The outer city of the imperial mausoleum was far larger than Yan Shouyi and the others had imagined.
Yan Shouyi and his companions walked slowly along the narrow corridor for nearly half an hour.
According to surveys by past geographers, the circumference of the outer city of the imperial mausoleum was over six kilometers, shaped like a rectangle. Yan Shouyi and his group were at the north corner, which was located on the longer side, stretching up to two kilometers.
Fortunately, historical records stated that the "Mercury River" in the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum simulated the feng shui distribution of the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, the Mercury River was situated in the southeast corner of the mausoleum, corresponding to the Bohai Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea in reality. Since Yan Shouyi and his group entered from the north corner, they did not need to cross the Mercury River.
The team had been assembled temporarily, and with the darkness surrounding them, everyone was reluctant to make any noise.
Amidst the silence, Lin Zitong suddenly stopped.
"What is it?"
Yan Shouyi turned his head, and everyone else also halted.
Lin Zitong placed her finger to her lips, making a shushing gesture, and everyone held their breath.
Hoo hoo hoo…
Hoo hoo hoo…
Hoo hoo hoo…
"Is that the wind?" Li Yang adjusted his glasses and said dismissively, "What's so scary about that?"
"Listen again, go ahead and listen," Lin Zitong smiled meaningfully.
Li Yang, not one to believe it, took a few steps forward and listened intently for a few seconds.
Suddenly, his expression changed, and he quickly retreated a few steps, only to trip over himself and fall clumsily to the ground.
Even after falling, Li Yang kept backing away, only stopping after reaching the safety of Liang Yinqiu and the others.
Xia Qi, startled by Li Yang's reaction, grabbed his shoulder, her face pale. "What's wrong? What's up ahead?"
"There's a woman!" Li Yang stammered, his voice trembling.
Wang Sihui's expression sharpened. He made a gesture, signaling his team members to follow him.
In this imperial mausoleum, sealed for a thousand years, the sudden appearance of a woman immediately made everyone think of a female ghost.
Wang Sihui couldn't help but touch the talismans for warding off evil pinned to his chest. He looked at Yan Shouyi, seeking his opinion.
Yan Shouyi calmly explained, "Li Yang didn't see a woman."
"He didn't?"
Everyone was taken aback, wondering if the bookworm had scared himself.
However, Yan Shouyi's next words sent a chill down their spines: "He only heard a woman crying."
"Damn it!"
One of the team members couldn't help but swear.
That was far more terrifying than seeing a woman!
No wonder Li Yang was so scared!
Liang Yinqiu frowned and asked, "Are you saying there's a woman crying up ahead?"
"You can hear it if you listen carefully," Lin Zitong explained.
The group fell silent again and cautiously moved forward.
They indeed heard the sobbing sound of a woman crying!
The sound was intermittent, sometimes present, sometimes absent, mournful and chilling, sending shivers down their spines.
Although they hadn't seen anything, everyone's imagination had already conjured a string of horrifying scenes!
Wang Sihui gritted his teeth and stepped forward, "I'll go ahead and check. You all wait here."
"Go ahead," Yan Shouyi said.
Wang Sihui was taken aback. He hadn't expected Yan Shouyi to agree so readily.
With Yan Shouyi's capabilities, shouldn't he have stopped him and gone to investigate himself?
Was he trying to send him into a trap by letting him go first?
Seeing this, Yan Shouyi patted Wang Sihui's shoulder, "Don't worry, it's not a female ghost up ahead. If it were, I would smell the yin energy."
Hearing Yan Shouyi's "comfort," Wang Sihui's mood didn't improve much.
He mustered his courage and walked forward, shining his flashlight.
The others waited in place for about two minutes before suddenly hearing Wang Sihui shout from ahead:
"You can come over. There's no danger here, it's just..."
"Just what?!" Li Yang called out.
"A few desiccated corpses."
A silence fell over the group. Li Yang was clearly reluctant to move forward.
But given the circumstances, turning back might be even more dangerous than moving forward. Li Yang could only follow the others.
They quickly met up with Wang Sihui and finally saw the true appearance of the "female ghost."
At the front of the corridor lay six corpses, all impaled by crossbow bolts. Some were directly pinned to the ceiling, their bones long since scattered, with only tattered clothes hooking them, barely resembling human forms.
The so-called crying of the female ghost was merely the sound made by the wind blowing into the skulls.
"Why are there bodies here?" Wang Sihui asked, puzzled.
Liang Yinqiu took a brief look and provided the answer: "They must be tomb robbers from the Qing Dynasty."
"The tomb of Qin Shi Huang has been robbed?" everyone exclaimed in surprise.
"What's so strange about that? The tomb of Qin Shi Huang has been robbed, and not just once," Liang Yinqiu said. "The 'Book of Han · Biography of Liu Xiang' records that a young shepherd boy accidentally entered the tomb of Qin Shi Huang and inadvertently set a fire that burned down the mausoleum; during the late Xin Mang period, the Chi Mei Army plundered the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, melting down the unearthed burial furniture and bronze sarcophagi for their metal; in the late Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao attacked Guanzhong, and the tomb of Qin Shi Huang underwent large-scale destruction."
"Then we're not the first ones to enter the imperial mausoleum," Xia Qi said with a grimace.
Everyone was somewhat disheartened. So many people had entered the imperial mausoleum; surely there was nothing left.
Perhaps even Qin Shi Huang's bronze coffin was gone.
But Liang Yinqiu's words brought them some relief:
"The tomb of Qin Shi Huang is so vast. How many tomb robbers could there have been? Even if they spent years, they couldn't empty it. The quantity of cultural relics inside is immense, and the main hall of the mausoleum has never been entered; it remains a mystery to this day!"
"When the tomb of Qin Jinggong, Qin Shi Huang's ancestor, was discovered, there were as many as 247 robber holes on site. Even then, they couldn't clear out the tomb completely, and over 3,500 cultural relics were unearthed there."
Liang Yinqiu encouraged them, "We may not be the first to enter the imperial mausoleum, but we can be the first to bring the imperial mausoleum to light!"
Yan Shouyi nodded. He actually knew that before they arrived, the Ma siblings had already been "exploring" the imperial mausoleum for several days.
Oh, right, they had also entered the main hall and retrieved the Zulong Sword, a national treasure, which was now in Yan Shouyi's satchel…
Liang Yinqiu's words filled Xia Qi with excitement and vigor. She boldly stepped over the corpses and said, turning back, "Then let's hurry forward. Based on the timeline, the professors should be not far ahead!"
However, as soon as she finished speaking, Yan Shouyi's expression changed, and he shouted, "Don't go! Come back quickly!"
These tomb robbers had clearly died due to traps and mechanisms. There might be untriggered mechanisms ahead!
Unfortunately, it was too late by the time Yan Shouyi sensed it. Xia Qi stepped on a floor tile, which immediately sank. The sound of "crackling" mechanisms echoed from all around the corridor!