Chloe gently lifted the final layer of the blanket. The ornaments piled on top rolled towards the head of the coffin, clinking against each other.
Leo and Chloe were stunned.
Empty. There was nothing inside.
Chloe couldn’t believe her eyes. She gently placed the blanket back down and lifted it again.
Still the same.
The design of this outer coffin was almost imperial, and just making such a large outer coffin must have cost a lot. Yet, it was an empty coffin.
“Could it have been robbed?” Leo thought of the white jade chair and the buttock prints on the stone stool, and this idea naturally came to mind.
But as soon as he said it, he realized how foolish it sounded.
The outer coffin had so many layers of blankets pressed on it when they opened it, clearly untouched by anyone. Besides, which grave robber would leave behind these priceless ornaments and take the body instead?
Chloe shook her head and said, “This is most likely a decoy tomb.”
“A decoy tomb?”
“Similar to a false tomb, it’s meant to prevent grave robbers from disturbing the body. That’s why the placement of the outer coffin felt off; it doesn’t conform to the standard layout of a burial chamber.”
Leo pulled Chloe out of the outer coffin.
Only then did they remember Domingo and walk in her direction.
In that direction was another quiet chamber. As Leo and Chloe turned the corner, they saw two horses standing quietly. Their bodies had a reddish hue, and their eyes reflected some daylight, making it seem like they were staring at them.
Both of them slowed their steps, almost thinking they were real horses. Only after looking more closely did they realize they were wooden horses painted red, crafted so exquisitely that they looked real.
But Domingo was nowhere to be seen.
“Domingo?” Chloe called out.
Domingo’s face peeked out from behind one of the wooden horses.
“Come quickly, you have to see this,” Domingo said excitedly as if she had discovered something incredible.
Leo and Chloe walked quickly towards her.
Although this quiet chamber had a few openings letting in daylight, it was much dimmer than outside.
It was unclear where Domingo found the courage to enter alone.
As Leo and Chloe rounded the wooden horse, they were startled by the array of artifacts on the ground.
The artifacts piled in this quiet chamber seemed to outnumber those seen in the front and middle halls combined.
The most common items were various pottery jars and bowls, along with bronze lamps of different shapes and sizes, including kneeling sheep and human-shaped lamps.
Leo picked up a kneeling sheep bronze lamp, opened the lid on its back, and flipped it over. The lid fits perfectly on the sheep’s head, forming a shallow groove for holding lamp oil.
Leo opened and closed it a few times, finding the satisfaction almost comparable to a Zippo lighter.
The quiet chamber was about fifteen meters wide and twenty meters long. Chloe paced around, measuring it with her steps.
The ceiling was slightly lower than outside but still about five or six meters high.
Just carving out such a quiet chamber inside the mountain must have required immense manpower and resources, indicating the power of this underground palace’s owner.
Domingo had already recovered from her initial panic. Her eyes gleamed with greed as she looked at everything before her, wishing her eyes were cameras to record everything she saw.
Chloe circled, examining everything in the quiet chamber before returning to Leo’s side.
“Chloe, whose underground palace do you think this is?” Domingo couldn’t suppress her curiosity any longer and asked.
“I don’t know. Some of the inscriptions on these artifacts… I can’t fully recognize them. If my mentor were here, he could probably identify them all. But judging by these pottery pieces, even if this underground palace doesn’t belong to Emperor Lee, it is likely related to him.”
“How so?” Leo asked.
“These pottery pieces are narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. They look like ordinary storage pottery on the surface, but there’s an outward bulge at the opening. Only Western Xia pottery has this feature,” Chloe explained.
Leo and Domingo nodded repeatedly.
In this quiet chamber, sounds traveled far.
Suddenly, there were two “gurgling” sounds.
Leo pinpointed the sound’s origin, his gaze landing directly on Domingo’s stomach.
Domingo clutched her belly, blushing as she stole a glance at Leo.
The “gurgling” sound came from Domingo’s stomach.
This sound indicated that Domingo was hungry.
Leo withdrew his gaze from Domingo’s stomach and said, “We should find a way out soon. Although this underground palace is a shadow tomb, it’s modeled entirely after a living person’s palace. The exit shouldn’t be hard to find.”
After saying this, Leo pretended to search for an exit and walked away.
Only then did Domingo’s blush gradually fade.
“Alright, let’s look for an exit too,” Chloe said as she took Domingo’s hand. They split up with Leo to search.
Since the undercurrent had pushed them into the front hall, that entrance must also be an exit.
There must be a large river outside; based on the terrain, it’s likely Blackwater Creek near Western Xia Treasury.
Since the underground palace is modeled after a living person’s palace, there must be an exit in the rear hall as well.
Apart from placing three outer coffins in the center, there were quiet chambers on both sides of the rear hall. There were also many artifacts placed around the back.
After circling around once, they found no exit in the underground palace.
They regrouped in front of the three outer coffins.
Domingo’s stomach was now too hungry to make any noise. She frowned and said, “What if we can’t find a way out?”
Chloe hugged Domingo’s shoulders. “Don’t worry; we’ll find it eventually.”
By now, it was getting dark outside, indicating nightfall was approaching.
During daylight, this underground palace felt like an ordinary museum-dimly lit but not particularly frightening.
But at night, it would be a different scene altogether.
Thinking about this made Domingo snuggle closer into Chloe’s embrace.
Leo looked up at the light holes in the ceiling.
These holes are clearly connected to the outside world. Though only finger-sized, they were arranged like stars across the underground palace ceiling.
Despite so many holes connecting outside, no one had discovered this underground palace until now-a testament to its ingenious design.
However, thinking about that mysterious buttock print made Leo realize that someone must have been here before-the owner of that print at least.
Leo extended his spiritual sense to search for an exit.
At Western Xia Treasury’s entrance:
So far, three waves of divers had been sent down, but none managed to reach the inner treasury.
By daylight, Western Xia Treasury was no longer expelling muddy water but dirty water mixed with blue-black oil stains.
According to reports from the third wave of divers who surfaced, some uncleared mechanisms inside had been exposed by floodwaters.