Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 188

"Open Sesame!" Xiao Yan jumped up from her seat and casually put the remote control into her pocket.

“That’s not Ali Baba’s desert treasure—” I laughed, grasping the key and walking towards the door. In my hallucination, the empty keyhole was covered in moss, but now it looked like it had been carefully cleaned, and the key slid in smoothly. I didn’t know how to open the door, but naturally, I used my “yin-yang divine power” to simultaneously twist the two keys in opposite directions, as naturally as someone coming home from get off work and opening their own front door.

The door opened, smoothly pushed inward, and finally stopped at a 90-degree angle.

Xiao Yan let out a thunderous shout: "Haha, that's amazing! Feng, you're amazing!" He jumped and leaped ahead, rushing into the cave.

Gu Ye managed to maintain a rare composure, but the thick pencil in his hand snapped in two with a "snap," revealing the shock he felt inside.

"Feng, you are so...so amazing! You solved a problem that even the most brilliant people like Fenglinshan have been pondering for over a decade. I knew I hadn't misjudged you, I knew I hadn't misjudged you..." Gu Ye threw down his pencil and strode forward, with the black-clad female ninja following closely behind.

Xiao Keleng stood to my side, first taking out the pistol from her pocket, removing the magazine to check it, then reloading it with a click, chambering a bullet, and putting it back in her pocket. She was very cautious; even though she had done extensive shooting preparations for many occasions that she might not necessarily need to use, she never let her guard down.

"Xiao Xiao, I've been here before. There are words on the ground—" I felt I should make sure my emotions were extremely stable before I went inside.

“Mr. Feng, I will go first. For Sister Su Lun, I am willing to protect you with my life at any time.” She tossed her short hair, revealed a firm smile, and took the lead. A wave of indescribable emotion welled up in my heart. I didn’t know how to express it in words, so I could only silently follow her out.

Sure enough, those words were carved on the stone wall, and the sentence "Yang Tian, the King of Tomb Raiders, has arrived" translated into various languages was exactly the same as in the illusion. Xiao Yan, Gu Ye, and the female ninja had already disappeared far away in the tunnel.

Xiao Keleng exclaimed softly, "Yang Tian has been here? The plague said that he saw Yang Tian jump down with his own eyes, and he was not lying. Could something have happened to him here?" She didn't understand that Yang Tian was my brother. Her casual remark felt like a heavy hammer had struck my chest, making me feel like my liver and gallbladder were about to burst.

Xiao Yan was whistling loudly in the far distance, her voice filled with the carefree joy of youth.

"Shall we go over there?" Xiao Keleng asked in a low voice.

As the mystery was about to be solved, I suddenly felt a pang of fear: "What if my older brother really is inside, and he's already—"

The passageway was deep and rugged, and with each step forward, I felt the weight on my heart grow heavier. After winding my way for several hundred meters, my vision suddenly brightened, and I stepped into an oval-shaped stone chamber. Three meters up on the right wall, there was a recessed stone niche containing a fist-sized luminous pearl that emitted a milky-white light.

The stone chamber was nearly ten meters wide from side to side and at least fifteen meters wide from front to back. At this moment, Xiao Yan and the other two were standing at the very front of the stone chamber.

"Feng, come over here and look! There's a whole world behind the glass window, but unfortunately we're blocked from going over," Xiao Yan said dejectedly, turning back to call to me.

The dome and floor of the stone chamber were also elliptical, making us feel as if we were inside a strange giant egg.

I walked over to Xiaoyan. In front of me was a square glass window, half a meter off the ground, with an area of only one meter square. Perhaps it wasn't glass, but some kind of pure crystal, but I didn't bother to study its composition. My gaze was immediately drawn to a huge scaffold across the way.

The height of the scaffolding was impossible to estimate; it stretched upwards almost indefinitely. I had to crouch down and look up at an angle to vaguely see its top. Above the top, I saw something even more familiar: a skylight. If I wasn't mistaken, that skylight was currently covered by bluish-green sea sand. When the red light appeared, the sand would be blown away by the strong wind, and it would become pure and transparent.

I gritted my teeth, controlled my emotions, and focused my gaze through the gaps in the scaffolding. Two hundred meters away, on the black stone wall, there was a three-meter square silver door, half-open, with a faint light seemingly shining through.

