Chapter Seven: The Massive Gate Opens

As expected, Shen Lie's intuition proved correct—the wall was not the final end of the passage. Beyond it lay a grand hall, spacious and resplendent, its walls studded with countless luminous gemstones that bathed the whole chamber in radiant light.

Shen Lie's gaze was first drawn to a massive golden dais in the hall's very center, and then to the enormous and bizarrely shaped chair perched atop it. The chair’s design was not only strange but its material was especially unusual—not gold, nor stone, but some unknown dark red substance. It was the only non-golden object he had seen in this strange place, other than the ever-present stone.

Yet, as peculiar as the chair appeared, it was nothing compared to the figure seated upon it—or what remained of one. There sat a skeleton, not merely any skeleton, but one of gold. After the extraordinary experiences he had already endured, the sight of a skeleton no longer rattled Shen Lie. Still, this one was noticeably larger than that of a typical person, and its golden hue made it quite conspicuous.

Moreover, the skull was pinned to the chair by a black cylindrical object, as thick as an arm, affixed firmly in place. The cause of death was obvious, as was the origin of the hole in the stone wall in front of him.

A look of horror flickered in Shen Lie’s eyes. Could it be that this black cylinder had been hurled from outside, piercing the walls to strike its target with such devastating precision? Looking up behind him, he saw that the stone wall above bore a matching hole, perfectly aligned with the one before him, identical in size and shape.

What unimaginable force could wield such a weapon, driving it through solid stone to strike down its victim in a single, fatal blow? It seemed nothing short of a miracle.

Shen Lie trembled—whether from fear or hunger, he could not say—and forced himself to turn his attention back through the hole, continuing his careful observation of the scene beyond the stone wall.

Everything about the grand hall was astonishing, but what interested Shen Lie most was not the crimson chair nor the golden skeleton, but the floor beneath the golden dais. The entire floor was covered with intricate patterns, remarkably similar to the teleportation array markings he had seen in the underground cavern, though these were even more complex and mysterious.

“Could there be a teleportation array hidden in this hall as well?”

His eyes lit up at the thought. If there really was a teleportation array here, he might finally have hope of escaping this accursed place.

With this revelation, Shen Lie wasted no time. He leapt down from the pile of stones and began searching for the mechanism to open the stone door.

“This can’t be… There’s a grand hall behind this wall—how could there not be a switch to open the door? Unless it’s controlled remotely… or by sound?”

After another fruitless search, Shen Lie muttered anxiously to himself.

“Open sesame?”

“Open, watermelon?”

“Open, pineapple?”

“Little bunny, be good, open the door?”

…

At last, Shen Lie sank despondently to the ground, once again cursing the hand fate had dealt him. It had given him a window of hope, only to bar it with a lock whose key was nowhere to be found, leaving him to stare longingly, helpless.

“This is hopeless,” he sighed. He had searched every possible place; even if the room behind the stone door held a feast fit for an emperor and a teleportation array, it would all be for naught if he could not get inside.

“But if the door can’t be opened, how did that person get in? And how did they get out?”

“In… out?”

“Out?”

“That’s it—out!”

His dull gaze suddenly sparked with life. Shen Lie scrambled back atop the stone pile and peered once more through the hole into the hall.

If this grand hall were the golden skeleton’s secret chamber, it would make sense for the entrance mechanism to be well hidden. But the exit mechanism needn’t be concealed. Perhaps from the inside, the means to open the door would be easier to find.

Since the hole slanted downward, he could see the area just behind the stone door. Scanning the space with his eyes, he quickly spotted a protrusion—it looked just like a lever, unmistakably a control switch.

Shen Lie’s face broke into a smile. Judging by its position and shape, it had to be the stone door’s opening mechanism. Even better, the lever’s angle aligned almost perfectly with the hole’s incline.

He took a deep breath to steady himself, then quickly stripped off his shirt, tearing it into strips and tying them together into a makeshift rope. When the length proved insufficient, he reluctantly removed his trousers, shredding them and adding to the rope until it was long enough.

Finally, he unfastened the metal buckle from his belt, tying it securely to one end of the “rope.” He swung it up and down a few times, dissatisfied with its weight.

“It might be a bit too light,” he muttered. But with nothing heavier at hand, he had no choice but to make do.

“Let’s go!”

Clutching the buckle tightly, he squinted with one eye to aim, then shouted and tossed it through the hole.

The buckle was a perfect metal ring, just the right size to hook the lever. It was a gift from his college girlfriend, and though they had parted ways, he had always kept the belt. Now, he felt a strange sense of luck.

“Ah!” Perhaps from nervousness, his first throw failed to even make it through the hole, bouncing off the edge and nearly striking him in the face. He cried out in alarm.

“Again!”

“Let’s go!”

He took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and threw again.

This time, the buckle passed through the hole but landed too far from the lever, striking the floor with a loud clang that echoed in the cavernous space.

But Shen Lie had anticipated this would take several tries. He did not lose heart, and patiently reeled the buckle back in, repeating the process again and again.

The metallic clatter rang out repeatedly in the empty chamber. Shen Lie had lost count of how many attempts he’d made, though several times the buckle came tantalizingly close, hitting the very edge of the lever—so close, yet so far.

There was no day or night in this underground world, but his phone still had some battery left, so he had some sense of time. It had been two days since he had been transported from his home into this mysterious place. Two days without food or water, faced with death more than once. Even his will to survive was beginning to falter.

Truthfully, he wasn’t even certain the lever was the right mechanism, nor whether his buckle could latch onto it. But he felt like a gambler who had lost everything except for one last desperate hope—he had no other choice but to cling to it.

“Please… it has to work. I want to live—I have to get out of this cursed place alive!” Shen Lie’s body trembled with exhaustion, his vision growing cloudy as he went through the motions again and again, almost mechanically.

Perhaps Heaven finally took pity on his cries. At last, with one lucky throw, the buckle struck the protrusion dead-on and looped securely around the lever.

Without thinking, Shen Lie gave a hard tug. A thunderous rumble shook the passage as the colossal stone wall began to rise slowly, like a chasm opening to the sky.

Rubbing his eyes in disbelief, Shen Lie was overcome with joy. He leapt down from the pile of stones and squeezed himself through the narrow gap as the stone wall lifted, eager to seize his hard-won chance at survival.