Chapter 419: Stone Shadow: Entering the Mechanism

We put down the dead pig, then rinsed the entire iron disc with water. Soon, the sound of mechanisms came, iron chains clattering inside the cave walls, and slowly, all the reliefs protruding from the holes retracted. At the same time, the iron disc shook a few times and began to rotate slowly again.

Xiao Hua and I repacked the cold flares, short-barreled shotgun, liquor, and other self-defense and lighting gear, then together we lifted the iron disc, propped it up with an iron rod, and revealed the opening below.

I was still shaken by the injury Xiao Hua had suffered earlier; there must be something tricky down there, and it was very dangerous to go down now. He didn't rush in either. Instead, he first cut off a pig's foot, tied it with a rope, and dropped it down the hole.

Like fishing, we let it down bit by bit, lowering it to a great depth, but there was no reaction.

He placed an iron sheet from the iron armor on his chest and back, moved a bit, and first squeezed through the opening. He moved very fast; his flashlight beam quickly descended, and once it reached the bottom, it went dark.

I didn't dare speak, cold sweat covering my back. After waiting five or six minutes, the flashlight beam at the bottom lit up again, flashing twice—that was the safety signal for me.

I took a deep breath, first tossed down the equipment pack, then carefully poked my head into the hole and tried to squeeze my body in.

I was a bit plumper than Xiao Hua. Clinging to the iron chains, I finally managed to reach the bottom. I found the space down there very cramped—I couldn't even stand up, and if I sat, my head would hit the ceiling.

The entire mechanism space at the bottom of the iron disc was incredibly complex, beyond my ability to describe, but once I came down, I could understand the entire operating principle of the mechanism at a glance.

On the bearing of the iron disc there were many iron teeth that could spread open as the disc rotated. All around were countless iron rings, each connected to intricate iron chains that led to unknown places on one side of these stone chambers.

It was predictable that different numbers of rotations of the iron disc would cause different iron teeth to hook different chains, thus pulling different chains and activating different mechanisms.

At the lower part of the stone chamber was something like a water wheel, inserted into a well opening below. Inside the well opening, water surged violently; it was a water vein in the rock. The rotating water wheel transmitted power through gears and chains to the bearing, so the iron disc could keep turning on its own year after year. Around it, I didn't see anything that had scratched Xiao Hua earlier, but I could see countless cotton-like fluff hanging from the iron chains, apparently very old grease.

The entire mechanism chamber was like a well, only slightly larger at the bottom. There was a strong smell of blood in the chamber, but not a trace of blood was visible. I didn't know where the blood that had been poured down had gone. At the same time, we didn't see the tricky thing Xiao Hua had mentioned.

Not seeing it didn't mean it wasn't there. We carefully crouched down and searched around, but found no living creature nearby.

Maybe it was because of some mechanism? I thought to myself. Both Xiao Hua and I had misjudged. Xiao Hua also showed a puzzled expression. Still, both of us breathed a sigh of relief.

I asked Xiao Hua with my eyes what to do next. He pointed his flashlight to one side. On the wall of this well, there were three crevices, each five or six meters high and only wide enough for one person. They were obviously man-made, like extremely narrow corridors. All the iron chains were divided into three groups, each plunging straight into these three crevices.

When the flashlight shone inside, I saw they were very deep. A person could barely squeeze in. Shining upward, I found that three or four meters above the top of the crevices, stone slabs were suspended by iron chains. Below these stone slabs were all the pottery jars like the ones we had seen in the Queen Mother of the West's kingdom.

This was the "head" of the mechanism. If we did something wrong, the stone slabs above would surely fall and smash the pottery jars, and the monsters inside the jars would give us a lot of trouble.

Several of the frontmost stone slabs had already fallen, smashing many of the pottery jars in that area, revealing the hair inside. This must have happened when someone came here last time and accidentally triggered the mechanism.

I could see that further back, all the way into the darkness at the end of the crevice, countless stone slabs still hung there, eerily suspended, lined up neatly deep in the crevices. I couldn't tell how many there were. Below them were piles of pottery jars stacked one on top of another, making my throat feel prickly.

The other two crevices were exactly the same. The iron chains threading through the three crevices looked like three tentacles of a monster.

"This structure means this mechanism has three levels. Even if we solve the first one, it won't help. If we work hard on the clues honestly, it'll be a protracted project. Judging from the height of the iron chains, this lowest set should be the first level of the mechanism," I said. "This thing is damn well similar to a door lock."

The chamber for the first level of the mechanism should be at the end of the crevice through which this lowest set of iron chains passed. We needed to get through.

