The sounds coming from deep within the cave grew increasingly clear, resembling heavy footsteps mixed with the clatter of metal, approaching from a distance.
"Someone's coming!" Thomas lowered his voice, gripping his weapon tightly with a tense expression.
Lu Chen and Huo Yao also stopped deciphering the patterns and looked vigilantly toward the depths of the cave. Alice quickly pulled a high-powered flashlight from her backpack and shone it in the direction of the sound.
The intense beam pierced the darkness, illuminating a narrow passage. A group of figures appeared at the far end, wearing black tactical gear, armed with weapons, and bearing fierce expressions on their faces.
"It's Black Wolf's men!" Thomas said through gritted teeth, "They must have followed us here!"
Black Wolf was a notorious treasure-hunting gang in these parts, known for being ruthless and unscrupulous. It seemed they had long had their eyes on this ancient Egyptian ruin, but having struggled to find the entrance, they had been watching in the shadows all along.
"What do we do?" Alice asked somewhat panickedly, "How are we supposed to shake them off?"
"What are you panicking for?" Huo Yao said calmly, "Since they could find their way here, it means we've already found the right path. The most important thing now is to find the entrance to the ruins as fast as possible and ditch them!"
Lu Chen nodded, his gaze falling back onto the patterns on the wall. He knew time was tight and they had to solve this puzzle as quickly as possible.
"Found it!" Lu Chen's eyes suddenly lit up, "What the map marked isn't an eye—it's a keyhole!"
"A keyhole?" Huo Yao followed Lu Chen's line of sight and looked closely. Sure enough, the shape of the pattern was remarkably similar to a keyhole.
"But where is the key?" Alice asked.
"Right under our feet!" Lu Chen said, tapping the ground lightly with his foot. A stone brick suddenly sank, revealing a hidden slot.
"Just as I thought!" Lu Chen felt a thrill of excitement. He reached his hand into the slot, fumbled around for a moment, and found a metal handle.
With a crisp "click" and a forceful pull from Lu Chen, a massive boulder on the wall slowly shifted, exposing a pitch-black opening.
"This is the entrance to the ruins!" Lu Chen said excitedly.
"Get inside, fast!" Huo Yao made a decisive split-second judgment and charged into the opening first.
Lu Chen, Alice, and Thomas followed closely behind. Once they entered, the giant boulder dropped once more, sealing the entrance tight.
From out of the darkness came the furious roars of Black Wolf's gang.
"Damn it! Let them get away!"
"Don't let them escape! Blow this stone door open for me!"
Deafening explosions echoed through the cave, but Lu Chen and his companions had already entered the interior of the ruins and were temporarily safe.
However, before they even had a chance to catch their breath, they found that the sight before them plunged them right back into peril.
Appearing before them was a long, narrow passage. The walls on both sides were covered in sharp, gleaming blades that emitted a cold light, sending a chill through anyone who looked at them.
"This is..." Thomas gasped, "A death trap!" The beam of the flashlight flickered down the elongated corridor, illuminating a small area ahead. The razor-sharp blades reflected a frigid, metallic sheen under the light, as if they might spring out from the walls at any second to slice them into pieces.
"Watch yourselves!" Lu Chen warned in a low voice, sweeping his gaze around in an attempt to find a way to crack the trap.
Huo Yao nodded, pulling a metal probing rod from her backpack and carefully testing the path ahead. The rod tapped against the ground, producing a crisp metallic clatter that echoed through the silent corridor.
"Click!"
With a soft sound, several streaks of cold light shot out from the walls on both sides of the passage, heading straight for Huo Yao.
"Watch out!"
Quick-witted and fast-acting, Lu Chen grabbed Huo Yao and pulled her behind him, simultaneously swinging the dagger in his hand to bat the flying hidden weapons down to the floor.
"That was close!"
Still shaken, Huo Yao patted her chest in lingering fear.
"Don't worry, I've got you." Lu Chen gave her a reassuring look before crouching down to examine the downed hidden weapons closely.
They were uniquely shaped darts, pitch-black all over and exceptionally sharp, clearly coated in deadly poison.
"These mechanisms are ingeniously designed, interlocked at every turn; trigger one carelessly and you'll set off the trap," Lu Chen analyzed as he observed. "We have to be on our absolute guard and advance step by step."
For the remainder of the journey, they proceeded with even greater caution and care. Relying on his keen powers of observation and extraordinary intellect, Lu Chen successfully dismantled one trap after another, leading the group deeper and deeper into the interior of the ruins.
