Chapter 194: On the Beam

These pillars were not easy to climb. The bottom two or three meters had been worn smooth, and even with me propping up He Yu’s backside as he clung to one, he struggled for ages only to get about two meters off the ground. Eventually, drenched in sweat and exhausted, he had to ask me to lower him down so we could rethink our plan.

I looked up. The nearest decorative floral pendant was at least three meters higher, and you’d need a hell of a reach to touch it. I couldn’t help but feel a bit discouraged. He Yu’s upper-body strength was formidable and he was far more agile than me; if he couldn’t scale this pillar, my chances were practically non-existent.

“I can try,” Tian Xiaoqi said, walking over to my side. She pulled two curved daggers from her waist. The arc of these blades was much deeper than that of a standard curved dagger.

I glanced at her, already guessing what she intended to do, and stepped back to give her space.

He Yu rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward. “Come on, let your brother give you a boost!”

Seeing his “ready for action” posture, Tian Xiaoqi immediately retreated a few steps in wary rejection. “I don’t want you lifting me. You look unreliable. If your hands slip and you drop me, I don’t know how to set my own bones!”

He Yu immediately shot a look at me. I had been standing off to the side with my arms crossed, enjoying the show, but his gaze made me shudder. Then Tian Xiaoqi turned around and pulled on my sleeve. She sheathed one of the daggers at her waist and smiled at me. “Gan Ji, you lift me up. I’ll give it a shot.”

He Yu started snickering beside us, sounding like an old hen about to lay an egg. I gave him a fierce glare before moving over to Tian Xiaoqi. She had already braced herself before the slippery pillar, gripping one dagger and rubbing her hands together, seemingly looking for the best spot to start her ascent.

I looked up at the pillar and cautioned her, “It’s okay if you can’t make it. Just do your best. The most important thing is safety. If you can’t get up, come back down. Don’t force it; we can find another way.”

Tian Xiaoqi looked back at me with a grin, her eyes curving into crescent moons. “Are you worrying about me?”

What nonsense! I’d said the exact same thing to He Yu before he went up.

Thinking this, I placed my hands on Tian Xiaoqi’s waist and hoisted her up. Girls are much lighter and easier to lift than men, so I easily raised her above my head. Once my arms were fully extended, I signaled for her to step onto my shoulders, as the lower section of the pillar was far too slick for a normal person to maintain a grip.

Tian Xiaoqi stepped onto my shoulders. Holding her dagger in one hand, she suddenly exerted herself and leaped half a meter upward, her limbs locking tightly around the pillar. She hadn’t warned me she was going to jump, and for a terrifying second, I thought she was falling. Only after I saw she had a stable grip did I step away.

She was already significantly higher than He Yu had managed.

Adjusting her legs, Tian Xiaoqi released one hand and reached out with her curved dagger. With practiced skill, she hooked the blade into the center of one of the openwork floral pendants. He Yu leaned in to see what the girl was up to.

Tugging on the dagger with one hand, she freed one leg from the pillar and braced her foot against its surface. Eyeing a large beam above the floral pendant, she executed a high-difficulty twist. Watching her maneuvers from below, I felt my own legs start to go weak.

Finally, she gripped the dagger and made a sudden leap toward the beam about a meter away. With a dull thud, she landed with her upper body draped over the beam, though her aim was slightly off and one leg dangled down.

He Yu and I instinctively rushed underneath to catch her, but Tian Xiaoqi’s core strength was impressive. She managed to wiggle her half-dangling body back up onto the beam. Wiping sweat from her forehead, she pulled out her dagger and sat astride the beam, looking down at us.

“Come on, I’ll pull you up!” Tian Xiaoqi leaned down and reached out a hand.

He Yu and I both waved our hands frantically at her.

“My dear lady, just stay sitting right up there,” He Yu said. “I get terrified every time I see you move. It’s enough that you made it up yourself; you can’t pull us up anyway. Gan Ji and I will figure out another way. We’ll get up eventually.”

