Chapter Twenty-Three: Being Trapped

  I withdraw my gaze. My eyes turn towards the oil lamp.

  "Do you know how to save people? Instead of wasting time here saving a mysterious woman, we'd better hurry up and get out!" I said.

  Great fortune and wealth have no objection, the two of them stood stupidly behind the oil drum body nodding to me in agreement.

  On the dim crystal stairs, not a single person spoke, and the surroundings suddenly became eerily silent, with only four white lights flickering like wolf eyes in this space filled with an eerie atmosphere.

  Oil barrel paused and said: "Brother, Fat Brother is not greedy for beauty, but after we save her, we can clearly know who the people in front are and what their purpose is. If she doesn't say, just hand it over to me and let me handle it!"

  The oily face revealed an evil smile, making me feel sick. However, what the oily face said wasn't unreasonable, Old Liu is my current heart disease, and it's just right to ask her about it.

  "What you said makes sense." I said, looking at the female corpse with a pitiful gaze.

  You Shui Dǔ looked at Da Fu, who didn't expect me to shake the military's morale so quickly and was clearly taken aback.

  "Boss, this person can't be saved." Da Fu said respectfully.

  "How can't you save him? Lü Brother is fine now, if you can't think of a way, then don't take this month's salary!" Oil Barrel cursed in anger.

  Dàfú was at a loss, staring blankly at the oil lamp, and after a while said: "There is a way, as long as she leaves here it will be fine".

  Hey... Oil-water belly didn't understand, staring blankly at the servant.

  Helpless, Da Fu added "We just need one person to carry her away from here, far away from these masks. Once she's out of the range of the mask's influence, she'll slowly wake up on her own."

  Oil and water belly climbed two levels of stone steps, "Bang" a loud noise hit Da Gui's head with a big explosion, "Ah" a cry, Da Gui stretched out his hand, closed his eyes, and jumped up and down in pain.

  "Remember, don't be too loud when talking to the boss, it's not just you who will suffer, I'll be tired too." After finishing speaking, he went down in front of me and hugged the woman, Shi Hua, who was standing not far away from me. A layer of happy and satisfied red appeared on his face, and a hoarse voice hummed out his own adapted version of "The Heavenly Match": "The birds on the book, paired up~ green water and green mountains, Brother Pang I ~ am hugging you".

  I and Da Fu Da Gui stared at each other, looking at the vivid scene of Zhu Bajie marrying his wife. I couldn't bear it anymore, imitating the Oil Water Belly's manner earlier, I kicked him hard on the buttocks. Before he could open his mouth to scold me, I said slowly and clearly: "Now, should, set off, already, no need, do these, boring, things"!

  Oil barrel hadn't prepared, was pressed down on the stone steps by that woman, his buttocks were pressed against the edge of the stone steps, and he was in so much pain that he gritted his teeth. The flashlight, phone, and batteries all fell out of his pockets at once. Da Fu's nose twitched slightly, and a sly smile spread across his face as he stole a glance at Oil Barrel's disheveled appearance.

  Oil barrel struggled to get up from the ground, picked up the scattered things, and hugged the stone again. He glared at Da Fu Da Gui fiercely, then turned his head to me and said: "Brother, you also came too suddenly, if I'm not careful, Brother's blood pressure will rise, and there will be a pool of blood on the ground. At that time, brother, you will lose a good brother!" After finishing speaking, he made a forward gesture to Da Gui, and we continued walking up the stone steps.

  The oil drum has suffered such a big blow and hasn't turned over, could it be that he really regards me as his brother? I couldn't believe it. I thought about it while walking.

  We walked all the way, not knowing how long we had been walking, when suddenly the woman carrying the oil jar put it down and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. I was also extremely tired and sat down on the stone steps two sections away from the oil jar, while Da Fu and Da Gui also stopped in their tracks.

  I took a look at the time, it's already 2:40 in the morning. We entered here exactly two hours ago and have been walking for nearly forty minutes! It's strange, logically speaking, we should have reached the exit above by now, but I haven't seen anything yet. Not just me, but also the group of people with Oil Barrel Belly feel that something is off.

  "Have you run into a ghost or something? What's wrong with you, Da Fu?" said You Shui Tun.

