Chapter 278: Oops, I Stepped on a Trap
Only when she was sure that she had landed safely did Fang Xiaocao slowly open her eyes. Taotie’s playful, ugly face came into view, making Fang Xiaocao belatedly realize that the smelly embrace that had caught her was none other than Taotie’s.
Fang Xiaocao glared at Taotie, jumped out of his arms, and turned to look for Hummingbird.
Fang Xiaocao hadn’t forgotten that Hummingbird had suddenly let go of her in mid-air.
It had scared Fang Xiaocao half to death.
Fang Xiaocao had thought that Hummingbird had fallen.
Fortunately, as soon as Fang Xiaocao turned her head, she saw Hummingbird standing beside her, looking perfectly fine and unharmed.
“Phew~”
Fang Xiaocao breathed a sigh of relief.
It was good that everyone was alright!
If Hummingbird had fallen into the quicksand pit and died here while helping her cross, Fang Xiaocao would have felt extremely guilty.
Tom, on the opposite bank, had been worried the whole time. Now that he saw Fang Xiaocao and Hummingbird landing safely, he also breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s good that everyone’s safe!”
Tom muttered to himself. Without waiting for Taotie to throw the grappling hook rope back, he picked up Fang Xiaocao’s grappling hook from the ground, pressed the button, and shot the grappling hook out.
The grappling hook “clang” firmly grabbed the beam of the tomb passage. He pulled it hard to make sure it was sturdy enough, took a few steps to run, leaped up, and swung across the grappling hook rope to the opposite bank.
Taotie and Tom each held a rope.
They pressed the buttons in their hands, and with a “click,” the grappling hooks, which had been very sturdy while holding two people, automatically released and returned to their hands with a “whoosh.”
Taotie and Tom put away the grappling hooks.
They stuffed them into their backpacks.
Seeing this, Fang Xiaocao blinked.
She asked curiously, “Why are you putting away the grappling hooks?”
“Aren’t we going to use them?”
Hearing Fang Xiaocao’s words, Tom smiled slightly.
“Of course we have to put them away.”
“First, we might need to use the grappling hooks on the road ahead. If we don’t put them away here, what if we need them later?”
“Second, generally, when entering an ancient tomb, we rarely return the same way. Keeping them here would be a waste.”
“Third, we might have pursuers behind us. If they come and see the grappling hooks, they’ll know there’s something strange about the quicksand pit and follow the grappling hooks.”
Tom deliberately spoke very plainly, just to teach Fang Xiaocao some knowledge.
After listening to Tom’s words, Fang Xiaocao nodded thoughtfully, “I understand!”
After packing up the grappling hooks, the four of them continued forward. Having learned from the previous experience with the quicksand pit, the four of them realized that the tomb owner was not as kind as they had imagined, but a cunning old fox.
He had all sorts of tricks to harm people.
The arrangement of that quicksand pit was extremely insidious. He had openly scattered iron caltrops and blades, making the tomb raiders think it was just a straightforward trap.
If someone fell for it and chose to ignore the iron caltrops and blades and just wade through, then…
Many would die.
Even experienced tomb raiders could be tricked if they were careless and fell into the quicksand pit.
It could be said that as long as the tomb raiders weren’t careful enough, as many as came would die in the quicksand pit.
Could the person who set up such a vicious trap be a kind person?
The answer was obviously no!
Therefore, the four of them became even more cautious.
Tom still led the way, Fang Xiaocao walked in the middle, and Taotie and Hummingbird covered the rear and protected Fang Xiaocao, ready to rescue her at any time.
The tomb passage still had lamps on the stone walls on both sides, and there was still mermaid oil in the lamps.
This time, Fang Xiaocao didn’t dare to move around.
Since she had learned the horror of the quicksand pit, Fang Xiaocao felt that there must be something wrong with these mermaid lamp oils.
They were probably like Tom had worried, with hidden tricks.
Either poisonous or hallucinogenic.
Or the lamps were connected to some trap.
Once someone was greedy, or like Fang Xiaocao, curious about the mermaid oil, and moved the lamps or lit them, they would bring about a disaster.
Thinking of this, Fang Xiaocao lost all curiosity about the lamps and the mermaid oil.
She chose to stay away.
She also gave up the idea of bringing some mermaid oil back for research.
She was so beautiful and couldn’t die.
Suddenly!
Tom, who was walking in front, froze in place.
Next second!
A “crack” sound came from under Tom’s feet, and a stone slab under his feet visibly sank a few centimeters.
Seeing this, Fang Xiaocao was shocked.
She knew that Tom had stepped on a trap.
An anti-theft trap in the ancient tomb.
Fang Xiaocao’s eyes quickly scanned the ceiling and the stone walls on both sides of the tomb passage, afraid of arrows, flying stones, giant axes, or other deadly hidden weapons.
Taotie and Hummingbird were also shocked.
They moved very quickly. Hummingbird instantly flashed in front of Fang Xiaocao, protecting her behind her, holding a dagger in her hand, and scanning the surroundings vigilantly.
Taotie rushed to Tom’s side.
“Tom, don’t move!”
“Let me see what kind of trap it is!”
Taotie shouted to Tom urgently.
As he spoke, he squatted down at Tom’s feet, staring carefully at the ground under Tom’s feet with his tiger eyes.
Among the four of them, only Taotie had been in a tomb.
He had also learned from an old tomb raider for a while.
He was the most knowledgeable about ancient tomb traps among the four. Others didn’t know as much as Taotie.
As Taotie began to check, the three of them subconsciously held their breath, afraid that their breathing would be too loud and affect Taotie’s judgment.
Tom, who was stepping on the trap, had a pale face. He wouldn’t be afraid of landmines or bombs, because he was an expert in those things and knew them like the back of his hand.
Even if he stepped on one, Tom had enough confidence to disarm the landmine under his feet.
But this was Tom’s first time encountering an anti-theft trap in an ancient tomb, and he didn’t know what kind of terrible trap it would trigger. Humans have awe and fear of the unknown.
Although Tom was a top assassin, he was still a human and would be afraid. That didn’t mean Tom was timid. It was just a human’s instinctive physiological reaction.
Tom: I don’t accept being called timid!
Whoever says I’m timid, go take a walk in a minefield full of landmines and come back alive, then talk to me.
“This is a bit troublesome!”
Taotie said with a serious expression.
Hearing Taotie’s words, the hearts of the three of them rose at the same time. Their six eyes focused on Taotie, waiting for his next words.
But Taotie just frowned and squatted at Tom’s feet, saying nothing.
This made Fang Xiaocao very anxious.
But she didn’t dare to urge Taotie, afraid of affecting Taotie’s judgment. After all, Taotie’s judgment was related to Tom’s life.
