Chapter 40: The Tomb of Heart (1)
Maeve looked down at the empty river beneath her feet. Since there was no water left, the river had become a deep, hollow trench.
"If someone slipped and fell in there, they’d probably die right away," she murmured as she slowly crouched down, trying to ease the soreness in her feet. "The cartel boss would probably love a place like this."
"What’s a cartel boss?" Cerus suddenly asked. He crouched beside her as well, though his tall frame made it look far less comfortable than it did for Maeve.
"Oh? Nothing." Maeve waved a hand. "It’s just a name for a really bad person." Then she quickly changed the subject. "So... how are we supposed to cross this empty river? The bottom looks really far down."
If she calculated it right, the river was probably around ten meters deep, or maybe even more than that. The triplets might be tall, but their height was still nothing compared to this river.
"We can jump," Cerus said casually. After struggling to stay crouched any longer, he finally stood up. "It’s not even that deep."
Maeve looked at him in confusion because anyone with eyes could see that the river was ’that’ deep.
"Who do you want to go with?" Cerus asked again.
Even though she still wasn’t fully convinced that jumping into a giant pit was a good idea, she answered anyway. "Who’s the best at jumping?"
"Me!"
Before she could say anything else, Cerus scooped her up. This time, instead of carrying her on his back, he held her securely in his arms.
Maeve immediately wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaped off the edge. Meanwhile Axan and Ikarus followed right behind them.
A few seconds later, all four of them landed at the bottom of the dried riverbed with a heavy thud.
Dust instantly scattered into the air. Fortunately, Cerus had already expected that, so he gently pulled her face against his chest, shielding her from the cloud of dirt.
"See?" he asked proudly. "That wasn’t so bad, right?!"
Maeve looked stunned. Jumping from that height had felt like her stomach had been left behind somewhere above them.
Her face was still pale, and she kept her eyes shut for a few more seconds.
[What kind of police officer is afraid of heights, Host?] Pinky asked in an annoyingly cheerful voice.
Without missing a beat, Maeve fired back in her mind. ’I’m a police officer, not a fighter pilot! Nobody trained me to jump off tall places without any equipment!’
Pinky didn’t respond again, not because it had run out of things to say, but because it didn’t want to disturb the moment between Maeve and the triplets.
"You’re already down here," Axan’s voice suddenly reached her ears. "It’s safe to open your eyes now."
The moment he said that, Maeve finally opened her eyes slowly, and the first thing she saw was Cerus’s broad chest.
How could someone have chest muscles this big? Damn it, focus!
"I-I know," she muttered softly. "I’m just giving myself a moment to adjust."
After taking a deep breath, she looked around. "Now that we’re down here, do we have to climb back up?"
"No," Ikarus answered. Before she could worry about it further, he continued explaining. "Besides the entrance above, the Tomb of Heart also has an entrance underwater. We can enter through that one instead."
Since the river had completely dried up, reaching that entrance would be much easier now.
But there was still one problem: the door was made from the same material as the rocks covering the riverbed walls, making it nearly impossible to tell the difference between the entrance and the surrounding stone.
"Well, if the tomb is really located in the middle of this circular river, then all we have to do is find the exact center," Maeve said.
Looking down from above, the tomb would probably resemble an eye surrounded by a winding river. If the entire structure was truly as symmetrical as it seemed, then the entrance should be located right at the center of it all.
However, it would be hard to find the right axis from below. "It won’t be a problem to find the center," Axan suddenly said.
Maeve turned to look at him. "And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" she asked.
Axan glanced right and left. "I counted the steps."
Maeve stared at him for a few seconds. "You... counted the steps?"
"Yes."
"From where?"
"From the edge of the riverbed." His answer was so calm that it almost sounded ridiculous.
Cerus, however, nodded as if this was completely normal. "He does that a lot."
Maeve slowly turned toward Cerus. "A lot?"
"Mm-hm." Cerus smiled. "Axan likes counting things. Steps, distances, supplies, how many people are in a room, how many times Ikarus sighs in a day—"
"I do not count that," Axan interrupted.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Axan spoke up. "The distance between the left and right sides is fairly consistent. If the river really circles the tomb, then the center should be somewhere around there."
He took several steps forward. Meanwhile, Maeve watched him silently as he continued walking with the same steady pace. There was no sign of doubt on his face, as if he already knew exactly where he was going.
After a short while, he finally stopped. "Here."
Cerus immediately walked over to him. "You sure?"
"Yes." Axan gave a simple nod.
Ikarus glanced around before nodding slightly. "If anyone could find the center, it would be Axan."
Maeve still wasn’t completely convinced. To her, this spot looked exactly the same as every other part of the dried riverbed.
To be honest, she had been tempted to buy some measuring tools from the black market. But if Axan had already found the correct coordinates, then at least she could save her precious coins.
She just hoped that he had actually found it.
"So the door should be over there," Maeve said, pointing toward the distant wall far ahead of them. "All we have to do is walk in a straight line."
