Chapter 80: Deciphering the Truth in Difficulties

The air in the secret room seemed to be frozen, heavy and oppressive. Dai Shiya and Wei Qing's breathing became more and more rapid, and every breath seemed to pull at their lungs, bringing a sharp pain.

"Cough cough..." Wei Qing covered her chest with her hands, her face pale due to lack of oxygen, and beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down her forehead.

"Hold on!" Dai Shiya endured the discomfort in her body and stared at the book in her hand, as if it was their last hope. Those strange symbols danced in front of her eyes, as if they were laughing at their powerlessness.

"These symbols..." Wei Qing pointed at one of the pages, her voice weak but unable to conceal her excitement, "It seems... it seems like an ancient Caesar code..."

The Caesar cipher is a simple letter-substitution encryption method, and the key to cracking it is to find the replacement key.

"Key..." Dai Shiya muttered to herself, her eyes quickly scanning the walls around the secret room, hoping to find some clues.

"Wait!" Wei Qing suddenly pointed at a mural on the wall. "Look, what the person in this painting is holding... doesn't it look very similar to these symbols?"

Dai Shiya followed Wei Qing's gaze and saw that the figure on the mural was indeed holding a stone slab engraved with symbols. Those symbols were extremely similar to those in the booklet, but the order was slightly different.

"Could it be..." A bold guess formed in Dai Shiya's mind. She matched the symbols on the booklet with the symbols on the mural one by one, and tried to arrange them in different orders.

"Click—"

Following Dai Shiya's attempt, there was a sound of a mechanism being activated in the secret room. Then, a sharp arrow shot out from the wall and headed straight towards Wei Qing!

"careful!"

Dai Shiya pushed Wei Qing away fiercely, and the arrow flew past her arm and embedded deeply into the wall. Blood instantly stained her sleeves red, and the severe pain made her groan.

"Shiya!" Wei Qing exclaimed, her eyes instantly red. She wanted to rush over, but Dai Shiya shouted at her: "Don't come over! Keep untying it!"

Dai Shiya knew that this was not the time to be sentimental. They had to find a way to escape as soon as possible, otherwise both of them would die here. She gritted her teeth, endured the severe pain in her arm, and observed her surroundings vigilantly, ready to meet the next attack at any time.

The mechanism seemed to be activated, and arrows, darts, and poison needles shot out from every corner. Dai Shiya relied on her agility and extraordinary reaction speed to resolve the crisis time and time again, but she also had more and more scars on her body.

"Shiya, leave me alone, get out of the way!" Wei Qing felt heartbroken as she watched Dai Shiya's body covered in wounds. She had never thought that she would become a burden to others, and she had never thought that someone would risk their lives to protect her.

"Shut up! I won't abandon you!" Dai Shiya's voice trembled a little because of the pain, but the determination in her eyes did not diminish at all. She knew that Wei Qing was her only hope. Only if Wei Qing cracked the code could they escape.

As time passed, the air in the secret room became thinner and thinner, and Dai Shiya's consciousness began to blur. She felt her body getting heavier and heavier, as if it was filled with lead, and every breath became extremely difficult.

Wei Qing was extremely anxious. She kept trying various decoding methods, but all ended in failure. The symbols on the booklet seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with her. No matter how hard she tried, she could not find the correct answer.

"Are... we really going to die here?" A feeling of despair began to spread. Wei Qing's hands were shaking and she could hardly hold the book in her hands.

Just when she was about to give up, she suddenly thought of something. Her eyes fell on the stone tablet in the hands of the figure in the mural, and a new decoding idea emerged in her mind.

"No! We have been overlooking a key point!" Wei Qing shouted excitedly, "The order of the symbols on the stone slab is not fixed, but arranged according to a specific rule!"

She carefully observed other details on the mural and found some tiny numbers hidden in the background of the mural. These numbers were not conspicuous and could be easily overlooked if not carefully observed.

"These numbers... could they be the key to controlling the order of the symbols on the stone tablet?" Wei Qing's breathing quickened. She rearranged the symbols on the booklet according to her newfound ideas and substituted the numbers into them for calculations.

As the calculations progressed, a shocking truth gradually surfaced...

"Found it!" Wei Qing's voice trembled, and her eyes sparkled with excitement. "I know! I know what these symbols mean!"

She pointed to a passage in the booklet and said to Dai Shiya, "Here... here is the location of a mysterious organization..."

Dai Shiya held on to her last breath and looked at the place where Wei Qing pointed. She saw the words written on it... "Winter is coming..."

Wei Qing took a deep breath, suppressed her inner excitement, and moved her fingers quickly on the booklet, interpreting the complex symbols according to the new rules. As the symbols were deciphered one by one, the information hidden behind them gradually became clear.

"Winter is coming... Is this a warning or a prophecy?" Dai Shiya endured the pain and looked at the information in the booklet with a frown.

Wei Qing did not answer. She was concentrating on deciphering the message. The dense symbols seemed to become jumping notes in her eyes, guiding her step by step towards the truth.

"Found it!" Wei Qing pointed at a piece of text, her tone filled with irrepressible excitement, "There is an address recorded here, it is very likely the base of that mysterious organization!"

Dai Shiya's heart was startled. Just as she was about to take a closer look, a pungent smell suddenly rushed into her nose. She looked up suddenly and found that the wall of the secret room had begun to ooze out a black mucus, emitting a disgusting smell.

"Be careful! This slime is corrosive!" Dai Shiya grabbed Wei Qing and quickly retreated. The black slime was like a thorn in the flesh, slowly but firmly approaching them. Wherever it went, the ground made a "sizzling" sound and wisps of white smoke came out.

The space in the secret room was limited, and the two were soon forced into a corner. Dai Shiya waved the dagger in her hand, trying to stop the spread of the slime, but found that it was useless.

"What should we do? We will be trapped here and die!" Wei Qing looked at the approaching mucus, her face full of fear.

"Calm down! There must be a way out!" Dai Shiya forced herself to calm down and quickly scanned the surroundings, looking for any possible escape route.

Just then, she noticed that there seemed to be a metal device half-hidden by black slime in the corner of the secret room.

"Hurry! Go over there!" Dai Shiya pointed at the device in the corner and rushed over with Wei Qing.

Risking being corroded by the slime, the two stumbled over to the device.

"What is this?" Wei Qing looked at the strangely shaped device in front of her, her face full of confusion.

Dai Shiya did not answer. She looked at the device carefully and found a groove on it, the shape of which was very similar to a symbol on the booklet.

Without thinking too much, she grabbed Wei Qing's hand, aligned the symbol on the booklet with the groove and pressed it down.

With a loud bang, the wall of the secret room slowly opened, revealing a dark passage...

"We have to leave here quickly!" Dai Shiya didn't hesitate at all, pulled Wei Qing into the passage, and disappeared into the darkness.