Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The stone chamber was so quiet that you could hear the sound of blood dripping from the armor plates.

Zhang Qiling stood before the white marble platform, his palm outstretched. The Muchen Pearl, the size of a pigeon's egg and imbued with blood-red light, lay quietly in his palm. The spiral patterns on the pearl's surface seemed to be slowly writhing in the dim light.

Outside the wall, everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the hand.

Wu Xie subconsciously touched his neck. The dark red ghost eye mark was still there; it didn't hurt, but it felt like a branding iron burning his skin. Wang Pangzi, Xie Yuchen, Hei Xiazi, Huo Xiuxiu, A Ning… everyone who had been to the Jingjue Ancient City made the same gesture.

Kun Ge supported the unconscious Chen Man, his fingers also pressing against the side of his neck. Wang Yihan bit her lip. Lin Guoce, Jiang Shouyi, Jiang Xungu... even Wen Jingshan, who was being supported, secretly reached for his collar with his other, uninjured hand.

The live stream chat stopped, as if even the air had frozen.

Zhang Qiling looked down at the bead in his palm. He clenched his fingers and held it.

Then, squeeze it hard.

"Click."

The sound was very soft, like stepping on a small piece of thin ice.

There was no earth-shattering light, no deafening roar. Only a soft, water-like blue halo rippled from between Zhang Qiling's fingers. The halo was faint, like fireflies on a summer night, spreading rapidly, penetrating the still-rippling stone wall, spreading throughout the entire cave, and affecting everyone inside and outside the wall.

Wu Xie felt a cool sensation on his neck. It wasn't an icy chill, but the gentle coolness of a spring flowing over his skin. Then, the burning, agonizing feeling of constriction that had been weighing on his mind day and night vanished. He abruptly pulled open his collar and reached down to touch it.

Gone.

The dark red ghost eye spot had disappeared. The skin was smooth, only pale from years of being deprived of sunlight.

"It's gone!" Fatty Wang roared, tearing open his collar and then grabbing Wu Xie's neck to check. "It's really gone! Tianzhen, yours is gone too!"

Xie Yuchen, Huo Xiuxiu, and A Ning looked at each other and saw a relieved glint in each other's eyes. Hei Xiazi chuckled, a wide grin spreading across his face behind his sunglasses.

On the other side of the wall, Kun Ge watched the red mark on Chen Man's neck fade rapidly and eventually disappear completely. He then touched his own neck, plopped down on the ground, and gasped for breath. Wang Yihan covered her face, her shoulders shaking. Lin Guoce let out a long sigh, while Jiang Shouyi muttered something to himself. Jiang Xun Gu stretched his neck and smiled.

Wen Jingshan showed no joy. He stared intently at Zhang Qiling's open palm—where only a small clump of dark red powder remained, falling softly from between his fingers.

"The bead... is broken?" His voice was dry and filled with disbelief.

"The curse is lifted," said "Zhang Qiling." He shook his right hand; the blood mixed with gold dust on his knuckles had already congealed.

"The Muchen Pearl..." Wen Jingshan struggled to stand up, pushed away the people supporting him, took two steps forward, his eyes red, "That's a national treasure! It's an important research sample! You...you just destroyed it like that?!"

Zhang Qiling didn't look at him, and gently shook off the powder from his hand. The powder fell onto the white marble platform, quickly dimmed, and turned into ashes.

"The item has been used," Xie Yuchen said calmly through the wall, "used where it was meant to be used."

"You're damaging cultural relics! This is a crime!" Wen Jingshan shouted hoarsely, his hand reaching for the holster at his waist. Behind him, the soldiers who had miraculously survived the centipede and the zombie king's attack also instinctively raised their guns, aiming at the two people inside the wall.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

The levitating live-streaming sphere squeezed completely through the crack in the wall, hovering in mid-air inside the room. The camera faithfully recorded this scene.

The comments then started scrolling again:

Prophet: The curse has been broken!

