Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The passageway is very narrow.

It was the kind of narrow place where you had to bend over to walk. The stone walls were damp and covered with slippery moss. Underfoot was an uneven, steep slope that went straight down. The air was thick with the smell of earth and groundwater.

People moved down the damp, cold stone wall one by one, their steps uneven. The wounded were being helped along, gasping for breath in pain. Flashlight beams darted wildly in the narrow space, illuminating the sweat stains on the backs of those in front.

It took about twenty minutes to walk.

The slope became gentler. The passageway also widened slightly, allowing one to stand upright. But the air was more humid, and carried a... hollow sound of wind.

Zhang Qiling, who was walking at the front, stopped.

The people behind stopped as well. The flashlight beam shone forward.

At the end of the beam of light, the passage abruptly ended. There was no path ahead, only a bottomless abyss of darkness. A wind swept up from below, carrying a biting chill.

"Is it...the end?" Kun's voice was weak.

Zhang Qiling walked to the edge of the passage, crouched down, and shone his flashlight downwards. The beam pierced the darkness, but didn't reach the bottom. He could only vaguely see the outline of another stone wall on the other side—about twenty meters away. The middle was hollow.

"It's a crack." Zhang Qiling walked to the edge and looked at it. "It's about 25 meters wide. And over 50 meters deep."

"A crack? How are we going to get across?" Lin Guoce frowned deeply. There was no way they could jump across that width. They couldn't fly either.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" exchanged a glance. Neither spoke, but their meaning was clear.

Zhang Qiling turned and walked towards the group. "We need two ropes. The longest and the strongest."

Lin Guoce immediately ordered his soldiers to rummage through their backpacks and retrieve nylon climbing ropes. These ropes were specially made, with high load-bearing capacity and waterproof properties. Each rope was about thirty meters long. The soldiers handed over two ropes.

Zhang Qiling took one, weighed it in his hand, and checked the rope end and buckle. Then he coiled the rope around his shoulder and slung it across his body. "Zhang Qiling" did the same.

The two walked back to the edge of the crevice.

The people behind them were watching. No one asked what they were doing. After walking this far, everyone had more or less guessed that these two couldn't be judged by ordinary standards.

Zhang Qiling took a few steps back, creating running distance in the passage. He took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on a slightly protruding rock on the opposite stone wall.

He moved.

Accelerate, sprint, take one last step at the edge of the tunnel, and leap forward.

He was in mid-air, without any leverage. His black figure streaked through the darkness like a straight arrow. The twenty-five-meter distance seemed nonexistent to him. The descent had barely begun when he landed steadily on the opposite rock, his knees slightly bent to dissipate the impact and he stood still.

The whole process took less than three seconds. It was all done with a nonchalant air.

The opposite passageway was completely silent. The only sound was the gasping of breath.

Then, "Zhang Qiling" moved as well. His running start was shorter, but his explosive power was astonishing. He leaped out with a graceful movement, drawing a sharp arc above the crack, and landed precisely beside Zhang Qiling, landing silently.

The two stopped, turned around, and looked this way.

Under the flashlight beam, two black figures stood on a protrusion on the opposite cliff face, with bottomless darkness behind them, like two guardian deities protecting the abyss.

"The rope." Zhang Qiling's voice came from the other side, not loud, but clear.

The two men untied the rope from their shoulders, found a thick stalagmite next to a protruding rock, quickly tied one end of the rope securely with several knots, and reinforced it with buckles. Then, each of them grabbed the other end of the rope, took a few steps back, and using the momentum, swung the rope sharply in their direction!

The two ropes, like two long black snakes, sliced ​​through the darkness and fell to the ground at the edge of the passage with a thud.

"Secure the rope. Use a pulley to slide it across," Zhang Qiling said succinctly.

Lin Guoce snapped out of his daze and immediately ordered his soldiers, "Quick! Secure the rope! Check the buckles and pulleys!"

The soldiers moved swiftly, finding sturdy anchor points on this side of the passage and tightening the two ropes securely. Then they took out pulley systems—standard equipment for the expedition; each soldier carried a simple pulley and hook in their backpack.

"The wounded go first! Kun, Chen Man, Wang Yihan, you guys follow! Hurry!" Lin Guoce ordered.

