Liu Dashao realized he had just lost his composure, actually shouting out the word “mingqi” (funerary objects), which was not something to be yelled around. He scratched his head, unable to think of a decent excuse, so he decided to go all the way and explained “mingqi” as simply meaning “brick.” He claimed that Fan Debiao, lacking any tools, had grabbed a sturdy brick to deal with the emergency, and that back in his hometown, people actually referred to bricks as “mingqi.” He was quite amused that these city folks were so gullible as to actually believe him.
“Advisor, did you find something?” Wang Feifei asked Fan Debiao.
“There’s something strange in there, but I’m not an archaeologist, so I can’t quite figure it out. Come take a look!” Fan Debiao replied, pointing at the tomb wall behind him.
At the very top of the tomb chamber was a circular path, and they were currently standing on the only raised section of this path. Wang Feifei asked Fan Debiao to lead the way to check out this so-called “discovery.”
Fan Debiao brought everyone to a tomb wall and pointed at it, saying, “My discovery is right here.”
Liu Dashao stared at the wall, puzzled. It was just ordinary bricks, albeit a bit old, but nothing particularly valuable. Instantly, he felt as if Fan Debiao had tricked him. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Fan Debiao step forward and disappear straight into the wall.
This sight shocked Liu Dashao. What the hell was going on? His mind buzzed with confusion—was this some kind of supernatural phenomenon?
“This is the legendary man-eating wall!” Old Karama exclaimed in astonishment.
“Man-eating wall? What do you mean?” Wang Feifei asked.
Old Karama explained, “It’s a desert legend. Long ago, a group of people encountered a solitary wall in the middle of the desert. They found it strange—how could there be just one wall standing alone in the desert? Out of curiosity, they approached to investigate. Then…” He paused dramatically.
Everyone was now completely hooked, wondering if the old man was going to tease them with a cliffhanger. Wang Zhicai was especially intrigued and urged Old Karama to continue.
Clearing his throat, Old Karama continued in a mysterious tone, “As soon as they touched the wall, they were sucked right into it. After that, they lost consciousness. When they woke up, they found themselves in the ancient city of Niya. No one knew what had happened inside the wall. Thus, the legend of the man-eating wall was born.”
Old Karama’s tale sounded like a tall tale to Liu Dashao, who dismissed it as just another ghost story. After all, hadn’t Fan Debiao just walked into the wall and come back out? In Liu’s opinion, it was probably just some kind of mechanism.
Seeing everyone staring at the wall as if enchanted, Liu Dashao leaned close to Wang Feifei and whispered, “You really believe him? That’s complete nonsense!”
Wang Feifei glanced at Liu Dashao and replied coolly, “I don’t care about his ‘man-eating wall’ story. I just think this wall is strange.”
Sensing Wang Feifei’s unease, Liu Dashao tried to scare her a bit by whispering mysteriously, “Actually, it is strange. We all clearly heard gunshots earlier, but now there’s not a single shell casing to be found. Maybe the man-eating wall really did swallow both the bullets and whoever fired them!” He added a spooky tone to heighten the atmosphere.
Liu Dashao had hoped to make her tremble in fear, but Wang Feifei simply raised her arm nonchalantly and said, “Alright, let’s all go inside and check it out.”
Liu Dashao was taken aback. This girl had screamed in terror at the sight of a snake, yet she dared to enter the so-called “man-eating wall”? He felt a bit embarrassed about his earlier attempt to scare her.
Seeing the others go in, Liu Dashao didn’t dare to lag behind. As he approached the wall, he discovered that it wasn’t a wall at all—it was tree bark. The “wall” was made from the bark of poplar trees, painted to look like bricks. It was such a simple trick that none of them had thought of it.
Inside, Liu Dashao saw Fan Debiao holding a flashlight. Curious, he asked where he got it. Fan Debiao mumbled that he had picked it up off the ground, suggesting that someone had been here before.
The military flashlight was extremely bright, illuminating the small chamber clearly. It was a small, square tomb chamber, its walls constructed from the same bricks as the outer tomb walls. Liu Dashao suspected they were made of poplar bark, so he knocked on one—it sounded like a real wall. On the floor were scattered bones of various animals, some recognizable, some not, along with pottery and some metal utensils, all heavily weathered.
