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

Chen Yibai turned to look at Wang Haichuan. As an archaeology expert and professor, although he was quite old, he still needed to work on his resilience if he wanted to make progress!

Some might ask, if such an inhumane method of sacrifice is used, then the so-called 'gods' must not be good either.

In fact, it cannot be said entirely like that, because in the slave society of the Shang Dynasty, the lowest-ranking slaves were regarded by the kings and nobles as just like chickens and ducks today. Just like how chicken legs, duck heads and pig livers are used for sacrifices today, they did not consider it evil and cruel.

But these are all digressions.

Chen Yibai swept his gaze across the altar and then landed on a huge bronze door of the Dragon Tower Palace directly in front of him, which was tightly closed.

This sacrificial altar is connected to the Dragon Tower Palace. At the central axis, there is a tightly closed bronze main hall door that is nearly five meters high and more than three meters wide.

The bronze door is mottled and covered with a layer of red rust. Many oracle bone inscriptions are carved on the two stone pillars directly above it and in front of the hall.

This is the first time I've seen writing outside of murals since entering the tomb of King Kang.

However, Chen Yibai's understanding of oracle bone script was not deep; he could only barely recognize a few simple characters, which was of little use.

Looking at Wang Haichuan and several ancient script research experts next to him, they were all frowning and looking completely bewildered. Clearly, these oracle bone inscriptions were beyond their comprehension.

However, we can't blame their experts for being incompetent.

An ancient script research society once introduced a reward mechanism, offering 100,000 yuan in cash for deciphering a single oracle bone script character, which shows that deciphering oracle bone script is indeed very difficult.

In addition to the tightly closed bronze gate directly in front of the Dragon Tower Palace, there are two side gates, each over two meters high, on either side.

Chen Yibai led the way, walking through the sacrificial altar and arriving at the bronze door of the main hall.

The massive bronze door, weathered and mottled by time, has no intricate patterns, yet it is tightly shut, so tightly that not even a single hair can be inserted inside.

Even by today's standards, this casting technique is unparalleled.

Chen Yibai reached out and placed his hand on the bronze door, feeling the intense heat of the bronze door, and tried to push it with force.

The tightly closed bronze door remained motionless and was not pushed open.

Then Chen Yibai put his hands down and pushed with all his might, but there was still no reaction.

"Could there be a mechanism on this bronze door?"

Yan Wanlei, who was standing next to Chen Yibai, frowned and looked at him with surprise.

Chen Yibai narrowed his eyes slightly, then shook his head.

Logically speaking, this dragon palace belongs to the category of "yin dwellings," much like the sleeping palaces of ancient emperors, which are believed to have "interconnected energy channels," making it unlikely that it would be equipped with traps or mechanisms.

rustling...

Just as Chen Yibai was deep in thought, pondering carefully, a strange rustling sound suddenly came from above his head.

It sounded like something was rubbing against a rock.

"what?"

The already tense group was startled and instinctively looked up following the eerie rustling sound.

Suddenly, a pair of menacing eyes appeared hidden on the stone pillar above them, staring down at the group like a hunter locking onto its prey and slowly approaching.

With a loud shout from Yan Wanlei.

Before he could even see what those fierce eyes were, he felt as if a ball of fire was rushing straight and fiercely towards Yan Wanlei.

It happened so fast that Yan Wanlei didn't even have time to react.

"careful!"

Fortunately, Chen Yibai, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and shoved Yan Wanlei away while simultaneously delivering a side kick.

Before the ball of fire could even land, Chen Yibai kicked it away with pinpoint accuracy, sending it crashing into the bronze door beside him with a resounding clang.

Chen Yibai didn't see clearly what it was, but it felt like he had kicked a fireball, and a very hot one at that. The moment they made contact, the surface of his sneakers was so hot that it started smoking, and a smell of burnt plastic wafted up.

Everyone quickly and cautiously stepped back.

Looking closer, I realized that what I had just seen was actually a snake over three meters long!

But this is not an ordinary snake.

The snake was covered in orange-red transparent scales, and its entire body was almost translucent, so much so that its internal organs could be vaguely seen, as if magma was flowing inside its body with its swaying movements.

"A...monster?"

After seeing the fire serpent clearly, several archaeological experts were so frightened that they quickly took several steps back.

Could this be some kind of mutated creature?

There are archaeology experts here, but no biologists!

"This is a Fire Serpent, which feeds on fire and is said to grow only one meter in a thousand years. Its internal organs can easily melt copper and iron!"

No biologist is needed; Chen Yibai had seen this thing in the records of "The Tomb Raider's Notes".

"The Tomb Raider's Notes" is an autobiography of tomb raiding compiled by the Tomb Raider Captains. It records all the tomb raiding adventures and things they saw and heard. It was only circulated among the Tomb Raider Captains and was not shared with outsiders.

The notes contain an introduction to this fire spirit snake.

However, the book records that the Fire Serpent only lives underground near volcanic lava.

I never expected to see it here.

Moreover, the "Tomb Raider's Notes" records that the Fire Spirit Snake is a large-scale gregarious creature!

Hiss! Hiss!

The fire serpent, which had been kicked and slammed against the bronze door, quickly turned its head toward the archaeological team again. Its cone-shaped head had eyes that gleamed with ferocity, and two sharp fangs protruded from its mouth, constantly flicking out its red tongue and hissing.

"shooting!"

Before Chen Yibai could speak again...

To prevent any potential problems, Yan Wanlei reacted first, skillfully unlocking the safety of his Type 95 automatic rifle and pulling the trigger towards the Fire Serpent.

The special operations team members followed at the same time.

Da da da……

Several Type 95 assault rifles, spitting fire, unleashed a barrage of bullets that pierced through the transparent scales covering the Fire Serpent. The molten lava flowing within its body was also sprayed out in all directions like bursting watermelon juice under the relentless barrage of bullets.

"Retreat!"

Chen Yibai quickly reminded him loudly.

But it was too late!

Before anyone could react, some of the splashed lava had already landed on several special operations team members who were relatively close.

The high temperature of over a thousand degrees Celsius instantly penetrated the combat uniforms of the special operations team members, causing them to sizzle and smoke as they burned, while the aroma of roasted meat wafted through the air.

"Ah! Ah..."

Immediately following this were the hysterical screams of the special operations team members.

Qiu Jing, who was at the forefront, also had a few drops of molten lava splashed on her legs. Although the area was small, the intense burning pain felt like a red-hot iron was constantly rubbing against her legs, penetrating the skin and burning into the flesh until it reached the bone.

"Damn it! You're hurting the enemy by a hundred while also losing two hundred and fifty of your own. Just kill them directly, why do you have to blow them up? Do you guys have too many bullets?"

rustling...

The gunshots had barely faded from the cave, and the screams of several members of the special operations team who had been burned by splatter hadn't stopped when the same rustling sound came from all around again.

But this time it wasn't a single sound, nor did it come from any one place!

The sound came from all directions at the same time!

It seems that the records about the Fire Spirit Snake in "The Tomb Raider's Notes" are quite accurate; this thing really is a large-scale, gregarious creature.

The gunshots had clearly alerted them...