Chapter 31: The Partially Sunken Stone Brick

The shadow was massive, occupying nearly half of the corridor. Its shape was bizarre and amorphous, resembling a dense, tangled mass of hair. It drifted and bounced slowly between the walls, ceiling, and floor, yet it moved in complete silence. Cheng Xiangru stared at the shadow in astonishment, only to suddenly see what appeared to be the torso of a person protruding from within, accompanied by the flailing of two arms.

The sight was so terrifying that Cheng Xiangru jumped. Almost instinctively, he took a large stride forward, spreading his arms to shield Leng Ying, much like the countless times he had stood in front of his younger sister to protect her from village bullies.

Leng Ying, who had just swung her spear, was taken aback by Cheng Xiangru’s sudden act of shielding her from danger. She paused for a moment before yanking him back. "Why are you blocking me? Run back, quickly!"

"What about you?" Cheng Xiangru then remembered that the girl beside him was also a monster of sorts and hardly needed his protection.

Leng Ying took off her travel pack, dropped into a shallow horse stance, and leveled the spear tip toward the rapidly approaching black mass. Without looking back, she said, "I'll deal with this thing."

Cheng Xiangru wanted to call her insane, but seeing her stance, he suddenly felt that there was no monster in the world she couldn't handle. For some reason, his heart felt much more settled.

The strange shadow was now very close. Leng Ying tightened her grip on the red-tasseled spear, her stance unwavering. Cheng Xiangru turned halfway, ready to take off running. Just then, the shadow seemed to phase through the wall as if passing through solid rock; it slammed diagonally into the side wall and vanished.

"Where did it go?" Cheng Xiangru froze, unsure if he should still run.

Leng Ying was also puzzled. She waited for a moment, but when the monster failed to reappear, she slowly straightened up, rolled her shoulders and neck, and put her travel pack back on. "Wait here. I'm going to take a look."

"Be careful," Cheng Xiangru urged.

"Hmm." Leng Ying walked forward slowly, each step cautious and highly vigilant. Before long, she reached the spot where the shadow had disappeared. It seemed there was another path there, as Cheng Xiangru watched her step into the opening and vanish from sight.

Cheng Xiangru waited a while, but when neither Leng Ying nor any sound emerged, worry crept in. He hurried over and found that, sure enough, there were arched doorways on both sides of the passage, each leading into a tunnel that vanished into the darkness. Furthermore, looking down the corridor, he discovered that at regular intervals, there were matching pairs of doorways. He had no idea how many such branching paths existed.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Cheng Xiangru entered the doorway Leng Ying had taken and began to feel his way along the narrow passage.

He hadn't gone far when, after rounding two corners, he spotted someone crouching ahead. The person was holding a flashlight, head lowered, as if studying something. Between the heavy travel pack and the red-tasseled spear, he recognized the figure as Leng Ying.

Hearing his footsteps, Leng Ying turned, shone her flashlight at him, and frowned slightly. "Why did you come here?"

"What are you doing crouching there?" Cheng Xiangru asked in return.

Leng Ying turned back to observe the floor. "I think I’ve stepped on a mechanism."

Cheng Xiangru turned pale with shock. He rushed behind her and looked down, seeing that one of her feet had indeed depressed a stone tile by about half a finger’s depth. Leng Ying maintained her posture, not daring to move an inch, beads of sweat already trickling down her temples.

Seeing this, cold sweat broke out on Cheng Xiangru as well. This was a "suspicious tomb," designed specifically to kill all intruders; it was highly likely to contain lethal, destructive traps. If Leng Ying had triggered a trap on the scale of a "quicksand collapse," the moment she lifted her foot, the entire tomb could collapse, burying them both alive with no hope of survival.

Leng Ying must have realized this possibility, which was why she hadn't dared to move.

Cheng Xiangru set his travel pack against the wall, took out his flashlight, and carefully approached her, bending down to examine the floor.

"What are you doing?" Leng Ying’s voice was lowered but sharper than usual, revealing her anxiety.

Cheng Xiangru didn't reply. After a brief observation, he straightened up, shone his light on the ceiling, and then began to inspect the walls on either side.

Leng Ying glared at him. "What do you want?"

Cheng Xiangru made a gesture for her to be silent and continued his intense examination. After a long while, he let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "The situation might not be as bad as we thought."

"What does that mean?" Leng Ying blinked, looking surprised.

Cheng Xiangru pointed to the row of bricks on the ceiling. "They are all blue bricks with tight mortar joints. We can basically rule out the possibility of a 'ceiling collapse' mechanism."

In the *Scroll of Mechanisms*, destructive traps like "quicksand collapse" were classified as "ceiling collapse mechanisms." These traps were characterized by the presence of non-load-bearing wooden boards beneath the ceiling in the area around the trigger point, topped with irregularly shaped load-bearing stone slabs. Each slab had a specific "shatter point" on its side. Once triggered, a heavy object would strike these points, shattering the slabs like tempered glass. The slabs would then collide with one another, each corner corresponding to the shatter point of another slab. As the load-bearing slabs crumbled, the weight of the quicksand stored above would crush the wooden boards, instantly burying everything within the tomb.

There was no absolute solution for a "ceiling collapse" trap in the *Scroll of Mechanisms*, only descriptions. This meant that once triggered, such a trap was inescapable; the only way to "solve" it was prevention through environmental observation.

Since Cheng Xiangru saw only blue bricks above—no wooden boards—he could rule out that trap. Now, his task was to determine exactly what kind of mechanism Leng Ying had stepped on and find a way to disarm it.

"What are you actually doing?" Leng Ying was truly anxious now. Keeping this posture for so long had caused her legs to go numb from poor circulation. If she accidentally lost her footing and triggered the mechanism, they would both face grave danger.

Cheng Xiangru still didn't answer, continuing his careful observation. He held his flashlight, each step extremely light and cautious, touching the floor gingerly before gradually applying pressure to ensure no other tiles would sink. After studying it for a while, he let out a long breath. "I’ve got it."

"What?" Leng Ying was stunned.

"Listen to me. I’ll tell you exactly what to do. Trust me, nothing will happen." Cheng Xiangru’s tone was confident; he clearly felt sure of himself.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I know how to disarm the mechanism you've triggered... wait, what's wrong?"

As Cheng Xiangru spoke, he noticed Leng Ying’s eyes suddenly widen in terror as she stared past him, pointing a finger at something behind him. A sense of dread washed over him. He slowly turned his head, only to see a furry black monster emerging from the depths of the passage, slowly creeping toward them.