S u Jingmo said that every 16 zhang <sup>1</sup> there will be a mechanism, which is similar to the slates on the ground, so itâll be difficult to distinguish. Su Jingmoâs sarcophagus is 8 zhang long, and Qin Cheng had used a tape measure to calculate that the size of 1 zhang in the Xu Dynasty was 30,09 cm (present time). So, 16 zhang = 494,4 cm, which is around 5 meters of the present time.
The position from where Wu Hai and Qin Cheng had jumped off wasnât far from the entrance of the tomb. After measuring the five meters distance, Qin Cheng came to the conclusion that their current position was at 2,63 meters, meaning that at 2,31 meters ahead, there was a good chance of meeting the first mechanismâŠ.
Looking at the data measured by Qin Cheng, Wu Hai frowned.
âIs this really accurate?â Looking at the ground with the flashlight, where there was clearly nothing noticeably wrong on the surface, Wu Hai shook his head, and said: âI still canât believe that there will be mechanisms leading to traps in this place.â
âI donât know if itâs accurate or not, but I can only believe in it.â After saying that, Qin Cheng took that first step.
Seeing Qin Cheng going forward, Wu Hai sighed, and followed him to the depths of the tomb with his bag on his back.
Every 5 meters they would make a mark, before and after the row of white stone slabs. Qin Cheng and Wu Hai would cross directly, donât daring to touch too much as they passed by.
As they carefully went forward, and even though they walked a distance of 30 meters, their hearts were always worried. They didnât dare to lower their guard, making it particularly difficult for them to walk those 30 meters.
At the bottom of the tomb passage there was a half-open small stone gate, which was merely a meter and a half long. The gap between the half-open stone gate was big enough for one person to pass sideways.
âCareful.â Qin Cheng pulled Wu Hai, who wanted to push open the stone door, and looked up and down at it. No matter how small the stone gate was, it still weighed a lot, and if you looked closely, youâll find that the bottom of the stone door was close to the ground. If you were to push the stone gate, the weight will at least rub the ground, leaving behind some traces. But there werenât any traces of friction at the bottom of the stone gateâŠ..
Qin Cheng squatted down and carefully stretched out his hand to wipe away the dust accumulated in the gap between the half-open stone gateâŠ.
When he saw this, Qin Cheng said solemnly: âIâm afraid this gate was deliberately left half-open when the Mausoleum was built. See this, the floor is smooth as new, so itâs obvious that this gate wasnât pushed open by the grave robbers.â
As Qin Cheng said this, Wu Hai nodded his head and replied: âThis isâŠ. Ah, is there anything written about this in your drawing?â
âNo.â At first, Su Jingmo only told him that he should be very careful, not only at the possibility of a supernatural phenomenon, but also when it comes to meeting unusual situations like this one.
âHeyâŠ.then let me see whatâs inside.â After saying that, Wu Hai looked up and down the 40cm wide opening for a while. Since he didnât see anything unusual, he could only pay close attention to his steps as he leaned over carefully, and moved the flashlight through the gap. However, when the light caught something in front of him, Wu Hai saw a human head covered in blood!
âShit!!â
The sudden presence of a human head made every hair on Wu Haiâs back stand up, as well as make his body tremble. His face suddenly turned gray as he subconsciously stepped a few steps backwards.
However, at this sudden movement, he didnât watch his steps and stepped on something. His left foot lost its force, and he fell backwards violently!
Immediately, the tombâs tunnel suddenly produced a loud bang! The ground of the tombâs passage divided into ten pieces, like a seesaw, and suddenly began to tilt from left to right!
This sudden movement changed Qin Chengâs expression.
âQuick! Quickly come here!â Before his mind could understand what was going on, he hurriedly grabbed Wu Haiâs arm and strode onto the smooth ground in front of the stone gate.
Wu Hai steadied himself. The white marble was already extremely smooth, but combined with the accumulated dust over the years, the surface was even more smoother. Wu Hai tried his best to borrow Qin Chengâs strength before he finally managed to jump at his side, in front of the stone gate.
âPhewââ After experiencing such a shock, Wu Hai sat paralyzed in front of the stone gate. As he sweat nervously, his heart thumped like a loud drum. His face had turned red as he stared wide-eyed at the frightening sight in front of him.
