The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 352 - 287: Hundred ’Monsters’ Box

I looked at Qinghan, and he, like me, seemed to see nothing. Knowing that someone else was like me, I felt relieved.

"What’s wrong with them?" I looked at Cheng Xuelin, who had already raised his shovel in front of him. Could it be that there are invisible monsters that they can see, but Qinghan and I cannot?

"Provide me with some light." Qinghan didn’t answer my question. He handed me a flashlight and walked over to the hole in the wall, tying the head of the grappling hook to a folding shovel.

"Captain, what are you doing? Get out of there, quick!" Cheng Xuelin noticed our actions and shouted anxiously.

"Come over here, trust me, don’t be afraid." I beckoned to Cheng Xuelin. He was standing between the two teams, and the weapons in the hands of the others were much more ’sharp’ than his. In the event of a melee, he would only be cannon fodder.

"But..." Cheng Xuelin glanced at the others, who looked horrified and clenched their weapons tightly. No one believed me, and they didn’t move a step.

"Xuelin, there’s something wrong with her and Professor Chen, don’t go over there." Lilith tried to stop him when she saw this.

By the rules of minority obeying the majority, Qinghan and I were indeed different from the others. Moreover, at times like this, there is comfort in numbers. For Cheng Xuelin to step out from the crowd and come to our side required great courage.

We were all colleagues from the same department, and there was only so much I could do to help him.

Cheng Xuelin hesitated for two seconds, then, holding his shovel, jogged over to join us.

"I-I will listen to the captain." Although he was not as physically fit as his other teammates, it didn’t mean he was someone without his own opinions. The fact that he dared to follow me into the maze-like passageway without knowing much about it showed his courage.

"Suit yourself!" Lilith was too angry to talk to him, as most of her attention was focused on a mass of air.

I should say that each of them was staring intently at a mass of air, as if some great threat had really emerged from the wall.

"Comrade Cheng, what did you see?" I asked Cheng Xuelin quietly when he came over.

"A H-Hellhound. Didn’t you see it?" Cheng Xuelin lowered his gaze, continuously staring at the spot next to Qinghan. Judging by his line of sight, he was seeing a Hellhound about half a person’s height.

"Hmm... I never imagined something like a little white dog from the movies?" I really couldn’t imagine how vicious a Hellhound could be. I knew of fierce dogs, but adding the word ’Hell’ made me uncertain.

"No, its teeth are this long, it has three heads, and it even breathes fire!" While responding nervously, Cheng Xuelin took a second to show me the length of the dog’s fangs.

Not to brag, but the length he indicated seemed more like a poodle with boar tusks, which was a bit exaggerated.

"Hellhound? It’s clearly a Nine-headed Serpent!"

"It’s the ghost soldiers, isn’t it?"

"Stop messing around, it’s a female ghost..."

I glanced back at the hole in the wall, thinking, how incredible is it? If so many kinds of monsters could be hidden in this wall, wouldn’t it be a treasure box?

Before everyone could calm down and properly discuss why each person saw different monsters, someone was grabbed by an invisible monster.

Of course, his expression showed he was caught, but I still couldn’t see the monster that held him.

Qinghan said we couldn’t wait any longer. He asked me to illuminate the hole, then pushed the shovel with the grappling hook into the hole.

"Hide behind me, and you’ll be fine. If you’re really scared, just close your eyes." I pointed to the open space behind me and told Cheng Xuelin.

He was not shy, and immediately shuffled over, hiding behind me.

It was odd; those surrounding the stone platform looked like they were all being attacked by the monsters they saw. They each wielded their weapons in retaliation, and the scene was quite chaotic. Fortunately, they didn’t carry any firearms, so launching attacks against the air wouldn’t cause large-scale collateral damage.

Qinghan hooked at the void a few times with the grappling hook on the shovel head, and suddenly it caught onto something, making a clanging sound.

This sound didn’t seem like it grabbed a living creature. It seemed more like hitting metal. He slowly pulled the object from the hole, stopping at the edge without pulling it out completely. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Qinghan and I blocked the entrance, and others couldn’t see what was hooked. I hadn’t seen this object before; its surface was not metallic but transparent, like some kind of Crystal Stone.

It was square, filled with gears, somewhat resembling the insides of a mechanical watch, but far more complex. There were so many gears inside that it was impossible to tally them, spinning in a way that dazzled the eyes—spinning forwards, backwards, and diagonally. The problem was, I couldn’t determine their purpose.

There were no hands or scales on the transparent case, obviously not a large watch. If it were an ultra-complex music box, then it wasn’t producing any sound.

I suspect the clicking sound earlier was from this, likely the prelude to its activation, like the sound of winding it up.

"Do you think what they saw could be ’projected’ into their minds by this thing?" I speculated wildly.

"They only saw those things after it activated, so it’s a possibility." Qinghan retracted the shovel. "Let’s go and see if there are any similar devices in the other holes."

Qinghan pulled me along, and I dragged Cheng Xuelin with me. He listened to me and had his eyes squeezed shut.

We went to another hole nearby, using the same method to hook out another transparent device, with countless gears spinning inside just like the first one.

By this time, a fight had erupted by the stone platform. Someone was rolling on the ground as if avoiding something, while another jumped onto the platform swinging a machete, the blade dangerously close to striking one of their own.

And the person fighting for their life against the air below the blade was completely unaware that their teammate above was raising a machete against them.

"Should I go knock them out?" I sought Qinghan’s opinion. If they continued fighting like this, they wouldn’t be injured by the mummies but rather hacked to pieces by their own team.

"Go ahead." Qinghan knew what was in the holes now, so he could manage the lighting himself.

Cheng Xuelin couldn’t follow me into the fray, so he hid behind Qinghan, still keeping his eyes closed. Upon hearing me say I was going to knock the others out, he quickly opened his eyes for a peek, then promptly closed them again, shouting, ’Be careful.’

These two teams often undertook missions at the front lines, so saying they had no experience was impossible. Lilith had earlier taken something from her pocket and put it in her mouth, seemingly a pill.

They carried various pills for field missions, as did Qinghan, so Lilith likely suspected they were experiencing hallucinations and wanted to take some medicine to regain clarity.

However, this couldn’t resolve the situation. Apart from her, several others also suspected what they saw was a hallucination, so they huddled under the platform, eyes tightly shut, hoping to avoid being affected by the hallucinations.