The three of them watched Su Qinqin draw twelve lines on the ground, and then draw a line perpendicular to the twelve lines.
"Suppose these twelve lines represent Twelve Streets, and this straight line represents the tunnel we are in. Although we have just been walking westward for about a quarter of an hour, we stopped and walked. Based on our footsteps, we are most likely to be in In this location.”
She drew a circle around the two westernmost streets.
"Refreshment Street or Folk Art Street."
"You're saying that the sound just now might have been made by someone from the Taiyang Mansion smashing the bun shop?"
Su Qinqin nodded.
"It's very possible."
"Then aren't we right under that bun shop right now?"
Wu Qinghui went on to say
"Is the little clock up there?"
After being reminded by Wu Qinghui, several people's faces became happy, and then darkened again.
"Even if the little bell is on top, we can't get up."
"Qinqin said that the entrance to Lao Zhong's shop is just a node in this tunnel. If that thing also has a node here, can't we also go up?"
After Wu Qinghui's reminder, Su Qinqin and others' eyes suddenly lit up.
"That's right. Let's walk forward. Tea Street is already the westernmost street, close to the West City Gate. If there is a node, there is probably a node here that you can go up to."
After that, a few people stood up, patted their butts, and continued walking forward.
But this time, they actually walked for at least another hour, and finally saw the wooden ladder extending down from a high place.
Su Qinqin looked ahead again, but it was still dark. She didn't know how far this tunnel could lead.
"so far?"
Wu Qinghui said
"Are you out of town now?"
"Let's go up and take a look first."
Su Qinqin said.
Several people climbed up the wooden ladder, but this time the wooden ladder seemed to be extra long. It took them as long as a stick of incense to climb, but they didn't even reach the end.
"What's going on? Why do I feel like we are climbing a mountain?"
Wu Qinghui said.
Madam Hu patted her butt from below.
"Climb quickly, stop talking nonsense."
After an unknown amount of time, Wu Qinghui finally touched the wooden board.
Wu Qinghui pushed the similar wooden door hard. The wooden door here was still heavy and it was difficult for her to push it open alone.
"let me help you."
Madam Hu, who was following closely behind, climbed up two steps and squeezed in with Wu Qinghui. The two of them pushed open the wooden door.
"Squeak!"
The two people stuck their heads out, and the surroundings were dark.
"This should be a darkroom similar to the one in the old clock shop."
Su Qinqin looked around and said.
"Don't know where this is?"
At this moment, the sound of people walking suddenly came from outside.
"I heard that the Qiankun Palace is haunted."
She sounded like a little girl when she spoke.
Then another little lady's voice sounded
"Hush! They say it was the Prime Minister who rebelled and suffered retribution."
"Then why is King Xiang okay?"
"The Prime Minister rebelled because he wanted to be a human emperor. God sent underground demons to seal the Qiankun Palace, so naturally he can no longer be a human emperor."
"Well, it would be said that the human emperor is the proud son of heaven, and he is blessed by God."
"Um!"
The two young ladies were having a heated conversation when suddenly there came a strange scolding sound.
"You two, how dare you spread rumors in the palace!"
Two loud kneeling sounds.
"Father, please spare my life!"
"Someone, throw them both out and kill them with sticks."
Amidst the screams of the two young ladies, several ladies looked at each other.
Father-in-law? Palace? Prime Minister? Qiankun Palace?
They actually came to the palace!
The footsteps that were waiting to be heard gradually faded away, and several people let out a sigh of relief and slumped on the ground.
"Qinqin, what's going on? Aren't we supposed to be near Tea Street? Why are we here in the palace?"
Su Qinqin also looked shocked.
"Is the previous speculation wrong? We are not in Tea Street."
"But we did go all the way west."
Wu Qinghui said.
"There's also the possibility that the tunnel isn't straight at all."
"No, even if it's not straight, from Handicraft Street to the Imperial Palace, we will cross Changming Lake in the middle, but there is no lake blocking us along the way."
"What if the underground we are in is still under the bottom of the lake?"
Su Qinqin had no expression on her face as she made an astonishing guess.
"It's impossible. Even though the wooden ladder is long, it's definitely not as deep as Changming Lake."
Su Qin Qindao
"I have suspected something before. This tunnel may not be flat. Now it seems that since the tunnel can be wide or narrow, or not straight, why can't it be high or low?"
"The person who designed this tunnel is really amazing and talented. We were actually walking down at first, but the slope was so small that we couldn't tell it at all. So, when we came up just now, we spent so much time It's not an illusion, it's that we are indeed farther from the ground."
Lady Liu heard this and said with admiration
"This ancient man was really powerful. He was able to create such a magical secret tunnel."
"Then what should we do now? Aren't we going to save Xiao Zhong?"
Wu Qinghui asked.
Su Qinqin frowned slightly, squatted on the ground, and said to herself
"let me see."
