Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1507: Chapter 234: Imprisoned in the Secret Chamber

The destination is an oasis in the desert where there is a water source.

The SUV slowly drove into a place enclosed by simple earthen walls, resembling a village… Although they were taken hostage by this group of thugs, they were not blindfolded.

Through the car window, Boss Luo still saw the situation of living in this simple village — mostly women and children.

There were two armed men guarding the entrance, as for their attire — most people here dressed the same, with loose clothing and white cloth wrapped around their heads.

Along the way, the man who called himself Aria barely interacted with others. After introducing himself, he easily fell asleep — reportedly, he hadn’t slept for two days and nights for this escape attempt, and was extremely exhausted.

That’s right, for this escape attempt — meaning, Aria had already fallen into the hands of these people, he managed to escape successfully, only to be captured again.

The SUV eventually stopped, and Aria was rudely kicked awake. He cursed quietly before being taken with Boss Luo and Claudia to a dungeon-like place.

Strangely, during this stretch of the journey, the thugs seemed to recall the importance of keeping secrets — it wasn’t until they arrived here that they blindfolded the three of them.

“Don’t even think about escaping again, next time it will be your corpse we are bringing back!” The thug left with this warning, locking the dungeon door… Through the sole small window of the dungeon’s iron gate, they threw in a water bag and a few dry cakes resembling naan, then left straight away.

Aria seemed very accustomed to such treatment, quickly picking up the water bag on the ground, drinking water while biting into the food — Claudia was busy biting off the rope tied around her hands.

Why was the rope tied in front and not binding the hands from behind?

Probably because the thugs knew well — unless it’s something like metal handcuffs, using only rope to tie people is practically the same as not binding them… There’s always a way to untie the rope.

“This group of guys, they’re so unprofessional.” Claudia evidently thought of this, and after easily biting off the knot on her wrists, she couldn’t help but show a surprised… even puzzled look, “What’s the point of tying us this way? Luo, let me help you untie… Huh, when did you untie it?”

The rope fell directly from Boss Luo’s hands, and he calmly said: “Their supplies might not be that great, so they used this kind of rope… Of course, maybe they also figured it didn’t matter if we were not tied up, since it’s difficult for any normal person to open this big iron gate anyway.”

Staring at the big iron gate, the only passage in the stone chamber, Claudia couldn’t help a wave of despair… It seemed she wanted a place to vent, so she angrily glared at Aria, “At a time like this, and you still have the appetite to eat?”

Aria simply turned away, ignoring her while holding onto the water bag and food tightly as if afraid they would be snatched away… Claudia couldn’t help rolling her eyes.

Actually, she knew this bag of water and food could very well be their entire supply for the next day or even two… The thugs evidently wouldn’t treat them well, and it would be best for them if the hostages were too weak from hunger.

But at this moment, how could she still have any appetite? Fear had long since made her heart chaotic, her face turned pale, and if it weren’t for the fact that there were others present, she might have already cried.

“What’s going to happen to us?” Claudia’s voice carried a trace of sobbing… She looked dazedly upward, at Luo Qiu.

Boss Luo was walking around the stone chamber, occasionally tapping on the stone walls. Upon hearing her, he turned around, intending to say something when Aria suddenly sneered.

Aria straightened his body and slowly began untying the rope on his hands, speaking with a heavy local British accent: “The best scenario is, you’ll soon be taken to breed offspring. These people are short-handed and especially fond of having children, because they like to train the children how to fight from an early age, so you’ll continue breeding until death.”

“Nonsense!” Claudia couldn’t help but clutch herself in horror, her voice trembling… She was the ‘iron maiden’ of the academy, never even had a boyfriend, and had no experience kissing any males other than her father; she could hardly imagine a fate of bearing children for a group of strangers as anything other than hell.

Unexpectedly, Aria laughed aloud at this moment, his gaze somewhat lascivious… laughing lewdly: “Do you think having kids until death is the end? It’s far from enough! I’m telling you, women are scarce in this place! Especially white women like you, they love them the most! So, after you die, your body will be preserved using a special method to become a mummy prostitute, if well-maintained, it can last for several years! Tsk tsk tsk!”

“No way!!!” Claudia screamed and stood up immediately, her body trembling with fear.

“The method of making such mummies should have been lost.” Boss Luo suddenly asked: “Did people here discover this method, or did they recreate it themselves?”

Aria had initially intended to tease this young girl to pass the time, but didn’t expect someone to ask such a tricky question, leaving him stunned, “How would I know about that? If you have the guts, go and ask them yourself?”

“Mr. Aria, have you seen a mummy prostitute?” Boss Luo blinked, “I’ve never seen one in person before, so I’m quite curious… Could you describe it?”

“Oh… dear God!” Aria showed a pained expression, smacking his head despairingly, “I’ve really had bad luck for eight generations, why do I keep running into people like you who are interested in bizarre things?”

“People like you?” Luo Qiu smiled slightly.

Aria reflexively said, “I was originally a local guide, taking people into the desert… Not long ago, I brought someone in and later got caught by these bastards here — sigh, I sense that same stench of curiosity on you! You all seem to be people with reckless curiosity.”

Hearing that Aria was a local and often guided people in and out of the desert, Claudia instinctively gave Boss Luo a glance… Her eyes suddenly lit up a bit.

Luo Qiu knew what she was thinking and looked at Aria, asking: “Mr. Aria, since you’re a local guide, have you ever taken any archaeological teams before?”

Aria lay back, supporting his head with his hand and crossing his legs, replying with a yawn: “There are so many people wanting me as a guide, how could I remember them all? Why are you asking?”

“We’re here because…” Boss Luo started to speak… as a person who always speaks the truth, he was really about to state the purpose of their journey: finding someone.