I took a moment to catch my breath, intending to try again with He Yu since the remaining distance wasn’t that great. Suddenly, I felt someone run past me toward the pillar, bringing a gust of wind with them.

Turning around, I saw Lu Ayao was already near the top of the floral pendants. He wasn’t using his legs to climb; he used only his arms to hug the pillar, securing his upper body, and jammed both legs into the openwork of a pendant. Then he decisively let go with his hands, levering himself up from an inverted hang. Finally crouching on the beam, he whipped out his white whip from behind his back. It dropped down, landing right in front of us.

He Yu and I looked at him, then at each other.

He Yu silently gave a thumbs-up. “I like this,” he whispered to me, “but he’s making the two of us look like total idiots.”

I gave him a shove, teasing him. “The man is kind enough to pull you up and you’re still running your mouth. I’m not too proud for this. Once I’m up, I’ll tell him to pull the whip back and let you climb up on your own.”

“Hey, hey, I didn’t say that!” He Yu blocked me with his hand, then, before I could react, he bolted toward the whip to claim the first turn. He shouted up, “Old Lu, I’m going first! Gan Ji said we don’t need to worry about him, he’ll climb up on his own!”

“Holy shit! I never said that! Old Lu, don’t listen to his bullshit!” Hearing this, I bolted over as fast as my legs could take me, terrified they really would leave me down below to scale the pillar myself.

Lu Ayao and Tian Xiaoqi worked together to pull us onto the beam one by one. This beam was quite wide; even with all four of us sitting on it, there wasn’t a hint of a wobble. With decorative pendants designed beneath both sides, it was clearly one of the main structural beams.

Once up, I glanced at Lu Ayao and asked, a little smugly, “What’s this? Not planning to open the coffin anymore?”

He lowered his head, coiling his whip section by section, and gave an “mm.” “Not anymore. Better to find a way up first.”

I nodded with satisfaction. “Good. You’ve got the right attitude.”

“Do you two remember?” He Yu stood up and rubbed his chin while looking at the vaulted ceiling. “When we first met, we were climbing pillars too. Now we’re climbing pillars and beams again. What kind of rotten luck is this? You think we’ll end up splitting up once we climb out of here?”

I slapped him on the back. “Pah, pah, pah!^[1] What nonsense are you talking? This whole thing isn’t over yet, so why talk about splitting up? If anyone’s splitting off, it’ll be you being forced back to guard the warehouse.”

Lu Ayao found another suitable beam and began walking slowly toward the center along the one beneath our feet. Tian Xiaoqi followed him. I kept up with them, inching toward the center of the structure while bickering with He Yu.

“Like you said, this isn’t over, so I’m not going back,” He Yu said, following behind me. “Being a warehouse clerk isn’t nearly as exciting as this, even if I can’t find any treasures. Seriously though, can’t you just ask your Fourth Brother what’s really going on? And what about those bodies by the water pump outside? Were they part of the archaeology team too?”

Lu Ayao stepped across to a higher crossbeam. Once steady, he turned to help Tian Xiaoqi over, then reached out for me. I grabbed his hand and jumped across, turning my head to answer He Yu.

“My Fourth Brother? You think he’d tell me anything? Usually, before I can even get a question out, he’s already annoyed with me and telling me to get lost.”

My eyes darted around as a plan formed. I thought it might not be a bad idea to have Lu Ayao act as a spy on Fourth Brother’s side. I tugged on Lu Ayao’s sleeve. “Old Lu, you’re on our side now, right?”

To my surprise, Lu Ayao just glanced at me. “Chen Si won’t tell me the truth either.”

I wanted to say more, but before the words could leave my mouth, a massive boom erupted from below. The impact was so violent that the crossbeam beneath our feet shuddered. Then I heard He Yu look down and cry out in shock.

“Damn it! You old fossil, what do you think you’re doing!”

I quickly looked toward the source of the noise. Below us, Qiao Sangui had somehow managed to quietly saw through his ropes. The outer lid of the sarcophagus had already been pried off onto the ground, and now the old man was still using those two crowbars from the floor to force open the inner coffin lid!