The authorities are going to make things difficult for those who disagree with the so-called experts: They're going to ruin things again.

The male fan club: Husbands, watch out!

"Wen Jingshan!" Lin Guoce shouted sharply, "Put down your gun! What do you think you're doing?"

"What are you doing?" Wen Jingshan turned his head, his face contorted with rage. "Captain Lin, look carefully! They destroyed the Muchen Pearl! That could be the key to unlocking the mystery of immortality! It's evidence that could overturn modern science! Just like that, it's gone! And how many of our people have they killed along the way? Professor Zhou! Chen Wangshan! So many brothers! They have no respect for discipline, no respect for the law!"

"It was your men who struck first, who plotted against us first." Black Glasses crossed his arms, his sunglasses pointing at Wen Jingshan. "The mute Zhangs never provoked you. It was you who repeatedly tripped us up and tried to steal our things. Wen, have some shame."

"What do you know, you street thug!" Wen Jingshan roared, drawing his pistol and pointing it at Zhang Qiling inside the wall. "Hand over the jade eye! And the research rights to all the burial artifacts here must belong to the state! You, put your hands on your heads and come out right now!"

The gun muzzle was dark and gaping.

Zhang Qiling finally raised his eyes and glanced at him. His gaze was indifferent, devoid of emotion, as if he were looking at a stone or a corpse.

Zhang Qiling glanced at it as well, his lips curling down almost imperceptibly. It was an undisguised contempt.

"Commander Wen, calm down!" Jiang Xun Gu stepped forward, blocking the gun barrel. "Without them, we would all be dead by now! They're the ones who lifted the curse!"

"Get out of the way!" Wen Jingshan swerved his gun. "Jiang Xungu, don't forget your place! You were chosen by the nation!"

"I fucking remember I'm a human being!" Jiang Xun Gu exploded, "not some mad dog that bites indiscriminately!"

At this tense moment, another unexpected event occurred.

On the ground, the golden-armored corpse king, whose neck had been snapped by "Zhang Qiling," suddenly twitched its golden-armored hand. Immediately afterward, two eerie green flames ignited in the dark eye sockets beneath its helmet!

It wasn't just one. The remaining seven corpse king remains, lying on the ground and seemingly destroyed, all began to ooze a viscous, blackish-green mist from between their armor plates. The mist quickly condensed, hissing and carrying a strong, putrid odor.

"Corpse poison turning into miasma!" Jiang Shouyi exclaimed in shock. "Retreat quickly! If you get touched, you'll rot!"

The dark green poisonous miasma spread extremely quickly, instantly filling half of the inner room and surging towards the gap in the stone wall. The closest to it were Wen Jingshan and several soldiers beside him.

"Go!" Zhang Qiling shouted in a low voice, and his figure moved. He did not rush towards the door, but pounced on the white marble platform. Just before the poisonous miasma closed in, he pressed his hand on a certain spot on the platform.

"Click".

On the side of the white marble platform, a hidden compartment popped open, revealing the combined jade eye and the small jade piece. He grabbed them and stuffed them into his robes.

"Zhang Qiling" acted almost simultaneously, but not outwards, but inwards. He rushed towards the remains of the Corpse King with its eye sockets burning, and before the poisonous miasma could reach it, he kicked the remains, sending them flying and crashing into the stone wall deep inside the cave with a deafening roar, temporarily halting the spread of the poisonous miasma.

"This way!" Xie Yuchen shouted urgently from outside the wall. He, Hei Xiazi, and A Ning had rushed to the still rippling stone wall, trying to maintain the passage.

"Fatty, take the men and leave!" Wu Xie shouted to Fatty Wang, while he himself moved closer to the wall, wanting to help.

The poisonous miasma had reached the wall. Wen Jingshan and his soldiers were the first to be hit. One soldier couldn't dodge in time, and a wisp of blackish-green mist grazed his arm, causing him to let out a piercing scream. His arm turned black, swelled, and festered at a visible speed, and within a few breaths, the bone was exposed.

