The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 84: Mobile Soft Bed in the Ancient Tomb
Finding a backpack in an ancient tomb is most likely something left behind by a Tomb Robber, their backpacks tend to hold antiques, maybe there’s something valuable inside.
I picked up the backpack and shook off the dust on it. The style of this bag is quite old, probably from the 1980s.
Modern items inside the tomb suggest someone has been here already, maybe the so-called ’pit’ is actually a Tomb Robber’s excavation tunnel.
The shovel inside the backpack is rusted, and the flashlight is broken, there’s nothing valuable at all. After rummaging through it, I only found a stone in the inner pocket.
No one would just put an ordinary stone inside the backpack’s pocket, I figured this stone must have some special significance to its owner.
The stone is about the size of a regular pebble, just right to hold in the palm, I put it in my pocket, considering it a keepsake.
There were no bones near the backpack, I wonder if the person went deeper and never came back, or dropped the backpack on their way out.
Continuing forward, I walked through the Sword Forest again, but this time there was half a person in it.
A man from Pete’s team had been sliced into two by a large blade, with his top half in the passageway, while the lower half was nowhere to be found.
Yet, there was not a drop of blood on the ground or walls, even the blades were spotless.
We hadn’t been inside long, even if the person died immediately after entering, it shouldn’t be possible to be cut into two without a single drop of blood.
I’ve walked through twenty or so of these trap-laden passages, which could be said as entering over twenty small spaces, yet there’s still no end in sight.
"Could we be going in circles?" I decided not to walk anymore and stayed within a passage, to see where it might take me.
These passageways move; who knows, after turning eighteen thousand times, I could end up back at the starting point.
I chose the most comfortable passage to wait for the mechanism to rotate, you ask why it’s comfortable...
Because it’s filled with worm-like creatures, their weapon is spitting out web-like sticky fluid, to catch prey and then use ’saliva’ to soften and corrode it.
When not attacking, they are just soft ’waterbeds’, I picked up half a corpse’s backpack, there is a moisture-proof pad inside, I laid the pad over the worms, lying down on it felt soft and comfortable.
Squit, squit~ ’Heavy on me’
Listening to the worm’s goofy complaints, I took out my phone and continued watching the movie.
Watching a movie resting on worms inside an ancient tomb is really no different from being in a hotel suite, and it’s quiet underground, no sounds of traffic from above.
While I was deeply engrossed, the entrance ahead suddenly shook, strong light poured in, startling the worms beneath the pad, causing them all to squeeze out.
How could there be sunlight in the Underworld? I sat up, being moved forward by the worm mass.
Exiting the passageway, I looked up at the huge ’bulb’ above, but the light was too bright to discern what it was.
The worm swarm uniformly moved in one direction, not changing formation, surging together and quickly advancing towards that direction.
As I looked around, observing the environment, I realized it was a man-made plaza, somewhat like a circular arena, with many entrances; the passage I came from was just one of them.
In the center of the circular plaza lay a massive round sarcophagus, shaped like a cookie box.
’Dinner’s ready’ ’Hurry up’ ’Save some for me’
The worms excitedly rushed forward, skirting the round stone coffin, and that’s when I saw two corpses lying on the ground.
They were from Pete’s team, two people, uncertain what trap they fell for, their bodies were shattered into pieces, yet like the half-corpse in the passage, there’s no blood on the ground.
The worm swarm instantly engulfed the two bodies, as they dined, I grabbed the pad and jumped to the ground.
Turning around, I faced a pair of eyes, a pair of bright green eyes!
It was one of Pete’s team members, peering at me through the crack of the coffin lid.
"Hous... Houston?" I recalled for a moment, then called out his name.
"It’s me." The person hiding inside the coffin quietly replied.
"Have you seen Chen and Jerry?" I asked.
"No." Houston still answered quietly, seemingly afraid of attracting attention.
"Alright, stay put then." I patted the coffin and stepped onto the sarcophagus’s base, standing on the edge and examining the engravings on the lid.
Once the worms finished devouring the corpses, they left not a single bit of residue on the ground, squit squit they clustered back into the passage.
I noticed their navigation was very precise, with dozens of passage entrances surrounding the circular plaza; they didn’t hesitate a bit and returned to the exact passage they exited.
Later, the position of the exits shifted again, and the passage with the worms vanished.
"Come out." I jumped off the sarcophagus base and clapped my hands, signaling the person hiding inside to emerge.
Houston, a black man with chocolate-colored skin, his hair floated like a mushroom cloud atop his head, now covered in dust, stealthily crawled out from the coffin.
The coffin lid could slide, pushing it open wasn’t difficult, all coffin lids in the Heavenly Maiden Tomb were designed like this, regardless of whether they’re flat or round, the lids could always be pushed open.
Especially when pushed from inside, showing that this design facilitates the tomb owner’s exit.
Houston climbed out still shaken, glanced at the backpack which remained, but his two teammates had already vanished without a trace.
The reason I let him out was to see if there was anything inside the coffin, turns out it was empty.
"Did you see the bodies?" I asked Houston, who was intently watching the exits in nervousness.
"No, it was empty when I got in." Houston swallowed, his gaze still fixed on the entrances.
Those entrances just shifted once, and the next shift would take some time, finding nothing inside the coffin wasn’t unexpected.
Sarcophagi in the Heavenly Maiden Tomb, once opened, anything peculiar inside would decompose and vanish.
Previously, someone visited this tomb; maybe a prior group opened the coffin and caused whatever was inside to disappear.
"Who—who are you?" Houston seemed to have recovered some from his fright, perhaps recalling my sudden appearance, although his facial expression... well, it showed no change, but his eyes were full of wariness and fear.
"I am a person, a person of identity."
Houston’s face showed puzzlement, not understanding what I meant. Actually, I intended nothing more, merely stating the facts.
"Can you control those bugs?" Possibly realizing his question was unclear, he rephrased.
"No, it’s just that some animals naturally ignore me."
"Did you come here alone?" He still seemed uneasy, frequently glancing at those exits.
"I got separated from the two of them." I truthfully replied.
