Chapter 57: Raging Sea: Mystical Defense

That huge figure was almost the same height as the stone tablet. Faintly, one could see a head and neck, no different from a human, but his posture, stooping at the waist, was indescribably strange, sending chills down one's spine without sweating.

Wenjin broke out in a cold sweat. Their group stood at the junction of the stone steps and the pool floor, only five paces away from that giant—neither too close nor too far, an extremely awkward distance. The mist churned on the pool floor, and their only light came from a few low-power flashlights, making it impossible for the moment to tell whether this thing was human or ghost. Just moments ago, so many people had searched every corner; on this pool floor open for over ten meters, aside from the four stone sea-monkeys in the center and a blank stone tablet, there was nothing else. When had this huge "person" appeared? No one knew.

And that damned Zhang Qiling seemed completely unaware, still staring intently at the stone tablet, not knowing what he was studying. Wenjin ground her teeth in hatred for him, but as the person in charge, she couldn't just abandon him. For now, she had no plan, so she could only instruct the people behind her not to move recklessly.

After five or six minutes, this giant "person" still hid behind the mist, showing no intention of acting.

At this point, Huo Ling couldn't hold back any longer and called softly, "Xiao Zhang, what are you still crouching there foolishly for? Hurry and come over here."

Wenjin was startled and hurriedly stopped her. Zhang Qiling was too close to that thing; if the situation changed, two paces would not allow for a clean retreat. The best course was to maintain the status quo for now.

Wenjin quickly analyzed the situation. In an ancient tomb, though dangers were many, as long as you knew what you were dealing with, there was always a way to handle it. The real fear was being in danger without grasping the clue, often dying without knowing why.

Wenjin thought it over and decided that there couldn't be a "zongzi" (corpse) here, because the tomb's location was excellent. The Xisha Islands had seen little human disturbance for hundreds of years. A few ring-shaped reefs dotted the sea surface, but underwater they formed a continuous seabed mountain range, hidden beneath the sea, gathering wind and nurturing Qi. With a dragon's head in the east and tail in the west, it was a very rare underwater dragon vein. And since dragons first belong to water and then ascend to heaven, water dragons are considered slightly superior to mountain dragons in feng shui.

In such a place, if there were a coffin, it would surely bring official rank and wealth. Especially if the tomb really held Wang Zanghai—the name suggests he was deficient in water in the Five Elements—then being buried in an undersea tomb would be mutually reinforcing. It could be said that it occupied all aspects of feng shui: heaven's timing, earth's advantage, and human harmony.

So unless all feng shui books were nonsense, there would definitely be no "zongzi" here. With this thought, Wenjin felt relieved. Since it wasn't a zombie, it must be a human or animal. As long as it was alive, with so many people here, even if it were two meters tall—or even three meters—they could still take it down.

At this moment, one of the male team members said, "Wenjin, I think something's off. I remember that spot should have the stone monkey. Could something have climbed on top of it?"

Wenjin's heart stirred. She suddenly thought, could it be that Third Uncle had woken up, found them gone, and come in here looking for them? That man was a bit mischievous. Perhaps he was angry that they disobeyed his orders, so he hid behind the mist and climbed onto the stone monkey to scare them.

If that were the case, it would be simply infuriating. Thinking this was the most likely explanation, Wenjin called out to the shadow: "Wu Sansheng! Stop messing around! Get down here now!"

If it really was Third Uncle, this shout would make him realize his cover was blown, and there would be no point in stubbornly continuing. Third Uncle was an open-minded person; at such a small thing, he would just laugh it off and not mind at all.

But before her words died away, that shadow suddenly extended a hand and waved at them, as if telling them to be quiet!

Wenjin saw that his figure, with arm length disproportionate to height, confirmed that someone was standing on the stone monkey. Without a second thought, she decided it was Third Uncle. Stomping her foot in anger, she quickly ran up, leaped onto the stone monkey in one bound, and reached for his ears.

This was her ultimate move against Third Uncle, because they had agreed never to quarrel. Whenever Wenjin was extremely angry, she could pull his ears to let him know she was furious. Usually, in such a situation, even if Third Uncle had the guts of a leopard, he wouldn't dare to be reckless anymore.

In a flash, just as she jumped onto the stone monkey and before she could act, the person on it grabbed her, covered her mouth with one hand, and whispered: "It's me, Xiao Zhang! Don't talk! Look below yourself!"

Wenjin, originally furious, was startled by the voice. It really was Zhang Qiling's voice! How could he be standing on the stone monkey?

She thought again and suddenly broke into a cold sweat. That's not right!! If that were the case, who was crouching in front of the stone tablet? She quickly recalled the scene: she had only seen someone crouching there with a flashlight, and among the group only Zhang Qiling was missing, so she had jumped to a conclusion. Could this be a preconceived mistake? Thinking this, she immediately leaned out to look. She was stunned to see that the person crouching in front of the tablet was wearing the same diving suit as them, and judging by the figure, it was none other than Third Uncle!

