Chapter 66: The Theory of Narrow Space

Relying purely on me, it was nothing more than a loud shout.

Peanut, however, was entirely different. His voice, his body, and his movements arrived all at once.

The moment his shout rang out, he had already lunged forward, slamming the Fatty hard onto the ground.

At that exact instant, the tip of Fatty's finger was probably only a few centimeters away from that golden dragon-eyed phoenix. Because of Peanut's sudden tackle, the Fatty, whose legs had already turned to jelly, crashed directly to the floor.

If Yang Lang had been trying to warn us back then, the character "Gold" he had written must have been the crucial key. Moreover, recalling what I had seen beneath the equipment pack, I immediately realized that this gold might very well be the true source of danger.

Fatty's fall was no light matter. After Peanut helped him up, he still tried to lunge forward again.

"Gold, a fortune..."

Before Fatty could finish his sentence, I let go of Zhuge Xuan and stepped forward to grab him. "Snap out of it, for crying out loud! Didn't you hear that sound?"

Fatty seemed to regain a bit of his senses. He took a heavy breath and cocked his ear to listen.

Within seconds, his expression changed entirely. "Hey, it's that monster's sound!" Fatty cried out in alarm.

The sound came surging in from all directions, and both Fatty and I heard it with crystal clarity.

At first, Zhuge Xuan and Peanut had only looked puzzled, but after a moment, Zhuge Xuan also spoke up: "I hear it too. That sound... it's so strange."

Peanut nodded silently, signaling for us to back away.

Gazing at the sea of gold filling his vision, Fatty still felt a pang of reluctance. But the thought of Yang Lang and the others' fate managed to hold him back.

"But how could this gold possibly be dangerous?" Fatty couldn't help asking.

None of us had any way to answer his question. The most pressing matter right now was to find the source of that sound; otherwise, the few of us would likely meet the exact same end as those rats.

Yet, aside from all this, I was even more puzzled as to why Peanut and Zhuge Xuan had taken so long to hear such an obvious sound. When it came to hearing, I was clearly no match for Peanut.

"I still think there's something wrong with this gold. We must not touch it with our bodies," Peanut said.

"With so much gold around and not being allowed to touch it, isn't this enough to drive a man crazy?" Fatty scratched his head.

I urged anxiously, "Let's manage to stay alive first before thinking about getting rich."

Zhuge Xuan looked toward Peanut: "What should we do now?"

Peanut swept his gaze around the surroundings, finally letting it rest upon the dragon-eyed phoenix.

"This thing might be the Witch Eye."

"Might be?" Zhuge Xuan smiled. "Then how do you plan to prove it?"

Peanut paid no attention to the sarcasm in Zhuge Xuan's words. He walked straight up to the dragon-eyed phoenix and extended his right palm.

The dragon-eyed phoenix stood over three meters tall, and if one counted the tail feathers trailing behind it, it likely exceeded ten meters. At this moment, it glared down at us with angry eyes, as if it would devour anyone who dared to touch it.

The phoenix held none of those auspicious or joyous feelings; instead, the longer one looked at it, the more violent and vicious it felt.

"Peanut, what are you doing?" I stepped forward and gave him a tug.

Yet, I couldn't budge him at all.

Peanut turned his head to look at me. "You want to try?"

I froze. His words sounded like a dig at me, but I knew he had already made up his mind to give it a try. After locking gazes with him for a moment, I released my grip.

Following that, Peanut turned his head back and continued reaching his hand toward the dragon-eyed phoenix.

We watched in nervous anxiety, terrified that this strange bird would suddenly spread its wings and pounce on Peanut.

However, at the very instant Peanut's hand was about to touch the dragon-eyed phoenix, he suddenly stopped.

Amidst a wave of bewilderment, all four of us froze in place.

As if time and space had suddenly reversed, every single sight before our eyes underwent a drastic transformation.

The dragon-eyed phoenix was gone, the golden vessels had vanished, and the tomb chamber remained, but everywhere was covered in clay-colored rammed earth, with not a trace of golden light to be seen.

Amidst a profound sense of panic, the feeling also carried a strange familiarity.

There was no light source, no illumination, yet everything around us was remarkably clear, an inexplicable luster allowing us to see all that was here.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry..."

"Put that chest right there."

"Make sure you don't open it."

Right before our eyes appeared numerous figures moving back and forth. They wore the attire of some forgotten dynasty, busily carrying large wooden chests all around.

Those very wooden chests were the exceptionally large ones I had seen before.

These scenes appeared far too abruptly, leaving us completely devoid of any reaction. But soon, I realized that this scene was identical to the one we had witnessed in Zhuge Ke's tomb chamber—they must all simply be glimpses of the past.

Yet, everything around us felt so agonizingly real. Watching those busy ancients left my mind in a daze of confusion, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.

These people entered and exited through a doorway ahead. Near the entrance stood a man draped in long robes, holding a feathered fan, with his back turned toward us.