"We did go west at the beginning, so we did pass through Tea Point Street. The sound we just heard should be from Tea Point Street, but it has been at least an hour here. In other words, we were walking along the We followed the tunnel around half of the city and arrived at the palace."
hiss!
"This is too weird. What is this tunnel used for?"
Right now.
"bump!"
It was as if a giant hammer suddenly hit the wall of the house where they were.
"bump!"
There was another sound of smashing against the wall, the wall shook violently, and the wall was slightly deformed by the smashing.
"Harder!"
Someone shouted outside.
Several people's faces turned pale, panicked and at a loss.
"Go back to the secret passage!"
Su Qinqin was the first to calm down and whispered to several people.
The other three were reminded and quickly got into the tunnel entrance.
bump! bump! bump! …
I don’t know how many times the wall was hit before it was finally broken through.
A fat-headed officer and soldier poked his head in.
"Ahem!"
The diffuse dust made him choke twice.
"There is a secret passage here."
The fat officer and soldier retracted his head and shouted.
The faces of the ladies hiding at the entrance of the secret passage changed greatly when they heard this.
"Get down quickly."
Su Qinqin said.
"They'll probably come in."
Judging from the tone of the officer and soldier, they should have come to find this secret passage.
Several people quickly went down the ladder.
On the ground, the fat officer and soldier led a group of officers and soldiers in, followed by an old man.
"Old man Zhong, you did a good job."
This old man was the old Zhong who was taken away that night.
The fat officer and soldier patted Lao Zhong on the shoulder with approval, and then called the officers and soldiers behind him over.
"Go down, remember to cover your mouth and nose, don't be affected."
"yes!"
"Gululu."
Several wooden carts were pushed into the large hole in the wall.
Each wooden cart was covered with a layer of black cloth.
"Wow!" "Wow!" "Wow!"
The officers and soldiers unveiled the black cloth one after another.
A bright red ocean appeared in front of me.
Five entire carts of Manzhu Shahua were piled on the cart like straw!
When the fat officer and soldier saw this, there was a burst of fear in his eyes, and then he twisted his fat body and ran out as fast as he could.
"Work quickly!"
Only this sentence remains.
The officers and soldiers covered their mouths and noses with the black cloth they carried with them. Even so, the smell of the red ocean still made the officers and soldiers feel palpitated.
An officer and soldier picked up a handful of Manzhu Shahua, opened the wooden door, and climbed down. Looking at his skillful appearance, it seemed that this was not the first time he had done this.
Then the rest of the officers and soldiers each held a handful of Manzhu Shahua and followed them down the tunnel.
In the tunnel, Su Qinqin and others got off the wooden ladder as quickly as possible, and then under Su Qinqin's urging, they ran back as hard as they could.
"Hurry, they will come down soon, we have to run farther away."
Several people ran along for a while, but they couldn't run anymore.
"Ha ha!"
"This should be far enough, I really can't run anymore."
Mrs. Hu panted heavily, her face turned pale, and she sat down on the ground.
Su Qinqin's face was covered with sweat. She looked back warily for a long time, and then breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there was no sound.
"Let's rest for a while. This tunnel is so long that they won't be able to get here for a while, but we can't rest for too long. You never know when they will be discovered."
Wu Qinghui calmed down for a while, gained some strength, and said
"Don't tell me, the way back seems to be more tiring than the way there. Is it true, as Qinqin said, that this tunnel goes downwards?"
Su Qinqin also noticed this and said with a wry smile
"I hope I'm wrong."
"If it is true, where does the end of this tunnel lead to?"
Several people were shocked and looked at Su Qinqin in disbelief.
"Is it possible that this tunnel really leads underground?"
"It can't lead to the underworld, right?"
"Bah, bah, bah! What nonsense are you talking about?"
Lady Liu sighed twice.
Su Qinqin looked very ugly and said slowly
"Who knows, maybe it really is the underworld."
After a while, several people had almost rested, and there was still no movement in front of the tunnel.
"They don't seem to be coming."
Wu Qinghui said.
"How about we go over and take a look?"
Su Qinqin patted the dust on her clothes.
"Okay, just in case, leave two people here."
"Then I'll go with Qinqin."
Wu Qinghui suggested.
Lady Liu sat on the ground and waved her hand feebly.
"You guys go ahead. I don't want to move anyway. I'm exhausted today."
Madam Hu was more straightforward and fell asleep leaning on the side.
"Then let's go and come back."
Su Qinqin said, and then the two of them turned back westward along the tunnel.
This time the two walked slower, and after walking for about two-quarters of an hour, they heard a faint fire coming from ahead.
The two hesitated for a moment, walked slower and lighter, and slowly moved forward.
"You guys, please plant them more widely, not so close together. Just plant one plant every three feet."
"Captain, Lao Li has fallen!"
"Quick, quick, quick! Lift it up, get someone else down, don't leave any marks!"
