature of this tomb passage lies in that there is one place where an extra circular tomb passage has been added, and it is precisely this extra tomb passage that makes the entire tomb passage into two layers up and down, that is to say, from beginning to end, Second Uncle and his party have been circling around in these two tomb passages.

  This is neither a ghost wall nor a mechanism, but a peculiar architectural structure. When you enter one of the tomb passages, you cannot perceive the existence of the second tomb passage. When you enter the second tomb passage, you also cannot see the first tomb passage. The extra edge that comes out is the key point of the entire tomb passage.

  Next, I drew a diagram and explained to everyone: "We are now like walking into a sloping circular tomb passage. This tomb passage is divided into two layers, with a connection point. Every time we walk to this connection point, we will enter another tomb passage, and so on, forming a dead loop. So, our key point is to find this connection point. This connection point must be invisible to us, and the only way to prove its existence is for us to split up and walk in different directions from where we are now. When we meet again, that place will be the extra tomb passage."

  Lao Liu was the first to understand, and his face didn't show any joy. He said to Er Shu: "Second Master, I think this method is feasible."

  At this time, Minmin shook her head and said, "No way, have you guys forgotten about the other two people?" As soon as she spoke, everyone's faces changed. I remembered the conversation between a few people at the beginning, they seemed to be waiting for someone. Looking at Ershu's expression now, it seems that he is very evasive. So I cleared my throat and said, "Our method, currently speaking, is the most effective one, but there are also certain risks involved. For example, if our pace isn't consistent, one side being fast and the other slow, then we'll never meet up. If something happened between you guys before, it's better to say it out loud, let's discuss it together."

  It was probably my attitude that moved Second Uncle, he nodded and then, under his indication, Minmin took over the conversation, saying: "At first, we also had similar considerations, so on the third day, our group stayed in place and sent two other people to scout ahead. As a result, they left and never came back. The situation you just described is almost identical to what happened to us before, so now if we split up, it's very likely that we'll never meet again, it's too risky."

  I didn't think of that, the key is that this tomb passage is too long, otherwise we can use ropes and the like to tie them together, so they won't get scattered, but now there isn't such a long rope, once we separate and walk, as long as the speed of progress has a slight deviation, the two groups will fall into a dead cycle.

  For a while, everyone fell silent again, thinking of ways to solve the problem. I went through one person's equipment bag and found that although there were ropes, the longest was only 100 meters, which was completely inadequate for the entire tomb passage. The rest were just weapons and combat equipment, and there was enough food, but nothing could be used as a marker.

  I had been searching for half a day without any leads, and couldn't help but feel frustrated, grabbing my hair, when I suddenly looked up and saw the cold tombstone in front of me. At that moment, it was as if a bolt of lightning flashed through my mind, and I instantly thought of the key point.

  The arrangement of these tombstones is very orderly. If we arrange the tombstones in numerical order, then according to these numbers, we can find each other. Next, I told everyone that every ten tombstones are 1, and so on, leaving their own marks on each tombstone. According to our distance, we can pass through once every three seconds. We only need to move forward according to the watch, and we won't worry about going in the wrong direction.

  On the contrary, even if the direction is really wrong, as long as the numbers we record are correct, then another team can be found.

  This idea was unanimously recognized, and we divided into two teams. I, my second uncle, and Old Lei formed one team, while Old Liu, Jin Er Pao, and Minmin formed another. The allocation of this team had a lot of characteristics, because as far as I observed, Minmin and Jin Er Pao were not good at fighting, so in this team, only I and Old Liu were old fighters, thus becoming the leaders.

  I couldn't help but feel a little excited, the two teams turned around and immediately opened their flashlights to separate, I was highly concentrated all the way, and neither of my uncles spoke, it seemed like there wasn't a single living person in the tomb passage. I recorded numbers on one hand and held the watch given by Uncle Two to record time with the other, after about thirty minutes, my heart gradually became tense, because if the estimate was correct, we should meet Old Lei's team within ten minutes.

  Just then, my shoulder was suddenly tapped by someone. I subconsciously turned my head and found it was Second Uncle. He stared at me straightly, and I knew he had something to say. But now every step we took was time-sensitive, so we couldn't stop at all. So while walking, I said: "Second Uncle, please go ahead, I'm listening."

  After I finished speaking, Second Uncle let out a deep sigh and asked: "What brings you here?"

