King of Tomb Raiders

Chapter 220

"Remember my words: the fear lurking in the darkness can become reality in an instant. Whoever you are, if you can see Yang Tian, tell him that the truth is not as simple as he imagines, and that no one can save the Earth in times of crisis. Being shattered to pieces is not scary; what is scary is the unimaginable mutation of life... You will definitely see him, you definitely will..."

I listened intently to every word she spoke, just as I had when I first met He Jishang and heard news about my elder brother. The shock I felt was unparalleled: "Who exactly is this woman? What does the fear in the darkness and the mutation of life refer to..."

She turned around abruptly, and I instinctively took a big step forward: "Hey, wait a minute, where's Yang Tian? Where is he?"

Judging from her tone, she seemed to be very familiar with her older brother, or at least they had something going on between them.

"I don't know, I don't—don't turn on the light!"

With a "thud," the glass dome on the flashlight was hit, scattering shards everywhere. But in an instant, my finger activated the laser sight, and a small red dot landed behind her head. At the same time, I leaped to the side and fired a burst of bullets, sweeping them in a fan shape towards her, attempting to stop her.

With the faint light of the laser beam, I saw a golden band wrapped around the back of her head, used to fasten the mask.

After the second roll, I was almost at the cave entrance. It was a pity that Uncle Wei and the others arrived too slowly, otherwise I could have quickly jumped into the cave and blocked her way.

I saw the phantom again; her movements as she retrieved the bullets were unbelievably bizarre, and nine submachine gun bullets clattered to the ground. Compared to her movements, the initial velocity of the bullets after leaving the muzzle seemed as slow as an ox pulling a broken cart. If we consider the initial velocity of military weapons to be 600 meters per second, the speed of her grabbing them was at least ten times that of the bullets.

This is absolutely impossible according to Earthling physics theories, just like her teleportation.

“It’s no use. These weapons are a hundred centuries behind them.” She sighed softly, coldly and sadly.

"Them? Who are they?" I slowly got up, realizing that she meant me no harm. Otherwise, if I retaliated, neither guns nor martial arts would be of any use.

Her words can probably be interpreted as—somewhere, there is a group of equally unfathomable people who can regard Earthlings' guns as scrap metal, just like her or even far surpass her.

She shook her head, and I pressed on, "Where is Yang Tian? Just tell me the exact location, and I'll definitely pass the message on..."

These conversations were utterly pale and weak; the initial shock at seeing the strange stone pillars in the tunnel had become insignificant compared to the sudden appearance of the mysterious woman.

“He’s somewhere… somewhere in the gaps between different times, you will definitely see him. Remember what I said, stop him from coming back a second time, you must stop him…” Her voice was filled with great uncertainty, perhaps because she was deep in thought, and she was completely unaware of my other little movement.

My left hand reached into my pocket and quietly grasped a bunch of glow sticks, which I had snatched from the sentry's ammunition belt the instant I got the submachine gun.

This woman is afraid of light and can instantly destroy any lighting equipment. If I break the glow sticks and scatter them like petals, the chances of her intercepting them will be greatly reduced. I just want to see her mask clearly. Even if I can't stop her, I at least need to get some clues to investigate.

"Time-lapse seams" is a vague term proposed by aerospace physicists, often associated with "speed of light, faster-than-light, and anti-light speed".

This term can be roughly explained as follows: when an object moves faster than the speed of light, its trajectory is not a fixed two-dimensional plane, but a three-dimensional or even multi-dimensional process. Therefore, when changing direction, it inevitably brings about pauses, turns, accelerations, free falls, and other actions that would occur in the normal world. This is no longer a simple concept of "motion and stillness." The hundreds of millions or even endless branches of trajectory generated will make it impossible for two objects to have their trajectories coincide.

When an object is in a state of relative stillness with respect to the external world, we can say that it has fallen into a "time-lapsed seam." Scientists have also proposed that in this ultra-high-speed, multi-dimensional space, "moving forward" is absolute, while "moving backward" or "returning" becomes an unattainable state.

It was a world with only a beginning and no end.

