Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

Iron-faced Sheng has fallen.

The shriveled, twisted corpse on the platform, with a large hole in its chest, remained motionless. Jade fragments shattered on the ground, mingling with black blood. The sweet, eerie fragrance in the air had dissipated considerably, leaving only the stench of blood, decay, and the sour smell of insect corpses, a stench that made one's head ache.

Quiet. Dead silence.

There were only the sounds of panting and the faint clanging of guns, as if someone's hand was trembling.

Several seconds passed before Kun swallowed hard, his voice dry: "Really...really dead?"

Zhang Qiling tossed the grayish-white jade shard in his hand to the ground with a soft thud. "Dead."

Zhang Qiling sheathed his sword, walked to the corpse of the Iron-Faced Man, and nudged it with his toe. The corpse was limp and unresponsive. He looked at the hole in the corpse's chest, then at the shattered jade on the ground, and said nothing.

Lin Guoce took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to recover from the shock of the inhuman battle he had just witnessed. He wiped the sweat from his face—he didn't know if it was from fear or exhaustion. "Check the wounded! Count the numbers! Quickly!"

The team sprang into action. Medics quickly treated the wounded. Kun's leg wound wasn't deep, but the area stung by the insects was black and needed cleaning. Fatty had several cuts on his body that were also bleeding. The soldier whose face had been pierced by the golden beetle was the most seriously injured and was already semi-conscious. He was given emergency bandages, anti-inflammatory drugs, and painkillers.

The ten "Vulture" team members were also injured to varying degrees, and they silently treated themselves. The way they looked at Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" had completely turned into awe and fear—and a trace of barely perceptible bewilderment after completely abandoning the mission.

Wu Xie helped Fatty sit down, his own legs giving way, and he plopped down on the ground. He took off his glasses, wiping the black specks splattered on the lenses with the corner of his shirt, his hands still trembling slightly. The battle just now was too fast, too dangerous. The fight between the two Zhang Qilings and that ghostly thing was simply inhuman.

"Naive," the fat man panted, but his eyes were still bright. He lowered his voice, "Tell me... if the two of us were to go for it, how many seconds could that thing last?"

Wu Xie smiled wryly: "Even a second would be tough."

"Absolutely." The fat man even seemed a little smug, as if he were proud of it. "But we're the ironclad quartet—no, the ironclad pentagon! With two guys like us here, no demons or monsters can get through!"

Xie Yuchen and Hei Xiazi walked over. Hei Xiazi's sunglasses were tilted slightly, revealing half an eye, which was now extremely sharp. It swept over Tie Miansheng's corpse, then looked at Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling." "Mute Zhang, are you alright?"

Zhang Qiling shook his head.

Zhang Qiling also shook his head.

Huo Xiuxiu was examining the remaining items in the coffin. She carefully used a dagger to pry open the tattered silk fabrics, revealing scattered jade artifacts and small bronze pieces. "Most of the burial goods are intact. The bamboo slips are all there too."

Professor Zhou Xu'an, supported by Jiang Shouyi, approached the coffin. Looking inside, his old face flushed with excitement: "Priceless treasures... priceless treasures! The patterns on these bronzes, the shapes of these jade artifacts... they are all standard late Warring States period styles! And those two bamboo scrolls, their contents are too important! We must take them out!"

Lin Guoce frowned: "Professor, we're barely able to protect ourselves right now. No matter how important the item is, we need to be alive to get it out of here."

The professor paused, his excitement subsided, and sighed, "Yes... save your life first."

The levitating live-streaming sphere circled the platform, capturing the post-battle scene: the wrecked insect corpses, shattered jade pieces, the fallen Iron-Faced Sheng, the exhausted and wounded crowd, and two black figures standing silently resting on either side of the platform.

After the barrage of explosions during the battle, the chat has now calmed down.

[ID Prophet: It's over...for now.]

[ID Specializes in Curing Dissenting Experts: Sun the expert deserved to die; if he were here, he definitely wouldn't allow this thing to be used.]

[ID Guy Fan Club: Our husbands are injured! We feel so sorry for them!]

[ID: Chicken You're Too Beautiful: Where's Kun Ge? Shall we have a dance to celebrate?]

[ID Supplies Running Low: Do We Have Enough Food and Water?]

Lin Guoce glanced at the comments section, then suddenly remembered something and looked up at his watch. The digital watch screen glowed with a ghostly blue light in the darkness. He paused, then looked up at the cave ceiling—of course, he couldn't see any sunlight.

"How long have you been here?" he asked the soldier next to him.

A soldier responsible for keeping track of the time glanced at his watch and said in a hoarse voice, "From the moment we descended to the entrance of Old Wolf Gully... fourteen hours. From the moment we entered the tomb passage, about twelve hours."

