King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 211

It is true that the "Soul Searching Technique" is an evil martial art created by the Secret Demon Cliff. Its function is similar to laser scanning, which can read the most dynamic information in the human brain, but at the same time it will cause immeasurable damage to the human brain system.

The man scoffed disdainfully, "You... young people, I'm just ensuring everyone's safety. On such a long adventure, nobody wants a time bomb planted next to them, right? Even if you're foolish enough to go and die, I still have to guarantee the safety of everyone else—"

His gaze returned to calm, and in that instant, I realized his identity: "Uncle Wei?"

The man was startled, then burst into laughter: "Very good, a promising young man, a promising young man!"

This kind of leaping and agile imagination is probably unique to me; it allows me to pinpoint the closest clue to the correct answer within a fraction of a second of a myriad of threads. Anyone whom Gu Qingcheng fully trusts must be a highly skilled senior expert, and certainly not someone with too much of a reputation in the martial arts world, otherwise it would contradict Gu Qingcheng's low-key nature.

“The main force is only five kilometers away from here, they’ll be there in no time, so I came ahead to scout ahead. The poisonous fog has been blown away by the wind, so perhaps it’s time for us to set off.”

Uncle Wei's voice carried an undeniable authority, but I couldn't guess his background.

Back at camp, within ten minutes, a very long convoy appeared to the north, consisting of ten American-style mountain mini jeeps. Although deliberately camouflaged, I immediately recognized them as vehicles specifically developed by the US military for counter-terrorism in Afghanistan. They featured reinforced off-road tires, winch self-rescue equipment, and concealed steel plate shields. Their biggest advantage was their long and narrow layout, with the widest part only one and a half meters, allowing them to pass through most mountain passes.

I seriously doubt how Gu Qingcheng managed to transport these vehicles out of the mountains; her abilities far exceed my expectations.

Uncle Wei stood beside me, smiling with narrowed eyes: "Miss is incredibly resourceful; there's probably nothing she can't handle. Young man, you're truly blessed to have met a girl like her. Cherish her!"

I understood his underlying meaning, but I just smiled calmly and waved to Gu Qingcheng, who was sitting in the first car. She gave the driver a few instructions, jumped out of the car, and walked towards me.

The convoy passed the camp and headed straight for the tunnel. I roughly counted that her group consisted of about thirty people, and the vehicles were loaded with a large amount of camping, power generation, and drilling equipment, indicating that they were extremely well-prepared.

"...Feng, it's been a long time. How are you?" She was wearing a moon-white tight-fitting sportswear outfit, her long hair tied back with a black headband and hanging down her back. A pair of small sunglasses perched on her nose, exuding a free and easy but not arrogant air.

In Hokkaido, I was the host, and she was the guest; now, however, the roles are reversed. I am in a predicament and at a disadvantage, while she came prepared and has become a support I must rely on. Life is unpredictable, both laughable and lamentable.

When she spoke, her white teeth reflected the bright sunlight, dazzlingly beautiful.

I went up to her and took her outstretched hand, realizing with a keen sense that Feiyue was scrutinizing us both with an extremely strange look in her eyes.

"Thank goodness, thank you for coming in time." It's not appropriate to reminisce in front of everyone.

Her eyes held a look of surprise at the sight of her, but I tried my best to avoid it. I let go of her hand and immediately gave her a brief explanation of what had happened the night before.

"Uncle Wei, what do you think?" After listening, she asked Uncle Wei's opinion without hesitation, clearly showing that she trusted him completely.

"I'll arrange for everyone to bury the bodies, set up tents, and then start the generator and head straight for the tunnel. Before dark, I'll survey the cave and draw up a detailed map for Miss to decide." Uncle Wei's attitude towards Gu Qingcheng was respectful, no less than that of a servant in an official's household facing his master, which puzzled me greatly.

Gu Qingcheng nodded: "Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Wei."

Her attitude remained consistently neither humble nor arrogant, and her manner of advancing and retreating was so dignified that Fei Ying, Fei Yue, and Liang Wei were all silenced.

Uncle Wei boarded the nearest jeep and quickly drove forward.

When I introduced Gu Qingcheng to everyone, I only said that she was "the younger sister of Mr. Gu Zhijin, a famous antique dealer in Hong Kong." It seems that Gu Zhijin is slightly more famous, and everyone has heard of him.

Flying Eagle was captivated by Gu Qingcheng, his eyes fixed on her, and he couldn't help but lose his composure.

Gu Qingcheng's appearance may not be stunning, but her noble temperament and elegant demeanor are unmatched. In the past, martial arts figures like Fei Ying had no chance to come into contact with this type of girl.

