Chapter 16 1
Mu Linfeng and Gao Hongjin moved some of the rubble blocking the cave entrance, leaving a half-meter-high gap at the top of the cave entrance so that they could crawl into the cave by bending down.
Moving stones is a physical job, and the two of them were exhausted. Mu Linfeng sat on a stone and said breathlessly: "Lao Gao, I think it's enough. Let's take a break and catch our breath."
Wen Yinqiu hurriedly climbed up the pile of rocks with a water bottle and a towel: "Come, drink some water first and wipe off the sweat..."
Gao Hongjin took the kettle, raised his head and took a big sip, wiped his mouth with his hand, and then asked Mu Linfeng: "Linfeng, if this cave is really the entrance to the Hengwang Mausoleum, isn't it too simple?"
"Haha... you mean that things that are easily available are generally worthless."
Gao Hongjin shook his head and said, "That's not entirely true. Anyway, I feel like it can't be that easy. Do you think tomb robbers have been looking for something for hundreds of years? How could we find it so quickly?"
Wen Yinqiu smiled and said, "I also think what Brother Gao said makes sense."
Mu Linfeng looked at the two and said calmly, "You are right. Even if this cave is the entrance to the Hengwang Mausoleum, it is impossible to enter the underground palace from here. It just confirms our guess that this mountain is the Hengwang Mausoleum. If we want to enter the underground palace of the Hengwang Mausoleum, we must find another passage."
Wen Yinqiu seemed particularly interested in Mu Linfeng's words. She squatted down in front of Mu Linfeng, put one hand on his knee, and said in a coquettish tone: "Brother Mu, tell me which passage you want to use to enter the underground palace of the Hengwang Mausoleum?"
Few men can resist this move from a girl, let alone a woman of stunning beauty. Mu Linfeng's purpose in exploring the Hengwang Mausoleum was half for Wen Yinqiu. He immediately said with a smile, "The only way to enter the underground palace is through the airway. If we can prove that the Hengwang Mausoleum is underneath, we will start looking for the airway of the mausoleum."
Wen Yinqiu said hurriedly: "Isn't the airway from the underground palace to the outside closed most of the time? It is only opened at fixed times. Even if you can find the airway, you can't get in."
Mu Linfeng did not consider how a girl like Wen Yinqiu, who studied music, could have such in-depth research on tombs. Wen Yinqiu was only a stone's throw away from him, and the unique body fragrance of a woman drifted into Mu Linfeng's nostrils from time to time, making him feel intoxicated.
"The Hengwang Mausoleum is very different from other tombs. I guess the airway in the Hengwang Mausoleum is likely to be open, so as long as we find the airway, we may be able to enter the underground palace of the mausoleum..."
"Why is the airway of King Heng's Mausoleum different from other tombs?" Wen Yinqiu asked curiously.
Mu Linfeng stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes with his hands, and said to the two: "This question will be answered later. Now we should go into the cave and find out what's going on."
Mu Linfeng took out the miner's light from his backpack and put it on his head, and tied the battery to his waist. This not only freed up his hands to do other things, but also the miner's light could protect his head. The safety of his body was very important when drilling a cave. After Gao Hongjin and Wen Yinqiu had packed up, Mu Linfeng was the first to go into the cave.
As soon as I entered the cave, a cold air hit me in the face. The sweat I had just exerted from moving stones disappeared immediately, and goose bumps immediately appeared on my body.
Mu Linfeng first took out a Zippo lighter from his trouser pocket. With a crisp sound, a flame suddenly ignited. Mu Linfeng squatted down and let the flame close to the ground. Seeing that the flame burned normally, he put the lighter away with confidence.
Because the cave entrance was blocked, it was necessary to check whether there was a large amount of carbon monoxide and other toxic gases in the cave. If the flame went out, it meant there was a lot of carbon monoxide gas. If the burning flame changed color, it meant there was toxic gas. After everything was normal, Mu Linfeng called Gao Hongjin and Wen Yinqiu in.
