Chapter 13 The Abyss

Seeing Old Wu's miserable state, we couldn't force him to travel with his injuries. I nodded immediately and said, "Alright, you rest here for a while, we'll go find the way."

That left me, Uncle Mei, and Sister Hong. But there were two paths.

I simply pushed Sister Hong to Uncle Mei and said, "Uncle, you and Sister Hong are one group, and I'll be alone. You go left, and I'll go right."

Sister Hong grabbed my hand tightly, saying, "No, Rongsheng, I only trust you! I want to be in your group."

Uncle Mei sighed helplessly and advised, "Rongsheng, there are only three of us left, let's not split into two groups. Let's search one path at a time, it's safer that way."

I thought about it and felt that Uncle Mei made sense.

Although I was young and strong, there were countless traps in this ancient tomb. If I accidentally got caught in a trap and no one was around, my life would be in danger.

"Then we'll go as a group of three, left first, then right!"

I said decisively.

Uncle Mei nodded gently, and Sister Hong smiled contentedly, saying, "That's great."

After speaking, we walked together towards the left side of the fork, proceeding along an even narrower tomb passage.

This tomb passage was different from the previous ones; it wasn't straight, but winding.

And as we moved forward, I could feel that this tomb passage was sloped; we were always going downhill.

I warned Uncle Mei and the others vigilantly, "This road is constantly going down. This ancient tomb seems to be getting deeper and deeper."

Sister Hong speculated, "The deeper we go, does that mean we're getting closer to the main burial chamber?"

I said it was possible, it seemed that the left path was likely the correct one.

Uncle Mei reminded us, "Pay attention to the ground, see if there are any traces left by Shopkeeper Wang and his men. If we can confirm that they took this path, we'll go back and bring Old Wu along."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Sister Hong sneered, "You're such an honest man, still bothering to go back and pick up Old Wu! Why bother with that cripple who's a burden? Just leave him to fend for himself! He's not a good person anyway!"

Uncle Mei and I were both stunned by this. Sister Hong had once again shown us the wickedness of human nature.

Seeing our reaction, Sister Hong said disdainfully, "Don't act so shocked. Think about the bad things Old Wu has done. If he could kill Professor Xu to use as a scapegoat, he might stab us in the back if we encounter danger in the future! Do you dare to associate with someone like that?"

What she said made sense, and Uncle Mei and I couldn't help but fall silent.

Sister Hong continued, "Rongsheng, I trust your character. You didn't abandon me when I fainted earlier. I know what it means to be grateful. If we're unfortunate enough to encounter danger, I'll never abandon you either. The three of us are truly of one mind. As for Old Wu, that beast, let's just abandon him!"

Although she said that, I had promised Old Wu that I would go back to get him. Besides, among the four of us, Old Wu was the only skilled worker who had been down to tombs many times. Although he usually cursed and was irritable, and specialized in doing things that harmed others for his own benefit, keeping him alive might be useful in the future.

Thinking of this, I advised, "Sister Hong, we agreed that the four of us would be of one mind, so we'd have a chance to survive. Why are you suddenly going back on your word? Old Wu was wrong about Professor Xu, but there are only four of us left, we can't reduce the size of the group any further."

Uncle Mei also agreed, "That's right, we can't break our promise. Since we promised Old Wu that we would go back to get him, we can't abandon him."

Sister Hong looked helpless and pouted, "Fine, if you want to bring that burden, then bring him, but don't regret it later!"

But just as Sister Hong said this, I suddenly noticed something strange.

The echo of her voice had become smaller, or rather, the echo had almost disappeared.

Before, when we walked in the tomb passage, any sound we made would cause an echo.

After all, the tomb passage was a relatively closed space, and the sound kept echoing in this space, creating an echo.

But now, when Sister Hong spoke, it was like speaking in an open area outside, with no echo.

Out of curiosity, I couldn't help but shout, "Hey!"

Sister Hong was startled by me and almost collapsed to the ground. She complained, annoyed, "Rongsheng, why are you yelling? You scared me to death! Really!"

I raised a finger to tell her to be quiet, and then said to them, "Listen, there's no echo around here anymore. That means there should be a very open area ahead of the tomb passage!"

"Huh? You're right!"

Sister Hong perked up her ears and listened, nodding in agreement.

As she spoke, she walked forward.

The front of the tomb passage was still pitch black, and the light from the headlamps could only illuminate a very limited area.

However, just as Sister Hong took two steps forward, she suddenly screamed, and then swayed, falling forward!

Fortunately, I was quick-witted and quick-handed. I quickly stepped forward and grabbed her waist, then pulled her back, forcefully pulling her back.

Sister Hong screamed and fell on me, trembling with fright. She huddled in my arms, saying nervously, "What's going on? My feet... my feet are in the air!"

At this moment, Uncle Mei stepped forward and took a closer look, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "This... there's a deep pit below! A bottomless deep pit!"

I pushed Sister Hong away, stood up, and went over to check as well.

I saw that the tomb passage had come to an end. In front of us was a bottomless abyss. The tomb passage we were in actually led to such a huge underground pit, which was pitch black inside. We didn't know how deep it was or what was in it.

With the light of the headlamps, it was impossible to illuminate this space. If you didn't observe carefully, it was easy to accidentally step into the air and fall down.

Seeing this huge pit, I finally understood why we couldn't hear any echoes when we got here.

"It seems this road is a dead end. Shopkeeper Wang and his men took the path on the right." I spread my hands and said.

At this moment, Sister Hong climbed up from the ground, still shaken, wiped away a cold sweat, and asked, "This road is so dangerous, do you think Shopkeeper Wang and his men might have all fallen down here and been wiped out?"

I shook my head and said, "Impossible. There are so many of them. Even if the one leading the way accidentally falls into the abyss, the people behind them will definitely be able to stop in time and survive. Shopkeeper Wang and his men aren't that stupid, they won't all die here."

"That's right."

Sister Hong nodded, then took my hand and said,

"Rongsheng, you saved my life again. You're simply my lucky star!"

I smiled without saying a word. The situation just now was indeed very dangerous. It could be said that it was the closest Sister Hong had ever been to the gates of hell.

Uncle Mei pointed behind us and said, "Let's go, let's go back. We can pick up Old Wu along the way."

Sister Hong looked disgusted when she heard this, muttering, "What bad luck, it seems I can't get rid of Old Wu, that leech!"

However, just as Sister Hong finished speaking, I suddenly heard a "bang". I was very familiar with this sound; it was the sound of bronze breaking.

I was just about to ask, did Old Wu's itchy hands cause him to break the ancient bronze tree in the tomb passage again?

The next second, Old Wu's shrill and painful scream came from the other end of the tomb passage.

I could hear him shouting with a heart-wrenching voice, "It hurts! It hurts so much! Ah—!"

I could truly feel the fear and despair in his tone, even from this distance!