I dragged Cui Hao to move among the bookshelves. He walked in front of me to help me explore the way, and I was responsible for drawing the map.
"Pay attention to your surroundings and listen carefully to the noise. If there are any more gears turning, these bookshelves are likely to shift again."
I thought about this possibility, but was powerless to stop it.
We can only continue to explore forward according to the current layout and draw a road map for the time being.
Cui Hao nodded at me, walked in front of me and carefully observed the surrounding situation.
All the bats above us shrank back and hung on the roof. The two of us kept our voices as low as possible to avoid disturbing these damn things again.
I paid close attention to the bottom of the bookshelf, looking for the entrance just now. When the mechanism was activated, the bookshelf with a raised bottom that could be accessed by people had already disappeared among Xiaozai's bookshelves.
I reached out and patted the bottom of the bookshelf, trying to find the one with a hollow bottom and a secret passage.
It's a pity that most of these bookshelves have been heightened, and the patterns on the supports below are all carved in the same way, making it impossible to identify the target at a glance.
I can only judge whether the bookshelves are hollow inside by lightly pressing them with my hands and making a sound when I pass by them.
Every time I made a sound, I stared at the dark bats above my head with fear, fearing that they would fall from the sky and attack Cui Hao and me.
Fortunately, the overall process went relatively smoothly, and these bats did not attack us again. As long as I knocked on the bookshelf more slowly and with a longer interval, these guys would not be alarmed.
Cui Hao and I walked through the entire underground bookshelf again, and then we discovered that the entrance was missing.
It must have been that a certain bookshelf moved and blocked the entrance, sealing the place. It seems that returning along the original path has become a luxury.
"What should we do? We can't even find the entrance. We won't be trapped and die here, right?"
Cui Hao was more impatient than me. He kept picking at the surrounding walls. Whenever there was a bookshelf close to the wall, he would try to move the bookshelf to see if he could find an entrance blocked by the bookshelf.
I shook my head and stopped Cui Hao.
"I don't know where we touched the mechanism. As a result, the two of us were locked here, but we still have a glimmer of hope. It's the hollow bookshelf. As long as we find this bookshelf, maybe we can still find the way forward. Way to go.”
I took a breath and pointed around.
"Fortunately, there is still air here, so we don't have to worry about being suffocated here, but the most important thing is that we must go down as soon as possible, otherwise we will be trapped and die here sooner or later."
Cui Hao nodded and looked back at me blankly.
"Haven't we already walked through it all? Every bookshelf has been knocked, and the hollow one seems to have disappeared."
I shook my head, followed the route drawn on the paper, and walked back the way I had just come.
"No, when we first started drawing, there were still a few bookshelves that we didn't find. I think it should be one of those few. Let's go back as soon as possible and find a way out of this hellish place."
I always feel that above my head, those bats are ready to move, as if they are about to pounce head on.
And they are becoming more active and more responsive to the sounds we make.
Even Cui Hao, a big-hearted person, already felt something was wrong.
"Why do I feel that the movements of these bats above are getting bigger and bigger? Even if we make a little sound, they will shake their wings."
I nodded, feeling increasingly anxious, and pulled Cui Hao to quicken his pace.
I had the same premonition, and I always felt that if we didn't find an exit, these paralyzed bats might really attack the two of us.
Given their density, as long as they attack us, the two of us will definitely be chewed into bones.
I speeded up, no longer caring about the sound, and quickly rushed to the bookshelf where we came from, dragging Cui Hao and pressing him to the side of the bookshelf.
"Quick, knock quickly to see which one is empty."
I looked up and saw that the bats had all opened their eyes, and their dense scarlet eyes were locked on the two of us.
They slowly stretched their wings, as if they had not yet awakened from their sleep, but the pressure of such a huge number had already made me covered in sweat.
With a hoarse voice, Cui Hao quickly covered a row of bookshelves and started banging on them.
I was on the other side, looking for the entrance.
"Crack!"
Just when I hit the last bookshelf, I heard a familiar voice again.
"Here, Cui Hao, come here quickly."
I immediately locked my target and quickly called Cui Hao on the other row of bookshelves.
Cui Hao turned back to look at me, his face was extremely pale. He made a shushing gesture towards me and pointed at the top of our heads.
Look up.
The bats had already flown down from above our heads and were hovering at low altitude, about to fly towards our heads.
