The underground tomb's corridors were damp and cold, so quiet that only the sound of footsteps could be heard. The environment was eerie, especially since everyone was silent, making the atmosphere even more unsettling.
It was pitch black ahead, so everyone quickly took out the luminous pearl. With the help of the luminous pearl, they could see that the ground beneath their feet was flat mud, and the surrounding walls were also mud walls, without a single brick.
Is this the entrance to the ancient tomb?
Sure enough, after walking for a while, they saw a stone gate appear ahead.
Strange totems were painted on the door, and there were two lamps next to the stone door. The lamps were always on, and although the light was dim, the oil inside seemed to burn indefinitely.
As the group approached, the lamp wick began to flicker slightly, casting strange, ghostly shadows on the surrounding walls, like two will-o'-the-wisps floating in the night.
Ye Qi wasn't afraid of these illusions and asked curiously, "This underground tomb must be at least several hundred years old, right? Can lamp oil burn for this long?"
Just as Lu Jiuchuan was about to go forward to check, Yu Hanjiang, worried that he might be injured and unable to dodge if they encountered a trap, stopped his brother and went ahead to check the two lamps himself.
After careful observation, Yu Hanjiang said, "The lamp oil added here must be made of special materials, quite different from the oil lamps we've seen before." He then looked at Xiao Lou, seemingly waiting for Xiao Lou's explanation.
Xiao Lou walked over to him and observed for a few seconds before saying, "This is an 'eternal lamp,' whose flame can burn for hundreds of years without going out. Placing an eternal lamp in a tomb serves a purpose beyond simply illuminating the underground mausoleum. For Buddhists, if they wish to seek liberation after death, they use their body as a lampstand and their mind as a wick, adding oil to their precepts and cultivating wisdom and clarity, just as a lamp flame."
The teammates listened attentively. In previous Diamond Secret Room sessions, Professor Xiao had carried them to victory effortlessly. He had a broad knowledge base, so when he explained the significance of the ever-burning lamp, the teammates weren't surprised at all. On the contrary, they felt it was normal for Professor Xiao to know, after all, Xiao Lou was a top student who could submit his answers while others were still looking at the questions.
However, this was the first time that Lu Jiuchuan and his three companions had collaborated with Xiao Lou's team.
Upon hearing him quickly explain the significance of the ever-burning lamp, Lu Jiuchuan looked on with admiration, as if to say, "The person my brother has taken a liking to is indeed intelligent." Chu Huaying remained expressionless but listened attentively. Tang Ci looked indifferent. Old Gui smiled slightly, did not interrupt him, and continued to listen to his explanation.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a real ever-burning lamp. The lamp oil added here must be the legendary beeswax," Xiao Lou said.
"Beeswax?" Lu Jiuchuan raised an eyebrow. "Is it a secretion from bees?"
"Yes. To be precise, it's a fatty substance secreted by worker bees, which is also the material used to build the honeycomb. The ancients were very wise; they melted the honeycomb with hot water and refined it into 'beeswax.' The lamp oil made from beeswax burns very slowly. When placed in a tomb, it can burn for a long time as long as there is a continuous supply of oxygen. This is the origin of the everlasting lamp," Xiao Lou explained earnestly.
" Professor Xiao is right," Old Gui suddenly spoke, his voice deep. "Archaeologists discovered an ever-burning lamp in the Dingling Mausoleum of Emperor Wanli and determined that the material used to make the lamp oil was beeswax. As for the so-called 'mermaid oil lamp oil' in the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, there is still no consensus in the scientific community." Gui Yuanzhang looked at Xiao Lou. "I didn't expect that you, at such a young age, would be interested in history and archaeology?"
"..." Xiao Lou realized he had met a true expert, and his ears immediately burned. He said, "Senior, I just like to read some miscellaneous books in my spare time and have some knowledge in this area. Compared to you, what I know is only the tip of the iceberg."
Gui Yuanzhang is a renowned calligrapher and a professor of history, possessing profound knowledge. Xiao Lou's father is a fan of Gui Yuanzhang and even has a piece of Gui Yuanzhang's cursive script in his collection. Xiao Lou felt embarrassed to show off his skills in front of such a senior figure.
Old Gui said gently, "No need to be modest. The Diamond Secret Room we encountered this time may not be a real ancient tomb in history. More likely, it is a tomb of an ancient general that the Guardian set up by referring to some historical books. We don't need to get hung up on the dynasty or the historical issues. Let's find the exit of the tomb first."
Lu Jiuchuan was a man of action; upon hearing this, he stepped forward and gently knocked on the stone door.
A muffled thud reached my ears, indicating that the stone door was very thick and could not be broken or pushed by human force; it must require a mechanism to open.
