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Grave Robbers’ Chronicles: Restart

Written by: Xu Lei

Translated by: Merebear

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Summary:

After fulfilling his ten year promise with Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie is now living
in seclusion in Fujian. One day, he suddenly received a text message from
his uncle, Wu Sanxing. Through various clues his uncle left behind, Wu Xie
finds an ancient tomb that may be related to his uncle’s past. The tomb is
the legendary South Sea King’s Tomb. But just as Wu Xie plans to search
for it, Jin Wantang reveals his plan to his Uncle Two. After Uncle Two stops
him and hears the story, he decides to join Wu Xie, Fatty, and Zhang Qiling
as they search for the tomb.

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Table of Contents
Part I: The Sound of the Providence ............................................................. 15
Chapter 1 Nanjing Locker ............................................................................. 16
Chapter 2 Abandoned Weather Station ....................................................... 22
Chapter 3 Uncle Three’s Body ...................................................................... 29
Chapter 4 Thunder ....................................................................................... 34
Chapter 5 Yang Daguang .............................................................................. 40
Chapter 6 Those Who Listen to Thunder...................................................... 45
Chapter 7 Bare Grave ................................................................................... 49
Chapter 8 The Yang Family’s Old Tomb ........................................................ 54
Chapter 9 God of Thunder’s Coffin .............................................................. 58
Chapter 10 My Name Is Zhang Qiling ........................................................... 64
Chapter 11 Into the Tomb Again .................................................................. 69
Chapter 12 The West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country........................................ 74
Chapter 13 South Sea King’s Tomb .............................................................. 78
Chapter 14 Baiyue People ............................................................................ 83
Chapter 15 Wu Erbai .................................................................................... 87
Chapter 16 ................................................................................................... 91
Chapter 17 Fan ............................................................................................. 94
Chapter 18 Listen to Thunder by the Evening Sea ........................................ 97
Chapter 19 Exploding Mud......................................................................... 102
Chapter 20 The Raksha Country and the Sea Market ................................. 108
Chapter 21 Mud ......................................................................................... 112
Chapter 22 Looking for the Tomb Entrance ............................................... 115
Chapter 23 ................................................................................................. 120
Chapter 24 Thunder God Statue ................................................................ 123

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Chapter 25 Meet Up .................................................................................. 125
Chapter 26 Block the Sound of Thunder .................................................... 129
Chapter 27 Wall of Eyes ............................................................................. 132
Chapter 28 Flash ........................................................................................ 135
Chapter 29 ................................................................................................. 139
Chapter 30 Full Moon Sacrifice .................................................................. 143
Chapter 31 Superfluous Tomb Passage ...................................................... 147
Chapter 32 Street Caller ............................................................................. 152
Chapter 33 Liu Sang the Psychopath .......................................................... 157
Chapter 34 Mute Emperor ......................................................................... 162
Chapter 35 ................................................................................................. 166
Chapter 36 Sudden Epiphany ..................................................................... 169
Chapter 37 ................................................................................................. 172
Chapter 38 In the Tomb Passage................................................................ 174
Chapter 39 Strange Hole ............................................................................ 177
Chapter 40 Why Do You Want to Go into the Hole? .................................. 180
Chapter 41 Rough Guess ............................................................................ 184
Chapter 42 ................................................................................................. 187
Chapter 43 ................................................................................................. 190
Chapter 44 ................................................................................................. 194
Chapter 45 ................................................................................................. 197
Chapter 46 People Everywhere .................................................................. 200
Chapter 47 ................................................................................................. 204
Chapter 48 Jump into the Waterway ......................................................... 207
Chapter 49 ................................................................................................. 211
Chapter 50 Leather Figurine Woman ......................................................... 214

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Chapter 51 ................................................................................................. 217
Chapter 52 ................................................................................................. 221
Chapter 53 ................................................................................................. 224
Chapter 54 ................................................................................................. 228
Chapter 55 Take a Vote .............................................................................. 230
Chapter 56 ................................................................................................. 234
Chapter 57 At Present ................................................................................ 237
Chapter 58 ................................................................................................. 240
Chapter 59 ................................................................................................. 242
Chapter 60 ................................................................................................. 245
Chapter 61 The Shuikao’s Owner ............................................................... 248
Chapter 62 ................................................................................................. 251
Chapter 63 ................................................................................................. 254
Chapter 64 ................................................................................................. 258
Chapter 65 ................................................................................................. 261
Chapter 66 ................................................................................................. 264
Chapter 67 ................................................................................................. 267
Chapter 68 ................................................................................................. 270
Chapter 69 ................................................................................................. 273
Chapter 70 ................................................................................................. 276
Chapter 71 ................................................................................................. 279
Chapter 72 ................................................................................................. 281
Chapter 73 ................................................................................................. 285
Chapter 74 New Year’s Bonus .................................................................... 288
Chapter 75 ................................................................................................. 292
Chapter 76 ................................................................................................. 295

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Chapter 77 ................................................................................................. 298
Chapter 78 ................................................................................................. 302
Chapter 79 ................................................................................................. 305
Chapter 80 Old Age .................................................................................... 308
Chapter 81 ................................................................................................. 312
Chapter 82 ................................................................................................. 316
Chapter 83 ................................................................................................. 320
Chapter 84 ................................................................................................. 323
Chapter 85 ................................................................................................. 326
Chapter 86 ................................................................................................. 330
Chapter 87 ................................................................................................. 333
Chapter 88 ................................................................................................. 336
Chapter 89 ................................................................................................. 340
Chapter 90 ................................................................................................. 343
Chapter 91 ................................................................................................. 346
Chapter 92 ................................................................................................. 349
Chapter 93 ................................................................................................. 353
Chapter 94 ................................................................................................. 356
Chapter 95 ................................................................................................. 359
Chapter 96 ................................................................................................. 362
Chapter 97 ................................................................................................. 365
Chapter 98 ................................................................................................. 368
Chapter 99 ................................................................................................. 371
Chapter 100 ............................................................................................... 373
Chapter 101 ............................................................................................... 376
Chapter 102 ............................................................................................... 379

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Chapter 103 ............................................................................................... 382
Chapter 104 ............................................................................................... 385
Chapter 105 ............................................................................................... 388
Chapter 106 ............................................................................................... 390
Chapter 107 ............................................................................................... 393
Chapter 108 ............................................................................................... 396
Chapter 109 ............................................................................................... 399
Chapter 110 ............................................................................................... 402
Chapter 111 ............................................................................................... 405
Chapter 112 ............................................................................................... 408
Chapter 112.5 Not a Chapter, Drunken Gibberish...................................... 411
Chapter 113 ............................................................................................... 413
Chapter 114 ............................................................................................... 416
Chapter 115 ............................................................................................... 419
Chapter 116 ............................................................................................... 422
Chapter 117 ............................................................................................... 425
Chapter 118 ............................................................................................... 428
Chapter 119 ............................................................................................... 431
Chapter 120 ............................................................................................... 435
Chapter 121 ............................................................................................... 439
Chapter 122 ............................................................................................... 443
Chapter 123 ............................................................................................... 447
Chapter 124 ............................................................................................... 449
Chapter 125 ............................................................................................... 452
Chapter 126 ............................................................................................... 456
Chapter 127 ............................................................................................... 459

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Chapter 128 ............................................................................................... 464
Chapter 129 ............................................................................................... 467
Chapter 130 ............................................................................................... 470
Chapter 131 ............................................................................................... 473
Chapter 132 ............................................................................................... 477
Chapter 133 ............................................................................................... 480
Chapter 134 ............................................................................................... 483
Chapter 135 ............................................................................................... 486
Chapter 136 ............................................................................................... 489
Chapter 137 ............................................................................................... 492
Chapter 138 ............................................................................................... 495
Chapter 139 ............................................................................................... 498
Chapter 140 ............................................................................................... 502
Chapter 141 ............................................................................................... 505
Chapter 142 ............................................................................................... 508
Chapter 143 ............................................................................................... 511
Chapter 144 ............................................................................................... 514
Chapter 145 ............................................................................................... 518
Chapter 146 ............................................................................................... 521
Chapter 147 ............................................................................................... 524
Chapter 148 ............................................................................................... 527
Chapter 149 ............................................................................................... 530
Chapter 150 ............................................................................................... 534
Chapter 151 ............................................................................................... 537
Chapter 152 ............................................................................................... 540
Chapter 153 ............................................................................................... 542

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Chapter 154 ............................................................................................... 545
Chapter 155 ............................................................................................... 548
Chapter 156 ............................................................................................... 551
Chapter 157 ............................................................................................... 553
Chapter 158 ............................................................................................... 558
Chapter 159 ............................................................................................... 561
Chapter 160 ............................................................................................... 564
Chapter 161 ............................................................................................... 567
Chapter 162 ............................................................................................... 570
Chapter 163 ............................................................................................... 573
Chapter 164 ............................................................................................... 577
Chapter 165 Raining Snakes ....................................................................... 580
Chapter 166 ............................................................................................... 583
Chapter 167 ............................................................................................... 586
Chapter 168 ............................................................................................... 590
Chapter 169 ............................................................................................... 593
Chapter 170 ............................................................................................... 596
Chapter 171 ............................................................................................... 599
Chapter 172 ............................................................................................... 602
Chapter 173 ............................................................................................... 604
Chapter 174 ............................................................................................... 608
Chapter 175 ............................................................................................... 611
Chapter 176 ............................................................................................... 616
Chapter 177 ............................................................................................... 620
Chapter 178 ............................................................................................... 624
Chapter 179 ............................................................................................... 627

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Chapter 180 ............................................................................................... 630
Chapter 181 ............................................................................................... 633
Chapter 182 ............................................................................................... 636
Chapter 183 ............................................................................................... 639
Chapter 184 ............................................................................................... 642
Chapter 185 ............................................................................................... 644
Chapter 186 Start Again ............................................................................. 646
Chapter 187 ............................................................................................... 649
Chapter 188 ............................................................................................... 653
Chapter 189 ............................................................................................... 656
Chapter 190 ............................................................................................... 659
Chapter 191 ............................................................................................... 662
Chapter 192 ............................................................................................... 671
Chapter 193 ............................................................................................... 674
Chapter 194 ............................................................................................... 677
Chapter 195 ............................................................................................... 680
Chapter 196 ............................................................................................... 683
Chapter 197 ............................................................................................... 684
Chapter 198 ............................................................................................... 688
Chapter 199 ............................................................................................... 691
Chapter 200 ............................................................................................... 694
Chapter 201 A Task Is Not Done Until It’s Done ......................................... 697
Chapter 202 ............................................................................................... 700
Chapter 203 ............................................................................................... 703
Chapter 204 ............................................................................................... 706
Chapter 205 ............................................................................................... 710

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Chapter 206 ............................................................................................... 714
Chapter 207 ............................................................................................... 717
Chapter 208 ............................................................................................... 720
Chapter 209 Sad End to the Year ............................................................... 724
Chapter 210 ............................................................................................... 727
Chapter 211 ............................................................................................... 730
Chapter 212 ............................................................................................... 733
Chapter 213 Thunder ................................................................................. 735
Chapter 214 Hahaha .................................................................................. 738
Chapter 215 Hehehe .................................................................................. 741
Chapter 216 Alive ....................................................................................... 744
Chapter 217 Ear Coffin ............................................................................... 747
Chapter 218 Amazing ................................................................................. 750
Chapter 219 Countdown to the Finale ....................................................... 753
Chapter 220 Countdown to the Finale 2 .................................................... 756
Chapter 221 Countdown to the Finale 3 .................................................... 759
Chapter 222 Countdown to the Finale 4 .................................................... 762
Chapter 223 Countdown to the Finale 5 .................................................... 765
Chapter 224 The Finale .............................................................................. 768
Chapter 225 Postscript ............................................................................... 776
Part II: The Southeast Asia Adventure ........................................................ 779
Chapter 1 ................................................................................................... 780
Chapter 2 Mute Village .............................................................................. 784
Chapter 3 Thunder ..................................................................................... 791
Chapter 4 ................................................................................................... 794
Chapter 5 The Strange Case of the Burning Corpse.................................... 799

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Chapter 6 ................................................................................................... 803
Chapter 7 ................................................................................................... 807
Chapter 8 ................................................................................................... 813
Chapter 9 ................................................................................................... 816
Chapter 10 ................................................................................................. 822
Chapter 11 ................................................................................................. 826
Chapter 12 ................................................................................................. 830
Chapter 13 ................................................................................................. 834
Chapter 14 ................................................................................................. 837
Chapter 15 ................................................................................................. 842
Chapter 16 Go Home—Funny Uncle .......................................................... 847
Chapter 17 Ruined My Big Event ................................................................ 851
Chapter 18 ................................................................................................. 855
Chapter 19 ................................................................................................. 860
Chapter 20 The End.................................................................................... 864
Restart Trial Reading .................................................................................. 872
Chapter 1 ................................................................................................... 873
Chapter 2 ................................................................................................... 879
Chapter 3 Building a Temple ...................................................................... 883
Chapter 4 ................................................................................................... 888
Chapter 5 ................................................................................................... 892
Chapter 6 ................................................................................................... 896
Chapter 7 ................................................................................................... 900
Chapter 8 ................................................................................................... 906
Chapter 9 ................................................................................................... 911
Chapter 10 ................................................................................................. 915

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Chapter 11 ................................................................................................. 920
Chapter 12 ................................................................................................. 924
Chapter 13 ................................................................................................. 928
Chapter 14 ................................................................................................. 933
Chapter 15 ................................................................................................. 937
Chapter 16 ................................................................................................. 941
Chapter 17 ................................................................................................. 947
Chapter 18 ................................................................................................. 951
Chapter 19 ................................................................................................. 955
Leather Figurine Woman ........................................................................... 960
Warehouse Eleven’s Airplane Case ............................................................ 962

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Part I: The Sound of the Providence

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Chapter 1 Nanjing Locker
Let me start with something interesting.

Tian Youjin was a pharmacist who dealt in caterpillar fungus(1). He had a

close relationship with my elders and belonged to the “come and give me a
hug” category of uncles that I used to see when I was young.

During the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s, Tian Youjin had to live in a
rural community in the mountainous areas of Inner Mongolia. He always
talked about how he got separated from the herding team one time and
ended up wandering around the grasslands for two months. During that
time, he led the flock and even escaped from a mountain wolf before finally
being saved.

Whenever he reunited with his comrades-in-arms and had too much to

drink, he would start telling this story as if it was a part of his character
development. In his account, that time was a rare rainy season in Inner
Mongolia. The torrential rain and lightning all over the sky was the most
beautiful and frightening scenery he had ever seen.

In 2013, Tian Youjin began to suffer from liver failure as a result of his
alcoholism, which led to systemic organ failure. On his deathbed, his
comrades came to see him. They pitied him and tried to comfort him, but at
that time, he told them a second version of what he had experienced.

In the previous versions, he had experienced all this alone. But in the story
he told before his death, there was one more person present. For decades,
he never mentioned the existence of this person.

(1)
Caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis), is a fungus that grows on insects. It’s mainly found in the
Tibetan Plateau. It parasitizes larvae of ghost moths and produces a fruiting body that’s valued as an
herbal remedy and is used in traditional Chinese medicine. It’s now considered an endangered species in
China because of overharvesting and overexploitation. According to this page, it’s taken as a generic
immune booster, or to treat a growing list of conditions, including cancer. But its anti-tumor properties
have never been tested in a clinical trial. More general info here.

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Tian Youjin met this man at the beginning of the second month after he
entered the depths of the grassland. It was raining heavily that day. When
he looked up at the valley, he saw a man standing on a ridge in no-man’s
land, staring at the lightning in the sky.

He couldn’t see the man clearly in the torrential rain. All he saw was the
distant man pointing him in the right direction before he disappeared into
the forest. There were no horses or herdsmen behind him. He was the only
person.

According to Tian Youjin, this was a magical moment. The place was nearly a
month away from the nearest outpost. Without horses and supplies, it was
absolutely impossible for anyone to walk that far in the old forest.

A person suddenly appearing in such a place was so suspicious that he

almost thought the other person was lost. But the man didn’t ask him for
help.

He also thought that the other party might have been a spy who had
entered through Mongolia and was exploring the terrain here. Or he had
met a mountain ghost. He was so frightened that he dared not speak about
it for a long time. After being seriously ill, the images in his brain became
clearer and clearer, and he finally decided to speak about it.

I had read this excerpt in my grandfather’s notes. At that time, my

grandfather had wanted to buy some caterpillar fungus from Tian Youjin. I
didn’t know from whom he’d heard the story, but my grandfather’s
evaluation was very simple. He thought that the man Tian Youjin had seen in
the mountains was a grave robber.

In Xu Ke’s “Anthology of Petty Matters in the Qing Dynasty: Thieves”(2), there

was a story about Jiao Si, a big thief in Guangzhou. Jiao Si often stayed near

(2)
Xu Ke (1869–1928)’s “Anthology of Petty Matters in the Qing Dynasty” is considered an “unofficial”
history of the Qing Dynasty that provides an encyclopedic coverage of life during that time. The content
is extremely vast and includes all aspects of history, society, state, the arts, and human life. It’s
composed of extracts and quotes from people without livelihoods, including scoundrels, thieves, opium
addicts, etc. More info here.

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Baiyun Mountain and engaged in grave robbing. He had dozens of disciples
who had skills like listening to the rain, wind, and thunder, and looking at
the grass color, mud tracks, and so on. One day, he was out on the northern
outskirts of the city. It was around noon when thunder and lightning broke
out across the sky. Jiao Si sent everyone in all four directions, telling them to
listen and observe their surroundings. They must not hesitate even with the
thunderstorm going on and should commit whatever they had seen to
memory. Jiao Si stood tall at the top of the ridge in the midst of the
thunderstorm. The rain gradually stopped after a while, at which point
someone returned from the east. They said that when a loud clap of thunder
rang out, they felt a faint vibration under their feet and heard a sound
coming from the ground. “That’s it!” Jiao Si said happily.

Any time thunder boomed across the sky, the hollow caves and tombs in the
mountains would resonate, making it easier to find the locations of tombs in
those large areas.

Inner Mongolia having such a huge rainy season was something that was
rarely seen for decades. It must have taken a lot of patience and two
generations’ worth of planning over several decades to be able to appear at
the scene at such a time. This individual’s sudden appearance on the
mountain wasn’t for something simple. Instead, they were there for a big
tomb buried deep under the mountain.

But the way things developed wasn’t so simple. In fact, the development of
this story was completely different from my previous experience.

It all started with a text message from my Uncle Three.

There had been many stories involving both me and my Uncle Three before.
After he disappeared in the Tarim Basin, I always believed on the surface
that he was gone, but in my heart, I always felt that he wouldn’t die so
easily. During the Chinese New Year this year, I received a short, cryptic
message from a strange number.

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East Nanjing Drum Tower, Arctic Pavilion Weather Museum, locker 221.
Happy New Year.

I felt like the hesitant and roundabout style of this short message was odd,
but that kind of style had frequently accompanied me before ten years ago.
Everything Uncle Three used to send me was usually easy to understand, so I
didn’t know what he was trying to do.

During all those years, I had been looking forward to the day when Uncle
Three would tell me the secrets in his heart. I wanted to see what was so
great that he felt the need to lie to me. When I later found out that he might
not be my real Uncle Three, I suddenly understood something. If a person
had to bear too many lies, he might not be able to clarify them even if he
wanted to.

I let go of my obsession at that time because I was afraid that he was

deceiving me about my own identity. Maybe I wasn’t me. Maybe I was born
as a toad spirit, or I came from a three-thousand-year-old rock or
something. Although I was confident that I had been an ordinary person
since birth, I didn’t know how to face myself in case I was from an illogical or
illustrious background like that.

I didn’t go to Nanjing immediately but went to Beijing first. My presence put

a lot of pressure on things there, so Fatty and I eventually left for Nanjing. I
had been reading that text message on the high-speed train over and over
again. I didn’t try to call the number back like I would have done before.
Instead, I had learned that hiding myself first was the best way to take the
lead.

Fatty asked me what I wanted to do.

I had been doing some thinking and knew that things like lockers were
usually cleaned out every night. If something had been placed inside the
locker, then it wouldn’t have made it through the night. If I went there, I
wasn’t expecting to see anything inside that locker. But even if someone had
put something in there, then it must have been taken to the lost and found.

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Like this, they could ensure that the item wouldn’t be taken away after it
was left behind.

Another possibility was that the information or item was stuck in a hidden
part of the locker, or simply written in there with a black light pen.

But I didn’t think it was possible. Based on my understanding of Uncle Three,

the locker itself must have been tampered with.

The Arctic Pavilion had a very long history. It had always been famous since
the Observatory of Astronomy had been built in the Liu Song period of the
Southern Dynasties(3). A huge observation platform was built there in the
early Ming Dynasty, which made me wonder if Wang Zanghai had been
involved at the time.

All of this meant that the place wasn’t irrelevant.

There weren’t many obstacles along the way. We found an employee, gave
them the locker number, and then followed them the whole way.

Locker 221 wasn’t in use and happened to be open. I looked inside but
found that it was empty. Fatty helped block me from prying eyes as I felt
around the inside to make sure there wasn’t a hidden compartment. When I
still didn’t find anything, I asked about the lost and found.

Fatty looked at me, “So stupid. Isn’t it just a spam message?”

I shook my head and turned to look at the wall opposite locker 221 as I tried
to think. The wall was full of guestbooks that people could look at. I pointed
my hand straight across to where locker 221 would be on the opposite side
and walked over, finding a guest book.

There was a string that attached the book to a wooden plank that ran across
the wall. I opened the book and began to skim it. As I flipped through a few

(3)
The Liu Song period was around (420-479 CE)

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pages, I came to one in particular that had the following passage written on
it:

Transfer Statement
I hereby transfer Plot No.87 of Section A, Changping Road, Xiaosongshan to
Wu Xie free of charge.
Transferor: Wu Sanxing
Transferee: _____________
The transfer of rights will be completed when this document is signed,
without any other agreement.

There was also a thumbprint on it. I froze for a moment and Fatty asked,
“What’s wrong?”

“My Uncle Three left me a piece of land,” I said.

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Chapter 2 Abandoned Weather Station
I rolled up the whole guestbook, pulled it off the string with a hard tug,
shoved it in my pocket, and then left the museum. Fatty followed me out,
but he didn’t seem to understand what was going on. We squatted down in
a corner and carefully read the transfer statement several times. I flipped
back and forth through the guestbook’s other pages and found that all the
other messages were normal. This was the only page that had a problem.

“This…does this really count?” Fatty asked me.

I nodded. Although I didn’t know much about these kinds of things, all the
other documents must have been prepared if Uncle Three really wanted to
leave me something.

Fatty immediately went back in, saying that he would go through all the
other guestbooks on the wall since there might be other plots that were
transferred like this.

I sat on the steps and waited for him. I was in a daze for a long time before I
finally recovered and checked the information on my phone. The plot at
No.87, Section A, Changping Road, Xiaosongshan seemed to be a large area
in Yeshan, Nanjing that used to be a weather station. Uncle Three bought
the whole plot after the station was condemned. He had done it more than
a decade ago when land prices were very low. Although that plot wasn’t
very valuable now, it was still a huge sum compared to what it had been
worth at the time.

But this wasn’t the first time that Uncle Three had bought land. He ended up
buying most of the land around his old house, but he certainly hadn’t done it
for investment purposes.

My initial reaction was, what’s underground?

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But in this day and age, it was a well-known fact that the things in tombs
often weren’t as valuable as the land the tombs occupied. With this
particular plot of land, it didn’t seem to matter what was underground.

Fatty didn’t find anything and came back out, but he didn’t seem dejected at
all. We got in the car and headed for Yeshan Town. Fatty cracked the
window, took out a cigarette, and then shook his head, “Mr. Naïve, your
uncle is actually quite loyal. Why didn’t I have such an uncle? It looks like
we’ve found a career in the second half of our lives. If God wants you to be
rich at midnight, who can make you poor just before the dawn(1)? This Fat
Master should be the general manager, yeah?”

I didn’t have time to talk nonsense with him. I felt my heart start churning as
I looked at the simple deed in my hand and the thumbprint that was on it.

Uncle Three might not really be dead.

On the one hand, an unresolved stone in my heart had finally begun to shift
in a direction that made me feel at ease. If he wasn’t dead, then it wasn’t
any of my business how he stirred up trouble outside. But on the other
hand, if he didn’t die and didn’t show up, did that mean that things weren’t
over yet? It was a terrifying thought.

Not only had the Wu family secretly dealt with things for three generations,
but I had already used up all my strength. My mind and even the demons in
my heart were too old to keep going now. Was it really not over?

I didn’t dare think about it.

We asked the Didi driver a bunch of questions as we headed towards the

weather station. Yeshan was a mining town full of mountains and valleys.
There were even a variety of rolling hillsides and various geological
protection areas around the town. I checked the county annals and found
that the underground mines in this town were all tunnels from past

(1)
Basically, as long as you work hard, don’t give up, and seize good opportunities, the God of Luck
definitely won’t pass you by.

23
dynasties. The earliest discovered tunnels were from the Western Zhou
Dynasty, and they stretched several hundred meters below ground. I didn’t
know whether Uncle Three had bought this place because of those mines or
if there was something else here.

When we turned off the main road and started down the village road, the
driver told us that the weather station was on the mountain behind the
village. We got out of the car and headed into the old, cramped village. Old
wooden houses and new concrete houses were all crowded together, and
the path in between them was only three people wide. Many slogans from
the Cultural Revolution were still there. The vegetation out here on the
outskirts of the city was well protected, and the trees were towering.
Although the village road was only a few steps away, there was still a sinister
feeling that came with walking in the mountains.

Once we left the village, we followed the barren mountain road up the back
of the mountain. Fatty was frowning and started scolding, “This lot can only
be used to build a graveyard. The land we just walked past is so good, yet all
your Uncle Three left you was a corner.”

“Tomb real estate is still real estate. Do one business, love one business(2).” I
laughed at him.

The weather station had to be located in a place with minimal

environmental interference, so we were heading in the right direction. At
the top of the mountain, I saw an old sealed iron gate that had a decaying
sign on it that read: “Weather Station”. Many sections of the yellow cement
walls on both sides of the gate had collapsed and weeds were sprouting
from them. I could see moss and centipede vines overrunning other parts of
the walls, practically engulfing them. I looked through the bars in the iron
gate and saw the weather station’s old building still standing there. The
outer wall looked completely moldy and mottled and was covered in more

(2)
It’s basically an attitude that as long as you start doing a certain thing or working in a certain industry,
then you should love it and continue to do it. Since they’re grave robbers, selling a plot of land to put
graves in isn’t that far off

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moss and vines. Rotten leaves littered the ground in layers so thick that I
figured they would reach my ankles when I walked in.

The mountain air was filled with the musty smell of soil, grass, and rotten
leaves, as well as the rusty smell of the iron gate. It made my throat feel
tight.

Fatty’s eyes were looking straight ahead, “Shit, they didn’t tear it down?
We’ll have to do it ourselves. And we can’t get equipment up the road,
either. It’s a fucking loss.”

When I looked at this oversized Golmud sanatorium look-alike, my first

reaction was to turn my head and walk away. There was no doubt that
something was going on here. I could even feel a huge pressure coming out
of the decaying ruins of the building. This was another huge Pandora’s box
that Uncle Three had given me, and I shouldn’t open it.

But I didn’t turn back.

I thought of my Uncle Three. If he had been tied up by a perverted savage in

the wild, then the only person who could save him was me. If I turned my
head and left, my heart would never be at peace.

Even though Fatty was disappointed, he still climbed through one of the
breaches in the wall. I moved to follow him, and the two of us waded
through the weeds. As we approached the concrete building, I saw a square
line of numbers graffitied on the outer wall of the doorway.

1773xxx5034

It was a cell phone number.

I took out my phone and pulled up the text message. This was the number
that had sent me the New Year’s blessing text. At that time, the phone’s
software couldn’t tell whether it was spam or harassment.

Fatty and I looked at each other.

25
I pulled my Kukri out of my backpack and put it on my hip while Fatty found
a brick nearby. But just as we were about to walk into the ruins of the
weather station, I suddenly heard someone talking. Fatty grabbed me and
hid in a bush.

At that moment, we saw two or three people coming out of the ruins. “I, Wu
Sanxing, have always been a man of my word,” one of them was saying. “If
you want this land, now is the time to buy it. In less than three years, the
land prices here will double. I’ve talked with the village. Half the money for
the road will go to them and the other half will go to me. You only need to
sign your name.”

The man who answered him spoke in the Nanjing dialect. I couldn’t
understand what he was saying, but he didn’t seem to be satisfied. But the
first person who spoke said he was Wu Sanxing and his voice was very
familiar.

But even though it was familiar, it definitely wasn’t my Uncle Three’s voice.
Who is it? I wondered to myself.

When we looked up from the bushes, we saw an old acquaintance walking

out. It was none other than Jin Wantang, our old comrade.

He brought the people to the door and pointed to the village at the foot of
the mountain. “This is a village that gives rise to brilliantly talented people.
Since the Ming Dynasty, there have been sixteen such people. I, Wu Sanxing,
looked at the feng shui here and saw that it wasn’t bad. You can go ask
anyone. You could tear this weather station down and build a school. If you
don’t believe me, ask my nephew. I told him to stay in this village before the
college entrance examination. He didn’t believe me back then either and
only stayed here for half a month. He could’ve gone to MIT if he stayed here
longer than that, but he got into Zhejiang University(3) instead. “

(3)
They’re super elite schools. MIT stands for “Massachusetts Institute of Technology” and is in the US.
Zhejiang University is an elite Chinese university located in Hangzhou. Tiffany said Wu Xie actually
studied at Zhejiang University, so he’s pretty smart.

26
Jin Wantang’s assistant started nodding beside him, “I was stupid back then.
My uncle can’t be wrong in this regard.”

“Isn’t this Big Gold Tooth? Why is he here?” Fatty whispered. “What is he
doing spouting such bullshit?”

I frowned and listened for a while, suddenly realizing that these two guys
were posing as me and my Uncle Three to sell the land.

At this time, a hammering sound came from inside the ruins. There
appeared to be some people working inside. When I glanced at Fatty, he
said, “Well this is awkward. How are you going to handle it?”

“Damn it!” I quickly stood up and shouted, “Jin Wantang!”

Said man had just sent the people away and immediately froze when he
looked back and saw my unexpected appearance. Then, his whole body
leaped up and he ran away with a “Wah!” Fatty and I moved to outflank him
as his man came over to stop us. Fatty tripped the guy and pushed him
directly to the ground. When the guy landed, he didn’t dare get up again.

Fatty continued giving chase.

The three of us rushed into the village, but Jin Wantang was too old to run. I
kicked him into the courtyard of the village’s ancestral hall and then went up
and started cursing him, “Do you want to fucking die?” I took out my phone
and pointed to the text message, “Are you fucking messing with me? Are
you trying to trick me?”

Jin Wantang looked at my phone but didn’t respond. He could only point at
me and say, “Little Master Three, I’m still an elder. Even if I do something
wrong, you can’t be so rough.”

I sneered, “You want me to pity you because you’re old, right? If you dare
say you’re an elder one more time, I’ll call Little Brother up and have him
beat you to death.”

27
“I really wasn’t messing with you. Your Uncle Three asked me to hand the
land over to you, but I thought you would find it useless. I figured I could
help you sell it first and then give it to you in cash. I’m just providing a
service.” Jin Wantang looked at me seriously.

“You’re helping me sell the land? You just want to take it for yourself!”

“Why would I want this barren hill, Little Master Three? This land is so
strange, can’t you see it?” Jin Wantang said mysteriously. “Besides, do you
know why your Uncle Three bought this land? I’m doing it for your own
good.”

28
Chapter 3 Uncle Three’s Body
When Fatty finally found us, we were sitting on someone’s flower beds. I
had taken off Jin Wantang’s shoes, tied the shoelaces together, and hung
them around my neck. The old man’s soles were so thin that he couldn’t run
away barefoot. He scratched his feet sadly and said to me, “Little Master
Three, how about it? We’ve been friends for so many years that you could
even say our friendship runs deep. It might not be equal to jade, but it’s as
good as gold or a pleasant-sounding poem…”

“Fuck off! Do you think I’m blind? This isn’t the first time a white-eyed wolf
has tried to act like a husky. Now, explain.” I made Jin Wantang look at the
transfer statement I took from the museum. “Why are you posing as my
Uncle Three to sell my land?”

Jin Wantang’s eyes shifted and he was just about to speak, when Fatty
spoke up from the side, “Old Jin, you’re a real son-of-a-bitch. We already
know that you’re a bastard, but I always appreciate that you can clearly
distinguish between the big and the small things. Let me tell you, when it
comes to this matter, cheating us out of money is a small thing. But if you
don’t clear things up, that delays Mr. Naïve’s business, which is a big thing.
Now, have you thought things through? After so many years of friendship,
I’d hate to have to beat the shit out of you.”

Jin Wantang nodded and gave a faint smile, “Fat Master, you’ve got a point.
Let me think for a moment.” He took some cigarettes out of his pocket and
passed them to me and Fatty.

When I looked at his expression, I could see that Fatty’s words were racing
through his mind. By the time he lit the cigarettes for us, I figured he’d made
up his mind. He looked up at the sky and said, “This was more than ten years
ago.”

“Finish it in three sentences,” I said, immediately annoyed. It was like I was

in my twenties again, listening to him talk about his own old stories. I had

29
too many of my own stories now, so although my heart lacked a lot of
things, this wasn’t one of them.

“Your uncle asked me to buy this piece land for him. He was particularly
keen on weather at the time and said that there was something he wanted
to check in this weather station,” Jin Wantang said. When I asked him what
it was, he shook his head. “Your uncle disappeared after the formalities
were completed. He didn’t even give me the money. Although it wasn’t
expensive at the time, I still wasn’t happy about giving up that much money.
I wanted to sell it, but I wasn’t the owner after the formalities were done.
Since I couldn’t sell it, I hardened my heart and pretended to be your uncle.”

I turned my head and frowned at him. What is this nonsense?

“This isn’t the important part,” He quickly said. “This isn’t the key point.
Hear me out first. If you want to sell land, you have to clear out any
abandoned buildings on it. I brought some people here to clear the area and
found that there was indeed something strange in that building. But I don’t
know if it’s what your uncle was looking for at the time.”

“What is it?”

Jin Wantang was relieved to see that I was interested, “It’s too troublesome
to say. But that thing is in those ruins. Why don’t you go and see for
yourself?”

Setting aside the issue of whether his story is true or not, there’s no doubt
that Uncle Three has asked people to do things without paying them before.
And that didn’t only apply to outsiders, either. I helped pay for us to go to
the Seven Star Lu Palace.

But there was no point in worrying about it since Jin Wantang was really an
old bastard who wanted to sell my land.

I returned his shoes to him and Fatty helped pull him up. As we walked back,
he told us the details of the matter.

30
The old building was actually the weather station’s old archives. There were
no computers in the 1980s and ‘90s, so many of the meteorological charts
were on paper. Since most files were electronic now and this was a regional
weather station that sent a summary of the data recordings to Nanjing’s
weather station every year, the charts left here were actually just waste
paper. A large number of these files remained in the old building’s filing
cabinets, which had been covered in dust and moisture for decades.
According to Jin Wantang, they were basically covered in mushrooms.

His first step to cleaning things up was to move all the filing cabinets out.
Since he was feeling a little guilty, he planned on getting it done as quickly as
possible. But he didn’t think that something unexpected would happen. On
the first day of cleanup, the workers reported something strange.

The building had a total of six floors. When they moved a row of cabinets
that were placed against the wall on the first floor, they found a strange
door hidden behind them.

Even though they said it was strange, it was actually just an ordinary
wooden door that was painted a sky-blue color. The paint was peeling off
badly, and the door frame had warped because of the moisture. They said it
was strange because there wasn’t a door like this on the other five floors
and it had been completely blocked by the filing cabinets.

It was as if someone wanted to hide it.

The workers pried open the door and found that it turned out to be a
humble living space. There was a rotten and moldy desk, a single bed, and a
thermos covered in cobwebs. The putty on the ceiling was damp and had
fallen to the ground.

When we came to the door, I had a clearer understanding of why it was so

strange. I had studied architecture before and knew at a glance that the
door wasn’t actually a special design. It was really the door to the reception
room.

31
On the wall near the door, I could see traces of where bricks had been laid
before. I immediately understood that someone had changed the position of
this building’s entrance and the one we had just come through had been
made later. This was the building’s original entrance, and the hidden room
had really just been an ordinary reception area before.

Jin Wantang was very skilled in feng shui, so he shouldn’t have missed
something like this. If he said there was something strange here, then there
had to be something other than the door hidden here.

The inside of the building was very cold and I felt a little creeped out as I
walked into the reception room. I hadn’t been in this kind of environment
for a long time. I used my phone’s flashlight to look around and finally
understood what Jin Wantang had been talking about.

A dried corpse was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. Its whole
body had collapsed into the chair and it was wearing a jacket that appeared
to be stuck to its body.

When I looked at the jacket, my head buzzed and my throat became numb. I
recognized the style of this jacket.

It was my Uncle Three’s jacket.

My mind hadn’t fully processed things yet, but my body had already started
instinctively trembling. It was so sudden that I didn’t dare take a step
forward.

When Fatty’s light shot over, I felt all the hair on my body stand on end.
Even though the corpse’s face had rotted away, I had a strong feeling that
this corpse was my Uncle Three.

I glanced back at Jin Wantang and found him looking at me silently. His
expression wasn’t as smooth as before, and he seemed to be waiting for me
to come to a conclusion.

32
Truthfully, I wasn’t ready to face my Uncle Three’s body so quickly. After
forcing myself to face all those difficulties over the years, this was the first
time I had actually fled.

But at that moment, my phone alerted me that I had a text message.

33
Chapter 4 Thunder
I took a deep breath and looked at my phone, only to find that there was no
text message. There was only that New Year’s greeting text on the message
preview screen.

I paused. Fatty chased after me and asked, “What’s the matter, Mr. Naïve? If
this kind of thing can scare you, it’s like you’ve gone back to your old self.”

“Is it my Uncle Three?” I asked him. “Take a closer look for me.”

When Fatty saw my expression, he knew I wasn’t joking. His face sank and
he patted me on the shoulder before going back into the room. I looked at
my phone again and found that I really didn’t get a text message. That’s
strange, I thought to myself.

Most of the windows in the ruins had rotted and collapsed. The sun was
shining outside and the light streaking into the room formed a bright
rectangle, but the place was still very cold. I looked around and noticed that
a large number of filing cabinets blocked the light from reaching this space.
The message alert just now shouldn’t have been an auditory hallucination
and must’ve come from somewhere nearby. But when I looked around,
there wasn’t anyone or anything suspicious.

I didn’t have any confidence in my mental state right now and slowly started
to wonder if I was going crazy. After a few minutes, Fatty called from the
room, “Mr. Naïve, has your Uncle Three ever gone by the name Yang
Daguang?”

“Not that I know of,” I replied.

“Then I don’t think this is your Uncle Three,” He said.

When I walked back in, I saw that he had taken an old ID card from the
corpse’s pants pocket and was looking at it under his phone’s flashlight. I

34
went over and saw that the name on the ID card really was Yang Daguang.
He was born in 1948 and was from Luoyang.

The ID card and a stack of other things in the pants pocket were tied
together with a rubber band and placed inside a plastic bag. There was a
library card, a work permit, and a series of certificates inside. With the
exception of being damp and yellow with age, they were actually pretty well
preserved.

Fatty flipped the photo over and I saw that it wasn’t Uncle Three at all. This
corpse’s face just seemed to resemble him. There was no doubt that this
person must have been Yang Daguang.

Fatty patted me and then put his forehead against mine, “Old foxes don’t
die so easily. Don’t even fucking think about it.”

I was so relieved that I felt my legs go weak. I was just trying to calm myself
down when Jin Wantang spoke up from the side, “Little Master Three, you
look down on me too much. Did you really think I couldn’t tell whether this
was Master Three’s body or not?”

After taking a few deep breaths, I felt all my senses finally return to normal.
There was a strong musty odor that was accompanied by an underlying
stench. I patted my face and looked down at the corpse’s jacket. It looked so
similar to my Uncle Three’s jacket that I didn’t believe it was a mere
coincidence.

I soon discovered that the corpse wasn’t actually wearing the jacket, but had
it placed around its shoulders. Fatty coughed and I realized that he wasn’t
done speaking.

When I looked at him, he continued, “Don’t be too happy. Even though this
person isn’t your Uncle Three, he may be your Uncle Three’s boyfriend.”
With that said, he handed me a photo.

The old photo must have also been in that pile of documents just now. It
was moldy and wrinkled, but I could still make out three people’s images in

35
it. They were wearing engineering hats from the 1980s, carrying big bags,
and there were mountains in the background. They must have been working
on a construction project around the rivers and mountains. The photo was
in color, and it showed both Uncle Three and Yang Daguang. The two men
stood side by side, holding hands, and there was another person in the
distance.

It was Chen Wen-Jin.

“This photo was with his work permit,” Fatty said. “Isn’t it a little odd for a
grown man to put a photo of your Uncle Three in with his work permit?”

“He likes Chen Wen-Jin,” I said. Even though Yang Daguang was facing the
camera, his body was leaning towards Chen Wen-Jin’s direction. It looked
like he and Uncle Three were holding hands, but Uncle Three was actually
holding him tightly and Yang Daguang’s fingers weren’t closed. Uncle Three
must have pulled him to take this photo, but all his thoughts were on Chen
Wen-Jin. “What the hell did this person do?”

Fatty handed me the work permit, which stated that Yang Daguang was an
employee in the archives room. I looked between the photo and the work
permit. It didn’t make sense for Uncle Three and Chen Wen-Jin to be out in
the wild with someone in charge of archives. This person must’ve had an
identity we hadn’t discovered yet.

Based on Uncle Three’s attitude towards him in the photo, they must’ve
been very good friends. Uncle Three didn’t have many friends, and even if
they were ordinary friends, they wouldn’t go into the mountains together.

Uncle Three put this jacket on Yang Daguang’s body after he died, which
meant that he must’ve come here, discovered that his friend had died, and
then put the jacket on the body.

Did Uncle Three lead me here so that I could collect his friend’s body? But
how did his friend die in this secret room?

36
As Fatty continued rummaging around the reception room, he said to me,
“This old man must’ve died suddenly. He probably came to this secret room
to hide. The people in the weather station probably didn’t even know that
he died here. Look at his big mouth. He must’ve hidden in this area to do
something, and I bet it was strange. Hurry up and look around.”

I went through everything bit by bit, looking at it all patiently but quickly.
There were meal tickets, newspaper clippings, and a lot of meteorological
files. To be honest, I couldn’t understand the icons and data at all. Most of
them were so moldy and decayed that they crumbled at the slightest touch.
Fatty dropped to the ground, looked under the furniture, and let out an
exclamation.

I also squatted down and saw a pile of boxes under the bed. They were all
leather shoe boxes from the 1990s that had been placed inside plastic bags.
Fatty lay down, pulled out a few, and opened them while praying, “Please be
land deeds, please be land deeds.”

But when we opened them, we found that the shoe boxes were full of
cassette tapes like the ones I used to listen to music to.

Fatty and I looked at each other.

He took out a tape and looked at it. There was a note written on it that said
“Peony Pavilion”. It looked like it was a recorded version of Yu Zhenfei’s
performance(1).

“Kunqu Opera? Was the old man a fan of operas?” Fatty was bewildered.

(1)
“Peony Pavilion” is a romantic tragicomedy play written by dramatist Tang Xianzu in 1598. The play
was originally written for staging as Kunqu Opera, one of the genres of traditional Chinese theater arts
like Flower Drum (Huaguxi) Opera and Peking Opera. More info on the play here. Yu Zhenfei was the
20th century’s most distinguished performer of Kunqu Opera. Here’s a small blurb with some info about
him.

37
I took all the shoe boxes out from underneath the bed, opened them all, and
found that they were full of tapes of various operas. I was even more
confused.

Fatty rummaged through the rest of the room but found nothing. When we
left the room to catch our breath, Jin Wantang wiped the sweat from his
forehead and handed me a cigarette. He kept saying that he didn’t lie to me
and that this place was evil. He advised me to hurry up and sell it so that I
could make some money and pay him back for all the money Uncle Three
owed him. The money he had spent to buy this place wasn’t an investment
but a loan.

I looked at the tapes and ignored him. Jin Wantang definitely wanted to take
the land for himself, but it was pointless to argue with him now. We had too
much dirt on each other, so there was no reason to bother with it. It wasn’t
like I was in a hurry to deal with this piece of land anyways.

My main focus right now was on figuring out why Uncle Three asked me to
find this Yang Daguang, and why I had to find these tapes. Were they really
just opera recordings?

I left Fatty and Jin Wantang to deal with each other, called a cab, and then
took to the streets to try and find a used cassette player. It was difficult, but
I finally found a specialty shop in Suzhou that had one in stock. I brought it
back to the hotel that evening, plugged it in, and then put a tape in it.

There was static for about thirty seconds, and then a series of strange
sounds came from the player. It was like drumming and someone
whispering. The sounds were intermittent and accompanied by a lot of
white noise.

I thought that the player was broken or the tape had been demagnetized,
but the tape spools were still rotating. I also tried switching out the tapes
several more times, but they all had the same sound.

38
I was depressed, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
After listening carefully to more than a dozen tapes, I suddenly realized
what I was hearing.

It was thunder.

All these tapes had recorded the sound of thunder.

39
Chapter 5 Yang Daguang
We took everything from the reception room and brought it back to the
shop, including the body.

Fatty tied the body to the chair, hired a moving van, and drove all the way
back to Hangzhou overnight. I piled all the things that were in my back room
into the front room and stuffed them around Wang Meng’s station. After
that was done, I put all the broken and rotten furniture that Fatty had
brought back into the back room.

Wang Meng was shocked. “Boss, didn’t you retire? What kind of tomb is this
from? How come it looks even more worthless than the goods we’ve
bought?”

I put the corpse in front of my couch and then covered it with a cloth before
handing Wang Meng two hundred yuan and telling him to go away. Once he
was finally gone, I started listening to the tapes one by one.

There were far more tapes than I had originally thought and they both had A
and B sides. Practically all of them had recordings of various operas and
children’s songs, which made it obvious that Yang Daguang had transcribed
over people’s old tapes.

His life must have really been difficult.

Based on this, I figured that he and my Uncle Three’s relationship must have
been distant because Uncle Three was rich very early and would have
definitely helped him.

It took me two months to listen to all the tapes. During this time, I would
listen to them any time I got in the car, when I went to the toilet, and even
when I was in the shower. Not only were the recordings different from any
other sounds, but listening to thunder was very boring. I was still attentive
and tried to remember all the details, but I always fell asleep before I knew

40
it. I ended up having to listen to the tape again when I woke up. As a result,
it was a very inefficient process.

I didn’t get any new text messages on my phone. As I listened to the tapes, I
came to the conclusion that this Yang Daguang must’ve been a madman.

All the tapes were full of all kinds of thunder, frequencies, and sounds, and
many of them were accompanied by the sound of heavy rainfall. The
thunder in most of the tapes sounded like it was at the intensity of a
thunderstorm.

Since it was possible to figure out what era the cassettes had been sold in,
and I knew Yang Daguang had gotten them some time after that, I made a
preliminary calculation. It didn’t rain every day, so even if I calculated from
the earliest sales date, the only way he could record so much thunder was if
he chased after storm clouds.

He would go wherever the storm clouds went, which meant he was a storm
chaser.

But storm clouds didn’t exist all the time. For him to record so much
thunder, he needed to keep chasing thunderstorms for a minimum of
sixteen years.

He’s a fucking lunatic. Why did he do this? What’s the point of all this
thunder?

Fatty had lost interest after the first month had passed, saying that this guy
was the only one in the world who had a thunderstorm fetish. Believe it or
not, he probably climaxed when he got struck by lightning. Whenever he
heard thunder in the sky, he would take his little brother out and use it as a
lightning rod.

I didn’t think that was the case. I looked at the other materials we had taken
and found some new clues. In the photo of him, Uncle Three, and Wen-Jin, I
saw that he was carrying a big machine. When I asked an expert about it,
they said that it was a tape recorder (the first generation of tape recorders

41
at that time were very large). This photo had been taken in the mountains,
which meant that there was a time when Yang Daguang was recording
thunderstorms with Uncle Three.

Uncle Three had no interest in getting up early, and the only things that
could make him do so at that age were Chen Wen-Jin and grave robbing.

I touched my chin. I hadn’t shaved my beard for a long time, so I went to

take care of it. As I was shaving, I began to feel conflicted.

I looked at the Uncle Three in the photo. I didn’t want to think of him as
someone with deliberately bad intentions. He appeared to be a good friend
or even a brother to this Yang Daguang, but my Uncle Three… in fact, he was
the kind of guy who would deliberately pretend to make friends with others
for his own purposes.

So, was he using Yang Daguang’s meteorological knowledge about thunder

to search for ancient tombs for himself? When it came to my cruel and
stubborn Uncle Three, it was absolutely possible. And with them chasing
thunderstorms, it felt a lot like the ancient grave robbers’ way of listening to
thunder to find tombs in Luoyang.

Or maybe Yang Daguang was also in the business and Uncle Three hired him
to go find a tomb?

But finding a tomb was finding a tomb. Why were they recording thunder?
Were this man’s ears so powerful that he could judge the location of an
ancient tomb in the region just by listening to the tapes? No, based on
common sense, it was absolutely impossible. No matter how I listened, I
could only hear the very vague sound of thunder.

But this was definitely a clue. I had been listening to these tapes again and
again, but my body soon began to reject it. I became very anxious and
uncomfortable every time I heard the sound, and I even felt a little nauseous
whenever I saw the tapes.

42
I persisted in my investigation for a long time, but there were hardly any
clues at all. Eventually, I slowly started to slack off.

I began to classify the tapes, examined the corpse again and again, and used
my connections to find someone to cremate and bury the corpse while Fatty
made all kinds of trouble.

Summer was just around the corner, so our attention gradually began to
shift towards the June crab season. As Hangzhou started warming up, Fatty
wanted to go back to the mountains in Fujian. I told him we should do some
work to make some money before going back; otherwise, things would be
bad during the New Year.

We had spent so much money before—building roads and investing in

nightclubs in the villages and towns—so we stayed in the shop and set up a
business right outside.

Fatty put five-spice tofu and Dutch roasted sausages in front of the shop,
which basically became our main business. We sold tofu during the day and
drank wine and ate crabs at night. We’d occasionally talk about this matter,
but we became more and more desensitized to it. It seemed as if Uncle
Three just wanted me to bury the body, which meant that I was done.

I had also been wondering how to tell my grandmother about Uncle Three. I
was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stand the stimulation, so I figured it was
better to postpone it. My dad started crying when he found out, accusing
Uncle Three of being unfilial and unkind. But he was finally happy to know
and asked me to text the number back, telling Uncle Three to come home. I
told him we should wait in case he came back on his own.

But Uncle Three didn’t come back, of course.

On this particular day, I stealthily went to Lou Wai Lou(1) to throw our
garbage out—their garbage was handled specially, so we secretly threw ours
in with theirs— when it suddenly became dark and started to rain. The

(1)
Lou Wai Lou is a famous traditional restaurant in Hangzhou.

43
downpour came so suddenly that I ran back to the shop, but before I
entered the door, lightning flashed across the sky and the deafening sound
of thunder rang out.

“Bring all the tofu in!” I shouted to Wang Meng.

But right after I yelled, I suddenly had a strange feeling in my heart. I looked
up at the dark clouds in the sky. The lightning flashed and the thunder
boomed again, sounding very clear.

I broke out in a cold sweat in the heavy rain, suddenly realizing that I had
recognized the thunder just now.

For fifteen minutes, I stood in the rain, watched the sky, and listened until
Fatty dragged me inside. He asked me what I was doing and if I was acting
out a scene from “Romance in the Rain”(2). I rushed into my room, pulled out
the tape recorder, and took out a cassette tape. I then ran back out into the
rain in my raincoat, faced the sky, and started recording the thunder.

The thunderstorm passed quickly, and I went back into the shop soaking
wet. Fatty handed me a hammer, “Welcome to the Avengers.”

I pushed him away and started rummaging through Yang Daguang’s tapes. I
had a stunning premonition that was enough to make my blood run cold.

(2)
It’s a famous Chinese TV period drama from 2001. More info here.

44
Chapter 6 Those Who Listen to Thunder
During the process of listening to the tapes, I had recorded a lot of the
sounds into the computer to prevent the tapes from demagnetizing. I
rummaged through the tapes, found the box I had numbered, and then
found the corresponding number files in the computer. As I played the
thunder I just recorded and the sound files on the computer, I compared
them bit by bit.

Soon, the two thunder recordings started to synchronize, until the thunder I
just recorded and the thunder in the computer overlapped perfectly.

The frequency and state were almost exactly the same.

I took two steps back and let the two recordings play repeatedly. I could tell
that Fatty was puzzled, so I pointed to the computer and told him that this
thunder was recorded more than ten years ago. I then pointed to the
thunder playing on the tape recorder, which had been recorded during the
thunderstorm just now.

The two recordings were exactly the same.

The fact that two thunderstorms separated by more than ten years were
exactly the same was absolutely impossible. Even if we assumed this was a
coincidence, the probability was infinitely close to zero.

It was really creepy once I thought about it, and it stirred up my curiosity
that had been calm for a long time. I realized that this was different from all
the situations I had encountered before, but I couldn’t figure out what was
going on—how the fuck was this possible?

Were the thunder gods copying each other?

The two thunder recordings kept playing repeatedly, and my mind gradually
entered an endless loop. A voice kept telling me that there had to be a
reasonable explanation for this since all the unreasonable things I had

45
encountered before had eventually been explained reasonably. But another
voice kept telling me that the things I had encountered before were
completely different from what I was seeing now

I even thought of the rain and thunder I had heard in that dark video tape so
long ago, which was said to have come from behind the bronze door. The
thought made my whole body break out in goosebumps and all my
associative thoughts were in chaos.

Fatty wanted to discuss some ideas, but he opened his mouth for a long
time and couldn’t say a word. “This doesn’t make any sense. Does all
thunder sound the same?” He eventually muttered.

No one actually knows, I said to myself. Since ancient times, no one had ever
tried to record thunder like this. If Yang Daguang was a meteorologist who
was used by Uncle Three to find an ancient tomb, he was probably the first
one to ever try and record thunder. Like this, he had a good chance of
finding something if there was a lot of thunder. This would explain his
behavior of chasing after thunderstorms and recording thunder for so many
years.

He was trying to figure out what the thunder was.

But why did Uncle Three push me to find this?

As Fatty and I sat down, I turned off the tape recorder and computer and
said to him, “Come on, use your enumeration method to figure out all the
possibilities.”

“Enumerate my ass. What do we need enumeration for?” Fatty retorted.

“Maybe the thunder this guy recorded more than ten years ago wasn’t
thunder from that time. Maybe the place where he recorded the thunder
was tied to the future.”

I shook my head. “Even so, it’s too coincidental. I don’t know where he
recorded the thunder back then, but it doesn’t make sense that I would hear

46
the exact same thunder a few months after I got the tapes more than a
decade later.”

Fatty nodded. “Well, there’s only one more ridiculous possibility.” He looked
at me and continued, “If it’s not a coincidence, then there’s only one
possibility—thunder at this frequency often appears. Yang Daguang heard it
once more than ten years ago and now you’ve heard it once more than ten
years after that. There must have been countless other claps of thunder at
this frequency in between these two points in time. But any sound that
repeats at a fixed frequency—regardless of whether it’s a cry of ecstasy in
bed or a clap thunder—has one explanation.”

I looked at Fatty, and he looked back at me seriously before saying, “It

means there’s hidden information in it.”

After that, there was another flash of lightning outside the shop, thunder
boomed, and it started to rain again. I looked at the pedestrians who were
trying to take shelter from the rain again and asked him, “Who sent the
message?”

“Only God knows,” Fatty said.

I didn’t sleep very well that night. For some reason, I kept dreaming about
the bronze door, the video I saw before, that image of myself crawling on
the ground, and countless lightning strikes streaking across the sky. I woke
up at five in the morning. The rain was still falling intermittently and my
scalp felt numb as I looked out the window at the dark clouds in the sky.

I flipped through all of Yang Daguang’s things again and searched online for
similar information, but still found nothing. I stared at his old ID card,
looking at his face and the address on it. I finally realized that I needed to go
to his hometown. It was the only place where there might be clues.

Before Fatty and I set off the next day, Wang Meng gave me a lonely look
and asked, “Boss, why are you leaving as soon as you come back?” When I
gave him another two hundred yuan, Fatty didn’t even object. I saw that he
didn’t sleep well either, and had two huge black circles under his eyes. He

47
told me that he couldn’t figure it out. He didn’t care that he had seen a lot of
strange things over the past few decades, but he really couldn’t understand
how thunder could have a hidden message.

To make a long story short, we went to Yang Daguang’s hometown village,

showed his ID card and photos to people everywhere, and asked them some
questions. To our surprise, Yang Daguang was very famous in his hometown,
and almost all the old people knew him. They said that he was the only
college student in the village at that time and later went to work in a
government agency. But he never came back.

I asked if Yang Daguang had any relatives that were still alive. An old man
told me that Yang Daguang didn’t have any brothers and his father was his
only relative, but he had been shot many years ago. They heard that it was
because he was grave robbing. Not only was Yang Daguang very poor, but
he was all alone at a very early age, so he didn’t return to the village after he
was admitted to university.

Fatty and I glanced at each other, and I thought to myself, there’s a chance. I
asked the old man where Yang Daguang’s old house was. The old man shook
his head and said that it was long gone, but the old grave was still there. The
grave was a bit strange because no grass could grow there.

48
Chapter 7 Bare Grave
We didn’t find any clues the whole way, only that Yang Daguang’s father
was a grave robber and there was no grass growing on the grave. But we still
had to go and have a look.

Many people in the village were surnamed Huang, so there were Uncle
Huangs everywhere. The old man had told us to find Uncle Huang to lead
the way, but I figured he was just messing with us. I really couldn’t figure out
which one to ask, but no one seemed willing to show us the way for a long
time. All they would do was tell us the general direction to go in.

Speaking of Yang Daguang and grave robbing, it didn’t seem like a huge deal
in the villages around Funiu Mountain in Songxian County, Luoyang. In those
days, grave robbers were taken in and shot by the truckload.

This county was almost all mountains, so there was no flat land and driving
almost killed us. I remembered that this was a branch of the Qinling
Mountains, and there were many tombs of the Lu Hunguo people(1) from the
Spring and Autumn Period here. And since there was a group of them here,
if you found one, you could find a bunch of them.

We decided to try our luck and walk to the barren mountain outside of the
village, which was a surprisingly difficult walk. After only a few steps, there
was no road, but fortunately, there was a dry stream in the mountain. We
followed alongside it as we climbed up the mountain.

Yang Daguang’s father was buried a long time ago, and the graveyard was
far from the village. We climbed all the way to the wild forest halfway up the
mountain, only to find that the earliest burial site had been completely
abandoned. The graveyard was set up in layers on the mountainside, with
many big trees growing in the middle of it. Their canopies covered the sky,

(1)
Baidu seemed to say they were basically a nomadic tribe of the Rong people who got a name change
in the Spring and Autumn period. They seemed to be established around 683 BC and were destroyed by
the Jin State in 525 BC. The Rong were various people who lived in and around the extremities of ancient
China.

49
shading the round tombstones below. The tombstones looked to be about
fifty or sixty years old and were covered in several layers of moss and coiled
vines and weeds. The tombstones were basically gone by this point.

Fatty looked at the mountain and said that something wasn’t right. This
wasn’t a place where ordinary people were buried. He felt as if the
mountain looked familiar, like he had seen it in a dream or something.

I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I focused on looking at the

graves instead. They all appeared to be old and ownerless, because the
families who still had descendants moved the ancestral graves closer to the
village and into the new graves. If these graves hadn’t been moved, then
that meant that their children may have lost touch with them or were dead.

The tombstones were buried in the mud, but the edges and corners could
still be seen through the grass and mud on the ground. The colors on them
had long worn away, and many of the names were unrecognizable.

One of the open spaces was very strange and small, only about the size of a
bathtub. It was completely bare without any grass on it and the mud looked
old. Of course, the area around it wasn’t completely bare, for there was
some sparse grass growing. It was easy to guess that it used to be a burial
mound that had been flattened at some point.

“This is it,” Fatty said. “There’s cinnabar in the mud that’s been lit, so no
grass can grow. This is an ancient technique for preserving graves. This Yang
Daguang must be one of us, and he had a solid education.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked, surprised.

“He could get admitted to college while grave robbing,” Fatty said. “Unlike
me, you could say he had a solid education. I can’t even distinguish between
2 and z clearly.” As he touched the soil at the head of the grave, I started
wondering if he was out of his mind.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked him.

50
“I’m fascinated by the great rivers and mountains in the Central Plains.”
Fatty said.

“Speak human,” I said angrily.

“Mr. Naïve, can’t you see?” Fatty patted the ground. “Most of the people in
this village are surnamed Huang, yet Yang Daguang’s family was surnamed
Yang. They’re foreigners. Grave robbers are usually foreigners. There must
be a big tomb nearby. You know, a tomb big enough to live comfortably for
three lifetimes. It must be in the mountains under our feet.”

I paused and said to myself, what are you trying to do? Not only are we
retired, but even if we want to do a brief stint like this, we don’t have any
equipment with us. Can we even find the entrance?

“You’re old and your brain is dying,” Fatty continued. “Don’t you
understand? On the one hand, the villagers here say that Yang Daguang has
never been back to the village; on the other hand, they’re sure that there’s
no grass on his father’s old grave. You know, once you burn the mud and
cinnabar, it’ll soon oxidize. That means the grass will grow again in seven or
eight years at most. There’s no grass on this grave, which means that Yang
Daguang must have visited the village many times. And he came back
secretly.

Yang Daguang may have secretly come back to visit the grave because he
felt humiliated with how his father had died, but that was unlikely. Grave
robbing was actually common in Luoyang, so there wasn’t as much moral
pressure. So, why couldn’t he go back to the village directly to visit the
grave? It took a lot of money to chase thunder clouds all over the world back
then, so he must have come back regularly to take things from the grave to
sell.

“What do you want to do?” I asked Fatty.

When he pointed to the soil on the ground, I knew that there was a strong
chance that the entrance was right below us. “You have to give me a
reason,” I said. “We’re here to investigate things, not to get rich.”

51
“I’m not going to take anything, Mr. Naïve,” Fatty said. “If I really wanted to,
then there’s no way you can stop me. I’ll come here myself in the middle of
the night and not tell you. But your Uncle Three must have been to this
place.” He took out the photo of Yang Daguang and Uncle Three, pointed to
the distant mountains in the photo’s background, and then pointed to the
direction he thought he had seen in his dream. I compared them and found
that they were identical.

The photo was taken in this area, which meant that Uncle Three had been to
this village. Fatty’s inferences were almost always correct.

I frowned. Although I was annoyed, I was still persuaded in the end. We

weren’t here to take other people’s things, but to find clues about a missing
person. But Fatty and I both hesitated at the same time, feeling like
something was missing.

After a few seconds, Fatty tentatively said, “If you feel like something’s
wrong, why don’t you call Little Brother?”

“Why?” I asked.

“I’m afraid of your constitution,” Fatty said. “Who the fuck knows what’s
inside that tomb? I’m not prepared at all. I didn’t even bring a black donkey
hoof(2) with me.”

“According to what you said, the grave robbing Yang family has been
working here for at least two generations, so there shouldn’t be anything
inside,” I said. I thought it over a little bit and felt that we shouldn’t bother
Little Brother for this kind of thing. “I’m fine.”

“I don’t have anything on me. If you open it and an Uncle Yang springs out at
you, can you handle it?” Fatty asked me. “Don’t force yourself, I’ll call him.”
With that said, Fatty dialed the number.

(2)
Not sure if you’ve seen “Ghost Blows Out the Light”, but it’s used to ward off jiangshi (Chinese
hopping vampires or hopping zombies), which are a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and
folklore.

52
As the dial tone sounded, he immediately looked at me and I said, “I bet you
five yuan he doesn’t answer.”

Before I finished speaking, Fatty said into the phone, “Hey, Little Brother. I
have something to discuss with you. The two of us met with a deathly
mishap, so you have to come quickly.”

53
Chapter 8 The Yang Family’s Old Tomb
Fatty asked me for the money as soon as he finished speaking. I took out five
yuan, but before I gave it to him, I heard a middle-aged woman speaking in a
dialect over the phone.

As Fatty paused, I took the money back. He then asked in the Fujian dialect,
“Sister, why are you answering the phone in our house? What about our
handsome brother?”

I didn’t have Fatty’s talent for language, so I couldn’t understand the other
person’s answer, but the two people soon started to argue.

For a period of time after we left, we always got a busy tone whenever we
called the house. Fatty had said that Little Brother was putting on airs in
front of us and was always on the phone after we left. We later learned that
as soon as we left, the aunts in the village came to our house to make long-
distance calls to their sons and grandchildren, which lasted for four or five
hours.

The weather was very hot and Fatty was being noisy as he argued on the
phone. I was just starting to feel really irritated when I noticed that my body
was soaked in sweat and my neck and ankles were starting to itch. I looked
down and saw that a bunch of bugs the size of sesame seeds were sucking
my blood.

When I went to check Fatty, I found that the back of his neck and arms were
full of those sesame-sized black bugs. Amazingly enough, they were all on
the back of his arms, behind his neck, and behind his ankles, which were
hard for people to see. I rushed over and smacked them to death.

Fatty was startled, but I quickly showed him the bug remnants that were on
my hand. He jumped up in fright and started slapping himself all over.

But he and I were already covered in tiny red bumps that made us look like
we had a skin disease. The itching was absolutely unbearable.

54
Fatty suddenly became enraged and yelled into the phone, “You stupid
bitch, put the phone down and tell our handsome brother to answer!”

The two of us ran out of the woods and fled back to the village. After he was
done arguing, Fatty hung up the phone and said that Poker-Face wasn’t
there. He asked the aunt to wait for him to come back and tell him that we
had called. Fatty looked at his hands and ankles and said, “I told you we’d
need him, but you didn’t believe me.”

I figured he definitely wouldn’t be able to come. It would take at least a day

to get from Fujian to here, and if Poker-Face was absent, that meant he was
in the mountains. It usually took him about a week to go into the mountains
and come back, so by the time we finished, he might not have left the
mountains yet. And even though I often joked about it, I really couldn’t use
him as a mosquito-repellent.

So, I unhesitatingly went back to the village wholesale station and bought
shovels, ropes, candles, flashlights, waist-high rubber pants, and rubber
gloves.

The jianbing(1) in the village were good but different from those I was
familiar with. They were more like very thin dry cakes. I bought a big bag of
them and wrapped them in plastic bags and newspapers. Once all that was
done, we carried everything back to the wild mountain slope full of graves.

As we walked, I repeatedly cross-checked the photo with the mountains in

the distance. Uncle Three was really young at that time, so it should have
been before he went to Xisha. I was a little dazed when I thought of my
current age.

I felt like I was doing what Uncle Three had done my whole life, but with our
equipment, we looked like a bunch of housewives cleaning toilets instead.

It was dark, and the light from the setting sun was hidden behind the
mountains. Only a halo of light like cotton wool was peeking out from

(1)
A savory Chinese crêpe/pancake

55
behind the silhouette of the mountains. In the distance, we could see the
lights in the village were all on. It was only when we looked up that we could
see the faint sky shimmering between the leaves in the forest. It was a little
cooler at night, but that didn’t stop all the bugs from assaulting our heads.
We covered our faces in bug spray, but that just made it even hotter. The
sweat dissolved the spray, causing it to drip straight down our bodies and
make us look like melted wax figures.

The shovel wasn’t a specialized drilling shovel, so we sawed off the handle
and used the short end to dig. After we dug three meters down, we found
that there was a ready-made grave robbers’ tunnel below. It was covered in
wooden planks and had been dug very skillfully. It was spacious, and there
were many pit marks in it that were lined with brick.

The tunnel had been dug diagonally so that it hit the mountain directly.
Fatty tidied everything up, took out a bamboo plaque, and covered it with
soil so that it looked like the ground. He then turned on the flashlight and
we climbed down, covering the hole with the bamboo plaque as we went.
Within twenty meters, we saw the outer wall of the tomb. The opening was
blocked with new bricks that hadn’t collapsed yet.

Fatty glanced at it. There was a small stove, some wine bottles, instant
noodle packages, and many hot water kettles in the small grave robbers’
tunnel outside the tomb. “So fastidious,” he said. “You can tell that this was
a multi-generational operation. Maybe there’s even a place to charge your
phone in here.”

I tried to pry open the new bricks, but Fatty stopped me. “Wait, something’s
wrong.”

He used a flashlight to illuminate the space where the ground met the tomb
entrance. There were a lot of traces of incense ash and paper debris, many
of which hadn’t been burned all the way through. He carefully looked
around the tomb’s outer wall and saw some faded scarlet letters: “Tomb of
loving father, Yang Gong Guilong”.

56
“What does that mean?” Fatty asked.

“You’re right,” I said. “Mr. Yang really is inside, and—” I immediately noticed
some more strange things. I wiped the outer wall of the tomb with my
hands, removing a thick layer of dust and revealing more inscriptions. They
were all names that looked like they belonged on tombstones. There were
about a dozen of them, and they were all surnamed Yang.

“The whole Yang family is inside. They all made a living off this tomb and
were buried in it after they died?”

“Why?” Fatty asked. “Were they just being stingy?”

“There’s always a reason. We’ll know once we open this tomb.” I went up,
paid my respects, and then broke the bricks apart to expose the hole. I took
the lead and went in, looking around with my flashlight.

The tomb’s vault was very short, so I could only squat as I moved forward.
My first reaction was surprise. I thought it was going to be a big, thousand-
year-old tomb, but a single glance showed that it wasn’t. This tomb was very
recent, and I estimated that it was from the Qing Dynasty at the earliest. But
as I looked at the chaotic layout, Western-style patterns, and the glazed tiles
that had been pressed out by high-tech machines, I felt that it may even be
a tomb from the Republic.

But strangely enough, this tomb had frescoes on the four walls. Because of
their age, the frescoes were mottled but not yet oxidized. The frescoes were
very exquisite, which was a stark contrast to the vault’s simple structure. I
used my flashlight to illuminate the ground and saw a row of spirit tablets
lying against the wall. There were rotten offerings and a lot of paper ashes in
front of them, but I didn’t see any coffins or bones.

“What about the goods?” Fatty asked. “Is this tomb that big?”

I could tell that he was very disappointed, but I ignored him and stared at
the murals instead. There were a lot of dark clouds and lightning strikes
painted on them.

57
Chapter 9 God of Thunder’s Coffin
The tomb was very hot, so I took off my rubber gloves and rubbed my face
with a towel. I carefully examined the murals with my flashlight and felt the
coolness in my heart begin to spread. The murals were coated in something
like egg whites, which would prevent their oxidation and enable them to be
seen clearly.

As I looked carefully, I saw that the old cracks on them were very obvious,
meaning that these murals were much older than the tomb itself.

It was too difficult to tell what style they were, but my intuition was telling
me that these murals were from the Song Dynasty. The paintings were done
very skillfully and a cursory glance showed that they all depicted dark clouds
and lightning strikes. But if I looked very carefully, I could see all kinds of
thunder gods painted on the clouds covering the walls.

At the lower end of the mural, there were countless rocks, trees, and
pavilions set up in the mountains. There were also a lot of little people in
white robes who had their ears facing the pavilions in the mountains, as if
they were listening to the thunder in the sky.

Fatty looked at the spirit tablets one by one and read the names on them,
seemingly at a total loss(1). “Mr. Naïve, this tomb is too small and looks so
new. How can there be such beautiful murals here?” He asked me.

“If I’ve guessed correctly, these murals were taken from other tombs,” I said
faintly. The world had changed so much during the Republic that it was
impossible for skilled painters like this to paint such decorations in a tomb.

Fatty had gotten it all wrong. This wasn’t a big tomb, but the Yang family’s
own ancestral grave that was built during the Republic. When the Yang

(1)
The literal translation of the Chinese idiom in the raw is: “like a three-meter-high monk, you can’t rub
his head”.

58
family’s ancestors built this tomb, they cut the murals from other ancient
tombs and stuck them in their own tomb for decoration.

I had seen some township entrepreneurs’ aesthetics that were just like this.
They wanted to express their own aesthetics, but the way they did it left
people speechless.

This wall covered in murals was very precious, and the thunder gods were
painted vividly and full of verve. I had heard Uncle Three say before that
some grave robbers in Luoyang were very skilled in painting and calligraphy
even though they looked like common villagers. They only washed their
clothes once a year, but they knew how to read these kinds of paintings.

The Yang family may have been one of them.

I figured these murals were probably stolen from a Song Dynasty tomb, and
the contents were actually related to listening to thunder. Yang Daguang’s
ancestors may have been exposed to listening to thunder very early, so Yang
Daguang learned the mystery of thunder when he inherited the ancestral
teachings. It was also possible that Yang Daguang saw these murals and
discovered the mysteries in them when he was paying respects to his
ancestors here, thus becoming interested in listening to thunder.

But why did these murals from a Song Dynasty tomb have contents related
to listening to thunder? Whose tomb were they originally from? Why was
the owner so interested in thunder?

I was finding it more and more interesting.

When I told Fatty my thoughts, he refused to accept it, “It’s fucking

impossible. If it’s the Yang family’s ancestral grave, then where are the
coffins? Where are Uncle Yang, Great-Uncle Yang, and Great-Great-Uncle
Yang? Why are there only these spirit tablets? There can’t be so few fucking
things here.”

59
How would I know? I said to myself. “Maybe they’re buried elsewhere and
this is just the place to pay their respects. Maybe they all died in a tomb and
their bones couldn’t be found.”

Fatty kicked the rotten offerings and said, “If that’s the case, then why did
Yang Daguang come back to pay his respects so piously? If the bodies aren’t
here, it doesn’t matter where you go to worship. You can just take the
tablets with you.”

He had a point. If Yang Daguang often came back to pay his respects, then it
meant that the bodies must be in the tomb.

But there was nothing in the tomb except for these spirit tablets. Fatty went
to check the murals out and knocked on all the walls, but they were all solid
and firm. After searching for half a day and finding nothing, Fatty sat down
on the ground with a curse and started smoking. “Let me tell you, we really
can’t go grave robbing without Little Brother. What’s this situation? This is a
regression of historical proportions, an unforgivable defeat. We’ve forgotten
our roots.”

I lay down on the ground to see the connection point between the murals
and the floor. I wanted to see how they could cut the murals from the Song
Dynasty tomb so completely. A long time ago, a group of missionaries used
tape to pull off the murals on many historical sites in western China, causing
extensive damage. But these murals were so complete that they almost
looked like they were painted directly on the wall. After thinking about it, I
grabbed Fatty’s cigarette and held it up to the joint between the wall and
the floor. I saw that the smoke floating up had a very slight tilt to it.

I moved the cigarette across the whole gap, noticing that the smoke tilted
more in the middle part.

There was air coming out from behind the wall, the flow so subtle that
people couldn’t feel it. The wall was sturdy on both sides and lighter in the
middle. There was a foreign material in the middle of the wall that was

60
lighter than brick, so both sides of the wall sank while the middle was
arched. That was why there was more airflow coming from the middle.

“There’s a space behind this wall,” I said to Fatty. “This is a rotating door and
the shaft is in the middle of the wall. The whole wall can rotate.”

“But how do we open it?” Fatty asked me. If it was Little Brother, he would
have already found the way to open it, but I didn’t have that ability.

Fatty pushed one side of it hard, but it didn’t move. When he threw his body
at both sides and it still didn’t budge, he picked up a shovel and hit the brick
floor without an ounce of hesitation. I understood his intention and
immediately went to help.

Just like a dog digging a hole, we smashed through the blue bricks on the
ground, dug under the wall, and then dug through to the opposite side.
Fatty had soon dug a sizeable hole, revealing that the area behind the wall
really was empty.

Once Fatty made the hole bigger, I moved to look into it and saw that it was
completely dark. I stuck my hand in, turned on my phone’s camera, took a
few photos, and then retreated.

When I pulled up the photos, I saw that the flash made everything look pale
and frightening. We could make out several strange things standing on the
wall opposite our wall that looked like a row of hanging corpses.

A closer look showed that they were old coffins that were half-buried
vertically in the wall. The rotten wood coffin planks were tied to nearby
bamboo shelves, and they were so worn in many places that we could see
inside the coffins. These coffins had to belong to the Yang family. Fatty had
finally found the dozen Uncle Yangs he had been dreaming of.

When I look at the photo, I wondered why they had been buried like this. I
scrolled to the second photo, which was of the whole space behind the wall.
It was very vague, but I could clearly tell that the space behind the wall was
a large rectangular tomb. There was an old sarcophagus in the middle of the

61
tomb that was painted red. From a distance, it almost seemed to match the
details in the murals outside. But strangely enough, there was a huge thing
hanging above the sarcophagus that looked like a big upside-down bell.

Fatty and I climbed in and turned our flashlights on. He went to check out
the Yang family’s coffins, while my attention was immediately drawn to the
sarcophagus that was painted lipstick-red like the murals outside.

As I looked closely at the decorative patterns, I noticed that the outer wall of
the sarcophagus was covered in thunder gods, and it was much larger than
the photo. When the flashlight shined upon it, I could see that the coffin lid
was engraved with cloud patterns that were coiled to form what looked like
ears. There were a lot of tricolor characters painted on the clouds that all
had a strange feature—their ears were particularly large.

Half of the behemoth above the sarcophagus appeared to be embedded in

the apex of the tomb. It looked like an inverted bell when seen up close. It
was made of copper and covered in thousands of layers of green and red
rust. Based on the decorative patterns, it appeared to be some kind of
sound amplifier that was integrated with the sarcophagus, and the body in
the sarcophagus used this device to listen to certain sounds. If I included the
murals outside, these three things didn’t belong in this tomb. They must
have come from other places, and may have even been stolen at the same
time.

I looked at Fatty, whose attention was still on the Yang family. I poked my
head under the “bell” and listened carefully. I could hear what sounded like
a lot of water coming from the surface, which seemed to be flowing
groundwater.

Fatty came over and also stuck his head under it to listen. “What’s that
noise? Someone urinating on it?” He asked curiously.

This running water sound seemed to be coming from the whole dome. I
thought for a while but couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that something
was wrong. I immediately climbed out of the grave robbers’ tunnel and saw

62
a bolt of lightning streak across the sky. I didn’t know when it had started,
but it was raining heavily outside. The thunder was rumbling and the rain
had washed away our bamboo plaque. It was now pouring into the tunnel,
so Fatty and I climbed out and built a higher mud pile outside the tunnel.
We then put an umbrella over the tunnel entrance and went back in.

As I crawled back to the tomb, I could hear the thunder very clearly in the
narrow underground space. In fact, it was even clearer than when I was
outside just now. And strangely enough, the thunder reverberating through
that strange bell sounded like whispering. It was as if there were countless
people whispering at the same time, but I couldn’t understand it even when
I listened carefully. All these voices seemed to converge and point right to
the sarcophagus.

“This is a bit interesting.” Fatty’s eyes began to shine and I could tell that his
curiosity was piqued. He looked at the sarcophagus and asked, “Is the body
in this coffin listening to thunder?”

I handed him the crowbar and then held the flashlight for him. He tacitly
inserted it into the gap in the sarcophagus and pushed the lid until a larger
gap was formed. We both took a step back in case something came out of
the coffin.

After waiting for a while with nothing happening, Fatty breathed a sigh of
relief. I wanted to go up and help him push the coffin lid off completely but
he pushed me away. “Safety first. You stay away. Let me do this kind of
work.” He pushed the lid at an oblique angle until the inside of the coffin
was completely exposed.

After pushing, he carefully shined the flashlight into the coffin. I had been
watching him, so I immediately noticed when his face changed. I wanted to
go over, but Fatty waved me to a stop. “Wait. Mentally prepare yourself
before coming over. There’s a monster inside.”

63
Chapter 10 My Name Is Zhang Qiling
I sighed and said to myself, quit it. Why are you trying to scare me with these
kinds of words now? I was a rookie ten years ago, but now I can jump into
coffins directly without trembling.

That being said, I still couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. How long had it
been since I last opened a coffin? I took a deep breath and walked over,
immediately noticing that the inside of the sarcophagus was in a strange
state. Generally, coffins either had rotten cotton wool or a pool of black
water with fungus in them. The inside of this sarcophagus, however, was like
a reef parasitized by barnacles. The layers of densely packed barnacles
looked like calluses, and the corpse was lying on its side on top of them. All
the exposed bones were also covered in barnacles, so it was impossible to
see what the body looked like.

I carefully examined it and found that it was an undecayed skeleton. The

head looked like it had been mummified, the lower body had already turned
to white bones, and the barnacles had flourished so much that they were
even in its mouth. When I shined my flashlight there, I could see that they
had even grown all over its throat, which immediately made my own throat
ache.

Fatty tapped the corpse with the crowbar and found that the barnacles had
formed a kind of husk in many places. But the most bizarre thing was the
corpse’s ear.

We could see that on the side of the corpse facing us, there were seven
ears. They were arranged in a particularly strange way and seemed to
extend all the way to the neck and back of its head. I initially thought it was
some kind of strange mushroom, but Fatty pried the corpse’s head up with a
crowbar and looked at the other side, which turned out to be normal.

The seven ears were facing the big sound amplifier above the coffin. There
was the constant rumble of thunder outside and it sounded like countless

64
people were talking all around us. Fatty swallowed and looked at me, at a
complete loss for words.

This is really weird. No wonder Fatty said it’s a monster.

I looked down and found that each ear had a hole in it like a normal ear. But
when I took a closer look with my flashlight, I saw that these ears had been
artificially made from the ear bones, mandible, and skull. The shape of the
ears was really just skin that had been cut with a knife.

This person didn’t have a deformity. In fact, the seven ears seemed to be a
special kind of decoration that was similar to a tattoo.

Such a wild and ancient form of worship was rare in the Central Plains, but
everything seemed to indicate that this ethnic group worshiped sound.

The tomb owner’s clothes had rotted away, but I could tell that this was a
burial style of the Central Plains. Fatty tapped on the bottom of the coffin
with the crowbar to see if there were any funerary objects underneath. The
barnacles broke apart as soon as he hit them, allowing him to reach the
bottom of the coffin.

But the bottom was empty.

It wasn’t uncommon for a coffin to be empty, but Fatty still seemed excited
for some reason. He appeared to have found something and quickly shined
his flashlight on it. Generally, the space under coffins was used to hide gold
and luminescent pearls. It was often only palm deep and had buckets filled
with pearls or gold dust. But the space under this coffin couldn’t be
illuminated with our flashlights.

“It’s a fucking well,” Fatty said. He used the crowbar to continue poking
around the rest of the coffin bottom. We found that there was a deep,
rectangular well under the coffin with a stone pillar sticking up from the
bottom. It was apparently the only thing holding the body up in the air since
the whole area around it was empty.

65
There also seemed to be something hanging on all the well walls.

I didn’t know if the stone pillar supporting the corpse was strong or not, so I
didn’t dare step on the corpse. I grabbed Fatty’s belt as he placed two feet
on the edge of the coffin and poked his head into the gap between the
coffin and the corpse like he was doing push-ups. He used one hand to hold
his flashlight as he looked down. He was gasping for breath and trembling as
he said, “It’s all bronze pieces of varying sizes. They look like scales.” He
handed me his flashlight and then took a few pictures with his phone before
coming back up and showing me the photos.

I pulled him up and started looking at the photos, which showed an amazing
sight. Row upon row of countless bronze scales were neatly hung on the
well walls below. Many of them had fallen to the bottom of the well, and
some places had been damaged enough to reveal the rock wall behind.

Almost all the bronze scales had corroded into one solid piece, and
thousands of layers of rust bloomed everywhere.

“It’s time to test your ability to talk nonsense after all these years, Mr.
Naïve. If you don’t come up with a theory today, I’ll definitely lose sleep.”

I lay down on the edge of the coffin, trying to get into the same position as
the corpse so I could listen to the thunder. At this time, the sound seemed
completely different. The thunder above reached my ear and mixed in with
the echoes in the underground well. The whispers that were originally
incomprehensible seemed to become clearer, like people talking.

Although I still couldn’t hear them clearly, the talking sounded so very
realistic that I broke out in a cold sweat. I realized that this thing might be a
device for translating thunder. By using this bell and the deep well below,
we could translate thunder into sounds that could be understood.

It was fucking nonsense, but it still felt amazing.

I took Fatty’s crowbar and tried to knock off all barnacles on the body and
inner walls of the coffin. Without these obstacles, the sound became clearer

66
and even resonated throughout the ancient tomb. I actually felt that this
wasn’t thunder, but the mountain talking to me through the resonating
thunder.

And it seemed to be a human voice that was becoming clearer and clearer.
As I listened carefully, Fatty said, “Maybe the thunder here speaks in the
Fujian dialect. I’ll listen.”

Just as I got out of the way so that he could listen carefully, a loud clap of
thunder suddenly sounded outside, instantly echoing in the tomb. Even I
heard it clearly this time.

Wu ~ Xie ~ Wu ~ Xie ~ Wu ~ Xie ~

The voice that was calling seemed to be saying “Wu Xie”.

Fatty and I looked at each other, and then he grabbed me and ran away.
“What are you doing?!” I shouted.

“You idiot, it must be haunted! Run!” Fatty said.

He had a point. How was it possible that thunder was calling my name? If
someone was calling my name in that tomb, then it really was haunted.
When we rushed out of the grave robbers’ tunnel and into the rain, Fatty
started cursing, “I fucking told you we can’t come by ourselves! See?! We
already ran into a problem! I don’t even have any donkey hooves!!!”

We scrambled out, rolling and crawling as we rushed into the dark, wild
forest. But before we had gone a few steps, lightning flashed and we saw a
man in a poncho standing with his head bowed in the rain.

There was another flash of lightning right after that, and Fatty and I
screamed in terror, “Uncle Yang!!!”

The two of us didn’t bother stopping as we rushed past the man while
protecting our heads. But the man caught the back of our collars at the
same time, pulled us back, and dropped us to the ground.

67
As it rained harder and another flash of lightning lit the area, he lifted the
hood of his poncho. Poker-Face looked down at us with an expressionless
face.

68
Chapter 11 Into the Tomb Again
The heavy rain was endless and Poker-Face’s dark green poncho reflected
the light from the lightning strikes. It looked bulky, cold, and gloomy, and I
couldn’t help but think that all he was missing was a kitchen knife. After
Fatty saw him clearly, he wiped his face and scolded, “You almost scared me
to death, Little Brother. Can’t you buy something cute?”

I pulled him off the ground and asked Poker-Face, “Why are you here?”

Fatty tutted and said to me, “Because I’m so wise. I called him up when we
were in Nanjing. I’m not unreasonable like you. I was putting on a show for
you earlier, but I didn’t expect him to come so quickly.”

I glared at Fatty while thinking to myself, you’re such a loser.

Fatty turned to Poker-Face, “Damn it, this tomb is small and broken and
there’s still a ghost inside. It even knows Mr. Naïve and keeps calling his
name in a lewd manner. Little Brother, what do you say? Why don’t we go
back inside and shit on his head?”

As soon as we finished speaking, we heard the sound of “Wu ~ Xie ~ Wu ~

Xie ~ Wu ~ Xie ~” coming from the nearby forest. Fatty looked at Poker-Face,
“Fuck, it followed us out. Did Little Brother bring my stuff?”

Poker-Face pulled his backpack off, unloaded our equipment, and then
threw our things to us. Once Fatty got his hands on his stuff, he immediately
became more spirited. He took out his old engineering shovel and went over
to the bushes in the forest that were shaking. He was just about to start
swinging when an old man came out of the forest.

It was Old Jin.

When he saw Fatty, he immediately shrank back and started scolding, “Shit,
Fatty, are you crazy? Why do you always want to fight every time we see
each other?”

69
Fatty pulled him out of the bushes and started cursing him, “What the fuck
are you doing here? I was wondering why that cry was so lewd, but it just
turned out to be a bastard like you. Not to worry, there are many graves
here. It’ll be convenient to bury you.”

Jin Wantang wiped the water off his face and immediately smiled, “Fat
Master, I have something to say. Not only did I never receive the money that
Master Three owes me, but Little Master Three has now taken the land
back. I’ve lost on both counts. It looks like you all have come out of
retirement, so you have to count me in. I want a share of whatever you
find.”

“Who said we came out of retirement?” I looked at Jin Wantang, who

immediately looked at Fatty.

Fatty suddenly became embarrassed and scolded him angrily, “Shut the fuck
up. We’re good people now. Do you even know what it means to be good? It
means we really care about our chastity!”

As I looked at Fatty’s expression and Jin Wantang’s appearance, I had a good

idea of what had happened. I waved my hand, “Hey, you two idiots can stop
acting now. I’ll settle things with you later. Let’s get down to business. It’s
raining so hard that the tomb is flooding.”

Fatty and Jin Wantang must’ve had a private exchange, which was how
Poker-Face arrived here so quickly. He couldn’t have done it without Fatty
and Jin Wantang exchanging information. Fatty must have told Jin Wantang
that we were back in business and asked him to drop off the goods along
our path, but he didn’t expect Jin Wantang to follow him. It wasn’t the first
time that Fatty was itching for something profitable. He didn’t care about a
thing like pride, nor did he care what others thought of him either.

But there was no denying that this solved my problem. If Poker-Face hadn’t
come, I wasn’t sure what to do next.

Our group went back to the grave robbers’ tunnel, climbed into the tomb
that was already starting to accumulate water, and took off our raincoats.

70
Poker-Face looked at the top of the tunnel and scratched it with his fingers,
but it was very dry. It seemed that Yang Daguang’s family had waterproofed
it.

After wading into the tomb, Jin Wantang was also disappointed, “Little
Master Three, this is a ‘half-built nest’. Even though you’re an old hand in
this business, it looks like you can also meet with unexpected failure. Why
bother coming to this tomb? It would be a blessing if the stuff here isn’t
made of paper, but you can’t take anything out and make a profit even if
you wanted to.”

Fatty and I took off our wet clothes while we let Jin Wantang examine the
murals.

“Half-built nest” referred to the tombs of old rich families that were built
more recently. The tombs were very large before and after liberation, but
there was almost nothing of value in them. Most funerary objects were
silverware, which was relatively new, so they could only be taken back,
melted, and then sold to jewelry stores. This kind of tomb was considered a
disgrace in this industry and meant that you didn’t have a discerning eye at
all.

Poker-Face looked around, saw the dog hole we had dug in the ground, and
then glanced at me.

I nodded and admitted, “It was the only way.”

He looked up at the top of the tomb and swept his gaze around it before
touching the brick seams with his fingers. He suddenly rammed his elbow
into a brick, stretched his hand into the newly made hole, and pulled at
something that was inside. We heard a series of noises in the wall that
sounded like machine springs loosening. Fatty immediately went up and
pushed the wall, rotating it until the secret room behind was revealed. Jin
Wantang let out a surprised exclamation.

71
As we went in, Fatty looked at Poker-Face expectantly, hoping that he could
find some new secret room. But Poker-Face’s attention was immediately
drawn to the deep well below the sarcophagus.

We waited quietly for him to examine it as the thunder sounded outside. As

the countless whispering voices echoed in the tomb again, he showed a
strange expression. Fatty and I breathed a sigh of relief, happy to see that he
was as dumbfounded as us.

At this moment, Jin Wantang suddenly called us over. As I approached him, I

saw that he was looking at the murals. “Guys, this is fucking amazing. These
things don’t belong here at all. They were moved from other tombs and all
seem to be related to the God of Thunder.”

“Any fool can see that,” I said. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Can you tell which tomb these murals are from? Or who the owner of the
tomb is? Or how it’s connected to the God of Thunder?” Jin Wantang asked
us disdainfully as he lit a cigarette. “Or do you know where this tomb is
from?”

Fatty and I looked at each other. With Jin Wantang’s newfound arrogance,
we immediately knew that he must have discovered something. “I may not
know which tomb these murals come from, but if you’re talking nonsense, I
know where you’ll be buried,” Fatty said.

Jin Wantang smiled, “Let me tell you, these are really amazing. If I’ve
guessed correctly, these murals come from a very strange king’s tomb.”

I was stunned for a moment, but Jin Wantang continued, “You’ve probably
never heard of this king because he’s not in any history book. He was
invented by a group of alchemists, and was related to thunder.” He blew out
a mouthful of smoke. “An emperor related to thunder… do you know who it
is?”

“Hamlet?” Fatty asked.

72
Jin Wantang ignored him and asked me, “Have you heard the legend of
Tianmu chasing the clouds?”

73
Chapter 12 The West Sea’s Falling
Cloud Country
We all sat down by the coffin and started eating bowls of instant noodles
while listening to Jin Wantang’s story. As he spoke confidently, he winked
and touched his mouth, indicating that we could give our braised eggs to
him if we didn’t want them.

The story he told was very unique because it had something to do with a
legendary ancient king who was completely fictional. There were only
sporadic records of him in “The West Sea Notes and Alchemical
Commentaries”.

It was said that during the Eastern Han dynasty, there were a few alchemists
who were looking out at the sea. They suddenly saw a mirage appear by the
shore that was so vague, no one could see it clearly. Everyone immediately
started guessing what it could be.

One of the alchemists said that it was a building under the sea from a town
that was previously submerged by seawater; another alchemist said that it
was a fleet of huge ships from the overseas Wuchang Country; another one
said it was the back of a sea beast that was basking in the warm sun. In
short, there were all kinds of theories, but there was one alchemist named
Tianmu who said nothing. Instead, he went back and packed his bags.

When the other alchemists asked him what he was doing, he pointed to the
distant cloud and said that the mirage was in the shadow of the cloud so he
would follow it. When the cloud reached land and the mirage appeared
again, he would approach it and happily meet the celestial beings.

Everyone laughed at him, but Tianmu didn’t care. He stood with his bags by
the seaside and waited for the cloud to slowly come ashore. Of course, after
floating to land, the mirage disappeared, but the cloud miraculously didn’t
disperse. Instead, it drifted inland as if it had a life of its own.

74
Tianmu followed the cloud and traveled all the way to western China. It was
only when he stood in front of a big stretch of water that he finally saw the
mirage again. He found a fisherman who was willing to let him on his boat
and then sailed into the mirage. There he found a country that was called
the West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country.

The monarch of this country, called King Qin Huang, said that he was a
prince of the State of Qin. After his death, he was named the West Sea’s
Immortal King, so he established the Falling Cloud Country.

When Jin Wantang said this, he lowered his voice, “Do you know what this
legend has to do with this tomb? Hand over your braised eggs and I’ll tell
you.”

I didn’t like the taste anyways, so I forked over my braised egg while Fatty
poured him half a bowl of noodles. Old Jin took a bite of the egg and
continued, “Don’t you think this legend is very similar to another legend?”

“What do you mean? If the West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country is in western
China, then are you talking about the Queen of the West’s Country?” I asked
him. “Did this alchemist arrive in the Queen of the West’s Country? Or is the
West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country another name for the Queen of the West’s
country? Or is there some other kind of relationship between them?”

As I thought about it, I didn’t think that it was correct. The records
surrounding the Queen of the West’s Country and all the other western
countries around Kunlun at that time were basically myths. This story set in
the Western Han Dynasty was probably just pieced together using other
legends. On the whole, alchemists were liars who even deceived
themselves.

