Chapter 858: The Coiled Dragon Pillars

"Emperor something Treasury?"

Hearing this, everyone frowned, their eyes filled with confusion.

Buzz, buzz, buzz—!

The tremors of the earth grew more intense, as if something was rapidly approaching. Zhu Zhong didn't have time to think; he gritted his teeth and said:

"Forget it, it should be safe... I'm going down first!"

Without another word, he crawled into the fissure. Once he disappeared, the other children swarmed in. Fortunately, their small frames made crawling into the crack no problem.

"Brother Xiao Li, should we go in?" A-Qian asked in a low voice.

"Yes," the boy in hempen clothes didn't hesitate. "Since there are words down there, it means someone has been down before, so it's relatively safe. Besides, it's too open here; those two killers will definitely catch up. Hiding below is better than being exposed on the surface..."

As they spoke, the other children had already crawled in. Only the two of them and the corpse-like mummy remained on the desolate land.

The boy in hempen clothes didn't go down immediately; instead, he walked to the cart and tried hard to push it down as well... But after pushing for a long time, he still couldn't move it.

Just then, the mummy, who had been silently playing dead, finally couldn't take it anymore after being shoved for a long time and made a "pause" gesture.

"Stop, I can go down myself," the mummy said, somewhat helplessly.

"Thank you for your trouble," the boy in hempen clothes smiled embarrassedly. "It's my fault for being too weak to push you..."

The mummy didn't respond; he slowly got off the cart and walked toward the fissure step by step. His footsteps were heavy, leaving shallow imprints on the rock with every step.

"This... um... senior... since you are alive, why do you pretend to be dead?" the boy in hempen clothes couldn't help but ask.

"If I'm alive, people will come to talk to me. I don't like talking," the mummy said gloomily.

“……”

A reason truly never imagined.

"Then, if I talk to you, are you very... troubled?" the boy in hempen clothes asked tentatively.

The mummy hesitated for a moment and nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"..." Half a minute later, "It's okay."

“……”

"Then I'll ask one last question, and after that, I won't initiate conversation with you again," the boy in hempen clothes stopped in front of the fissure. "How should I... address you?"

The mummy slowly squatted in front of the fissure, as if he hadn't heard the boy's words, and began to measure the size of the fissure with his hand...

Just when the boy in hempen clothes thought he wouldn't respond,

a tiny voice sounded from under the bandages:

"Jiang Xiaohua."

The boy in hempen clothes was stunned.

Because the voice was so small, he thought he had misheard, but after careful identification, he realized it was indeed the mummy's voice... His expression was one of surprise.

Jiang Xiaohua...

The name sounded like a girl's childhood nickname, but the mummy's voice was unmistakably a man's... It was, to say the least, memorable.

After saying the name, the mummy didn't say another word and slid into the fissure with a "whoosh," his speed so swift that it seemed as if saying his own name was an extremely shameful thing!

After being stunned for a long while, the boy in hempen clothes finally came to his senses, hugged A-Qian, and followed him, sliding down into the fissure.

A strong sense of weightlessness, accompanied by the pain of a hard object digging into his back—the boy in hempen clothes fell through the darkness for a moment before the surroundings suddenly opened up, and even A-Qian's exclamation produced a hollow echo.

Immediately after, he and A-Qian landed on something soft and rolled to the side...

The boy in hempen clothes climbed up in a daze and found that what had cushioned his fall was none other than Jiang Xiaohua, who looked like a mummy... The latter lay stiffly on the ground, motionless, just like a rigid stone block he had thrown down.

The fall of the three of them didn't attract the attention of others; at this moment, the eyes of Zhu Zhong and the others were all on the huge stone pillars around them.

This place looked like some kind of abandoned ruin. Magnificent stone pillars stood silently in the darkness. Looking around, there were nearly a hundred of them, but almost all were broken and incomplete...

The boy in hempen clothes climbed up and walked to the nearest stone pillar, gently brushing the dust off its surface. Masterful stone carvings were coiled upon it.

"...A dragon?"

The boy in hempen clothes rubbed the dragon scales on the pillar with his fingertips, a look of surprise appearing in his eyes. Although these pillars were incomplete, he could occasionally see the five claws of a dragon riding the clouds and mist.

What kind of place was this?

The boy in hempen clothes looked around and soon found the wall the first boy had mentioned...

Rather than a wall, it was a large, incomplete gold-stone slab, like a magnificent plaque that had been placed above the main gate of a palace in ancient times. It had broken into two pieces and sunk into the soil; only the characters "Emperor" and "Treasury" could be clearly seen.

"This place is too close to the fissure. If those two killers catch up, they'll still be able to see us."

"Let's go deeper inside."

After a brief discussion, they walked deeper along the giant pillars. Perhaps it was because of these coiled dragon pillars, or the giant plaque that was clearly made by human hands, that they felt a little more at ease.

The boy in hempen clothes lied, saying he was tired from pushing, and asked four or five other boys to help push the cart. With their full effort, they finally managed to move the cart forward bit by bit...

They walked cautiously through the underground space, but the deeper they went, the less light there was, and the surroundings were as pitch-black as an abyss.

Fortunately, among them was a clever and quick-witted girl who pulled a black stone hairpin from her dark hair, broke it into two pieces with effort, and rubbed them together hard, actually producing wisps of faint sparks...

She used these sparks to light some expensive-looking spices she had at her waist, wrapped them in an outer garment, and tied them to a piece of wood, making a makeshift torch.

None of the people present had such experience or knowledge. Seeing the girl's smooth operation, they were stunned for a moment... Even the boy in hempen clothes looked at her in surprise for a long time, deeply remembering the girl's dark, ordinary face.

Guided by the torchlight, they continued to walk into the depths of the underground space, praying that it would lead to another unknown exit, allowing them to shake off the two vicious and brutal killers...

During this time, the boy in hempen clothes deliberately counted the giant pillars around them; there were exactly ninety-nine.

"There's a door ahead!" a sharp-eyed boy pointed forward and said.

At the end of the ninety-nine coiled dragon pillars was a massive, dust-covered stone door. Because the torchlight was limited, they couldn't see its full appearance at all...

But for some reason, everyone felt an indescribable sensation, as if they were being indifferently looked down upon by something. They were terrified and uneasy, and some even felt their legs go weak, nearly kneeling before the gate.