Twelve hours.

It felt like a lifetime. Corpse Beetle Sea, Iron Corpse, Blood Corpse, Golden Beetle, Iron-Faced Gentleman... one challenge after another, without stopping.

"Is this... the first night?" Kun was a little confused. "I thought several days had passed."

"Being in a tomb where there's no sunlight will mess up your biological clock," Jiang Shouyi said. "But only a little over half a day has actually passed."

Lin Guoce said to the medics, "Check the food and water we brought and distribute them according to the number of people. Take this time to rest and replenish your strength."

The medic and several soldiers gathered their backpacks together to take inventory. There were compressed biscuits, energy bars, chocolate, beef jerky, and water. After counting, the medic's face darkened: "Team Leader Lin, at the current rate of consumption and manpower... we can only last three days at most. Water is even scarcer; we only have less than two days' worth left."

Three days.

A sense of unease settled over everyone. It was only the first day, and several had already been killed, several seriously injured, and supplies were running low. What awaited them next, no one knew.

"Use it sparingly," Lin Guoce said in a heavy voice. "Prioritize the wounded. For everyone else, halve the allocation."

Food and water were distributed. Each person received half a compressed biscuit and a small sip of water. No one complained; they silently accepted the food, nibbling and drinking in small bites. Everyone knew the situation was dire.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" were also assigned seats. Instead of sitting down, the two walked to the edge of the platform, a little distance from the crowd, and sat cross-legged against a huge stalactite pillar.

The movements were almost simultaneous. Both bent their right leg, extended their left leg naturally, straightened their backs, and casually placed their hands on their knees. Then, they closed their eyes at the same time.

They resemble two stone Buddhas in deep meditation.

No one disturbed them. Everyone knew that these two had been the most exhausted from the battle. They needed to recover.

Wu Xie watched their retreating figures, then looked at the hard, dry compressed biscuits in his hand. He silently broke off a small piece and chewed slowly. The taste was terrible, but it would replenish his energy.

The fat man quickly devoured his portion, then looked at Wu Xie expectantly, saying, "Tianzhen, your piece... how about I, your chubby grandpa, help you share some?"

"Get lost." Wu Xie protected the biscuit.

"Stingy." The fat man scoffed, but didn't actually steal it. He looked around, his gaze landing on the iron-faced corpse in the center of the platform, then glancing at Sun Shuanzhu's mangled "corpse" not far away, his small eyes darting around.

It was quiet for about five minutes.

Kun suddenly stood up. His leg injury had been bandaged up, and he was still limping a bit, but his spirits seemed to have returned. He glanced at the floating live broadcast ball and cleared his throat.

"Family!" He raised his voice, tinged with a deliberately feigned, post-disaster-stricken excitement, "We've survived another hurdle! Although the losses were heavy, we're still here! Those two guys are awesome! Blackie, Flower, and Xiuxiu are awesome! We're all awesome!"

He waved his arms, as if to encourage himself and everyone else. But deep in his eyes, the lingering fear and exhaustion were unmistakable.

"To celebrate that we're still alive for now!" Kun Ge changed the subject, pointing to Tie Miansheng's corpse in the center of the platform, "I've decided to give this old zombie a good beating! To commemorate our fallen brothers! And..."

His gaze swept over Sun Shuanzhu's direction, and he curled his lip: "...A tribute to the heroic expert Sun who sacrificed his life!"

As he spoke, he actually limped over to the corpse of the Iron-Faced Man, raised his foot, and gave the corpse's leg a light kick. "Serves you right for being so cocky! Serves you right for being so fierce! You wanted to eat our little brother? Pah!"

He kicked her again. "Longevity? Jade terracotta figurines? You've made yourself into this inhuman, ghost-like mess, are you enjoying it now?"

Then came the third kick, the fourth kick… The movements weren't large, more like an emotional outburst. While kicking, he muttered, "Serves you right for scaring people! Serves you right for releasing bugs! Serves you right…"

Everyone on the platform was watching him. No one stopped him. Some even looked relieved. They had been chased and beaten by this monster and its "minions" all along, people had died and been injured, and they were filled with fear and anger. Kun's actions, though a bit childish, were inexplicably comforting.

The live stream ball is aimed at Kun Ge.

The comments section became active:

[ID Chicken You're Too Beautiful: Kun Ge is awesome! Is this some kind of 'whipping the corpse' thing?!]

[ID Specialist Cures Dissent: Well Done! This Old Zongzi Has Killed So Many People!]

[ID Brother's Fan Club: Kun Ge, be careful, don't twist your ankle.]

[ID Innocent: This... isn't quite right?]