"Feng, may I tell you again about hearing the sigh?" Her delicate fragrance enveloped me, omnipresent.

“Miss Gu, perhaps I can offer some information. Those involved are often blinded, while bystanders see things clearly. At the time, only I could see Feng’s behavior most clearly.” Flying Eagle eagerly took over the conversation, which made Fei Yue and I frown at the same time.

“Please speak, we can talk as we walk.” Gu Qingcheng led the way forward, and Feiying followed closely behind.

The arrival of reinforcements rekindled hope for the expedition, and Tang Xiaogu became excited, skipping and jumping with Liang Wei's hand, having already forgotten the violent conflict that had just occurred. She really was just a child, completely unconcerned about Liang Wei's threat to draw his gun. The two, one tall and one short, held hands and walked forward together like good friends.

After a good night's sleep, Xiao Guan was in good spirits and followed closely behind Liang Wei with Li Kang.

Feiyue and I were at the back, and only she seemed a little downcast.

“Mr. Feng, Miss Gu has brought so many people here. Shouldn’t my brother and I retreat? Anyway, all our brothers have been wiped out. Staying here will only make us a laughingstock.” She was unhappy with Flying Eagle’s prioritization of women over his friends, but she had no reason to object.

A beautiful and graceful lady is the object of every gentleman's affections. A girl as outstanding as Gu Qingcheng should be surrounded by admirers wherever she goes. If she were in a metropolis teeming with handsome men and beautiful women, suitors would be lining up to knock her door, rather than just Fei Ying being the only one who suddenly fell for her.

I stared at Xiao Guan's back, my mind picturing the possible scenes that might occur during each massacre: the black-clad woman who appeared like the Grim Reaper, the Dragon Witch, the old woman in the stone house by the stream, those ferocious crawling poisonous insects... The most appropriate way to retaliate was to maintain high-density vigilance around the clock, and to shoot any unidentified individuals immediately upon discovery, so that the massacre would never be allowed to repeat itself.

"Mr. Feng, are you listening?" Fei Yue began to get angry.

Part 3: The Square-Eyed Monster

— Chapter 3 — The Significance of the Complex Arrangement of Stone Pillars —

"I'm listening, but so many people have died, we have to avenge them ourselves, right? Reinforcements are reinforcements, but avenging our fallen brothers is our own business, and no one can do it for us, can they?" I understood her feelings. A girl with budding romantic feelings always seeks attention and favor from others. If she is neglected, she gets angry and will throw a tantrum.

"So what if we can't get through the tunnel? Are we just going to stay here forever and waste our lives?"

I replied calmly, "It will definitely pass, as long as you put your heart into it."

Feiyue is too young and too impatient; in this respect alone, she is far inferior.

Flying Eagle's knowledge of the events was limited; even with repeated embellishments, he only knew the facts, not the reasons behind them. Twenty minutes later, Gu Qingcheng began to frown, clearly her patience had reached its limit. What she needed was a fair and accurate account of the information, not an embellished, legendary tale.

"Feng, I have something to ask you." She stopped and politely stepped back, keeping a distance from the eagle.

Her skin was even whiter and smoother than when we met in Hokkaido, especially when she was deep in thought, her face was as beautiful as a finely crafted jade sculpture, making one want to reach out and touch it.

Flying Eagle is a worldly man, and the ancient city of Xi'an is a place where beautiful women gather. If Gu Qingcheng's temperament hadn't been so outstanding, he wouldn't have fallen in love at first sight.

I approached Gu Qingcheng and smiled modestly, "Miss Gu, you're too kind. Please speak."

Gu Qingcheng smiled and fluently uttered a long string of English: "Tell me your opinion on Miss Suren. If she were on the other side of the tunnel, what would her state be like? Would she be trapped by people, gods, ghosts, poisonous snakes, or traps? We must have enough imagination to break through the constraints that our predecessors could not overcome and get through the tunnel."

Speaking in English in front of Chinese people at least indicates that she doesn't want others to participate in the conversation at the moment. It's not that we should underestimate the intelligence of people like Fei Ying; most of the time, we have to admit that people's imaginations vary in degree, and talking to them not only fails to provide lessons but also leads us further astray.

I replied in English as well: "Her existence is free—based on my sixth sense, without any factual basis. According to our investigation, her footprints disappeared after passing the stone wall and have never reappeared. If I hadn't happened to hear her sigh, she might have given up."

She raised an eyebrow in amazement: "A magical sixth sense? Or perhaps a telepathic connection?"

Even when discussing such complex issues, she couldn't resist teasing me.

I readily admit: "It's a combination of both. We've been through thick and thin together in the desert, and we know each other well."

