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Chapter 7 Soul Passage

Chapter 7 Soul Passage

Liu Kaiwen looked around at the current state of these people, how could they escape together. No, he had to straighten things out first. At least they needed an attitude of working together if not the spirit of unity. Thinking of this, he called out to Hao Youfu and Zhao Yihui to gather everyone together.

"Listen to me for a moment. Previously, we were strangers, but now we are trapped here. If we want to escape, we must work together..." Suddenly, Xue Fang looked up at Liu Kaiwen and asked, "Can we still escape?"

Liu Kaiwen paused for a moment as he was interrupted, and he scanned the crowd. "If they wanted us dead, they wouldn't have led us here. If they wanted us dead, they wouldn't have left us with nine portions of food and water..."

"What is their purpose?" Jia Jing asked in confusion.

"We still don't know," Liu Kaiwen shrugged.

"Could they be a tomb robbing gang?" Xue Fang quietly put forward her guess. "There is an ancient temple in my hometown, and all the Buddha heads inside have been pried away."

"Such illegal acts should be kept secret by fewer people, so why did they kidnap us?" Jia Jing rebutted.

"A game?" Liu Kaiwen tentatively put forward his idea.

"What game?"

Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, he rubbed his nose and said, "Before I passed out in the car, I seemed to have heard the man with the sunglasses say these two words. But until now, I'm not sure what game he meant."

"Kidnapping game?" Hao Youfu frowned and looked up at the sky, puzzled. Although he rarely participated in discussions, Wu Wei took over, "Just tell us how to leave here?"

Except for Zhao Yihui and Hao Youfu, everyone nodded in agreement and looked at Liu Kaiwen expectantly.

"Through Comrade Zhao and Hao Youfu's research on the murals, we have obtained some information," Liu Kaiwen looked at Zhao Yihui. "Comrade Zhao, why don't you tell us?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Zhao Yihui.

Zhao Yihui was silent for a few seconds before speaking, "From the information reflected in the murals, we are now in an ancient tomb, and this tomb is inside a mountain."

"What mountain?" Zhou Xuehai and Hu Zili exclaimed.

"We haven't figured out what mountain it is specifically," Zhao Yihui shook her head and continued, "According to the murals, this is the last stop for the tomb owner to transform into an immortal. So there is no coffin here, only a stone table for offerings..."

"This place is too clean. That was my first impression when I arrived here," Liu Kaiwen looked at Hao Youfu. "When I was outside the door, Hao Youfu told me that this is a Han tomb. When I came in, wherever my eyes went, I only had one feeling - that this tomb room was just built. Afterward, I saw that mural with them, and I realized that this place had already been cleaned. So, I said that our actions have been carried out according to their set steps."

Zhou Xuehai was still puzzled and asked, "Why? We have no grievances or grudges."

"If we continue to argue about the 'why', we won't be able to get out. Currently, we should think about how to escape from this tomb," Hu Zili impatiently waved his hand.

Liu Kaiwen's gaze swept over everyone, "There must be a way out of here, or else they wouldn't have left us with nine portions of food. Moreover, if there were no way out, how did they leave?"

Hao Youfu slapped his thigh, "Right!"

Xue Fang's eyes lit up, then she lowered her head and glanced at Zhao Yihui opposite her, subconsciously pressing the bag at her side with her right hand.

Wu Wei, who rarely participated in discussions, suddenly thought of something and stammered, "What if those people are waiting outside?" "Heh!" Liu Kaiwen chuckled lightly. "If they are guarding us outside the tomb, we will see if we can't get out. They went to such great lengths to bring us here, and this is it... They won't be that boring. Even if they are guarding us, does that mean we can't leave? We must face whatever comes."

Jia Jing looked at the tomb ceiling in silence, "Becoming an immortal? Can we go out from the tomb ceiling?"

Hao Youfu followed Jia Jing's gaze and burst out laughing, "The tomb ceiling? It's a whole block of stone with no seams. How can we get out? There's no explosives or anything..."

"Upward? Downward?" Zhao Yihui raised the question.

"How should we put it, expert?" Hao Youfu was very interested.