This supernatural physical concept should have come from the mouth of a highly skilled scientist, but now it's coming from the mouth of this mysterious woman deep in the mountains and forests on the border of Sichuan and Tibet, which makes me frown again.

"Who exactly are you? You are—the Dragon Witch!" I called out her name again, guided by my intuition.

The Longge Witch is the mountain ruler in the eyes of the indigenous people. Two tigers cannot share one mountain; under her powerful rule, it's impossible for another such enigmatic and powerful figure to exist. Therefore, I made this judgment.

In the absence of a proper coping strategy, following your intuition is the wisest choice.

"You'll never know who I am. Nobody knows... I myself don't know who I am now, or what I really am..."

The sound of the jeep's engine drew closer, and the beam of light swayed back and forth. In a few more minutes, it would reach the tunnel entrance.

"Remember what I said, retreat immediately, or you will only face more brutal slaughter." She raised her sleeve, half-covering her mask.

"Witch Longge, I only want to save Suren. You must know her whereabouts. Please tell me, I beg you—" Suren is the focus of all the conflicts. If I don't save her, I will never listen to anyone's advice and retreat.

"Her? She's doing well now, but whether she'll stay this way in the future depends on their wishes." Her words were always evasive, and this was the second time she had mentioned "them," or perhaps "them"?

I breathed a sigh of relief, and my heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was finally at ease. At least Suren was still alive.

"Who are they? The strange people inside the golden egg?" My thoughts raced, trying to piece together every clue related to the "ladder to heaven," regardless of how absurd they might be. In my approach to problems, I first resolve the main contradiction and complete the most important task; other inexplicable or unreliable details can be left to be unraveled later.

The jeep at the front suddenly turned on a row of powerful searchlights on its roof, eight snow-white beams of light shining straight down.

I was almost able to see the mask on her face, but then, in a flash, she retreated into the depths of the tunnel, faster than the beam of light, and vanished without a trace.

The arrival of reinforcements had the opposite effect.

With a snap, I broke the glow stick in two, channeling my inner strength into my right wrist, and flung it forward. Although it was just a very light object, it flew more than ten steps, its eerie green light illuminating everything near the cave entrance.

At the same moment, I leaped inside, unwilling to give up the only clue in front of me. If I could stop the strange man, I could find out news about Suren or my older brother and find a truly useful clue amidst the thick fog.

The moment I stepped into the tunnel, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. A chill ran through me, and I immediately held my submachine gun level with both hands, assuming a defensive posture that allowed me to fire at any time while running.

The green light from the glow sticks painted the cave walls with an extremely eerie color. A gust of north wind blew fiercely from behind me, with tremendous force, as if a monstrous demon was lurking in front of me, about to swallow me whole.

From the moment I took off chasing her to the sudden halt, only about ten seconds had passed. I was already thirty meters deep into the tunnel, roughly at the very edge of the area illuminated by my glow stick. Ahead lay endless darkness, without a trace of the woman, only the howling north wind raging fiercely.

Part Four: Star Array, Chapter Two: Azure Magma

I know that the reason such a smooth airflow can be formed is because there must be a natural exit somewhere ahead, and this exploration is on the right track. Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, we must get through this strange tunnel.

The sounds of screeching brakes, Uncle Wei's shouts, the loading of guns, and thumping footsteps all appeared at the entrance at the same time. Immediately afterwards, a row of snow-white beams of light shone straight over, obscuring the faint glow of the fluorescent sticks.

At that moment, I seemed to become the center of attention on the stage, standing alone, a great distance away from the mercenaries with submachine guns at the entrance.

"Clatter, clatter," that was the sound of the reinforced bullet belt of a heavy machine gun being rapidly tightened.

I was right; the American-made Hurricane machine gun, which had once struck fear into the hearts of the Iraqi Republican Guard, was hidden in a concealed compartment in the jeep. A single Hurricane machine gun was enough to serve as an impregnable fortress, but I could imagine that almost every jeep was equipped with a similar weapon.

The team led by Uncle Wei was not on a simple peaceful expedition; it was more like a peacekeeping force from a certain country heading to the Iraqi battlefield, equipped with extremely sophisticated weaponry.