That fan was precisely the snow-crane feather fan we had seen earlier, and this man stood out starkly from the ordinary laborers around him. He was gorgeously dressed, tall in stature, and his deportment exuded an extraordinary elegance.

Whenever any laborer passed by him, they would offer a slight bow of respect. It was clear that his status and position were far from ordinary.

We watched in astonishment, and although we knew this scene was unreal, we still dared not make the slightest sound.

After who knows how long of this bustling activity, the laborers finally departed through the doorway. Only we and the long-robed man remained within the tomb chamber.

The man let out a long sigh, and then he turned around.

I had expected to see a face of extraordinary bearing, but instead, what met my eyes was a bronze mask.

In an instant, Fatty and I felt a sense of suffocation wash over us. That bronze mask was identical to the pattern on the envelope and along the circular corridor.

He opened a wooden chest, and a dazzling wave of golden light immediately washed over him. We all saw that the chest was filled with "gold dust." Observing closely, that gold dust seemed to be slowly floating, accompanied by a faint, hissing sound.

I glanced back at Fatty, silently conveying the message: That gold could definitely cost you your life.

Fatty's face turned ashen white, completely devoid of any reaction.

The man closed the wooden chest once more. He seemed ready to leave, but just as he shifted his feet, a commotion stirred from within a nearby wooden chest.

The man paused, and we turned our gazes toward it as well.

Only then did I notice that this particular wooden chest seemed slightly smaller than the others, and its edges were inlaid with copper sheets.

The man turned around and walked over to the side of that wooden chest.

He gently waved his fan, while the movements inside the chest grew increasingly violent, as though something was struggling desperately to break out.

After a moment, the commotion subsided, but at the same time, the lid of the wooden chest began to be lifted upward bit by bit from the inside.

We grew entirely tense, unsure of what we were about to witness.

Yet, after the lid had been lifted a fraction, it suddenly stopped. We waited for a long while without any further response.

I couldn't help bending down, wanting to see what was inside. But just as I leaned in to peer closer, with a sudden clatter, a black arm reached out from inside the chest and pressed heavily against its edge.

Startled, I stumbled back several steps until Fatty caught me.

Looking back over, Fatty and I exchanged a glance.

Good god, that black arm... wasn't it precisely the right hand wearing the bizarre glove from the photograph of that middle-aged man?

Peanut didn't react as intensely as I did. He crouched down in front of the wooden chest, observing that hand carefully. Fatty wanted to say something, but I quickly shook my head at him.

For now, the contents of that letter could not be revealed to Peanut. Judging by his reaction, this should be his first time seeing this hand as well.

After a long while, the hand slowly retracted, and the lid closed shut.

Who knew what the masked man was thinking? Once everything returned to peace, he strode hurriedly away. Only after he vanished from sight did we finally let out a collective sigh of relief.

For a long period afterward, none of us spoke. Peanut remained crouched where he was, seemingly lost in deep thought.

At this moment, Zhuge Xuan spoke up: "Why don't we just open all these chests?"

Her suggestion happened to align with Fatty's thoughts. "That's right, everyone. This is a rare opportunity. Even if it's not real, we at least get to see some ancient artifacts."

With that, he shot me a wink, implying that we could take this opportunity to see what kind of person belonged to that hand.

At that moment, Peanut stood up.

"Those who don't want to leave can stay here and look all they want."

"What do you mean?" Zhuge Xuan immediately asked with displeasure.

Peanut pointed a finger toward the doorway. "The exit is right over there. If the things here are opened, all of this might vanish completely."

Zhuge Xuan laughed lightly. "Hah, an exit? Can't you even tell that these visions are all fake?"

Following that, Peanut uttered a very strange sentence.

"Are we, ourselves, necessarily real?"

This statement was too incomprehensible. In a different context, such a line belonged right in an art-house film.

I said, "Peanut, are you certain we can get out through there?"

Peanut smiled faintly. Before he could speak, Fatty stepped forward and declared, "I think he's right."

"What do you know this time?" Though I knew Fatty couldn't possibly deduce anything profound, past experience always told me that whenever he got involved, too many uncertain variables followed. Therefore, my tone retained a hint of reservation.

Fatty swept his gaze around the surroundings and said, "The logic is simple. It's like driving on a highway and entering a tunnel—your only exit has to be inside that tunnel. If we just stepped from reality into some abnormal spacetime, the path out must also exist within this spacetime. Since this spacetime itself isn't real, it can't expand infinitely. As long as we keep walking, even if the exit isn't that door, it's bound to be just ahead."

Hearing Fatty's grand theory, Zhuge Xuan was instantly rendered speechless. I stared at Fatty in blank astonishment, thinking to myself: *Holy crap, no way. This dead fatty actually brought out spatial theory? He understands this stuff?*

Forget about me at this point; even Peanut looked at Fatty with a face full of surprise.