Chapter 65: Raging Sea: Hole in the Wall

This cave entrance should be a key point in the whole incident. Poker-face's memory ends here, and what happened afterward is a mystery—what was inside the cave, how he got out, whether the others lost their memories like he did—all of that is still pure speculation with no basis at all.

I carefully examined the cave. Just from its appearance, it could only be described as a man-made doorway in a very odd location (aside from tunnel warfare, I've never seen anyone put a door in a place like this). The parts visible inside were made of the same yellow bricks as outside, very ordinary in structure. I've seen countless such openings in charcoal-burning factories in Shanxi—they were all used as skylights for brick kilns. But placed here, in the layout of a tomb, it looked extremely incongruous, and I had no idea what purpose it served.

In my memory, almost all tomb chambers have a symmetrical layout; it's rare to find a random passage or an extra room in one spot, unless the tomb owner had a peculiar taste for it. If not that, then there were only two possibilities. The first that came to mind was that some secret burial goods might be placed inside—that wouldn't be strange. In my grandfather's notes, there were plenty of people who designed hidden rooms in their own tombs, but those hidden rooms were usually very well disguised. This cave had no hidden door, no camouflage, just a mirror placed outside—it seemed too childish.

The second possibility had to do with feng shui. The reason I deduced that was that mirrors are an important tool in feng shui. Placing one here must have some significance. Generally, opening a door in a room is a manifestation of "connecting" in feng shui, meaning something is to be let in or let out.

This is minor feng shui, quite different from the grand feng shui of ancient times, much like the Mahayana and Hinayana in Buddhism. Minor feng shui focuses on modification—using certain methods to change what's bad within a small area into something good. I knew a bit more about this area of knowledge because it was more interesting to me.

I followed the diagonal of the mirror and walked off to inspect other places, hoping to find some clues. The entire layout of the room was exactly as Poker-face described, but since it had been maintained in its state from twenty years ago, only four directions were lit by luminous pearls. The model of the celestial palace in the center was hidden in darkness; I could only see a few parts with my flashlight. After scanning around a few times, my eyes were drawn to the shadow paintings on the walls.

I've already described the content of these four shadow paintings before, but back then I only heard Poker-face's description, which was very vague. Now seeing them myself, I found they were actually quite realistic. If you were careful enough, you could pick out many specific details.

First, I noticed at a glance that the snow-covered mountains in the painting were very likely the northern slope of Changbai Mountain in Jilin. This wasn't because of my amazing memory; it's just that the main peaks of Changbai Mountain have very distinctive features, and anyone who's been there should be able to recognize them.

Second, I noticed in the second painting that the funeral procession was all wearing Yuan Dynasty attire. That meant the person in the coffin must have been a high-ranking Yuan Dynasty noble. The construction time of the Cloud Summit Palace was likely during the late Yuan Dynasty, when dynasties were changing. Being able to build such a massive tomb in that chaotic era—the tomb owner couldn't have been ordinary.

Third, and most surprising to me, the entire funeral procession was made up of women. This was extremely unreasonable. I don't know the burial customs of the Mongolians, but a funeral with only women was unheard of.

There were many other small details like this. I couldn't tell whether the carver had deliberately left clues or if that was just their style.

Having seen all this, I was very clear that with these clues, if we could find a local mountain villager familiar with the terrain, we would absolutely be able to locate this palace. However, it was buried under hundreds of years of snow, and the frozen soil was very loose. If the excavation wasn't careful, even a small avalanche could bury you in the snow forever.

But these clues probably had nothing to do with the cave in the corner. I went back to check the mirrors in the other corners and the walls behind them, but found nothing special. It seemed that all the answers could only be found by going into that cave.

I returned to the cave entrance and saw Poker-face still staring into it, with a rare look of hesitation in his eyes, as if contemplating something. When he saw me coming over, he suddenly said to me, "I might have to go in again."

"No way." I was shocked. "Isn't that just going to your death? If you lose your memory for another twenty years, everything will be meaningless."

He said calmly, "I'm different from you. To you, what happened here is just an unusual experience, but to me, it's a huge knot in my heart. If I don't untie it, even if I remember everything, I'll never feel at ease for the rest of my life."

I got anxious and said no repeatedly. Actually, I could understand him, but the environment we were in didn't allow for any complications. Getting out as soon as possible should be our priority. Otherwise, even if I knew every secret in the world, once the air ran out, everyone would suffocate, and these secrets would immediately lose their value.

I told him my concerns, and he seemed conflicted too. He asked me, "Then how sure are you that we can get out?"

Hearing him ask that, I remembered that I still hadn't carefully examined the dome of the tomb chamber, so I quickly looked up.

In all the notes I'd read, the tops of Ming Dynasty tombs were described as very solid, built with seven horizontal and eight vertical beams. In my opinion, to withstand pressure, this dome should have been an arched structure—higher in the center and lower on the sides. But judging by the look of it, it seemed to follow the method of land-based underground palaces, made into a flat roof. In that case, opening a hole anywhere wouldn't make much of a difference.

