Chapter 50 The Fifty Chapters Fire Evil's Ability (1)
Huǒ Xiǎo Yē stared blankly at Shuǐ Yāo ér and said, "The method you used to come over just now was really too sinister! Even a demon can't do that!"
The Water Demon child slightly frowned: "Do you need to say this!" As she said that, she fiercely knocked against Huo Xiao's forehead.
"Are you looking for a beating? You're a unreasonable demoness!"
"Shut up! Do you want others to hear? Stinky monkey! Rotten monkey!"
Huo Xiao Ye hastily shut his mouth, he vaguely knew some things about men and women's love affairs, and in his heart, he also liked such a beautiful and charming woman like Shui Yao Er. However, Shui Yao Er had shown off her skills many times on the way, Huo Xiao Ye felt inferior to her, always feeling that he was lower than Shui Yao Er by a head, so towards Shui Yao Er's words, he was full of admiration and praise, not daring to have any ambiguous thoughts. Little did he know, if Huo Xiao Ye had said earlier that Shui Yao Er's method of approaching him looked extremely beautiful, Shui Yao Er would have been overjoyed. How could Huo Xiao Ye understand the mind of a woman like Shui Yao Er who got angry and knocked on his head?
The back kitchen house, although not submerged underground, was close to the giant pit and its roof collapsed. Except for the half wall facing the courtyard that didn't fall, all the other walls were badly damaged. Some had collapsed to the ground, while others still had a small section left. Such ruins turned out to be a good place to hide and observe. Huo Xiao and his companions saw someone digging out from under the ground on the mountain slope, and it was in this back kitchen house.
The water demon child looked around and saw that there was no movement on Qian's side, so he lightly waved his hand to signal Huo Xiao to follow him. He then flipped into the backyard through a broken wall. The wall on one side of the backyard hadn't collapsed, providing them with excellent cover.
Huǒ Xiǎo Xié flipped into the back kitchen, and gathered beside Shuǐ Yāo ér. Shuǐ Yāo ér looked around the room, pots, bowls, ladles, stoves, cabinets, everything was smashed by the falling roof, the entire back kitchen couldn't be recognized as its original appearance. Huǒ Xiǎo Xié said in a low and worried tone: "This is not good! Clearly saw someone crawling out of the house and onto the ground! Was it buried?"
"Stupid monkey, isn't this easy to find? The entrance is obviously under the stove."
"How did you figure it out?"
Shuiyao'er said: "Isn't it that there is the least rubble under the stove?" As she spoke, she had already crouched down and slipped to the side of the stove.
Huǒ Xiǎo Yā polished it for a moment, understood, and couldn't help but nod secretly, following Shuǐ Yāoér to her side.
The water demon child stroked the stove with one hand and found a dark-colored handle in one corner. The water demon child pulled it, but it didn't budge, saying: "Monkey, lend a hand!"
Huǒ Xiǎo Yē also stretched out his hand, tightly grasping it, both of them using all their strength. Huǒ Xiǎo Yē's face turned bright red from being choked, but the two still couldn't budge an inch, as if this pulling hand was welded to the ground.
"It can't be wrong, right?"
"Impossible," said Shuiyaoer. "Look under your hand, the gap is quite large! There must be another mechanism that locks this place."
Huǒ Xiǎo Yī kàn, guǒ rán bǎ shǒu yī cè de shàng, yǒu yī dào bǐ zhí de liè fèng, hè rán zhè bǎ shǒu lián zhe yī gè suò dà de gài zi.
Translation:
Huoxiao looked and indeed saw that the hand was connected to a large cover with a straight crack on the ground.
The little mermaid said: "Don't move, I'll take a look inside the house."
The fire spirit was about to get up and search, but Xiao Xie said, "No need to look, it's just a rough benzene cover." The water spirit was stunned, and saw that the little demon had reached into the pile of debris along the crack, using his hand to move the debris away. He pressed down with his palm, and there was a "click" sound, like the sound of a mechanism opening. Xiao Xie then grabbed the handle and lifted it, and the cover moved slightly.
Shuiyao'er said: "Is it that simple?"
Huo Xiao said curiously, "The manhole covers of the landlords' houses in the Northeast are all like this. There is a supporting piece at one corner. Press it down and it will open. It's specially designed to prevent pigs, dogs, and groundhogs from messing around."
The Water Nymph's face was slightly scorched, and she could only say: "Oh, I thought too much." The Water Nymph and her family were experts at sneaking in and out of places, with intricate mechanisms everywhere, requiring careful consideration. Just the Tian Suo Di Jue of Zhang Siye's house had 25 secret locks. So the Water Nymph naturally assumed there was some hidden mechanism, and took a detour, not as straightforward as Huo Xiao Xie.
The two joined forces again, and the lid, although heavy, was slowly lifted. Shuiyou'er sniffed at the gap, took a shallow sniff, and found no unusual smell, then continued to use force with Huoxiao, pulling the lid out of the ground. The lid lost its grip on the ground, and naturally, Huoxiao and Shuiyou'er pulled it up two feet high with all their might. With a "whoosh" sound, rolling gray dust poured out from under the lid.
"Bad!" Water You'er cried out in a low voice. With a swift motion, she took out the gray mosquito net and shook it open, covering both Huo Xiao'e and the dust, preventing any dust from rising. Water You'er pressed down on Huo Xiao'e's back and said, "Hold still! The dust is very thick here, if we stir up the dust, people will discover us."
Huǒ Xiǎo Xié ate a mouthful of dust, and upon hearing Shuǐ Yāo ér's words, he was willing to endure the ash covering his face. He gritted his teeth and lifted the lid again with great force. The gray dust flew everywhere, but fortunately, it didn't rise into the air due to the canopy above. Poor Huǒ Xiǎo Xié had a big mouthful of dust in his nose and mouth.
It may seem like a small thing, but it has a great risk of exposure. A large amount of dust suddenly spewed out from the ground, and almost everyone knew that something was happening on that side. Thieves who don't know about the dangers of opening the lid are likely to be discovered at this point. In the past, some wealthy families used to prevent theft by filling their treasure vaults with ammonia or a type of grass called "gui xiu" that emitted a strong, pungent smell. If thieves opened the entrance to the vault, these smells would rush out and spread quickly, alerting people to the presence of thieves. Therefore, experienced thieves would carry tools like a gray mosquito net to cover up the smell and eliminate it. This method may seem crude, but it is very effective. Unfortunately, with modern technology advancing so much, some treasure vaults and safes are equipped with infrared rays, ultraviolet rays, and X-rays, which are not only cumbersome but also easy to destroy. Simply cutting off the power source can render all these devices useless. However, because they look impressive, people chase after them, and thieves have lost their traditional skills, causing this old-fashioned anti-theft technique to be gradually forgotten.
This skill of preventing theft by using the characteristics of smells and materials was brought to perfection by Moku, one of the Five Great Thieves. Some of his methods were too extreme, and people even thought they were witchcraft, but that's a story for later.
The water demon child understood that from the time the giant pit array was activated until Qian Zhanggui and his men crawled out of the ground, it wasn't a long time. After they came out, they were busy fighting Zheng Dakuan again, and then they were busy searching around, not like they could return to the underground to make any moves, so he felt at ease doing what he was doing. Who would have thought that this basement where the giant pit array was activated was extremely large, with some pipes connected to the bottom of the pit, and dust could pour in from them.
