Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1398: Chapter 1383: Mechanism

The experts were stumped by the mysterious text, and although Professor Xie and his team were painstakingly studying the string of characters, Huo Sining guessed that by the time they cracked the code on the door, everything would have come to nothing.

Madam Yan and her husband had researched these characters for years without understanding them, so how could the experts figure them out in a short time?

Huo Sining didn’t pin her hopes on the experts. She recalled Professor Xie’s words that the stone door had a mechanism, and the mechanism must be hidden somewhere in this passageway. Given this, finding the mechanism directly should suffice. Others might be at a loss, but for Huo Sining, finding something like this was incredibly simple.

Thinking of this, Huo Sining shrugged, leaned against the stone wall on one side, and discreetly placed her hand on the wall, using the Heavenly Eye Skill to quickly see through one side of the passage wall.

After scanning for a while without finding anything, Huo Sining felt puzzled. Suddenly, she noticed that a blue brick at the baseboard of the stone wall appeared unusual—there seemed to be a spring compressed behind it.

Her gaze narrowed as she followed the spring. Sure enough, behind the spring was something resembling a gear. Extending inward, there seemed to be more interlocking gears, but the distance she could see through with the Heavenly Eye was limited, and beyond that, her view was obstructed.

Nevertheless, what she saw was enough for Huo Sining to deduce that the switch for this stone door was right there. She gave a faint smile, seemingly unintentionally passing by the stone wall, and as she stumbled, she lightly kicked the loose blue brick.

“Oh no…”

Her exclamation immediately drew the attention of the others. The experts deep in thought, including Xie Daoyuan, all turned to look at Huo Sining.

“Ningning, what happened?” Su Qingqing asked nervously.

With a surprise and puzzled look, Huo Sining glanced at the blue brick at the baseboard and, as if in disbelief, called out to Xie Daoyuan:

“Professor Xie! This blue brick, quick, come and see, there’s something wrong with it. I accidentally twisted my foot and brushed against this brick—it’s loose! It moves!”

Huo Sining pointed to the blue brick compressed by the spring, calling anxiously toward Xie Daoyuan.

“What?!” At her words, Xie Daoyuan’s expression immediately tensed. He hurried over to Huo Sining. “Let me see!”

He crouched down, lightly touching the blue brick as guided by Huo Sining. As she said, the brick could indeed be pushed inward.

He also pressed other blue bricks on the surrounding walls, discovering all others were immovable except the one that was loose.

Seeing this, everyone understood. It seemed that this was indeed the site of the mechanism!

“Master, this is the stone door mechanism. Let’s quickly press it and see if the door opens!” Su Qingqing exclaimed joyfully.

Though Xie Daoyuan’s face initially showed delight, upon hearing Su Qingqing’s words, he calmed down and looked again at the stone door’s two beast heads, frowning slightly.

“Don’t rush to conclusions. Without deciphering those texts, whether this blue brick is really the mechanism needs further investigation.”

Xie Daoyuan had participated in many tomb excavations and was more experienced than others, suspecting that though this looked like a mechanism, whether it was the real switch for the stone door remained uncertain.

Indeed, to prevent intruders, tombs often employed a series of mechanisms and traps, such as arrow crossbars, poisonous powder, and mercury traps, which were nearly impossible to evade and intended to keep tomb robbers out.

Myths even circulated, claiming that the tombs were guarded by spirits, ensuring that anyone who entered would have their soul taken.

In the Xianyang Yunling Ancient Tomb, Huo Sining personally saw two shimmering white bones near the stone door in the main chamber, their clothes already decayed. Still, two arrows were embedded in the bones, clearly showing that the tomb robber had fallen foul of the hidden weapons and been poisoned when entering.

Hearing Xie Daoyuan’s cautious words, Huo Sining realized she had jumped to conclusions too quickly.

Thinking this, a solemn expression came over her. She had only scanned one side of the wall with the Heavenly Eye and hadn’t checked the other side. Who knew what might be hidden there before a thorough inspection?

By now, Ji Kun had arranged matters outside and came in with another student carrying a strong flashlight. Once the flashlight turned on, the passage became brightly lit, revealing everything clearly.

Huo Sining placed her hand on the other stone wall and soon detected a problem, almost breaking into a cold sweat.

Indeed, as Xie Daoyuan said, on this side of the wall, the same position featured an identical mechanism hidden behind the baseboard’s blue brick.

Huo Sining mentally remarked on the close call—fortunately, when she was alerting Xie Daoyuan, she hadn’t completely pressed down the blue brick; otherwise, activating the gear hidden behind the spring could have set off some dangerous trap with poison or arrows, something their unarmed group couldn’t handle.

Although Xie Daoyuan lacked X-ray vision like Huo Sining, his logical thinking led him to suspect something with the double beast heads on the stone door. With Huo Sining pointing out the mechanism on one side, he deduced and explored further, quickly discovering the second hidden blue brick with a mechanism as she did.

Upon finding this brick, Xie Daoyuan’s tension finally eased a bit, nodding as he said, “There it is. It seems this mechanism holds a mystery, and pressing either alone could be a trap. I guess this requires collaboration, with two people pressing simultaneously to open the large stone door.”