The Lost Tomb Vol. 3

Chapter 32: Fatty's Enumeration Method

We were all surprised when Fatty suddenly said that he had figured it out, but then we prepared ourselves to hear him spout a bunch of nonsense. By this point, we were basically used to his unreliability, so instead of arguing with him every time, it was better to let him get it out of his system. Plus, sometimes his way of thinking was different from ours, so it wouldn't hurt to listen.

I actually wasn't feeling very panicked at this time because we hadn't run out of food or ammunition yet, but with those bodies lying close by, I couldn't help but think of all the bad things that could happen. In fact, when faced with this kind of intellectual challenge, people like me actually felt a little grateful because it was much easier to think than deal with zombies.

Pan Zi, thinking the same as me, didn't take Fatty's words seriously and casually asked, "What? It better not be your usual nonsense. We don't have time for that right now."

Fatty moved in closer and said to Pan Zi, "Shit, you're discriminating against me. I might have joked around a bit before, but what I've thought of this time is definitely important."

Pan Zi chuckled before saying, "You're telling me that you've thought of something with that tiny brain of yours?"

Fatty was surprisingly serious this time, and said in a stern voice, "Well, it's not necessarily the key, but it's definitely important. I was thinking of the mechanism in the undersea tomb just now. You know, at that time, we thought it was very complicated, but it actually turned out to be pretty simple. I'm just wondering if we're overthinking it this time, and letting ourselves be influenced by the memory of the mechanism in the undersea tomb. Because of that preconceived notion, whenever we encounter something similar, our first thought is that the room is moving. But maybe the problem here has nothing to do with this tomb chamber at all. Maybe this is just a normal tomb chamber."

Pan Zi grinned, "Nonsense. If it's truly normal, then why can't we leave...?"

I could tell that Fatty had more to say, so I motioned for Pan Zi to be quiet and then asked Fatty to continue.

"The matter is actually very simple," Fatty explained. "Just think, if there's nothing wrong with the passage or tomb chamber, but we still can't get out, then what's the problem? It must be us!"

Pan Zi and I were both stunned. "So you're saying that the endless loop is occurring because of us?" I asked him.

Fatty nodded, "Although we don't know what the problem is, it must be something close by. I wonder if we've been hypnotized by those murals, or if there's a hallucinogenic gas here that's affecting us. I know that there's a kind of mushroom that can cause disorientation after you eat it, which can cause you to keep walking in circles. But I don't know if that's what we're dealing with here."

Fatty had once told me that when he was a child, he saw a bear trap in the forest that used this poisonous mushroom as bait. Once the bear fell for the trap, it kept circling in place until it died of exhaustion.(1)

After hearing his theory, I suddenly fell deep into thought. Pan Zi also remained quiet as he frowned and began considering Fatty's words.

Were we really the problem? If so, then this made things so much more complicated. But after thinking about it a little bit, I couldn't help but feel that it wasn't quite right.

Fatty's theory was actually very enlightening. In fact, it might even be pretty close to the truth, but there was a fatal flaw to his logic—our own feelings. Would poisoned people be acting like we were? It wasn't like I had been poisoned before, but I knew that people who had been poisoned would definitely show strong signs of discomfort.

And as for his hypnosis theory, I had never believed in such a thing because it was too targeted. I could see Fatty being easily hypnotized, but it was impossible for me and Pan Zi.