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墨書 Inktalez
I suddenly remembered that when A Chen had his accident, a lamp had already gone out. This meant that from that moment on, or perhaps even before, the oxygen here had begun to run low.
At this point, another thought struck me. When A Chen had his accident, it seemed he had shouted out loud. At that time, his throat hadn’t shown any signs of trouble. That shout was something Third Granduncle Master could not have missed; no one else could have missed it either. In fact, it was only after hearing that shout that they realized A Chen was in trouble.
But why did no one think of this when Third Granduncle Master raised the question? Even A Chen himself seemed possessed, completely forgetting—no, it wasn’t just A Chen; my mind had also gone blank at that moment.
It was understandable for A Chen to be startled and have a brief lapse in memory, but surely it couldn’t be that all our memories were faulty?
I quietly pulled A Li aside into a corner. “Just now when Third Granduncle Master asked when A Chen couldn’t speak anymore, why didn’t anyone mention that he shouted? From that silence, we could roughly estimate the time—”
Before I could finish my sentence, A Li interrupted me. “ Brother Qian Yi, what time do you think it is? How can you still be concerned about this? Don’t you know the oxygen is almost gone? Can’t you see everyone is looking for an exit?”
“I know the oxygen is running low,” I replied. “But this matter is important too. If we don’t clarify it, I won’t feel right.”
A Li shot me a sideways glance as if to say she was really fed up with me. Knowing her heart was soft, I quickly asked again in a gentle tone, “Do you remember A Chen shouting out when he had his accident? Why didn’t anyone bring it up at the time?”
A Li’s eyes suddenly widened. “ Brother Qian Yi, are you joking?”
I was taken aback, a bad premonition rising within me. “What do you mean by joking?”
A Li frowned slightly. “You really don’t remember? Qiao Brother was there at the time! That’s why they pinpointed A Chen’s silence to after he came into contact with the mermaid. We just discussed this conclusion!”
My heart sank like I had fallen into an abyss. I would rather believe that my ears were playing tricks on me or that A Li was just joking around.
But the sincerity in A Li’s eyes at this moment was more genuine than ever, tinged with an underlying worry. No… could the problem be with me? Had I misremembered?!
“ Brother Qian Yi, are you okay?” A Li asked with concern.
I forced myself to shake my head calmly and smiled, "It's nothing, just asking. Let's find a way out."
At that moment, Liuzi suddenly pressed against the wall and shouted, "Listen! There's a sound inside!"
Old Qiao quickly put his ear to the wall and listened for a full three seconds. His face turned pale. "Not good, it's Mercury!"
"Mercury?" The junior brother's expression stiffened. "Damn it, another security layer?!" Suddenly remembering something, he exclaimed, "Liuzi, did you cause this mess again? Did you bring this Mercury here?"
Liuzi's eyes widened in anger as he cursed back, "What the hell! I was about to ask you! Aren't your hands clean? Did you take something you shouldn't have and trigger the mechanism, putting everyone in this room in danger?"
The junior brother laughed instead of getting angry. "Hmph, dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes; a mouse's son knows how to dig holes! It was your senior brother who was being careless just now!"
Though the junior brother's analogy was poor, it achieved its purpose and exceeded expectations, cursing both Liuzi and A Chen while also implicating Third Granduncle Master —two birds with one stone.
"You’re asking for death!" Liuzi was indeed furious and raised his fist to strike back but was held back by Old Qiao from behind. "What are you two doing at a time like this, my ancestors! Can you just calm down for a moment?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a huge strange noise suddenly erupted around us—a rumbling sound that initially resembled water flowing through pipes. Two seconds later, it transformed into the sound of rushing water right behind the twenty-two Deng Nu.
Everyone exchanged glances nervously, staring at the Deng Nu. Suddenly, with a loud bang, a silvery-gray opaque liquid sprayed out from the back of one Deng Nu's neck. Once it hit the ground, it quickly spread toward us. In the next second, the remaining twenty-one Deng Nu followed suit, spraying this silvery-gray substance that resembled a solid-liquid mixture from their necks—Old Qiao realized this was specially treated Mercury—and in the blink of an eye, it covered the floor of the tomb chamber.
Old Qiao seemed to snap out of his daze and shouted, "Don't touch that stuff! Get to the stone bridge! Hurry!"
For a moment, everyone stood there dumbfounded. It wasn't until they heard Old Qiao's command that they snapped back to reality and quickly ran toward the stone bridge. But this was ultimately not a long-term solution; at this rate, in less than five minutes, we would be submerged in Mercury.
To make matters worse, the air in the tomb seemed to be growing thinner. It felt like countless insects were crawling in my throat—itchy and uncomfortable. I wanted to vomit but couldn't; all I could do was gag. My vision began to blur gradually, and my head throbbed so badly that I felt like banging it against the wall; if only I could just hit it once.
Liuzi kept banging his head while urgently scolding Old Qiao, "What the hell do we do now? We can't just wait here to die! You’re Old Qiao; at least let out a fart or something!"
Old Qiao's face was pale, devoid of any color. "I truly apologize, everyone. This time, it was my misjudgment. This tomb chamber... like the previous one, is equipped with theft prevention mechanisms, which are part of the sealing stones. In this regard, Boss Sun guessed correctly... It's just that the previous tombs only had one layer of sealing stones, so I never anticipated that there would be two layers here—"
"What the hell is the use of that now?!" Liuzi interrupted angrily. "If you’re not dead yet, then say something useful! Otherwise, I’ll just throw you down and drown you in Mercury!" He grabbed Old Qiao by the collar. Old Qiao immediately began to cough violently, his features contorting in pain.
His health had always been poor; any accident would provoke a stronger reaction than normal people, and his recovery would also be slower. Liuzi, unaware of this, was heavy-handed. If Old Qiao were to suffer a serious consequence from this... I could hardly bear to think about it and rushed forward to stop him, but my junior brother was quicker, grabbing Liuzi's hand. "What the hell is the use of that now? If you throw him down, you'll just be waiting to die! Let go already?!"
"Hmph..." Seeing Old Qiao's face, Liuzi seemed to realize he had been too rough and stopped arguing with my junior brother, obediently releasing his grip.
Old Qiao immediately breathed a sigh of relief but coughed even more violently than before. A Li gently patted his back to help him breathe easier while glaring at Liuzi with wide eyes. Liuzi shrank back under A Li's gaze, his anger dissipating completely as he retreated to a spot where A Li couldn't see him.
At this moment, Mercury had already flooded over both sides of the bridgehead; it was indeed urgent. If we couldn't find a way out soon, we would be left with no choice but to die. The sound of everyone gasping for breath grew more intense, rising and falling like a mournful lament.
I suddenly recalled an article I had read about people who had been submerged in Mercury; their bodies became incredibly heavy, their internal organs rotting away slowly. The process of dying was long and agonizing and had once been listed as one of the top ten tortures of the Manchu era.
I couldn't help but shudder. If I were to die like that, it would be better to end it quickly—just then, a sharp pain shot through my right wrist followed by a loud clang as something fell from my hand. I looked down to see a dagger with fresh blood still flowing on it.
My junior brother nearly shouted in alarm: " Senior Brother, what are you doing?! Even if you can't have human flesh to eat, there's no need to resort to such extremes!"
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