?

  This huge bronze coffin, which reaches up to my chest, is about 10 cm thick. Inside it, there is another layer of pitch-black wooden coffin. More than two thousand years ago, when the technique of brushing lacquer was not yet available, I wonder how this wooden coffin became such a color.

  At this time, I smelled a strange smell at the tip of my nose, somewhat like agarwood, but deeper than the smell of agarwood, with a faint hint of woody fragrance. I suddenly remembered that there is a type of wood called black locust, which is actually a type of tree knot from fir or red pine trees. The longer it takes, the darker its color becomes, and the darker it becomes, the more durable it is. Not only does it have a unique fragrance, but it can also preserve a corpse for thousands of years without rotting. Along with golden silk nanmu wood, fire-resistant wood, and ebony, it is known as one of the four divine materials, which from ancient times to the present day, only kings, nobles, and high-ranking officials could possess.

  Could it be that the black coffin in front of me is the Black Coffin? And what about the bronze coffin, and the black coffin, who exactly is lying inside? Thinking back to the black shadow that flew out earlier, I have a feeling like I've opened Pandora's box.

  The two ends of the black pot were perfectly intact, but only the middle part was broken with a hole about half a meter in diameter. Except for this, there were dense holes around the big hole, which did not seem to be man-made, but rather seemed to have been poked out by something sharp.

  Was it that black shadow that poked?

  The three of us looked at each other in dismay, and finally Xiaohua frowned and lifted the entire black coffin lid. Inside, it was still empty, but covered with a kind of gel-like black substance, which we didn't know what it was.

  Finally, unable to find any other clues, passerby A was about to go look at the bronze door when I stopped him and pointed upwards, saying: "That thing went up but didn't come back down, maybe there's a passageway up there." The current situation doesn't allow me to act alone either, because I've discovered that my body has reached its limit. Just walking a few steps makes my legs tremble, the cold inside is severe, and my body feels scorching hot. Our medical supplies have been used up, if we keep going like this, I'll only have one road left - death. Following them forward together is the only way out.

  I finished speaking, but passerby A was still not quite convinced of my words and thought the key was behind that bronze door. I saw they were going to keep guessing, so I had no choice but to tell the truth: "Cough... there's nothing behind it, just a broken cliff."

  Passerby A turned around and looked at me, saying lightly: "Have you seen it?"

  It's not just that I've seen it, if it weren't for that German, I reckon I'd still be staring at it now.

  I roughly told the story, then said: "Time is running out, let's hurry." Passerby A finally believed me, and made a sound with his mouth that was hard to decipher, unable to tell if he was happy or angry. He then slung his equipment pack over his shoulder and said: "I'll go take a look first." After that, he bit the small wolf's eye into his mouth, jumped up, stepped onto the edge of the bronze coffin with one foot, and immediately leaped up, barely reaching the iron chain hanging from mid-air. He then quickly began to climb down.

  I watched as his figure gradually disappeared into the darkness, and then lowered my voice, staring at Xiaohua, saying word by word: "Who is he?" Xiaohua's expression changed slightly, seeming to hesitate about whether or not to tell me. After a while, she only said one word: "Qi."

  "What?" I was taken aback for a moment.

  Then, Xiaohua furrowed her brow and added: "I only know his surname is Qi, and it's related to 'it', but I don't know anything else. I've always thought that he might be connected to the Qi family of Old Nine Gates, so I sent someone to investigate, but unfortunately, the Qi family has been silent for twenty years..." Xiaohua hadn't finished speaking when a voice came from above: "Bring down your gear, there's a road."

  Then a faint flashlight beam came down from the darkness above, presumably Road Person A was shining their flashlight downwards.

  Xiao Hua took over the conversation, put on her equipment and sighed: "Let's go."

  Perhaps due to physical reasons, my whole person has become muddled and my brain is very stiff, thinking is very slow. The surname Qi, Qi... this surname, why does it give me a strange feeling? I want to think deeply, but my brain is like a machine that has come to a halt.

  At this time, Xiaohua also made the same action as Passerby A, borrowing force on the bronze coffin and grabbing the iron chain with her hand, slowly crawling into the darkness.

  In the vast tomb chamber, I was left alone. Those wolf-headed carvings still gazed in my direction, staring at me with an eerie glare.

  The iron chain was about six meters off the ground, and I didn't have the strength to reach it even if Xiaohua and they stretched out their hands. At this moment, I was already stumbling and couldn't walk properly, really having no energy to climb up. Just then, a rope dropped down, and a voice came from above: "Tie it around your waist." Perhaps due to the echo, I couldn't tell whose voice it was, but I guessed it was Jieshao, he hadn't had a falling out with me yet, so he was still taking care of me.

  Then I was pulled up again, and once more entered that patch of darkness. The peculiar smell of zongzi wafted into my nostrils, and the swaying black hair occasionally swept across my face. Next, I saw the flashlight beam, which condensed into a single strand, as if being swallowed, unable to spread out.

