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"Shaoqing, you’re back!" Gu Xiaoxi saw Quan Shaoqing descending from afar and immediately ran toward him with the people by her side.

When she saw that he was with other people, she slowed her pace and watched them from a distance.

"I’m back. Have you found anything!" Quan Shaoqing approached with Zhang Zhi. At that moment, the villagers who had been searching for an exit also gathered around.

"Nothing, there are only palaces, statues, and antiques here. Not a single coffin. No traps or passages either!" Gu Xiaoxi and her people had turned the entire palace inside out.

Zhang Zhi immediately took out his compass and headed toward the center of the grand hall.

Seeing this, Quan Shaoqing reached out for Gu Xiaoxi’s hand and walked with her toward the inside.

Standing among the crowd, his military uniform made him stand out; now, holding her hand, others immediately understood their relationship.

He didn’t plan to hide it. Besides, everyone here was on his side; there was nothing to fear.

"Are you hungry? I brought food and water for everyone, but we need to conserve it. If we can’t get out this time, I might be trapped here with all of you," Shaoqing said, tossing his backpack to Tang Yisheng.

Tang Yisheng immediately stopped with the villagers and distributed a large bag of food.

Quan Shaoqing was already pulling Gu Xiaoxi toward Zhang Zhi.

On the way, he secretly took out a pack of beef jerky for Gu Xiaoxi, "For you!"

Gu Xiaoxi looked at the package in her hands and a sweet smile appeared on her face. Behind her, everyone was eating compressed biscuits, while she got to eat beef jerky.

The treatment was simply different.

Her mood instantly blossomed like flowers in bloom.

"Thank you!" Gu Xiaoxi said with a beaming smile.

"Eat quickly! If you’re too hungry, our son will be worried," Quan Shaoqing whispered in her ear.

Gu Xiaoxi gave him a sidelong glance and smiled lightly, "What about you? Are you worried?"

Quan Shaoqing coughed, and seeing that everyone was busy eating and no one was paying attention to them, he quickly nodded his head.

Gu Xiaoxi bit into the beef jerky and found it incredibly delicious; it was countless times tastier than anything else she could have eaten.

Seeing this, Quan Shaoqing held her hand even tighter. He felt that as long as she was by his side, the fatigue of these days was completely dispelled.

She was the motivation behind his efforts.

Zhang Zhi made a round of the entire palace, reviewing all the places Gu Xiaoxi had seen before.

In the end, he returned to the sculpture of the Queen.

He sized up the statue of the Queen, then lowered his head and pondered for a moment.

Afterward, he nervously started calculating something with his fingers, using the compass to deduce in various places, with words of certainty under his breath.

Suddenly, Zhang Zhi said with a subdued tone, "Not good! This is a Tomb of Death, one can enter but not leave!"

"What Tomb of Death?" Quan Shaoqing asked, puzzled.

Zhang Zhi explained, "Does your superior officer remember, every time you enter, the passages are different. And the exit route, once taken, can’t be used again?"

"Right!" Quan Shaoqing recalled carefully, and it was indeed the case.

The exits he had taken before could no longer be used, and the exits he used to leave were all different. The entrances he came in through changed as well.

"That’s right! This is a Tomb of Death! The collapse was an accident; anyone who enters can’t leave. The design of the tomb chamber is very intricate. Look at the Luminous Pearls on the ceiling. Even their placement is particular," Zhang Zhi said, looking up.

Everyone followed his gaze upwards.

Quan Shaoqing held Gu Xiaoxi’s hand tightly, craning his neck to look at the arrangement of the Luminous Pearls above.

He studied it for a long time but couldn’t see anything special.

Zhang Zhi explained, "On the surface, it looks like a starry sky. If you connect them, it’s not hard to find that this is a map of the various chambers.

The biggest Luminous Pearl represents the chamber, and the smaller pearls represent the passages.

And while these passages appear to go in every direction, they are all dead ends!

No matter which way you go, there’s no exit in the end. "

Gu Xiaoxi looked up at the Luminous Pearls above her head.

They were as beautiful as stars, bright and shining. If she connected them the way Zhang Zhi had suggested...

Assuming the largest blank space in the center was where they were located, the small Luminous Pearls forming square pavilions would be the passages. If the large pearls represented the chambers, then indeed, every path they could take was a dead end.

"If that’s not working, let’s go back to the chamber we entered from and dig through the collapse! Reopen the tunnel!" Zhao Zilong said with clenched fists, clearly agitated. Obviously, no one wanted to be trapped here.

