The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 85: Dismembered on the Spot

Houston and two of his teammates who died here had a similar situation as mine; they also got separated from the others when the passage shifted.

They were originally four people, and one died in the passage. I asked if it was the one cleaved in half by a big blade, and he said yes.

There was nothing in the circular plaza except for the coffin. I asked him how the two people on the ground died.

Upon hearing this question, Houston seemed to recall something terrifying, his gaze went distant, lips trembling as he said, "Nothing."

This means he did not see what killed his teammates. Humans cannot be dismembered in place, they’re not LEGO toys assembled together.

Just as I was thinking this, a wind suddenly rose from the flat ground, as if blowing upward from beneath my feet, and then Houston, who was only a few steps away... was dismembered in place!

He didn’t even realize what happened, his eyes widened, gaze blank and astonished.

Splatter—

The body parts fell to the ground, blood flowed everywhere, the scene was rather gruesome. I looked down at the ground.

That’s when I discovered the gaps between the stone slabs on the ground. I previously thought they were carved patterns; now it seems the deadly wind came through these gaps.

Also, it seemed to kill randomly. The two people who just died were on the other side of the coffin, and now Houston died on this side, so the wind’s shooting position wasn’t fixed.

The blood seeped down through the gaps in the ground, no wonder there was no blood around those two bodies.

But then I realized something was wrong. Normally, blood seeping into the floor couldn’t happen so fast.

In just two or three minutes, all the blood around the body, including inside his torso, was completely absorbed by the floor gaps.

This suggests that the half-corpse in the passage was likely drained of blood the same way.

I took out a folding shovel I picked up, wedged the head into the floor gap, trying to pry open the stone slab to take a look.

But the stone slabs on the ground seemed to be one whole piece, with no seams, only engraved patterns.

Now I was the only one left, and since I had nothing else to do, I decided to do some physical labor, saving Chen Qinghan from calling me a "phone addict."

I came to the coffin. If there was any place connected to the underground, it would be the pedestal beneath the stone coffin.

I tapped around the coffin base with the shovel, and sure enough, it was hollow inside.

The mechanism must be in the coffin. I jumped into it, searching all around.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have Chen Qinghan’s skills. I searched for a long time but couldn’t find the spot hiding the mechanism.

"Sigh... if only Chen Beast were here~," I sighed, leaning against the coffin’s side wall.

"Beast?" a voice suddenly floated up from the underground.

"Whoa, you’re like Cao Cao!" I leaned over the edge of the coffin, looking down where the voice came from.

Through the gap in the stone slabs, I saw swaying beams of light, which should be Chen Qinghan’s flashlight.

"Han, you’re okay? Thank goodness," Jerry’s startled voice also came up from below.

"You’re one to survive. How did you guys end up down there? Look at this coffin base, maybe there’s a way up."

"The situation’s a bit dire, something’s blocking the position you mentioned, and it’s alive," Chen Qinghan said. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"That thing is incredibly disgusting, like a big, stinking brain matter. It has tendrils everywhere above us, beneath your feet, like tree roots," Jerry’s tone was filled with disgust, his voice a bit distant from the ground.

Presumably, he found the thing overhead disgusting, reluctant to get close to the floor. They were right beneath me, only separated by a layer of stone slab.

"Don’t you guys have advanced equipment? Laser guns maybe? You could cut the floor open and come up." I’ve watched some ’thief’-like movies; those bank vault robbers always have advanced ’tools.’

"Yes, Pete and the others have it."

"Which means it’s as good as not having it!"

I jumped off the coffin and ran to Jerry’s spot, stomping hard on the ground.

"Oh dear, don’t do that, stop it—" Jerry’s voice was muffled, surely covering his mouth and nose.

"Oops, my bad~" I was grinning evilly at my prank when suddenly my expression stiffened. I shouted to the people below: "There’s a kind of wind down there that can dismember people, it blows every once in a while, two groups have already died, find a place to hide for now."

"Someone’s coming down," Chen Qinghan spoke solemnly, in this ancient tomb, only a few living people were around, if someone was below, it had to be Pete and them.

Sure enough, what came up first was a string of gibberish foreign language, seeming like an argument. Among them were Pete’s voice and a woman’s voice.

Their team had a female member, equally tall and strong, with particularly fierce eyes, looked not to be trifled with.

I listened for a while, it seemed like Ai Li, the female member, was blaming Pete for a judgment error that led to the team’s sacrifice.

Pete was actively defending himself, saying that continuing forward was a group vote decision, not his responsibility alone.

When they discovered the passage would shift, someone suggested retreating, but the ancient tomb’s treasure blinded them with temptation, and they also had a bit of a gamble, thinking this team was experienced enough to take the risk.

As a result, they lost soldiers along the way, losing eight members, four of whom I encountered.

The camp and the entrance to the underground together held eight people. They had twenty-six people for this operation, meaning there were ten left below.

Twenty-six people, eight dead, equaled sacrificing a third of their manpower, yet there were no results to be found.

There was no gold or silver treasure in the tomb. From the tomb structure, there was neither an annex chamber nor a side room for burial goods; the coffin of the tomb owner was also empty.

With no treasure and no people, the team had internal strife, and Pete, as the leader, naturally became the target of everyone’s blame.

And hearing what they said, it was also Pete who triggered the mechanism, causing their entire team to fall into the trap.

By sacrificing two people, ten escaped, but there were still passages under the trap. They couldn’t go back and couldn’t go up; they followed the passage and ended up in the same place as Chen Qinghan.

I, too, wandered around and ended up in the circular plaza, so all the tomb mechanisms actually linked to this plaza.

Pete and his team also discovered the thing blocking the coffin base, stopping their argument, and they began to discuss what exactly that thing was, all talking at once.

Even now, they believed the treasure was in the chamber above. I deliberately stayed silent, not telling them there was nothing here, letting them go on trying tirelessly.

Chen Qinghan and Jerry hid away; although we were originally on the same team, they never regarded the two of us seriously. If they discovered Chen Qinghan was also down there, they might force him to move away what was blocking their exit.

Pete’s group argued for a long time, and regarding the species classification of that living thing, no one had a definitive idea. They eventually agreed to use fire; living things are always afraid of fire. They couldn’t let this thing block their road to riches forever!