[ WP ] Your team uncovers a long lost city no modern human has ever set foot in , yet you find a digital camera with a note .

Lost cities were a dime a dozen a few years back. It seemed like nearly every week a new one was discovered, thanks to advances in satellite imaging and automated analysis. Of course, we were bound to run out of them sooner or later. All the easy ones have been explored by now and the influx of new cities has markedly slowed down. 
 
 Still, every so often word comes of a potential new discovery. Most end up being nothing, but there is still fame and money to be made off of it, if you are successful. Of course, there is also the nice benefit of filling in the many blanks of our story as a species, but that is more for the archeologists and anthropologists. We Hunters just find the places and photograph the hell out of them. 
 
 A close friend of mine found glimpses of something, deep in the rainforests of China. It could be nothing, he said, but the ground near a mountain had signs of non-natural shaping, barely visible through the cover of the trees. 
 
 `` Well, this seems like a waste of time,'' called out Vincent. `` I think your friend needs his eyes checked. Sure, the ground looks a little odd, but nothing that natural processes could n't have done.'' 
 
 I looked back towards him and nodded. He was right, of course, but Kit had never let me down before. He was *always* right, which is why I put so much trust into his findings. Perhaps the land was nothing special, but *somewhere* around here we'd find something. I was sure of it. 
 
 Before I could remind him of that fact, our radios crackled to life. `` Hey… Umm, I think I found something over here.'' 
 
 `` We're on our way, Piper,'' I said, motioning for Vincent to follow along. By the time me and Vincent had climbed up the hill to the base of the mountain, the last member of my team was there. Max and Piper were already huddled in front of an opening into the mountainside that had been hidden underneath a small overhang. `` What've you got there, Piper?'' 
 
 Max turned to look and me and stepped out from under the overhang. Piper ignored me, continuing to face towards the stone wall. “ Sorry about Piper, Jaz. You know how she gets when she ’ s trying to solve a problem. ” He gave an apologetic shrug. I could now see that Piper was messing with something on the wall. “ We found some kind of mechanism just inside that nook. ” He punctuated his words by pointing back at the opening in the mountain. “ We think it might open something here, but it ’ s far more complicated than anything we ’ ve seen before. ” 
 
 Walking up, all I could see is a series of finger sized stone buttons, maybe 30 in total. It certainly was different, that ’ s for sure. Most civilizations used good old-fashioned levers or handles to open things, not small buttons. Piper was carefully pressing in different buttons, though nothing appeared to be happening. I looked back at Vincent with a smirk on my face. Before either of us could say anything, though she suddenly jumped up and yelled out, “ Hey Max! I think I solved it! Come here and help… oh! Hi Jasmine! I didn ’ t notice you there. ” She let out a small embarrassed laugh before continuing. “ I think I know how these buttons work. They basically act like a key in a lock. Push them in with the right amount of pressure and in the right order and it should do whatever it is supposed to do. ” 
 
 “ Like open a door? ” 
 
 “ Probably, though we won ’ t know until we put in the right combination. ” With that, Piper and Max began pressing the buttons in, with Piper carefully making sure Max did everything right. It took a few tries and all of their fingers, but eventually we heard a loud click before the back of the stone opening slid down into the ground, revealing a long, dark tunnel leading into the mountain. 
 
 “ Well now, that isn ’ t ominous at all, ” mused Vincent. With a sigh, he began pulling out his various lights. Everyone else began to do the same. We all had high powered flashlights along with wearable lights we could strap to our heads. Not the most comfortable, but it ’ d allow the light to follow our eyes and keep our hands free… at least for stuff nearby. Anything farther and we ’ d use the flashlights. 
 
 Vincent went in first, leading the way with a flashlight. Following him in, I could see that the door kept hidden a tunnel leading downwards. Despite his light, we couldn ’ t see very far due to tunnel spiraling down into the ground. Behind me Max was setting up an emergency beacon and communications platform. If we got stuck down here, it wouldn ’ t be for more than a few days before rescue would be alerted and get here. He took a very strong communications cable and carried it in with him and Piper, before setting up the other half of the device. Even if the stone door closed in on us, the cable should survive and allow us unfettered communications with the outside world. 
 
 I ’ m glad I ’ d made that task standard protocol. Not 30 seconds after he had connected the cable did the stone door slide back into place, sealing us in. “ Not ominous at all, ” muttered Vincent. “ Hey Max, is the cable still intact? ” 
 
 He poked around with the computer before giving a thumbs up. “ Everything is working fine. Hey Jaz, want me to let our friends know what happened? ” 
 
 “ I don ’ t see any buttons on this side, Jasmine, ” said Piper, sounding a bit nervous. 
 