The seriously wounded soldier was carefully strapped to a safety harness and attached to a pulley. On the other side, "Zhang Qiling" pulled the auxiliary rope, smoothly sliding him across the crevice. Next came the other wounded, and then Kun Ge and the others.

The sound of the pulley sliding on the rope echoed through the silent cracks. Everyone who slid across kept their eyes tightly shut, not daring to look down. Only when Zhang Qiling or "Zhang Qiling" reached out and caught them, unhooking them, did they dare to breathe.

Wu Xie and Fatty got there in the middle. As Fatty hung from the rope, he muttered, "This fat old man of mine, I hope it can hold up..."

The pulley glided smoothly to the other side. Zhang Qiling reached out and helped him down. The fat man, his feet firmly on solid ground, still felt a little weak in the knees, and leaned against the stone wall, saying, "Thanks, sir!"

After Wu Xie went over, he nodded to "Zhang Qiling". "Zhang Qiling" nodded in response almost imperceptibly.

The ten "Vulture" team members also silently glided over, keeping their heads down the whole time, not daring to look at Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling".

Finally, it was Lin Guoce, Xie Yuchen, Hei Xiazi, and Huo Xiuxiu's turn. Lin Guoce arrived and immediately checked on the personnel. Thankfully, they were all there, and nothing went wrong.

The levitating live-streaming ball flew through the crevice, and the camera captured this thrilling process.

Bullet comments:

[ID Prophet: Standard procedure, everyone sit down.]

[ID Specialist Cures Dissent: This level of agility would make Newton turn in his grave.]

[ID Guy Fan Club: My husband looked so cool flying over there!]

[ID with severe acrophobia: I'm already dizzy.]

After everyone had arrived, Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" untied the ropes securing them on the other side and coiled them up. They also untied the ropes on their side. They couldn't lose their equipment.

They were now in a natural cave on the other side of the fissure. It was smaller than the previous main burial chamber, but still quite spacious. On one side of the cave was a bottomless fissure, and on the other side was a wider passage extending upwards. The air circulation was excellent, carrying fresh moisture.

"This should be another section of the craftsmen's escape route." Professor Zhou Xu'an, panting, looked around. "Judging from the direction of these rock strata, they're going upwards. They might lead to the side of the mountain, or... an underground river."

"Where there's wind, there's an exit." Jiang Shouyi's spirits lifted.

"Ten-minute break," Lin Guoce said, glancing at the exhausted team. "Treat their wounds, get them hydrated, and then continue."

People collapsed to the ground. Exhausted, scared, hungry, and thirsty. But they had finally passed that deadly crevice, and hope seemed a little brighter.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" walked to the edge of the cave, a little distance from the crowd, and sat down with their backs against the stone wall. They were still cross-legged, with their eyes closed. The two were about a meter apart, like two silent mountains.

Wu Xie took out the water bottle, carefully took a sip, and moistened his chapped lips. Fatty leaned closer, watching expectantly. Wu Xie sighed and handed the water bottle over. Fatty chuckled, took it, took a small sip, and then gave it back.

"Be careful," Wu Xie said in a low voice.

"I know." The fat man clicked his tongue, his eyes darting around the cave. He suddenly pointed to an inconspicuous corner deep inside the cave, "Hey, Tianzhen, look over there, isn't there something reflecting light?"

Wu Xie looked in the direction he pointed. Deep inside the cave, near the stone wall, there was indeed a faint, metallic reflection on the ground. It was very dark, and almost invisible without careful observation.

"It looks like... fragments of something?" Wu Xie got up, wanting to go and take a look.

"Don't move." Black Bear's voice came. He had noticed it at some point, his sunglasses pointed in that direction. "Something's not right here."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking.

A slight tremor suddenly came from the ground in the center of the cave. It wasn't an earthquake, but more like... something was creaking beneath.

"Back off!" Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" opened their eyes at the same time and stood up.

People hurriedly retreated to the edge of the cave, away from the central area.

The tremors became increasingly noticeable. Fine cracks began to appear in the ground. Gravel and dust began to fall.

"Something's about to come out from below!" Kun's voice trembled.

"Snap!"

With a sharp crack, the ground in the center of the cave split open, and a stream of murky, fishy-smelling water gushed out! The water column wasn't high, but it was continuous, quickly forming a small puddle in the center. The water was dark green and bubbling.

Immediately afterwards, something emerged from the puddle.