This design was very clever. I could see countless copper staples embedded in the stone walls on both sides of the crevice—iron lumps set into the stone, all rusted green. They seemed to be for walking, but judging from the weird arrangement of the staples, I knew there must be a catch. These staples surely had mechanisms underneath; step on the wrong one and trouble was certain.

Moreover, all the staples were positioned in places that looked convenient for stepping. Crawling through, it would be hard to avoid them. Even at Xiao Hua's peak, in such a narrow space, he couldn't use any technique to bypass them.

I asked Xiao Hua, "Monkey King, what now?"

Xiao Hua looked around, up and down, studying for any place to avoid them. But obviously every detail here had been considered. Even up to the top edge of the cave wall, it was all old copper staples. For a moment, he couldn't think of a good solution.

I pointed at the stone slabs hanging above. Each weighed about a ton. The iron chains suspending them looked very sturdy. I wondered if we could go across from up there.

Xiao Hua shone his flashlight up, clicked his tongue, and said, "Seems feasible, but look, there are so many copper staples here. If they could think of this, wouldn't they have considered those stone slabs? I think nothing in this trench can be touched—there's definitely a trick everywhere. The people who built this are completely different from ordinary craftsmen. They're skilled in common grave-robbing tricks and won't leave us such an obvious gap."

"If we don't go from above, then either we climb the copper staples on the wall or step on these pottery jars. There's no other way," I said. There were only these few directions; could we walk through walls?

Xiao Hua turned sideways and squeezed into the crevice. Cautiously, he probed forward a distance, lightly touched those copper staples, then crouched down, picked up a piece of pottery shard, and backed out.

The inside of the pottery shard was still stained with many black marks, probably left from the rot of human heads. He placed the shard on the ground and told me to step on it. I stepped on it, and the shard immediately broke. The pottery jars were made with a very simple technique and were very thin—they couldn't bear any weight.

Xiao Hua said, "Damn, this is brilliant. They simply didn't intend for anyone to get through."

"How did they set it up back then? Wasn't there a secret passage for the craftsmen? What about maintenance?"

"This thing probably didn't come with after-sales service. Ancient mechanisms were usually driven by stone slabs and iron chains, made very sturdy. Generally, unless there was an earthquake, they wouldn't break. If there was a passage, it would have to be among these staples, but now we have to find which ones are safe among so many—too risky," Xiao Hua said. "The designer here is no ordinary person. They won't think like ordinary people."

I had never experienced this feeling before. Looking at the mechanism before me, it didn't seem particularly complex or mysterious, but it was truly baffling. Compared to the ingenious mechanisms Wang Zanghai showed off, this one was practical, effective, and flawless. This was something designed by a true master, and it couldn't help but make one feel a sense of defeat.

If only Poker-face were here, I thought again. Suddenly I realized that all those times we escaped danger safely weren't because I was lucky. The two people by my side had solved so many problems, and I had taken it for granted.

After hesitating for a moment, I saw Xiao Hua sigh with a grave expression and say to me, "No choice. We have to tough it out. Let's see if the ancestors will bless us."

With that, he pulled a coil of rope from the equipment pack, handed one end to me and told me to hold it, then looped the other end around his own neck. From his small pouch, he took out a purple clay bottle the size of a whistle, pulled out the stopper, and smeared the contents onto his hands. It was a black powder. Even through the gas mask, I immediately smelled a medicinal herb odor. "What are you going to do?" I had a bad feeling.

"This is herbal medicine and charcoal ash for absorbing sweat. It can also refresh you," he said. "I'm going to climb across."

"You're insane!" I said. "These jars are so brittle they'll shatter at the slightest touch. If you want to die, don't drag me down with you."

"Something that would break if you stand on it might not break if you lie on it. As long as you spread your weight across enough pressure points, I could even crawl over a lightbulb—it takes real skill." He said.

With that, he took off his shoes, turned around, and lay down flat on the ground.

I thought he'd lie on his stomach, but he lay face-up instead, which surprised me even more. I watched as he skillfully used his back and hips, sliding his entire body along the ground into the crevice.

It was a method of moving forward using the flexibility of his back muscles, assisted by his hands—like a very relaxed form of yoga. But Xiao Hua moved incredibly fast, making him seem like a snake slithering along the ground. I knew it must be an enormous expenditure of energy, and I understood how he'd trained his lean but powerful muscles. Still, I had to admit, the movement looked rather awkward.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. After all, there are no eyes on your back—this kind of trick still relies on luck.

He looked at me and said, "If I'm not sure, would you rather go?"

I shook my head with a bitter smile. He gave me a disdainful look, then relaxed his whole body, took a few deep breaths, muttered something I couldn't catch, and began to crawl deeper into the crevice.