Wu Xie watched, feeling something was amiss, but said nothing. Fatty, however, chuckled: "Hey, Kun-ge, I love this job!"

Kun Ge kicked seven or eight times, then stopped to catch his breath, feeling a bit tired. He glanced at Sun Shuanzhu, hesitated for a moment, and still didn't go over to kick him—after all, Sun Shuanzhu had been killed by "Zhang Qiling" with a single punch, and the way he died was too gruesome; it made him a little scared.

"Alright, that's enough venting." Kun clapped his hands and walked back into the crowd. "We still need to think about what to do next."

His words brought everyone back to reality. Yes, Iron-Faced Man was dealt with, but they were still hundreds of meters underground, with no way forward and their escape route blocked by corpse beetles, and supplies were scarce.

Lin Guoce looked at Professor Zhou Xu'an and Jiang Shouyi: "Professor, Professor Jiang, we've reached the main tomb chamber, and the jade figurines have been dealt with. Logically, this should be the end. But... how do we get out?"

The professor and Jiang Shouyi also frowned. The two of them shone their flashlights and carefully examined the huge cave and altar again.

"According to the burial style of the Warring States period, the main tomb chamber of a feudal lord's tomb usually had accompanying side chambers, auxiliary halls, and... escape passages." The professor pondered, "Especially for this kind of large-scale tomb built deep in the mountains, the craftsmen might have left themselves an escape route. It's just unknown where it is."

"Search." Lin Guoce stood up. "Everyone, rest for ten minutes. Then, spread out and search around the altar. Be careful, don't act alone, and report anything unusual immediately."

The order was given. The exhausted people forced themselves to stay alert, knowing this was a matter of life and death.

Ten minutes passed quickly.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" opened their eyes simultaneously. The weariness in their eyes had faded slightly, but they remained calm. They stood up, said nothing, and began to walk around the platform, observing.

Flashlight beams swept across the enormous cavern. The people split into several groups, carefully searching for possible crevices, hidden doors, and mechanisms along the edge of the altar, among the stalactites, and beside puddles.

Wu Xie, Fatty, Xie Yuchen, Hei Xiazi, and Huo Xiuxiu formed a team and searched the west side of the altar. Fatty, holding an entrenching tool, tapped and poked here and there. "Damn it, this rock is as hard as iron, there's no way there's a passage..."

"Look here." Huo Xiuxiu suddenly squatted down and pointed to a gap where the base of the altar met the ground. The gap was narrow and dark inside, but when you shone a flashlight inside, it seemed to have a downward slope and a faint airflow.

"It's a gap, but it's too narrow; a person can't pass through," Black Bear said, glancing at it.

"Not necessarily." Xie Yuchen walked over, reached out and touched the stone at the edge of the crevice, then looked at Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" not far away. "You two, come and take a look."

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" walked over. Zhang Qiling squatted down, inserted his fingers into the crevice to measure its width, and then tapped the surrounding stone walls. "It's hollow behind. The stone is movable."

"Can you open it?" Lin Guoce also came over.

Zhang Qiling didn't speak. He stepped back a few paces, observing the overall structure of the altar base and the texture of the stone walls in this area. After a moment, he pointed to a slightly raised, darker-colored stone slab about two meters above the crevice. "There. That's the nexus."

Zhang Qiling nodded in agreement. He walked to the stone slab, glanced at the height, took two steps back, ran up, leaped, placed his left hand on the stone wall, used the momentum to rise higher, and accurately placed his right hand on the protruding stone slab, pushing it inward with force!

"Click".

A very soft mechanical sound.

Immediately afterwards, the stones around the crevice made a series of grinding sounds as they slowly receded inward by about half a foot, revealing an irregular opening about half a meter wide and one meter high. It was pitch black inside, and a colder wind carrying a heavy moisture blew out.

"It's a passage!" Kun exclaimed in surprise.

The entrance is small, requiring you to bend over to enter. Inside is a downward-sloping path, clearly showing signs of artificial excavation; it's very rough, but it is indeed a path.

"This must be an escape route left by the craftsmen who built the tomb," Professor Zhou Xu'an said excitedly. "Judging from the excavation method, it was rushed, but it was usable!"

"Everyone!" Lin Guoce's spirits lifted. "Get your gear ready to go in! Wounded first, look after each other! Quickly!"

Hope appeared. People moved much faster. The wounded were helped to the entrance of the cave, and one by one they crouched down and crawled inside. Then came the others.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" remained at the rear. After everyone else had gone inside, the two took one last look at the main tomb chamber, which was filled with insect corpses and contained the body of a thousand-year-old monster, before bending down and crawling into the dark passage.

Ahead lies the unknown, but also a possible path to survival.