 “ Well, that ’ s not too good, ” I said. “ Yeah Max, better get someone on the way now. We ’ ll explore a bit until they get here. No point in sitting around waiting, after all. ” I paused for a moment, thinking. “ Oh yeah, give them the combination Piper. I ’ m sure they can breach the door, but it ’ d likely be faster and safer to just use the buttons. ” 
 
 While they were catching up our friends on the outside, Vincent motioned me over away from the two. In a quiet voice he said, “ Do you think this is some kind of trap? Who designs a door to only open from one side? ” 
 
 I kept my voice low as well. “ I don ’ t think so. That button lock was far more complicated than anything we ’ ve ever encountered. Traps usually aren ’ t so complex. I ’ m betting there is another exit elsewhere. With as narrow as this tunnel is, perhaps they didn ’ t want people crowding each other going both ways? ” 
 
 “ Hmm… perhaps. I don ’ t like it, though. Something feels… off. About this whole situation, that is. Let ’ s just be careful, alright? ” 
 
 “ Sure thing, ” I said, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze before heading back to Max and Piper. “ Hey, you guys done yet? ” 
 
 “ Yep! ” chimed in Piper, before Max could even open his mouth. “ Rescue is on the way. They said they ’ ll be here in about 12 hours. ” 
 
 “ Alright then, that means we have 12 hours to ourselves to explore this place. Let ’ s not waste them. ” With that, we began to follow the tunnel down. Vincent taking the lead, as usual, and Max taking up the rear. Me and Piper filled out the middle. 
 
 It didn ’ t take more than half an hour to reach the bottom. Unfortunately, it was a *long* 30 minutes. The tunnel was perfectly smooth and without flaw. If I didn ’ t know better, I ’ d have said we were just doing loops. Absolutely monotonous. Of course, when we reached the bottom it opened up into a massive cavern. Much like the tunnel, the walls of this cavern were completely, flawlessly smooth. At least, so far as we could see. We couldn ’ t see the ceiling at all, nor the opposite side of the cavern. In both cases, fog blocked our view. What we could see, though, was absolutely astonishing. There was an entire city down here! 
 
 For a small eternity, the four of us just feasted on the sight, like a starving man being offered a buffet. Everywhere we looked were buildings, statues, and other structures. As far as I could see, everything was perfectly preserved as well. The buildings themselves were unlike anything I had ever seen before. The architecture was very unusual and many of the buildings were at least 10 stories in height, something that seemed very out of place for such an ancient city. Well, I had to admit that was a bit of an assumption. Everything I could see looked nearly brand new, but that just couldn ’ t be possible. 
 
 Vincent was the first to break the silence. “ So… are we going to stand here admiring the view or are we going to explore? ” 
 
 Max stepped forward. “ Of course we are. We need to record as much as well can. This has to be the find of the century. Maybe even the millennium! ” He set down his pack and pulled his video camera out. He handed a DSLR to Piper, before putting his pack back together and slipping it on. Me and Vincent pulled out our personal cameras as well. 
 
 With all of us ready to record, we moved as one towards the city. The tunnel we came out of pointed towards a large boulevard cutting through the center of the city. As we moved slowly through, we checked doors on either side of the street. Max and Piper were covering the left side while Vincent and me took the right. Unfortunately, every door we tried was locked, which was beginning to creep me out. 
 
 Eventually I started trying to open anything I could. Windows, gates, even what looked like mail boxes. Nothing budged, though. Looking across the street, I could tell Max and Piper were starting to get as frustrated as Vincent and I were. Sure, we could break a window if we *really* wanted to get inside, but none of us wanted to go down in history as both the discoverers and desecrators of this city. We ’ d leave the desecration to the professionals, who ’ d at least be properly careful about it. 
 
 I was about to suggest splitting up to cover more ground, when I noticed a broken window down a side street. “ Hey everyone, I think I found a way into one of these buildings, ” I called out over the radio. Max and Piper headed over to me right away, though Vincent was nowhere to be seen. Looking down at my phone, I could see his tracker pinging about 30 feet away. It looked like he was circling around the same building I was looking at. He ’ d probably pop around the corner in a minute or so. Satisfied that everyone was moving in, I put my phone back in my pocket.
