Because the left-handed paddle strike was so powerful, coupled with the terrifying recoil, after a few shots, I only felt a numbness in my hand and could hardly lift it anymore. Fortunately, the impact was impressive enough that even Old Yang was startled and nearly stumbled. The rats quickly retreated, no longer daring to attack recklessly.

Seeing this as an opportunity, I urged Old Yang to hurry. The paddle strike was immensely powerful at close range, but the bullets were limited; even if I killed ten rats with one shot, it wouldn’t be enough. I didn’t know if the next shot would have such a good effect.

While I was pondering, we had already retreated to the center of the pit. Looking down, I indeed saw a dark hole in the ground, with the brick layer faintly visible beneath the soil. Old Yang struggled to shove the cool master into the hole, and as he slid down along his spine, he let go, causing the cool master to fall. Then he crouched down, supporting himself with his hands, and jumped in.

I stayed back as a rear guard, and upon hearing Old Yang calling out to me from inside, I followed his example and jumped into the hole with one hand supporting myself.

Before I had even descended halfway, my feet touched the ground. I flicked on my lighter and saw Old Yang anxiously waiting for me, while the cool master lay on the side, unconscious and unresponsive.

I handed the lighter to Old Yang so he could find something to illuminate the area. I picked up some weapons lying on the ground and haphazardly blocked the entrance to prevent the rats from coming in.

Old Yang lit the torches on the walls of the tomb chamber, and as the light spread, we discovered that this was clearly a stone chamber in the style of the Snake Kingdom. The walls were made of stone slabs, adorned with colorful murals, and the ceiling was inlaid with blue bricks. However, due to the humidity, almost every visible area was marked with signs of mold.

The stone chamber was small, and aside from some weapons and tools, there were no burial goods. In the center of the chamber, there was no coffin, but there were signs on the floor indicating that a coffin had been placed there before.

Moreover, we didn’t see any passage leading to other areas. Just a quick glance made me wonder if the ancient tomb that these dead outside were trying to protect was really such a small and empty place.

Heat was pouring down from above, and we felt the oxygen was running low. The murals, due to the temperature, became increasingly vibrant, making it hard to look directly at them. We all knew that while staying here could temporarily save our lives, it wasn’t a long-term solution.

I took a few sips of water and went to check on the cool master. When I touched his forehead, I found him burning up, his breath weak—symptoms of overheating. I hurriedly poured the remaining half bottle of water down his throat, and Old Yang pinched his philtrum a few times, finally managing to bring him back to consciousness.

Outside, the rats had gone mad, surrounding the entrance to the tunnel and desperately shrieking, trying their best to get in. Unfortunately, the entrance was blocked by bronze weapons, and they couldn’t squeeze through.

Old Yang turned around a few times, realizing there was no exit, and asked me if there might be a secret passage here too. If not, we would end up being steamed to death.

I looked around; there was almost nowhere to set up a mechanism. It was too small, and everything was clear at a glance. Just as I was about to say it was impossible, suddenly there was a loud crack, and a piece of debris from the tunnel entrance collapsed. A rat had actually bitten through a brick, trying to squeeze through the gap, but unfortunately, its head was too big and got stuck between two bricks.

These rats couldn’t bite through the bronze, so they started gnawing on the loose blue bricks around. I thought to myself that this was bad. Although these blue bricks were quite sturdy, they were still no match for metal. If the rats went all out, they might be able to chew through them.

I picked up a spear and pushed the rat back, then shouted for Lao Yang to help. Lao Yang quickly took off his outer garment and used it to block the gap at the entrance of the tunnel with his weapon. However, his clothing was useless; after just a few hits, it was bitten through with a large hole, and then a dozen rats climbed down the spear’s shaft.

We quickly let go, and those rats jumped to the ground, not attacking us but instead rushing towards a corner of the wall.

Lao Yang suddenly realized and shouted, “Old Wu, they’re looking for a way to escape! Quickly, follow them!”

We hurried over and discovered that there was an inconspicuous rat hole at the base of the wall. I crouched down to take a look, and behind the wall, it seemed to be empty.

Without hesitation, Lao Yang grabbed a copper hammer from the ground and swung it at the wall. With just one hit, the stone slab cracked, and a hole the size of a human head appeared. When we peered in, we found that there was actually a stone chamber behind it.