This should be the underground building that Guan Baoling and I observed from afar, but due to limited visibility, I couldn't see the corner where those strange gears were located.

“I think this is the legendary ‘undersea tomb,’ right?” Gu Ye took a step back and slowly examined the oval-shaped egg-shaped house.

Xiao Yan punched the window in frustration, sighing dejectedly, "It's a pity that it's so close, yet it's blocked." The crystal was about thirty centimeters thick, so its strength was considerable. It seemed there was no way to break through its barrier except by using a sufficiently powerful directional blast.

Xiao Keleng stared intently at the door opposite him, his lips moving as if he were reading something. Suddenly, he asked in confusion, "Mr. Feng, the last character of the previous line is '天' (tian, meaning 'sky'), and the last character of the next line is '此' (ci, meaning 'this'). Can we connect this with the writing on the ground when we entered and read it as 'Yang Tian has arrived'?"

I was taken aback: "Xiao Xiao, where are the words?"

She pointed to the opposite side, and I suddenly realized that the image reflected on the silver door varied depending on the viewing angle. When I stood in her position, I indeed saw the vertical characters for "heaven" and "this." If there was also an inscription by my elder brother on that door, it would prove that he had indeed entered it and could calmly leave an inscription.

The crystal was firmly embedded in the stone wall, completely still, and no keyhole was found to open it.

“Perhaps there is another door we can enter through? At least Hero Yang Tian has already gone in. Mr. Feng, should we go back and see if there is another way?” Xiao Ke looked up at me, her face full of endless confusion, but something else on her neck was even more shocking—a blood-red tooth mark.

"What is that?" Xiao Yan whispered. He looked at Xiao Keleng's neck, then his gaze shifted to me, his eyes widening in horror. He pointed to the area below my neck. "Feng, what's there... what's there?"

I saw teeth marks on Xiao Yan's neck, so red they looked like they were about to drip blood, but why was he pointing at me? When Xiao Keleng looked at Xiao Yan with the same horrified expression, I immediately understood: "The three of them have been attacked by the Fang Demon at the same time, just like Guan Baoling before, and have been cursed by the Fang Cocoon!"

Xiao Yan screamed "Ah!" and staggered backward, hitting the back of her head against the milky-white stone wall, instantly losing consciousness.

Xiao Keleng raised her hand, trembling, and touched her neck, her face ashen as she asked, "Mr. Feng, what we saw... wasn't a terrible hallucination, was it?"

It wasn't a hallucination, of course. Everything in sight blurred, as if through a layer of misty water. Beyond the crystal window lay an immense, empty expanse, like a colossal space shuttle launch site, with the skylight high above being the launch exit. Unfortunately, this was in the deep sea. Humans could never build spacecraft research and development bases on the ocean floor, because, to this day, Earthlings haven't overcome the incompatibility of water and fire; fuel will always avoid the underwater world.

Xiao Keleng suddenly drew his gun and fired four bullets at the crystal window in a frenzy. The four spent cartridges then clattered and fell to the ground at his feet.

Although she was right in front of me, I couldn't stop her crazy actions in time, but something even stranger happened—the bullet pierced the solid crystal window, but it didn't shatter. Like a slow-motion scene in a classic gunfight movie, after the bullet entered, its speed suddenly slowed down by hundreds of times. I could clearly see it spinning gracefully, see the tiny red dot at the center of the gunpowder ignition point, and even feel it causing the nearby crystal to twist and deform strangely.

My first reaction was to blurt out, "High-speed camera! The purpose of this crystal window is actually—"

What I'm seeing now is no different from using a high-speed camera to record the destruction process of a bullet hitting a target. The bullet head is melting away, followed by the body and tail. Within seconds, all four bullets disappear at the same time.

Xiao Ke sniffed, raised the gun in confusion, scratched his short hair hard, opened his mouth, and then realized he had nothing to say.

I've seen something similar before, in the outer tunnels of the Turkham Pyramid, where there was a stone wall that seemed to "eat" bullets. The crystal windows here are even more amazing than the stone wall; they clearly show the detailed process of how it "ate" the bullets.

