Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 173 - 165: The Mechanism

Chapter 173: Chapter 165: The Mechanism

"There must be a secret chamber underground," all three pointed to the spot Shitou had just indicated.

Lu Aiguo’s eyes lit up instantly, and he hurriedly extended his spiritual power downward. After peering for a long while, his face fell with disappointment, "It’s pitch black; I can’t see anything."

"Let’s open the entrance to the secret passage for ventilation and then we’ll eat. Whether or not there’s a vent below, it hasn’t been opened for years, so the air down there mustn’t be good."

Upon hearing that Lu Aiguo also could not see what was below, Xia Yuan felt her slight frustration instantly cured, a touch of happiness spreading across her face.

Her expression was so obvious that Lu Yun and Shitou couldn’t help but turn their heads and snicker. Lu Aiguo rolled his eyes, "You’re this happy just because I can’t see below?"

"What’s more joyful, enjoying alone or sharing the joy?" Xia Yuan’s eyes widened as she looked at Lu Aiguo with raised eyebrows, thoroughly enjoying the moment. Seeing the triumphant look on her face, Lu Aiguo’s heart melted, and he raised his hands in surrender, forgetting any notion of ’picking a bone’ with her.

"Shh."

Lu Yun stifled a laugh and pulled Shitou away, not to disturb the two exchanging tender gazes.

The two quietly opened the room at the entrance to the secret chamber.

After fumbling around for a bit, they quickly found the mechanism and opened the mouth of the secret passage. Just looking down, the deep entrance was a winding staircase made of bluestone slabs...

The four of them were not in the mood to eat; they hastily finished their meal and, wearing headlamps, hurriedly followed Shitou and Lu Aiguo down the staircase, with Lu Yun and Xia Yuan close behind.

Even though they had checked and found no traps on the stairs, Lu Aiguo and Shitou still raised a protective layer of spiritual power around themselves, just in case. Lu Yun extended her shield to envelop both herself and her mother. Together, they carefully descended into the secret chamber.

Following the stone steps and turning a couple of corners, they finally reached the secret chamber below. Upon entering and seeing dozens of boxes stacked upon one another on the ground, neither Lu Yun nor Shitou relaxed their guard, but continued to search carefully for more mechanisms.

Their spiritual power spread out, and despite the smooth journey down, they didn’t become complacent. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before they discovered a narrow secret corridor outside the chamber, wide enough for only one person to pass through, leading toward the courtyard. Beyond lay an even more spacious underground area.

They didn’t look closely but instead reexamined their surroundings, only to find that a huge rock block lay hidden at their entrance, big enough to cut off their way back.

Following the mechanism that controlled the massive stone, they looked back toward the interior of the secret chamber, both marveling at the design... If someone who was unaware of the secret came down here, they’d most likely fall victim to the trap.

Before they finished marveling, on Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan’s side—

"There are grooves in the walls and wicks, and it looks like there’s still plenty of oil. Why not light the lamps to brighten the place a bit more?"

With two advanced-grade spiritual power experts present, Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan didn’t bother to use their spiritual power to detect their surroundings. Instead, they looked around with their headlamps and flashlights. So many boxes were arranged there; without a word from Shitou or Lu Yun, they did not dare to act rashly.

But the area was still not bright enough, and lighting some lamps shouldn’t be a problem, right? So, Lu Aiguo was quite pleased when he found a row of grooves at a height of only one meter forty-five from the floor along the stone walls. Those grooves contained kerosene and wicks.

He pulled out his lighter and reached towards the nearest one...

"Don’t."

Lu Yun and Shitou shouted simultaneously.

Lu Aiguo shuddered, and the lighter almost fell to the ground, while Xia Yuan looked over in confusion, "What happened?"

"That oil lamp is the mechanism," Lu Yun pointed to the entrance, "As soon as you light one lamp, all of the lamps will light up, and then the boulder will completely block this place."

"That was close. If this place had been blocked, would we have been trapped here?" Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan were startled, "If an outsider came in here and saw so many boxes, who wouldn’t light a lamp? This mechanism is designed to be... too dangerous."

Lu Aiguo wiped off his sweat, "No wonder the oil is full; it’s just for show, meant to be seen, not lit."

"That’s a relief," Xia Yuan patted Lu Aiguo’s chest and helped him massage it, "Were you scared? Next time, don’t just touch everything carelessly."

"..." Lu Aiguo was embarrassed, but he was indeed quite shaken. He hoped what was inside those boxes would compensate for the trauma to his spirit.

"There’s still a way out, another secret passage. It’s just that I haven’t looked closely enough to know whether there might be an exit there?" Shitou walked over to another secret passage entrance, moved the boxes, and quickly felt a subtle bump near the ground on the wall. Pressing it hard, another passageway appeared.

After a cursory examination, he bent down to feel along the inner side of the passage wall and pulled out a stone block from a well-concealed small hole, and then retrieved a Zitan Wood Box about the length of two adult palms and as high as a fist.

Upon opening it, the inside was divided into left and right: on the left was a small yellow fish and tightly packed gemstones of various colors--red, blue, yellow, green, each nearly flawless; on the right were all diamonds. Shitou ran his hand over them and saw at the very bottom of the diamond side a parchment paper bag peeking out.

"Let’s pack up and go up for a closer look," said Lu Yun, having already collected all the boxes from the secret room. She came over, glanced at the full box of diamonds and gemstones without much concern.

Shitou closed the box and passed it over, and Lu Yun took it without hesitation.

After struggling through the narrow passage, they reached the end to find another cramped secret room with a stone table and four stone stools. Apart from an oil lamp on the table, there was nothing else.

If one didn’t have the spiritual power to detect that there was more beyond, one might mistakenly think this was the dead end with no way out.

While Shitou was searching for the switch, Lu Yun also flipped over a stone stool and unscrewed the bottom in an instant. Lu Aiguo and Xia Yuan were surprised to see that the stool was hollow, revealing another larger carved Zitan Wood long box. Upon closer examination, Lu Yun found it was a jewelry box.

It was truly an eye-opener.

"How many secret rooms are there exactly? It’s all so winding and convoluted. The hiding places are so ingenious. Is it just this stool that contains something, or do the others too?"

Xia Yuan exclaimed in amazement, "I can’t imagine how much effort it must have taken to construct a place like this?"

"Only this one has something," Lu Yun said as she took the jewelry box.

"This probably wasn’t built by one generation. It must be quite ancient," Lu Aiguo felt the wall, realizing that the path they had traveled was all made of stone blocks.

And moreover, there was not a single point where breathing felt uncomfortable, indicating there must be air vents.