Pull one hair and the whole body moves <sup>2</sup> âŠ.. Qin Cheng was dumbfounded as he looked how the 30 meter tomb path in front of him had turned into ten moving stone slabs. In less than a minute, these stone slabs had turned over. In that short time, Qin Cheng was able to see that under the floor, there were sharp bronze spikesâŠ.
AndâŠ. a large number of white bones, as well as corpses that havenât completely decomposed yetâŠ..
If those corpses hadnât completely decomposedâŠ. then that means that someone has been here in recent years. AlsoâŠ. there were quite a lot of themâŠ..
The stench of the decomposing corpses emitted by the movement of the stone slabs was too disgusting, meaning that the rats have died ages ago, and there wasnât anything else to clean those corpses into white bones.
âOne step⊠if we had taken one more stepâŠ. if we werenât at the edge of the tombâs passageâŠ. we wouldâve diedâŠ.â After saying this, Wu Hai fell forward, into the once again calm floor. He stood silent for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: âHeh, after the floor rotated inside out, Iâm afraid that the suicide note we just wrote also fell downâŠ.Bah! Who the hell wouldâve thought that this tomb would actually have thisâŠ. a dead manâs head, fuck!â
âItâs alright.â After calming down, Qin Cheng patted Wu Hai on his back, and looked back at the dead manâs head hanging in the doorway. The human head was hanging from a metal wire in front of the stone gate. The moisture of the skin had long since dried up, so this should be the head of a dry corpseâŠ.
âItâs not a fake head. This one is real.â Qin Cheng said, but his mind was even more puzzled. How could there be the head of a man hanging in this tomb?
âYes, it looks like this head shouldâve been kept for a long time.â While suppressing the sensation of nausea, Wu Hai carefully observed the terrible head. Then, he continued: âThis was treated deliberately. The upper side seems to beâŠ. wrapped in wax?â Wu Hai let out a light sigh.
âWax?â After hearing what Wu Hai said, Qin Cheng also turned on the flashlight and took a closer look. After observing for a while, he said: âIndeed, it shouldâve been dried, then waxed, and then hung up.â
âWhatâs the meaning of this? Is it possible that this was deliberately done at that time to scare away the grave robbers? Like a warning of some sorts?â
âI donât knowâŠ.â Qin Cheng thought about it, squatted down through the stone gateâs gap and observed the situation inside. As expected, there were several heads with the same treatment placed on the groundâŠ..
âIt seems that there shouldâve been a lot of heads hanging in front of the gate, but a lot of the metal wires got broken, so the heads fell off.â
The dark gap of the stone gate was unfathomable, just like the ferocious mouth of a fierce beast quietly waiting for the prey to be delivered.
Wu Hai bit his lower lip, and said: âThere should be a passage ahead, right? Since weâre already here, weâd better go in and see whatâs there.â
Qin Cheng nodded and took out an incense stick from his bag. After the lighter was lit, he approached the stone gate with the incense stick in his left hand as he grasped the jade pendant, which was inside his pocket, with his right hand.
If there were fierce ghosts around, the incense would naturally stop burning, which is why incense canât be lit inside Su Jingmoâs tomb.
After quietly observing for several minutes, nothing happened. Qin Cheng then instructed Wu Hai to raise the flashlight at the sides and the back of the stone gate, while he was clinging to the innermost side of the stone gate. âIf thereâs a trap here, then there should be a crossbow behind the door, to guard against the grave robbers.â
Great Xu studied the crossbow thoroughly. They were not only good at building crossbows, but they were also quite good while using them.
As far as Qin Cheng knows, as early as 2000 years ago people began to set up active defense facilities inside tombs, which were not only to serve the purpose of shooting grave robbers, but also to set an example and scare people who had the intention of robbing the tombs.
Crossbows appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period. The crossbow machine that could control the shooting was already a relatively dexterous mechanical device. Crossbows and bows have the same firing principle, but the crossbows can shoot farther and itâs more lethal than a bow and arrow, overcoming the weakness that physical strength is limited and canât be sustained when pulling the bow.