It was a head. A very large head. Covered in dark blue, wet scales. It had no eyes, only two sunken holes. Its mouth was open, revealing countless tiny, hooked teeth.

It resembled the monster we encountered in the pool at Huo Yun's tomb, but it was smaller, about half the size of that one. And there was more than one.

The first one had barely poked its head out when a second, a third… a total of five emerged from the puddle. Their bodies resembled giant leeches, but were covered in scales, had no limbs, and moved forward by wriggling. They weren't fast, but their writhing movements were nauseating.

They seemed to sense the presence of living people, turned around, and crawled towards the crowd, making hissing sounds like air leaking out.

"It's that thing again!" the fat man cursed, grabbing his entrenching tool.

"Be careful, they can spray acid," Black Bear warned, clearly having seen or heard of such things before.

Sure enough, the monster at the very front raised its head, its neck bulged, and then suddenly shrank back!

"puff!"

A stream of dark green liquid, emitting pungent white smoke, spewed from its mouth and sprayed towards the crowd!

People scattered in panic. The acid splashed onto the stone wall, making a "sizzling" corrosive sound, and a small pit was instantly etched into the stone surface.

"Fire!" Lin Guoce ordered.

Bullets had little effect on the monster; its scales were very hard. The acid attack, though slow, had a wide range and was highly corrosive, forcing people to retreat continuously as the space shrank.

Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" have moved.

The two rushed towards the acid, one on each side. The instant the acid sprayed, Zhang Qiling sidestepped, simultaneously drawing his black-gold ancient sword. A flash of light, and it struck the neck of the nearest monster. Scales shattered, and dark green liquid splattered. The monster, in pain, turned to bite. Zhang Qiling ducked, his blade flashing upwards, cleaving open its jaws from bottom to top.

Zhang Qiling was even more direct. He dodged the acid, moved closer to the other monster, and with his left hand forming a claw, he plunged it into the gaps in the scales on the side of the monster's neck, gripped it, and tore it apart with force! He actually ripped off a large chunk of flesh with scales on it! The monster screamed in agony and writhed wildly. Zhang Qiling then kicked it back into the puddle.

The other three monsters simultaneously spewed out acid. Zhang Qiling and "Zhang Qiling" retreated rapidly, the acid grazing their clothes and landing on the stone wall behind them, corroding large pits.

"Shoot them inside their mouths!" Wu Xie suddenly shouted. "The bamboo slips describe something similar; the lining of their mouths is soft!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiling suddenly lunged forward during a break in another acid eruption, his body almost touching the ground as he slid under the monster. With the tip of his knife pointing upwards, he precisely stabbed into the monster's wide-open mouth, all the way to the hilt, and then stirred it.

The monster trembled violently and collapsed.

Zhang Qiling followed suit, picking up the military dagger that the soldier had dropped earlier, and hurled it. The dagger flashed and pierced the throat of another monster. The monster collapsed, convulsing.

Seeing the situation was dire, the last monster tried to retreat back into the puddle. Black Bear charged in from the side, his military dagger plunging deep into its eye socket, twisting it forcefully.

The battle is over.

Five monster corpses lay beside the puddle, dark green sap flowing across the ground, mixed with acid and emitting a pungent odor. The puddle stopped spouting water and slowly seeped back into the ground.

People were still in shock. In just a few minutes, another life-or-death struggle ensued.

"This place... isn't safe either." Kun's face turned pale.

"The puddle connects to an underground river." Zhang Qiling looked at the shrinking puddle. "These are things that live in the underground river. They've been disturbed."

"We must leave as soon as possible." Zhang Qiling sheathed his sword and looked towards the upward passage on the other side of the cave. "Let's go."

No one objected. No one wanted to stay in this godforsaken place a second longer.

The group packed their belongings and quickly moved towards the passage. Before leaving, Wu Xie couldn't resist running to the corner the fat man had pointed out earlier and quickly picking up the reflective object—half a rusted bronze plaque with blurred patterns on it. He didn't have time to examine it closely, stuffed it into his backpack, and hurried to catch up with the group.

The path leading uphill is much wider, allowing three people to walk side by side. The slope is steep, but there are rough steps carved out by hand. The air becomes increasingly fresh, and a breeze blows down from above, carrying the unique, cool scent of grass and trees characteristic of the mountains.

Hope seems to lie there.