The dome was more than ten meters above us. There was nothing to stand on, so we'd have to start with the pillars on the sides: knock some footholds into them using the temple mirror legs, climb up, crack the layer of white plaster, then deal with the blue bricks. We didn't need to be too careful—just had to calculate the time. Once we damaged the load-bearing structure above, the top would collapse and form a hole. Then we could wait for the seawater to fill the tomb and easily escape.

The key to this plan was getting the timing right. If it wasn't during low tide, once the load-bearing structure was damaged, the whole dome might be washed away by the raging influx of seawater, crushing us to death inside.

I explained all this to Poker-face, emphasizing that our chances of getting out were actually very high. However, once we got out, this tomb would be completely destroyed, but it wouldn't disappear entirely—the things inside would still be there. He could come back a few days later with proper equipment; there was no need to rush now.

He nodded, finally convinced. Fatty couldn't hold back any longer and said, "If that's the case, what are we waiting for? Let's get started now and deal with these pillars first. That way we won't be scrambling later."

I checked my watch. There were still six hours until low tide—plenty of time. I shook my head. "We've exhausted ourselves physically and haven't eaten anything. Our condition is very low. We should rest well now. Once we get out, we don't know what situation we'll face—maybe the boat above has already left. If we don't have the strength and drown after getting out, that would be a real loss." Fatty had been eager, but hearing my reasoning, he scratched his head in frustration and said, "Damn, we still have to wait? Fine, I'll sleep first. Wake me when it's time to start."

I also found a spot to lean against, but my mind didn't stop. I was calculating how the water would flow if it started pouring in. The passage to the underwater stone tablet was now sealed—not airtight, but water would take longer to get in there, so the bulk of the water would first rush into that strange cave in the wall. I just didn't know where that low cave led to. If it connected to other rooms, it would be very troublesome—a whirlpool could form and suck us all in.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but glance into the depths of the cave, pondering if there was any way to block it. Then it occurred to me that we could pile up those models. I estimated the height and width of the cave entrance and thought about how best to plug it.

But in that instant when I focused my attention, a very strange feeling suddenly rose in my heart.

In the darkness of the cave entrance, there was a force strongly drawing my gaze. This force was not only strong but also compelling. I tried to turn my head away, but found my neck wouldn't move, not even my eyes.

At the same time, I immediately felt a restlessness. This restlessness was hard to describe—it was like a starving person finally getting a pack of food but being unable to tear it open. This restlessness quickly gave rise to a strong urge in my heart to go into that doorway and see.

All this happened in an instant, with no warning. By the time they sensed something wrong, it was too late. I shoved Poker-face aside and rushed into the cave. Because I was so close to the entrance, I dashed into the darkness in just a few steps—he didn't have time to grab me.

At that moment, I had no idea what I was doing. My only thought was to run to the deepest part of this cave and see. I didn't even turn on my flashlight; I just ran forward in the dark, not watching where my feet were going, and didn't even notice if anyone was chasing me.

But after just a few steps, a fierce gust of wind came from behind me, followed by a sharp pain in my left knee joint. My whole leg lost strength, and I fell flat on my face.

That fall was brutal. My forehead hit the floor, making my head buzz with pain, and my nose even bled. But after that stumble, the restlessness in my heart suddenly disappeared, and everything returned to normal.

My heart skipped a beat. I felt an indescribable strangeness. This cave was too powerful—just seeing a patch of darkness could make someone lose their mind. The moment I had stared into it, I fell under its spell.

I turned around and saw that Poker-face and Fatty had already chased in. One of the flashlights was lying on the side, and apparently it was that thing that had hit my knee joint.

The two of them came up to me, and without a word, they grabbed me and started dragging me out. But one of my knees was injured, and I couldn't even stand up. They pulled a few times but couldn't lift me, and with the dim light here, the scene was extremely chaotic.

Fatty found it too inconvenient with one hand, so he tucked the flashlight under his armpit and used both hands to drag me. His movements were very violent, and being pulled by him almost made me go into shock.

Just then, the beam of his flashlight swept across a spot. My eyes caught a flicker, and it seemed like I saw someone crouching in the darkness.

The light moved too fast, and I didn't get a clear look, but I was very sure it was a person. I immediately thought of Third Uncle and shouted, "Wait, there's someone up ahead!"

Hearing this, Fatty turned the light back and swept it, catching a glimpse of a back. But by then, the person had already stood up and was running quickly into the cave.

This time, all three of us saw it clearly. We were stunned, but none of us made out who it was. Poker-face reacted the fastest and immediately yelled, "Go after them!" and then dashed off like lightning. Fatty let out a loud curse and had no choice but to follow.

I mustered some strength and barely managed to stand up, limping along behind them. By then, Poker-face had already tangled with that person, and Fatty pounced on them right after. The two of them, one from the front and one from the back, pinned the person to the ground directly. Fatty shone the flashlight on them and let out an "Ah!" then shouted, "It's A Ning!"

I caught up and looked, shocked to see her with disheveled hair and a dirty face, her dive suit torn in places, and a foul smell emanating from her body. There were traces of blood around her nose and mouth. I had no idea what she had encountered to end up like this. But then I noticed that the three of us weren't much better off, especially Fatty, who was covered in wounds—a miserable sight.

Fatty was furious at the sight of this woman and started cursing her to her face. But after just a few words, Poker-face suddenly stopped him and said, "Wait, there's something wrong with her!"