The dense sound of footsteps also echoed from the depths of the passage, the sound instantly recognizable as that of the undead army’s monsters. It was clear that an untold number of these creatures had already surrounded them within the tomb. A moment’s hesitation, and they would likely be swallowed by the monster "sea." Of course, if the remaining four minutes elapsed, the Death God army monsters wouldn't even need to act; the collapsing tomb alone would be enough to bury them all.

“Damn it, if we’re going to die, we’re going to die trying! Everyone, let’s take a gamble together.”

Zheng Zha roared, instantly pulling a high-explosive bomb from his Nà Ring, then yanked the pin.

“A gamble? A gamble on what?” Jonathan stared at the giant scorpions continuously drilling through the massive breach and asked dumbly.

“A gamble on whether this tomb is sturdy enough!” Zheng Zha pulled the pin on the high-explosive bomb and hurled it forcefully into the gaping hole. He immediately turned and lunged toward the others, tackling everyone down onto him. Behind him, an incredibly violent wave of explosion resonated, and countless small stones peppered his back. Simultaneously, the entire tomb shuddered violently, and for a moment, everyone held their breath.

It was as if breathing too heavily might cause the tomb to collapse.

Fortunately, such violent trembling did not last long.

Only occasional chunks of stone fell from the ceiling. When the shaking finally ceased, everyone saw Zheng Zha presenting another high-explosive bomb in his hand.

“No, no, you can’t do that! We don’t wish to destroy this place, rest assured. We will definitely retrieve that bracelet within ten minutes.”

Jonathan reacted the fastest—or perhaps, his intuition regarding danger was the sharpest. He quickly threw his arms around Zheng Zha’s hand and shouted.

Zheng Zha replied with a mixture of annoyance and amusement, “Relax, there’s another passage out from inside. Right now, we only need to stop the pursuers behind us. I have no desire to encounter those ghastly things again before obtaining the Scorpion King’s bracelet.”

“Besides, we’ve already gambled once; I don’t believe the tomb will collapse if we do it again. Relax.”

Jonathan had no choice but to follow the others and flee into the gap that had just been blasted open.

In reality, this gap had transformed into a massive black chasm, filled with the burning husks of scorpion shells. The few giant scorpions from before were utterly annihilated. Moreover, the chamber itself was utterly wrecked, but the group had no time to dwell on it. After slipping through the opening, they pressed themselves tightly against the walls. When they saw Zheng Zha charge into the room after them, everyone immediately squeezed their eyes shut.

A deafening explosion roared, and the entire tomb began to shake violently once more. After a short while, the movement subsided until the tomb finally settled into complete silence. Only then did everyone open their eyes to look around. All of them let out deep sighs of relief. Eve curiously peered out of the hole and saw that the passage they had used to arrive was completely collapsed. In other words, they were now trapped inside the tomb.

Jonathan suddenly spun around to face Zheng Zha. “Please, tell me you were telling the truth about the locks. I still have so many gold bars untouched in the bank; I have to at least find dozens of girls and have a proper fling on the beach!”

Zheng Zha chuckled, “You want water? I’ll grant your wish; you’ll get water soon enough.”

Jonathan shivered and inexplicably asked O’Connell next to him, “What does he mean? Why did I mention wanting the sea, and he tells me there will be water?” O’Connell shrugged, “Who knows? But there should be water on a beach, right?”

Zheng Zha ignored them, walking over to a section of the wall, intently observing something. Eve immediately pointed at the wall and said, “Right, there should be a handle or something there. Pushing it down makes this wall rise. But that handle seems to have been blown off by the explosion, didn’t it?”

Zheng Zha was anxious. He could no longer concern himself with shocking behavior. He raised his axe and brought it down heavily onto the massive stone wall. To his surprise, it rang with a metallic clang. This giant wall was made of the hardest granite, and even the Electric Light Axe only managed to carve a shallow groove on its surface. Meanwhile, Eve looked at her watch and exclaimed loudly, “Less than a minute left, Zheng Zha! Time is running out!”

Zheng Zha roared back, “I know time is running out! Everyone, clear out a bit!”

While speaking, he channeled both his internal energy and his Bloodline power into the Zaku Electric Light Axe. Since they were fighting for their lives now, he didn't care if the axe could handle such massive amounts of Bloodline energy and internal power. As he poured in the energy, he continuously hacked furiously at the wall.