Wang Zhicai and Lin Miaoke were excited by these findings and crouched down to examine them. Liu Dashao noticed Wang Feifei, Fan Debiao, and Jackson standing in front of another wall, staring blankly. He decided not to join Wang Zhicai and instead walked over to Fan Debiao.
Upon approaching the wall, Liu Dashao saw strange, winding patterns painted on it. They looked about sixty to seventy percent similar to the ancient scroll that Old Wu had given to Old Diao.
Seeing Wang Feifei so absorbed, Liu Dashao asked if she had noticed anything. She shook her head, saying she couldn’t make anything out. Jackson looked completely baffled, so Liu Dashao didn’t bother asking him.
Fan Debiao suggested, “Maybe this wall is also made of bark. Let’s try—it might be an exit.” Saying this, he reached out and touched the wall.
As soon as he made contact, Fan Debiao’s expression changed. He pounded on the wall a few times, but it was clearly not a doorway to paradise.
“Not good!” Old Karama suddenly cried out.
Before anyone could react, thick white smoke engulfed them, plunging them into a foggy haze.
The fog grew denser, narrowing their vision. Within a minute, they were completely surrounded by white chaos. The mist felt eerie, with a strange fragrance reminiscent of the scent from the poplar wood box.
Jackson fired two flares, but they were useless—once launched, they seemed to vanish into the fog.
“What’s going on?” Wang Feifei’s voice came out of the haze.
“This must be one of the tomb’s mechanisms. I think what Old Karama described as the ghost wall is exactly this,” Wang Zhicai replied.
“Stick together and don’t get separated!” Jackson shouted.
The tomb wasn’t large, so everyone gathered toward the center. Liu Dashao took a couple of steps back and bumped into someone—he immediately realized it was Fan Debiao. He didn’t want to talk much with Fan right now, so he just let him know he was nearby and focused on staying alert.
Wang Feifei now took charge, first having everyone check in, then carefully assigning tasks before instructing everyone to find a way out.
Since they couldn’t see anything, they couldn’t just run around recklessly. Wang Feifei had a detailed plan. Liu Dashao, Fan Debiao, Wang Feifei, and Jackson each went in a different direction to explore. If they found a wall, they were to return. If they found poplar bark, they were to call the others over. Old Karama, Wang Zhicai, and Lin Miaoke stayed in the center as reference points to prevent getting lost on the way back.
After receiving instructions, the four moved in different directions. The tomb wasn’t big, so Liu Dashao quickly hit a hard wall—indicating his luck wasn’t great. Without thinking much, he slowly returned.
“Damn it, what kind of stupid mechanism is this? It’s making me feel like I’m playing hide-and-seek,” Fan Debiao suddenly said from beside Liu Dashao, clearly having found nothing.
“Why are you complaining? If you hadn’t said there was something to find, we wouldn’t have come in here. Now we’re stuck in this fog,” Liu Dashao replied.
“It seems Jackson found the right way,” Wang Feifei’s voice came from behind Liu Dashao.
Since Wang Feifei had returned, it meant Jackson had found the exit, in the direction to Liu Dashao’s right.
Fan Debiao, impatient, immediately turned to head toward Jackson, but Liu Dashao quickly stopped him, saying, “Don’t rush. Jackson hasn’t signaled yet. Anything could happen here.”
Fan Debiao let out a frustrated “Tsk!” and said, “What’s that kid Jackson doing? It’s been so long and he hasn’t come back yet?”
Liu Dashao thought for a moment. Everyone else had returned already. Given Jackson’s excitable nature, if he had found the way out, he would have been shouting with joy by now. Why hadn’t he returned yet? Could something have happened to him?
Thinking this, Liu Dashao asked Wang Feifei what her plan was.
Wang Feifei didn’t speak, but Liu Dashao could sense her anxiety. She was clearly worried about Jackson too.
After discussing briefly with Fan Debiao, Liu Dashao decided to go check on Jackson. He had expected Wang Feifei to stop them, but she simply told them to hurry back.
Liu Dashao and Fan Debiao had been through the Pusa Mountain adventure together, so this kind of situation didn’t faze them. Talking casually, they made their way toward Jackson’s direction.
After just a few steps, they heard a muffled sound from ahead, like someone’s throat was being choked, accompanied by a series of strange noises. Liu Dashao and Fan Debiao immediately realized Jackson was in trouble—something had grabbed him by the throat.
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