"What is this... what is this?" Xiao Keleng took a big step back in astonishment.

"A window that doesn't belong to Earthlings. I think the only explanation is that it's a substance that Earthlings don't yet understand, but I already have a way to overcome it. That is—the ultimate weapon." Gu Ye's voice suddenly rang out, his tone becoming extremely sinister, carrying a chilling aura that seeped into the skin.

He stood in the center of the stone chamber, his thin body suddenly radiating a surging killing intent that filled the entire space. The black-clad female ninja was right behind him, the "Soul of Genghis Khan" sword still sheathed, protruding from her shoulder, already exuding a menacing aura.

"Feng, you heard me right. Russian experts once said that the penetrating power and radiation range of the super weapon are theoretically capable of destroying objects with a strength more than fifty times that of the space shuttle's protective layer. The instantaneous explosive shock wave can cover fifteen Washington cities, and it is silent, invisible, colorless, and odorless, and will never be detected by any Earth radar."

Gu Ye's ashen face, backlit by the luminous pearl, resembled a terrifying bronze mask, and his eyes, like flickering will-o'-the-wisps, emitted a captivating emerald light.

Xiao Keleng instinctively raised her gun, aiming at Gu Ye's forehead. Before she could even question him, Gu Ye slowly raised his hand, spread his five fingers, and made a "grabbing" motion. The pistol immediately slipped from Xiao Keleng's palm, slowly traversing a distance of six meters, and landed in Gu Ye's hand.

"Gun, the most powerful weapon of mankind, look—" He clenched his fist, and when he opened it again, the powerful military pistol had turned into a crooked, playdoughy toy. This scene reminded me of the time outside the meditation hall when Xiao Lai was chasing an enemy who was lying in ambush and eavesdropping, and his submachine gun was twisted beyond recognition.

The Truth of the Sixth Tomb of the Gods

— Chapter 10 — The True Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain —

"All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin, which means they originated from your China. But I can bet that no Chinese person could master this kind of martial art. It combines the relics of nineteen eminent monks, integrates and disperses their thoughts and wisdom, and reassembles them into a completely new entity, surpassing the limit that top martial arts masters can only reach in 1,900 years—Feng, can you Chinese people reach this level?"

The gun in Gu Ye's hand suddenly sprang out. Without him making any movement, the pistol flew at a speed close to that of a bullet. I only sensed his movement from his eyes and quickly dodged to the left. The gun, carrying a suffocatingly hot shockwave, grazed past my side and struck the crystal window.

"Without a doubt, this strange substance can melt the steel on Earth, or assimilate it into its own body, just like throwing some loose pieces of iron into a huge furnace, where they immediately turn into molten iron and cease to exist—"

The oval stone chamber was filled with an eerie atmosphere, but there was nothing below Tanino's neck—it was completely bare. I knew I had fallen into a deeply hidden trap.

"Who exactly are you?" Xiao Ke asked through gritted teeth. She was already trembling with fear. In terms of martial arts, Gu Ye's move just now was far superior to theirs. In this mysterious underwater cave, no matter how you looked at it, we were doomed.

Gu Ye laughed loudly, "Who am I? That's actually a very funny question. Back when I led three thousand Kwantung Army soldiers to conquer Pyongyang and rampage through Changbai Mountain, none of you even existed. Whether you know my name or not is meaningless. In any case, after the Fang Demon matures, you will all become my killing puppets, without your own thoughts, so there's no need for you to know..."

I coldly cut off his laughter: "Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain."

The laughter stopped abruptly. Gu Ye raised his hand and slowly wiped his face. A thin, cicada-wing-like blue mask fell off, revealing a pale, swollen face.

"You are the real Fuujin Kazan, weaving so many lies just to lure us here? In fact, you can do anything with your abilities, why do you need our help?" With my accurate sixth sense, I called out his name as if clearing away the clouds, only to realize that all the strange things surrounding Fujika's awakening and death were actually him playing tricks behind the scenes. But I don't understand, what was his purpose in going through so many twists and turns to lure us deep into the water?