"Oh? Where's Guan Baoling? I always felt that you two were a match made in heaven." She pressed on relentlessly, as if she wouldn't give up until she had thoroughly explored my inner world.

I immediately shook my head: "These questions are personal and have nothing to do with exploring the tunnel. I don't want to answer them."

The reason I refused to discuss it was that I wanted to keep myself out of the picture and avoid causing any unnecessary trouble.

Gu Qingcheng smiled silently, her eyes sparkling with a profound meaning.

When they arrived at the tunnel, Uncle Wei's men had already set up the tents, nearly forty tents arranged in two concentric rings. In the open space between the two rings, the field jeeps were parked.

Another team was busy pulling cables toward the tunnel entrance.

“We brought enough power generation equipment and communication systems with us—Feng, I feel you seem much more depressed compared to when we were in Hokkaido. Actually, there’s no need to worry too much. Good people are always protected by heaven. Suren will be fine. You also need to take care of yourself,” Gu Qingcheng comforted me softly.

I am aware of my own changes, but not because I miss Su Lun. My elder brother, Yang Tian, wanted to enter the Epang Palace, but now his whereabouts are unknown. Will he suffer the same fate as Su Lun? Missing, trapped, his life or death uncertain, his whereabouts unknown—I feel the burden on my shoulders growing heavier and heavier, pressing down on me, making it impossible for me to laugh out loud or rely on others as I used to.

On my journey to find Suren and my elder brother, I have no way out. No matter how many setbacks and obstacles I encounter, I can only bear them silently; no one else can share my burden.

Lighting equipment was indeed needed on site, and I admired Gu Qingcheng's meticulousness, but then another question came to mind: "Ms. Gu, how did you manage to transport so much unconventional equipment out of the mountains and successfully obtain government permission?"

China is a harmonious society with strict laws. Any action that might endanger people's lives will be tracked and controlled by the police, and if necessary, all equipment will be confiscated. What she solved was precisely the most needed part of the expedition.

“We had a special military order to explore the mysterious events on the Sichuan-Tibet border. We were free to use these devices, but the only condition was that we could not harm any Chinese citizens and could not take away a single flower, blade of grass, or needle or thread belonging to the country. That’s how I was able to lead the convoy and drive straight in.” She recounted the story casually, as if it were all trivial matters.

The generator roared to life, and Uncle Wei's men split into four squads, armed with guns, grenades, flamethrowers, gas masks, and bulletproof vests, before quickly entering the tunnel. The person at the front carried a searchlight, its beam piercing the darkness of the cave.

Liang Wei asked me, "Feng, I'd like to go in with the team; it should be able to help everyone."

Gu Qingcheng and I waved at the same time: "Okay, be careful."

Liang Wei sprinted towards the cave entrance and quickly joined the group.

I pointed to the cave entrance: "Miss Gu, I know the arrangement of the stone pillars in the tunnel can easily lead to getting lost. Therefore, in the first round of exploration, as long as we find the pattern in the arrangement of the pillars, we'll be much more efficient and able to reach our goal more easily. We should also carefully study the connection between those two ancient zithers and the tunnel—"

She's an expert on the guqin (a seven-stringed zither), so she should be able to discover more things from those stone carvings that are incomprehensible to ordinary people. The difference between a master and a mediocre player lies in their ability to find the key to change in an event in the shortest amount of time, thereby minimizing the chances of taking detours.

After leaving Fei Ying and the others, Gu Qingcheng frowned immediately and told me thoughtfully, "There's something I haven't had a chance to tell you in detail yet, it's about the function of those sixteen ancient zithers—"

Her serious expression surprised me slightly. We had already entered the shadow of the cliff, and suddenly felt the chill of the mountain wind.

“I’ve researched all the ancient zither records from before the Han and Tang dynasties. I learned that after the King of Chu made these zithers, when they were played simultaneously, they could produce a magical sound that ‘reached the ears of the heavens.’ When they were first completed, they were performed at the ‘Kuai Zai Terrace,’ and an immortal descended under the moonlight and presented the King of Chu with something…” She paused, pondered for a moment, and then continued, “What was it? The wind. If you didn’t see the picture in the appendix, no one would guess what it was—a white sword that could be long or short. When it was long, it could shoot straight into the sky; when it was short, it could retract into the hilt. Even in the darkest night, when the sword was drawn, its light immediately illuminated the world, exceeding the light emitted by a thousand luminous pearls at the same time.”

"I already guessed it," I smiled.

Gu Qingcheng sighed, "I know that your way of thinking is too abrupt and unpredictable. What takes others an hour to think about, you only need a second to solve."