Lu Jiuchuan asked, "Could the mechanism be these two lamps?"
Xiao Lou scanned the surroundings but found no other mechanisms, so he said, "Let's see if the two ever-burning lamps can be turned."
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang reached out and tried to rotate the eternal lamp in front of him. Lu Jiuchuan, who was standing on the right, also went over and imitated his younger brother's action, rotating the eternal lamp once.
The stone gate did not respond.
Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan exchanged a glance and tried turning it in the opposite direction... but the stone door still didn't respond.
Xiao Lou took a step back and looked carefully at the totem on the stone gate.
The patterns on those totems were very messy. Just as he was wondering about it, Gui Yuanzhang suddenly said, "The totems on this stone gate are half engraved in intaglio and half engraved in relief. When combined, they form a pattern similar to Tai Chi."
He was, after all, a calligraphy expert, and he could see characters in intaglio and relief much more clearly than the average person. If Xiao Lou remembered correctly, Gui Yuanzhang's own seal on the painting his father collected was intaglio.
Intaglio patterns are recessed into the plane, while relief patterns are raised above the plane. The difference is more noticeable when touched, but when viewed with the naked eye, the two can easily be confused.
With a hint from the senior Gui, Xiao Lou quickly understood the meaning of the pattern.
The Tai Chi symbol contains many animal figures, which are all distractions; the whole picture looks like an ancient sacrificial scene. Once these distractions are removed, you can see two human figures, each about the size of a thumb, one male and one female. In the left figure, the woman's left hand is pointing upwards, moving clockwise; in the right figure, the man's hands are pointing upwards, moving counter-clockwise.
Xiao Lou quickly analyzed the solution to the mechanism: "Turn the left lamp clockwise once, and the right lamp counterclockwise twice. The right lamp should rotate twice as fast as the left lamp. Try to ensure that both lamps are in the correct positions at the same time."
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan immediately sprang into action.
Those who turn once need to slow down, while those who turn twice need to speed up, so that the two lights can be aligned synchronously.
Xiao Lou wasn't sure if synchronization was necessary. He only felt that the dance movements of the man and woman in the pattern were synchronized. If the rotating lamp was done at different speeds, the mechanism might not be able to be opened.
As it turned out, his meticulousness was not wrong.
As Yu Hanjiang completed one rotation of the left-hand ever-burning lamp, Lu Jiuchuan's right-hand ever-burning lamp completed two rotations. They clearly heard the simultaneous "click" of the mechanisms aligning on both sides. Immediately afterward, the surrounding ground began to shake, and a loud "boom" resounded in their ears. The heavy stone door slowly rose in front of them, revealing a pitch-black passageway.
Yu Hanjiang glanced at his elder brother and said, "Go in?"
That door was just the entrance to the maze. If Mr. Old Gui and Xiao Lou hadn't figured out how to open the mechanism, they might have wasted a lot of time just standing in front of that stone door.
Shao Qingge thought with a smile— Professor Xiao was there to solve the maze puzzles before, and Lao Mo was there to help with finding the way. Now, they've added Mr. Gui Yuanzhang, who knows a lot about history. This week's Weekly Routine is themed around ancient tombs, so it seems that clearing the game will be much easier from now on.
Anyway, Shao Qingge always won by doing nothing at Diamonds and couldn't help much, so he simply followed Xiao Lou silently without saying a word.
After taking only a few steps, Ye Qi suddenly said, "Look behind you!"
Everyone turned around abruptly. The heavy stone door that had been slowly opening suddenly slammed down as soon as they entered the maze. The loud "thud" was like a heavy hammer hitting their hearts.
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly: "They blocked our way out as soon as we entered the maze. That's a common trick of Diamond A. "
Lu Jiuchuan said decisively, "Never mind that, we can't go back through this door anyway, let's keep going forward."
Xiao Lou used the light from the luminous pearl to look down at her feet.
Unlike the muddy ground in front of the stone gate, the ground inside the ancient tomb was paved with bluestone bricks.
The stone bricks looked ancient, but they were very clean. The cold, damp environment underground made one feel a chill as they stepped on them. Xiao Lou humbly asked Gui Yuanzhang, "Senior, do you recognize this type of brick?"
He asked this because he noticed many strange patterns on the bricks of the ground and walls. He was afraid that there might be some kind of trap hidden under the bricks, and if he accidentally stepped on one, a bunch of poison arrows might suddenly shoot out from the wall.
Upon hearing this, Gui Yuanzhang squatted down, and Xiao Lou held up the luminous pearl to let him use it for light.
