Stealing the Pen: Kirin's Primordial Lotus

As the sword in the man's hand flashed through the air like lightning, the mechanism that had been spitting out poison needles from the mouth of the stone lion suddenly stopped working. Then, accompanied by a low roar, the tightly closed second stone door was slowly pushed open by an invisible giant hand, and appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Young master, thank you for fulfilling your mission!" After completing the task, the Zhang family members quickly retreated to Xie Yuchen, clasped their hands together, and looked at him respectfully.

Xie Yuchen took a step forward, stretched out his hand to hold the other person's arm, and showed a gentle smile on his face: "Thank you for your hard work, but... I don't know your name yet?"

Hearing this, the man's eyes lit up instantly, as if a flame was burning in them. He straightened up and answered in a loud voice: "Young Master, I am a disciple of the Zhongshan generation of the Zhang family, and my name is Zhang Minshan. It is my honor to serve you, young master!"

Xie Yuchen nodded in satisfaction and waved his hand to signal him to return to the team. Then, he took a deep breath and led everyone into the second mysterious tunnel. As soon as they entered, they found that this place was very similar to the first tunnel they had passed through before - the walls around were all coated with a special material that could absorb light, making the entire passage appear dark and narrow.

In such an environment, no matter if people looked back or looked up, they could not see the way back or the exit. The endless darkness was like a huge net, enveloping everyone.

A silent and dark tunnel is like a bottomless python quietly lurking underground. There is no light here, only endless darkness, which seems to swallow up all life and hope. Such an environment is most likely to evoke the fear that has been hidden deep in people's hearts for a long time.

Gradually, the crowd, which had been relatively quiet, began to stir. Behind Xie Yuchen, there was a burst of noise, which started as a slight murmur, but soon turned into a loud shouting. Some people could no longer suppress their inner panic, mumbling some confusing words, sometimes screaming loudly, sometimes sobbing softly. The sound echoed in the narrow tunnel, like the roar of evil spirits from hell, which was creepy.

Xie Yuchen stood in front, his frowning brows invisible in the darkness. However, the ghost-like whispers in his ears followed him everywhere, never stopping. These tiny noises kept hitting his nerves, making him more and more irritable. Finally, he couldn't help but raise the flashlight in his hand, wanting to check the time to calm down. When the light shone on the watch on his wrist, he suddenly realized that only five minutes had passed since they entered the tunnel.

"Stop!" Xie Yuchen suddenly shouted, his voice echoing in the tunnel. He said hurriedly and firmly: "This road is wrong! We can't go any further!" Hearing this, everyone stopped. Xie Da trotted to Xie Yuchen, his face full of anxiety. At the same time, Huo Xiangu, Xia He Wuxie, Wang Pangzi and others were struggling to squeeze out of the dense and crowded team. After a lot of effort, they barely got out of the crowd.

"Oh my, what's going on? Why did they stop suddenly?" Wu Xie had a bewildered look on his face. He was completely confused. He blinked and stared straight at Xie Yuchen, who caused everyone to stop.

On the other side, Fatty Wang was also exhausted and panting. He finally squeezed through the huge crowd to the front. He wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead with his hand and said with heavy breath: "What is going on? We were all walking well just now, why did we stop just like that?"

At this time, Xie Da focused his eyes on the watch on Xie Yuchen's wrist. Suddenly, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying, his face turned pale in an instant, his face was full of fear, and he shouted in a trembling voice: "Master...Master, this...this time is wrong! Think about it, so many of us came in together, and this tunnel is so narrow that at most two people can pass through side by side at a time. Even if we have been walking for a full five minutes, we should still be able to see the stone door when we first came in, but now...why is it like this?"

Hearing this, the other people looked in the direction that Xie Da pointed. However, what horrified them was that the stone gate that was supposed to be there disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed!

Xie Yuchen raised the flashlight in his hand and projected the weak light around. The light pierced through the darkness like a sharp sword, but it could only illuminate a limited range. He slowly turned his body, letting the flashlight sweep around and said, "The first tunnel we passed before was also coated with light-absorbing materials. It only took us about five minutes to leave that place. This place is the same, and it is the passage we are going through together. According to common sense, even if there are no clear road signs, we will not go astray!"

Wu Xie, who was standing nearby, frowned when he heard this, and began to use his smart brain to think about this mystery. After a moment, he suddenly had an idea and said, "Could it be like the famous Mobius experiment that was once done abroad? Maybe someone deliberately used our visual illusion to create an illusion that we are always walking on the same road, but in fact, every time we walk to a certain position, we will be cleverly guided to other roads, and then repeat the cycle over and over again?"

Xie Yuchen listened quietly to the bold guess made by Wu Xie. Ripples arose in his heart. His thoughts gradually drifted away and he fell into deep thought.

It is undeniable that the possibility Wu Xie mentioned does exist. When a person is in the endless darkness, unable to see even a ray of light; when the road ahead is blurred, as if covered by a thick fog, making it impossible to see where it leads, human inertial thinking will begin to quietly play tricks.

In such situations, people are often unconsciously bound and misled by inertial thinking, just like a lamb lost in the dark. They may move forward based on intuition or past experience, but they never realize that they have already deviated from the correct track and embarked on a fork in the road.

Just like that, one wrong step led to another, and they went further and further down the wrong path, completely unaware that they were actually just going round in circles. And that strange cycle was like an invisible net that trapped them tightly in it, making it difficult for them to break free of this terrible bondage no matter how hard they struggled.

Meanwhile, Xie Yuchen was still trapped in this horrifying cycle, desperately searching for a way out. However, in stark contrast to his predicament, Zhang Hainan, with the careful support of his two capable men, had arrived at the camp safely.

After returning to the camp, Zhang Hainan did not slack off at all. He quickly threw himself into the busy work. First, under the professional and skilled operation of the team doctor, the remaining toxins in his body were cleared one by one, and his physical condition was greatly improved. Then, he attacked decisively with lightning speed and successfully recaptured the camp that was almost lost from the Wang family.

On the other hand, Zhang Qiling and Hua Yu had a smooth journey without any obstacles, and easily arrived at the Zhang family's ancient building hidden deep in the mountain. This ancient building, which has experienced the vicissitudes of time and is full of mystery, stands there quietly, like a huge beast that has been sleeping for a long time, exuding a unique atmosphere that makes people feel awe and at the same time makes people want to explore it.

Hua Yu was standing in front of the ancient building at the moment. He raised his head slightly and stared at the Zhang family mausoleum in front of him. It was built by completely hollowing out the inside of the mountain. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "Oh my! I think of you Zhang family members. When you were alive, you were crawling in various ancient tombs all day long. Now you have finally breathed your last and passed away, but you have found such a gloomy tomb for yourself. I really don't know whether to say it is persistence or too obsessed!" After saying that, he showed a deep sympathy on his face. He turned his gaze to Zhang Haike and others on the side, and then teased, "I say, the ancestor of your family who proposed to build this kind of mausoleum, could it be that he accidentally fell into the bathtub while taking a bath, and the full bucket of bath water was locked in his head? Otherwise, how could he come up with such a shocking idea?"

Being teased by Hua Yu, Zhang Haike and the others could only lower their heads and look at each other, looking a little at a loss. If they were to answer, wouldn't that be the same as admitting that their ancestor was crazy and not normal? But if they didn't answer, thinking about it carefully, Hua Yu's words seemed to make sense, and they were really in a dilemma for a while!