"Ah—!" Wen Jingshan retreated in terror, firing two shots haphazardly at the poisonous miasma. The bullets struck the stone wall, sparks flying, but to no avail. The poisonous miasma swirled, threatening to engulf him.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" had retreated back to the wall. Zhang Qiling glanced at Wen Jingshan, who was struggling and screaming on the edge of the poisonous miasma, and then at Chen Man, who was being dragged unconscious by Kun Ge and Wang Yihan outside the wall, as well as Lin Guoce, Jiang Shouyi, Jiang Xungu and others who were anxious.

His eyes were indifferent, and he did not stop walking. He and "Zhang Qiling" walked through the wall together.

The moment they emerged, Zhang Qiling swung his hand and slapped a spot on the rippling stone wall.

"Buzz—"

The ripples on the stone wall intensified, then quickly solidified and hardened, transforming back into a solid stone wall that completely isolated the inside from the outside. It also sealed Wen Jingshan, the soldiers, and the surging blackish-green poisonous miasma inside.

The final scene shows Wen Jingshan's twisted and desperate face, and the soldiers' dying screams, after they are completely sealed into the stone wall.

silence.

On this side of the wall, only heavy breathing remained. Faint sounds of muffled impacts and muffled screams could be heard coming from behind the stone wall, but soon even these sounds disappeared.

Lin Guoce's face was deathly pale. He stared at the cold stone wall, opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing. Jiang Shouyi slumped to the ground. Jiang Xungu wiped his face and exhaled a breath of stale air. Kun Ge and Wang Yihan clung tightly to the unconscious Chen Man, still shaken.

Wu Xie looked at the wall, feeling a tightness in his chest, but then, thinking of Wen Jingshan's past actions, that tightness dissipated. Fatty Wang patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "He brought this on himself."

Black Bear whistled, breaking the silence: "Alright, time to clean house."

Xie Yuchen checked Chen Man's condition. The acupuncture needles were still in place, her breathing was steady, and there were no signs of the wound on her back worsening. "She's stable for now, but she must be taken out for treatment as soon as possible."

Zhang Qiling took out the jade eye and small jade piece from his pocket and handed them to Xie Yuchen. "Keep them safe."

Zhang Qiling walked to the edge of the cave and looked in the direction they had come from. "The road is difficult to walk."

Indeed, the path they came from had been ravaged by the corpses of the six-winged centipedes and the battle, and there might be unknown dangers lurking in the depths.

"We have to get out of here," Zhang Qiling said. He walked to the unconscious Chen Man and looked at her. "Carry her on your back."

Kun immediately said, "I'll do it!"

"You can't do it." Zhang Qiling shook his head. "I'll carry it."

He crouched down and carefully carried Chen Man on his back, his movements steady and avoiding the wound. Kun Ge and Wang Yihan thanked him repeatedly.

"Let's go," Lin Guoce finally found his voice, his voice hoarse, "let's get out of here first."

The troops regrouped, but the atmosphere was different. The disappearance of Wen Jingshan and his trusted soldiers was like a stone sinking into water; the ripples on the surface subsided, but something beneath had changed.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" were still walking at the front. Behind them followed the crowd, who were still shaken but no longer burdened by the curse, as well as an injured person being carried on their back.

The "starry sky" at the top of the cave still emitted a ghostly blue light. But what seemed mysterious and magnificent when we arrived now felt cold and eerie.

Deep within the tomb of King Xian, there seem to be even more secrets hidden. The relationship between the jade eye and the Muchen Pearl, the "god" behind the vortex in the mural, the clues from the bronze door... these remain unanswered.

But right now, the most important thing is to get the living people out of this cannibalistic ancient tomb.

The floating live stream ball quietly followed the group. A few sparse comments floated by, then quickly fell silent again.

The road ahead is long. But at least, the curse of the Ghost Eye has been lifted.