I scraped at the interior wall of the Bronze Cauldron a couple of times, finding absolutely no handholds, and a wave of despair washed over me.

Never mind whether there was a snake in that mire; even without one, I would surely perish here, trapped like a cricket in a jar.

No one would ever come to rescue me in this place; even calling out would be a waste of breath.

It suddenly struck me that within the divine remnants of the ancient tomb, one didn't need mystical mechanisms or confusing mazes to trap someone; a simple jar would suffice.

After a bitter laugh, feeling deflated, I looked up at the opening of the cauldron, racking my frantic brain for a way out.

Just then, I distinctly felt something shift beneath my feet in the sludge.

I flinched, daring not to move a muscle.

I knew that a snake’s primary hunting method was to pinpoint its prey using heat signatures.

Snakes are cold-blooded and incredibly sensitive to thermal changes, able to analyze the heat in the air by flicking their tongues.

When a person remains still, their heat emission is at its lowest; any movement generates a massive surge of warmth.

My feet were currently submerged in the mire, likely quite cool; if I stayed perfectly still, the snake down there might not detect me so easily.

With that thought, I barely dared to breathe, fixing my wide eyes downward to monitor the changes in the muck below.

Indeed, once I froze in place, the thing in the mire settled down too.

I let out a slight sigh of relief, calculating my next move.

Staying trapped here was not a solution; I absolutely had to find a way to escape.

Scanning my surroundings, I realized the only way I could gain enough height to climb even a short distance was by stepping onto the stone automaton.

Even standing on the statue, combined with my own height, would only bring my raised hand to about three meters, still a significant distance from the cauldron opening five meters above. However, I surmised that when the cauldron was cast, there must be some recesses or protrusions left from the welding process where the handles (the lu'er) met the body. If I could just grasp one of those, climbing might be possible.

I didn't waste time considering whether the automaton could bear my weight, as I had run out of other options.

Deciding this, I swiftly took two steps forward, my feet pulling free and resettling in the mire as I reached the statue.

Then, I placed both hands on the automaton's head, pulled one foot free from the sludge, planted it on the statue's shoulder, and pushed off forcefully, bringing the other foot up.

A small burst of joy shot through me; the stone figure felt surprisingly sturdy, capable of supporting my ascent.

With one foot on the shoulder and the other on its head, I pulled the lighter from my pocket, flicked it on, and examined the furnace wall above.

Sure enough, where the cauldron handle joined the main body, I spotted a fist-sized depression.

The problem was that this opening was still twenty to thirty centimeters beyond my reach; I would have to jump to hook onto it.

I crouched slightly to test the statue’s stability and found it could certainly support a jump.

Without further hesitation, I coiled my body and sprang upward.

The jump was successful; I latched tightly onto the recess in the furnace wall, intending to swing my legs up onto the lip and pull myself over.

But the instant I raised my leg, something seized it with an iron grip.

The shock nearly shattered my spirit, causing a cold sweat to drench me instantly.

I thought wildly: Had the automaton come alive? Or had that snake managed to coil around my leg?

I quickly looked down. The stone figure, which had been staring straight ahead, seemed to have lifted its gaze, its strangely painted eyes now fixed on me.

And wrapped around my leg was something bone-white, as thick as my arm.

The white object was slick, dripping some sort of clear mucus, and it extended from the automaton’s neck—it was, impossibly, the creature's tongue.

Terror seized me; I nearly choked. What was this stone figure that possessed such an enormous tongue?

If it had extended this tongue to strangle me while I was still in the cauldron, I would surely have died of fright before the strangulation even took hold.

Now, it seemed, it begrudged my departure and was using its tongue to keep me here.

I struggled a few times, finding the stone entity possessed immense strength; I couldn't break free.

Furthermore, the hand gripping the recess began to lose strength, my knuckles turning white from strain and trembling violently.

As I teetered on the edge of falling back into the cauldron to receive the automaton’s "kiss," I yelled out: "I know you don't want me to leave, but you’ve been here alone for so long, you’re used to it. Dragging me back won't help. I’m incredibly boring; I can barely tell a few bad jokes. Please, just let me go."

Unexpectedly, my words actually had an effect.

As soon as I finished speaking, the white tongue suddenly slackened its grip.

With a surge of strength I didn't know I possessed, I used my hands and feet together to propel myself higher.

Then, planting my feet against the wall again, I desperately grabbed the very edge of the cauldron opening and scrambled over in one final effort.

Securing myself on the lip of the opening, I immediately turned to look back into the furnace pit.

The automaton remained, head tilted up, gazing at me. Its tongue stood straight up, defying gravity, twisting and fluttering like a silken streamer.

While I was observing this strange sight, a series of metallic clanking sounds began to resonate around me.

I realized the noise was traveling from several other cauldrons further away, heading in my direction.

Watching this peculiar phenomenon, I wondered if whatever was inside those cauldrons was about to emerge.

As I pondered this, I noticed that the sounds striking the bronze cauldron weren't coming from something inside trying to get out, but rather from small pebbles falling from the cavern roof, hitting the bronze cauldrons below.

Clearly, something was crawling on the ceiling, causing the commotion.

So, I dared not move rashly and peered up toward the vault.

It was then that I saw something moving on the roof.

And this thing was colossal, far exceeding my imagination.

It was a milky-white entity, serpentine in appearance, clinging inverted to the ceiling, its body writhing amidst the loose stones. Where it moved, the rocks groaned and shifted, sending down showers of debris like rain.

I called it snake-like because it possessed the long, flattened body typical of a serpent.

However, most snakes have a distinct head, noticeably larger than the body, and a tail that tapers gradually. This thing showed none of those features; it maintained the same thickness from end to end.

Moreover, its entire skin was somewhat wrinkled, lacking scales. Although its posterior end was translucent, I could see no underlying network of veins or sinews.

I had heard of subterranean blind snakes whose eyes had atrophied and whose scales were indistinct, but they still retained the basic structure of a snake.

This thing before me resembled a monstrous, gigantic grub more than a snake—a monstrous grub with no visible eyes or mouth.

I recalled the tongue-like appendage I had seen in the cauldron and wondered if this was the same species of creature.

The thought brought on a wave of nausea.

However, since this creature lacked eyes and a mouth, it presumably posed no direct threat to me.

After watching it scurry around the ceiling, seemingly searching for something, I lost interest.

I continued toward the mysterious, glowing white object at the center of the hall.

As I walked, I carefully sidestepped falling stones dislodged by the enormous worm above.

Not far along, I noticed that while many bronze cauldrons still surrounded me, in front of me lay objects quite different from the vessels.

These were broken pieces of rusty iron plates, splintered wood, and other assorted debris, lying in a chaotic heap.

I found this peculiar. Why would there be remnants of man-made objects in this place?

Approaching for a closer look, I confirmed it. Furthermore, these artifacts were not ancient relics but things left behind by modern humans, at least from the recent past.