As they pressed on, the difficulty of the mechanisms increased as well, shifting from the initial simple blade traps into far more complex mazes, rolling boulders, toxic gas, and more.
Yet the teamwork between Lu Chen and Huo Yao grew increasingly seamless. Supporting and trusting one another, they conquered hardship after hardship together.
While they were disarming a crucial trap, Huo Yao suffered a moment of carelessness and accidentally triggered the mechanism. Seeing a massive boulder about to plummet from overhead, Lu Chen slammed into her without a moment's hesitation, knocking her to the floor and using his own body to shield her from danger.
"Boom!"
The giant boulder slammed heavily into the ground, emitting a deafening crash.
"Lu Chen!"
Huo Yao cried out in alarm, scrambling up from the ground to check on his injuries.
"I'm fine," Lu Chen shook his head, though a trace of pain flashed across his face.
Even though he had managed to block the brunt of the impact with his arm in time, he had still inevitably sustained some injuries.
"It's all my fault. If it weren't for me..."
"Stop blaming yourself, this isn't your fault," Lu Chen interrupted her. "We're in the same boat now; we sink or swim together."
With that, he rose to his feet, his gaze fixed resolutely ahead.
"Let's go, we move on."
Meanwhile, outside the ruins, Black Wolf and his crew were anxiously awaiting an opportunity.
"Damn it! What secret does this damn place possibly hold to have rigged up so many traps and mechanisms?!"
Gazing at the towering entrance of the ruins, Black Wolf's eyes were filled with greed and frustration.
They had tried every conceivable method to force their way into the ruins, only to be blocked outside by the powerful defensive mechanisms.
"Boss, what do we do now?"
"We wait! I refuse to believe they can hide in there forever!" Black Wolf ground his teeth. "The moment they come out, we won't let them leave alive!"
As the dust settled, Lu Chen struggled to his feet. A sharp pain ripped through his chest, forcing a muffled groan from his lips. Huo Yao hurried over to support him, her eye rims reddened as she asked with a tearful choke, "How are you? Where are you hurt?"
Lu Chen waved a hand, signaling that he was in no serious condition—only that his internal organs had been shaken by the boulder's impact. He gently pushed Huo Yao aside and turned his gaze back to the mechanism before them, his eyes sharpening. "A trap designed this viciously was clearly meant to stop anyone from ever entering. That just means we have to be even more careful; we can't let this painstaking defense go unrewarded."
Huo Yao nodded, blinking away her tears as she closely inspected the mechanism before them. It was a massive stone door carved with intricate patterns, upon which vague images of the sun, moon, stars, rivers, and mountains could be discerned, as if recounting an ancient legend.
"These carvings..." Huo Yao furrowed her brows, her fingers gently tracing the grooves on the stone door. "They seem to be some kind of ancient star chart."
Lu Chen stepped forward as well, studying the carvings on the door closely. Though he was no expert in astronomy or geography, relying on his superior memory and analytical skills, he quickly picked up on a few clues. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be an astrolabe. We need to find the correct stellar positions to open this stone door."
"An astrolabe?" Huo Yao's eyes widened in sudden realization. "No wonder all those previous traps were related to time and direction—so that's why!"
The two exchanged glances, each seeing a glimmer of hope in the other's eyes. They began to split up, using the leftover clues in the cave and their own knowledge to try and crack the secrets of the astrolabe. Time ticked away second by second, and the cave was filled only with the sound of their busy movements and occasional murmurs.
Finally, after hours of hard work, Lu Chen located the crucial spot first. Pointing to a depression in the center of the astrolabe, he said excitedly, "Look here, this must be where the activation device goes!"
Huo Yao hurriedly took the peculiarly shaped metal fragments they had found earlier out of her backpack, attempting to piece them together. The metal fragments drew toward one another, emitting a faint hum as if responding to their efforts.
Accompanied by a soft click, the metal fragments combined seamlessly to form a delicate, compact key. The key emitted a faint glow, as though imbued with some mysterious power.
Lu Chen took the key and carefully inserted it into the depression at the center of the astrolabe.
"Rumble..."
The stone door slowly opened with a deafening roar, as if a giant beast that had slumbered for a thousand years was finally waking up. Dazzling light poured out from the crack, illuminating the entire cave and the hopeful faces of the two.
They smiled at one another, hand in hand, and stepped across the threshold into that door leading to a world unknown, their hearts filled with anticipation and trepidation. Yet little did they know whether what awaited them was treasure, or a far more dangerous challenge...