At this time, there was a natural cave with a diameter of more than three meters. The deep part of the cave was dark, giving people an unfathomable feeling. Mu Linfeng walked forward while paying attention to the cave walls on both sides. After walking for a distance, he finally found traces of chiseling on one side of the stone wall.
Mu Linfeng stopped and let the beam of light above his head shine on the cave wall, then said to the two people: "Look at these places, it is obvious that someone has chiseled here."
"Lin Feng, what does this prove?" Gao Hongjin asked softly.
"Look at the direction of the cave. This should be a corner. If several people were carrying a two-meter-long coffin, it would be difficult to pass through. So this corner was shoveled away to make the passage smoother."
"Brother Mu is right. Judging from the direction of the cave, there must have been a turn here. After the protruding rocks were chiseled away, the cave appears to be much straighter..."
Wen Yinqiu held out the electronic altitude measuring instrument in his hand to Mu Linfeng as he spoke: "Also, this cave should be going down gradually. You can see that our current position is nearly ten meters lower than the cave entrance."
Gao Hongjin knew that this discovery meant that the goal had been further confirmed. He looked at the two people and said excitedly: "This means that we are going underground, and the underground palace of the Heng King's Mausoleum is likely just ahead."
Mu Linfeng said nothing, waved his hand, turned around and continued to walk forward. After walking a few meters, a branch cave appeared. He stopped and looked into the two caves. Wen Yinqiu, who was following closely behind him, whispered, "Brother Mu, should we explore along the wider cave first?"
"Yeah, I have the same idea." Mu Linfeng said in an approving tone.
Mu Linfeng used the chalk to make a mark at the fork. Wen Yinqiu found that the mark Mu Linfeng made was very special. She couldn't understand what it meant, so she asked, "Brother Mu, the mark you made seems to be different from others."
"Haha, this is a special mark used by special forces when I was in the army. Outsiders generally can't understand it, only we know what it means."
Wen Yinqiu said in an admiring tone: "I heard from Brother Gao that your tracking skills are also very powerful. I didn't expect you to learn everything in the army."
Mu Linfeng said proudly: "To exaggerate a little, what I learned in the special forces is enough for a person to benefit from for a lifetime."
Gao Hongjin saw the two people talking so excitedly and came over to join them: "Why are we going through this cave? Why not go over there?"
Mu Linfeng was too lazy to explain to him and continued walking forward.
Wen Yinqiu also followed Mu Linfeng silently. She looked at the detector in her hand from time to time. All the equipment she carried were brought from abroad.
Yesterday, Mu Linfeng was also very surprised when he saw the very professional detection tools that Wen Yinqiu brought. He had never seen such advanced instruments before. Wen Yinqiu explained to him that it was for the purpose of exploring the tomb of King Heng. Mu Linfeng did not think much about it. At this time, he would believe whatever Wen Yinqiu said to him because he had been blinded by love.
The three people walked forward cautiously for a short distance, and then another branch cave appeared. Walking further in, there were several more branch caves, giving people the feeling that they had walked into a maze. Without reference points underground, people would quickly lose their sense of direction. In addition, the conditions in the caves were basically the same, so it was easy to get lost in such caves. If it weren't for the marks made by Mu Linfeng, they would probably have lost their way.
The cave in front suddenly became larger. Although its width only increased by a few meters, the top of the cave suddenly rose more than ten meters. It looked as if a big crack had appeared in the mountain. Walking inside was like entering a canyon in the dark.
While inspecting the situation in the cave, Mu Linfeng asked Wen Yinqiu beside him: "How long have we been here?"
"It's been more than forty minutes. I calculated that the distance we have walked is about 450 meters," Wen Yinqiu said, looking at the multi-functional detector in his hand.
Gao Hongjin, who was following behind, suddenly asked in surprise: "Do you feel your feet are a little weak?"
Mu Linfeng said without even turning his head: "It should be bat droppings. Look at the top of the cave. Those black things on it are upside-down bats."
