The log ended abruptly here.
'Uh, that's quite the flag...'
It seemed this great Explorer's adventure had likely terminated at this point. After his stamina bar had mostly recovered, Caleb stuffed all the retrieved items back into the canvas backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and continued forward.
He noticed a white backpack icon had appeared next to his stamina bar, displaying 'Weight: 70 / 200'. The weight status only displayed when a player carried 'bag-type' items. Initially, without a bag, the weight limit was only 100. Rick Jones's backpack had effectively doubled Caleb's weight capacity. If the carried items exceeded the limit, the player's movement speed would be reduced by 50%.
As if to match the Gnome identity of the tomb's owner, the cave entrance was constructed quite low, forcing Caleb to bend at the waist to enter.
It wasn't pitch black inside; eerie green flames flickered on the cave walls, providing very limited illumination. Caleb switched to Concentration Stance, and the enhanced vision allowed him to see the source of the green flames—two rows of neatly arranged stone statues, with the flames flickering in their black eye sockets.
As he walked forward, he paid close attention to the statues and the cave floor, cautious about triggering any mechanisms or traps. The ground was paved with neat blue stone blocks, scattered with numerous bones, both animal and human.
The cave wasn't deep; after walking for about two minutes, a downward staircase appeared ahead, leading to a massive pit below. He descended the steps until his feet touched the bottom of the pit, noting the lack of any unusual occurrences.
'No danger? A bit strange?'
Caleb dared not relax his guard and continued forward.
The pitch-black pit floor was filled with a strong stench of decay, and an abnormal, chilling coldness permeated the air. More biological remains were visible everywhere he looked.
Upon reaching this point, Caleb switched to Concentration Stance, which enhances a player's ability to gather clues and 'usable items' in the scene.
After walking a few steps in Concentration Stance, a small, glowing outline of an object indeed appeared on the ground. He bent down to examine it and found it was a crumpled jacket.
—Item discovery in progress…—Discovery failed.
As he picked the jacket up from the ground, a long, rod-shaped object rolled out from inside. Caleb fumbled and picked it up.
—Item discovery in progress…—You obtained [Crude Torch].
The system then provided an item description:
[Crude Torch]
[Category: Common Item]
[Weight: 20]
[Can be taken out of scene: No]
[Remarks: A torch left behind by someone. A crude tool made from animal fat and flammable wood. Lighting it will provide you with limited illumination and can also be used to ward off beasts.]
[Usage effect: Emits unpleasant black smoke, emits light.]
'Just in time.'
He immediately took out the flint from his backpack and lit the torch. The torchlight illuminated the bottom of the black pit, revealing a dense number of pale white skeletons. This giant pit was clearly a burial pit within the tomb.
Caleb then continued to examine the jacket. The back was torn, with specks of blood around the tear. The tag on the collar indicated the size was XL, and the right pocket contained a gold watch with a severely worn strap.
—Item discovery in progress…—You obtained [Old Watch].
[Old Watch]
[Category: Common Item]
[Weight: 5]
[Can be taken out of scene: No]
[Remarks: A watch left behind by someone. It looks quite old, but the hands still move. On the back, there's a line of hand-carved small text: 'To my old friend, Happy Birthday.' It also has a calendar display, showing the current time as September 13th, 7:19 PM.]
'This time...'
According to the time on the watch, only two days had passed since Rick Jones last recorded his adventure log? Then, this jacket, torch, and watch were likely all left behind by the Explorer Rick Jones?
Moreover, judging by how these items were carelessly discarded, Rick Jones must have encountered some urgent situation at the time—either engaging in combat, busy escaping, or perhaps... he was captured and taken away by the 'danger' in the tomb right then and there.
...
The corpse pit was vast, and due to the darkness, the surroundings stretched as far as the eye could see, with the ground also paved with stone blocks.
Caleb held the torch and continued walking for less than a hundred meters when he discovered a white, square stone coffin ahead. Unusually, there were no piles of white bones near the stone coffin. As he got closer, he noticed a large patch of black bloodstains on the ground in front of the stone coffin, appearing to have dried not long ago.
'This must be where Rick Jones encountered danger,' he thought.
Thinking this, Caleb brought the torch closer to the stone coffin and found that the square stone coffin was only about one meter long. The coffin lid had a small square groove, which looked like something was originally inlaid there.
On the side of the stone coffin were four lifelike carvings.
Looking from left to right, the first carving depicted a group of small, square-headed creatures looking up at the sky, with the white square stone coffin in front of them suspended in the center of the sky. The second carving depicted the group of small, square-headed creatures bowing to one of their kind standing on the stone coffin. The third carving depicted these small creatures capturing and killing a tall human in front of the stone coffin, then performing a bloody flaying ritual. The meaning of the last carving was more ambiguous. It looked like it was describing these small creatures building a magnificent structure for one of their kind standing on the stone coffin. Curiously, in this carving, the figure of their kind standing on the stone coffin was noticeably larger than before.
'The carvings should be about the deeds related to the Gnome King?'
The Explorer's Log recorded this as the Gnome King's tomb. The appearance of the tomb entrance and the stone statues on the cave walls were very similar to the small figures in the stone coffin carvings, and also matched the image of Gnomes. Combining these points, the content described in the carvings was easy to understand.
'The content described in the four carvings all revolves around this white stone coffin. This stone coffin seems to be a symbol of the Gnome King's power?'
Coupled with the fact that Explorer Rick Jones's encounter with danger was also related to it, all of this naturally made Caleb curious about this stone coffin, wondering what mysteries it held.
He switched to Active Stance, and his body was immediately invigorated.
Just as he was about to try pushing the lid of the stone coffin, Caleb suddenly heard faint footsteps behind him.
"Who?!"
He immediately turned around, swinging the torch in front of him.
The shadowy figure that had quietly approached behind him recoiled a few steps in fright, raising his hands and shouting, "Whoa there! Easy, easy!"
With the light from the torch, Caleb clearly saw that the person approaching him was an emaciated man in tattered clothes. His messy long hair and beard obscured his pale face.
He waved his hands at Caleb, his voice trembling with fear: "Are you also an Explorer looking for treasure here? I must warn you, whatever you do, do not open that stone coffin."
"Otherwise, you'll end up like me…"
He said, pointing to his eyes, "My eyes were blinded by the poisonous gas stored in this stone coffin. This has prevented me from leaving here; I've been trapped here for two days and two nights. Thank goodness! It's a good thing you appeared in time!"
There was joy in the man's voice.
"Are you… Mr. Rick Jones?" Caleb's expression hesitated for a moment as he asked tentatively, simultaneously observing the other man's eyes. They were bloody and blurred, truly looking as if they had been corroded by some poisonous gas.
"That's right, I am." The other man nodded, answering quickly, then asked, "How do you know me?"
Caleb breathed a sigh of relief, took off his backpack, and handed it to the other man, saying, "I found your backpack outside. There's a log inside that records your adventures."
"Ah, I know, I almost forgot. I left that outside on purpose." Rick Jones reached out and took the backpack, holding it in his hand as he continued, "Let's go. This is just an empty tomb; there's nothing worth searching for. We should go back outside first."
"Next, I might need to trouble you to be my eyes." Rick Jones said, extending his right hand towards Caleb.