They backed away, using the walls to cushion the force of their forward momentum, while swiftly scanning the perimeter for any sign of a door. Yet, despite their eyes widening to their absolute limit, they couldn't find the slightest trace, leaving both men immensely frustrated.

Suddenly, they felt the floor beneath their feet vibrating. They looked down in alarm, but could discern nothing unusual. Then, a heavy, grinding sound of stone scraping against stone reached their ears. They snapped their heads up, and saw that on the third slab, a door roughly nine square meters in size was slowly ascending, revealing an opening three meters high and three meters wide in the center.

Ma Xiong yelled for Lu Zong, and the two of them dashed forward. The door slammed shut the instant their rear feet cleared the threshold, terrifying them both into a state of shock and heavy breathing. After catching their breath for a moment, they began searching the room.

But here, too, they made no headway. They resigned themselves to repeatedly passing through this Gate of Life and Death to search the adjoining stone chambers, hoping to find Ganda there.

Finally, heaven rewarded their efforts. After searching through about two stone chambers, they spotted distinct signs of a struggle in the third one. They were certain this wasn't the room they had just occupied, as a coffin lay quietly beside the area of conflict.

Lu Zong excitedly stepped forward, rapped on the coffin, and called out, "Is anyone in there?"

A harsh, intense coughing erupted from within, followed by a bellowing voice: "Damn it, who is it? I was just sleeping!"

Ma Xiong and Lu Zong shared a knowing smile, then heaved the entire coffin over. Ganda, mixed with putrid flesh, tumbled out. Ganda was in a wretched state, coughing incessantly; clearly, this ordeal had severely afflicted him. Seeing Ma Xiong, he didn't even pause to think, launching himself forward with a punch.

Ma Xiong hadn't anticipated such a move from Ganda and was caught largely unprepared. He only registered the incoming fist when it was nearly upon him, quickly shifting his body slightly to evade, but he was still struck painfully on his earlobe, causing a sharp, burning sensation.

Ma Xiong certainly wasn't about to suffer that quietly. He stepped in with a 'Smooth Takeover' maneuver, sending Ganda sprawling onto the stone floor. Lu Zong rushed forward, helped the badly fallen Ganda to his feet, and soothed him, "Calm down, calm down, there must be some misunderstanding."

Ganda cursed Ma Xiong furiously, sputtering, "Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could there be? He was the one who betrayed me just now, throwing me into this coffin!"

Ma Xiong gave Lu Zong a look that was half-smile, half-grimace—the message was clear: Well, looks like he’s met the old me. Damn, I wasn't that much of a bastard back then, was I?

Lu Zong smiled and tried to explain, "There's been a misunderstanding; don't be angry. The one who hit you earlier wasn't Ma Xiong; it was someone else. It’s a long story, we can talk about it later."

Ganda simply couldn't grasp the intricacies of the situation and continued to curse Ma Xiong relentlessly. Lu Zong understood the feeling of being tossed into a coffin, so he allowed Ganda to vent, knowing he would eventually calm down once his anger subsided.

After quite some time, Ganda finally settled down. Lu Zong’s primary concern now was the condition of Han Chong and Lu Sha. He asked, "Ganda, you were with those two girls the whole time. Do you know where they are right now? What happened after we left?"

Hearing this, Ganda immediately stopped his choked sobbing. He looked directly into Lu Zong’s eyes, his face etched with guilt, and said, "I'm sorry, Master, it's all my fault for not taking better care of the young ladies, which led to them encountering danger. Please punish me."

Lu Zong reassured him, "It’s not your fault at all; it's ours for not listening to you. Tell me what you encountered after we departed."

Ganda lowered his head, concentrating, trying to organize his thoughts. The two men respected his need for silence and didn't interrupt.

Finally, Ganda began to speak: "Not long after you left, I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me, followed by my body going weak. I collapsed, and as I fell, I saw both young ladies collapsing too. Then, I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was here, feeling nothing and seeing nothing. Wait... didn't I already tell you all this?"

Lu Zong turned and smiled at Ma Xiong: "It seems his experience mirrors ours. There’s definitely something significant going on here."

Lu Zong continued his inquiry, "So, you don't know the whereabouts of the young ladies?"

Ganda shook his head with evident shame, signaling his apology.

Ma Xiong let out a wry smile; it seemed their efforts had been for naught.

Lu Zong stood up and declared, "We need to get out of here first and find Fatty quickly. We need to exit this laboratory. Damn it, I don't even know if this place belongs to a lab or a tomb—it’s just too perilous."

They soon rendezvoused with Fatty and successfully navigated out of the rotating stone chamber. Lu Zong had a strong intuition that Han Chong and Lu Sha wouldn't be held in this specific location. He wasn't sure why he felt that way, but sometimes intuition was more scientifically reliable than pure deduction.

However, he felt that entering the tomb didn't necessarily mean leaving the laboratory. He kept getting the sense that the laboratory and this ancient thousand-year-old tomb were intrinsically linked; there must be some hidden connection between them. One was ancient, thousands of years old, while the other was at most fifty years old. What relationship could possibly exist between two entities separated by such vast expanses of time? Lu Zong pondered this question constantly.

The party continued moving forward. This particular section of the corridor wasn't overly dangerous. Besides a few arrows and crossbow bolts occasionally firing from the walls, there were no other life-threatening traps, which greatly lifted the spirits of the group. If the journey remained this easy, they might pass through swiftly enough to see the sun tomorrow.

But things never went smoothly. Just as the group was chatting animatedly, reminiscing about how they would spend their fortunes once outside, they heard a sharp, tragic cry echoing from the depths of the corridor. Simultaneously, they heard the sound of stone grinding from behind them. They hastily looked back, only to find that the exit to the corridor had been sealed by a massive stone that had dropped from above.

They hesitated for a moment, staring blankly at the corridor, bewildered as to what had happened. Lu Zong urgently questioned, "Fatty, when you came out just now, why didn't the corridor close? Why did it only seal after we entered?"

Fatty stammered, "Because when I went out just now, I didn't leave through here; I dug my own escape tunnel."

Lu Zong immediately caught a major inconsistency in Fatty's explanation and pressed him, "You dug your own escape tunnel? Didn't you see this corridor here? Why go through the trouble and expense of digging one when this passage was available?"

Fatty looked slightly fearful, but he tried to maintain a façade of composure, speaking as calmly as possible: "Because when I was checking inside, I didn't find this corridor. This corridor simply wasn't here before. When I first entered, I was so excited that I forgot about it. I am truly sorry."

Ma Xiong roared in anger, "What? You forgot? Do you realize that what you forgot wasn't just a corridor? You just doomed all our lives!"