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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
Am I really going to die here?
Looking at the rapidly approaching bottom of the passage, I suddenly felt a wave of despair wash over me.
Various images flashed through my mind: my father with a stern expression, my mother speaking earnestly, and Fatty with his shifty eyes. Finally, I saw Xiao Qingcheng's smiling face overlapping with Guo'er's face, which looked both playful and reproachful.
Right, Guo'er is still waiting for me to save him. I can't die; I have to find a way!
Since both Qingcheng and I were lying back on the Ice Surface, I could see the ice blocks above us flying back one by one. A spark of inspiration hit me: this passage is two meters wide and three meters high, while the diameter of the Copper Door behind us is less than two meters. This means that when the Copper Door passes through the passage, there is one meter of safe space above.
At this moment, there were less than ten meters to the bottom of the passage.
Without time to think further, I threw away my Shotgun and flashlight, reached out, and pulled Xiao Qingcheng into my arms, shouting angrily, "Hold on tight!"
Upon hearing this, Qingcheng pressed herself against me, holding on tightly. The flashlight she was holding hit my head painfully. Damn, is she trying to crush me?
It's all or nothing; whether I live or die depends on this.
With less than five meters to go to the bottom of the passage, I took a deep breath. The sound of the Copper Door's Thunderous Roar faded from my ears. The bottom of the passage and Xiao Qingcheng in my arms disappeared from my sight; in my world, only the ice blocks above and on both sides remained.
I pushed against the ice blocks with my elbows, exerting force with my waist and hips simultaneously. Holding onto Qingcheng, I stood up quickly, drew out my dagger, and ran forward three steps following my momentum. With a powerful push off the ground, I jumped while holding Qingcheng. Just as we began to descend, I kicked off the wall with my right foot for leverage and used all my strength to drive the dagger into the ice block above us.
Gripping the dagger tightly with both hands, I kicked again against the wall's Ice Surface. This time I used all my weight; my toes pressed firmly against the wall as I hung at an angle like a Triangle at the top of the passage.
Meanwhile, everything in front of me moved as if in slow motion, the Copper Door slowly rolling beneath us. In the next moment, the Copper Door crashed into the ice at the bottom of the passage, producing a loud noise, and everything in my vision returned to normal.
Upon closer inspection, the Copper Door had actually been thrown back over two meters by the impact, then crashed down again. The bottom of the passage was already smashed to pieces, and the surrounding ice blocks shook and fell down. The daggers embedded in the ceiling also loosened, causing both of us to fall to the ground and slide down the passage. Fortunately, Qingcheng's flashlight was still shining brightly. When we reached the bottom, we used our feet to hold down the Copper Door, finally stopping our momentum.
Damn, we weren't crushed! We're still alive; it feels so damn good to be alive.
Bananas, apples, cantaloupes—I'm laughing out loud right now.
Qingcheng's face turned pale as she looked at the Copper Door and then at me. She rushed over and hugged me, bursting into tears.
I patted Qingcheng's back but couldn't say anything—not because I didn't want to, but because my whole body was trembling from excessive tension, my teeth chattering so much that I couldn't speak.
After a while, Qingcheng released me from her embrace, wiped her tears, and smiled, "You were even more scared than I was; you were shaking!"
"Motherfucker, I'm... this is called excitement. With such a beautiful girl like you in my arms, of course I'm going to shake!" I could only deny it desperately. If this got out, Fatty and Kong Xuan would laugh me to death. How could I be the leader after that?
"This Copper Door is not the same as the one in the mechanism area," Xiao Qingcheng said, no longer teasing me and pointing at the Copper Door.
"Yeah, it seems different; the patterns aren't as deep!" I looked around. "This passage is a dead end; it looks like we have to go back to where the Copper Door is and find another area."
Qingcheng nodded. "It's strange; I clearly followed the sequence inside Black Mountain Ancient Prison. Going through three circles normally and three circles in reverse should lead to the Second Area; going through three circles quickly and three circles slowly should lead to the Third Area; going through three circles slowly and three circles quickly should lead to the Fourth Area. But I directly entered the Fourth Area."
"Perhaps this tomb has its focus set on the Third Area; it's hard to say," I frowned.
"Well, we can only go back to the Copper Door position now," Qingcheng paused and smiled, "Where's your rope, Wrangler?"
"It's in the middle of the passage," I scratched my head. "Weren't you the one who used a Spell to stick it to the ice? You should cancel the Spell now and see if it can slide down."
"This distance exceeds my Spell range. Let's figure out a way to climb up a bit first."
What other way is there? The most primitive method—let's make some holes!
Using my dagger, I poked grooves into the Ice Surface, then wedged my toes into the grooves and climbed step by step. Fortunately, the slope was only thirty degrees; although it was a bit troublesome to climb, it wasn't particularly strenuous. After climbing about ten meters, I spotted the Shotgun and flashlight, both of which had been flattened by the Copper Door. Clearly, they were now just scrap metal, with their only use being to sell at the Scrap Station in hopes of trading for a popsicle; trading for red beans would be tough, but green beans might work.