Jin Wantang nodded, “It’s true that this legend is probably fabricated, and I
would have really thought so too if I hadn’t seen this tomb. There’s one
particular detail in this legend that’s interesting. When Tianmu was chasing
the cloud one day, it turned black and rushed into another dark cloud.
Tianmu got lost, but there was thunder coming from the dark cloud that

75
guided him forward. When he looked up, he saw that the God of Thunder
had appeared on the cloud.”

Jin Wantang took out his phone and showed us the pictures of the murals he
had taken. Among the countless people listening in the murals, there was a
single alchemist. We could tell because he wasn’t wearing official garb like
the others, but the clothes of an alchemist. The depiction was very detailed
despite being so small.

“These murals either tell the story of the tomb owner’s life, or they tell a
myth. But even if it is a myth, these murals will still have the tomb owner’s
visage on them. Such beautiful murals are bound to be related to the tomb
owner, but there’s no doubt that they seem to be depicting Tianmu chasing
clouds. Since this Tianmu was painted so small, however, that shows that
he’s not the tomb owner. So, who’s the tomb owner?”

“Which figure is the biggest?” Fatty asked. We immediately got up and went
to the outer tomb chamber to start examining the murals carefully. We soon
found the biggest person. He was standing on a cloud, but he wasn’t one of
the thunder gods. He wore a complicated headdress and luxurious clothes,
and there were a lot of ears painted on one side of his head.

King Qin Huang? Based on the story, I secretly speculated that the
protagonist of these murals was this person standing on the cloud. Only a
legendary figure could stand on a cloud like that and wear fancy clothes.

In other words, the monster corpse in the coffin was the tomb owner, the
legendary King Qin Huang?

Did these murals and this corpse come from King Qin Huang’s tomb? If the
Yang family robbed graves by listening to thunder, did they also use that
method to find the West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country?

“Isn’t this just bullshit?” Fatty murmured. “This king is completely

fabricated, and there aren’t any other historical records at all.”

76
“But these murals are evidence,” Jin Wantang said. “Just think about it. If
part of Tianmu’s legend is true, then why isn’t there any record of King Qin
Huang in history?”

Fatty and I exchanged a look. “Those who told this legend hid the real
information,” Fatty said. “King Qin Huang is a pseudonym.” He looked at the
sarcophagus. “Then who is this six-eared monkey?”

Jin Wantang nodded. I was just about to speak, when I heard a few popping
and clicking sounds. I looked up and saw Poker-Face rotating his shoulders
and relaxing his whole body. He was trying to adjust his body so that he
could climb into the well under the sarcophagus.

“Bone contraction?” Jin Wantang exclaimed.

We watched Poker-Face get smaller and smaller until he could stuff himself
into the gap using yoga-like movements.

After entering, he kicked the stone pillar and twisted his body to restore
himself to his usual size. We continued watching as he shined his flashlight
on the area right under the body.

“Mute Father(1), what are you looking for?” Jin Wantang asked.

“Land deed(2),” Poker-Face answered him.

I got excited as soon as I heard this and looked at Jin Wantang, realizing that
our speculation just now was ridiculous. If it really was related to Tianmu,
then the Eastern Han Dynasty already had land deeds at that time. We could
find out who exactly was in the sarcophagus.

(1)
Remember, have to show respect to your elders.
(2)
Could also be called “land coupon”. I was only finding results here on Baidu. They were originally used
as inviolable proof that the deceased owned that spot of land (and the tomb) in the underworld. They
have distinctive Taoist cultural characteristics and appeared in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty.
(It’s what Poker-face was looking at ~25:16 of episode 3 in the drama).

77
Chapter 13 South Sea King’s Tomb
To put it bluntly, a land deed was something you asked for when you
wanted to buy land in the underworld. It was similar to current land deeds,
except that the land you bought was land in the underworld where you
would live. At that time, writing land deeds was basically trading with the
underworld, so most of them were useless and considered a shady affair.
Only those who had no descendants would make a living helping others
write them.

I once received rubbings of a land deed that was unearthed in Yahong,

Sichuan Province. I even remembered some of the contents, which read:

Xu Guo died on the twenty-seventh day of the fifth month of the fourth year
of Tiansheng, Bingyin Tai Sui(1), in Zhu Ming Town, Jiguo village, Hongya
County, Jia Province. Lord Xu spent ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and
ninety-nine coins…

Since the land deed’s contents focused on where the tomb was and
information on the tomb owner, Poker-Face’s idea was very accurate.

As we stood at the edge of the sarcophagus and looked down, we saw

Poker-Face place his feet on both sides of the well and carefully look at the
area beneath the corpse. I handed him my cell phone and he took a picture
before handing it back to me. There was a whole slate beneath the body
that was full of inscriptions, but they were hard to see because of all the
barnacle-like things covering it. Fatty lowered a hammer down and Poker-

(1)
According to Baidu, this is from a real Song Dynasty tomb discovered on 8/21/2009 in Sichuan
Province. I think this person died around 1027 AD, since this says the Tiansheng era was 1023-1032.
Bingyin is the 3rd year of the 60-year cycle. Tai Sui is the star god/deity presiding over the year, but can
also be an ancient way of saying “year”. Bingyin Tai Sui is the year of the tiger zodiac-wise (if that helps
at all).

78
Face began knocking the barnacles off. As the words were revealed, he
slowly read them aloud for us: “Minyue(2) snakes, South Sea’s King Zhi.”

“What the hell? South Sea?” Fatty asked. “Isn’t it the West Sea?”

“Fat Master, you just said that even though the West Sea’s Falling Cloud
Country is fictitious, there should be a foundation for it,” Jin Wantang said.
“The South Sea’s King Zhi and the West Sea’s Falling Cloud… changing a
single word to fabricate a whole story is really ingenious. South Sea… was it
really a country in the South Sea?” His eyes suddenly gleamed and he
jumped up.

We all looked at Jin Wantang, who frowned and said, “Minyue snakes… it
was said that people in the seven ancient Fujian countries worshiped
snakes. If it’s both Fujian and snakes, then that means that the land deeds
were bought for land in Fujian’s underworld and the people were from the
Baiyue ethnic group. The “Classic of Mountain and Sea” said that Fujian was
in the sea. In other words, this area was in the sea and separated from the
mainland a long time ago. That makes the story of Tianmu chasing a cloud
all the way to the seaside more credible. He might not have gone west, but
south. So, it wasn’t the West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country, but the South Sea’s
Falling Cloud Country. The West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country is in the South
Sea!”

He looked at the body and continued, “Is this corpse the monarch of a South
Sea country? Was it an ancient country bordering Fujian and Jiangxi along
the coast of China at that time that disappeared sometime during the Han
Dynasty?”

“What’s so special about this guy? What does it have to do with listening to
thunder?” I asked him as I looked at the corpse’s ears. It really didn’t look
like a custom of the Central Plains people.

(2)
An ancient kingdom in what is now the Fujian province in southern China. It was a contemporary of
the Han dynasty. Its inhabitants were groups of indigenous non-Chinese tribes called the Baiyue. More
info here.

79
“Since this South Sea country was very small and existed for a short period
of time, there are very few records of it,” Jin Wantang said. “I only know
that after the destruction of the country, the survivors all went out to sea.
After the countless ships left, they never appeared again. Even the South
Sea King was missing. I didn’t expect such a king to have such a luxurious
tomb. They really spared no amount of effort in this regard. In addition, the
only thing related to listening to thunder was the legend of Tianmu chasing
clouds.”

If it was a South Sea country, then that would explain these barnacles.
Maybe the South Sea King’s tomb was flooded by sea water at one point,
and the Yang family accidentally brought the barnacles back with them
when they stole the coffin.

Poker-Face whistled at me from below, so I handed my phone down again.

He landed near the bottom of the well, took a photo, and threw the phone
back up. When I looked at the photo, I saw dozens of decayed tapes that
were stuck to the bottom of the slate under the bronze scales at the bottom
of the well.

Poker-Face contracted his bones again and climbed back up. There were
about forty decayed tapes that were all lined up and looked very old. The
tapes inside had long been broken, and copious amounts of sludge were
stuck in them, making it impossible to rewind them.

“It seems that Comrade Yang Daguang once hid at the bottom of this well
and recorded thunder,” Fatty murmured. “Why didn’t he take these tapes
away?”

I could see if there were only one or two tapes, but he had prepared so
many and didn’t bother taking them with him. “Maybe he didn’t record
what he wanted to hear,” I said.

Poker-Face suddenly shook his head and we all looked at him. “He didn’t
record thunder in the well, he played it in the well,” he said.

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I paused before suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat, “What do you
mean?”

He took out a bronze scale and put it in my hand. “This is some kind of
musical instrument for thunder.”

I frowned and suddenly understood what he was getting at. The thunder
came down from the sky, passed through the amplifier above, and then
resonated in the well below, stimulating these bronze pieces into making
special sounds. Did that mean it was a kind of translator that could translate
the information that was in the thunder?

It was a bold speculation, but the bronze pieces were all rotten now, so the
sound we heard was too muddled to be sure.

It wouldn’t thunder every time Yang Daguang came here, so he would bring
a tape recording of thunder whenever he did come. He would play it in the
well in order to hear what information was in the thunder.

If he was willing to abandon the tapes here, maybe they didn’t have what he
wanted. Or maybe he couldn’t hear anything like us and he threw them
away out of frustration. These bronze pieces seemed to have decayed a long
time ago, after all. And that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that he died in
that secluded room without leaving any useful clues. He clearly didn’t learn
much.

But it wasn’t like it was nothing since he had persisted for so long. He
should’ve found something…right?

As I looked at the bronze piece very carefully, Fatty said to me in a grave

voice, “We have to go to the place where these murals came from if we
want to know what happened.”

“You just want to fucking find something,” I said angrily.

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Fatty didn’t even bother denying it and simply nodded, “Do you remember
those strange things we encountered in the Fujian mountains before? Don’t
you think they have some connection to this South Sea country?”

82
Chapter 14 Baiyue People
I carefully thought over everything while on the train. Yang Daguang’s
ancestors must have been in the South Sea King’s tomb and stole the
murals, sarcophagus, and bronze scales from it. They then came to Funiu
Mountain, where they built this secret tomb and hid the stolen objects
inside.

This was a group of patient and experienced grave robbers, who were
known as “Luoyang Weizi”(1) in the industry. It was a kind of honorary title.
After they found a tomb, they often surrounded the land and dug slowly for
generations, leaving nothing behind. This meant that they would definitely
take more than a few things when they entered the South Sea King’s tomb.
But now there was only a sarcophagus full of barnacles in this hidden tomb,
which meant that the valuables had already been squandered through the
generations.

By the time Yang Daguang went to school, his father was shot and there
were very few valuables left. Yang Daguang, who often returned to his
hometown to take the treasures from the tomb to sell, slowly discovered
that his livelihood was becoming precarious. When he wanted to sell the
murals, he somehow noticed the people in the murals listening to thunder
and became interested in thunder. After going to Nanjing, he slowly studied
thunder and discovered a shocking pattern.

I didn’t know when he and Uncle Three had met, but he must’ve told Uncle
Three about listening to thunder. Uncle Three went into the mountains with
him to record thunder for a while, but he never bothered telling me about
this experience.

Time flew by. I didn’t know what had happened between them, but Yang
Daguang died in that secret room in the weather station. Uncle Three later

(1)
Luoyang is prefecture-level city in Henan. Weizi can mean to encircle or surround.

83
entrusted Jin Wantang to buy the weather station and indirectly told me
Yang Daguang’s story.

If, as I inferred, he conveyed this man’s story to me, then for what purpose?
To prove he wasn’t dead? To collect Yang Daguang’s body? These kinds of
things could clearly be expressed in words, so there was no need to send
such an ambiguous text. I was a little confused and had no idea what he
wanted from me. Was I supposed to find the South Sea King’s tomb or
explore the secrets of listening to thunder? It felt like even he didn’t know
what he needed me to do.

But according to Fatty, the two tasks were basically the same. There had to
be secrets to listening to thunder in the South Sea King’s tomb. After Yang
Daguang became interested in this matter, he must’ve returned to the tomb
and finally got the answer to the question: what’s in the thunder? Once he
discovered what it was, he devoted himself to recording thunder, which
showed that he fully understood its value.

Fatty told me that he felt that Yang Daguang was either looking for a special
kind of thunder in order to learn some secrets, or he was greedily collecting
the information in the thunder to do something bigger.

But a journey of a thousand miles began with a single step. We first had to
follow Yang Daguang’s footsteps and return to the South Sea King’s tomb to
find out what was in the thunder.

The scale of the South Sea King’s tomb was unknown. Not only was there no
historical data, but the Yang family must’ve also deliberately hidden it. It
would be very difficult to find, but we had locked on two directions: one was
the seaside, where the sea water would submerge it all year round and
allow people to pass by it without ever knowing; the other was where the
Yang family had settled for generations. After looking at a map of Fujian, I
suddenly realized that the place where the South Sea King’s tomb was
located was probably in a geographical state that we had never experienced
before.

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The king’s tomb might be under a beach by the sea.

After thousands of years of coastline evolution, the mountains and

woodlands of that year might now all be covered by tidal flats. And since the
tide rose and fell, the water probably infiltrated deep under the tidal flats
and into the ancient tomb. The area below would be a mixed environment
of silt and sand. It was no longer a question of whether we could find it or
not. Even if we could find it, how could we get down there? And if we did go
down, what then? Was Uncle Three down there?

The data on that South Sea country seemed to indicate that it was in
present-day Wuping, which happened to be our territory(2).

Once our plane from Xiamen landed at Gaoqi Airport, we disembarked and
hauled our aching bodies into my Jinbei. I suddenly didn’t want to go
anywhere anymore. Fatty started talking as he drove us to Longyan, “Mr.
Naïve, we’ve encountered so many strange things in the mountains during
this time and they’re all within the territory of this South Sea country. What
is this country? Can you tell me about it?”

The South Sea country was a complete mystery, but there was no denying
the fact that we had found some strange things in various places in the
mountains during our stay in Fujian. I remembered the huge underground
salt mine and the Stagnant Water Dragon King temple that was inside. If
those were the remains of the South Sea country, then this country must’ve
had an unknown side to it.

At that time, the Baiyue people interacted with those in the Central Plains. It
was called an uncivilized place, but it was actually connected to seventy-six
overseas countries. The history of this area could be brutally summarized in
just a few simple words, so it was impossible to verify what had happened in
these mountains over the past thousand years.

(2)
Wuping is a county level city in Longyan, Fujian. There’s also a Wuping Era (570–576) that Gao Wei,
emperor of Northern Qi, named.

85
I suddenly remembered that Poker-Face often ventured into the mountains
and camped out there for a long time. I didn’t know what he was looking
for, but did he already find a clue a long time ago?

I kept feeling like Uncle Three was trying to tell me something and suddenly
had an idea. Did he want to tell me what Poker-Face was doing behind my
back?

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Poker-Face, who had fallen asleep in the
backseat. “What the hell does Little Brother normally do?” I asked Fatty. “Do
you know?”

“Has he ever told us what’s going on in his life?” Fatty answered me. “Do
you really think that highly of me to ask?”

I looked at Poker-Face suspiciously. The more I thought about it, the more
wrong it seemed. Uncle Three had given me a clue pointing to a strange
ancient tomb, which just so happened to be related to the place where we
lived and all the inexplicable things we had experienced before. And Poker-
Face seemed to have discovered it a long time ago.

It was no mere coincidence.

I was just about to start thinking about it more carefully when a jeep in the
other lane overtook us. Then, a hand suddenly stretched out of the window
and motioned for us to pull over.

86
Chapter 15 Wu Erbai
“What do you think, should we stop?” Fatty asked.

I squinted at the license plate and found that it was a local one. It definitely
wasn’t a big deal, since there was no reason for a jeep to rob a Jinbei.

“Slow down,” I said.

As we slowly passed by the jeep, I saw the passenger side window lower. My
Uncle Two had a cigarette in his mouth and shouted at us, “Stop the car!”

Fatty sighed, and the Jinbei slowly came to a stop by the shoulder of the
road. “Why is your Uncle Two here? Could it be a coincidence that he’s
traveling here?” He asked me.

How is that possible? I said to myself. I would rather deal with ten Uncle
Threes than one Uncle Two. If he wasn’t so indifferent, there would
probably only be two of the Nine Gates left in the circle.

We got out of the car looking morose. I didn’t know what to do with my
hands, so I asked Fatty for a cigarette while directing a question at Jin
Wantang, “What the fuck did you tell him?”

“I didn’t say anything. I just asked your Wu family for money,” Jin Wantang
said while refusing to look me in the eye. I immediately became angry. I
knew this guy was bad news, but I didn’t expect him to be this bad.

Uncle Two didn’t get out of the jeep, so I leaned against his window. He
gave me a complicated look, “Driving so fast, where are you going?”

“Uncle Two, what are you doing in Fujian? It’s such a coincidence that we
met on this road. No wonder we’re relatives.” I forced myself to make
awkward conversation.

87
“Your Jinbei has a 4.0 engine displacement(1), but my jeep could barely keep
up with you the whole way. What’s the rush?” He looked at my shoes and
then at my hand. I quickly hid it from view. I had been in a hurry to come
back, so I couldn’t get rid of the earthy smell and there was still mud under
my fingernails.

Uncle Two looked like a stork as he narrowed his eyes and shouted at Fatty,
“Get in the car and drive!”

Fatty looked at me and I nodded. He quickly grabbed Jin Wantang and ran
back to the Jinbei while saying, “I told you, it’s important to live
independently. I don’t have so many relatives.”

When I got into the passenger seat of Uncle Two’s jeep, he coldly told me to
put out my cigarette as we started following Fatty.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I’ve been waiting for you at the train station, but a kid like you went as far
as to change your mode of transportation. If I didn’t have so many eyes and
ears, you would’ve really gotten away. If you’re being so cautious, does that
mean you’re working again?”

“It doesn’t count.” I knew it was useless to deny it. Uncle Two had always
been very confident in his own assessments, so he was merely giving me
face by asking me like this and letting me explain myself. “I’m looking for
something that just happens to be buried. It’s not valuable.”

“Have you seen your Uncle Three?” He asked in a somber tone.

My heart thumped, but he didn’t wait for me to answer, “Tell the truth.”

“No, no, I really haven’t.” When I thought about it, I immediately knew what
was going on. After Jin Wantang failed to sell the land, he definitely went to

(1)
Google said engine displacement is commonly used as an expression of an engine’s size, and by
extension as a loose indicator of the power an engine might be capable of producing and the amount of
fuel it should be expected to consume. Uncle Two is saying Wu Xie’s Jinbei sucks.

88
nag Uncle Two for money. But Uncle Two was the kind of guy who could
figure things out just by giving you a once over. He could even pick up
several clues just by listening. He definitely thought that Uncle Three had
come to me and taken me to a tomb.

As my elder and someone who had seen me experience so many things, he

certainly wouldn’t let what happened back then repeat itself.

The warmth in my heart suddenly turned sour.

Uncle Two immediately said, “Don’t think about it too much. Jin Wantang
asked your father for money. Your father thought that Uncle Three had
asked you to go grave robbing again and started crying. He called me up in a
panic and asked me to persuade you. You’re not young anymore, so it
doesn’t matter whether you live or not. If your Uncle Three wants to
accompany your grandfather a little earlier, I’m fine with that. I want to live
to ninety-nine, so I can’t do this kind of filial piety.”

I coughed to cover up my embarrassment and Uncle Two locked the doors,

“Say it quickly or I’ll turn around right now and go back to Hangzhou. This
jeep has enough horsepower. Your Jinbei won’t be able to catch up.”

I thought about it and decided that there was nothing to hide now, so I told
him the whole story.

After listening, Uncle Two murmured, “Yang Daguang?”

“What, do you know him?”

“Of course I know him,” Uncle Two said. “You’re wrong. He wasn’t a grave
robber. He was a student. It’s your Uncle Three who made him like this.”

I was stunned for a moment. “If he wasn’t a grave robber, then why did his
father get shot for robbing a tomb? I went into his family’s ancestral grave
and there were a lot of old things there. At first glance, their family looks like
Luoyang Weizi.”

89
Uncle Two sighed. “It wasn’t his father who should’ve been shot at that
time, it was your Uncle Three. Your Uncle Three encouraged Daguang to go
grave robbing, but they were discovered by the militia. The tomb was really
big, so your Uncle Three managed to escape, but Yang Daguang got caught
while he was keeping watch. At that time, the militia in the village enforced
the law. When Yang Daguang’s father took his place and said that he was
the one who committed the crime, they shot him directly.”

I frowned as Uncle Two continued, “They were ordinary people. Your Uncle
Three let you know about this because he wanted you to atone for his sins.
Whatever is in the South Sea King’s tomb is definitely different from what
you’re thinking.” He looked at me and then at the rearview mirror. I
suddenly noticed that something was wrong and looked behind us. I didn’t
know when they had appeared, but a convoy of black jeeps was suddenly
behind us. I turned to Uncle Two, who said, “Let’s go and have a look.”

<><><><>

Author’s note: Wu Xie was poor because of the Crescent Hotel incident. He
was compensating for the ghost seal.

90
Chapter 16
Old Jin couldn’t stay in our house because the cold made his hips hurt, so we
got him a place in the county town and went back to the village first.

Our house was now crowded with Wu guys. Uncle Two printed out the
photos we took and spread them out on our desk while the three of us
squeezed onto the sofa in the corner to watch them have a meeting. The
rest of the house was full of equipment. Most of these guys were hired
grave robbers who had regional accents, and each one was even uglier than
the last.

Uncle Two was very efficient and soon ordered some of the guys to start
working. Everyone was smoking, which meant the whole room was filled
with smoke as if it was on fire. Everyone eventually left to start working,
leaving only one of Uncle Two’s guys to sweep all the cigarette butts off the
floor and clean the table.

As I opened the door to let out the smoke, Fatty said quietly, “Little Brother
and I will sleep first. You two can catch up.” Fatty went into the room and
gave Uncle Two a smile, “Uncle, you guys keep talking. I have to get up early
tomorrow, so I’m going to bed first.”

Uncle Two grunted, looked at Poker-Face, and then said, “You stay.” Poker-
Face acted like he didn’t hear him and continued to his room. Uncle Two
slammed his fist on the table, “I told you to stay!”

I was completely shocked. I had no idea why Uncle Two suddenly got so riled
up. I immediately went over to Poker-Face, who paused and looked back at
Uncle Two.

“Uncle Two, what’s wrong?” I hurriedly asked.

“I have something to ask him,” Uncle Two said coldly. “He must know where
your Uncle Three is.”

91
Poker-Face shook his head, pushed the door to his room open, and went in.
Uncle Two stood up, seemingly unwilling to drop it. I immediately grabbed
him. “That’s just how he is, Uncle Two. Don’t mind it. If you ask him again,
he’ll knock you out.”

Uncle Two sat down and took a sip of tea. “Does he still refuse to talk?”

“Even if he doesn’t say anything, I can still figure it out.” I sighed. “In fact,
the one who lied to me the most was Uncle Three. I don’t even know how
many things he didn’t tell me. But the price I paid for knowing those things is
too much. If others don’t want to talk, I won’t make them.”

“Your Uncle Three owes a lot of debts. After things are over, he’ll have to
pay them back one by one. I just don’t know if he’ll be able to do it in this
lifetime. We, the Wu family, will have to help him.” Uncle Two suddenly
sighed and held his forehead, “I’ll have to make sure everything’s balanced
for when I reincarnate. Little Xie, let’s talk business.”

I nodded and sat down, my back ramrod straight. It was like I was suddenly a
child again, unable to recite the Tang poetry Uncle Two was quizzing me on
because Uncle Three and I had snuck out the previous night to catch
grasshoppers in the field. When I fell asleep, Uncle Three carried me back
and put me into my bed.

That was why I hated Uncle Two as a child and absolutely adored Uncle
Three. But now that I thought about it, this family probably would have
collapsed without Uncle Two.

His hair was all white now, which was a stark contrast to my father’s
appearance. In fact, my father was basically the Wu Xiubo(1) of the
neighborhood committee. Uncle Two had always been so strong and
spirited, but we could see the hidden tiredness and age creeping up on him.

(1)
A Chinese actor, musician, and producer. He’s most widely known as Xinjie Liu, the protagonist in the
television series “Before the Dawn”. Wu Xie’s dad is basically a silver fox hehehe

92
He pointed to the murals we had photographed and asked me, “Tell me,
what’s wrong with these murals?”

“They look like they’re from the Song Dynasty, but the South Sea countries
existed during the Han Dynasty. Murals from the Song Dynasty are very
complicated. The density of colors and lines far exceeds that of murals from
the Han Dynasty. The drawings are smooth and the composition is rigorous,
but there’s nothing on the murals that could help us distinguish which
dynasty they’re from. The content of the murals is relatively unknown, so it’s
actually difficult to figure anything out without checking historical records
first.”

“You’re right. There’s about a seven-hundred-year gap between the Han and
Song Dynasties. These murals can’t be from the Han Dynasty, but the
sarcophagus you photographed is. So, maybe these murals and this
sarcophagus come from two different tombs. If you put the two things
together and analyze them, you’ll see there’s a problem,” Uncle Two said.
“The tomb you went to should be the place where Uncle Three hoarded
grave goods. He hid everything he stole there.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just a speculation for now. Your Uncle Three was very interested in
listening to thunder and hid everything related to it in one place. Don’t tell
the others about this just yet and keep it between the two of us.” He looked
at me, “Let’s go to that South Sea country first. It was said to be in Wuping,
which is now far away from the sea. There’s a saying: thunder suppresses
the nine typhoons. As long as there’s thunder, the typhoon won’t make
landfall. We need to look into the typhoons and thunderstorms along the
coast here. The South Sea King’s tomb won’t be found using our usual
methods, so I found an expert in Beijing to help us.”

I paused. “An expert?”

Uncle Two nodded. “He’s someone who can listen to thunder to find tombs.
He’ll arrive tomorrow.”

93
Chapter 17 Fan
I slept with Uncle Two that night. He slept like a zombie and didn’t move at
all. As I lay there, I couldn’t help thinking to myself, how many things does
he have on his mind to be sleeping as straight as a ruler?

My nose was full of smoke and I couldn’t sleep comfortably, but fortunately,
the mountain air in Fujian was good. I still felt refreshed even though I slept
less than six hours. Uncle Two had gotten up early, and when I went out, I
saw him chatting and giving red envelopes(1) to the neighbors.

As soon as I came out, the aunt next door greeted me affectionately and
brought us a breakfast that consisted of two eggs, a bowl of rice congee, and
some pork chops. When I saw this treatment, I squatted down in the yard to
have breakfast with Uncle Two. I didn’t know what he had said to her, but
she was so happy that she looked like she was about to take flight.

After cleaning up, we hit the road again and went to the seaside first. In
town, we met the expert Uncle Two had mentioned, who had just arrived.
He was wearing a suit and pulling a suitcase behind him, looking as if he had
just landed for a business trip. The suit was very high-end and he was
wearing black-rimmed glasses. His watch didn’t have diamonds on it, but it
was big and didn’t look cheap at all. He was just starting to loosen his tie
when he saw us. “I just came back from a business trip and didn’t have time
to change,” he said to Uncle Two.

As Uncle Two introduced me and I nodded at him, Fatty whispered to me,

“Be careful. I know this person. He’s not easy to mess with.”

Who is this expert? I wondered. How can I not know someone in this industry
that Uncle Two and Fatty know? I’ve never met an expert dressed like this.
When I asked Fatty for details, he said that this guy wasn’t actually in the

(1)
Monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions such as weddings, graduations, or
birth of a baby. It’s also gifted when a person is visiting as a gesture of kindness for visiting (which is
what Uncle Two is doing). More info here.

94
business. He did everything and understood everything, but always seemed
very pessimistic. He was called Liu Sang.

He was a talented newcomer who could handle any kind of underworld

business(2). Although he seemed mature, it was said that he was born in the
‘90s. Even though he wasn’t trained for it, he started dabbling in antiques
and a grave robber in Xi’an took him in. People said his ears were
particularly accurate.

Now that tombs were becoming more and more difficult to find, all kinds of
people were coming out of the woodwork, saying they knew special ways to
find tombs. Many of them were liars, but this guy was said to have real skills
at a reasonable price.

As he took off his suit and put on a T-shirt and jeans, I suddenly found that
he was similar to us. Clothes really make the man, I said to myself.

When we got in the car, the man took out a bunch of phones from his
backpack and lined them up on the dash one by one. There were more than
a dozen of them, and they all had the weather forecasts of the coastal towns
pulled up.

“Is there any thunder?” Uncle Two asked.

Liu Sang shook his head and swiped his fingers across every screen. When
they all showed sunny forecasts, Liu Sang said, “Come on, Uncle Two. I can’t
take your money if it’s sunny. I’m going back.”

“No,” Uncle Two said. “The weather here changes fast. Even if we have to
wait until thunder comes, we will.”

Fatty whispered, “Grandson, you didn’t bother checking before you took this
job and waited until you came? You definitely have a plan. Don’t pretend to

(2)
It really said “the eight outer professions”, which was basically the eight professions in the
underworld: grave robbers, fortune-tellers, bandits, pirates, thieves, beggars, etc. Liu Sang is basically a
Renaissance man/jack-of-all-trades.

95
be the Big Bad Wolf. The old man doesn’t understand your routine, but I
do.”

Liu Sang’s face changed when he finally noticed Fatty, “Why do you always
appear everywhere, Fat Master?” As he spoke, he happened to see Poker-
Face. His whole body suddenly trembled, his face turned red, and he swiftly
turned around, looking embarrassed.

I looked at Fatty and asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

“Ignore him,” Fatty said. “He’s a fan of our Little Brother. I know him
because he had someone ask me for Little Brother’s autograph before.”

Fan? Poker-Face was able to have fans even though he lived in the
mountains? Just as I was telling myself how strange it was, I saw Liu Sang
secretly take out his phone and snap a picture of the backseat.

96
Chapter 18 Listen to Thunder by the
Evening Sea
Fatty immediately became angry when he saw Liu Sang secretly taking
pictures. He pointed at him and scolded, “Hand it over, hand it over!”

Liu Sang hid his phone in his arms and said coldly, “The person being
photographed didn’t object, so it’s none of your business.”

Fatty tried to reach for it, but Uncle Two looked at him and scolded, “Get
out if you’re going to make trouble again!”

Fatty shrank back and whispered in my ear, “This guy must be your Uncle
Two’s bastard son.” Uncle Two glanced at Fatty in the rearview mirror and
Fatty quickly turned his head away.

Liu Sang secretly glanced at Poker-Face again, but Poker-Face was looking
out the window. Fatty grabbed Poker-Face’s hood and put it on him,
covering his face.

When Liu Sang narrowed his eyes and glared at Fatty, Fatty took off his
shoes, propped his feet up on the back of Liu Sang’s seat, and made a ‘fuck
you’ gesture. Liu Sang sneered and turned back around.

The atmosphere in the car was very awkward and no one spoke the entire
way. That idiot kept taking pictures, which I could put up with at first, but I
slowly became irritated. Any time he took a picture, I kicked the back of his
seat. Later, he became more well-behaved when we made him drive.

We drove for nearly seven hours to Pingtan County. This was our first stop,
mainly because there was a local folk legend here that was very interesting.
Uncle Two thought it might be related to the South Sea country we were
looking for.

The legend was about a “mute emperor”. It was said that Pingtan was called
Haitan Island a long time ago. It was made up of 126 small islands and had a

97
very developed fishing industry. They had a mute on the island, whom they
called Mute Emperor. He usually liked to make paper men and horses to
serve as his army.

The real emperor killed all of the Mute Emperor’s relatives at that time, so
he hated the emperor with a passion. But there was nothing he could do
about it.

Mute Emperor went out to sea to fish one day and almost died. While
drifting there in the water, a strange man suddenly floated up from the sea
and said that he was a celestial being from Penglai(1). Seeing that the Mute
Emperor was in such a pitiable state, he gave him three pieces of paper and
told him that he could cut out a house on the first piece, a granary on the
second, and some clothes on the third. If he did that, he could speak, take
shelter from the wind and the rain, and eat his fill. But he couldn’t be seen
performing these spells or they wouldn’t work.

The Mute Emperor looked at the three pieces of paper and clenched his
teeth as he thought of his dead relatives. In the end, he cut out a mountain
on the first piece of paper to protect the village from the wind and the sea
waves. On the second piece of paper, he cut a big bow and magic arrow. He
also created many paper soldiers and horses that were ready to deal with
the emperor, but his hands were unsteady and he couldn’t cut the eyes for
them. Instead, he used sesame seeds from his sister-in-law’s pot to make
the eyes. On the third piece of paper, he cut a mortar, basket, and mallet for
his sister-in-law to use while she worked.

Before dawn the next day, the Mute Emperor drew the bow back and shot
the magic arrow at the emperor’s golden phoenix hall. The emperor hadn’t
arrived at court yet, so the arrow landed right on his throne. The emperor
was shocked to see the arrow when he arrived at court and sent the prime
minister to investigate. When it was soon discovered that Mute Emperor
was the one who shot it, the emperor sent an army to encircle and suppress

(1)
Penglai is one of three fabled islands in the Eastern sea. It’s the abode of immortals (kind of like
fairyland)

98
him. The Mute Emperor sent out his huge paper army, but the soldiers and
horses were blind because his sister-in-law’s sesame seeds were fried. In the
end, they were defeated by the emperor’s army.

The Mute Emperor had no choice. He asked his sister-in-law to close her
eyes while he threw the mortar, basket, and mallet into the sea and
shouted, “The mortar becomes a boat, the basket becomes a sail, and the
mallet becomes pulp.” The mortar, basket, and mallet turned into a boat. He
pulled his sister-in-law into the boat and told her not to open her eyes as
they escaped to the sea. But the sea was too rough and his sister-in-law was
so frightened by the wind and the waves that she accidentally opened her
eyes. The spell broke and the mortar, basket, and mallet changed back into
paper. The Mute Emperor and sister-in-law disappeared beneath the big
waves.

We stood on the beach, watching the sun set. The tidal flats were covered in
orange and gold ripples and the sea surface looked like gold foil. There were
countless fishing apparatus in the distance that looked like two sticks in the
shape of a seven. They were used by fishermen to fish at high tide.

We ate instant noodles and listened to Jin Wantang tell several different
versions of this legend vividly. Fatty listened and then asked awkwardly,
“Wait. Why is it him and his sister-in-law? Where’s his brother?”

“His brother must’ve been killed by the emperor,” I said. “Can’t you put your
brain to use?” Uncle Two didn’t like these kinds of jokes, so I gave Fatty a
meaningful look.

Fatty didn’t seem to get it and continued, “You’re sure his brother didn’t sell
baked sesame seed cakes? If you ask around carefully, are you sure you
won’t discover that this Mute Emperor is surnamed Ximen?”(2)

(2)
Fatty is basically hinting that the Mute Emperor and sister-in-law were having an affair. I believe he’s
calling Mute Emperor Ximen Qing from the novel “Plum in the Golden Vase”. Ximen Qing is portrayed as
a lascivious and immoral man who starts a secret affair with a woman and helps her poison her
husband, who makes a living by selling pancakes.

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I ignored him and turned to Uncle Two, “You mean to say this Mute
Emperor is the South Sea King?”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit similar to that South Sea King who was once
overthrown after a rebellion, demoted to a commoner, and then
disappeared into the sea? The tidal flats here span a large area. If there’s
anything below, we’ll have to depend on Liu Sang’s hearing.” Uncle Two
finished speaking and looked at Liu Sang, who glanced up at the sky.

There wasn’t a cloud in sight.

If we did end up hearing a clap of thunder, then it must be the work of

ghosts. “I’ll buy some firecrackers and set them off,” Fatty said to him. “Do
you want to listen to them instead?”

Liu Sang looked at his watch and said to Fatty, “Time is money. If you want
to save Uncle Two some money, you’ll cause less trouble. Fireworks aren’t
enough, you’ll have to use detonators. I heard Fat Master is pretty adept at
playing with explosives. Do you know how to make mud explode?”

Fatty looked at Liu Sang and sneered, “This kid, looking down on people. Not
only can I make mud explode, but I can earn a Grammy with the way I make
shit explode.”

Liu Sang walked to the car, popped the trunk, opened a box of detonators,
and threw them to me and Fatty. He also wanted to throw them to Poker-
Face, but once he thought about it, he didn’t dare to. Fatty threw his
detonators to Poker-Face and then caught the ones a blushing Liu Sang
threw to him instead. The four of us stood there and looked at each other
for a moment. Then, Liu Sang started to take off his clothes and the three of
us immediately copied him.

“I’ll stand in the middle and listen while you detonate at the three corners. If
there’s something below, I’ll be able to find it in forty minutes.” As Liu Sang
put on special headphones, I noticed that he was very thin under his clothes
and he had an incomplete Qilin tattooed on his body. It looked like an

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imitation of Poker-Face’s, but it wasn’t as elegant and didn’t look finished
yet.

Liu Sang’s face was flushed. Fatty was just about to speak up, but Liu Sang
quickly interrupted him, “Shut up and go!” He then turned and headed
towards the beach.

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Chapter 19 Exploding Mud
Liu Sang walked in the sea breeze, carrying several large porcelain pots. They
were shaped like ancient urinals, but the opening was in the middle. “Let me
quiz you. What is that idiot carrying?” Fatty asked me.

I secretly took a look at them and saw that they were typical old-style white
porcelain. The glazed flower at the top of the opening was a lotus flower,
and there were two peonies on both ends with an eight divinatory trigram
pattern in the middle of them.

I figured they were soul jars, which were often unearthed in ancient tombs
in the south. They were sometimes called five-grain sacs. But most soul jars
were long or looked like bamboo shoots, and were far more gorgeous than
these things. The porcelain patterns on the soul jars I had seen normally had
three or four layers. It was said that the more layers there were, the higher
the tomb owner’s status. If these were really soul jars, then they were really
too humble.

Fatty said to me, “You don’t know, right? They’re sex toys. This guy is a
pervert, so he’s carrying them around while he works.”

Liu Sang turned around and scolded him, “Are you fucking drunk? I’ve been
respectful since you’re my senior, but don’t bully me just because you’re
older. This is for listening. You’re so uncultured!”

I was stunned for a moment. I had heard of this kind of thing before, but I
didn’t expect it to look like this.

These things were used by the ancients to guard cities from enemies who
sought to dig tunnels from the outside. When buried under the city wall,
they could amplify any digging sounds. And when there was no wind, you
could cover them in leather so that you could hear more clearly.

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I took a closer look and found that they were all Liao(1) white porcelain,
which seemed to have been dug up from an ancient battlefield. I had heard
that when you used them to listen, you could still hear the echoes of the
battlefield at night. I didn’t expect Liu Sang to use such an old method, so I
somewhat changed my opinion of him. It turned out that this guy did know
what he was doing.

It was very difficult to walk to the edge of the beach and reach the mudflat,
and we ended up having to take off our shoes since we kept getting sucked
into the mud. We had hardly taken more than a dozen steps before we
quickly found ourselves exhausted. The local people used something called a
“haima”(2), which was a sled-like wooden plank you would stand on with one
foot, but we didn’t have that and could only walk.

We trudged after him for a long time before he finally reached the center of
the mudflat. After he found the right position, it took the three of us fifteen
minutes to get to the three directions he designated and bury the
detonators.

At this time, I didn’t know how many times I had fallen. I was completely
covered in mud and the sea breeze was getting colder and colder.
Fortunately, I had Fatty’s wine, so my body was warm all over.

The setting sun gradually sank towards the horizon. There weren’t any
fishing boats on the sea, nor was anyone on the beach. The only things I
could see were the hazard lights from Uncle Two’s cars that were far up on
the shore. I took out the walkie-talkie and asked our lookout what the
situation was. He said that there wasn’t anyone on the beach for several
miles.

I looked at Liu Sang, who had buried the listening devices one by one in the
mud in a very strange pattern. He put a copper coin in each one, bent down,
and put his ears against the openings. When we detonated the explosives

(1)
Short name for Liaoning province. There’s also a Liao or Khitan dynasty that existed from 907-1125.
(2)
It means seahorse.

103
one by one, mud went flying in the air. The shock wave was so huge that I
lost my balance and fell into the mud again.

Liu Sang lay in the middle of it all, listening carefully. He told us to use our
Luoyang shovels to bury the detonators even deeper. After burying them,
the explosions were no longer like a geyser, but more like a fart. A bubble
would rise up from the mud until it burst apart with a wretched sound,
emitting the smell of sulfur.

We started using our flashlights once it was completely dark, but our hearts
weren’t in it. Not only were we numb all over after being buffeted by the
sea breeze for so long, but the wine could no longer combat the cold. A
bunch of large flying insects appeared and swarmed our flashlights, while
disgusting-looking sea cockroaches crawled all over the mudflat.

Liu Sang didn’t hear anything at first, but as we set off more and more
explosions, I started to notice that something was wrong. He was talking less
and his expression started to look confused. We gathered around him during
our break and asked him what was going on. It was a long time before he
said, “I’m only sure of two things right now. First, there are a lot of holes in
the rocks below, which are connected to the rocky mountains on shore.
Second, it’s not normal for so many sea cockroaches to appear on the
mudflats. Our explosions must’ve shocked them out of those holes. But
since there are holes in the rocks below, I can’t be sure if there’s actually a
tomb down there.”

I looked at his expression and knew something wasn’t right. He wasn’t

telling us the truth. I patted him and said, “Little Brother is here so you have
to be honest.”

“What the hell did you hear? If you tell me, I promise I’ll only laugh at you
for two months,” Fatty said to him.

He looked at Poker-Face, hesitated for a moment, but still didn’t say

anything. He glanced at the listening devices with a puzzled expression on
his face.

104
While we were wheedling him, I suddenly felt as if the mud beneath my feet
wasn’t quite right and seemed to have loosened. It hadn’t reached my
ankles before, but now it had suddenly reached my knees. My feet felt itchy
and I could feel countless bugs crawling out of the mud. I shined my
flashlight down and saw sea cockroaches crawling out of the muddy water
at our feet.

Fatty and I looked at each other and then turned to Poker-Face at the same
time. He squatted down, caught one, and then threw it away after looking at
it. Fatty took out the flare gun and pointed it at the sky.

As the red light exploded in the air, we were completely stunned. Hundreds
of thousands of sea cockroaches were pouring out of the mud all around us.
Every inch of mud as far as the eye could see was squirming, and when we
looked closely, it turned out to be these disgusting bugs.

“We must’ve blown up the cockroach nest,” Fatty murmured.

Liu Sang was expressionless as he looked around and listened, not caring
about the bugs at all.

I looked down at my feet. As the bugs came out, the mud beneath our feet
became looser and looser. I was just about to make a suggestion when
Poker-Face suddenly shouted, “Get ashore!”

The three of us immediately ran for the shore, but Liu Sang didn’t have this
tacit understanding with us and stood there stunned for a moment.
Suddenly, we heard a series of loud hiccup sounds come from the ground
before a dozen massive bubbles appeared on the beach in the distance. The
mud in that area began to sink as if it were melting. I had to shout at Liu
Sang before he finally realized what was going on. As the four of us rushed
for the shore, the flare finished its descent and revealed all the bubbles
spread across the mudflat.

It was like a giant pot of sea cockroach soup.

105
It was so hard to walk on the mudflat that I had to use all my strength just to
run a dozen meters, but I still fell in the mud more than ten times and ended
up covered in sea cockroaches.

Poker-Face suddenly stopped, and I could tell by the look on his face that
something was wrong. I looked up and immediately knew what the problem
was.

The cars’ headlights were missing. The direction we were running in was
pitch black.

“Did we get confused and run in the wrong direction?” I cursed and looked
behind us, but it was also dark.

Poker-Face pointed up ahead, and Fatty loaded another flare and fired it. As
the light soared into the distance, we saw that the mudflat stretched out as
far as the eye could see. Not only was there no sign of the shore, but Uncle
Two’s cars were nowhere to be seen either.

Fatty immediately fired another shot in the opposite direction. With both
sides lit up at the same time, we found that it was all wrong. The shore
wasn’t in either direction. We were in the center of a huge mudflat, which
was much bigger than the one we had seen from the shore before.

“Where is this?” Fatty asked. “What happened to the shore?”

“This is bad. This is so bad.” I took a deep breath. It appeared I had been
right and something strange really was here. I kept looking in both
directions, but there was nothing besides the endless mudflat.

Fatty wanted to send another signal flare, but I stopped him. “Save it. We
might need it if we run into trouble.”

Fatty grabbed Liu Sang, “What the fuck did you hear? What’s going on
here?”

106
Liu Sang was trembling as he looked at Poker-Face and said, “I heard
someone talking below.”

107
Chapter 20 The Raksha Country and the Sea
Market(1)
We kept sinking down into the mud and had to keep moving our feet in
order to stay on top of the mudflat. We were covered in sea cockroaches
and many of them had climbed into our clothes. I kept shaking them off and
slapping them away, but I didn’t have time to worry about them.
Fortunately, they didn’t hurt people even though they looked disgusting.

Fatty grabbed Liu Sang and forcefully threw him into the mud. “What do you
mean you heard someone talking?” He asked him. “Make it clear!”

Liu Sang took a breath but still couldn’t say it. The three of us stared at him
until he finally cracked, “There’s someone talking under the mudflat.” He
paused, and then said more seriously, “No, it’s not one person. It’s countless
people. Countless people are talking.”

As we glanced at each other, he inhaled sharply and clenched his teeth. “It
sounds really lively, but they’re saying something I can’t understand. There
are definitely a lot of people, though.”

“Under this mudflat?” I asked.

Liu Sang nodded, and Fatty asked, “Can those listening devices pick up evil
spirits? I’ve heard a lot of magnetic instruments can hear the sounds of
ancient markets from long ago. Or maybe it’s just the sound of these bugs
moving in the mud. Don’t fucking talk nonsense.”

“I didn’t hear it at first,” Liu Sang said, “but it started to gradually appear
once we started setting off the detonators.” He looked off into the darkness

(1)
It’s a short story by Pu Songling that was first published in “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio”. Told
in two parts, the story follows the adventures of scholar-merchant Ma Ji. More info here. For those
curious, the characters for the chapter title are: 罗刹海市. Luóchà (罗刹)= demon in Buddhism that likes
to eat flesh, or a poltergeist in temples that plays tricks on monks and has a taste for their food. It
translates as Rakshasa for some reason. Hǎishì (海市)= mirage (or if you break the characters up, they
can mean Sea Market/City/Town).

108
on one side and suddenly lowered his voice before saying, “There’s
something under this mudflat. And we woke it up.”

The flares on both sides fell, and the light gradually dimmed until only our
flashlights were left. At this time, I clearly felt that the sea breeze had
stopped.

As soon as it stopped, the dry cold on the mudflat immediately turned into a
damp cold. I broke out in a cold sweat and started shivering. I glanced at
Poker-Face and saw him looking in the same direction as Liu Sang.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him. He didn’t answer me but suddenly started
heading back.

We quickly followed him. As we ran through the mud, I saw Liu Sang and
Poker-Face glance towards that same dark direction from time to time. Fatty
lit a cigarette and then pulled a gun out of his backpack before throwing it to
me. I loaded it and then put my Kukri on my waist. Fatty’s gun could hold
seventeen rounds and I couldn’t believe he ran red lights in the city when
carrying such a thing.

But there was no need to worry about that now.

Our flashlights quickly found the listening devices still stuck in the mud that
we had been in too much of a hurry to grab before. Liu Sang took a few
steps closer but didn’t dare approach them to listen. “It’s getting closer,” he
said.

“What is?”

“I didn’t hear it this clearly before. You can listen for yourself,” Liu Sang said.
I went up to the closest listening device and listened very carefully. My ears
weren’t as sensitive as Liu Sang’s, but I could vaguely hear the voices he had
mentioned before. I originally thought it would be something that sounded
like talking but could be explained away as wind or water. But when I heard
it myself, I found that I was wrong.

109
This kind of noise sounded more like what you would hear in a huge market.
Some people were shouting while others were talking, and it sounded like
there were a lot of people.

After thinking about it, I suddenly realized that I had read about this
phenomenon before in some ancient books. In some of the old seaside
county records, there was a legend about a “sea market”. It was said that
countless voices would occasionally appear on the night sea, just like a huge
market. If you followed these voices, you would eventually encounter the
sea market. And Rakshasa were among those walking through the market.

This legend was later adapted in many novels about strange tales(2).

Were all these sounds coming from beneath the mudflat? Was it a natural
phenomenon or something unexplainable?

Liu Sang was trembling all over and completely petrified by the current
situation. He kept mumbling, “Everyone said something would happen if you
worked with Little Master Three. I thought it was just a rumor, a way for you
to draw people in. I didn’t expect it to be so accurate.”

Fatty moved to smack him, “What did you say, you little bastard? You have
no manners!”

Liu Sang used his elbow to block Fatty’s strike, while simultaneously tripping
him. As Fatty fell forward, Liu Sang pushed him into the mud. Fatty was livid
as he got up and swatted the sea cockroaches away. I moved to stop them
but saw that Liu Sang had suddenly calmed down. He glanced at Little
Brother, who glanced back at him.

Liu Sang pointed to a certain direction in the dark, “Guys, something’s

coming.”

(2)
Per Tiffany: Novels about strange tales, or Zhiguai xiaoshuo (Chinese: 志怪小說), is also translated as
“tales of the miraculous”, “tales of the strange”, or “records of anomalies”. It’s a type of Chinese
literature which appeared in the Han dynasty. Wiki link here.

110
Fatty picked up his gun and pulled out the signal flare, waiting as Liu Sang
listened for a few seconds, “Two and a half kilometers, a little to the east.”
Fatty fired the signal flare in that direction. As it shot into the sky and
illuminated the area, we only took a single look before we all turned around
and started running for our lives.

111
Chapter 21 Mud
Under the flare’s light, we saw that the mud in the distance was arching up
like a hill and rushing towards us. We couldn’t see what was under it, but it
was growing so quickly that the churning mud was shooting out at a height
that was as tall as a person.

The four of us started running, but Fatty suddenly stopped after a few steps
and cursed, “Fuck this shit. If there’s something under the mud, what are we
running for? Fuck it.”

I cursed. The mud here was extremely soft, so it was useless to run and hide
no matter how good you were. Fatty had immediately understood this as
soon as he ran those dozen steps. Our feet were simply too heavy to move.

Poker-Face grabbed me and Fatty and pulled us forward. He could pull us

out with one hand every time we got stuck since he was so strong, but he
had no anchor and used up all his strength. In the end, we only managed to
make it thirty or forty meters into the nearby darkness.

We left Liu Sang behind. Almost half of his body was stuck in the mud and
he was crying and shouting, “Idol, save me!”

Poker-Face went back, grabbed him by the neck, and dragged him to us. He
immediately kicked the back of our knees, knocked us down, and pressed us
into the mud. “Don’t move,” he said.

He then picked up our flashlights, drew his body back in a huge arc, and
threw one of them. The flashlight flipped in the air and then landed in the
distant mud with its beam face up. When he threw the remaining three
back-to-back, the light beams created a spiral band of light in the air. They
eventually landed in the distance, creating three more dots of light.

As Poker-Face also squatted down in the mud with us, we immediately

understood his intention. Fatty and I started smearing mud all over our

112
faces, leaving only our eyes and nostrils exposed. I noticed that Fatty was
still smoking his cigarette, so I smacked it out of his mouth and put it out.

The mountain of mud arrived in an instant. We couldn’t see what was in the
mud because it was so dark out, but we could definitely smell a horrible
stench. One of the county records mentioned that the sea market was
actually a huge sea monster that lured people to the seaside with words and
then swallowed them whole. I wondered if it was true.

At this time, I suddenly noticed that something was wrong. The mud we
were lying on was actually starting to move. And it was flowing to the area
right in front of us.

We all rolled over and immediately started crawling in the opposite

direction, but it was no use. We were still being pulled forward. Fatty cursed
and started shooting in the direction we were being pulled in. The bullet
streaked through the darkness, but there was no sound of impact.

I reacted fairly quickly and rolled over to Fatty’s side, pulling out the flare
gun and firing it into the sky again.

We finally saw what was in front of us, and it wasn’t a giant creature hiding
in the mud.

There was a crack in the mud in front of us that wasn’t wide, but it was very
long and deep. The entire mudflat had split open for several kilometers,
looking more like a small chasm now.

“I got it!” Fatty shouted.

It was possible the rocks under the mudflat had collapsed and the mud
mountain had formed from the gas below rushing up to the surface. Now all
the mud was rushing towards this crack, forming a kind of mud waterfall.

There was no use trying to crawl in the opposite direction.

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“Mr. Naive, Little Brother,” Fatty shouted, “if the three of us are going to die
here, I have something to ask you!”

“Listen, listen, listen!!!” Liu Sang shouted over him.

At this time, we all heard numerous voices coming from within the chasm.
They sounded very close and very clear. Then, the ground fell out from
beneath our feet and the mud swept us into the chasm. I fell for about ten
seconds before I landed in the mire below. It felt like I was being assaulted
by a ton of shit. Everything was dark and the air was filled with an
unbearable stench.

“This won’t kill us!” I yelled into the darkness.

Mud started falling on my head and I quickly rolled to the side, struggling
not to be buried alive. I noticed that our flashlights had also been dragged
down by the onslaught and were lying nearby. On the bright side, the mud
in this area was thicker than I thought and the waterfall quickly stopped. On
the downside, water was starting to accumulate. “Fatty, where are you?”

He set off a cold firework, illuminating our surroundings. The mud had
washed him more than a hundred meters away from me. When I looked at
him, I saw that the bottom of this chasm was now a mud river and there
were rocks on both sides of the place where he stood. We had fallen at least
sixty or seventy meters beneath the mudflat and were now in the depths of
the seabed. The rocks were covered in silt and I could vaguely see that
thousands of jars were densely packed together in the rock walls.

Now these jars were filled with mud.

The mud river was still flowing, indicating that this underground chasm
obviously went deeper. Liu Sang also set off a cold firework on the other
side, and I saw countless decayed wooden boats near him. There was layer
upon layer of them embedded in the rock walls.

114
Chapter 22 Looking for the Tomb Entrance
I was relieved when Poker-Face’s cold firework went off in the distance. I
looked at my watch and calculated our present situation.

The downward flow of silt was obviously slowing down, but there was more
and more water under our feet. When I looked up, I found that we were
about sixty meters below the surface, which was almost a twenty-story
drop. The distance from the bottom of the chasm to the surface was really
huge.

The mud that was still pouring down from both sides formed a V-shaped
slope, which we were at the bottom of. I could see rock protrusions in the
mud that were obviously part of the rock strata beneath the mudflat.

The chasm wasn’t particularly wide and would’ve been about twenty-five
meters wide without all the sludge. For some reason, the mud on the
surface didn’t immediately pour down and fill this chasm. I figured this V-
shaped canyon was actually a huge tubular cave in the rock strata below the
mudflat. When we set off the detonators earlier, we blew the top of this
cave to pieces. All the silt above poured into the cave below, and we just
happened to get swept along with it.

The jars and boats in the cave walls seemed to be burial pits. This cave was
probably the outer part of the South Sea King’s tomb where the burial pits
were located.

But even though the mud was moving so slow that it didn’t look like
anything was happening on the surface, this chasm would definitely be filled
within two hours. We couldn’t waste a single minute.

I shouted to Fatty, “What’s the plan?”

Liu Sang was already trying to climb back up the mud slope to the surface,
but the downward flow was too strong. Every time he stepped on the slope,
he was immediately pushed back down again. Fatty made the most accurate

115
decision at this time and shouted, “We can’t get up!” He pointed to the mud
river at his feet, which was flowing in a single direction along the chasm
bottom.

“This was originally a cave, and part of it collapsed. There must be space in
the other caves. If we follow the mudflow, we should be able to find a safe
place to stay for a while.” Fatty struggled to wade through the mud and
pointed to an area by Liu Sang. “There’s a boat!”

We slapped away the sea cockroaches that were falling down and trudged
toward Liu Sang. At this time, the mud almost reached my thighs and I knew
it would be impossible to walk once it reached my crotch. Every step I took
required a great deal of physical strength.

Fatty and I finally reached Liu Sang, but Fatty didn’t pay any attention to
him. He flung the mud off his hand, drew out his gun, and started shaking
the mud out of the barrel. I quickly grabbed him, “It’ll explode!”

“A good quality gun might, but this one isn’t that sophisticated. The bullet
might fall out, but it won’t ever explode. You can bet on the dignity of
Changping’s Ergouhei(1)!” Fatty fired the gun and hit the wooden wedges
that held one of the boats against the rock wall. Even though muddy water
shot out of the gun along with the bullets, the wooden wedges were still
smashed to pieces.

He kept shooting until all the wooden wedges were broken, and then the
two of us used the butts of our guns to pry the boat out of the cliff wall.

The small wooden boat was covered in tung oil, so the hull was still intact
even though the rest of it had rotted. We climbed up and Fatty shouted to
Liu Sang, “Hey idiot! You’ve got three seconds to get over here. We won’t
wait any longer than that.”

Liu Sang looked back and immediately threw himself on the boat. We knelt
on the boat with one foot and used our other foot to paddle. We used the

(1)
Not sure if Ergouhei is like some underworld gun dealer, but Changping is a district in Beijing.

116
boat like a haima(2) and slid downstream, passing by Poker-Face. He was
looking at something and hadn’t noticed us yet, so Fatty shouted, “Little
Brother!”

Poker-Face turned around and jumped up, flinging mud in the air. When he
finally landed in the bow of our boat, the increased weight caused us to
speed up, just as the angle of the mud river’s slope increased. We pulled our
legs into the boat as it suddenly dropped down, the hull spinning so wildly
that it almost overturned.

It wasn’t easy to try and stabilize the boat since it was spinning in circles. I
noticed that Poker-Face was holding both mine and Fatty’s belts with one
hand, while Liu Sang was clutching the side of the boat. At that moment, I
realized that Poker-Face’s eyes were searching for something. “What are
you looking for? Fatty has sharp eyes, so let’s find it together!” I yelled.

Suddenly, the angle of the slope increased from about sixty degrees to
almost forty-five degrees. The mud here hadn’t completely covered the
bottom of the chasm, so many sharp-edged rocks were still exposed.
Although we weren’t going as fast in the mud as we would in water, hitting
these rocks would still send the boat careening even more. Our cold
fireworks had been scattered to who knew where and there was no time to
try and look for them. Not only could we not see anything, but I was feeling
dizzy, too. If Poker-Face hadn’t grabbed my belt, I would’ve been thrown off
the boat.

Liu Sang shouted from the darkness, “Guys, I’m going to throw up!”

“Swallow it!” I shouted at him.

“Little Brother is looking for the tomb entrance!” Fatty shouted. “His hands
are occupied, so give him a light!” With that said, a flare suddenly shot up in
the air, instantly lighting up the whole chasm. Fatty clenched his teeth. We
were spinning rapidly and sliding into an abyss. There wasn’t any mud on

(2)
Remember, it’s a sled-like wooden plank the locals use.

117
either side of the cliff wall, but there were countless eaves and stone
terraces.

I took a closer look and found that they were embossed pavilions(3) on the
cliff walls that looked just like a huge bonsai. Among them, we could see
that there was a huge hall inlaid on the cliff in front of us, which had to be
the tomb entrance. I looked at it and thought, oh no. I saw Poker-Face
looking at me, so I quickly shouted, “Don’t throw me! Fatty! The grappling
hook!”

Fatty threw me the grappling hook and I held it in my mouth as I pulled the
gun out. I inserted the end of the grappling hook into the gun while Fatty
pulled out the climbing rope. He tied the rope around his waist and then
fastened the other end to the grappling hook. I tried to ignore my severe
dizziness and shot at the cliff. The gun went off and the grappling hook
immediately shot out. It hit the cliff and started pulling the rope tied around
Fatty’s waist as it fell all the way down without snagging on anything. Fatty
started scolding me loudly until the hook finally caught on something and
pulled the rope taut. Fatty shouted and gripped me with one hand while
holding the boat with the other. Poker-Face grabbed my belt. As the three of
us were pulled forward, the boat came to an abrupt halt. Liu Sang flew out
of the boat, but Poker-Face managed to grab him by the hair and throw him
to the cliff. He smacked into the cliff wall and rolled a dozen times, only
stopping when he finally caught a protrusion with one hand.

(3)
Basically, the pavilions have been sculpted in such a way that they’re raised above the rock wall.
Imagine the pavilions sticking out like this:

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Fatty started laughing, but at that moment, we suddenly heard a
thunderous sound coming from overhead. When we looked up, the flare
revealed the scene above us.

Mud was pouring down from the sky like a tidal wave.

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Chapter 23
The elastic climbing rope around Fatty’s waist suddenly tightened, digging
into his flesh as it was pulled. Fatty looked at the mud overhead and cursed,
“It’s like diarrhea! Hurry and go!”

“Hold your hand out!” I shouted at Liu Sang.

But he had vomited so much that he was completely unconscious. He could

hardly hold onto the rock wall, let alone reach out to help us.

“Go!” Poker-Face whispered.

I clenched my teeth and tried to gather my strength before stepping on

Fatty’s shoulder and jumping onto the cliff. I grabbed onto one of the reliefs
but hit my forehead and almost fell.

Poker-Face jumped up, rotated a hundred-and-eighty degrees in the air, and

then landed under me. Fatty threw out the other end of the rope to Poker-
Face, who handed part of it to me. As the two of us gripped the rope tightly,
Fatty jumped into the muddy water and the boat was washed away in an
instant.

The two of us held onto the rope and pulled him to shore. In less than three
minutes, the flare fell into the muddy water and plunged the surrounding
area into darkness.

“Stick to the wall!” Fatty shouted.

I pressed myself hard against the cliff wall as a shower of mud came pouring
down. The massive force came out of the darkness and slammed into the
cliff wall, suddenly filling my mouth and nose with mud.

I used all my strength to turn around, found a gap in the cliff behind me, and
stuffed my face into it. I could take two or three breaths at first, but after
that, my lungs were overwhelmed by the oppressive force behind me.

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I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t move.

The mud pressing me against the rock wall was so much heavier than water,
and my ribs were pressing my lungs so painfully that I couldn’t even cry out.
I felt as if all my internal organs were going to be squeezed out.

Then, everything became very quiet.

All I could hear was the sound of my bones grinding together, the beating of
my heart, and the mud squeezing itself into my ears. I knew that the mud
had breached my inner ear.

My lungs kept twitching and my mind went blank. Endless panic suddenly
erupted like a black hole.

This kind of vivid fear replaced my previous calm. After going through so
many adventures and experiencing so much by myself, I didn’t know when I
no longer felt afraid of these kinds of scenes. I could talk and laugh and do
what I needed to do in times of danger.

But I remembered that my grandfather had written in his notes that this was
probably abnormal.

I had slowly forgotten what this line meant and thought that I could handle
any kind of situation. But it wasn’t until this moment that I suddenly realized
what I was facing again. My head was suddenly full of images of when I first
went down into a tomb, which I hadn’t thought about for a long time.
Before the fear of death, there was no difference between a novice and a
veteran.

All this happened in about three or four seconds. Then, I suddenly felt the
pressure loosen and the rock wall under my body crack open. The huge
pressure behind me forced me and the mud into the new opening and I
faceplanted on the ground. It turned out that the rock wall was hollow and
there was a steep slope inside. The mud didn’t lose any momentum as it
poured in and swept me end over end down the slope.

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I lifted my head and took a breath, but ended up getting a mouthful of mud
in addition to the much-needed oxygen. As I coughed violently, the full-body
spasms squeezed the mud out of my ears. I didn’t know how long I was
swept along by the raging river of mud, but I finally came to a stop. I
immediately used all my strength to stand up and started vomiting. All that
came out was mud.

I patted my waist and found that I still had four cold fireworks on me. But I
needed to save them, so I pulled my lighter out of my pocket and flicked it
open. The faint light could only illuminate a tiny area, but I could see enough
to tell that I was in a tomb passage, which was full of sea cockroaches. When
the light appeared, they all frantically scurried away.

I looked at my watch out of habit. Within thirty seconds, I quickly took stock
of everything I had. There were four cold fireworks, seventeen glow sticks,
four boxes of universal matches, and six packs of hardtack. I’d lost my gun,
but I still had more than thirty bullets and my Kukri with me. Everything else
was lost, though.

I looked behind me, but the passage was completely blocked by mud. I
unscrewed my Kukri’s handle and pulled out a whistle from the inside. I was
just about to blow it when I heard a very clear and boisterous sound coming
from the depths of the tomb passage. It sounded just like an underground
market, but the passage in front of me was completely dark without a hint
of light.

I thought for a moment and then lowered my whistle.

I took a few steps forward but saw something standing in the middle of the
tomb passage. It had a fixture on it that made the whole thing look very
unusual.

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Chapter 24 Thunder God Statue
There was a strange statue in the middle of the tomb passage. The lighter
cast a dim glow so I couldn’t see the whole picture clearly, but I already
knew that it was a statue of the Thunder God.

The statue’s color had completely flaked off, leaving only a few patches, and
the ceramic surface was rough. The Thunder God held his left hand high
while his right hand rested on his waist. His face had been destroyed, but I
knew it was a thunder god statue because of the two drums around his
waist.

The statue looked very worn. It was possible the pottery had been heated
layer by layer, since the outermost layers were broken and peeling off like
some kind of mummy. The reason I thought it was so unusual was because
the statue was so clean. It was like it was emitting a magic power to keep all
the sea cockroaches off of it.

The wall of the tomb passage was practically covered in bugs, and they kept
falling on me from time to time. As I gradually recovered, I could feel the
barbs on their legs hooking into my skin.

Actually, now that I noticed it, I was already covered in them.

I kept slapping them away, but I was too afraid to touch the statue. That
strange, boisterous sound was coming from the darkness behind it.

Poker-Face had been right below me, so it was no accident that the mud
broke through the rock wall. When my body was pressed up against it
earlier, I could feel that the reliefs were all made from pottery that had been
stuck onto the cliff wall. If Fatty and Poker-Face hadn’t choked to death,
they probably broke the reliefs with a random bump from the hard parts of
their body. And if there was also a tomb passage hidden in the wall behind
them, then they shouldn’t be that far below my feet.

They wouldn’t die from something like this.

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Although I was surprised that I had been a little afraid of death, I felt that
this sudden fear probably only belonged to people with my character.

I couldn’t help but worry about Liu Sang. He had been in a very bad position
just now, but we didn’t have time to take care of him. If he had been buried
in the mud, then he was probably in the last few minutes of his life right
now.

I set my lighter down and started knocking on the ground with the back of
my Kukri’s blade. The sound transmission here was very good, so the sound
echoed clearly throughout the tomb passage.

I didn’t want to use my whistle because the sound was too sharp. I didn’t
know what was in the depths of the tomb passage and I was afraid too much
noise might bring me danger.

Soon, the sound of metal hitting the ground came from somewhere below
my feet.

Fatty and I had two special tapping communication methods, but they
weren’t Morse code because his English was so poor.

I listened to the sounds, sure that it was Fatty because the tapping rhythm
was very familiar. But I was confused as I listened carefully to what he had
to say.

The message was very strange. Fatty was saying, “Turn off the lights.”

If I turn off the lights, I can’t see anything, I said to myself. Why turn them
off?

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Chapter 25 Meet Up
I took a deep breath as Fatty continued to knock very fast. My nose was full
of a damp, fishy smell and my throat was itchy. I suppressed my inner panic
and slowly closed the lighter’s lid.

The tomb passage returned to darkness.

As I rubbed my upper arms to ward off the cold, I slowly heard the noisy
market sounds in the depths of the tomb passage gradually become clearer.
It seemed like a large group of people were headed in my direction.

The voices that were becoming clearer and clearer sounded like the local
dialect, which I couldn’t understand. There were arguments, shouting, and
even laughter.

I broke out in goosebumps, not sure if it was because I was cold or because I
was scared. Fatty’s knocking was mixed in with those sounds and urged me
to, “Go towards the sound. Don’t turn on the lights.”

There was a distance of about three or four stories between us now, but the
fact that he could also hear those voices indicated that the sources were
connected.

As he was knocking, I heard another tapping sound coming from a deeper

place. It was disorganized but very calm, which meant it had to be Poker-
Face responding to us.

I listened to the two tapping sounds, certain that it was Poker-Face who was
making them. As Fatty and I tapped back a reply, I hoped to hear the tapping
of a fourth person. But Poker-face and Fatty’s sounds were the only things I
heard.

I tapped out a question to Fatty, “How’s Liu Sang?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Let’s meet up first.”

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I sighed in my heart, hoping that Liu Sang could handle himself. “Why can’t
we turn the lights on?” I eventually tapped back.

Knowing that they were both alive had me feeling a little relieved and I took
a deep breath to calm my shaking hands. As I started to relax, I noticed that I
was feeling colder and colder.

It took a long time for Fatty to respond. It was obvious that his answer was
too complicated, so he had to think about how to word it. His knocking was
very confusing, but I was able to guess what he was trying to say, “There’s
something on the tomb passage wall. It’ll see us.”

The tomb passage wall? I frowned. The wall was full of those sea
cockroaches, so I hadn’t paid much attention to what was on it just now.
“It’ll see us”… was there something under the sea cockroaches? After
thinking about it, I didn’t dare approach the walls. I had the sudden feeling
that something was standing there in the darkness.

Fatty continued to knock, “I still have eighteen detonators. If we can’t meet

up, I’ll find somewhere to set them off. Keep tapping so we know each
other’s positions.”

I told myself this was the only way, so I stood up and warned Fatty, “There’s
something wrong with the thunder god statues. Don’t touch them and just
keep moving.”

Fatty paused and tapped back, “Are you serious? I already took one. It’s
gold-plated.”

I secretly scolded the old bastard for not being afraid of death as he got
older.

I quietly moved forward in the dark, stopping every ten steps to knock on
the ground and tell Fatty my position. Poker-Face would randomly join in
whenever we communicated. I slowly found that I was moving much faster
than Fatty and I realized that he probably really was carrying a thunder god
statue on his back. I held my forehead and sighed.

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As I moved further along the tomb passage, the noisy market sounds
became clearer and clearer and Fatty’s knocking was getting closer and
closer. I realized that the sound was coming from all directions because it
was resonating in the tomb passage. I couldn’t tell which direction to go in
at first, but I walked a certain distance and the sound was suddenly all too
clear. It almost sounded like it was right beside me now and I was a little
afraid to move forward.

Fatty also stopped, so I tapped out to him, “The sound seems to be all
around me. I have to figure out what it is before I go.”

Fatty didn’t reply back this time, so I knocked again slowly. He finally
responded, each knock slowly coming one at a time. After three minutes of
this slow knocking, the following message was relayed:

“I’m among them,” he said.

Our knocking method was only focused on relaying information in the

simplest form possible. I couldn’t talk to Fatty about stocks or Broadway, but
we took into account most of the situations that would happen in a tomb.
The tapping sound for this “them” that he had mentioned was something
we had carefully designed to mean that there was something non-human
here. Whatever he had seen, it wasn’t something he could describe.

I broke out in a cold sweat and dropped to the ground. There didn’t seem to
be as many sea cockroaches here, so I put my ear to the ground and listened
to what was going on below.

A clear, market-like sound came from below, and it almost sounded like it
was directly beneath me. I tapped very lightly, “What is it?”

Fatty’s response came back slowly, “I-don’t-know-but-their-mother-won’t-

even-recognize-them-once-I’m-done-blowing-them-up.”

I paused. At that moment, I heard Fatty knock a “three” and my sense of

foreboding increased. Fatty then knocked a “two” and I suddenly
understood what was going on. I leaped towards the wall and starting

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running like crazy. There was a loud noise and then the ground exploded
with a flash of light. The whole ground sank, the rock under my feet turned
to gravel, and my head suddenly knocked against something sharp. I
immediately turned over and tried to get up, but I was too dizzy and shaky,
and my nose and mouth were full of blood.

I touched my face and found that the blood was flowing from my head to
my temples and down the bridge of my nose. My ears were ringing and I
couldn’t hear anything at all.

I dazedly watched as the second detonator went off less than two meters
away from me. As the fire burst into the air, I finally saw what the situation
was. All around me, the tomb passage’s walls were full of ceramic “little
people”, each one about as high as my knee. They seemed to form a kind of
sea market on the tomb passage wall. Fatty was far away from me, but I
immediately noticed a “thing” on the back of his neck.

It turned out to be a thunder god statue.

It was completely deformed and looked as if it were alive as it hid on his

back and covered his ears.

I paused before immediately touching the back of my own neck. I felt rough
skin lying on my back.

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Chapter 26 Block the Sound of Thunder
I knew it was the thunder god statue I saw before. It must’ve quietly crept
onto my back when I passed by it earlier.

I reached behind me and grabbed it to try and tear it off, but its hand was as
strong as a steel bar.

My surroundings were dark and the ground collapsed again in an instant. I

was thrown about two or three meters and hit the wall as the entire tomb
passage collapsed. I scrabbled for purchase but couldn’t catch anything and
ended up falling deep into the tomb passage below. I landed sideways in the
mud as gravel pummeled my face. When I got up, I found that there was a
layer of mud at the bottom of the tomb passage that reached my thighs.

I got up, spit out a mouthful of mud, and shouted, “Fatty, on your fucking
back!”

At that time, I heard a lot of noise coming from all around me. Although I
couldn’t see anything, I felt as if I was in a huge market. I went to put my
hands over my ears, only to find that the thing on my back was already
covering my ears. I didn’t know if these sounds were really coming from my
surroundings or from the thing on my back.

All my hair stood on end and I immediately used my Kukri to slash towards
it. Sparks went flying everywhere.

Fatty didn’t respond, and I wondered if he had fainted.

During my crazy struggle, I stepped on empty air and suddenly found that
the bottom of the tomb passage under the mud wasn’t actually flat. It
seemed that there was a deep pit hidden there. When I stepped in it, I
immediately began to sink into the mud.

I couldn’t resist at all. The mud’s suction was too strong to fight and I started
to sink deeper as I struggled forward for a while. By the time my foot

129
touched solid ground again, the mud had reached my chest. I reached
behind me again but found that the thing was gone.

At that moment, the noise disappeared from around me and almost

immediately started up again in the far depths of the tomb passage. This
time, it sounded profound and ethereal.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed as
if the thunder god statue had been transmitting the sounds from the depths
of the tomb passage directly into my ears just now.

I shouted for Fatty but still didn’t receive a response. I did hear my cry
echoing back, which meant that this place was very big and definitely not
the small tomb passage from before.

I took a deep breath, forced myself to calm down, and pulled one of my cold
fireworks out of the mud. I couldn’t obey Fatty’s order anymore, so I set the
cold firework off.

As the orange light illuminated my surroundings, I immediately found that I

was no longer in a tomb passage. I was in a huge space where about eight
liberation trucks could be arranged side by side. It was the main path they
had used to transport stones and other materials to the tomb.

The entire path had been buried under so much mud that it looked just like
a mudflat. The only thing left exposed was a row of figurine-like heads
poking out of the mud.

I couldn’t see what they were, but these figures reminded me of the
Terracotta Army(1). There was row after row of heads, and I was smack dab
in the middle of them. I didn’t know where Fatty was, but there definitely
should’ve been a giant hole overhead. Did he not fall down?

(1)
The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the
first Emperor of China. Wiki link here

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I couldn’t move and could barely even lift my feet up. I needed to pull myself
out of the mud first, so I looked around to see if there was anything I could
use. I saw a figurine head close to me, so I reached out, grabbed it, and then
pulled myself over.

After pulling myself out, I lay on the mud and slowly started to sink again. I
quickly clamped my feet around the figurine’s body under the mud before I
was completely submerged.

But when I did this, I found that something was wrong. It wasn’t a burial
figurine under the mud, but a strange thunder god statue that was holding
something. I stuck the cold firework in the mud and stretched out my hand
to touch whatever the thunder god was holding. It was a corpse.

This was a burial pit, not the main path to the tomb.

When I pulled my hand out of the mud, I saw some hair under my nails. The
corpse’s hair hadn’t rotted away since it had been protected by the mud.

Just as I was wondering why Fatty told me not to turn any lights on earlier, I
looked at the burial pit’s wall. It was covered in eye-patterned murals, and
all the eyes seemed to be staring right at me.

Poker-Face’s knock suddenly came from somewhere off to the side,

sounding much closer than before.

Fatty still didn’t respond.

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Chapter 27 Wall of Eyes
The style of these murals was completely different from those in Yang
Daguang’s ancestral tomb. Just like Uncle Two had said before, the things in
that ancestral tomb came from two ancient tombs from two different
dynasties. But they were all related to the ancient South Sea country that
was known as the West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country. Most of the murals here
were done in the southern style of the Han Dynasty and there were a lot of
animal horn symbols that were made using simple lines. Because they were
older, they had suffered a lot of oxidation. Red was the most common color
that could be seen, but almost all the others had turned gray.

I didn’t know when the mud in this burial pit had settled here, but it was
enough time for the surface to have solidified. This seemed to indicate that
it hadn’t been caused by us destroying the structure earlier. It was possible
that a large part of the burial chamber here had long been submerged in
mud.

If the mud hadn’t solidified, then the oxidation of the murals would’ve been
more serious. But luckily, the water vapor had been trapped under the solid
layer. Even so, the pupils of the eyes on the murals had all faded and the
eyes themselves were all gray, making them look like they belonged to dead
people.

My previous experiences had me on high alert, and I remembered that

burial pits were actually a way to declare one’s own property. The murals in
this burial pit had to be related to this theme; otherwise, it didn’t make
sense to paint eyes while eulogizing the tomb owner’s wealth. Fatty had said
earlier that the things on the wall would look at me, but as my cold firework
flashed across the wall, I didn’t see anything other than these eyes.

I couldn’t help feeling confused, but the eyes all over the wall still made me
feel pretty uncomfortable.

I touched my back again, unable to shake the lingering fear from before.

132
Even though the Minyue participated in a lot of cultural exchanges during
the Han Dynasty, many Xu people along the coast still believed in ghosts.
These Xu people were also called barge people, water people, water
immortals, water officials, water matrons, water moor people, Geng Dengzi,
Lu Tingzi, etc. Most of them retained some aspects of the water god culture
from their tribal days.

They lived on the water, so their myths and beliefs in the laws of nature
were different. Since there were no written records of them, there was no
evidence to test, but many of the strange legends were varied and
unimaginable.

I didn’t know what that “Thunder God” was just now and couldn’t even
begin to think of what it might be, but I knew I didn’t kill it. It must still be
somewhere in the mud.

I called for Fatty twice more, but he still didn’t respond. I decided to go to
the edge of the burial pit first, but it would be really annoying if I had to
jump back into the mud again.

I looked back and forth, wondering if I could step on the figurines one by
one to get out. Under the cold firework’s light, these “Thunder Gods” looked
like statues, but God knew what they were. Although I already had my legs
wrapped around one, I hardly dared move. After thinking for a long time, I
found myself trapped.

I took a deep breath and pulled my cell phone out. We had agreed before
that if we were in trouble, we would check each other’s positions using
Bluetooth.

I turned my Bluetooth on, clicked search, and found Poker-Face’s phone.

Even though I didn’t see Fatty’s, I was still relieved to know that Poker-Face
wasn’t that far away from me. I immediately raised my phone, took a selfie
with the whole burial pit behind me, and sent it to him.

A few minutes later, a photo of him and Liu Sang in a tomb passage came
back. Liu Sang was standing behind him and holding his fingers up in a V-

133
sign(1). The light in the photo came from the camera’s flash and the uneven
exposure indicated that they weren’t using other lighting.

In their photo, I noticed that the murals in the tomb passage they were in
were also full of eyes, but the eyes were all closed.

I looked at the murals around me and found that something was off. I didn’t
know when the eyes had suddenly become colorful.

(1)
It’s called a “ye” sign in China. I call it a “victory” sign. Looks like this:

134
Chapter 28 Flash
All the murals in the burial pit were bright.

The eyes had turned red and the colors in other places had somehow
become incomparably gorgeous. If it weren’t for the flaking paint, I would’ve
thought the murals were done within the past few decades. I silently raised
my phone, took a photo, and sent it to them. After a while, a text file was
sent back. I could tell at a glance that Liu Sang had written it: “Idol said to
stay still. There’s something hidden in the murals. And put out the cold
firework!”

I squinted at the murals on the wall, noticing that there were many more
above my head. I lifted the cold firework up, but the eyes on the murals
turned from red to black as soon as it approached. I thought they were
moths or something, but nothing flew away. On the contrary, I could see
more clearly that this was definitely a mural, but there was something
seeping out from behind the eyes.

I quickly extinguished the cold firework in the mud, once more plunging my
surroundings into darkness.

I turned my phone light to its weakest setting and started to ask them
“what’s in the mural?”, but something suddenly dripped onto my phone
screen from above.

I immediately smelled a stench and looked up. I used the light from my
phone screen to look at the eyes on the mural above my head and found
that they were bulging outward. The surface had cracked and there was a
lot of smelly liquid dripping out of it.

When my phone’s light got closer, I was able to see that there was a space
behind the cracks in the mural. I took a knife out and knocked on the mural
several times until it fell off, revealing a big hole.

The back of the mural is hollow? I wondered to myself.

135
My phone’s light was very weak, so I couldn’t see too far into the hole. I
pointed my knife towards the opening for fear that something would
suddenly rush out. I slowly approached it with my phone and pressed the
flash. There was nothing in the hole, but I could definitely see a lot of other
holes forking off from it. I also noticed something else in the wall.

I carefully stood up, held the mural above with one hand to stabilize my
body, and then reached into the hole with my other hand to photograph the
inside of the holes that branched off.

I took six or seven pictures but didn’t see anything. The holes ran too deep,
so I couldn’t tell where they led.

I took a deep breath, turned on my phone’s voice command, stuck my

phone and knife as far into the closest forked hole as possible, and shouted,
“Take a picture!”

As soon as the flash went off, I immediately heard a scream and something
grabbed my hand.

I was so scared I almost peed my pants.

I cried out and desperately tried to break free, but suddenly heard someone
yell, “Who the fuck is blinding me with a flash?!”

That familiar voice could only belong to Fatty. After listening very carefully, I
knew right away that it was him.

“Why the fuck are you in the wall?!” I yelled furiously.

“Cut the crap,” he shouted. “Pull pull pull pull pull pull pull-me-“

136
“Are you a small expert selling newspapers(1)?” I interrupted him as I moved
to pull him out.

A face emerged from the depths of the hole. Sure enough, it was Fatty. His
face was covered in smelly water and he said weakly, “Fuck you, I didn’t
have this much trouble getting out of my mother’s womb!”

I grabbed his hand and tugged hard, pulling him out through the mural.
After he fell past my head and landed in the mud, I pulled him to my
position. As he hugged the Thunder God statue, he looked at its head and
cursed. He then pulled my knife out and smashed the handle against the
statue’s head until it was smashed to pieces.

The statue really was made of pottery, and it was empty inside. Fatty used
my phone to take a photo of it and then breathed a sigh of relief, “It’s
empty.”

When I asked him what was wrong, he looked around while panting and
cursing, “Shit, this whole underground mountain is hollowed out and the
rocks are full of holes. When they opened the passages to build the tomb
and paint the murals here, they sealed all these holes with lime and then
painted eyes on the walls to mark them. So basically, there are holes behind
all the eyes that can be accessed from anywhere. It’s a fucking roughshod
project. But we can’t turn the lights on. There’s something in these holes
that gather as soon as they see the light.”

“How do you know?” I asked him.

Fatty spit out some of the smelly water that must’ve gotten in his mouth,
“It’s one of my character strengths. I don’t like other people staring at me
seductively, so when I saw the eyes on the mural, I stabbed them. I didn’t

(1)
Wu Xie is referencing a 1930s children song called “Selling Newspapers Song”. Lyrics are here.
Youtube link here. It’s kind of a pun. The pinyin of the character for pull (拉) is “lā”. So Fatty’s sentence
could also be read as “La la la, la la la-I’m-”

137
expect to poke a hole in it. I thought it was grave robbers’ tunnel, so I
climbed in to have a look.”

Fatty said that these holes were a unique seaside geological feature. They
were eroded by water a long time ago and then buried under the mudflat.
When he climbed in, he found that it was full of crabs. He took a picture to
see what it was, but something strange appeared in the photo’s flash.

I asked him what it was, but he shook his head and said he couldn’t describe
it. Unfortunately, he had also left his phone inside the hole. He paused, and
we suddenly heard Poker-Face knocking from somewhere close to us.

I took a picture of Fatty to report that he was safe, but when I looked at the
photo, I saw that the flash had caught something in the dark background. In
the corner of the photo, something was hanging upside down from another
eye-hole in the ceiling.

It was very fuzzy and couldn’t be seen clearly from a distance.

Then, we suddenly heard something falling in the mud from that direction. I
took another picture, but there was nothing there.

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Chapter 29
“Stop taking pictures.” Fatty was uncomfortable with the blinding flash, but I
kept taking pictures anyways. But no matter how many I took, I still couldn’t
see it.

“There’s a problem. Get our equipment out!” I shouted at him.

Fatty turned his head to the darkness behind him, listening attentively for a
moment before he said to me, “Is it that thing that was on my back?”

I looked at the photos on my phone, but they were too blurry. “Maybe it’s
the one that was on my back,” I said to him.

Just now, we both had something on our backs, but the one on my back had
fallen here and disappeared. It may have been hiding in the dark corner this
whole time. I hadn’t been under such pressure for a long time and didn’t
react in these last few minutes. If it was the me from before, I might have
died a long time ago.

I thought of that lingering fear again and realized that I was in a state where
I couldn’t defend myself at all. I saw Fatty pull out three homemade pistols
and hand them to me, which made me feel a little more at ease.

This kind of gun was a modified starter pistol(1), so the bullets had to be fired
one by one. I opened it to see what the bullet looked like and found that it
was a modified rifle casing. The bullet head was probably made from iron
scraps. It was said that this kind of gun couldn’t hit a target more than four
meters away, but those within the four-meter range would be shredded like
a cucumber. Since this was a rifle bullet, though, people with weak hand
muscles might end up dislocating something.

(1)
A blank handgun that is fired to start track and field races, as well as competitive swimming races at
some meets.

139
“What the hell is it?” I asked him as I held my phone in one hand and the
gun in the other.

Fatty spit, “Do you see these thunder god statues? They’re all hollow. Look
at them carefully, they weren’t fired in a kiln.”

“How’d you reach that conclusion?” I was back-to-back with him now, and
his back was so thick that my sense of security immediately skyrocketed.

“Have you ever heard of corpse coral?” He asked me.

Corpse coral was a kind of hollow coral that looked like a person. The shape
was so different that it almost looked lifelike. Legend had it that there were
ancient corpses inside them, because the coral had grown along the corpses
to form a human shape. Since they had been labeled exotic goods, they
were brought to the brink of extinction and were very rare now. There was a
saying among those who scoured the sea that corals produced “corpses”,
and most of those corpses carried treasures. The sea god was afraid that the
treasures would decay after the corpses were sunk, so he had the coral
encase them. If you found this kind of coral, you would often find treasure
inside.

But I knew it was a lie because I had made it up in order to sell a batch of
coral beads when I was down on my luck before. But if there were too many
false words, then we wouldn’t be able to tell the truth from fiction. Fatty
had also helped with the later part of this story, so I suddenly wondered if
he had Parkinson’s disease(2).

“It sounds like Old Jin’s nonsense,” I subtly shifted the blame.

“Old Jin’s might be nonsense, but what I’m talking about isn’t,” Fatty
retorted. “It’s true that coral gives birth to corpses, but the most important
thing is that these thunder god statues are really carved out of coral. And
the coral is shaped like people.”

(2)
Parkinson’s Disease can lead to dementia.

140
I looked at the smashed thunder god statue. I had originally thought it was
made of pottery because the colors looked like heated clay, but when I
looked carefully, I saw that it was the texture of coral. I really had been
negligent.

“In the past, the people here collected these corals and carved them into
the Thunder God’s likeness for this tomb. When you break them, you can
see that there are layers of growth patterns inside,” Fatty said. “I don’t know
if there were really bodies inside them, but don’t you think these statues are
like shells?”

I understood what he meant, “You mean, there are living things in the
statues? Someone carved the statues into the Thunder God’s likeness, which
acted as a shell for these living things. As a result, it looked like the Thunder
God was clinging to our backs?”

Fatty nodded and said, “It’s hard to fucking talk to you, Mr. Naïve. You
should get your brain checked when you go back.”

“So, you mean to say we’re dealing with a giant oyster now?” I teased him
as I looked at the heads of the other thunder god statues with my phone
light. There are so many here, I thought to myself. The South Sea country
really was a maritime country. All of these must’ve been set up for tribute.

If they really were corpses, then many of them definitely weren’t natural. I
thought of the thunder god statue I had seen before, with its twisted and
abnormal posture. If there was a corpse inside, then it must’ve died in
extreme pain. Based on what I knew, these statues probably formed when
the South Sea country killed a bunch of fish slaves. After the corpses were
specially treated and sunk into the sea, they were slowly covered in coral.
Then, they were carved into these thunder god statues.

I had initially wondered who would carve such strange gestures, but they
probably had strange body shapes because rigor mortis set in after death.

141
“It’s retribution,” Fatty murmured. We did eat a lot of oysters before. Fatty
was suffering from a little hair loss and it was said that eating them could
help with hair growth.

Poker-Face’s knocking was getting closer and there was no sign of any
movement in the mud. I started to feel my stamina increase and thought to
myself, bring it on, oysters! At that moment, I suddenly noticed that there
was a message in Poker-Face’s knocking.

But Poker-Face didn’t know the information contained within our secret
code.

This particular knocking sound had a message, and I realized as I listened to

it that it was saying, “Prepare for an explosion.”

I paused and looked at Fatty before knocking back, “Who are you?”

“I’m Liu Sang,” the other party answered.

“How do you know our code?” I knocked back.

“It’s simple. I listened to it,” Liu Sang replied.

The ground below us suddenly shook and a big bubble of mud burst forth.
Then, the mud sank down as if a hole in the ground had been blown open.
As the mud began pouring into the next level, I heard Liu Sang shout from
below, “Hurry down. We’ve found the main tomb.” As soon as he finished
speaking, I saw a “thing” get swept along with the mud that was pouring
down. Liu Sang shouted, “What the fuck is that thing?! Where did it go?!”

Fatty and I jumped into the mud and slid down to the next level. When I
turned on my phone’s light, I saw Liu Sang looking for something in the mud,
“There was something here just now.”

At this time, we all saw something lying on his back. It was a long face with
all kinds of facial features.

142
Chapter 30 Full Moon Sacrifice
At that time, the only thing illuminating the tomb passage was the cold light
of my phone screen. It was hard to see anything clearly, but we all dazedly
stared at the long face lying on the back of Liu Sang’s neck. At first glance, it
looked like Liu Sang had two heads.

After taking a closer look, we found that it was the head of the thunder god
statue. It turned out that its half-broken head actually looked like a face.

Fatty and I went up and kicked Liu Sang to the ground. He was scared half to
death and started cursing us for hitting him. Fatty held him down so we
could take a closer look. The thunder god’s head was hollow and we could
see some kind of parasite inside of it. It was biting Liu Sang’s neck and he
didn’t even know it.

Fatty lit a cigarette and pressed his knee down on Liu Sang’s shoulder blade
before saying to him, “Don’t move. The Dragon King has ordered you to go
to the palace to be a eunuch. I’ll cut him off so we can go back to Mount
Huaguo(1).”

Liu Sang immediately understood and didn’t dare move. Fatty gave me a
look, silently telling me to catch the thunder god’s head, and then took out
some liquor. He took a sip and sprayed it on the knife before lighting it and
pressing the knife to the back of Liu Sang’s neck.

Liu Sang’s neck was burning, but we couldn’t pull the long face off at all and
now the air smelled like New Orleans chicken wings.

Just as I was thinking of how strange it was, Fatty became angry and pulled
out his gun. I immediately moved to stop him. At such close range, Liu Sang
might also be hit by the bullet. Although I didn’t like him, I couldn’t disregard
a human life. But instead of shooting, Fatty used the butt of his gun to tap

(1)
It’s a major area featured in the novel “Journey to the West”. It’s known as the birthplace of Sun
Wukong (the Monkey King). More info here.

143
on the thunder god’s head. He had to hit it more than ten times before it
finally broke apart.

We thought something terrible would be inside, so we immediately raised

our guns and drew our knives. I took a picture with my phone and was
absolutely floored.

There was a mass of hair inside the thunder god’s shattered head.

We took a step back and saw a face in the hair that looked like Liu Sang’s
face.

When Liu Sang sat up, he still had that face on the back of his neck.

One was awake and looking at us, while the other one that had been busted
out of the thunder god’s head looked as dull as a corpse.

“Fatty, are we dreaming?” I asked him.

When he didn’t answer me, I turned to look at him and found that he was
completely stunned. At this time, I noticed that his clothes were bulging.

“Fatty!” I pointed to his clothes.

He immediately turned sideways and covered it up. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s something on your back, too,” I said.

“No.” Fatty shook his head and turned around. “See? There’s nothing on my
back.”

I stared at him for a second before secretly touching my own back.

Thankfully, there was nothing there. Fatty’s face darkened as he looked at
Liu Sang and said, “We have to cut one off.”

I looked back at Liu Sang and suddenly felt that his body was wrong. I had
studied drawing for a long time and was especially focused on architecture
and mechanics. After only a quick look, I found that the neck of the Liu Sang

144
who was staring at us in horror wasn’t at the right height. In fact, based on
the curvature of his spine, the face on the back of his neck looked to be the
correct one.

His head had always leaned more to the side, which seemed very
uncomfortable to me.

Countless thoughts came rushing up in an instant and I suddenly

remembered when I had dragged Fatty out of the wall. After I had done
that, I kept feeling as if something was wrong. And Fatty had said a lot of
obviously wrong things.

Things just weren’t adding up.

Moreover, I kept feeling a sense of déjà vu as everything happened. It was

like I had experienced it all before, whether it was the passageways behind
these walls or the faces stuck on the backs of our necks.

“Fatty, let me see your back.” I gave him a cold look.

He paused and then glanced at me, “What for?”

I cocked the gun and said, “I don’t think our situation is right.”

Fatty’s expression slowly changed until he was looking at me coldly. Even Liu
Sang’s frightened expression changed. His face became colder and colder
until the two of them suddenly had the same expression. They both looked
right at me.

Sure enough, there was a problem.

I immediately broke out in a cold sweat and felt an extreme cold spread
from the tips of my fingers. I tried to move my tongue but found that my
whole body was suddenly paralyzed.

I used all my strength to control my tongue and then bit it with my teeth. As
a sharp pain instantly spread from the tip of my tongue, Fatty and Liu Sang

145
disappeared from right in front of me and I suddenly found myself in front of
a huge eye.

I was still in the burial pit and my cold firework was still burning. The eyes on
the murals had become enormous and were looking right at me. I was in the
same position as before.

I knew right away that I had been hallucinating. I could clearly feel the light
distortion in the air as the murals seemed to release a kind of gas under the
light’s glow.

I sneered. The taste of blood in my mouth got thicker and my whole-body

paralysis began to fade. I gradually found that I could move my neck, and
when I looked down, I found that all the statues in the mud had somehow
gathered around me, leaving a long trail in the mud.

