I Received Messages From Future Self!

Chapter 283: Chapter 279: A Life-and-Death Mechanism

Chapter 283 -279: A Life-and-Death Mechanism

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Taotie remained silent, scrutinizing the stone bricks under Tom’s feet. After a careful observation of these bricks and the ones nearby, his brows knitted into the shape of the Chinese character “川.”

He looked up and around, scanning the ceiling and the stone walls from both sides, including the passage ahead. Taotie’s brow was almost twisted like a corkscrew.

“Princess Your Highness, the situation doesn’t look optimistic,” he said, turning to Fang Xiaocao.

“What’s the matter? Explain it to me,” Fang Xiaocao asked in a grave tone as anxiety creased her face.

Fang Xiaocao was almost frantic.

Previously, when Taotie had been silent, she didn’t dare to disturb him, fearing that she might affect his judgment. Now that Taotie had spoken, she was eager to understand everything all at once.

“I just inspected the mechanism as the old tomb robber taught me. It’s neither hidden arrows nor rolling stones, which are common anti-robbery mechanisms in tombs. According to my observation, the stone bricks around Tom’s feet seem to be movable. I suspect that this is a pitfall trap,” Taotie said with a serious expression and in an extremely low voice.

“What is a pitfall trap?” asked Fang Xiaocao, who didn’t understand.

“Pitfall traps, as the name implies, mean that there is a void under the mechanism, with a large pit. Once the mechanism is triggered, the floor bricks of the tomb’s passage will collapse over a widespread area, causing the one who triggered the mechanism to fall into the pit,” he explained.

“Pits can vary; some are designed to trap, others to kill. For those meant to trap, they are several meters deep, and the likelihood of getting injured from the fall isn’t high. Even if one is injured, it’s rarely fatal. If teammates remain above or there are two or three people with decent skills, they could climb out.”

“These trapping pits mainly serve to warn intruders, expressing that if I can trap you, I can also kill you. The next trap won’t be so simple; it will be lethal. It’s a silent way of demonstrating the ancient Chinese approach of ‘courtesy before force,’ intended to make tomb robbers withdraw when recognizing the difficulty.”

Pausing for a moment, Taotie looked at Fang Xiaocao before continuing, “The second type, the killing pits, are straightforward: they aim to be deadly. Once a person falls, their chance of survival is slim to none, whatever the cruelty allows. From a height perspective, the pit could be over ten meters deep. An unprepared fall could mean death or at least severe injury, leaving one trapped and doomed to die. Many pits also have lethal fixtures underneath, such as spikes, spears, upward-facing blades, venomous animals or insects, or even an underground river.”

“The bottom line is, if you fall, don’t expect to survive.”

Listening to Taotie’s explanation, Fang Xiaocao and her companions felt a shiver run down their spines.

Our ancestors were quite ruthless!

However, when putting oneself in their shoes, it is understandable.

After all…

If you’re digging up my grave, not allowing me to rest even in death, why shouldn’t I be allowed to kill you?

The three of them fell silent.

It was unknown how much of the tomb’s floor would collapse or if there were other mechanisms ahead, and how to save Taotie remained a question.

After a moment of silence, Fang Xiaocao spoke, “Taotie, based on your experience with the old tomb robber, what kind of pit does Tom’s fall into? Is it a trapping pit or a killing pit?”

This was a very practical question posed by Fang Xiaocao.

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It was also the question of utmost concern to Tom, the person involved.

It was a matter of life and death for him.

If it were a trapping pit, Tom, with his dexterity, could climb out unscathed even with his eyes closed. But if it were a killing pit…

If it were just the height, even if injured, that would still be okay.

As long as Taotie was there, he didn’t need to worry.

Taotie could even carry him out if necessary.

But if the pit were filled with spikes and spears…

Not even a deity could save him.

Upon hearing Fang Xiaocao’s question, Taotie fell silent.

“Sigh…”

After a long while, Taotie sighed.

“Princess Your Highness, I can’t see through this one,”

“Not just me, even if the old Tomb Robber were still alive, he wouldn’t be able to see through it either,”

“All I can do is speculate based on the mechanisms and pitfall traps we have encountered since entering the tomb,”

Taotie said helplessly.

When Fang Xiaocao heard Taotie’s words, her heart sank.

The expressions on Tom and Hummingbird’s faces also turned grim.

Because they had all reached their own conclusions.

Without the need for Taotie to spell it out, the three of them knew, the situation with the pitfall was far from optimistic.

Not to say one hundred percent.

But at least eighty percent or more, the mechanism that Tom stepped on was a murderous pitfall trap.

If the tomb’s master had already set up a Quicksand Pit, which for most Tomb Robbers would mean certain death, it made no sense for there to be a change of heart here.

This pitfall was definitely a death trap.

“Is there any way to break it?”

Fang Xiaocao looked at Taotie with hope.

Now, Fang Xiaocao could only pin her hopes for saving Tom on Taotie.

After all, Taotie was the only person among the four who knew about the ancient tomb’s mechanisms, and he had a way to break through the Quicksand Pit, allowing all of them to cross safely.

Perhaps the old Tomb Robber had also taught Taotie how to break through such murderous mechanisms?

When Fang Xiaocao spoke, Taotie became silent again.

His brow furrowed ever tighter.

Looking at Taotie’s constipated expression, Fang Xiaocao grew so anxious that she began to sweat on the tip of her nose, but she couldn’t rush Taotie and could only fret in place.

Fang Xiaocao was nearly frantic like a little donkey.

She was going in circles, and if someone put a grindstone on her, she could pull it and grind a couple of pounds of beans.

After a long period of contemplation, Taotie thought of a method that wasn’t really a method.

“Princess Your Highness, I do have a strategy that might not count as a strategy. Whether it’ll work will all come down to luck. If we’re lucky, we might be able to save Old Tom’s life. If not, then…”

Although Taotie did not finish his sentence, Fang Xiaocao and the others all understood what he meant.

If they’re unlucky, Tom would die!

Understanding the undertone of Taotie’s words, Fang Xiaocao panicked, and tears started to well up in her eyes.

Although Tom wasn’t the first underling Fang Xiaocao had subdued with hypnotism, he had spent the most time with her and saved her more times than any other.

The first underling Fang Xiaocao had recruited was Aquarius from the Blacklist, but Aquarius had been assassinated by Capricorn in the mountains of the neighboring city long ago.

Following Aquarius, there was Tom.

Tom was originally an Assassin hired to kill her, but due to carelessness, he had been ambushed by her and, under her bizarre hypnosis, became one of Fang Xiaocao’s underlings.

It was precisely Tom’s presence that allowed the subsequent acquisitions of Taotie and Wan Xiaozhou.

And it was precisely because of generals like Tom and Taotie that Fang Xiaocao began to harbor ambitions.

Now that Tom might die at any moment, how could Fang Xiaocao not be upset?

Fang Xiaocao was an orphan who had no family from a young age and only had Zhi Qi as a friend.

This was why Fang Xiaocao became friends with Han Xue and why she became best friends with the three sisters Su Wanqing.