Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

Wang Cunhai had a burning rage inside him with nowhere to vent it. When he entered the tomb passage, he stepped on something.

He looked down and saw a seashell. He cursed and, in a fit of rage, kicked the seashell away.

The seashell traced an arc in the air before crashing into the tomb passage ahead with a thud.

Wu Wei tensed up instantly, his right hand already touching the hilt of the short sword.

The worst thing about tomb raiding is this kind of clumsy person; you never know which step they might take that could be fatal.

Sure enough, the moment the kicked-away seashell landed, the two shells struck each other with a sharp "click".

It's as if some kind of signal has been activated.

The seashells that had been quietly closed at the base of the wall suddenly opened their mouths, their edges striking each other.

The clicking sound went from sparse to dense, forming a continuous chorus in just a few seconds.

The seashells in the corner stretched out sticky tentacles, crawling densely along the stone wall and the ground, and surrounding the crowd from all directions.

Wu Wei was so angry that the veins on his forehead throbbed, and he roared at Wang Cunhai, "Why are you so stubborn?!"

Wang Cunhai's face stiffened, but he still stubbornly insisted, "How would I know about this strange thing—"

Before he could finish speaking, a seashell sprang up from the ground, its two shells precisely clamping down on Wang Cunhai's nose.

Wang Cunhai let out a scream that sounded different from his usual tone. He endured the stinging pain in his nose, ripped the seashell off, and angrily broke it in half and threw it away.

This has really stirred up a hornet's nest.

The seashells on the ground leaped up, like a swarm of enraged wasps, and pounced on the group.

There were too many of them, and Wu Wei tried his best to dodge, but he was still caught in the arm by a seashell that came from the side.

The seashell was only the size of a palm and had little offensive power, but its strength was astonishing. It clamped down on his flesh, causing Wu Wei to gasp in pain.

"Go back!" Zhang Qiling shouted in a deep voice.

Wu Wei tore the seashell that was tightly closed off his arm and threw it on the ground. The group hurriedly retreated to the side room.

Everyone was stunned as soon as they stepped into the side room.

The lateral ventricle is completely different from before.

The "hair" on the ceiling was gone, and the diving equipment that was supposed to be in the corner had disappeared.

In the center of the previously empty stone chamber, several stone sculptures now stand.

The stone sculptures were entirely black, each with a human upper body and a lower body in the shape of various animals.

Some had fish tails, some had bird claws, and some had coiled snake bodies, looking extremely eerie under the flashlight beam.

Wang Cunhai was terrified by the bizarre scene and shrank back at the doorway, too afraid to go inside. He said to Wu Wei and the other two:

"You...you go first."

Zhang Qiling ignored him.

He stood there, his brows slightly furrowed, his gaze slowly sweeping across the side room.

Looking at Wu Wei and Hei Xiazi, he raised his finger and pointed to his temple.

Wu Wei and Hei Xiazi immediately understood what he meant.

He felt this place was familiar, as if he had been here before.

Zhang Qiling took a step, walked around half of the wall, and stopped in front of a statue in the corner.

Reach out and move the statue aside, revealing a gear that had been hidden on the wall behind it.

The gears were still turning slowly, their teeth meshing together, connected to more complex parts, making a very faint clicking sound.

"Power unit," Wu Wei blurted out.

Black Bear dropped his nonchalant expression:

"This is truly eye-opening; it's a 'living' tomb."

Wang Cunxi and Wang Cunhai also came over to look, their expressions changing from surprise to disbelief.

Wang Cunhai stared wide-eyed at the still-turning gears, muttering, "How many years has it been? How can it still move..."

Wang Cunxi remained silent for a moment, his brows furrowed, clearly indicating that the situation inside the tomb had far exceeded their expectations.

The group searched the side room, but found nothing of value except for the strange human and animal sculptures and the gear mechanism behind the wall.

Wu Wei frowned and pondered for a while before saying, "We still need to go out and look."

Wang Cunxi hesitated, "But what about those seashells outside..."

Black Bear gestured with his chin toward the still-spinning gear:

"The tomb chamber is rotating; if we go out now, we might not end up in the same tomb passage as before."

Wu Wei turned and walked towards the door. "I'll go take a look first."

I had just taken a step when I felt someone grab the back of my collar and pull me back abruptly.

He turned around and saw Zhang Qiling grabbing him by the collar with one hand, expressionlessly pulling him behind her, and then stepping out of the side room first.

Black Bear followed from behind and reached out to smooth down the little tuft of hair that had been pulled out from Wu Wei's collar.

He patted him on the shoulder, then walked past him and followed Zhang Qiling.

Seeing that they had gone ahead first, Wang Cunxi and Wang Cunhai mustered their courage and followed.

The tomb passage outside the door was indeed no longer the same one as before.

The walls have changed, the brick patterns on the floor are different, and the densely packed seashells have disappeared.

The tomb passage was short, and after walking for a short while, a turn appeared ahead.

Wu Wei walked to the bend and carefully poked half his head out, clinging to the stone wall.

As soon as it peeked out a little, a sharp gust of wind rushed towards it.

Wu Wei instinctively pulled his head back, and a sharp claw grazed his mask, the sharp horn on the fingertip scratching four white marks on the stone wall.

Wu Wei leaned against the wall, his heart skipped a beat.

Zhang Qiling flashed out from the side, his black gold ancient sword slashing down with immense force.

The blade collided with the creature's arm, producing a crisp, metallic clang.

The creature's arm was cleaved open, and instead of red blood, a thick green liquid gushed out.

Several monsters emerged from around the bend, their entire forms clearly illuminated by the flashlight beam.

It has a human-shaped body, a monkey-like face, a mouthful of backward-growing fangs, skin covered with a layer of fine scales, and gills resembling those of an aquatic creature below its head.

His arms were disproportionately thick, with a semi-transparent membrane connecting his fingers, and claws longer than those of a wolf growing from his fingertips.

Black Bear's expression suddenly turned cold: "Sea monkey."

Zhang Qiling held his sword horizontally in front of Wu Wei, the green blood on the blade slowly congealing and dripping in the faint airflow of the tomb passage.

Wu Wei drew his short sword, and Hei Xiazi also drew his short blade from his waist. The three of them stood side by side in the narrow tomb passage.

Several sea monkeys bared their fangs and made low growling sounds in the darkness, their sharp claws scraping against the stone wall with a piercing sound.

Zhang Qiling struck first, slashing at the sea monkey's head.

Black Bear kicked the charging sea monkey with a side kick, sending it flying, while his short blade slashed across the neck of another one.

The sea monkey's scales were grazed by the short blade, leaving only a deep mark, without even oozing any green liquid.

"This thing's hide is really tough." Black Bear added another slash.