Warrior's Tomb

What could be more surprising than learning that aliens existed?

Of course there was! Learning that some old grave robber had dug up alien relics from an unknown ancient tomb.

As I watched the black metal plate before me vibrate continuously and emit a faint hum, my mind was instantly flooded with scenes from films and novels, one bizarre story after another pouring forth without end.

A powerful warrior from the depths of space had endured countless brutal battles before crashing onto Earth, which was still uncivilized at the time, gravely wounded. Unable to return home, the warrior was worshipped as a god by the local natives. He led the people of Earth in struggle after struggle against tyranny and dictatorship, eventually spending his lonely life on this distant planet. The things he left behind were treated as sacred relics by the reverent Earthlings and buried in the river of history. Until one day, an old man named... uh, I forgot what he was called. Anyway, some sleazy old man discovered a forgotten tomb, and the story of this alien warrior finally revealed the tip of the iceberg. Then the credits rolled...

"A Jun?" Qian Qian's voice suddenly rang out beside my ear, snapping me out of my fantasy.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing? Why are you spacing out again?" Qian Qian looked at me with some dissatisfaction, seemingly helpless about how I kept drifting off now and then. Lin Xue even blurted out, "Don't tell me you've been cursed by some ancient object here? As far as I know, some mysterious ancient artifacts can make people's minds go hazy—how about we get you checked out?"

"Uh... no need. I was just thinking... So, now that we've confirmed this thing can resonate with Qian Qian, what exactly is it?"

Everyone turned their eyes toward Gu Zhengfeng.

The old grave robber gave a dry cough and said, "Actually, I'm not entirely sure either..."

All of us glared at him viciously.

The old grave robber hurriedly shrank his neck and said, "But I can confirm that this thing is useful. Back then, several friends and I found that ruin, and deep within one of its tomb chambers, we discovered this thing. There was an introduction to it written on the walls of the chamber. It said this was the 'Lost One's Beacon,' and only the chosen could take it away. I got greedy at the time and ignored my companions' warnings, taking it out of its box. That triggered a mechanism. Several of my companions died in the tomb, and only I escaped by following this thing's guidance. But then I was hunted down and ended up like this..."

After hearing Gu Zhengfeng's account, I roughly understood the history of this "Null Beacon." "So you made a rule that only someone capable of forming some kind of connection with the 'Lost One's Beacon' could take it away?"

The old man nodded. "That's right. At first, I didn't think anyone could really resonate with this thing. I just gave the Esper Team a try, asking them to bring anyone coming to investigate ruins to me. And I actually met an archaeologist named Xu... What a pity. That man didn't listen to my warning and instead gave me a good scolding... Sigh, it's rare for old Gu to do a good deed in this life..."

Lin Xue snorted dismissively. "If I were you, I'd have thrown this thing away long ago."

"If he had really thrown it away, wouldn't we be in serious trouble?"

Lin Xue snorted again, but this time, she surprisingly did not reflexively argue with me. Instead, she stood up and changed the subject. "No matter what, we've got it now. We should set off quickly. We've been here so long that I'm starting to feel like I've been buried in a tomb."

On the Way to the Ruins

"That's it." After getting out of the specially modified desert off-road vehicle, Lin Xue pointed ahead of us.

"Where? Why can't I see anything?" I looked around, but apart from a sand dune, I found nothing.

Lin Xue took the lead and walked forward. "Idiot. How could such a mysterious ruin be somewhere people could spot at a glance? It's beneath this desert!"

Underground again? Did the ancients share Lin Xue's hobby of building underground bases?

At the base of the sand dune, we saw the entrance to the ruin.

It was a passage two or three meters high, supported by grayish-white stones. Looking inward from the entrance, all we could see were the long stone steps beneath our feet stretching continuously downward, gradually swallowed by profound darkness. It gave one the illusion that this place might lead directly to hell.

Lin Xue closed her eyes, seemingly carefully sensing the surrounding environment. Then she said, "Just as I thought—the sand dunes here are stationary. That's why this entrance hasn't been buried by shifting sands."

Lin Xue did not need to remind me. Pandora had already given me a more precise description.

With this entrance as its center, all the sand within a one-kilometer radius was in a strange state of "pseudo-stillness." The reason it was called "pseudo-stillness" was that the sand was not truly frozen in place. It would still move slowly under the force of the wind, but after a certain period, some mysterious power would return it to its original position. Thus, this entrance had existed here for who knew how many years, yet it had never been swallowed by the shifting desert.

A place steeped in eerie strangeness.

"Sikaro," I said to Knight-Faced Uncle beside me through Spiritual Connection, "stay alert. If anything happens, protect Qian Qian and Lin Xue first. The two of them have the weakest ability to defend themselves."

By then, Lin Xue had also finished sensing the situation around us. She opened her eyes and said, "It's safe ahead. Let's go in."

I felt someone tugging at my clothes from behind, so I turned around and softly reassured her, "Don't be afraid, Qian Qian. There are six Espers here protecting you."

No one knew how many years this passage had existed. The stone steps beneath our feet had been battered by time until they were pitted and uneven. In many places, a single step would cause a chunk to collapse, and the broken stones would tumble into the boundless darkness with a clatter. Supporting ourselves against the rough stone walls, we carefully moved forward by the dim light cast by the blue-white cold lamps. Lin Xue led the way at the front, using her ability to sense dangers that might appear at any moment.

"Strange..." Lin Xue suddenly said. "How long have we been walking?"

"About an hour, I think." I was not sure, because the darkness of the surroundings and the oppressive atmosphere made me feel as if I had been walking through this eerie place for a very long time.

"More than twenty minutes," Pandora's calm voice echoed in all our minds.

"Hmm..." Lin Xue murmured. "In such an oppressive environment, people's perception of time passing can become distorted. Lily is blind by nature, so she isn't affected. That means we've been walking here for nearly half an hour..."

"Big sis, did you notice something?" Lin Feng asked.

"The air—we've gone this deep already, but the air in this passage hasn't become thinner or more stagnant at all. That's absolutely abnormal for an ancient underground chamber."

Was it that strange "pseudo-stillness" phenomenon again?

"Though it's highly abnormal, it's still better than having no air. At least we won't need the respirators we brought for now." As Lin Xue spoke, she quickened her pace, and we hurried after her.

No one knew how much longer we walked. Just as I was beginning to wonder whether these seemingly endless stairs might lead all the way to the Earth's core, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared ahead of us.

After Lin Xue confirmed that there was no danger ahead, we immediately rushed toward that faint, hazy light.

"Ah—this is..." Lin Xue cried out as she stared at the scene before us.

What appeared before us was an enormous stone hall!

Pandora's voice suddenly rang out in my mind, filled with obvious excitement. "This is Shilin Warrior's Tomb!"