When I reached the area where the rope was located, over two hours had passed. I exerted my remaining strength to dig a pit to make it easier for us to rest.
While digging, I noticed a shadow beneath the Ice Surface and couldn't help but call Qingcheng over to take a look. She frowned and stared for a while before saying, "I wonder what that is. Why don't you dig it out and see?"
"Come on, sister, I'm holding a dagger, not a pickaxe! That shadow is at least two meters thick from the Ice Surface. I don't have that kind of Kung Fu!" Ignoring Qingcheng, I dug a pit about the size of a basketball, sat down in it with a thud, grabbed the rope, lay back, and gasped for air. "I can't go on; you need to let me rest for a bit. You can dig two pits while I take a break. My back is aching, my legs are cramping, and I don't even have the strength to move my fingers. Do you have any chocolate? Bring it over for some energy—oh, and I don't want that Snickers or whatever."
"What's wrong with Snickers?" Qingcheng took the dagger from my hand and dug two more pits before sitting next to me.
"Don't you think its homophone is disgusting? It's... 'menstruation...'" I gasped as I laughed.
"Can't you think of anything else?" Qingcheng frowned.
"This is something Fatty said; I'm just passing it along," I quickly defended myself.
Qingcheng created a normal temperature Air Bubble around us to isolate the cold air outside, preventing the food from freezing into ice cubes as soon as it was taken out. After doing all this, she handed me a piece of chocolate. I unwrapped it and took a couple of bites before realizing that this chocolate looked familiar. Wait, wasn't this the one I gave to Qingcheng yesterday?
Seeing me staring at the chocolate in a daze, Qingcheng quickly snapped back to reality, her cheeks flushing red. "You wanted chocolate, didn't you? This is the only piece!"
Seeing Qingcheng's shy expression made my heart flutter, but I quickly suppressed that thought and smiled. "It's fine, it's fine. No harm done; eating it won't make you sick!"
Xiao Qingcheng immediately raised her eyebrows in protest. "What do you mean by 'no harm done'? You're the one who's not clean!"
After resting for about half an hour, we continued our journey. With the rope, our speed increased significantly. I tied a bottle of mineral water to the front of the rope so that I could throw it farther. Qingcheng then cast a Spell at the front end of the rope; as soon as it touched an ice block, it would stick to it.
This way, every time I threw it about ten meters, Qingcheng would continuously remove and cast the Spell. After throwing it around twenty times, we finally reached the top of the passage near the Copper Door.
At the top of the slope, there was a faint black Big Hole, which was likely where the Copper Door had rolled out from.
"There's a switch here!" Qingcheng pointed to the wall on the side. Turning to look, I saw a rune faintly appearing on one of the ice blocks.
"This is a switch?"
"Yes!" Qingcheng slowly moved her hand over the rune, and amidst a Thunderous Roar, the Big Hole above began to close slowly.
"Damn!" I cursed under my breath. It was clear that someone was controlling this switch to lower the large Copper Door inside, intending to crush us.
I can think of it, and Xiao Qingcheng can certainly think of it too; she just didn't say anything. Her hand brushed over the runes again, and the top of the Big Hole slowly opened once more. After a pause, she brushed over it again, and the Big Hole gradually closed.
Qingcheng stared blankly at the rune for about ten seconds before glancing at me. Suddenly lowering her voice, she showed a shy expression on her face: “Zheng Nan, I need to talk to you about something.”
“What is it?”
“Our main purpose for coming here is to find the Nine Nether Grass to save Sister Guo. Since I come from a Daoist Family, I have an instinctive attraction to Daoist things, and this tomb seems to be filled with Daoist artifacts…” Qingcheng's voice grew quieter.
“What are you thinking?” I was somewhat confused. You are from a Daoist background, and this place is filled with Daoist mechanisms; wouldn't that mean you could easily solve them?
“But Sister Guo is in urgent need of help. I'm afraid that if I get too absorbed in studying these Daoist things, it will delay Sister Guo's important matters. So, you need to remind me at all times, and you can even scold me loudly. I promise I won't get angry!” Qingcheng said loudly as she looked up.
“Then why are you just standing there like a tree stump? Let's go!” I immediately shouted loudly. It was surprising that someone was asking me to shout at them; this kid must have watched too many Korean dramas.
Qingcheng was taken aback for a moment, rolled her eyes, handed me the flashlight, and walked in front of the Copper Door. She slowly turned the switch of the Copper Door, and with a loud rumble of Thunderous Roar, we moved into another passage. This passage was still made up of huge ice blocks, with only one path leading into the distance. However, this time the passage sloped slightly upward instead of downward; the incline wasn't steep, so walking wouldn't cause us to slip.
I was about to step forward when Qingcheng stopped me: “Zheng Nan, let's discuss things here first.”
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