The killing power of the crossbow was so powerful that Ying Zheng <sup>3</sup> used this device when he created his Imperial Mausoleum to shoot at people who would try to enter through the tomb passage. According to âThe Records of the First Emperor of Qin <sup>4</sup> â, written by Sima Qian: âAs soon as the First Emperor succeeded the throne, he built an Imperial Mausoleum for himself. After the unification of the land under Heaven, 700.000 men were sent from all over the world to excavate Mount Li. Deep under the three layers of Spring Water, and underneath the coffin surrounded by bronze water. The Palace of the Civil and Military Officials, as well as rare and valuable treasures, were moved to fill the Underground Palace to the brim. The craftsmen were ordered to build a crossbow launched with a mechanism to shoot at anyone who dared to come near.â
Su Jingmo said that the crossbows inside the tomb were huge and heavy, built with a type of wood that would rot easily. At that time, the skilled craftsmen made a crossbow out of metal, which was too heavy to transport, and couldnât be used in the battlefield. However, it could be placed inside the tomb. The range of this kind of crossbow should be greater than 800 meters, with a tension heavier than 700 jin <sup>5</sup> . With such a strong crossbow, itâll be difficult to rely solely on the strength of the human arm to âtense the bowâ to be effective. In other words, the crossbow was fired by stepping on a mechanism with the foot. If the crossbows equipped with arrows are connected one by one, they can be fired together or continuously by a mechanism, and the purpose of keeping the place untouched and guarded can be achieved. The Xu Dynasty called it the âYin Crossbowâ. Because it was only used in the Netherworld <sup>6</sup> .
In order to prevent theft, the Emperor, who ordered the construction of the mechanism, placed the triggering weapon at the entrance of the tomb, the passages, and other places. Once a grave robber entered the tomb, he would bump into a trip wire connected to the trigger of the crossbow, and he would be shot violently.
The only way to avoid this kind of crossbow is to stay close to the tombâs door, and push it open by the edge, so that the crossbow wouldnât hurt anyone due to the angle.
Qin Cheng took out the drawing from his backpack, and handed it to Wu Hai: âStep back, Iâll try to push open the door.â
âPush open the door? Didnât you say that there were hidden crossbows there?â
âThat man taught me how to avoid the arrows, and I think his instructions should be quite useful. You saw what happened just now, didnât you?â
Qin Cheng thought about something for a brief moment, and then continued: âHow long do you think itâll take Jiang Ping to find this place?â
Qin Chengâs words made Wu Hai speechless.
ââŠ. Even if we sent an SOS message to Jiang Ping, whether he took it seriously or not is still to be seen. If he does, it wonât be easy for him to find this mountain, am I right? Itâs not like we havenât seen the news everyday. It will still take that Police officer at least half a month to search the mountain, if heâs lucky. Moreover, everyone in the village is from a sect of grave robbers. With his upright appearance, how could they lead him towards the right path? My gut tells me that those grave robbers would kill him first.â Speaking of this, Qin Chengâs mind was also very complicated. In this way, Wu Hai and Qin Cheng have only one way to âdieââŠ..
Wu Hai also thought the same thing as what Qin Cheng had said. No matter what righteous words he said before knowing the situation theyâll be in right now, that even if they were to die, no one would retreatâŠ.
But it was too late to retreat nowâŠ.
When Qin Cheng didnât hear Wu Haiâs reply, he clenched his fists, and sighed in a low voice: âIâm sorryâŠ. for dragging you into this mess.â
âWhat the hell are you talking about?â Wu Hai looked at Qin Cheng with a complicated expression. âIf it werenât for you, I wouldâve died a long time agoâŠ. Itâs just, Qin Cheng, you donât look like the kind of person who would risk his life. In the past, you gave me the feeling that you would never put yourself in danger. The first time I remember meeting you, was in that social class where you said that you would be the first one to run away in case of a big earthquake. Fuck, your remarks at that time were extremely selfish and conceited. And donât get me wrong, youâre indeed an extremely self-centered person.â
Qin Cheng made sure to remember what Wu Hai had said, but he couldnât help but laugh: âThen what else can you do if you donât run?â
âUntil now, I always thought that you were egoistic, selfish, conceitedâŠ.â
After hearing this, Qin Cheng couldnât help but interrupt him, and said helplessly: âHey, you do know that youâre saying all that in front of me, right?â
âButâŠâ Wu Hai continued without replying to Qin Chengâs words: âBut what the hell is wrong with you now, that youâre not afraid of death? You think that I wouldnât notice? Qin Cheng, it almost looks like you want to dieâŠâŠ or, in other words, like youâre simply ignoring life and death altogetherâŠ.â
ââŠ..â
Seeing that Qin Cheng was silent, Wu Hai thought of the suicide note Qin Cheng wrote as a joke, and remembered the last sentence. Wu Hai then opened and closed his mouth for a while before continuing: âAre you reallyââŠ.?â
âAlright, thatâs enough.â Qin Cheng made it clear that he didnât want to talk about it, took a deep breath, and said: âStep back, itâs useless to say anything now. The only thing we can do, is to go forward.â
Wu Hai stared at Qin Cheng, and quietly closed his eyes: â⊠Then, you better be careful.â
Although the stone gate was small, it weighed quite a lot, and Qin Cheng was still clinging to the most difficult corner.