146
Chapter 31 Superfluous Tomb Passage
We often called the thing I was holding in my hand cold fireworks, but that
was actually wrong. This kind of thing was called a flame rod in the military,
but we usually bought it from railway companies. In the railway business,
this kind of thing was called a signal torch and it was often bought together
with detonators. It would burn for about ten minutes. We called it a cold
firework because many signal torches were actually cold torches that
wouldn’t explode or catch fire. This batch Fatty bought was probably old
railway goods.

I noticed it had burned my hair, which meant it wasn’t actually a cold

firework. And if it wasn’t cold, then it was probably an underwater flame
rod. The instantaneous maximum temperature it reached was 2600 degrees,
so it wasn’t surprising that the murals had burned like this.

I figured the paint on these murals would volatilize when exposed to light,
which could be related to the special minerals here. Painters often used red
stones found in the local area to prepare their pigments. I didn’t know
whether it was done intentionally or unintentionally, but the murals here
definitely used this special red color.

Although it was dangerous to use a flame rod, the advantage was that it
could be used as a weapon and a light. The entire mural was vaporizing right
in front of me and I could clearly see the air distorting as the smell of the
flame rod filled the air. At this time, I also noticed that there was the strange
smell of blood. The two smells kept putting me in a trance and I had to keep
slapping myself to stay awake. As I stood there in a daze, I felt as if my
phone kept ringing with a new message alert, but when I looked down, I
found that there was nothing there.

I thought of the several text messages in my hallucination, as well the room

we had found Yang Daguang’s mummified body in. I kept feeling like
something was wrong. Was it possible that I had already been poisoned in
those ruins?

147
It wasn’t easy to think anymore, so I quickly took off my underwear and
slathered it in mud before putting it over my mouth. Then, I buried flame
rod in the mud and plunged my surroundings into darkness.

This kind of thing had its own oxidant, so it could continue to burn in both
water and mud, but at least now the light couldn’t be seen.

I held the ancient statue’s head as I shakily climbed down. If I couldn’t walk
in the mud, then there had to be something strange inside these ancient
statues. There was also a chance something was hiding under the mud, so I
had no choice but to take some risks.

I pulled out a detonator and hid behind the ancient statue I was holding
onto. I then counted the distance and threw it out.

After throwing it with all my strength, I shrank into the mud, curled up, and
silently counted, one, two… the detonator exploded before I reached three. I
almost fainted as the shockwave slammed me into the mud. The left side of
my body bore the brunt of it and I immediately threw up as soon as I
climbed out of the mud.

The flame rod had been blown out of the mud by the explosion and landed
about three or four meters away. It was still burning, but I couldn’t reach it
at all. Under its light, I was able to see that another hole had been punched
in the burial pit’s ceiling and gravel was raining down. I held my head,
noticing that a big pit was now in the place where I had thrown the
detonator. The mud had been flung in the air and landed on the eyes in the
murals.

Ha! Look at me again and I’ll blow you up! I glanced at the large number of
cracked murals on the ceiling, threw out three more detonators, and shrank
into the mud again.

One, two, there went the next explosion. This time, the shockwave was
much bigger and the earth shook. The hole from before hadn’t been
completely covered by the mud before the second, third, and fourth
explosions went off one right after the other. The mud was boiling hot.

148
When the third explosion went off, I was directly thrown out of the mud by
the shockwave. I rolled end over end before smacking into the mud. Then
came an overwhelming flood of silt. The underwear on my face was long
gone.

The ceiling completely caved in, the bottom of the burial pit collapsed, and
all the mud began to surge in one direction.

There was only one sentence in my heart at this time, you’re a fucking dick. I
asked Fatty to add a detonation lead time of three seconds, but there were
only two. He must’ve been drunk when he did it. If it weren’t for me
cherishing my life and immediately hiding after throwing that first one out, I
would’ve gone bald when the detonator exploded.

I started to sink in the mud again as soon as I climbed back up. The mud on
my body was steaming and I sneered at my surroundings. No matter what
was hidden in these statues or in the mud, even dinosaurs wouldn’t be able
to live after four detonators went off.

I struggled to turn in the mud so I could search for my underwear, but I

didn’t see it at all. Well, this is embarrassing, I said to myself. I took a selfie
with my cell phone and quickly checked it. I was completely covered in mud,
but I was a little relieved when I didn’t see anything else in the picture.

The mud started to pull me towards the hole, its force so strong that no one
could resist it. I looked at the statues from before and saw that they had all
been blown to pieces. I was surprised that whatever was inside didn’t come
out and meet me after the statues were blown up like this. As I prepared to
fall to the next floor, I gripped my knife in my teeth and got ready to fight.

Before I could react, something suddenly hung upside down from the ceiling
and grabbed my equipment belt. I was just about to cut it with my knife
when I heard a familiar voice say, “Don’t move!”

Then I heard Fatty call from the ceiling, “Coming up!”

149
My whole body was yanked out of the mud and pulled to the next level
through the gap in the ceiling.

After I was thrown to the ground, the dim light of a phone screen
approached me. I saw Poker-Face roll up, crouch on the ground, and look at
me. Half of his tattoo was showing, which meant it must’ve taken quite a lot
of effort just now.

Fatty held up his phone and asked, “Are you stupid? Were you trying to
blow yourself up?”

I wiped my face and flopped to the ground while saying, “I learned it from
you.”

Fatty handed me a towel, which was the one he usually tied around his hand
to wipe his sweat. That smell… I reluctantly took it and asked Fatty and
Poker-Face how they met up.

In fact, the three of us had been washed into the tomb passage by the mud,
so it was easy to know each other’s locations. I looked into the underground
burial pit and saw the mud pouring into the next level. The flame rod
illuminated the whole scene in the pit, but it was soon swept down the hole.
In those few minutes of light, I could see a bunch of bones buried under the
mud. They weren’t human, but seemed to be the remains of horses and
chariots. It turned out that this was a horse and chariot pit. When the mud
level dropped, all the chariots below were exposed. It was no wonder there
was such a huge drop in height just now.

Under the mud’s protection, many of these decayed Han Dynasty chariots
still had the paint on them, but the axles had rotted and collapsed long ago.
The whole burial pit was full of chariots and horse bones, which created a
very spectacular sight. In the middle of these chariots were the thunder god
statues, which looked like evil Minyue forest spirits as they were all swept
away by the mud.

150
Fatty sighed, and Poker-Face patted us. The situation right now was
unknown. Although it felt as if we had been down here a long time, it had
only been a short while. We couldn’t afford to get delayed here.

“These tomb passages are all connected,” Poker-Face said. “Based on my

experience, this king’s tomb isn’t that big. With the burial pit below and the
drainage level below that, we know there are four levels. Based on our
current location, we should be in the main tomb passage.”

I did some calculations and knew he was right. Fatty swiped some of the
mud from my body and started drawing a picture on the ground. This tomb
was different from Central Plains Han tombs because it was more three-
dimensional. The tomb passage was above the burial pit, which meant they
might be connected by stone steps. But…

I looked above my head. There was also a tomb passage up there that I had
fallen down from. What was going on with this tomb?

Rules were very important in this line of work, so there had to be a special
purpose for any unconventional tomb design.

Fatty also noticed my doubts and looked at the picture he had drawn, “This
tomb passage is superfluous. It’s the topmost floor of the tomb and runs
parallel to the main tomb passage.”

“One is abandoned.” Poker-Face looked into the depths of the tomb

passage. “Maybe they dug something up and didn’t dare continue, so they
readjusted the position of the tomb passage.”

151
Chapter 32 Street Caller
The three of us were silent for a while until Fatty eventually said, “They were
already building a tomb. Could they really dig up something more unlucky
than that?”

“It might’ve been unlucky for the living, but lucky for the dead,” I said.

They had simply changed the position a little bit and continued building the
tomb, after all. If it had been harmful to the feng shui here, they would have
definitely changed to a completely different location. On the contrary, this
thing may have been beneficial to the tomb’s feng shui.

“Could it be… they dug up some treasure?” Fatty frowned. “Or maybe a
giant clam?”

“Hasn’t that stuff been sold by the catty(1) in recent years?” I asked. As one
of the seven treasures of Buddhism(2), giant clams were once very precious.
People later began farming them and now a giant clam weighing three or
four pounds could grow in about four or five years. “Guess, is the tomb
passage above us abandoned, or are we standing in the abandoned one?”

“Do you still have to guess?” Fatty asked back. “I took a look at the crappy
thunder god statue in your tomb passage. It’s a fucking clay pot. My tomb
passage is gilded. Besides, have you ever seen an abandoned tomb passage
in the middle of a tomb? Oh, this tomb passage has been built and scrapped,
so let’s dig a burial chamber up and down. The feng shui of this ancient
tomb is only sacred as a whole, so it can’t be modified. It can’t just run any
which way. The tomb passage above us is the abandoned one. If you don’t
believe me, let’s go and see what magical things they dug up back then—”

(1)
A catty is ~1.3 pounds or ~ 500 grams. Random tidbit of info: giant clams can live up to like 100 years
and can weigh up to 400 pounds. Here’s some more info.
(2)
There’s a common belief that wearing jewelry made from a giant clam pearl can calm the spirit and
remove negative energy. Some random info here.

152
I stopped him, “Hold your horses. Remember the Stagnant Water Dragon
King temple?”

We had found a strange relic in an ancient underground salt mine in Fujian.

At that time, we turned away and didn’t go in, so the name became a kind of
representation of our determination to be good.

Fatty gave me a thumbs up, “Amazing, Mr. Naïve! Then let’s hurry up and
find the main tomb so we can figure out what’s going on with your Uncle
Three.”

I lifted my towel and wiped the mud off before I slapped Fatty’s hand away.
We then followed Poker-Face to the other side of the tomb passage.

As we walked down the long passage, I could see that the murals were full
of eyes. I looked at them carefully, noticing that the murals were layered
and the eyelids were closed under the dim light. Fatty said that when there
was light, the outer layers would volatilize bit by bit until the inner layers
were revealed. The paint would become brighter and the eyes would
become bigger with each layer that was revealed.

I whispered to him, “How did you know not to turn on the lights? Looks you
haven’t lost your touch, after all.”

Fatty took out his phone, turned on the Bluetooth, and searched for
Bluetooth devices around him. I saw it find a device that turned out to be Liu
Sang’s phone. Its name was: “Be aware that you can’t use lights around the
murals—Liu Sang”.

“Where is this kid?” I asked him.

“He won’t die. This kind of fool can live to a hundred and eight. He’s nearby,
but he won’t return any of my messages,” Fatty said. “He must be pocketing
all the good stuff for himself. When we get out of here, I’ll make him empty
his pockets. He won’t be able to hide a single thing from me.”

153
I remembered the rumors Fatty had told me about Liu Sang and asked him
how he knew him. Fatty sneered, “It’s a long story. Since you’re in this
business, you should know about Laitou Guzi’s death. Seventeen people
from Xuancheng’s old market entered Xiaomangshan and went into the
Empress Dowager Chengtian’s tomb(3). He alone survived. Thirteen years
ago, he was only a few years old and living as a street caller(4). Laitou Guzi
picked him up because he had good hearing. After Laitou Guzi’s death, he
found another master to apprentice under. This kid is clever, diligent, does a
good job, and his hearing is really good. He’s become an expert in this
business for some reason, but I’ve heard all kinds of rumors, so I think it’s
not that simple.”

I didn’t know about Laitou Guzi since I was so young at the time, but I knew
what Fatty meant. This kid was too smart. Something must’ve happened
underground at that time, and if a kid could come out alive, then he must’ve
committed murder.

Street callers were beggars with disabilities. Beggars in Shandong, Henan,

and other places called themselves poor families, claiming that they had
been poor for thousands of years. Begging was a very complicated business,
and there were many different types. For example, there were “hua
quian”(5) in Hubei Province, which was what Chen Pi Ah Si was back in the
day. It was basically a beggar who was born to commit violent crimes. They
were often fierce, cunning, spiteful, and persistent. Common beggars of
poor families in the Shandong and Henan provinces were called “si nianzi”,
which could further be divided into three branches: hanmen, qimen, and
guomen. The poor families in Hebei also included Fanjiamen, Kangjiamen,
Lijiamen, and Gaojiamen.

(3)
Xiaomangshan= Little Python Mountain. Empress Dowager Chengtian was also known as Xiao Yanyan.
She lived from 953-1009. She was a Khitan empress and military leader of imperial China’s Liao dynasty.
Info here.
(4)
It’s a type of beggar who shouted and begged in the streets (I guess they didn’t go up and beg people
for food).
(5)
It’s mentioned in Chen Pi’s extra. Chapter 4.20.

154
There were three kinds of common beggars: “entertainers”, “fighters”, and
“street callers”. Those beggars who strong-armed people into giving them
money were the “fighters”, while those who had disabilities were the “street
callers”. The so-called “entertainers” asked for money by performing arts,
such as singing folk songs(6), smashing cattle bones, and playing those
bamboo clapper boards that were used in folk theater.

“Where’s he disabled?” I asked Fatty. Based on how he acted, I really

couldn’t tell at all.

“Brain damage,” Fatty said. “It’s definitely brain damage.”

With that said, we followed Poker-Face all the way to a stone gate at the
end of the tomb passage. There was a very complicated “caisson”(7) above
the gate, with a large number of multi-layer dougongs(8) and sharp flying
eaves. This was the path to the second immortal gate. The dougongs were
surrounded by wood carvings of immortals, but the wood had rotted and
cracked. Poker-Face glanced at us, “If you want to chat, finish it here. The
tomb chamber is up ahead.”

(6)
It’s really “folk theater consisting of recitation accompanied by clapper board rhythm”.
(7)
A caisson, also referred to as a spider web ceiling, is an East Asian architectural feature typically found
in the ceiling of temples and palaces. Looks like this:

(8)
More traditional Chinese architectural stuff. They’re interlocking wooden brackets between the top of
a column and crossbeams:

155
Fatty looked at him, thought about it, and decided to keep talking. He
stopped walking and said to me, “There’s one thing in particular I’ve heard
about Liu Sang. When I say it, you’ll know why I’m so cautious around him.”

156
Chapter 33 Liu Sang the Psychopath
Fatty kept it very brief, but my hair was standing on end by the time he was
done. I had heard many strange ghost stories in recent years that left me
unfazed, but the more I listened to people’s stories, the more horrifying they
became. The things people could do in this world were really scary,
especially in my line of work.

Even though what happened to Liu Sang was still quite strange, Fatty
thought that the story was truer than all the other rumors out there.

Liu Sang wasn’t an orphan. Although people said he was a street caller, he
still had parents. Liu Sang’s dad fought in the counterattack against Vietnam.
The Sino-Vietnamese conflict lasted all the way up until 1989 and he was in
one of the last squads sent out. When he arrived at the front line and saw
the machine guns, he realized that he was really going to fight. He cried all
night before going to the battlefield. At that time, his father’s squad leader
was very proud and mobilized them at dawn, saying that he would definitely
take them home.

The squad leader was shot in the head less than ten minutes after going up
the hill to the battlefield. The first battle took less than five minutes. The
whole platoon lost half its people and he was wounded by falling artillery
shells. When he saw the squad leader again, his brain matter was already
flowing out of the bullet wound. A person could live for ten minutes even if
he was shot in the head. He saw that the squad leader had been crying
before death and the tears were still flowing after he had died.

After that, the two remaining squads merged and went to the jungle in
Mengdong, where they were considered veterans even though they had
only fought once. This time, they managed to fight for sixty hours and the
whole mountain was blown bare. At that time, the Chinese were already

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very good at fighting and the Vietnamese veterans quickly learned the
saying “bloody mound”(1).

During the fighting, his father saw a hole in the mountain get blown up and
bluestone went flying in the air. After more than ten hours of continuous
bombing, a giant hole was blown through the bluestone. But the mountain
turned out to be hollow.

When his father’s squad charged for the last time, the Vietnamese retreated
into the empty hole. They went in after them and found that there was an
ancient tomb with jadeite, golden Buddhas, and Sri Lankan rubies lining both
sides of the tomb passage. The tomb belonged to a South Vietnamese prime
minister.

The Vietnamese inside put up a fierce resistance. The Chinese fought more
than a dozen times and sacrificed several people, but they couldn’t get in.
When his father’s squad pulled out, they called for a tank to blow the hole
and bury all the Vietnamese inside.

In less than thirty minutes, the Vietnamese reinforcements drove them

down the mountain again. At this time, the battle on the Eastern Front was
over, so Hill 334 had the full support of all the surrounding artillery. They
bombarded the nearby mountains to such an extent that the whole
landscape had changed and his father couldn’t even find the original
mountain.

After he recovered, he told several comrades-in-arms about it, one of whom

was Pan Zi. At that time, Pan Zi didn’t know Uncle Three. He knew it was
easy to get into this business and difficult to get out of it, so he didn’t say
anything in the end.

Liu Sang was born after his father came back. When Liu Sang was a
teenager, his father divorced his first wife and brought another woman
home to marry. Liu Sang began to rebel and ran away from home twice. He

(1)
The Vietnamese were all about guerilla tactics and using tunnels in the mountains and stuff so the
Chinese would blow the tunnels up, hence “bloody mounds”. General info on the war here.

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ran away the second time because of what transpired after his father was
diagnosed with intestinal cancer. He had been living alone with his
stepmother, and she had splashed boiling water on him. As he walked to the
city hospital to find his father, he begged for food on the streets. But by the
time he arrived at the hospital, his father had already died. He never went
home after that.

He met Laitou Guzi when he was begging, but it wasn’t because he had good
ears. It was because he was talking about his father’s story.

Three years later, the house his father left to his stepmother caught on fire.
His stepmother’s family had moved in during that time and everyone—
including his stepmother’s brother—ended up burning to death. The police
said that all the doors and windows were sealed shut with wire and the
arsonist had been listening outside the door. A pair of footprints were left in
the ash on the ground, along with a square mark that had to be a tape
recorder. The arsonist had recorded all their screams.

Listening to thunder was also called listening to the dead. There were
rumors in the circle that the dead in underground tombs could be heard
through yin ears(2). In order to hear the words of the dead, people would
need to hear the words of their dying relatives and use sorcery to gradually
enhance their ears. Of course, this was all false information because it really
turned out to be resonating thunder.

But since then, Liu Sang’s ears had become very good.

Fatty had heard this from Pan Zi’s war buddies when they met at the
memorial ceremony. Like suspecting someone of stealing an ax (3), those
who had never heard this story would just think that Liu Sang looked like an

(2)
“Yin” in this context means the negative principle of Yin and Yang. Yin energy is passive/restive and
could probably be associated with death since “Yang” energy is all about life and vitality and stuff.
(3)
This is a Chinese idiom that comes from a fable (think along the lines of Aesop’s Fables). The idiom
“suspect people of stealing an axe” is used to describe those who, ignoring facts, rely on subjective
assumptions to make suspicious judgments of people or situations. The story is here.

159
asshole. But Fatty had heard this story, so he felt that Liu Sang’s aura was
quite menacing whenever he saw him.

People like me always wanted to find some good to balance the bad, but the
good couldn’t withstand the scrutiny and the bad had a very solid
foundation.

After listening to this depressing story, I felt that my surroundings were dark
and oppressive.

But I also trusted my intuition, and I kept feeling that there was something
else to this matter. In my opinion, Liu Sang didn’t have that kind of evil
character.

As I was thinking things over, Poker-Face pulled out an L-shaped probe and
got ready to stab it through the tomb gate.

Someone must’ve opened this tomb before, so the air should’ve been fine,
but we weren’t wearing gas masks. It was possible those people had taken a
different route and sealed the burial chamber, so we needed to be careful.

The gap in the tomb gate was sealed with something like tung oil, so if there
was a large amount of combustible gas inside, it might explode or catch fire
as soon as it encountered the oxygen from the opened gate. This was
exactly how fire pits originated. Even if we weren’t burned to death, the
oxygen here would be used up in an instant. There could also be poisonous
gas sealed inside, so if you encountered a sealed tomb gate, you had to drill
a small hole to release it. When a hole was opened at the Mawangdui site
back then, fire burst out of it for three days(4).

It was safest for Poker-Face to stick his back to the tomb gate, stab the
probe into the gap behind him, and look at it through a mirror. I used a

(4)
Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan, is a recent (~1970s) Han dynasty archaeological site. The tomb
belonged to a 2nd-century B.C. noblewoman known today as “Lady Dai,” wife of Li Cang, the marquis of
Dai. The background of how the fire started is here (basically some workers digging a bomb shelter
stumbled across the tomb, took a break to light up, and BOOM)

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flashlight to illuminate him, while Fatty fanned him, “Deep breaths, deep
breaths. It’ll be done soon.”

Poker-Face looked at him and then pulled the probe out. No fire or gas came
out, which meant that the inside wasn’t sealed. We used our phone lights to
look at it and saw that the end of the probe had pulled something out of the
gap.

It was hair covered in mud.

Fatty looked at me, but I shook my head. I wasn’t going to open the gate.
Fatty sniffed the probe and suddenly said, “Do you remember the legend of
the Mute Emperor?”

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Chapter 34 Mute Emperor
Fatty continued, “In the legend of the Mute Emperor, when the expert gave
him those spells, he said, ‘Don’t open your eyes.’ We’ve already learned
from the murals that you’ll die if the eyes open, so it’s not wrong to
compare them to the legend. These experts must have participated in the
construction of this king’s tomb, so the legend of the Mute Emperor may
not be groundless. The legend also mentioned a spell where ‘paper men
become soldiers’, so we need to be on guard.”

I remembered that the legend had said these paper men and horses were
blind, which was why they had lost to the real soldiers.

“If there really are paper men, they would’ve been burned long ago,” I said
to him. “But even if they didn’t burn after all these years, paper can’t stand
the test of time. It will definitely crumble to powder. Since there were
ceramic statues in the other tomb passage, there should at least be golden
nanmu(1) statues inside the tomb chamber.”

“Shit, you never thought the eyes from the legend would be the eyes
painted on the mural,” Fatty said. “This paper may also be painted on the
mural. Maybe there are other strange things, too. Are you going through
menopause or something? You haven’t listened to a thing we’ve said.”

After thinking about it, I decided Fatty was right to call me out. I really
hadn’t been listening to people recently and I didn’t know why.

The tomb chamber behind the gate must’ve been filled with mud, and
considering how someone’s hair had been mixed in it, I was afraid a corpse
was leaning against the gate.

(1)
Nanmu is basically a Chinese cedar or Chinese giant redwood. It’s a precious wood that’s unique to
China and South Asia, and was historically used for boat building, architectural woodworking, furniture,
and sculptural carving in China. The highest grade of nanmu wood has a bright golden color. More info
here

162
The South Sea King had limited financial resources, so it wouldn’t have been
easy to build this tomb. Based on the location and contents of the burial pit,
we should expect to see a six- or seven-meter tomb chamber in front of us
once the gate was opened. There should be side chambers on the left and
right sides, along with a tomb corridor leading to a sealed gravestone. The
main tomb should be behind this gravestone, with two side chambers and a
back chamber situated around it.

If my theory was correct, then the scale was much smaller than I had
originally thought. Although this was a region where Han culture had mixed
in, Minyue’s witchcraft customs were still the mainstream. In fact, it wasn’t
uncommon for their sacrificial grave goods to be full of all kinds of strange
and mysterious things.

At this time, I had two theories. One was that mud had poured into the
tomb when Uncle Three had caused some damage while stealing the
sarcophagus. If a lot of sacrificial victims had been buried in the tomb
chamber, then they had probably been pushed to the gate by the influx of
mud. If so, there might not be one corpse in front of the gate, but a lot.

And this tomb gate was still sealed, indicating that Uncle Three had used a
different entrance. Although none of us had said it aloud, we were trapped
in this ancient tomb and surrounded by rocks and several layers of mud.
Where exactly did Uncle Three come down from? If we found it, maybe we
could use it to escape this place.

Uncle Three had always preferred to drill holes directly into the back
chamber because that was where the large and precious grave goods usually
were. For a long time, the value of large grave goods reached a price that
small pieces simply couldn’t match. I remembered that for nearly fifteen
years, bronze-inscribed pieces and other items that came from the back
chambers of ordinary tombs—i.e., those not belonging to royal or noble
families—were worth more than the funerary objects from the main coffin.

Of course, this was because they were whole pieces. This happened because
old grave robbers often only stole the main coffin, which resulted in it

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becoming severely damaged. Another reason was that if it was a large, well-
preserved tomb like a “huangchangticou”(2), it was considered a serious
crime to take anything from the main coffin. It didn’t matter how many
people were involved. Anyone who bought or sold these items was
considered an accomplice and arrested on the spot. I remembered that a lot
of people in Sichuan were getting arrested back in the day. Even though the
items had only passed through their hands, they all had to serve more than
two years.

When I thought of this, I had a sudden flash of inspiration. I thought of how

the burial pit had been sealed and wondered where the mud had come
from.

Did the burial pit have a grave robbers’ tunnel that led directly to the back
chamber? Could the mud in the burial pit have come from the main tomb?

If so, Uncle Three must’ve destroyed the main tomb’s outer wall, which
caused the mud to flow in. I couldn’t even imagine how he did it in those
days.

As Fatty continued to draw on the floor, I saw him mark a certain section,
“We came down from the mudflat. When this tomb was built, it wasn’t a
mudflat, but a stone mountain. There must’ve been an underground river
between the stone mountains here that connected inland. This is where the
underground river flowed into the sea. Now that the water level is high and
the sea water comes in with the tide, this underground river gets topped off
with sea water and mud. To make a hole from the underground river to the
South Sea King’s tomb, you need—”

“To dig a well shaped like a seven,” I said. This was a huge project that
would require a well to be dug above the underground river’s water level.
The well would have to be dug horizontally and then vertically, which would

(2)
A Huangchangticou is a special type of ancient royal burial that emerged in the Spring and Autumn
Period and took prevalence in the Han Dynasty. “Huangchang” refers to the yellow core of the cypress
wood, while “ticou” refers to the structure of the tomb (mainly the heads of the wood facing the outer
coffin). More info here (the pg. 614 one, paragraphs on the left side of the page).

164
also explain why the tomb hadn’t completely flooded. This well must’ve
been dug relatively high, so even when the water level was at its highest, it
may have just barely passed the wellhead. As a result, not much mud
poured into the wellhead. This ancient tomb’s drainage system also seemed
very complicated, which helped it stay relatively dry up to this point.

I touched the back of my neck. When the three of us were walking in the
mountains in Fujian, I had a very interesting idea. I had the vague sense that
there was a huge underground water network under all the mountains in
southern Fujian. If there was an underground river here, did that mean I had
guessed right? Was there something at the center of this water network?

Fatty seemed to read my mind and asked me, “What are you thinking?”

I was just about to answer him when Poker-Face covered my mouth and
pulled me aside. I calmly looked at where I had been standing just now, only
to see something coming from the other side of the gap in the tomb gate. It
had almost hit my ass just now. I thought it was the probe, but when I
looked carefully, I realized that it was two long, sharp fingernails.

165
Chapter 35
I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them again. It was too dark for
me to see clearly, but I was positive that there hadn’t been any fingernails in
the gap just now.

These two fingernails were clearly very different from normal ones. People’s
nails could continue to grow a long time after death, which was why ancient
corpses’ fingernails were curled. But if the nails continued to grow to a
certain extent, the ends would become straight and sharp. Many people
would resell this kind of fingernail as pendants and call them Heavenly Bone,
but there were too few of them out there, so the price was very high.
Fortunately, I had seen the whole thing before. The corpse had basically
been standing there with its fingernails dragging on the ground.

The owner of these two fingernails must’ve also had long nails that went
past their knees. But if it silently stabbed through the gap just now, did that
mean that there was a zombie on the other side of this gate?

I wanted to talk, but Poker-Face still had his hand over my mouth so I
couldn’t. Does he have to do that? Is it not over yet? I wondered to myself.
The gate was so thick that we were still relatively safe even if there was a
zombie behind it, but at this time, I noticed two more fingernails slowly
probe out of the gap.

They moved very slowly, but I could clearly see the nails sticking out bit by
bit. In the darkness, the group of old, mottled nails reached out strangely
from the gap in the gate.

“More than one?” Fatty mouthed.

Poker-Face nodded. We stepped back slowly and saw more fingernails

coming out of the gap. One, two, three…not only were they coming out of
the gap in the middle of the gate, but they were also starting to emerge
from the gap in the gate shaft.

166
Fatty pulled out my Kukri and mouthed, “I’ll cut them all and give them a
manicure,” but Poker-Face shook his head.

How much could we cut off? If the fingernails went past the knees, then it
was useless for us to cut off two inches. The three of us continued to retreat
until we couldn’t see the gate anymore. “This gate can’t be opened,” Poker-
Face eventually whispered.

“I still have a few detonators. If I blow the gate up, I’ll blow those things up
as well,” Fatty said.

Poker-Face finally let me go and I fully understood why he wanted to cover

my mouth just now. “There’s no telling how many of them are behind the
gate and we don’t have many passages to go through,” I said to Fatty. “We
don’t have enough people here so we need to outwit them.”

The sound of our discussion must’ve leaked into the tomb chamber and
attracted all the zombies to come to the gate. God knew how many were in
there. I didn’t know what had happened in the tomb to cause this. We didn’t
bring any heavy equipment when we entered the tomb, and Fatty had been
the one who insisted on bringing everything we had with us now. I hadn’t
wanted to be weighed down with too many things, but now I really wanted
to thank him. It was too bad we didn’t have any black donkey hooves among
all the things we brought with us. In Fatty’s words, opening a coffin with Wu
Xie when you didn’t have the three items to ward off evil spirits was
tantamount to suicide.

And right now, we didn’t have any of those three items.

After summing everything up, we figured that although the South Sea King’s
tomb wasn’t very big, it must’ve been designed by an expert. Even if it
wasn’t any expert, this person was at least very familiar with Minyue
sorcery. I had never seen murals that had eyes like this and it was also the
first time I had encountered this kind of situation in a tomb chamber. We
didn’t have enough equipment on hand, so we needed to rest and figure out
what to do next.

167
We went back to the place where Fatty and I had set off the detonators
earlier. The explosions had blown holes in both the floor and ceiling, so Fatty
set off a flare and dropped it into the burial pit. We all looked at the
situation below and froze.

The mud in the horse and chariot pit had drained into the lower level,
revealing more of those fingernails from before. Not only were they growing
out of the cracks in the wreckage of the thunder god statues, but they were
two feet long and reaching up towards us. It almost looked like the statues
had germinated and were sprouting like plants.

I suddenly had a feeling that this ancient tomb was coming back to life.

“We’ve got two options. One, go down to that drainage layer and hope it’s
connected to the underground river or another burial pit. Or two, go up and
walk through the abandoned tomb passage and hope we can find another
way out,” Fatty said.

I narrowed my eyes as I went through everything from start to finish. Then, I

took out my phone and refreshed my Bluetooth search.

Liu Sang was below us, meaning he had also entered the tomb alive. He was
probably a few floors below us in the drainage level, so if he was safe, it
would be better to join him. I needed his ears, after all.

The Bluetooth finally found Liu Sang’s device, but the signal was very weak.

His device name now read: “People everywhere, people everywhere, people
everywhere”.

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Chapter 36 Sudden Epiphany
We didn’t understand what Liu Sang meant by this. I figured that no matter
what his situation might have been before, he had definitely descended into
madness now. I fully understood how the stressful environment and
depressing feeling of an ancient tomb could make people change. Ancient
tombs were different from ordinary places in that they could push people to
their limits. In other words, no matter how strong your resolve or how well
you did under pressure, an ancient tomb could directly push you over the
edge. In the end, it was really just a matter of how long your bottom line
could last.

I was more suitable for this line of work because my bottom line was strong
enough. It probably had something to do with my dismal operation of
Wushanju over the years. No matter how difficult or scary the tombs were, I
could survive as long as I thought of all the times the shop’s utilities got cut
off.

To sum things up, Fatty thought that Liu Sang had gone crazy and he was
saying there were people everywhere because he was scared stupid. We
didn’t know what was below, so we should just let him be. If he was a good
man, God would bless him. If he was a psychopath, it was time for him to
pay for his life.

I always felt that the rumors in this business weren’t credible, but there was
definitely a huge risk in going down to the drainage level without proper
equipment. This clearly showed that Liu Sang wasn’t experienced enough. If
it were me, I would definitely change the name of my Bluetooth device to:
“The hot spring below has hot pot”.

My conscience was telling me to go down and save Liu Sang, but my

reasoning was telling me that the South Sea King’s tomb was “waking up”.
The situation here was completely different from the tomb we had been
swept into before. Moreover, we were grave robbing this time to find

169
answers, not to make money, so we weren’t outlaws like before. My
reasoning brought with it a hint of fear, which made me hesitant.

Fatty and I looked to Poker-Face, and I said to him, “It’s possible Liu Sang
said there are ‘people everywhere’ because he doesn’t have a light. There’s
something in this tomb that makes a sound like a market. In the dark, it’s
like being in a sea of people. With his good hearing, he’ll start to go mad if
he stays in the dark for too long.”

I didn’t know where this sound came from, but those thunder god statues
seemed to resonate with it. As long as a statue lay on the back of your neck,
you would feel that the sound was both near and far, as if this “market” was
in motion.

Poker-Face’s attention wasn’t on our discussion but on both sides of the

tomb passage wall. I didn’t know what he was thinking.

The sounds had disappeared when Fatty set off the explosions at that time
and I suddenly remembered that I had seen something under the flames.
There had been a lot of small, ceramic figurines lining both sides of the tomb
passage where we were standing. At that time, this was the place where the
market had sounded the loudest.

I quickly went to fiddle with the gravel and tomb bricks, looking through
them with the help of my phone light. I noticed that the walls in this section
of the tomb passage were slightly different from those on either end. There
were numerous porcelain pavilions on the murals here and small people
were sitting in them.

These porcelain inlaid relief patterns were on both sides of the tomb
passage. Other than the Xianshan Penglai(1) pavilions by the sea, there were
countless ships filled with immortal stones. It looked as if the ships’ awnings
were supported by dougong brackets. The ceramic little people were playing
with shadow puppets, carrying things over their shoulders, or hoisting the

(1)
Xianshan= mountain of Immortals. Penglai= one of three fabled islands in Eastern sea, abode of
immortals (i.e., fairyland)

170
sails on the ships. The whole scene was like a strange and complex immortal
sea market.

When I got to the place where Fatty had set off the detonators, I saw that
the whole relief had been blown up. The wall area behind the relief was
hollow and there were a bunch of pipes that reminded me of organ pipes.

“The sound is coming from the walls,” Poker-Face said. “Do you remember
when we were at the Yang family’s ancestral grave? Even though you were
down in the tomb, you still heard me when I called to you from
aboveground.”

I nodded and he said, “This is the same method.”

I felt a sudden burst of excitement in my heart. The more evidence there

was, the better. This proved that not only had Uncle Three been here, but
he also had a good understanding of the structure of this place.

“Why would a tomb chamber be structured like this?” Fatty asked.

I thought for a moment and suddenly had an epiphany, “Wait, wait, wait. Let
me think, let me think. I probably know what’s going on with this tomb.”

171
Chapter 37
“We found that big amplifier in Yang Daguang’s ancestral grave,” I said to
Fatty. “It was pointed at the South Sea King’s coffin, right? In that tomb, we
could hear all the sounds on the mountain clearly.” Fatty nodded and I
continued, “I think the Yang family’s tomb was built according to this South
Sea King’s tomb. This thing is a huge sound amplifier, which collects the
surrounding sounds from the whole tomb.”

“Like thunder?” Fatty asked and looked at the ceiling. “The seaside isn’t a
good place to listen to thunder.”

I shook my head. The South Sea King didn’t want to hear the decibels of
thunder, he wanted to hear the frequency(1). And he could hear the
frequency more clearly under this sea rock since it could also filter out all
the echoes.

The whole tomb was a huge “listening device”. But it wasn’t for listening to
the sounds of the earth, it was for listening to the sounds of the heavens.

Everything on the walls was specially designed for this purpose. But as time
went on, the ancient tomb was covered by a thick mudflat and the thunder
was muffled.

If people’s ears were covered, they would hear the internal sounds of their
bodies, like their heartbeat and blood flow. In other words, after the outside
noises were cut off, the pipes in this ancient tomb’s walls started to pick up
the underground sounds.

These sounds were gathered and amplified in the ancient tomb through a
huge sound collecting device. As the numerous sounds gathered together, it
created a sound like a boisterous market.

(1)
Decibels is like the intensity/loudness of sound. Frequency is like how often it occurs (the number of
cycles of a sound wave in one second). The higher the frequency, the more high-pitched a sound is
perceived.

172
The sounds we had been hearing were the underground noises covered by
the mudflat. But where were the sounds coming from? They sounded just
like a large group of people talking.

Were there a lot of people buried under this mudflat? Or was this mudflat
very special?

And why did South Sea King build an ancient tomb here? Couldn’t he have
done it somewhere else? If he was listening to thunder here even though
there was something wrong with the underground area, was there a special
reason?

I looked up and thought of the abandoned tomb passage.

If there was an answer, it was probably up there in the abandoned passage.

Why did they abandon it?

Fatty was thinking the same thing and nodded to me, “Go up and have a
look?”

I nodded. We couldn’t get into the tomb chamber right now and Liu Sang’s
situation was unknown, so it was better to find out what we could.

173
Chapter 38 In the Tomb Passage
Fatty patted his shoulder and Poker-Face used it to jump up to the tomb
passage overhead. Once he threw the rope down, Fatty and I pulled
ourselves up.

This tomb passage really had been abandoned. Looking at it from above, it
was easy to see that there were obvious differences between the upper and
the lower passages. The murals in this passage clearly weren’t finished. The
lines and color blocks in many places were lacking and there were even a
bunch of spots on the walls that weren’t flat.

The murals were still full of eyes, but we could at least see the contours of
the various layers.

Fatty leaned close to the mural, scratched it with a knife, and sniffed it
before saying, “The murals here aren’t finished, so they should be safe.” He
told us to get out of the way and then snapped one of his glow sticks so it
would light up.

The yellow fluorescence was much brighter than our dim cell phone lights.
You can never understand that feeling of suddenly going from a dark and
oppressive environment to a bright and clear environment. In fact, the glow
stick wasn’t as good as a cold firework, but I still felt as if the whole space
immediately became warm and open.

We looked at the murals for a while but didn’t notice any changes in the
eyes. It appeared the photosensitive pigment hadn’t been applied here since
the tomb passage had still been in its construction phase.

We breathed a sigh of relief and then got out the rest of our glow sticks,
snapping them one right after another. As the area all around us lit up, some
of the oppressive atmosphere dispersed.

I looked down at my phone, but couldn’t find Liu Sang’s Bluetooth device at
this distance.

174
I took this time to examine myself. I was covered in so much mud that it was
even stuck to my hair and lips. And other than the towel tied around my
crotch, I was practically naked.

I looked like a fucking caveman.

Poker-Face was better off, but he was still half-naked. His shirt was gone,
but his sweatpants were still clinging tight to his lower body. The equipment
bag at his waist was the most complete, but it was also covered in mud.

Fatty was completely naked, which I hadn’t even noticed until now. I found
that his equipment belt was slung over his shoulder and it was also missing
some items. I had no idea when he stripped naked, but he didn’t seem to
care at all as he mindlessly scratched his crotch. We decided to make a
comeback for the first time in years but didn’t expect to find ourselves in
such a difficult situation.

The tomb passage on one side had been blocked by mud, so we decided to
walk to the other side. After taking a few steps, I found that this abandoned
tomb passage was very unusual. It was very long and had obviously taken a
lot of manpower to build, so abandoning it must have been a huge waste.

We walked cautiously, but there was nothing in the tomb passage except for
some gravel falling from the ceiling. Soon, we reached the end of the
passage.

“What the hell?” Fatty was stunned when he saw it. There was a small hole
at the end of the tomb passage that was only big enough for one person to
crawl through.

The three of us noticed a stone tablet standing by the edge of the small hole
that had seal script(1) written on it.

(1)
Small Seal Script is an archaic form of calligraphy. It was standardized by the Qin dynasty. More info
here.

175
The stone tablet was actually a rock wall and many of the words had been
smashed off. Since I was able to read seal script, I could roughly interpret it.

“Those who go more than a hundred meters forward will never return or
see the light of day again.”

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Chapter 39 Strange Hole
The three of us stopped at the entrance of the hole and Fatty threw a glow
stick into it. It rolled about four or five meters into the narrow hole, but we
didn’t see anything strange. “Is this a fucking grave robbers’ tunnel?” Fatty
touched the edge of the hole and immediately answered his own question.
He was very experienced and could tell how old something was and what
tools were used just by touching it. “Gentlemen, this is a natural hole.”

Such a small hole inside a mountain wasn’t unusual at all. It might have been
a bubble in the magma when the rocks had formed, or it might have been a
cavity formed after years of oxidation and dissolution of calcium carbonate.

Did they really abandon this tomb passage just because they dug a small
hole?

Fatty looked at the words at the mouth of the cave and said, “Mr. Naïve, is
this one of your failed attempts to sound like a know-it-all? What’s so
strange about this thing?”

I’m not the one that proposed this theory, I thought to myself. It was Poker-
Face. But it was too difficult to shift the blame to him.

I told them what the words on the stone tablet said and then added,
“There’s no denying that they dug up to this point and then abandoned the
whole tomb passage. They must have encountered something strange or
there was some kind of incident that occurred. This carved stone tablet
indicates that whatever it was must be related to this hole.”

“But this is a fucking tomb. Who are these words engraved for, the dead?
Did they know that this tomb would be robbed?” Fatty scratched his crotch,
“Mr. Naïve, I think your theory’s a bust. This tomb passage wasn’t
abandoned.”

Fatty had always been able to find the faults in my theories. I wanted to
refute him, but when I thought about it, I knew that he was right. Fatty saw

177
me hesitate and continued, “Think about it. You’re building an ancient tomb
and discover a hole, which you decide to enter. Aren’t you pretty fucking
stupid? Do you love to enter holes so much that you enter one you can’t get
out of? And you even put up a sign outside saying you won’t be able to get
out if you enter it? If this South Sea country was full of shitty hooligans and
idiots who loved to enter holes everywhere, then it’s not surprising it was
destroyed.”

I secretly scolded him, just a few words would’ve been enough! Don’t you
know you’re refuting Poker-Face? Do you have the guts to say something
even more offensive?

Poker-Face touched the engraved words and said, “These words weren’t
engraved by the tomb builders.”

Fatty and I looked at each other, and I was the first to understand, “When
they were building the tomb, they dug up this tablet. That’s why they
abandoned this passage.”

Fuck, this was a closed rock stratum, not a cave. Hundreds of millions of
years ago, the interior of the rock stratum was completely sealed, so how
could an engraved tablet be dug up from inside of it?

Moreover, seal script was completely standardized after the Qin Dynasty
unified the country and was still widely used during the Han Dynasty(1). We
knew that the South Sea King’s tomb was from the Han Dynasty, which
meant that they had found the stone tablet in the middle of this mountain
while they were digging. It was the equivalent of us trying to build
something inside the mountain now and finding out there was a stone tablet
that had existed for hundreds of millions of years. And on that stone tablet
were words written in simplified Chinese that read: “One world, one
dream”.(2)

(1)
The Qin Dynasty (from 221 to 206 BC) came before the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D).
(2)
The system of simplified Chinese characters was established in the 1930s. Fun fact, “one world, one
dream” was the slogan for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing

178
If this was the case, I would also abandon this passage. Hell, I’d even
abandon the whole tomb itself.

Poker-Face touched the inscriptions and said to me, “I have to go into the
hole and have a look. You wait here.”

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Chapter 40 Why Do You Want to Go into
the Hole?
Fatty grabbed Poker-Face and said, “Little Brother, we’ve been brothers for
so many years and you’ve had to take care of us thousands of times. But
now we’re all grown up, so you don’t have to rush ahead all the time.” He
looked at his watch and added, “To tell you the truth, it hasn’t been that
long since we came down here. We’re not in a rush right now, so let’s take
the chance to talk things through clearly. You might not know since you’ve
been away for a while, but Mr. Naïve has made a lot of progress. In fact, it’s
to the point that you can’t help but listen to him now. Teemwok(1), do you
understand?”

Fatty winked at me as he said this. It was true that I had changed over the
past few years. First, I had to learn to be responsible for myself, because I
quickly realized that I wouldn’t get a second chance if I made a mistake.
Second, I had to learn how to be responsible for others.

But as I realized how much I had changed, I also understood that I hadn’t
changed much at all. That was just who I was. After Poker-Face left, there
was no one to take responsibility for me, so I had to do it myself.

Poker-Face had never been a reckless person, so I figured he had to know

something we didn’t if he was able to come to a decision so quickly.

He must’ve decided to take on some risks we didn’t know about the

moment he decided to go into this hole. But I was selfish and hoped that I
could prove to him that I could take on more risks.

“The stone tablet here serves as a warning that someone must’ve gone in,
but never came out,” I said to him. “Even if you can keep yourself safe after
going in, we might make a wrong decision out here because we don’t know
what to do. So, we have to think of more possibilities.”

(1)
Fatty was trying to say “teamwork” but his English sucks.

180
Poker-Face didn’t answer me, but I could tell that he was thinking about it.
Then, he suddenly took off his equipment belt and handed it to me.

I took it and glanced at him, only to find that he was looking at me.

I froze for a moment, fuck, are you telling me to go in?!

But when I thought about it, Fatty was so fat that it would be very difficult
for him to fit into the hole. If he encountered any danger, he would really be
at a disadvantage, so it was more convenient for Little Brother to go in. But
if Fatty didn’t go in, that meant there were only two choices left: none of us
went in or I went in.

“Eh? I guess you’re right.” I took the equipment belt and looked at the
entrance to the hole. It was only as big as a washbasin and would be very
difficult to enter. And it was dark inside. I didn’t know where it would lead or
how long it would take to climb through. “Have you considered another
possibility where the three of us go find Liu Sang together? I think he’s in
danger.”

Poker-Face continued to look at me.

I suddenly realized what the problem was. I was used to giving orders during
his absence. Except for when he had been off doing his own thing, Poker-
Face had always listened to Uncle Three when he was working for him. And
during the time I had spent with him, I had basically listened to him to
survive. Now, at this critical time, I had to make a decision on whether
people needed to listen to him or me.

I looked at the hole again. It wasn’t that I was afraid, it was just that I was
the type of person who had to know more before I dared take any risks.
“You’re so experienced, do you know what will happen after going in?” I
asked him.

Poker-Face took the equipment belt back but didn’t say anything. It
appeared he didn’t know how to say it.

181
I looked at the stone tablet carefully and suddenly realized that there was
something wrong with my logic.

The stone wasn’t carved by the ancients who built the tomb, because they
only needed to fill the hole in instead of putting up a warning sign.

Was it Uncle Three?

What did this mean? Was it a prank? Did Uncle Three deliberately change
the words to warn those who came behind him not to go in?

Uncle Three wasn’t so kind, unless he knew I would come here and was
warning me specifically.

I felt that even if Uncle Three was wise, he would never expect his nephew
to come to this tomb in the future. These words definitely weren’t for me.

But then who were they written for? Who was he warning? He didn’t use
simplified Chinese, but seal script instead. Was he afraid his nephew was
illiterate? Given the nature of our family, it was very likely.(2)

So, what had been engraved on it?

As countless questions kept popping into my head, Fatty said, “Don’t you
find it strange? This sentence also has a big problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you normally warn others, do you word it like this? For example, if
there’s an electric fence, you say, ‘Don’t touch it or you’ll be fried.’ No
matter how you look at it, this isn’t something the ancients would do. On
the contrary, it’s an invitation. It’s like it’s saying, ‘Please come in and play.

(2)
He’s talking about being illiterate when it comes to grave robbing. Wu Xie’s family hadn’t really cared
about educating them on grave robbing, so Uncle Three wouldn’t have known whether Wu Xie would
know about it when Uncle Three visited this tomb.

182
You’re bound to have fun.’ These are the kind of words that can only be
found on an invitation.”

Go more than a hundred meters forward… never return… never see the light
of day again…

Was it an invitation? Invitation to where?

“It’s not an invitation. It’s someone’s last words,” Poker-Face said.

“Someone carved them before they went in.”

183
Chapter 41 Rough Guess
Last words?

I frowned, thinking that it really did make sense.

The overall tone of these last words did seem to be kind of desperate. After
careful consideration, it seemed that someone had made up his mind to
enter this hole, even after knowing what would happen when he did.

I translated this seal script using the interpretations I was accustomed to. It
got the general idea across, but ancient words often had different meanings
compared to their modern counterparts. It suddenly dawned on me that I
had forgotten to look at the grammar from an empiricist(1) perspective.

Never see the light of day… in modern Chinese, it meant that the present
situation was hopeless and there was no chance of being saved. This idiom
began to have symbolic meaning in the Song Dynasty, but if the words were
carved before that, then it should be a literal translation.

“Can’t see the sky or the sun.”

I looked at Fatty, “Is it—will we go blind?”

Fatty touched his chin, thinking that it was starting to make more sense
now.

If entering the hole was fatal, then doing so was tantamount to suicide. But
why not use a simpler suicide method like beating your head in or
something? Based on this stone tablet’s text, entering the hole was very
dangerous. But the words on the suicide note were also full of despair,
which indicated that the person who carved them was in a state of panic
and couldn’t do anything.

(1)
Empiricism is a philosophical theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory
experience (like you learn stuff from sight, taste, touch, smell). More info here.

184
Why?

I thought about it from beginning to end. First, this was an abandoned tomb
passage. When the ancient tomb was being built, someone dug a hole in the
rock stratum.

Generally, the construction workers would dig down directly and shovel the
hole off, since holes were so common in rock strata.

But for some unknown reason, these workers abandoned the tomb passage
and resumed construction in another area.

Because of that, we could be sure that something strange happened in the

hole after it was dug. It was so strange, in fact, that all craftsmen didn’t dare
shovel it off and chose to avoid it instead.

But they didn’t leave the area. Instead, they started digging the tomb
passage again under the abandoned passage.

This behavior was really very strange. If there was something dangerous or
taboo in the hole, then the tomb definitely wouldn’t have been built here.
But the craftsmen had just decided to dig a little lower instead.

I told Fatty my theory that there was an expert among the craftsmen who
knew what the hole was. When they dug it, the expert knew that it would be
dangerous to continue digging, so he stopped the craftsmen. But the expert
also knew that the hole wasn’t dangerous so long as it remained
unexcavated.

After choosing another location for the tomb passage, the tomb was
successfully completed and the burial proceeded as usual.

Assuming that there were tribes in Minyue who still did burial sacrifices, was
this person going to be sacrificed in the tomb? In order to escape, did he
venture into the hole?

185
I immediately rejected this theory. First, it was obvious that the person who
left the words behind knew what would happen when he entered the hole.
That was why he sounded so desperate. Second, slaves who acted as burial
sacrifices were usually poisoned first so that they wouldn’t destroy the
tomb. Moreover, seal script wasn’t something that slaves would know.

The person most likely to leave this kind of writing was a grave robber who
got trapped here. In order to find an exit, they let their companion enter the
hole first. But then their companion had an accident. Under the crushing
despair and loneliness, they also chose to enter the hole.

Uncle Three and the others entered this ancient tomb, but Poker-Face said
they probably stole the sarcophagus directly from the back chamber. That
meant they had probably never entered the same area as us.

So, it shouldn’t be Uncle Three, but someone in the same situation as us.

Fatty looked inside the hole and saw that the glow stick was getting dimmer.
He took out a pack of cigarettes, but there was only one left. He tapped on it
as he looked back and suddenly stood up.

“Stop guessing.”

We followed his line of sight and saw that the hole in the floor where we
had come up earlier was gone. At some point, a rock wall had magically
appeared in its place. It was blocking the view and the way out.

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Chapter 42
The three of us looked at each other for a long time, but there was no
denying the fact that a wall had really appeared in that place.

“What’s your period(1) doing here?” Fatty asked me.

“It’s your fucking period,” I retorted as I walked to the rock wall. I found that
there was a continuity between the mural and the wall. It wasn’t an extra
wall that appeared out of thin air, but the wall of the tomb passage that had
suddenly opened like a door. The opened “part” had just sealed the tomb
passage, meaning this was a mechanism.

It was just like walking down a corridor and a gust of wind suddenly
slammed the door shut, locking you out. If the mechanism was good enough
and the pivot point of this wall was in the right position, the tomb passage
would be sealed without making a sound.

“Is this the Five Ghosts Transportation ritual?” Fatty looked at me. We all
remembered the things Qianjun Wanma had said to us. I patted the wall and
found that the rock was very thick. If it was really carried by the five ghosts,
then they must have graduated from Lanxiang(2).

I took a deep breath, stepped back, and started kicking the wall. If it could
open, then there had to be a structure like a door shaft that shouldn’t be
too strong. I kicked it a few more times, but the door still didn’t budge.

Fatty tried pushing it for a long time but was a little depressed when it didn’t
move for him either. Now we were completely trapped and the only way
out was this hole.

(1)
He means like your menstrual period. First he said Wu Xie was going through menopause, now he’s
saying Wu Xie’s period is here.
(2)
It’s a vocational and technical college in China that offers courses in subjects like cooking, auto repair,
construction equipment operations (mainly excavators), and computer skills (some say computer
hacking). More info here but the Chinese version is more in depth.

187
But I didn’t panic because we already had a way to deal with this situation.
There were cracks in the rock and we still had detonators, so this wall
couldn’t stop us. I was just a little upset that we had fallen for this kind of
mechanism. Considering how this was the most obvious kind of mechanism,
it seemed that our skills had really become a little rusty.

“Do you think this hole is a trick to draw us in so we’re trapped to death by
the mechanism?”

I shook my head. This kind of tomb-sealing mechanism was very common

and had nothing to do with trapping people to death. It was mainly used to
close the tomb passage whenever someone invaded. But there would be at
least three such mechanisms in such a long tomb passage, so someone
could be trapped to death if they ended up between two of them.

We didn’t care too much since we had enough experience and preparation,
but Fatty knew something had gone wrong somewhere and was a little
displeased. When we went back to the hole to discuss what to do next, Fatty
said, “There’s no need to guess what’s going on. We’ll just go home if we
can’t figure it out. I’ll blow the wall up.”

I touched the words on the stone tablet. Sure enough, I cherished my life
too much to make this kind of decision. At this moment, I saw Poker-Face
touch the ground. I looked back at the stone wall and suddenly found that it
had moved. It was moving so much, in fact, that it looked just like it was
sliding on a track. By the time I had looked back at it, it had already moved
several feet towards us.

The stone wall suddenly got stuck and I could hear the sound of it grinding
against the outer walls of the tomb passage. Its movements gradually
slowed until it finally stopped.

We had just breathed a sigh of relief when the portion of the wall that got
stuck cracked violently and then the wall rushed towards us again. At a
speed visible to the naked eye, it was slowly pressing towards us.

“We’ll be squished in about three minutes,” Fatty cursed.

188
I couldn’t understand how the stone wall was moving, but I figured this
abandoned tomb passage had a slight incline to it. Fatty had just finished
cursing when the stone wall suddenly sped up and came right towards us, as
if it were coated in some kind of lubricant. Luckily, it got stuck again when it
was only a meter away from us.

Both sections of the walls that were stuck cracked violently and pieces of the
mural went flying. Poker-Face grabbed me and said, “Go.”

Without an ounce of hesitation, I crouched down, lay on my stomach, and

started crawling into the hole. Poker-Face lay down and kicked the stone
wall with his feet, followed by Fatty.

I kept crawling forward to make room for them, but I couldn’t go any further
after ten meters. “Fatty, are you in yet?” I asked loudly.

“My detonator’s stuck,” Fatty replied.

Just as he said this, I heard a loud boom, as if the stone wall had pressed up
against the entrance of the hole.

189
Chapter 43
“Fatty!” I shouted.

When there was no reply, I felt my heart drop and couldn’t help thinking,
he’s done for. This guy’s been eating and drinking nonstop over the past few
years, and has long lost awareness of his waistline. His lower body must’ve
been squished to minced meat. I tried to look back, but the small hole was so
narrow that I didn’t even have room to. I had no choice but to call to Poker-
face, “Little Brother, did Fatty get in?”

Fatty finally shouted back at this time, “What kind of fucking stone is this?
Shit, it hurts like a bitch!”

His voice seemed somewhat distorted because of the narrow space. When I
asked him what happened, he said, “I’m fine. My tooth broke.”

“How the hell did you break your tooth?” I asked him.

“I came in backwards and it smacked me in the face,” Fatty said. “This

mechanism is really ruthless to have such settings.”

Without this small hole, the three of us would’ve really been inseparable.
We would’ve been flattened into pancakes and rotted here together.

“Do you think this is all a trap?” He asked me. “This mechanism forced us to
come in here.”

I thought it unlikely since I couldn’t figure what the motive would be.

I flicked my lighter on and illuminated the dark hole in front of me. At this
time, there was no other choice but to go forward, so I said to Fatty, “Do
you have a weapon I can use to defend myself in this kind of environment? I
want to crawl forward.”

If something crawled out from the opposite side, I would definitely suffer.

190
“You can take the flare gun,” Fatty said. “I loaded it earlier.”

I heard the sound of someone struggling to reach something come from

behind me. Then, Little Brother handed me the gun. I struggled to reach
back, snagged the gun, and then pulled it forward, aiming it at the darkness
ahead. The action was really awkward, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Climb slowly,” Fatty said. “I came in backwards, so my life is in your hands,

Mr. Naïve.”

I asked Fatty why he came in backwards and he said that if we crawled

forward and encountered any problems, then it would be easier for him if
we needed to retreat. If he had been facing the same way as us, it would be
too inconvenient to crawl backwards.

I crawled more than ten meters forward, but the small hole seemed
incredibly long and didn’t look like it was coming to an end at all. I held the
lighter in front of me and carefully looked around at the rock.

This really was a naturally formed tunnel that probably went on for several
hundred kilometers. You would definitely die halfway through if you tried to
find the exit.

After crawling more than twenty meters, the small hole sloped down a little.
We tried to keep crawling forward, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I could
barely spread my hands and feet out and could only crawl like a worm now.
It consumed ten times as much physical strength as ordinary crawling.

“Fatty, we have to think long-term,” I stopped and gasped out.

“Mr. Naïve, Little Brother, I have to pee really bad. Do you mind?” Fatty said
from a distance.

It was all downhill from here, so I told him to endure it and started crawling
forward again.

191
Under the imminent threat of Fatty’s urine, we climbed another three or
four meters. The atmosphere was really depressing, but we finally began to
go uphill and I heard Fatty let out a relieved noise. Then, the foul smell of
urine immediately filled the tunnel. He must’ve really been holding it in.

I relaxed and prayed that we wouldn’t have to crawl back at some point.

At this time, I was embarrassed to find that I also needed to pee, but I
thought of who was behind me and knew that I would be killed. As I tried to
distract myself, I suddenly found some seal script on the rock wall beside
me.

Seven yin.

“Yin” was an old unit of measurement, which was equivalent to about two
hundred meters(1). So, the “seven yin” here was a distance of about fourteen
hundred meters.

This was a distance marker.

“Mr. Naïve, why aren’t you crawling? My urine reeks.”

“Those words on the stone tablet outside said that there would be an
accident when you went in more than a hundred meters, right?”

“Yes.”

“How many meters did we climb just now?”

It was about forty meters, which was definitely short of the seven yin this
marker was indicating. That meant that this unit of measurement was
reversed. We were climbing from seven yin to one yin.

(1)
I’m no expert, but my dictionary (and google) says yǐn (引) is equal to 10 zhàng (丈), which is one-
thirtieth of a km or 33.33 meters. Most definitely not 200 meters…

192
There must be something at one yin, I said to myself. And it’s more than
fourteen hundred meters away from us.

193
Chapter 44
After I told the two behind me what was going on, I felt as if the urge to pee
became more pressing. Fatty told me to stop thinking and keep moving
forward. We had no other way out. We’d die if we died.

I pressed on, suffering through the agony of holding my pee in. When I
climbed to the fifth yin, my consciousness began to blur and all my attention
became focused on my bladder.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was going to collapse. It
reminded me of that time I tried to hold it in after drinking beer on a long-
distance bus ride. In the end, I had to be helped off the bus. It was a fate
worse than death. I instinctively started analyzing the tunnel walls, hoping
to find something that would help me solve my predicament without being
killed. I even thought about using my towel to absorb it, but the cave walls
didn’t have any gaps and the towel’s absorption abilities weren’t that good.

If I encountered any danger while crawling forward and shot the gun, I’d
definitely end up peeing. Maybe Poker-Face wouldn’t be able to save me
because of the sudden attack.

As I crawled more and more slowly, Fatty noticed that something was wrong
and asked me what was going on. I took a deep breath and tried to distract
myself.

These were the hardest fourteen hundred meters of my life. When I stopped
to take a break, the time and my bladder seemed to put me in a kind of
trance. I almost felt as if I had been climbing in this hole for half my life.
Fatty and I bantered back and forth at first, but then we were both too tired
to make a sound.

When I saw the one yin marker, I came out of my trance and touched my
face. I was covered in sweat and countless places on my body had been cut
by the rock walls. In addition, my full bladder now almost felt as if it were
numb. For a few seconds, I thought that it wouldn’t matter if I died.

194
“This is it!” I couldn’t look back at them, so I shouted as loud as I could, “Are
you both still there?”

“Yes!” Fatty shouted back weakly. “Don’t go over there yet. I want to sleep
first. I’m too tired.”

I knew he could really fall asleep here, but I couldn’t hold it any longer. I
kept praying that there would be a tomb chamber or a bigger hole at the
end. Otherwise, I would have to make the difficult decision to try and get
Poker-Face and Fatty to do planks(1) to make way for my urine.

As I swiftly crawled through the last stretch of the tunnel, my expression

became all twisted. If a ghost appeared in front of me and saw my
expression, they would definitely regret not being reincarnated.

After crawling the final distance, my lighter revealed something at the end
of the tunnel.

It was a bronze basin.

There was a layer of white powder in it that had hardened and cracked. This
thing had obviously been here for a long time, for the rust on it had adhered
to the rock.

“What is it?” Fatty asked from behind.

As I approached, I saw that there was a mass of black things in the basin. I
poked them carefully with the gun barrel and found that they were all
candles. Not only were these candles soft, but they were all a very strange,
grayish-black color.

I took one out, carefully sniffed it, and recognized a strange yet familiar
smell.

(1)
It’s a core strength exercise that involves maintaining a position similar to a push-up for the maximum
possible time.

195
The candles had been made with rhinoceros horns, and this basin was full of
them.

The “Book of Jin”(2) said the following: “Wen Jiao circled around Wuchang.
At Niuzhuji, the waters were unfathomable and there were many monsters
under the clouds. Wen Jiao thereupon burned a rhinoceros horn to light the
way. In a flash, he saw grotesquely shaped aquatic creatures rushing at him
from the water. That night, he dreamed that someone said to him, ‘We are
that which can and cannot be seen. Those on separate paths. It is only with
this light that you can see us!’”(3)

In order to meet ghosts and gods, ancient Chinese used rhinoceros horn
candles, which were commonly known as rhinoceros lights.

There were so many rhinoceros horn candles right here in this hole, but for
what purpose?

(2)
It’s a history of the Jin Dynasty from 265 to 420. It’s the 5th of the 24 dynastic histories, compiled
under Fang Xuanling in 648 during the Tang Dynasty. There are 130 scrolls (or volumes). More info here.
(3)
This is from Vol 67 of the “Book of Jin”. It’s in Chinese, but more info here if you want to use google
translate. Also found this snippet on Baidu.

196
Chapter 45
“Burn rhinoceros horn?” I wondered aloud. Burning such a thing in an
ancient tomb… do you want to see ghosts? And why burn it in this exact
spot?

An image suddenly popped into my head of a basin full of rhinoceros horn

wax slowly burning in this lonely underground hole. No one could see the
light from this position except for those who climbed into this passage.

There were distance markers inside the hole and a warning—or last words—
outside of it. I took a deep breath and shouted, “Fatty, let me pick your
brain.”

“Little Brother is closer to you; can’t you ask him first?” Fatty scolded back.

I cursed, “Cut the crap. I have something to discuss with you. I see
something now.” I then proceeded to describe everything I saw.

“What’s behind the bronze basin?” He asked.

I took a look with my lighter, but it was just more of the dark hole without
any noticeable differences.

But it had to be different. This was the end of the yin markers and there was
a bronze basin with rhinoceros horn candles in it. No matter how you looked
at it, this place was different and very special.

When I told Fatty about the situation, he remained silent for a moment
before leisurely saying, “Shall we enumerate? Think about it first, why would
someone carve a distance marker in this tunnel?”

It wasn’t unusual to carve a marker like this, but it was normally carved in
the opposite direction. “This reversed carving is like a countdown,” I said to
him. “It means that whoever entered this hole only wanted to go as far as
seven yin.”

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“Then they should’ve carved it normally. Wouldn’t carving it from one to
seven be more convenient? Rather than saying they carved it in reverse, I
think the only possibility is that they actually carved it the normal way.”

“What’s right and what’s wrong is all messed up here.” I didn’t understand,
so Fatty continued, “In other words, the engraver started to carve the
distance markers from this position. Our entrance was his destination. This
was his starting point. His trajectory was opposite ours.”

I thought there was some truth to this statement, but there were too many
things that didn’t make sense.

“When do you use distance markers?” I took a deep breath, “Think about it.
What do we draw distance markers for?”

“Long jump?” Fatty replied.

In fact, distance markers were used almost everywhere in building systems,

but this hole was something that had formed naturally. The most likely
reason to carve distance markers here was to measure the length of this
tunnel.

But the markers were reversed and didn’t even measure the whole tunnel.
They only went as far as seven yin, which meant that this theory wasn’t valid
either.

“This is a warning,” Poker-Face suddenly said.

If he hadn’t said something, I would’ve thought there was no one between

me and Fatty.

I had to pee so bad that my brain was out of sorts, but I managed to ask him,
“What do you mean?”

Fatty seemed to understand and shouted, “This is like marking an exit on the
highway. It tells you there are still a hundred kilometers, then fifty, and so

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on. It tells you that you’re gradually getting closer to an exit. If you miss it,
you can’t get out.”

I was surprised but quickly realized that they were right.

But highways were set up like this because they only went one way and it
was impossible to turn back. So, if you missed this exit, the next one would
be hundreds of kilometers away.

I broke out in a cold sweat and said to myself, don’t tell me…from this point
on, we can’t get out of this hole? Is there an exit right in front of us?

If the next exit was a hundred kilometers away, then we were basically
dead. But I didn’t see anything on the wall here besides this bronze basin.

Since the exit behind us had been blocked and we couldn’t get out, I had
been crawling forward the whole time without ever thinking about going
back.

“Fatty, try and see if you can climb back!” I called to him.

“Shit, have you been going the wrong way?” Fatty asked. “Can’t you be
fucking smarter?”

“Just try crawling a few steps,” I said.

Fatty let out a curse and then I heard him panting before he suddenly
shouted, “Fuck!”

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

I became nervous after waiting for a while with no answer. I wanted to crawl
back and shout louder, but Poker-Face caught my foot and stopped me.
Then, I heard Fatty cry out, “There are people everywhere behind us!”

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Chapter 46 People Everywhere
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Fatty was talking about. After a short
pause, I said to him, “Don’t give a half-assed explanation like that. What do
you mean ‘there are people everywhere’?”

Fatty paused, and I suddenly felt Poker-Face pushing me forward. Fatty was
obviously retreating and forcing Poker-Face to come closer to me, but I
didn’t dare go any further because of our assumption that this was like a
highway. As I resisted, Fatty’s trembling voice reached my ears, “What kind
of question is that? They’re all fucking people! They’re blocking our way
back. We kept crawling forward, but I didn’t see anything behind us at all. In
fact, these things must have been following us the whole way. There are a
lot of them.”

“Are they little porcelain figures?” I remembered the little porcelain figure I
had seen in the tomb passage before and thought Fatty was talking about
that.

“Fuck, man! They’re people! People!!!” Fatty was getting more and more
agitated. “Mr. Naïve, keep going! They’re crawling over!”

“They’re alive?” I was still confused and couldn’t see anything from this
angle. “Who is it?”

“Their heads are down so I can’t see their faces, but their nails are long!”
Fatty sounded furious. “Hurry up and fucking crawl! They’ve almost reached
me! I’m about to die!”

I could basically picture what Fatty was seeing and knew it had to be creepy.
A bunch of people in this dark hole were crawling towards him like
centipedes. He couldn’t see their faces clearly, but he could tell that their
nails were very long. If it were me, I would’ve definitely peed.

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“Take a picture and send it to me.” I didn’t know why I suddenly blurted out
this sentence. Fatty started cursing me out and pushed Poker-Face until he
was up to my calves. I suddenly realized that Fatty was really going to die.

I didn’t know how he could see “people everywhere”, because my lighter

could only illuminate a distance of less than an arm’s length in front of me.

I hesitated for a quarter of a second, debating on whether to continue

crawling for my life or lighting the rhinoceros horn candle in front of me. At
this time, my reflexes formed by many years of experience kicked in and I lit
one of the rhinoceros horn candles. I figured these things had been put here
by human beings, and humans definitely wouldn’t put something here to
hurt themselves.

The rhinoceros horn candle had a green flame that was surprisingly bright
and shone quite a distance in the tunnel.

Fatty yelled, “Mr. Naïve, if you don’t crawl, I’ll blow us all up and we’ll die
together.”

At this time, I saw a stone door appear under the candle’s faint green light.
It was set in the tunnel’s wall right in front of us and was engraved with a
relief of horses and chariots riding on clouds. The door was so small that I
immediately knew it was called an immortal gate. It was usually an opening
left on coffins to enable the corpse’s soul to pass through.

I couldn’t see this door until the candle was lit, but I was willing to stake my
reputation that there had been nothing on the wall before.

I didn’t hesitate and immediately crawled over, pushing on the door hard. It
had been fastened shut, but finally opened after two more pushes. I
immediately crawled through. It was very wet on the other side, but I
continued crawling through the water until my whole body was through the
door. I found myself in a tiny space that looked similar to the inside of a
coffin, but it was much wider than the tunnel I had just come from. There
were rotten wooden boards all around and black things that looked as if

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they had been rotting for a millennium. I found that I couldn’t stand upright
and could only squat in the waist-deep water.

Under the candle’s green light, I could see barnacles covering the wooden
boards. Poker-Face crawled through the door at breakneck speed, quickly
followed by Fatty who had obviously been caught by something.

I shouted at him, “Don’t blow yourself up!”

Poker-Face grabbed his feet and started dragging him out, but Fatty
shouted, “My dick! My dick is stuck!”

“You’re old, you don’t need it!” I shouted back as I ignored his screams and
helped drag him into this small space. At that moment, I suddenly caught a
glimpse of the “people” outside.

They really were human. I saw one of them was a naked “man” with his
head lowered, as if his neck had been broken. But I couldn’t see any more
than that because Poker-Face immediately blew out my candle.

It was dark all around.

I felt my way towards the door to close it, only to find that I couldn’t touch it
at all.

Fatty shouted beside me, “Light! Light the candle! This fat master will fight!”

I pulled out my lighter and flicked it a few times, but nothing happened. This
is bad, I thought to myself. I touched the lighter, only to find that the flame
was hot.

At that moment, I didn’t realize what was happening. I kept flicking the
lighter and found that there wasn’t even a spark appearing in the darkness
around me. I touched it with my hand and found that it was extremely hot.

My hands began to tremble violently as I immediately realized that the

lighter had been lit, but I couldn’t see it.

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I was blind.

At that moment, the pressure on my bladder lifted and everything went

silent.

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Chapter 47
I didn’t know if I was the only one who was blind or if the other two were
just like me, but the strong smell… whether they were blind or not, they had
to know what I did.

I rubbed my eyes, but everything was still dark when I opened them again. I
had experienced this kind of situation before and tried to calm myself down.
I stepped back so that I could find something to lean against while I focused
all my attention on my ears.

The whole space was very chaotic and Fatty kept telling me to turn on a
light, “Light, light, light, Mr. Naïve! Are you deaf?! Turn on a light quickly!”

There seemed to be something wrong with our eyes.

I reached out in the water, but the barnacles on the wooden boards were so
sharp that I couldn’t lean on them. I decided to hold onto them instead as I
shouted, “Fatty, Little Brother, can you see?”

“I’ll be able to see whenever you decide to turn a fucking light on! Who’d be
able to see when it’s so dark right now?!” Fatty yelled. “All these glow sticks
are fucking duds! If I get back alive, I’m going to write a bad review!”

“I’ve already turned on a fucking light!” I cried out. “The glow sticks aren’t
broken. There’s something wrong with our eyes. Calm the fuck down!”

Fatty gave one last “what the fuck” but quickly quieted down. I reached out
to try and feel my way around but ended up touching his ass. He had good
reflexes and immediately grabbed me and threw me into the water.

The water was salty, which meant that it was sea water.

I almost died when Fatty moved to sit on me, but fortunately, Black Glasses
had taught me how to resist. Following Fatty’s strength, I lifted my lower
body, locked my legs around his neck, and immediately pressed him into the

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water. Just like a seesaw, he entered the water and my head breached the
surface. I gulped in a mouthful of air just as a green light suddenly appeared.

Poker-Face had lit the rhinoceros horn candle again and our surroundings
were once again illuminated. Fatty and I were naked and twisted together
while Poker-Face was clinging to the door.

At this time, I noticed that there was something right beside me. I turned my
head and found that it was a “person” with their head lowered.

The candle was immediately extinguished.

I realized that Poker-Face was trying to tell me we weren’t blind, we just

couldn’t see ordinary light.

I immediately released Fatty and moved to a different position. Fatty came

out of the water cursing, “Be careful, everyone. This fucking zombie will go
for your ass and knows how to use ‘scissor feet’(1).”

The candle was lit again and I saw that I hadn’t gotten rid of that “person” at
all. They seemed to know what direction I was going in and followed me.
Now, they were practically right in front of me.

Before I could shout at Poker-Face to extinguish the light, I saw him turn in
this extremely narrow space, prop himself up with one hand, and clamp his
knees around that thing’s head. Then, he turned in the air and twisted that
thing’s neck sideways.

I had never seen such a speedy attack at such close range before. The crisp
sound of cracking bone echoed in my ears and the splashing water from
Poker-Face’s movements fell on my face. The thing’s neck had been twisted
at a 240-degree angle.

(1)
Per Tiffany: It’s when someone wraps their legs around the opponent’s body parts (head/arms….),
which is what Wu Xie did to Fatty. When they cross their legs, it looks like scissors. Think along the lines
of Black Widow in the Marvel movies.

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Before he landed, Poker-Face threw the bronze basin to Fatty. As Fatty
quickly caught it, Poker-Face whispered, “Knife!”

I threw my Kukri to him just as the immortal door was pushed open. Poker-
Face caught the knife, jumped up, and slammed the door shut. He then
stuffed my Kukri into the door bolt seam behind him and twisted it until the
door bolt was jammed.

The three of us stood back and watched as fingernails slowly started to

appear in the door cracks before eventually coming to a stop. Poker-Face’s
expression became even more solemn than usual.

“Where the fuck is this?” Fatty asked as he looked around.

Poker-Face moved his fingers before leaning down and starting to grope for
something in the water. Fatty and I glanced at each other before squatting
down and copying him. After a few moments, Poker-Face seemed to find
something and pulled on it. A plank came out of the water and all the water
around us rushed towards that area in an instant. The current was so strong
that it almost pushed us down.

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Chapter 48 Jump into the Waterway
The water drained away quickly, revealing that the floor of this strange
room was full of barnacles. They were far thicker than those on the
surrounding wooden boards and made the ground look like rotten coral.

As I set the bronze basin aside, I noticed that we had all been cut several
times, especially on the soles of our feet. It was only at that moment that I
felt the severe pain as my blood flowed down the barnacles to the low-lying
section of the floor.

Poker-Face pulled up a bronze ring that was connected to a chain that

seemed to drive the valve below. As the water continued to drain out, I
looked carefully and saw that there were a lot of other objects among the
barnacles. They seemed to be porcelain and decaying bronze pieces that had
been bound in the barnacle shells. I could even see a lot of bronze rings
among them.

They appeared to be funerary objects that also belonged to the South Sea
King’s tomb, but I didn’t know where in the tomb we were.

We had climbed more than fourteen hundred meters just now—about one
and a half kilometers— so it was reasonable to assume that we had already
climbed out of the South Sea King’s tomb. The South Sea King was an ethnic
minority king, so the ancient tomb couldn’t be that big. But even if this place
was part of the South Sea King’s tomb, it was probably another burial pit.

Under the candle’s green light, I patted the decaying wood around me. All
the water had finally drained out, so I could finally see the “man” that
Poker-Face had just killed. I wanted to get a closer look, but Poker-Face
immediately kicked it down the drainage hole.

“I just wanted a quick look at it.” I didn’t even get the chance to stop him.
“You should’ve let me study it.”

Poker-Face glanced at me, “You can’t see the living things here.”

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“Why?”

He pointed to Fatty’s eyes.

Under the green light, I could see that Poker-Face’s and Fatty’s irises were
green, but they looked very bright. I thought something was wrong with
them, but when I looked closely, I could see that there was something
strange on their eyes.

“What the hell?”

“You hallucinated earlier, didn’t you?” Poker-Face asked me. I nodded.

“I’ll explain it to you when we get out. We’re relying on you now. You’re the
only one that can see the important things right now.”

I was confused, “Why?”

“Because what we see is different from what you see. I already know who
built this place. We have to go back to the original tomb passage
immediately.”

“Why?” I was even more confused now.

“We won’t be able to get out when the candle burns out. We have to find
Liu Sang or we won’t be able to find what you want.”

Although I still didn’t understand, it was creeping me out to hear him say so
many words in one breath. The fact that he did so showed that we were
really going to die.

Fatty said from off to the side, “What are you talking about?”

Poker-Face ignored him and said, “Go!”

Before I knew it, Poker-Face had jumped into the waterway and shouted,
“Come down!”

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Fatty looked surprised, “What happened to Little Brother? Did he eat the
wrong medicine?”

I scratched my head and said to myself, forget it, let’s go. Then I jumped into
the waterway. There was a deep well below with a diameter of more than
five meters. I could see countless stone beams in the well, along with more
barnacles that were covering both the wall and the beams. Poker-Face had
landed on a beam three meters below me, so he helped pull me down to his
beam. After that, Fatty jumped down with the bronze basin in his arms.
Poker-Face and I grabbed his armpits and dragged him to our beam.

Our feet were already hurting a lot, but all the pain seemed to come back
with this jump and I couldn’t help but grimace. Before we had barely
steadied ourselves, Poker-Face immediately jumped again. He took our
physical capabilities into account and only jumped one stone beam at a
time. We followed him the whole way, jumping wildly in the green light until
we saw a pool below. By this time, our feet were killing us. Poker-Face
squatted down on the last beam and looked at the candles to ensure that
we still had plenty left.

He took a deep breath and jumped into the water, which reached all the
way up to his neck. Fatty didn’t immediately follow, but carefully dropped
the bronze basin to him. After Poker-Face caught it, Fatty and I both
jumped.

As the three of us stood in the water and looked around, I noticed that there
were water channels on both sides of the pool. This was the main drainage
channel, but the water wasn’t flowing.

I could tell at a glance that the drainage channel here was very simple and
made of stone bricks.

“Look carefully,” Poker-Face said to me. “What do you see?”

“Can’t you see it?”

“We can’t see it,” Fatty said. “This is a drainage channel.”

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I didn’t understand what he meant, but I listened to Poker-Face and looked
around. The surrounding area was very ordinary and didn’t look any
different from the many drainage channels we had been in before. Feeling
the pressure, I looked around three more times but still couldn’t see
anything.

“No, I can’t see it either.”

“You can,” Poker-Face said.

I took a deep breath and looked more carefully. Under the soft green light, I
saw a single person standing there under the dark water.

The person’s head hadn’t breached the surface, so I thought it was a corpse
at first. But when I looked more carefully, I found that it wasn’t. Instead, the
person was completely black.

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Chapter 49
The other two immediately saw the change in my expression and Fatty
asked, “What is it? What do you see?”

“There’s a shadow under the water.” I looked carefully, but I didn’t dare
approach it. Fatty followed my line of sight and squinted at it for a long time,
“Where’s the shadow?”

I pointed to where it was underwater, “Can’t you see it?”

Fatty moved towards it, but I quickly grabbed him for fear that he would
touch it. Its shape looked distorted—almost like a floating corpse—but I
knew it wasn’t going to be good whatever it was.

“Look carefully,” Poker-Face told me.

I did as he said and found that there was more than one such shadow
floating in the water. There was another shadow in front of the first one I
had seen and it looked like a lump suspended in the water. All of them were
completely black.

If they were floating corpses that had rotted to the point of blackening, then
not only would they have looked like giants by now, but they would’ve had
Fatty’s physique no matter how fucking thin they were. But these black
things didn’t show any signs of rotting or bloating.

“It’s black. Black all over. More than one. There’s a line of them in the
water.”

“Black? Like Kobe(1)?” Fatty asked me. “Were there any blacks in the Han
Dynasty? Could it be a Kunlun slave(2)?”

(1)
Kobe Bryant. He was a famous American basketball player.
(2)
Black slaves from Southeast Asia in the Tang Dynasty. The majority of Kunlun slaves were dark-colored
people captured in Southeast Asia, and some of them were Africans bought from Arab merchants who

211
“This is a serious situation. Quit talking nonsense!” I said angrily.

“Where’s it facing?” Poker-Face asked me.

I pointed in a direction, which turned out to be a water outlet. Poker-Face

said, “Don’t touch it. We’ll follow you. Go in the direction they’re facing.”
Then he said to Fatty, “Look at him, don’t look at anything else.”

I nodded and then led the two of them forward. As I carefully bypassed the
black thing, I asked Poker-Face, “What is it?”

He didn’t answer, but his intense gaze remained fixed on me and even Fatty
had all of his attention on me. I was too embarrassed to ask any more
questions, so I focused on steering us to the water outlet. We soon entered
the outlet’s channel, which was as low as the waterway in the Seven Star Lu
Palace. We even had to bow our heads in some places, indicating that the
water level here wasn’t very high at ordinary times.

It was probably high tide outside right now.

I had to put out the candle every time we went underwater and then it took
a long time to light it again. Each time, I was terrified that the candle would
never be lit again.

Those black shadows were placed at random points in the water along the
way. By this time, my hands and feet were numb, and I was so afraid that I
couldn’t even express my emotions directly. Every time I wanted to stop and
take a closer look at the shadows, Poker-Face wouldn’t allow it.

We continued moving forward as fast as the water would allow, but we

didn’t know how long we had been walking. Suddenly, the underwater
terrain became higher and the water level dropped from my neck to my
chest. That was when I saw it. There was a black shadow in front of me with
its head sticking out of the lowered water level.

captured them in Africa. More info here. Note, the Han Dynasty was like 3 dynasties before the Tang
Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was from 206 BC to 220 AD, while the Tang Dynasty was from 618 to 907 AD.

212
When I paused, Poker-Face looked at my expression and immediately said,
“Tell me.”

“That thing is out of the water.”

“What is it?” Fatty couldn’t stand the fact that he still couldn’t see it.

The three of us moved forward until I could get a closer look at it. The black
head looked very strange and we could see that the skin was so thin that our
green light could pass right through it.

“That’s a leather paper doll(3),” Poker-Face said.

I suddenly remembered the legend of the Mute Emperor and how it had
said he liked to use paper soldiers and horses for his army. But the army had
been blind because their eyes were made of fried sesame seeds.

(3)
Leather paper refers to paper made from bast fibers such as mulberry bark and mountain sap. Think
of it as a mix of paper and fabric with a leather-like texture.

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Chapter 50 Leather Figurine Woman
The legend from that time had already disappeared from the primitive
Minyue forests, so it was impossible to verify whether the mysterious
legend of the South Sea King was really related to the local Mute Emperor.
But as we moved forward with our investigation, we found many signs that
the local ethnic minority’s legend had subtle similarities to it.

I took a moment to calm myself down. The “leather figurine” that was
exposed above the water’s surface looked as if it had been made from the
flayed skin of a servant. The skin was made into leather and then bamboo
silk was used to keep its human shape. Since more than two thousand years
had passed, the outside layer of all these leather figurines had calcified.
Even though the bamboo silk had completely rotted away, the leather still
retained its human shape. Like the blind soldiers in the legend, they were
guarding this strange king’s tomb.

But the strange thing was, I didn’t know what secret treatment the ancients
had used on this thousand-year-old leather. There weren’t any parasites
growing on them, but they were completely black.

Fatty and I both fell silent. We had never heard of this burial practice in
Minyue before, but it was probably related to the ethnic minorities’
legendary “immortal techniques” from that time. The eyes painted all over
the walls had already given me some insights into the evil nature of this
sorcery. I didn’t know what special purpose these rhinoceros horn candles
and leather figurines in the water served, but we didn’t dare underestimate
them.

At this time, I had a bold theory that the strange legend may have been
handed down to the local people by the craftsmen who built the South Sea
King’s tomb. Because they couldn’t say it directly for fear of revealing the
tomb’s location, they made up a story of what they saw and heard while
building the tomb.

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The Mute Emperor was the South Sea King, the spells that would fail when
you opened your eyes were the eye murals all over the walls, and the Mute
Emperor’s paper army ended up being the leather figurines buried with him.
In this legend, there was also an incredible claim that the Mute Emperor had
a magic bow.

Because most of the things in the legend were quite different from the
situations we had encountered in the tomb so far, I didn’t think the so-called
“magic bow” was really a bow. But what was it?

As we bypassed this leather figurine and continued wading through the

waterway, the water level got lower and lower until we could finally see our
waists again. Under the candle’s light, more and more leather figurines
emerged from the water, leaving strange flickering shadows on the wall.

I stopped. Based on Poker-Face’s previous instructions, I had been following

the direction the figurines had been facing, but for some reason, a leather
figurine up ahead was facing the opposite direction of all the others.

Fatty and Poker-Face couldn’t see what I could see, so they stopped and
asked me what was going on.

“One is different from the others,” I told them.

“How is it different? Make it clear. Is it fat, thin, tall, or short?”

I looked at the leather figurines that were all facing one direction. Their
facial features had become blurred because of the calcification, but this
particular figurine was different. Its facial features were very clear. If the
leather figurines were an ancient art form, then the craftsman who created
this one must’ve been far superior to the others.

Moreover, this leather figurine’s skin must have come from a woman.

Although the weapons and armor should have rotted long ago, the stances
of the other figurines indicated that they were all soldiers. This leather
figurine woman, however, had a realistic shape and her hands were hanging

215
down naturally. It was obvious that the craftsman had loved this figurine
and put a lot of effort into it.

As I approached slowly, a particularly ominous feeling rose up in my heart.

Based on my intense experiences in the past, I was certain that this had to
be a monster. This figurine definitely didn’t belong here and must have been
deliberately placed here by the ancients. Plus, it was hiding behind the other
leather figurines. From my point of view, it looked like it was secretly
watching me, which made my hair stand on end and nearly had me
panicking.

After thinking about how to bypass it and what precautions to take, we

decided that Fatty would go first, Poker-Face would go second, and I would
go last. That way, Poker-Face could take care of both sides in case
something happened.

We walked past the leather figurine woman like we were driving a train, but
nothing happened. I felt relieved, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that
something was wrong. When I looked back, I couldn’t see the leather
figurine woman clearly anymore. I probably deserved a beating for being so
reckless, but I couldn’t resist saying to Fatty, “I want to take another look
back.”

Fatty didn’t know what I wanted to see, but he handed me the basin full of
candles anyways. When I turned back to illuminate the area, I saw the
leather figurine woman’s back. As I looked at it carefully, I felt like
something was off, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Just as I handed the basin back to Fatty, I suddenly realized what the
problem was. The leather figurine woman’s position was slightly different
from before.

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Chapter 51
“It looks like she’s turned around,” I said after taking a deep breath.

“Is it because the two of us aren’t wearing any clothes? This little girl must
be in love. Quick, tell her that us two brothers don’t like someone who’s
rotting like that,” Fatty said. He then told me to keep walking and not make
any trouble. He was certain I must’ve been mistaken.

I’m the one who can see it. You can’t see shit, I said to myself. What right do
you have to say this?

Even though I was still feeling apprehensive, I quickly moved to follow them.
I took a few steps forward, but I couldn’t resist the impulse to look back.
When I did, I immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

The leather figurine woman had turned again, and this time, I could basically
confirm that it was moving.

“Run quickly,” I said to Fatty.

The three of us got into running stances as we moved forward, but there
really wasn’t a difference in speed because of the water. We eventually got
to a spot where I figured we would hardly see the leather figurine woman. I
was just starting to calm down when I looked back again.

It was dark behind me, so I moved the candle around to have a look. At that
moment, I saw something standing so close behind me that the candle
almost hit it.

My whole body broke out in goosebumps when I realized it was the leather
figurine woman. I didn’t know when it had come up behind me.

It was still in the same stance as before, but it was really close to me. Not to
mention a rotting leather figurine, even a living person would’ve scared me
to death at this distance.

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I quickly stepped back a few meters and ended up bumping into Fatty. At
this time, I noticed that the leather figurine woman’s hands were different
from what I had originally thought. The arms weren’t hanging down but held
aloft as if making an offering. The hands themselves were gone, and I
figured they had probably rotted away or were broken off. I also noticed
something hanging from the curvature of its elbow.

I leaned closer to get a look at it and found that it was a pair of jade Azure
Dragon annulus(1). Both of them had a white jade protective layer around
them that had oxidized so badly, it was obvious they had been buried here a
long time. I didn’t know why they had appeared on this figurine’s arm.

Fatty couldn’t see it and asked me, “What’s wrong?”

“That leather figurine just now”—I suddenly felt that I shouldn’t say
anything to irritate the thing in front of me, so I changed my tune and said—
“that beautiful woman figurine is following me for some reason. It has
something on its arm.”

“Is it a love token? Does it want to give you something?” Fatty asked me.
“Don’t take it Mr. Naïve. If you do, you’ll be responsible for it and have to be
buried here together.”

Poker-Face couldn’t see it and couldn’t help me, so all I could do was try and
analyze it carefully. When I looked closely, I kept feeling that it wasn’t
ordinary jade, but more like a pair of ears.

(1)
Azure Dragon is 1 of the 4 symbols of the Chinese constellations, also known as the Azure Dragon of
the East. A jade annulus looks like this:

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Was it for me? Was the ghost of this buried female figurine acting in good
faith and giving us some clues? Or was this female ghost hoping to make
some kind of contract with her belongings?

Besides, neither Poker-Face nor Fatty could see it. If I did take the proffered
items, they might not be able to see what I did.

As I examined the jade carefully, I kept thinking more and more that they
really looked like a pair of ears. Maybe they really had something to do with
listening to thunder? With the exception of the Thunder God worship, we
hadn’t seen anything related to listening to thunder the entire way. This was
the first clue I had seen that was actually related to it.

I believed that everything related to listening to thunder was probably in the

main tomb chamber, but it was obvious that no one had been there. Uncle
Three and the others must have used a very special skill I had never learned
to steal the main coffin.

Were these things that looked like ears related to the main tomb chamber?

I looked at the maid who had been buried here and felt some sadness and
pity in my heart. It was said that water was a barrier to the existence of the
soul, and the reason why those who died in the water became water ghosts
was because there was no way they could reincarnate through a medium
like that.

I didn’t know why—maybe I was just being weird or it was my intuition—but

I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wanted to get something in return for
doing this.

After thinking about it, I rubbed my face and gave up on this superstitious
idea. My principle was only to apply the appropriate superstition when I
couldn’t figure something out. There were some parts in tombs that
couldn’t be explained, but most of them did have a plausible explanation. I
took a deep breath and said to the leather figurine woman, “I don’t want
this, I want something that can help me get out.”

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With that said, the three of us walked on.

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Chapter 52
From Fatty’s point of view, I was definitely crazy. I still didn’t understand
why I could see what they couldn’t see, but I was willing to believe that what
I was seeing might not be real. Poker-Face had asked me if I had
hallucinated, after all.

Fatty looked in the direction I was speaking several times as the three of us
continued moving forward. “You’re too forceful,” he said after a while.
“We’re in someone else’s territory. Don’t offend them.” He then arched his
hand in the air, “Well, this Mr. Naïve has never been in love. He’s very
straightforward, so I hope you don’t mind what he says. There are plenty of
fish in the sea. I’m sure you can definitely find a better one, right? Anyway,
you’ve been single for more than a thousand years, so you shouldn’t sell
yourself short. Let me tell you, he has athlete’s foot. You won’t be able to
stand it.”

After walking a few more steps, I found that all my hair was standing on end.
The leather figurine woman’s appearance lingered in my mind, but I didn’t
want to look back.

We went more than a dozen meters before I dared look back again. I found
that it hadn’t followed me, which made me wonder if it was an illusion or
some kind of special mechanism. I couldn’t see the ground since it was
underwater, but maybe there were some tracks and dark wheels under the
water’s surface.

At this time, we finally saw an exit. We got closer to it and found that it was
another deep well, which probably led to another tomb chamber.

I looked in front of us but found that the waterway didn’t extend any further
and actually came to an end.

As I glanced at the countless stone beams above us, I suddenly remembered

something. I went to check my cell phone and found that the battery was
dying. Liu Sang’s Bluetooth device wasn’t showing up, but I didn’t know if

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that meant it wasn’t nearby or if the structure here was too complicated
and the signal was blocked. As I calculated how long we had been walking, I
realized that I didn’t know where we were in the ancient tomb anymore.
The South Sea King’s tomb looked small at first glance, but it turned out that
there was such a huge drainage system below. It appeared the fucking
budget had been spent on this.

Those leather paper dolls were still appearing regularly, but I didn’t see any
other female ones facing in different directions.

“This King Zhi of the South Sea seems to be a poor man,” Fatty said. “Except
for those buried statues in the horse and chariot pit, all the other treasures
in this place are paper, which isn’t worth much money. Your Uncle Three
took the main coffin away, so it looks like we’ve come here for nothing.”

I emphasized yet again that we weren’t here to rob the tomb. Even if we
deceived ourselves, we were here to find clues. Anything else in the tomb
wasn’t important.

“Liu Sang said before that there were people everywhere down there,” Fatty
continued. “Maybe he saw those paper dolls you’ve been seeing. If that’s
the case, then the female figurines are probably on another level. I bet
they’re very special.”

As the three of us began climbing the stone beams, Fatty said in between
gasping for breath, “The main tomb chamber may also be filled with these
leather figurines. You said that one of them not only looked like a woman
but was also very delicate. I bet it’s a high-quality good from the main tomb
chamber, but it somehow fell into the waterway. Moreover, when I think
about those people we saw earlier, they seemed to be constructed of
human skin. If the main tomb chamber is above, then I bet it’s full of those
kinds of things.”

The leather figurine woman’s hands had been broken, so I couldn’t see her
fingernails. But if what Fatty said was true, then the skin of these figurines
must have been flayed off the servants together with their fingernails.

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If the nails of the dead could continue growing, did that mean the nails
attached to these leather figurines could also keep growing? But how?

Climbing up the beams was hard work, so the three of us stopped talking
and focused on climbing all the way to the top of the well. A huge hole
appeared above us and there were signs of blasting damage around it. I
looked at it and thought to myself, based on this size, Uncle Three must’ve
taken the coffin out from here.

