The Lost Tomb : Restart (The Sound Of Providence)

Chapter 148: Entrance of The Calling Spring

As a huge cloud of smoke rose up from the basin, the fire alarms started going off everywhere. The smoke from the third floor rose up to the fourth floor and our group rushed back to Sasha's room in the chaos. We all had wet towels covering our mouths for fear of choking on the smoke. Except for Bai Haotian, who was guarding Sasha, everyone else was dispatched. Fatty's cell phone was still connected to my phone, so he listened for any sounds. There was movement in the underground area and someone was talking. They appeared to be coming out of the calling spring.

If we went directly into the passage at this time, we might collide with Xiao Hua's people. We had no chance of winning if a fight broke out.

We removed the panel and Fatty gestured at me. It was very dark inside, so we could ambush those people when they came up, but I shook my head. If those people were some of Xiao Hua's more capable men, they might hit hard when they couldn't see who was attacking them and end up seriously injuring us. I had only placed my phone down there to ensure that the area below was empty.

We heard someone climb up, and then the phone went silent again. Our group entered the passage and walked to the bottom. I grabbed my phone while Fatty went to the entrance of the calling spring and listened.

There were still people in the spring below. Fatty made a gesture that seemed to say: You idiot, this plan won't work. Based on the sounds, there were quite a few people below.

I didn't dare rashly attack the people down there. If they were carrying out rescue efforts, then this was a critical moment. If I went down to cause trouble, something would definitely happen. There wasn't any light coming from the entrance to the spring, which indicated that the path below had twists and turns, and the people were still far away from this hole.

There weren't any guards here, so the real outpost must be below. They probably had a large group of people, so we couldn't just rush in. Moreover, based on the diameter of the entrance, this was a one-way passage. People could only go in one at a time, so your direction was set from the start. If anyone else wanted to come in from the opposite direction, they would have to wait for you to pass through. Although the edges and sides of the hole had been rounded by water, they were still highly rugged and wouldn't be so easy to pass.

In other words, if I went down and someone tried to come out, we would be blocked.

I thought for a while and then pointed to some hiding places I had made in advance when I arranged the equipment pile earlier. They would hide there while Xiang Dun went into the hole. I pulled out a sticky note that said "Wu Xie wanted me to deliver a message" and then stuck it on his forehead while saying to him, "This note can save your life. If someone wants to kill you, just say you're my man. Take this flashlight and point it at this piece of paper on your forehead. If someone catches you after you go down, take them to our room. If you aren't caught, then look at the situation and light a smoke cake [1]. But only do it if it won't affect their rescue effort." I gave him half of the bag of smoke cakes.

"Boss, you're sacrificing me," Xiang Dun said. "Where's my cell phone? You haven't given it back to me yet."

I patted him, "If you get caught, you don't have to risk your life. You'll still get the full amount. Go, Pikachu, go!" [2]

Xiang Dun thought about it and shook his head. "I won't do it. You say a note's going to save me, but I don't believe it."

I looked at him, and he looked at me before slowly saying, "Worse comes to worst, I'll leave and go back to my old job."

Jia Kezi suddenly spoke up from the side, "Go away. I'll do it."

He took the smoke cakes from my hand, stuck the note on his forehead, and crawled into the entrance. As we waited silently outside, we started to feel a little uneasy. I knew Xiao Hua was a sensible man, but there were definitely outlaws under him. Would that note really be effective? I was so hot-headed just now that I didn't see any problems with it. But after thinking about it, I wasn't as sharp as I had been back in the day. Would the note be useless?

Before long, I was relieved to see smoke rising up from the hole. Jia Kezi hadn't been discovered. I immediately led all the others to the entrance. The smoke in the passage was very thick, so I crawled forward frantically. Once I was out of the passage, I found that I had arrived in a space that was full of smoke.

There was a damp old well below the calling spring. The bricks were old and had been eroded to such an extent that there weren't any edges or corners. The space was about ten square meters, and there was a gap in the well wall that went deep into the mountain rock. This was the real entrance to the calling spring. Now it was full of smoke, and there were people coughing and shouting inside. I crawled to a corner under the cover of smoke and hid, but was startled to see a man beside me.

When I moved back, I saw that it wasn't a man, but Jia Kezi's head. I didn't know when it had been cut off. There was blood all over the ground and the note was still stuck to his forehead. 

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Notes:

[1] It's basically a smoke bomb that looks like a Quaker rice cake.

[2] It's the phrase Ash uses every time he calls out . In the US, I think I remember them translating it as "Pikachu, I choose you!" but it doesn't flow here so I went with the direct translation. If you missed out on Pokémon growing up, I feel sorry for your childhood (Lol).