"This should be the top layer of the tomb. Since it is a tomb, there must be the tomb owner's coffin, and Han Dynasty tombs pay attention to 'treating death as life.' This tomb owner was so wealthy before his death that he wouldn't have had no burial objects. So there must be a main tomb chamber and ear chamber or even a tomb passage for burial objects..."

Zhao Yihui analyzed, "There must be a downward passage that we haven't found yet!"

These words encouraged everyone, and they quickly got up and searched for any anomalies.

Liu Kaiwen carefully pondered Zhao Yihui's words and suddenly had a flash of insight. He asked loudly, "Where was the bag originally placed?"

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Jia Jing was stunned for a moment before pointing to a corner.

Everyone's eyes fell on a painting of a fairy. The fairy was draped in a veil, with a ribbon fluttering, and surrounded by colorful clouds. She stretched out her hands with her head down, as if welcoming someone.

"Who is she welcoming?" Hao Youfu asked stupidly.

"The tomb owner's soul!" Zhao Yihui glanced at him and calmly replied. Hao Youfu ran over and squatted to observe for a while. He knocked on a few bricks on the ground nearby and found that the sound of a few bricks was different from that of the surrounding ones. He looked up at Liu Kaiwen, "Old Liu, there's a problem."

Zhou Xuehai also squatted down and tried to pry these bricks up, "It's impossible. These blocks are connected."

Hao Youfu thought for a moment, touched the bottom seam of the wall with his hand, moved his fingers, and exclaimed excitedly, "This part can move!"

Everyone was overjoyed at the discovery.

Zhou Xuehai and Hao Youfu exerted force together, and they pulled up several connected bricks from the bottom seam of the wall. A black square passage was exposed. The passage was not big, just enough for one person to pass through.

"Quickly! Move this away!" Jia Jing urged everyone.

The brick was lifted to one side, revealing a square passage. The passage was not wide, only enough for one person.

Hu Zili breathed a sigh of relief and supported Li Zisheng. "As long as there is a way, it's good."

"How did you know there was a way?" Jia Jing asked Liu Kaiwen happily but couldn't help but wonder.

Liu Kaiwen squinted his eyes, "Intuition. Since this place has been carefully cleaned, wouldn't putting the bag here be a kind of hint?"

Trembling, Xue Fang asked, "What hint?"

Liu Kaiwen hesitated for a moment and said, "Go up from here."

The happy atmosphere was instantly chilled like eating a big ice lolly in winter.

Jia Jing's eyes became firm and she clenched her fists, saying to everyone, "Whether or not it's a trap set by them, in this situation where the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, we can only follow their arrangements and act accordingly!"

Xue Fang let go and her pale lips tightly closed together as she looked at Jia Jing, silently reaching out to grab her clothes.

Hao Youfu sighed and pursed his lips, "We're going down, but what order? What if there's someone down there...?"

"The men should go first!" Liu Kaiwen looked at the female comrades and said solemnly, "We're like fleas on a rope now. We'll follow the plan we discussed and not act alone."

Everyone agreed.

"I'll lead, Hao Youfu will follow me...as for the rest, arrange yourselves!" Liu Kaiwen adjusted his bag, took out a flashlight, pointed it at Hao Youfu, and jumped into the tunnel first.

He had originally thought it was a downward tunnel, but he hadn't expected to slide down just a few meters and reach the bottom, only two floors high. He stepped on the hard ground, picked up the flashlight and shone it on a cement slab blocking the passage.

"Old Liu, can you hear me? What's going on?" Hao Youfu's anxious voice came from above.

"Don't worry! There's no way forward!" Liu Kaiwen yelled up. If there was no way forward, how could Hao Youfu stand down there? Would he have to ride on his neck? He observed the walls with his flashlight, there had to be a way. He crouched down and discovered a hollow stone slab on the vertical wall. He knocked on it with his flashlight, it was hollow! "Hao Youfu! Can you hear me?"

Hao Youfu leaned half his body into the tunnel and as soon as he heard Liu Kaiwen's voice, he immediately shouted back, "I can hear you! What's up?"