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Chapter 53
At first glance, the big hole had been made by directional blasting with six
detonators. In those days, it must have taken a mining expert to adjust the
number of explosives to such an accurate degree. Fatty told us that he
missed seeing the amazing skills of craftsmen from that time. Even though
they were all thieves, compared with the idiots who used excavators now,
they always seemed to be like the old legends.

I disagreed. Special historical periods gave rise to special legends, but the
old grave robbing legends had already come to an end. History had chosen
to abandon them, so after liberation, these kinds of things could only be
read in books for fun.

If this really was the main tomb chamber, then it must’ve been the gate with
the fingernails where we were at before. I thought about it and couldn’t
help but feel that it was extremely dangerous. Fatty said that they were all
leather figurines and probably blind if the legend was to be believed, so
there was nothing to be afraid of. We just needed to be careful.

At that time, the Mute Emperor was defeated by the Han emperor and fled
to the sea. He had thousands of troops, but there are only three of us here
now, I thought to myself

Poker-Face turned on his phone camera and held it in his mouth while the
two of us lifted him up to the hole. He reached up to grab a rock protruding
from the side and clung to it with one hand. He then used both hands to
climb up to the edge of the hole, which was the bottom of the tomb
chamber. Since we weren’t sure if there were a lot of those figurines inside,
he took a photo with his phone and sent it to me via Bluetooth.

I glanced at it. The phone’s camera flash was limited to a certain range, so
only the tomb chamber’s floor was photographed. I could see square stone
bricks that had a fish-shaped pattern on them, which replicated some of the
characteristics of ancient ships from that time period. The cultural
characteristics of the South Sea country’s Xu people were also very obvious.

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I didn’t see anything strange, but the phone’s flash could only illuminate so
far. Poker-Face didn’t bother waiting for us and crawled out of the hole.

We couldn’t climb up like him, so we had to wait until he came back and
stretched out his hand to pull us naked guys up.

Poker-Face was moving very cautiously after he dragged us into the tomb
chamber above, so I knew it definitely wasn’t safe.

The room wasn’t very big, but there was no doubt that it was definitely the
main tomb chamber. Under the light of the rhinoceros horn candle, the first
thing we saw was a large mural on the wall that was covered in eyes and
boats. I was very experienced with this kind of thing, so I knew with a single
glance that the chaotic mural was a narrative that seemed to tell the story of
the South Sea country’s sea fleet.

The mural here was complete, and when I realized that all of the eyes were
closed despite the light from the rhinoceros horn candle, I began to
understand the logic behind it.

In fact, one of the very simple reasons for using rhinoceros horn candles was
that the green light wouldn’t cause the toxic paint on the mural to vaporize.

The place where we had come up was right by the main coffin bed. Uncle
Three was a skilled and daring expert, so he must’ve accurately guessed the
location of the coffin and taken it out from the hole he had made below. I
didn’t see any other grave robbers’ tunnels and the entire tomb chamber
basically looked intact.

The explosion had pushed the decayed coffin table that was originally in
front of the coffin bed six or seven meters away. Under the green light, we
also noticed a rare structure on the side of the tomb chamber.

There was a stone boat in the middle of the tomb chamber, and on that
boat were a lot of leather figurines. Their vivid shapes stood there with pale
skin and magnificent clothes lined with gold silk. There were both men and
women, and even though the oxidation had muted the color, it was easy to

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see that they were well preserved. Even the lines on their faces were easy to
make out.

They looked like real people since they were some distance away from us. I
didn’t expect this South Sea country to have such technology, but it also felt
extremely cruel. In order to ensure that these leather figurines wouldn’t rot
for thousands of years, they flayed all the skin off people’s bodies and
turned them into burial objects.

These leather figurines’ nails were very long, and as we looked around under
the candlelight, we noticed that there were several other stone boats in the
tomb chamber.

“Toy boat models.” Fatty mouthed.

I looked at the situation and was certain that the leather figurine woman
from below had really come from this main tomb chamber. The gold silk
lining on her outfit wasn’t easy to pull off, so someone on the team must’ve
taken her in order to pull the gold silk off later. I didn’t know what went
wrong, but she was eventually abandoned in the drainage channel. That
meant her movements weren’t the result of a mechanism, which was a bit
scary once I thought about it.

I looked back at the place we had climbed out of and then down at my
phone again. There still wasn’t any news from Liu Sang.

At this distance, we couldn’t see what was going on by the tomb gate. I
glanced around and found that many places in the tomb had never been
disturbed, which was very abnormal considering Uncle Three’s bad
character. They either didn’t dare to move anything or didn’t have the time
to.

I was confident in my reasoning that there had to be something important in

this tomb chamber that made Yang Daguang and Uncle Three obsessed with
thunder.

I need to look for it.

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Just as I was thinking this, Fatty patted me and pointed above my head. I
looked up and saw a boat hanging overhead that looked as if it was covered
in human skin.

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Chapter 54
I squinted at it as I wondered what it was. The boat was located just above
the coffin bed, but I couldn’t tell if there was anything on it. “Could the gold
and silver treasure be on top? This thing must be related to the main coffin
if it’s hanging right above it. But still, I don’t get it.” Fatty touched his chin.
“Why don’t I go up and have a look?”

I bit my lip and said, “Fatty, you’re quite sharp. We may really have to go up
there, but it’s not for treasure. Remember, there was a giant upside-down
bell above the coffin in Yang Daguang’s ancestral tomb. If the coffin was
here, then it would be facing this human skin boat.”

“If the owner of the coffin was listening to thunder and wanted to get any
information from it, then this boat…” Fatty smirked. “When you see what’s
in this boat, you’ll know who—or what—he was trying to communicate
with. But…” Fatty scratched his head. “This ship is hanging in the air, so is it a
spaceship?”

The Heavenly Palace had also been hanging in the air and I couldn’t help
thinking that this was an immortal boat. If people at that time found
something strange with the thunder, their first reaction would be to claim
that it was immortals. So, we may only see the servants of ordinary
immortals, but it was still necessary to go up and have a look.

We looked around to try and find some place to climb up, but there weren’t
any beams that we could see. I was very familiar with my own abilities, so I
piled some rocks together to step on. Fatty said we should make a human
pyramid, with him and Little Brother lending me their shoulders so they
could hoist me up.

Once the two of them squatted down, I shakily climbed up. Then, they stood
up and lifted me towards the immortal boat. I was still at least a person
away from it, but as I examined it closely under the green light, I vaguely felt
as if there was a cocoon inside of it.

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“No, we have to stack it up again,” I said before climbing down and finding
some more rocks to pile up. Then, Poker-Face stepped on Fatty and I
climbed back up until I was stepping on his shoulders. Zhang Qiling’s hands
were very strong as he held my calves in a firm grip. I stood up straight like I
was doing extension training, my hand just flush with the immortal boat. I
saw that the thing inside wasn’t actually a cocoon, but a mummified person.
And this person wasn’t an ancient person, either. Based on his clothes, he
was probably one of Uncle Three’s people.

I took a deep breath. This “person” could no longer be considered a person,

but a piece of skin. It was the exact same as the servants here, but it wasn’t
propped up.

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Chapter 55 Take a Vote
“Let’s take a vote,” I whispered. “There’s skin up here. Do you want me to
take it down so you can have a look?”

“Is there a note on it that says: don’t take it off?” Fatty asked me.

When I said of course not, Fatty asked, “Are there any kinds of precious
stones, gold, or silver jewelry on that skin?” When I said no, Fatty said,
“Then it depends. If you like it, you can even use it as an apron.”

“But this skin looks like it doesn’t want me to take it.” It was covered in a
layer of fine, moldy hair and looked very delicate to the touch. There were a
lot of holes in it and I couldn’t figure out where the face was. It was almost
like the whole thing was covered in faces, and the expressions were very
creepy. I didn’t know if it was from the pain of death or from being skinned.

I reached out for my Kukri, wanting Fatty to pass it to me so that I could

poke the skin a few times. Fatty gave me a high five instead and I realized
that my favorite knife had been sacrificed earlier. I poked the skin with my
cell phone and found that it was as dry as dried tofu. Fatty lifted up the
equipment belt at this time, so I threw it up, hooked a protrusion on the
piece of skin, and pulled it out of the boat bit by bit.

After moving the skin, I saw that there were a lot of ceramic little people
under it, which must have been used as decorations for the boat.

Human skin couldn’t be preserved as well as stone, so there were many

moth-eaten holes and traces of artificial damage to it. Despite all this, I
could see that this human skin boat was very exquisite and must have been
a relatively large boat at the time. Many places on it were decorated with
shells, and there were clusters of gold thread, light pearls, corals, cinnabar
sandstone, and fragments of blue ocean rocks. There were carvings on the
boat’s railing and scull, and the ceramic little people appeared to be sailors.

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The keel of the ship under the skin was probably bronze, and there was a
total of six bronze chains on both sides. At that time, this thing was
definitely regarded as top-grade craftsmanship. It might have lacked
precious gems such as tourmaline, ruby, and jadeite, but it was priceless
among the local Xu people’s culture.

I climbed down and pulled the piece of human skin from above. As soon as it
fell to the ground, we all took a step back. It was heavier than I had
expected and broke apart when it landed.

“You can’t make an apron now,” Fatty said as he looked at my lower body.

I ignored him as I took a closer look at the piece of skin. This man’s clothes
must have been from the 1980s. “The biggest secret of the South Sea King’s
tomb is here,” I said to Fatty.

“That’s right.” Fatty touched his chin. “This South Sea King skinned people
and turned them into these figurines before burying them. But what I don’t
understand is if your Uncle Three came in at that time, how could this
person be skinned? Was the South Sea skinner still living in the tomb?”

This man died on a human skin boat in mid-air, so he had to be hiding from
something. Did the leather paper dolls do it? Did they resent their own
deaths and skin those who came to rob the tomb?

“No, it’s impossible for these leather figurines to move. But I did see a
leather figurine and thunder god statue move earlier, so there must be
something inside of them. There must be things in the South Sea King’s
tomb that can move in all kinds of skins. This is clearly the skin of someone
in your Uncle Three’s team, but its presence here is so baffling. The coffin
was taken out of here and there aren’t any traces of fierce fighting, which
shows that your Uncle Three succeeded. So, how could this person die alone
here?” Fatty sounded horrified as he continued, “Don’t tell me…”

He then looked at me with a very solemn expression on his face, “Mr. Naïve,
have you ever thought that these leather figurines may not actually be
leather figurines?”

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“If they’re not leather figurines, what are they? Your second uncle?” I asked
him.

“They’re not my second uncle, but maybe… clothes? Maybe there’s a

monster in this tomb that doesn’t have any skin, so it has to wear these
human skins before it can move around. And there’s more than one of
them. After someone in your Uncle Three’s team entered the tomb, it got
into his skin, followed your Uncle Three out, and left the old skin here. No,
wait. Maybe it did it to your Uncle Three and that’s why he couldn’t tell you
the truth. In fact, he’s actually a zombie.”

“Go fuck yourself!” I was furious when I heard him spouting such crap. The
logic didn’t even make any sense. This lump of skin was wearing clothes
from the 1980s, so the person it belonged to was obviously the one who had
died. The skin was all here, so it was impossible to mix in with the team
again.

Fatty let out an exclamation as if he had also discovered this.

Poker-Face said from off to the side, “This isn’t human skin, it’s a shuikao(1).
It was probably up there because the tomb was flooded before. When they
came in, this human skin boat was the only thing above the water. If the
water level was high that year, maybe the entire drainage system and tomb
chamber were filled with water.”

I thought about it and knew he was right. This was the only way they could
have transported such a large stone coffin out. But that also meant they had
been blasting underwater. Such remarkable workmanship really needed to
be recorded.

Fatty stepped forward and took a closer look, “But there’s a face on it. Are
you trying to tell me shuikao also cover the face? Little Brother, you’re
bullying me because I’m younger, right?”

(1)
Mentioned in the Snake Ancestor extra (“Fantasy” Extra 2). It’s a one-piece diving suit made by the
ancients with fish skin, sea scorpion skin, or shark skin.

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“Look carefully, it’s not like that,” Poker-Face said. “Some of what you said
just now may be correct.” I looked carefully and saw that it really was a
shuikao. It only looked like skin because white spots had appeared where
the rubber had faded and rotted. But there really did seem to be something
dead inside the shuikao.

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Chapter 56
If the tomb chamber was flooded at that time and only the human skin boat
was above water, then it was impossible to verify why the diver took off the
shuikao at that time. Maybe it was so they could be more flexible when
operating underwater.

But there was no denying that the leather figurines, shuikao, and thunder
god statues in the tomb passage outside all had one thing in common—they
were hollow. And this hollowness made them especially suitable for hiding
parasites.

But all the other leather figurines below didn’t have any traces of entering
the water and were well preserved, so this statement was just a speculation.

I used my phone to fiddle with the fragile shuikao and found that the dead
things inside of it had completely rotted into cotton wool. They felt like
some kind of coral bug. It was possible that some kind of parasite had been
breeding here for a long time and filled up all the cavities.

After Fatty fiddled with it for a long time and found nothing, he turned his
attention to the murals around him. “Don’t worry about it too much. Let’s
finish things quickly and leave,” Fatty said to me. “When the candles burn
out and our cell phones die later, we’ll have to work in the dark.”

After thinking about it, I immediately started taking pictures of the murals
with my phone. The green candlelight wasn’t very bright, so I had no choice
but to turn on the flash. All those eyes on the murals opened every time the
flash went off, which was really creepy. I could only finish photographing all
the murals as soon as possible.

Poker-Face took one of the rhinoceros horn candles from the basin and told
us not to go near the door, no matter how important the murals were. He
then jumped back into the waterway to go find Liu Sang. Fatty continued to
stare at the shuikao in a daze. I looked at his expression and figured he had

234
come to his senses, or he at least knew that the shuikao might be very
important.

I also took some photos of the stone boats as I passed by them, but there
wasn’t enough battery power left and the phone shut off right when I was in
the middle of shooting. I couldn’t see what I had photographed, so I could
only remember it with my eyes.

The murals were continuous, and interpreting them required patience,

meticulous observation, and the ability to reason. The tomb chamber was
very high, which made it difficult to see those parts of the murals clearly. I
remembered what I could and then started trying to figure out what the
contents of the murals meant.

All the stories recorded in the murals were those of the South Sea’s King Zhi.
The easiest one to understand was the story of his rebellion and defeat,
which the mural depicted as a major opportunity for him to become
immortal. The murals showed how he was first oppressed by the emperor
and then how he met the alchemist who helped him resist the emperor’s
final attack. They then went on to show how he became fascinated with
immortals and went out to sea to find them.

After this part, it was mostly stories about the sea. After King Zhi’s fleet left
the mainland and went out to sea, the accompanying alchemist guided them
to a strange place. The murals depicted that place as being similar to
Penglai, but the people wore immortal clothes and had a lot of ears.

In this fairyland, all the immortals were standing on boats at sea and had
their ears turned towards the sky. There was an immortal boat in the sky
that looked like the human skin boat, which all the immortals down below
seemed to be listening to. Surprisingly, the murals seemed to show that the
people on the immortal boat were also listening to the immortals down
below.

As I was going over all the details carefully, I heard a sound and turned my
head, thinking that Poker-Face was back. But when I looked, I saw that Fatty

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was putting on the shuikao we had left on the ground. His movements and
state were very strange, just like an animal trying to put its skin back on.

He wasn’t using any protective measures at all as he touched the shuikao

with his bare fingers.

“Fatty, are you crazy?!” I hissed at him. But by the time I ran over, he had
already put his head in the shuikao. “What are you doing?!”

Fatty didn’t listen to me at all as he continued trying to push the remaining

half of his body into the shuikao.

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Chapter 57 At Present
I tore off the towel around my waist, wrapped it around my hand, and went
up to pull the shuikao off him. But before I could, Fatty pushed me down,
stood up, and ran into the dark depths of the tomb chamber. After chasing
him a few steps, I realized that he was running in the direction of the tomb
gate, which Poker-Face had told me not to go near.

I only hesitated for a moment. If it were the me from before, this kind of
incident would have me on the brink of collapse. Fatty was running into the
darkness and acting strangely, while my only weapon was a sweat-stained
towel. I only had the dim light of the rhinoceros horn candle to light my way
and I was trapped in this burial chamber under the rock stratum, seemingly
surrounded by mysterious creatures.

But now I came to an immediate decision. Fatty was here because I was
here—although he had his own motives—so I had to save him. But with all
those fingernails I had seen in front of the tomb gate, there had to be a lot
of zombies where Fatty ran off to. I was sure to die without a weapon.

First priority, find a weapon.

I searched around, picked up a rock from the ground, and weighed it in my

hand. I felt that it wasn’t good enough, so I picked up another rock and
weighed it again. This one was better, so I tied it to the equipment belt and
made a meteor hammer. With the candle in one hand and the meteor
hammer in the other, I quickly ran after Fatty.

As the candle illuminated the places we hadn’t checked out before, I saw
more stone boats of varying sizes, all with gorgeous leather figurines on
them. When I only saw those three stone boats earlier, I didn’t seem to
comprehend how terrifying these leather figurines were. But as I ran among
them and saw them up close, I found that they all looked like living people,
which made my hair stand on end.

237
I took a deep breath and slowly moved forward, only to be met with an
amazing sight. There were countless leather figurines practically stacked on
the tomb chamber’s gate. They were the same as those figurines I had seen
in the tunnel. Their heads were hanging down and it seemed like they
wanted to rush out of the tomb chamber, but they had been blocked by the
stone gate and died.

Fatty was digging into this pile of leather figurines with the same kind of
movements.

I took a deep breath, cautiously went up, and grabbed his feet to start
dragging him back. He completely ignored me as he tried desperately to join
the pile of leather figurines.

I put down my weapon and dragged Fatty out with both hands. He was very
heavy, so it took me a long time before I finally pulled him out. But when I
did, I noticed that I had dragged some other things out as well. Fatty’s hands
were held by more than a dozen figurines with freakishly long fingernails.

As soon as I saw them, I picked up my meteor hammer and began frantically

smashing them. I was surprised to find that these hands almost looked as if
they were fresh. It only took a few strokes to smash them to a pulp and then
I quickly dragged Fatty out.

Fatty’s head was completely in the shuikao now and he kept trying to push
me away. I went up, sat on his back, and used my towel-wrapped hand to
tear the shuikao off with all my strength.

The shuikao was already very brittle, so once I used all my strength, I was
able to tear it off and see everything that was on its back.

I saw that there were a lot of “little hands” with long fingernails attached to
the back of the shuikao. They were densely packed together, just like a
bunch of shellfish.

I immediately understood that these leather figurines hadn’t come alive; it

was their hands that were living!

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Their hands and fingernails were something else!

It looked like some kind of shell, so maybe the person who had made these
leather figurines—knowing that human hands were difficult to preserve—
created the hands using this shellfish that looked similar to human hands.

No wonder those leather figurines in the tunnel were crawling with their
hands.

At this time, I saw those “human hand shellfish” covering Fatty’s ears. His
eyes had rolled into the back of his head and he started convulsing, so I
threw the shuikao away and started smashing the shellfish with my meteor
hammer. As I began tearing them off with my towel-covered hands, I found
that their feet had penetrated deep into Fatty’s ears.

Those “hands” had gathered around Fatty’s ears in such a way that it looked
as if he had many strange ears. If the fingernails weren’t there, it would look
very similar to the corpse of the South Sea’s King Zhi that we had seen in the
Yang family’s ancestral tomb before.

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Chapter 58
I grabbed one of them and pulled it out of Fatty’s ear. The “shellfish”
grabbed my finger like a little baby’s hand, but it was definitely much
stronger. I held it over the candle and roasted it under the flame for a little
bit until it let go. I then dropped it on the ground and quickly stomped on it
with my foot.

I used the same movements to pull the other ones out one by one and then
cleaned Fatty up. But he still didn’t wake up. The towel was covered in
mucus from those little “hands”, so I couldn’t hide my shame anymore(1). I
dragged Fatty back towards the entrance, nearly collapsing from all the
strain.

As I passed the stone boats, I carefully looked at the leather figurines’ hands.
They had all been made using those shellfish, but most of the shellfish had
dried up.

I was very anxious since Fatty was still in a coma even though so much time
had passed. I used a lot of resuscitation methods and pinched all the parts
on his body that could be pinched, but he still didn’t wake up. Luckily, his
breathing remained steady. I held his head, fearing that the fingernails had
buried themselves in his brain, but he started snoring quickly, which made
me feel relieved.

I took the candle and returned to the murals, quickly looking for the
contents I didn’t have the chance to photograph so that I could leave as
quickly as possible.

Before King Zhi staged his rebellion, there was a long story about his
achievements, which included teaching the Xu people how to fish, sail at
sea, and develop inland rivers. What worried me here was that the murals
clearly showed that these inland rivers were underground rivers. In other

(1)
He’s basically completely naked now. His junk is hanging out for the whole world to see.

240
words, King Zhi used the ancient South Sea country to develop a huge
underground river system.

In fact, after we analyzed all the murals later, we were surprised by the
conclusions that could be drawn. After the South Sea’s King Zhi was finally
defeated, he first fled to the depths of the underground river. On the
surface, the whole South Sea kingdom was only a small country in Minyue’s
primitive forest, but it was actually a big country that ruled and explored the
huge water system below.

This also proved that my intuition about the mountains near Rain Village
was correct. I always felt that the underground water system there was too
complicated to have appeared naturally.

I thought of the murals on both walls near the tomb gate and stopped,
forgetting all about Fatty’s snoring and the kind of environment we were in.
I had been so nervous before that I didn’t look at them closely. I could tell
that they were “three-dimensional” like the “sea market” I had seen in the
tomb passage before. In fact, it was really just a combination of relief
sculptures, bonsai, and murals. There were a lot of pavilions and terraces
carved on it, among which were a lot of “ceramic people” who were telling
stories of the South Sea King.

For some unknown reason, Emperor Gaozu appointed a Minyue nobleman

the title of South Sea King in 195 BCE. In the murals, the South Sea King
vividly depicted the truth of this historical mystery.

When this South Sea nobleman was developing the underground water
system in Minyue, he discovered a strange place while exploring. At the
center of the underground river system, there was a strange giant coffin.

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Chapter 59
The giant coffin was a little over one and a half meters high and five meters
long. It was made from a polished boulder that had been taken from the
rocks in the underground river (some details are filled in using my
imagination). This incident was regarded as a miracle and eventually
presented to the Han Emperor. The emperor sent a minister to Minyue to
follow the South Sea nobleman into the underground river. The minister saw
a lot of post stations in the underground river, where the Xu people lived
and fished. The cooking fires in this cave village revealed a thriving scene,
and he could even see that chimney holes had been dug into the ground
everywhere. He sighed with emotion, as if he were witnessing an earthly
marvel. Since many underground rivers had dense fog all year round that
formed into rolling clouds, this minister called the underground basin in this
South Sea country “Falling Cloud Country”.

He went deep into the underground river with the South Sea nobleman and
found that the underground cave was endless. When he reached the area
where the sarcophagus was located, he found that there were many strange
words on it that no one could understand.

The minister copied the words down and ordered the people to open the
giant stone sarcophagus. When they did, they found that there was a coffin
filled with golden liquid inside.

This golden liquid was very strange, but according to the legends, the corpse
fluid of immortals was also golden. The minister marveled at what he was
seeing and said that the golden liquid was what had been left after the
person shed his earthly skin and became immortal.

Other than the lone sarcophagus, there was nothing else further inside the
cave. There weren’t even any traces of human activity.

After returning home, the minister told the Han Emperor everything he had
seen. In the middle of his journey through the wild lands of southern China,
there was a mysterious entrance to an underground river that led to a place

242
called Falling Cloud Country. This secluded place was just like a wonderland,
where magical people lived and practiced alchemy(1). Once these people
became immortals, the earthly bodies that they had shed would turn into a
mass of golden liquid.

This description shocked the imperial court and the masses. The emperor
was also obsessed with alchemy, so he asked the minister to find someone
who could read the mysterious words on the sarcophagus. At that time, the
nation was strong and prosperous, so information was easily accessible. It
didn’t take him long to find someone who happened to be an alchemist. This
person recognized that this kind of writing was called “hao wen”, which was
a writing style that alchemists in the Shang Dynasty had used.

I couldn’t interpret the information the words contained, but it was clearly
expressed in the murals. The first few words in the text were “South Sea
Country”.

As a result of this, the emperor complied with the will of heaven(2) and gave
the South Sea nobleman the title of South Sea King. He also named that land
South Sea Country and asked the new king to continue searching for
immortals in the deep cave.

It took them two years to figure out what the remaining hao wen text said,
but when they did, the words were troubling: mute king rule.

This was very mysterious.

“South Sea Country mute king rule” was a troubling sentence. It was hard to
say whether it was referring to a mute king ruling the South Sea Country, a
mute king ruling the world, or just a king who happened to be a mute. It was
also very possible that the word “mute” was wrong, but either way, the

(1)
It didn’t blatantly say alchemist but it’s kind of close. You can think of it as “supernatural arts” like
healing, divination, horoscope, etc. Note that Chinese alchemists research elixirs on how to attain
immortality (not like Western alchemists who are known for trying to change stuff to gold). More info
on the “supernatural arts” here
(2)
Fun fact: “Will of Heaven” can also be called “Providence”, which is probably why the drama is called
“Sound of the Providence”.

243
meaning was still very troubling. Moreover, they hadn’t discovered anything
else in that South Sea Country during those two years.

At that time, life in Guangxi and Fujian wasn’t very easy and the Baiyue
people were relatively wild. After suffering oppression at the hands of the
government officials for a long time, the South Sea King rebelled.

The last report the South Sea King presented to the throne at that time
stated that he had found new clues in a deeper part of the underground
river. But those who entered never came back and they feared it was the
work of immortal spells. After the South Sea Country was defeated, the
remnants fled into the depths of the underground river and put up a
resistance for many years. Eventually, the country was completely
destroyed.

After the country’s demise, the South Sea King disappeared into the depths
of the underground river. His fleet continued moving underground until they
finally reached another exit, which was a sea he didn’t recognize. From
there, he took his fleet out to sea and met the immortal boat.

I realized that there was a hidden message in the mural. I didn’t know why it
was expressed in such an obscure way, but the message basically said: The
South Sea King always thought that this unknown sea he had discovered was
underground.

He had followed the dark underground river behind the sarcophagus for
more than a month before he saw the exit. But he didn’t actually think it
was an exit. Instead, he thought that it was the land of immortals and that
was why he saw the immortal boat.

The things after that were related to thunder, which was what I had
photographed with my phone earlier.

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Chapter 60
I didn’t see anything related to Uncle Three except for the murals of the
immortal boat. Back in those days, they did such a beautiful job robbing the
tomb that they didn’t leave anything behind except for the shuikao. Not to
mention the mural in the back of the chamber, just the content of the mural
at the front of the chamber was enough to guess what Uncle Three’s
reaction was. Based on his character, he probably knew that there was an
underground place in Fujian and he would definitely go explore it. But I
remembered that Uncle Three wasn’t someone who could hide things and
he had never told me that he had gone through such an experience before.
That probably meant he paid more attention to the contents of the mural in
the back of the tomb chamber.

I really wanted to see all the murals at once, but at this point, I was more
concerned about the shuikao. Moreover, I couldn’t waste any more time for
Fatty’s sake.

Poker-Face still hadn’t come back yet, so I decided not to stay in the tomb
chamber any longer. I went over to get Fatty, but when I looked down at the
hole we had come through before, I knew it was unrealistic. Getting down
from this height with an unconscious Fatty was absolutely impossible.

I left three candles by the hole in case Poker-Face came back without a light
and then wrote on the floor: Fatty fell into a trap; I’ll take the front door.

I dragged him past the buried stone boats and returned to the gate. All the
leather figurines that had been crowded around the door before were now
surrounding the shuikao. Their shapes looked weird and their long
fingernails were resting on top of the shuikao, as if they were sucking the
body fluids of the shells I had crushed to death.

Under the candle’s green light, these strange figurines that had been buried
here almost looked like they were sucking the shuikao’s skin dry with their
fingernails. I was covered in a cold sweat and all my hair was standing on
end.

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As I dragged Fatty all the way to the gate, I cheered myself up by silently
thinking that if I stir-fried those shellfish with ginger and onion, I could eat
two and a half catties worth.

There were still a few of them leaning against the gate, but I could see a
stone bar(1) propped up against one side of it. I leaned Fatty up against it and
then pushed the tomb gate hard. The gate was extremely heavy, but I
managed to push it open a gap.

All the fingernails that had been stuck in the gate were crushed by the
rotating shaft. Once I was done, I suddenly wanted to cry. I had always gone
in from the tomb entrance and never thought that I would one day come
out of the tomb like this.

I held the basin full of candles out and found that it was really the place
where we had turned back earlier. I dragged Fatty out and then carefully
imitated the leather figurines’ behavior. I crawled over until I was next to
them, grabbed the shuikao, and then ran out.

All the figurines’ hands immediately turned to me and started crawling

towards me like spiders. As I ran out of the gate and quickly tried to close it,
my instincts jumped. I picked up the meteor hammer’s stone and jammed it
under the tomb gate.

Countless hands instantly sprang out of the crack and tried to grab me, but
the gap wasn’t big enough and only the hands could come out.

(1)
Can also be called “zilaishi” (自来石) or a “holding-stone” I guess. It’s stuck behind the door to
prevent somebody from opening the door from outside. Think of it like a giant wedge.

246
The skin of these leather figurines was elastic and the hands instantly
became extremely slender. I put Fatty on my back, picked up the basin of
candles, and headed towards the place we had blown up before. When I got
there, I picked up a brick and started tapping it on the ground.

The stone didn’t sound as crisp as my Kukri, but I still wanted to inform
Poker-Face of my location. I knocked for a long time but didn’t receive a
response.

I propped Fatty up against the wall. There was no other lighting available, so
I had to use the rhinoceros horn candle to illuminate his ears. The
candlelight wasn’t a linear light source, so I couldn’t see the innermost part
of his ear. After thinking about it, I went up and sucked at his ear hole.

I immediately felt like something was wrong. Something had been sucked
out of his ear and went straight into my mouth.

I almost swallowed it, but immediately spit it out. I looked at the place
where it landed and saw that there was a “leg”, which had still been alive
even after it had broken off inside Fatty’s ear.

I looked at Fatty, held back my nausea, and sucked his other ear. I was a
little relieved when I found that there was nothing in there.

I went over and carefully looked at the shuikao. I knew I was too concerned
about it, but Uncle Three had always been so precise when working. So, why
did he only leave a shuikao in such a strange place?

247
Chapter 61 The Shuikao’s Owner
I had never seen a real shuikao before. When Uncle Three showed me some
old things in the past, there was an old shuikao included among them. My
first impression was that the shuikao looked like a huge wine bag, but I
didn’t unfold it or try to put it on. The best shuikao were made of fish skin.
After the scales were scraped off, the fish skin was tanned into leather and
then coated in tung oil. Like this, the fish skin became elastic and very thin.

Most people back in the day used fur seal(1) skins to make shuikao because
there were so many fur seals living along the coast of China. This kind of skin
was actually stronger and had a certain heat retention, but shuikao made of
fur seal skins were difficult to preserve and very troublesome to maintain.
They could crack as long as they became a little dry and they had to soak in
oil for a long time before they could be used again.

This shuikao looked rubbery since the skin was completely black, but when I
looked at it closely, I found that it was a special kind of big fish skin. This kind
of fish definitely came from the deep sea. Those who owned this kind of
shuikao usually made a living by going underwater.

This kind of shuikao was extremely precious to those who worked in the
underworld, as well as those who bought from them. The ancient technique
of making shuikao had been lost now, which wasn’t a treasure that could be
measured by money. Logically, it was absolutely impossible to easily discard
it in a tomb, so there had to be a special reason for it.

The first thing I thought of was whether this shuikao’s owner had died here
and they had left it as a kind of memorial. But I had never heard of such a
thing. To Chinese people, putting clothes somewhere high up was more like
sorcery. There was a legend in southern China that said when moving a
grave, the clothes that accompanied the body didn’t rot, so they had to be
taken out, washed, and placed on the beams of the descendant’s home. This
indicated that when their ancestors were buried in the grave, other things

(1)
Fur seals are more closely related to sea lions than true seals. More info here.

248
had been buried as well. This was a kind of custom that usually happened in
mountainous areas.

The reason for this sounded creepy. The feng shui masters of old would tell
you that this was because many old people living in the mountains were no
longer human before they died. They had become possessed by mountain
demons and the like, but they were too old to do evil and remained buried
in the coffins.

After the old bodies had rotted away, the mountain demons would leave. At
this time, the descendants would take the clothes back to their homes and
place them on the beams. It was only when this was done that the old
peoples’ souls would return to their clothes and be buried again.

When the clothes were put back in the coffin, a feng shui master was
needed to burn a small part of them and look at the ashes. Sometimes,
those clothes had to be placed on the beams of their home for more than
ten years before they could be encoffined again. If some of the burned
ashes looked red, then that indicated that the family may have serious
problems in the future.

Was this fish skin shuikao left in this ancient tomb for the same reason? I
asked myself.

Did someone hope that something in this tomb would get attached to this
shuikao?

Whatever the reason, this thing had to be related to feng shui, and I
suddenly realized that this shuikao was probably part of a feng shui array. If
so, there should be other things set up in other places here. It seemed that
when Uncle Three came here last time, he was accompanied by a very
powerful feng shui master who set up an array here.

I became worried when I thought of this, since I was the one who had
destroyed the fish skin earlier. I couldn’t figure out why Uncle Three had set
up an array at that time.

249
After examining it carefully and seeing the fine lines of fish scales, I realized
that I really was looking at a shuikao. Once the skin had been processed, it
took careful scrutiny to notice such things.

At this time, I suddenly frowned. There was a name written on the shuikao.

Qi Yu.

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Chapter 62
I was stunned and looked at the name carefully to make sure there wasn’t
anything wrong with it. Indeed, it was Qi Yu.

In the Xisha incident that Uncle Three had been involved in, there were
countless imaginative clues about this person, but never any real
information. All I knew was that the copybooks I had used to practice
calligraphy were actually written by him(1). I spent more than ten years
practicing calligraphy with his copybooks, which eventually led me to see
the document he wrote. At that time, I thought I was the one who had
written it.

I also had some special doubts about this man because he had appeared in
many clues I found, but there wasn’t a particularly clear context to figure
out what had happened to him. In the most critical Xisha incident of that
year, he was always a huge blind spot.

I also discovered that many of the habits and connections I had since I was a
child were all related to this Qi Yu. For a while, I suspected that he might
have been my mother’s first love and she had trained me based on the man
she had so admired.

Among the Mystic Nine children who went to Xisha at that time, Qi Yu was
undoubtedly a member of the Qi family. There weren’t many members of
the Qi family. They were good at avoiding misfortune because they could do
calculations using the eight Qimen trigrams.

This shuikao belonged to Qi Yu, which was also in line with my previous
reasoning. An expert had set up an array in this South Sea King’s tomb,
which was probably the work of Qi Yu.

Generally, people who were familiar with Qimen’s eight trigrams were good
at finding tombs and setting up arrays. In other words, they either used feng

(1)
This is referring back to Vol 8 Chapter 73.

251
shui to find the location of tombs and earn some money, or they identified
things. If there was anything evil around, then they also had ways to deal
with it.

Setting up an array in this tomb was probably due to special circumstances

at the time, which only someone from the Qi family could handle.

But the presence of this shuikao meant that Uncle Three had interactions
with Qi Yu very early on. In fact, it showed that they had worked together
before the Xisha incident. But Qi Yu was a clerk of a state-owned
organization at that time and had been a civil servant for a long time before
that. Uncle Three had been hanging out with Aunt Chen Wen-Jin for a while,
and since Chen Wen-Jin was the leader of their archaeological team at the
time, that meant Qi Yu should be regarded as her subordinate.

With things like this, they must have entered the South Sea King’s tomb
after Uncle Three met Chen Wen-Jin but before they went to Xisha. It was
when Uncle Three met this beauty that he had a big dream to join the
archaeological team and turn over a new leaf so that he could return as the
prodigal son.

I smacked my forehead. In other words, Uncle Three came to the South Sea
King’s tomb not to rob a grave, but to conduct an archaeological project?
This might explain why only the main coffin disappeared and all the other
funerary objects were safe and sound.

But if it was an archaeological excavation, why didn’t it continue?

Was Uncle Three secretly working with Qi Yu to make some money on the
side, but didn’t let Aunt Chen Wen-Jin know?

I remembered the picture of Uncle Three and Yang Daguang. They didn’t
look like grave robbers, but more like industrial workers doing scientific
research.

I quickly stopped myself. If I continued thinking like that, I would have to

redo all the training I went through over the past ten years. But there was

252
no denying that Qi Yu and I had a very strong connection. If the whole thing
really was related to him, then there was a logical reason for Uncle Three to
give me these clues to check.

I listened carefully to my surroundings but still didn’t hear anything. I

pushed Fatty, but he still didn’t wake up.

I opened his nostrils and asked myself, do I really have to do this? I picked up
the candle and prepared to look up Fatty’s nose, but once I picked it up, the
range of light widened and I suddenly saw a person standing about four
meters away in the middle of the tomb passage.

I was taken aback, but as I stared at it, I realized that it was a black leather
figurine. It was standing there in the dark like some kind of creepy
nightmare.

All my hair immediately stood on end as I looked from the broken hands to
the delicate face. It was the leather figurine woman from the waterway.

For some reason, it had suddenly appeared in the tomb passage.

Did it follow me from the waterway?

I looked at it carefully and saw that it was holding something in its arms.

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Chapter 63
The basin of candles was too heavy so I slowly put it down. As the light
moved down, the face of the leather figurine woman sank into darkness
once more. The smell of the burning wax filled my nose and there was
silence all around except for Fatty’s breathing.

I slowly stood up and looked at the leather figurine woman’s wrist, which
had originally held two jade ears. They were gone now, and in their place
was a brass metal strip that was already green with rust. I hadn’t seen this
kind of thing before.

This thing is really fucking haunted, I said to myself. Was it true that the
souls of people who drowned were trapped in water? Was there a ghost
possessing this leather figurine woman?

I remembered Poker-Face saying that only I could see this leather figurine
woman and he couldn’t see it at all. I thought of the rhinoceros horn legend
again. Was the thing I was looking at now really something from the
netherworld? Did Poker-Face want me to follow the ghost out?

I couldn’t see the leather figurines’ feet when we were in the water before,
and all the figurines in the main tomb chamber just now wore Chinese robes
that covered their feet. Under the candlelight, I could clearly see that this
leather figurine woman’s feet were covered in rotten gold silk satin boots.
Heavy objects had been placed in the skin of both feet to prevent the
leather figurine from falling over, but it was still just human skin. The
supporting gold wire stretched inside was an inflexible structure, not a
machine, so the knees couldn’t bend. That meant it couldn’t walk over here.

And if it didn’t walk here, then someone either moved it here or it floated
over. If someone really did move it, then I didn’t hear a thing at all. But if it
floated here… I couldn’t even imagine what that would look like.

I swallowed. The leather figurine still hadn’t moved.

254
This scene was really like a nightmare. The surrounding air became colder,
but I didn’t know if it was an illusion or a manifestation of the air from the
netherworld.

The horse and chariot pit was down below, the main tomb chamber was
further ahead, and up above me was a tomb passage with a strange little
hole. All the other exits were buried under mud so I had nowhere to hide
even if I wanted to.

The expression on the leather figurine woman’s face was still the same as
before without any changes. I focused my attention on the metal strip in its
arms and found that it was a copper ruler.

I paused. When we came out of the waterway earlier, the last thing I had
said to it was, “I don’t want this, I want something that can help me get
out.” Then when it reappeared, the things in its arms had changed.

Did it understand me and was giving me what I wanted? Could the thing in
its arms help get me out?

I thought about it and knew that it was impossible. This was an ancient tomb
under Pingtan county. At that time, the Xu people in the South Sea country
were all from Minyue and spoke the ancient Min dialect. I had studied it
before and found that there were traces of the ancient Min dialect in the
Wuchuan dialect in Guangzhou.

So, this leather figurine woman should be from Fujian during the Han
Dynasty.

What I had said before was in Mandarin, so there was no way it would
understand me if it really was possessed.

I plucked up my courage. I still remembered some of the Southern Min

dialect, but I really didn’t know the difference between the ancient Min and
modern Fujian dialects. Fujian’s language family was so complicated that I
had trouble understanding it even if I only went a mountain over. This was
Pingtan county, so the dialect was somewhat different from the Fuzhou

255
dialect. But the Fuzhou dialect and Southern Min dialect were completely
different(1).

I got so confused that I didn’t even know what dialect I used when I asked,
“Did you understand what I said? Are you giving me that thing?”

The leather figurine woman didn’t respond. I was just about to continue
asking when the copper ruler suddenly fell off its wrist, dropped to the
ground, and bounced into the basin.

I looked at it for a moment before going up and taking the copper ruler out.
It turned out to be a dinglan ruler.

Dinglan rulers and luban rulers were collectively called yin and yang rulers.
Luban rulers were considered yang rulers because they were used to build
homes, while dinglan rulers were considered yin rulers because they were
used to build tombs. Any tomb or shrine being built had to be measured
with this ruler because its size was quite different from luban rulers(2).

(1)
Here’s a map if you were getting confused like me. Fujian is the whole province in Eastern China (so it
encompasses both Fuzhou and Pingtan County). Southern Min is a Sinitic language spoken in southern
Fujian and surrounding areas.

(2)
Dinglan ruler: pic and info here. Luban ruler: pic and info here.

256
Considering how this ruler was brass and dinglan rulers first appeared in the
Song and Yuan Dynasties(3), it didn’t appear to be a burial object in this
ancient tomb. Uncle Three must have brought it in, so it probably had
something to do with the feng shui array Qi Yu had set up.

(3)
Song dynasty (960-1279). Yuan or Mongol dynasty (1279-1368).

257
Chapter 64
I glanced up at the leather figurine woman, looked down at the ruler in my
hand, and took a deep breath.

“Sister, what do you mean?” I asked cautiously.

The leather figurine woman didn’t respond at all.

No matter how I looked at it, it was impossible for this thing to move. Shit, I
suddenly thought, is Liu Sang messing with me?

I looked behind the figurine but all I could see was darkness. I didn’t see
anyone hiding in the depths of the tomb passage, waiting to mock me.

That Liu Sang guy had been in the waterway the whole time. Did that mean
he was there when we were wading through the water, but didn’t show
himself and chose to hide? After hearing Fatty make fun of me, did he move
this leather figurine up here to laugh at me?

But wasn’t this something only I could see? Could Liu Sang see it, too?

I figured this was the only possibility and felt my anger flare up. First of all, if
Liu Sang saw us and chose not to appear, then that meant he had his own
purpose for being here. He didn’t want me to find out what it was, which
was absolutely unacceptable.

Second, he wasted our time. There weren’t many rhinoceros horn candles
left in the basin, Fatty was unconscious, and Poker-Face went to go find him,
all of which could have been avoided.

This fucking guy is dead meat. How dare he try to play me like that!

I stepped forward, kicked the leather figurine woman over, and picked up
the basin with the copper ruler in it. As I walked back, I shouted, “Liu Sang,
get your ass out here! I’ll shove this ruler down your throat!”

258
I took more than a dozen steps, but no one showed up behind me. I didn’t
dare move too far away from Fatty, so I stopped and shouted two more
times. The sound of my voice echoed down the tomb passage.

I looked back and was stunned to see that the leather figurine woman had
somehow stood up again. And not only did it stand up, but it had also turned
around. Now it was standing by Fatty’s side and looking straight at me.

I had clearly kicked it down just now. How did it stand back up?

As I cautiously walked towards it, its face became clearer under the
candlelight. This leather figurine woman’s facial features were very
exquisite, so I was certain that its expression had changed as I examined it
again. It had been indifferent before I kicked it down, but now its face
looked furious, as if a kind of evil spirit had appeared.

My heart thumped, what kind of trick is this? Is she unhappy now?

I looked carefully to make sure it wasn’t all in my head.

I glanced into the depths of the tomb passage, but there still wasn’t any
sound and Liu Sang didn’t seem to be there.

I immediately broke out in a cold sweat as I told myself I was in trouble. I

went up to the leather figurine woman, forced myself to calm down, and
said to it, “Please don’t mind it. It was an accident.”

The leather figurine woman’s expression was still terrifying and it seemed as
if a mere apology wasn’t going to work.

It’s just a piece of human skin with no fingernails and no teeth. What’s it
going to do, suffocate me? I felt braver when I thought of this and said to it,
“Well, let’s not waste time. Do you understand what I’m saying? If you
can…” I put the ruler back on its wrist, “just let the ruler fall. If you can’t, just
keep holding the ruler.”

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I had just finished speaking when the ruler fell to the ground again. It was
accompanied by a loud clanging sound that echoed in the silent tomb
passage.

I picked the ruler up. I wasn’t sure if it hadn’t been steady just now, or if the
female ghost really had understood me. I was just about to put the ruler
back on her wrist and try again when I suddenly heard a metal tapping
sound come from the depths of the tomb. It seemed to be responding to the
clanging sound just now.

I looked between the dinglan copper ruler in my hand and the leather
figurine woman and suddenly understood. I quickly began tapping on the
ground with the ruler.

The metallic sound spread far and I soon heard an echo. Although Poker-
Face wouldn’t tap a message out, I figured he was still in the waterway and
was heading my way.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The rust on the ruler had fallen off as I was
tapping on the ground just now, so I immediately noticed the scale markers
on it. It appeared that these scale markers were different from the dinglan
ruler I was familiar with.

I had never seen this ruler before, but it had some very strange characters
engraved on the scale markers. The words were very small, so I had to
examine them very carefully. Most of the words were in groups of seven,
which was the same as the distance markers we had seen in that hole
before. I looked at the leather figurine woman again and wondered, what’s
the connection between these scale markers and that strange, deep hole? Is
this leather figurine woman really giving me a way out?

While I stood there thinking, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

Poker-Face came out of the dark tomb passage with Liu Sang on his back. Liu
Sang was in the same condition as Fatty. Both of his ears were covered in
those “little hands” and he was unconscious.

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Poker-Face walked towards me with Liu Sang on his back. He didn’t have any
candles on him and his footsteps were light as he came out of the darkness.

The leather figurine woman stood between me and him, and I narrowed my
eyes as I suddenly came up with a strange idea. If he couldn’t see the leather
figurine woman, would he pass right through it?

That would definitely be an amazing sight, because this leather figurine

woman was real to me and I could even touch it. But he couldn’t see it at all.
If it really was a ghost, then that meant the two of them would overlap
when they came into contact with each other.

If that was the case, then I was probably crazy and the dinglan ruler in my
hand was definitely a hallucination. Maybe even the Poker-Face summoned
by the dinglan ruler was also a figment of my imagination. If so, that meant
Liu Sang was also fake and I could kill the bastard myself.

Or maybe Poker-Face just couldn’t see this leather figurine woman and
would end up bumping into it when he came over. If he really couldn’t see
these things, then that meant there was a difference between our eyes.

In fact, there was a more profound explanation. Some people would

selectively ignore certain information when encountering severe trauma.
When reading newspapers and chatting with others, that person’s brain
wouldn’t recognize and process the traumatizing information.

I remembered that there was an overseas case where a mentally ill patient
never believed that she had a daughter. Although her daughter was always
by her side, she never saw her. She couldn’t even see anything that was
related to her daughter. There was a documentary that recorded this
process in detail and I remembered it was called “The Disappearing

261
Apple”(1). The daughter conducted a very simple experiment where she
would touch the apple her mother was eating. As a result of this, the apple
disappeared from her mother’s perception.

The mother panicked all day, thinking that there was another person in the
house. Since all kinds of things suddenly disappeared, she thought she was
being haunted. But it was actually her brain blocking a specific message.

But that kind of situation was often due to a traumatic fear of a specific
concept in the subconscious, which caused the brain to take protective
measures.

Later, it was revealed that she had a trauma revolving around a liver
transplant when her daughter fell ill. She had been too afraid to give her
liver to her daughter at the time. Although her daughter was able to get
another liver, the immense guilt caused her to suffer a mental illness where
her brain blocked all information related to her daughter.

I didn’t believe Poker-Face couldn’t see these leather figurines because of

guilt. If anything, I thought it was a problem that stemmed from poisoning.

I was trapped in my own vicious circle of logic and couldn’t seem to figure it
out when I noticed Poker-Face suddenly stop right in front of the leather
figurine woman and reach out. He then quickly went around it and came up
to me before putting Liu Sang down by the tomb passage wall opposite
Fatty.

Fuck me, I said to myself. Didn’t you say you couldn’t see it? Are you two
messing with me?

“What’s there?” He immediately asked me.

“Why are you avoiding it if you can’t even see what’s there?” I asked as I
looked at Liu Sang. His fingernails were all torn. I didn’t know where he had

(1)
Might a fake documentary the author made up (or he remembered the name wrong). I wasn’t finding
anything.

262
been trapped, but he must have been suffering a breakdown for a long time
and had been scratching the stone wall with his hands.

Poker-Face didn’t look at me but went over to check Fatty’s pulse. “I can’t
see it. I can only feel it,” he said faintly.

I was just about to ask him what was going on when I suddenly saw his eyes.
They were completely clouded and there was something covering the
corneas.

“What’s that?” I asked in horror. I wanted to tear it off, but he immediately

avoided my outstretched hand.

He usually reacted very fast, but the slowness just now immediately had me
coming to my senses. Just as I was about to start asking questions, I saw him
approach Liu Sang’s ear with the rhinoceros horn candle. As the flame got
close, those little hands fell off one by one.

Just like Fatty, Liu Sang didn’t respond. “It’s still deep in his ears,” I said to
him. “You have to suck it out…” Poker-Face glanced at me.

When I looked at him carefully, I found that the things covering his corneas
were really a bunch of insects the size of sesame seeds.

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“What the hell?!” I almost leaped back.

He closed his eyes and said, “This kind of bug, the rhinoceros horn candles,
and the pigments on the murals all come from mineral deposits deep in the
underground rivers. I saw the murals just now. They were made using an
ancient Minyue technique that prevents us from seeing what’s under them
unless we have the rhinoceros horn candle.”

He gave me a brief account of what he saw. The mural depicted life in the
South Sea country’s underground village and showed a section about the
underground river. After going down, almost everyone died. They eventually
discovered that there was a special mineral in the underground river that
was actually the accumulation of countless bugs. The bugs were very small
and would fly up and latch onto people’s eyes whenever they saw light.
They caused hallucinations and would form sesame-sized bug sacks on the
corneas whenever they gathered together.

The South Sea King thought it might be a spell the immortals had placed, so
he sought guidance from an expert. This expert told him to use rhinoceros
horn candles for illumination because the light wouldn’t wake the bugs up.
After that, they mixed this mineral with pigment, smeared it on the murals,
and applied several layers of it. After the mural was illuminated, the small
bugs would fly out like dust. As layer after layer of them flew away from the
murals, there would be various changes.

People in the South Sea country traded this kind of replacement mineral to
those who entered the Minyue forests. Just like opium, many nobles in the
Central Plains used this mineral for parties and the emperor at the time
thought it was sorcery. People who used this kind of mineral entered a
world where reality and illusion intertwined for a period of time.

After using this mineral to induce hallucinations, people lost their eyesight
and there were a lot of growths in the eyes that looked like sesame seeds.

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According to the local legend, the eyes of the Mute Emperor’s army were
made of sesame seeds, which was probably a result of this.

But this bug had a strange characteristic where it was almost like a severe
infection. Before blindness set in, all the bugs would enter the eyes. At this
time, the hallucinations would disappear and the people would enter a
completely conscious state. Even their eyesight would become better.

After hearing all of this, I gave Poker-Face a puzzled look. I remembered

what he had said to me earlier: it was up to me next.

I thought I had some special abilities and others could finally rely on me, or
my innate Wu family abilities had finally broken out. But as it turned out, I
was just seriously fucking infected.

God damn it. I was entrusted with a heavy responsibility because my illness
was worse.

I had used strong light to illuminate the murals earlier and a large number of
bugs had seriously infected me. So the reason for my sudden recovery
wasn’t because I was strong, but because I had suddenly reached the severe
stage. The hallucinations had only temporarily disappeared.

Am I going blind? I touched my eyes, but I couldn’t feel the sesame seeds.
Humans’ eyes were usually very sensitive, so I still couldn’t feel anything
with my hands.

“We have to get out quickly.” Poker-Face closed his eyes and touched Liu
Sang’s ear.

It’s not that there aren’t enough candles, I thought to myself, it’s the fact
that I’m going to be fucking blind! BLIND!

After he spoke, he suddenly pressed his fingers hard to the back of Liu
Sang’s ear. As a stream of green liquid came flowing out of Liu Sang’s ear,
Poker-Face immediately went back over to Fatty.

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“These things were all fished out from the underground river,” he said
faintly. He then picked the two people up and shook them a few times until
all the liquid came out of their ears.

Fatty slowly opened his eyes first and then looked at the two of us before
saying weakly, “Who the fuck kissed me?”

I secretly pointed to Poker-Face. Fatty looked at him and asked, “Was that
really necessary? We’re so familiar with each other. I can’t believe you have
it in you to kiss me. It’s inhuman.”

Then he looked at Liu Sang on the opposite side and threw up. I patted him
on the back until he was done. “Is he dead?” He asked. “What happened? “

“Why did you suddenly put the shuikao on?” I asked him.

He looked at me, “Shuikao? Shit, take it out quickly. I have something to

say.”

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I pointed to where the shuikao was laying off to the side. Fatty vomited
again and then crawled over, bumping into the leather figurine woman on
his way. He felt in front of him and scolded me, “Mr. Naïve, why didn’t you
tell me there was something here?”

After I helped him up, he touched the shuikao and found that it had ripped.

“Fuck me.” He picked the shuikao up with a curse and pressed it against me,
as if he wanted me to put it on. I immediately stopped him. “What are you
doing? It’s full of parasites. Are you going to suck them out of me?”

“This thing is the only way out,” Fatty said. “You have to wear it.”

“I’ll end up just like you if I wear this, fucking crazy,” I scolded him.

“I can’t fucking wear it,” Fatty said. “If I could, I’d put it on and take you out.
Let me tell you, this is part of a big array set up by an expert. This is a feng
shui object called a ‘guilaiyi’(1). The expert left it here because he was afraid
we wouldn’t be able to get in and out in the future. This shuikao was left for
us.”

I was baffled. His theory was exactly the same as mine. Fatty was cunning,
but I still couldn’t believe he had understood it before me. But what the fuck
was this theory? Was this “guilaiyi” thing some kind of folk spell? It’s wasn’t
anything I had heard of before.

Moreover, this tomb wasn’t the kind of feng shui tomb that was built like a
maze. We were trapped because of our own stupid mistakes. Although we
had narrowly avoided death by using our previous experience, there was no
denying the fact that I had slacked off when it came to feeling fear and
staying vigilant.

(1)
Translates as something like “return garment”

267
I never thought that one day, I would slack off in such an extremely
dangerous environment. I thought I was the type of person who would
never slack off, but what our ancestors said really made sense.

This introspection made my blood run cold.

I looked up at the leather figurine woman and felt my hair stand on end. But
it was just a visceral reaction; I didn’t feel any fear at all. I suddenly realized
that this carelessness would get me and those around me killed, but I
couldn’t overcome myself.

“Hey,” Fatty said, “I told you to read more books, but you wouldn’t listen to
me. Don’t underestimate this tomb just because it looks simple. It’s actually
very unique. Think about it. If the three of us”—he looked at Liu Sang—"and
this thing didn’t set off those detonators up top, how could we get down
here? Let’s not talk about people who were born way before us. Even Xie
Xiao Hua—that shameless, rich ingrate— wouldn’t have been able to come
down, right? We’ve never been in a tomb under a mudflat before. First, we
have no experience; second, we have no equipment; and third, we have no
logic. Even if it hadn’t caved in and we had managed to find the tomb’s
location, what would we have done to get down here? Can you answer
that?”

I thought about it and knew he was right. Diving suits couldn’t get through a
mudflat and this was different from grave robbers’ tunnels that were dug in
the mud. The tunnels could be dug down, but the mudflat would
immediately fill the holes in. It was like being in the desert. If the tomb was
found, going down would be a big problem and would require a large
engineering team to dig the mud up.

“So, this tomb is a unique one. It’s impossible for outsiders to get in. It could
even be argued that it’s absolutely impossible to rob it. But your Uncle
Three did it, which means he must’ve used nefarious means,” Fatty said. “At
that time, there really was an expert here. If it weren’t for my love of
science, I would’ve really thought that it was the Five Ghosts Transportation
ritual. But when I saw this shuikao, I thought of another possibility.”

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“Did they use an underground river to come in?” I asked him.

Fatty shook his head, “This was an amazing expert. Give me a second and I’ll
tell you. After that, we’ll use the shuikao to get out of here.”

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Chapter 68
Since it was so simple, I immediately understood the logic after listening to
what Fatty had to say.

When we came in, we could see a huge, hollowed-out landscape full of

embossed pavilions on the walls of the underground crevice. In the midst of
this landscape, skilled craftsmen had used the natural contours of the cliff
walls to carve equally proportioned dragon towers and halls, among which
the tomb door was hidden. Although many kings’ tombs were large in scale,
used exquisite materials, and conformed to rigorous feng shui patterns,
these strange buildings in the South Sea King’s tomb were the most
elaborate ones I had ever seen.

From this, we could tell that after the South Sea King was defeated, the
remnants of the country still remained relatively strong. This was probably
due to the large underground area located beneath the South Sea country.

Underground rivers were different from our understanding of cave systems.

These water systems extended out in all directions, but few of them were
exposed aboveground. Many underground rivers were connected to
aboveground rivers by sand and small cave structures. Water could pass
through these areas, but people couldn’t.

The underground river’s channels weren’t the smooth, normal ones that
allowed for the water to flow gently and stably. The current also tended to
be static in some areas and very swift in others, and there were more than a
dozen continuous waterfalls. Some areas were completely submerged, while
the water in other areas flowed under the sand.

The top part of the crevice where we had fallen down from had been sealed,
but it was definitely a part of the underground canyon that was located in
this rocky mountain by the sea. It probably used to be the entrance to the
underground river. The South Sea country had been entrenched in this
water system for many years, so the underground river leading to this area

270
should have been dredged long ago. They must have used this river to
transport the stones used to build this underground tomb.

To find this South Sea King’s tomb, you would have to follow the
underground river—I’ll call it “Huangling River”(1) for the time being—so
Uncle Three and the others must have first entered the depths of the South
Sea country’s underground water system. Then, out of a thousand
underground rivers, they must have found the right one.

But unless they had other information or tips, it was absolutely impossible
for them to find it so easily.

So, did Uncle Three and the others have this information? There was no way
to know for the time being, but based on their behavior, we could do a
reverse analysis and make an inference.

There were many points about Uncle Three’s behavior that were difficult to
explain:

1. He didn’t enter the main tomb chamber through the tomb gate. Instead,
he entered by blowing a hole in the floor separating the drainage system
from the bottom of the tomb chamber. It was right below the coffin, which
enabled him to take the coffin directly. In any case, it was very
uneconomical to do this. It took more physical energy and was more likely to
fail. Although it avoided some of the mechanisms in the tomb passage, the
space in the main tomb chamber was smaller and it was also full of murals.
They still had to face a lot of danger and didn’t save themselves a lot of
trouble.

2. Uncle Three didn’t leave any traces in the ancient tomb, but a “guilaiyi”
was left in the immortal boat above the coffin.

(1)
Emperor’s Tomb River.

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Guilaiyi were also called fulaiyi, which were known as feiyi(2) in the burial
system. After the Han Dynasty, this custom was simplified into soul banners.
You could often see many people in TV dramas walking in front of the coffins
with soul banners. According to the ancient methods, these soul banners
were made from the deceased’s clothes. Since the soul had left right after
the person had died, they couldn’t see their own body after it was buried
and could only recognize their clothes. That was why there was a saying that
hanging clothes inside the house would attract ghosts. The clothes were
then placed over the body and put back into the coffin. It was considered a
trick to get the soul to attach itself back to its body.

If this shuikao really was a fulaiyi, then there must have been a special
reason for it to have been put in the immortal boat. Fatty said that someone
must have held incense and worshiped this shuikao. The owner must have
put it here before he died to ensure that he could return here after death.

Fatty pointed to some smoky, scar-like marks on the shuikao and said that
they had been written in incense ash, but they were too illegible now. “If the
expert died at that time, then his soul is now in this garment. Put it on and
let the expert enter your body so you can take us out.”

“What do I do if this expert doesn’t leave?” I asked Fatty. “And why do you
believe in this feudal superstition? The expert isn’t Lei Feng(3). Why would he
want his soul to return to this tomb? Would he really come here just to
show us the way out?”

“Put it on and I’ll ask him for you,” Fatty said. “If you don’t want to wear it,
I’ll just continue talking. Let me tell you, we have no other way right now.
We can only rely on this expert to get us out of this unique tomb.”

(2)
Guilaiyi and fulaiyi translates as something like “return garment”, just with different characters. Feiyi
is something like “flying garment”. It’s the banner carried in the funeral procession and then buried in
the tomb for the purpose of calling back the spirit of the deceased. Example can be found here. I think
“The Untamed” also had spirit banners if that helps.
(3)
Lei Feng (1940-1962), made into a model of selflessness, modesty, and dedication to the Party by
propaganda from 1963 onwards.

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Chapter 69
I was a little baffled since Fatty’s words just now were plain nonsense. Uncle
Three had blasted a hole up from the drainage channel and stolen the coffin,
so it was only natural that he would leave the same way he came in. No
matter what reason he had for not wanting to enter the main tomb chamber
from the gate, his logic was always sound.

And the waterway in this tomb had to lead to an underground river, so

Uncle Three would have definitely come in from there. Whatever method he
used, Uncle Three must have found this king’s tomb from the underground
river. For example, maybe he was able to find the Huangling River in such a
vast water system using feng shui because he had an expert with him.

As soon as I thought of this, I looked at Liu San and suddenly remembered

something from before.

Listening to thunder.

The only method in which this ancient tomb below the mudflat could be
traced and located was by listening to thunder. Using ordinary grave robbing
techniques were absolutely useless. I wondered if Uncle Three had started
listening to thunder first and then found this tomb that could only be
located using such a method. At the moment, it didn’t seem likely.

Uncle Three, Yang Daguang, and the others in their group didn’t know to
listen to the thunder until they robbed this ancient tomb.

Whether it was listening to thunder before or listening to thunder after, the

meaning was completely different.

I told Fatty we didn’t need to be possessed by that expert. Uncle Three’s

method of robbing this tomb might have been strange and even a bit
unreasonable, but he used special methods, which meant that he had
information on the tomb. The fact that he went to so much trouble to use
these special methods to rob the tomb indicated that he at least thought it

273
would be dangerous otherwise. This made me certain that when he came
here, he had detailed information we didn’t have.

Uncle Three didn’t know magic, so this was one of the biggest possibilities.

Now we just needed to go back to the drainage channel, follow it for a

while, and then we could get out.

It was only when I thought of this that I realized that Fatty was right.
Everything was a mess and my mind was moving way too slow, but he had
thought of this conclusion in an instant.

After leaving the waterway, we would enter the maze-like underground

river system, which was the South Sea country’s buried territory. If my
theory was correct, the expert was the one who led them through the
underground water system, so he was the only one who could take us out.

The reason for this was actually very simple. We couldn’t go back through
the mudflat, so we could only leave from the place where Uncle Three had
come in. That place was an underground world the size of a large, ancient
country. Without a guide, we were as good as dead.

Indeed, this really was a unique tomb.

But would I really be possessed if I put this shuikao on?

Many aspects of my life had been designed with reference to Qi Yu, a

descendant of the Qi family. At the time, I had thought that Qi Yu was
probably Uncle Three and Xie Lianhuan’s backup plan. Uncle Three may
have thought they could use another twin scam to confuse the Wang family
if their generation had been unsuccessful.

If I let Qi Yu borrow my body to resurrect his soul, all his habits would
basically be the same as mine. Even his handwriting was the same. Fuck, this
would be like those childhood friends who grew up and became a couple.

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But I found it really hard to believe that I could use my body to revive a soul.
It was just too ridiculous. I looked at the shuikao and then touched it, feeling
that it was definitely not what Fatty had said. I thought about it some more
and then pulled it towards me.

I glanced at Poker-Face, but he was looking at the leather figurine woman

coldly. I didn’t know what he was looking at, but he didn’t seem to want to
stop me. I started to pull the shuikao on and found that it fit me quite well
even though it was so badly damaged.

Once it was completely on, I thought to myself, come on, come on. Come
alive quickly.

“How do you feel?” Fatty asked me. “Do you feel like something is entering
your body?”

I shook my head and moved my hands and feet, but didn’t feel anything. At
this time, Liu Sang woke up and looked at us, “Why is it so noisy?”

He was staring right at the shuikao I was wearing.

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Liu Sang glanced up and suddenly became silent as he stared at the shuikao.

I looked at him and asked, “Are you alright?”

He shivered, pressed himself against the wall, and moved further away while
keeping his eyes fixed on me. “What’s that thing in your arms?” He asked.

What thing? I looked down at my arms, but there was nothing there. Liu
Sang covered his ears, “It’s so noisy. That thing is so noisy. Take it away, take
it away.”

I looked down at my arms again. His eyes kept staring at my abdomen as he

retreated further and further away.

We all looked at each other in dismay. Besides being blind, are we all deaf
now, too? I can’t hear a thing, I said to myself.

The tomb passage was very quiet and there weren’t any other sounds
except for our breathing. I showed Fatty my abdomen and asked him to
check and see if there was anything noisy hidden there. At that moment, Liu
Sang suddenly got up and began crawling towards the depths of the tomb
passage.

We had spent too much energy looking for him before, so I couldn’t let him
run away now. But before I could even move, Little Brother pressed me and
Fatty on the shoulder, jumped into the air, and stepped on one side of the
wall. He then grabbed Liu Sang’s neck, twisted his body, and threw Liu Sang
to the ground.

“Let me go!” Liu Sang began to shout. “It’s too noisy! It’s so noisy that I’m
going to die!”

Fatty immediately slapped him three times on both cheeks and asked Poker-
Face, “Did you break his ears? Your long fingers are so strong that people
might as well get a concussion if you pick their nose.”

276
“This guy’s ears are his livelihood,” Poker-Face said. “I won’t mess around.”

Fatty patted Liu Sang, “What noise are you talking about? What did you
hear? I can’t hear anything.”

Liu Sang looked at my arms, his fear seeming to reach new heights. “In his
arms. There are a bunch of people screaming in his arms. Their voices are so
loud and noisy.”

Fatty looked at me and then at Liu Sang before suddenly pulling me aside,
“Mr. Naïve, take off the shuikao and put it on him.”

“Why?” I asked, confused. Based on how he was acting with me wearing it,
wouldn’t he be scared to death if he wore it?

“I may have made a mistake just now. The expert can’t enter your body if
you’re wearing this shuikao,” Fatty said. “It may be that you have a strange
fate and the expert can’t get in. He was hurt by your yang energy and is now
screaming in pain. This idiot may be able to hear the netherworld. I heard
that when people train their ears to listen to thunder, they’ll hear the voices
of the dead once they reach a certain point. The screams of this expert are
too painful, which is why he’s so scared. If you take the shuikao off, it should
stop.”

I looked at Fatty and found that he was being serious. What is this
nonsense? I asked myself. Even though nothing had happened, I felt both
scared and relaxed, and couldn’t ignore the fact that wearing this shuikao
was really uncomfortable.

I quickly took it off and found that Liu Sang really did calm down. Fatty took
the shuikao and held it out to the still terrified Liu Sang. “Brat,” Fatty said to
him in a stern voice, “this is the only way for us to get out. Since you can
hear it, you should listen carefully to what this shuikao has to say.”

As soon as he was finished speaking, he took the shuikao and went to put it
on Liu Sang. Liu Sang quickly dodged and Fatty yelled for me to help. I was

277
all too happy to go up and hold Liu Sang down so we could put the shuikao
on him.

He was scared at first, but then he suddenly seemed to hear something and
looked in the direction of the leather figurine woman that was still standing
there.

“What’s the matter?” Fatty asked.

“She’s talking.” Liu Sang pointed in the direction of the leather figurine
woman. “Is there a person standing there?”

“What’s she saying?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t understand it.” Liu Sang listened carefully and then
repeated a sentence with a very strange pronunciation. I knew very well that
this was an ancient language, but I couldn’t understand it either. Although I
had specialized in these kinds of things, I didn’t have time to learn all the
ancient dialects.

Poker-Face frowned and continued staring in the direction of the leather

figurine woman. Then, he suddenly spoke the same sentence with the same
pronunciation.

We all stood there shocked for a moment before Poker-Face suddenly said,
“Put that thing on your back. Let’s go!”

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I tilted my head and looked at Poker-Face with an expression that seemed to
say: are you serious?

Poker-Face patted Liu Sang, “What else did you hear?”

“Echoes, all kinds of echoes. There are people screaming everywhere, but
some of them are talking.” Liu Sang blinked his bug-infested eyes and looked
down both sides of the dark tomb passage.

Poker-Face turned to me, “Put that thing on your back and follow the
noise.”

“Why?” I asked him. I had been asked to put the shuikao on and now I was
being asked to carry a female corpse. I wouldn’t do it. I wasn’t some Swiss
army knife that could cut apples and shovel shit.

While we were all talking, I once again looked at the leather figurine woman
and felt all my hair stand on end. There was something else standing behind
the leather figurine woman. It was another leather figurine. But this figurine
was one of the well-preserved ones from the main tomb chamber that was
dressed in golden silk.

It was standing in the shadows behind the leather figurine woman with its
hands resting on the woman figurine’s shoulders. Its expression wasn’t as
calm as the woman’s and its white face made it look extremely sinister.

Fatty noticed my expression and looked in that direction, “What’s wrong?”

“There’s another one!” I cried out as I secretly wondered what was going on.

“They’ll keep coming,” Poker-Face said.

I clenched my teeth, unable to deny the fact that Poker-Face was always
right. I stepped forward and broke the white-faced leather figurine’s hands
before picking up the leather figurine woman and putting it on my back. I

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found that it was actually very light and hardly a burden at all, but since I
was basically naked, the feeling of the leather figurine woman’s skin made
my whole body break out in goosebumps.

As Fatty put Liu Sang on his back, Poker-Face turned to Liu Sang and said,
“Listen! A voice will tell us how to get out. Don’t be influenced by any other
sounds. If this thing makes any noise, tell me immediately.”

Liu Sang turned his head and listened with his eyes closed.

“First go from the main tomb chamber to the drainage channel,” I said.

Liu Sang shook his head, “No! That place is full of screams.” He pointed
above us, “Go up.”

Poker-Face looked at the leather figurine woman and nodded. After we all
climbed back to the abandoned tomb passage, Liu Sang pointed to the hole
where we saw the stone tablet before, “We have to go in.”

“No way,” Fatty argued. “All those ‘people’ are inside.”

“The voice is coming from inside,” Liu Sang said. “We have to go in.”

At this time, Liu Sang suddenly looked at the leather figurine woman.

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That situation was so incredible that I still remember it to this day. After Liu
Sang looked at the leather figurine woman, a series of peculiar-sounding
words from that ancient language came out of his mouth.

“Climb inside!” Poker-Face ordered us.

I couldn’t believe that a leather figurine woman was telling Liu Sang where
to go and then Poker-Face was translating an ancient language for us. It
certainly seemed like a far-fetched theory, but that was how things were
looking at the moment.

Fatty thought about it and decided to let the leather figurine woman be the
trailblazer. He stuffed it into the hole and said, “Sister, you communicate
with them.” Then, each of us took a rhinoceros horn candle and climbed into
the hole.

Fatty had learned his lesson last time and refused to be the last one in, so I
brought up the rear. Liu Sang had also recovered a lot by this time.

As we crawled forward, we found that those leather figurines that had

blocked the tunnel before had all disappeared. We quickly crawled to the
place where the distance markers had appeared on the walls and kept
moving forward. Fatty said to Liu Sang, “Brat, don’t hold back if you hear
something.”

Liu Sang scolded, “Fuck you and your bad luck. I want to get out of here
quickly. I don’t have time to joke with you.”

We soon passed the location of the immortal door from before. I had
thought that everyone up front would go through it, but they didn’t.
Instead, they climbed deeper into the hole.

“Don’t look back.” Poker-Face’s reminder from up front made my blood run
cold. This hole was like a highway; it was impossible to retreat. If we did,

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there would be countless leather figurines crawling towards us from behind.
Although I didn’t know if this time would be different from the last, Poker-
Face’s warning indicated that he had determined that something may have
already appeared behind me. But he really didn’t have to worry. I could only
look back when I got to a place that was a little more spacious. The farther I
went in, the narrower this tunnel became.

“You guys are so full of shit right now. You better not drop the ball!” I said
through clenched teeth as I kept crawling.

I didn’t know how long it took. Fatty’s candle burned out first, then mine,
and then Liu Sang’s. Finally, all the candles burned out and we fell into
absolute darkness.

We still had lights on us, but our surroundings would remain dark even if we
turned them on. We wouldn’t be able to see any other sources of light
besides the rhinoceros horn candles. Liu Sang eventually asked, “Do you feel
like the darkness around us is alive?”

I didn’t know what he meant, so he went on to explain, “They’re all bugs.

These bugs are flying in dense clusters all around us. I can hear very subtle
sounds. What we’re looking at isn’t darkness, but a dense insect fog. We
think there’s no light, but it’s actually just being blocked by them. Only the
rhinoceros horn candles can drive them away.”

I waved my hands, but it was useless. I couldn’t feel such tiny bugs hitting
my hands at all. Or maybe I had already gone blind.

We didn’t talk much after that. I was able to determine that Liu Sang was
still crawling in front of me based on the sounds he was making. His
breathing and heartbeat were the clearest sounds I could hear.

I wasn’t very scared at first. In fact, I initially felt a sense of security in this
place where the rocks surrounded me. But after three or four hours of not
being able to stretch out my hands and feet, my claustrophobia came back.

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The real fear started to set in after ten hours; not because of the external
environment, but because of my own imagination.

I had been crawling into the depths of this rock for seven hours and felt as if
this tunnel would never end.

We had already crawled past the area where Fatty had peed before. Having
reached this point, there was no need to feel reserved; it didn’t matter if
everyone’s pee and poop piled up. At the end of the day, any urine had
turned into sweat on our bodies.

We probably wouldn’t be able to go back, but I didn’t dare look behind me

anyways. Even if I could turn around, I would just end up back in the South
Sea King’s tomb. In the dark, all we could eat were sea cockroaches and
those shellfish that looked like hands. The only advantage was that those
things wouldn’t be finished off in a short amount of time. But the most likely
possibility right now was that the four of us would be trapped in this silent
passage and no one would know that we died here.

After crawling forward for at least five hours, my sense of time and any
sounds reaching my ears seemed to disappear. I could only continue
crawling forward numbly. After moving like this for a long time, I found that
I couldn’t feel anyone in front of me. The intense fear that surged up made
me crawl forward crazily until I finally touched Liu Sang’s foot again.

I didn’t know how long it took before Fatty said, “I’ve got it!”

I thought there was an exit and asked, “You found a way out?”

“Distance marker!” Fatty said. “I can feel a distance marker on the stone
wall.”

I was surprised that there was a marker in such a deep place. Fatty was
silent for a moment as if he were trying to feel it out, and then he said, “I
don’t know this marker.”

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I urged them to move forward so I could feel the surrounding rock walls. I
quickly found what Fatty was talking about and suddenly broke out in a cold
sweat. Although I didn’t know this distance marker, I knew it was a unit on
the dinglan ruler.

Dinglan rulers were tomb-building rulers that contained the netherworld’s

units of measurement. The word that had been carved onto the wall here
was “suffering”.

This was a Han Dynasty tomb, so the dinglan ruler hadn’t been invented yet.
This word must’ve been carved by an expert from the Qi family, but why use
a dinglan ruler?

Was it a hint that we had reached the netherworld?

But the most important thing right now was that I had left that fucking ruler
in the South Sea King’s tomb!

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After thinking about it, I decided not to tell the others the bad news so as
not to make them lose hope. I just didn’t expect that what the leather
figurine woman had given me was so crucial. Was it really a ghost in this
tomb that wanted out? Did it want my help?

Fatty asked me what was going on and if I had found a way out, so I told
them what I knew. Grandpa’s notes said that there was a motive for
everything, and it was this that was giving me such a big headache in this
tomb. All the motives I had thought up weren’t consistent with my
worldview.

I didn’t know where my previous insight had gone. What puzzled me the
most now was trying to figure out what this Qi family’s expert really wanted
to do.

This expert had set up various feng shui arrays everywhere in the ancient
tomb. But this was originally a unique tomb, so even if the king’s corpse did
become a zombie, it definitely wouldn’t be able to get out. As a result, the
feng shui arrays definitely weren’t designed to “trap” anything here.

And if the feng shui arrays that these grave robbers set up in this tomb
weren’t for trapping vengeful ghosts or for preventing harm, then it was
possible that they were “hate” arrays. These kinds of arrays were full of
negative energy that would harm the tomb owner’s descendants. But to be
honest, the feng shui indicators for this tomb had been covered by mud and
buried under the sea. Not to mention dragon veins, any other feng shui
indicators were completely out of the question. There was a saying among
feng shui masters: when the front of the tomb was like a cow trough, broken
seeds could not sprout.

There was a huge ravine in front of this tomb that was big enough to fit a
subway, so this tomb owner wouldn’t have too many surviving descendants.
As a result, there was no need to attack them again.

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But it was true that a very exquisite feng shui array had been set up by later
generations. If this array wasn’t used to calm the energy in this ancient
tomb—because the tomb had been completely trapped by its own feng shui
pattern—then that left only one reason. And no matter how
counterintuitive and bizarre this reason was, it should be correct.

The purpose of these arrays was to break the tomb’s original feng shui
“entrapment” pattern. But if they were breaking the entrapment pattern,
was it to release something that had been trapped in the tomb?

I turned and lay down on my back so that I could rest and discuss my final
theory with Fatty.

“Just tell me if we have to go further to get out,” Fatty said. “If I have to
keep crawling, my testicles’ wrinkles are all going to be smoothed out.”

“We can get out.” After analyzing everything just now, I became
substantially calm and returned to the state of mind I had a few years ago. It
had been a long time since I had been calm enough to only trust myself to
think about such problems.

Although it was unbelievable, I suddenly realized that this ancient tomb was
a trap.

It was a sterile tomb where no one could get in or out. It actually took a
great amount of skill and luck to enter this unique kind of tomb.

The previous text message had led our group to this sterile tomb step by
step. We were planning to look through a lot of places and prepare for many
days, but we managed to find the South Sea King’s tomb on the very first
day. And Uncle Two was the one who had accurately brought us to this
mudflat.

It was as early as a few decades ago when the expert who set up the array
here entered this tomb. He closed all the possible ways out except for one,
which turned out to be related to this feng shui array. He expected us to
enter this tomb and have no other choice but to rely on the exit that he had

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left behind. There was no denying the fact that we were now following the
path he had previously arranged.

His purpose for doing this was that we could only leave by following the
path he had designed. But the way he designed it hid his real purpose and
forced us to take something from the tomb.

If I had guessed correctly, that thing was the leather figurine woman.
Although I didn’t know why, I was certain that we wouldn’t encounter
anything good when we took this leather figurine woman out. Otherwise, he
would have done it a long time ago.

Why didn’t he take it with him? And why make us do it for him in such a
complicated way after so many years?

Maybe the leather figurine woman was brimming with evil spirits. Or maybe
this Qi family’s expert used this “tomb” to raise a zombie but didn’t dare
take it out himself. Was he using us as guinea pigs to take it out?

Since I was absolutely calm, I realized another point even if I didn’t want to.
Uncle Two was the only person who could complete this plan.

I touched the word “suffering” on the wall while feeling bitter in my heart.
Uncle Two never cared about these things, so why would he plot against me
like this? Was he Qi Yu?

No, I thought to myself as I rubbed my face.

“Liu Sang, you must know something,” I eventually said. “You can either say
it now or I’ll break your hamstring.”

Liu Sang was very calm as he answered weakly, “I can’t believe you didn’t
realize it until now. Don’t threaten me. I would’ve told you if only you had
asked. But now we have to keep moving forward. We’ll reach a more
comfortable place in another hour. You’ll know when you get there.”

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Chapter 74 New Year’s Bonus
My heart froze when I heard Liu Sang say this. It appeared that not only did
he know, but he had been waiting for me to ask him.

In other words, he always thought that I would figure out that something
strange was going on a long time ago, but I never did.

What made me feel even more strange was that Fatty didn’t speak up after
he heard Liu Sang’s words. The four of us remained silent for a moment
before the people up front began crawling forward again.

At that moment, all my initial thoughts intertwined as if I were about to be

enlightened. But even though an answer was starting to appear, I just
couldn’t seem to get it out.

I couldn’t even challenge him under these circumstances. We continued

crawling in silence for another hour before I suddenly heard an echo coming
from up front. There appeared to be an open space up ahead.

I couldn’t suppress my inner ecstasy. I had entered a state of total numbness

after crawling in the dark for so long, but when I suddenly heard the kind of
sound that would only appear in a large space, I immediately felt the
pressure on my heart ease. My blood pressure instantly rose and I began
crawling forward desperately.

It would probably only take a minute or two, but my senses had been
stretched to their limits. I heard someone talking in front of me in what
seemed to be Fatty’s voice, but it was so distorted that I couldn’t
understand what he was saying at all. At this time, the intense discomfort in
my heart and the claustrophobia pressing in around me made me fall into a
trance. As I crawled forward, my elbow suddenly didn’t hit the rocky ground
and my whole upper body almost pitched forward.

I had crawled out, but the exit of this hole seemed to be in a very high
position and I was about to face-plant.

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Then, someone grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me out of the cave
like a midwife delivering a baby.

After lying on my stomach for so long and suddenly standing upright, I was
hit by a sudden wave of dizziness and collapsed to the ground. Those
distorted voices were all around me, as if there were a lot of people talking.
It seemed as if there were countless people here, but it was completely dark
and there weren’t any lights.

I waited for a while before a rhinoceros horn candle was lit and the darkness
around me quickly receded. When I came back to my senses, I saw that I
was sitting on a raised rock the size of an outdoor air conditioner. My feet
were dangling over what turned out to be a vast abyss below.

It appeared to be an underground cliff, the other side of which was about

two arm’s length away from me. I knew I could easily jump over it. The abyss
below seemed bottomless, as if an evil spirit were hiding in its serene
depths. I could hear the sound of running water come from below, just like
thousands of galloping horses. It was probably another underground river.

I could also see countless honeycomb-like holes on both sides of the cliff
that looked just like the hole we had crawled out of. Water was flowing out
of some of the holes and rushing into the abyss below. Oddly enough, there
was an engraving on every hole like they all had names.

Countless bronze basins like the one we had found in the tunnel before had
been regularly placed on some of the cliff protrusions in dense clusters.

Everyone in Uncle Two’s group was standing on all the protrusions around
me and wearing gas masks. Uncle Two was beside me, soaking a towel in
medicinal liquor. He then lit it on fire for a few seconds before putting the
flames out and placing it over my face.

In the few seconds before my eyes were covered, I saw Fatty and Poker-Face
going through the same thing. Then, a warm current spread from my eyes to
my whole body and a heavy, pungent smell filled my nostrils as my eyes
became unbearably itchy.

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The towel was affixed to my eyes with a bandage. When I saw his actions,
the answer that was about to come out before finally revealed itself.

“Uncle Two, are you kidding me?” I asked him. “You’ve already been in this
tomb.”

“I’ve been checking the whereabouts of your Uncle Three. I found this tomb
two years ago,” I heard Uncle Two’s voice say. The rest of the conversation
was conducted in the dark.

“Then why didn’t you tell me? Is this to make me look like a fool in front of
everyone?” I asked miserably. I wasn’t miserable because Uncle Two had
lied to me—compared to Uncle Three, it wasn’t surprising that Uncle Two
would do such a thing—I was miserable because I already knew Uncle Two’s
intentions.

There was a long silence where everyone, including Fatty, didn’t speak.
Finally, Uncle Two sighed, “You’re so smart, you should understand.”

I didn’t say anything else as I suddenly remembered what had happened

during the New Year’s festivities and what Uncle Two had said to me when
we were drinking.

“Little Xie, this kind of thing… when you go from a low position to a high
position, from ignorance to wisdom, you can overcome and avoid any of the
dangers you encounter. No matter how hard it is or how difficult it becomes,
the impossible things will soon pass. Because at that time, the timidness
from those who are self-aware and know that they’re weak can save lives.”

I had been a little drunk at that time, so I could only listen silently as Uncle
Two continued, “Many people reach a certain stage where they surpass
their teachers. Even if you have an open mind and want to be taught and get
advice from others, you can’t. This is because you’ve gone too far and no
one has the ability to guide you. It’s a lonely and dangerous situation. Third
Brother and I have come to this stage.

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“The advantage of having a teacher is that someone can always remind you
to be careful at critical times. They will tell you if your ability is equal to self-
awareness and they won’t shy away from telling you the truth about
yourself. This is because they can see through you. But when it comes to
you, Little Xie, no one has the ability to tell you the truth about yourself. If
you don’t understand it yourself, you’ll not only get yourself killed but those
around you as well.”

I leaned my head back, feeling calm. I had enough experience to know that
Uncle Two was right.

“You wanted me to go through this tomb to let me know that I no longer

had the ability to go down to tombs anymore,” I said. “Uncle Two, I—”

I suddenly realized that I didn’t have anything to say. Based on my present

appearance and recalling everything I had done over the past thirty hours, I
would have definitely died long ago if Uncle Two hadn’t cleaned out this
tomb.

But the most important thing was that this had all been planned and I didn’t
even notice it. Now that I was recalling things, there were countless details
that I would have definitely noticed before. But this time, I didn’t notice
them the entire way.

“Uncle Two, even college entrance exams can be repeated. You can’t beat
Mr. Naïve to death with a stick,” Fatty finally spoke up from the side. “He’s
contributed to the Wu family and done so many meritorious deeds for the
Nine Gates.”

Uncle Two ignored him and whispered to me, “Little Xie, I’ll keep looking
into Third Brother’s affairs. I’ve confiscated your phone. You’re doing a job
you’re not trained for, so this is enough. You should focus on healing your
eyes first. After this incident, I believe you also know that you can’t go grave
robbing. Just let the professionals handle it. Your story ends here.”

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Chapter 75
I sat there blindfolded as I listened to Uncle Two and the others talking. I
had a general idea of the situation. Uncle Two had already explored the core
areas of the South Sea King’s tomb long ago and had also focused his
attention on the feng shui array. But this feng shui array wasn’t limited to
this ancient tomb. Uncle Two believed that the expert who came down with
Uncle Three back then had set up feng shui arrays everywhere.

Uncle Two was different from me in that I could only speculate while he and
Uncle Three had actually lived in the same era. Uncle Two had seen the true
colors of the legends I could only guess about. According to Uncle Two’s
impression, that Qi Yu from the Qi family was a silent young man who was
very weak, but very determined. He was the kind of person who would finish
things quietly once he made up his mind to do so.

This kind of person was very serious, which was a stark contrast to Uncle
Three’s character. Uncle Three was the type of leader that did things on the
spot, after all. In Uncle Two’s words, Qi Yu and Uncle Three didn’t get along
well, but they also didn’t outwardly quarrel. Qi Yu had his own ideas and
methods for doing things, so it was difficult for others to convince him once
his ideas were completed.

Uncle Two also let slip another piece of information that basically confirmed
things. When this South Sea King’s tomb was being built, many strange holes
were dug into the huge rock stratum and people who entered them basically
disappeared.

The people who entered many of these small holes disappeared shortly
after they went in, but nobody knew where they went. Uncle Two believed
that these small holes were related to “sound” and with the rock here full of
so many of them, it made it particularly easy to resonate with thunder. The
South Sea King must have chosen this place for that very reason.

In addition, the whole tomb was created in the shape of a bow.

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Uncle Two had told me all this information before I entered the tomb, but I
was too slow to realize what was wrong with the Mute Emperor’s legend.

I had been struggling in the tomb nonstop for more than thirty hours. With
the medicinal liquor applied to my eyes and Uncle Two’s words coming from
the darkness, I felt my battered body relax. After listening to them for a
while, I soon fell asleep.

I woke up in a daze and remained that way as I was led to the cliff and
climbed up step by step.

I didn’t know how long it took before I eventually smelled the long-lost sea
breeze. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear the sound of the waves. I
was finally out. I wanted to remove the bandage from my eyes and see the
sunshine outside, but Liu Sang quickly said to me, “Don’t use your eyes right
now. You’ll go blind if you see the sunshine.”

My hands were shaking as I tried to restrain my impulse to remove the

towel. “Where’s Fatty?” I asked. “What about Little Brother?”

Fatty patted me, “Little Brother is still down there. Uncle Two has something
to say to him. He may not want you to hear it.”

I didn’t even have the strength to feel anything as I was helped to the car.
Fatty continued, “Let’s talk about it after you get your eyes fixed. I’ll watch
over Little Brother. What your Uncle Two said… don’t take it to heart. Just
listen to me. Recently, I only want to hold hands whenever I see a young girl.
It’s just a matter of reaching a certain stage in your life. It isn’t as terrifying
as what your Uncle Two said.”

According to Fatty, his and Poker-Face’s eyes should be fine, but mine were
more serious.

I remained in that dazed, sleepy state as we drove away. It was very painful
every time the dressing over my eyes was changed, so I kept popping
painkillers. I slept every day, my head filled with endless nightmares. When I
took off the gauze a few days later, I somehow found myself in a hospital in

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Pingtan. The nurse showed me the dead bugs that had been in my eyes
every time she changed the dressing. They looked just like sand.

Fatty bought me a lot of canned food. The hospital wasn’t that big, but I had
yet to see Poker-Face. When I asked Fatty what was going on, he said that
Poker-Face hadn’t come out since we left. He assured me that everything
was ok and Poker-Face was probably helping them out. After making some
inquiries, he found that Uncle Two and Poker-Face should come up in three
days.

Then he handed me his phone and said, “Look, this is the mural from the
back of the main tomb chamber.”

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Chapter 76
I moved around in the bed, turned on my laptop, and sent the pictures in
the phone to my computer.

I had been in a hurry at that time, but the years I had spent on my Wechat
business had cultivated my photography skills and ensured that I
photographed the murals clearly. Moreover, I took the kind of pictures that
made people want to buy them.

After looking through some of the pictures, a negative feeling rose up in my

heart. I shut my laptop, closed my eyes, and leaned back against the bed.

Physical aversion.

Many years ago, I had a strong physiological aversion to this industry. After
taking such a long break, I thought I had recovered. When I first entered the
South Sea King’s tomb, the cold and claustrophobic environment made me
feel creeped out again. But in just thirty hours, the tediousness I felt toward
this kind of environment made a comeback.

I didn’t know if Uncle Two’s words had provoked the disgust in my heart.

Back then, I was able to brace myself a little bit. If I had held on the whole
way, I might have been able to keep going. But after slacking off for so long
and suddenly starting back up again, I couldn’t help recalling the nausea I
felt at that moment.

I set the laptop aside, tilted my head back, and looked at the ceiling. Fatty
was smacking his lips as he ate dried shrimp in the next bed over.

“If you give up, no one can force you to keep going,” he said.

“I’m not giving up, I feel sick,” I retorted as I continued looking at the ceiling.
“Objectively speaking, I’m still an able-bodied worker in the prime of my
life.” I glanced at the muscles in my arm.

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“You’re really not giving up? Are you still that handsome young man who’s
full of resilience and never gives up?”

“Out with it!” I looked at him. It was obvious he had something to say.

Fatty pulled a folder out from behind him and threw it on my bed, “That’s
good. You’re not afraid of getting hit hard again. I was worried you’d rush
out and jump into the sea when I told you. Your Uncle Two took Wushanju
back.”

“Took it back? What do you mean he took it back?” I sat up. “My shop, why
did he take it back?”

“In principle, it’s your father’s shop. Your grandfather left it to him. Your
father asked your Uncle Two to tell you that he’s shutting the shop down.
They’re going to sell it to your Uncle Two and use the cash to open a
restaurant for you.”

“Bullshit!” I quickly opened the folder and found that it was full of property
rights documents. Open an unprofitable restaurant? The last thing
Hangzhou needs is another restaurant. I thought about it and decided to call
home, but nobody answered. My heart suddenly felt sour.

Fatty sat down by my bed. “I advise you not to resist. You’ve done amazing
things for half your life. It’s not easy for your parents to make this decision.
It just shows that they’re really worried about you. You’re not like me. In
fact, you have everything. You need to cherish it, you know.” He handed me
a shrimp, “Why don’t you go to Beijing with me?”

I leaned back in the bed as Fatty continued, “I heard that your Uncle Two
hired Black Glasses. That guy is so poor that he’s willing to take any job. You
can leave it to a professional like him.”

“Isn’t he going blind?”

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“That’s why people are willing to pay him a high price. Let me tell you, the
two most expensive things in this world are a woman’s first time and a
man’s last time.”

This is all a hideous mess, I said to myself. After thinking about it, I sent a
short message to Xiao Hua, “Are you well off recently? I need the local boss
to lend me some money.”

Xiao Hua didn’t respond.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, but I wasn’t worried yet. I decided to try
communicating with Uncle Two again. If it didn’t work, I would go and hang
myself at Xie Yuhua’s door if he didn’t let me borrow a start-up fund. Then I
could go back and start up another shop. I knew Uncle Two was doing this
for my own good, but I thought he was overdoing it. I knew he didn’t want
my family to worry about me and he wanted me to let go of my desires. I
was okay doing that, but I wouldn’t do it if someone was pressuring me like
this.

“Talk to your Uncle Two again.” Fatty saw the head nurse coming in and
quietly stuffed the cigarette he was holding under my blanket before taking
out his cell phone, “I recently added a few sellers nearby, but they won’t
come out. Let’s go shopping by ourselves.” I saw some pictures of old
porcelain on his phone. They were all sea porcelain that fishermen had
salvaged from the nearby coast. Some were actually well preserved.

In other words, they were too well preserved. Fatty and I looked at each
other, and he gave me a wink. He had already seen it.

Sea porcelain in random internet searches was mostly damaged, so a lot of

intact pieces indicated that the whole batch of porcelain came from a big
sunken ship. This was a big deal. It also meant there might be something
better in the seller’s hands.

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Chapter 77
Pingtan was a magical place full of old, mottled houses with black tiles and
white walls. When we left the hospital, Fatty led the way. We took a black
motorcycle and went through one old village after another. The motorcycle
owner charged us a lot of money and Fatty felt that we were being
defrauded. After arguing with the other party for a long time, the
motorcycle owner said that he was already showing us consideration. We
could take a taxi and see for ourselves. The taxis in this place made the
headlines once they started running the meter.

I was wearing slippers as I lazily wandered into the village. I could hear the
sound of the waves in the distance. The old houses here were densely
packed together and many of the old walls were made of stone. There was a
stark contrast between the white walls and black tiles that made both
appear especially vivid. After staring at them for a long time, I almost felt as
if I was in an ink wash painting.

Half of the village was on flat ground with the sea on the outskirts, while the
other half was on the slope of the reef mountain. We walked up the steps to
the village. As Fatty looked at the house numbers one by one, I began to
look over the house eaves at the distant sea. There were some terraces
interspersed between the village and the beach that were covered in dense
vegetation. That, coupled with the blue sky and white clouds, made me feel
particularly content.

