She cast the rope upward with all her might and managed to hook it onto the rod successfully. She began scaling the stone wall while supporting herself with the rope.
Wall-scaling was her forte. Thus, she did not feel afraid at all.
However, it would still require energy to climb up. Thus, she expended a great ton of energy while climbing to the top from the bottom.
An Xiaoning was panting heavily by the time she finally made it to the top.
She looked down to see that she was rather high above ground, and she would definitely sustain severe injuries if she were to fall off.
She gathered all her energy and leaped up. She finally landed on the thick metal rod. She pressed both hands against the stone bricks and got on her feet slowly.
She could finally see the coffin.
She instantly realized why it was glowing.
It was not made of wood at all.
Instead, it was made of translucent gems that would emit a bright luminescent glow when accumulated in large amounts.
An Xiaoning could tell that it must have been costly.
An Xiaoning tried to open the coffin. She initially thought that it would be tough to do so. However, she managed to move the lid to the side effortlessly.
She channeled all her attention onto the space inside the coffin, not allowing herself to be distracted at all.
She wanted to see just what the corpse looked like.
An Xiaoning wanted to know the age, gender, size, and appearance of the corpse.
To her astonishment, it was empty.
Empty!
There was nothing inside at all.
Why wouldn’t there be a corpse inside?
There were several items inside the empty coffin, which made An Xiaoning think that there definitely used to be a corpse inside.
The color and print of the fabric of the pillowcase had already faded.
There were also lots of bottles and porcelain ornaments inside the coffin, as well as some gold and jade.
They are all very valuable. Where did the corpse go?
Is this coffin just a bait to ward off tomb raiders?
Was their intention to make the tomb raiders think that the corpse had been stolen?
And then leave with the jewelry?
Was there really a corpse here?
Or has it already mutated?
What on earth happened?
She could not wrap her head around it.
An Xiaoning put the lid back on with a sullen expression on her face. Just as she was about to make her way back down, she suddenly heard laughter coming from below. An Xiaoning looked down to see that there was a man dressed in a military uniform who was looking up at her.
The laughter had come from him.
An Xiaoning slipped and lost her balance, after which she plunged downward immediately.
“Ah!!!” An Xiaoning shrieked in terror, thinking to herself that she would definitely fall to her death.
To her astonishment, she fell into his embrace instead of the ground.
An Xiaoning opened her eyes and stared at the man who was carrying her. She finally managed to take a closer look at him, only to get a great shock. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest. His eyes…
Why is one of them blue and the other black…
His blue eye was not purely blue and was instead a blue tint that was covering the blacks of his pupil.
The man put An Xiaoning down and she stood up straight. She then scanned him from head to toe.
His military uniform was immaculate, and his features were refined. He had short hair, and he was standing with his back straight.
“How did you come in?”
The man asked, “Me? How did you come in?”
“I entered through the door. Is there another exit here?”
“I came in through the entrance too. I don’t know if there are any other exits.”
An Xiaoning asked again, “You definitely didn’t come in from the same entrance as I did. Just which one did you come in from?”
“There’s a spell here. I have no idea which direction I had entered from either, but there were trees around the entrance that I came in from.”
“Trees? You definitely didn’t enter from the same one as I did, then. That means there are two entrances, then. Are you a soldier? How did you find out about this place?”
“I’ve always been very interested in these ancient tombs. I heard from the archeological team that there was a tomb here, but no one was allowed to enter. Hence, I was wondering if there were any other entrances that I could enter from. I then found my way here.”
There seemed to be nothing wrong with his statement…
“Which army do you belong to, then?”
“I can’t tell you that. If I do, I’ll definitely be punished if you tell on me to my superior,” he said calmly.
Seeing that he refused to divulge the answer, An Xiaoning decided not to probe any further. She looked up into the sky and said, “I just went up there and discovered that the coffin was empty. I I have no idea where the corpse had gone to. I don’t know either if the archeologist who came in previously had died here. Look at this place, it’s like a maze. It’s so hard to get out of here.”
“I also made my way here because I couldn’t find my way out. I discovered that you were climbing up the wall just now. How did you manage to do it?”
An Xiaoning lifted the rope in her hand and said, “I did it using this. How else could I have done it? If it weren’t for you, I would have definitely fallen to my death just now. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” He scanned his surroundings and continued, “I think we’d better find a way to get out of here as soon as possible. Otherwise, we might never be able to get out.”
Reminded of Henry, who was waiting outside, she answered, “Yes, let’s find the exit.”
She refrained from entering the tomb two days ago because of the full moon. It’s the 17th today, it should be a little better. Even if I get trapped here for the rest of the night, it shouldn’t be that bad.
The man took the lead while An Xiaoning followed closely behind. She felt much less afraid because she now had some company.
“Isn’t the military very strict with their rules? Soldiers are not allowed to don military uniforms or be armed with military weapons during non-duty periods. Since you’re here, you’re not on duty, are you?”
“We’re allowed to don military uniforms when visiting relatives. I’m on leave now and I didn’t bring any weapons with me,” said the man, who was shocked to hear how knowledgeable she was.
An Xiaoning said, “I have a friend who’s also from the military. He’s a major, and I heard that military personnel might receive orders anytime without warning. I’ve always respected our nation’s patriotic soldiers who are passionate about serving the citizens. We can enjoy a life of peace and security all thanks to them. Soldiers are really noble.”
The man turned around all of a sudden and asked, “You find us noble too?”
“Of course. A lot of people think so too. However, there is a minority of military personnel who don’t deserve such respect because of their immoral characters. The ones I respect are soldiers who are upright and have integrity. I really think that way,” An Xiaoning said with a smile.