After hearing Mu Linfeng say there were bats on the top of the cave, Gao Hongjin raised his head and looked upward. As soon as he looked up, he felt something warm dripping on his cheek. He quickly touched it with his hand, and immediately a foul smell entered his nostrils. He was so angry that he cursed: "Damn it, the bats pooped on my face... It's sticky and smelly..."
At this moment, Wen Yinqiu suddenly felt an itchy sensation on the back of her neck. She touched it with her hand, and was immediately horrified because her hand touched a furry thing. Wen Yinqiu suddenly realized that it was a bat behind her neck.
It turned out that a palm-sized bat quietly attached itself to Wen Yinqiu's collar, then stretched its pointed mouth to her neck, biting her delicate skin and began to suck her blood. The saliva of this bat contains anesthetic ingredients, so the animal being sucked blood cannot feel it at first.
The bat's fur touched Wen Yinqiu's skin, so she felt itchy. Wen Yinqiu tore the bat off her collar, and the bat squeaked as she pinched it hard.
Wen Yinqiu held the bat in her hand under the light in front of her. She suddenly discovered that there was bright red blood in the bat's open mouth and sharp teeth. She immediately screamed in horror: "Vampire bat!" and then threw the bat heavily to the ground.
Hearing Wen Yinqiu's scream, Mu Linfeng hurriedly turned back to look at her. He saw that after Wen Yinqiu threw the vampire bat to the ground, she used her hand to touch the bitten part of her neck. When she pulled her hand back, her palm was also covered with fresh blood.
After seeing the blood on Wen Yinqiu's hand, Mu Linfeng seemed to smell a strong smell of blood. He suddenly realized that something was wrong and shouted hurriedly: "Retreat quickly..."
After seeing the blood drawn by Wen Yinqiu after being bitten by a vampire bat, Mu Linfeng remembered the words of the old man in Jiushan Village. It seemed that the old man was not threatening them at all.
Mu Linfeng knew how powerful this vampire bat was. It could suck the blood of sleeping animals without the animals noticing and eventually died quietly.
The bloody smell that now permeated the cave would most likely attract numerous vampire bats and launch a frenzied attack on them, so Mu Linfeng quickly called Gao Hongjin and Wen Yinqiu to leave.
Before Mu Linfeng finished speaking, Gao Hongjin felt a furry thing suddenly pounce on his face. He hurriedly grabbed the vampire bat that had landed on his face, but before he could throw the bat to death, he felt countless bats pounce on him. Gao Hongjin was so scared that he turned around and ran back...
Mu Linfeng and Wen Yinqiu were also attacked by countless vampire bats. They both raised their arms and knocked the flying bats to the ground. These disgusting little creatures not only attacked their exposed skin, but also pounced on them, hooked their clothes with their sharp claws, and even bit them with their sharp teeth through their clothes.
The three men ran back while tearing off the bats that had landed on them with their hands. Moreover, above their heads and around them, countless vampire bats were flying around quickly, making piercing noises that made people shudder...
Gao Hongjin, who was running in front, was in a panic and didn't care about the mark left by Mu Linfeng. He just ran forward desperately. In order to avoid the bats following behind, he ran to the cave entrance from time to time. He didn't know how far he ran, but he actually got into a dead end. After running a few steps forward, Gao Hongjin suddenly found that there was no way forward. A smooth stone wall blocked the way.
Gao Hongjin quickly stopped and shouted anxiously: "Oh no, there is no way forward!"
By the time the three men stopped and turned around to run back, it was too late. In the light beam above their heads, countless vampire bats were swarming like a cloud of smoke along the entire cave. Seeing this scene, the three men felt their pores burst open, and they seemed to have smelled the scent of death. If so many vampire bats pounced on them, they would be sucked to nothing but skin in a few minutes.
The more he was in a life-or-death situation, the calmer Mu Linfeng was. Six years of special forces training had tempered his will like steel. At critical moments, he didn't need to think, he would react instinctively.
There is a net bag on one side of Gao Hongjin's backpack, in which is a small iron can, about the same size as two cans, filled with liquefied gas. This is for a portable liquefied gas stove, which they plan to use to heat food in the wild.
