Chapter Thirty-One: The Giant Coral

  To be honest, when we see the light, our hearts all tighten up, praying that it won't just end like this. The suffering we've endured on this road would have been for nothing.

  We quickened our pace to the bright place and found that this was not the end of the tomb passage. As we stepped out of the cave entrance, we were stunned again by the scene in front of us. This impact was even greater than the last time at Tongtian Hall.

  In front of me, a pit of over ten meters deep appeared, with a diameter roughly the size of two playgrounds. And in this deep pit, I saw a huge coral reef that went straight up to the top of the tomb, so high that it was impossible to see its top.

  The coral body is dark red and black, surrounding the mountain around this deep pit, like a earth building, surrounded by a circle. Not far apart, there is a cave like where I and Marx came out.

  I saw a few people vaguely in the depths of the coral pit, and this time I didn't panic. At a glance, I could tell it was Uncle Cheng and his group.

  I pointed down and said to Ma Si Zhe 'It's Cheng Shu and them'

  Ma Si Zhe looked down and pulled me into the cave, "Keep your voice down, we'll follow him from behind, just to see what they're hiding from us."

  "How did Uncle Cheng and them leave so quickly?" I asked.

  "Last time they suffered, this time it might be our turn."

  "But why didn't we meet last time? And even walked behind others"

  "Is this old thing cheating?"

  I don't know

  "Go out and take a look at what they're doing, in case there's something valuable, someone might get there first."

  "But how are we going to get down now?" This pit is over a dozen meters deep, and there's no ladder or stairs next to it. If we just jump down like this, the only outcome will be death by smashing into the ground.

  "Since they've all gone down, it means there must be a way." Ma Si Zhe carefully poked his head out, lowered himself and slowly made his way out. I followed behind him.

  The two of us lay on the ground, stretching our heads forward, and they spoke in such a low voice that we couldn't hear what they were saying at all.

  "I couldn't hear anything at all!" I almost strained my neck, but didn't even catch a sound.

  Cheng Shu and Jiang Liu were studying something together, while Huo Ying stood aside with an indifferent expression.

  No way, this won't work, we two have to go down together

  I'm a bit worried that once we go down, it'll be clear at a glance, and the two of us won't even have a place to hide.

  "Let's go down first and think of a solution later, it's better than just standing here watching anyway."

  The two of us stuck to the ground, to put it mildly, almost crawling. After circling around above, we still couldn't find a place to go down. I leaned against one side panting 'You say, can the passage be in this cave?'

  Ma Si Zhe took a glance at the cave and fanned himself with his hand, saying "It's not impossible, let's go take a look inside"

  The caves on the mountain, each one looks the same. We casually found one and crawled in. My wound started to throb slightly, I touched it and smiled helplessly. Thinking that leaving a scar would make me remember this as reality when I think about it later, not just a dream.

  "What's with the silly smile?" Ma Si Zhe shone his flashlight at me.

  My eyes were dazzled by the light, and I turned his flashlight aside. 'Laugh at yourself for walking like you're in a dream'

  Ma Si Zhe poked my wound with one finger and I let out a hiss of pain. "What are you doing?"

  It hurts, so it's not a dream.

  The two of us walked along the cave all the way, and nothing was found on the way. The tomb passage is not straight, and after walking for a short distance, we saw a fork in the road.

  "How do I get there?" I asked.

  Ma Si Zhe picked up a stone from the ground and threw it to the left of the tomb path. Only the sound of the stone hitting something was heard.

  "Go right, left is a dead end."

  "How did you know"

  "If the road is clear, we should first hear the sound of stones falling and rolling on the ground, then slowly coming to a stop. Now it's obvious that something was hit and bounced back with a rolling sound."

  The two of us turned around and walked into the tomb passage on the right. The road ahead was relatively smooth, although it had many turns, fortunately there were no forks in the road, nor did we see anything strange.

  As I walked and walked, a bright light appeared in front of me again. That's it!

  We quickened our pace and walked out, a familiar feeling. What's going on? How are we still standing at the edge of the deep pit?

  "How did we end up back here?"

  Ma Si Zhe shook his head, "No, we went down another floor."

  I looked up and saw that it was indeed a layer down, due to the similar structure of the cave, which gave people a feeling of walking back to the original place. I walked forward, lay on the edge of the pit, and looked down, estimating that there was still a layer of height.

  Cheng Shu and the others are gone! I quickly turned back and shouted to Ma Si Zhe "Cheng Shu and the others are gone!"

  "Ah! Quick, chase after him, don't let him get away!" Marx Zhe again darted into another cave, I hastily got up and followed. This road was a wild rush, turning whenever there was a bend, and incredibly, we made it out.

  When we walked out of Shandong, that huge coral appeared in front of us again. Unlike the previous perspective, looking up at the foot of the coral gives a more oppressive feeling. How did such a large coral get transported from the sea to here?

  "Maybe it's because I grew up here," Ma Si said.

