Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 120 Encountering a Chess Game
Before Hu Ming could finish explaining, a clicking sound of a mechanism operating suddenly came from inside.

The carved stone gate directly opposite the four people slowly rose up!
Once the stone gate was fully opened, the four of them looked at the things inside the Underworld Palace and their eyes lit up.

All that fatigue, I completely forgot about!
In the very center of the main hall, there lay a magnificent and exquisite coffin.

For tomb raiders, nothing is more exciting than finally seeing the coffin of the culprit after overcoming countless hardships!
Subconsciously, Hu Bayi, Fatty, and Big Gold Tooth all looked at Hu Ming.

Seeing this, Hu Ming smiled and led the way into the final underworld palace. After lighting the large brazier above the palace, the roaring fire illuminated the tomb chamber.

"A Western Zhou Dynasty tomb chamber, a Tang Dynasty coffin—the tomb owner really had no taboos whatsoever!"

Looking at the situation inside the tomb, and at the coffin in front of him that was clearly in the style of the Tang Dynasty, Hu Bayi couldn't help but marvel.

This is something even seasoned veterans in the tomb raiding world, let alone these newbies, have probably never seen before.
Hu Ming laughed and said, "Remember what I said? This place probably doesn't bury people, but things!"

"Mingzi, Lao Hu, if you ask me, let's not think about it too much."

"Since we're already here, why don't we just go and take a look?"

"Once the coffin is opened, everything inside will be clear!"

With the coffin so close at hand, the fat man could no longer contain himself; he was itching with excitement.

Hu Ming smiled helplessly and then led the way.

"Opening the coffin, right? I'll go light the candles right now!" Upon seeing this, the fat man was overjoyed and quickly took out the prepared candles, eager to try.

"What's the point of lighting candles?! This coffin is empty. Judging from the sound, it's full of ingenious hidden weapons and the like, densely packed, almost filling the entire space of the coffin."

"If you're looking to die, I won't stop you!"

At this moment, Hu Ming was knocking on the coffin, carefully feeling and listening to the sounds inside with his hands, and couldn't help but complain when he heard this.

It turns out that this coffin was really used by Li Chunfeng to trick people.

If they weren't satisfied with getting the Dragon Bone Heavenly Book and wanted to open the coffin, they'd probably be killed instantly, right? Besides, Hu Ming had felt something watching them ever since they entered the tomb, probably that ghost, but since it hadn't come out to cause trouble, he didn't care.

"Huh? Does that mean we came all this way for nothing?"

"Which son of a bitch has nothing better to do than build a tomb like this to mess with people?!" The fat man was dumbfounded upon hearing this.

Previously, in the desert, they knew that Hu Ming's five senses were extraordinary and unmatched by ordinary people.

Knowing that Hu Ming had only knocked a few times, they roughly understood what was inside the coffin.

"A free trip? How could that be! There are traps here; there must be something hidden inside."

Hu Ming had already circled around to the head of the coffin, looked at the groove on it, and hummed softly.

Leaving aside the contents recorded in the second half of the Dragon Bone Heavenly Book, the Dragon Bone Heavenly Book itself is a priceless treasure!
As he spoke, Hu Ming pulled a metal calligraphy brush out of his pocket.

"Even thieves don't leave empty-handed, let alone us tomb raiders?"

"Is this... the calligraphy brush in the relief sculpture of Li Chunfeng in that main hall before?" Big Gold Tooth was stunned, recognizing the object in Hu Ming's hand.

"Mingzi, is this thing valuable?"

The fat man looked at the finely crafted calligraphy brush and couldn't help but ask a question.

"Of course it's valuable... Don't touch it, this pen is still useful, you can look at it anytime later."

Having dodged the fat man's groping hand, Hu Ming placed the brush on the groove, carefully rotating it to align with the pattern.

With a "click," the metal brush jammed in the groove, and Hu Ming slowly turned the brush handle.

The next moment, a bronze plaque popped out of the hidden slot above the metal brush. "There are words on this?" the fat man said, pulling the plaque out of the slot.

Hu Ming grinned as he watched. Although he knew this was the inevitable procedure, he would still take out the bronze medal even if the fat man didn't make a move.

But I still can't help but want to complain, really, the plot's direction depends entirely on the fat guy?
clack clack...

Just then, the stone door through which the four had entered began to fall rapidly. Before they could react, the stone door crashed to the ground.

The mechanism continued to operate, and with a series of clicking sounds, a chessboard slowly rose from the center of the stone platform in front of the coffin.

"You know, some of these things are really..."

The fat man sighed with an air of worldly impermanence, while nonchalantly stuffing the bronze medal into his pocket.

Snapped!
Hu Bayi grabbed the fat man's hand impatiently: "Alright, even if you're greedy, you have to let us see what's written on this. I'll give it to you after we've looked at it."

As he spoke, Hu Bayi snatched the bronze plaque from the fat man's hand and handed it to Hu Ming: "Mingzi, take a look at what's written on it."

"Is this Small Seal script?" Big Gold Tooth leaned closer and asked curiously.

"Yes, it's also called Qin script, which is the standardized script promoted by Qin Shi Huang after he unified the six kingdoms."

"There's nothing much here, it just says that this tomb was originally built by Li Chunfeng."

Hu Ming glanced at it briefly, and seeing that it was the same as the original story, he lost interest and casually tossed it back to the fat man.

The fat man was so happy that wrinkles appeared on his face, and he quickly put the bronze medal away.

"The real treasure is probably right here on this chessboard," Hu Ming thought as he approached the chessboard, trying to figure out what it was all about.

but……

Hu Ming knew nothing about Go, so he could only tell that the black and white endgame was Go and not Gomoku.

Well, at least he's better than the fat guy! There's only one extra piece outside the chessboard.

The intention is clear: there is only one chance to make a move.

Hu Ming had seen the original play, but with 361 intersections between the 19 lines on the chessboard and so many empty spaces, how could anyone possibly remember where to place a piece?
"Old Jin, it's your turn!" Hu Ming decisively pushed Big Gold Tooth over. He was the only one here who knew Go.

"No, Mr. Ming, my grandfather only taught me a little bit when I was a child."

"With my mediocre skills..."

"Hey, that's strange, that's really strange!"

Just as Big Gold Tooth was refusing with a long face, he suddenly discovered something mysterious and couldn't help but shake his head.

"Oh dear! My goodness, stop composing now, what's wrong?" This made the fat man anxious, and he even started shaking his head.

"This endgame, though it may have been very ingenious back then, has long been solved by chess manuals after thousands of years of research."

"As long as we place this black piece in this position... and capture this group of white pieces, then black will basically win." He pointed to a spot on the board and said confidently.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. This Li Chunfeng is a scholar of both heaven and man, and is proficient in everything from the Book of Changes and the Eight Trigrams to ingenious mechanisms."

“A person with such ability, every single one of them, is probably proud from the bottom of their heart.”

"Would such a proud person leave behind a chess game for future generations to beat?" Hu Ming suddenly asked.

"Although landing the black piece there would lead to a win, that's probably not what Li Chunfeng wants to see, is it?"

(End of this chapter)