Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 1379 - Tomb

It was only a few seconds, but the ground had caved in the middle and before they could move a step, they were already sliding towards the middle.

The stone pillars of the underground palace were still connected to the roof of the palace, and only then did everyone realize that they weren't being used to support the palace but actually, they were tools for the mechanism!

Lin Yi, Yutian, Lingshan, Old Hei, Elder Yu, and Weiwu were all on one side, and Xiaoke was on the other!

Lin Yi's shout had come too late, but luckily everyone had good reflexes- they still managed to hold on to parts of the floor that had not fallen. The floor was caving in, but not everything had fallen, providing surfaces for them to grab a hold of.

Lin Yi looked at Xiaoke. She was using an eagle talon hook to grab on to the edge- seeing that she had been prepared, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Old Hei however, was the only one who didn't know kung fu. By the time he saw that everyone had already reacted to the situation, he was unable to do anything and fell down right away!

"Ah- help!!" Old Hei called out.

Lingshan frowned, subconsciously wanting to let go and save Old Hei! She was here to catch these tomb thieves, and already many have died- this was the last one! What was the point of the mission if he died as well!

But Lin Yi knew about her thoughts, and wouldn't let her get into danger like that- he spoke quickly, "I'll go!"

With that, he let go and jumped down. Stretching out his arm, he grabbed Old Hei before launching himself off one of the stone pillars to go back to his original spot- a completely smooth action from start to beginning.

This was an extremely easy thing for Lin Yi, but Lingshan wasn't experienced enough- Lin Yi wasn't confident she'd be able to make it.

Old Hei had come back from the dead, and was fully grateful to Lin Yi. He did the same thing as Xiaoke and used his own eagle hook to grab on to the edge.

"Thank you, Mr Thief!" Old Hei said seriously.

"Keeping you alive has its uses- every extra person is an extra piece of wisdom. We need all the strength we can get at this point," Lin Yi said faintly. In truth, he wouldn't even care if it weren't for Lingshan.

"What is this? Why is the bottom all dark and deep, like a bottomless pit?" Elder Yu frowned. "Did you activate some kind of death trap?"

Lin Yi was hesitant as well- he couldn't tell if this was the entrance to the proper underground palace, but it was evident that they wouldn't have used this way to enter the tomb when building it. Normal people would've just died.

Plus, he clearly felt a dangerous presence right below them- the jade was still giving off alerts.

If this were a normal situation, he could just easily jump down- where they were, there was no danger and no danger on the road back as well. The only possible danger was in this pit.

"This might be the entrance to the underground palace," Old Hei sighed after a while, "Although, this does look like the legendary dead tomb!"

"Dead tomb?" Elder Yu paused, "What does that mean?"

"Dead tombs are the type that you can only enter and never leave- that was how it was designed, there was no exit. This sort of tomb was built from outside to inside, and once you go in, you can't leave, and can only be with the tomb for eternity…" Old Hei said, his cold sweat dropping. If this was the case, then they've really put their lives on the line for this one.

"Then what do we do? Will we not be able to leave afterwards?" Elder Yu sighed.

"I don't know… This is only a legend, it's the first time I've seen an entrance like this…" He smiled bitterly.

It was also then that the originally stopped mechanism activated again, and the two floors of the ground rose up slowly, as if trying to connect back again!

"This is bad, the mechanism is recovering," Lin yi said, "Do we go down or do we not?"

Lin Yi had thought it through already- even if these guys don't go down, he would himself- even if it was a dead tomb, he had to try. As long as he got the medical notes, with Weiwu beside him, he was confident he could figure something out. If he had to, he could even use energy bombs to blast through the stone walls!

"That's... " Elder Yu and Old Hei hesitated…

Lingshan and Yutian both see what Lin Yi intended to do- if he were to go down, they would as well.

"This should be a dead tomb, but there should be a way to go out after getting in," Xiaoke spoke up. "Only the place with the coffin should be the true dead end, the other places are connected to the outside."

"Oh? You're sure?" Old Hei paused.

"I think so. First, Zhang Liju was a doctor, and a doctor wouldn't be as cruel as to let all the workers making his tomb die along with him…" Xiaoke analyzed, "Number two, if it really were a dead end that you can't make it out of, then what's the point of the spirit beast? Isn't that unnecessary?"

"Um… You're right!" Old Hei nodded He was an experienced tomb raider as well, and he was confident after hearing Xiaoke's words, "Alright, let's go down!"

"Flying sparrow, later when the floor is almost closed up, let go and then you'll all be closer to me- we'll all jump down together, it's safer!" Lin Yi said to him.

"Alright!" Xiaoke said without hesitation. She knew that it was dangerous down there and Lin Yi was giving her special treatment- he wouldn't put her in danger for sure.

This time, Old Hei and Elder Yu didn't find anything wrong with Lin Yi's care towards Xiaoke anymore- if he could even save Old Hei, then what was the big deal with him caring about Xiaoke's safety?

"You two, hug onto me later- left and right and don't let go," Lin Yi said to Chentian and Lingshan and called to Old Hei, "If you don't want to die, hug on to Elder Yu as well- he wouldn't leave you and let you die."