  "How is it possible? Coral needs a growth environment with temperatures higher than 20 degrees Celsius, you think it's like Chinese cabbage that can grow anywhere?"

  Ma Si Zhe shook his index finger 'nothing is impossible'

  "This is also too ridiculous" I pushed him away and walked to the coral. The outside of the coral seemed to be wrapped in a layer of some unknown substance, not very hard, and the texture was surprisingly like asphalt that hadn't dried yet.

  Ma Si Zhe looked around and said 'What's going on? I didn't see Uncle Cheng and the others, where did they go in such a short time?' I asked.

  "It's just this small place, where can you hide?"

  "They shouldn't find out about us two, right?"

  "It's hard to say, but Uncle Cheng is a sly old fox, very slippery"

  Suddenly, a flashlight fell in front of me and Ma Si Zhe. Then I faintly heard a curse.

  It turns out they climbed up, no wonder I didn't see them below. Luckily we came down in time, otherwise we would have bumped into each other upstairs. In that case, I really don't know what to say 'Hey, Uncle Cheng, what a coincidence' Can't pretend it's an accidental encounter.

  Ma Si Zhe quickly picked up the flashlight from the ground and pulled me back into the cave. 'They'll definitely come back to rest in the cave after a while, let's hide behind them and see what they say.'

  "The road in this cave is winding and twisting all over the place. How did you know how to turn to get to the mountain cave where they rested?"

  "Haven't you noticed? The paths we take are all regular. Right, right, left, right can lead to the next vertical layer, and right, right, left, left can lead to the side of the next vertical layer. We've been following this sequence twice. It's similar to walking a Rubik's Cube, if you want to go to the side, just add one more step."

  Ma Si Zhe went on and on saying a long tongue twister, I listened in a daze, but also roughly made out what he was getting at.

  "Your meaning is right left right left, walk to the side of the vertical down one layer, then follow the first step in reverse, can walk to the cave we want to go"

  "Congratulations, your IQ has finally caught up with the rhythm!" Ma Si Zhe gave a big thumbs up.

  "What shall we do now?"

  "Wait and see when they come down from the coral, we can... Hehe." Ma Si Zhe let out a wicked laugh.

  "What shameless thing are you thinking of doing again?"

  "Then you can eavesdrop."

  We two stuck to the wall of the cave, sat down. Eyes staring tightly at the coral, still had to guard against being discovered. Not a bit could be relaxed. Before long, I saw Marx's eyelids start to fight, it had been several days, and he hadn't really rested for a while, even robots would run out of power, let alone flesh and blood.

  "Sleep tight, I'll keep watch."

  Ma Si Zhe shook his head, "No way, I don't believe you. In a little while, I'll be asleep and so will you. By the time everyone else goes home, we'll still be sleeping here."

  "Don't worry about it, I couldn't sleep anyway. My shoulders are aching, how can I possibly fall asleep?"

  Ma Si Zhe finally felt a bit relieved, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. He muttered to himself, "If you're tired, just pinch the wound, I'll switch with you in ten minutes."

  I really want to slap him and make him brain damaged.

  Ten minutes passed, and Marx Zhe didn't show any signs of waking up. I persisted for another ten minutes. There wasn't a single movement or sound from above, and in this dull and tired state, people easily doze off. My eyelids were like magnets, desperately sticking together, and no matter how hard I tried, they couldn't be pried apart.

  I had no choice but to wake up Ma Si Zhe, Ma Si Zhe rubbed his eyes and sat up tiredly. At the moment he sat up, I fell to the ground like a faint.

  I don't know how long I slept, but a gust of wind blew from behind. I got up from the ground and patted my swollen head. Looking around, I didn't see Marx's figure anywhere.

  I crawled up from the ground, just wanting to go out and take a look, but I heard voices coming from the cave next door. Could it be that Uncle Cheng and the others have returned? I quickly pressed my ear against the wall. The sound was faint, but in this quiet mountain cave, it could still be clearly heard.

  "What should we do next?" was a woman's voice.

  "Bury his body somewhere, the Soul Devouring Spirit is in Sun Yi's hands. If he uses it to control Jiang Liu and threaten us, things will be difficult to handle. Keeping him around will only bring disaster sooner or later."

  I covered my mouth, they actually killed Jiang Liu! I tried to make myself not make any noise, who knows if they'll find me and kill me too, it seems like they won't let me off either.

  Cheng Shu is an old hand, kills people without batting an eye. But Hao Ying is a woman, how can her heart be so ruthless.

  "If only I had known, I wouldn't have brought him out at that time, he's just a hindrance." It was Cheng Shu's voice again. "If we succeed this time, we'll be set for life, with all the wealth and riches we can imagine, the treasures in this tomb will last us half a lifetime." Then came a chilling laughter that sent shivers down one's spine.

  "When the time comes, Uncle will not owe you anything"

  Who else?

  "Is that little guy awake?" asked Cheng Shu.

  My heart tightened, and then I heard a voice, this voice completely pushed me into hell.

  There is no

  It's actually Marx Zhe!