Mu Linfeng grabbed the small iron can on the side of Gao Hongjin's back and pressed the valve on the top with his left thumb, and a stream of gas instantly spurted out. At the same time, he lit the lighter with his right hand, and a column of fire rushed towards the flying bat like a ferocious fire dragon.
Amidst the squeaking noises, a thick layer of burnt bats fell to the ground, and the cave was immediately filled with the smell of burning fur. The bats that were not burned to death disappeared without a trace in an instant. Vampire bats came quickly and disappeared just as quickly. A catastrophic disaster was resolved by Mu Linfeng in the blink of an eye.
Gao Hongjin heaved a sigh of relief and said with lingering fear: "Oh my god, these little creatures almost killed me..." As he spoke, Gao Hongjin found that there was a bat attached to his body. He tore the bat off and threw it against the wall of the cave. With a snap, blood splattered everywhere...
Mu Linfeng looked at Wen Yinqiu and said with concern: "Hurry up and check if there are any bite wounds on the body."
Wen Yinqiu smiled and said softly, "I'm fine. It was really thanks to Brother Mu's quick thinking that we would have been in danger."
To be honest, Wen Yinqiu's performance just now made Mu Linfeng look at her with new eyes. Most girls would have been scared to death in such a situation, but Wen Yinqiu did not show too much panic.
Mu Linfeng said in an admiring tone: "I didn't expect that a girl like you could handle the danger so well. If it were any other girl, she would have been scared to death."
"Why do I feel like we're flattering each other..." Wen Yinqiu said as he calmly observed the situation in the cave, "Let's leave here first, otherwise we might get lost."
"I was so busy running for my life that I didn't have time to look at the road..." Just as he said this, Gao Hongjin suddenly found that the stone wall blocking the way seemed a little strange. He said in surprise, "Lin Feng, this cave seems to be cut off by the stone wall..."
At this time, Mu Linfeng also noticed the stone wall that blocked the way. The smooth stone wall was like a door that cut off the cave. Mu Linfeng walked to the end of the cave, carefully observed the stone wall, and then said to the two people: "Look, the stone blocking the cave is not of the same material as the cave walls on both sides, and the smooth surface has also been processed. It is obvious that this stone wall was brought here by someone."
Gao Hongjin also walked to the stone wall, put his hands on the smooth stone wall and pushed hard, but found that the stone wall did not move at all, so he patted the stone wall and said, "Lin Feng, could the passage to the underground palace of King Heng's Mausoleum be behind this stone?"
Mu Linfeng nodded and said with certainty: "It should be."
Wen Yinqiu placed the multifunctional detector in his hand close to the stone wall. After a few seconds, the detector made a slight beeping sound. Then Wen Yinqiu looked back at Mu Linfeng and said, "The thickness of this stone wall is only 30 centimeters. It is easy to open it by blasting."
Mu Linfeng waved his hands hurriedly: "No, the tomb-viewing notes left by our ancestors mentioned the design of the underground palace passage many times. There are two such stone doors at a certain distance. If the stone door is forcibly destroyed, the top of the passage will collapse, and gravel, fine sand and other things will block the passage. Moreover, there is more than one such design in the entire passage. This is why tomb robbers rarely use passages to enter the underground palace. They often determine the location of the underground palace and then dig a passage to enter..."
"Then what should we do?" Wen Yinqiu asked softly.
"The purpose of entering the cave has been achieved, let's retreat now."
When Gao Hongjin heard that they were going to leave, he said unwillingly, "We finally found the entrance and we're leaving just like that?"
"It's right to listen to Brother Mu. I believe he can enter the tomb of King Heng." As he said this, Wen Yinqiu followed Mu Linfeng and started walking back.
When I ran over here just now, I didn't notice that there were actually many branch caves here, and there were on both sides. The three of them wandered around in the cave, and after half an hour, they still hadn't found the cave to get out of, nor did they find the mark left by Mu Linfeng when they came in. Now the three of them were a little anxious.
