Very soon, they split into two groups.

If anything happens, communicate using the communication magical artifact.

Shao Chaikun and the others followed Shi Youyou along one route, choosing the left passage, silently infiltrating without dismantling any more walls.

Rustle~~!

Dim oil lamps flickered around them, casting an eerie and sinister light, the air thick with a stench of rot, as if it hadn't been ventilated in thousands of years.

"These lamps..." Shao Chaikun regretted a little but didn't touch the lamp, and continued to silently infiltrate.

Honestly, without Shi Youyou, they wouldn't be able to infiltrate so quickly; they would've had to pry up the floorboards all the way.

What a pity.

But probing the situation isn't so bad either.

Shao Chaikun suddenly thought of something, turning around to the cultivators on their route, he said:

"If you're scared, you can stay back and pry up the floorboards. We'll take a sixty-forty split when it comes to getting paid. We're pioneering the path, and if there's danger, we'll encounter it first."

"Is that okay?" A few Demon Cultivators looked at each other.

"You just handle moving bricks, digging treasures, and leave the risky pioneering to us," Shao Chaikun said earnestly, "This way you're safer, and if any problem arises, just follow the strategy I told you."

They were a bit moved.

It's said that traditional Demon Cultivator circles highly value loyalty.

But most people show only superficial loyalty, like drinking buddies... fighting together, resembling a bandit manor's chief and second-in-command...

But in real trouble, they'd mostly fend for themselves.

Yet this family treats them as true friends and brothers, making them a bit bewildered.

"Alright."

"We'll pry up the floor."

"You be careful."

After some brainwashing, these menacing, strong, scarred musclemen quickly accepted this task they found shameful two days ago.

They began honestly prying up floor tiles and pushing carts of bricks outside.

Like miners in a tunnel.

Shao Chaikun wrote on the painting card in the blacksmith group chat:

"I'm such a clever little fox. I'll tell you... this way, you'll gain a group of brick movers, a sixty-forty split."

Food God: "Damn, a sixty-forty split isn't bad. Quickly, have them remove these tiles."

Su Yuniang: "Doing the risky stuff ourselves—questing, decoding, exploring... they handle moving bricks, the NPCs' mortality rate reduces, and we can increase favorability."

Soon, other forks in the path also began negotiating with other Demon Cultivators.

So, it turned into a group of blacksmiths scouting ahead, paving the way, while people from other families confirmed safety before advancing, removing skin at ten seconds per meter.

This brick-moving speed was achieved while minimizing noise, fearful of being overheard.

Leaving no stone unturned!

"I've never seen anyone enter a tomb like this before..."

Standing beside them, Shi Youyou looked at Shao Chaikun with a complex expression, "Are you so greedy that you don't care about your lives?"

Evidently, she had also received messages from her family about what happened at the other fork in the road.

Over the days, she gradually realized that this group of Demon Cultivators had great charisma!

They weren't arrogant, but rather practical, diligent, saving every piece of magic coins.

They were united, without internal scheming and betrayal, trusting each other unconditionally.

They valued loyalty, like big brothers, analyzing the situation, spontaneously taking on the most dangerous assault tasks.

With teammates like this, their broad shoulders provided an extremely reassuring and reliable feeling.

It seemed like they would only face danger if these Demon Cultivators fell!

These are truly charismatic Demon Cultivator aristocratic families.

If they can't prosper, who can?

Shi Youyou's imagination ran wild, fearing that even in rebellion, many people would follow them due to their charisma.

"Aren't you going to move bricks?" Shao Chaikun asked Shi Youyou.

Shi Youyou shook her head, "I don't lack those magic coins; I'll explore the front with you. I'm a professional, reducing the chance of our party being wiped out."

Shao Chaikun did not refuse either.

Gradually, they arrived at a wide open space, with walls adorned with all sorts of large instruments of torture and lethal weapons of breathtaking complexity.

The exit at the opposite end spelled out large words:

Guardian Beast.

Without speaking, Shi Youyou wrote on the painting card: "The Court's prison doesn't only confine the Human Race but has sections imprisoning other races as well."

Shao Chaikun seemed thoughtful.

Shi Youyou wrote: "Those from the Beast Race, being large in size, are imprisoned separately from the Human Race."

"So that's it. We've entered the Beast Race's prisoner area." Shao Chaikun nodded and quietly stepped in.

Once they entered this area, they realized the entire room had become extraordinarily large.

Giant tables and chairs.

They themselves had become thumb-sized people.

Shao Chaikun thought:

"This room for holding demon beasts is enormous; how much could it be worth? Even the floor tiles are more than ten times larger, moving these tiles, six per set, equals a prison room... We've struck gold for the Lord of the Manor once more!"

Suddenly, a scream echoed from afar.

