Chapter 324: Encountering a Ghost Wall, the Maze Mountain Cave

Ning Fei's live broadcast continued to be massively popular.

The expedition team had discovered over a dozen eerie Mountain Caves deep in the mountains, potentially containing a tomb from the Zhou Dynasty.

Such a prospect naturally drew people in.

Ning Fei had already arrived at the entrance. These Mountain Caves were pitch-black, making it impossible to see what lay inside.

"This stream is way too thrilling!"

"Ning Guan master, how about you don't go in? Let the expedition team handle it!"

"This Mountain Cave looks a bit scary."

Seeing these Mountain Caves, some netizens couldn't help but feel a lingering discomfort—they gave off a truly creepy vibe.

For the expedition team, standing right there, this feeling was even more pronounced.

However, Zhang Ke had a mission to fulfill, and Ning Fei was bold due to his exceptional skills. Therefore, they chose the largest Mountain Cave and walked in.

The expedition members turned on their lights. Their equipment was highly professional, complete with headlamps that could illuminate the area for each other.

Ning Fei held Bai Yi's hand with one hand and an illuminating Glow Stick in the other, walking forward.

The drone and the cameraman followed closely behind them.

"No one has been here for a long time."

Ning Fei remarked.

Every step they took kicked up a bit of dust. Judging from the undisturbed layers, people rarely came here.

And that made sense. This mountain was located in the very center of the Qinshan Mountain range. It was extremely remote and rather inconspicuous; very few people would ever venture to such a place.

"Do you guys feel a bit cold?" the cameraman at the back asked softly.

Now that he mentioned it, everyone realized that the air had indeed grown colder after entering the Mountain Cave.

In the pitch-black Mountain Cave, the lights flickered. The shadows of Ning Fei and the others danced wildly on the walls, looking utterly eerie.

"So scary!"

"Bullet screen protection!"

"I'm terrified, but I still really want to watch."

"Ning Guan master, protect us!"

"What are you afraid of with Ning Guan master here?"

The netizens flooded the chat with bullet comments.

Ning Fei and the group continued deeper. As they walked, a fork in the road suddenly appeared ahead.

"This Mountain Cave is this deep? There's actually a fork?"

Zhang Ke asked in surprise.

"We can leave a mark. When you lose your sense of direction in the wild, leaving marks is the most effective method."

Ning Fei said, then took out a small knife and carved a cross into the wall.

The scratch was exceptionally clear; as soon as the light swept over it, his mark was visibly apparent.

"I carved the mark on the right wall, which means we turned right here."

Zhang Ke nodded. This method was very effective. Even if they encountered danger ahead, they could rely on the marks to retrace their steps.

The group turned to the right and continued walking forward.

Before entering the Mountain Cave, they had left their tent and other supplies outside, bringing only their exploration gear, water, and rations. Because of this, moving around was much easier.

The viewers watched the scene intently.

Everyone was on edge.

This was far more thrilling than a tomb-raiding movie. In movies, whenever the protagonists met danger, they always managed to turn things around.

But this was a real-life search for a tomb, and the Mountain Cave was incredibly eerie. No one had any idea what might happen.

Following that, they passed two more forks, and Ning Fei made marks at both of them.

Not long after, another fork appeared before the expedition team. This time, everyone stopped in their tracks.

"What's going on?"

The already anxious viewers immediately started asking questions when they saw the team halt.

"We've been here!"

Standing on the right side of the path, Zhang Ke stared at the fresh scratch on the wall and spoke in disbelief.

"It's the very first spot. We've been going in circles inside this Mountain Cave."

Zhang Ke's words echoed through the cavern.

Everyone heard him loud and clear.

"We've obviously been walking straight in the whole time. How could we have come back?"

Bai Yi looked at the mark, her voice full of confusion.

At that moment, the chat was completely flooded with a single phrase:

"Ghost wall!"

The viewers boiled over with excitement.

"They've encountered a ghost wall!"

"Did the expedition team stumble into some terrifying place?"

"Could there actually be ghosts in here?"

Everyone grew more and more anxious.

Even the members of the expedition team were rooted to the spot after seeing the mark, at a total loss for what to do.

Ning Fei, on the other hand, appeared much calmer.

"Isn't this completely normal?"

Ning Fei said.

Hearing his voice, for some reason, both the tense expedition members and the anxious viewers felt significantly reassured.

"We started from here just now, hit a fork, and kept following the path on the right the entire time. Isn't it completely normal that we ended up walking in a circle?"

"There's no such thing as a ghost wall everywhere you look. You have to believe in science."

"If we were taking lefts and rights at random but still came back here, only then would it be a ghost wall."

Hearing Ning Fei's explanation, everyone immediately calmed down quite a bit.

It was just that the atmosphere in the Mountain Cave was too terrifying, making it easy to let their imaginations run wild at the slightest oddity.

When gripped by fear, a person's body and mind simply refused to obey them.

"Then let's take the left path this time and see," Zhang Ke said with a nod.

"But don't just keep going left. If we only go left, we might still end up right back where we started," Ning Fei added.

"Alright."

With that, the expedition team set off once more.

This time, they went left first, then right, and then left again.

They carved a new kind of mark at each turn, continuing to track the path they took.

Not long after, the expedition members came to a halt once again.

Right in front of them, two marks glaringly appeared—one pointing left, and the other pointing right.

They had returned to the entrance of the Mountain Cave yet again.

"This..." Zhang Ke froze in place.

As a geology and history researcher, he felt his beliefs crumbling for the very first time.

The viewers were utterly bewildered as well.

This time, aside from a ghost wall, there was no other explanation.

Every member of the expedition team fell completely silent.

A chill ran through everyone's bodies.

"This is a maze array."

Just as everyone was completely out of their wits, Ning Fei spoke up once more.

"The person who designed this Mountain Cave was very clever. The amount of time it took us to walk between each fork was different."

"And as you all probably felt, we were never walking in a straight line; the paths were all curved."

"So, as we keep walking, we inevitably loop back to the starting point."

"To put it simply, the designer used this spot as both the starting and ending point to draw a massive circle. Except, this circle wasn't drawn with a single stroke. It's like the branches of a tree, splitting into many different paths, but all those routes eventually point right back here."

"It's a closed loop maze. The only exit is the place where we originally came in, which is why no matter which way we walk, we always return to the same spot."

Having seemingly figured out the mechanics behind the ghost wall, Ning Fei continued.

"Then, this Mountain Cave... or rather, the person who designed this Mountain Cave, what was their purpose?" What Ning Fei was talking about had already exceeded Zhang Ke's scope of understanding, so he couldn't help but ask.

The viewers also watched this scene quietly in the live stream.

The lights were all gathered on Ning Fei. Right now, he was the expedition team's sole pillar of support.

"Naturally, it was to hide a secret."

Ning Fei replied.

"Then could it be that the tomb is underneath the Mountain Cave? Or, perhaps, right beneath our feet?" Zhang Ke asked, struck by a sudden thought.

"Artificially constructing a completely enclosed Mountain Cave maze... if the tomb was really beneath the maze, then this Mountain Cave would be entirely meaningless. One could just dig straight down."

"Are you saying...?"

"Search! There is a wall that leads deep into the heart of the mountain, but it's likely been sealed up. That is the place we are looking for."

Hearing Ning Fei's words, every member of the expedition team nodded.

The search for the tomb had only just officially begun.