"A two-thousand-year-old ancient tomb, topped with diamonds, cannot be broken without machine cutting. Ordinary tools wouldn’t do the job," Zhang Zhi said, evidently knowledgeable about ancient tombs.

"There must be a way out, as long as there is an ancient tomb, there must be an exit!" Mu Fei argued fiercely, his teeth clenched.

At this moment, Gu Xiaoxi wasn’t listening to their conversation; her attention was fixed solely on the constellation map formed by the Luminous Pearls overhead.

No exit...

Her heart was as still as still water, and in her ears, she heard a very pleasant voice.

"The seven constellations of the Azure Dragon, the Vermillion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise! The eyes are the Gate of Life, and the tail is surely the Tomb of Death." Gu Xiaoxi didn’t know why these strange words appeared in her mind. Following that, she recited them aloud.

Zhang Zhi, who was deep in thought, immediately realized what Gu Xiaoxi was saying and looked up at the Luminous Pearls above, his body stiffening.

After a good while, he turned to Gu Xiaoxi, his eyes alight with excitement, and said, "I’ve found the Gate of Life.

What you just said reminded me. The twenty-eight constellations are divided into four symbols, seven constellations each.

The Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermillion Bird, the Black Tortoise. "

"Look at this starry sky; it actually connects to form the four Divine Beasts. That is to say, if we find the positions of their eyes, that’s the Gate of Life.

Moreover, the passages of the Gate of Life are not just one, but four.

And these Divine Beasts, the very last point of their tails, is the Tomb of Death. Once entered, it is certain death!"

Zhang Zhi spoke excitedly, but other than Mu Fei, no one understood him.

Gu Xiaoxi had also entered a strange state just now, as if it wasn’t herself, but the feeling was clearly her own...

Now, as long as they could find a way out, she didn’t care about the Gate of Life or the Tomb of Death.

Zhang Zhen pointed to the position of one of the Luminous Pearls and said to Quan Shaoqing, "That Luminous Pearl is the eye of the Black Tortoise; there is a passageway there, and it leads outside."

Quan Shaoqing looked at the indicated spot, then nodded at Gu Xiaoxi and asked, "Would you like to explore the path with me?"

"I would!" Gu Xiaoxi smiled and stretched out her hand, gripping Quan Shaoqing’s fingers tightly.

Immediately after, Quan Shaoqing clasped Gu Xiaoxi’s fingers and disappeared on the spot.

When he appeared again, he was already in a spacious chamber with six coffins laid out.

The two of them walked through the chamber, hand in hand.

Soon they arrived at the end of the passageway, and Quan Shaoqing saw a stone wall.

He let go of Gu Xiaoxi’s hand and reassured her, "Wait here for a moment, I’ll check if this stone wall can be an exit."

"Okay!" Gu Xiaoxi stood quietly.

The next second, Quan Shaoqing’s figure flashed, and he appeared amidst the night.

Through the dappled moonlight between the tree shadows, he saw the moon.

He knew that he had made it out.

As Gu Xiaoxi patiently waited for Quan Shaoqing, she suddenly felt his shadow flicker. He grasped her hand, and in the next second, she found herself standing upon the earth.

"We’ve made it out!" Gu Xiaoxi cried in surprise, looking at the moon. She reached up to hug Quan Shaoqing’s neck.

Quan Shaoqing looked at her adorable expression and, taking advantage of the solitary moment, bent down to kiss her lips. A deep sweetness spread in his chest, a wonderful feeling that was even addictive.

Gu Xiaoxi felt happy but also worried.

She feared he would fall ill again!

So, this time, she dared not leave him easily.

Quan Shaoqing found the passage and then rescued everyone.

As for the tomb of the Dalan Ancient Kingdom, they did not delve further.

Nor was it something they could investigate at this time.

Even though the place held great value for scientific exploration, tomb raiding was always disreputable. Not to mention, this tomb concealed too many secrets.

The so-called Gate of Life was also the Gate of Death.

If it weren’t for Quan Shaoqing’s spatial superpower, no ordinary person, no matter what, could have made it out.

Even if one were to dig a hole behind them, jump down, and then open the coffins in the ancient tomb to enter the palace, they would end up trapped below, unable to get out.

Perhaps, jumping down from the coffins into the vast space of the palace would result in death from the fall.

The earthquake disaster kept three provinces and cities busy for three months, and once the rescue was over and the post-disaster work was completed, well-known individuals from various places began making large donations.

And the disaster-stricken area began to rebuild their homes.

Although it had nothing to do with Gu Xiaoxi, she also followed the news attentively.

She hoped that all those who survived the disaster were safe and sound.