There are five of us in total, Cha Wenbin, me, Pangzi, Xiaobai and that Gu Lao. Gu Lao is a researcher, he's naturally very interested in our discovery, even if he knows about the curse, he doesn't care at all.

  "There's an old Chinese saying that goes: 'Knowing there are tigers on the mountain, yet still heading up the mountain to find them. How can you get a tiger cub without entering the tiger's den?' I've spent my whole life studying, but if I'm being honest, I haven't really accomplished anything earth-shattering. Now, at my age, I'm just an old teacher. My old bones have accompanied me this far, and I don't care about those trivial matters anymore."

  Yuan Xiaobai naturally wouldn't go this time, and the people brought by Long Ye had other things to do, so let's take that sickly kid with us. As for who that sickly kid is and why he was cursed, we know nothing about it.

  When we arrived at Zhuangyuan Village, everything was different from before. There was a ready-made boat waiting by the river, and Longye's men were staying in the house that was originally guarded. The original people had all gone to unknown places. Based on what we encountered in the cave, we brought a lot of things with us, including diving suits made of seal skin, oxygen cylinders, and even a bottle of poison, which is much more vicious than the fish藤精 mentioned by Fatty.

  That sickly kid didn't bring anything, I saw he was wearing very little clothing. On such a cold day, all he had on underneath was a white singlet, and outside he wore an old-fashioned open-fronted single-breasted jacket, with a pair of black-faced white-soled cloth shoes on his feet, without even socks, barefoot.

  After putting on his clothes, the fat man reminded the other person: "Brother, going down from here means we have to cross the waterway."

  That person didn't even bother with the fatty, but instead bent down to comfort that shivering yellow dog, which was almost killed by the fatty.

  The fat guy was treated as air and felt uncomfortable, so he threw out a sentence: "What a fool!"

  Before departure, Longye raised his hand to look at his watch and said: "This time going in, whatever you can bring out is whatever, but there's one thing I must make a deal with you: it's 5 o'clock in the evening now, everyone must come out by 7 o'clock tomorrow morning at the latest. If you exceed the time, I will blow up the entire entrance."

  "Why?"

  "Dragon's expression was very serious: 'There is no why, remember, after tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock, the entire mountain here will sink to the bottom of the water forever.'"

  I'm not a person who's used to being ordered around, I wanted to say something, but Cha Wenbin responded with a "Good!"

  "What if we can't get out?" I asked him in the cave.

  He said with a particularly relaxed tone: "Then it's probably dead." He paused again and said: "It's just that I've dragged you all down with me."

  I won't say more, with his character, he will naturally say what he wants to say, and I won't force him. The fatty followed the sickly guy and walked alongside Gu Lao all the way, constantly praising Gu Lao as a great international warrior with a selfless spirit, comparable to Bethune. With him around, the atmosphere on this trip is much more relaxed.

  After getting down the pit, those terrifying ghosts were gone that day. Not only that, but the water in the river had also dried up, and at a glance, I could see the underground river covered with black silt. I was the first to go down, according to my memory, I turned back and thought that the water cave that sucked us in was just behind me, but unexpectedly there were still caves, and the silt had already reached halfway up the iron ladder.

  "The road is blocked……" This situation was beyond everyone's expectation, possibly due to the continuous heavy rain for half a month, which caused the water level to surge and suddenly washed away all the silt and stones accumulated in the underground river. Fatso tried digging with a shovel but had little effect, and several people were left staring at each other, wondering how long it would take to dig through manually.

  Fatso nodded his head and said: "Let's go, go back and tell Dragon Lord that the entrance is gone."

  "I suggested: 'We can enter from the exit of that day.'"

  "The water level in the river has also risen by several meters, and with such a large amount of water, we can't get out through that drainage tunnel." Fatso's words were not wrong either. That day, we were able to enter purely by luck, like a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse.

  Just at this time of hesitation, Old Gu suddenly asked: "Wen Bin, that day I heard you say that the place you arrived seemed to be buried with a phoenix coffin?"

  "It should be, just took a glance."

