Chapter 23: Lost (3)

“The sound?” The Old Man’s eyes lit up. “Those Corpse Fiends moved based on sound. Is there some sound here? Let’s listen carefully.”

Zuo Qingcang nodded. The two of them stopped talking and held their breath, focusing intently on listening to their surroundings, trying to hear any sound.

But after they stopped speaking, in the dark passage, apart from the Luminous Pearls still quietly glowing and the sound of their own breathing, they couldn’t hear any other sounds.

The Old Man frowned. “Maybe it’s not here?”

Zuo Qingcang guessed, “This Labyrinth was built so complex. The original designers definitely considered the issue of sound.”

“This sound problem is likely caused by the outside. Just like that mouse that escaped from the Tomb Robber’s Tunnel, it was probably due to a natural change like an earthquake. Somewhere in this Labyrinth leads to the outside.”

“So, this sound might only be audible in a specific part of the Labyrinth.”

The Old Man nodded. “It seems we still have to navigate through this Labyrinth. Fortunately, the food is enough for about 70 days. That should be sufficient time, right?”

Although they reasoned this way, both the Old Man and Zuo Qingcang felt somewhat uncertain deep down. But with no other options, they continued walking along the passage, trying to find the hypothesized sound.

While exploring the Labyrinth, before entering each Stone Chamber, Zuo Qingcang would use his Dagger to carve a number on the right side of the entrance passage. The counting started from 1. And each time, they chose the middlemost passage to proceed.

The purpose of this was that if they kept going, logically, as long as the marks weren’t removed and the Labyrinth wasn’t infinite, they would eventually encounter a Stone Chamber they had already marked. Then, by following the rule of always choosing the passage to the left of the marked entrance, they could gradually deduce the general layout of the Labyrinth.

This was a last-resort method when they knew nothing about the Labyrinth’s principles. It also increased the time they spent checking for marks around each Stone Chamber after entering.

Arriving at another Stone Chamber, the Old Man and Zuo Qingcang each checked around but still found no existing marks.

The Old Man said dejectedly, “Is making these marks really useful? Could it be that our marks are being erased by something?”

Zuo Qingcang’s face showed no expression. He said calmly, “I thought about it carefully. That possibility is very small. First, because we already tested it; we observed for half an hour, and the marks didn’t disappear.”

“Second, if they really disappear, it would be after we left. If the reason we haven’t encountered any marks so far is because the marks were erased before we entered that room, without leaving any trace,”

“Then the other party would need the ability to perfectly restore the ground and walls. They would also need to monitor our movements, intelligently arrange the room order, use either spatial or mechanical means to arrange the rooms, and ensure we only enter rooms where the marks have been erased.”

Zuo Qingcang said a lot, but the main point was: “Although this Ancient Tomb is impressive, we shouldn’t overestimate the ancients. The technical methods I just described probably surpass what they could achieve. If they had such technology, they wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble; they could just use that monitoring ability combined with restoration to create traps and kill anyone who enters.”

In the following time, the two kept moving through one Stone Chamber after another. According to Zuo Qingcang’s own count, they spent about fourteen hours, and the room mark number had reached two hundred and four. But even now, they still hadn’t encountered any Stone Chamber that already had a mark.

At this moment, the two were sitting in a new Stone Chamber, resting. Compared to the Old Man’s dejection, Zuo Qingcang sat cross-legged on the ground; even his breathing and heartbeat showed no significant changes. Since the exploration began, he had been trying to minimize his physical exertion.

Because in this kind of Labyrinth, with limited food, conserving stamina and energy was clearly very important. It not only allowed him to handle any possible emergencies but also reduced unnecessary food consumption.

The Old Man beside him touched his stomach and said, “I’m starving. Give me something to eat.” What the Old Man referred to was naturally the Dwarf Spirit.

Hearing the Old Man’s request, Zuo Qingcang didn’t move. Instead, he said, “It’s too early. You feel hungry now only because you’re too anxious, plus today’s physical exertion was poorly managed. You are far from your limit.”

“We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here, and the food is limited. So from now on, I will personally distribute the food. This food is our guarantee for survival; we cannot waste any of it.”

Although the Old Man didn’t want to go hungry, he knew Zuo Qingcang was right and could only reluctantly agree.

Seeing his discomfort, Zuo Qingcang said, “You sleep first. I’ll keep watch for the first half of the night, and you take the second half.”

Although they said this, the two actually had no idea whether it was night or day outside the Ancient Tomb. They were just sleeping to replenish energy. Moreover, Zuo Qingcang’s first watch lasted about five hours, and he only feigned sleep for about four hours during the second half, just to regain a little energy, ensuring he could wake up if any danger arose.

After all, they were still in the Ancient Tomb; he could never let his guard down and sleep peacefully. However, Zuo Qingcang himself was seasoned and could persist for over a month with just four or five hours of feigned sleep each day.

In contrast, the Old Man, while Zuo Qingcang kept watch, slept very soundly without any caution.

During his watch, Zuo Qingcang looked at the only light source in the Stone Chamber, the Eternal Lamp on the wall, and once again sorted through the clues about the Stone Chamber Labyrinth in his mind. He felt like something important was being overlooked.

The night passed without incident. After both had rested, they began exploring again.

Three days passed like this. The number of rooms they explored and marked had reached 634, but they still hadn’t encountered any Stone Chamber that had been marked before. During these three days, only the Old Man had consumed one Dwarf Spirit corpse. Their food supply still seemed ample, but the actual situation was worse.

Walking in the passage, the Old Man’s eyes darted around rapidly, as if he was having trouble concentrating. His occasional arm twitches and anxious eyes revealed his unstable mental state.

Zuo Qingcang, on the other hand, appeared almost the same as three days ago, but his slightly quickened breathing showed he wasn’t entirely unaffected.

This was inevitable. For three consecutive days, everything they saw was identical Stone Chambers, as if there was no end. They even conducted other tests using ropes, the Dagger, and Luminous Pearls but found no patterns.

In the end, apart from knowing to take the middle passage, they had almost lost all sense of direction and spatial awareness.

‘The mental pressure from this completely identical environment is immense. I can probably last about a month myself,’ Zuo Qingcang thought, glancing back at the Old Man behind him. ‘But if he continues like this, he might have a mental breakdown.’

Thinking it over, in the next new Stone Chamber, Zuo Qingcang suddenly stopped.