"Shit! Too many of them!" Mike's face contorted as he fumbled to reload his rifle, fingers slipping on the shells.

Our raft sagged visibly, air hissing from multiple punctures. A desperate idea struck me. I yanked out the bag of glutinous rice from my pack, mixed in a handful of cinnabar powder, and hurled the concoction into the churning water where the creatures swarmed thickest!


The mixture hit the water like holy water on demons. The centipedes scattered in all directions, thrashing and writhing as if burned by acid, giving us a precious moment to breathe.

"ROW!" I screamed at Mike, my throat raw.

Mike jolted into action, digging the paddle into the black water with desperate strokes. Our raft was nearly flat when we slammed into


the rocky outcrop of the far shore.

We clawed our way onto solid ground, scrambling away from the water's edge. Mike spat repeatedly, trying to purge the putrid stench from his mouth.


"Jesus Christ, did this guy have something against fishermen?" Mike growled, checking his gear. "Never seen such hellish water in my life. Nearly became dinner for those nightmare centipedes."

I helped Leo limp forward. His face was ashen, but his eyes burned with feverish intensity. "This goes beyond mere traps. The feng shui, the poisons, this artificial River of Forgetfulness and its guardians… he wasn't building a tomb—he was creating his own mythological realm! A pocket universe separate from our reality!"

Beyond a stretch of gravel, we entered a massive square chamber roughly the size of a basketball court. Enormous gray-green stone slabs formed the floor and walls, fitted together with impossible precision. Eight identical bronze doors—each spotted with ancient verdigris—stood at the cardinal and intercardinal points of the chamber. The symmetry was as perfect as it was unnerving.

Above each door, a single character was carved in ancient Qin seal script. I recognized some of them: "Rest, Life, Injury, Blockade, Scene, Death, Shock, Open."

"Well, well—the Eight Gates Formation!" Mike perked up, momentarily forgetting our near-death experience. "Now we're talking! Everyone knows you take the Life Gate for good fortune. Let's go find some treasure!"

He strode confidently toward the door marked "Life."

"STOP!"

Leo's voice cut through the air like a knife. He lunged forward, grabbing Mike's arm with such force that he grimaced from the pain in his own wounded leg.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Leo's bloodshot eyes blazed. "This is the Eight Gates Formation from ancient divination arts! Yes, normally the Life Gate brings fortune—but look at this chamber's perfect symmetry. It's a 'perfect octagonal' death trap. This must be the 'Reverse Life Eight Gates'! The Life Gate is actually the Death Gate, and vice versa. It's the tomb builder's first deadly wordplay for grave robbers!"

"What the hell are you babbling about?" Mike jerked back from Leo's grip but remained defiant. "Sounds like mystical bullshit to me. If the door says 'Life,' how could it possibly lead to death?"

"Try it and find out!" Leo's voice cracked with hysterical edge. "See if you die instantly or manage a few steps before the trap springs!"

To prove his point, Leo pulled a compass from his pack. The moment it emerged, the needle spun wildly, whirling like a drunken dancer.

"The magnetic field… it's completely distorted." Cold sweat beaded on Leo's forehead. "Something's interfering with it. The compass is useless. We're trapped."

A leaden silence fell over us. Eight doors—seven promising death, one offering life—and the correct choice might shift with the passing hours. This invisible threat was far more terrifying than any monster we'd faced.

Mike finally grasped the gravity of our situation. He paced nervously, muttering curses under his breath.

Suddenly, Leo dropped to his stomach, pressing his flashlight against the floor at a sharp angle. I knelt beside him and saw it—an incredibly complex pattern etched into the center of the chamber floor, with lines thinner than a human hair, nearly invisible unless caught by just the right light.

"The Five Elements Earth Vein Diagram…" Leo's voice quivered with excitement. "This is it! The key we need!"

Ignoring his wounded arm, Leo sat cross-legged on the stone floor, whipping out paper and pen from his pack. His hand flew across the page as he calculated frantically, muttering arcane terminology I couldn't follow.

"We entered around the Chou hour, between 1 and 3 AM… Chou corresponds to Earth, Earth energy is dominant…"

"In the Reversed Eight Gates, the Life Gate brings death… Scenery Gate represents Fire, Rest Gate represents Water…"

"No, that's wrong… In the five elements cycle, Earth conquers Water, so the Rest door is also deadly… Earth generates Metal, so perhaps the Metal door offers our only chance…"

Growing impatient with Leo's muttering, Mike stalked toward the door marked "Blockade" and raised his foot to kick it open.

RUMBLE—

Before his boot made contact, a bone-chilling sound of grinding stone erupted from behind the door, as if some ancient mechanism had awakened. Mike stumbled backward, his face drained of color.

"Holy shit! Something's moving in there!"

The sound triggered a chain reaction—mechanical clicks and the grinding of massive stone blocks began emanating from behind all eight doors, filling the chamber with an atmosphere of mounting dread.

"Figure it out, Professor!" Mike shouted, sweat pouring down his face. "Or we'll be crushed into paste!"

"The Shock Gate!" Leo's head snapped up, face ghostly pale, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. His eyes blazed with manic intensity. "During the Chou hour, Earth energy dominates. The Shock Gate corresponds to Metal. Earth generates Metal—it appears that Earth strengthens Metal, but actually Earth is being drained by the Metal Gate! It's the only 'draining' gate—our only escape! Southwest direction!"

He jabbed his finger toward the southwest door marked with the character for "Shock."

I locked eyes with Mike. We shared the same thought—the "Shock" Gate? That name hardly inspired confidence.

"Do you trust me?" Leo fixed me with an intense stare, his voice raw.

Behind us, the rumbling grew louder—massive stones ready to burst through the doors at any moment.

I clenched my jaw. "I trust you!"

No time for doubt. I nodded to Mike, and together we threw our shoulders against the cold bronze door, pushing with every ounce of strength we had left.

"One! Two! THREE! PUSH!"

With our desperate shout, the ancient door—silent for millennia—scraped open with a metallic shriek, revealing a narrow gap.