The moment Xiao Hua's weight touched those pottery jars, both he and I paused. I clearly heard the sound of jars pressing against each other and the friction with the ones below, even the brittle crackle of thin shards about to break. I held my breath as I watched him slowly shift his weight onto them, the sounds growing more numerous. But Xiao Hua didn't hesitate. Bit by bit, he moved his entire body onto the pottery jars.

At that moment, my back tingled with goosebumps. I was somewhat grateful that after all I'd been through, I could skip the fear and go straight into a state of high tension. I held my breath, watching his every move.

Soon, he was very far from me. Under the beam of my flashlight, I could see him moving in the pitch-black crevice. It felt eerie, like we were escaping through some old cable duct. He crawled while laying down a rope, which I would use later.

After five or six minutes, he was about thirty meters deep. My flashlight could no longer see him clearly. His own flashlight shone ahead. Along the way, the pottery shards made many hair-raising sounds, but they all turned out to be false alarms. I gradually began to relax, listening to the heavy echo of his breathing, and called into the gap, "Take it slow. We're in no rush, nobody's competing with you. Rest if you're tired."

A moment later, his voice came back, panting and cursing, "Rest in a place like this?" His flashlight beam swept around, and I saw him illuminate the stone slabs above. If those things fell, they'd crush him into pulp.

"Keep your state and energy steady," I said. "The more you rush, the easier it is to make mistakes. Those things aren't going to fall that easily."

"This isn't a technical job. As long as I'm lying down and nothing unexpected happens, I don't need intense concentration. Paying too much attention to my back will actually cause problems," he said. "The fear is that some jars are already cracked but haven't split open, and they'll break when I put pressure on them, or there might be some mechanism inside these jars. Those things depend on luck. Whether I go fast or slow, the outcome is the same. I'd rather skip the waiting process."

His voice was calm. I'd had similar thoughts before. I wondered if this was a kind of self-justification or a unique mindset of people like us. I suddenly felt that Xiao Hua and I were indeed very similar inside.

"Then there's nothing I can do to help you. You don't want me to start chanting sutras for you here, do you?"

"Wait until something happens to me to chant. For now, you could sing a little tune to ease my nerves," he said slowly.

That joke wasn't funny at all; instead, it made me feel that deep down he was still worried. I found it a little unsettling—he was a normal person, not a god or some monster. He had the same emotions and weaknesses as me. He also got nervous at times like this. Perhaps this was the norm in this line of work.

"Relax. If you die, I won't make it out either. On the road to the Yellow Springs, you can sing all you want yourself," I shouted at him.

Xiao Hua didn't reply. Perhaps he thought I was being glib. Panting, he continued crawling forward. I knew that in this situation, talking consumed a lot of energy and focus, so I shut my mouth.

The flashlight beam continued to recede. After a while, I could only see the light. The only sound left was the breathing, with its ethereal echo, almost like a requiem. I gradually found it hard to concentrate.

After a pause, he spoke again: "That's not it. I think you'll still go to heaven. As for me, I'm probably headed in the opposite direction. So if something happens to me later, just turn around and go. I won't blame you."

This was sounding more and more ominous. I wanted to tell him to stop his nonsense, or the King of Hell might feel obliged to accept his invitation. Before I could say anything, he went, "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" I snapped back to attention.

"What's hanging up there isn't stones," he said. His flashlight beam swept upward. I couldn't see where he was anymore, nor the place he was illuminating.

"What is it?" I tensed up.

He swept the beam a few times: "Hanging pretty high, can't see clearly. Looks like some kind of animal skin. Definitely not anything good." As he spoke, he seemed to adjust the flashlight's focus, the beam narrowing and brightening. The movement caused the jars beneath him to produce a series of clinking sounds. I immediately said to him, "Careful! Steady yourself. Look how hard you're panting. Calm down first—better safe than sorry."

His voice came back with an echo. He seemed stunned for a moment as he shone the light above, muttering, "Panting? I'm not panting. Aren't you the one panting?"

I said, "Even if I were panting, it wouldn't be that loud. Besides, I'm not moving—why would I pant?"

He paused, then shone his flashlight toward me. It was far away, just a quick flash. I said, "Don't joke around, dammit. This place is creepy."

"I'm not joking." His voice had turned cold.

I saw his flashlight start sweeping around the crevice and realized something was wrong. We both fell silent. I started breaking out in a cold sweat, listening closely to where the panting was coming from.

It was definitely coming from inside this crevice—the echo had made me think it was Xiao Hua panting. But if it wasn't him, what was making that sound?