Chapter 285: Assembly Call

I felt a chill run through my entire body: There was no mistake. This was the sound of the horn that rang out before the bronze door opened.

Only Fatty and I had witnessed that bizarre experience firsthand back then, and even now the memory remains vivid. After listening to it a few more times, I recalled it completely and was absolutely certain.

The earlier two tapes had been extremely eerie, so I had mentally prepared myself and my nerves were up to the task. After composing myself a little, I shook off the feeling of horror and couldn't help but sigh deeply.

It was possible this tape was shot by Wenjin and her group at the location of the giant bronze door beneath the Changbai Mountains. And judging by the sounds, they might have been walking towards the end of that underground canyon, or even already inside the bronze door.

From just a few lines of dialogue, I could almost picture the scene: the horn sounded, those horse-faced monsters must have appeared, and the people recording seemed extremely wary of them, immediately falling silent and hiding. Moreover, judging by their tone, they had encountered them more than once.

This was another piece of the puzzle, suggesting that what Fatty and I encountered was not an isolated incident, and definitely not a hallucination. However, for now I had no idea where this piece fit.

I continued listening. The horn sounded for a while and then gradually faded, leaving only the sound of water from the speakers. I was anticipating what would happen next, but I noticed the progress bar was nearing the end, and there didn't seem to be much content left.

I forced myself to keep listening, and sure enough, a few minutes later the tape ended. The screen remained completely black, with nothing visible, just as Third Uncle had said—nothing could be made out.

I listened to it again from the start, carefully searching for any new clues, afraid of missing even the slightest detail, but there was no new discovery. I knew Third Uncle's personality—he would have studied it very thoroughly as well, so if he said there was nothing, there definitely wasn't.

I closed the laptop with a headache. It seemed unlikely to find any clues from this video tape. Presumably, when Wenjin sent these tapes, she hadn't thought about what would happen to the viewer. Maybe this content wasn't the main point.

Black Blind saw my expression and smiled helplessly, patting my shoulder before getting up to sit across from me.

The sound of snoring came from all around—clearly some had already fallen asleep, and the rest only whispered occasionally. The warmth of the campfire, the flickering flames, and the crackling of the wood made me feel relaxed. The previous trek had been so exhausting that I couldn't quite get used to the current scene.

I had been extremely drowsy, but the video tape energized me. I tried to force myself to rest, only to find my mind uncontrollably wandering. Just then, Third Uncle came back with his head covered in mud, a strange expression on his face, and he even smelled of urine—I had no idea what he had been doing.

Seeing that I had closed the computer, he asked me how it went.

I shook my head and said I had no leads. Indeed, there were no leads. Just listening to the sound, it could accompany any scene; the tape was essentially unhelpful for understanding the truth.

Third Uncle had expected this, and he sighed without saying anything. I asked him what was wrong and how he ended up like this.

He said, "One of the guys found something interesting." He pointed to one of the drainage openings. I looked—that was the spot they had chosen to urinate into, no wonder it was so stinky. Given Third Uncle's state, had he crawled in there? Third Uncle muttered, "Too dirty," while nudging several sleeping men with his foot, telling them to get up and prepare ropes.

I walked over and saw that in the deeper part of this drain opening, the bricks and stones inside were twisted due to the massive destruction from the collapse of the ruins. The stone walls of the channel were all displaced, with many gaps in the channel wall revealing the sand and soil behind. The sand layer also had a very wide crack, almost vertical, so Third Uncle's men had temporarily used it as a urinal.

The geology here in the Gobi should be sandy soil. Since our location was a bit deep, the soil should be relatively hard. That crack went straight into the sand layer, likely caused by an earthquake. We had seen traces of earthquakes frequently along the way—clearly, this place had experienced several disasters over the millennia, so such traces were not surprising.

The interesting thing Third Uncle mentioned should be inside, but I couldn't see anything clearly. The crack was about as wide as a person, and the flashlight beam couldn't penetrate inside.

Those men were evidently in excellent physical condition—they were fully awake just seconds after being roused. As soon as Third Uncle explained the situation, they prepared without any hesitation. From the looks of it, they seemed to be planning to go down.

I thought it was very unwise. The crack was too narrow—even squeezing through would be impossible with front against back, and the inside was very rough; they could get stuck anywhere. "There was a layer of sand and mud covering the crack. I aimed my stream and washed it away, that's how the crack was exposed," one of the men said.

Black Blind covered his mouth, fanning away the stench of urine. "You've been having quite a bit of heat lately," he said.

"We've been at this for so long, our heads strapped to our belts, no idea how long we can hold out—how could I not have heat?" the man replied with a grim face.

Third Uncle stared at the crack and said, "If you're in this line of work, don't talk so much nonsense. If the money were easy, would it be left for you? Get ready, hold the rope for me. Blind and I are going down to take a look."

I immediately stopped Third Uncle and said, "There could be snakes in a crack like this. In such a narrow space, if you encounter snakes, you won't even be able to escape. Why are you in such a hurry? Can't you at least wait until dawn?"

"You bookworm, damn it, the sun doesn't even reach here. When it's dawn, we'll still need flashlights—same thing," Third Uncle said. Meanwhile, one of the men had already tied the rope. Clearly, Third Uncle intended to go down himself, so he fastened the rope around himself.

I felt even more uneasy and said, "You can let one of the men go down first to scout. You're an old man—what's the point of showing off now?"

Third Uncle gave a strange laugh, seeming quite helpless. First, he twisted open one of those sulfur smoke grenades and tossed it inside, then took the miner's lamp. "Your Third Uncle knows what he's doing. I'll go down, take a look, and come right back."

Then Black Blind, who was already wearing a tight-fitting suit, acted as Third Uncle's backup. Carrying sulfur grenades, he and Third Uncle went down on the same rope.

Watching from above, my heart was in my throat. The opening of the drain shaft was not narrow, but it sloped at a steep angle. As I watched Third Uncle and Black Blind slide down the rope bit by bit, entering the darkness and moving farther away, I couldn't shake the feeling that something would go wrong.

Clearly, I was overthinking it. The distance seemed shorter than I imagined; in just a few minutes, they had reached that spot. The crack was right there beside them.

The people above stopped letting out the rope. At that point, several shadows overlapped, and we could barely see what they were doing. We only saw the swaying flashlight beams casting light and shadows across the stone walls, giving me the strange sensation of seeing the celestial path inside the underwater tomb.

They paused for a moment, and then Black Blind sent a signal upwards. Seeing the signal, the men holding the rope were all momentarily stunned.

I asked them what the signal meant. One man said, "Third Master says they're going to continue going deeper."

Third Uncle was down below, so we dared not shout loudly to ask about the reason and situation. These people naturally followed Third Uncle's lead, and I couldn't stop them, so I could only curse inwardly, my curiosity itching again.

Clearly, Third Uncle had made new progress down there, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a decisive decision.

The rope continued to go down, and I saw that instead of going straight down, they were crawling into the crack in the sand. The two of them squeezed in with great difficulty, and soon we could no longer see Third Uncle's figure, only occasional flashes of light from deep within the crack.

Even the men pulling the rope started breaking out in cold sweat. Those who hadn't fallen asleep all gathered around, and the atmosphere naturally grew tense.

After waiting above for about an hour, Third Uncle finally sent a signal from below. The people above had been waiting until they turned to stone; they immediately pulled the rope. Black Blind was gradually hauled up, but Third Uncle was nowhere to be seen.

My heart gave a lurch. Just as I was about to speak, I heard Black Glasses, who was reeking of mud and urine, say to me, "Little Third Master, the Third Master says you need to come down right now."