Tomb raiding: It all started with shocking the archaeological team.

The passageway felt stuffy, damp, and cold because there was no air circulation for a long time.

Chen Yibai and Yan Wanlei are both 1.85 meters tall. In this cave passage with a height of only 2 meters, they felt like they were just a hair's breadth away from touching the top of their heads, so they could only subconsciously bend over the whole time.

The archaeological experts followed behind, with several other special operations team members bringing up the rear.

After walking forward for about ten meters along the passageway, the passageway began to bend and turn to the left.

"This cave is winding, everyone stay close behind, don't fall behind!"

Chen Yibai gave a special reminder to those behind him.

At the same time, Chen Yibai took out the Bagua compass again and looked at it.

The compass is now back to normal. The position where the magnetic needle is placed on the compass is called the 'Heavenly Pool', and the north and south lines in the middle are called the 'Meridian Line'. At this moment, the magnetic needle is perfectly still on the Meridian Line of the Heavenly Pool.

This means that only the outer pool is dangerous.

"Mr. Chen, haven't we been walking in a straight line? How could it be a curve?"

Wang Haichuan, who was following behind, looked at the beam of the flashlight shining in front of him and asked with some puzzlement.

"I also feel like we've been going in a straight line the whole time!"

Yan Wanlei, who was standing next to him, nodded in agreement.

"The eyes can deceive the brain. This cave is not only winding, but it's also downhill. We're going downhill right now!"

Chen Yibai narrowed his eyes, looked around the cave passage, and said with certainty, "The technique used to carve this cave is extremely impressive. The curvature and slope are all within millimeters of deviation, which is something that most people would hardly notice."

"downhill?"

Upon hearing Chen Yibai say that things were going downhill, everyone felt even more incredulous.

This road is clearly flat, how could it be downhill?

To the naked eye, the road beneath your feet appears flat, and that's correct.

In a dark, claustrophobic space, vision is easily affected, causing the information seen by the eyes to be transmitted to the brain in a distorted way.

But Chen Yibai wouldn't, because he was already used to this dark underground world, like an ant that lives in an underground cave and is very sensitive to all directions.

"Mr. Chen, was this specially designed when this tunnel was carved out?"

Yan Wanlei looked at Chen Yibai curiously and asked.

"Mm!" Chen Yibai nodded.

"Why was it designed this way?" Yan Wanlei asked curiously.

Since it was designed this way, there must be a reason behind it. The mystery of this ancient tomb gradually aroused Yan Wanlei's curiosity.

"It's just a maze!" Chen Yibai smiled, his eyes narrowing.

When it comes to being trapped in a maze, the metaphysical explanation is possession by evil spirits, while the scientific explanation is motion illusion.

In fact, both of these exist.

The ancients were highly skilled in building tombs and had long ago discovered the illusion of "being trapped in a maze" and applied it to tomb security.

The principle is actually quite simple: the passageway of the tomb is deliberately built to be very long, and then subtle optical illusions are used to create a false impression for the tomb raiders, as if they are trapped in a "ghost wall". This makes the tomb raiders keep going in circles in the passageway, eventually trapping them to death.

As soon as Chen Yibai entered, he noticed that the man-made cave passageway used a trick called "ghost wall".

That's why I specifically reminded the people behind to stay close to the group, otherwise they would be in big trouble if they got separated in the passageway.

"Mr. Chen, there's a fork in the road ahead!"

As if what was said would come true, after walking forward about twenty meters along the passage, a Y-shaped fork appeared in front of them. The two openings were exactly the same in size, width and height.

"Which way to go?"

Yan Wanlei turned to Chen Yibai and asked.

Chen Yibai stopped and looked down at the Bagua compass in his hand again.

In the I Ching's eight trigrams, Kan represents the north and is the Rest Gate; Li represents the south and is the View Gate; Zhen represents the east and is the Injury Gate; and Dui represents the west and is the Shock Gate.

Xun represents the southeast and is the Gate of Blockage; Kun represents the southwest and is the Gate of Death; Gen represents the northeast and is the Gate of Life; Qian represents the southwest and is the Gate of Opening.

From a feng shui perspective, the preferred orientations for tombs are the 'South View Gate' and the 'Southeast Block Gate', while the 'West Shock Gate' and the 'Southwest Death Gate' are to be avoided.

These two openings, one facing southeast and the other facing southwest, are positioned opposite each other.

Therefore, the choice would inevitably be the Du Gate in the southeast.

Of these eight gates, Open, Rest, and Life are auspicious, Death, Fright, and Injury are inauspicious, and Block and View are neutral.

"Go to the right, follow the group, and don't go the wrong way, or you won't be able to get back!"

Chen Yibai shouted loudly behind him again.

"Little Tiger, keep an eye on the group and move to the right! Received!"

Yan Wanlei also shouted at the back of the group.

"Roger that, keep an eye on the group and move to the right!"

Xiao Hu's reply came immediately from the very end.

Actually, with about ten people lined up in two rows in the passageway, even if everyone squeezed together, it wasn't too long.

The passageway on the right is also slightly curved and slopes downhill. The beam of the flashlight can't reach the end, and we have no idea how deep it is.

For the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which spanned nearly four thousand years, this was an absolutely monumental and awe-inspiring project.

No wonder, according to legend, the Kangxi Emperor devoted the entire nation's resources and spent over forty years to build this Kangxi Emperor's Tomb.

"Mr. Chen, there's something on the stone wall ahead!"

Suddenly, Wang Haichuan behind him seemed to have noticed something and exclaimed in surprise.

Throughout the journey, Wang Haichuan kept his eyes wide open, studying the man-made cave passageway with an archaeological professionalism, leaving no detail overlooked.

In fact, Chen Yibai, who was walking at the front, also noticed what Wang Haichuan was talking about.

It looks like a niche carved into the stone wall of the passageway.

As I cautiously approached, I could see clearly that it was indeed a niche carved into the stone wall, about thirty centimeters long.

Inside the niche is a strangely shaped, tower-shaped bronze artifact with three legs embedded in a stone groove below the niche and a triangular lid on top.

"What the hell is this?"

A puzzled voice came from behind.

The speaker was Wang Haichuan.

This is outrageous! There are even things that you, an archaeology expert and professor, don't recognize.

This also touched upon a blind spot in Chen Yibai's knowledge.

Chen Yibai had seen many bronze artifacts from the Shang Dynasty, but this was the first time he had ever seen one with this design.

"It should be a sacrificial vessel or funerary object unique to the Kangxi Dynasty!"

Chen Yibai narrowed his eyes and guessed.

The Kangxi Dynasty is rarely recorded in history, so it's not particularly surprising that artifacts appear that even archaeological experts and tomb raiders don't recognize.

Driven by curiosity, Chen Yibai reached out and carefully opened the triangular cover on the bronze tower.

Woohoo...

The moment Chen Yibai opened the lid, a strange wailing sound suddenly came from the depths of the passageway.

It was as if something was watching them from the depths of the passageway, emitting an eerie, maniacal laugh that instantly sent chills down one's spine and made one's scalp tingle...