Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 121 Mechanism
"Mingzi, what you said does make sense, but we can't just admit defeat like this, can we?"

The fat man's face fell upon hearing this. Winning was no good, losing was no good either. What did this mean? Were they really just playing with them?
"We absolutely cannot afford to lose. Anyone with a brain knows that if we lose, we'll be stuck here forever."

“But… Lao Jin, do you know about the triple ko draw?” Hu Ming smiled and shook his head, looking at Big Gold Tooth.

Hu Bayi and Fatty also looked at Big Gold Tooth expectantly. Judging from the current situation, it seemed that what Hu Ming said was indeed the most correct solution.

"Actually, the three-knock cycle situation that Master Ming mentioned also exists in this endgame. As long as we place this black piece here."

“If we capture this white piece, we’ll create an even rarer four-ko cycle, which will definitely result in a draw!” Big Gold Tooth pointed to a spot on the board and said.

"Mr. Ming, you are indeed very perceptive. This chessboard is no ordinary chessboard. This situation is definitely not a coincidence."

"I'm afraid it's really as Ming said, whether we win or lose, we'll all be stuck here."

Big Gold Tooth inwardly praised, no wonder Master Hu and Fatty both subtly centered their attention on Master Ming.

“Mr. Ming, this is the secret you discovered. Why don’t you play this game?” Big Gold Tooth said, picking up a black piece and handing it to Hu Ming.

"Yes! Mingzi, you play this game. We trust your judgment!"

Hu Bayi and Fatty looked at Hu Ming at the same time and said trustingly.

"Okay!" Hu Ming didn't hesitate and immediately picked up a chess piece, placing it at the intersection of Big Gold Tooth's fingers.

The next moment, the familiar clicking sound of a large mechanism in operation rang out again.

Between them, eight stone walls descended from eight directions, each with multiple grooves, and in each groove was an exquisite and precious treasure!
"Gurgle...!"

Suddenly, the group heard a loud swallowing sound.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed Fatty! His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw all these treasures.

"You've struck it rich, Mingzi, Lao Hu, Lao Jin!"

"With so many treasures, we're really going to be rich!"

"Fatty, I take back what I said before. The tomb owner was a good person, an incredibly good person!"

As he spoke, the fat man ran over, unable to resist the urge to steal something.

Even Big Gold Tooth couldn't sit still and leaned over to take a closer look.

"Fatty, Old Jin, don't touch those things..."

However, Hu Ming's loud shout stopped them.

At the same time, Hu Bayi quickly stopped their reckless actions.

Compared to Fatty and Lao Jin, Hu Bayi was much more rational. Although the funerary objects were tempting, one had to be alive to take them.

"Mingzi, what's wrong? Is there a trap behind us?"

"This treasure is right in front of us, we can't just sit here and look at it, can we?"

Although the fat man was somewhat unwilling, he stopped as instructed.

“Old Hu, look at the structure of this tomb chamber. The eight walls correspond to the eight gates of rest, life, injury, death, and shock.”

"Mingzi, you mean we can get out if we find the exit, right?" Big Gold Tooth suddenly realized, feeling that he understood.

"It's not that simple. Anyone who knows about the existence of the Eight Gates of Qimen Dunjia probably thinks the same way."

"But Li Chunfeng is a man of extraordinary learning; are the traps he set up really that simple?"

"According to the meaning of the Nine Palaces and Eight Gates, we should be able to find the corresponding artifacts for these eight gates and thus solve the puzzle."

Hu Ming stood on the stone platform in front of the coffin, carefully examining the funerary objects on the eight surrounding walls, while explaining to everyone.

“Mingzi, I have only done some rough research on the theory of the Eight Gates.”

"I only know that the Open, Rest, and Life gates are the three auspicious gates, the Death, Fright, and Injury gates are the three inauspicious gates, and the Block and View gates are neutral." "I also only know that the theory of the eight gates evolved from the number nine of the palaces."

"But how can I match these funerary objects with the real ones?"

Hu Bayi shook his head and couldn't help but say.

"If we correspond these eight gates to the nine palaces, the Rest Gate is in the Kan Palace, the Death Gate is in the Kun Palace, and the Injury Gate is in the Zhen Palace."

"The Du Gate is in the Xun Palace (fourth palace), the fifth is in the central palace, and the Kai Gate is in the Qian Palace (sixth palace)."

“The Gate of Shock is in the seventh palace of the Dui trigram, the Gate of Life is in the eighth palace of the Gen trigram, and the Gate of View is in the ninth palace of the Li trigram.”

“There is also a rhyme: Two and four are the shoulders, six and eight are the feet, three on the left and seven on the right, nine on the head and one on the feet, five in the center.”

"The coffin is located in the very center of the tomb chamber, which corresponds to the number five in the 'five-top' and 'one-bottom' directions. The location is now very clear!"

While Hu Bayi was deep in thought, and Fatty and Big Gold Tooth were bewildered, Hu Ming blurted out a series of words.

"No, Mingzi, could you lower the level of knowledge required? We can't understand it."

The fat man was genuinely bewildered. He hadn't even mastered modern mathematics, let alone these ancient mathematical concepts.

"I told you to read more books, but you wouldn't listen. Now you're confused, aren't you?"

Hu Bayi slapped the fat man in an annoyance before explaining.

"Mingzi is saying that the wall the head of the coffin is facing represents the number nine, the wall the tail represents the number one, and you should understand the rest, right?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean..."

"However, the mechanisms here are probably not so simple. Once activated, they will likely force us to find others in a short period of time."

"So I'll tell you the funerary objects corresponding to each direction first. Remember them and get them done as soon as possible. There are four of us, so each of us can be responsible for two walls."

As he spoke, Hu Ming pointed to the eight walls and explained in detail the funerary objects that corresponded to them.

"The first palace of the Hexagram, Kan, represents water, but this is only the surface meaning. In the meaning of the hexagram, Kan is the center line, which means to adhere to the right path and maintain one's original heart. It is the bronze statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva."

"The Gate of Death, Kun Palace, Kun is extremely Yin, Yin Blood Jade!"

"The 'Injury Gate' and 'Thunder Palace' are the hallmarks of the Li Gui bronze vessel from the Western Zhou Dynasty, adorned with cloud and thunder patterns!"

"The Du Gate is located in the Xun Palace (Southeast), and Xun wood represents wind. This is a miniature screen made of golden nanmu wood!"

"Open the gate to the Qian (Heaven) Palace, Qian is the most Yang, the Pagoda!"

"The Gate of Shock is in the Seven Palaces of Dui, which represents a marsh and a young girl, and is associated with metal, specifically a gilded water sheep bottle!"

"The Gate of Life (Gen) is in the eighth palace, representing a mountain. Jade is born from stone, immovable as a mountain—it is that jade dog!"

"The Jing Gate is located outside the Nine Palaces, associated with fire, and the Vermilion Bird Candlestick!"

Hu Ming pursed his dry lips and looked at the three of them.

"Did you all remember? We'll each be responsible for two directions."

"Fatty one, two; Old Jin three, four; Old Hu six, seven; me eight, nine."

"Is everything alright?"

"Don't worry, Mingzi, there are only two for each person, we've remembered that!"

The three glanced at the wall they were responsible for, found the corresponding funerary objects, and nodded.

"Alright, let's begin!" Hu Ming nodded.

(End of this chapter)