Chapter 1786 - 2088: Guardian (3)
Seeing everyone’s eyes focused on him, Ling Chen touched his nose and inwardly gave a wry smile. He knew everyone expected him to solve this problem, but he wasn’t omnipotent.
We’ve already come this far, so we can’t give up. With no other choice, Ling Chen had to steel himself and inspect around the wind machine. If he could find the machine’s circuitry and cut it off, the wind machine would stop. However, once the machine stopped, the group of Guardians would surely notice. This would definitely expose their whereabouts.
Headache!
Moving around the wind machine, Ling Chen despairingly realized that all the circuitry was below, and unless he crawled to the base of the machine, there was no way to turn it off.
"No way?" He Honggang asked Ling Chen.
"It’s a bit troublesome; the circuitry is at the bottom, and there’s no way to cut it from above." Saying this, Ling Chen moved next to the wind machine and peered through the rotating blades at the base. About a meter above the base, there was a wire as thick as a finger, connected directly to the machine. Just disconnecting it would stop the machine.
Looking at where Ling Chen pointed, Chen Younian said, "That’s easy." With that, he reached out to Chen Qinghua, who immediately handed him a throwing knife. Standing beside the machine, Chen Younian clutched the throwing knife between two fingers, focusing intently on the spinning blades.
Watching his actions, Ling Chen finally understood what he was going to do. He wanted to throw the knife through the blades and hit the wire. To be honest, it’s not impossible, but it requires great precision, understanding of the blade’s rotational pattern, and the right speed and accuracy to avoid the blades.
Chen Younian seemed to lack full confidence, standing beside the machine for some time, continually preparing. Minutes passed, and his eyes suddenly focused, his wrist flicked, and the throwing knife finally shot out. Under everyone’s gaze, the knife swiftly passed through the machine’s blades, hitting the wire at the base.
Instantly, a spark flashed, and the rotating wind machine slowly came to a stop. Seeing this, Ling Chen hurried everyone, "Quickly, everybody down." With that, he leaped down directly through the blades to the base. Once everyone passed through the machine, Ling Chen quickly reconnected the severed wire.
Watching the wind machine start rotating again, Ling Chen relaxed a bit. From cutting the power to reconnecting it, it was only a few seconds, and the Guardians inside probably hadn’t noticed.
After a brief rest, Ling Chen followed the group to survey the surroundings. Although it was still a cave and stone walls, it was much more spacious than the previous cave, and lights were installed at the ceiling.
"We should have entered their main base, everyone be careful," He Honggang reminded.
No one had been here, and everyone was unfamiliar with the surroundings, so they could only advance along the passageway. Not far along, they suddenly heard footsteps ahead. He Honggang gestured for everyone to stay put, then walked forward alone. Soon, his figure disappeared from the group’s sight.
Ling Chen stood his ground, patiently waiting, while observing the top of the passage. He noticed a ventilation duct and wires at the ceiling extending to a dead end where it branched, suggesting a forked path ahead.
As he pondered, He Honggang reappeared in view, waving to the group. Seeing this, everyone immediately followed him.
In a corner of the passage lay two people, lifeless, most likely handled by He Honggang. Each wore a walkie-talkie, and Ling Chen picked one up, hearing occasional voices. Unfortunately, though they could hear them speaking, they didn’t understand the language as it seemed to be in a unique dialect.
Ling Chen helplessly shook his head; even eavesdropping on the conversations was useless.
"Didn’t you interrogate them?" Ling Gengqiu asked He Honggang.
"No point, I tried earlier. They understood us, but they only spoke in dialect, maybe deliberately so, so I just killed them—no use wasting time."
Not far ahead, as Ling Chen anticipated, was a fork in the path. "Which way do we go? Split up or stay together?" Chen Younian asked. Just as He Honggang was about to respond, Ling Chen interjected, "If I’m correct, we should go this way." He pointed to the right passage.
"Why?"
"Look at the distribution of the duct and wires at the ceiling, they only reach the stone chamber ahead, but beyond the passage there’s nothing, indicating no one’s there. Since there’s a large tomb complex here, the duct and wires certainly wouldn’t extend into the tomb. What do you think?"
After Ling Chen’s analysis, everyone nodded in agreement.
Immediately, following Ling Chen’s judgment, the group proceeded down the right passage. After more than twenty meters, there was a stone chamber beside the passage. The interior was simple, with a bed, a few chairs, and a light bulb—nothing else, and no one present. However, the bed was clean, suggesting someone slept there, though absent now.
With no one there, the group saved time and continued deeper. As they advanced, the passage began to narrow, only wide enough for one person. Moreover, the ground turned into stone steps descending further.
Touching the stone walls on both sides of the passage, Ling Chen felt that this place had likely been deserted for many years. Moreover, some places on the walls had old torches, their fuel long dried.
Several minutes later, the group finally emerged into a spacious area. Here, everyone’s gaze was drawn instantly to a massive door.
It was a stone door, about five meters tall and three meters wide, appearing extremely heavy, possibly weighing thousands of pounds. Many patterns were carved on its surface. Due to its age, the colors of the patterns had faded. Ancient beliefs spoke of ascending to immortality on cranes, and indeed, many cranes and auspicious clouds were depicted on this door.
"This should be the place we’re looking for," He Honggang couldn’t contain the excitement on his face as he hurried to the door, lightly touching the carved patterns.
"Let’s find a way to open this door first," Chen Younian stepped forward, trying to push it, but it wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t clear whether it was due to the door’s weight or a mechanism behind it.
At this moment, Ling Chen, who had been observing the door, seemed to have spotted something and hurried to the door, saying, "Don’t rush to open it just yet."