The yelling echoed in the narrow passage, making Liu Kaiwen's ears ache.

Rubbing his ears, he shook the flashlight upwards and said, "I found another passage. I'll try to open it first, wait for my signal."

He stood up, aimed at the side of the slab, and kicked hard. The slab was kicked open, stuck to the soil wall. He took out his flashlight and shone it on the end of the passage, which was the size of one person. There was actually light at the end of the passage. He turned off the flashlight and crawled slowly over, reaching the end. There was a downward hole here, the light was coming through here. He looked down and saw a staircase leading downwards, he didn't know how far it went. He put his ear to the wall, listened for a while, thought for a moment, then went back to the vertical passage and shook his flashlight upwards.

Hao Youfu's voice came from above, "Here! Old Liu, what's going on?"

"Going down there is a staircase. I haven't gone down to see, but it seems like there's no movement," Liu Kaiwen continued, "You guys go down first. We'll discuss it later!"

Liu Kaiwen went back to the end, with his ear against the wall, paying attention to what was happening below.

Hao Youfu came over and whispered in his ear, "Everyone's down."

Liu Kaiwen looked up and saw Zhao Yihui's braid vaguely behind Hao Youfu, "Let the two of us go down first, don't rush them."

Hao Youfu nodded and turned to pass on the message.

Liu Kaiwen jumped down, hands on the ground, and saw the soil wall behind him. In front of him, the staircase turned a corner, and a wire was strung up on the top side, with a light bulb hanging down. He stood up, pressed against the sidewall, and waved to Hao Youfu.

Hao Youfu had wanted to imitate Liu Kaiwen and land quietly, but instead, with a "pop," he fell face down.

"Ouch!"

Liu Kaiwen quickly covered his mouth as he winced in pain and pulled him up.

Hao Youfu closed his mouth tightly, staring at the bottom of the staircase in horror.

After being petrified for a few minutes, Liu Kaiwen waved to the people above to indicate everything was okay. After he and Hao Youfu helped the others down, they sat on the stairs, wiped the sweat from their faces, pulled out their water bottles, and drank a few sips.

Hao Youfu stared at Liu Kaiwen's rolling Adam's apple, "Can I drink some?"

Liu Kaiwen gave him a white eye, and replied irritably, "If you can't drink, why am I carrying it?"

"Oh!"

Hao Youfu quickly took out his own water bottle and drank heavily.

Liu Kaiwen stopped him, "Save some! We don't know what's ahead. If you drink it all now, what will you do later?"

Hao Youfu covered his water bottle irritably and smacked his lips, "So frustrated! But, the light means we've finally come out of the ancient tomb." Jia Jing and Hu Zili also took out their own water bottles and drank a little, quickly screwing the cap back on.

Xue Fang looked at Li Zisheng resting against the wall and took out her water bottle to drink some.

Wu Wei had been waiting impatiently, eating biscuits and drinking water. "I say, kid, why are you eating alone? Comrade Zhou is very thirsty and hungry too, why don't you help him?" Jia Jing looked at Wu Wei with a cold gaze and said coolly.

Wu Wei lazily replied, "My brother will tell me when he's thirsty. Who are you? Are you in charge of my brother's thirst? Or...do you want to be my brother's wife? Hahaha!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Jia Jing was so angry she jumped up.

Liu Kaiwen frowned, looked at Zhou Xuehai, and handed him his water bottle, "Have a drink! The three of us will go see what's ahead."

Zhou Xuehai was a little embarrassed, took the water bottle, tilted his head back, poured a few drops into his mouth, and quickly handed it back,

"Okay!"

The three of them moved as soon as they spoke, sticking to the wall and walking down. They turned a corner and saw a strangely-shaped stone room below a dozen steps.

The stone room was very high, with concrete walls all around. There was a small searchlight on the top, the light gathering on the opposite wall. On that wall were several tightly closed iron doors, with many concrete platforms only a palm's width wide protruding outwards. These iron doors were very narrow, only allowing people to pass sideways, and the most bizarre thing was that the distance between each door and the ground was very high.

The three of them simultaneously thought of the same question: which of these eight doors should they choose?