Chapter 95: The Inner Space of the Mountain
“Brother, am I dreaming? Why did a giant stone frog suddenly appear on the cliff face?” Ning Xiyue stared wide-eyed at the thing on the mountain wall, utterly bewildered.
She recognized it immediately — it was a koma-frog, a statue the people of the Little Sun Nation built by their gates as guardians, symbols of good fortune — much like the stone lions placed before wealthy families’ homes in China.
Ning Qingzhi didn’t answer. He was just as shocked as everyone else — perhaps even more so — but beneath the shock, excitement burned stronger.
He and Gangzi walked up to the frog carving on the mountain wall to inspect it.
After examining it, they confirmed it posed no danger — just an ordinary stone sculpture with no offensive mechanism. But the fact that it was here was anything but ordinary. The two men exchanged subtle hand signals only they could understand.
Gangzi’s eyes were shining with excitement. He winked at Ning Qingzhi.
“Big Brother, what do you think? How could something like this appear here? This is incredible — could it have been left behind by some powerful figure from the past?”
Among everyone present, Ning Qingyuan was the most stunned — his expression was the most genuine. Seeing such an unbelievable sight, his heart filled with wonderful speculations. He was also the only one who had no idea of the deeper implications — his thoughts were pure and simple.
“Don’t talk yet,” Ning Qingzhi said without even turning around, continuing to examine the koma-frog.
“Gangzi, go fetch Old Ji. As quickly as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gangzi sprinted off and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Once Ning Xiyue had gotten a good look at the koma-frog, she withdrew her gaze. Clearly, they hadn’t yet found the mechanism to open the gate — only a guardian frog had appeared. But the door had to be somewhere around the frog — it wasn’t going anywhere.
The most important task now was to find the mechanism that opened the gate. Besides clues around the frog, the strange stone in front of them was likely key. She had to study it while her brother was distracted — ideally, she wanted to find the entrance before Comrade Ji arrived.
Seeing that his older brother was too busy to pay attention to them, Ning Qingyuan crouched down and started investigating the stone together with Ning Xiyue.
“Sis, how did you open it?” Ning Qingyuan asked curiously, digging away the mud around the stone with his machete as he spoke.
“How would I know? I just twisted it randomly.” Ning Xiyue feigned ignorance.
In truth, she had remembered how many mechanisms on TV were opened by twisting them like screws, so she had tried turning it on a whim — and surprisingly, it had moved.
“Second Brother, I really have to admire your luck — you even manage to trip and uncover something unique.”
The siblings crouched side by side, chatting quietly as their hands kept moving.
After studying the koma-frog, Ning Qingzhi had a rough idea of the situation. But when he turned around, he saw his two little troublemakers digging away at what was probably the most critical mechanism of all.
His heart leapt into his throat. He rushed over. “Hey! Stop, you two! Don’t break it!”
Ning Qingyuan, lost in pleasant fantasies, didn’t stop. “We won’t. We’re being careful — just digging out the mud, not touching the stone.”
“Yeah, don’t worry. Look — the stone’s pretty long underneath, like it’s got a leg or something,” Ning Xiyue added, still pretending not to know anything while distracting her brother.
The stone looked like a mushroom — a cap on top, with long roots underneath of unknown length. Ning Qingzhi didn’t stop them from clearing the mud and crouched to examine it himself.
But he couldn’t make any sense of it. He shifted his attention to the surrounding rocks, checking them one by one for anything unusual.
Meanwhile, the “mud-digging experts” — Ning Xiyue and Ning Qingyuan — worked tirelessly and managed to dig out the entire area around the mushroom-shaped stone, revealing a long shaft beneath it.
As she lay on the ground continuing to dig, Ning Xiyue happened to glance up into the underside of the stone cap — once, twice. “Huh? What’s that?”
Using the pointed end of her sickle, she poked at the junction between the stone “cap” and the shaft below it, scraping out some mud. A narrow gap appeared. She used a dogtail grass stem to clear the rest of the dirt.
“Sis, what did you find?” Ning Qingyuan, noticing her movements, lay down next to her and looked up, asking quietly.
“We’ll know soon.”
Ning Xiyue pried out three narrow gaps in a U-shape, then wedged her blade into them. Finally, she hooked her fingernails under and popped something loose — it was a piece of metal, though its composition was unknown.
“This… what’s this?” Ning Qingyuan asked curiously, staring at the object.
“Here, you hold it.”
Ning Qingyuan held the piece awkwardly, wanting to call his older brother over but seeing he was still busy, he decided not to interrupt.
Ning Xiyue studied the structure beneath the stone cap. She thought she understood it now. She gripped the stone and pushed downward.
This time, it moved — the stone pressed down like a button.
So it was a fake stone after all.
“T-this…” Ning Qingyuan was stunned. Before, it wouldn’t budge at all — but once they removed that piece, it pressed down easily. Amazing.
“Rumble… Rumble…”
“Crrrk… Crrrk…”
The sound of falling rocks and the harsh screech of a stone gate grinding against centuries of dust filled the air. It felt as though the entire mountain was shaking.
Ning Qingyuan’s jaw dropped even wider — he had never seen anything like this.
Glancing around, Ning Qingzhi spotted a doorway opening in the mountainside. He couldn’t help but marvel at his siblings’ luck.
A single fall had not only revealed something abnormal in the mountain — they had even managed to uncover the exact entrance. Whether or not this was the site they were searching for, something significant was here.
“Impressive — you two are impressive,” Ning Qingzhi said, giving them a big thumbs-up, utterly convinced.
But Ning Xiyue and Ning Qingyuan had eyes only for the entrance. They hurried forward to the exposed cave mouth.
“Don’t go in yet!” Ning Qingzhi shouted, rushing over.
Ning Qingyuan, too excited to listen, touched the stone at the entrance and tried to peek inside.
Ning Xiyue ran her hand along the stone on the left side of the opening and pulled a flashlight from her bag, shining it into the darkness.
By the light of the flashlight, the three of them could finally see what lay within.
The space inside was enormous — it looked like the entire interior of the mountain had been hollowed out. A staircase led downward, step by step, into a massive plaza below. The plaza was cluttered with piles of various materials, all in disarray — it looked almost like a junkyard.
Shining the light toward the edge of the plaza, they saw rows of small openings — probably rooms. The entire perimeter of the plaza was lined with them, meaning there were many rooms — once capable of housing a huge number of people from the Little Sun Nation.
The plaza itself seemed to be divided into zones.
Ning Xiyue remembered that the check-in prompt had mentioned an “underground laboratory,” but it hadn’t specified what kind. The sheer size of this place made her wonder — could it be a multi-purpose laboratory?
When she heard the word “laboratory,” the first things that came to mind were virus and biological research labs, military factories, gunpowder storage…
Ning Qingyuan stared in awe, utterly fascinated. “Big Brother, can we go in and have a look?”
Ning Qingzhi smacked him on the head. “Look at what? We don’t even know if it’s dangerous yet. No going in for now.”
Ning Qingyuan yelped in pain.
“Awoo!” Little Gray howled at Ning Qingzhi.
Ning Xiyue ignored them, clinging to the edge of the entrance — and checked in.
[Check-in successful. Rewards: One custom-made bulletproof vest, one copy of the Imperial Secret Record of Beauty and Longevity, one portion of Detoxifying and Miasma-Removing Air Freshener and its formula.]
At that moment, Gangzi returned with Ji Yanming and the others. He shouted toward Ning Qingzhi, who was standing by the entrance:
“Old Ning!”
