Tomb Raider: What the hell is this strange commission?

Xie Yuchen paused and nodded to Chi Yu.

Then he turned around and waved his hand, asking the men he brought with him to move the bronze tripod away to make room for Chi Yu to observe the mechanism lock. He then went to check the bronze tripod that had been moved to the side.

Wu Sansheng looked at Chi Yu, then at Xie Yuchen and the people around him, sighed, approached Chi Yu, and looked down at the disc-shaped mechanism lock with him.

"The pattern on it is engraved in relief, so it's hard to see it if you look at it directly. If you want to avoid making mistakes, it's better to apply some powder on it and look at it."

Wu Sansheng stood there and watched with Chi Yu for a while, then suddenly spoke.

Chi Yu glanced at him.

It’s okay, even if he can’t see clearly he knows how to open this thing. He’s just taking a look at it for the sake of courtesy, it won’t affect anything.

Seeing that Chi Yu did not respond, Wu Sanxing felt helpless. He was silent for a while, then said, "The pattern on it is not the same as what I saw before."

It seemed like he really wanted to chat with me.

So Chi Yu said "Oh" without any emotion, and followed Wu Sanxing's words and asked: "What's the difference?"

Wu Sanxing pointed to the relief carvings above and said, "Look at the cicadas above. They are all legless cicada patterns. 'Regeneration and transformation into a cicada' symbolizes reincarnation after death. But in the tomb I visited before, the situation was the opposite."

"The patterns on the lock in that tomb chamber were carved using the relief technique, and most of them were cicada patterns with feet and cloud-thunder patterns, which were combined together."

"Cloud and thunder pattern?"

"Correct."

Cloud-thunder patterns mostly appeared during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Although they were popular for a while, they gradually disappeared during the Han Dynasty. As a result, they are now appearing in this tomb whose decoration style is obviously from the Ming Dynasty...

These combinations were as abrupt as when they came in before and saw only a bronze tripod in the tomb.

Chi Yu sighed silently in his heart.

He just felt that there were too many elements mixed in this place, making it seem a bit messy to him.

But then he remembered that the core goal of Mo Yu's previous commission was to find the Chu Silk Manuscript, and he suddenly felt relieved - it's okay, maybe the owner of the tomb is someone who is interested in the cultural relics left over from the previous dynasty, and he can collect whatever he likes.

and……

"The cloud-thunder pattern symbolizes continuous blessings and endless life. When carved together with the cicada pattern, it means praying for a second life to continue."

Chi Yu said, walked forward, knelt on one knee, reached out to turn the broken line pattern engraved on the mechanism lock, "It seems that the owner of the tomb here did not want to leave this world so easily."

"Do you already know how to crack this mechanism?"

Seeing Chi Yu touching the mechanism without saying a word, Wu Sansheng quickly said to him, "We only have one chance. If your deduction is wrong, it will trigger other traps in this tomb, just like what I did before."

"There is no unbreakable mechanism in this world. You just need to trust me."

Chi Yu lowered his eyes and watched the mechanisms under his control being unlocked layer by layer.

There is not only one difficulty in this mechanism lock. It is designed in a chain form, and each key node is buckled together.

Only by turning the above mechanisms in the correct order can it be fully opened.

But these complex structures are nothing more than distinct lines in Chi Yu's eyes. He only needs to reach out his hand and gently pluck the thread of fate.

So Wu Sansheng just watched Chi Yu easily crack the mechanism locks on the disc one circle after another. The crisp or dull sounds sounded one after another in this small secret room with almost no pause.

As Chi Yu opened the last lock, the disc sank, bringing everyone deeper under the Tianhu Lake.

The locksmith Tang had been silently paying attention to Chi Yu's every move from the beginning, but his brain gradually became confused during the operation which required almost no thinking.

He stared at Chi Yu in astonishment, not even paying attention to the changes in the surrounding environment: "Have you seen this kind of mechanism before? Otherwise, why did you crack such a complicated mechanism lock so quickly?"

Chi Yu stood up and gently patted the dust that was accidentally stained in the process just now. The lines on his face seemed to be soft like a young man, but the words that came out of his mouth were sharp.

“For me, it’s that simple.”

Feeling the complex emotions coming from the lock-picking Tang, Chi Yu sneered.

Are you kidding? With such a simple diagram, the system is almost feeding you food. If someone is using cheats and still doesn't understand, he will definitely laugh at them if he finds out.

Xie Yuchen walked to Chi Yu's side, looked up at the tomb above, and then took a look at the surrounding environment. "We just descended about three meters through this mechanism. Fortunately, the platform is well preserved and there is no problem."

"If there is a problem, I will give you an early warning."

Xie Yuchen turned his head and looked at him, and asked softly: "Before the mechanism really has problems, how do you know what will happen in the future?"

Chi Yu smiled and said, "I can tell this kind of thing just by looking at it."

The place where they were now was also a small space. Looking around with the searchlight, they could only see a tunnel extending downwards in front of them.

On Chi Yu's Mo Yu map, the previously unlocked block corresponding to the circular corridor they had passed through has now been classified as an adjacent area and successfully unlocked.

So Chi Yu glanced at the side of the platform and looked at the huge stone pillar. He knew that this was the mechanism lock that had not been unlocked and the platform was in standby mode.

However, this was just an ordinary passage and there was not much to see, so the group continued to walk down the dark tunnel. After about ten minutes, they suddenly saw the light.

At the end of the tunnel, they saw a man-made cave.

Ordinary searchlights are not enough to illuminate the entire space, but fortunately there are porcelain eternal lamps all around. As long as the fire is relit, the surroundings will immediately become bright.

Perhaps because this underground space is too huge, the rock walls are not tiled, but instead retain their natural rock state. However, it would not be correct to say that it is uncarved.

Chi Yu looked at the inscription engraved on the rock wall beside him, then turned his gaze to the building that attracted the attention of most people present.

It was an extremely long staircase, arranged in a circle and built upwards layer by layer.

This staircase was built very high, and the top was almost invisible.

Each step is paved with hard bluestone bricks, cold and smooth, and they are closely arranged together without any gaps.

The candlelight around could only add a little light to the steps on the lower level, while more steps were hidden in the shadows, silently looking down at the visitors.