"Don't come any closer—" I gathered my inner energy and calmly called out, suppressing all the noise.

With a flash, Uncle Wei nimbly appeared in the beam of light. Behind him, a team member kneeling with a light assault rifle in his arms appeared, the rifle held horizontally, the scope reflecting a cold, bluish light.

Faced with supernatural power, all firepower and manpower support were useless. All they could do was watch me stand there, holding my submachine gun level.

"How...could this be?" Uncle Wei let out a hoarse, strange cry. Given his experience in the martial world, it was extremely rare for him to be this surprised, while the others were just going through the motions like they were sleepwalking, all eyes fixed on me.

It all stemmed from an extremely bizarre event that occurred in the tunnel—the stone pillars disappeared.

It was precisely when I realized this that I suddenly stopped.

The ground was flat, rocky terrain, reflecting a faint bluish light under the beams of light. There were no pits, no dark caves, not even any circular marks. Just a few hours ago, when Uncle Wei and his group retreated from the tunnel, this place was filled with towering, thick stone pillars, but now, all of them had vanished.

Using the searchlight, I peered into the depths of the tunnel, which was incredibly vast and mysterious. I figured that if I kept going forward, I would eventually reach the pentagonal space that Uncle Wei and his group had explored. With the stone pillars no longer obstructing the view, I was confident that I could quickly find the correct passage and reach the end of the tunnel.

"Uncle Wei, everyone stay here. I'll continue forward. If anything unexpected happens, everyone should quickly evacuate the mountains to avoid further casualties." I remained calm. If that woman wanted to harm me, she could have done so in the tent; there was no need to move to the tunnel.

Uncle Wei snapped on his flashlight and shone it on the cave ceiling. The ceiling was completely smooth, without a trace of the stone pillars that had once stood there. There was a way to make those stone pillars disappear instantly, but that would require David Copperfield's incredible magic.

His voice began to tremble: "Mr. Feng, you said... where did the stone pillar go?"

I slowly shook my head and began checking the bullets in the submachine gun.

The only plausible explanation is that they retracted into the cave ceiling or underground, like a magician swallowing a sword, only to have the blade retract into the hilt. However, completely restoring the ground to its original state is impossible; the weight of such massive stone pillars would be staggering, and the combined weight of hundreds of them would be astronomical. The power system required to move these pillars would be incredible…

There is no answer, but perhaps the answer lies at the end?

“Uncle Wei, I just tracked down a mysterious woman wearing a strange golden mask, and she seemed very afraid of bright light. I think she is the Longge witch that the mountain people are talking about. Please give me a flashlight, bullets, glow sticks, a walkie-talkie, and a compass. Everyone just wait here for my good news.”

I tugged at the corners of my mouth and gave a faint smile, hoping to soothe everyone's emotions.

Uncle Wei hesitated, unable to make a decision, but the people around him had already quickly packed the five items I needed into a gray backpack and were asking for his opinion with their eyes.

“Mr. Feng, if these stone pillars can extend and retract at will, wouldn’t all the marks we made on them be useless? Why don’t we take this opportunity to charge in and find the tunnel exit in one go? What do you think?” His idea was not unreasonable, but the five or six people closest to him instantly showed expressions of fear and involuntarily retreated quietly.

These people came for money, but when faced with the choice between saving their lives and making money, they chose the former without hesitation.

Given the width of the tunnel opening, a Jeep could easily drive in and would be the best mode of transportation, but I don't want to cause any unnecessary sacrifices.

That woman's hidden weapons were incredibly accurate and ruthless; she showed no intention of leaving anyone alive. It's best not to provoke her.

I shook my head, rejecting Uncle Wei's idea: "No need, I'll walk a bit further ahead and take a look. We have plenty of time."

Uncle Wei lowered his head and pondered for half a minute, then nodded helplessly: "Alright, let me know immediately if anything goes wrong."

He waved, and the person carrying the backpack strode towards me.

We have all overlooked one point: stone pillars can disappear, but they can also reappear, just like the "plum blossom stakes" in Shaolin martial arts.

