"Fatty?"
Wu Tianzhen called out one last time, filled with hope, but only his voice echoed back in the empty tunnel.
He fell silent for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed in a voice filled with excited surprise, "Holy crap, I didn't even notice! The walls of this tunnel are packed with gold dust!"
Silence. The only sound in the tunnel was the "shhh—shhh—shhh—" of the echo, as if mocking him for being a complete idiot.
It was only then that Wu Tianzhen finally became certain that Fatty was no longer nearby. If he had heard that treasure was present, he would have crawled over to dig some up, even if it meant breaking a limb.
The blasted-open entrance was still there, and wisps of cold air flowed in.
This wasn't a sealed space. As long as Wu Tianzhen wished, he could leave through the opening at any time. This meant it wasn't a ghost maze.
And illusions…
Wu Tianzhen slapped himself in the face without changing his expression. The stinging pain felt like countless needles, confirming that this was indeed the real world.
Fatty wouldn't just leave without a word. That left only one option—
During the time he had entered the tunnel, the position of this opening had triggered some kind of mechanism, causing Fatty to be taken to another space.
But was that possible? Wu Tianzhen took out the map again. The tunnel, built along the mountain ridge, had a subtle curve. It looked like it should be completely open and clear, a straightforward path where any operating mechanism would be immediately visible.
He hadn't seen any mechanism in operation. This meant two possibilities.
One, there truly was no mechanism here. Two, what he saw was not real.
…Guessing here was useless. He had to re-enter the tunnel to verify his hypothesis.
With that thought, Wu Tianzhen no longer hesitated. He put away the map and cautiously ventured deeper into the darkness.
The curve of the tunnel wasn't significant.
After walking for a few minutes, Wu Tianzhen stopped. The section of the path before him now looked almost perfectly straight, and this section constituted a large portion of the entire tunnel.
If there was indeed a mechanism, he didn't believe he would miss it here.
With a crisp "click," his gun was cocked. Wu Tianzhen stared intently ahead, his arm taut, and fired a bullet in a perfectly straight line!
The bullet, reflecting a dull white under the flashlight, streaked forward like a meteor in the tunnel, unimpeded.
…This was too normal. But how could it be so normal?
Just as Wu Tianzhen began to doubt himself and planned to overturn his previous guess and start over—
A metallic clang exploded in the dim tunnel like a death knell!
The bullet, halfway to its target, inexplicably reacted as if it had hit something in mid-air and was reflected back at an extremely high speed!
"Holy shit!" Wu Tianzhen blurted out, tumbling and scrambling to fall face-down on the ground, narrowly dodging the bullet in a rather ungraceful manner.
Only after hearing the faint sound of the bullet hitting the ground did he cautiously get back up.
He felt a strange sensation on his head. Wu Tianzhen reached up and discovered that a tuft of hair on the side of his head had been severed by the bullet. The broken ends still felt slightly scorched.
He was shocked for a moment. He kicked the severed hair lying on the ground into a corner by the tunnel wall and offered a brief "Amitabha" to send them on their way.
Immediately, a smile of excitement spread across Wu Tianzhen's face.
…He now understood the mechanism's structure.
Wu Tianzhen walked to the spot where the bullet had collided. It looked like empty air, but when he cautiously reached out, he felt a hard, iron-like substance.
Although the tunnel appeared to have a slight curve from a distance, in reality, under the mechanism's operation, these strangely transparent substances were constantly shifting to alter the path.
Wu Tianzhen took a few steps back. As expected, when he looked back, the curve of the tunnel appeared much smaller than when he stood in front of the transparent substance.
This substance not only changed the path but also deceived the eyes by refracting light, making them believe they were still walking on the normal path.
…But, if that was the case, what triggered the mechanism here?
Was it sound, light, or the weight they brought to the ground as they walked?
Wu Tianzhen couldn't afford to stay and slowly investigate the trigger factors of this damned mechanism using controlled variables in this emergency situation. He took a deep breath and returned the way he came to the blasted-open entrance.
Then, he turned off his flashlight and closed his eyes completely.
The world plunged into darkness. Wu Tianzhen reached out to steady himself against the inner wall of the tunnel, swallowed, and slowly began to walk.
…He didn't know how many variations this mechanism had, but no matter what, the door leading to the burial area must exist.
Since it existed, it must be hidden by the transparent substances using their tricks of altering light. That door must be on the actual tunnel wall.
Wu Tianzhen couldn't control the transparent substances, but he could control himself. He focused on feeling the rough texture of the stone wall under his hands. When he felt an inexplicably smooth surface, he stopped instantly, waiting until the mechanism operated and moved the smooth section away.
Using this method, he avoided the interference of the transparent substances and, amidst the mechanism's changes, found the true stone inner wall.
The complete darkness unsettled him. His overactive imagination made Wu Tianzhen feel, several times, that a fierce ghost with a blue face, fangs, and blood-stained mouth was pressed against his closed eyes.
He was almost unable to resist opening his eyes, but soon, he conquered this fear with his own vivid imagination.
He began to fantasize that Zhang Qiling and Fatty were standing beside him.
Fatty was still his usual garrulous self, spewing curses, and Zhang Qiling was still quietly walking beside him, holding his Black Gold Ancient Saber.
Perhaps because he knew these two men too well, Wu Tianzhen even gradually felt as if he could truly hear Fatty's laughter and truly see Zhang Qiling's expressionless face.
And those specters in the darkness, those demons and monsters that didn't know their place, were successfully smashed into the ground by Little Zhang's saber. Fatty wanted to see if those things had any money on them, but because Little Zhang had used too much force, he couldn't dig them out.
Thinking of this, Wu Tianzhen couldn't help but chuckle. And at that very moment, he stopped.
His fingertips had touched a sudden indentation. A cold, icy temperature crept up, making him shiver. And with that shiver, the beautiful fantasies in his mind shattered like bubbles.
Wu Tianzhen opened his eyes and saw a pitch-black doorway standing silently before him. The frame of the door was gradually fading away, as if being erased by an eraser, eerily.
He knew that the transparent substances were about to cover it. Without hesitation, Wu Tianzhen turned on his flashlight and stepped directly inside.