  Da Fu looked innocent and aggrieved, gazing at You Shui Du: "Boss, I don't feel any ghostly fluctuations here." "What could it be?" You Shui Du said, pinching his chin.

  I also can't figure out the reason behind this, I don't understand this kind of thing at all. Da Gui, who rarely spoke, slowly said: "Could it be that there is no end to this place?"

  "Hmm... I took a deep breath, and without saying a word, I signaled to Da Gui to continue speaking. 'Actually, I've been feeling that something was off here, so every three steps on the stairs, I would scratch a mark on the wall with my dagger. Now, I've made 508 marks, which means we've walked 1524 steps. Each step is 67 cm long and 48 cm high, so we've climbed a height of 731 meters. As far as I know, this mountain is only over 600 meters tall, but we still haven't seen the top of the cave, and I'm certain that I haven't repeated any marks. This doesn't even count the path we took when we first came in; I only started paying attention after you fainted. So, my guess is that this place has no end, and maybe we'll never be able to get out of here.'"

  Taigui's words shocked me, I didn't expect him to be so meticulous in his work, not a single small mistake, truly thoughtful and thorough. If he weren't a tomb raider, he'd make a great national agent, rising through the ranks with ease.

  No! Things are not that simple! Liu Lao Tou and the others seem to have been here before, but why is there no sign of anyone having passed through? Could it be like this:

  I took out the dagger and slashed it hard on the wall, the stone on the wall was very hard, I used all my strength, and only a thin line of scratches appeared on the gray wall. Just over ten seconds later, the knife marks on the wall slowly healed and returned to their original appearance! The oil lamp had been watching my every move:

  "What's going on?!" shouted Oil Barrel in shock. We were all caught off guard, the wall was self-healing! As I expected, my guess was correct, the walls here can self-heal. The fact is, we're trapped!

  "I'm not surprised, I just can't figure out why there's a second group of people here and I couldn't find any evidence that they've been here." I said to avoid dampening the morale of the team.

  Oil-water belly stared with wide eyes, suddenly understood, and patted his belly:

  "Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten about this!"

  His hand is now on the chest of that woman, is this a forgotten gesture? The oily belly saw my contemptuous gaze, reacted, and awkwardly smiled, withdrawing his own fat pig-like hand.

  "Brother, do you have a good way?" Grease the waterway.

  What good way can I have? I'm just a rookie, you old hands can't even do it, what can I do?!

  "I don't have it."

  "Alas, is Brother Chubby's colorful youth going to end here?" Oil Barrel complained.

  I sat down, staring blankly at the transparent stone steps, my mind in a state of confusion. The walls were adorned with ghost masks everywhere, and this stone path seemed to stretch on endlessly without a terminus. What kind of person was this demon king who could design such an otherworldly staircase? This mountain cave definitely had no end; there must be some sort of mechanism at play. The wisdom of the ancient people should not be underestimated - just like the slaves in the outer burial chamber, it's still a mystery how they were transported up here back then.

  After thinking for a long time, I had no clue in my mind. I opened my phone and found that my screen was inexplicably white, not even the time could be seen. The oil lamp on the belly seemed to be very leisurely, leaning against the stone statue of the woman and fell asleep. How can there be such a heartless person!

  "What's the time now?" I asked Da Fu Da Gui.

  The two of them took out their mobile phones, and similarly, their mobile phones seemed to be interfered with by something, displaying colorful stripes on the screen. Helplessly, they leaned in close to Oil Water Bucket, pulling up his right sleeve, looking at the watch on his wrist, but strangely, Oil Water Bucket's watch was also malfunctioning, spinning wildly, with the hour hand, second hand, and minute hand all rotating counterclockwise quickly. How strange, I thought to myself.

  Da Fu Da Gui seemed to think of something, put down the equipment bag, took out two compasses from it, looked at them for a moment, and his expression suddenly froze. I didn't know what they saw, but I crossed over the oil drum, leaned in close to them, and took a look. I found that the compasses in their hands were also spinning wildly, one circle to the left, one circle to the right.

  Da Fu's eyebrows slowly furrowed.

  "There is a huge magnetic field here, all these things are being interfered with." said Da Fu.

  I was taken aback for a moment

  What's magnetic field? What's going on? I haven't read books, I don't understand these things!