"Feng, I've always believed that your wisdom has completely surpassed the limits of humankind, hehehehe... So, I've decided—from the first time I met you in the Scalpel's villa—that I must seize your soul for my own use. In some aspects, the power of your thoughts alone even surpasses the effects of nineteen relics. I still don't understand where you come from? How did you accumulate such extraordinary mental power in just twenty years?"

He crossed his arms and stared intently at me, as if he already considered Xiao Keleng and me as his prey.

In this predicament, his physical strength had an absolute advantage, and Xiao Keleng and I had no chance to resist.

"You're the one trapped in the Serpent's Lair in the desert too?" I asked, slightly surprised. Xiao Yan groaned as she woke, rubbing the back of her head, and angrily cried out, "Blood! What the hell happened? Were we all ambushed by the Fang Demon?"

Suddenly, I understood everything: "Tani no Shinji is just one of your pupae, and you've completely controlled his soul, haven't you?"

Gu Ye nodded arrogantly: "Yes, you Chinese have a Chinese idiom called 'acting as a tiger's accomplice.' People who are controlled and driven by tigers are called 'accomplices,' who have no soul and only know how to obey their masters. You are the same; you will soon become my slaves and serve me with your specialties."

Xiao Yan couldn't help but curse, "Go to hell! I wouldn't even give a damn about working for you, let alone the President of the United States. Don't even dream about it!"

Gu Ye was not angry, otherwise he could have killed Xiao Yan with the force of a single finger.

"You had no choice but to spend your pupal maturation period imprisoned in this secret deep-sea cave—"

Xiao Yan suddenly reached for his pocket. I shouted to stop him, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him desperately into my arms. An invisible blast of cold air struck the spot where he had just been standing, sending sparks flying across the rock face. The gun was already in his hand, but before he could pull the trigger, the barrel bent upwards on its own, turning into a clumsy, useless toy.

"Xiao Yan, don't do anything reckless," I whispered to him.

If we remain patient, we can at least have thirty days to catch our breath and slowly devise a solution. Unnecessarily provoking the other side will only lead to our needless deaths.

“Wind, you are too clever for your own good. You are persevering, tenacious, and both wise and brave. I have already observed this when you were trapped at the bottom of the sea. Therefore, I will not give you enough time to use delaying tactics. I am sorry to take your soul now.”

Gu Ye pointed to the luminous pearl, a strange smile creeping across his pale face: "On land, I couldn't detect your thoughts at all. Now, this 'Primordial Spirit Annihilation Array' is prepared just for you. After the pearl's light flickers on and off, you will become the tusks of my Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain, and Mountain, serving my Great Japanese Empire for life, until your soul turns to ashes. Are you ready?"

The luminous pearl had a soft and constant glow, but unfortunately, when I first stepped in, I was too excited to realize the hidden danger lurking in this oval stone chamber.

Even the most skilled martial arts master can lose their composure when their emotions are running high. Ever since I discovered the "Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sparrow Killing Formation" beneath the Xunfuyuan Villa yesterday, my thoughts have been like a boiling pot of water, constantly churning and unable to find peace. Especially when Gu Ye used the power of the Fang Demon to first remove the teeth marks from Guan Baoling's neck, it was like giving me a sugar-coated poison pill—a reassurance that instantly eased my tension…

All of this only shows that we have been falling into the trap step by step under Gu Ye's manipulation and guidance. Now, the trap has tightened, and no one can escape.

Do I still have a chance to fight back? No one will sit idly by and wait to die, including me.

"No. Wind, can you feel it? I have prepared to attack you countless times, but I have always stopped halfway. His Majesty the Emperor has repeatedly taught us that we should plan carefully before acting, and never act rashly without being absolutely certain." When he uttered the name "Emperor," his arms immediately fell respectfully to his sides, his attitude extremely humble and solemn.

Xiao Yan scoffed coldly: "Hmm, the old Emperor has truly mastered the essence of our Chinese ancestors' teachings!"

I sighed and patted his shoulder: "Xiao Yan, at this point, it's no use in being eloquent." He was young and impetuous, and hadn't yet realized how tragic our future would be.

