“I’ve watched too much TV. I just had a feeling the mechanism would be somewhere hidden like that.”

Jiu’er had no intention of explaining herself.

The answer sounded absurd, but if no better explanation could be found, it seemed to make some kind of sense.

That was how it always went on TV, after all — nothing wrong with what she’d said.

Both Xiao Chengyuan and Professor Xiao felt rather conflicted.

They had just finished telling the Ninth Master it was impossible to open, and then a little girl had gone and opened it.

Getting your face slapped — and not quietly, either.

“Ninth Master, there really was a mechanism here.” Seeing Ji Mingyu wheel Lu Beicheng over, Xiao Chengyuan immediately said with a smile.

Professor Xiao shot him a sidelong glance before stepping in front of Lu Beicheng. “Ninth Master, the underground chamber has been sealed for many years — there’s bound to be a great deal of harmful gas inside. Someone needs to go in first, find another ventilation shaft, and get the air circulating.”

“I can do it.” Meng Xiao volunteered at once.

He was a wilderness survival expert who had taken on many extreme challenges; his physical condition was excellent.

“I’ll go in with Meng Xiao,” Xiao Chengyuan said quickly.

Professor Xiao started to say something, but Xiao Chengyuan cut him off first. “The professor is, after all, no longer young. It’s best not to take such a risk.”

Professor Xiao glared at him, then pulled Xia Zi, who stood behind him, forward. “Have Xia Zi go in with you.”

Xia Zi pushed up her glasses, looking rather taken aback. “Professor, you want me to go? But I’m not particularly…”

Xia Zi always wore a pair of thick-framed glasses. She was actually quite pretty, but didn’t seem to care for dressing up.

She dressed plainly, wore her hair in a ponytail, and always carried a notebook to record everything the professor said and did.

Because she didn’t talk much and wasn’t one to join in the excitement, she had almost no presence in the group.

She seemed more like a diligent, studious type.

“You’ve been following me all this time — you know more than Chengyuan does. You should go in too. If he and the others need any help, you can assist them.”

As Professor Xiao said this, he glanced sideways at Xiao Chengyuan.

Xiao Chengyuan’s face turned dark.

An assistant, and yet she was being said to be more capable than he was!

Still, with the Ninth Master right there, he didn’t dare voice his anger.

Though the two of them were master and disciple, everyone could see plainly that they were not truly of one mind.

Xia Zi pushed up her glasses again, unable to refuse, and said quietly, “All right.”

Xiao Chengyuan, holding back a bellyful of resentment, greeted Lu Beicheng before going off at once to put on his gear.

Though their team wasn’t large in number, their equipment was thoroughly complete.

Gas masks, protective suits, small-scale excavation tools, and some essential medicine.

Xia Zi also began putting on her gear for going in.

As did Meng Xiao.

“Ninth Master, can I… can I go in too?” Su Nan was a photographer, and wanted more than anything to capture photos of the first moment inside.

Ji Mingyu shook his head. “You’re not an archaeology expert. You can’t go in for now.”

This team had been funded by the Ninth Master. If anyone died, the responsibility would fall on the Ninth Master’s company.

That, of course, would not do.

“Looks like Xiao Chengyuan is no longer content to stay under the professor’s shadow.”

Qin Fei tugged Jiu’er aside and muttered quietly, “Just as they say — teach the disciple and starve the master. Human greed truly knows no limit.”

“Who doesn’t want to climb higher?” Yan Qiu, standing beside Zhen Jiu’er, shot him a look.

They had no idea what was really going on between master and disciple, so there was no need to gossip about them behind their backs.

Perhaps the professor had simply been holding Xiao Chengyuan back all along, never giving him the chance to shine.

“Jiu’er, don’t you think—”

Before Yan Qiu could finish, Jiu’er had already turned and walked straight toward Lu Beicheng. “Ninth Master, I want to go in and look too.”