He snatched the rope thrown by Fatty, gripping it tightly. "Alright, Fatty, I've got it. Ma Xiong, hang on a little longer! Fatty, hurry up and climb over here, I've got the rope!"

Fatty was trembling so violently that the rope began to shake too. Lu Zong quickly tied the rope to a tree; otherwise, he truly feared he wouldn't be able to manage it. Fatty crawled over slowly, his upper and lower teeth chattering relentlessly. Lu Zong nearly burst out laughing.

But Fatty finally made it across. Even though it took him a bit longer, the outcome was the same—he wasn't pancaked onto the ground.

Ma Xiong secured one end of the rope to the iron gate's handrail and slid down. Fatty watched with wide eyes, then made a solemn declaration to the other two: "I swear on Chairman Mao, I’m definitely losing weight when we get home."

The three descended along the massive tree. The tree was peculiar; its trunk was almost uniform in thickness from top to bottom and incredibly smooth, showing no visible scars. Fatty remarked, "If we hadn't come in through the passage, I’d swear we’d stumbled into the earth’s core. It must look something like this down there."

Ma Xiong agreed, "Pretty much what I was thinking. Who knows what that demon queen was thinking. Was it purely to prevent theft? This place is truly an earthly paradise; dying here wouldn't be so bad."

Fatty immediately spat twice, cursing, "Stop saying such depressing things here, it's unlucky." The others fell silent.

They were still thirty meters above the ground, so they paused to rest and take in the scenery. Seeing Fatty covered in sweat, Lu Zong really wanted to mock him. But the view here was too magnificent to spoil the good mood with Fatty's crude talk, so he remained silent, only asking, "How do you think the vegetation here grows? So dense, and most of these trees must be over thirty meters tall—a real miracle on Earth."

Lu Zong sighed with emotion, "God didn't want humanity to destroy all those miracles, so He hid them a bit beneath the surface. And we found them. God is truly great."

Fatty grumbled, "I wonder if God hid any miracles like roasted sausages or steamed buns down here. Fatty’s stomach can’t take much more."

Ma Xiong retorted, "All you think about is eating."

Fatty shot back, "What can I do? Fatty was born destined to enjoy life; no one can stop it."

Alas, having just escaped danger, the two were back to bickering. Lu Zong reluctantly took on the role of the peacemaker again, saying, "Stop fighting, you’re both grown men now. Let's hurry on; there might actually be some food down below."

Hearing the possibility of food, the two immediately perked up and scrambled down the tree quickly. In no time, they had both reached the bottom smoothly.

Fatty looked around and exclaimed, "This place looks exactly like the Amazon rainforest to me. Heavens, so many trees! All trees. I wonder what species these are."

Lu Zong looked too but couldn't name the trees; he had certainly never seen them on the surface. He quickly dismissed the thought and refocused on the overall surroundings, searching for the main tomb chamber.

The temperature here was scorching, causing sweat to bead on all three of their foreheads. Fatty complained, "Why is it so hot here? There’s no sun."

Lu Zong explained, "This is subterranean heat. Trapped down here constantly, the air doesn't circulate, and the airflow can’t swirl back easily, which makes it so muggy. Theoretically, this rising heat will soon form an updraft, and it will cool down shortly."

Fatty didn't understand the theory and didn't dwell on it, just muttering, "It would be great if there were some water here."

Soon, the three reached the edge of the forest, and before them lay a vast expanse of blue water.

Fatty wailed dramatically, "Oh my god, what are we going to do? I was hoping to find some food in the forest, but I didn't expect to reach the end so quickly."

Lu Zong said, "Don't panic; maybe there are fish in this water." He walked over and peered down. It was utterly silent; not a ripple of movement, not even a glimpse of a fish tail. It seemed God had indeed forgotten to hide any miracles here. Now, they could only wait for a miracle to appear.

Ma Xiong asked, "Where do we go now? We're surrounded by forest on three sides, and there's an ocean in front. How do we find the tomb?"

Lu Zong surveyed the area. In the distance, the shimmering, fiery hot air was swirling and eddying, churning up a wave of heat that hung suspended in the air, tinted red, which surprisingly brought him a sense of spacious relaxation. This sea stretched boundlessly; what lay on the far shore?

He said, "Why don't we cross over and see what's on the other side? Maybe we can find the tomb there."

Ma Xiong looked out, unable to see the end, much less figure out how to cross. But there was no other way right now. Until he could think of something, he absolutely shouldn't object, or others would pressure him. Ma Xiong didn't reply, just stared blankly into the distance, letting his profound worry show on his face.

Suddenly, Fatty, standing near the water's edge, spoke up: "Ma Xiong, Lu Zong, there are no shadows in this lake water. No reflection at all. Come look!"

Lu Zong and Ma Xiong hurried over, thinking Fatty’s comment was utterly bizarre—how could there be no shadows?

Ma Xiong leaned his face over the water. Even with his eyes wide open, he couldn't see his own reflection at all, which immediately struck him as incredibly strange. He leaned closer, still seeing nothing. He said in confusion, "You're right, Lu Zong, there really is no shadow. What's going on?"

Lu Zong was also perplexed. Why no reflections in this water? Could it be... could they have turned into ghosts? Legends say ghosts have no shadows. Lu Zong didn't dare say it out loud, fearing it would ruin everyone's morale, but Fatty was too eager to pretend strength, saying, "Did we die? Is this the legendary River Styx, and we're in hell now?"

"Hell," Lu Zong murmured, his face a mask of confusion.

"Nonsense! Hell doesn't have scenery this beautiful," Ma Xiong retorted. Lu Zong stared at the bizarre lake water, feeling somewhat lost.

Just then, they saw a giant, elongated object stretching out from the distance—they couldn't tell what it was. It was moving extremely fast. The three quickly stepped back, watching to see what would happen.

When the long shape approached, they finally saw that it was actually a wave of water, stirred up by the hot air, drifting over from mid-air. But this floating ribbon was fascinating; it remained unbroken from end to end, arching like a stream of flowing water before stopping at the three men's feet.

Fatty shouted, "Isn't that the Bridge of Helplessness?"

"Bridge of Helplessness? Hell?" Lu Zong muttered. Could the three of them truly have arrived at the Bridge of Helplessness?