As he gritted his teeth, he tried his best to push the stone gate. The stone gate moved little by little, and the ground slab rubbing against the stone gate issued a harsh creaking sound.
As soon as the stone gate opened a little bit more, several arrows flew out with a snap!
Qin Cheng imeddiately clung close to the stone gate and didnât dare to move!
âChoose the most difficult corner to open the stone gate â, thatâs what Su Jingmo had taught him. As long as thereâs a mechanism inside the tomb, the other side of the stone gate would never be safe to pass by.
âI think itâs fine now.â Qin Cheng glanced at the gap, and after seeing that there was no movement, he breathed a sigh of relief. He took two steps back, away from the stone gate.
Qin Cheng was far away from the center of the stone gate, and according to what Su Jingmo had said to him, he should touch the mechanism and let the arrows shoot. This way, it should be reasonable that the arrows wouldnât hit him. However, the crossbows havenât been touched for thousands of years, and some have decayed, while others have failed to shoot. When Qin Cheng walked away from the stone gate, and without anyone pushing the gate, the stone gate shook slightly. This slight shake just happened to trigger the only crossbow mechanism left.
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âQin Cheng!â At the same time as Wu Hai screamed his name, there was the sound of an arrow cutting through the air.
Defenseless, the arrow flew out at an extremely fast speed. As if hearing the cry of a bird cutting through the sky, the crooked arrow passed through Qin Chengâs waist, cutting through his skin.
âShit!â The blood splashed out in an instant, and Qin Cheng felt such a horrible pain that he quickly covered up the wound.
Wu Hai hurriedly ran towards Qin Cheng.
âHow is it?!â
Qin Cheng took off his jacket, and his clothes have long been dyed red by the flowing blood. Qin Cheng lifted his shirt to look at the wound: âOnly the amount of blood coming out looks frightening. Fortunately, itâs not a deep cutâŠ. It doesnât even hurt.â
Although it wasnât a deep cut, the wound was 5 cm long. âThe blood loss is severe, we still need to deal with itâŠ.â
âI have gauze in my bag, and some anti-inflammatory medicine. Take them out for me, grind the anti-inflammatory pills into powder and sprinkle it on the wound. Then, cover up the wound with the gauzeâŠ. I think I brought some tape, juck stick it with it.â
Fortunately, Qin Cheng was lucky that the wound produced by the arrow wasnât deep. After applying the anti-inflammatory powder and wrapping the wound with the gauze, it didnât take long for the wound to stop bleeding.
At this moment, the two of them werenât paying attention to the other side of the door, which had just openedâŠ.
With a flashlight, they could vaguely see that the ground was covered with gold bricks. But there was also a layer of something black, some kind of unknown substance.
By definition, this was supposed to be the entrance of a chamber. But there werenât any terracotta warriors, only dried up terrifying corpses and severed headsâŠ..
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The walls of this âchamberâ werenât painted with beautiful paintings like the tomb passage. On the contrary, there were a large number of words engraved, and the few paintings present were as gloomy and horrifying as the Avici Hell <sup>7</sup> âŠ.. Everything in front of them was like the horror land of an amusement parkâŠ. Just that the horror land was decorated with fake dolls. This place, on the other hand, was filled with real human corpsesâŠ.
Why is there such a horrifying chamber built inside this tomb? What happened back then?!
Damn! This tomb is really dangerous⊠And quite creepy (àč°ă °àč)âŒ
The protagonist halo is strong in this one, if that arrow was aimed at WH, he would be dead by now, but since it was aimed at QC, he was barely cut (ïŸĐïœ)!