Chapter 703: 703
The light above his head vanished and it was all silent around him . There seemed to be just him left in the world the moment the marble slabs shut above him . A terror sprouted in him then, and grew greater and greater . His thoughts now were not of exploring this underground world, but of how to get out!
Xia Lei’s first thought was to call the Zodiac team and get them to blast the marble slabs open . However, he took out his phone and discovered that there was no phone signal, not even for the satellite phone . He started to regret telling the Zodiac team not to follow him, because if they had come with him, they would definitely have some way of opening up the marble slabs above his head and get him out . The situation now, though, made it clear that this method would not work .
Xia Lei looked around the square “hall” under the marble slabs . He was disappointed to find that there was no opening mechanism inside, and that there was nothing else other than the black bones and black stone walls .
However, he gradually calmed down in the process of searching for a way out .
‘I did not hesitate to become an enemy of the CIA and the FA in order to solve the mystery of the ancient alloy and AE . I’ve even almost lost my life on several occasions . What is this maze before me, compared to those dangers I face? Since I’m here, I have to get something out of this . I don’t believe that Leonardo da Vinci would put in so much effort to have me die here . ’ Xia Lei’s heart calmed at this thought . He raised the light stick and walked into the passageway, determined .
Step… step… step…
His footsteps echoed in the passageway, bouncing off the black stone walls and giving one the impression that there were many people walking . Add the gloominess, cold, and the darkness, and this underground maze was very terrifying indeed .
Xia Lei did not walk fast . He moved carefully . He had to be aware of his surroundings — the air, the terrain, especially the stone beneath his feet . He had to look at all of them carefully to avoid any accidents from happening .
Fortunately, it seemed like this underground maze was a sealed space but the air in it was not stale at all . There seemed to be airflow . This discovery confirmed something for him, and that was that he would not have to worry about dying from lack of oxygen here .
The passageway quickly came to an end, and three pathways opened up before him — one left, one ahead and one to the right .
A dried-out corpse lay in the entrances of the left and right pathways . The corpses had been preserved well, and the facial features of the dead could still be seen clearly . Both corpses wore long white robes, and leather armour-jackets . The emblem of the Crusaders was on their chests . Weapons lay by the corpses too . One was a heavy mace, and the other was a two-handed axe . Both weapons were rusty with age and it was obvious that these were artifacts hundreds of years old .
There was no way to find out why the corpses of two Crusaders would appear here, but Xia Lei knew how they died . Their bodies were riddled with crossbow bolts . Some bolts had gone through their bodies, while some stuck out of their chests and their heads . It was a horrifying sight . From the positions in which the corpses lay, and the direction in which the bolts stuck out of their bodies, it was plain to see that the bolts had come from the passageways on the left and right . It looked like the left and right sides were dead ends, and full of traps .
The path ahead looked very clean in comparison — no corpses, no crossbow bolts . The middle path looked to be the path of survival . It was safe .
But Xia Lei knew that this was just an illusion . He picked up the mace from the side of the corpse in the left pathway, then came to the middle one and flung the rusted mace in .
He quickly dodged as soon as the mace left his hand, and hid behind a stone wall .
The mace flew into the pathway, and down, landing on a stone tile in the ground before sliding forward . The stone tile it had struck sunk visibly, and in a split second, there was a swishing sound as a host of crossbow bolts burst forth like a flock of startled sparrows .
Clink! Dink! Dink!
Sparks flew, and bolt after bolt struck the stone walls and the stone tiles . It was very loud, and a terrifying number of bolts too!
Behind the stone wall, Xia Lei broke out in cold sweat . If he’d chosen to walk down the middle pathway, he would have been a human-shaped pincushion now .
However, this was not due to his observational skills, but the map da Vinci had left on the canvas of the Mona Lisa . This underground space was a maze full of traps, and da Vinci had drawn a safe path through all the traps .
Though Xia Lei had the whole map in his head, and knew the right way to go, he could not trust da Vinci fully . This was why he had done that test . He did not want to die for nothing because he’d trusted a man who had passed away . It was a map which had been drawn hundreds of years ago after all, so what would he do if there were discrepancies?
After the crossbow bolts had been released, Xia Lei went to the pathway on the right . He picked up the two-handed axe from the side of the Crusader, then threw it into the pathway on the right .
Swish, swish, swish…
A flurry of crossbow bolts came flying again . Over a hundred bolts formed a net of death in that narrow passageway . Anything in there, even a sparrow, would have to give up on living .
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