'Why was this tomb raider able to see the red-clothed female ghost, but not me?

'What's her relationship with this graveyard?

'Where has she gone to now?'

In the chamber of the tomb, Blake stared at the last line written on the tomb raider's notebook, and his hair stood on end.

He thought instinctively that he seemed to be near the truth, but he lacked crucial information to verify his suspicions.

Crack, crack...

All of a sudden, the compass in his palm tinkled, forming even more cracks.

There was no time.

He had no choice but to put aside the matter of the female phantom in red.

Blake turned his gaze toward the coffin again.

The expedition members, who had been wearing thin clothes, now had their bodies covered in a layer of frost from staying in this cold tomb for too long. Their movements were much slower and slack.

Moreover, they suffered many injuries from the intense competition between themselves, and had already expended all their energy.

The corpse worms had also swarmed to the entrance of the tunnel under the influence of the black gas drifting from the coffin.

Therefore, now was a good time to get close to the coffin. He could give it a try!

When Blake thought of this, he took action immediately. He activated his Yin-Yang Eye and ran to the coffin as fast as he could.

As the distance between him and the coffin grew closer, the compass continued to fracture rapidly and he could clearly hear the accelerating sound of cracks.

He advanced forward, ignoring the sounds of shatter.

Wisps of black qi fluttered up into the air from the coffin.

Since Blake did not have the protection of the red light any longer, the black gas was inescapable. Soon, he felt the hypnotic, black air rush into his body and penetrate his nerves. It slipped into his nostrils and surged straight toward his brain; it happened so fast that he did not feel a single discomfort at all, but he could feel his consciousness fading under the effect of this black qi.

Refusing to give up, he took out the remaining Awakening Pills from his backpack, raised his head, and forced them down his throat.

He felt the fog dissipate in his head instantaneously from the medicinal properties of the pill.

Blake managed to recover his consciousness, and without wasting precious time, he rushed to the coffin and looked inside.

He was flabbergasted. The coffin was empty, save for a box!

The image of the thousand-year-old corpse that had been creeping at the corner of his mind did not exist at all!

The black mist had been seeping through the gaps in the openings of the box, and filling the room.

What was in the box?

Why was it sealed in such a coffin?

Also, what was the black qi?

If they had managed to seal this place without the dangerous qi leaking out for hundreds of years, what could have caused it to escape this time?

Who was it that had deliberately released the black qi?

Questions start to fill Blake's mind.

However, now was not the time to be preoccupied with these thoughts.

He continued to search inside the coffin, but to his disappointment, the box was the only thing present.

'Could it be that this box is what I need?'

Blake wondered as he looked at the box, frowning

After a moment of silence and hesitation, he reached for the box.

Crack...

Just as his fingers touched the box, the compass in his hand cracked yet again.

Another warning of danger!

Blake quickly withdrew his hand, but it was too late. The compass let out its final crack, and shattered into pieces.

The last of the weak red light emanating from his body vanished, leaving Blake completely vulnerable to the black qi.

He felt the temperature around him plunge rapidly, and the oxygen quickly thinned further.

In just a few seconds, Blake felt a great burden on his physical body.

He needed to find a way to suppress the ghostly Qi as soon as possible!

Blake plugged his nose with one hand and shoved the other into the coffin, probing the contents, hoping that there would be something else in there that he might have missed.

At the same time, a huge mass of the black gas swarmed toward him from behind, forcing itself into his mouth, nose, and ears...

The other members of the expedition team had also found Blake as this was taking place, and they crawled toward him with fierce eyes. Still reluctant to give up, Blake raised his head and saw a dark green ring stuck at the bottom of the lid.

The ring no longer had any of its luster, and looked ordinary.

However, as he studied the position of the ring on the wooden coffin lid, Blake realized that if the lid were closed, this ring would be hanging directly above the black iron box.

Something about this ring must be extraordinary!

Blake made his judgment, and pulled the ring off the lid as he quickly withdrew away from the coffin.

As he pressed his back against the walls of the tomb and breathed heavily, he looked at the possessed members who were scurrying toward him.

He gritted his teeth and slipped the ring onto the finger of his right hand.

All of a sudden, an unfamiliar feeling surged in his heart.

Green light emerged from the ring and enveloped his entire body, forming a faint barrier on the surface of his skin.

This barrier looked extremely fragile, and it did not seem to help with the cold conditions and lack of oxygen in this place.

However, the appearance of the barrier seemed to have intimidated the approaching black Qi, forcing it to take a detour just as it had just been about to reach Blake, pulling away from him!

The members of the expedition team that had been scrambling toward him from a distance also stopped in their tracks. They stared at Blake with fearful expressions.

Blake looked at their faces and had the sudden impulse to wave his hand at them.

As he did so, streaks of green light shot out from the ring on his hand toward the members of the expedition team.

As the green light landed on them, their eyes that had been swirling with the black mist regained their color, and the black Qi slowly diffused out of their bodies.

They finally regained their consciousness and they looked at Blake, their eyes now human.

"Where... am I?"

They looked around in confusion and suddenly felt sharp pains in their abdominal area.

Slowly lowering their heads, they found corpse worms biting at their chest and abdomen.

"Ah!"

A series of fearful screams echoed through the tomb chamber as the members of the expedition team frantically flicked and slapped the bugs off their bare bodies.

Unbeknownst to them, the black gas that was hovering in the middle of the tomb had compressed itself to form a black whirlwind.

As it spiraled along the tomb, the entire chamber started to quake, and soil trickled down onto their heads.

The only exit of the tomb was through the tunnel; they had nowhere else to take shelter.

"The tomb is collapsing! Run! Run!"

John Jones, who had also regained his consciousness, was the first to notice the disaster happening in the tomb. He screamed wildly.