Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

Chapter 596 No Way to Survive, Hand-crafting an Astronomical Chart

"That's strange, really strange."

“There are too many strange things in this world! I told you! I told you there might be danger before I even came here! Yu Dingcheng has been pretending all along! He knew this place was strange! He and the Jiang family are working together to harm us! You guys are too arrogant! You think you're so great just because you have guns? This isn't a knife fight or a gunfight! Because we won't even see the other side! After we die, we'll be sealed in walls like those corpses! And no one will find us for a very, very long time!” I yelled hysterically at them.

Given my personality, I would never come here rashly knowing there is danger.

Yes! We've temporarily joined forces with Xu Tongshan! But Watermelon Head has no idea who he's dealing with! Perhaps in the eyes of the Jiang family, we who wield knives and guns are just cavemen! We're not on the same level as them!

I yelled at the watermelon-headed guy again, "Say something! You idiot! You're not afraid of dying! I am!! I don't want to die! There are people I care about outside! There are still so many things I want to do!"

Suddenly, the boy with the watermelon head raised his gun and pointed it at me.

"You dare to swear again?"

I didn't insult you.

"Then who are you calling an idiot?"

“You misheard me. I said I was an idiot. I thought I had figured out the secret of this compound, but actually I couldn’t see through it at all.”

Watermelon Head slowly lowered his gun and said, "There's another way we can try."

"what?"

"Smash the wall."

"Smash the wall? Smash the fence?"

I shook my head: "Judging from the thickness of the wall, the middle layer must have been reinforced with cement. If this were 80 years ago, even a mortar couldn't penetrate this wall. How would we break through it?"

One guy chimed in, "Yeah, we might die of thirst and hunger before the wall even breaks down."

I said dejectedly, "There's only going in, no going out. It's like a prison, but not a prison for the living, it's for ghosts. I finally understand why this place is called Sunset Courtyard, because when people die, it's like the sun setting."

"What if we have to climb over the wall?" someone else suggested.

I shook my head: "It's too high, we can't climb up."

"Brother, how will we know if we don't try? There are so many of us. If we can send just one person out to get reinforcements, then the rest of us will have a chance to survive!"

What he said made sense, but I didn't want to argue with him because we weren't on the same wavelength.

And so I sat in the corner, watching them try to climb over the wall and get out.

I know it's useless, but I still hold onto a sliver of hope.

They used a human pyramid method, with three strong people forming a circle, two people stepping on the shoulders of the three, and the lighter people continuing to climb up. At first glance, it looked like a human wall, but it was shaky and seemed like it would collapse at any moment.

Everyone tried to lift the watermelon head up, but it was still too short a height for them to reach. I estimated that even with my help, they couldn't reach it.

"I can't hold on any longer!!" After a short while, the person at the very bottom shouted first.

I immediately ran over to help.

"It's not going to work! Get down now!" I shouted repeatedly as I was about to fall.

Just then, Watermelon Head made an extremely bold decision.

He jumped with all his might, raised his right hand high, and tried with all his might to grab the edge of the wall.

The human wall collapsed with a crash.

Watermelon Head's jump was full of courage.

At that moment, his figure seemed to move in slow motion in my eyes.

"Thump!"

Watermelon Head fell from a great height and lay motionless on the ground.

"Boss!!!"

We quickly turned him over and saw that his forehead was covered in blood, and blood was also seeping from his nose and mouth.

"How are you?!" I asked him anxiously.

Watermelon Head opened his mouth, his gums were covered in blood, and he suddenly smiled at me.

"You're crazy! I told you it won't work!"

The boy with the watermelon-shaped haircut stared at me, his lips moving slightly.

Although there was no sound, I knew what he wanted to say; he was mocking my weakness and fear.

I took a deep breath and said, "Take good care of him, don't move him yet, let him lie there and recover for a while."

"Brother, where are you going?"

"I'm going for a walk."

After saying that, I picked up the flashlight and stepped into the darkness.

I can't let the watermelon-headed guy look down on me.

I am a disciple of the Northern School, and I am a student of Wang Xiansheng. I must find a way to break this deadlock.

Soon, I was all alone. In this eerie courtyard, I could clearly hear my own breathing.

Tonight, the moon hangs in the sky like a mirror, and there are many stars in the mountains.

After watching for a while, a picture suddenly flashed through my mind.

I was reminded of the celestial constellation tattoos on the backs of the four sisters in the mental hospital.

I picked up half a brick, squatted down, and started drawing circles on the smooth stones of the tea garden.

First, draw a very large circle. Then, draw a medium circle inside the very large circle. Inside the medium circle, draw a small circle. Inside the small circle, draw an even smaller circle.

Five circles were drawn in total.

Using my thumb as a guide, I drew the nine palaces, nine stars, and eight gates in sequence between the layers.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth.

Rest, life, injury, Du, Jing, death, surprise, open.

Kan 1, Kun 2, Zhen 3, Xun 4, Qian 6, Dui 7, Gen 8.

Tianpeng, Tianren, Tianzhu, Tianqin, Tianfu, Tianying, Tianchong.

I drew the celestial chart in one go, based on my memory, and then punched the center circle hard.

I punched and punched until the tea garden stone cracked and a shallow dent was left in the ground.

Without stopping for a moment, I quickly took out my knife, first widened the dent a bit, and then inserted my bleeding fist into it. In no time, the dent was filled with blood.

I took out the bent wire that I always carried with me and cut it in two with a knife. I straightened it and then rubbed it vigorously with the back of the knife.

When I felt it was about right, I took out a cigarette pack paper, inserted the wire into the paper, and then carefully placed it in the center of the celestial compass.

The wire floating in the blood pit was affected by the magnetic force and slowly turned around, pointing towards the direction of the second circle, Qian Liu.

"Facing death, I remain calm in the face of injury; opening the door brings life..." I gazed at the moon, silently calculating the approximate location in my mind.

found it.

There's only one hidden entrance to life nearby! The main entrance we came in through leads to the door of death!

I quickly took off my clothes and pants, cut them into strips with a knife, and then laid the strips out in the road ahead, one strip every half meter.

Finally, I arrived at a wall.

This is the only life gate position shown on the astrological chart!

There must be some hidden door or mechanism here.

I held up my flashlight and searched the wall inch by inch.

I looked at it for a long time! I didn't miss even the smallest crack in the wall.

No!

How could it not be there...?

At that moment, a sharp pain shot through my right hand, and I slowly slid down against the wall.

Watermelon Head is right! I'm useless, all I do is shirk responsibility, I'm a coward, I'm just a piece of trash!

I gazed at the moon and couldn't help but mutter to myself, "I'm sorry, Xiaoxuan. I might have to go find Mazhen. Why did we come to Qiandao Lake? Now look what happened, we came alive, but we might not leave alive. After I die, I'll appear in your dreams. You must come and collect my body. I don't want to end up like Great-Grandpa Chaosheng, trapped in a wall and standing guard for others. I...I...I don't want to die. I can't bear to leave you, Xiaoxuan. Someone, please save me! Head, where are you? Is there anyone who can save me...?"

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard!

All that could be seen were scattered pebbles!

Just four or five meters to my left, the huge explosion made my eardrums ring!

A large, regularly shaped hole had been blasted into the seemingly impregnable wall! It looked as if a door had been blown into the wall!

I stared blankly at that spot.

A flashlight beam pierced through the scattered dust and shone in.

Then, an elderly man who looked very old came in carrying a bulging satchel.

I thought I was hallucinating, but the buzzing echo in my ears told me that it wasn't a hallucination.

"Come in quickly! We've found him!" The old man saw me immediately.

How could it be him?

It's the mastermind!