  "A tomb of such a large scale would not be used for just one woman, unless she was an emperor. But even Wu Zetian and Cixi were buried in joint tombs with their husbands. I have never heard of any woman from this dynasty who held such a high position that she could enjoy such a grand tomb alone. Therefore, I conclude: there must be another male tomb owner here, and he is the true master of this tomb."

  "That day I judged according to Feng Shui that the coffin should be in Kaifeng, other places didn't check, but now saying these is useless."

  "Not necessarily, have you ever thought that the previous batch of people who were here for several years before you, were they just going through the motions?"

  The development of Zhuangyuan Village in recent years can be said to be a miracle in the entire southern Anhui. As early as the 1980s, this place had highways, electric lights, and telephones, and even someone bought a private car. In terms of geographical conditions, this place is located in a remote area; in terms of economic foundation, since its establishment, it has been an agricultural village; however, this inconspicuous village has already taken the lead in material construction nationwide. You say it's relying on coal, but we have proven that it's impossible here, so there can only be another explanation: selling cultural relics!

  Under the guise of open-pit coal mining, they have been drilling holes around this mountain for years. Judging from the mud left in the bucket, they have discovered at least one ancient tomb, and economically speaking, it's a goldmine!

  Zha Wenbin said to Gu Lao: "We once inferred that the people in this village were descendants of tomb guards, but by this generation, they started to guard and steal at the same time."

  "That's it, so to speak, this mountain doesn't just have the one ancient tomb you discovered, but a whole group! Based on my personal experience, I deduce that what they found were likely all burial tombs for companions, whereas what you found was the main tomb, but only one of them. The scale of this tomb has already exceeded my imagination, it's very possible that it's much larger than the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. If that's really the case, we may have just created history." By now, Old Gu's eyes were shining with excitement as he grasped Cha Wenbin's hand: "Young man, I'm certain you'll soon become the focus of attention for the whole world!"

  "Remember to bring me along..." said the fatty as he walked over.

  Just as we were discussing what to do next, the sickly guy did something very strange: he first stuck his ear to the riverbed, then grabbed a handful of mud, and I saw him put those things in his mouth and chew on them for a bit...

  Then that sickly guy suddenly seemed to have been electrified, and he appeared to have gained energy. I only saw him move his body to one side and walk past me and Fatso, quickly heading forward.

  Cha Wenbin also noticed something was off and shouted at the sickly-looking man: "Hey friend, where are you headed?"

  The sickly boy didn't respond, he just kept walking forward, his footsteps seeming to quicken in pace.

  "What does he want to do?"

  Zha Wenbin patted me on the shoulder and said, "Let's go, follow him!"

  Actually, we didn't go there. After coming down that day, we were directly sucked into the water. The movements of the sick seedlings were very strange. When we followed behind him, it was only about ten meters apart, but just after a turn, the sick seedling disappeared from our sight...

  "Where's he?" Now in front of me is a straight river corridor, the mountains on both sides are only about two people high, and can be swept away at a glance. But he just disappeared out of thin air! If I say that day I didn't see clearly because there was water in the river, then did he disappear by drilling into the rocks?

  "Good grief!"

  "No, look at the footprints on the ground." Zha Wenbin shone his headlamp and indeed, on the muddy ground, there was a row of alternating footprints leading forward. These footprints seemed to have only the front part of the sole left behind, without any sign of heels. This reminded me of what Zha Wenbin had said: ghosts walk on tiptoes...

  I turned around and looked at Cha Wenbin: "Is it really a ghost?"

  He shook his head and said: "It's impossible, there is only one explanation, he was too fast..."

  It's said that he can run so fast that he can even run on water, but that sickly guy is barefoot and wearing a pair of cloth shoes. I really find it hard to associate him with speed. Am I seeing things?

  "I said: 'Is that person sick or something? I just saw him picking up mud from the ground and eating it.'"

  Zha Wenbin also squatted down after hearing my sentence, and he actually used his fingers to dip a bit of mud into his mouth. I saw his lips move a few times, and his eyelids suddenly opened wide as he shouted at us: "Follow his footprints, quickly!"

  "Eating mud can be addictive, is this stuff delicious?" Fatso muttered to himself and learned from Zha Wenbin's example, making a ball of black mud. Then I heard him spitting out one "Ptoo" after another...