Fatty asked me why I was so relaxed all of a sudden. I told him that I couldn’t
help relaxing when I thought that this next thing had nothing to do with
what I had done during the previous half of my life. The past decade was
considered an amazing feat, so I had nothing to be dissatisfied with.

Fatty said that I finally found a reason to forgive myself and that being
terrified for my life was the greatest medicine. I cursed at him and asked
what he wanted from me.

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Fatty turned his head to light his cigarette and catch his breath before saying
to me, “It may have something to do with what happened to you before. Did
you know that this island wasn’t called Pingtan Island before? Do you know
what it was called a long time ago?”

“Haitan Island. It was also called Zuolan Island.” I looked at him smugly,
wanting to know what other garbage would come out of his mouth.

“Pingtan Island used to be called Qilin Island,” he said faintly.

I paused as Fatty took out his phone and brought up a picture. It was an
aerial view of Pingtan Island. “What does the island look like? Do you see
it?”

I took the phone and almost dropped it when I saw the picture.

The whole flat surface of Pingtan Island was shaped like a Qilin, and its
shape was very similar to Poker-Face’s tattoo.

I rubbed my eyes and thought Fatty was lying to me for a moment. I glanced
at the watermark on the picture and saw that it definitely belonged to a
specialized hydrological website. This was a satellite image from the national
website.

“…It’s a lie.” My mind had gone completely blank.

Fatty handed me a cigarette and said, “Now you know why your Uncle Two
wanted him to stay.”

“Why?”

“You always suspected that his tattoo was a map. What do you think? Is it
possible his tattoo is a map of the South Sea country? Was the South Sea
country’s vast underground river territory something that could be managed
by memory alone?” Fatty asked sternly.

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I lit the cigarette, inhaled the smoke to calm myself down, and remembered
that the map of Poker-Face’s tattoo had nothing to do with the South Sea
country. It was a pattern of another place.

Fatty continued, “Don’t forget that Little Brother went to Xisha with your
Uncle Three and Qi Yu back then. So, Qi Yu wasn’t the only one who could
take your Uncle Three into Falling Cloud Country’s underground territory.
It’s very likely Little Brother could, too.”

I narrowed my eyes and Fatty hooked his arm around my shoulder. “Little
Brother goes roaming around the Fujian mountains and often stays out all
night. He’s either sleeping his way through all the villages around us or he’s
looking for something.”

“What do you mean? Are you saying Little Brother is still hiding something
from us?” I asked.

Fatty shook his head, “No, I think the biggest possibility is that he might
have found some clues and remembered something when he was traveling
in the mountains. Let me give you an example. Say you’re walking along and
you see a hair salon. You suddenly remember that you slept with a girl a few
days ago and didn’t pay her, but you can’t remember who it is. It’s not a big
deal, but you’ll think hard about it since it’s haunting you.”

I looked at Fatty’s cell phone and told myself that there was no way this
could happen. I had found a place to live in seclusion and ended up finding
Little Brother’s memory at the same time.

But after living so long, he may have memories everywhere.

There was no denying the fact that Pingtan Island’s topography was really
amazing. Although they weren’t completely identical, the shapes of both
Qilin were almost the same. Poker-Face’s tattoo was very exaggerated and I
had seen it countless times. The outline in my memory was suffocatingly
similar to this satellite image.

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“Don’t be so tense. There’s one thing you shouldn’t forget. Many of your
preferences were designed according to Qi Yu. Think about it. When you
chose Fujian, did it just so happen to coincide with Qi Yu’s habits? Think
about it carefully. How did you come up with the idea to stay in Fujian?”

I thought about it and said with certainty, “It’s because I love to eat ding
bian hu(1).”

(1)
Ding Bian Hu is a characteristic dish of Fuzhou cuisine, a branch of Fujian cuisine, consisting of a rice
flour batter poured around the side of a cooking wok to form a thin noodle. It’s then scraped into a
stock to simmer and served in broth.

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Chapter 78
“Forget about it. You can carefully recall the memories some other time.”
Fatty took a hard drag of his cigarette.

I scratched my head, suddenly feeling that the scenery in front of me wasn’t

as beautiful as before. As we kept walking, I remembered how the tattoo
was obviously a map of Banai. But why was it so similar to this island?

Wang Zanghai once built two identical cities. One was located in Yunnan and
the other was on the coast. Compared to those two cities, this island and
Guangxi were in a symmetrical geographical location with similar terrain.
Was this kind of terrain something God drew with a pen?

“Is it a coincidence?” I asked Fatty.

He smiled and said, “It’s not like you’re busy. You can study and do some
research to pass the time.”

“Don’t you have a preliminary conclusion or something?” I asked. “The fact

that you’re talking like this shows that you’ve been thinking about it for a
long time. Or, do you have inside information?”

“That’s not true.” Fatty told me he was surprised when he found out. He
glanced at the address, continued looking at the house numbers, and kept
talking, “Maybe you can think about it this way. The Zhang family may have
studied this island. The Zhang family’s ancient building in Banai was built
later, but this island has existed since ancient times. Maybe a Zhang family
member had been to this island and especially liked it here, so he stipulated
that every Zhang Qiling had to have it tattooed on his chest.”

I thought about it and realized that it was also possible. The Zhang family did
have too many unsolved secrets, after all. Fatty arrived in front of a village
house and looked at the house number, “Found it.” After he said this, he

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started knocking on the door while singing, “I’m a little flower, I’m a little
apple(1).”

After singing a few words, the door was opened and a fat, middle-aged
woman with a big smile looked at us, “Did you come here for something?”

Her Mandarin was fairly standard, so Fatty and I were both relieved. Fatty
pulled up his WeChat and showed it to her. The middle-aged woman looked
behind us before letting us in.

There was a courtyard behind the house that was filled with all kinds of
snakeskin belts and paper boxes. It seemed to be a place that helped
factories process sticky packaging for boxes. If there were some food
factories or small light industrial products factories in the village, the
children and elderly from every household would pick up some work putting
the sticky packaging on boxes and bags. A box usually cost anywhere from
one to five mao(2), so someone with good skill could subsidize the
household.

I looked at the boxes and found that they seemed to be for some kind of
cake. Across the courtyard was the house where the homeowner’s family
slept. There were side rooms located on either side of a small living room in
the middle where you could eat. There was no path in the back. Before my
eyes could start looking for the goods, the middle-aged woman moved the
old wooden cupboard near the inner wall of the small living room. There
was a door behind it that was covered in a thick cloth. Once the cloth was
pulled aside, we found that there was another courtyard in the back.

To my surprise, the yard was full of people. Porcelain was piled up

everywhere except for the places where people stood. Some people were
washing the sea porcelain, while the remaining number of people appeared

(1)
I think it’s this weird one from Chopsticks Bros. It could also be Ha Jingjing’s song “I’m Your Little
Apple” but I couldn’t find it.
(2)
One mao (aka jiao) is equal to 1/10 of a yuan or 10 fēn

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to be customers. They were all very quiet as they ordered goods and
watched the porcelain washers work.

“Ha! This shopfront is so big,” Fatty winked at me. I had thought small-scale
private business was conducted here, but I didn’t realize they had literally
opened a wholesale market by the coast.

The elder sister was particularly skilled as she took out a small notebook
that looked like an order pad and wrote two 12s on the page. Then, she tore
half of it off and handed it to me before placing the other half in a basket.
She used a clip to clamp it on the basket and said to us, “When you see a
good one, put it in the basket and pay me the money. We’ll wash it for free.”

I was stunned and looked at Fatty, who muttered, “Why so condescending?

She’s acting like she’s superior to others.” The woman left without paying us
any mind, so Fatty and I began to walk around the piles of barnacle-covered
porcelain. I wasn’t interested, so I told Fatty to pick them out while I went to
see an old man who was washing some of the porcelain. As I watched his
technique, I realized that he must have made a living washing these kinds of
things. He definitely must’ve been washing them for decades.

At the seaside, everyone did part-time work. Most of those who devoted
themselves to making a living like this were old grave robbers, so they had
to know a lot about what went on around the island. There weren’t many
people in front of the old man, so I leaned over to watch him work. He
looked at me and I looked back at him before asking, “This technique
must’ve been around for thirty years, right?”

“Fifty years.” The old man’s accent was very heavy, but I could still
understand it. I continued to cozy up to him, “Have you passed it on? It’s a
pity that this craft will be lost.”

The old man shook his head. “Unfortunately, the things in the sea are almost
gone.”

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Chapter 79
With that said, the old man looked at my pants. I was still wearing the pants
the hospital had provided. He continued washing the porcelain in silence. A
lot of the grime had been washed out in the huge footbath before him and
there was a basket set beside it.

I didn’t think the old man was very talkative. He was either an introverted
person or a cautious one. I couldn’t ask anything if it was the latter, but if he
was just introverted, then I could make friends with him. I looked at all the
porcelain the old man had already washed and said to him, “Uncle, I think
you’re the best washer here. How about you wash my friend’s?”

He shook his head, “No, it’s uniformly distributed.”

“But you wash so well,” I said. “I’ll pay you more to wash it. I’ll talk with the
boss. Which one’s the boss?”

He didn’t look up as he said leisurely, “No. If everyone’s like you, the others
won’t have food on the table and I’ll work myself to death.”

“Then I won’t buy it,” I said.

The old man looked at me and then at the other people again before he
started laughing, “I can’t force you to buy if you don’t want to, now can I?”

I looked at the people around me and then at the boss, suddenly realizing
that I was wrong again. My heart suddenly felt very uncomfortable. If it was
before, I could see most situations clearly at first glance, but now my eyes
had become dull. At this time, I realized that it wasn’t that I couldn’t see it,
but that I was too lazy to look.

This old man had a special bearing, he was the best porcelain washer here,
and one could tell at a glance that he was an old treasure hunter. The others
weren’t as old as him and they weren’t acting as leisurely as he was.

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I had also asked who the boss was. The old man was actually the owner of
this place, hiding among the crowd and doing the lowest form of work.
Those who washed porcelain here probably didn’t even know that the old
man was their boss.

The old treasure hunter hid among these people by the sea and used his
knowledge to carefully select quality goods. It was no wonder nothing had
happened for more than thirty years.

I looked around, pulled a nearby chair over, and sat down. The old man was
unmoved and concentrated on washing. I whispered to him, “How much is
left in the sea? I’ll take it. Your boss has to give me some VIP treatment.”

The old man shook the water off the porcelain and completely ignored me. I
put my hand on his thigh and squeezed, “I know the rules. I’ll make an offer
on WeChat.”

When the old man looked down at my hand, I quickly retracted it. “Do you
love talking nonsense?” He asked me. “I just wash things. If you want to buy
something, go look for the boss.”

I made an understanding expression and asked, “Speaking of which, do you

know why this island is called Qilin Island? Do you know any of the
legends?” I pointed to Fatty, “My boss always wants to know these kinds of
things.”

The old man wiped his hands on his apron and asked me, “Where are you
from?”

“Hangzhou.”

“Do you know why Hangzhou is called Hangzhou?”

I was at a loss for words. Someone came over to get the baskets and the old
man handed them out one by one before he turned to drive me away, “I
can’t wash fast with you sitting here. Go away.” With that said, he poured
the dirty water out at my feet.

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I immediately jumped up and dodged it. Although the discussion seemed
fruitless, I had actually determined that the old man wasn’t introverted, but
very cautious. Once I thought about it, it didn’t make sense for a grave-
robbing veteran of more than thirty years to be introverted. I was clearly out
of my mind.

I went back to Fatty and saw that he had picked out seven or eight baskets
of things. I looked at the price and realized that it was almost all the money
he had on hand. I told him to take it easy since the market for porcelain
fished out from the sea had been uncertain recently. He might end up
shooting himself in the foot. Fatty said it was fine and paid for it. When we
got back to the hospital, we saw that Uncle Two’s people had come and
were helping us with the discharge procedures.

After that, I moved to a seaside guesthouse that only cost forty yuan a night.
The inside had been converted into a mahjong room.

That was where I saw Liu Sang again.

He was leaning against the hotel lobby’s balcony alone and looking out at
the sea. I didn’t see Uncle Two or Poker-Face, but according to Uncle Two’s
men, they had already come up and were waiting for something at the
beach.

When Fatty and I walked over to Liu Sang, Fatty kicked him, “Cocky brat,
how dare you show up.”

Liu Sang continued staring at the black horizon without looking at us and
said, “It’s going to thunder soon.”

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Chapter 80 Old Age
I looked at the turbulent sea and couldn’t help thinking that the storm
clouds hovering just off shore were very scary. They still looked like a black
line now, but once they hit shore, they would look like huge, dark tsunami
clouds. We could clearly see the clouds’ boundaries due to the rain and
lightning hanging under them and the sunshine at the edge.

Liu Sang looked at his watch and grabbed the air with his hand. “There are
still ten minutes.”

“What the fuck are you trying to do? You want to lie to us again?” Fatty
asked angrily.

Liu Sang didn’t look at him, but quietly continued, “Do you think I’d bother
coming if Wu Erbai only paid me to lie to you? You guys are really used to
thinking you’re so special. Those thirty hours were merely dessert. I have
serious things to do.”

Fatty looked at me and grinned, “This pretentious prick is definitely your

Uncle Two’s son. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare act like this in front of you.”

I looked at Liu Sang. He was sitting upright and still, his whole being exuding
an extremely calm aura. I waved my hand. Liu Sang seemed to be in his
element, so I wanted to see what he was up to.

Fatty and I sat next to him, but Liu Sang never turned his attention to us
again. He watched the storm clouds approach bit by bit and then slowly
removed the tarp that was sitting off to the side. It had been covering a
shrine with a god inside.

Liu Sang stood up and put the shrine where he had been sitting just now. He
then lit three short incense sticks and knelt down. Countless lighting strikes
exploded from the dark clouds behind the shrine.

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“Little Brother kneels to the mountain and he kneels to the thunder. This is
fucking plagiarism,” Fatty started to whisper to me. But just before he
finished, a loud crack of thunder drowned out his voice and the heavy rain
came pouring down. The sound of the rain hitting the sea was so loud that it
distorted any sounds that reached our ears.

Liu Sang finished paying his respects and then took out a clipboard from
under the shrine and walked to the beach. Oil paper(1) sat on top of the
clipboard, which he used to shield his head.

Fatty looked at me, but I shook my head. I wanted to stay here and keep out
of the rain.

As the dark clouds continued approaching, more loud thunderclaps soon

began reaching us at the hotel. The clouds were hanging very low over the
beach, the windows were shaking, and it felt so good to see the lightning
like this. The thunder was rumbling in such a way that people needed to be
in this kind of environment in order to fully understand what “rumble”
actually meant. It was completely dark now.

I looked at the dark clouds and remembered the countless times when I had
focused my attention on listening to thunder. Then I looked at Liu Sang in
the heavy rain and suddenly felt a kind of empathy well up within me.

Fatty was praying on the other side of me, “Strike this grandson to death,
strike this grandson to death.”

I walked into the rain and headed for Liu Sang, which startled Fatty a little
bit.

The distance was only thirty steps, but the cold rain immediately soaked my
neck as I rushed out into it. It was my first time seeing the dark clouds so
low, and I almost felt as if I could reach out and touch the lightning. I looked
up and let the heavy rain hit my face.

(1)
Paper made translucent and waterproof by soaking in oil.

309
The impact of the falling raindrops as they hit my face one by one was so
heavy that it actually hurt. At that time, I suddenly understood something.

I walked to Liu Sang’s side. Every time the thunder sounded, he tilted his
right ear to the sky and then immediately turned and tilted his left ear up.
His eyes were vacant, and when the lightning flashed, I couldn’t see a trace
of spirit in them. His hand moved quickly over the oil paper, leaving a lot of
marks that I couldn’t make sense of.

I looked at him and also began listening to the thunder in the sky. The
thunder sounded strange and was completely unlike anything I had heard
before.

I continued to listen as I looked at Liu Sang standing amid the huge flashes of
lightning.

I realized that it wasn’t weariness that made me lose my original caution and
fear, but an imperceptible conceit that made me look down on life and
death. I could no longer feel the compassion and empathy from the old
days. In fact, it was what I had been trying to find in recent years. Too many
memories, too many experiences, and too many reincarnations made it easy
for to me calm down in any situation.

My grandfather said that wise men were always confident that mountains
weren’t mountains and water wasn’t water just because that’s what they
looked like. At that time, I just thought my grandfather was idolizing Zhang
Qishan too much.

Later, I realized that this was on a whole different level. It basically meant
that people always resisted the bad things and tried to see through the
truth. But some people said that mountains were mountains and water was
water because that’s what they saw.

I suddenly hugged my head and fled back to Fatty’s side at the hotel. “What
are you doing?” He asked me. “Why’d you come and go like that? Did you
get scared?”

310
“You have to take cover when it rains,” I said.

“You’re practically beaming. When you were listening to the thunder just
now, did you hear a cry of ecstasy?” Fatty asked.

“Where’s the nearest vegetable market?” I asked him. Fatty was bewildered
for a moment, so I had to explain myself, “We’ll cook dinner for Uncle Two
and the others.”

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Chapter 81
Uncle Two really liked to eat lotus roots, but the vegetable market here was
mostly seafood and many dishes weren’t good. Fortunately, Fatty and I were
good at cooking. We bought a lot of things and brought them back to the
guesthouse’s kitchen, cooking three tables’ worth of food. My arms were
very strong, so I could use the big spatula in the kitchen. Fatty was actually
on the same level as a chef, so he placed the green onions, ginger, garlic,
and taro(1) into the thick, sweet and sour fish head soup to simmer. Although
the total amount of dishes wasn’t much, the wine on the three tables made
it look like there was.

Fatty was smoking a cigarette while cutting vegetables, “You don’t really
want to go back to Hangzhou and open a restaurant, do you? I won’t go into
business with you.”

I dried my hands on my apron and said to him, “I have to get my shop back.
I’ve already figured it out. I used to be soft and would beg for help, but now
I’m too hardened. I often thought there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do since I
went to fucking pick up Poker-Face, but now I think that way of thinking is
wrong.”

Fatty put down the kitchen knife and smiled, “It’s good you know that now.
We can always send Little Brother back to the bronze door, pick him up, and
send him back again in the future. Now that’s what I call an amazing feat.”

Are you saying he’s a fucking piston? I thought to myself.

At that moment, things outside started to get noisy. I walked out of the
kitchen and saw Uncle Two and his people approaching. They were covered
in mud and looked tired, but I could see that they were in a good mood.
Many of the guys were even whistling and goofing off.

(1)
It’s basically a root vegetable. It apparently tastes much like a sweet potato, doesn’t fall apart when
cooked, and soaks up flavor like a sponge. More info here.

312
The floor was soon covered in wet footprints. When Liu Sang came out of
the shower, Uncle Two asked him, “Did you hear the thunder?”

Liu Sang glanced at Fatty, nodded, and then sneezed.

I walked over to Uncle Two and said, “Uncle Two, I figured it out. You’re
right. I cooked enough food for three tables. Consider it logistics to comfort
my brothers.”

I saw Poker-Face follow the group in. Fatty patted him and told him to take a
quick shower. Uncle Two looked into the dining room, “Are your eyes
alright?”

“Everything’s fine. Anyways, I admit defeat. I figured it out, Uncle Two.”

“If everything’s fine, then what’s with that mischievous look?” Uncle Two
walked into the dining room, picked up two plates of vegetables and a bottle
of wine from the table, and then headed for his room, “If you’ve really
thought this through, we’ll talk again. I’m tired and want to rest.”

I watched the other guys nod to me and then head into the dining room to
grab the food and wine. Soon, only half of the three tables were left.

Fatty became angry, “Let’s eat together! Why take the food away? You’re
not giving me any face!”

“We’re going to rest,” one of the guys said.

Fatty tore off his apron. “What the hell does that mean? I’m not some
delivery guy!”

“Uncle Two doesn’t want them to talk in case they let slip some important
clues. He’s afraid I’ll overhear them, so they won’t sit at the table if we’re
here.” I also tore off my apron. I had been thinking the exact same thing. I
knew I could hear some clues once they got talking, but Uncle Two was very
familiar with me. He would even know what I ate last night as soon as I
showed my butt.

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With half the table left, we decided to bring it back to our room. Little
Brother took a shower and then the three of us ate in silence.

Fatty was picking at his feet while drinking and looking out the window. The
rain clouds were still outside and lightning flashed from time to time, but
the rain wasn’t as heavy as before.

“Little Brother, what did you do down there for so long?” He suddenly asked
Poker-Face.

Poker-Face took out his cell phone and put it in front of Fatty.

Fatty turned it on and began looking through the photos. He seemed

surprised by what he saw. Then he realized that I was still eating silently.
“Don’t you want to have a look?”

“I’ll look later.” I glanced out the window and noticed that something was
wrong. I could see the beach outside from this angle, where a group of
people had started gathering at some unknown point.

I stood up and turned off the lights in the room. There were a lot of shadows
standing on the beach and they were walking right towards our guesthouse.
They all looked especially creepy in their ponchos.

Fatty also saw them and asked me what was going on. I squinted and
realized that the old man who had been washing porcelain during the day
was heading the group.

“Did you pay for that sea porcelain today?”

“It should be paid up.” Fatty also stood up.

“Did you do anything that would make others want to seek revenge?” I
asked him.

Fatty touched his chin, “I don’t think so…”

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I quickly looked around the room, kicked my stool until it broke apart,
tossed part of it to Fatty, and kept the other part for myself. I then turned to
Fatty and Poker-Face and said, “It doesn’t look like they’re here to discuss
business.”

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Chapter 82
Fatty looked out the window behind me and asked me how many people
there were. I gave him a rough estimate of more than forty people. Fatty
exhaled, looked at the stick in his hand, and said to me, “It’ll be a tough
battle.”

I narrowed my eyes. The last time I had the pleasure of fighting like this was
at Crescent Hotel when I had to make a good escape. Fatty had been the
meat shield and Poker-Face’s output was very accurate. That was when we
were in the best condition. I remembered that there had been at least thirty
people who were beaten down at the time. But the terrain back then was
complex, while the terrain here was so flat you could gallop a horse across
it. We would definitely be in trouble if we were surrounded.

Fatty leaned against the window and said to me, “Go out and hold them off
first. I’ll run to the kitchen where there are better weapons. Look, there
must be something in their ponchos. Our flesh isn’t made of iron. I’ll bring
the weapons and meet you on the road by the gate. We’ll run over and start
fighting.”

I looked outside. We still had some time before they found us. Uncle Two
was in another room and I didn’t know if I should alert his people. Fatty
waved his hand, “People will die.”

I thought so, too. Uncle Two’s guys were all outlaws, so they might really
end up killing those people if they went out to fight them. I glanced at
Poker-Face, who was looking at the door with his head tilted. I didn’t know
what he was looking at.

I also glanced at the door, but I still hadn’t figured out the situation yet. At
that moment, someone kicked down the door and two or three people
rushed in. They had iron hooks in their hands that were as long as their
arms.

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Fuck me, it’s a diversion, I secretly cursed. The people outside had attracted
our attention while the others had already reached the door. Poker-Face
grabbed an iron hook with one hand, moved forward, and pushed his elbow
directly into the person’s chest. The man made a muffled sound and tried to
retreat, but Poker-Face smacked him in the head, causing him to
immediately bump into one of the other people. Poker-Face then grabbed
the hook and instantly used it to knock the third person to the ground
before they even knew what was happening.

In a short period of time, those three people fell to the ground and then five
more people rushed in. But the room wasn’t that big, so it was instantly
packed. Poker-Face turned and threw the hook out, hitting one of them on
the forehead. Two people went up and tried to grab him, but fell to the
ground instantly, not knowing what happened.

It was only at that moment that Fatty and I finally reacted. We went up and
grabbed the last two people’s necks one by one. Fatty and I moved the
heads towards each other until they collided. The two men immediately fell
to the ground and clutched their heads, crying in pain.

The people outside didn’t immediately come in. Based on how ordinary
people thought, they probably believed that the three of us had been killed
when the eight people started fighting us in the narrow space.

I saw the old man outside start to light a kerosene lamp. It seemed he had
something to say. He probably thought that he would gain victory and was
confident that the people who came in could stop us.

The three of us looked at each other. Fatty took a deep breath before
picking up two of the men and tossing them over his shoulders. “Ah, it’s
been a long time since I got to be so badass,” he said.

I lit a cigarette. Maybe it was the wine just now, but I also went up and slung
two of them over my shoulders. Fatty turned to Poker-Face, “Little Brother,
don’t drop the ball. Stay in formation.”

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Fatty pushed the door open, and under the watchful eyes of more than forty
people, the two of us walked out with four stunned people over our
shoulders. I was still smoking a cigarette and suddenly felt as if “Dagger
Society Suite”(1) was ringing in my ears.

I looked back at Poker-Face. He hadn’t listened at all and followed us out.

Fatty sighed and threw his two people into the pools of rainwater on the
beach. I also threw my people away and then the three of us walked side by
side to the stunned old man.

“They’ll definitely try to placate us later. Do you want to accept it?” Fatty
quietly asked.

“I’ve been in a bad mood recently. I don’t want to be placated.” I rubbed my

waist—those two men had been a little heavy—and took a hard drag of my
cigarette. Those forty people were slow to react and all leaned towards the
old man.

I was all too familiar with fighting. Those guys just now were the main force
and were probably their best fighters. I figured that most of these forty-odd
people were just here for show. I grinned and started laughing, feeling as if
all the unease in my heart was finally being released.

“Take the initiative to attack,” I said quietly. At that moment, it felt as if I

had returned to the desert. The three of us suddenly accelerated and rushed
to the front of those forty people.

We must have looked like evil spirits at that time because those forty people
stepped back in an instant.

After drinking that wine earlier and running the thirty steps to stand in front
of those forty people, Fatty and I couldn’t breathe. We stopped and gasped
for breath while those forty people stood there and watched us.

(1)
It’s a song featured in “Kung Fu Hustle” but was actually written in 1959 for a historical dance-drama
based on the Dagger Society, an anti-Qing secret society who mounted an unsuccessful rebellion in
1855. Youtube link here.

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Poker-Face stopped and handed me a bottle of water.

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Chapter 83
After I finished drinking the water, I felt my lungs spasm. Drinking and
smoking had really affected my endurance. After wiping the water from my
mouth, I felt all my fierce strength disappear. Those forty-odd people
continued looking at us but still didn’t react. While I was trying to catch my
breath and recover my strength, the old man pointed at Fatty and said
something that I didn’t catch. It was only then that the forty people reacted
and quickly surrounded us.

I once again heard “Dagger Society Suite” ringing in my ears. I put down the
water bottle and formed a triangle with Fatty and Poker-Face for an all-
around defense.

The people walking in front moved to pull us away from each other, but the
three of us squatted in tacit understanding, stuck our hands in the sand, and
threw fistfuls of sand out. While those people used their hands to protect
their eyes, I rushed forward and hit one of them in the throat with the rod I
had broken off the stool earlier. As I pushed the guy to the ground, the
people nearby instantly grabbed my clothes and tried to hold me down.
There was no way for ordinary people to resist under such circumstances,
especially when they were outnumbered. People who were alone often
ended up suppressed rather than defeated.

But I was different. I knocked the hands off with my wooden rod and pushed
one of the men who tried to grab me on his own. As the both of us fell to
the ground, I elbowed him in the chin hard. He instantly bit his tongue and
his mouth filled with blood. I rolled over and used my hand to grab more
sand, quickly throwing it into the eyes of the two people who had come over
to help him.

It was too late for them to protect their eyes and they howled in pain when
the sand hit. But more people immediately rushed up. I turned around and
got ready to run, but someone had come up from behind to block me. I

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threw the rod in my hand. The man quickly dodged, so I took the chance to
make my escape.

As I moved forward, I could see that Fatty and the others had broken up
long ago. If there were more people pitted against a smaller number of
people, then it was necessary to engage in guerilla warfare. Just now, those
four people had basically lost the battle. Fatty could probably handle five or
six and Poker-Face could handle ten at a time, so we could take care of half
of them in an instant.

But before I had ran a few steps, I tripped over something in the sand. As I
stumbled and almost faceplanted, the people behind me rushed over. I
flicked my hand and pretended to toss more sand out, but the other side
instantly threw their own sand at me. I immediately dodged and turned to
continue running, thinking that they had really learned quickly. At that
moment, something flew right at me and knocked me to the ground. When I
got up, I found that it was a man Fatty had kicked. I looked around and
realized that six or seven people had surrounded me. An iron hook flew right
at me, but I dodged sideways and it ended up hooking my clothes instead.
They wanted to drag me down again, so I conveniently dropped to the
ground. But instead of pulling the iron hook off, I rolled over in the sand and
instantly took off my clothes. I then grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and used
this makeshift meteor hammer to hit the temple of the man who wanted to
attack me again.

The impact of the iron hook on his skull made a terrifying sound and the
man crumpled to the ground with a thud. Five, I said to myself as I pulled the
iron hook back into my hand. All the others who were rushing up
immediately stopped.

I was panting heavily and my physical strength was exhausted. This kind of
fighting was the most intense exercise in the world. Fighting continuously
for more than ten minutes was something that could only be done by film
editing, after all.

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But I had managed to beat down five people in only twenty seconds. It was
absolutely impossible for ordinary people without combat training not to be
shocked by this. Their instincts were probably telling them that I was
dangerous.

Group fights were especially intense and those who came with a fighting
mentality usually couldn’t maintain it until the end.

Sure enough, just as I expected, those people looked at each other and
didn’t dare come near me again. I was finally able to catch my breath and
stand up properly, only to find that they weren’t looking at me. I glanced
back and saw Fatty and Poker-Face carrying the old man behind me.

The old man had a terrifyingly huge swollen lump on his head. I didn’t know
what had happened, but it seemed that they had gotten straight to the
point.

Fatty dragged the old man over to me and wrapped his arm around the old
man’s neck. Everyone around us immediately began to retreat.

The three of us dragged the old man and slowly returned to our room.

Those other people we had beaten down earlier had just woken up. Fatty
threw them out one by one and then put the old man in front of the table.
“What’s going on?” I asked him. “I’ll spare you if you make it clear.”

The old man looked at Fatty, unable to speak. Fatty was a little embarrassed.
At that moment, I noticed that the old man seemed to be holding something
in his hand.

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Chapter 84
Fatty was sharp-eyed and also noticed that the old man had something in
his hand. He moved to break the old man’s grip on it, but the old man was
stubborn and refused to let go. He hadn’t dared struggle before, but now he
was putting up a fight. I pulled Fatty away and told him not to be so violent.

The light in the corridor outside was streaming in and barely illuminating us.
Those outside couldn’t clearly see what was going on inside. There were
many people out there, but I had basically already figured out their skills.
Based on their level, they wouldn’t dare rush in.

The old man seemed to wilt, as if he didn’t know what to do. When I looked
at him, it was almost like I was looking at myself. The old grave robber
must’ve been awesome back in the day and it had probably been quite a
long time since anyone had challenged him. The old man was as stubborn as
an ox as he got older and was no longer aware of himself. But he didn’t
know it, so someone had to knock some sense into him before he would
realize it.

Now the old man was probably unable to mesh the reality with his self-
awareness. I poured him some wine and asked again, “What’s going on?
Come on, I’m here on travel and don’t want to have any grudges. Let’s make
it clear, how did we offend you?”

The old man looked between me and Fatty and asked me, “What did you do
with the things in the boat?”

I frowned. The old man took a sip of wine and bolstered his courage, “You
two were at my place this afternoon and kept asking about the boat. When
we went into the water tonight, everything in the boat had disappeared. Did
you do it?”

Fatty glanced at me. I thought for a moment and immediately understood

what the old man was saying. I had seen so many of those sea porcelain
pieces earlier and suspected that the old man must have found a whole

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sunken ship in the sea. The porcelain in the boat wouldn’t be that valuable,
so I wanted to buy it all up, exchange a large order for the old man’s trust,
and get some information about Qilin Island. As a result, the old man
thought I didn’t know that he was the boss and was trying to sniff out the
information on the boat’s location.

I figured Fatty had done something similar, so the both of us asking about it
really seemed suspicious. The old man went out to sea to salvage the goods
after sunset, only to find that everything in the boat was gone. They thought
we had been inquiring about it in order to screw them over.

This seemed like a reasonable conclusion, but we had been buying food and
cooking ever since we came back. Fatty clicked his tongue in sympathy and
said, “Old man, do you think we’re the type of people to do such things?
How much money could you get for this shipment? Brother, the three of us
can even afford to keep buying everything from you for half a year. Just ask
the boss here. We’ve been cooking all night and never went out. To tell you
the truth, we’re antique lovers and cooks. If you don’t believe me, just smell
my sleeves. They’re covered in oil.”

The old man dodged Fatty’s sleeve and Fatty said to him, “Tell all your
rotten sweet potatoes and smelly melons to go back first.” With that said,
he took out a business card and passed it to the old man.

“Now, people who jie hu(1) others never give out business cards. Let’s make
friends. You can take care of Beijing’s Fat King when there are good products
in the future. Come on.”

The old man looked at us doubtfully and then glanced at the business card,
“Didn’t you do it?”

The three of us gave him a sincere smile. “First, it’s not us. You can even ask
the hotel owner. Second, you really can’t beat us. There are more than

(1)
Mahjong term meaning “to win by priority”. Basically, stealing a winning tile from another player who
also needs it to win due to rules of priority. I guess you could think of it as stealing it right out from
underneath their noses.

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twenty guys like us in the rooms on the other side. You should leave as soon
as possible,” I said.

The old man thought for a moment before he stood up and took a step
towards the door. When he saw that we really didn’t want to stop him, he
immediately ran to the door.

The people outside gathered around him as soon as he came out. We

followed him out to the corridor and I lit a cigarette and leaned against the
door to watch them.

“Shouldn’t he pay for the door and clothes?” Fatty asked.

“Forget about it,” I whispered. “He’ll suffer when he goes back.”

After the old man’s battle tonight, I was afraid his foundation here would be
shaken. Too many people had seen his stupid and cowardly appearance.

The old man looked at us and then his eyes suddenly moved. I turned and
saw Uncle Two and his men coming out. When I turned my head back again,
the old man had withdrawn.

Uncle Two came to stand beside me and I said to him, “We’re not the only
ones on the island. There are also experts here. Is it a coincidence?”

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Chapter 85
Uncle Two gave me a blank look, “Experts?”

“The old man’s a treasure hunter here,” I whispered to him. “His goods in
the sea were intercepted tonight.”

“Why are you so interested in other people’s business? Did you do it?”
Uncle Two asked me.

I gave a wry smile, “I’m not in the mood.”

Uncle Two patted me, “Come to my room.”

I looked back at Fatty and Poker-Face and said to them, “You guys can go to
sleep first.”

I followed Uncle Two back to his room, which had two twin beds in it. He
stayed with one of his old buddies all year round. This guy’s name was Er
Jing and he had a speech impediment. Although he could talk, it was a very
laborious process for him. He was a native of Gansu. Even though he was
over forty years old, his whole body still looked very capable of giving out a
beating.

No one knew why Uncle Two always brought Er Jing with him. Many people
said that Er Jing had studied martial arts. Although he wasn’t good at talking,
he was good at fighting. Others said that Er Jing’s tongue got injured while
he was helping my Uncle Two, and Uncle Two had taken care of him ever
since.

There weren’t any legends about Er Jing. In other words, no one had seen Er
Jing fight and no one had heard Uncle Two mention him. All anyone knew
was that Er Jing always stayed in the same room as Uncle Two.

Uncle Two was an extremely cautious person, so I could only think that he
trusted Er Jing a lot. When I entered Uncle Two’s room, Er Jing was dividing

326
lots(1). This was Uncle Two’s unique rule. He wasn’t directly involved in any
of these businesses. Uncle Two was a serious person who worked in both
the light and the dark. The only thing he would get involved in was
mediating between people. In fact, Uncle Two was one of the Nine Gates
who still had actual power to hold mediations. If there was any dispute,
Uncle Two would participate as a neutral third party. As a result, his prestige
was very high among the so-called “thorns” in the business. Many people
would find Uncle Two first for many particularly controversial issues. If Uncle
Two already said something, then the others wouldn’t dare challenge him.
At the beginning of every year, Uncle Two would prepare thirty-two lots
soaked in tung oil and let those in the Nine Gates buy them. These lots
indicated that he would only come out thirty-two times a year.

As a result, Uncle Two’s lots were a special commodity. If all thirty-two were
sold and you still wanted Uncle Two to come out, you had to see if he
wanted anything from you. Many people were willing to work for Uncle Two
in order to get a lot.

Er Jing pulled out seven or eight lots, which were probably for the people
who went down to the South Sea King’s tomb this time. I touched my chin
and wondered if I could turn my personal abilities into a currency-like
equivalent that could be cashed out directly. Uncle Two’s brain was really
amazing. Since Uncle Two may not actually have to go out thirty-two times a
year and the signatures became invalid at the New Year, my dad said Uncle
Two was actually an insurance salesman.

We sat down and Uncle Two brought out a tea set. The tea had already been
steeped several times, so when I took a sip of the proffered cup, I found that
the taste was no longer strong.

“What happened just now?” He asked me. “Tell me in detail.”

I knew Uncle Two had other things to tell me and was just using this method
to ease us into the topic. I didn’t dare push him directly and recounted

(1)
Think along the lines of inscribed bamboo sticks

327
everything that had happened in the afternoon. Er Jing had been listening in
and raised his head. Uncle Two glanced at him. The both of them suddenly
smiled, as if they had found it very interesting. Uncle Two took out a small
notebook and wrote the incident down in it.

It was all in a code Uncle Two had invented himself and no one could
understand it. It was said the characters were based on “engraved mother
coins”(2).

When he was done, he closed the notebook and casually asked me, “You
already know about the shop, don’t you?”

I nodded and sighed, “I wanted to discuss it with you. I’ll listen to you, but
can I at least have the shop back? After all those years, I also have feelings
for it.”

“If I let you keep the shop, that means you get to keep your foundation.
Your temperament is just like Third Brother’s. You go back there to sleep for
three days and then come up with another hairbrained idea. Your parents
are getting older. You didn’t get yourself killed when you were young, so
now that you’re older, you’re being willful if you’re still trying to get yourself
killed.” Uncle Two looked at me, “You weren’t born to me, so I honestly
don’t care what happens to you. But before my father died, he told me to
take care of my brothers. I can’t control Third Brother, but I can at least take
care of your father. Little Xie, those who live to a certain age and worry their
parents don’t do it out of lack of conscience, but out of incompetence.”

I knew what Uncle Two meant. He was closing the shop to reassure my
parents.

When I didn’t say anything, Uncle Two continued, “No matter what lengths
you go to, how many people call you Little Master Three, or how far you

(2)
Also known as ancestor coins. They were hand-carved mother coins, which were used as a model to
print money after they got approved. More info here.

328
travel, it’s me and your grandmother who take care of your parents. Now
that your shop is gone, consider it your retribution. Do you understand?”

I looked at Uncle Two and found that his eyes were very cold. I felt for my
pack of cigarettes, took one out, and lit it. Even though more than a dozen
years had passed, my parents didn’t interfere with my life very much. I
always did whatever I wanted and my parents didn’t stop me. But they
must’ve been worried. Things had slowly accumulated to this point and I
knew I wouldn’t be able to get through Uncle Two and my grandma.

I nodded, “I think so. Just do what you want.”

Uncle Two’s eyes softened a little, “I know you don’t want to open a
restaurant. What do you want to do?”

“Write something. Take pictures,” I said casually. “If things don’t work out,
I’ll become a Didi driver. I hear it’s not bad.”

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Chapter 86
Uncle Two smiled and took out a notebook from the bag beside him. I
flipped through it and found that it was a handwritten copy of Grandpa’s
notebook, but it was a lot thicker than the original.

I had read Grandpa’s notes countless times. I didn’t know what Uncle Two’s
intention was, but I read a few pages and found that he had made a lot of
notes. There were also a lot of cheat sheets, pictures, and newspaper
clippings of various ages stuck inside. Three new notebooks had been bound
at the back with quilt stitches, just like how they used to bind old
newspapers. The three notebooks contained all of Uncle Two’s notes over
the past few years. It was voluminous and obviously contained all kinds of
information from this field.

The earliest copied book was at the front and was at least thirty years old.
The paper was all yellow, but Uncle Two was so meticulous that every page
in it was well preserved. There wasn’t even a single crease.

I swallowed, remembering that time during my childhood when I folded the

cover of Uncle Two’s magazine and was beaten by him.

“The clues about Third Brother that I’ve researched for so many years are
recorded in here. You can have a look when you’re free and let me know if
you find something.” As Uncle Two spoke, he took out a folder and threw it
to me, “This is the report on the South Sea King’s tomb. If I find something
later, I’ll tell you first. I won’t hide it from you.”

I didn’t open it. I had all kinds of mixed feelings in my heart as I thought to
myself, it wouldn’t be surprising if you did hide it from me. But I didn’t want
to turn down this unexpected gift, so I said to him, “Your Majesty is so
understanding.”

Uncle Two laughed. I remembered one thing and figured I might as well ask
directly since I had already come to this point, “This place is also called Qilin
Island. Does it have anything to do with the Zhang family?”

330
Uncle Two shook his head, “It appears to be a coincidence. Even if it does
have something to do with the Zhang family, it should be related to the
South Sea country’s underground water system. We don’t dare go too far
this time. You can ask Li Cu and those two boys to help you check it out. We
don’t have time to be distracted.”

I took the notes and materials and moved to leave, but Uncle Two suddenly
said from behind me, “Go back to Hangzhou tomorrow to see your parents
and talk to them about this matter.”

I gave a noncommittal hum and said, “Uncle Two, don’t disappear.” Then I
walked out without looking back.

When I got back to my room, I stayed silent all night. I didn’t even read the
notebook or the information Uncle Two had given me. We left Pingtan the
next day. I felt a little more relaxed as we went on our way. Fatty and Poker-
Face went back to Rain Village while I went back to Hangzhou and told my
parents about the shop, which made them very happy. Wang Meng helped
me pack up the goods and move them out to my own small house. After
operating in this business for so many years, it was already full of various
sundries. Some of the goods went to Fatty’s shop in Panjiayuan to be sold,
while others remained piled up with me. It made my small house seem even
more cramped.

When the door closed, Wang Meng cried a lot. Although Uncle Two had
promised to let him continue working as the concierge after he took over
and his salary had increased a lot, he said he couldn’t bear thinking of me as
a former boss.

After that, he went to Uncle Two for training. Based on his WeChat
Moments, he was learning a lot.

I lay in my humble abode for a while before deciding to gather all the
information I had. I first read through the information on the South Sea
King’s tomb that Uncle Two had given me.

331
I flipped through a few pages and saw a very clear picture of the murals. I
turned on my computer and looked at the murals I had photographed. Uncle
Two had already photographed those murals, but it didn’t seem like they
had done it much earlier than us. When we arrived in Fujian and were
intercepted by Uncle Two on the road, his men were already down in the
South Sea King’s tomb. They must have taken the route Uncle Three took at
that time.

I was already very fast, but it appeared that Uncle Two was much faster. It
was probably because Jin Wantang went to Uncle Two to get the land
money and ended up spilling the whole story. In other words, Uncle Two
wasn’t much earlier than me, he just moved very fast.

But where did Uncle Two get Uncle Three’s route into the South Sea
country?

I was certain Uncle Two hadn’t been to Yang Daguang’s tomb, but we had
wasted so much time there that he ended up leaving us behind.

There were also a lot of pictures of the old weather station, which meant
Uncle Two had gone there and taken a lot of photos. A few of the pictures
had special marks on them, which were the walls of the secret reception
room that Yang Daguang had died in.

Uncle Two had shoveled away the putty on the walls, revealing several
murals. It was clear at a glance that these murals also came from the South
Sea King’s tomb. Yang Daguang had hidden these murals behind the
reception room’s walls.

I slapped myself, so careless!

I immediately leaned in to take a closer look.

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Chapter 87
The composition of those murals was very peculiar and I figured they had
been painted on the ceiling of the South Sea King’s tomb. I hadn’t paid any
attention to them before. There were several silver rivers painted on the
murals with ships sailing on them. From time to time, there were dragon
towers and halls painted above the river, as well as wharf cargo stations. I
covered my mouth. At that time, I had been shocked by Uncle Three’s
reappearance and made a huge mistake in not noticing that there was
something wrong with the walls.

If I had noticed this at the time, I wouldn’t have gone to Yang Daguang’s
ancestral grave and could’ve gone directly to the South Sea King’s tomb. I
wouldn’t have had to blow the mud up or be beaten by Uncle Two.

But after thinking about it, I realized it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I
comforted myself as I connected all the causes and effects. Uncle Two
probably realized that I wasn’t in a good state after I didn’t find something
strange with the reception room’s walls. Then, I made at least ten wrong
decisions right in front of him.

I continued looking through the information. On the seashore by Pingtan

Island’s Liushui Town, Uncle Two and the others had found a hole near
Xianren Well(1). The hole was the air outlet of an underground river, which
led all the way into the underground river system.

I picked up my e-cigarette and noticed that Liu Sang hadn’t been in the team
at that time. It seemed that his appearance was related to Uncle Two’s next
plan. He probably only went down into the South Sea King’s tomb with us
just to get close to his idol.

(1)
Xianren= Daoist immortal/celestial being. Here are some pictures. Some other travelers posted
reviews/pics here

333
Before entering the South Sea King’s tomb, Uncle Two had noticed that
there was something wrong with the pigment on the reception room’s
murals.

The information that followed after that was Uncle Two’s detailed analysis
of the murals in the main tomb chamber. His research was much more
rigorous than mine and I felt a little uncomfortable when I saw the
numerous annotations on the edge of the photos. Because the surrounding
environment wasn’t the shop I had been familiar with for so many years, I
couldn’t seem to focus enough to read. A strange, cold feeling seemed to
penetrate deep into my bones from my little room.

I hid in my bed and curled up in the corner where the bed met the wall like I
used to do when I was reading novels as a child. I then stuffed a pillow
behind my back and went on reading.

I saw the mural depicting the construction of the South Sea King’s tomb. The
mural was full of people in the sky, but Uncle Two had circled a strange
figure among them. Not only was this figure different from the many figures
in the series of murals, but it was even different from the immortals on the
immortal boat in the sky. This person had been scalped and a bunch of holes
were made in the exposed skull.

This man wasn’t dressed fancy but wore ordinary clothes as he directed the
workers to build. The immortals were beating drums above as dark clouds
gathered. At that time, the South Sea’s King Zhi had obviously scalped his
ministers or slaves and done something to their skulls so that they could
hear the thunder more clearly. The South Sea King was probably obsessed
by that point.

“This South Sea King’s tomb was built by listening to thunder,” I muttered to
myself as I looked out the window at the cloudy day outside. If there really
was such specific information in the thunder, then what secret was the
immortal boat passing down that day?

334
It was definitely impossible, but I suddenly had an idea. Uncle Three and the
others got inspiration from the South Sea King’s tomb. In the end, they
listened to thunder everywhere. It wasn’t like I wanted to work recently
anyways, so could I also chase thunderclouds? Maybe there was something
special there.

Other than being struck by lightning, it wasn’t like there was any special
danger in chasing thunderstorms. And the cost was very low, so I could
handle it myself.

I suddenly thought of Liu Sang. In addition to listening to thunder and

looking for underground tombs, Liu Sang also had a powerful ability: he
could chase thunderclouds. Was it as I thought and Uncle Two’s next job for
him was to chase thunderclouds?

When I thought of this, I decided to check the weather forecast.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to storm in Hangzhou any time soon. I
decided to put the idea aside for now and continue looking through the
information. Uncle Two had taken a lot of close-ups of the next mural. I
looked carefully and found that I wasn’t supposed to be looking at these
close-up details of the mural, but at the numerous pencil marks that were
there. These marks were the result of someone carelessly copying the
mural.

Uncle Two’s note read: This was the only mural copied back then.

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Chapter 88
The copied mural meant key information, so I immediately sat up straight to
examine it.

There were countless leather figurines painted on this mural and almost all
the spaces were filled with them. The reason why I could tell they were
leather figurines instead of living people was because their fingers were the
same kind of shell as the leather figurines I saw before.

Uncle Two made notes on the side and said that there was a total of 432
statues. Each had their own identity, ranging from musicians, soldiers,
palace maids, warriors, and guardian deities. I squinted at all the neatly
arranged statues for a while. This mural’s focus was on the symbolic concept
design of the South Sea King’s tomb.

There was an area at the top that was surrounded by palace maids. The
South Sea’s King Zhi sat on a throne, which was surrounded by a sea of
clouds. The immortal boats were surrounded by palace maids, while
ministers paid homage. It formed a beautiful world of ultimate bliss. This
was the setup we had seen in the main tomb chamber.

There were guardian deities around this world that looked like thunder
gods. They were the thunder god statues we saw in the tomb passage.

Under this most blissful world, there were countless chariots and horses.
Those thunder god statues from just now were calling these strange chariots
and mounting them to gallop under the blissful world. These were the
horses and chariots that were in the burial pit below the tomb passage.

Under the chariot and horse army was a group of soldiers and craftsmen
who were worshiping. These soldiers and craftsmen were at the very
bottom of the whole mural and worshiped upwards. These were the
underwater leather figurines we found in the drainage channel.

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The overall structure of the South Sea King’s tomb was very simple. Uncle
Two also marked the possible identities of every leather figurine according
to their different costumes. There was a leather figuring woman among
them whose face was blurred on the mural. Uncle Two had placed a circle
around it. This blurriness wasn’t from the mural corroding, but from the lack
of clarity when it was originally painted.

Every part of the rest of the mural was very clear, and only this part was
painted very hastily. As a result, this leather figurine woman’s face looked
strange and sinister. This leather figurine woman was in the paradise among
the sea of clouds at the top of the mural. Since it was painted by the South
Sea King’s side, it was logically one of the most important compositions.

But why was it like this?

Could it be that leather figurine woman?

I picked up my cell phone and sent a short message to Poker-Face asking

him where the leather figurine woman was.

Poker-Face’s short reply said: “Brought it out.”

I thought about it. Uncle Two couldn’t carry this kind of thing around, so he
must have returned to Hangzhou to put it in storage.

I looked at Uncle Two’s note on the margin, which read: “There are many
immortal boats in the main tomb chamber that are recorded in the mural.
The indistinct leather figurine woman in this mural should be located on the
first boat in the tomb chamber, but we haven’t found it. Based on the
clothing, this leather figurine woman should be a sorceress who stuck close
to the emperor.”

I looked between the photos of the first boat and mural and compared
them. Sure enough, there was a leather figurine woman missing from the
photo of the first boat.

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Uncle Two took a close-up photo of the ground in front of the first stone
boat where clear traces of footprints could be seen. His comment read:
“This leather figurine woman was obviously taken away by whoever came in
before.”

But why?

Uncle Two asked himself this question: “Why did Third Brother take the
leather figurine woman away?”

It wasn’t taken away, I said to myself. If this leather figurine woman was the
one we had found in the waterway, then it had just been left down there.

Uncle Three had copied all the leather figurines in the mural, so from my
point of view, this was done to record specific details. I shook my hands out
and called Uncle Two.

You could never tell what Uncle Two was doing from his voice alone. When
he asked me what was wrong, I said, “You told me it was ok to provide you
some information.”

Uncle Two told me to go ahead, so I continued, “Uncle Two, I have a

farfetched idea. Do you think it’s possible that there are two South Sea
King’s tombs?”

Uncle Two paused. “Why do you say that?”

I didn’t really have a particular reason in mind, it was just a sudden thought.
“I read through the information you gave me,” I said. “Uncle Three copied
the mural to record the details, so there must be another ‘thing’ that has to
be compared with the copied details. That’s why I thought there might be
another completely identical mural, only with some small differences in
detail. Uncle Three needed to copy it for comparison. If there is an identical
mural, then I wonder if it came from an identical ancient tomb. In other
words, there are two South Sea King’s tombs.”

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Uncle Two was silent for a while and then said, “It’s not like that, but it’s a
bit similar to what you said. There’s another tomb with murals that are very
similar to those of the South Sea King’s tomb, but there are several
dynasties between this other tomb and the South Sea King’s tomb.”

“Song Dynasty,” I said.

Uncle Two paused, “How did you know?”

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Chapter 89
After Uncle Two finished speaking, he immediately understood and said,
“Oh, you told me.”

I sighed. Uncle Two seemed to be making tea on the other end and said,
“Take a closer look and call me if you find anything new.”

I said ok and hung up the phone. As I spun the phone around in my hand, I
couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable. This matter was different from the
things I had looked into in the past. With the incident ten years ago, I could
clearly see the context, what was missing, and what others wanted to hide.
Amidst the great mystery and confusion, I was at least able to see a rough
outline.

When I faced the events ten years ago, my biggest fear was that the mystery
was so unimaginably huge. But in the process of moving forward—from the
core events in Xisha to the various clues Poker-Face had intermittently left
behind—I could look at things one by one and clearly see the nodes.

I had been weaving these nodes into a complete truth for an entire decade.

I was used to thinking like this, but this time, it wasn’t a clear node.

All the traces and clues I found were irrelevant. If I wanted to write a novel,
then I’d have to write several prologues like some of the ancient novels used
to do.

I casually flipped through the material again. Some of the murals in the back
were very important and played a huge role in the later events, while others
were completely insignificant achievements of the South Sea King that the
painters had depicted at that time. Some of these achievements included
controlling the water in the underground rivers and catching huge mussels
to collect pearls. But even though Uncle Two had made numerous
annotations on almost every detail, my thoughts started to wander at this
time.

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My first thought was, how many people entered the South Sea King’s tomb?
Based on the current analysis, it was a team of at least thirty people.
Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible to blast in from the bottom of the
tomb chamber. I called one of my previous buddies, who was a master. He
said that he didn’t need thirty people. As long as he chose good spots to
blow up and everyone understood basic mechanics, six people could do it.

It was hard to say how many there were, but now I knew it was at least six
people. In addition to the simple process of stealing the coffin—I’ll call it the
main event—three other things happened.

Event A occurred when the descendant of the Qi family set up a feng shui
array.

I was almost certain that the “fulaiyi”(1) was used to make this feng shui
array, but unless Qi Yu wanted his soul to return to this ancient tomb after
death, then this feng shui pattern was too puzzling.

Of course, when I thought about it later, I realized that there was another
possibility. Although the shuikao had Qi Yu’s name written on it, he might
not have actually worn it.

If this was the case, then Qi Yu was a killer and it was a sinister feng shui
array. It was possible for feng shui arrays to harm people, but they took
effect very slowly. Who did he want to harm? Why not kill the other party
when they were alive instead of harming them after death?

Event B occurred during the construction of this ancient tomb when they
discovered a hole. There was a stone tablet in front of the hole that stated
you wouldn’t get out once you went in. There were many strange distance
markers in this naturally-formed hole. But despite the tablet’s warning, we

(1)
The shuikao. Remember, guilaiyi and fulaiyi translates as something like “return garment”, just with
different characters. Feiyi is something like “flying garment”. It’s the banner carried in the funeral
procession and then buried in the tomb for the purpose of calling back the spirit of the deceased.

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went in and came out at the other end (even though we had to crawl for a
long time).

Was it a false warning? I was thinking about it so much that I almost thought
I’d find myself back in that hole every time I woke up. Maybe we didn’t get
out at all but were trapped there and having a nervous breakdown.

Whatever the case, this hole was very special. When the tomb was being
built at that time, the South Sea country’s people even went so far as to
abandon a tomb passage for it. Why?

Event C occurred when Uncle Three copied the mural in the South Sea King’s
tomb. This mural had a strange leather figurine woman with a blurred face.
Uncle Three took the leather figurine woman out of the main tomb chamber
but ended up dumping it in the drainage channel below. No matter how I
thought about it, this leather figurine woman was really very strange. It
almost seemed to be possessed by a ghost.

After thinking over everything, I decided to meet the protagonist of Event C.

I put on some clothes and headed to Uncle Two’s warehouse.

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Chapter 90
I got in the Jinbei. Uncle Two had several warehouses in Hangzhou: one at
Genshanmen, one at Xixi, and one at Banshan. On the surface, these large
warehouses were part of Uncle Two’s stone business. They were full of low-
cost jade, which included Kunlun jade, Russian jade, and Qinghai stones.
When they were at their lowest value back then, they were brought in by
the wagonload. Now they were worth some money, but the access wasn’t
very good so they just stayed there.

As a matter of fact, these warehouses had a lot to offer. The stones were
just a cover-up.

Because the warehouses were very large, all of Uncle Two’s various sundries
were also piled up inside. I didn’t bother calling him to get permission since I
was afraid he’d be too sensitive about it. I would just look through the
warehouses by myself. All the gatekeepers knew me anyways.

When I arrived at the warehouse in Xixi, I saw a lot of equipment outside

that hadn’t been sorted and put into storage yet. It was everything Uncle
Two had brought to Pingtan at that time, so I knew I had the right place.

The sky outside was very dark as I walked into the huge warehouse. The
fluorescent lights were on, revealing that everything inside was tightly
wrapped in white, non-woven fabric. The large and small goods all neatly
stacked together made my scalp tingle.

I also noticed that there were ink lines under all the stones. I didn’t know
whether it was to ward off evil spirits or to make it easier to stack the goods
more neatly.

I walked through the gaps in the rows of the fabric-wrapped goods and saw
that numbers and some unintelligible annotations had been written on the
non-woven fabric with a brush. The calligraphy was very beautiful and was
all done in slender gold script.

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Although I had been to these warehouses before, I had never paid attention
to the slender gold script on the items. Since non-woven fabrics weren’t
suitable for calligraphy, the characters created here were done in a
relatively casual style. I examined the brush strokes very carefully. They
were somewhat similar to mine, but there were some problems with the
details.

Some of these fabric-wrapped goods were stone, while a large part of them
had some special markings on them. These special items were the things
that Uncle Two was hiding here, and they all had stories. Many of them
were grave goods that had been stored here since those in the Nine Gates
couldn’t handle them. Some of them were unclaimed bodies, most of which
had died in vain. Since no one in this industry would uphold justice, Uncle
Two would do the inspection on their behalf. Many people had died of
unknown causes. If Uncle Two couldn’t figure out how they died, they would
be cremated and dumped into the river after eleven years.

As a result, people in the old Nine Gates used to collectively call these
warehouses “Warehouse Eleven”.

Warehouse Eleven was huge and messy and had all kinds of things from
different ages. Before Uncle Two took over Warehouse Eleven, the
predecessor was in Hunan, so there were some very old things in it that had
been left by previous generations. Warehouse Eleven had its own unique
storage management system, which made it impossible for outsiders to find
specific things. Uncle Two’s unique aesthetics gave this warehouse—which
was actually just a storage room full of old junk—a sense of ceremony and
beauty. It was only here that I could feel the immense size and order of the
Nine Gates.

But there were fewer and fewer things in Warehouse Eleven. I looked at all
the dust on the fabric-wrapped goods as I searched for the leather figurine
woman. It took me at least three hours before I finally found the fabric bag I
was looking for.

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This particular bag had the least amount of dust on it and the cloth was the
same as all the other non-woven fabric bags, so it made it quite obvious.

I cut the wire wrapped around it and opened the bag to reveal the leather
figurine woman inside. I fell over in shock and crawled back a few steps
before stopping myself.

The leather figurine woman’s face had become extremely sinister at some
point. I usually wouldn’t be scared by something that was illuminated by
light, but this face was just too frightening. The eyebrows and eyes made
the whole face almost appear distorted like it was smiling, but the lower
part of its face was sinister like a ghost.

It didn’t even seem close to the expression I saw in the tomb before.

This expression appeared to be a result of shrinking, but that first glance had
all the hair on my body standing on end.

I really didn’t want to look at her closely, but I came here for a reason. There
was nothing else I could do, so I got up and turned on my flashlight to shine
on her skin. The leather figurine’s skin was so worn through that I could see
the gold threads inside. I also saw something hanging inside the leather
figurine. I looked around but didn’t see any gaps. I was going to have to
reach into the leather figurine’s mouth to get it out.

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Chapter 91
I swallowed, looked at the leather figurine woman’s sinister mouth, and
panicked. But there weren’t any teeth in that mouth, so physically putting
my hand into it definitely wouldn’t be dangerous. I stepped forward and
quietly said, “I mean no offense, I mean no offense.” I then put my hand in
the leather figurine woman’s mouth bit by bit.

I had half of my arm in there but still couldn’t reach it. The hollowness inside
the figurine felt just like a sheepskin raft. My cell phone’s light kept shining,
which showed the shadow of my hand inside the leather figurine.

I had to push my whole arm into it, which was a little disgusting. When I
finally touched the object, I found that it felt like a cocoon. It seemed as if it
had been hung by a lot of silk in the cavity of the leather figurine woman,
but it dropped and fell into the hollow leg as soon as I touched it.

I pulled my hand out, used my phone to illuminate it, and found that the
cocoon was stuck in the figurine’s knee. I was certain I couldn’t reach it by
going through the mouth again, so I looked up to see if there was some
other place I could reach through.

But I felt embarrassed as soon as I looked at it. I stood up and saw the
expression on the leather figurine woman’s face. Its mouth now looked like
Darren Wang’s(1) and I couldn’t see the former sinisterness at all.

I heaved a sigh and looked at the leather figurine woman’s lower body while
thinking, do I really have to do such a terrible thing? But if I didn’t do it, then
I could only cut open this very rare figurine. It would be a pity to destroy it
so hastily.

I lifted my sleeves and squatted in front of the leather figurine woman while
scoping out the various angles. I constantly changed the angles and gestures

(1)
Taiwanese actor. He’s best known for his breakout role as Hsu Tai-Yu in the film, “Our Times”. More
info here.

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of my hands, making a series of movements like Wolverine and Spider-Man,
but it was all to no avail.

I was just at my wit’s end when I heard someone cough behind me.

I looked back and saw a young man in the warehouse uniform standing
behind me and pointing to the camera overhead.

I blushed and immediately stood up straight. “It’s not what you think,” I said
to him. “Don’t get me wrong.” I shined the flashlight at the leather figurine’s
knee and told him my intentions. The young man looked at me, turned the
leather figurine woman upside down, and gave it two hard shakes. A
cocoon-like fur ball fell all the way from the leather figurine woman’s knee
to its throat.

He gave it another hard shake and the ball fell out. The young man put the
leather figurine woman back as I stared at him in amazement. I was most
definitely an idiot. The young man then handed me a business card, put on
his headphones, and went back to listening to his music.

I looked at the card, which read: Bai Haotian, Duty Manager of Warehouse
Eleven.

Warehouse Eleven’s original manager was the great Chao Feng(2), whose
surname was Bai. The Bai family was very prosperous and there were likely
thousands of them now. It didn’t matter whether it was the family planning
era or the glorious mothers era(3), the Bai family always gave birth to at least
seven or eight children. They were always a big family. Uncle Two said that
Warehouse Eleven’s managers had accumulated good merit, so the Bai
family would continue to prosper. I used to have a buddy from the Bai

(2)
Chao Feng was a title given to the manager of wealthy pawn shops in ancient times.
(3)
Family planning=basically limiting population growth by advocating delayed marriage and delayed
child bearing. They want fewer and healthier births, and advocate one child per couple. More info here.
I think the glorious mothers era is the opposite. Mao Zedong wanted more babies and glorified
motherhood as helping the Communist cause.

347
family, whose nickname was Baishe(4). People said that he lived very well
and always hung out in bars when he wasn’t going down in the tombs.

Although there were many people in the Bai family, their quality varied.
Some were especially high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen, while
others helped put protective covers on cell phones. The ones sent to take
charge of Warehouse Eleven were generally nineteen-year-olds from the Bai
family who were going to college in Hangzhou. It was one crop after
another—just like a bunch of leeks—but they never broke the cycle.

The name Bai Haotian was domineering enough(5), so the fortune teller
probably said he wouldn’t die young. But I felt that his personality left
something to be desired.

I sighed and thought that it was sad enough that I was going to be looked
down upon by a post-00 kid(6).

I looked down at the thing that had been dumped out of the leather figurine
and found that it was a moldy rag. The rag had rotted to the point that it
looked like mud and was covered in various fungi. It was very old and must
have been stuffed in there by Uncle Three. When I opened the rag, it broke
apart to reveal the contents inside. It turned out to be a dry piece of wood,
but when I looked carefully, I realized that it was a mummified tongue.

(4)
Baishe= White Snake. (He’s the Suzhen guy from “Ten Years Later”)
(5)
Bai Haotian= white/pure/bright clear sky
(6)
Refers to Chinese citizens born between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2009. We call them Gen Z
in the US.

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Chapter 92
The tongue was just like beef jerky. A person’s tongue was actually very long
since a large part of it was in the throat. It would even look like a tenderloin
if it was pulled out. I honestly would’ve thought this tongue was dried meat
if it wasn’t for the head.

Even a tongue mummified before the year 2000 wouldn’t have been
preserved so well. This tongue was wrapped in a completely moldy and
rotting rag, which was also made of modern materials. It hadn’t completely
rotted through, which meant it wasn’t that old. It had probably been left
there when Uncle Three went in at that time. Moreover, the rag may have
been specially preserved with alcohol.

I looked between the leather figurine woman’s gaping mouth and the
tongue in my hand before taking a deep breath. What did this mean?

It seemed to indicate that Uncle Three pulled out a living person’s tongue
and stuffed it inside the leather figurine woman when he entered the tomb
chamber.

First, why do this? Second, whose tongue was it?

This was beyond the scope of my understanding and I didn’t have any clues
at all. Why would a leather figurine woman be specially marked on the
mural? Why would Uncle Three move it from the tomb chamber? Why did
he discard it in the waterway? Why was there a “fresh” tongue in the
figurine’s body? And why had a fulaiyi been placed above the coffin?

I had never encountered a situation where there weren’t any clues or logical
reasoning at all. I lay down on the ground and rubbed my hands through my
hair to try and calm myself down.

After doing this a few times, I suddenly heard another cough come from
behind me. I looked up and saw Bai Haotian standing behind me. I

349
immediately got up and saw him looking at me strangely. I smiled
apologetically, “I’m sorry. Some things just don’t make sense.”

Bai Haotian looked at me and suddenly gave me a shy smile, “Are you Little
Master Three?”

Obviously. If I’m not Wu Xie, then why did you let me in?

I nodded and he said, “I always thought you were some other relative of Er
Ye’s. I watched you for a long time before I found out that you were Wu
Xie.”

“Oh,” I said.

He suddenly took out a duty book, “I really like you. Can you give me your
signature?”

I paused, “What am I signing?”

“Autograph.”

“Autograph your dick,” I said angrily.

“If you don’t sign, I’ll call Er Ye.” Bai Haotian wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he
was very sincere as he handed me the duty book.

I took a deep breath and calmed down. When I thought about it, I realized
that Uncle Two knowing I was here would cause all sorts of complications. I
bit back my anger and picked up the duty book. He immediately leaned over
and said, “When you sign it, make it out to Bai Haotian and say ‘I hope you
find a boyfriend soon’.”

It was only at this moment that I realized people who asked me for a
signature almost always wanted me to sign IOUs. But this guy was asking me
to sign because he liked me?

I had never encountered this kind of situation before. After thinking about it,
I crookedly wrote my signature on the duty book as he happily circled

350
around me twice. I looked at him and then at the thing I had just signed and
suddenly realized that something was wrong.

This boy wasn’t a man, but a woman!

I thought she was a man because her hair was cut so short and she was
wearing the warehouse uniform.

I returned the duty book to her and watched as she carefully looked it over
twice. “The characters look really good. Little Master Three, what are you
doing here? Why were you lying on the ground?”

It was always hard to be mean to those who liked you, so I couldn’t bring
myself to be angry at her. I looked at her and suddenly came up with an
idea.

“You won’t tell my Uncle Two I’ve been here, will you?”

“No, but the surveillance cameras got it all.”

“That part doesn’t matter. He’s not diligent enough to check the cameras.
Just don’t tell him.” As I spoke to her, I picked up the leather figurine
woman.

Bai Haotian suddenly exclaimed, “Little Master Three, what are you doing?!
If something goes missing from the warehouse, I’m screwed!”

“I’ll bring it back in three days. I guarantee it’ll be exactly the same.”

“How is that possible? Her mouth wasn’t that big when she came in.” The
little girl was very frightened.

I patted her, “This is the fee for my autograph. Keep it secret.” I picked up
the leather figurine woman and walked out. There were so many unrelated
clues that there was no way to join them. But my intuition said that this was
a kind of sorcery, which no longer fell under the category of feng shui. I

351
needed to find a master to ask. It was impossible to dictate everything, so it
was better to take it all with me.

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Chapter 93
I didn’t care about Bai Haotian’s attempts at blocking me and ran out with
the leather figurine woman. She pulled and dragged at me from behind as I
rushed to the door of Warehouse Eleven.

The iron door at the entrance was closed. As long as the iron door of such a
large warehouse was closed, it was very difficult to open even if it wasn’t
locked. I slammed the heavy iron door with one hand to try and open it, but
I didn’t have enough strength with just one hand. It cracked open very
slowly, but Bai Haotian pressed her back against the door to prevent me
from opening it and shouted, “No! No, you can’t!”

I tugged a few more times but it didn’t budge. I let go and looked at her. She
was covering the door with her whole body, “No, you can’t leave. Things
aren’t allowed out of Warehouse Eleven. If even one thing is gone, our Bai
family’s century-old reputation will be ruined.”

“The Bai family hasn’t lost a single thing in a hundred years? I don’t believe
it. With your level of security here, I bet I could carry all the items out of this
warehouse tonight. Don’t believe me?” I tried to mimic Fatty’s fierce way of
speaking and grinned. “Well, whether you believe me or not, I’ll carry you
out tonight.” As I spoke, I put in a lot of effort to try and look at her in a
lascivious manner.

Bai Haotian reached up and bolted the door. As she continued to cling to it,
she looked at me with a flushed face, “You can carry me out, but you can’t
take any of the items away!”

“Wow, so shameless.”

What the fuck? Are you here to guard the warehouse or find a date? I cursed
to myself before pointing at her nose, “I’ll get rough.”

“You won’t.” She looked at me confidently. “You’re Wu Xie, you won’t get
rough.”

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“Then give me my signature back if you’re not going to help!”

“No takebacks!”

I wanted to cry. I looked around and saw that there weren’t any other places
to get out of the three-story warehouse besides the numerous air vents. I
looked at the little girl. Was she really going to force me to climb the wall? I
discarded the leather figurine woman and Bai Haotian breathed a sigh of
relief, thinking that I had finally given up. But just as she moved forward to
pick up the leather figurine woman, I stepped forward and lifted her up with
one hand. I then tore off the non-woven fabric from a nearby stone and
wrapped it around her several times before tying a knot.

Once that was done, I immediately rushed back and picked up the leather
figurine woman. I then opened the door behind her back and ran out while
shouting, “I’ll bring it back in three days!”

I carried the leather figurine woman all the way to my car, put it in the
passenger seat, and then stepped on the gas and drove out. After driving for
several kilometers, I was certain she wouldn’t catch up. I breathed a sigh of
relief and then looked over at the leather figurine woman. Its posture had
changed after I had lugged it around, and now it looked like it was cheering
with its mouth open as it sat in my passenger seat.

I picked up my e-cigarette and slowed down. There was a traffic cop in front
of me, so I took a deep breath and slowly drove past. The officer looked at
my passenger and I vaguely heard him ask, “Do they also come in this
style?”

I wasn’t sure whether Bai Haotian would inform my Uncle Two, but I figured
she would probably wait at least three days for me to return the item since
the Bai family’s reputation was at stake. Still, it was best to be quick about it,
so I drove straight to Hefang Street. There was an expert there that I knew.
He was called “Ha Zong” because he looked like a Husky(1). This person

(1)
Ha (哈)=husky and Zong (总)=head/chief/general. So think of him as Boss Husky.

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specialized in researching various folk remedies and folk magic. There was
even a folk remedy museum on Hefang Street that was later banned.

I reached the parking lot and then ran down Hefang Street with the leather
figurine woman in my arms. I ran all the way to Ha Zong’s shop and found
that he was playing mahjong with a few people from the next shop over. He
was very happy to see me come in, but his expression immediately changed
as soon as he caught sight of the leather figurine woman.

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Chapter 94
Ha Zong called over a buddy to help him draw the tiles and then came up to
me with a dark look on his face. He gave the leather figurine woman beside
me a once over. I took a step closer to him, but he immediately took a step
back. “Little Master Three,” he said with a little jerk. “What’s going on? New
girlfriend?”

“Fuck you. Let’s hurry into the back room.” I held the leather figurine
woman and went straight to his back room. I kicked the door open, put the
leather figurine woman on the bed in the room, and then wiped the sweat
from my forehead.

Ha Zong followed me in very cautiously. He looked at the leather figurine

woman and then at me. “I heard you closed the shop. What are you doing?
If you really can’t help yourself, I can make some good introductions. You
don’t have to look for this—this—” he looked at the leather figurine woman.
“This kind of novelty.”

I put the tongue on his desk and pulled him over. “Please take a look at it for
me. It’s urgent. I really have no clue this time.”

He slowly wandered over. His mouth twitched when he saw the tongue, but
he still kept quite a bit of distance between us. He hadn’t been like this
before, so I found it pretty odd. I moved to catch him, but he quickly avoided
me.

He pointed at me, “Stop trying to grope me.”

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked him.

“You don’t fucking contact me for ten and a half months and now you want
to kick my door down? What are you doing?” He touched his chin. “I’ve
heard everything about you, so don’t even think about trying to pass on
your filth to me.”

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“What filth?” I became angry and slammed my hands down on the table.
“Look at it quickly, I’m in a hurry.”

He suddenly sneered, “Little Master Three, we had a good relationship so I

looked at whatever you brought before. Even though you didn’t pay, I could
still ask your Uncle Two to help settle the account. But now your shop is
gone and your Uncle Two told me that if you want me to look at something,
you have to give—” he made a gesture with his hands that meant I had to
pay for it. “You used to be awesome, but now you can’t help but—”

I immediately moved forward, grabbed his fingers, and snapped them. He

shouted in pain, but I went up and gave him two hard slaps before knocking
him to the ground. I then went over and closed the door before saying to
him, “Ha Zong, everyone gave me this same attitude when my Uncle Three
disappeared and now you dare do this to me? Who the fuck do you think I
am now, huh? Even if I don’t have a fucking shop or Uncle Two to cover for
me, do you really think you can afford to provoke me?”

“Wu Xie, you fucking son of a bitch—” Ha Zong started to yell.

I grabbed his other hand and bent it back so far that it was about to break.
As he shouted in pain again, I quickly scolded him, “Think again. What
should you be saying?”

“Little Master Three, I’ll look at it right now,” he shouted.

I released his hand and he stood up with tears in his eyes, “You didn’t even
give me the chance to act tough.”

I rubbed my hands, went back over, and yanked his fingers back until he
cried out again. “Don’t fucking try to bully me just because you think I lost
power,” I said coldly. “You’re just a Husky pretending to be a big-tailed wolf.
TV dramas don’t even like to make these kinds of stories anymore.”

Ha Zong quickly nodded, “Yes, yes.”

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He went over and looked at the leather figurine woman and the tongue.
“Don’t say you don’t know,” I warned him.

He examined it carefully and then asked me, “Little Master Three, this isn’t
human skin, is it?”

“Don’t ask me, I’m asking you.” I glared at him like Fatty would. “What
happens if it’s human skin?”

“If it’s human skin, you’ll die.” Ha Zong looked at me and took a step back,
afraid that I would hit him again. He immediately continued explaining, “This
is called ‘pi tong’, which is a very evil and sinister setup.”

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Chapter 95
“Evil and sinister?” I narrowed my eyes. “Am I going to die?”

Ha Zong didn’t dare nod and just gave me an aggrieved look. I sneered in my
heart, not believing it at all. “Then why don’t you start crying for me?” I
quietly asked him.

Ha Zong froze for a moment and then tried to make a crying face, “Little
Master Three～ I can’t bear to lose you—”

I slapped him on the head. “Why don’t you save me if you can’t bear to lose
me?”

Ha Zong immediately nodded. “Little Master Three, you can’t be saved from
this thing. It’s part of a pair. You know that pi tong is a very mysterious
thing. You must’ve seen it before, but it probably wasn’t that big. An
ordinary pi tong is only as big as the Oscar trophy.” Ha Zong gestured, “Or
the size of karaoke microphone. They’re all made of human skin and are
mainly used to raise insects.”

“What kind of bugs?” I asked him.

“Little Master Three, have you heard of green water beetles?” Ha Zong
asked.

I recalled that Chen Zangqi had written about this kind of bug in
“Supplements to Materia Medica” during the Tang Dynasty(1). Once the
green water beetle gave birth, the mother and child would still gather
together in one place even after they were separated. People would coat
their money in these beetles’ blood because it was said that the money
coated in the mother’s blood would fly back to the money coated in the

(1)
Chen Zangqi was an herbalist during the 8th century. “Materia medica” is just latin for medical book.
It’s a book on Chinese (herbal) medicine. I only found stuff here on baidu so you can use google
translate in chrome if you want to check it out. There’s a “Compendium of Materia Medica” written
during the much later Ming dynasty that has an English wiki page here if you want to look at it instead.

359
child’s blood (or vice versa) after it was used up. That was how the saying
“green water beetles will bring your money back” came about(2).

“Why would you raise this kind of bug?” I asked him. This bug seemed to be
a legendary insect that may have gone extinct as early as the Ming Dynasty.
If spreading a bug’s blood on money enabled the money to fly back by itself,
then it would definitely be strange if the bug didn’t become extinct.

“The only reason you would raise these green water beetles was to find
people,” Ha Zong said. “When exploring some wild areas in ancient times,
there was a saying that white paper dolls were coated in the blood of these
green beetles. If the person got lost, then the paper doll would show them
the way back.”

Oh, I looked at the leather figurine woman. “Why does it have to be raised in
human skin?”

“The child bugs are raised in men’s skin, while the mother bugs are raised in
women’s skin. The two are a pair. The blood of green water beetles that
were raised in leather figurines is much stronger than the blood of wild
green water beetles. They can even be separated by several kilometers.” Ha
Zong looked at me and continued, “Is this female figurine always following
you, Little Master Three?”

“How did you know?” I asked.

“Have you been feeling unwell recently?” He asked.

I thought about it. Except for being in a bad mood, I didn’t feel sick or
anything. Then, I suddenly understood what he meant, “Fuck me, what are
you trying to say? Do you mean… it’s in my body?”

(2)
FYI, the character for water beetle (蚨) also means money.

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“There’s a bug in your body. It and the bug raised in this leather figurine
woman are mother and child,” Ha Zong said. “This is a message. It’s really
clever sorcery.”

“What information? When was the bug put in my body?” Although I was
often bitten by bugs, I made sure to take care of everything.

“That’s something you have to recall. It’s possible you got it from
somewhere. Don’t you often go to a bunch of different places? But it’s also
possible that you already had this bug in your body when you were a child.
As soon as you came within the vicinity of this leather figurine woman, the
mother bug sensed the child bug in your body and was attracted to you. This
kind of thing is generally a message of some sort, because the mother and
child bugs keep growing and multiplying endlessly. If there’s a female bug in
this leather figurine woman, there may not be only one child bug. In other
words, there might be child bugs in other places. Using this method, an
expert might be helping you find the location of another child bug.

“So, this leather figurine woman is a compass.”

“You could say that. But Little Master Three, if you have green water beetles
in your body, then your blood will be different from others. Mother bugs can
make people live longer, while child bugs can accelerate aging,” he said
seriously. “Do you really not feel unwell?”

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Chapter 96
I hooked my arm around Ha Zong’s shoulder, feeling that what he said just
now was a bit too heavy. I could actually tell when he was bullshitting and
when he was telling the truth. I had just told him that he couldn’t say he
didn’t know, so he made up something to scare me.

Lying on a large scale required either a very high level of intelligence or a

very long time. The key to lying was to make sure that the logic was smooth
and the description was complex. It made people instinctively feel that this
kind of correct and flawless information had to be true. Ha Zong wasn’t a
very intelligent person, so I turned on my cell phone and pulled up the
stopwatch app while saying, “I don’t want to listen to a story. I’ll give you
three minutes to think about it. Then, you’ll have one minute to finish telling
me about pi tong.”

“If I admit my mistakes, will you stop messing with me like this?” Ha Zong
grabbed my hand, but I squeezed his fingers until he reflexively let go.

The human body always learned pain quickly, after all.

I pressed the start button on the stopwatch app. Ha Zong didn’t bother
delaying and started talking, “I already made it clear that this thing comes in
pairs. In the past, when people went to the wilderness or explored deep in
caves, they were afraid that they wouldn’t make it back, so they used paper
to make zhi tong. But zhi tong broke easily, so they used pi tong(1) instead.
But these are all just legends, which aren’t credible. I think these two bugs
usually live in pairs and can smell each other from far away. But because
they’re so rare, the legends passed down by those in this underworld have
become more and more incredible.”

A minute had gone by. He immediately inhaled and continued, “Rumor had
it that the pi tong used to raise these insects could still function after the
insects had died. If a pair of pi tong had raised more than seven generations

(1)
Zhi tong= paper bird net. Pi tong=skin/leather bird net

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of insects, they could replace the insects. There was an ancient book from
the Tang Dynasty that mentioned—”

I interrupted him and said, “If you can’t pronounce the name of the ancient
book, then it’s definitely a lie.”

He immediately changed his tune, “I’m sorry, it’s habit. I’m lying, there’s no
ancient book. But I have seen Taoist priests use pi tong to practice sorcery
before. I just don’t know how it works. All I know is that if there’s one pi
tong, then there should be another to complete the set. If you take this one,
you’ll probably find the other one.”

Not only did Taoist priests use pi tong, but they could take one to find the
other one?

I suddenly remembered the murals in the South Sea King’s tomb and how
Uncle Three had left this leather figurine woman in the waterway.

For Uncle Three, that waterway was the only way for him to get out. He
knew that if he left the female figurine there, it would be discovered by
whoever came later.

But that wasn’t necessarily the case in the main tomb chamber, where there
were too many leather figurines.

So, he threw the leather figurine woman into the waterway in order to let
others find her and take her away.

But that wasn’t how it happened. I wasn’t the one who took the leather
figurine woman away, she was the one who was following me the whole
time.

Ha Zong stopped my stopwatch and I looked at him. He wiped the cold

sweat off his face and said, “Take your time.”

“Are there really bugs in my body?” I asked him.

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After I spoke, I pressed the stopwatch again. Ha Zong took a deep breath,
“That was me talking nonsense. Of course, it is possible that there are bugs
in your body, but it’s more likely that you touched another pi tong at some
point. Maybe that’s why this pi tong was attracted to you.”

I frowned. Ha Zong immediately stopped the stopwatch again.

I pressed it again and Ha Zong jumped up. “Little Master Three, this is just a
kind of guide. I really don’t know the rest. You’re so smart, you can figure it
out yourself.”

After thinking about it, I remembered the Song Dynasty tomb murals in Yang
Daguang’s family tomb.

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Chapter 97
That Song Dynasty tomb was originally my second target, but I had failed at
my first target, the South Sea country. I no longer had the face to continue
checking.

Could it be that the other pi tong in this set pointed to the Song Dynasty
tomb? Did I touch something in Yang Daguang’s tomb that had the smell of
another pi tong, which was what kept attracting the leather figurine
woman?

But after thinking about it, it seemed impossible. I didn’t know where the
Song Dynasty tomb was now, but since Uncle Three could steal the murals,
there had to be other simpler ways to tell me how to get to the tomb. Using
such a weird method was a bit like putting the cart before the horse.

Unless… the location of this Song Dynasty tomb was indescribable. Maybe it
was constantly moving, so you needed something that could act like a
compass.

But after listening to what Ha Zong had said, I didn’t feel like he told many
lies. He originally believed in folklore, although he hardly encountered any
reliable methods when he was in the process of looking for folk remedies
and various kinds of strange spells. It didn’t matter whether he encountered
magic or smoke screens, he always believed that there was some folk
wisdom and divine power in the world. So, his idea was a little odd but
acceptable.

The next step was to make my own judgment. I glanced at him and realized
that he never even looked at the tongue, but he was covered in a cold
sweat. “This tongue was found in the pi tong. Is it related to what you said?”
I asked him.

Ha Zong looked at the tongue and shook his head. “This… this is nothing.
Sometimes, in order to keep the shape of the chin when stripping the skin

365
off, the skin on the chin will be removed along with the root of the tongue,
which might fall off when it rots.”

“But this isn’t the figurine’s tongue. It’s the tongue of a grave robber from
about forty years ago. It was put into the body of this leather figurine
woman.”

Ha Zong gave a wry smile, “This… this is a coincidence.”

“You mean to tell me that when a grave robber happened to pass by this
leather figurine woman forty years ago, he suddenly didn’t want his tongue
anymore and cut it off and threw it into the leather figurine woman’s
mouth?” I asked as I stared into Ha Zong’s eyes. “Are you kidding me?”

I had a strange feeling that something was wrong.

I had found this tongue, but he didn’t even look at it. In fact, he only looked
at the leather figurine woman. He might have looked relaxed, but he was
showing an unprecedentedly ugly expression on his face.

In my opinion, the most bizarre thing about this matter was the tongue, yet
he didn’t even want to talk about it. When answering my questions, he was
nervous, unfocused, and seemed to have no interest in the tongue at all.

Rationally speaking, this was wrong and didn’t make any sense. Unless I was
just a total noob and didn’t understand how shocked the pi tong made him,
he had to be hiding something from me.

But I remembered he had blurted out a sentence in the beginning, “You’re

dead.”

After that, he tried to retract the sentence. His explanation was that there
were bugs in my body, but later, he said that I might have touched the bugs.
These two explanations were utter nonsense. When I recalled everything
that he had told me, my instincts seemed to say that the sentence “you’re
dead” came from the heart.

366
Ha Zong didn’t have any flaws, but my gut was telling me that something
was wrong. I could immediately tell when other people were lying to me,
but in the antique industry, this kind of vague wrongness would definitely
make me want to scrutinize it more carefully.

I thought up several possibilities, looked at the tongue on the table, and

then picked it up. I suddenly exerted my strength and leaned towards Ha
Zong’s face. No one could escape at this distance, but as soon as my hand
started to move, Ha Zong immediately bounced up, rolled over the bed, and
picked up the leather figurine woman, using it as a shield to block me and
the tongue in my hand.

I immediately understood what was going on. His attention had always been
on the tongue, but he didn’t show it, which was quite an impressive feat for
him.

He had been afraid of the tongue from the very beginning, but this guy
deliberately acted like he was afraid of the leather figurine woman and led
all the topics to it instead.

But why?

“Don’t come over! Don’t come over!” Ha Zong yelled.

“Shout about something else!” I scolded him.

“Wu Xie, if you must die, don’t drag me down with you! Take that thing
away!” Ha Zong shouted.

At this time, I saw the leather figurine woman’s head suddenly turn 180
degrees and look at Ha Zong.

Ha Zong looked it in the eye and shouted, “Fuck!”

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Chapter 98
I was also shocked. I could clearly see that the leather figurine woman’s
head hadn’t become loose or fallen off, but turned a sharp 180 degrees, as if
there was a force affecting her neck.

Ha Zong immediately threw the leather figurine woman away. When it fell
to the ground, I saw the most incredible scene of my life. The leather
figurine woman’s whole body twisted and stood up in a distorted form.

Although it looked like a leather figurine, it appeared to be some kind of

mollusk. The human skin all over its body twisted as it stood up.

“What is this thing?!” I looked at the twisted skin in horror and saw that the
face had been completely distorted into leech-like strips.

“It’s the green water beetle!” Ha Zong shouted.

“Isn’t the green water beetle a bug?! This fucking thing isn’t a bug!” I cursed
at him. “This is—what is this thing?!”

Ha Zong climbed to the door and tried to open it to make his escape, but I
guess the lock got stuck when I closed it earlier. When he found he couldn’t
open it, he started yelling, “We’re screwed, we’re screwed! You’re going to
get me killed, you idiot!”

When I saw the human skin slowly twist and turn into a long strip, I grabbed
a nearby stool, smacked the figurine so that it fell onto the bed, and then
went up and wrapped it in a blanket.

The figurine’s skin looked as thin as a piece of paper, but it was actually
quite strong. I tore off my belt while Ha Zong kept pulling on the door. As I
wrapped my belt tightly around the blanket, I saw that thing began to
emerge from the gap. I could even see the expression on the completely
distorted face.

“Is there any wine?” I asked Ha Zong.

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He cursed, “How are you still in the mood to drink?”

I turned to look around the room and saw a washing machine in the corner. I
picked up the blanket, shoved it directly into the washing machine, and then
turned it on the strongest cycle.

The washing machine instantly started running and I yelled at Ha Zong to

help. I shoved the nearby table directly on top of the washing machine and
then sat on it.

“That’s not going to do a damn thing!” Ha Zong shouted.

“You underestimate today’s washing machines!” I yelled back.

The thing suddenly slammed against the washing machine’s door and almost
succeeded in getting out. “Come here!” I shouted.

Ha Zong tugged on the door one more time, looked at me again, and finally
ran over and sat on the table with me.

“What the hell’s going on?” I asked him.

“This fucker is a green water beetle!” Ha Zong said. “The term ‘green water
beetle’ makes it sound like it’s a kind of flying insect. No one has ever seen
them before, but they’re actually something like human skin. The ancients
used them to collapse into various forms to harm people.”

“Harm them how?”

Ha Zong looked at the tongue in my hand, “It eats them. The only thing left
over is in your hand!”

I looked at the tongue in my hand and suddenly understood. I had a shocked

expression on my face as I yelled, “You should’ve fucking told me earlier!
Why were you messing around for so long? If you had said so earlier, I
would’ve gotten rid of it!”

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Ha Zong looked at me, “You don’t understand. This thing understands
human words. It holds grudges!”

“What kind of logic is that?!” I was furious. “Bugs understanding human

language? You’re speaking Mandarin, so how the hell could it understand?
Did it also go through nine years of compulsory education?!”

“It just fucking knows!” Ha Zong shouted.

There was a violent shock underneath us, as if the thing was trying to knock
the base of the washing machine apart. The washing machine fell over,
taking the two of us to the ground with it. When we looked back, we saw a
blanket-wrapped behemoth rushing out of the washing machine along with
a bunch of water. The leather figurine was completely soaked and had
become enormous.

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Chapter 99
Ha Zong jumped up and hid behind me. I turned my head and asked him,
“What are you doing? Now’s the time for you to show your friendship.”

Ha Zong turned pale with fear. He had obviously never witnessed such a
scene before. Although I wasn’t very afraid, I also felt that things were
getting worse and worse. I suddenly thought of what Ha Zong had told me
about this thing understanding people’s words and said, “Excuse me, I have
something to say.”

The thing twisted its body like some strange rocking toy, the vague shape of
a person all that was left of the former leather figurine woman. When I
spoke, it didn’t try to crawl over again but stood swinging in place.

I was stunned and thought, it really can understand people. I looked at the
dumbfounded Ha Zong and then said to the creature, “We’ve gotten along
well for a long time. You don’t have any problems with me and want to eat
him, right?”

Ha Zong looked at me in horror and then at the leather figurine woman,

“Little Master Three, you can’t sell me out like this. “

I ignored him and looked at the leather figurine woman. “Then, you go
ahead and eat slowly. I’ll head out first.” Ha Zong immediately hugged me.
“Let go,” I said angrily.

“If I’m going to die, we die together,” Ha Zong said. “We’re just like spring
rolls. You’re the wrapper and I’m the stuffing.”

I looked up and saw the leather figurine woman slowly approaching. The
two of us desperately tried to retreat, but our backs soon hit the wall and
we could do nothing but watch as the leather figurine woman’s sinister face
slowly opened. After soaking in the water, the face had become so distorted
that it was indescribable. Only the mouth that I had previously widened
enabled me to tell which side of the face was the front.

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“How does it eat people?” I asked. “Does it use its mouth?” I had just
finished speaking when the leather figurine woman’s mouth suddenly tore
open, becoming as wide as the mouth of a sack. It came at me, but I couldn’t
retreat anymore. Moreover, that idiot pushed me in front of him again. I
could only use both hands to defend myself, so I grabbed the leather
figurine woman’s face. But I forgot that it was soft and the whole leather
figurine woman was wrapped up.

It started to surround my whole body. Ha Zong was behind me and I was

already pressed up against the wall, unable to move. I felt all that skin tightly
enveloping my own skin and start to slowly expand. It stuck to my skin and
slowly wrapped it up.

He really jinxed us, I said to myself. We really are going to become the
stuffing and the wrapper. I don’t want to turn into a spring roll with Ha
Zong! I started struggling with everything I had, but the human skin was so
strong that we were soon completely wrapped in it and couldn’t breathe.

Ha Zong’s head was still exposed and he was yelling hysterically, “Help,
help!” I couldn’t even shout, because as soon as I opened my mouth, the
human skin stretched into it and started crawling down my throat.

I entered a trance-like state, but the lack of oxygen soon made me pass out.
My last thought was: what are people going to think when they see how we
died?

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Chapter 100
When I woke up, I was lying on a couch in the outer part of Ha Zong’s shop.
There was a barefoot man fanning me and watching videos on his cell
phone. His laughter from time to time was a stark contrast to his figure. I
touched my face and looked around. The shop door leading outside was
open and people were coming and going from Hefang Street. At first, I
stared at it and thought that I was dreaming.

I looked around and saw Poker-Face sitting about four or five meters away.
Fatty was talking to Uncle Two in the corner on the opposite side, while Kan
Jian and a group of people were squatting outside the shop.

I frowned as I tried to figure out what was going on. Oh no, I’ve died and this
is my life flashing before my eyes. The big fellow beside me noticed that I
was awake and immediately said, “Little Master Three is awake.”

Everyone turned to look at me. As I sat up, the big fellow poured me some
tea. A big, tall man appeared from outside, lugging in a big bag of takeout. It
turned out to be Baishe. He immediately came over to me, set four or five
boxes down, opened them, and then broke the chopsticks apart.

Uncle Two and Fatty came over. “Shit, what happened to me?” I asked Fatty.

“When I saw you, you and Ha Zong were in a huge condom. Let me tell you,
the Wu family should do a better job with their sex education. Condoms
aren’t supposed to be used like that.” Fatty looked a little tired as he patted
the back of my neck. “Are you ok?”

“How did I survive?” I suddenly recalled what had happened just now. “Shit,
I thought I was going to die.”

“You survived because a little girl chased you from Warehouse Eleven and
found you here. She came in and saw you two playing in the condom and
got you out. Ha Zong was sent to the hospital since his ribs were broken.
Fortunately, you didn’t seem as bad off.”

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Fatty sat down in front of me and I looked around, “Why are so many people
here?”

“You weren’t breathing. That little girl was worried you needed a blood
transfusion, so she called everyone. She’s your fan, so she asked people
from various groups to come and save you. As a result, a lot of people
showed up. Now that you’re awake, a lot of them will be leaving soon.”
Fatty touched his chin.

Uncle Two came over, but before I could speak, he slapped my face.

He hit so hard that black spots filled my vision and I almost fainted again.
After I recovered, Uncle Two sat down beside Fatty, “That slap was for your
parents. I won’t tell them about this. These people all witnessed your
stupidity today. Now, everyone in this room better listen to me. If you still
want to work in this business and want your Little Master Three to live and
prosper, you better not check anything for him in the future. If he dies
because you helped him, you’re asking for trouble.”

