Layne and Omari were severely injured, and Cheyenne was nine months pregnant, found themselves in a hellish place from which escape seemed impossible.
To prevent them from running away, Gregory brought Gracie with him into the ancient tomb. They followed the same rugged mountain path that Layne remembered from over twenty years ago, leading towards the depths of Dead Forest.
At the valley’s edge was a massive waterfall that they had to cross before entering the cave. The waterfall towered above them like a white cloth hanging from a cliff, with swift currents making it even more treacherous.
As if this wasn’t enough, winter temperatures made it worse as floating ice covered the water’s surface. Their wounds stung painfully as they came into contact with icy water; their limbs grew numb almost immediately upon immersion.
Omari was in critical condition; his blood dripped continuously onto the water’s surface. Due to low temperature, his blood coagulated into bright red droplets, resembling pearls on top of ice.
“Omari,” Cheyenne asked worriedly while looking at him closely. He looked terrible – already losing too much blood and now suffering from hypothermia that turned his lips blue.
Omari tried to force out an ugly smile when he heard her concern but failed miserably. “I’m fine… but are you really okay?”
Cheyenne’s belly was enormous – even just looking at it made one shudder in fear! It hurt so much! As soon as she entered the cold water, her body felt like it had been plunged into an icy abyss – being pregnant only amplified all sensations tenfold!
Her baby weighed about ten pounds, roughly equivalent to carrying around a large watermelon. The baby could sense everything happening outside its mother’s womb.
In such frigid temperatures, the little one began kicking up quite a fuss inside her belly, causing sharp pains that spread throughout her stomach and making Cheyenne grit her teeth tightly. “Hang in there, my baby. I can’t do anything about this right now… please be good.”
Sam glanced back at Cheyenne, feeling sorry for her situation before turning towards his father saying softly. “Dad… you still want her to help opening up the tomb doors? If Cheyenne dies here, then your treasure hunt will be ruined.”
Upon hearing this, Gregory pondered for a moment before nodding. “You’re right. If this woman dies, then I will have waited in vain for so long.”
“Someone bring some blankets,” he called out.
With the warmth of the blankets, Cheyenne immediately felt much warmer and she gratefully glanced at Sam. He didn’t seem as bad as she had thought he was – perhaps it was just his upbringing that had led him to become like this.
Finally entering the tomb area, they were met with a broken cave filled with gold coins and bones buried in sand and mud – clearly resembling an ancient battlefield scene. However, Gregory seemed unusually excited.
“Twenty-six years… I’ve been waiting twenty-six years to find the legendary ancient tomb.”
Purple flowers and strange plants grew on the steep cliffs of the cave which emitted a dream-like glow in this dark environment – these were Datura stramonium plants which were used to make Misty Forest.
When Channing was found by them all those years ago, he had one of these plants on him. They were extremely difficult to cultivate and could only survive in moist environments without light at around 20 degrees Celsius.
Gregory had spent countless amounts of money cultivating these flowers but here they were everywhere.
Layne looked at him coldly with disdain for his lack of worldly knowledge before sneering. “The great Lucas family head is so ignorant? What’s so special about Datura stramonium? There are even more amazing things inside.”
“Do you see that large stone cave up there?” Layne pointed upwards towards a two-meter-long entrance located about ten meters above ground level surrounded by smaller caves destroyed by explosives nearby; however, that particular entrance remained solid like iron despite everything else being destroyed around it.
The carvings on top also differed significantly from other caves with eerie snake patterns surrounding bat and gourd designs among others.
“Sam, lead two people here to pick up all these Datura stramonium plants and send them back,” ordered Gregory confidently while turning towards Gracie who always followed his every command obediently. “Gracie, lead everyone else into the tomb with me.”
Gracie always followed Gregory’s order. However, this time Gracie hesitated before asking, “Gregory… are you really going into that tomb?”
For Gracie, she always approached the unknown with a sense of awe, and these stone carvings in front of her made her feel uneasy.
Gregory had been waiting for this moment for twenty-five years. How could he retreat now? He gently placed his large hand on Gracie’s shoulder and spoke to her with a serious tone. “You know how long I’ve waited for this moment. I thought no one understood me better than you.”
Of course, Gracie knew that his goal was to restore the Lucas family’s power and dominate Chulae. His personal goal was to overthrow Abel and become the president of Chulae. For this day, he would even sacrifice his own wife’s life.
Well then, since she was the one he chose to keep by his side, she would accompany him in achieving his dream.
“Everyone, listen to my command. Set up the ropes.”
With that order given out, several henchmen quickly brought out long ropes with metal claws at their ends designed specifically for climbing.
Swish… Swish… Swish… The ropes swung back and forth in their hands as they aimed towards the topmost cave opening on the cliff face before firmly latching onto a protruding section.
Gracie was the first person to climb up. Despite wearing ten-centimeter high heels, her movements were extremely agile between each grab-and-release motion. It was clear that she had undergone rigorous training before.
If it were Cheyenne from before, naturally she could have achieved such an impressive feat like Gracie did; but now… She lowered her head down towards her belly which only showed off its roundness.
Her grandpa was injured in the leg and Omari was covered with blood.
Having two wounded people plus a pregnant woman undoubtedly increased difficulty level of their mission.
Gregory hesitated momentarily but ultimately pulled out his gun aimed it at Omari before pulling down on the trigger and coldly stating, “He is already someone who deserves death; carrying him around is just dead weight, so let him die now.”
“No!”
“Omari! Run away quickly!”
“Cheyenne… goodbye…”