Chapter 29: Yet Another Fatty

    “I get it now, it’s about directional alignment!” Old Hu suddenly shouted. He had always felt something was off about this corridor, but now, looking at the floor, it finally clicked.

    The ground was paved with long, rectangular bluestone slabs. Earlier, these slabs had sunk when they triggered the trap, nearly swallowing Old Hu. At first glance, they seemed randomly placed, but now he realized they followed a strict pattern, the Eight Trigrams.

    “Old Hu, hurry!” Chen Yuze urged, his eyes darting between the numbers on the two stone dials. These weren’t just decorative—they had to be connected somehow, though he hadn’t figured out how yet.

    Hu Yifei hacked through another iron spear blocking her path. “Hey, you two, speed it up! These spears aren’t just for show, you know!”

    “Spears…” Chen Yuze glanced at the walls. “Old Hu, right is yang, left is yin.”

    “Got it.” Old Hu had also noticed the spears’ peculiar arrangement. He studied the floor and the spears, calculating silently.

    “Brother Chen, start!”

    “Starting!” Chen Yuze placed both hands on the two stone dials, ready to move.

    “Xun position forward—clockwise five, counterclockwise eight.” As Old Hu called out the sequence, Chen Yuze immediately acted, twisting the right dial clockwise to align Xun at the top and the left dial counterclockwise to set Xun at the bottom.

    As the dials turned, the faint sound of mechanisms shifting echoed through the corridor. The walls slowed slightly—this was the correct alignment.

    Once Xun was in place, Chen Yuze pressed the number 5 on the right dial and 8 on the left. The walls didn’t stop moving, but they knew they were on the right track.

    “Next,” Chen Yuze said, a hint of relief in his voice.

    “Kun position backward—clockwise four, counterclockwise seven. Dui below—clockwise six, counterclockwise nine. Li position—clockwise nine, counterclockwise four. Kan position—clockwise five, no—wait, six!”

    Old Hu’s sudden correction made Chen Yuze’s hands freeze mid-movement. Thank goodness I hesitated—who knows what would’ve happened if I’d pressed the wrong number?

    “Sorry, messed up one. Next is Zhen position—clockwise seven, counterclockwise nine. Then Gen position—clockwise five, counterclockwise four.” This time, Old Hu didn’t slip up, and Chen Yuze executed the steps flawlessly. But something still felt off.

    Chen Yuze’s hands hovered over the final position—the only one left. Old Hu hadn’t called it out. Qian position, representing Heaven, was missing.

    Chen Yuze hesitated. How could they forget the Qian position? The whole system is meticulously designed—no way they’d overlook something this crucial.

    “What’s the hold-up? Why hasn’t the trap stopped? Which one of you screwed up now?” Hu Yifei snapped, still slashing at the encroaching spears.

    “Where the hell is the Qian position?” Old Hu muttered, scanning the dials in frustration. There was no zero option, and the Qian symbol was nowhere to be found.

    Chen Yuze studied the floor, then made a decision. He had no choice but to guess.

    “Clockwise nine, counterclockwise… seven. Old Hu, Yifei—don’t blame me if this goes wrong…”

    Hu Yifei, already fuming, shot back, “Shut the hell up and just do it! Out of four people here, three are men, two are women.”

    Old Hu broke into a cold sweat. He understood the jab—Fatty was the only real man, Hu Yifei counted as two, and he and Chen Yuze were the “women.”

    “Well… let’s leave it to fate.” Chen Yuze sighed and pressed the eye symbol at the center.

    “Click… RUMBLE—!”

    The moment he pressed it, the entire corridor shook violently. The walls groaned as the iron spears retracted, vanishing back into the stone. The floor slabs rose, sealing the gaps, and the walls slowly retreated to their original positions.

    If not for the broken spears littering the ground, no one would believe this place had nearly killed them moments ago.

    “Whew… We’re safe. Everyone, come over—but be careful. Don’t trigger anything else. This place is no joke.” Chen Yuze slumped, his back drenched in cold sweat.

    Old Hu and Hu Yifei exhaled in relief. Fatty, who had been holding the rope the whole time, rushed over. The four exchanged glances—that was way too close. They hadn’t even reached the tomb’s main chamber yet, and they’d almost died.

    No wonder those grave robbers hadn’t made it in. If they had, these traps wouldn’t be intact. They must’ve triggered some, lost men, and retreated—which explained why they’d left guns behind in that crate. Probably keepsakes for fallen comrades. Sear?h the N??eFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    “Fatty, stay close. Follow my steps exactly,” Old Hu warned, only to see Hu Yifei already striding ahead without a care.

    He sighed inwardly. “Yet another Fatty.”

    But he’d never say it out loud. Surviving was good enough, no need to provoke Hu Yifei.