And Third Uncle seemed off. At first Wenjin didn't understand what he was doing, but looking closely, she saw that he was actually combing his hair while facing the smooth, mirror-like stone tablet. What sent chills down her spine was that his coquettish movements were clearly those of a woman.

After combing for a while, Third Uncle turned his face and carefully looked at his reflection in the stone mirror, like an unmarried maiden finishing her toilette, giving a final check on the effect.

In the stone mirror, Third Uncle's face wore a half-smile that looked eerily ghostly, indescribably bizarre. Under ordinary circumstances, this scene would have been funny, but now Wenjin felt her hands and feet go cold, not daring to breathe. The people below saw the two on the stone monkey hugging motionless and thought it was indeed Third Uncle pretending to be a ghost, so they relaxed. Huo Ling, worried about Zhang Qiling, suddenly ran up behind the person in front of the tablet, slapped his shoulder, and said, "Xiao Zhang, what are you spacing out for?"

This took everyone completely by surprise. Zhang Qiling muttered a silent "damn," but it was too late to stop it. The person in front of the tablet suddenly stood up, startling Huo Ling into a scream. However, she immediately realized it was Third Uncle, and her fright turned to anger. She cursed, "Wu Sansheng, it's you! Why aren't you sleeping? What kind of madness are you crouching here for!"

When Third Uncle saw Huo Ling, he suddenly covered his face with his hands, let out a strange cry, and shoved her hard, pushing her to the ground. Then he turned and ran. Seeing this, Zhang Qiling immediately jumped off the stone monkey and gave chase. He was very fast, but as he passed Huo Ling, he paused briefly to check if she

Zhang Qiling sighed inwardly. This delay of a few seconds was enough to cost him any advantage. He rolled over under her arm, and when he looked at Third Uncle again, he had already run into the thick fog; from the silhouette, he had almost reached the edge of the pool wall.

Zhang Qiling shouted, "Watch the stone steps! Don't let him go up!" and immediately gave chase. At that moment, he vaguely saw the figure of Third Uncle suddenly turn sideways, and in an instant, it seemed he had slipped into the wall. But the fog was so thick that he didn't see the process at all.

Zhang Qiling chased to the edge of the pool wall, but there was no one to chase, so he had to stop. He didn't believe that Third Uncle had burrowed into the wall. Although he wasn't a rigid materialist, such a scene was too bizarre; there must be something tricky about it.

He stood still for a moment, then immediately touched the stone wall with his hand. But the wall was solid. Zhang Qiling didn't believe in the existence of wall-passing techniques in this world. He extended his two unusually long fingers and pressed them against the stone wall. In an instant, his extremely sensitive fingers immediately sensed that this stone wall was actually rotating very slowly! His mind buzzed—damn! He hadn't noticed at all just now; this pool was itself a huge mechanism!

He suddenly felt very emotional. This could be called a miracle in ancient engineering. His so-called experience was as naive as a child's in front of the tomb owner.

But what was the purpose of this mechanism? In the few minutes since they came down, there seemed to be no change in the entire pool bottom! Damn this Wang Zanghai—surely he didn't just want to build a revolving restaurant in his tomb.

Zhang Qiling was no stranger to the principles of mechanisms. In his own words, his understanding of the traps and mechanisms in ancient Chinese tombs exceeded anyone else's in the world (his exact words). He was very familiar with their working principles, origins, shortcomings, and even the names of the inventors.

According to his experience, this mechanism must operate on the simplest principle. He knew that so-called concealed springs and hidden crossbows, no matter how good the materials, after centuries or millennia, the triggers used to fire them would have rotted and become useless. What could stop tomb raiders were often the simplest anti-theft sand layers outside the tomb walls (when tomb raiders dug into the sand layer, the sand above would collapse and bury them alive, but this was also a very passive method; now tomb raiders instead use Luoyang shovels to bring up sand, thereby determining the actual location of the ancient tomb and directly piercing through twelve layers of blue bricks from the roof).

For a mechanism to operate for hundreds or thousands of years, it must use materials that won't decay for centuries or millennia, such as stone and running water that never dries up. These things were all present here, and the water here also provided power based on tidal changes, making it more convenient to utilize.

If the tomb owner was Wang Zanghai, then this man, in terms of his obsession with and ability to use ingenious mechanical tricks, had reached a level of perfection that probably no one in the world could surpass.

Zhang Qiling thought as he felt along other parts of the stone wall. A vague idea had already formed in his mind—there must be an entrance on this wall. Just a moment ago, while he hesitated, the entrance had shifted elsewhere. He continued feeling his way forward, and after taking just a few steps, sure enough, he found a hidden door.