I immediately stopped what I was doing to avoid making any noise.
I suppressed my uneasiness and carefully observed the bookshelf in front of me, searching for the entrance.
I saw an inkstone placed right on top of the bookshelf. The inkstone was hidden behind a few books and was extremely inconspicuous.
If I hadn't paid special attention, I wouldn't have seen anything hidden here.
There was no such configuration on other bookshelves. I pulled out these books and reached out to get the inkstone back.
But when I didn't think about taking action, I discovered that the inkstone was firmly embedded in it, and there was no way to take it off directly.
But when I tried to turn the inkstone, the thing moved freely.
I immediately realized that this might be the switch. I quickly turned the inkstone, and the sound of gears turning was immediately heard from under the bookshelf.
The next second, the entrance to a black hole nearly half a meter high and one meter wide opened under the bookshelf.
At this time, the bats above our heads had gotten rid of their drunken state, and they had obviously targeted me and Fatty.
"Fat man, come on."
I growled, turned around quickly and got into the passage.
Cui Hao followed closely behind me and followed me into the secret passage of the bookshelf.
The two of us didn't dare to stop at all, so we crawled forward in the secret passage.
The moment the two of us entered it, there was an overwhelming sound of wings vibrating outside. The bats all fell from the sky one by one and circled down to the ground.
Fortunately, the two of us dodge quickly. Before they got close to the ground, the two of us had already gotten into the bookshelf and successfully entered the secret passage.
I looked back and saw that the bats were hovering and flying in front of the secret passage and stopped moving, as if they were very afraid of what was inside.
My heart sank.
Their behavior outside made me feel even more uneasy.
There must be something more powerful ahead. If we really couldn't find a way out, I would never go to a place like this.
Cui Hao lay behind me and pushed my butt when he saw me stop.
"Keep moving forward! This place is so suffocating. Climb forward as soon as possible to see if the space can be larger. Fatty, I can't climb anymore."
I nodded and immediately sped up.
The narrow passage gradually expanded as we crawled forward, and the upper and lower space gradually became about one meter high.
We could barely stand upright and crawl forward. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at Cui Hao.
At the same time, I used my flashlight to shine at the entrance where we just climbed in.
Since the passage is not straight, we turned two corners, so the entrance was completely invisible at this time.
But I didn't see those strange bats chasing after me.
I breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but turn around and lie on the ground, taking a breather for a while.
"Fat man, stop climbing now and let me take a breath. The bat just made me almost out of breath. I just want to take a rest now."
Cui Hao obviously had the same idea. When he saw me lying down, he turned over with me and lay down in the underground passage.
"Who on earth built this place? How could they dig out a palace like this? It's so weird. If this is the tomb of an emperor, he would have bought some gold, silver and jewelry to make it as magnificent as this. Is it better to be in a dark and small place like this?"
I shook my head. How could we people now grasp the thoughts of those emperors?
I can tell that this is definitely the tomb of an emperor.
Otherwise, based on other people's status and specifications, it would be absolutely impossible to build such an underground palace underground, and there is a main hall in front of it, and there are even scenes of hundreds of officials and courtiers being built.
But which emperor's whim was this? Since there is no written record, I have no way of checking.
It just seems that the emperor must have his own agenda when he built such a place.
After resting for nearly a few minutes, I temporarily cleared my thoughts and my body felt a lot more relaxed.
I patted Cui Hao beside me.
"Let's go, keep climbing forward. You can't stay here for long, it's too cold."
Although lying on the ground was comfortable, the passage under the ground was extremely cold, and I couldn't help but shiver from the cold.
I don't know where the cool breeze kept pouring into it. It was so cold that I couldn't help but shiver a few times.
But there is wind, and it seems there should be a way out ahead.
If you continue to climb forward, you will definitely be able to find where the exit is.
Under my urging, Cui Hao reluctantly climbed up from the ground, and then continued to crawl forward with me.
Neither of us dared to waste time, so we speeded up as much as possible and turned several big turns along the passage.
Vaguely, my flashlight shone at the end of the narrow passage ahead, and a little light seemed to appear.
"The front, the front seems to be the exit."
But this bright light instantly caused uneasiness in my heart. This was a hundred meters deep underground, and there were no living people moving at all.
How could there be light in front of me?