No one said a word. Uncle Two looked at me, “Can you save me a bit of
worry?”

“I was negligent,” I said. “You have to give me some time to slowly let it go.”

“How slow do you plan on going?” Uncle Two broke his own chopsticks
apart and let me eat.

I was really hungry and wondered if I had been in a coma for a long time. I
took a bite and didn’t bother speaking. Uncle Two waved his hand and
everyone started to disperse.

“Stop staying at home. I’ve arranged a job for you. You don’t think about
things when you have something to do,” Uncle Two said.

“Give me more time. I want to help you and check some things out,” I
replied. “I didn’t know this thing was so fierce.”

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“Then how about going to Warehouse Eleven and handling things there?”
Uncle Two asked.

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Chapter 101
I thought of Warehouse Eleven and looked around, but didn’t see Bai
Haotian anywhere. I didn’t know how this little girl had saved us both
considering we couldn’t do anything at the time. But Bai Haotian didn’t
seem to be here anymore. Uncle Two interrupted my thoughts, “Thirty-five
hundred a month.”

“Wait, the interns get paid more than that,” I argued with him.

Uncle Two ignored me, but Fatty winked at me, “You’re old and
unemployed, so it’s especially suitable for you to look after the warehouse.
Anyway, it’s not like you’ve got anything else to do. Take some night shifts
and get overtime pay.”

I looked at Fatty’s expression and noticed that he seemed to have some

special purpose in mind, so I stopped nagging and said to Uncle Two, “Give
me gas allowance. My car goes through a lot of gas.” Uncle Two glanced at
Er Jing, who was standing off to the side. Er Jing took out a computer and
pressed a few buttons. After doing a few calculations, he said to me, “Little
Master Three, you report your monthly gas expenses to me. There’s no
precedent for gas allowance here.”

I heaved a long sigh and looked at Fatty, “Where’s the condom? Give it back
to my Uncle Two. Otherwise, I’ll lose the goods before I even start working.
Uncle Two will definitely take it out of my salary.”

“It depends on whether the owner wants to hold you accountable,” Er Jing
said as he looked at Poker-Face.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, the owner of this thing is Poker-Face.
If he wanted to talk about owing money, then the two of us had a lot to
discuss.

Kan Jian called me over, so I grabbed my takeout box and went outside. I
saw that the leather figurine woman had become something like plastic film

376
the color of oil paper. When I asked why it had been left on the street, Kan
Jian said, “It’s to dry it out so it can be taken back and studied.”

I squatted down and poked it with my chopsticks. There were several big
holes in the leather figurine woman, which should have been the cuts Bai
Haotian had made. “Don’t worry, it’s dead,” Kan Jian whispered to me.

“How do you know it’s dead? When it suddenly came alive, there weren’t
any signs at all,” I said. I didn’t know why this thing had behaved around me.
It played dead when I repeatedly tossed it around but came alive as soon as
Ha Zong touched it.

“Ha Zong had a cut on his hand,” Kan Jian said. “Blood was smeared on the
human skin, so it must have come alive after smelling the blood. But I don’t
know why his hands had such deep cuts. It looked like they came from
fingernails.”

I frowned and then immediately sighed, “He tends to throw the tiles too
much when playing mahjong. I figure he scratched himself on the mahjong
table when he threw the tiles.”

Kan Jian looked at me, “Boss, didn’t you tell me before that people are lying
when they reveal too many details?”

I slapped him on the back of the neck, “You traitor. You still have the nerve
to accuse me of being a liar? My Uncle Two completely won you and Wang
Meng over because he pays you a lot of money. You guys are so
embarrassing.”

Kan Jian looked back at where Uncle Two was eating, “I signed my labor
contract with Wushanju. We must abide by the law.”

“Oh ho, this thankless wretch has learned a few things.” I was furious and
turned to look at Baishe, who wouldn’t look me in the eye at all.

After a few mouthfuls of rice, I went back to the room and said to Uncle
Two, “I’ll go to work tomorrow. Uncle Two, do you have anything else you

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want to tell me? If not, I’ll head out first.” I looked at Fatty and Poker-Face,
“Where are you guys staying?”

“Where do you live?” Fatty asked. “We’ll find a place near you. You’re
making thirty-five hundred now, so we have to adapt to the changes.”

I motioned for them to follow me, but Uncle Two suddenly said, “Don’t go
yet. There are some things you need to know.” Uncle Two picked up the
phone and called someone, “Where are you? The sooner you get here, the
sooner we can finish things.”

I didn’t know who it was, but after exchanging a few words with the other
party, Uncle Two handed me the phone. When I put it to my ear, I heard
Xiao Hua’s voice, “Please stay. I’ll be there in five minutes. I found
something I think you should know about.”

My heart clenched, thinking that it was something to do with Uncle Three.

Then I immediately felt guilty. Uncle Two still wanted me to participate even
though I had made him look bad.

Xiao Hua kept talking, “I know there are a lot of people there, so I’ll tell you
the big thing first. After everyone leaves, I have a private matter to discuss
with you. Remember to make up some excuse so we can go out together
later.”

I listened and wondered what he had to say, “What’s this private matter
related to? Don’t leave me hanging. Give me at least a little something.
Otherwise, I can’t stand it.”

“It’s related to Black Glasses,” Xiao Hua said.

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Chapter 102
When I heard this, my heart thumped. After Xiao Hua hung up, I sat across
from Uncle Two, who asked me, “Are you still leaving?”

I shook my head, “No.”

I started one-handedly typing out a text message asking about Black Glasses
but decided against it when I was halfway through. I sighed, suddenly feeling
very restless. I knew what Black Glasses’ problem was, but Xiao Hua coming
to talk to me about it meant that there was probably something he couldn’t
handle.

I was already very skilled, but basically no one in this world could hide
anything from Uncle Two. He immediately gave me a look but didn’t ask any
more questions.

While we continued to eat, Fatty started asking Uncle Two what they had
found out during this period. Uncle Two didn’t say much, just told Fatty to
wait and that news was on the way.

Xiao Hua arrived less than five minutes later. He was wearing a gray T-shirt
instead of his signature pink shirt and had a pink ring snugly wrapped
around his finger. He had lost a lot of weight and looked younger than me. I
sighed, it’s good to have money.

Xiao Hua nodded to Uncle Two, “Uncle Two.”

Uncle Two looked at the ring on Xiao Hua’s finger and said quietly, “Wu Xie
has something to do tonight, so keep it short.”

Xiao Hua gave me a meaningful look and then glanced at Fatty and Poker-
Face before saying to Uncle Two, “The investigation finally has some results.
This thing was so deeply hidden that we wouldn’t have found it if someone
hadn’t sold it. Uncle Two, you guessed right. Someone wants us to
investigate this matter.”

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I didn’t understand at all. Uncle Two seemed to be thinking things over and
then saw my confused look. “You tend to get obsessed with certain things,”
he said to me. “Many people are also aware of it. That’s why, when I heard
what you were up to, my first reaction was to think that someone was using
you to check something for them.”

“Hmm.” After thinking about it, it really did seem possible.

Uncle Two continued, “At that time, I was very puzzled. For a while there,
you could see through these kinds of little tricks in an instant. But this time,
you didn’t react and even seemed to believe it. I initially felt that you hadn’t
been tricked for so long that you were no longer wary of such scams. But
later, I discovered that you wanted to be tricked.”

I was stunned. People like me didn’t like to be tricked, so I didn’t know why
Uncle Two would say such a thing. Uncle Two continued, “Think about it. It’s
true, isn’t it?”

“What you said is right.” I didn’t have the strength to argue and there wasn’t
any point in doing so, either.

I looked at Xiao Hua and he continued, “I found someone to trace the text
message that was sent to you. This kind of little trick generally isn’t perfect
and they usually don’t expect us to look into it seriously, so there’s very
detailed information when we do bother to check.”

Xiao Hua took a piece of scrap paper from the side and wrote a location on
it. “The text was sent from this area.” I looked at the name but didn’t
recognize it at all. It was called “Yabalao”(1). Xiao Hua continued, “This is a
mountain village close to Fujian’s coast. The villagers there have a high
probability of being mute. I think someone sent the information from there.
It’s the only village in that area, after all.”

“And then what?” I didn’t know Xiao Hua could trace a text back without a
source, but I felt that I really had wanted to be tricked at that time. In the

(1)
Yaba (哑巴)=mute. Lao(涝)=flooded

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past, my first reaction would’ve definitely been the same as Xiao Hua’s, but I
didn’t know why I had ignored this possibility at the time.

“Then I hired Black Glasses and told him to go and take a look,” Xiao Hua
said.

Isn’t Black Glasses busy with his own affairs? I asked myself. But after Xiao
Hua’s previous phone call, I didn’t dare mention this information.

Xiao Hua continued, “He sent back some photos and videos, saying that
someone was staying in the village to find out why all the villagers were
mute. You can look at the videos yourself. I’ll send them to you.”

I took out my phone and Xiao Hua sent me a video on WeChat. When I
clicked on it, I saw an old man using sign language, a girl with a ponytail on
the side taking notes, and a strongly accented voice in the background
translating the sign language, “The children here are normal at birth. They
become mute after their first thunderstorm.”

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Fatty obviously had the same idea as me, but it wasn’t good to refute Xiao
Hua in front of so many people, so he winked at me, silently urging me to
ask.

Xiao Hua saw our exchange and patted Fatty’s thigh, “Finish watching.”

In the video, that voice continued asking the villager questions. Sure
enough, it didn’t take them long to ask the same question we were
wondering, “Why not move?”

The interviewee quickly answered in sign language, while the voice

stumbled to translate it, “If you leave here, your life will be very short. After
many people left the village and stayed away for more than three years,
they quickly aged.”

The video shook and then I saw Black Glasses smugly looking at the camera,
“You’ve seen the situation here. I’ll share some information with you so that
you can analyze it. First, the sign language used in this village isn’t standard
sign language, but an ancient sign language. Sign language appeared very
early in ancient China and was called hand language. The most famous deaf
thinker was He Guanzi from the Warring States Period. If you know Huang-
Lao, you’ll know this guy’s name(1). This person can use both hands to sign,
but the sign language here doesn’t belong to the ancient hand system at
all.”

After saying that, Black Glasses left the room, as if he didn’t want to be
overheard. When he finally got outside, he continued, “There’s no signal
here, so I’m recording this so as not to lose any details. People here think
they go deaf when they hear thunder because there’s a heavenly secret in

(1)
I wasn’t finding much on the guy himself, only this unverified blurb in Chinese. But Heguanzi is a
mixed collection of writings from the Chinese Hundred Schools of Thought. Huang-Lao is one of these
schools of thought that’s more politically driven. It looked for solutions to strengthen the feudal order as
depicted in Zhou propaganda and was generally interpreted as a school of syncretism, developing into a
major religion–the beginnings of religious Taoism.

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the thunder. God doesn’t want them to tell the secret, so they’re not
allowed to speak. I asked them if they knew what the secret was. It’s pretty
amazing. They told me directly that they could hear it, but there aren’t any
words in their sign language to express what it is. In other words, they know
what God is saying, but they can’t express it.”

Everyone listening to the video looked at each other. “Since ancient times,
it’s been difficult to distinguish between deaf and mute,” Black Glasses
suddenly said mysteriously. “Do you remember how to write the Chinese
character for ‘deaf’?”

I paused, but Fatty quickly answered, “There’s a dragon on ear(2).” After that,
I realized it was a video and this guy was just messing around.

Black Glasses continued, “The character for deaf is ‘a dragon on ear’. Why
did the ancients structure the character for deaf like this?”

We all took a deep breath, waiting for him to finish. Black Glasses had a
despicable look on his face and I really wanted to say “Fucking give it to us
straight”, but I realized that it was just a recorded video and not an actual
video call.

I suddenly felt a little knot in my heart, not knowing what had happened to
Black Glasses. Logically, I should’ve called him directly and had him talk to us
in person. I hadn’t seen him for a long time and didn’t know what he had
going on, but Xiao Hua had brought me this video.

Black Glasses took out another cell phone and began to read the contents to
us. I didn’t know where he got the information from:

Phonogram(3). The character “deaf” came from the characters for ear and
dragon. The character for dragon also sounded the same as the character

(2)
聋=deaf (pinyin is “lóng”), 龙=dragon (pinyin is also “lóng”), and 耳=ear (pinying is “ěr”). If you squint,
龙 looks like it’s stacked on top of 耳 to form 聋, the character for deaf. “Deaf” and “dragon” also sound
the same in Chinese.
(3)
A symbol representing a vocal sound. One of the six methods of forming Chinese characters.

383
for deaf. “Dragon” originally referred to the mythical creature that could
bring rain, and by extension, referred to spring thunderstorms. “Ear” meant
“hearing”, so the combination of the “ear” and “dragon” characters could
also mean “ears hear the sound of spring thunder”.

The original meaning of this character referred to old farmers who were
hard of hearing and couldn’t hold normal conversations with people. But at
the spring equinox, they could hear the sound of thunder and knew it was
time to sow the fields. This character also referred to the general problem of
hearing loss. In other words, someone speaking at a normal volume behind
you sounded inaudible or unintelligible, but you could hear them if they
shouted loudly. “Deafness” didn’t mean a hundred percent hearing loss, but
more like a certain percentage of hearing loss.

Black Glasses looked at us, “Deafness here refers to ears that can’t hear
other sounds, but can definitely hear thunder.”

According to the ancient descriptions, deaf people couldn’t hear other

sounds besides thunder. So, for deaf people, most of the sounds they could
hear during their lifetime were thunder. As a result, their memories of
sounds all featured thunder.

“A lot of deaf and mute people become fortune-tellers. Why do you think
that is? Think about it carefully.”

He looked at the sky and I saw a flash of lightning appear in the video. “It’s
going to thunder,” he said. “I want to continue observing. Bye-bye.”

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Chapter 104
Xiao Hua had been answering texts on his phone while we watched the
video. After the video ended, he put his phone away and continued talking,
“This village has something to do with listening to thunder. The strange text
message was also sent from there. Although there’s no 4G in the village, it
still has cell coverage.” He drew a few dots on the scrap paper.

“This is the South Sea King’s tomb, this is Yang Daguang’s village, and this is
the mute village. As you can see, the mute village is very close to the South
Sea King’s tomb, but far from Yang Daguang’s village. Here’s Rain Village.
Mute Village and Rain Village are also on the same mountain range.” He
crossed out Yang Daguang’s village, leaving only Rain Village, Mute Village,
and the South Sea King’s tomb. “If your Uncle Three really did send that
message, then he was probably very close to you for a long time. He might
have even been secretly observing you.”

“Why would he do that? Why not just come to me?” I couldn’t understand it
at all. “It’s not like he’s too embarrassed to approach me. He was shameless
when he was young and middle-aged, so why would he change when he got
older? I don’t believe it. Didn’t you just say it wasn’t my Uncle Three? Is it
someone else with ulterior motives?”

“If it’s someone else, then we don’t need to discuss it at all. We can only
think that he’s your Uncle Three at first and then do an analysis to
determine otherwise,” Xiao Hua said. “You know your Uncle Three very well,
but even if I didn’t know him personally, I know it’s not in his character to
not contact you. So, there must be a compelling reason for him to not
contact you. But your Uncle Three isn’t the type of person to give up easily.
Even if it’s his last resort, he’ll definitely want to contact you.”

Xiao Hua looked at me seriously, “Over this long period of time, did you ever
feel that there was some hidden information around you?”

I stared blankly for a moment, trying to recall my life over the past few
years. Other than eating, sleeping, fighting with my neighbor next door, and

385
arguing with Fatty on whether we should get back into the grave-robbing
business, nothing came to mind.

I suddenly felt an extreme sense of guilt and fear. If Uncle Three had really
been by my side and couldn’t communicate with me like normal, he
would’ve definitely tried communicating with me in various ways. But with
the state I was in over the past few years, there was no way I would’ve
noticed. If Uncle Three had really been near me and trying to tell me
something but I didn’t respond, what kind of despair did he feel?

Xiao Hua continued, “Even if you didn’t notice, there was still someone
around you who would never be like you. He would notice everything and
never relax.”

After he said that, he suddenly looked at Poker-Face, as if to make a point.

Poker-Face was leaning against the wall and kept his eyes trained on Hefang
Street outside. I didn’t know whether he was listening to us or not.

I glanced at Fatty, who looked back at me. I started trembling all over as I
suddenly remembered that Poker-Face had been wandering around the
mountains. Hadn’t he been alone?

Could it be… he had been going to see my Uncle Three?

As he was wandering through the mountains, did he discover the message

my Uncle Three had sent and was doing something with him?

I immediately stood up, but Fatty pulled me back down and said, “If I were
your Uncle Three, I wouldn’t count on you at all. I would pass any news
directly to Little Brother. Not only does it save a lot of trouble, but it’s more
convenient than trying to get you to notice. Don’t you know that it’s easier
to raise a dog than a nephew? So even if that’s the case, your Uncle Three
must’ve said it’s something they can’t tell you about.”

After thinking about it, I felt that I shouldn’t lose my temper. What Xiao Hua
had said was a possibility. It was also possible that Poker-Face had been
receiving information and looking for this person, but couldn’t find them.

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Maybe he didn’t understand what was going on, so he didn’t bother saying
anything. I had been very relaxed at that time, so it would’ve been normal
for him not to tell me if Uncle Three had ordered him not to. I also wouldn’t
have told him if Uncle Three had asked me not to.

I could tell with certainty that everything related to me should have been
over, so it was normal for others not to tell me about unrelated things.

Kan Jian muttered from off to the side, “At least tell Little Master Three that
his Uncle Three isn’t dead.”

Fatty pointed to my phone, “Didn’t he tell him by text?”

“That text was a fucking mystery. How am I supposed to know that from a
mysterious text?” I was a little anxious when I thought of the text message.
Why would he send me a text if he was in contact with Little Brother? If,
according to my analysis, he risked sending me a text because he couldn’t
get in contact with Little Brother, then that indicated that the situation had
started to change and he couldn’t wait any longer.

“That text basically told you to collect Yang Daguang body. Your Uncle Three
wanted you to know that he was still alive and also wanted to give you a
piece of land. Who the fuck asked you to investigate things?” Uncle Two
asked angrily. “You’re the one who wanted to start an investigation!”

Fatty motioned for us to calm down before standing up and walking over to
Poker-Face, “Little Brother, do you know about Mr. Naïve’s Uncle Three?”

Poker-Face turned to look at Uncle Two. Xiao Hua also looked at Uncle Two
and I suddenly understood something. If it had been the past, I would have
known what was going on the instant I saw these looks. Shit, everyone isn’t
gathered here today because of my accident. They must have important
news to tell me. And it’s because this news is so important that everyone
showed up.

Everything we had talked about before was just setting the groundwork for
that important news.

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Chapter 105
I was silent for a few minutes as my eyes swept around the room. Everyone
else also remained silent. I quickly began trying to figure out what was going
on.

My first reaction was that Uncle Three had been found, but may have
passed away. Or he was in a very bad state and suffering from something
like dementia, serious illness, or disability.

I took a deep breath and asked myself if I could accept it.

In fact, I could accept it because I had spent so many years mentally

preparing myself for this kind of thing. Although the illusory news would
give people a glimmer of hope, they could also have peace of mind once
they knew.

I took a deep breath and let myself accept it before starting to think about
the second possibility.

Maybe I was going to die.

Ha Zong had said before that I was going to die, and I still believed that his
expression had been genuine at the time. Even though everything he had
said after that was illogical, that one sentence truly was frightening.

After thinking about it, it made more sense that I was going to die rather
than my Uncle Three being dead.

But could I accept it?

I looked at Fatty, Xiao Hua, Poker-Face, Uncle Two, Kan Jian, and Baishe.

I realized that I couldn’t accept it, because I couldn’t believe that there was
already no way out for me when I was still eating my takeout.

388
I couldn’t resist jokingly asking, “No way, am I going to die? Why are you all
looking at me like that?”

Kan Jian immediately burst into tears and ran out.

Xiao Hua looked at me with a complicated expression on his face, and I was
surprised to find that I might have guessed right.

I laughed and suddenly felt a burning sensation in my nose. After touching it,
I found that I had a nosebleed.

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Chapter 106
I wiped my nose, looked at the blood on my fingers, and told myself that it
was just a coincidence. Someone must have hit me hard when I was rescued
earlier and my nose was injured. I pulled a napkin over to cover my nose and
looked at Fatty, Uncle Two, and Xiao Hua again. I was just wondering
whether there were any other possibilities for this kind of situation when
Uncle Two said, “You won’t die as long as you’re obedient.”

“What’s going on?” I sighed, too lazy to even bother guessing. Now that they
were all here, they had to be trying to tell me something, so I figured I’d wait
for them to come out with it.

Uncle Two glanced at Poker-Face before looking at Xiao Hua again, “Little
Brother goes, Xiao Hua and Fatty stay.”

Poker-Face stood up and silently walked out, with many people following
behind him. Baishe came up and handed me a cigarette, but I completely
ignored him.

Everyone filed out to the street, the atmosphere so heavy that passers-by
were a little scared and gave the shop strange looks. Er Jing silently closed
the door.

Uncle Two looked at me and immediately said, “Little Brother did receive
news from Third Brother. Although he refused to tell me the specific details
on how he received the news, he told me part of the content when we were
in the South Sea King’s tomb.”

I smacked the table, “I always wondered why he liked to go fishing that

much!” I reflexively reached out for the cigarette on the table, but Uncle
Two swiped it from me and I ended up touching his hand instead.

I was embarrassed for a moment, but Uncle Two continued talking, “Grave
robbers live underground all year round. Many of the older ones die from
corpse poisoning because they’ve inhaled too much gas from the decaying

390
corpses. It settles in their lungs and makes them miserable until death. Your
situation is more serious than others. The bodies you have been exposed to
were highly toxic and then you later took the initiative to drip snake venom
into your nasal cavity. Grave robbing is usually passed from generation to
generation, but you don’t have a master and no one really taught you
before. As a result, you didn’t take precautions when you entered these
places. After so many years, your body has become overwhelmed.”

I looked at Fatty. “Isn’t he the same as me?”

“He’s not my nephew,” Uncle Two said coldly. “Both your Uncle Three and
Little Brother said that you came into contact with something in an ancient
tomb a long time ago. They didn’t say which tomb it was, but that thing’s
effect will soon disappear. The reason why your body was fine until now was
because of that thing. After its efficacy disappears, all the consequences of
you ruining yourself over the years will be revealed.”

I tried to understand, “What will happen to me?”

“You could accomplish such difficult things over the years and your body
could withstand so much all because of that thing. You look much younger
than your actual age. If the effect of that thing disappears, I’m afraid you’ll
age very quickly and become extremely weak. What you need to do now is
take care of your health.”

I thought it over but couldn’t help feeling that it was wrong. My analysis
wasn’t like this before and now the topic had somehow turned to focusing
on my health. If that was the case, then why did Ha Zong say that I was
going to die?

“I’m fine.” I blew my nose in the napkin. “I’ve been getting up early and
going to bed early every day for the past few years. I do morning exercises,
run, and eat healthy foods. I’ve already recovered.”

Uncle Two picked up his cell phone and pulled up a picture. “After you came
out of the South Sea King’s tomb, I had them take a CT scan when you were
unconscious. These are your lungs.”

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When I picked it up and looked at it, I saw two lungs on the screen. But I
wasn’t a doctor, so I couldn’t understand it at all. Uncle Two pointed to two
large areas on the lungs, “These two things can’t get any bigger. Your lungs
are different from other people’s lungs, so if you go into a tomb and inhale
those poisonous gases again, you won’t be able to bear it. That thing
destroyed the original function of your lungs and replaced their ability to
filter out toxins with its own medicinal effects. Once the medicine
disappears, even smoking will have fatal consequences.”

“You mean, I could turn into a glass lung at any time?” I asked.

“You have to give your lungs time to recover. This illness isn’t fatal, so there
won’t be any problems as long as you pay attention,” Uncle Two said. “I’m
not lying to you. You’ll start to show symptoms soon.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You just said that I would grow old quickly.” With so
many people here, it shouldn’t be as simple as letting my lungs heal.

Uncle Two was silent for a few seconds, “Little Brother and your Uncle Three
should’ve been secretly trying to find a way to help you. I honestly shouldn’t
be telling you about it, but I’m not your Uncle Three. I’m too lazy to bother
hiding it from you and I also believe you can handle it. If you don’t want to
die before me, work in Warehouse Eleven and wait to hear back from us.”

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Chapter 107
After Uncle Two finished speaking, everyone gradually dispersed. Many
people hugged me, but I didn’t react. All I could think was, is this really
necessary? I feel like a seriously ill patient.

I had just learned that I was sick even though I felt like I was in good health. I
had no idea what I would face in the future.

There were several famous crawfish shops on Hefang Street. Xiao Hua
pretended to leave first and didn’t come back until Poker-Face, Fatty, and I
were sitting down in one of the crawfish shops. Poker-Face and Xiao Hua
didn’t normally eat this kind of food, so they ate some cucumbers instead.
Fatty and I quickly ate a mountain of crawfish before we calmed down.

We were all quiet about what had happened just now, but the thing that
was bothering me was that Uncle Two was always a man who avoided the
important things. I wasn’t sure if he had told me the real severity of my
situation. What he had said just now could have big and small parts. He had
obviously told me the small part but didn’t mention anything about the big
part at all.

This was his style.

After drinking a few beers, the boundaries and depression in my heart

disappeared and I started to relax and joke. Fatty kept saying I might be
cured after eating Poker-Face meat. In the future, we’d have to keep Little
Brother’s bath water to use as soup stock to prolong our lives.

I told Xiao Hua to say what he needed to say. I had been ordered to stay
healthy now and I had to get up early to go to work tomorrow. I wasn’t
familiar with the new work unit, so I had to be on my best behavior.

Xiao Hua looked at the beer in his cup. The seats here were very crowded
and he always looked a little uncomfortable on such occasions.

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“Black Glasses’ situation isn’t looking good,” Xiao Hua said. “Based on what
my men said, he was completely blind on his way to Mute Village.”

“Completely blind?” I asked. “Didn’t he say that he could see a little no

matter what?”

“Completely blind.” Xiao Hua took a sip of beer and continued, “What
difference does it make to him even if he’s not completely blind? You guys
are all spread out in different places and I’m the only one in Beijing. I already
have so many things to deal with. We need to come up with a plan on how
to deal with this matter.” Xiao Hua glanced at me, “He made many enemies
when he helped you before. If he really can’t see, he’ll be dead within a
month.”

“Who the fuck dares to kill him?!” Fatty was furious. “Who, who the fuck are
his enemies? If push comes to shove, I’ll kill them all first! Spread the word,
whoever dares to fucking touch Black Glasses will become my enemy. I’ll
send their whole family to heaven!”

Xiao Hua was still looking at me, “It’s easier to dodge a spear in the open
than it is to avoid a stab in the dark.”

I pulled Fatty back down, “It won’t work for us to say these words now.” I
then looked at Xiao Hua, who was still watching me, “What’s your plan? Just
say it. What do you need me to do?”

Xiao Hua looked at his beer and said, “He needs a place like Rain Village. If
he won’t go, someone has to convince him somehow.”

I shook my head. When Black Glasses set his mind to do something, he did it
very obviously. Even if he wanted to die, he would do it in an easy and
uncomplicated manner. I knew I could never convince him. If Black Glasses
really had such severe symptoms, then the best way was to hide his
whereabouts before he got treatment or found a better solution.

I already knew that what Xiao Hua was saying wasn’t meant for me.

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It was very dangerous to enter the blind tomb without Poker-Face. That
place was probably the most dangerous tomb in the world and there wasn’t
any information on it at all.

Black Glasses was now helping Uncle Two investigate Uncle Three, but he
couldn’t afford to put off his own affairs.

Poker-Face had to participate in everything, yet I couldn’t get involved at all.

I was a little dazed and didn’t pay attention to what Xiao Hua said after that.
When I walked out of the crawfish shop, a wave of tiredness washed over
me. For the first time, I felt that our era might soon pass.

I knew that this day would come eventually, but I never understood why so
many people were unwilling to quit. I wasn’t the nostalgic type, but now
that this day had come, the curtain call felt so uncomfortable.

I slept in Fatty’s hotel room and then drove back to Warehouse Eleven at
eight the next morning.

When I walked in the door, I saw Bai Haotian standing there holding a bunch
of flowers. “Little Master Three, hello!”

I nodded and looked at my job title. I was a director, but Bai Haotian had a
manager’s badge on her chest. I didn’t know which one had the higher
authority here.

Bai Haotian kept talking, “There’s no social insurance(1), wages are paid in
cash, there’s a gas allowance, and you get one day off a week. Sound good?”

(1)
China’s “social insurance” consists of five different types of insurance, plus one mandatory housing
fund. The five “insurances” are pension, medical, unemployment, work-related injury, and maternity.
More info here.

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Chapter 108
There were only two people in the office: me and Bai Haotian.

Bai Haotian had looked like a tomboy when we met before, but when we
met this time, she actually wore a little makeup. Her outfit still kind of made
her look like a boy, though.

Our two desks were facing each other and there was a thermos cup of
brewed goji berry tea on the desk(1).

When I sat down, she sat opposite me. I looked at her and she looked at me.
It was so awkward.

“What do you need me to do, Manager?” I asked her.

Bai Haotian was trembling a little and had to take a few deep breaths before
she shook her head and said, “Just wait. We usually check the goods once a
week and patrol the warehouse before getting off work.”

“What do you usually do?” I looked at the numerous documents hanging on

the wall, many of which were old. I flipped through some of them and found
that many had traditional Chinese characters written on them.

Bai Haotian smiled and I quickly corrected my question, “What do you

usually do here?”

Bai Haotian’s face turned red and I sighed. I really wasn’t good at
communicating with little girls. I was too lazy to ask any more questions, so I
turned on the computer in front of me which was very old. I didn’t know
who used it before, but the desktop background was a picture of me.

I was too lazy to pursue the matter, so I simply changed it and began the
boring task of checking through the files on the computer. In addition to the

(1)
Fun fact: in traditional Chinese medicine, goji berries are used specifically to support the liver, kidneys,
eyes, and lungs.

396
numerous inventory documents, I saw a strange icon on the desktop. After
clicking on it, I found that it was actually a storage system.

Although Warehouse Eleven’s storage system was very old, it was still
relatively easy to use. I began searching through the items inside. The codes,
shelf numbers, and storage time of these items were all very clear, but I
couldn’t see the names of the items. When I clicked on the items, I could see
very detailed records, but they were all encrypted.

It seemed that the warehouse managers didn’t have full access to view
specific information.

I was a little interested in this since I had always been full of curiosity. At the
end of these columns, I saw that the names of the people who entered
these items into the warehouse were all coded.

These coded names represented the big shots in the Nine Gates, but when I
looked at them, I couldn’t see any sort of pattern.

“You’ve been here for almost a year,” I said to Bai Haotian. “Have you ever
tried to figure out what these coded names stand for since you have so
much downtime?”

“The Bai family is only responsible for managing the warehouse. As for the
details regarding the warehouse, we can’t ask questions.”

“My grandfather said that all rules were meant to be broken,” I said to her.
“You’re supposed to be curious at your age, yet you’ve been wasting your
time here all year. Come on, don’t tell me you really can’t think of anything?
Don’t be afraid to share it. Even if you won’t tell me what you’ve figured out,
I’ll definitely be able to find out on my own after a long time,” I said lightly
as I looked at the computer.

Bai Haotian looked at me and seemed to be debating with herself. I glanced

at the flowers she had given me earlier, “Tell me and I’ll invite you to dinner
tonight.”

397
“087323 is Zhang Da Fo Ye’s number,” Bai Haotian whispered to me.

I made a note of it on my cell phone and then opened the icon on the
computer and searched for it. It turned out that Zhang Da Fo Ye really had a
lot of things here.

I scanned through everything carefully and noticed a strange mark on

several files. Zhang Da Fo Ye’s storage directory had several items with a
small * symbol on the labels.

“What does this asterisk symbol mean?” I asked Bai Haotian.

“This represents danger,” Bai Haotian said. “These goods are very
dangerous, so special people must be present when they enter or leave the
warehouse.”

“Then what do we do when we patrol? Won’t we be in danger when we

pass by? Or do the warehouse managers die often here and get replaced at
any time?”

“The goods with asterisks aren’t on the ground level, they’re all
underground,” Bai Haotian said. “I’ll show you what the real Warehouse
Eleven looks like when we patrol the warehouse before getting off work.”

I frowned. “Underground?”

Bai Haotian nodded. I looked at my watch. There were still fifteen minutes
before I actually started work and I already wanted to run away.

When I thought about it, Wang Meng really didn’t have it easy. I touched my
forehead and opened Minesweeper.

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Chapter 109
After sweeping more than four hundred bombs, my spine almost felt like it
was broken and I finally got off work.

As I was playing Minesweeper, I had been trying to figure out those codes,
hoping to use Zhang Da Fo Ye’s code to find out what the other codes might
be.

When I started my calculations, I found that all my mathematical abilities

had returned to Brother Xiao Man. As Uncle Three used to say, the Wu
family taught dogs other subjects, while dogs taught people math.

I looked at Bai Haotian as I started packing things up. She also tidied up
before grabbing the keys, turning off the lights, and obediently walking to
my side.

I followed after her as we moved to patrol the warehouse. I assumed that

Bai Haotian was a Virgo since she explained each area to me in detail.

When we were halfway through, I stopped and asked her, “How much
longer are you going to work here?”

Bai Haotian froze and then stammered, “Two, two years. Little Master
Three, have I not done well?”

“Then we’ll be together for a long time. There’s no need to introduce

everything all at once.” I sighed and looked down at my feet. “Let’s go and
have a look below.”

Bai Haotian was still standing there frozen and looked so nervous that her
lips had turned white. I looked at her looking at me and slowly explained,
“It’s boring here, so let’s save it for later. From now on, we can talk every
day before we get off work. Otherwise, we’ll be bored when we patrol
tomorrow.”

399
Bai Haotian relaxed and then led me all the way to the warehouse’s locker
room, where she opened a particularly narrow locker door.

The locker was empty, save for an iron sheet at the back.

Bai Haotian pushed the iron sheet, pressing it a dozen times at a special
frequency. When the iron sheet moved, Bai Haotian pushed it away and I
asked her, “What’s the password?”

“New employees have to wait a year before they can learn it.”

I sighed. There was a staircase behind, which was so narrow that only one
person could go down at a time. Bai Haotian was in front and I was in the
back. The lights were very dim.

I touched the wall and found that it was made of cement that I was very
familiar with, but was very rare in the market.

I immediately knew that this place had been built by Seven Fingers.

After going down three or four floors, we came out of a particularly narrow
door and into a huge, dark underground space.

Even though the space was very dark, I could still see a lot of huge shadows
that were spaced far apart from each other.

When I walked in, I found that the warehouse’s underground area turned
out to be a reservoir. We were on one of the many iron catwalks that had
been built above a huge pool. The water was pitch black, making it
impossible to see how deep it was. I could see that all of the goods were
immersed in the water, with only the top parts floating above the water’s
surface. All of the labels were written on these exposed tops.

The catwalk was interspersed between the floating goods.

I moved to the edge of the catwalk by the first huge good and found that the
label identified it as Zhang Da Fo Ye’s.

400
“Most of the goods are underwater. The water here is special,” Bai Haotian
said.

I turned on my phone light and found that the good in front of me was
actually rotten wood. I paused and then immediately realized what type of
good it was.

This was everything from an ancient tomb. All the other goods and this
square monstrosity in front of me made up an entire huangchangticou
tomb(1).

Zhang Da Fo Ye had stored an entire huge ancient tomb beneath Warehouse

Eleven. I looked up and saw countless cubes in the water that were just like
the huge one in front of me.

(1)
A Huangchangticou is a special type of ancient royal burial that emerged in the Spring and Autumn
Period and took prevalence in the Han Dynasty. “Huangchang” refers to the yellow core of the cypress
wood, while “ticou” refers to the structure of the tomb (mainly the heads of the wood facing the outer
coffin). More info here (the pg. 614 one, paragraphs on the left side of the page).

401
Chapter 110
I looked back at the small gap we had just come through and asked Bai
Haotian, “How were these things put in here?”

“I don’t know. They were already here when I started working here.”

I circled around the goods and then looked back at the gap, “So, if someone
comes to pick up the goods, how would they be shipped out?”

“Legend has it that Zhang Da Fo Ye used the Five Ghosts Transportation

ritual.” Bai Haotian smiled. “Anyway, these things have been here for so
many years and no one has ever bothered to pick them up.”

I took a deep breath and looked at this spectacular scene—the Mystic Nine
in my mind was mostly just legendary stories you heard on the street. But
after seeing this place, I suddenly realized that I didn’t know how amazing
the Mystic Nine really was back in the day.

I went to move forward, but Bai Haotian suddenly took off her jacket and
started to take off her pants. I was stunned for a moment before I realized
that she wearing a close-fitting diving suit under her uniform. Her figure
finally showed a trace of feminine curves.

She opened her backpack, took out a pair of diving goggles, and put them on
before looking at me with a little blush on her face.

I was a little confused. I just wanted to check out the warehouse, so why did
it suddenly turn into us swimming?

“What are you doing?” I sighed and told myself that with this much drama, I
probably wouldn’t be bored during my time here.

She handed me something. I took it and glanced down, only to find that it
was a pair of swim trunks. “I don’t like this kind of sport and the water looks
dirty,” I said to her very slowly.

402
“Don’t you want to go down and have a look?” She handed me another pair
of goggles and then took out two underwater flashlights.

I saw her face get even redder.

“The water…”

“Don’t worry, the water’s fine. Not only is the Bai family good at swimming,
but we’re very familiar with water.” She started to do some stretches and
then jumped into the water. When her head surfaced again, she said, “I’ll
swim for a while. I won’t look at you changing.”

I looked at the swim trunks and suddenly remembered something that Jin
Wantang had said before. Was it the Bai family that Fo Ye and Ba Ye had
met while salvaging a sunken ship in Dongting Lake? It was said that the
sunken ship was under an ice cave at that time, so salvaging it was an
extraordinary feat(1).

I debated on whether I wanted to go down or not, but after thinking for a

few minutes, I found that I couldn’t not go down. Everything above was
already so thrilling that I was sure whatever was below would be jaw-
dropping.

I took a few steps forward and moved to a dark spot. I took off my clothes
and put on the swim trunks and goggles. I then carefully did some stretches
and climbed into the water bit by bit by holding onto the railing.

The water still had a trace of warmth to it, so it wasn’t as cold as I had been
expecting. Bai Haotian’s underwater flashlight wasn’t far from me, so I
slowly swam towards her. The light rushed at me like an arrow in the water
and then I saw her head poke out of the water right in front of me.

(1)
I believe this is VERY loosely portrayed in Episode 46 of the “Mystic Nine”.

403
I immediately understood why her hair was so short. This tomboy was
obviously very good at swimming and probably spent most of her time in
the water.

With the light reflecting off the water, she looked like a completely different
person. Her shyness on land had been replaced by an indescribable
brilliance.

“We’ll have to dive deep. How deep have you gone before?” She asked me.

“The deepest place I’ve ever been was my Uncle Three’s trap for me,” I said.

I wasn’t afraid of diving. My fear of water had been reduced to the bare
minimum when I went to the Zhang family’s ancient building.

She handed me an underwater flashlight and then dove down. I quickly

followed after her. The two of us went down bit by bit, gradually going
deeper and deeper. The pool was about twenty-five meters deep, but the
goods were huge. As soon as I went underwater, I saw even more goods
floating at the bottom.

The most striking thing was a group of colorful jellyfish-like things that were
suspended in the water.

Bai Haotian led me over to them and I found that they were actually a group
of ancient female corpses. They were wearing western clothes and
suspended in the water. I realized that I had seen this kind of thing before.

Behind the female corpses were two huge coffins.

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Chapter 111
Bai Haotian swam over while I went up to get some air. After I caught my
breath, I dove back down and saw Bai Haotian floating in front of the two
coffins with her hands in front of her like she was praying. As I swam over, I
noticed that her short hair was fluttering in the water, her eyes were closed,
and her face looked very pious.

I didn’t know what she was doing, but I went back up for air again while she
worshiped since it felt like my lungs couldn’t take it anymore.

When I dove into the water for the third time, Bai Haotian had finished
worshiping and swam with me to the two coffins. These coffins also had
labels on them. One had Zhang Qishan’s serial number, while the other one
had a serial number I had never seen before.

I couldn’t ask anything since we were underwater, so I let Bai Haotian lead
me forward, where I saw countless colored glaze products piled up. As the
flashlight swept over them, the colored glaze shone brightly under the
refraction of water and light. When I approached one of them, I saw that
these glazed products were as thin as a piece of paper. These kinds of things
were extremely difficult to preserve on land.

Those huge coffins were like giant pillars standing in the middle of these
small goods. I could see a lot of nails stuck in the decayed wooden boards
and there were a lot of old-looking leather bags hanging from them. I shined
my flashlight on one of them and saw Bai Haotian sign to me: there are
bodies inside.

As we swam forward, I saw piles of earthen jars. Each jar was as tall as three
or four people and they had all been stacked into pyramid shapes. I felt my
lungs spasm and had to float up.

Bai Haotian had to practically push me up to the catwalk, where I lay on my

back, gasping for breath. Bai Haotian climbed up and start apologizing in a

405
panicked voice, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I forgot Uncle Two told me that your
health isn’t good.”

I gasped and felt my vision go dark for a moment. I hadn’t even made it to
the bottom just now. I only swam on the upper level and my lungs already
felt like they were dying.

I looked at my watch and found that it had been less than ten minutes.
Although I still had physical strength, I couldn’t seem to breathe. I didn’t
know if it was a psychological effect or if what Uncle Two had said was true.

“What were you worshiping just now?” I asked after recovering a little bit.

“I heard a legend that they’re Fo Ye and Xinyue’s coffins, but no one has
confirmed it,” she said. “Still, it’s customary to worship them when in this
part of the warehouse in order to show your respect. There are many
corpses below that Fo Ye watches over.”

I sat up and wiped the water from my face. Bai Haotian had to repeat what
she just said before I understood it. When I did, all the hairs on my body
stood on end. I had heard that Fo Ye was cremated, so why was there a
coffin here? Was it a cenotaph(1)? There had to be another story here.

Compared with the other people in the Mystic Nine that I had been in
contact with when I was a child, Fo Ye was a legendary figure to me. I
suddenly felt a little regretful that I didn’t worship with Bai Haotian just
now.

But it was impossible for me to go into the water again. I had to lay there on
the ground for a long time before I could get up.

Bai Haotian felt very guilty and wanted to drive me home, but I refused. I lay
in the car for a while before driving several hundred meters, but I couldn’t
do it. I stopped on the side of the road and fell asleep. In my dream, I was in

(1)
An empty tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are
elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere.

406
front of the two coffins. As I looked at them, a stream-like history seemed to
flash before my eyes like a rotating lantern.

I suddenly woke with a start, took out my phone, and looked at Zhang
Qishan’s serial number. I then typed in Xinyue’s serial number that I saw on
the other coffin.

There was no relationship between the two numbers. But I was a college
graduate, so although my math wasn’t very good, I still knew that these two
numbers had to be related to Warehouse Eleven’s coding system. One
number wasn’t enough to crack the coding system, but it was possible to
find a pattern if you had two numbers.

I stared at the phone in my hand for a long time, but I still couldn’t make
sense of it. I suddenly remembered that Bai Haotian had guessed Zhang
Qishan’s number, so I called her up and asked, “Are you interested in
coming out to talk?”

407
Chapter 112
I was surprised to find that Bai Haotian lived a block over from Hefang
Street. This area in Hangzhou was full of antique shops and shops that sold
strange stones. Bai Haotian lived on the second floor of a shop facing the
street.

She said that her family hoped that she would take over some of the family
business in the future. Under the protection of the Nine Gates, many of
those in the huge Bai family were engaged in the collection industry. Some
shops had been operating well for many years, so in addition to working in
Warehouse Eleven, she interned at this shop. That way, she could gain some
contacts and get familiar with the rules of the business.

I was surprised to discover that the name of this shop was Haoshanju. In
other words, the Wu in Wushanju had a steel bar inserted through the top
of it(1).

Bai Haotian was a little shy and proud, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask her
what was going through her head. When I arrived, she had already gone
upstairs to wash up, so she came back down and turned on the lights to the
shop’s first floor so that we could sit down there and talk.

I looked around at all of the goods on the first floor. There was a large
cabinet facing the door that displayed seeds for sale and all kinds of strange
and cheap stones were piled together on either side of it. There was a
problem with the arrangement and placement of the shelves. At first glance,
it appeared to copy the display of other shops, but Bai Haotian didn’t seem
to understand the internal logic, so only part of it was copied without a true
understanding of the inside.

(1)
Hao=昊 and Wu=吴. As you can see, the Wu character doesn’t have that line going through it like the
Hao character does.

408
I figured the little girl was tidying up her face or something, so I reflexively
rearranged the stones according to my own understanding.

When she finally sat down, I gave her the two codes and asked, “Why were
you able to crack Zhang Da Fo Ye’s code? How did you figure it out?”

Bai Haotian looked at me and thought for a long time, “How to say it…I
guessed it. It’s not something I can explain in a day and a night.”

I wrote down Yin Xinyue’s name and number.

“With these two, can you figure out the logic behind it? You know, to make
an equation so that we can figure out the owners of all the goods in the
warehouse.”

“But why should we know that?” Bai Haotian looked at me nervously, “Little
Master Three, why are you trying to do such a big project on your first day
of work? According to the rules, we’re not allowed to know the specific
details regarding the goods.”

“Didn’t you figure out Zhang Qishan’s code?”

“That’s because there was nothing to do. I was only entertaining myself. If
anyone else but you had asked me, I wouldn’t have said anything.” Bai
Haotian flipped the paper with the two names on it over. “I won’t do it, I
won’t do it.”

“Well, I don’t need to know the equation. Just help me figure it out. You
don’t have to tell anyone what the equation is. Just tell me one thing: what
is Wu Sanxing’s serial number. I want to see what my Uncle Three put in the
warehouse. He left everything to me, so there’s no problem with me
checking it out. I’ll know sooner or later, anyway,” I said to her.

Bai Haotian flipped the paper over again and bit her lower lip. I looked at her
expression and realized that something was wrong.

409
Her expression wasn’t that of someone who was debating on whether to
help me figure it out, but of someone wondering if they should tell me
something I didn’t know. I thought of several possibilities and suddenly said,
“Or, maybe you’re so smart that you’ve already figured out the equation
and know what my Uncle Three’s number is. Come on, you can tell me
directly.”

Bai Haotian’s face immediately turned pale and she almost looked like she
wanted to escape. Her eyes were looking around everywhere, unable to stay
in one place for more than two or three seconds. Her hands clutched at her
pajamas in a vice-like grip.

I took a deep breath, “If you tell me this, I’ll teach you how to run this shop
well.”

Bai Haotian didn’t think I would say this and looked at me in surprise,
“Really?”

“Still hesitant?”

“No!” Bai Haotian immediately flipped the paper over and quickly wrote
down a number before handing it to me, “Keep your word!”

I took the paper and looked at the number. She really did figure it out, I said
to myself.

But before I could give my answer, she grabbed my pinky finger and burst
into tears, “I dream of being your boss, no, of being your shop assistant!”

410
Chapter 112.5 Not a Chapter,
Drunken Gibberish
I drank a lot that night. When I first started drinking, I wanted to make my
life better. But by the time I drank the fourth bottle of beer, my emotions
came out.

Before, I was concerned about most people. But when I was drinking with
Bai Haotian, I was suddenly only concerned about myself. Everything I did in
the past became clear and simple. I understood what I wanted for the first
time. Before I lost consciousness—when it was only me and the alcohol
left—I especially understood what I wanted.

I drank heartily that night. When I was alone with my thoughts during the
past ten or twenty years, I always felt panicked and weak. But at this
moment, I finally understood something.

“I always hope that I won’t let people down,” I said to Bai Haotian.
“Although it’s very difficult, I’ve finally lived to the point where I can be
satisfied when only that one person isn’t disappointed.”

Bai Haotian was terrified. I didn’t know what I said to her after drinking too
much, or even how I got home.

That night, I heard a lot of voices in my ear. They sounded like Uncle Three’s,
Uncle Two’s, and my parents’ voices. I had always been clear-headed for so
many years that it was rare for me to be so muddled for once. I knew that
when I woke up, I would remember my thoughts when I was drunk. I saw
how pure I was back in the day and felt like I wanted to cry.

I dreamed of the lama temple in Tibet and the ribbon floating in my dream. I
dreamed of everything—from my sense of belonging, to where my life
belonged in the grand scheme of things—but I dared not touch, stress, or
solidify them. I was afraid I wasn’t worthy of those memories and times.

411
Even though I had done so many things and controlled so many other
people, I still didn’t dare say any beautiful words.

This was the first time I didn’t want to sober up. I really didn’t want to. In my
illusions, my emotions didn’t need to be suppressed and rational. Everything
about me was fixed at that first moment. I hoped to be strong and mature
enough at that time.

I fell into a deep sleep and realized at the last moment that dreaming was
meaningless. I looked at Uncle Three’s code and knew what I would think of
tomorrow. That was what I had to do.

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Chapter 113
The next morning, I went to work with a hangover. Bai Haotian had already
made hangover tea, so I took a sip of it. I patted her head and then pulled up
all of Uncle Three’s goods.

Uncle Three didn’t have many goods in the warehouse since he was always
on the move. I honestly didn’t think he liked antiques, because he kept his
inventory relatively small. I only found three shipments in total.

I looked through the information on the first shipment and found its location
in the warehouse. It was a tortoise stele(1) that was wrapped in plastic paper,
but there was nothing on the stele. The second shipment was a batch of old
equipment that appeared to be obsolete now. Uncle Three had either saved
it because he didn’t want to lose any of it, or it was the equipment that
important people around him had used. If those people had died, then their
things couldn’t be thrown away.

I tore off the packaging of the second shipment and sat down on the
ground. This was Pan Zi’s equipment. There were many different sets for all
types of terrains, and I even recognized several of them that Pan Zi had
worn before. When it came to exploring large-scale tombs, most of the
equipment was very old after only being used once. Pan Zi liked to modify
this old equipment by himself, so most of it was very recognizable.

After taking a few deep breaths, the throbbing in my heart finally calmed
down.

(1)
Looks like this:

413
When I walked to the third shipment, my heart fell as soon as I saw it. It was
an old coffin. Those in the country liked to buy their coffins in advance and
this particular coffin was one that my grandpa had prepared at that time.
But Grandpa wanted to be cremated later, so this coffin ended up being
useless.

The Wu family didn’t care much about what happened after they died, so
the coffin wasn’t special. But it still belonged to Grandpa, so they couldn’t
just throw it away. In the end, they decided to stick it here.

Most of Uncle Three’s memories were still here. I went back to the first
shipment and examined the tortoise carefully. Although the item itself was
special, there wasn’t anything special about it as far as I could tell. It had
clearly been in the warehouse for a long time, so maybe Uncle Three just
forgot about it after he put it here.

When I got back to the office, I sighed and looked at Bai Haotian who was
calmly chatting on QQ(2). “You knew I wouldn’t find anything,” I said to her.
“That’s why you told me so readily. You didn’t say a word, so I bet you know
this warehouse like the back of your hand.”

“It’s because there’s nothing to do here. You know, every one of these
goods has a story.” Bai Haotian said as she looked at the calendar beside
her. “Did you know that the concierge at hotels know almost everything
since it’s their job to look at the guests’ luggage? Even the luggage storage
office is all about guessing the luggage passwords. As a result, they’re the
only ones who know what the guests in the hotel look like on the surface
and in reality.”

“Then do you have any suggestions? Look, I’ve been working so hard for so
long and it’s all been in vain. If you don’t feel sorry for me at all, then you
must know that there’s something valuable to me. I can definitely figure it

(2)
It’s an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Chinese tech giant
Tencent

414
out after a long time, but I’ve already agreed to teach you how to work in
this business, so you shouldn’t hold back on me.”

Bai Haotian looked at me with a smile and then said slowly, “Let me think
about whether I should tell you or not.”

I narrowed my eyes and tried to look at her with my most annoyed

expression, but I didn’t expect her to blush. “Or, you could guess.”

Guess?

My fingers twitched. If she was letting me guess, then that meant that the
information I had now could be used to infer a result that was favorable to
me.

I only thought for a few seconds before I suddenly had an epiphany. “Come
on, tell me. What’s the code for my name?” I asked her. “I want to see if I
have any goods in Warehouse Eleven.”

I had never stored anything in Warehouse Eleven. I didn’t handle many

things that were qualified to come to this warehouse, nor did I have many
storage needs. If I did actually have goods in Warehouse Eleven, then it
definitely fit in line with Uncle Three’s usual routine.

This was the way he would convey information to me, because as long as I
kept working in this business, I would definitely go to Warehouse Eleven to
store things once I reached a certain age. At that time, I would find that I
already had a shipment of goods here.

Bai Haotian looked at me with her cheeks cupped in her hands, “I won’t tell
you unless you tell me why you’re so curious.”

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Chapter 114
I really hadn’t thought about this question since I thought everyone was
curious. Human curiosity was all about the mystery of the riddle and the
person who created the riddle. For example, there was a salon you’d have to
pass on Beishan Road to get to Wushanju, but it wasn’t like I wanted to
know the owner’s life story. First, there were only so many kinds of things
you would experience in this life. But once you disassembled them, you
would see that there were hundreds of possibilities. You would know, but at
the same time, you wouldn’t care.

More importantly, I wasn’t interested in the proprietress, but Fatty was. As a

result, he was way more curious about this matter than I was.(1)

I felt like the reason for my strong sense of curiosity was because the riddles
Uncle Three gave me were too good. I took the first few steps and then kept
going. After that, I met my friends and became interested in their origins.

I couldn’t let go of both.

I slowly explained all of this to Bai Haotian, whose eyes suddenly became
watery as I finished speaking. When I looked at her, she said, “It’s so deep. I
don’t think I can understand it.”

How the hell is this deep? I said to myself.

Bai Haotian came over, typed in my code for me, and then hit enter.

The code for my name was very strange, so Bai Haotian had to explain, “This
numbering system isn’t particularly scientific, so it doesn’t work as well for
your generation. The calculated number length exceeds the standard, so it
won’t work for the next generation after you. No one knows what will
happen to Warehouse Eleven after that.”

(1)
This is a reference to that godawful Piao Piao/Fatty arc in the drama.

416
Warehouse Eleven belonged to the Nine Gates as a whole, but now that
they were long gone, no one was thinking about the future of this old
warehouse. When the time came, I was afraid it would turn into a one-time
distribution of spoils.

After entering my number, a location popped up. It wasn’t underwater but

in an inconspicuous spot on the warehouse’s ground floor. There was only
one good.

I silently walked over to it by myself and found that it was a mooncake box.
When I opened it, I found a smartphone inside.

The phone was an older model from the past few years. It was dead, but I
noticed that it had an Android charging port. I took it back to the office,
plugged it in, and waited for it to charge enough to turn on.

After about five minutes, the phone finally lit up. I turned it on and found
that it was password-protected.

I entered my code without hesitation.

The phone immediately unlocked.

I first went to the photo album and scanned through countless photos. They
all had the geographical location and time that the photo was taken. I
looked at the total number and found that there were more than three
thousand photos.

All of them were various documents and records.

I selected one of them and found that it was a 1963 thunderstorm report
from Northeast China. The document photographed had “East 19” written
on it in marker. When I looked at the photos before and after this
document, I found that all of the thunderstorm reports in them also had this
“East 19” label on them. I scrolled through more than forty photos before
the label changed to “West 11”.

417
I thought for a while and then opened the sound recording folder. There
were countless recordings saved in it, all with names like “East 19”, “West
11”, and so on.

I clicked on one, and sure enough, thunder started playing.

If Uncle Three really was the owner of this phone, then he was the one who
gave these thunder recordings different names. And based on the photos,
the thunder was always moving.

I laughed. This really is interesting. Now that I had this, I suddenly felt as if
Uncle Three was afraid I’d be bored and decided to play a game with me.

I quickly flipped through the recordings and found that they were all
thunder. I then flipped through the photo album. Most of the photos were
documents, but there was one photo in particular that caught my eye.

It was a scenic photo that had been taken in Rain Village. It had been taken
on the mountain overlooking the village.

I looked at the photo with bated breath and then glanced at the time stamp.
An indescribable feeling welled up in my heart.

So, you’ve been close to me this whole time, old man.

418
Chapter 115
At this time, I remained very calm and backed up all of the data on the
phone. Other than the photos and recordings, I also found a lot of files in
another folder. I took a preliminary look at them and found that many of
them were short journal entries. Uncle Three had never been in the habit of
keeping a journal, so there was a high probability that this information had
been specially typed into the phone for me to read.

After that, I went to check the monitoring system, but the footage of this
good being entered into the warehouse had long been erased.

After I finished backing up the files, I began to read the journal entries. By
this time, almost a week had passed and I was completely dumbfounded.
The information in these journal entries was absolutely incredible. There
seemed to be more information hidden in the sequence of events at that
time than I originally thought.

The journal started with Uncle Three and Chen Wen-Jin going on a
meteorological expedition in the countryside. In Uncle Three’s words,
people in the mountainous countryside at that time didn’t see any
distinction between archaeological teams, the agricultural college, and
meteorological teams. They could only tell the difference between those
who were there to film movies and those who weren’t.

Uncle Three and Chen Wen-Jin were doing some fieldwork for their
organization at that time, so the locals took them to the work site of the
previous weather station. A temporary weather station had been set up in
that place, but there was no one there.

The locals only took them there because they thought that Uncle Three and
Chen Wen-Jin were members of the previous meteorological team.

The locals told them that the meteorological team came there, set up the
weather station, and then left. After that, they would come by once a year,

419
bringing some food coupons(1) to the commune. The locals then asked Uncle
Three and Chen Wen-Jin for food coupons.

Uncle Three found it very strange at that time because the meteorological
team was conducting a country-wide climate survey, which was a national
project that had been carried out since liberation. By that time, the
geological survey and population census were almost complete, so it was
strange that a meteorological team would go to the countryside.

And the fact that they came back every year showed that someone had
been monitoring the climate in this area for a long time. If the weather
station in this village was already working, then why did a team have to
come here?

While Chen Wen-Jin was dealing with the villagers, Uncle Three opened the
temporary weather station’s air temperature box(2). He found that it didn’t
contain meteorological instruments, but a strange urn full of ashes.

A strange little idol had been painted on the outside of the urn and there
were traces of people coming back to worship it every year.

Uncle Three asked the villagers if there was anything special about the place
where the temporary weather station had been set up.

(1)
Coupons for food, grain, and other goods used in a PRC economic program c. 1955-1993. Also called
“liangpiao”. I guess you can kind of equate it to modern-day food stamps. Brief article here.
(2)
It’s also called a Stevenson screen or instrument shelter. It’s a shelter or an enclosure to protect
meteorological instruments against precipitation and direct heat radiation from outside sources, while
still allowing air to circulate freely around them. More info here but it looks something like this:

420
This clearly wasn’t a weather station, but a shrine to worship the ashes. And
the ashes weren’t buried but elevated in the air so that they could thrive in
the rain and the dew. Whether it was sorcery or something else, he was
certain that there was a motive for picking this place.

The villagers were also frightened when they saw this situation and said that
this place was often struck by lightning. That was why there weren’t any big
trees in the area.

Uncle Three took a closer look and found that there was a lightning rod at
the top of the air temperature box, but it had been burned to a crisp. In
other words, this box had been struck by lightning more than once.

Uncle Three didn’t understand it at all. The ashes were already ashes, so
why would they have to be struck by lightning so frequently? What was the
point? Was the owner of the ashes hated and resented so much that things
had come to this?

Uncle Three was completely baffled. The villagers wanted to tear the
weather station down, but Uncle Three stopped them. He decided to catch
the meteorological team when they came to the village again and ask them
what they were doing. He was already certain that they must be kindred
spirits; maybe not grave robbers, but something weird and crazy.

Uncle Three returned to the village half a year later and got into position. At
that time, the weather station had been demolished by the panicked
villagers, but Uncle Three felt that the meteorological team didn’t know yet,
so he stayed in the village and waited for the strange team to arrive. Uncle
Three recorded in the journal that when the team first entered the village,
they all gave off the feeling like they were attending a funeral. Every one of
them was pale and walked like a ghost.

421
Chapter 116
After the group entered the village, they gave the villagers food coupons as
usual. But the villagers were too afraid to accept them, so the group
immediately noticed that something was off. Uncle Three chose this
moment to make his appearance. He identified himself and said that he was
just curious and would never pursue the matter. He hoped to get to know
these people and learn what they were doing.

Uncle Three had a private chat with the leader of the meteorological team.
Although the leader was very cautious and hardly revealed any information,
Uncle Three immediately understood that they didn’t belong to the
organization’s official team. The claim that they were meteorologists was
completely false. These people were very mysterious, but this mystery had
nothing to do with the huge conspiracy that Uncle Three fell into at that
time.

This made him very afraid.

For those in the Mystic Nine, the thousand-year-old struggle between the
Wang and Zhang families was the biggest conspiracy that humans could
imagine. But at that moment, Uncle Three saw those people and started to
realize that there were “other” conspiracies in this world. These “others”
were completely outside of anything he had ever known, so Uncle Three
was obviously full of curiosity.

The leader of the meteorological team told him that they were chasing
thunder. Over the past few years, the thunder that they worshiped had
stopped in this mountainous area. They hoped that the ashes of their
companions would come into contact with the thunder, at which point their
souls would merge with the thunder.

When Uncle Three asked them why they did this, the team leader told him
that they always wanted to find out what information was hidden in the
thunder. Many of their companions had died during all those years of
listening to thunder in the mountains, so in order to commemorate and

422
remember them, they invented this strange ceremony in hopes that their
companions could be with the thunder.

At that time, Uncle Three believed that this group was simply engaged in
feudal superstition, but when they left, they gave Uncle Three some parting
words: we’ll never see each other again, but there will be an opportunity in
the future that will be related to your nephew.

Uncle Three had never mentioned me when he was talking to them, so this
sentence immediately grabbed his attention. At first, he thought it must’ve
been some scheme between the Wang and Zhang families, but as time went
by, he found that it was a completely separate matter.

This was the origin of everything.

After that, he began to focus on listening to thunder. He eventually found

Yang Daguang, whom he tricked into studying the information in the
thunder for him.

I could clearly see many ambiguous statements in Uncle Three’s journal, all
of which were related to the meteorological team’s parting words to him.
This let me know that a key message had been deleted. I had dealt with
grammar for a long time when writing, so I could figure out the possible
direction of this key message.

When those people left, they had probably mentioned my death.

Was it true that my death was near?

I took a deep breath, put my hand over my lungs, and pressed down. I still
hadn’t completely recovered from the previous dive and felt a slight stinging
sensation.

I continued reading. Uncle Three, Yang Daguang, and Chen Wen-Jin went on
their first field investigation and tried to collect thunder. After this first
investigation, Yang Daguang discovered the thunder’s pattern and became

423
obsessed with researching it. As the research deepened, Uncle Three found
that Yang Daguang began to change.

In the beginning, Yang Daguang was following Uncle Three’s lead. He was
always very curious about Uncle Three and willing to listen to any of Uncle
Three’s commands. But after listening to thunder for a long time, Yang
Daguang became another person.

His behavior basically changed from that of a man to a woman.

This kind of creepy change happened so slowly that Uncle Three only
noticed a lot of strange details at first. It wasn’t until there was a
thunderstorm that Yang Daguang completely became another person.

424
Chapter 117
I had heard of this kind of situation before. It was called “thunder
possession” in the Northeast. It was said that when the thunder was
especially loud, wandering ghosts couldn’t stay outside and had to hide with
people. There were many folk tales in the Northeast about parents coming
home on the day it thundered and sitting motionless in their chairs. Once
the thunder passed, they suddenly came to their senses. These were good
spirits who weren’t willing to disturb the living, but the thunder outside was
so loud and dangerous that they had to borrow those parents’ bodies to
hide for a while.

At that time, Uncle Three felt that Yang Daguang was suffering from thunder
possession. But he had never been afraid of these kinds of things, so he tied
Yang Daguang up and threw him back into the tent to play with the spirit.

The thunder boomed for a long time, and Yang Daguang kept talking to
Uncle Three in a woman’s voice. As Uncle Three listened, he slowly began to
feel creeped out. Everything this woman said had all happened to him in
that temporary weather station and the village. The woman kept talking like
she had witnessed it herself.

After talking about all the things that Uncle Three had experienced, the
woman then began talking about the things that happened after Uncle
Three left. It turned out that after Uncle Three left, the villagers started to
die every time it stormed. Later, the old people were so afraid that they
moved out of the village and basically abandoned it.

Shortly after the thunder stopped, Yang Daguang came to his senses.
Combined with some of the details he noticed before, Uncle Three realized
that Yang Daguang hadn’t been thunder possessed. Although Yang Daguang
didn’t understand the information in the thunder, his spirit seemed to have
been affected while listening to it.

425
I touched my chin. There also seemed to be a missing sentence here. Uncle
Three’s journal flowed very smoothly, so it didn’t take a sensitive person to
realize that a sentence was missing.

The information just now didn’t constitute a logical explanation for such a
bizarre event. Uncle Three had even stated three times that he didn’t feel
like it was thunder possession. There just wasn’t a sufficient reason for it.

But the grammar didn’t lie, so it was very possible that this sentence was
deleted because Uncle Three didn’t think thunder possession was a logical
explanation.

I tried to reason it out a little bit. If this incident was worth writing down and
showing to me, then it was likely that the situation was as follows:

The leader of the meteorological team was a woman.

And among the words Yang Daguang said at that time, there must’ve been
some words that only he and the woman knew.

So, was this thunder spirit a woman in the meteorological team?

I didn’t believe in things like thunder possession either, so that couldn’t be

it. This woman’s team had the intention and custom of connecting their
ashes with lightning in order to merge themselves with thunder.

So, was this woman dead? Her colleagues said she was.

Moreover, she really had connected with the thunder.

Her consciousness had even communicated with Uncle Three through Yang
Daguang and the thunder.

If that was the case, then this description could really be regarded as an
unusual encounter; otherwise, why record it?

But why delete the key information?

426
Uncle Three wasn’t good at texting, so I couldn’t imagine him typing up so
many journal entries himself. Someone must’ve typed it out for him and
Uncle Three was trying to prevent them from seeing these key messages.

I scrubbed my face hard, feeling as if it was all oily. At that moment, I found
that my old perception was starting to return.

The first possibility was that this information was very important, and Uncle
Three didn’t want it to be revealed when he dictated it. As a result, he left
out the key information.

The second possibility was that the typist saw this piece of information and
deliberately left it out. But if Uncle Three checked it afterwards, then he
would definitely notice, so this one was unlikely.

The third possibility really brought my perception back.

It was a woman who was helping Uncle Three type the journal entries. Uncle
Three was worried that she would be jealous when she heard of his previous
love story with another woman.

But the old guy was getting older, so even if he really did find a young girl
willing to listen to his story, she probably wouldn’t be jealous.

Unless Chen Wen-Jin had also been there when Uncle Three was in the
village at that time. Even now, Chen Wen-Jin couldn’t know what Uncle
Three and the female leader of the meteorological team did together.

So, Uncle Three was with Chen Wen-Jin when creating these journal entries.

I cracked my neck and recalled my whole process of analysis just now. There
was no evidence to support it, but why did I think that I was so accurate?

427
Chapter 118
It was rare that I could infer some sweet parts from analyzing these things
just now. But whether I had guessed correctly or not, if Uncle Three really
was with Chen Wen-Jin, then I wouldn’t forgive him even more. Human
beings were so complicated, but still easy to figure out. How many people
lived their lives in a state of mind where it was hard to forgive someone, but
they still hoped that the other party was doing well? More than you would
think.

Whether a thunder spirit was seeking affection or merely passing by, Yang
Daguang had become another person during that thunderstorm and
mentioned something that Uncle Three hadn’t been aware of.

There was no special meaning to it, only a subtle and creepy hint. After
Uncle Three and the others left the village, there seemed to be a mysterious
force related to thunder and lightning that started to kill people. This
seemed to be retaliation, or a warning.

The woman who possessed Yang Daguang must have told him this. Was she
implying that he shouldn’t investigate anymore and his life might be in
danger if he did?

I looked at the journal entries after that. Luckily, I didn’t have to guess what
Uncle Three did after that. In my mind, Uncle Three took Yang Daguang’s
hand, ran through the stormy grassland, took off his glasses, and then
turned in a circle under the dark clouds while shouting, “I miss you!” After
that, he looked at Yang Daguang’s blurred and unfocused eyes in the radiant
streaks of lightning and asked, “Are you here?”

Uncle Three was just that type of person. When he discovered a little bit, he
always wanted to know more. Things like fear and danger couldn’t affect
him at all.

Sure enough, the following journal entries were all about Uncle Three
constantly trying to see that woman with the help of thunder and lightning.

428
But the strange part was that Yang Daguang never admitted it. Even after
Uncle Three kept insisting, he still didn’t believe that he had become
another person.

After being asked numerous illogical questions in the rolling thunder and
flashing lightning, the drenched and exhausted Yang Daguang put forth
another proposition that had Uncle Three pondering deeply.

Yang Daguang believed that it was Uncle Three who received the message
from the thunder and was on the verge of madness.

All the visions Uncle Three saw were his own illusions, and it was Uncle
Three himself who went crazy when it thundered.

In an unexpected turn of events, even Chen Wen-Jin supported this idea.

She seemed to indicate that she hadn’t noticed Yang Daguang’s anomalies
that Uncle Three had mentioned before.

Uncle Three was terrified. If that was the case, then this warning hadn’t
been sent from the sky in a ridiculous way like spirit possession but had
been directly conveyed into Uncle Three’s mind.

Uncle Three then returned to that village from before, which had been
completely abandoned. When he went to the nearby town, he found several
people from the village and asked them about those who were killed during
the thunderstorms. All of the stories were so incredible that they could’ve
been written into “Contemporary Strange Tales”(1). These people were
healthy before the thunderstorm, and there wasn’t any foul play regarding
their deaths. Usually, when people talked about others being killed by
thunderstorms, we’d think that the victims had been struck by lightning. But
that wasn’t the case here. Those people had opened their eyes and looked
at the sky before suddenly dropping dead.

(1)
Book published in China in 2006. It was a selection of documentary works of various new cases
concluded nationwide in a span of three years. The author shows the readers the process of
investigating and dealing with shocking and terrifying cases in China. I only found info on Baidu. Kind of
reminds me of “Unsolved Mysteries” (the old one from the 80s and 90s)

429
Uncle Three saw some photos and couldn’t forget the expressions on those
corpses’ faces as they looked up at the sky. It was extreme surprise. There
was no fear, only extreme surprise.

Uncle Three became even more terrified and wrote a conclusion at the end
of his journal:

When you pry into the mysteries of heaven, conceal yourself from heaven’s
eyes. The dark clouds can see everything.

If you find out about this, Nephew, remember that the reason I didn’t show
up was because I didn’t know who was looking at me. When you read these
words, be sure to remember the actions that follow. It’s only while being
completely concealed that you can continue to investigate.

I popped my back and kept reading. In the subsequent journal entry, Uncle
Three reiterated his warning from before:

If you’ve been listening to thunder for a long time, you should set a reminder
to check yourself three times a day to see if you’re still normal.

The sound of thunder can affect one’s mind.

After listening for a long time, you’ll have some thoughts that aren’t yours.
Eventually, everyone will have the same strange idea to go to a certain
place.

430
Chapter 119
In Uncle Three’s journal, he recorded an example of a poet with God-given
talents. I didn’t know how many times I had heard of this example before. It
was difficult to confirm if these memories had long been in the heart of that
poet, or if they had really been inserted into that person’s mind from the
heavens on a destined day. This example proved that the heavens interacted
with mankind.

People bewitched by thunder would want to go to a certain place as they

grew older. This place had no name, but Uncle Three called it Thunder City.

According to literal interpretations, Thunder City was incredible. It spanned

an area of 1,150 kilometers and the walls were almost 270 meters tall. It
was said that the immortal Yellow Emperor turned into a thunder spirit and
built Thunder City, but these explanations were based on Taoism. For Uncle
Three, Thunder City was just a name. This “place” definitely wasn’t a city,
but no one actually knew what—or where—it was.

In other words, people would have a desire to go somewhere after listening

to thunder, but no one knew where that place was.

Uncle Three thought up a lot of possibilities, which are discussed below.

He put forward a hypothesis that several conditions had to be met in order

to form such a strong desire. The first condition was chasing thunder.

During your normal life, you wouldn’t be affected if you heard thunder every
once in a while. But all the strange symptoms Uncle Three had noticed
would start to appear while you were chasing thunder. It was a result of
chasing thunder clouds and hearing a lot of thunder in a short amount of
time.

431
This situation would also occur when you repeatedly listened to thunder
recordings. Of course, if you watched “My Fair Princess”(1) repeatedly in a
short amount of time, it may also have the same effect.

Uncle Three also wrote a lot of other theories. For example, the temple
where the Tathagata Buddha devoted himself to spiritual development was
called Leiyin Temple(2). Were there other people in other ancient countries
who received information from thunder? No one knew.

Second, although you would be bewitched by thunder, no one actually knew

where Thunder City was. In other words, the thunder only planted a desire,
but not the information on how to get there. If this desire couldn’t be
satisfied, then it would become more and more intense as you aged. That
was why people would keep following the thunder in hopes of getting
information from it.

Uncle Three felt that Yang Daguang suddenly going crazy and starting to
listen to thunder even more after they had separated was a result of this
possibility.

But despite making all of these assumptions, Uncle Three ultimately didn’t
have any proof. They sounded reasonable, but he actually just twisted the
words to make them sound logical. Honestly speaking, it sounded like he
was talking out of his ass.

Yang Daguang was different from me; he and Uncle Three had experienced a
lot. They hid everything they had collected about listening to thunder in the
Yang family’s ancestral grave, but it was later discovered and Yang
Daguang’s father was shot. As a result, Yang Daguang and Uncle Three’s
friendship came to an end. Maybe Chen Wen-Jin’s relationship with them
also played a role in this.

(1)
1998 Chinese period drama. Synopsis is here on Viki.
(2)
Leiyin means something like booming thunder. The important part is that lei=thunder. Here are some
pics and stuff of the temple. Fun fact: Tathagata is Buddha’s name for himself and has many layers of
meaning.

432
Since ancient times, people had written and sung about right and wrong,
love and passion. The more they spread it, the more complicated and
exciting it became, as if they had all experienced it themselves. History was
like the weight of the world; it couldn’t be touched and couldn’t be debated.
When you saw it, you pretended like you didn’t.

I leaned back in my chair as it started to rain outside. I thought of the

emotional entanglements that occurred among that small group of people
during that time. Uncle Three liked simplicity. He was born and raised in a
complicated world, so he knew from an early age that people were walking
a dead-end road. While walking from Lanzhou to Dunhuang, you could see
the Great Wall standing there amid the yellow sand. If you looked carefully
at the foot of the city, you could see a bunch of fragmented bones. Uncle
Three handed me some and said, “There are only so many feelings in the
end. There’s only so much love one can feel and so much heartlessness one
can show, so don’t blame your Uncle Three for not loving you, and don’t
blame your dad for loving you too much. In the end, there’s only so much.
We’re lucky to get what we can. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Now that I thought about it, maybe those words were the best answer he
would come up with if I asked him, “How could you do such a thing to me?”

But he still chased Chen Wen-Jin all that time and refused to give up. When I
asked him why, he said that the fate of a person’s life was as thin as a string.
When you put it into a glass, the wine wouldn’t overflow. That was it. If you
could sort it out, then sort it out. If you couldn’t, then there wouldn’t be any
more in the future. Uncle Three acted nonchalant on the surface and kept
saying we should let go of things, but deep down, he never let go. Since
there was nothing else that would occupy him, why even bother letting it
go?

Yang Daguang was in a different position from Uncle Three when it came to
this kind of thing. Uncle Three had been born with a burden of hatred and
acted cautiously. If we think of it like pockets, he would pat his and say “no
more, no more”, but Yang Daguang was born with an empty pocket that he
always wanted to fill.

433
Chen Wen-Jin was a very wonderful person and her relationship with Uncle
Three was very simple. She also had a lot of responsibilities on her
shoulders. As a result, no one’s pocket was big enough for her. She only
belonged to the world, so Uncle Three could only run around next to her, his
eyes following her wherever she went. The same could be said for Yang
Daguang. He probably kept his passionate eyes on her as well. Although he
loved her deeply, it was difficult for him to understand her and get hold of
her.

I looked at the photos I had found on Yang Daguang’s body, which I had
copied into my phone. His eyes seemed to show that he really liked her, but
most men didn’t know that this kind of “like” was only good for them. Uncle
Three’s “like”, on the other hand, was the kind that was good for Chen Wen-
Jin.

I thought hard about it, but there wasn’t anywhere I wanted to go. I had
heard a lot of thunder, but it didn’t seem like it had made me crazy. In fact,
my mind felt pretty peaceful.

Thunder City, what kind of place is it?

I didn’t know why, but I suddenly wanted to go there.

434
Chapter 120
Uncle Two and the others set off again, and Poker-Face went with them.
Fatty and I leaned against the car next to the toll booth and watched them
leave. At this time, I was in a very good state of mind. When I read “Slam
Dunk”(1) as a child and got to the last chapter, I thought that the author was
cruel for stopping the protagonist there. But now I could understand it very
well.

In order to play in the national league, I have to heal my spine first(2). It was
just my luck that I wasn’t taught how to be a grave robber when I was little.

The following month could be divided into three parts. The first third was
devoted to studying Uncle Three’s phone. I followed Uncle Three’s
instructions and didn’t tell anyone about it. I only took out the phone when I
was standing under eaves and made sure to close the doors and windows if
it was raining or thundering outside.

For the first time, I felt like someone was spying on me during a
thunderstorm. I kept feeling like an eye was looking at me through the
window every time the lightning flashed.

I printed out all the information and kept it in various places. The journal
entries looked like they had a lot of text at first glance, but there weren’t
that many words when they were printed out. Uncle Three later went into
hiding because of those things with the Nine Gates. For many years, he
didn’t contact Yang Daguang. When he was at his most desperate and facing
danger on all sides, he secretly looked to me. Based on his description, he
must’ve been in the snake marsh when he heard that familiar clap of
thunder(3).

(1)
Japanese sports manga/anime. It tells the story of a basketball team from Shōhoku High School in the
Shōnan area of Japan. Info here.
(2)
This is referencing Slam Dunk’s ending where the protagonist, Hanamichi Sakuragi, suffers a spinal
injury and has to go through physical therapy. He misses the national tournament.
(3)
Chapter 28 (pg 139) of Vol 5 “Deadly Desert Winds”.

435
I couldn’t say for sure if Uncle Three’s judgment was correct, but looking at
the records in his journal, he seemed to think that the thunder was familiar.
And it was giving him a warning.

After that day, A Ning died and Uncle Three hid in the depths of the snake
marsh. It was the thunder we heard that day that changed his plans and let
him know that there were other teams in the snake marsh besides our two
teams.

If Uncle Three heard the thunder and ran away, then it didn’t matter
whether there was information in the thunder or not. Just like that tiger in
the movie “Life of Pi”(4), the thunder was constantly alerting him to danger.
In a sense, it could even be said that he had been saved more than once.
And he had heard that thunder again more recently. It reminded him of the
leader of that meteorological team in the village that year and what he had
said about me.

Although it sounds very far-fetched, it almost seemed like Uncle Three was
in love with thunder and there was a witch in the dark clouds who loved him
very deeply.

These journal entries were all dark and mysterious fragments, but they were
probably just Uncle Three’s theories. It was still unclear what he was doing,
but at least there was finally something to go off of.

Time flew by and the second portion of the month passed by in a daze. I
became good friends with Bai Haotian and waited for the moment she
would become disillusioned with me. It was only a matter of time before her
adoration for me would disappear and she would see me clearly. The beauty
produced by the sense of distance was boring and clean, but it was never
the truth. Nowadays, artwork produced by civilization was whitewashed to
hide nothingness. It was painting and photography that truly reached the
heart. This just showed that people saw more beauty in their hearts than
reality could ever offer.

(4)
Here’s the plot.

436
The light in Bai Haotian’s eyes started to disappear around the fifteenth day.
I continued to play Minesweeper as the time slowly passed, and it wasn’t
until the third week that I realized I never received any news from Uncle
Two.

I sent a message to Uncle Two and Poker-Face, praying that they would
reply when they got a signal. But there was no news, so they had probably
gone into the mountains.

How fast could the relationship between people wear away? I often thought
about this question. Some people didn’t contact each other for a long time
and might not even say a word to each other when they met again, but they
wouldn’t feel awkward at all. Others would spend a long time together but
acted like strangers if they had been separated for a month or two.

Would seeing Uncle Three again—if there was a chance—be the same as
meeting Poker-Face again? Or would we act like strangers and have to rely
on Fatty to find topics to discuss while eating? Poker-Face and I had Fatty
between us, while Pan Zi was the one who had been between me and Uncle
Three. But Pan Zi was gone now. Could I even mention that?

I remained anxious as the last ten days passed, and then three more days
passed after that. Uncle Two had always been punctual, so the fact that he
was three days late made me feel a little uneasy.

I left Warehouse Eleven early and went to Uncle Two’s place. When I arrived
at the entrance, I saw that the eaves were filled with incense. This usually
meant that people had died. It had been a long time since I saw so much
incense like this. Every time Uncle Three came back before, our clothes
looked ragged and we had made a narrow escape. The dangerous
adventures Uncle Three and I had been on were rare, but with so many
serious casualties this time, I was afraid I would die if I went where they had
gone.

Luck was no longer on my side.

437
I took a deep breath, entered Uncle Two’s courtyard, and found that it was
full of worn-out equipment. But as soon as I walked into the courtyard,
everyone looked at me and froze.

All those pitying stares were like evil spirits swirling the air. And at that
moment, they all suddenly seemed to be directed at me.

I ignored them and turned my head to look around. I didn’t see Poker-Face
anywhere, so I casually asked, “Where’s Little Brother?”

“Little Brother is gone.” Kan Jian burst into tears.

I was stunned, but still managed to stay surprisingly calm, “What do you
mean ‘gone’?”

Uncle Two came out of the inner room and everyone looked at him. His face
appeared gloomy as he looked at me and said, “Come in.”

He had just finished speaking when Baishe sat down heavily on the ground. I
didn’t move but grabbed Kan Jian instead, “What do you mean gone?”

“Little Brother and Master Black are gone. There was something in that
tomb. That tomb… I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Kan Jian was
shaking all over.

438
Chapter 121
“How could they be gone?” I looked at Uncle Two coldly. “They’ve been fine
for so many years, so how come they get into your hands and you say
they’re dead? What did you do? Tell me what’s going on and don’t talk
nonsense.”

Uncle Two didn’t speak, but looked down at Kan Jian. I looked around at all
the other people. It hadn’t been long since they left me, but Uncle Two was
very good at training people, so they wouldn’t dare be presumptuous in
front of him. I could only hold onto Kan Jian and ask, “Why are they gone?
What happened?”

Kan Jian looked at Uncle Two.

Uncle Two had obviously told them to keep their mouths shut, so no one
would talk. I released my hold on Kan Jian and walked over to Uncle Two. He
let me into the room and then closed the door smoothly. I looked at him
coldly and asked, “If they’re gone, where are their bodies?”

“We couldn’t bring them up.” Uncle Two sat me down and poured me a
large glass of white wine. “It’s just a theory right now. We didn’t see it with
our own eyes.”

“Then why are you so sure?” I smacked the wine glass away. “If you didn’t
see it with your own eyes, then why did you come back? Why didn’t you
save them? What was the situation?”

Uncle Two looked at the wine I had just knocked over. “If they could be
saved, then I would have saved them.”

I took a deep breath and felt the suffocation from just now ease a little bit. I
looked back at the door and said to myself, Kan Jian, I’ll fucking beat you to
death. But as I calmed down, I felt another kind of panic surge up in my
heart. Kan Jian wasn’t the type of person to raise a fuss. He was honest, and

439
I had also taught him to convey information accurately. His breakdown just
now was definitely real.

Was Uncle Two trying to get me to gradually accept the reality that those
people were really gone?

When I was learning to drive, my teacher wanted me to calm down and gave
me some Vitamin C. He pretended that it was a sedative, but I immediately
saw through it. It was difficult to use words to trick me now.

My hands started to tremble and I touched my pockets, but there weren’t

any cigarettes. I never thought that something would happen to the two of
them. In this business, there shouldn’t be anyone more reliable than the two
of them together. After so many years, I really didn’t think that these two
people would fail.

I hadn’t been mentally prepared, so all my previous defense mechanisms

couldn’t be used here and I couldn’t calm down.

But I couldn’t have an emotional outburst either because I didn’t have

enough time to get worked up. I came through that door to hear the news,
so my emotions didn’t have time to react at all.

Under the strain of these two states, there was only anger in my heart, like
an unnamed evil fire.

I leaned back against the sofa, took a deep breath, and forced a thought
through my mind, if I don’t calm down, things will get worse. I need to calm
down in order to make things better.

This was what I had told myself countless times every day in that desert. But
I never thought that I would have to bring it up again years later.

“Uncle Two, can you tell me in one sentence what happened?” I pinched my
brows. “Why are the underlings outside like that, and why can’t you, Wu
Erbai, save those two from that place?”

440
“Saving them will get more people killed.” Uncle Two looked at me. “A place
that those two can’t handle is a place that no one in this group can handle.
Going to that place to save them is just exchanging people’s lives for theirs.
These guys’ lives aren’t mine. I can’t ask them to do such a thing.”

“What was the situation? Was it a landslide or quicksand?” I asked. These

were the only things that had the capacity to bury those people.

“Those two went to a place without oxygen. The time they’ve been gone far
exceeds the amount of oxygen they carried,” Uncle Two said. “Unless they
found a new source of oxygen somewhere, but that’s impossible. If you fall
into a lake for two hours and don’t come up, then it’s not a rescue effort,
but body retrieval. I can’t sacrifice so many lives just to fish up a corpse.”

“They fell into a lake? You’re telling me that the two most powerful grave
robbers in the world fell into a lake and drowned?”

“It’s not an ordinary lake, it’s a calling lake. It’s basically a cavity in an
underground river. If a sound is made in that cavity, a large volume of water
will flow backwards and submerge the whole cavity. It takes about two
months for the water to start receding. The locals call it Yanggong Spring,
and the lake is called Yangdu Lake. Those two went in to find an entrance,”
Uncle Two said. “I don’t know why, but the river water suddenly started
flowing backward in large quantities. The lake is very large, so if you want to
dive in to save anyone, you need a professional cave diving team. The river
water flowed in and flooded the whole underground lake. We couldn’t
rescue them, so we gave up.”

“That’s it? You just left them there?” I looked at Uncle Two’s expression. He
didn’t have to lie to me, and I knew he didn’t want the people working
under him to die. If he said that, then he must have tried everything. I
wouldn’t believe it if anyone else said that there was no way, but Uncle Two
said it so bluntly that my back went completely cold.

“Members of the Xie family have already gone. I know you definitely won’t
give up, but I’ve seen more dead people than you have. The probability of

441
those two being alive is very low unless there’s some kind of miracle. But
even if they are alive, it’ll take hundreds of people to save them. Our people
came back to rest first, so you can ask the Xie family to give you any
updates.”

I moved to stand up and Uncle Two immediately said, “You’re not allowed to
go. If you go, you’ll die. Don’t even try to think up any hairbrained schemes.
Everyone knows your situation. You should just wait here for news.”

“I’m not going.” I nodded and stood up. As I walked out the door, I ran my
tongue along my gums and thought to myself, not going, my ass.

I grabbed Kan Jian and said, “I don’t feel good. Help me get back.”

While Kan Jian stood there stunned, I clutched my chest, dragged him into
the car, and took a pack of old cigarettes from the console. I knew I couldn’t
smoke anymore, but I lit up anyways. I was just about to start talking when
Kan Jian suddenly got out of the car, “Little Master Three, I know what
you’re going to do, but you can’t go. You can scold me to death and say you
don’t need me, but I won’t tell you anything. You can’t go there.”

“I haven’t asked anything yet.” I laughed.

Kan Jian looked at me, “I promised Little Brother and Master Black that you
would live. They’ve lived long enough. You still have time.”

442
Chapter 122
I didn’t persuade Kan Jian to get back in the car. When I drove away, I
looked at his lonely expression in the rearview mirror and thought that he
looked like an abandoned puppy.

Uncle Two’s arrangement was extremely brilliant. To help me was to kill me,
but if they didn’t help me, then that was basically marking me as an
outsider.

I hadn’t smoked for a long time, so I felt a little dizzy as the smoke filled my
lungs. The cigarette had a spicy flavor to it that gave off a kind of northern
air feeling.

I was surprisingly calm as I drove through traffic. It was like all of my

emotions had just disappeared. I called Xiao Hua’s phone, but it rang for a
long time and he didn’t answer. I called Fatty and told him that something
was wrong.

We met at the hair salon by West Lake that he kept visiting. Fatty and I sat
on some chairs by the lake and drank beer while sighing and saying, “How
did this happen?” I told Fatty that I needed him to make some inquiries
about the incident so that we could make our own judgments. I also asked
him to get some money ready.

“With Uncle Two here, we can’t hire grave robbers from our mutual
contacts. Now we can only find people who only care about money. These
people won’t ask for a low price. My income is small and my savings are
almost the same. It’s enough to get me through life, but it’s definitely not
enough to go underground. Moreover, this place isn’t ordinary. I’m afraid
we need special talents, which means the price will be higher.”

I had thought Fatty would readily agree. Although he spent a lot of money,
he usually had a little savings. But now he looked a little distressed.

443
I frowned, “What’s the matter? What happened?” Fatty wasn’t a disloyal
person, so something must’ve happened to cause him to make this kind of
expression. Fatty turned to look at the hair salon behind him, where the
proprietress was inside washing someone’s hair. An ownership transfer note
had been posted on the door of the salon.

“My friend was in trouble, so I went to help.” Fatty rubbed his neck. “I was
determined to help.”

“You must have at least 1.8 million yuan on you, right? How much could a
hair salon cost?” I asked him.

Fatty sighed, “It’s a long story, so don’t ask. In short, I can mobilize fifty
thousand yuan. I gave the rest to the shop. I bet what you have definitely
isn’t enough, so let’s try to find a way.”

I checked my account balance on my phone. I still had a hundred and fifty

thousand on my card, so with Fatty’s fifty thousand, that would add up to
two hundred thousand. This was different from the past when more than
ten thousand yuan could get you all the equipment you needed and get you
to Shandong. But now even two hundred thousand yuan probably wouldn’t
be enough to gather a team. But Fatty, like me, didn’t have the word “dead”
in his dictionary and believed that Black Glasses and Poker-Face would never
die.

In the end, we decided that Fatty would make some inquiries first. Those
working for the Wu family definitely wouldn’t tell me anything, but they
would tell Fatty. And this kind of thing would certainly become a rumor in a
few days. I just didn’t want to try figuring out the truth by myself, that was
all. I stopped by Wushanju on my way back. Wang Meng must’ve already
known about it because he didn’t say a word when he saw me coming. Or
maybe he just didn’t know what to say.

“How much money is on the card?” I asked him directly.

“Bo… boss, what’s the matter?” Wang Meng asked me.

444
“Help me get the word out. Just say I want to borrow some money with
eight fen(1) interest. I want to borrow as much as I can.”

“Uncle Two has already spoken. No one will lend you any money,” Wang
Meng said. “Boss, you know how much my salary is. Although Uncle Two
gave me an increase, I haven’t been paid yet. If you had given me more
before, I would definitely give it all to you now.”

I told him that even though Uncle Two had already spoken, they could still
lend me some money as long as Wang Meng was acting as the middleman.
Even though everyone in the business would know I was borrowing it, it
wasn’t like they were lending it to me directly. Besides, my reputation was
still very high and an eight fen interest rate was a huge profit. Some people
would definitely be willing to gamble.

Wang Meng shook his head, “Uncle Two has already reported your situation
to them. No one will believe that you can pay back the money. Boss, Master
Hua is so rich. Just let him do this kind of thing. I heard that more than a
hundred people went there.”

I patted him and said that I didn’t know if anyone would still be willing to
lend me some money, but it was still better to spread the word first. He
eventually agreed. I sat on Wushanju’s stairs and called Jin Wantang, but
that bastard wouldn’t answer.

After trying for half an hour and still not getting an answer, I saw him post
on WeChat Moments: Sometimes rejection is a kind of kindness.

Uncle Two’s setup allowed everyone to ignore my calls while remaining on

the moral high ground. They didn’t even have to worry about not being able
to face me in the future. I pinched my brows, lit another cigarette, and had
only taken two puffs when I found that it was raining.

(1)
Fen(分)= 0.01 yuan

445
I looked down and found that it wasn’t rain dripping onto my arm, but blood
from a nosebleed.

446
Chapter 123
I stared blankly at the blood, not thinking about what it meant.

I touched the cigarette I was smoking just now and silently wiped the blood
off.

People’s understanding of their own abilities was a gradual process. When I

made more than a dozen phone calls and found that no one would answer, I
realized that I understood my own abilities better.

When I was able to accomplish so many things before, Uncle Two had been
backing me up. I was aware that he had contributed a lot before, but now it
seemed that his power was beyond the scope of my imagination.

But I didn’t lose hope and spent the next day trying to contact all kinds of
people. It didn’t matter whether it was borrowing or deceiving, as long as
people realized that it was related to finances in any way, they would
immediately reject me for various reasons.

Talking about money was very tacky, but it was only at this time that I
realized the power it had. This kind of universal equivalent actually
represented an absolute resource.

Fatty’s news after making some inquiries also had me extremely anxious. In
fact, it was very simple. If there were pores or spaces in the ceiling of that
underground lake cave that contained some air, then the two of them might
have survived. If not, then they would be dead ten times over.

And if we didn’t enter the cave within two months, the water would rush
into the depths of the cave when it receded. At that time, it would be
extremely difficult to save them even if they were alive.

Fatty didn’t believe that I couldn’t get any money and tried to do it himself
for a long time. When he found that no one would pay attention to him, he
started cussing up a storm.

447
I asked an agent to evaluate my Jinbei. It had been modified and was worth
some money on the black market, so I could probably get a certain amount
for it. I told Fatty that the Bai family were good swimmers, but they
definitely wouldn’t help us. There were still some good swimmers in the
business, so no matter what their character was like, we should still call
them. We would have to see how many we could get with the money from
my Jinbei.

Fatty looked at the numbers on the paper and said to me, “No need to think
about a few. With this price, we can only afford one person. I have a
candidate in mind. This man has a strange personality. You have to
personally go and ask him. If he likes you, the price isn’t a huge problem.”

When I asked who it was, Fatty said, “Have you ever heard of Hong Ding
Shuixian(1)?”

“Why does it sound like a prostitute’s name?” I asked.

“He’s a man, but he really is flirtatious,” Fatty said.