Infusing the energy into the weapon indeed amplified its power significantly. With every swing, a large chunk of granite was violently chipped away. Furthermore, the golden light generated by the fusion of Bloodline energy and internal power rapidly corroded the granite wherever it touched. After ten such forceful swings, a huge hole was carved clean through the thick, massive granite slab. Only then did Zheng Zha stop, panting heavily. When he looked back, he saw everyone staring at him with strange expressions.

“What are you waiting for, damn it? Do you expect me to carry you all out? Hurry up! How much time is left now?”

Eve snapped out of her daze, quickly checking her watch, then said with a pale face, “L-less than a few dozen seconds, I think. It’s too short; I can’t read it clearly.”

Zheng Zha didn't hesitate and sprinted toward the passage. After a short run, a sealed door indeed appeared ahead, featuring the ancient Egyptian combination lock on its handle. As soon as Eve entered this new passage, she froze. She stared blankly at her surroundings, her face contorted in horror as if she were seeing a ghost.

Zheng Zha immediately shouted, “Eve, tell me quickly how to turn it—no, you turn it yourself! Hurry, we don't have much time!”

Eve seemed not to hear him, remaining frozen, even beginning to wave the torch she held. O’Connell, standing beside her, shook her urgently, “What’s wrong? What happened? Eve, are you okay?”

Zheng Zha’s anxiety intensified. With only a few dozen seconds left, he couldn't afford to wait for Eve to recover before slowly opening the granite combination lock door. Without a second thought, he retrieved the Spear of Judgment.

(Aiming slightly lower to the ground, it will only breach the door, not harm whatever is behind it!)

Zheng Zha gritted his teeth, channeling Bloodline energy and internal power into the Spear of Judgment. As the seconds ticked by, his tension mounted. When the Spear of Judgment began to glow with golden light, his eyes glazed over; he had instantly entered the state of unlocking his Gene Lock. He then hurled the Spear of Judgment fiercely toward a corner of the door.

A golden bolt of lightning shot straight toward the granite door, slicing into it as easily as a knife through rotten wood. Before anyone could react, a flash of golden light appeared—no explosion, no tremor—the door was cleanly pierced with a large hole. The Spear of Judgment then rested calmly on the floor, as if it had always been there.

Zheng Zha ignored everything else, charging full-force into the opening. He snatched a small box from a table, gently flipped it open, and there, sure enough, he saw a golden bracelet. Without hesitation, he immediately grasped the bracelet. The moment his hand touched the artifact, the solemn voice of the “Main God” echoed:

“Side mission completed in advance. Acquired plot item: The Death God Bracelet. Upon killing the Pharaoh Imhotep, the user can summon the Death God Army, at fifty times the number of Mummies the user can summon as bodyguards. If the Pharaoh Imhotep is not killed within 10 days, the holder of this item will be erased, receiving four thousand reward points and two C-rank side mission counts.”

Zheng Zha stroked the cool golden bracelet, then looked at the others entering through the hole with a strained smile. “The mission is complete. We are temporarily safe, for now. Hah.”

“Temporarily safe?” Jonathan rushed into the hole, gasping heavily. He had been the fastest runner before, but upon hearing the word ‘safe,’ he appeared much weaker than anyone else. He managed to utter only that single sentence before his entire body seemed ready to collapse.

Zheng Zha smiled wryly, placing the Death God Bracelet into his Nà Ring. He tossed the box to Eve. “See what’s written on it.”

Eve curiously took the box and murmured the ancient Egyptian inscription aloud: “He who moves the Death God Bracelet shall be buried in the river’s flow.” She looked up. “What do you mean?”

Zheng Zha nodded to the others with a bitter smile. “Exactly. This place is a trap. As soon as the Death God Bracelet was lifted, the sluice gate on the other side opened. Outside that gate is a hundred-foot drop into the Nile River.”

Everyone froze. Jonathan barely managed to roar, “Zheng Zha, I’ll curse you—”

“Don’t curse me, curse the ‘Main God’,” Zheng Zha replied with a wry smile, looking toward the surging river waves pouring in from the other end of the room as he prepared to jump.