He pulled out the submarine remote control from his pocket, rolled his eyes at me, and said, "So, what about this remote control? In the end, it will still belong to someone else. Why not just smash it now!" Before he finished speaking, he had already hurled the remote control toward the top of the cave. This was a technique of throwing a boomerang, which is the most proficient technique of Chinese hidden weapon masters. The remote control seemed to be heading toward the top of the cave, but it drew a fast and rapid arc, bypassed Gu Ye's head, and shot toward the tunnel.

With a whoosh, Xiao Ke flew out close to the ground, using the "Golden Thread Wrist Binding Hand" technique to instantly lock Gu Ye's legs in place.

She and Xiaoyan had been siblings for so many years that she could understand every word and action of Xiaoyan.

The remote control flew out, Xiao Keleng made a move, and my body flew out like a waterfall cascading down a mountain or a galloping horse, sweeping across the valley and rushing into the tunnel. With a swift movement of my left arm, I grabbed the remote control.

I knew Gu Ye's martial arts skills well, so as I ran, the tactical knife that had sprung from my right wrist flew out without looking back. Only by escaping could we gather more men to rescue them, and their desperate attack showed their belief in me that we could gain this one-tenth of a second of advantage and get back to the submarine before Gu Ye.

"Okay." I only heard Gu Ye utter one word before a wisp of smoke appeared before my eyes, and my body was involuntarily thrown back, crashing into the crystal window.

As if time had turned back, once I had stabilized my stance, Xiao Yan and Xiao Keleng returned to their original standing positions, and the remote control fell back into Xiao Yan's palm.

"Xiao Yan, with a hacker like you who is the world's number one, the funds that can be raised are endless. Why should I still covet the 1.5 billion US dollars that the tycoon throws out? Therefore, you are very worthy of my attention. You'd better obediently hand over all the wisdom stored in your mind, how about it?"

Tanino remained standing firmly in the center of the oval stone chamber, arms crossed. How he managed to repel all three of us at the same time was beyond comprehension.

Xiao Yan chuckled maliciously: "Fine, do you know that all highly classified computers have a data self-destruct function? Do you want me to demonstrate it to you? Give me my wisdom? Go to hell, you demon from the Azure Dragon Society!" Plundering others' thoughts to strengthen themselves is the unique and despicable behavior of the "Reborn Ones" branch of the Azure Dragon Society.

Gu Ye shook his head dismissively: "What do you know? How could a child like you possibly understand the vast and boundless spirit of our Azure Dragon Society? Feng, only a one-in-a-million expert like you is truly the target for the Azure Dragon Society's development. But this time, I really have to apologize. Only by pooling the wisdom of all humanity can we build the future of the Azure Dragon Society..."

A beam of red light slowly shone from the crystal window, illuminating Gu Ye and casting a crimson glow on his eerie face. He raised a hand and gently tapped his forehead: "Farewell, Wind. When your thoughts enter me, you will become a part of me. What only you could do before, I can do too—"

Two strange red flames flickered in his eyes, and they seemed to be growing stronger.

Suddenly, a red silhouette appeared on the opposite stone wall. It was a bald monk who was curled up with his hands clasped in front of his chest. In just a few seconds, his body gradually stretched out and became a giant with a height of more than two meters, and his head was raised angrily.

Tanino and the female ninja had their backs to the shadow and were completely unaware of it.

In a one-on-one close-quarters fight, I would never be his match, but I have to fight to the bitter end. Otherwise, becoming a sycophant and "aiding the tyrant" would be even more cruel and absurd. In the martial world, death is not scary; what is scary is living a life worse than death.

I took a big step forward, adjusted my breathing, and focused all my attention on the flaws revealed in Gu Ye's martial arts. His frontal attacks were almost flawless; his previous moves were all incredibly fast. Even if there were any tiny openings, I wouldn't have enough time to launch an attack.

"Wind, I yearn for your thoughts. Come, be reborn forever within my body—" Gu Ye stretched out his arms, laughing maniacally.

I took another step forward, instantly bridging the five-meter gap, unleashing all the martial arts I had ever used. I could no longer calculate the number of attacks or their speed; the only thought in my mind was: "You die, or I die!"

In this life-or-death struggle, one move or ten thousand moves have the same meaning; only one of the two can survive, so they have no choice but to fight on with all their might.

"Alright, alright." Tanino's ferocious face suddenly drew closer.