“Damn, it turns out the secret passage here has to be smashed open!” Lao Yang exclaimed, and he smashed a few more times to enlarge the hole. We both lifted up the cool master and crawled inside.

The stone chamber next door had no decorations at all; it was just a square shaft in the center leading down to a deeper place. There was no water below, and those rats jumped straight into the shaft without hesitation.

Suddenly, we heard the sound of the brick ceiling of the tomb cracking. Turning around, we saw that the lead used to seal the bricks had softened, and the tomb chamber was about to collapse. Lao Yang and I steeled ourselves; if we were to die, then so be it. Gritting our teeth, we followed the old rat and jumped into the well.

The well had a slight slope, and I slid down, landing heavily before rolling onto a flat area. Thinking that Lao Yang and the cool master were right behind me, I quickly moved to the side. Sure enough, Lao Yang landed right where I had been standing, followed by the cool master landing on him, making him cry out in surprise.

A loud rumble came from above, followed by a violent tremor. The tomb chamber finally collapsed from the fire, and hot stones poured down from where we had fallen, crashing down upon us.

Lao Yang sat up, holding his head, and asked me, “Where is this place?”

I raised the torch that Lao Yang had brought from the tomb and turned to look. It was still a square well shaft, just oriented differently. “It’s an ancient tomb’s drainage well, part of the drainage system,” I replied.

Lao Yang looked around at the complex well shaft and asked, “So where do we go now?”

I glanced at him, thinking to myself, how would I know? Just then, several rats slid down from above and jumped off Lao Yang’s shoulder, scurrying into the passage ahead.

I felt a spark of inspiration and quickly said, “Follow them!” With that, I hurriedly chased after them.

The few rats scurried away quickly, leading us through several turns, and we could barely keep up with them. We rolled and crawled behind them for over ten minutes, when suddenly a gentle breeze blew from ahead, and the rats vanished in the blink of an eye. Before I could comprehend what was happening, I felt my feet give way, and I almost tumbled out of the drainage well.

I had no idea what the environment outside was like, so I hurriedly turned over and stood up. At that moment, Lao Yang and the others also tumbled out, and the surroundings were pitch black. I quickly raised my torch to illuminate the area.

Suddenly, the surroundings became clear. This was not a tomb chamber but rather the bottom of a massive circular well, about sixty meters in diameter, with a deep pit in the center. There were fire racks all around the stone well, and I went over to light a few, brightening the area even more.

The walls of the well showed clear signs of excavation, indicating that this circular well was man-made. But why did they dig so deep? Could this also be part of the quarry cave above?

I vaguely saw something enormous standing upright in the center of the pit, but the light was insufficient to see clearly. The temperature here was very high, with a scorching wind blowing down from above, making my head spin and my balance unsteady.

I raised the torch and had Lao Yang carry Liang Shiye into the pit. Under the illumination of the torch, the situation in the pit became clear.

The pit was filled with the headless stone figurines we had seen outside, nearly a hundred of them, their heads already desiccated. In the middle of the pit stood a large bronze column, about ten meters in diameter, which at first glance resembled a curved bronze wall reaching high into the air.

The base of the bronze column was embedded straight into the stone at the bottom of the pit, as if it had grown there, causing many cracks in the surrounding rock.

There were also numerous thin bronze rods of varying thickness on top of the bronze column, very similar to the one Lao Yang was carrying. I estimated there were at least a thousand densely packed rods, and I couldn’t tell how many more were above. The entire bronze column resembled a giant tree growing out of the stone, its branches flourishing and reaching up to the surface.

Liang Shiye felt a chill in his heart as he got down from Lao Yang’s back and said, “The people who built this place must have wanted to excavate this bronze tree. Look at the excavation marks on the sides; they dug all the way to the mountain’s base without finding an end. Who knows how deep this bronze column goes into the ground.”

I felt a chill as well. Such a massive metal object far exceeded the smelting capabilities of the time. The ancestors of the She people could not have had such technology. But if they didn’t cast it, who then placed this bronze tree here? Could it have grown from hell?

At that moment, Liang Shiye suddenly tapped me. I turned to see Lao Yang, who had been silent, staring intently at the bronze tree and walking straight towards it.