I took out the flashlight from my pocket, smiled, and pressed the switch. A beam of light shot out and landed on the rocks beside the tunnel.

Undoubtedly, the recorder meant this: as early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, someone presented a flashlight to the King of Chu. The giver was no ordinary person, but a celestial being descended from heaven, arriving under the moonlight.

Equally miraculous records are intermittently mentioned in the "In Search of the Supernatural" (搜神记). Most researchers attribute these phenomena to extraterrestrials, or to a 20th-century person who broke through time and space, suddenly falling into the Spring and Autumn Period, giving the most ordinary things of that era to the ignorant ancients, and then being revered as a great immortal, enjoying wealth and honor.

"Can the guqin summon celestial beings?" This is the essence of the question—King Chu and the goddess of Wushan spent a passionate night together, and naturally he could not let go willingly, so he went back to make the guqin, hoping to summon the goddess at any time.

The above explanation is barely acceptable. I don't know Gu Qingcheng's opinion, and I wonder if she has her own unique insights.

She was shorter than me and could only reach the stone carving by raising her arm as high as she could.

"Summoning the gods? Where is the guqin? Why is 'Jujiu' carved here instead of another guqin...?" Questions came one after another. When I stood at the entrance of the tunnel and looked inside, the beam of the searchlight covered an extremely wide area, and all the stone pillars were clearly visible.

I heard people talking in hushed tones in Nepali. Looking back at the convoy as it passed, I saw that all the passengers were dark-skinned and short, with distinctive Nepalese features, very similar to Liang Wei. Suddenly, I understood why Liang Wei had joined the search party. He shared similarities with these people, and his entire family had sought refuge in Nepal. He and they were, in a sense, "one of our own."

Gu Qingcheng stroked the two stone-carved ancient zithers for a full ten minutes. When she lowered her arms, she couldn't help but frown and swing her hands back and forth, presumably because they were already sore and numb.

"You employ only Nepalese people?" I asked curiously.

"These matters were handled entirely by Uncle Wei. What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Her brows remained furrowed. After glancing at me, she continued to stare upwards at the stone carvings.

"The Nepalese are fierce and cunning, and I'm afraid they won't be easy to manage." I cautiously expressed my opinion, always maintaining a high level of vigilance towards the unassuming "Uncle Wei."

"When we obtained the special permission from the military, one of their conditions was that no Chinese citizens could be killed or injured. Therefore, Uncle Wei had no choice but to comply. But don't worry, Uncle Wei will handle everything. Now, our key issue is to discuss the date the inscription on the guqin was made—"

She took out a notebook and pencil from her pocket, drew the shape and size of the guqin, its location and angle on the stone wall, and then wrote the four characters "Date of Formation" followed by a heavy question mark.

I gazed up at the impossibly high cliffs, where the stone carvings, hidden in shadow, were protected from direct sunlight and acid rain. The weathering of the rocks was so slow, almost negligible. Otherwise, the patterns on the guqin would have long since vanished.

In my judgment, this smooth and straight carving technique belongs to the era before the emergence of Han Dynasty clerical script. The craftsmen followed the carving method of seal script. Regardless of hooks, dots, strokes, or turns, they all have smooth transitions and the lines are of uniform thickness. They look upright and peaceful, but without any individuality.

Before the Han Dynasty, there was the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, when various feudal lords rose up, which is quite consistent with the origin of the guqin.

If a sample could be chiseled out and sent to a professional geological laboratory, the exact age of the stone carving could be determined. However, there is no need for that, because there is a huge contradiction here. The stone pillar is made with very sophisticated techniques. Even with modern planers and milling machines, it is not certain that such a perfectly round and symmetrical object could be made, let alone in ancient times when technology was limited.

To put it another way, the stone carvings are ancient, while the stone pillars are from a more recent period. Although they are placed together, they are not products of the same era.

A normal line of thinking would lean towards the latter, but I disagree with this obvious conclusion. The purpose of those stone pillars is paramount; they were certainly not merely used as supports for the cave ceiling, but served a specific function.

“Feng, I think I’ve found a little clue to prove the significance of those stone pillars, but I need information on all the pillars to make a further determination.” Gu Qingcheng’s brows finally relaxed.

I was standing right in the middle of the tunnel entrance, with a constant southerly wind blowing in from inside, making my clothes flutter wildly. The presence of wind at least proved that there was an exit at the other end of the tunnel, and that it wasn't completely sealed off. In that instant, I felt as if my mind had been enlightened, and everything became clear.

"Would you like to go into the cave and take a look?" Gu Qingcheng asked kindly.

I shook my head: "No, I want to go to the tent and take a nap. Only when I'm full of energy can I unleash my full imagination."