(1)
Hong Ding Shuixian can translate as “red-capped daffodil”. The characters for shuixian (水仙) can
mean daffodil or legendary water immortal. I think the drama just shortened it to “Hong Ding” but I
can’t remember

448
Chapter 124
I had been in a high position in recent years and had been both respected
and looked down upon. I had been called Little Master Three since Uncle
Three’s era, so it was regarded as a kind of moniker in the business. But the
Nine Gates wasn’t the only underground group in China. There were many
families like the Nine Gates everywhere. The name Little Master Three
worked in the Nine Gates’ system, but may not be recognized in other
people’s systems.

Moreover, these systems were so closed off that they were beyond the
scope of one’s imagination. Those in the Nine Gates had a long-standing
reputation in their own system, but in some places, they might just be a
random name. Everyone was familiar with goods from the Nine Gates, but
they probably didn’t know who the specific people in the Nine Gates actually
were.

This Hong Ding Shuixian was also a nickname, but it was impossible for me
to know how prestigious the nickname was in his system. I didn’t know why,
but for some reason, it sounded like delicious cuisine(1).

In addition, it should be noted that there were certain rules when recruiting
grave robbers in the Nine Gates’ system. No matter how unusual the
recruiting process might be, the rules in this business were established by
convention and Uncle Two’s existence ensured that they were actually
followed. But once you got out of the Nine Gates’ system, these rules were
useless.

I rarely dealt with people outside of the Nine Gates. First, there were
enough people within the Nine Gates’ system, so the profit that could be
made was more than sufficient. Second, these wild grave robbers were
unfamiliar and the probability of accidents was too high.

(1)
Per Tiffany: Many restaurants like to come up with fancy names for dishes. That’s why Wu Xie felt the
name sounded like something delicious.

449
Those outside of the Nine Gates didn’t have any predecessors, territories, or
rules. They might have some unique skills that others couldn’t dream of, but
they all had a common feature: they didn’t trust people.

Hong Ding Shuixian lived in Wuxi, so Fatty and I went to pay him a visit. This
guy lived in a dilapidated community that looked like it had been built in the
1990s. The façade on the houses looked very old after being drenched in the
rain for so long. We could see all kinds of private balconies on each floor.
The flowers and grapes growing in the sun rooms gave off a strange vitality.

Hong Ding Shuixian lived on the sixth floor of a seven-story residential

building that didn’t have an elevator. When we climbed up the stairs, we
saw that the door was open and the air was filled with smoke. There were
big, rough-looking tattooed guys playing mahjong at about six or seven
tables.

I looked inside and saw that the room was only eighty square meters and
appeared to have been converted into a mahjong room. There were cash
and tiles on the tables, and it seemed as if the pools weren’t small.

As Fatty and I glanced at each other, several of those big men looked at us
while rubbing their tiles. One of them said, “Someone complained again. Tell
your leader that it’s useless. If you keep whining, we’ll demolish your
property.”

I did a rough visual inspection of their positions and then looked at the stairs
behind me. It was true that fighting these hooligans in this kind of space
might not end well. I wanted to ask which one was Hong Ding Shuixian, but
Fatty elbowed me and pointed to the innermost table, where a shirtless
young man with red hair was intently drawing tiles.

Fatty winked at me, but I shook my head. If we fought at the door, we could
handle all those people inside. But if we walked into this room and really
fought, they would be able to spread out and overwhelm us.

In the end, I knocked on the door, stood on the threshold, and shouted,
“We’re looking for Hong Ding Shuixian.”

450
As I knocked, I looked at the red-haired young man, but he didn’t move at
all. Instead, I noticed a thin, small man came out from behind the door. He
was only as tall as my chest and holding a kettle like he was pouring water
for the tattooed guys. “Looking for me?” He asked us. “What’s going on?”

Fatty and I exchanged another glance and I asked, “Are you Hong Ding
Shuixian? Isn’t it ‘red-capped’ daffodil?”

The little man scratched his crotch and then pointed at it. “Red-capped
daffodil isn’t my nickname, but the nickname of my second child. I usually
don’t show it to guests.”

I didn’t understand. He put down the hot kettle and whispered, “Who
introduced you? I don’t take male customers.”

I looked at Fatty as if to say: Are you sure this man can help us? Fatty
narrowed his eyes and said to Hong Ding Shuixian, “Don’t you remember
me? I’m Pangpang(2).”

I looked at Fatty with widened eyes, unable to believe my ears. Fatty said to
me, “Don’t get me wrong, we’re netizens. It’s my net name, my net name.”

(2)
The pinyin of Fatty’s name is Pangzi. Pang (胖)=fat/plump. It seemed stupid to say Fatfat and since it’s
an online nickname, I figured it was best to leave the pinyin.

451
Chapter 125
I thought this expert lived in a house surrounded by water and we would use
a boat to get to it. We would drink a pot of good tea and look at the blue sky
as we started negotiating the price. But unexpectedly, we were smoking
cigarettes on the stairs while negotiating the price.

Hong Ding Shuixian listened to Fatty’s explanation and remained silent. Fatty
looked at his crotch and asked, “Did you develop a side business recently?”

“I needed money quick and my old partners were dead. You’re cultured and
your ancestors left you something, but we’re all half-trained and in a hurry
to make some money. If there’s a quick and easy way to make money, then
why not switch jobs?” His hair was very thin and greasy, and he scratched at
it while refraining from answering Fatty’s proposal.

“So you just set aside your craft?” Fatty asked

Hong Ding Shuixian laughed, “What I have in my pants is a real craft, but
unfortunately, you’re all men and can’t enjoy it. What I did before was too
lively and exciting.”

Looking at him, I really couldn’t figure out why he got any business. Hong
Ding Shuixian looked at me and knew what I was thinking. “Brother, it’s
about doing it frequently. Do you understand?”(1)

Fatty sighed, “We need to save some people in the business. We’ve come to
you for help.”

(1)
I think he means he can go a few rounds without getting tired, but I’m not sure. Someone said this is a
hilarious interpretation of “Man in the Wind” by Tang Xiaosheng. I think it got taken down or something
because I wasn’t finding much background info on it. It might be a scandalous BL webnovel, might not.
Who knows. The characters of the title (風塵男子) can also mean “Male Prostitute” or a male who has
endured hardships. I did find the first chapter here.

452
“If I help you, who will help me?” Hong Ding Shuixian retorted. “I went to
the mountains with you once and couldn’t pick up clients for a month. I can
make more than five hundred thousand in a single month.”

If this trash can make five hundred thousand a month, then I just might enter
heaven if I’m the one picking up clients(2). I was secretly fuming and wanted
to speak up, but Fatty suddenly winked at me.

I pulled Fatty aside, “He, he, what can he do?”

Fatty patted me, “This guy is very good at swimming. Believe me, his cave
diving skills are even better than a professional’s. He just made an offer, so
let’s take him up on it. There are absolutely no problems with his abilities.
This guy is like a fairy in the water.”

“How can you tell?” I was furious. “Can his dick produce oxygen or
something? How can you tell he’s good at diving?”

Fatty snorted and said angrily, “Would I make a mistake with this kind of
thing? We’re in a tough spot right now. I also feel bad for spending that
much money. If he wasn’t any good, I wouldn’t introduce you to him. Just
look at his legs.”

I glanced at Hong Ding Shuixian’s short legs and found that the muscles were
amazing. In fact, they looked like something ordinary people couldn’t
achieve.

I rubbed the back of my head and paced back and forth three times. With
ten thousand mmp in my heart(3), Fatty took the cash from my bag,
“Brother, we’ll give you five hundred thousand to work with us for a week.
Two hundred up front, three hundred when we come back. Deal?”

(2)
Per Tiffany: Wu Xie didn’t think Hong Ding was good looking. In Wu Xie’s opinion, he was definitely
more handsome than Hong Ding. If Hong Ding could get 500,000 a month, then Wu Xie would get so
many clients non-stop and make way more than that. “Heaven” is a euphemism.
(3)
It’s a popular curse from Sichuan. MMP= “Ma Mai Pi (sounds like ma my pee), which means
motherfucker.

453
Hong Ding Shuixian looked at Fatty’s cash but didn’t take it. He clicked his
tongue and said, “I want the whole five hundred up front. I have to explain
to my clients and it’s always difficult to settle the final payment with you dirt
prowlers.”

Fatty nodded, “No problem. Then, you take the two hundred first and I’ll
bring the three hundred over to you in a week. We can meet up somewhere.
That will also give you time to get your body ready.”

Hong Ding Shuixian took the money and twisted his waist, “How many times
have I told you? It doesn’t depend on the body, but the frequency.” With
that said, he went back into the room.

My heart was filled with resentment as Fatty dragged me away. “Go get his
three hundred thousand,” he said to me.

“I don’t even have the money to buy a ticket back! Where can I get that kind
of money?!” I spat out angrily.

Fatty became annoyed, “Hey, I say Mr. Naïve, do you look down on
prostitutes? You know, there are people in the underworld who are ranked
above us. We can’t look down on prostitutes when we’re the ones that go
underground. Do you think that money is easy to earn?”

“It’s not like I would know if that money is easy to earn, but don’t you think
five hundred thousand in a single month is a bit ridiculous? He, he, he’s not
as good as you. At least a few young girls like you every once in a while. I
guess he had to bribe people to come on to him.”

“Like you’re one to fucking talk. Go and try it. I’ll even give you a nickname:
Fish in the Water(4). If you receive three hundred thousand in a month, I’ll
make two crutches and engrave Zhang Shengji(5) on them. Do you think the
old duck soup is that easy to make?” Fatty hooked his arm around my neck,

(4)
You know…. his private part is the fish
(5)
Zhang Shengji is a famous restaurant in Hangzhou that has received a lot of awards and honors. It has
different dishes for different seasons. Its “Old Duck Soup” is a popular dish made from a secret recipe.

454
“We’re here to get help, so calm down! Believe me, this man is as good as
ten divers. We’ll pay him even if he asks for a hundred and fifty million!”

455
Chapter 126
I had been going through my WeChat contacts on the way back to see if
there was anyone I could borrow money from. In addition, I just wanted to
know if there was anyone who hadn’t paid me back before. At this juncture,
I figured my previous good relationships with people couldn’t overcome
Uncle Two’s authority and I wouldn’t be able to borrow anything. Fatty was
pulling his inventory and trying to clear the contents of his warehouse. He
scratched his head and blamed me for abandoning the business in recent
years. Everything he had bought before was out of date now.

In the antique industry, all the really valuable things were in auction houses.
Generally, if the shop wasn’t engaged in underground trading and sold
goods on the surface, making money mainly depended on trends. The
question was always: what’s popular this year? If you chose right, you could
sell the goods quickly. Fatty hadn’t touched the market for a long time, and
all the old goods he had weren’t popular this year. It was worthless to put a
price tag on them since no one would want them. After a long time, he
eventually begged various friends and sold some things for more than ten
thousand yuan.

I thought Fatty had some more valuable things, but he said that all of the
good things had been moved to Rain Village. On that stormy night, all those
things had been regarded as mine and Xiao Hua took them away to settle
the accounts(1). Fatty seemed to have a lifetime of bad luck just for knowing
me. He went from getting accidental injuries to losing his whole fortune.

I sighed, pinched my brows, and realized that I had to make some money.

I had about ten thousand yuan in my WeChat account that was enough for
food and gas for a while. I had to take care of both Fatty and myself, so I told
him not to live in the hotel. We could save some money if he just slept at my
house. I didn’t sell my Jinbei in the end. I had a lot of rubbings and old

(1)
Part 2 of “Extra: Some of Wu Xie’s Thoughts”

456
inkstones piled up at home, so I opened a Taobao shop(2). These old
inkstones were still very valuable, so I figured we could get about seventy or
eighty thousand yuan in cash. That could be used as the principal, but we’d
have to go to the countryside to collect the items first.

Uncle Two could control the things taken from tombs, but he couldn’t
control what had been handed down. Moreover, many small-time thieves
also stayed in the countryside and pretended to be fellow villagers. Those
people also had good things, but the price was unstable and the negotiation
cost was very high. These small-time thieves always cheated because they
didn’t know what would be in the next bag.

I went back and set everything up, but only got thirty-four thousand after
selling all of the old inkstones. That was usually the starting price for a
special corbel(3) on old wooden furniture. It seemed that even this money-
making scheme didn’t pan out. All those other inherited items were only
valued at twenty thousand.

If I wasn’t in a hurry to save those two, I was even willing to make ironware
and beeswax. There had always been a steady market in these parts, but it
had slowed down recently.

Why the fuck are you trying to die when I’m so poor? I stood there facing
West Lake with a cold heart. I decided from that day on that I would care
more about deposits and financial management.

(2)
Taobao, a Chinese online shopping website
(3)
A corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood, or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent
weight, a type of bracket. Like this:

457
After getting a feel for the market, I found that it was impossible to make
the money we needed like this. Fatty and I made up a plan and decided to
split up. Fatty would doggedly borrow as much as he could while I went and
knocked on the door of Haoshanju.

Bai Haotian was wearing pajamas and didn’t appear to have slept well these
days. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face looked a little
swollen. As soon as she saw me, she covered her face to keep me from
looking.

“What are you doing here?” She asked. “If you don’t go to work, you’ll be
fired.”

“I’m here to show you how to operate Haoshanju,” I said to her. “Take out
all of your accounts and we’ll go to Shanxi tomorrow to look for goods.”

“Just you and me? What about the warehouse?”

“Ask off.”

“You can only take two days off,” Bai Haotian said in a panic.

She went to take out her phone—probably to call my Uncle Two—but I

quickly snatched it away and looked at my watch. “Then we’ll start now. I’ll
give you fifteen minutes to change clothes and grab all of your accounts and
cards. Didn’t you want to learn the craft? I’ll teach you.”

458
Chapter 127
After an eleven-hour drive to Shanxi, I followed the familiar route straight to
Qixian.

On the way, I secretly added Bai Haotian to several groups that were full of
culture and antique enthusiasts. Many people posted their collections every
day, so the circulation was very fast.

In today’s antique market, if you had money, you could buy eighty percent
of the good products at the many small secondhand shops in the county.
There was no need to go to the village yourself. The locals had probably
already swept through the village and had a monopoly on the goods. It
didn’t matter whether it was from a “fellow villager” or something handed
down through the ages, the locals had acquaintances who swept through
the goods regularly. When my business started to improve back then, it was
because I controlled this part. I cut out the antique dealers in the county and
had the goods sent directly to the city.

As a result, the antique dealers in Qixian County absolutely hated my guts.

After I retired, they quickly blocked the hole I had created, so it would
definitely be bad if I entered Qixian again on my own. That was why Bai
Haotian was so crucial.

I found a shabby hotel that cost fourteen yuan a day and rented two rooms.
I then bought bedding, changed the sheets, and climbed up to the window. I
pulled down the curtain rod, hollowed out the wall behind it, and then put
the curtain rod back. This was a place where we would hide the goods we
bought. I knew from experience that once we bought any good products,
anything could happen.

After that, I dyed my hair yellow and put on round glasses and a fake beard
and sideburns. I also wore a special tight-fitting T-shirt. When my disguise
was complete, I looked like those gang members who parked their cars in

459
rural KTV parking lots(1). Then I told Bai Haotian to put on a white shirt and
booty shorts(2). When the two of us stood together, it looked like a little rich
girl had fallen for an unconventional boyfriend and brought him to Qixian to
travel.

Bai Haotian also put on a lot of makeup. Her technique was so top-notch
that she was basically unrecognizable when she was done. After that, we
went to a small secondhand shop in a building materials market in the
county suburbs.

The best items in this shop were silver ingots and old saddles, which were
placed inside glass cabinets that lined the walls. The glass cabinets were the
old ones from department stores in the ‘90s. They were covered in rust and
dust both inside and out. In addition to the old silver ingots that were piled
up indiscriminately, there were many old house deeds and pieces of old
furniture piled up.

We went in and pretended to be interested in these old objects. The boss

was a short old fat man who didn’t look up at us at all. Instead, he stayed
focused on the TV show playing on his iPad.

It was sunny outside, but the whole inside of the shop was very dark. After
taking two steps in, it even felt colder, which was a feeling that I was quite
familiar with.

Bai Haotian asked me softly, “Even if we buy some things here, we can’t sell
them when we get back. What are we doing?”

“Taking pictures,” I answered in the Changsha dialect.

“Taking pictures?” Bai Haotian didn’t understand what I meant.

(1)
KVT is karaoke. China has KTV clubs, which have private rooms that you can book with your friends or
colleagues for a few hours of fun.
(2)
Apparently the legit term for them is “hot pants” but they’re super short shorts, so I’m declaring them
“booty shorts”.

460
“Antique trading is all about eyesight and information,” I whispered. “When
there’s money, it’s always more profitable to keep it than to sell it. When
there’s no money, it’s more important to know where the good products are
rather than buying them.” I went over to the old fat man and saw several
strings of old beeswax hanging on the wall. Each string had more than
seventy pieces. I leaned over to look at one and said, “Here we go.”

The old fat man gave a hum and looked at me while frowning. I immediately
rubbed the beeswax with my hand and smelled it. He put down his iPad and
stood up, fully alert now.

I quickly stroked each piece with my hand and found that twenty-one of
them were similar in size. I looked at the other string next to it and the boss
immediately realized that I was an expert. He conveniently handed me the
other string and I stroked it with my hand. It was about the same size as the
twenty-one string just now, but this one had twelve.

“These two strings for a hundred and sixty thousand.” As I quoted the price,
I seemingly unintentionally took out my phone and snapped some partial
photos of the old beeswax. I made sure to get some of the good ones and
some of the bad ones and sent them to Bai Haotian.

The old fat man’s voice was very faint as he said, “Two hundred. A hundred
and sixty is too low.”

Bai Haotian was still looking at the photos I had sent, so I used her number
to post the good ones in several of the groups with a direct price quote: “Old
beeswax bracelet, thirty-three beads. Two hundred and sixty thousand. Each
bead is the same diameter and top grade.”

I then turned my head and walked away while saying to the boss, “I’ll take it
at a hundred and sixty, but two hundred is too expensive.”

The fat boss ignored us and went back to his iPad. I walked out of the shop
and used my own number to post a message in each group “Bai Haotian”
had posted in just now: “I want this string. No one had better take it from
me.”

461
Bai Haotian didn’t understand what I was doing, so I sat down with her at a
yangzage shop(3) six hundred meters away and said to her, “Let the bullets
fly for a while.”

After eating, we walked two kilometers and entered another shop in an old
street alley. This shop mainly sold stone chopping blocks and various old
water jars, as well as some silver ingots and old saddles. At this time, a few
people started messaging Bai Haotian on WeChat.

Bai Haotian showed me one person’s profile picture, but I wasn’t familiar
with them. The stranger said to Bai Haotian: “Don’t sell it to him. I’ll give you
two hundred and ten thousand if you sell it to me.”

I used Bai Haotian’s phone to respond: “Boss Wu has already paid a thirty
thousand deposit. You’ll have to pay at least two hundred and forty
thousand; otherwise, I’ll lose the deposit and not make a profit.”

The other party said that it was no problem.

I smiled gently. This was Uncle Two telling people to stop me from buying
goods so I couldn’t make any money. Uncle Two probably didn’t know that I
didn’t even have the money to buy goods.

Bai Haotian and I ran back to the previous shop and asked the old fat man to
give us his Alipay(4) information. Once that was done, we reported it to the
other party. Once the other party paid, I re-strung those thirty-three
beeswax pieces into a beautiful bracelet and sent it to them. That left nearly
ninety old beeswax pieces of various sizes and appearances, so I put them
away for later.

Since the other party paid two hundred and forty thousand yuan, the old fat
man found it very strange. With regards to the extra forty thousand yuan, I

(3)
Basically sheep haslet put into a soup. Pic and some more info here.
(4)
Online payment platform. Think of it like paypal.

462
said to the old fat man, “I must’ve told him the wrong number. Just forget it.
What other good products do you have here. I’ll buy some more.”

The old fat man looked at me before silently taking out an old newspaper
from beneath the counter and spreading it out slowly.

463
Chapter 128
It was an old Guangming Daily with a picture laying on top of it. I looked at
the picture and realized that it was a Dai Jin(1) painting of a bird sitting on a
pine branch. The Guangming Daily was torn on all four sides like it had come
from one of those old houses that had newspapers stuck on all of its walls.

We were in deep waters. I wasn’t familiar with Dai Jin’s works, but the rice
paper was very old. Someone may have found some old rice paper and
asked an artist to paint on it using old ink. I remembered that some people
forged fake certificates of authenticity in the past, and in order to find the
paper at that time, they bought countless old books from that era and
copied them. Nowadays, forgeries made using fine-painting technology
looked almost identical to printed products. But Chinese paintings were very
difficult to copy.

I didn’t speak as I examined the newspaper carefully. All of the details told
me a story.

When it came to the old houses here, courtyard houses in particular were
subletted by many people. Newspapers were usually posted on all of the
walls. Someone found an old painting in an old house and wrapped it in the
Guangming Daily. This painting was later discovered when the house-owner
was moving and sold to the shop. When the boss saw it, he realized that it
was a Dai Jin painting.

I might have hesitated if the Guangming Daily hadn’t been here, but this old
newspaper was too deliberate. It naturally made me wary.

I didn’t ask for the painting but told the old fat man to keep the forty
thousand yuan in the shop as credit. When he had any good products, he

(1)
Dai Jin (1388-1462) was a Chinese artist best known for being the founder of the Zhe School of Ming
dynasty painting. More info here.

464
would send me photos and I would come and give him the rest of the
money.

The old fat man was very happy and even walked me out of the shop with
his iPad in hand. When I went out and explained everything to Bai Haotian,
she scratched her head, “I thought you had to look at the things themselves
to see whether they were real or fake.”

“With today’s technology, you often can’t tell that something’s wrong with a
single glance. For example, some people can create carvings on old mirrors
that are almost undetectable.”

When I got back to the hotel, I began to fiddle with the remaining beeswax
beads. I made two and a half strings: one was a hundred thousand yuan and
the other was seventy thousand yuan. The remaining half string was given to
Bai Haotian.

Bai Haotian thought for a while and then said, “Didn’t we buy the goods for
Haoshanju? Why did you take them for yourself?”

I told her not to worry and that this was just practice; we hadn’t even
entered the village yet.

In the evening, the old fat man sent me a lot of photos of various things.
There were bronze swords, bronze knife money(2), and some Western Zhou
agates. I was stunned when I saw a pair of jade earrings that were bright
green.

I saw the corpse residue on them and realized that they probably came out
of a tomb. I found it very interesting, because green jadeite from the Qing
Dynasty was very precious. There had been various claims over the past
decade that such a bright green jadeite would sell for more than two
hundred thousand yuan even now.

(2)
Knife money is the name of large, cast, bronze, knife-shaped commodity money produced by various
governments and kingdoms in what is now China. Knife money circulated in China between 600 and 200
B.C. during the Zhou dynasty. More info here.

465
All of these photos were sent from the dealers in the village to the antique
dealers in the whole county. The old fat man didn’t actually have these
items in his store but would buy them if we wanted them. Of course, I also
conveniently sent all of these photos to various groups using Bai Haotian’s
number while praying in my heart, let it work again. Please let it work again.
That way, I can enter the village.

There was nothing that night, so I hid the beeswax and forced myself to go
to sleep while trying not to think about Poker-Face’s situation.

In the end, I still ended up thinking about it for a few seconds. If they didn’t
die, then I needed to calculate how much time they had left. If they did die,
then I figured they were probably as soggy as fried dough sticks now. I didn’t
know how I would face those two if they really did look like fried dough
sticks.

After sleeping for a few hours, I heard someone knocking on the door. I
turned over, but all I could hear was the very faint knocking sound. I wasn’t
expecting anyone, so I had no idea know who it was.

466
Chapter 129
I got up in a daze. I didn’t sleep deeply in my early years, but that had
changed in more recent years. I often slept so deeply now that it was
difficult to wake me up. I rubbed my face and instantly went on the alert. I
stood against the wall and listened to the knocking on the door.

The sound was very slight and rhythmic, which I found odd. I turned on my
phone and called Bai Haotian in the next room. Our two rooms were in the
shape of a seven, so she could look through her door’s peephole and see
who was knocking on my door. I didn’t dare go over and look myself
because I was afraid that someone would come in with a gun as soon as I
did.

The phone rang for a long time, but Bai Haotian didn’t answer. I had a bad
feeling, so I looked out the window, quickly put my clothes on, and carefully
climbed out of the window.

The hotel’s outer wall was right outside my window. We were on the third
floor, but there was a telephone pole close to the building. I hung on the
edge of the window with one hand while my feet dangled below. I let go and
dropped to the second-floor window right below mine. I then stepped on
the sill before jumping out and kicking the telephone pole, safely landing on
the edge of the first-floor window.

This was a simple wall climbing technique Xiao Hua had taught me. There
were six kinds of techniques, but I wasn’t at the level where I could handle
the different types of walls and cliffs. Otherwise, I would have climbed to
the top of the building. With my current arm strength, I could only handle
jumping off of something.

After landing on the ground, I re-entered the hotel. There was a computer at
the front desk with split-screen monitoring. The front desk attendant was
wrapped in a rotten quilt and had nodded off. I looked at the split-screen
monitoring, found my room, and saw a woman knocking on my door. The
back of my neck went cold because the woman’s face was pressed so close

467
to the door that she almost looked like she was lying on it. What was she
doing?

This was definitely abnormal behavior. Was she drunk or was this hotel
haunted?

I called Bai Haotian again, but at this time, I suddenly saw my own door
open and a hand stretched out from the inside, pulling the woman in.

Fuck me, something’s wrong! I grabbed the flashlight from the desk, woke
up the front desk attendant, and told him that there was a thief. I pulled him
up the stairs to my room, swiped the card key, immediately turned on the
lights, and looked around. No one was there.

The front desk attendant still wasn’t fully awake and gave me an
inexplicable look before telling me to check and see if anything was missing.

I checked the room again, but there really wasn’t anyone there. This hotel
didn’t have an elevator and there was only one set of stairs. The woman and
the person who appeared in my room just now would’ve definitely ran into
us if they wanted to go downstairs. The only way for them to avoid us was
to run upstairs, but I was so fast that it was practically impossible for anyone
to run up to the fourth floor before I rushed up here.

My heart was beating fast as I wondered what was going on. I knocked on
Bai Haotian’s door and then turned my head, only to find that the next door
over was different from what I had previously remembered.

It was a stone door. Although this hotel was very shabby, there was
absolutely no way that it would have a stone door.

I looked at the front desk attendant, but he didn’t seem to notice the door
and was giving me a blank stare. When I went up and pushed the stone door
open, I saw that the room behind it was completely flooded.

468
I walked through the stone door, reached out to touch the water on the
ground, and found that the pool was as deep as an abyss. There were two
bodies floating in the depths of this pool.

I wanted to take a closer look at the bodies below, but the water in the pool
suddenly leaped onto my face, becoming so sticky that I couldn’t breathe. As
soon as I tried to take a breath, the mucus-like substance got sucked into my
lungs.

I woke up during the struggle, turned my head, and started coughing

violently. A big clump of blood came out of my nose as I continued coughing.
My mouth and nose were full of blood, and my lungs hurt like a bomb had
gone off in them.

It was dawn. It was all just a fucking dream. I was curled up on the ground,
unable to get up because of the pain. I tried to breathe slowly and calmly,
wanting to let my body relax so that the pain would pass. But the pain didn’t
pass at all.

In fact, it hurt more and more. I went to touch my phone, but couldn’t type
a word. I saw a message from Bai Haotian’s phone that read: Someone
wants the goods. What do we do next?

I couldn’t speak, couldn’t swipe the screen with my blood-covered hands. I

couldn’t do anything.

As my vision went dark, I thought to myself, I’m going to die. They were
right.

Unlike before, this didn’t seem like something I could overcome.

469
Chapter 130
I lay curled up on the ground, buried in pain. It hurt so much that I couldn’t
even straighten my back. The passage of time was like a tangible presence in
front of me. There was no relief. The pain was so severe that even my mind
was blank. All of the distractions in my consciousness disappeared, leaving
only time. But I didn’t know whether that time was going fast or slow.

During those excruciating moments, I had numerous illusions that I was

somewhere else: a cave, an ancient tomb, the Seven Star Lu Palace, deep in
the mountain valleys of the Qinling Mountains, the snake marsh, the Zhang
family’s ancient building, or even that temple in Tibet. I had also had
moments in those places that made me curl up in pain. But this time, there
was a strong difference. I didn’t know why, but every time that happened in
the past, I always had the conviction that it would all pass. This time,
however, that conviction was gone.

The intense pain sent a clear message—this time, God wouldn’t let me go. I
didn’t know if I felt this way because of what Uncle Two had said or if it was
really different this time.

I never actually passed out, because I clenched my blood-covered teeth and

refused to let my consciousness slip away. I didn’t know how long I lay
curled up on the ground, but I eventually felt someone walk into the room. I
felt their body heat and the surrounding air shift as they moved around. At
that time, my consciousness began to slowly spread like spilled ink. I knew
that I was lifted up and people were talking around me, but I couldn’t hear
the details clearly.

My consciousness was like an iron chain that I refused to let go of. The pain
eventually started to dissipate and I knew that I must have been injected
with an analgesic. After the pain faded, drowsiness washed over me like the
tide.

Logically, my consciousness should have also retreated into the darkness at

this time, but I was still awake. I could even tell that I was in the ward of a

470
county hospital. There were three other beds in the ward, but no one was
lying on them.

I couldn’t move, but at that time, I suddenly heard the sound of someone
knocking on the door again. It was very gentle, just like a ghost.

It was exactly the same as what I had heard in the hotel room before. I
looked at the door and was overwhelmed with the sudden fear that it
shouldn’t be opened. It can’t be opened, I thought to myself. This door
shouldn’t be opened by any means.

As I lay there terrified, the door quietly opened and a man slowly walked in.
I couldn’t hear any sounds as the man approached my bed.

I looked at him and was surprised to find that it was a familiar face.

It was Pan Zi.

Pan Zi looked at me silently, his eyes full of helplessness. I tried to open my

mouth and ask: Are you here to pick me up?

But I couldn’t speak.

Pan Zi sat down on the edge of my bed with a smile on his face, put his hand
on my chest, and began to talk but I couldn’t hear anything.

I stared at his mouth and tried to read his lips, wanting to know what he was
saying. But I couldn’t concentrate and felt annoyed and angry with myself. A
kind of bitterness suddenly surged up from the bottom of my heart like the
rising tide and I wondered, was Pan Zi always by my side? Has he been
following me this whole time? Is this why he’s the first person I see as I’m
dying?

471
Have you been here the whole time? As it turns out, the song wasn’t
finished.(1)

You saved my life at that time. You don’t want it to end like this, do you?

I looked at Pan Zi speaking to me, and then watched as he got up, slowly
turned away, and went out the door. As this stream of consciousness slowly
dissipated, I began to see the real world. I opened my eyes and found that I
was lying in a bed with tears on my face.

The place where Pan Zi had been standing was empty. It wasn’t the middle
of the night, but already daytime.

I tried to raise my hand to feel the empty space beside me and then touched
my chest. It was all just a dream. What had Pan Zi been trying to tell me in
my dream?

I found myself remembering some of his lip movements. As I tried hard to

recall them, I found that they were just a few words.

(1)
Pan Zi was singing “Sister Go Boldly Forward” from the popular Chinese movie “The Red Sorghum”
when he died in Vol 8 Chapter 62. (ಥ﹏ಥ)

472
Chapter 131
After I fell into a deep coma, I dreamed of Pan Zi. He said a few words to me,
but I couldn’t hear a sound. Despite this, I felt that those words were
information that my subconscious mind had neglected and was now trying
to remind me of.

After waking up, I recalled it carefully, but the memory was so vague that I
could only remember a few words.

What you do before is what you do after.

This was a sentence from my grandpa’s notes which meant that you would
eventually have to bear the consequences of whatever you did.

The things I did in the first half of my life had led to my present situation,
which meant that I had been doomed for a long time. Even the things I did
now would lead to different situations in the future. At this moment, people
would normally try to address the consequences of their actions and start
thinking about the future.

When coming up with a plan, you should think three steps ahead before you
do something and then four steps ahead after you do it. But life was a series
of tangled causes and effects, so it was useless to change anything from
today onwards. Change was something that was constantly occurring. The
more you wanted to change, the more you had to take everything into
consideration.

I fell asleep again. When I woke up this time, a new patient was lying in the
bed next to mine. There were fruits and a hot water kettle on my bedside
table. Bai Haotian must have been here but was gone now. My cell phone
had been fully charged and placed beside me on the bed, so I picked it up
and opened it. There wasn’t much news. The world would still run without
me. I only had a few messages from Bai Haotian.

473
The first was an X-ray of my lungs. I couldn’t make sense of it, but I could see
a lot of shadows. After that was a detailed diagnosis stating that my lungs
were damaged and failing.

Long-term inhalation of tomb gases and later taking snake venom had
seriously damaged my lung function. Now my lungs only worked at a third of
the capacity of ordinary people’s lungs. I didn’t know whether the damage
was reversible, but the doctor advised me to undergo surgery and have the
damaged part removed. Once that was done, I should get a lung lavage(1)
and focus on recuperating.

Their advice was simple: I absolutely could not overburden my lungs again. I
should find a place where the air was moist and clean and slowly get my
lungs checked out while I thought about treatment plans.

What you do before is what you do after.

I was doomed from the beginning. Now, I slowly sat up and read the
message Bai Haotian had sent while I was in my coma. She had already
fumbled around and worked on settling the order. She was worried about
me, but she wasn’t in the hospital. Instead, she had gone to the village to
receive the goods. She wrote at the end of her message: I thought for a long
time that standing on Uncle Two’s side was best for you, but I still chose to
help you anyways. I know now that this choice was absolutely wrong. No
one should help you hurt yourself. So, in the end, I decided that I would do
this wrong thing with you.

I thought about this problem while you were in your coma and made my
own decision without your input. I know it’s very selfish of me, but I hope
that when you see my decision, you’ll realize what you’ve done. I’m hurting
myself to help someone else hurt himself and you’re the same.

Because I know that my help will hurt you, I must also hurt myself. That way,
everything will be balanced.

(1)
Procedure that uses saline solution to “wash out” the lungs

474
My only response to that was: Absurd.

No one’s decision had hurt me. It was simply the result of everything that I
had neglected, treated arbitrarily, and avoided all finally coming together.

Now it was impossible to go back to that time and get back the things that I
had missed. I could only use what was left to solve the ensuing problems.

It seemed as if the people around me wanted to freeze the causality of this

moment by having me do nothing. But it was called cause and effect for a
reason. At this moment, the only thing I was destined to do was to move
forward.

I closed my eyes and quickly focused on what I should do next. First, I called
the doctor and asked about my condition. They prescribed me some
medicine to delay my illness and allowed me to be discharged. I left the
hospital wearing a mask and out-of-season clothes. I was warned to guard
against bronchial infection every day, not smoke, not go to places with
heavy fireworks and smog, and take six different kinds of medicine on time
every day. I also had to bring my own pillows and bedding if I went
anywhere so as to avoid too much dust.

It didn’t take long to find Bai Haotian. She had just bought three fakes, so I
stopped her and silently took her around the area. We eventually used the
remaining money to buy a Song Dynasty Jian Zhan(2). After finally collecting
three hundred thousand yuan, I asked Bai Haotian to stay in the village and
continue shopping for goods.

When I quietly went back to Hangzhou and saw Fatty again, his complexion
didn’t look good. I thought he hadn’t been able to borrow any money, but
all he said was, “That Hong Ding guy isn’t reliable and raised the price. Now
he needs a million before he’s willing to come out. I’m sorry, Mr. Naïve.”

(2)
It’s basically a tea bowl/cup. More info here.

475
I looked at the calendar on my phone, my heart calmer than ever.

Solve the problem.

We leave in three days, I whispered to myself. Think about what to do now.

476
Chapter 132
Three days later, Fatty and I got on the highway to Fujian. During those
three days, I slept for eight hours each day and took my medicine on time.
The rest of the time, I quietly visited those whom I thought might let me
borrow some money. While I was begging one of those people, Fatty stole
his antique in the toilet and got thirty thousand yuan for it. Other than that,
we didn’t get anything else.

We couldn’t get a million yuan, so Hong Ding Shuixian returned the two
hundred thousand to Fatty. Bai Haotian had sold about two hundred
thousand yuan of goods, so she returned from the village. We took the
seven hundred thousand yuan and hired three people.

As Kan Jian had said, I didn’t have a chance in the Nine Gates. As a result, I
used other methods to hire these three people. They weren’t insiders and
had never been underground, but they all needed money. I found them
through mutual acquaintances and clues from anecdotes I had collected
before. These three people were all ex-prisoners, and almost all of the seven
hundred thousand yuan was given to them.

Of course, these people weren’t ordinary, but they’ll be introduced later.

Right now, all I can say is that the oldest one was called Jia Kezi. He had a
stammer and used to be a railway maintenance worker. He was very silent
and stuttered when he became anxious. There was also a young man in his
early thirties who sold fried dough sticks. His nickname was You Erque. The
youngest one was called Xiang Dun. He was a nineteen-year-old fat guy who
stole memory cards from internet cafes.

During those three days, I didn’t waste a single minute on fear, self-pity,
feelings, or indecisions. Instead, I focused my attention on the task of
making precise calculations.

This was the best situation I could achieve. Three days was the longest I
could afford to wait.

477
Our equipment was taken from Pan Zi’s batch in Warehouse Eleven. Only
the necessary and damaged parts were supplemented with other
equipment, but the rest were all sets Pan Zi had used before. As our group
crowded into my car, Fatty started driving. He looked at the group of dozing
people in the back seat with a pale face. Bai Haotian was sandwiched
between them, looking very small and pitiful.

Because they were ex-convicts, all three people had a special temperament:
silence. They were probably accustomed to social pressure and no longer
felt uncomfortable in strange environments.

Fatty kept wanting to discuss things with me in detail, but I only told him
that I knew what I was doing.

Our destination was a tulou(1) in Fujian that had been converted into a
homestay run by the village. All of the clues seemed to indicate that this had
been Uncle Two’s first stop after the South Sea King’s tomb.

I was particularly surprised to find that his second destination was also in
Fujian. In other words, the clues about Uncle Three listening to thunder
came from Fujian.

After driving for nearly twenty hours—many of Fujian’s national highways

had a very low speed limit—we entered the county seat, changed to a local
car, and then drove into the mountains. We went all the way until we
arrived outside of the village where the tulou was located. The village had
built a dirt parking lot outside, which was full of cars from Beijing.

They belonged to Xiao Hua’s rescue team. I had called ahead and found that
this tulou had several floors that had already been booked. Now there were
just a few tourist rooms left.

(1)
Traditional Hakka communal residence in Fujian, typically a large multi-story circular structure built
around a central shrine. Little more info here. The Hakka are Han Chinese people whose ancestral
homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi,
Sichuan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Hainan and Guizhou. More info here.

478
It was already evening when we arrived. Based on Xiao Hua’s usual habit,
someone was probably keeping watch nearby. Most of his men knew me, so
I put on glasses, looked in the mirror, and made myself slouch until my
posture looked different from usual. I then took Bai Haotian and went to
check in first.

Fatty was wearing local clothes and mixed in with a few other people before
checking in. The three of us got two private rooms on the third floor.

Except for the fifth floor, the entire tulou was quiet and scary, and almost no
one spoke. Fatty carefully looked through the gaps in the bedframe during
the night. I had already informed the group of tomorrow’s affairs, so I
quickly fell asleep.

When I thought about it, it was very simple. Tomorrow morning, we would
wait for Xiang Dun to go out and socialize. Once we knew what the general
situation of this tulou was, we could start planning.

In my sleep, I once again dreamed of someone knocking on the door. In my

dream, I looked at the door calmly. No matter what was outside, I had
already accepted it.

479
Chapter 133
I woke up early and found that Jia Kezi had brought everyone’s breakfast
back from the dining room. There was steaming misua paste, popiah, man
jian gao, peanut soup, beef soup, bowl cakes, and sesame balls(1). The lobby
and dining room were located in the tulou’s courtyard. I had heard that
many tourists would stay and volunteer for a period of time after they came,
so the dishes here were very rich.

The others hadn’t woken up yet and Jia Kezi was staring at the table blankly
as he ate silently.

My father was also a quiet person. Every time I ate at home when I was a
child, my father would stare at the table and eat silently, almost as if his
mind was full of thoughts. As a result, I was very familiar with this kind of
atmosphere.

I sat down in front of Jia Kezi and he pushed a pot of misua paste towards
me. “You Zhejiang people(2) should love this.”

I took a bite. I had been very familiar with Fujian breakfast food for a long
time now. I didn’t like or dislike it, but I was too lazy to explain it to him. I
looked at my cell phone and realized that it would take another hour for the
others to wake up. As Jia Kezi continued to mindlessly eat his breakfast, I
looked at him without asking any questions.

When I thought about it, ordinary people’s suffering was probably far
inferior when compared to my misery. But suffering could only truly be
perceived by the individual, so I couldn’t look down on anyone else’s

(1)
Misua paste is a noodle dish. Pic and info here. Popiah is basically a spring roll. Pic and info here.
Manjiangao is basically a pancake with brown sugar, sesame seeds, and crushed peanuts. Pick and info
here. Bowl cakes are made by grinding rice into rice syrup, then adding white or brown sugar and yeast,
stirring, fermenting, and finally steaming in a bowl. I found a 40 second video here. Sesame balls are
pastries coated with sesame seeds. Pic and info here.
(2)
Zhejiang province (Chekiang) in east China. Hangzhou is the capital.

480
hardships. People’s hearts were different, and every person had their own
way of suffering.

After eating for a while, he suddenly looked up at me and asked, “Do you
play chess?”

I shook my head. If it had been before, I would’ve been curious about this
proposal, but now I simply refused to do what I didn’t want to do.

Jia Kezi started shaving his beard silently. He didn’t stutter in the morning
and spoke very slowly. He’s the one who accepted everything, I thought to
myself. When he promised to come, he had just sent his old father off. The
father and son had been working on the railway their whole lives. The two
of them had good ears and listened to the track, looking for breakpoints on
the railway and determining the trains’ situations. As a result, Jia Kezi’s
nickname was 1435, and even his WeChat username was 1435.(3)

Two tracks could always see each other, but couldn’t touch. They would
always be together, but not.

Jia Kezi deliberately hurt people and went to jail. I didn’t know what had
happened, but I usually stayed away from people who had stories. My own
story hadn’t yet ended after all.

The others gradually woke up one right after another. Xiang Dun went out
and wandered around. When he came back, he told us that the building was
actually taller than when we came in last night. We had originally thought
that the fourth floor was the fifth floor.

There was an inaccessible half-story between the fourth and fifth floors, but
I didn’t know whether it was a structural problem or merely decoration.

It was easy to infer that the earliest people to arrive were on the fifth floor.
In other words, Xiao Hua’s entire rescue team was on the fifth floor. But
according to the waiter, the team never left after entering the tulou and

(3)
The standard railway track gauge is 1435 mm (4 ft 8 ½ in).

481
even the lights in their rooms hadn’t been turned on. That was why we
thought the fourth floor was the fifth floor yesterday.

Based on my understanding, Xiao Hua was in the habit of covering all of the
windows with black cloth and had even been nicknamed Black Lantern when
he was younger. That way, it was impossible for others to know what he was
doing.

The fourth floor was completely different in that people came and went
every day. It seemed that there was another group of people living there.
They didn’t go up to the fifth floor, but it was obvious that they weren’t
ordinary tourists based on their appearances. Xiang Dun showed me some
photos he took with his cell phone. After looking at them, I knew that it was
a big grave-robbing team full of experts from all fields. There appeared to be
a big boss living on the fourth floor.

At this time, I saw a photo of a person in the crowd. He had apparently seen
Xiang Dun taking a sneak shot. He was an extremely handsome young man
in his twenties who looked very familiar. I enlarged the photo—cell phone
cameras were really powerful now—and saw a copper coin necklace around
the young man’s neck.(4)

“You’ve been discovered. Little Bai, it’s your turn.” I handed the photo to Bai
Haotian, “Pay attention to this person and go to the fourth floor to see who
recruited these grave robbers and why they’re here.”

(4)
Something like this (reminds me of Ah Ning’s bracelet in “Ultimate Note” and Chapter 26 of “Deadly
Desert Winds”):

482
Chapter 134
I spent all morning checking the photos the others had secretly taken
outside. I taped a newspaper to the wall and stuck the photos on it one by
one to form a ring. I now knew all the details of the whole tulou. I found that
many of those people were a little famous in the business, so the boss on
the fourth floor had to be very rich.

Bai Haotian took a lot of photos of the young man, which I lined up on the
wall. After looking at them carefully, I really felt like I had seen him before.

I squinted and then felt a little surprised. This person had been gone for a
long time, so how could they suddenly appear now? At first, I thought the
copper coins were giving me a hint. But after looking at them carefully for a
long time, I found that it wasn’t the case at all.

I was pretty certain that the copper coins were the same ones that that
person had brought with them before. This kind of copper coin was so rare
that it couldn’t be a coincidence.

I looked at Bai Haotian. “Did you learn anything about this person?”

Bai Haotian shook her head. “I suddenly went up to ask, but I didn’t know
what to say.”

Fatty also looked at the photo before glancing at me, “Is it…?”

Bai Haotian didn’t understand what we were talking about. Fatty hooked his
arm around her neck and said gravely, “Go change into a miniskirt, take your
phone, and ask this guy to take a picture of you. After that, thank him and
get his WeChat info. You can chat with him in the middle of the night and
find out who he is.”

Bai Haotian looked at her legs, “He won’t add me on WeChat even if I
change into a miniskirt.”

483
“Trust me,” Fatty said. “Just look at this guy. He usually has a lot of
girlfriends, but now he’s been stuck in the wilderness for a long time. You’re
as beautiful as a fairy when you put on makeup.”

Bai Haotian looked at me and blushed. She hesitated for a long time before
saying, “I can’t betray Little Master Three.”

Fatty looked at me and then pointed from me to her. I touched Bai Haotian’s
head, “Speak properly. Use your words.”

Fatty said to Bai Haotian, “Legs are worthless. It’s not a betrayal to show
them to others. Look at what any other girl wears out on the street. It’s
called scenery.”

I told Fatty not to be so hard on her. Bai Haotian was a girl who didn’t like to
wear skirts. “What do you mean?” Fatty asked. “You’d let me wear a
miniskirt, right? If you have one, I’ll try it on. But it’s not my fault if someone
recognizes me.”

I touched my chin but knew that it was useless. In every single photo, the
young man looked straight at the camera. He was an extremely vigilant
person and definitely wasn’t a pushover.

We all sat down to discuss our plan of action. I pointed to the wall and said,
“The information stated that the entrance to the tomb is a calling spring,
which is usually dry. When you shout, spring water will come gushing out. It
should be in the nearby mountains where there’s no water. The entrance
should be a small gap. Xiao Hua is definitely a nocturnal animal, so he’ll only
go out in the middle of the night. We’ll sleep in the afternoon and follow
them when they set off. Remember, Xiao Hua is very cautious, so we can’t
follow him straight from the tulou. At eight o’clock tonight, we’ll scatter and
go to the nearby farmhouses. When you see them coming out, don’t use
your flashlights. Just follow their lights. We just need to know which
direction they’re going in. We’ll stop when we get to a certain area. Don’t
follow them to the spring; otherwise, you’ll definitely be discovered.”

484
Everyone nodded. “There’s no signal when you enter the mountains and
Xiao Hua and the others don’t use walkie-talkies since they can be hijacked.
They’ll probably be communicating with bat whistles. I heard that Liu Sang is
also on the team and refusing to leave, so we can’t communicate with each
other. Everyone must pay attention to their safety. It’s dangerous to climb
mountains in the dark. If I had any money, I’d get us a few night-vision
goggles. But now we can only rely on our brains to make up for it. Come on,
everyone.”

After the meeting was over, everyone lay down and went to sleep. It was six
o’clock when they woke up in a daze. Everyone scattered and left the hotel. I
found a billiard hall nearby and played billiards with the locals. Since I could
speak a few words in the Fujian dialect, I tried to chat with the young men.
But I find that what I knew wasn’t Fujian, so I still couldn’t understand what
they were saying.

I stayed until the billiard hall closed, at which point Fatty sent me a message.
It was three o’clock in the morning and no one from Xiao Hua’s group had
left the tulou.

I waited until dawn, finding it all a little strange. After thinking about it, I felt
that something was wrong. Was the fifth floor a cover and the people on the
fourth floor were Xiao Hua’s people?

But I had never seen those iconic figures working under Xiao Hua before.

485
Chapter 135
When we got back to the room, we all looked at each other. Did Xiao Hua
take the day off? I wondered.

Impossible. Every day was vital right now. They were the main rescue team,
so they wouldn’t be acting so casual. The only possibility was that this was a
smoke screen. If I hadn’t seen those powerful figures on the fourth floor, I
probably would’ve thought that the whole tulou was fake at this point.

But no matter how much I thought about it, I just couldn’t figure it out.

“Speaking of which, I heard that those people on the fourth floor often go
out to the surrounding woods,” Xiang Dun said. “They also seem to be
looking for something.”

I paced around the room, thinking that it didn’t make any sense. What was
the difference between the fourth and fifth floors? I really wanted to send a
text message to Xiao Hua and ask him what he was doing.

I didn’t sleep well that night. Jia Kezi kept watch and woke us up early in the
morning. I opened the window and looked outside. A group of people from
the fourth floor were going out early and carrying a bunch of equipment.
Fatty yawned, looked at his watch, and scolded, “Well, it’s going to be a
tough day. I didn’t sleep much last night and now I have to follow these guys
up the mountain.”

Tracking during the day was much safer than at night, but the probability of
being discovered was also very high. After Fatty and I had tracked and
followed this group of people the whole way, I was certain that they were
looking for something. I figured it was probably the calling spring, but this
group was completely different from Xiao Hua’s usual style. I was about half
a kilometer away from them but could still hear them talking about a calling
spring. They weren’t vigilant at all.

486
The strangest thing was, we had followed them for a while, but found no
signs of any sentries. These people were mindlessly searching the
mountains, but their methods were professional.

The trees in Fujian forests were strange and dense, with thin trunks that
were covered in moss. Many of the trees also had vines wrapped around
them. A lot of areas almost had a tropical jungle kind of feel to them, but the
trunks weren’t as thick as those in tropical rain forests.

The humidity in the forest was very high, and there was a faint fog in the air.
I had heard that there were many snakes in Fujian, especially in the
protected areas. You could see those long strips in the grass at any time. The
locals here respected and feared snakes, but they also ate them. Whenever
they encountered a snake, they wouldn’t even call it by name. I heard the
local guides in the group in front of us reminding them: there are long
things, there are strips, and there are long, thin things.(1)

After walking around all day, we didn’t find anything and this group of
people didn’t notice us. Actually, there were a few times when we were so
tired that we just sat on the ground. Those people walked right in front of us
and completely ignored our presence.

This definitely wasn’t Xiao Hua’s team. Or was Xiao Hua also poor and
couldn’t hire a good team? Was such a team even able to save people?

A miasma of gas was filling the air, which made my breathing very
uncomfortable. It felt as if I couldn’t pull the oxygen from the air and I fell
into a daze, watching the group of people go down into a deep valley. Fatty
and I rested on a big stone in the mountainside forest as those people
disappeared into the fog-covered valley below.

We were five hours away from the tulou, which meant that we were in the
hinterland of the mountain forest. We were listening quietly to those

(1)
If you didn’t get it, the locals won’t say “snake” they just describe the snakes.

487
people’s incessant chattering coming from the fog when the sky suddenly
darkened.

I looked up and saw that dark clouds were gathering and there was a brief
flash of lightning. It seemed that there was going to be a thunderstorm.

Fatty put on a poncho while quietly scolding that he would go down to the
bottom of the valley. He was afraid that he would be struck by lightning if he
stayed on the mountainside.

It soon started raining hard, so I also put on my poncho and walked to the
bottom of the valley. The sky became even darker as I quickly reached the
bottom of the valley. I saw the group of people from before squatting on the
ground, motionless.

I found a rock to hide behind as the first flash of lightning lit up the sky. In
the dim light, I saw them all tilt their heads up, the whites of their eyes
showing.

They were listening to the thunder.

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Chapter 136
Fatty and I got pelted by the rain as we hid behind the rock and watched
those motionless people. Fatty also made a move to roll his eyes into the
back of his head and listen to the thunder. After doing it for a few minutes,
he shook his head at me to show that he couldn’t hear anything.

This definitely wasn’t a joke meant for me. No one would tease others using
such a ridiculous performance. Moreover, this definitely wasn’t Xiao Hua’s
team. Everyone in Xiao Hua’s team had a certain characteristic: they were
very strong-spirited. Such people were often bored, but they wouldn’t come
up with such a bad idea at a critical time like this.

I wiped the water from my face. After the heavy rain, the air in the valley felt
more refreshing. The water might have absorbed the toxic substances in the
fog. Now that I felt better, I cautiously came out from behind the rock and
went over to those people.

Fatty moved to pull me back, but I told him not to worry. I was sure that if
these people weren’t possessed by evil spirits, then they were definitely
idiots and there was nothing to be afraid of.

When I walked over to those people, I leaned in close to get a look at one of
them. This person was completely stiff, the whites of his eyes were showing,
and he appeared to be unconscious. The raindrops hit his scalp and slid
down into his eyes. Even though it looked painful, he didn’t seem to feel it.

I didn’t touch any of them, remembering that trying to wake up someone

who was sleepwalking would trigger unpredictable reactions. But I was
certain that these people were all trapped in a nightmare of some sort.

The first thing I noticed was their arrangement. Their positions definitely
weren’t ordinary. I could see that they had followed some rule, but there
didn’t seem to be any order to it. After carefully going through my
memories, I realized that these people’s squatting positions happened to be

489
similar to the arrangement of the seven ears on that monster corpse in Yang
Daguang’s family tomb.

The heavy rain had drenched the man’s hair, which enabled me to clearly
see his scalp. I found that these people’s hair was very thin and there were
some strange marks on their scalps.

When the lightning flashed again, I could see even more clearly. I took out
my flashlight, turned it on, and leaned in for a closer look. These people all
had incision scars on their scalps like they had undergone craniotomies.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, which made it harder to hear the
thunder. I started to move to the next person, but had only taken two steps
when I suddenly found that the person I was just looking at had now turned
around. I immediately stopped and watched as the man stood up, but all he
did was look at me silently in the pouring rain.

As we stared at each other, I noticed that his eyes were still white and his
chin was slowly drooping down as if it were dislocated. His mouth widened
in a way that I had never seen before.

This was a bone hearing method, which used the mouth to collect sound.
Other than vibrations in the eardrums, vibrations in the jaw could also
transmit sounds into the nerves.

But this guy’s expression was very exaggerated and unreasonable, almost
like he was trying to demonstrate to me. When I looked at his widened
mouth, I kept feeling that it was done intentionally. This was a special
expression meant just for me.

As he stood there silently, I stared at him carefully. Every time the lightning
flashed overhead, that sinister expression looked even more terrifying.

I didn’t know why, but I felt like it was very familiar. I had definitely seen this
expression not too long ago. This kind of familiarity had me falling into a
kind of trance in the heavy rain. I couldn’t tell whether the thunder was
familiar or the expression was familiar.

490
Fatty suddenly dragged me back and pulled me behind the rock. I came back
to my senses and wiped the water off of my face. Fatty started cursing, “Are
you fucking stupid?! Were you listening to the thunder, too?!”

I somehow stood up and looked back out. The man was still standing there,
but he wasn’t facing me and his hands were curled up now. I suddenly
remembered where I had seen that expression before.

It was the same expression the leather figurine woman had after I stuck my
hand in her mouth.

491
Chapter 137
I had heard about descending thunder immortals before. The leather
figurine woman had already been burned, so had her soul returned to the
thunder and come down to see me again?

Based on the previous situation, it wasn’t infatuation, but a bug that had
been flattened. Didn’t they say it wasn’t really human skin and had just been
processed to look like a human?

I looked up at the rain clouds in the sky and saw that they were getting
smaller and smaller. I started pulling Fatty back up the mountainside as
those people continued standing there motionless in the rain.

After a while, the rain stopped and the thunder gradually faded away. Fatty
and I were frozen, so I drank several mouthfuls of ginger ginseng wine to try
and warm up while praying in my heart that I wouldn’t catch a cold. When I
swallowed the wine, I took some anti-inflammatory medicine as well. If I
caught a cold now with my body like this, I would probably end up in the
intensive care unit.

The group of people slowly started to move and began talking and laughing
with each other. It almost seemed like they didn’t care about the state they
were in just now. Some people even took out notes and wrote some things
down. I could vaguely hear them asking each other how they were doing
before they started walking back.

Fatty and I shrank back and watched them climb up the mountainside in the
distance. The man who had seemed to be possessed by the leather figurine
woman’s soul suddenly looked in our direction.

I shrank back in time and then followed them all the way back to the tulou. I
immediately went back to my room and took a bath while pondering over
everything. This group of people definitely wasn’t working for Xiao Hua, so
my theory about the fourth and fifth floors was incorrect. But where did

492
they come from? These people acted strangely around thunder and seemed
to have a deep connection to listening to it.

Fatty was holding a cup of ginger tea as he stood in his underwear with the
rest of his clothes slung over his shoulder. He wrote on the wall: reverse
inference.

“Come on, come on, come on. Let this Fat Master teach you idiots some
logical thinking skills. First of all, we have to make sure that everything is
normal and we haven’t been deceived by Big Hua. So, the reality right now is
that Big Hua’s team on the fifth floor hasn’t left their rooms and there’s
another team on the fourth floor with unknown origins. But, we’re
acquainted with many of those people, all of whom are big hands in this
business. This mysterious team is also looking for a calling spring, or at least
looking for clues related to a calling spring. Some of them can even listen to
thunder.”

He annotated the photos on the wall.

“At present, we know that the people on the fourth floor are very strong
and lively, while the fifth floor is silent. But no one on the fourth floor
interferes with the fifth floor, so this means several possibilities.” Fatty
started writing on the wall.

1. The fourth and fifth floors were surreptitiously working against each
other. But we didn’t know whether there had been a conflict between the
two sides. Was the current balance between the fourth and fifth floors
because Xiao Hua’s defense was so sharp? Did the fourth-floor group try to
enter the fifth floor several times, but got pushed back and eventually
reached this balanced state? But the people on the fourth floor didn’t act
like it. In fact, their attention wasn’t on the fifth floor at all.

2. Or, the fifth floor was empty and the people on the fourth floor knew
that. If Xiao Hua was no longer on the fifth floor, then that meant he and his
team had found the calling spring and had entered the rescue stage of their
operation. But if everyone on the fifth floor had left by the time the people

493
on the fourth floor arrived, then all of the black cloths on the fifth floor
windows would’ve been taken down. Xiao Hua was a very careful person
who wouldn’t leave traces of his movements. So, that meant that the people
on the fifth floor should still be there.

3. Or, the people on the fourth floor knew who was on the fifth floor and
dared not invade rashly. This seemed like the most likely possibility, which
raised a new question: Why did Xiao Hua leave the people on the fourth
floor alone?

In the past, I would have definitely removed those people from the fourth
floor. Leaving such a group of sketchy people downstairs made me feel very
uncomfortable.

Xiao Hua’s decisions were usually very similar to mine, so he certainly

would’ve had the same idea as me. Fatty looked at me, “Mr. Naïve, what do
you think? See if your intelligence has recovered.”

I took a sip of hot tea, “There must be some people on the fourth floor who
made Xiao Hua feel leery, so the two sides must’ve reached a temporary
agreement. Moreover, Xiao Hua must’ve felt that those on the fourth floor
would never be able to find the entrance to the calling spring.” I put down
the tea, opened my bag, and pulled out a makeup bag. I began applying the
makeup until my skin was a different color and then roughened my skin a
bit.

I then put on contact lenses and braces so that my face looked completely
different. “I have to go and see for myself,” I said to the Xiang Dun. “It’s
almost dinner, so you and I will go to the restaurant. Help cover for me.”

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Chapter 138
Xiang Dun and I went to the dining room, which was a chic, canteen-like
restaurant located in the middle of the tulou. If you didn’t order room
service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then this was the only place to get
food. Xiang Dun handed me a cigarette, which I took out of reflex. The
waiter standing off to the side immediately came up and told us that this
was a protected building and smoking wasn’t allowed. I raised my hand to
apologize, threw the cigarette into the trash can, and then looked around
the tulou from my position on the patio.

It really was big. I could only look around secretly before, since I didn’t dare
make it obvious what I was doing. But now that I could get a full view of it, it
was beyond my imagination.

The huge circular sky was like an eye, so when you looked up, it almost felt
as if you were being stared at. It was a little dizzying.

At this time, I saw the young man who looked like A Ning leaning against the
railing on the east side of the fourth floor, smoking.

When I looked at him, he also looked down at me expressionlessly. I silently

lowered my head and asked the waiter, “How come the people above get to
smoke?”

“I can’t afford to provoke those people. They’re on a different level.” The

waiter obviously wasn’t a local and was probably a poor traveler who had
stayed behind to work. I noticed that he had a Qinhuangdao accent. When I
looked at the menu, I found that they were all familiar dishes, but there
were also some northern dishes for tourists. I ordered a pot of daffodil tea
and jiumentou(1). The waiter placed the order and then told me to find a
seat. I asked him if the front desk could send express delivery.

(1)
It’s a Fujian dish that’s basically meat from 9 parts of a cow. I found some info here.

495
He nodded, so I told Xiang Dun to sit down while I wandered over to the
front desk and asked them for four express envelopes. Then, I stuffed a
piece of cotton soaked in red syrup up my nose and squeezed it hard until it
looked like I had a nose bleed. I sighed as the front desk attendant
immediately panicked and took a step back.

“Tissue, give me some tissues.” I put too much syrup in it, so now it looked
like I was bleeding all over the place when I squeezed it. As the young
woman frantically went into the small preparation room behind the front
desk, I instantly took out my phone and turned on the video app. I placed it
on top of the big decorative cabinet behind the front desk with the camera
exposed.

Almost a second later, the young woman came out and gave me a tissue. I
took it and went to the bathroom, winking at Xiang Dun as I passed by.

Xiang Dun immediately stood up. I went to the toilet and cleaned myself up,
knowing that Xiang Dun was asking the woman to check Uncle Two’s name
in their system. They must have also stayed here, so if we could find their
names, we would also know which rooms they had stayed in. There was a
chance they had left some clues behind.

These kinds of places had confidentiality clauses, so the attendant wouldn’t

be able to tell us anything. But she would still check the name, so any
information that popped up would be captured on my phone camera.

I headed back out and saw that Xiang Dun had already sat back down. As I
passed by him again, he made a subtle “done” gesture.

I took the courier envelopes back to the front desk and thanked the young
woman. When I asked her for some more tissues, she smiled at me. I figured
my disguise must be much uglier than before since her smile was so fake. I
thought about it and realized that my face may have helped me a lot in the
past, but I just hadn’t paid much attention to it before.

496
I grabbed my cell phone the moment she went in to get the tissues. She
came out and gave me a whole pack of them. I didn’t know why, but I felt as
if she looked a bit disgusted.

I stuffed the tissues into the express envelope and then turned on my
phone. I enlarged the video and immediately saw that Uncle Two had been
in Room 219 on the third floor, which was empty now. I quickly wrote the
tulou’s address and this room number down on the express envelope and
then went back to my seat. I asked Xiang Dun for his phone, checked to see
that it still had eighty percent battery power left, and then put it into the
envelope. I stated on the express delivery slip that it had to be signed for by
hand and then sent it directly to the front desk.

Xiang Dun collapsed back into his chair, “Big brother, I have a lot of selfies
on that.”

“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like you rely on this to make
money anyways.” I lowered my head and started eating while giving him a
pat, “I’ll buy you an iPhone X if you lose it.”

“What are you doing?” He didn’t understand.

“Just wait until tomorrow,” I said.

At that moment, four or five people came in and sat down beside us. They
were all from the fourth floor and gave us curious looks. I immediately
recognized one of them as Hong Ding Shuixian.

He was squinting at me, so I spoke to Xiang Dun in the Longyan dialect. It

wasn’t standard, but outsiders really couldn’t understand it. At the same
time, I noticed that a person behind Hong Ding Shuixian was also looking at
me. It was a woman with short hair and a contemptuous look on her face.

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Chapter 139
At first glance, I thought that the woman was A Ning. I was so shocked that I
felt as if my scalp had gone numb.

For too many years, my memory was still stuck at the moment right before
her death. Even though it had been more than ten years now, it felt as if my
body had been run over by a high-speed train as soon as I thought I had
recognized her.

But I immediately found that I was wrong. Although this woman looked very
similar, there was still a difference between her forehead and lips.

As I breathed a sigh of relief, I found that my palms were sweaty and my

heart was beating so fast that it sounded like thunder in my ears. Hong Ding
Shuixian stood up and sat next to Xiang Dun, who was sitting across from
me.

“This is my friend. It’s a chance encounter.” He said to the people at his

previous table. He then looked at me and I quickly lowered my head to eat. I
watched as he hooked his arm around Xiang Dun. “Boy, why are you here?
Didn’t you have some good business a while ago?”

Xiang Dun’s face turned red as he looked at me and pushed Hong Ding
Shuixian’s arm off, “My boss…boss is here…don’t talk about personal
matters.”

Hong Ding Shuixian looked at me and called out a greeting, “He’s my

colleague from another line of business. Chance encounter, chance
encounter. I just want to chat with him a bit.”

With that said, he pulled Xiang Dun to his feet. Xiang Dun gave me an
ambiguous look, his full face of embarrassment. I merely shrugged. I could
guess why he took so many selfies on his cell phone. I sighed in my heart
and thought, God is fair. I listened in as Hong Ding Shuixian asked him,
“Didn’t that sister want you? Did you two not mesh well?”

498
“That woman doesn’t recognize anyone once she puts her pants on.” Xiang
Dun’s voice faded as he moved further away. I looked at the A Ning look-
alike again. She didn’t shy away, but looked me straight in the eye. My eyes
involuntarily dropped and I turned my head, feeling like a wretched middle-
aged man. If this woman is sitting with Hong Ding Shuixian, is she a
customer?

I didn’t understand it at all.

After taking a few more bites of my food, I decided not to wait for Xiang
Dun. When I passed by him, I took a cigarette from his pocket and put it in
my own pocket before leaving the dining room. The waiter who had stopped
me from smoking before came back to take out the garbage. I took the
cigarette out of my pocket and made sure he was looking at me before I
hooked my arm around his shoulder and pointed to the door with my chin.

When the two of us went out, I gave him the cigarette but didn’t smoke it
myself. Instead, I just sniffed the smoke and started chatting with him.

He was a chemical engineering student at a university in Cangzhou. He broke

up with his girlfriend and ran here to find solace in the southern lands. He
spent all of his money, so he came to work here. I could tell he didn’t find
solace in the southern lands, only poverty. Moreover, I could tell that he was
a person who didn’t like working in hotels. People in the service industry
needed patience after all. He had already spoken ill of the people on the
fourth floor in front of me, which was a huge mistake because he didn’t
even know which floor I was on. This clearly showed that he didn’t care
much about this job.

Dissatisfied people often had big weaknesses, and the fact that he had easily
noticed someone about to smoke meant that he was also in the habit of
smoking.

After chatting with him for a while, I told him that I came here to find a girl. I
had been looking for her for several years and paid special attention to any

499
news about her. She had stayed in this hotel before, so I wanted to stay in
the room she had stayed in. She used to live on the fourth floor.

He patted me, “Brother, emotionally speaking, there are only two kinds of
people: those who are used to saying goodbye and those who aren’t. People
who aren’t used to it will have more and more things weighing them down.
They’ll just keep getting slower and slower.”

I snorted. “You didn’t come up with that yourself, did you?”

He shook his head. “A previous guest said it. He said that the road is very
long and it takes a lot of knowledge to choose what you bring forward with
you.”

I could probably guess who said it. You’re almost blind, yet you’re still
sharing chicken soup for the soul(1) with others. You’re still so idle.

The waiter told me that two-thirds of the fourth floor was filled with
members of that team. They were particularly strong and uncommunicative,
but this hotel wouldn’t offend them since there was such a large occupancy
rate and they were willing to pay such a high price for their rooms. Those
people came from all over the country, so the hotel’s kitchen had been very
busy recently. They even had to re-make several dishes for the fourth floor.

The waiter took a hard drag of his cigarette and said, “Let me tell you, all
those people on the fourth floor you’re seeing are small fry. The big bosses
on the fourth floor are in three rooms in the northeast corner. Those doors
are never open and I haven’t seen those people since they came here. I only
met them once when they checked in. I don’t know what they’re here
looking for.” He looked at the mountains outside where the fog was starting
to descend.

(1)
“Chicken soup for the soul” is feel-good motivational stories (often used disparagingly because the
stories don’t really effect change in people’s lives)

500
It suddenly occurred to me that when Black Glasses trained me, he had a
unique way of conveying words that fit his style.

“I am your father,” I said to the waiter.

He looked at me and I took out a thousand yuan. He was stunned for a

moment and then took it. “Do you know him?”

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Chapter 140
“I am your father,” I repeated.

“You are, you are.” The waiter glanced at the money and then looked
around, “Are you with Master Black?”

I felt my heart thump. Black Glasses, you really are the type of person to
leave intelligence everywhere you go.

“Is there any news?” I asked the waiter softly.

He took another drag of his cigarette and said in my ear, “Master Black
asked me to tell you: Live well.”

Then he stepped back and made a gesture of cheering me on. I stared at him
blankly for a few seconds and then grabbed his collar, “Just that one
sentence?”

The waiter nodded, “Just that one sentence. It seems that you love that
woman very much. What happened to you? Although we men might find it
emotionally unbearable, you don’t have to kill yourself. Look at you. You’re a
nice, mature man. Just start over again. I also plan to go back to Cangzhou
and live a good life.”

I thought about it for a moment and then hooked my arm around his
shoulders, “It can’t just be that one sentence. You didn’t do anything when
you received the money, did you?”

He shook his head and became angry. “Your business is none of my

business! Why should I hide it from you?” As he spoke, he took out the
money. “If you don’t believe me, just take the money back.”

I looked into his eyes and knew that he wasn’t lying to me. Unless they were
an expert liar, ordinary people usually gave away their lies with their eyes. I
bit my lower lip and pushed the money back towards him. “I believe you,
but can you tell me why he asked you to pass on those words? It has nothing

502
to do with my feelings. I’m just worried about my friend. If he’s sending me
this kind of message, doesn’t it seem like he has a problem?”

The waiter paused, thought about it for a moment, and then took a deep
breath, “Now that you mention it, I really think that guy was in a bad state
when he said this. He was with a group of people. When they came back
here, he said those words to me.”

“And then?”

“They disappeared after that. The room rate was deducted from the
deposit, so I guess they left without notice,” the waiter said.

I looked at him and suddenly felt a jolt go through my heart. Left without
notice…

Why would they leave without notice?

Before, I had countless uneasy thoughts and numerous theories that didn’t
pan out. But now I turned around, looked at the distant mountains, and
quietly asked, “Do you know which direction they came back from?”

“There.” The waiter pointed to a hill in the distance.

I stood up and ran more than a dozen steps before I had to stop and take a
breather. I continued running and stopping to gasp for breath until I finally
reached the top of the hill and looked back at the tulou.

My heart was racing, I was sweating all over, and my lungs were spasming as
I looked at the tulou from that hillside.

The whole tulou looked exactly the same as that upside-down bell I saw in
Yang Daguang’s ancestral tomb.

This tulou was a giant sound-collecting device.

503
I shouted and smacked my head, feeling that I was really stupid for wasting
so much time in the tulou. I should have noticed this when I first saw it from
the road.

They didn’t check out but still left without notice. But instead of leaving the
tulou, they had actually entered its depths. The entrance to the calling
spring was inside the tulou. That was why Black Glasses left that kind of
message for me before returning to his room.

So, Xiao Hua and the others really had stayed behind closed doors on the
fifth floor with all the windows covered. I had made so many stupid
predictions and thought I was so clever, but it was all wrong.

The entrance of the calling spring was in the tulou. Xiao Hua and the others
didn’t have to go out at all! And he didn’t need to be in any kind of conflict
with the fourth floor because those people would never guess the truth.

After such a big accident, Uncle Two and the others were injured and must
have secretly withdrawn from the tulou. As a result, none of them settled
the bill. If they had gotten into trouble in the forest, then they would’ve
checked out of their rooms and left the tulou without leaving any messages.

I stood there stunned as I looked at the shape of the tulou. If this was a huge
sound-collecting device, then what was under the tulou?

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Chapter 141
Back in the room, I sat at the window and looked at the mountains outside
as the fog in my heart started to fade. The fog outside still lingered on the
mountains, but I felt as if I could see every tree out there. A long-lost
headache, combined with the unpredictable future that followed me like a
shadow in those days, seemed to descend upon me again like falling
dominoes.

At that time, I was a person who could see the end at a glance. Despite the
severe headaches, everything was like a myriad of countless possibilities
that I could analyze at the same time. But the pressure of determining all of
these possibilities at once was exhausting. After arriving in Rain Village, the
future I saw was singular and fixed. I thought it was because I had finally
reduced my life to a simple and easy straight line, but at that moment, I
realized that I had just lost the ability. The future was still infinitely complex
and irregular, but I couldn’t see it anymore.

Most people didn’t need to see so many possibilities and would probably be
happier if they didn’t. But when you could see how the future branched out,
you often saw all possibilities, which made it difficult to decide what you did
and didn’t want to see.

Why did Black Glasses leave me that sentence? Those words were full of
despair, which meant that whatever they discovered prompted Black
Glasses to say goodbye.

It almost sounded like they could achieve their goal, but they couldn’t come
back.

They weren’t afraid of death. In fact, I was almost positive that they would
seek it to a certain extent. People who were ill or had lived a long life always
tended to gravitate towards danger. As I recalled Uncle Two’s attitude, the
pain in my heart made me feel as if I had been cut with a knife. Did Uncle
Two sacrifice them to save me?

505
If Black Glasses knew that there was a high chance of not coming back, then
Uncle Two must have known about it. And he had known for a long time. If
their sacrifice was useless, then Uncle Two wouldn’t have agreed to it. So,
Uncle Two must have been certain that his goal would be achieved if he
sacrificed them. He was trying to save me.

Between the three of them—no, it would be four if I included Uncle Three—

did they reach some kind of cruel, tacit understanding while deciding to
exclude me?

What was so important about me? I was just one of the many people in
Poker-Face’s life who would say goodbye one day. I was a man who delayed
Fatty’s wealth and marriage. I made Xiao Hua lose everything, alienated
Xiuxiu from her family, and made my parents live in fear that I would follow
Uncle Three’s path. I wasn’t worthy of the name my grandfather had given
me. But in the first half of my confused life, I had seen countless wonders in
the world. I had the most amazing and prolific partners in the world. We
sang on cliffs, chanted on snow-capped mountains, drank wine in the desert,
and watched the moon on the sea.

I had experienced enough in my life.

I worked so hard in the hopes that you all would live well. Why don’t you
understand?

Fatty leaned over and looked at me. When I glanced at him, he said, “Mr.
Naïve, why are you crying?”

I looked at Fatty. In the first half of my life, everyone had lied to me for my
own good. I couldn’t believe that in the second half of my life, I still couldn’t
trust my close relatives and friends.

I hugged Fatty and started bawling my eyes out, crying for my naivety. I
knew that after crying, I could only believe in myself. I would become a
calm, machine-like person once again.

Life was really hard.

506
How strong do I have to be before God will let me go?

Fatty was completely baffled, but my tears couldn’t be controlled. I decided

to give myself five minutes and looked at my watch. Four minutes and fifty-
nine seconds, four minutes and fifty-eight seconds, four minutes and fifty-
seven seconds…three minutes…one minute…zero.

Restart.

I stood up and patted my face with a towel. Bai Haotian was completely
shocked and didn’t know what to do, so I touched her head and then said to
everyone, “I’ll announce the next phase of the plan. I’ll only say it once, so
don’t miss a word.”

507
Chapter 142
My plan was very clear and simple. The entrance to the calling spring was
inside the tulou, so based on common sense, it should be under the tulou.
People came and went in the lobby on the first floor, so I had never thought
of the possibility before. As a result, I didn’t try and look for any special
entrances or strange places on the first floor.

The most important person tonight was Jia Kezi. There were too many
noises during the day, but Jia Kezi should be able to hear any underground
noises in the dead of night.

But the tulou covered a larger area than I could have imagined. Unlike
hearing slaves(1), it was impossible for Jia Kezi’s hearing to pick up everything
that was going on underground in one location. So, we had to divide the first
floor up and have him listen in those different areas. Once he collected
information from those places, we could infer what the basic situation was
underground.

I divided the first floor of the tulou into twelve areas. The first floor mainly
consisted of the warehouse, kitchen, and staff’s dormitory. These areas
were usually locked and inaccessible to guests, which was very troublesome.
I needed a reason for Jia Kezi to enter every single area tonight, and I
already had one in mind. I needed a power outage. The other floors couldn’t
be alerted and the power outage in each of the first-floor rooms needed to
be controllable.

At this time, I wasn’t afraid of being recognized since I knew that the
information on the fourth floor wouldn’t be transmitted to the fifth floor.
And even if the people on the fifth floor knew that I was coming, Xiao Hua
was so confident that he would just ignore me.

(1)
These are a reference to the hearing servants from the Mystic Nine drama. But the character the
author used is 奴, which means slave (not servant) so that’s why I kept it as slave.

508
Fatty and I went down to the first floor and started messing with all of the
wires. As we were arranging them, Fatty said to me, “If there are so many
people involved in this rescue effort, don’t you think the people on the first
floor would have noticed that much activity since this is such a public area?
There are at least a hundred people on the fifth floor and we didn’t see any
large-scale activities when we were monitoring the whole building at night.”

Fatty’s statement was somewhat exaggerated, but I thought it was

reasonable. However, the entrance definitely had to lead underground and I
needed to know what the situation was down there before we could infer
anything.

To make a long story short, we used Xiang Dun’s tools to cut the wires on
the first floor that night and Jia Kezi’s feedback proved my theory. There
were a lot of spaces under the tulou. It was difficult to determine the
relationship between these spaces, but we could confirm that about three
of them could accommodate more than ten people. The most valuable thing
Jia Kezi found was that there was a hidden staircase in the tulou.

This staircase led to the fifth floor and Jia Kezi heard the clear sounds of
people moving about. Moreover, someone went directly underground from
the fifth floor.

I sighed. Xiao Hua didn’t have to go downstairs at all since they had a hidden
staircase that could take them directly underground.

The staircase didn’t go straight up and down but wound around the tulou
like a snake. It probably wasn’t a real staircase, but a secret passage made
while the tulou was being built. When Jia Kezi listened in to those areas, the
sounds of people walking were very strange. It wasn’t the sound of someone
walking on stairs, but the sound of someone stepping on nails in the wall.

I couldn’t go up to the fifth floor and use Xiao Hua’s entrance, but our room
was too far away from the passage on our floor.

The most bizarre thing was that this passage was on the first, second, and
third floors. The sounds were very faint, so we couldn’t determine where

509
the passage was on these three floors, but Jia Kezi was able to clearly locate
it on the fourth floor.

We stayed up until dawn to confirm which room on the fourth floor was
nearest to the passage. I went back to my room and took a fifteen-minute
nap. After I got up, I moved right on to the next step. I had to go to the
fourth floor, enter that room, enter the passage without anyone noticing,
and then enter the calling spring.

I asked Bai Haotian to go directly to the fourth floor and see who was
staying in that room. After she came back, she pointed to the picture of the
young man with the copper coin necklace that I had stuck on the wall. “It’s
him.”

I looked at my watch. “We have to kidnap him.”

510
Chapter 143
I moved everything from the table onto the bed and then shoved the table
aside, exposing the floor. I used playing cards to represent all the rooms on
the fourth floor and placed them in a circle on the floor. After that, I pointed
to three of the rooms and drew three wolves on the playing cards.

“These three rooms aren’t simple. One of them must be the boss’s room.
He’s unlikely to be staying with other people, but he probably has a
bodyguard with him. He should be in the middle room.” I wrote the word
“king” next to the wolf on the playing card that represented that room.
“We’ll call this middle room the Wolf King’s Den. With regards to the two
rooms next to it, no one has come out since checking in. There must be
experts staying inside. Each room can accommodate three people, so we’ll
call these two rooms wolf dens and assume that there are three wolves in
each one. No matter what we do, we must never disturb the people in these
three rooms.”

Everyone nodded, but it was obvious that they didn’t fully understand. I told
Fatty about how Xiao Hua didn’t drive the fourth-floor people away. Even if
they were all rabble, they still needed to be cleared out, but Xiao Hua didn’t
do it. This clearly showed that the people in these three rooms were very
dangerous. We didn’t have any weapons or combat effectiveness now, so
we could only rely on our brains.

Once Fatty agreed, I continued arranging the rooms. There were three or
four rooms on the other side of these three rooms that I labeled with the
word shuixian(1). “Shuixian are those people who are good at swimming and
have special abilities. These people are very important since they’re needed
for many critical operations. As a result, they’ll also need protection and will
be placed near the wolf dens. But there are three or four rooms between
them and the wolf dens. The people staying in them are definitely more
important than the shuixian, but not as important as the boss. The person

(1)
If you don’t remember, the characters for shuixian (水仙) can mean daffodil or legendary water
immortal. Based on the context here, I decided to just go with the pinyin.

511
we’re about to kidnap is staying in one of them, so we’ll have to think hard
to figure out what they do.”

“Are they family members?” Bai Haotian asked.

I shook my head. Who would bring their family to do such a thing?

“No, they’re consultants. This boss definitely isn’t an insider, so he’ll need
grave robbers familiar with the system to manage so many outlaws. These
people are officially called consultants. At least, that’s what A Ning used to
call them. These people help the boss manage the people below, so they
have a certain degree of prestige. That’s why they’re staying in these three
or four rooms. The grave robbers who got hired must be in the area where
the shuixian are staying.”

I write the word “fox” on the playing cards representing these rooms. There
were now three or four fox dens on both sides of the wolf dens.

The shuixian area was crowded with people and there were at least a dozen
rooms separating the stairs from the door to the head grave robber’s room.
The doors and windows to these rooms were usually left wide open and
some people simply got drunk in the corridor at night. Some people
gambled at night, while others simply slept during the day instead of
sleeping at night. I wasn’t sure that I could walk through this corridor
without being discovered. Not to mention tying people up, our only
possibility was to wait for the young man to leave his room and go outside.

But I had never seen him stray too far from his room, so I had to draw him
out first.

This person had a very cautious nature and didn’t like to leave his domain.
The way he eyed people and his keen awareness of other’s eyes in the
crowd all proved that he definitely wasn’t an ordinary person.

Theoretically, I had a hundred feasible ways to get him out of the room, but
the only thing that would actually work was to get him to follow his own
desires and think that he had the upper hand.

512
I had to get him to notice me, realize who I was, and then let him think I
knew where the calling spring was. If I did that, he would end up following
me.

At this time, Xiang Dun had just come back, so I said to him, “Help me make
an appointment with your friend, Hong Ding Shuixian.” Xiang Dun was
dumbfounded, but I kept talking, “We’ll make him pick up male clients even
if he doesn’t want to.”

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Chapter 144
The structure of all the rooms was basically the same. I looked at the nails in
the room and then went to the hardware store in town to buy some
materials. I got a nail puller, bought some nails that were the same size, and
then blackened them with fire. Meanwhile, Bai Haotian and Xiang Dun made
an appointment with Hong Ding Shuixian. They used the method I had
taught them to reveal that they had some clues about the calling spring.

We didn’t know who Hong Ding Shuixian’s boss was, but Bai Haotian asked
Hong Ding Shuixian to help her make an appointment with that young man.
She told him that in order to find the entrance to the calling spring, she
needed that person to get involved. In this way, an appointment was made.
After getting everything together, Hong Ding Shuixian, the young man, Bai
Haotian, and Xiang Dun would ask the boss on the fourth floor for money.

The fourth floor was actually quite relaxed. The young man didn’t want to
leave the fourth floor to meet them, so they faced each other in the corridor
next to the stairs.

I took off all my disguises and chatted with Fatty in the courtyard below,
pretending to have an argument. Fatty pointed at me, “I’ve been working so
hard to find out about that place, so there will definitely be news later. Why
don’t you just wait and quit being so impatient?”

I turned my back to them and said to Fatty, “I am your father.”(1)

Fatty was very angry, but he was afraid that those people could read lips, so
he had to keep acting. After our little performance was over, we went back
to the room and I asked the others how things were going. At this time, I
quickly discovered that Bai Haotian hadn’t come back yet.

(1)
It’s kind of a joke made in poor taste? Tiffany and I think it’s a mix of the whole Star Wars “Luke, I am
your father” thing and respecting your elders. Like, Wu Xie would be arguing that he’s the father so he
can’t be refuted. We’ll just say Wu Xie is bad at improvising lines while Fatty is great at it

514
Xiang Dun told me that Bai Haotian and the young man went back to his
room, saying they had something to do. I paused, feeling a little worried in
my heart. Bai Haotian was a little girl, so she shouldn’t be going behind
enemy lines so hastily. But Xiang Dun told me that everything was fine. The
fourth floor was much more relaxed than we had initially thought. Even if
they had been discovered, based on the atmosphere of their chat just now,
those people wouldn’t lay hands on anyone.

I thought about it for a moment and had to agree. This was a rescue
operation, after all. It wasn’t impossible to do things like murder or arson
before you reached the deep mountains, but it was certainly unnecessary.

Xiang Dun said that they didn’t talk much about any substantive issues, just
about the possibility of cooperating with each other. As expected, the young
man recognized me at a glance. When Bai Haotian and Xiang Dun told him
that they wanted to betray me for money, the young man’s reaction was
very strange. He said to them, “Impossible. That person controls everyone
around him. They’ll come to a tragic ending eventually.”

I took a deep breath. My defensive instincts prevented these words from

piercing my heart, but suddenly saying something like that still made my
heart tremble.

Xiang Dun asked me what these words meant, but I couldn’t answer him.

Everyone was the protagonist of their own life, while all the other people
were just mere passers-by. In my own dramas, I always placed myself in a
supporting role in the beginning so that I could look at all of the problems.
The protagonists around me were tempered by fate, while I was just a
wandering poet watching and recording all that I had seen and heard. There
were difficulties, along with life and death, but my brushwork was always
steady.

I eventually realized that this was wrong. No one should ever think that they
were a supporting role. Instead, they should be the protagonist of their own
life, while also understanding that they were always the supporting role in

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other people’s lives. If they kept their imaginary life out of other people’s
lives, then it would make things a little easier.

Bai Haotian seemed a little dazed when she returned to the room. I noticed
that her expression looked a little confused as she walked up to me and
spread her hands out, “He gave it to me and told me to show it to you.”

I picked it up and looked at it. It was half a copper coin, which looked like
the one A Ning liked. “He also said that you owe his sister an explanation,”
Bai Haotian continued. “He didn’t come here for the calling spring. He came
here for you.”

Fatty was puzzled, “Mr. Naïve, what did you do to him?” As soon as he
spoke, he also recognized the copper coin, “Oh.”

My scheme had obviously been seen through, but it wasn’t my fault. Even if
it was A Ning’s brother, my plan was still the same. The only difference now
was that I would be the bait instead of the money.

“He also said that none of the people who follow you come to a good end.”
Bai Haotian said as she bit her lower lip. “I slapped him. He’s looking for
someone to hate, but what does that have to do with you? When his sister
entered the business, you weren’t even in the business at all.”

After listening to this conclusion, it was obvious that the two of them had a
deep discussion. Bai Haotian stared at me with trembling lips, so I asked
slowly, “Is he going to see me in person?”

Bai Haotian nodded, “Don’t go. I think he’s going to do something bad to
you.”

I didn’t say anything else and just patted Fatty before going out. Bai Haotian
looked at us but didn’t follow.

“Little Bai was a little off just now,” Fatty said to me.

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I could also tell that her heart had changed, and it was the young man’s
words that had brought the impact. I didn’t know whether this change was
towards me or that young man, but Bai Haotian was a good girl. I didn’t
want to think the worst of her.

“What does that guy want to do?”

I looked across the corridor. As expected, that guy was on the fourth floor
opposite us, looking down at me. This was the first time he and I had looked
at each other like this.

I watched as the guy lit a cigarette and made a gesture like he was sniping at
me.

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Chapter 145
I walked along the third floor and then went up the stairs. He also came over
and the two of us looked at each other calmly. Upon closer inspection, his
face really did resemble A Ning’s. It was a face that made people alert and
gave off a sense of danger, which made people unable to look away. He
looked very comfortable in a gray sweater and a cigarette in his mouth. His
bangs were covering his eyes.

His overall appearance looked like that of a leisurely tourist. When I looked
closer, I found that he was taller than me.

This height isn’t suitable for this line of work, I said to myself. He motioned
to his cigarette, but I shook my head and leaned against the railing. He
opened his mouth and said, “You’re living very well.”

It was useless to explain anything to him. A Ning had really disappeared

from this world. I looked at the sky over the courtyard. If A Ning hadn’t died,
many things might have subtly changed. But the memory of that day was
there and couldn’t be changed. I didn’t want to relive the past now.

“I remember your sister mentioned you before,” I whispered. “Are you

doing this for her? You’re not suitable for it.”

“Is that so? I took this job to find you.” He narrowed his eyes and looked at
me. “You know what? My sister never wanted to trust others, but she
believed in you later on. The last few times I spoke to her, she was always
talking about you. Later, she didn’t come back and they said that she was
dead. I just want to know what kind of person you are since she had
mentioned you the last few times.”

I looked down at his hand. His fingers were tapping the railing and he looked
very relaxed. I sighed, “Your sister was a very complicated person. I’m sorry
about what happened to her, but based on what you do for a living, you
shouldn’t care about death as much as ordinary people. Why did you say
such scary things to my child?”

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He stopped tapping his fingers on the railing and tilted his head. I saw his
eyes flick to the side for a moment, and when I looked, the door to one of
the wolf dens had opened in the distance. But no one came out.

“There are monsters staying in those two rooms,” he said to me. “Are they
looking at us?”

I didn’t understand his intentions. When he continued speaking, he gestured

in that direction and the door of the wolf den closed, “I’m not completely on
the same level as others on this floor. The reason I came here to help Boss
Jiao was just to find a chance to kill you.”

I looked at his expression, but couldn’t tell if he was joking. I smiled bitterly,
“It’s illegal to kill people.”

“Not in the woods. I won’t do it here. But this group of people has been
unable to find the entrance for a while now. This can’t continue. Didn’t you
say have information on the entrance? What are you trying to do by finding
someone to tell me? Don’t trick me. Just tell me directly and I’ll cooperate
with you.” When he finished his cigarette, he pulled a cigarette case from his
pocket and took out another one. He used the butt of his old cigarette to
light it and then continued smoking. He looked up at me and said, “My sister
didn’t like people. She was a cold and aloof woman, so I don’t think she
would like any men. They all looked particularly stupid in her eyes. You
know, when a smart woman sees a man, most of the time she feels that
they’re amusing. But she was a little interested in you, which I find odd.
What are you? What makes you so different from the others?”

“No, she thought I was amusing, too.” I laughed, “I may be more amusing
than most people.”

When I recalled A Ning today, I could think of many things that I couldn’t see
back in those days. Now, for me, people’s hearts were measurable. It was
just like how A Ning looked at me at that time, as if she were looking
through a clear piece of glass. For those who had correctly read too many
people, it was like seeing too many ghosts and gods. Everything looked like

519
demons and monsters to them. As a result, they always tried to see things
that were amusing.

“But you left her in that jungle.” A Ning’s brother’s face darkened. “And just
look at you now. You’ve completely forgotten her. She thought that you
really had a chance to save everyone, but you didn’t even save her. I don’t
find you amusing at all.”

I looked into the distance. The woman I met in the dining room who looked
like A Ning came out of the Wolf King’s Den and looked at us. “You weren’t
there,” I said quietly. “You don’t know anything. You hate me so much”—I
turned to look at him— “but you’re just naïve. How do you plan to kill me?”

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Chapter 146
A Ning’s brother laughed and took a hard drag of his cigarette, “Everyone
knows some things. If you can’t get through it, you can’t get through it. I
can’t fall asleep at night because I keep seeing you every time I close my
eyes. I’m tired of it. It’s alright if you think I’m naïve. If everyone knew the
truth of life after they read the Buddhist scriptures, do you think there will
still be that many fools?” He narrowed his eyes. “Well, I’ve told you
everything without holding back. You don’t have to set me up. You asked
your men to do so many things, so what exactly do you want me to do? It’s
better for us to cooperate now and enter the woods sooner so that I can get
this over with quicker.”

As he was speaking, the woman who looked very similar to A Ning came
over to us. She gave us both a questioning look and asked, “Sasha, who is
this man?”

“Informant,” A Ning’s brother said while touching the woman’s hair.

“Behave. Don’t disturb my work.”

The woman gave me a meaningful glance, took the cigarette out of his hand,
and started smoking it as she walked away. “Is your nickname Sasha?” I
asked him.

The woman had used a Russian pronunciation, so this guy’s name was
actually Cаша in Russian. I had always thought that A Ning was a bit like a
foreigner, so did that mean their family was mixed? When my father was
still working, he used to talk to the Soviets in Russian, so I knew a little. If
that was the case, then A Ning’s name in Russian was лена (Lena), which
was short for елена (Elena). It meant “bright light”.

But maybe that wasn’t the case and it was just their code name. A Ning was
the leader, so maybe she was the light leading the team.

“I’m only called Sasha here,” he said. The woman turned around, glanced at
him, and then made a “hurry up” gesture. He stood up, “If you don’t tell me,

521
I’ll leave. Anyway, you know how to find me. When you want to talk, just let
me know.”

I sighed. Sure enough, he’s still young. The best way to meet an enemy isn’t
to show your calmness and strength, but to show your own shortcomings.

Disadvantages would attract others to attack and make their direction of

movement obvious. Losing on the surface was never really a loss. Most
people wanted to save face, so I learned how to take advantage of that a
long time ago. I raised my hand and looked at my cell phone. I had recorded
the whole conversation just now and sent several instructions to Fatty to
make preparations.

But this man’s eyes were very good and he saw most of the movements
around him just now. That meant he was always on guard.

He definitely must’ve had a bad childhood.

But now he must be intoxicated by the oppressive nature of his back view
and feel that he scored some points in the conversation just now. As a
result, he wasn’t as vigilant as he should be.

I stepped forward and gave his ass a vicious kick when he wasn’t looking.

He reacted quickly, but I was no layman either. When he tried to dodge my

kick, he ended up staggering and almost falling down. I took a few steps
back as he stared at me in amazement. He was apparently surprised at my
lack of manners.

“If you want to kill me, come at me.” I spit on the ground, “Both brother and
sister want to trouble others with their own private interests.” As I spoke, I
raised the copper coin necklace I had pulled off in that split second I kicked
him and then turned and ran.

Sasha immediately became furious and chased after me like crazy. I ran all
the way to the second floor and rushed into the room where Uncle Two and
Poker-Face had stayed before.

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Fatty and Jia Kezi were waiting behind the door. Sasha chased me in, raised
his hand, and said, “Give it back!”