  I knew my Second Uncle was going to lay his cards on the table, so I asked him in return: "Second Uncle, what brings you here again?" My Second Uncle sneered and said: "You've made progress, learning how to play mind games with me." I know what kind of person I am, and playing mind games with my Second Uncle is something I absolutely can't win at. Even my Third Uncle has to be honest when he sees him. So I immediately softened my tone and said: "Second Uncle, I think our thoughts are the same. I don't know what information you saw on Third Uncle's map, but my purpose for coming here was just to find some clues about Third Uncle. You're very clear about the situation between them, and I understand it too. Moreover, this place has important clues about Third Uncle and my friend, and I absolutely won't give up."

  His expression remained cold, he asked: "For your third uncle, I can understand, but who is that friend of yours? Worth you running this trip." If the third uncle was an old fox, then the second uncle was a sinister snake. Although I didn't know what his skills were, his personal pressure was absolutely high, so I didn't plan to deceive him either. So I told him about the story of Mòyóupíng, of course, I didn't mention anything about the ultimate thing, I just told him about Mòyóupíng's character and how many times he had saved me.

  After I finished speaking, Second Uncle remained silent for a long time before finally opening his mouth. But as soon as he did, he left me speechless. What he said was like a heavy hammer that struck my heart with great force.

  Second Uncle said: "According to your description, that Zhang Qiling is really extraordinary. He can make a thousand-year-old zongzi kneel down, and his youth remains forever. The most important thing is that he has saved you many times. Such a person is almost like a god, are you sure he existed? Are you sure he has anything to do with this world? Are you sure...do you want to save him?"

  My whole body was shocked, and I remembered what Fatso said. Fatso said that Chen Wenjin had seen the past of the oil bottle, he said that the oil bottle is not human.

  Such a person, can make the thousand-year-old zongzi kneel down, completely disconnected from real life, except for that set of clothes, it's impossible to see his connection with the real society, forever young, and still possessing a body of precious blood, such a person, as if born just to exist for the sake of fighting, is this kind of person still considered human?

  I couldn't help but recall what Mo Yan had said on the Gobi Desert in Golmud, a person without past and future.

  Will that bronze gate be his best destination?

  My whole mind was in a state of great disorder, and just then I suddenly discovered that a faint light appeared in front of me. The light grew brighter and closer, and then I saw Lao Liu and the others, but they seemed not to have seen me at all. They were walking cautiously towards us, their eyes passing straight through us.

  My second uncle also found something was wrong, just as he was about to speak, I made a gesture for him to be quiet. Then, a strange scene appeared: Old Six and his group were clearly walking towards us in a straight line, but in the end, they veered off and walked towards the tomb wall instead.

  Are they going to pass through walls?

  Second Uncle had never been down to the cellar, and he was very uneasy about the strange scene inside. I looked at his changing expression, gave him a reassuring glance, and then led Second Uncle and others towards Old Six's direction.

  By visual measurement, we are now only about thirty meters away from Lao Liu. For an adult, it would take just a few strides to reach him, but somehow we can't seem to get any closer. Then, the figures of Lao Liu and his group suddenly vanished from our line of sight, as if they had walked into another space, completely disappearing into the tomb passage.

  At this point, Second Uncle and Old Lei's faces changed drastically, while I couldn't help but admire my increasingly thick nerves. At that moment, I found myself not even having an extra heartbeat, and after gesturing to the two of them, I said: "Let's follow up."

  Lao Lei furrowed his brow, intending to speak, but was stopped by Second Uncle's hand. Then, Second Uncle followed closely behind me without missing a step. At this time, I discovered that the signals on the wall had converged, which means we were walking inside the fourth border.

  My legs were originally limping, but now they seemed to have been injected with stimulants, running frantically forward. When I ran to the end of the road, I found that the path in front of me was divided into two paths, and at the end of one of the paths was the figure of Lao Liu and his group. I quickly shouted: "Lao Liu."

  They seemed to have just discovered our existence, turned their faces in surprise and said: "How did you get ahead of me?"

  I'm also very excited at this moment, no time to explain too much, hurry up and shout: "You guys come back first."

  Lao Liu and the others turned back, then a strange scene appeared. When they were about to walk in front of me, the group suddenly disappeared and reappeared on my right side in the passageway, as if space had warped. I quickly grabbed Er Shu's hand and rushed to the right, and soon we met Lao Liu again. But this time, the tomb path in front of us changed, because a new tomb path that we had never walked before appeared before our eyes.

  This passageway extends forward, the stairs end here, and the passageway is widened. Lao Liu and others obviously still haven't come to their senses, they look at each other in dismay, with shocked faces.

  I calmed my nerves and said, "Let's go." Next, we walked into the new tomb passage with our lights on, but before we could walk far, the passage came to an end. At this point, I found myself walking into a chamber.