They advanced continuously, stealthily hiding behind a sofa.

Suddenly, in front of them, there were already two colossal muscular men, several stories tall, brutally beating and torturing two exotic beasts.

One strong man grabbed a massive ten-meter-long tiger, torturing it in an unknown hot cauldron; the fierce tiger displayed a pleading expression, yet it couldn't scream anymore.

Obviously, it was a cruel form of torture, an oil cauldron.

In this world, all thieves face beheading, and cultivators who kill mortals end up drawn and quartered.

The punishment of boiling oil—who knows how many people this demon tiger has killed.

On the other side.

A burly man grabs an iron skewer, stabbing one after another into the back of a donkey, causing it to howl incessantly in a chilling scream.

"Isn't this ancient tomb tens of thousands of years old? Can it be like this every day?" Shao Chaikun asks using the painting card.

"Ghosts are like this, repeating their daily lives from when they were alive, day after day."

Shi Youyou writes on the painting card, "As long as the tomb isn't destroyed, the insides typically repeat the cycle endlessly."

"That's really miserable, tormented for tens of thousands of years," Shao Chaikun sighs.

"These demon beasts, I'll save them back to our prison. If there's a chance, can your experts help us extract them? We'll pay you."

Shi Youyou falls silent.

She suddenly says, "Those two prison guards are at the Four Viscera Realm, but the two demon beasts look big, they're actually at the Five-Body Realm, I can pull one out myself."

"That's great," Shao Chaikun secretly says, "Let's wait a bit before pulling the floor tiles, let's pull the prisoners."

Shi Youyou: "?"

Are you serious?

Passing by and uncovering tiles is fine, but do you really want to take the ghosts too?

Thwack!

Thwack!

Sounds of hitting echo through.

They wait for quite a while before the two giant prison guards lock the exotic beasts in a prison cell, then walk to a distant chair and sit, dozing off silently.

The group exchanged a glance, somewhat hesitant.

This is the prison area.

Encountering dangerous ghost prisoners and prison guards from the tomb represents a tricky obstacle in progressing further.

The image of the giant further reminds Shao Chaikun of a certain escape room game he played, "Little Nightmares," where one hides around chairs and sofas, outsmarting and daring, trying to escape.

This game is so fun.

Every time a new scenario unfolds with different plot mechanics.

"Let me do it."

A one-armed girl steps forward, trembling yet resolutely declaring:

"I'll distract them, you pull that demon tiger out and run for it." Determined light flashes in her eyes, "I'll swap places with it, quite the profit."

"Good luck," Shao Chaikun salutes.

"I will," the girl considers, hacking off her broken limb, "I fear I'll die without intact remains, leave a hand for the furnace, it might be of value."

Shao Chaikun nods seriously.

The girl hesitates a moment, "How about leaving both hands? I reckon just having legs will suffice in luring the prison guards..."

"..."

Shi Youyou listens to the conversation of farewell standing beside them.

It feels like amidst the heroic sacrifice lies an inexplicable eerie absurdity.

Leaving a hand, leaving two hands...

For a moment, it feels as if they themselves are ghosts.

"Don't be like this."

Shao Chaikun shakes his head, analyzing pros and cons solemnly while Shi Youyou's expression gradually shows panic:

"Multiple hands can sway during running, keeping balance, if you fall without hands, you can't get up, failing the monster lure task is a pointless death."

The girl thinks it over, nods and says, "Okay, I'm off then."

"Wait." Shao Chaikun speaks, "Take off the Civil Engineering Department coat, wear the prisoner's uniform."

The government prisoner's uniform is uniformly white.

Shi Youyou also brought several spare sets.

The girl changed into the prisoner's clothing, "I'm going now."

"Go ahead," Shao Chaikun waves, "See you in the next life."

They set up a trap to make the girl make noise to lure someone over then lure away the opponents.

"There's a sound."

"Who is it?"

Soon the two guards were lured away.

While they entered a prison cell, seeing the barely breathing tiger, too weak to resist, Shi Youyou pulls it out.

"Run!" Shao Chaikun rejoices inside.

"Wait, I'll toss some corpse perfume." Shi Youyou says, "This water resembles melted blood from bodies, toss it on the ground, they'll think the brutalized tiger died, not that we took it."

Shi Youyou truly understands using the logic flaws of ghosts.

"You go ahead, I'll cover, just in case," Shao Chaikun waits a few seconds before starting to run.

Rustle.

They move quietly along the tunnel.

After a while, they return to the corridor behind, seeing the cultivators dismantling the wall.

Those digging the floor are dumbfounded seeing the demon tiger prisoner.

This is...

Not pulling the floor panels, but pulling prisoners now?

Shao Chaikun whispers, "Run first, something might chase after."

Soon they run out past the thief's tunnel, reaching safety.

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