Unexpectedly, Claudia hurriedly interrupted, “We are also here for archaeology! We are about to graduate from university and want to do a research project on pyramids, so we came here!”

Boss Luo opened his mouth… but saw Claudia quickly stepping forward, pulling him back a few steps, and whispered, “My young master… be more perceptive, okay? We don’t even know the details about this man! Be cautious! Be cautious!”

Boss Luo didn’t say much… but isn’t it good to be a bit more honest?

Meanwhile.

“Not interested, not interested.” Aria shook his head vigorously… waving his hand, he immediately turned to lie in another direction.

Claudia thought for a moment, walked forward two steps, and lowered her voice, “Mr. Aria, could I ask you about something?”

Aria remained unmoved.

Claudia, however, wasn’t discouraged and quickly said, “If you can give me useful information, I can offer you a reward.”

Aria suddenly turned around, and Claudia’s lips curled slightly into a smug smile… looking towards Boss Luo.

Boss Luo found this amusing and let it go… he examined the walls of this stone room, in the dark corners, there seemed to be some carvings… it was a mural, and it looked ancient — seemingly depicting a certain period of Ancient Egypt.

“What reward can you give me?”

Nearby, Aria and Claudia continued their conversation, Claudia said with enthusiasm, “What do you want? I can give you US dollars, or even British pounds!”

Aria stared unblinkingly at Claudia, appearing unmoved.

Claudia couldn’t help but frown, “Don’t like it? I can exchange it for the local currency here… how about one thousand, well, two thousand US dollars in your local money!”

“Little girl, I do like US dollars.” Aria sighed and then looked at Claudia as if she needed care, “Here’s a kind suggestion… in this place, even if you promised me a gold mine, it wouldn’t be as good as directly giving me a glass of water. But now, forget a glass of water, you don’t even have a drop of water… because the water is currently in my hands, haha! When you’re thirsty and can’t endure it, you’ll have to beg me, you know? White-skinned little girl?”

“You…” Claudia’s face turned pale — caught off guard.

She instantly deflated like a balloon, stopped talking, seemed deeply affected, and silently found a corner to curl up in.

At this moment, fear continued to surge… it suddenly exploded like a flood.

She hugged her knees, buried her head, her body trembling gently… but no sound of crying — Aria glanced casually, then paid no further attention.

Instead, he was more interested in the other young man trapped here… Luo Qiu was holding a kerosene lamp, examining the mural on the wall by candlelight.

Hmm… a kerosene lamp?

Aria was suddenly startled, then hurriedly stood up, but he was too hasty that his left foot hit his right foot, and he fell to the ground again… directly hitting his teeth, filling his mouth with blood.

He couldn’t help but scream in pain.

Claudia heard the commotion and instinctively raised her head slightly… her eyelids were sticking together, eyes reddened — this stubborn academic even when crying didn’t intend to disturb others.

She quickly wiped her eyes, found her voice hoarse, deliberately lowered it, and asked in a deep voice, “What happened?”

Despite the pain, Aria pointed incredulously at Luo Qiu… at the lantern in his hand, “Light! Light! Where did he get a lamp? How can there be such a thing in this ghostly place?!”

Claudia looked at Aria curiously, then glanced at him with affection, indifferently said, “It’s pitch black here, isn’t lighting a lamp a common thing? If you want not to see anything, just close your eyes.”

Aria opened his mouth… it wasn’t just about lighting in the darkness — he’d been stuck here for so long and couldn’t find anything at all, how was there a lamp… such a refined kerosene lamp!

How could this little girl speak so matter-of-factly!

“This place… is the interior of a pyramid.” Luo Qiu set down the lamp and turned to look at Claudia and Aria.

“A pyramid?” Claudia was startled, instinctively walked over to Boss Luo, also glanced at the wall’s mural, “What did you discover… how could we be inside a pyramid? Weren’t we hijacked by that group of bandits to their camp? It should have been a bare place?”

Boss Luo shook his head calmly, “This pyramid doesn’t extend upward, but downward.”

“What do you mean?” Claudia furrowed her brow tightly… but her academic nature suddenly kicked in, and she was shocked, “You’re saying the pyramid was built underground? An inverted triangle?”

“It seems likely.” Boss Luo nodded.

“My goodness!” Claudia exclaimed, “This is truly a significant discovery… if you’re right, then this pyramid might be one of the most important discoveries in human history! A pyramid built upside down into the earth!”

Ignoring Claudia’s excitement, Aria even forgot the question of why Boss Luo had a lamp, instead asked in a deep voice, “Kid… can you understand the paintings on these walls?”

“I can understand some of them.” Boss Luo nodded.

Aria then fell silent, as if pondering something, not speaking… the stone room suddenly became strangely quiet — until the iron door swung open!

Three masked bandits with guns entered, leading a middle-aged man with a weary, weathered face… but unlike them, the food given to this man was noticeably more luxurious.

Claudia noticed this man was holding a carton of milk!

The bandits soon closed the iron door… the middle-aged man glanced around the stone room, catching sight of Aria sitting on the ground holding his mouth, he instinctively frowned.

“Aria, you failed.”

Aria sighed helplessly, “Yes, my old friend… I’m back to keep you company. But I guess you no longer have the chance to help me escape this hellhole — they’re surely aware it was you who helped me escape. So the plan for reinforcements has completely collapsed!”

The weathered man shook his head, having already noticed the addition of two people in the room, he looked at them in confusion, “Them?”

“These two kids met me on my way out and were lucky enough to come back here with me.” Aria shrugged, then suddenly said, “By the way, this kid seems like you, he can understand the paintings on the walls too… Otto.”

Otto… was obviously the name of this weathered man.