The old man tapped the brick on the ground, listened to the sound, and carefully touched the patterns on it. He said, "The brick is simply engraved with some cloud and dragon patterns, and the patterns have clear edges. Judging from the craftsmanship, it is very likely a tomb brick from after the Eastern Han Dynasty. This kind of brick is quite common in Han Dynasty tombs. The patterns are just decorations and don't have much reference value. It's also unlikely that there's a mechanism hidden under the brick."
Xiao Lou felt relieved and looked at the dark passage ahead, saying, "Everyone, get through here as quickly as possible."
Once they confirmed there were no traps beneath their feet, the group immediately increased their speed.
After walking for half a minute, the dark passage came to an end, and a fork in the road appeared ahead.
Everyone held up the luminous pearl and examined it closely. To the left and right, there were the same corridors, seemingly endless. The pitch-black underground environment, with its chilling winds, filled everyone with unease, fearing that something like a ghost or monster might pounce from the darkness at any moment.
Although this is the Diamond Secret Room, who knows if the Guardian will deliberately set up some "accidents" to scare them?
After all, the four Guardians have never been very reliable.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath—left or right?
If the maze is very large, taking the wrong path and having to turn back will waste a lot of time.
Lu Jiuchuan turned around and asked, "There are twelve of us, why don't we split into two teams?"
Xiao Lou also agreed with splitting up the teams. Firstly, splitting up the teams would allow them to explore two routes simultaneously, saving half the time; secondly, with twelve people clustered together, the narrow passage would be quite crowded, and if they encountered a formation like "poison arrows," they would likely collide with each other due to their limited mobility. Squads would move much more nimbly.
As for how to divide into teams...
Lu Jiuchuan looked at Xiao Lou with a gentle gaze: " Xiao Lou, you decide. You know everyone better. The four of us will follow your assignment."
Xiao Lou didn't hesitate and quickly said, "I'm on a team with Hanjiang, Ninth Brother, Mr. Tang, Lao Mo, and Liu Qiao; Senior Gui, Sister Huaying, CEO Shao, Xiao Ye, and the Longqu couple are on another team. CEO Shao has a Li Qingzhao card, which can be used to leave a mark so we can teleport back to the marked point if we encounter a dead end. Also, everyone should take out the [ Four-Way Arrow ] card and mark an arrow at every fork in the road to avoid getting lost."
Xiao Lou's arrangement was actually the result of careful consideration.
Li Qingzhao and Shao Qingge each received one of these cards, so they naturally split into two teams. CEO Shao's bug king card.
It's unusable in the Diamond Secret Room because its combat power is average, so we assigned the very strong Chu Huaying there. This sister has taken down many Hunters with Lu Jiuchuan, so we don't have to worry about safety with her around.
Mr. Old Gui is very knowledgeable about history and archaeology, so his team can easily solve puzzles and obstacles. The Longqu Couple can be responsible for reconnaissance when necessary, while Ye Qi is responsible for control, making the team a very well-rounded unit.
As for Xiao Lou's team, Yu Hanjiang's fighting strength goes without saying, Ninth Brother is injured, and Liu Qiao's Witch card can be a lifesaver in critical moments. Mr. Tang's leg is unable to walk, so he's placed here for easy care.
He brought Lao Mo in so that they could quickly draw a maze map. If their team was heading in the right direction, he could use Li Qingzhao's marker to teleport the other six people over directly. If they were heading in the wrong direction, with Lao Mo guiding them through the maze, they could quickly return and meet up with CEO Shao.
The team needs to take care of all aspects, after all, he is now the captain of the contract book and must be responsible for every team member.
No one had any objections to his arrangements.
Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that Xiao Lou's arrangement is currently the most reasonable solution.
After the teams were divided, Xiao Lou took out the reward card [voice headset] from the previous level and gave one to each person, instructing them: "Everyone, put this in your ears, press it with your finger before speaking, and your teammates far away will hear you. The effective range of this headset is 10 kilometers. No matter how big the ancient tomb is, it won't exceed 10 kilometers. We'll stay in touch at all times."
Everyone quickly put on their headphones and tested the voice call; all the headphones worked normally.
Squad formation is the best way to save time in the maze dungeon. After all, Lu Jiuchuan and his group of four had cleared all the A-grade secret rooms and had also experienced the Nightmare Secret Room, so they were very calm about Xiao Lou's decision. Gui Yuanzhang and Chu Huaying remained calm.
Xiao Lou looked at Mr. Old Gui and said, "Senior, I'll trouble you to lead the team here first."
Gui Yuanzhang nodded: "Okay, you all be careful too."
Lu Jiuchuan waved his hand decisively: "Let's split up and contact each other by voice if we encounter any problems."
******