“And it seems like the water is leaking from the Iron Gate,” Chloe continued.
“Water inside the Iron Gate?” Leo pondered. “How could that be? Unless it connects to Blackwater Creek.”
Chloe and Domingo burst into laughter.
Their laughter echoed through the deep corridors of the Western Xia Treasury, sounding like two bells ringing, and then reflected back as if two palace ladies were laughing.
Leo chuckled awkwardly.
If it were true that Blackwater Creek lay beyond the Iron Gate, the entire Western Xia Treasury would be flooded, making it impossible for Chloe and her team to slowly pump out the water.
“We’ve already broken several pumps. That old woman is making a fuss again. I wonder if this pump will last until tomorrow,” Chloe said, exasperated.
Mentioning the “old woman” immediately perked up Domingo. “What’s with that woman and the guards outside the camp? They weren’t there last time I came.”
Leo also perked up, ignoring the ancient murals on the corridor walls.
“I don’t know either. I just heard that the higher-ups declared the Western Xia Treasury a national heritage site. To prevent looting, they stationed guards.”
“They also established an ‘Exploration Office for the Western Xia Treasury,’ and that woman is the director. Her name is Lily.”
“Lily?” Domingo and Leo were both surprised by the discrepancy between her name and her demeanor.
“I asked the curator, but he wasn’t sure either. Anyway, our job is to figure out what’s in this treasury. The rest will be handled by them,” Chloe said indifferently.
She wasn’t interested in the artifacts; she just enjoyed her work.
As they talked, they reached the bottom of the Western Xia Treasury. Ahead lay darkness. Chloe stopped at the edge of the light and shadow, took out a flashlight, and said, “Sorry, due to the water leakage, the temporary circuits are down. We’ll have to rely on this.”
Chloe patted her white flashlight and led the way.
Leo and Domingo followed.
The flashlight beam cut through the darkness, leaving most areas shrouded. Suddenly, Leo felt a tug on his sleeve as someone leaned against him.
“It’s a bit dark; let me lean on you,” Domingo’s voice whispered in Leo’s ear.
Leo smiled wryly. “Big reporter, you know this place better than I do. Are you pretending to be scared?”
But feeling Domingo’s trembling body through her clothes, Leo sensed her fear.
He said nothing more and matched her pace behind Chloe.
They descended a long flight of stairs.
Perhaps due to the moisture, the steps were extremely slippery. With Chloe’s warning, Leo carefully supported Domingo as they descended.
Domingo, wearing professional high heels, struggled with each step.
Holding Domingo’s hand, Leo felt its warmth and smoothness, like holding a piece of warm jade.
But he quickly dismissed such thoughts.
Darkness can easily lead one’s mind astray!
To distract himself from Domingo, Leo observed their surroundings by Chloe’s light.
After descending the stairs, the situation in the Western Xia Treasury was completely different from the upper two inner chambers.
The space was much larger; even a small movement echoed far away.
Chloe’s flashlight beam hit the ceiling, revealing a large circle of light, probably over ten meters high.
No one would have guessed that beneath the two inner chambers of the Western Xia Treasury lay such a vast space.
Chloe slowed her pace and said, “Be careful; there’s water ahead.”
Without Chloe’s warning, Leo and Domingo had already heard the hum of water pumps.
Following Chloe through a door, the noise amplified several times.
Leo felt a chill as water seeped into his shoes.
Domingo gasped softly, gripping Leo’s hand tighter to regain her balance.
Leo briefly supported her waist before quickly letting go.
“Thanks,” Domingo whispered.
Chloe turned back and said, “We’re here.”
Leo looked ahead and saw a golden Iron Gate standing before them.
It was Leo and Domingo’s first time seeing it, and they were stunned.
Even though Leo had seen it in videos, reality was vastly different.
The Iron Gate was enormous. Chloe seemed to understand their reaction and slowly raised her flashlight beam until it was vertical with the ceiling.
The Iron Gate was embedded straight into the mountain wall. Roughly estimating, if it were entirely made of copper, it would weigh tens of tons.
In ancient times, this would have been an unimaginable amount.
Chloe seemed to guess their thoughts and said, “We’ve tested it. It’s not all copper; there’s other material inside. It should be a copper-clad wooden structure.”
Leo then noticed water seeping from a gap in the Iron Gate.
At about waist height, water trickled out slowly but steadily enough to form a stream on the ground after a while.
Closer inspection revealed that where the two gates met was so tightly sealed that not even a piece of paper could fit through.
If not for the water seeping out, one might mistake it for a single solid gate.
Such craftsmanship was hard to believe without seeing it firsthand.
Leo waded through the water to touch the patterns on the Iron Gate.
The texture felt cold against his palm.
Closing his eyes to feel it, Leo suddenly opened them and said to Chloe, “I have an idea.”
“What?” Chloe didn’t hear him over the pump’s roar in the near-sealed space, drowning out Leo’s murmurs.
Leo stepped away from the gate and asked Chloe for her flashlight.
Chloe handed it over.
Wading through water, Leo shone the light on the walls, moving away from the Iron Gate.
Chloe found his actions puzzling as he moved further away from them with their only source of light in this basement. In the darkness, Domingo felt shadows creeping towards her with every splash of water.