  The rope around my waist was tied very tightly, and the other end came with a great force pulling me up. I tried to ignore the zongzi in front of me, squinting my eyes to look up, but at the end of the flashlight, I could only see a blurry figure, which was also unclear due to its dark color. It wasn't until I got closer that I realized it was actually Passerby A who was pulling me.

  Under the faint light of the flashlight, I roughly made out the terrain here. On this tombstone, there was a dark passageway. At the entrance of the passageway, there was a protruding area that was relatively narrow, and two people couldn't move around freely. Therefore, Xiaohua stood upright in one place, and Route A pulled me up.

  After I got on, the three of us seemed even more crowded, and I was standing at the edge, if I wasn't careful, I would fall off and break my hands and feet. In my current state, I'm afraid I could have died directly.

  At this time, passerby A shone his flashlight towards the opening above our heads. As far as the eye could see, the cave was straight up and down, and it was impossible to tell how long it was. There were many protruding rocks inside the cave that people could climb on. The walls of the cave were damp and the rocks had a deep black color. I couldn't tell what kind of rock it was. Faintly visible were also signs of artificial grinding marks.

  Passerby A looked up for a while with his head raised, then bit the small wolf's eye into his mouth, seemingly preparing to climb up.

  This is a straight up and down hole, with a diameter of about one meter. Passerby A stretched out his hands, pulled in his legs and went up. He immediately climbed upwards. Although he was strong, he had suffered quite a few injuries after all, so climbing up wasn't easy. Moreover, there was no protection below, and if he wasn't careful, he would fall down. Therefore, he climbed very carefully. Then Xiaohua followed him up. He climbed several meters before stopping and calling out to me: "Wu Xie, come on up."

  I let out a wry smile, stretched out my hand, and with just one exertion, the injured area transmitted a severe pain. This time's injury was different from before, not some superficial wound, but rather a gunshot wound that had penetrated deep within. My hand trembled, and in an instant I broke out into a cold sweat.

  Is it really over for me this time?

  No way, I need medicine, I want to live on, I don't want to die in the pot, I'm not reconciled.

  Yes! I have to go up, only then will I have a chance. I want to find Second Uncle and the others, they have medicine, I want to survive. I can't just die like this, Third Uncle is still missing, the oil bottle is still inside the Bronze Gate, that damned world, the only clue is in this jar.

  Gripping the protrusion at the entrance of the hole, I gritted my teeth and exerted myself, slowly hauling myself up. I felt my muscles bulging, even the ones on my face were taut, my shoulders ached with intense pain, and a burning sensation spread through me, the wound started bleeding again. I heard myself let out a stifled moan.

  "What's wrong?" Little Flower's voice had a hint of worry in it.

  "It's nothing." I replied in a hoarse voice.

  Then, I was as if in a self-hypnotic state, completely numb to the pain on my body, and my soul seemed to have been extracted. I just exerted all my strength, mechanically staring upwards, staring at Xiaohua's black figure. I didn't know if I could hold on or not, maybe the next moment, I would lose my grip.

  The cave entrance had only climbed for over ten meters when it suddenly turned, no longer straight up and down, but slightly inclined, slanting upwards, which was much easier to climb, but after I crawled for over ten meters, I completely couldn't move.

  No matter how unwilling I was, I still couldn't move. I opened my mouth to call out to the people in front of me, but all that came out was a weak and meaningless sound. The sound reminded me of a dying cat I once saw, its mouth open in a cry, but only air coming out.

  I couldn't move, but I didn't close my eyes either. My hands were tightly grasping the protruding rocks, and my consciousness was gradually becoming blurred. After a long time, a loud noise suddenly came from beside my ear, startling me awake. My brain felt like it had been splashed with ice water, and my confused consciousness suddenly cleared up.

  The sound was like something huge moving, slowly rising, very dull. I seemed to have heard this kind of sound somewhere before, but at the moment, I couldn't think carefully about it.

  I was subconsciously grasping the stone, now suddenly awakened, my whole body relaxed, and I slid down more than ten meters, sliding down the inclined passage. Just as I was about to fall straight down, at this critical moment, my hand suddenly grabbed a protruding rock. At this time, my left shoulder was injured and couldn't exert any strength. My whole body relied on one right hand hanging, even with this hand, the muscles were trembling constantly.

  I bowed my head and looked down, only to see the bluish bricks of the tomb chamber. Due to the obstruction of the hanging corpse, I could only see a faint light. I kicked my feet around, trying to find a foothold on the straight wall of the cave, but after a few kicks, everything around me was slippery. At this moment, I felt an unprecedented despair, and my spirit was almost collapsing. I knew that my physical condition was worse than ever before. At this moment, let alone searching for clues about the ultimate, I didn't even have the confidence to walk out of this Kunlun Cave.

  If I fall now, it's truly death, no miracle will happen.

  But I still couldn't bear it, having gone through so much wind and rain, I really didn't want to die here. Thinking of this, I raised my left hand, wanting to grab onto the stone block and climb up that inclined passageway, but because my arm was stiff and weak, I grabbed at it several times but couldn't grasp it.

  At this moment, in the quiet tomb, a familiar voice suddenly sounded: "Damn, what kind of place is this? The coffin opened by itself."