Chapter 137: Commotion

I looked at Poker-face's expression and knew he was absolutely not joking. Even when we encountered the blood corpse in the Lu King's Palace, he didn't show that kind of expression. Something serious was definitely happening.

But at that moment, I couldn't ask him what exactly was wrong, so I just acknowledged and started to prepare to call everyone to run.

I thought I had followed Poker-face's instructions thoroughly, but when I turned around, I found Ye Cheng and Fatty already running into the corridor. I cursed them for being ungrateful and quickly followed.

Rushing through the corridor and pushing open the jade door to enter the main hall, the sparse sound didn't decrease but instead increased. Now it was clearly audible from all directions on the ceiling, like countless feet scraping against the beams overhead, sending chills down my spine.

But when I looked up, there was only endless darkness like cotton wool, seeing nothing, and no idea what was making the sound. Standing under such darkness and unease, we felt like sitting on needles, desperately wanting to leave immediately. So when we ran, it was almost a life-or-death sprint.

I believe everyone can relate: when encountering something fearsome in the dark, if you run alone, you won't get far before stopping. But if everyone runs together, it becomes unstoppable. Your imagination and fear of being left alone won't let you stop.

However, people's running speeds differ. Ye Cheng was scared out of his wits, running faster than a rabbit. Fatty was also not slow. The two were the fastest, darting ahead instantly. We could hardly keep up, and in the dark, it was nearly impossible to distinguish silhouettes. Soon the group was spread out. I struggled to follow at the back, only able to orient myself by the light spots of the flashlights.

I don't know how long we ran, but my strength was almost spent, and my pace involuntarily slowed. I saw the flashlight spots ahead gradually slow down too, as if the destination was near, so I also eased up. I felt lucky that my stamina was much better than before, or I would have been left behind for sure.

When I caught up, I saw the front few had all stopped, panting heavily with hands on their knees. But the stone exit door was nowhere in sight; ahead was still darkness.

I asked what was going on, why they stopped running. Ye Cheng, gasping for breath with veins bulging on his face, said, "Wrong... something's wrong. I paid attention earlier: the main hall is exactly five hundred paces. My stride is one meter. At this hundred-meter dash speed, we should have reached it in less than two minutes. But now, I'm sure I've run far longer than that. We should have seen the jade door by now, but there's still nothing ahead. Something's wrong!"

Fatty said, "Could you have miscounted? Who has every step exactly one meter?"

Ye Cheng smiled proudly: "Absolutely no mistake. My step is exactly one meter, with less than a centimeter of error. If you don't believe me, we can bet. On the way back, I've already run nearly a thousand steps. There's definitely something wrong."

The others behind also caught up. Seeing us stop, they slowed down and came to a halt beside us. Everyone was carrying heavy equipment and thick clothes; after this sprint, they were all exhausted, breathing like oxen, almost collapsing. Monk Hua panted heavily and said, "Why did you stop? Keep running! Run out in one go and rest then."

Ye Cheng explained the situation in one breath. Monk Hua's expression also changed. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he said, "What's going on? We didn't take any wrong turns when we came in. How come we can't find our way back?"

I thought for a moment, realizing we must have been tricked again. They must have used some unknown method here. I told them, "Just as Xiao Ge said, Wang Zanghai never intended to let us out."

"Then what do we do?" Fatty asked. "Let's change direction and run left!" I turned my head around: "No, since we can't even go back the way we came, running in any direction will just lead us to nowhere. It'll never end. Don't waste the effort."

Ye Cheng said in horror, "Damn it, so we're going to be trapped here and die?"

I had experienced the power of these mechanisms in the Underwater Tomb and had learned some of their tricks. I said to Ye Cheng, "That won't happen. With so many of us, we can definitely get out. As long as we pool our ideas, there won't be a problem. After all, Wang Zanghai can only manipulate things within his capabilities. No matter how precise the mechanism, it must have a flaw. The only fear is that trapping us wasn't Wang Zanghai's real intention. The strange sound above our heads is what we should worry about."

I looked up again. The sparse sound had become so dense it made one feel itchy. My heart was terrified. Ye Cheng swept his flashlight back and forth, but above was a grey mist, only faintly revealing painted roof beams. It was enough to drive one mad.

Monk Hua said, "Staying here motionless is no solution. How about we split into four teams and run in two directions? That way, at least one team will get out first, and we won't all be wiped out."

Fatty yelled, "Look carefully! We don't even have enough people. There are only a few of us. How can we split into four teams?"

Hearing this, everyone looked around and counted the flashlights. Indeed, several of them were stunned.

Poker-face, Chenpi A'si, Lang Feng carrying Shunzi, and Panzi hadn't caught up. Damn it, half of us are missing. I thought they were all around us.

During the run, everything was chaotic, and we didn't notice when they fell behind. Now looking back, there wasn't a single light beam in sight. No way to find their whereabouts. Could it be they ran off in a different direction into the darkness? That would be trouble. Getting separated in this situation is almost suicide.

I pinched my brow and carefully recalled the details. We weren't at the very back. People like Panzi had a habit of staying at the rear, a military habit, to monitor everyone's movements. Chenpi A'si was old, so he was also behind us. Lang Feng, carrying someone, was slow. As for Poker-face, he's a professional-level sudden disappearance specialist. He always habitually brings up the rear when encountering a situation, then suddenly vanishes—very normal.

These people were all behind us. Clearly, they disappeared not far from us. We were running too frantically and didn't notice at all.

Monk Hua and the others were at a loss, not knowing what to do. Fatty raised his voice and shouted, "Old Pan! Where are you?"

As his voice fell, suddenly Lang Feng's voice came from one side. The direction was impossible to determine, but he shouted extremely loudly. Lang Feng yelled, "Damn it, Monk! Turn off your flashlight! Look at the ceiling!"