"Mr. Feng, please wait a moment, I have something to say—" Gu Qingcheng's voice rang out, and at the same time, her body swayed and she appeared in the pillar of light, standing right next to Uncle Wei. She was wearing that black leather trench coat, but the buttons and belt were undone, obviously she had gotten up in a hurry, and was far behind the first batch of reinforcements.

Closely following her was Fei Yue, whose hair was also disheveled, and who was holding two powerful military pistols in her hands.

“Mr. Feng, it’s dangerous ahead. Why don’t we retreat first and discuss this further?” Gu Qingcheng’s face was full of sincere concern, which warmed my heart.

If I really wanted to retreat, I would have jumped out long ago, without waiting for the large group of people to arrive.

Undoubtedly, the disappearance and reappearance of the stone pillars were controlled by some kind of mechanism.

Among the martial arts masters throughout Chinese history, there are at least a dozen schools that are proficient in setting up traps and ambushes. These include the powerful "Miaoshou Banmen," the "Gongsuntang" which pursues agility and unpredictability, the "Nine-Finger Flash School" from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and even the "Fusang Oni-ryu" among Japanese ninjas. However, the common feature of these schools is that they rely on powerful spring mechanisms to set up ambushes and rarely use brute force.

With their technology, it would be virtually impossible to move so many stone pillars.

I smiled at Gu Qingcheng: "It's alright. As long as the other party is human, everything can be resolved."

In my mind, I never bow down to any man-made force, not even when facing the overwhelming onslaught of the illusionary demon's shadow inside the Earth Crack Pyramid, I was never discouraged.

Gu Qingcheng called out, "Here, take this—" and tossed the binoculars she carried with her to me.

The telescope felt heavy, carrying the warmth of her palm.

In such a setting, there's no room for whispered romantic conversations; everyone's task is to contribute their share to unraveling the mystery of the strange tunnel. Her action perfectly demonstrates her wisdom in understanding the bigger picture and knowing when to advance and retreat.

From the first moment I saw her, I knew she was no ordinary girl.

"Be extra careful." Without any unnecessary words, she gestured to Uncle Wei.

Uncle Wei immediately shouted, "Snipers, prepare! If anyone appears who could endanger Mr. Feng, kill them without mercy!"

The angle of the searchlights was immediately adjusted slightly. I knew that a sniper must have been lying behind each light, ready to fire at any target within the range of the light poles.

I raised my binoculars and quickly scanned the depths of the tunnel, confirming that the stone pillars had vanished without a trace within my field of vision. I couldn't help but exclaim, "Uncle Wei, with your seasoned eye, can you determine whose method these stone pillar mechanisms were?"

Uncle Wei frowned, shaking his head with a wry smile: "Mr. Feng, you don't even know, why ask this old man? You're really... too modest..."

A man like him would never easily admit his ignorance to his subordinates, and this situation was completely unexpected for him, so he must have been quite alarmed. Once again, I became the focus of attention, forced by circumstances.

I took the backpack, and the team member who handed it to me quickly backed away, his face filled with barely concealed panic.

What lies ahead? What does the Witch Longge know? What does the "they" she speaks of refer to? Could some strange race be hiding in this cave? It's certain that my brother was here before and knew her. So where did he go after leaving? Will he ever return...?

I took a deep breath and prepared to turn around and head into the cave.

Suddenly, a muffled shriek broke the silence. "Whoosh—" Someone pulled the trigger, and the sound of the armor-piercing steel-core bullet piercing the air created a terrifying echo that lingered in the tunnel for a long time.

After three gunshots rang out in succession, I felt the air in the cave being violently shaken, and my nose was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke.

My first reaction was to leap towards the side wall of the tunnel to avoid being hit by stray bullets, while simultaneously raising my binoculars and peering into the depths of the tunnel. A skilled sniper has a good reason for every shot; they won't pull the trigger unless they've spotted a definite target.

"There's a shadow, 450 meters away—"

The first reporter's voice was immediately contradicted by the second and third people: "Five hundred and eighty meters, seven hundred meters..."