Chapter 423: Stone Shadow: Password

I was completely baffled; I couldn't think of any reason why I would have written these down. I looked at the last few numbers—they were familiar, from my memory.

02200059 was the code to open the box containing the bronze fish, said to have been translated from a silk manuscript. To this day I don't know its purpose, and it only appeared a few times. Sometimes when I pondered those matters, I wondered if this thing was critical, but as Xiuxiu said, it's like reading a novel backwards—I can't know the origin and context of this string of numbers at all.

Most importantly, at the moment I lost consciousness, there was no memory of these numbers in my mind. I was thinking, if I wanted to write something for Xiao Hua, it absolutely wouldn't be this set of numbers.

Is there something wrong with my brain? I felt it was very strange, making me very uncomfortable.

After I stood up, Xiao Hua noticed the wound on my back. He shook his head and silently bandaged me, while saying to the attendant beside him, "Looks like we'll have to wait a few more days for Granny's side; Third Young Master's injury needs healing."

"No need," I said, "I can still tough it out, at most I'll have a scar." I couldn't be sure why I suddenly said that; I felt that I didn't want to stop and rest, so I could face what I had written. I knew that if I thought carefully, I would definitely come to know something I didn't want to know.

Saying that, I didn't wait for Xiao Hua to argue with me; I moved my limbs, felt that my body was not seriously injured, and limped over to below the cableway to check its sturdiness.

"Are you okay?" Xiao Hua sensed something was off with me and asked, looking at me with a strange expression.

I didn't answer him, just gave a perfunctory smile. He said, "Originally going in wouldn't be a big problem, but since you said snakes might fall from above, we have to be a bit cautious."

"There won't be many snakes here, otherwise we'd already be dead. Don't you have the medicine?" I recalled that in the Queen Mother of the West city, we also used sulfur to drive away these venomous snakes. "Just smear it along the rope as we go; it's very effective against this kind of snake."

Xiao Hua found me even more inexplicable, but he didn't press further; instead he immediately began teaching me how to use the rope.

This kind of rope cableway was very difficult to climb. Actually, there were only two ways to cross: one was to walk across like on a tightrope from above, and the other was to hang upside down from below. Obviously we could only choose the second.

We had climbing gear; we could clip ourselves to the rope, which saved the effort of gripping it. If we needed to rest, we could let go and let the carabiner hold us.

Xiao Hua went first because he was light. He smeared the snake medicine onto the rope while climbing quickly inward.

Ten minutes later, he had come down on the other side and then flashed his flashlight twice.

Then I stepped on the ancient corpse I had burned until its skin split, climbed onto the bearing, and Xiao Hua's attendant helped me clip my carabiner onto the rope. The wound on my back was burning with pain, but the herbal medicine Xiao Hua applied contained anesthetic ingredients, so the pain was not unbearable. I gritted my teeth, steadied myself, and then started climbing.

Climbing was easier than I imagined; the main problem was the rope's swaying. As long as I made a slightly larger movement, the rope would begin to swing in a very wide arc, so I couldn't proceed with continuous motion. I could only climb a few steps, pause, climb a few steps, pause, letting the initial vibrations subside.

The flashlight was held in my mouth, shining on the long stones hanging above the gap. The ancient rocks were frozen there; I couldn't see higher, but I could faintly sense those old iron chains. I tried not to think about anything.

No snakes fell down. Soon I climbed to the spot that Xiao Hua thought was strange.

Focusing the flashlight beam, I discovered that in the middle section of the gap, there was indeed a place without hanging long stones, but instead many things like leather. I had been to a leather processing factory; I could almost be certain those were the sun-dried skins of something—judging by the color, very ancient.

I didn't linger; I continued onward. A dozen minutes later, I saw Xiao Hua's flashlight shining toward me from very close, and he said to me, "Be careful when you come down."

I turned to look at him and saw him standing at the exit of the gap. As the flashlight beam swept over, I actually noticed that the ground under his feet seemed wet.

Carefully unclipping, I jumped down from the rope and almost immediately slipped and fell into water. At the end of this gap there was actually a pool.

Xiao Hua helped me up, and I found that the water here reached my knees. Moreover, the ground was not flat; the entire floor was a funnel-like slope. Shining the flashlight, I could see that the ground at the center of this stone chamber was very deep, while the edges were shallow. At the same time, I also saw—under the water at the center of the chamber—there was a huge object.

The water was very clear, but frighteningly cold. I had to clench my teeth to endure the bone-piercing sensation. I carefully waded deeper, and when the water reached my waist, I could fully see the true appearance of that thing.

It was truly an indescribable object. I could only be certain it was made of bronze. At first glance, it looked like a giant hornet's nest.

Because the irregular surface, apart from tight ancient patterns, had countless holes, and from each of these holes iron chains extended to holes in the stone wall underwater. And the several iron chains that came from the bearing also connected to several holes on this strange nest.

"My god," I couldn't believe my eyes, "this is an ancient cipher module."