Jia Kezi immediately closed the door while Fatty stepped forward and swung
a pan directly at the back of Sasha’s head. Unexpectedly, the kid didn’t even
look at it, but immediately dodged to the side and grabbed Fatty’s hand
from behind. He jumped up, stepped on the wall with both feet, and then
twisted Fatty’s arm back. Jia Kezi pounced on him at almost the exact same
time. Sasha twisted Fatty’s hand so hard that Fatty dropped the pan. Sasha
smoothly caught it with his other hand and used it to knock Jia Kezi over.

He started to sneer, but before the corners of his mouth raised up, Fatty
pushed something directly into his crotch with his other hand. The both of
them jolted like they had been electrocuted and then bounced off of each
other. At that time, I noticed that Fatty was holding a wire in his hand.

I quickly pulled the wires off, but the both of them had been stunned by the
electric shock. I threw the copper coins in front of Sasha and thought to
myself, A Ning, your family’s education is really bad. I then picked up the
pan, knocked Sasha out, and dragged him over to the chair, letting his head
hang forward.

I lifted Fatty up and saw that he had wet himself after being shocked. He
cursed, “You’re so tall, so I didn’t think you’d be able to do a somersault. I’ve
ordered you two tea eggs.”(1)

I took some flour out of my bag, added a special powder to it, and then
began mixing it.

(1)
Per Tiffany: Fatty was saying he didn’t expect Sasha to be able to do a somersault. Fatty gave him
“two tea eggs” the moment he attacked his crotch with the wire, since tea eggs are kinda brown. In
merebear terms: Fatty fried Sasha’s junk.

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Chapter 147
In many cases, making human skin masks was similar to making wonton
wrappers. Good human skin masks were very particular about the materials
used, but I had learned some temporary techniques from the girl Xiao Hua
used. Since the materials were so precious, they used flour and a special
herbal fiber to practice making masks of each other during their training.

At first glance, a mask created with this kind of material made you look like a
ghost, but with the help of makeup, a hairstyle change, and the cover of
darkness, you could get away with it for a short time.

I quickly used my materials to make a mask of Sasha’s face, put makeup on

the mask, and then stuffed heightening pads into my shoes. I grabbed the
nail puller and then used an app on my phone to cut out all the useful words
in the recording just now in case I needed to use them as backup.

Then, I left the room without hesitation, went up to the fourth floor, and
passed through the corridor full of people. Whenever someone greeted me,
I nodded. I went straight to Sasha’s room and opened the door with the key
I had taken from him.

I was relieved to find that there was no one else in his room. If someone had
been in there, then all I could do was leave. I drew all the curtains, dimmed
the lights, and locked the door as fast as I could before going into the room
and starting to pry the nails up. After I got to the fourth board, I found that
there was soundproof cotton behind the board. I tore it away and saw an
even thicker quilt.

I slowly tore the quilt open and finally saw the secret passage behind. I
listened carefully, but there was no one in the passage at this time.

I tore a big hole in the quilt and climbed through. I was standing on a very
simple staircase made of wooden pegs. The whole passage was like a
chimney. Some places had turns and some were horizontal, but the place
where I had entered was upright.

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There were no lights in the passage. Even though there were quilts firmly
placed everywhere, Xiao Hua must’ve been afraid of light leaking into other
people’s rooms. Since it was so dark, I relied on my hearing and found that
no one was in the passage.

I climbed all the way down to the bottom and came out of the passage. I
found a cave, which I figured had to be located right beneath the tulou.
There was a very faint light here, so I could see that the cave was circular. It
was also full of rescue, diving, and rock climbing equipment, but no one was
there.

In the center of the cave, I saw a well surrounded by stones. When I walked
over to it, I found that it was a hole just big enough for one person to fit
through. This had to be the entrance to the calling spring. I listened carefully
and could hear voices beneath the sounds of the spring. Someone appeared
to be working below.

This was the legendary calling spring that was so small and hidden.

I looked around, feeling ecstatic. At this time, I didn’t know why no one was
in this area or why Xiao Hua had sealed the whole passage with quilts, but I
ignored it and focused on sorting through all the equipment. I picked out a
few hiding places and then called Fatty on my phone. I muted his side,
plugged the phone into a portable charger, and then hid it in a piece of
equipment.

After that, I climbed back out. At first, I forgot which room I came in from,
but I finally found Sasha’s room after feeling around. I quickly put the board
back to cover the hole.

Everything went so smoothly that I gave myself a thumbs up, feeling that my
intelligence had really recovered. I looked at my watch. I wanted everyone
to get ready to go as soon as possible. We would wait in Sasha’s room until
the people below changed shifts, and then sneak into the calling spring.
When I went down, I would have master control.

525
I unlocked the door without any hesitation, but before I could leave, the
woman who looked like A Ning instantly appeared. Before I could react, she
entered the door and locked it behind her. She wrapped around me like a
snake, pressed me up against the wall, and tried to kiss me.

I instinctively avoided it. I happened to be in the shadows, so she couldn’t

see me clearly, but I definitely saw her. She became angry and asked, “Why
didn’t you open the door?” I was just about to speak, but I immediately held
back. I wanted to get my phone, but she would definitely notice since we
were so close to each other. She suddenly took off her shirt and said to me,
“Old Jiao is taking a nap. We have two hours. Haven’t you been holding back
a lot?”

She suddenly leaned in again, but I grabbed her head and reflexively
knocked it against the wall.

I didn’t end up knocking her out. Maybe I held back because she was a
woman. She touched her head and looked at me in horror, “What are you
doing?! Are you crazy?!”

I pulled Sasha’s cigarettes out and put one in my mouth before saying, “Get
lost, I’m sick of you.” With the cigarette in my mouth, my voice sounded
muffled.

She looked at me and took two steps forward. I shrank back and she
suddenly sneered, “You’ve got guts. Just wait.”

I made a “screw you” gesture and she stormed out. I counted to three and
then immediately left and rushed back to my room on the third floor. When
I rushed into the room, I saw that everyone was ready. Fatty raised a
washbasin in his hand, which was full of smoking objects.

I was ready to wreak some havoc.

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Chapter 148
As a huge cloud of smoke rose up from the basin, the fire alarms started
going off everywhere. The smoke from the third floor rose up to the fourth
floor and our group rushed back to Sasha’s room in the chaos. We all had
wet towels covering our mouths for fear of choking on the smoke. Except for
Bai Haotian, who was guarding Sasha, everyone else was dispatched. Fatty’s
cell phone was still connected to my phone, so he listened for any sounds.
There was movement in the underground area and someone was talking.
They appeared to be coming out of the calling spring.

If we went directly into the passage at this time, we might collide with Xiao
Hua’s people. We had no chance of winning if a fight broke out.

We removed the panel and Fatty gestured at me. It was very dark inside, so
we could ambush those people when they came up, but I shook my head. If
those people were some of Xiao Hua’s more capable men, they might hit
hard when they couldn’t see who was attacking them and end up seriously
injuring us. I had only placed my phone down there to ensure that the area
below was empty.

We heard someone climb up, and then the phone went silent again. Our
group entered the passage and walked to the bottom. I grabbed my phone
while Fatty went to the entrance of the calling spring and listened.

There were still people in the spring below. Fatty made a gesture that
seemed to say: You idiot, this plan won’t work. Based on the sounds, there
were quite a few people below.

I didn’t dare rashly attack the people down there. If they were carrying out
rescue efforts, then this was a critical moment. If I went down to cause
trouble, something would definitely happen. There wasn’t any light coming
from the entrance to the spring, which indicated that the path below had
twists and turns, and the people were still far away from this hole.

527
There weren’t any guards here, so the real outpost must be below. They
probably had a large group of people, so we couldn’t just rush in. Moreover,
based on the diameter of the entrance, this was a one-way passage. People
could only go in one at a time, so your direction was set from the start. If
anyone else wanted to come in from the opposite direction, they would
have to wait for you to pass through. Although the edges and sides of the
hole had been rounded by water, they were still highly rugged and wouldn’t
be so easy to pass.

In other words, if I went down and someone tried to come out, we would be
blocked.

I thought for a while and then pointed to some hiding places I had made in
advance when I arranged the equipment pile earlier. They would hide there
while Xiang Dun went into the hole. I pulled out a sticky note that said “Wu
Xie wanted me to deliver a message” and then stuck it on his forehead while
saying to him, “This note can save your life. If someone wants to kill you, just
say you’re my man. Take this flashlight and point it at this piece of paper on
your forehead. If someone catches you after you go down, take them to our
room. If you aren’t caught, then look at the situation and light a smoke
cake(1). But only do it if it won’t affect their rescue effort.” I gave him half of
the bag of smoke cakes.

“Boss, you’re sacrificing me,” Xiang Dun said. “Where’s my cell phone? You
haven’t given it back to me yet.”

I patted him, “If you get caught, you don’t have to risk your life. You’ll still
get the full amount. Go, Pikachu, go!”(2)

Xiang Dun thought about it and shook his head. “I won’t do it. You say a
note’s going to save me, but I don’t believe it.”

(1)
It’s basically a smoke bomb that looks like a Quaker rice cake. Some pics here.
(2)
It’s the phrase Ash uses every time he calls out Pikachu. In the US, I think I remember them translating
it as “Pikachu, I choose you!” but it doesn’t flow here so I went with the direct translation.

528
I looked at him, and he looked at me before slowly saying, “Worse comes to
worst, I’ll leave and go back to my old job.”

Jia Kezi suddenly spoke up from the side, “Go away. I’ll do it.”

He took the smoke cakes from my hand, stuck the note on his forehead, and
crawled into the entrance. As we waited silently outside, we started to feel a
little uneasy. I knew Xiao Hua was a sensible man, but there were definitely
outlaws under him. Would that note really be effective? I was so hot-headed
just now that I didn’t see any problems with it. But after thinking about it, I
wasn’t as sharp as I had been back in the day. Would the note be useless?

Before long, I was relieved to see smoke rising up from the hole. Jia Kezi
hadn’t been discovered. I immediately led all the others to the entrance. The
smoke in the passage was very thick, so I crawled forward frantically. Once I
was out of the passage, I found that I had arrived in a space that was full of
smoke.

There was a damp old well below the calling spring. The bricks were old and
had been eroded to such an extent that there weren’t any edges or corners.
The space was about ten square meters, and there was a gap in the well wall
that went deep into the mountain rock. This was the real entrance to the
calling spring. Now it was full of smoke, and there were people coughing and
shouting inside. I crawled to a corner under the cover of smoke and hid, but
was startled to see a man beside me.

When I moved back, I saw that it wasn’t a man, but Jia Kezi’s head. I didn’t
know when it had been cut off. There was blood all over the ground and the
note was still stuck to his forehead.

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Chapter 149
I was stunned for a few seconds and then the overwhelming smell of blood
instantly made my blood pressure soar to the highest point. My instincts
that had been honed after countless dangerous situations were immediately
turned on and the chaotic environment in front of me quieted down.

I immediately discovered that those people weren’t panicking because of

the smoke. Instead, they had gathered together to form a defensive circle.
As the figures of these people moved in the smoke, I could see that they had
long weapons.

They were all experts who had attacked by default. In this situation, they
wouldn’t hesitate to kill people.

My hands were shaking as I realized that my people were blindly walking in

the smoke and could get close to this circle at any time. I knew how people
with long weapons tended to fight. If they started something here, at the
very least my people would become disabled. Moreover, people who had a
lot of experience fighting could see others without even looking. They could
follow up on their attacks as long as there was airflow.

I didn’t expect Xiao Hua to use such a team. The rescue team didn’t need to
fight, so how could they kill people so casually? And why were they using
long weapons when they were trying to save people? Either the situation
here was completely different from what Uncle Two had said, or these
people weren’t working for Xiao Hua.

But there was no time to think right now, so I shouted, “Blow them up!” I
rushed into the smoke, grabbed a man, and pushed him into the calling
spring. It was Xiang Dun. He didn’t know what had happened to Jia Kezi or
why I suddenly wanted to blow things up. After pushing him, I rushed in,
grabbed You Erque, and also pushed him into the entrance of the calling
spring. Then, the opponent’s knife arrived.

530
At this time, an entrenching tool(1) stretched out from the smoke on the
other side and blocked the knife that was going for the back of my neck.
Fatty rushed out of the smoke and shouted, “We’ll all die if we set off
explosives now!”

As soon as he said that, two more knives came out of the smoke. Fatty
slapped one away while I dodged the other one and pulled a machete from
Fatty’s bag. The two of us had a tacit understanding and went directly to the
calling spring. I pulled out Fatty’s explosives, cut off two-thirds with my
knife, and lit them.

As soon as the sparks appeared, everyone in the smoke retreated wildly. I

threw out the explosives. At the exact moment they went off, the two of us
retreated into the calling spring’s entrance.

Since the hole was completely irregular and there were broken stones
everywhere, we could only squat. Wires had been strung up along the hole,
with small lights placed at certain intervals. It turned out to be a mountain
passage. After entering, I found that the ground under my feet felt wrong. I
kept walking until I got to a place where there wasn’t any smoke and looked
down. I saw the pale face of a dead man.

There were dead bodies spread out all along this rocky mountain passage. I
instantly recognized several familiar faces, all of whom were Xiao Hua’s
people. Their throats had been slit. I looked ahead and found that the whole
passage was full of dead people. They had been neatly stacked in the gaps of
this passage to create a smooth path.

I immediately broke out in a cold sweat and my hands and feet started
trembling.

This was Xiao Hua’s rescue team. They were all dead.

(1)
Also called a “military engineer shovel”. It’s a small, foldable shovel that can be used for digging,
shoveling, and chopping. More info here.

531
Hundreds of people were dead.

Almost every single one of them had been killed by a single knife blow. Their
eyes were murky, the blood had long dried, and many of the corpses were
starting to rot.

Fatty kept crawling forward and started to curse. My eyes became blurred
as I also continued crawling forward.

What was going on with the fifth floor?

We crawled along until we finally saw Xiang Dun and You Erque, who had
both collapsed. I stopped and looked behind me. Someone was chasing us.

The passage was very narrow, so we couldn’t change positions. Fatty looked
at me as I took the explosives off his waist. Both of our bodies were already
covered in blood. “Keep moving forward.”

“What the fuck are you trying to do?” Fatty asked me. “Half of the best
experts in Beijing have died here!”

“I have to see who they are,” I said. “Xiao Hua’s people are all dead. If we
didn’t come here, no one would ever know what happened to them. Don’t
worry, I won’t die with them. I’ll blow up the tunnel and buy us some time.
There’s no time to hesitate.”

Fatty cursed, slapped Xiang Dun and You Erque back to their senses, and
then the three of them continued crawling forward. I put the explosives in a
nearby gap, flicked my lighter on, and looked at the person who was chasing
us.

This person was dressed in black and had very long fingers. After so many
years, I knew his identity as soon as I looked into his eyes and saw his
clothes.

This was a member of the Wang family.

532
When he saw me, he froze for a moment, “Sasha?”

I only now remembered that I still had a mask on my face.

If he knew Sasha… I broke out in a cold sweat as I realized that this man was
from the fourth floor!

I may have judged all the circumstances correctly, but I misjudged the
timing. The people on the fourth floor had already discovered the calling
spring and were using the fifth floor as a cover. By the time I had arrived, so
many people had already died here!

Sasha definitely wasn’t the naïve boy I thought he was. Bai Haotian was in
danger!

My makeshift mask was airtight, so the sweat began to gather at the edges.
There was a war between man and nature going on in my mind, but I was
very calm on the outside. This person was still a long way from me. If I set
off the explosives, Fatty and I would be safe for the time being, but Bai
Haotian would almost certainly die. There was no way she could cope with
the next situation.

533
Chapter 150
My thoughts had originally been so whimsical because I had never thought
that things would be so tragic. There were so many people in this business
who were lost and corrupt, and many of them did inhumane things. But
even demons would be moved if they saw such a sight. The death of so
many people was a manifestation of the objectification of people.

These people treated human life like it was some kind of object.

If I had known this was the case, I wouldn’t have led such a team to their
deaths. Bai Haotian was still a little girl. Even if there were so many old
enemies in my story, I shouldn’t have brought trouble to her.

At that moment, countless possibilities flashed through my mind. What

should I do? My face was covered in blood and shouldn’t be visible for the
time being. The person chasing after us was obviously surprised that I was
here. I instinctively muffled my voice and said, “What are you doing? I
chased them all the way here and now you showed up? They got away.” As
soon as I finished speaking, I started coughing violently. I had been inhaling
the smoke for too long and now my lungs were finally starting to hurt.

The person pulled his knife out and pointed the long blade at me. I knew this
maneuver. I would have to go up and step on the knife to deal with him, but
there were more people coming from behind. Even if I stepped on the knife,
there was no way I could deal with those people. But even if the other
person didn’t have a knife, it was impossible for me to win with my current
physical condition.

He looked at me. “It was too smoky just now. I thought you were one of
those who broke in.”

I felt my heart move. He didn’t doubt it one bit. It seemed that my

craftsmanship had really improved. He looked behind me and asked,
“Where are they?”

534
“They ran in,” I said, pointing to the explosives in the gap in the stone. “They
wanted to blow this passage up. I chased them away before they could
ignite it.”

The man in black looked at the explosives. “I just saw you insert it yourself
and you have a lighter in your hand. It seems that you’re the one who wants
to blow this passage up.”

I looked at the lighter in my hand and blew out the flame. “I didn’t know it
was you. I thought you were all killed. I thought it was their comrades
coming in, so I was prepared to scare them.”

He seemed a little suspicious and looked behind me. “Maybe they’ll lay
some mines down further inside,” I said.

“Don’t worry about them. They can’t make it more than five hundred
meters.” The man in black put his knife away. “Did you see who it was?” He
kept his hand on the knife.

“It’s Wu Xie,” I said with a hoarse voice. The man in black frowned and
motioned for me to follow him out. When he turned around, I grabbed the
two explosives and stuffed them into my underwear. I felt uneasy as I
crawled after him. Fuck, he can’t even tell that I’m wearing a human skin
mask. Is it because it’s too dark here? If I go to a place with more light, will I
be killed right away?

My mask was already full of sweat, so would it start to expand since it was
made of flour?

I thought of the ground covered in blood and rubbed some of it onto me. A
lot of the blood had dried and the rotting corpses were starting to stink, but
I couldn’t worry about it now. I crawled out of the calling spring and saw
several men in black outside. I looked around and saw that there were five
of them. The smoke outside was still heavy and I kept coughing. The man
from just now said to me, “What the hell is going on? If Wu Xie appeared
here, you have to explain it to Boss Jiao.”

535
I prayed in my heart that Fatty had heard those sentences: Don’t worry
about them. They can’t make it more than five hundred meters.

There had to be an unknown danger in the calling spring. They were fine
letting people go in, which indicated that this danger was very hidden. But I
had to focus on getting Bai Haotian out first.

The man in black who talked to me asked the others to stay and keep watch
while he took me up. As I followed him all the way back to my room, I
noticed that his hand remained glued to his knife. I was covered in a cold
sweat. He didn’t think that I was an imposter, but he obviously thought that
something was wrong with me and wanted to keep an eye on me.

Once we were back in the room, the man in black stood there and looked at
me. I knew what he wanted to ask, so I immediately explained to him, “They
broke in here and entered the secret passage. When I came back, I found
that the wall had been pried open, so I followed after them.”

“Why didn’t you give us a warning?” The man in black looked at me, but
before he could finish speaking, we heard someone kick the door outside.
He went and opened it, only to be confronted by the woman who looked
like A Ning and a group of people. She said to a slender middle-aged man
behind her, “Master Jiao, this bastard lied to me to get me to sleep with
him. Help me castrate him.”

Someone instantly came up, grabbed me, and lowered my pants. The thin
middle-aged man slapped the woman in the face, “You’re not without fault
either.” Then he looked at me and said, “You think you can sleep with my
woman? Do it.”

My heart froze as another person approached me with a knife. It’s over, I

thought to myself.

536
Chapter 151
At this time, I had no other choice but to resist. I moved my shoulder like I
had been trained so many times before. There was no way for anyone to
hold me down like this, so I was able to break free as soon as he lost his grip
on me. I headbutted the person coming at me with a knife and he fell to the
ground. My other arm was still being restrained, so I ripped my sleeve off,
lifted my pants, and took out the two explosives.

As the Wang guy drew his knife and bent down to attack me, I used all my
strength to throw Boss Jiao down. As I hid directly behind him, I stretched
out my hand and flicked my lighter on.

The Wang guy’s knife almost slashed my neck, but I managed to dodge and
pull Boss Jiao against the wall. The Wang guy adjusted his grip on the knife
and I immediately hid my head behind Boss Jiao. I knew that this was how
long knife attacks were carried out—by exerting all of your bodily strength
from your feet, you could put all of your power into the knife blow. If you
were trained well, the knife would be moving so fast that it would be
invisible to the naked eye within half a meter. If this guy stabbed me in the
forehead, I wouldn’t have time to light the explosives at all.

Experience played a huge role at this time, so I hid directly behind Boss
Jiao’s head.

His hair had a strong perfume smell, which almost made me cough. I took
the chance to light one of the explosives and tucked it into his collar.

Boss Jiao screamed when the sparks burned his skin and tore his shirt off
directly. As the explosives fell to the ground, I headbutted Sanye(1) and made
a dash for the door.

There were a bunch of people crowded around the door watching the show,
so I shouted, “It’s going to explode!” Everyone immediately scattered. I had

(1)
Sanye is the A Ning look-alike. Her name basically means “Three Leaves” in Chinese.

537
just taken a step forward when I saw someone ready to jump out of the
window. I was ready to use all my strength to hit him and shove him directly
back into the room.

While Boss Jiao rushed out of the door, I lit the second explosive, grabbed
his belt, and stuffed it into his pants.

The lead time on Fatty’s explosives was always extremely fast, but this group
of people had killed so many people that an evil thought sprang into my
head and I shortened the lead time even more. Without giving any of them a
second glance, I turned around and jumped over the railing.

The first explosive went off, the shockwave forcing the air down from above.
The explosives weren’t that strong, but it was enough to blow the furniture
and floor up. The loud sound was accompanied by countless pieces of wood
thrown out in all directions. I grabbed the third-floor railing with one hand
and looked up at the fourth floor. All the people and things up there had
fallen down a level when the floor collapsed. I immediately let go and fell to
the second floor, grabbing the railing once again.

I looked up and saw that many people had already gotten up and were
shouting. The man in black looked at me. I immediately dropped from the
second floor to the first floor and found that all of the waiters had come out
to see what the commotion was. I shouted, “There’s a second one!” I had no
sooner said the words than the third floor exploded. I covered my head and
climbed the stairs back to my room as tiles and wood chips rained down
everywhere.

When I rushed in, my mind froze for a second. Bai Haotian wasn’t there.
Neither was A Ning’s brother, Sasha. There was only the rope we had used
to tie him up lying on the ground. The room was a complete mess, which
made me think that something had happened.

My ears were filled with the sound of people running on the wooden floors,
so I opened the rear window, climbed out directly, and jumped from the

538
third floor. I pushed off from the second-floor window sill, rolled to the
ground, and then ran into the mountains.

I didn’t know if the second explosion had killed the man in black or Boss Jiao,
but we had all obviously underestimated Boss Jiao’s power. Even though the
Wang family had dispersed, Boss Jiao was still able to hire them. These
people were determined to win and had deep reserves. A Ning’s younger
brother must have run away. If he was working with such people, then he
was probably treating Bai Haotian like a child. The only good news was that
he couldn’t return to Boss Jiao’s camp now.

I had to focus on surviving right now. I ran wildly, following my memory all
the way to the valley where I had heard the thunder before. Luckily, I was
still familiar with the terrain.

After running for a kilometer or two, my lungs went on strike and I rolled to
the ground, panting like an exhaust fan. I looked back but didn’t see anyone
chasing me. It was too difficult to chase people in the woods, even for those
in the Wang and Zhang families.

I touched my body to see what I had on me. I was probably going to have to
survive in the wilderness for a bit. After feeling around, I pulled a piece of
paper from my pants pocket. I took a look at it and found that it had strange
lines drawn on it. The paper hadn’t been in my pocket originally. I thought
for a moment and suddenly realized that it might have been put there by
the guy who was restraining me before.

No wonder I had felt that the man was so weak. But why would he do this?
Did he secretly want to cut me some slack? What did this note mean?

As I was thinking over everything and looking at the surrounding mountains,

I suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

539
Chapter 152
I wiped the blood from my mouth and looked behind me. No one had
followed me. I continued walking in the woods and looked at the note in my
hand. After walking for more than ten minutes, I sat down and told myself
to calm down first. This note was clearly very important, so I picked it up and
began looking it over carefully.

For the first few seconds, I was so confused that I couldn’t see anything
clearly. I shook my head hard, took a deep breath, and looked at it again. At
this time, I also saw the mountains in the distance. The lines on this paper
appeared to be the outline of the mountains.

But more specifically, the lines were the mountains on my left. I started
running in that direction.

There still weren’t any signs of pursuit. Maybe the two explosions had hurt
the key figures of that group and I had run much faster than I thought. I ran
in the dark and finally arrived at the foot of the mountain.

I had to take several breaks along the way, during which time I couldn’t help
but wonder who the man was. But his actions seemed to indicate that he
was going to let me go from the start.

When I made it to the foot of the mountain, I found a rock and sat down. I
coughed again, looked up at the mountain, and then looked back at the note
in my hand. I was still feeling doubtful when countless figures suddenly
appeared in the grass and woods around me.

I turned around three times and saw several people coming out of the
woods. When I looked closer, I found that it was Kan Jian and Liu Sang. I
raised my hand and called out to them, “Liu Sang.”

They were all armed and looking at me warily. I suddenly remembered that
there was still a mask on my face, so I tore it off and looked at them as I
gasped for breath.

540
As we continued looking at each other, my vision suddenly went dark and I
passed out.

I didn’t know how long it took, but when I woke up again, I started to vomit.
Someone handed me some water. After taking a few sips, I saw Kan Jian
sitting nearby. We were in a small mountain cave and Liu Sang was cutting
bamboo sticks with a machete.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Kan Jian.

“Someone set us up.” Liu Sang said.

“What’s going on?” I sat up and turned my head, only to see more than a
dozen people sitting in the cave behind me. “Fuck, are you shooting the
‘Terminator’ or something? Why are you hiding in here?”

As soon as I spoke, everyone looked up and got to their feet. “Little Master
Three,” everyone called.

“That Boss Jiao is a monster,” Kan Jian said to me. “He knows everything.
Master Hua was defeated.”

“Where’s Xiao Hua?”

“Master Hua mixed himself in with that group inside.” Kan Jian took out the
note. “Boss Jiao’s people are guarding the building now, so Master Hua
snuck into their group to save people. He was afraid someone would come
into the building looking for us and get killed. Too many people have died
already.”

“Why is he a monster?” I asked softly.

“Boss Jiao is a monster,” Kan Jian said in a trembling voice. “He can see
everything. As long as it thunders, he knows everything.”

541
Chapter 153
The struggle between Xiao Hua and Boss Jiao in the tulou was just like a big
drama. Xiao Hua’s arrangement went from being a habit of defense in the
beginning to a final confrontation between the fourth and fifth floors. It
would have made for a wonderfully written movie. During that time, there
were a large number of skilled players on both sides who swapped camps to
found out more about each other. Xiao Hua negotiated with Boss Jiao at
least four times, but there was a huge reversal every time because of the
thunder that appeared near the tulou. No matter how Xiao Hua took the
lead, it would be overturned that very same day.

People on both sides kept dying until finally, Boss Jiao’s people suddenly
broke into the calling spring. There was a thunderstorm that night, and it
almost seemed as if everyone had gone crazy.

Liu Sang had brought this team out before then to look for the second
entrance. After Xiao Hua and the others had explored the calling spring, Xiao
Hua determined that there had to be a second entrance. As a result, Liu
Sang’s team had been looking for the second entrance in the mountains
while Boss Jiao’s team entered the mountains to look for them. Based on
this situation, the best course of action would be to call the police. But both
sides had obviously committed serious crimes, so this matter could only be
solved through practical methods.

Xiao Hua was able to sneak into their group, but Kan Jian didn’t know the
specifics. He only knew that someone suddenly sent them a message one
day. There were two more people from Xiao Hua’s team mixed into Boss
Jiao’s team. With the exception of Xiao Hua himself, no one knew who the
other two were.

I asked them what the rescue situation was like. It was unclear whether
Little Brother and Black Glasses were alive or dead, but the good news was
that Liu Sang said he was seventy percent sure that there was a cavity they

542
had made it to. Although I didn’t discount the fact that he might not be
facing reality, it finally gave me a little confidence.

When I told them that Fatty and the others had entered the calling spring,
Kan Jian and Liu Sang remained silent. The calling spring was very
complicated and they had set up a lot of mechanisms when they evacuated.
Fatty would be fine as long as he remained alert, but if he was even a little
careless, then the inside of the calling spring would be very dangerous.
Moreover, the local people had a legend that there was a “Yang Gong (flood
dragon)” in the calling spring(1). Many strange things happened to them
when they were exploring, and when they were digging, everyone suddenly
started shouting like they had been possessed.

But I believed in Fatty. He was a well-traveled person who should be able to

deal with this properly.

Bai Haotian had to be in Sasha’s hands right now. Liu Sang said that he knew
him. This man was actually called Jiang Zi Suan. He did things in a strange
way, but he wasn’t crazy. If he wanted to kill Bai Haotian, then he would
have left her body behind. The fact that he had taken her away meant that
he wanted me to save her. Maybe he thought she was a good bargaining
chip to lure me out.

Now that the various forces were intertwined, they just didn’t know what to
do. But now that I was here, Kan Jian asked me what my plan was.

Xiao Hua didn’t disclose everything to the people below him. I looked at the
people in this team and realized that they were all good grave robbers. They
weren’t good at fighting, but it was still clear to see that Xiao Hua attached
great importance to this second entrance. It was probably more important
than exploring the calling spring. That, coupled with the rescue difficulties
Uncle Two had mentioned, made me think that the calling spring was a dead
end and Xiao Hua couldn’t find a way.

(1)
A flood dragon is also called a “jiao” or “Jiaolong”. It’s a legendary dragon with the ability to control
rain and floods. More info here.

543
Since we didn’t have any cards in our hands, our options right now were
very limited. If Poker-Face and Black Glasses were here, I would definitely
storm in. It didn’t matter if it was the Wang or Zhang family, they would all
be dead to me. But now we were mere rabble, so we would definitely have
an accident when we met those four Wang family members I saw before.

We needed to get some cards in our hands now. These cards could be
people, time, or even familiarity with the terrain. “We have to find the
second entrance,” I said to them. “Just think, Master Hua left the big troops
in the calling spring and sent the elites out. He must have set it up this way
so that once the second entrance was found, it would be possible to drain
the water earlier. Once the water was down, it would be more convenient
for the big troops to go in and continue the rescue efforts through the
calling spring’s opening. Once we find the second entrance and withdraw
the water, a large number of Boss Jiao’s team would enter the calling spring.
At this time, the rest of us would take the tulou back, seal the entrance, and
force them into our trap.”

Everyone listened to me intently, but it didn’t seem like they completely

understood what I had said. Kan Jian said to them, “Ok! Let’s follow Little
Master Three!”

Liu Sang suddenly spoke up, “The big troops didn’t stay there because of
Master Hua’s plan. They died there. It just so happened to be our team’s
turn to find the second entrance. If it hadn’t been our turn, we’d be dead
now. Master Hua isn’t even sure of his own theory, so don’t order us around
so blindly. My plan is to catch the king first.” He looked at me, “I want to
hand you over to them and then I’m going to find a chance to catch Boss
Jiao.”

“Why are you so sure?” I asked.

Liu Sang tilted his head as if he were listening to something outside, “It’s
going to thunderstorm soon. When this group of people listens to thunder,
they all become like blocks of wood. I can’t predict the future, but I can take
action when it starts to thunder.”

544
Chapter 154
Liu Sang sat down next to me, pulled Kan Jian aside, and then said to me,
“Based on my experience, the next thunderstorm should be two days from
now. We’re ready for it. Before it thunders, I’ll pretend to surrender and
hand you over to Boss Jiao. It’ll start to thunder right as I cause trouble.” Liu
Sang pointed to his head. “You guys don’t understand. Boss Jiao’s people
have drilled holes into their skulls. It’s a way for man to interact with the
heavens. When there’s thunder, they’ll experience a nightmare. This is an
ancient method. My master also made several holes in his skull to listen to
things. Since the location of the holes is different, the things heard are also
different.”

“So, the head became something like a musical instrument?” Kan Jian asked
faintly.

“I get what you’re saying, but not everyone will be stunned when it starts to
thunder,” I said to Liu Sang. “Those Wang family members definitely won’t. I
also think there are still many others who won’t. Our odds of winning aren’t
good.”

Having said that, I suddenly remembered that when I followed those people
before, there was a man who acted like that leather figurine woman as he
listened to the thunder. I suddenly got excited: was this one of Xiao Hua’s
people? Or maybe it was Xiao Hua himself and he acted like that to let me
know it was him.

At that time, everyone was experiencing a thunder nightmare and he was

the only one who moved like that. But why didn’t he talk to me directly?
Why warn me by acting like the leather figurine woman?

“You don’t understand,” Liu Sang said to me. “Boss Jiao is the one paying
them. As long as Boss Jiao dies, they won’t have a boss or anyone to pay
them and their team will naturally break up.” Liu Sang looked at me coldly,
“It’s time to resort to killing. They’ve already killed so many of us, after all.

545
This man deserves to die and Little Brother doesn’t have much time left. We
don’t have time to hesitate.”

Liu Sang’s method was undeniably feasible, but it was a method that left no
room for escape. My success had always been based on precise calculations
and the courage to execute them to the end. But this method was based on
the fact that Liu Sang’s ears could hear a lot of information that we couldn’t.
It was just like seeing things. We couldn’t get this information at the same
time as him, so the success he was imagining was almost impossible.

The only advantage I could use now was that Boss Jiao listened to thunder. If
he could really get information from listening to thunder and fight back
against Xiao Hua, then he had to be very confident about the information he
heard.

But Boss Jiao didn’t know that Xiao Hua was mixed in among them, so that
left two possibilities:

1. It was only when a crisis reached a certain level that Boss Jiao would get
the key information when listening to the thunder;

2. Xiao Hua and the other two’s existence might be exposed with the next
thunderstorm.

But one thing was for certain: the thunder didn’t tell Boss Jiao about this
hiding place, so it was still a secret.

The key was what Boss Jiao could hear in the thunder. “Since there’s really
no time, I’ll agree to your approach if my plan doesn’t work,” I said to Liu
Sang. “But before I do, can you tell me what happened every time there was
a reversal between Master Hua and Boss Jiao?”

Liu Sang frowned, “These things have already happened. What’s the point in
explaining them to you?”

I looked at Kan Jian, but felt that he wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly, so
I said to Liu Sang, “The person you admire so much trusts me a lot. Haven’t

546
you wondered why that is? If I’m as useless as you said, could I have lived
this long?”

Liu Sang looked at me with raised brows. “Are you trying to say that you
want us to unite? Trust each other? Haven’t you seen what happens to
people who trust you? If not for you, would they have even needed to do
this?”

I stared into Liu Sang’s eyes. “That’s my business with them. It has nothing
to do with you. I see you don’t want to answer any of my questions. Have
you ever thought that I might find a way with what you’ve said? It’s not like
it’s going to take that long for you to tell me about it. Do you want to save
people, or do you just want to prove that it wasn’t your fault and I’m the
one to blame?”

547
Chapter 155
I used a lot of logic to put pressure on Liu Sang, but I didn’t say it very
seriously. He remained silent for a while until reason finally overcame
emotion. He started talking about some of the things that had happened
after they took over here.

Liu Sang had stayed in the tulou the whole time, so after Uncle Two left and
Xiao Hua’s rescue team took over, he was in charge of the handover
process. When the accident happened, Uncle Two’s team had been divided
into two groups. One stayed positive and thought that Poker-Face and Black
Glasses had a good chance of survival, but rescuing them would be very
difficult. The other group thought that there was only a small probability
that the two of them would survive the resurgence. At that time, Liu Sang
was in the positive group. He had heard countless echoes in the
underground river cavity, which indicated that there were countless air
pockets inside. If these pockets could be fully utilized, their chances of
survival were very high.

I later learned that Liu Sang heard a very specific number of cavities at that
time, which totaled a hundred and seventy-five. He had even calculated how
long the air in each cavity could last. When he added all of the cavities up,
he found that the air could sustain them for more than a month. His
emotions were running high and he was getting desperate right now
because that deadline was quickly approaching. But there was nothing he
could do.

Based on Liu Sang’s assessment, if Black Glasses and Poker-Face were still
alive, then they must’ve been moving from one cavity to another as soon as
the oxygen ran out.

Xiao Hua’s whole rescue plan was made in accordance with Liu Sang’s
theory. There were also some cavities at the top, so they used physics to
pump a lot of air into the underground river’s backflow hole. They hoped

548
that the air would refill those cavities and help extend the possible time for
those two to survive.

When Boss Jiao and his team suddenly appeared, Xiao Hua’s first theory was
that their large-scale rescue operation made some people think that there
was a big tomb here—this theory was correct no matter what the
circumstances were—so they had formed a group to go rob it. These people
said that they came to help save people, but they really just wanted to find
the tomb.

Xiao Hua was very frank and told them about the accident. First, the place
where the accident occurred was far from the location of the tomb, so Boss
Jiao’s team could go to the mountains to look for it themselves. Second,
they were urgently trying to save people, so they couldn’t be disturbed.
Otherwise, Xiao Hua’s team would have to kill them.

But Boss Jiao and his team didn’t believe it. As expected, Xiao Hua used the
black cloth to hide all the information from those outside and formed a
confrontational relationship with Boss Jiao and his team. After three days,
Xiao Hua decided to state his position and sent his own experts to catch
Boss Jiao directly. But their three bodies were sent back up to the fifth floor
the very next day.

Xiao Hua realized at this time that Boss Jiao’s team was full of very capable
people. They definitely weren’t random grave robbers and their purpose
definitely wasn’t as simple as robbing a tomb. They had to be after
something more desirable.

Xiao Hua decided on a plan very quickly. At this time, Boss Jiao had already
started buying some of the people on the fifth floor with a lot of money, and
the situation behind the black cloth was gradually revealed. Xiao Hua only
told a few people about his plan. He used those who had been bought on
the fifth floor to spread a false clue to the fourth floor that the entrance to
the calling spring was in the mountains.

549
The people on the fourth floor had really been deceived since Xiao Hua had
found a very well-hidden cave in the mountains. They explored the cave at
that time and even brought some of those people who had been bought by
the fourth floor. Xiao Hua then changed his appearance and went back to
Boss Jiao to relay the information. After that, Boss Jiao led his team out
secretively. I didn’t know if Xiao Hua had also set off with the team, but he
came to the conclusion that Boss Jiao had been fooled. As a result, he was
going to seal the cave after Boss Jiao went in and try to negotiate again.

At that time, however, there was thunder in the sky and Boss Jiao didn’t
enter the cave. When he returned, he brought more than a dozen corpses
back with him. They were all people Xiao Hua had tasked with sealing the
cave.

There was a very elaborate scheme, which I only learned about later. All the
team members who were supposed to seal the cave were actually people
from the fourth floor who had been bought. Xiao Hua’s plan was very clever,
since it showed off his muscles and intelligence to the fourth floor. From the
beginning, he thought that the plan to seal the cave wasn’t foolproof, but he
didn’t expect that the fourth floor would kill his spies. This made him wary
of the fourth floor’s perception, and he felt that there was something wrong
with Boss Jiao and his team’s behavior. He couldn’t use ordinary logic to
communicate and compete with those people.

Because of the previous strategy, Xiao Hua’s next move was very powerful.
He took his whole team and snuck into the fake entrance, which emptied
out the fifth floor. This made Boss Jiao skeptical: was this entrance the real
entrance and Xiao Hua deliberately made him think that it was fake?

550
Chapter 156
Xiao Hua’s all-in-all-out style of play was easy to see through for those who
were familiar with it. He often used such tactics whenever we played
mahjong, but we were usually playing for one or two hundred yuan (of
course, we’re good law-abiding citizens who only play for one or two yuan
now)(1). If it was really a fight for survival, then even the smallest tactics
would interfere with the enemy’s plans. Based on my understanding, Xiao
Hua’s first tactic was to muddy the waters. In other words, everything was a
false move.

When Xiao Hua implemented these two tactics, he was already prepared to
launch a full attack. He was just using strategy as a cover. It looked like he
was signaling to everyone that he wanted to outwit the opponent this time,
but in fact, he was only covering up his true intentions.

Xiao Hua was used to doing things in a big way, unlike me, who preferred
causing a fuss in a low-key manner. Of course, there was no real right or
wrong way when it came to our two methods.

So, when everyone in Xiao Hua’s team entered the fake entrance, Xiao Hua’s
core team didn’t need to lie in ambush in the cave. After this move was
made, Xiao Hua’s core team in the building should have taken advantage of
Boss Jiao’s momentary hesitation and directly attacked.

From what I knew of him, I could guess who the attackers were. I watched
Liu Sang quietly, wanting to know how the all-out attack had been defeated
this time.

I had participated in Xiao Hua’s all-out attack on the Wang family, and even
several of their family members couldn’t resist his tactics. Anyone who has
ever been in a fight knows that you can gain an absolute advantage by

(1)
Fun fact from Tiffany: Wu Xie had to mention this because it was illegal if they played for one or two
hundred yuan. It would be considered private gambling, which isn’t allowed in China.

551
covering the opponent’s eyes before you start. The blind zone formed by
this half-second advantage was the exact trick Xiao Hua had used before.

Liu Sang and the others fell silent. It took him a long time to tell me Xiao
Hua’s real plan, which was exactly what I had expected. Then, Liu Sang made
a conclusion that surprised me.

There weren’t many people in their main force, but all of them were good
players. While they launched an all-out assault on the fourth floor, Boss Jiao
also launched an attack.

The two groups clashed. Boss Jiao hadn’t been confused by any of Xiao
Hua’s tactics, which made Liu Sang suspect that they had planned it for a
long time. They had probably even planned it at the same time Xiao Hua was
making his own plans.

Xiao Hua also had a very clear backup plan whenever he went all out. If the
general attack failed, he would sneak into Boss Jiao’s team in the chaos
while the others immediately retreated into the calling spring’s entrance.
Boss Jiao’s plan decided Xiao Hua’s defeat this time, because Xiao Hua didn’t
know a key piece of information.

Xiao Hua immediately carried out the backup plan after Boss Jiao’s attack
and most of his people retreated to the calling spring to hide. But at this
time, the calling spring erupted.

It wasn’t water that came spraying out of the calling spring, but poisonous
gas.

When I heard this, I thought of the quilts on both sides of the secret passage
and felt my heart stir.

552
Chapter 157
My first thought was that it was dangerous. I didn’t really care what the
calling spring tended to spray out since it wasn’t something I could handle
anyways. But according to Liu Sang, the poisonous gas came out of the
calling spring a few days after it thundered. If Boss Jiao didn’t learn about it
by listening to the thunder and just knew that it would happen a few days
after it thundered, then Xiao Hua and his men entering the calling spring—
whether the entrance was real or fake—would still be a great victory to him.
As a result, Boss Jiao’s tactics were very clear.

It had just thundered a few days ago, so Fatty and the others were in a very
dangerous situation right now.

My second thought was: What happened to Poker-Face and Black Glasses?

Did Uncle Two and Xiao Hua know anything about the calling spring spraying
out poisonous gas? My hands were shaking a little. Uncle Two always had a
very clear attitude and was very pessimistic, so I didn’t think he needed to
lie to me about such a major event. But after carefully thinking about it, I
realized that he really would have a reason to lie to me if he was sure that
those two couldn’t survive.

And he would do it so that I could gradually accept the reality of the

situation.

In other words, his statement that the water wouldn’t recede was false. The
truth was that the calling spring probably contained extremely poisonous
gas and the two of them would die.

But the premise and implications revolving around this theory were terrible.

Uncle Two knew that those two people were dead. Not only did he not tell
me, but he also didn’t tell Xiao Hua, the one staging the rescue operation.
He should’ve at least told Xiao Hua about the poisonous gas since Xiao Hua
would bring a lot of people and resources with him.

553
If Uncle Two didn’t say it… then he either didn’t know about it or he wanted
to kill Xiao Hua.

My hands were shaking very badly now. I was certain that Uncle Two didn’t
know about the poisonous gas, but for some reason, I felt a trace of
uneasiness in my heart.

Something was wrong. The way Uncle Two and Xiao Hua had been acting
during this whole thing gave rise to a vague feeling that made me very
uncomfortable. I just couldn’t seem to put my finger on it.

Liu Sang continued talking, but I motioned for him to stop for a second so
that I could calm down. Although my mind seemed to balk at it, I still
wanted to push in that terrifying direction. If there was even a one in ten
thousand chance that Uncle Two wanted to kill Xiao Hua, then what was the
motive?

But I only thought as far as one step in that direction before I suddenly
remembered a previous question I had: Why would experts like Black
Glasses and Poker-Face have an accident?

I stood up and began recalling the source of the whole thing: a text message
that pointed to Uncle Three.

After that, my prestige was gone, I became useless, Wushanju was taken
away, and Poker-Face and Black Glasses were said to be dead. Xiao Hua
almost died, half of the best people in Beijing had died underground, and
now Fatty was in the calling spring. If I didn’t tell him about the poisonous
gas, he’d fucking die.

Who took my prestige and Wushanju? Who made me useless? Who told me
about what happened to Poker-Face and Black Glasses? And who concealed
the information about the poisonous gas?

I suddenly understood what that wrong feeling was.

554
The driving force behind all of these events was Uncle Two. He was the only
information outlet at all key information points.

I looked at Kan Jian and asked him softly, “Were you there when Little
Brother and Black Glasses had their accident?”

Kan Jian nodded. “Think about it carefully,” I said. “I’m asking if you saw
them get trapped with your own eyes.”

Liu Sang spoke up from the side, “Impossible. The place where they had
their accident was far away from us. Er Jing was the only one who was
closest to them. But they didn’t come out, so we went in to save them.
Unfortunately, the whole place was already flooded.”

I touched my chin and took a deep breath as a string of “fucks” began

appearing in my mind one by one.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

This was the big picture.

When did it start? Was it one layer of logic or two layers?

Did Uncle Two want to destroy all the people around me, or was he
protecting them?

I took a deep breath and arranged all of the details in my mind until they
were separated into two stories.

The first story:

Uncle Two’s motive was unknown, but he took advantage of Uncle Three’s
information, my personality, and my friends’ trust in me to convince them to
listen to thunder and help me investigate. Then, he took advantage of my
friends’ concern for me and pulled me out of this incident bit by bit. After
that, he killed Poker-Face and Black Glasses and was now ready to kill Xiao

555
Hua. But Xiao Hua was regarded as the Xie family’s number one genius, so
Uncle Two didn’t fully succeed.

From beginning to end, this whole thing was a lie.

The second story:

You could really get information by listening to thunder. Uncle Three was
investigating the secret to listening to thunder but was facing a huge threat.
This threat was so huge that Uncle Two couldn’t confront him head-on and
had to hide Poker-Face and Black Glasses first. He then spread the news of
their fake deaths and used the rescue efforts as a way to block the entrance
to Thunder City. Xiao Hua was just a piece on the game board, while Black
Glasses and Poker-Face may have already entered Thunder City.

Uncle Two gave me a chance to participate in the whole plan, but I didn’t
seize the opportunity. I was only paying attention to the first layer of
information during the whole process and didn’t see the second layer
behind it. As a result, I was out.

Whatever the reason, I was more inclined to believe the latter possibility.
This was because I started to recall a lot of incredible details—all of which
were hints Uncle Two had given me—and realized that he had been waiting
for me to understand.

My expression must have been very ugly because Kan Jian gave me a look.

My eyes kept twitching and my mind couldn’t stop at all as several faces
began to appear in my mind. There had to be some problems somewhere
among them:

Hong Ding Shuixian.

That message Black Glasses gave to the tulou waiter.

There was also that time when I bought the sea porcelain. They had said
that the sunken ship off the coast was completely salvaged overnight.

556
Uncle Two was the only one who could do it on the island.

Moreover, the Bai family who worked in Warehouse Eleven were all
excellent swimmers.

The South Sea King’s tomb, the underground water system stretching all
across China, the legendary Falling Cloud Country, listening to thunder, the
offshore shipwreck, and the Bai family of Warehouse Eleven.

It was all part of a huge game, and I had been left far behind on the
periphery.

557
Chapter 158
I became even more convinced when I went back to the beginning. But my
ability to reason was interfering again and all the possibilities were getting
jumbled up. But my instincts kept pointing towards the second story.

I also had to admit that I was deceiving myself into thinking that Poker-Face
and Black Glasses were just hidden by Uncle Two. At the very least, it was
just a theory. But it also gave me a little hope even though it wouldn’t
change anything.

At least the discomfort in my lungs was definitely real. This discomfort had
me suspecting that all of my thoughts were just conspiracy theories.

The biggest possibility right now was that Uncle Two didn’t know that the
calling spring would emit poisonous gas and this was the worst-case
scenario.

I needed to do two things. First, I wanted to make sure that Uncle Two had
been acting in good faith. I wholeheartedly believed that Uncle Two would
make an extremely complicated decision for Uncle Three. The Wu family
was in a tough spot after all, and Uncle Three and I were the ones
responsible for most of these ups and downs. I figured it was also the reason
why Uncle Two didn’t put me in the game.

But there was still another possibility: this was all part of Uncle Two’s plan. I
never really understood Uncle Two, but even if he did these things with
malicious intent, it was obvious that he was acting on the spur of the
moment. The plan had been carried out too fast, which made me suddenly
notice that something was off. It would’ve been better if this exact plan had
been spread out over a year.

It was also possible that Uncle Two was being coerced.

The second thing I needed to do was to figure out what my next course of
action was going to be.

558
So many of Xiao Hua’s people had been killed here, which was something
that couldn’t be faked. Boss Jiao clearly wasn’t an ordinary person. There
was also the fact that Fatty had entered the calling spring, so my first
priority was to tell him what would happen after it thundered.

Xiao Hua, who was mixed in with Boss Jiao’s team, also knew about this
matter, so he was probably trying to find a way. Would my rash actions
disrupt his plan? Should I trust him or trust myself?

And, would Xiao Hua give up Fatty for the sake of the overall situation?

I knew that Xiao Hua might have done it in the past. But I believed that he
would save Fatty now, just as Fatty would save him.

The things I had been thinking of were stuck in my mind and my intuition
was telling me that my suspicions were correct. At this time, I should make a
special decision that would lay out the doubts in my heart and nail the key
part of the overall situation that I couldn’t see. That way, I could catch up
with everyone’s progress.

Liu Sang obviously thought that I was acting strange and patted me. I
touched the back of my neck, knowing that I could only figure this out by
myself.

“Do you still want to listen?” Liu Sang asked me at the same time I asked
him, “Do you have any explosives?”

Everyone looked at each other and some nodded. “What are you going to
do?” Liu Sang asked me.

I told them to give me all the explosives they had and slung them over my
shoulder. “I’m going to vent,” I said to them before turning to Liu Sang and
adding, “Come with me.”

I took Liu Sang all the way to the cliff by the tulou and used a Luoyang shovel
to make more than a dozen holes in the ground. After that, I cut the fuses

559
on the explosives and put the explosives in the ground. Liu Sang asked me
what I was doing while keeping an eye on our surroundings.

“You know, us three friends have a special way of communicating with each
other,” I said to Liu Sang.

I was going to knock out a message using the explosives. This area was
surrounded by mountains, so the explosions would create a huge echo. This
was a secret code that the three of us would understand. I was going to use
all of the explosives to set off a total of three explosions. With Fatty’s IQ, he
should be able to notice.

Fatty still had a lot of explosives on hand, so if there was a chance, maybe he
could set off the explosives inside the calling spring so that the sound would
echo. That was why I needed Liu Sang to help me listen to the underground
noises.

Liu Sang looked at me with a complicated expression on his face. I still had
Sasha’s—or Jiang Zi Suan—cigarettes in my clothes, so I took one out,
stuffed it into his mouth, and lit it for him.

“Get to work.”

560
Chapter 159
Loud explosions echoed throughout the valley, knocking out my message
that said: there’s poisonous gas in the spring. Send a message if alive.

This knocking method was a code without any of the normal coding logic. It
could only be accomplished by experiencing countless details of our daily
life, so it was basically impossible to learn. The only real way to learn it was
by living with us. I was very interested in coding, so I had studied it for a long
time. The source lay in the Zhang family’s secret code system. Having said
that, the Zhang family’s set of codes came from a lost ancient Chinese
language. Since Poker-Face didn’t experience a formal inheritance, he could
only use a few of these symbols. When we looked at the parchment we had
found in the Zhang family’s ancient building, we saw that countless areas in
China had different symbols. Up to now, I still didn’t know what those
special symbols meant.

So, I wasn’t worried that someone would understand my secret code. I set
off the explosives three times in a row and then stood on the edge of the
cliff. I listened to the layers of echoes as I looked out over the entire valley,
waiting until all the noise had died down.

This was the only thing I could do.

Off to the side, I dug to the bottom rock layer with the Luoyang shovel and
then had Liu Sang stick his ear to the shovel’s steel pipes. If there was any
echo underground, he would hear it.

I sat down and looked at the nearby tulou. The sounds of the explosions
must have shocked everyone there. Some of them should’ve been able to
hear which direction the explosions came from and would send someone to
check soon. But it was like the horse dying as it ran towards the mountain(1),

(1)
When a horse looks at the mountain, it thinks it’s close. But when it starts running towards it, the
distance is so far that the horse might as well die while running. Basically, it’s used to say that you think
something is close, but it’s actually far away.

561
or someone trying to ascend to the heavens. After the sounds disappeared,
it would be too difficult for them to find us.

I opened Liu Sang’s backpack and found a folding recurve bow inside. I took
it out, surprised that he would use this kind of weapon.

“I don’t like loud noises,” Liu Sang said quietly from behind me. “I like to
hear other people’s voices clearly, so I hide myself and use soundless
weapons.”

“Are you a good shot?” I asked him.

“I took my first lesson right before coming here,” he said. “I haven’t been
able to shoot the target yet.” When he saw me silently looking at him, he
explained, “I rely on my ears to make money. I just brought this thing to
practice.”

I pulled an arrow from the quiver, nocked it, and then pulled the string back
with all my might. The bow’s resistance was much greater than I was
expecting and I let go halfway through. The arrow shot out crookedly and
landed in the grass not far away. I threw the bow back into his bag, took out
some chocolates, and ate them quickly.

“What are you thinking?” He asked me.

“Boss Jiao’s people are coming over. It’ll be very difficult for them to find us,
so they’ll be anxious after looking for a while. We still have some explosives
on hand, so when they become anxious, we’ll detonate a few and lead them
in the right direction little by little. That way, they’ll they find us.”

“And then what?” Liu Sang was horrified. “If those men in black come out,
we’re both dead. You don’t even have any weapons.”

I finished the chocolate and then looked at my hands. I was very

experienced when it came to wooded areas. In the woods, there was no
light at night and their flashlights could only light linearly. Even if they were
lured in by the explosives and came within a few hundred meters of us, they

562
still might not be able to find us. That was why fugitives always fled into the
mountains and their pursuers had to rely on crowd tactics to catch them.
Boss Jiao’s men might try to catch us, but there was no way they actually
could.

But it was much easier for us to catch one of them in the chaos.

As I was thinking this, Liu Sang suddenly raised his hand and told me not to
talk. I frowned and started to walk over, but he also told me not to move.
Then, he put his ear close to the steel pipe and asked me to stretch my hand
out. He started gently tapping out a rhythm on the back of my hand.

I knew he had heard a sound come from underground.

The rhythm was code for: “Saw Little Brother’s mark. The mark means
farewell.”

563
Chapter 160
Here, I’d like to explain a little bit about the relationship between my
knocking code and the Zhang family’s marks.

In fact, the Zhang family’s code was a very simple language, just like
annotations. They would use simple symbols to annotate ancient tombs:
there are secret doors here, there are mechanisms here, the mechanisms
have been cracked, the Zhang family has been here and completed the
work. These annotations were simplified into marks using a very strange
ancient text and carved in all the inconspicuous places in ancient tombs.

Many annotations were disguised as cracks and stains. This was a basic skill
of the Zhang family, so Poker-Face would obviously know more than we
would after entering some areas.

We tried to deduce all of the Zhang family’s codes but ultimately failed.
However, we did manage to use all sorts of methods to turn the codes we
did know into sounds so as to facilitate communication.

With this inspiration, I complied a whole set of knocking words that could be
used to communicate almost any piece of information. Other inspiration
came from bat whistles and all kinds of confusing codes, but they were all
mixed together and couldn’t be deciphered. The whole thing relied on rote
memorization, so it was basically impossible to learn.

But there was one meaning in my knocking code that wasn’t there:
“farewell”.

My idea was very simple. If you really thought that the time had come, then
there was no need to be so honest. So, “farewell” = silence. When there was
a long silence in a sentence, it defaulted to “farewell”.

For Poker-Face, life was always full of goodbyes. Just like how people were
used to not saying fat in front of fat people or lame in front of lame people, I
didn’t want to say goodbye to Poker-Face. Whether he felt indifference or

564
grief, it still made me very sad to know whatever he felt. But for many
things, it was hard to go through the motions. At this time, I suddenly felt
lucky that I would die someday. Those who got to experience life and death
were the ones who felt satisfied in the end.

But let’s get back to Fatty’s message.

When the Zhang family entered some areas they weren’t certain about, they
would engrave a mark on the entrance. If they came out safely, they would
erase the mark. We had studied this mark before. It was said that the blind
tomb had been engraved with these marks and none of them had been
chiseled away. Fatty must have seen this mark somewhere in the calling
spring.

There were no other Zhang family members here and we were his only
family. It wasn’t like this mark would be used as some kind of plot against
us. It was for us to see, and showed that he wasn’t sure about the situation
inside.

But this mark wasn’t serious enough to warrant saying goodbye. Fatty knew
what my intentions were, so if he used “farewell”, then it had to be very
serious.

Liu Sang was still tapping on my hand, so I could sense the second message
as the rhythm changed.

“There are bloody marks the whole way. There’s another entrance. Don’t
come down. I’ll find a way out.”

I looked at Liu Sang’s cigarette, wanting to smoke it myself.

Bloody marks… Poker-Face hadn’t done anything with his own blood for a
long time. In all of our previous adventures, he would only use his blood to
get out of a situation if there was a huge crisis. His blood was very special
and the wounds were hard to heal.

565
I didn’t know how Fatty knew there was another entrance, but he came to
the same conclusion as Xiao Hua. Whether he hooked up with Xiao Hua or
he saw the same clue, I still felt a little relieved. Fatty seemed to be alive and
well, but there was no other knocking response from the valley. Poker-Face
was outside of the range of my knocking.

A third message came through: “One of Little Brother’s signs is in the

mountain marking the second entrance. I’ll meet you there. Pay attention to
the royal poinciana trees(1).”

I looked around and asked Liu Sang, “Do you recognize trees and know what
royal poinciana looks like?”

“Royal poinciana is a foreign tree. How could it be growing in a wild place

like this?” Liu Sang asked me.

“I asked if you could recognize it, not if you knew what it was,” I said.

(1)
Tree native to Madagascar. It is noted for its fern-like leaves and flamboyant display of orange-red
flowers over summer. Info here. If you translate straight from Chinese, it could be called “phoenix tree”
but I wasn’t getting results for it in English so you get royal poinciana

566
Chapter 161
We reorganized the equipment and collected some other things from the
rest of the group, such as climbing ropes, flashlights, batteries, crank
generators, and some dry food. I borrowed a machete and stuck it on the
back of my belt. Kan Jian also had three long-range slingshots, so he picked
up some pebbles and dipped them in mud to make them ball-shaped until
he had about seven or eight hundred of them. He even had a slingshot that
could shoot short arrows, so he made about thirty or forty arrows out of
bamboo stalks. The arrowheads had all been heated in the fire and were
very sharp.

Kan Jian, Liu Sang, and Baishe followed me. I roughly explained my plan for
the tulou to them so that the rest of the guys could execute it when they
had the chance. The four of us set out for the fog-covered mountain.

The clouds were hanging very low. After spending a long time in Fujian, I
knew that this meant it might rain again in a few days. The trees in the
mountains were so huge that their branches were intertwined with each
other. The mountains here weren’t very tall, but the trees were very dense.
Even the gaps were covered in shrubs. When I first came here, I
remembered that there was a sign that seemed to say this was a protected
area.

Finding a specific tree in such a large forest was too difficult, but fortunately,
royal poincianas were a different kind of tree. We climbed up the
mountainside and used binoculars to search carefully in the valley below.
The wet fog made me feel like I had returned to the past, but there was also
a faint ache in my knees. My father had developed rheumatism after
walking in the mountains for so many years, so I figured it was something I
couldn’t avoid. At this time, I couldn’t smoke and even had to cover my nose
and mouth so that the air in the woods wouldn’t hurt my lungs. It was
exhausting.

We soon saw the crown of a huge royal poinciana.

567
Liu Sang seemed a little skeptical, “Don’t you find it strange? This kind of
tree only entered China in the nineteenth century. Many of them are
planted in the houses of Fujian maritime merchants in urban areas. How
could this kind of tree exist out here in the wilderness?”

“It was specially planted by someone. Look at the canopy. It’s been here at
least a hundred years. Someone chose this place in the mountains a
hundred years ago and planted this tree. The flowers are red when they
bloom, so it’s probably used to guide the way.” I said quietly. “Just think.
This tulou is like the Yong Longchang Building that was constructed using
sand. It took them around twenty-five years to build it(1). The people who
built this tulou and the people who planted the royal poinciana here are
probably the same.”

I had developed the habit of solving problems without asking what the
purpose behind them was, so I didn’t carefully analyze the details. It was
said that a large number of tulous had been built here since the Yuan and
Song Dynasties. Did these circular tulous evolve from the custom of listening
to thunder at that time? Did the tulou we were at just happen to be built
over the calling spring, or was it deliberately covering it up? These were the
big questions.

When we arrived in front of the huge royal poinciana at dusk, we were all
covered in sweat. The sweat in our bodies couldn’t get out and the moisture
in the air couldn’t dry it, so we were all very uncomfortable. I carefully
looked around the royal poinciana, trying to find even the smallest mark on
the bark, but I didn’t see anything. Is this not the one? I asked myself.

Kan Jian looked up at the canopy and I suddenly remembered that Poker-
Face always slept in trees. I told Kan Jian to go up and take a look. He had
just barely reached the canopy when he glanced at the trunk and said,
“Found something!”

(1)
It’s the largest and tallest tulou in Yongding District, covering an area of more than 10,000 square
meters. The main building is 6 stories tall. It was built between 1851-1874. More info is on slide 19 here
or the middle of footnote 19 at the bottom of the webpage.

568
When we all went up one right after another, we saw a wonderful view from
the tee canopy. We looked out at the valley and saw that the tree canopies
were painted a golden yellow in the sunset. It had been many years since I
got to see such a view. Kan Jian pointed to a branch in the canopy that had a
mass of black and white things hanging on it. When I went over to get a look
at it, I found that it was dried snakeskin. Someone had killed snakes here
and there were hundreds of them.

This particular snakeskin was very big, so I went in for a closer look at it. It
was the skin of a cobra, but that didn’t mean anything since it was a
tradition to eat snakes here. I looked up at the canopy and saw a bunch of
leftover snake bones.

Even if Poker-Face and the others were just passing by here, they didn’t
have to eat so many snakes. These snakeskins must have been processed
here by the local snake wranglers. It looked like hundreds of them had been
hung up over the years, which showed that this place wasn’t a deep
mountain.

“Is this the mark?” Kan Jian asked. I shook my head and looked around.
There were snakeskins littering the ground around the other tree trunks and
hanging from their branches. I slowly looked around, carefully examining
everything. There were thousands of snakeskins hanging in the tree
canopies here.

I felt like something was off, so I said to the others, “Be careful. There may
be something here.”

569
Chapter 162
I looked at Liu Sang, who was listening with his eyes closed. After listening
for a long time, he shook his head.

Although his ears weren’t as sensitive as hearing slaves, he could still hear
enough information from any kind of sound. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Fujian’s nature reserves were surrounded by various cities and counties, so
although the area was very large, there would still be local legends and
records if there were any beasts in the mountains.

“But it’s very strange,” Liu Sang said.

“What do you mean?”

“The entire way here, did you hear any birds? The natural environment here
is well protected, so why aren’t there any bird calls? Moreover, I don’t hear
anything else around us besides the sound of the wind.” When he said this, I
looked around. Sure enough, the whole forest was very quiet in the setting
sun. Liu Sang frowned as if he were trying to recall something, “After
entering this valley and getting close to the royal poinciana, there gradually
haven’t been any birds singing.”

Weren’t they all fucking scared away by the explosions earlier? I said to
myself.

Liu Sang patted the branch next to me and said, “You’re so fucking reliable.
Didn’t you say that there would be a mark? Did you misinterpret the
message? There aren’t any fucking birds calling. It’s just too fucking
strange.”

I was a little embarrassed. There was more than one royal poinciana on the
mountain, but I couldn’t see them anymore when I looked through my
binoculars. I had assumed that the blooming flowers on this kind of tree
acted like a road sign, but after the flowers wilted, this tree would blend in
with the other trees, making it almost impossible to find.

570
I didn’t believe I was wrong. This particular royal poinciana could clearly be
seen when you looked down from the mountainside, so Poker-Face must’ve
also been attracted by it. I was almost positive that the so-called mark was
either on this tree or near it.

I figured Uncle Two had also been there when they came last time, so Poker-
Face would be somewhat cautious. Moreover, it wasn’t his style to blatantly
mark trees. In the more than ten years that we had known him, when did
we see Poker-Face leave a mark? I thought of the places he had marked
before and then climbed down the tree and explored around the royal
poinciana.

At this time, the tree canopies were covered in shadows and the whole sky
turned a dark gray. Kan Jian stayed in the tree canopy, following our
progress with a flashlight and keeping his slingshot at the ready in case we
needed cover. Baishe also stayed in the tree to cover him. This three-way
formation showed that we didn’t trust the environment. Liu Sang had
followed me through the dense bushes and suddenly had a look of disdain
on his face, “I thought you knew each other well, but you don’t know him at
all.”

I turned my head and saw him standing by a tree, shining his flashlight at the
base of the trunk where the ground was covered in moss. When I walked
over, he pointed to the base and said, “See? What’s wrong here?”

The tree didn’t appear to have any roots and seemed to grow directly from
the soil. But the surrounding bushes were so dense that you wouldn’t notice
if you didn’t look carefully.

“You mean to say the roots here are covered in soil,” I said coldly while
thinking to myself, this isn’t a mark.

Liu Sang squatted down. “Don’t you think the trees here are shorter than
the ones we saw before? The lower half of these trees are all covered in
soil.”

571
I whistled and a folding shovel was tossed down from the tree. I caught it
and looked at Liu Sang. He didn’t say anything at all, so I had to dig by
myself.

After digging for less than half of a meter, the shovel head hit something. I
pushed the mud aside and saw several old tiles. I dug all the way around
until I had made a pit that was about three meters wide. The ground under
our feet was covered in neatly laid old tiles. I dug all the way under the tree
and saw that it was actually growing out of a hole in the middle of the tiles.

I wanted to get a rope and go down. The tiles were very strong, but I
managed to pull up a few and saw even more tiles below. After removing
more than a dozen layers, I finally came upon an empty space. I used my
flashlight to look around and found that there was a cavity below.

After looking around, I suddenly realized that the ground here had been
raised a level. The people here had raised the ground by about a meter.
After it was covered in soil, the bushes here had filled in the area for
hundreds of years.

“Go down,” Liu Sang said to me. “There’s no living thing inside.” He listened
carefully and then added, “There’s something in the southeast corner.”

I looked at him and he looked at me before shaking his head, “You didn’t
hire me. Go down by yourself.”

572
Chapter 163
I had to go down. The space below was neither tall nor short, so I could
stand up as long as my head was bowed. The space was less than a hundred
square meters and the trunks of those trees were all below, supporting a
beam in the middle. The forest was damp and the dark underground area
was full of various kinds of bugs that were disturbed when I landed. I swept
my flashlight around. At first glance, there was a strange shrine-like thing
piled up with tiles in the southeast corner. When I looked at it a second
time, I saw that there was something on the back of the tiles and the roof
was covered in all kinds of crawling insects.

Other than that, there was nothing in the rest of the space.

Liu Sang really is accurate, I said to myself. He only had to listen to get a
clear idea of the situation down here. I carefully moved to the southeast
corner and asked him to come down and help.

Liu Sang jumped down, saw the bugs, and reared his head back in disgust.
After carefully observing the whole way, I saw an area on the roof tiles that
seemed a little strange. In other places, there were many tiny bug fistulas(1)
or dirt clumps on the back of the tiles that looked like they would fall to the
ground after a little pat. But in the strange area, I saw a circle of bug fistulas
that were already on the ground. If I had guessed correctly, someone had
cut them down before and then covered the hole with tiles again.

I came to the southeast corner and found that this thing really was a shrine
that had been temporarily built with broken tiles. The inside of the shrine
was full of bug fistulas, as well as many strange things that looked like spider
webs. When I shined my flashlight on them, I found that they went very
deep inside. I figured there were offerings here before, so countless bugs

(1)
Fistulas are abnormal connections between organs. They could also be called ulcerations. An ulcer is a
sore on the skin or a mucous membrane. (I don’t really agree with the author’s word choice here but
whatev)

573
had gathered here and made it so dirty. I shook my head and asked Liu Sang
to come over while I reached my hand in and felt around.

Liu Sang stood far away and sneered, “The mark won’t be in there. My idol
isn’t that stupid.” He then turned around and went to look elsewhere.

I cursed in my heart, flicked my lighter on, and burned the bugs off before
slowly putting my hand into the shrine. Liu Sang spoke up from behind me,
“Considering how the tiles have grown into the trees, this place has a long
history. It may be a place where snake catchers temporarily store snakes.”

“It hasn’t been that long since this place was established as a nature reserve.
Before that, snakes were caught casually. There’s no need to make it so
complicated.” My attention was fixed on the shrine, so I immediately saw
something unexpected. It was an old machine that looked like a radio but
was much bigger. In fact, it was three times bigger than those tape recorders
I remembered from the 1980s.

This machine was very old and covered in bug fistulas. I carefully pulled it
out and found that it was an old transceiver.

My hands were sweaty and covered in fistulas and bugs so I wiped them off
on my clothes and looked around. I knew what this place is. It was an old spy
station.

At that time, after the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan(2), many of the

troops who were left behind turned to underground activities. I
remembered that according to the historical records, six teams entered the
mountains of Fujian, and countless spy stations were hidden there. This was
one of those stations.

At that time, this place was deep in the mountains, so there was no need to
hide the transceiver. The spies must have lived here for so many years by

(2)
The Kuomintang (aka the Nationalist Party of China or the Chinese Nationalist Party) is a major
political party in the Republic of China throughout its historical periods in both the Chinese mainland as
well as Taiwan. The Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan in December 1949, fleeing the Communist People’s
Liberation Army. Info here.

574
eating snakes, but I didn’t know whether they had withdrawn or died
somewhere outside.

This kind of hand-cranked transceiver could generate electricity by itself, but

the handle was all rotted now. I broke off the transceiver’s rotten iron box
and saw that the copper wires inside were all green and rusty.

Indeed, the mark wasn’t inside. I carefully looked at the shrine one more
time and then went back to Liu Sang, who had dug up the ground again. I
saw that there were more tiles hidden under the mud at our feet. He lifted
the tiles, but this time, he didn’t wait for me and jumped down first. When I
followed after him, I saw that there was a warehouse below that was full of
rotten wooden boxes. I used my flashlight to take a look at the wooden
boxes and found that other than some rotten military equipment, they were
filled with silver dollars wrapped in oiled paper.

I was completely stunned. This was either the army’s military expenditure
before they retreated into the mountains, or it was spy expenses that had
been airdropped into the mountains before or after liberation. This was a
huge sum of money. When the Silver Dollar War in Shanghai(3) was finished,
the use of non-government sanctioned silver dollars continued for many
years. I didn’t know how long it took before the renminbi finally came to this
kind of valley.

When we bypassed the boxes, we saw that a layer of wooden boards on the
edge of this space had been raised. There were more than a dozen rotten
straw mats on them, upon which were a lot of bones. All of the flesh had
been eaten by bugs and what was left of the corpses was covered in thick
fistulas. Liu Sang squatted down, scratched a skull with his flashlight, and

(3)
The Silver Dollar War was a financial turmoil that occurred in the early days when Shanghai was taken
over by the Chinese Communist Party (around May 1949). As some businessmen with large assets
hoped to use silver dollar transactions to prevent the renminbi (official currency of China, aka RMB)
from entering the Shanghai market and maintain the economy before the takeover, the incident evolved
into a confrontation between the Chinese Communist regime and the local national bourgeoisie in
Shanghai. In the end, the Chinese Communist regime won and controlled Shanghai’s financial market
through tough administrative measures. Link to the Chinese wiki is here.

575
then motioned for me to look at it. There were a lot of holes in the skull that
appeared to have been artificially made.

576
Chapter 164
The skull was yellowed and oxidized, and some parts had fallen off after the
cartilage had rotted away, but the round holes on the bone fragments could
still be seen clearly. Each hole was as big as a penny and went all the way up
alongside the ear. Some skulls had seven holes at most, while some only had
two. They were exactly the same as the corpse we had seen in Yang
Daguang’s ancestral tomb. These holes were very neat and almost made the
whole skull look like a musical instrument.

Based on the yellow color of the bones and the clothing on the corpses, they
must have been the spy force here at that time. Since they had been here
less than sixty years, they were fairly well preserved. Since the oxidation of
the holes was consistent with that of the skull, it indicated that the holes
had been made before these people had died.

I was so stunned that I looked at Liu Sang and then touched his skull, but he
ducked away, “Fuck off. Are you insane?”

Can you really hear better if you make a hole in your skull? I secretly
wondered. Why do these people from sixty years ago have holes in their
skulls? Aren’t spies supposed to focus on subverting the regime? Were these
spies here to listen to thunder?

At this time, Liu Sang suddenly saw something and climbed onto the
wooden bed that was nearby. The wood had long since decayed, so it
started to crumble as soon as he stepped on the boards. After a few steps,
the wooden bed completely disintegrated. He moved all of the bones in the
corner aside, revealing a mark on the wall.

I went over and determined that it was the Zhang family’s mark. It still
looked very new, so it should have been engraved within the past half
month. This particular mark was used to indicate direction, and I saw that it
was pointing in a certain direction. I took out my cell phone and silently took
a photo. Liu Sang murmured, “Idol has a really weird temperament. Who the
fuck would find this?”

577
I had to agree with Liu Sang this time, but I couldn’t resist saying, “Isn’t it
found now?”

“What does this symbol mean?”

“I won’t tell you.” I looked around. Why did Poker-Face leave his mark in
such a secret place? Although I knew that his marks were always very well
hidden, if this particular mark was meant for Fatty and me, it was still a bit
too much.

But this mark must’ve been left for us, so I tried to think about the reasons
for it. The only possibility was that he had also made a warning mark to let
us know that there was something under the trees. But that warning may
have been destroyed by someone.

Liu Sang didn’t ask any more questions and took a few steps forward to
smash the wood scraps apart. When his flashlight shone down, he gave a
hum. I also looked down and saw that there was a metallic luster under the
wooden boards. Liu Sang picked a piece up and found that it was an old gold
bar.

We removed the wood fragments and saw that the whole area beneath the
boards was full of old gold bars. Liu Sang’s eyes zeroed in on them.

I took a few, climbed back up to the surface, and threw them to Kan Jian. In
a wild place like this, gold was the most useless thing we could find. Liu Sang
also took a few and tapped them against each other. Kan Jian and Baishe
were about to climb down, but I stopped them. I told them that the pit was
all theirs after we finished our rescue efforts, but they wouldn’t even be
able to walk if they took the gold now.

Poker-Face’s location was very clear, so I marked it on the compass and had
our group set off again. We couldn’t really walk in the middle section of this
forest since the ground was covered in leaves and mud. It was a
combination that made the ground soft, which soon caused our knees to
become weak. We eventually sat down to rest for an hour.

578
Kan Jian and Baishe immediately dozed off, but I was able to endure it. I
looked up at the sky and found that it was almost completely dark out. The
moon was very bright, and its frosty glow made the valley appear as white
as jade. The miasma finally returned to the soil, but the cold was enough to
make my bones ache.

Liu Sang wasn’t sleeping either. There still weren’t any sounds in the whole
valley, and the silence was just too strange. He had nothing to listen to, but
he still seemed a little overwhelmed.

“Is it interesting for you to chase your idol like this?” I asked him.

Liu Sang was a little surprised that I was suddenly chatting with him and
glanced at me, “When you don’t know how to live and find that there’s
someone like you who knows more than you, then you must follow them. I
think that I’m very similar to him, so I can only live in this world by following
his example.”

Oh, you’re like a fart compared to him. I spoke freely in my heart but didn’t
say it aloud. I didn’t think it was necessary to start arguing when everyone
was so tired, so I reined myself in and said, “You’re still a lot different than
him. Do you want to rethink it? You may find that following his example isn’t
something you can bear. Many things can’t be seen from the surface.”

“Don’t you worship him? Don’t you want to be like him?” Liu Sang looked at
the old gold in his hand and sighed, “Of course I know you can’t do it. You’re
just a mortal.”

I smiled bitterly and scolded in my heart, you dumbass. I’ll bury you in the
woods and take a piss on your grave once I have some free time.

At this time, Liu Sang suddenly sat up. I was about to argue with him, but he
waved his hand and mouthed, “There’s something out there.”

579
Chapter 165 Raining Snakes
I held my breath and listened. Sure enough, I heard the rustling sound of
branches moving. In Liu Sang’s words, what his ears heard was almost the
same thing as what our eyes would see. He pointed to the place where the
sounds were coming from and mouthed, “Grab your weapons.”

I silently touched my knife while Kan Jian carefully put the rubber bands on
his slingshot. The way he used his slingshot was very systematic. In case of
poor lighting at night, his slingshot would have three rubber bands on it so
that dozens of marbles could be shot out in an umbrella shape. He argued
that at night, the eyes of wild animals would shine when they were
illuminated by a flashlight. No matter how big the beast was, their weakest
point was revealed in the darkness.

When I thought of this, I realized that we were all holding flashlights in our
hands. We turned them off one by one until only the frosty moonlight was
left illuminating our surroundings. Liu Sang silently felt behind me. I listened
to the noises in the forest, but it didn’t sound like people walking. It was
more like something was falling from a tree, going through the canopy, and
falling into a bush.

The sound gradually came towards us, and I soon felt something brush past
my bangs and fall right in front of me. Then, more things began falling all
around me.

There were more and more sounds, just like rain. After that thing fell to the
ground, I had a bad feeling and wanted to move, but Liu Sang pressed me
down. I made a quick decision and turned my flashlight on.

When I looked around the woods, I was completely stunned. I happened to

see something falling from the tree canopy and realized that it was a snake.
Then I looked around some more and saw that a lot of snakes were falling
from the tree canopies.

580
But after the snakes fell, their movements were very relaxed. I looked up
and saw a huge slender shadow floating above the canopy. When it touched
the canopy, more snakes fell down.

“What is it?” Kan Jian cried out in surprise. “UFO?”

That slender thing changed into a ball again and again, just like a jellyfish. Liu
Sang was also stunned and wanted to study it, but I grabbed him and started
running. That thing looked like a mass of extremely dense flying insects. If
we hesitated any longer and encountered this kind of thing, we would
definitely suffer a lot of damage. As a result, the best thing to do right now
was to run.

As I ran, I took off my coat. Dozens of snakes fell, one of which landed on my
head. I immediately flung my head back and the snake fell onto my hand. I
shook my hand and the snake fell to the ground. I used my knife to cut off
the snake’s head and then wrapped the snake’s body in my coat to take
along with us.

I ran for a long time, but the shadow didn’t catch up. We stopped to catch
our breath and I opened my coat, only to find that the snake had shrunk. I
threw it away quickly. There appeared to be something inside the skin that
was eating the snake’s flesh quickly.

Kan Jian pointed his slingshot at the snake’s corpse but I told him that it was
useless. I then took out a fire stick(1), uncapped it, and told Baishe to give me
his hair spray. Baishe wondered how I knew he had it. I told him that he was
the kind of guy who showed off his good looks so shamelessly and his hair
was styled every day so he had to have hair spray with him. When the two

(1)
Not a good English equivalent but it’s kind of like an ancient Chinese car cigarette lighter. It’s a tight
paper roll made of very rough earthen paper that’s ignited and then blown out. Although there’s not a
flame, you can see the red highlights burning faintly, just like in the ashes. There are phosphorus and
some oxygen-prone substances in the fire stick. When the temperature is high and you blow on it with
your mouth or quickly shake it, it will come in contact with the oxygen and react violently and burn. Info
here.

581
things were put together, they became a flamethrower. I told Kan Jian to get
ready and then cut the snake’s body open with my knife.

There was nothing there, but Liu Sang immediately took a step back. Kan
Jian was so frightened that he used our homemade flamethrower to
instantly burn the whole snake to a crisp.

My coat was a goner, so I left it and stood up to look in the distance. The
silent shadow in the moonlight was no longer visible, but the tree canopies
all around it had the same silhouette so it was impossible to find it. If it was
a swarm of insects, then it wasn’t surprising that there weren’t any birds
here.

When I voiced my thoughts to the others, Liu Sang shook his head, “It’s not a
bug. I can hear the movements as long as it’s a bug, but there was no sound
when that thing flew. It’s definitely not a bug.”

“Then what is it?” Kan Jian was angry at Liu Sang for always contradicting
me.

Liu Sang didn’t speak but suddenly started walking back. I quickly caught
him, “What are you doing?”

“It’s condensed poisonous gas,” he said. “The water vapor rises during the
day, so this thing should be at a high altitude during that time. That’s why
the birds died out. The atmosphere then drops at night, but some snakes are
on the ground and some are in trees, so they don’t die. The spies built the
bunker underground because this thing probably drops to a very low height
when the temperature is at its lowest before dawn. If that’s the case, we’ll
all die here. We have to find a place to dig a hole and bury ourselves right
now. Let’s go back and get the equipment.”

582
Chapter 166
We rushed back, ran through the snake rain again, grabbed our backpacks,
and then rushed out again. I looked back and saw that the shadow above
the canopy was spread out like a black umbrella in the moonlight. As we
were rushing back to a place where snakes weren’t raining down from the
trees, Liu Sang found an open space, looked at his watch, and said to us,
“We only have four hours to dig holes.”

We had reached the bottom of the valley, so it was impossible to find a new
direction to run back to the mountainside or climb the cliff. I couldn’t help
thinking that Liu Sang’s mind worked fast and the safest way really was to
dig a hole. We took out our shovels and started digging at a distance of
three or four meters from each other, but the tree roots here were all
tangled together. As soon as our shovels went down, we hit nothing but
roots and couldn’t dig at all. I figured that four hours wouldn’t be enough to
dig a hole deep enough to bury one person.

But after four hours, that black thing may fall to our level, and it would be
very dangerous for us to act again.

After digging for ten minutes, Kan Jian suddenly ran over and took a look.
When I asked him what he was doing, he said, “I was wondering if you were
burying yourself horizontally or vertically?”

“Is there a difference?” I glanced at him. I wanted to dig a pit that I could
squat in and use leaves to make a lid, so it would be in the shape of a rice
cooker. I figured I probably wanted to squat because I didn’t have a sense of
security here. If I were to just lie down or be stuck in the ground like a stick, I
would die if there were any changes.

In other words, I always encountered sudden changes, so I always had to

give myself a way out.

Kan Jian looked at my pit, gestured at it, and then asked me, “Boss, do you
want to wrap yourself in a circle?”

583
I went to see what he had dug. It was a slot in the ground that would have
him lying on his back. Everyone has his own aspirations, I thought to myself.
I just won’t demand too much of him.

“It doesn’t look very lucky,” was all I said.

“Boss, what should I do?” When he became nervous, his Mandarin was no
longer standard.

I patted him, “Nothing, nothing. Meditating on one’s life can be

enlightening.”

Liu Sang rushed over, furious. “You guys are still digging your own damn
private rooms? Dig together! Dig a big pit and we’ll hide inside! Otherwise,
we won’t make it in time!”

As soon as I heard him say that, I realized that he was right. Everyone
gathered together and dug indiscriminately. After three hours, I was weak,
my back was aching, and we had managed to dig a decent-sized hole. After
that, two people continued digging while the rest of us grabbed some leaves
to make a lid. Liu Sang kept looking around as he dug, so I asked him what
he was doing.

“It’s getting lower and lower,” he said. “Hurry up, hurry up.” He had just
finished speaking when we saw a cloud of mist-like black shadows hovering
over our heads. Liu Sang cursed and hugged his head as everyone else
immediately tried to shrink in on themselves.

I looked at the cloud with my flashlight, but I still couldn’t tell whether it was
fog or flying insects.

Everyone picked up their pace, jumped into the pit, and then put the mud-
covered lid on. We dug into the pit wall and used the mud to seal all the
cracks in the lid. We were all covered in mud and looked battered and
exhausted. Liu Sang told us not to talk so that he could listen to what was
going on above us.

584
Time passed by and everyone gradually started to relax. “So, by doing this,
we don’t know when we can get out, right?” I asked Liu Sang.

“The gas hovering in the air will move further up in the atmosphere when
the sun comes out,” Liu Sang said. “We can get out of this pit in the
morning. I’d say around eleven or twelve.”

He had just finished speaking when everyone heard a deafening sound. I

was stunned for a moment. Hearing something so unreal in this small space
was a little overwhelming, so it took me a second to realize that it was
thunder.

We’re screwed, I thought to myself. Why is it suddenly thundering when we

had such a clear view of the moon and stars just now? Where are the clouds
coming from?

Liu Sang frowned, “It’s not thunder. Someone’s shooting artillery. Mortars,
to be more specific.”

“Shooting artillery?(1) Who’s shooting artillery?” Kan Jian asked. As soon as

the words fell, there was a loud bang right by us and a gust of air instantly
blew our lid off.

(1)
Per Tiffany: Liu Sang used the words “打炮 (shoot artillery)”, which in Chinese can be an idiom that
means to “have sex”. Our precious Kan Jian had apparently lost the ability to think about what he was
saying and his remark became an innuendo: “Having sex? Who’s having sex?”

585
Chapter 167
A whistling sound suddenly came and the four of us covered our heads right
as a mortar shell exploded beside us. After so many years, this wasn’t the
first—or even second—time that I had been bombed, but it was definitely
the first time that I had been bombarded by mortars. Not to mention the
ringing in my ears, dead leaves and mud were falling all over the sky and I
spat out a mouthful of black gunk.

Kan Jian looked at me in horror and stuttered, “Bo- Bo- Boss, why is there a
war here?”

I climbed to the edge of the pit and picked up my binoculars, but I couldn’t
see anything because of the tree canopies. I heard another whistle and
knew another mortar was coming in. But as I listened, my instincts told me
that something was wrong. Before I could speak, Liu Sang’s complexion
drastically changed.

“Run!” He shouted.

We all rolled out of the pit and ran more than a dozen steps just as the shell
hit our pit. We fell to the ground and Liu Sang shouted, “Turn off the
flashlights, turn off the flashlights!”

“Don’t turn them off,” I shouted, “Throw them away!”

Kan Jian pulled his big white arm back in a big arc, bulged his muscles, and
threw the flashlight directly into the air. It slowly fell down and landed firmly
at his feet. I looked at him and he looked at me before he made a move like
he was going to stretch.

I went up with a flying kick, “Throw it out! Don’t throw it up!”

I picked up the flashlight and threw it into the distance. Liu Sang used a kick-
off action to kick his own flashlight more than ten meters away.

586
Wolf-Eye flashlights were very heavy and could even be used as weapons, so
Liu Sang hurt his foot with that kick. But there was another whistle in the air,
so I quickly grabbed Liu Sang and Kan Jian and ran into the darkness. The
shell exploded right where we had been standing just now. We instinctively
ducked our heads and looked back. Liu Sang, who was leaning against a tree,
started cursing, “You motherfucker! What’s wrong with your men? He was
basically setting off a signal flare to the others!”

I looked at his foot and thought to myself, you’re not that fucking smart,
either.

I started wiping the black mud on my face and figured that this was probably
what it was like during the war. Liu Sang pointed in a certain direction: it was
where the shells were coming from. The beams of our flashlights were so
bright in the surrounding darkness that the other party could easily
determine our location. It was obvious that they were trying to kill us and I
figured they were launching their attack from the mountainside.

It was dark all around, so our flashlights were a glimmer of light that was
easily spotted in the distance. Then, there was a whistling sound and a loud
noise. The light was immediately blown up.

I couldn’t even see Liu Sang’s face as he leaned against the tree trunk, but
another shot quickly destroyed the flashlight that he had kicked far away.
Then, the whole area became quiet again.

“Is it Boss Jiao’s team?” I reached for my knife. The powerlessness that I felt
at this time was beyond words. It would be nice to have a 98K(1) right now.

Liu Sang started cursing, “Fuck, do you have other enemies besides Jiao? Did
you send them invitations or something? Why don’t you ask?” As he spoke,
he looked at the surrounding darkness and then glanced at his watch.
“We’re dead meat. The poisonous gas should be descending right now.”

(1)
I think he’s talking about the Karabiner 98k rifle.

587
That thing didn’t cover the whole valley bottom, so there was a chance we
wouldn’t be so unlucky. When I saw it just now, it looked like it only
spanned the canopies of six or seven trees.

Liu Sang suddenly shouted to the sky, “Kong San, we know each other. Show
some mercy. How much money did that man surnamed Jiao give you to
blow us up? We’re all fucking human beings here! You’re just an artillery
expert, so do you need to be that serious?”

I was surprised and asked, “Do you know this man?”

Liu Sang scolded, “I saw him on the fourth floor. He’s really skilled at
artillery. His name is Kong San and he’s from Yinchuan. We’ve also played
mahjong together. That bastard definitely doesn’t want to pay back the
money.” After he said that, he shouted, “I don’t need the mahjong money!”

A strong northwest accent soon came from the mountainside and echoed
throughout the valley, “I’m not here to negotiate that with you. Just hand
over Wu Xie and you can go. I don’t want you.”

Liu Sang yelled back, “They have three people and I’m here alone. I going to
fucking lose if I fight them.” Then he said to me, “Why don’t you sacrifice
yourself?”

I scolded him for being so nervous about the poisonous gas. If we hid here, it
didn’t necessarily mean that we would die. In fact, if Boss Jiao’s people came
down to the bottom of this valley, it might save us some trouble. Moreover,
we didn’t know whether it was actually poisonous gas or not.

Liu Sang looked at me and said, “Wu Xie, do you think I’m being dramatic? If
I’m not being dramatic, then do you think I’m acting so scared just to mess
with you? Let me fucking lay it out for you. I know what I’m talking about.
I’m in this team because my ears can extend your range of perception from
a hundred meters up to two kilometers. I’m telling you that within two
kilometers of this area, I can hear more than two hundred clusters of
poisonous gas. More than two hundred! Get that into that thick skull of

588
yours! The number of clusters is more than the number of your stupid brain
cells combined! We have to bury ourselves!”

When he was finished screaming at me, I looked at him coldly. “You want a
pit?” I snapped on my flashlight, threw it six or seven meters away from us,
and then hid behind the tree. A mortar shell arrived the very next instant.
With a loud “bong”, dead leaves and mud rained down from the sky. Before
everything had finished falling, I grabbed Liu Sang and rushed to where the
shell had landed. There was now a big crater in the ground, so I quickly
kicked him into it.

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Chapter 168
The rest of us jumped down. The pit blown out by the mortar was shallower
than the one we had dug, but it was bigger like a pan. After Liu Sang was
kicked in, he felt around and then lay down on the ground while shouting at
us, “Come on! Come on!” We suddenly heard a lot of strange crackling
sounds coming from the forest around us. I felt frightened when I thought of
what Liu Sang had said just now. Maybe I should believe him in times like
these! As I thought this, I also knelt down and lay next to him. Then, I saw
Baishe quickly follow until the four of us were lying in a row.

The pit was about arm deep, so it felt very weird as we lay inside of it. If
someone were to take a picture of us from outside of the pit, we would
definitely look like fried dumplings.

“Are you sure this will work?” I asked Liu Sang.

“Stop talking nonsense. If we make it out of this alive, call me Dad.” Liu Sang
didn’t even want to look at me. As soon as he finished speaking, I felt as if
that darkness was passing over us.

Let me explain this feeling in detail.

Since we were lying flat on our backs, we could see the moonlight
penetrating through the tree canopies and lightening the sky. Although it
was very dark out, we could still see a little. When that thing floated above
us, all the moonlight was blocked in an instant.

I could feel a very slight airflow moving my hair. That thing must’ve been
very light, so only a little airflow was needed to change the direction it
moved in. After about fifteen minutes, that thing obscuring our sight finally
drifted away, revealing the moonlight again. But within a few minutes,
another mass blocked our sight again.

When these two things passed by, I felt an obvious difference in the way my
hair moved. The first thing felt as if the airflow passed about two arm-

590
lengths away from me, while the next thing was almost at the upper edge of
the pit. Liu Sang covered his nose and mouth. My nose instantly felt itchy
and I felt like I needed to cough.

Then I heard—no, not heard; it was more like felt—my own body making a
crackling sound. It was my hair being corroded away. In the next second, I
felt a sharp pain on my skin.

Damn, these fog clouds are corrosive.

Liu Sang started picking up the mud next to him and smearing it on himself. I
already had a lot of dried mud on my body, but I quickly copied him
anyways.

The four of us smeared so much mud on ourselves that we looked like mud
monkeys. The black clouds continued to pass by in front of us. Some took
thirty minutes to pass, while others only took three minutes. It didn’t take
me long to realize that there had to be a wind gap in one direction of this
forest, which was where the poisonous fog was coming from. But it was too
dark for us to figure out which direction the wind was blowing in.

In the end, all the poisonous fog was practically stuck to the surface of the
pit. My face and hands were all corroded and leaking fluid—just like those
snakes from before—and I could barely breathe. Just taking a single breath
was like inhaling pepper, which made my lungs ache terribly. Liu Sang
carefully piled mud all around him and never stopped.

As I copied him, I found that continuously putting the mud on my skin could
help relieve the sharp pain. So, the two of us kept slathering mud on our
bodies, just like dying fish in the mud.

You know, it’s very difficult pouring mud on yourself when you’re stuck in a
pit, but it’s easy to pour mud on other people. We tried to slather ourselves
in mud for a long time to no avail, so I eventually clenched my teeth and
started pouring mud on Liu Sang. Soon, there was a lot more mud on him
than before. He was slow to react, but he immediately started pouring mud
on me when he saw what I was doing.

591
As the two of us continued throwing mud at each other, I turned my head to
look at him and he turned to look at me. We couldn’t actually see anything
in the dim moonlight, so it probably just felt like the two of us were staring
at each other.

The poisonous fog slowly got farther and farther away from us and the sky
gradually began to lighten. By this point, my hands were reflexively throwing
mud, my body was freezing, and my skin felt like it had been turned into
swollen tofu skin.

When we finally rolled out of the pit, a mouthful of blood came gushing out
of my nose and mouth and I immediately fell to the ground. Liu Sang tried to
help me up, but his hands had no strength after throwing mud all night. He
used his back to support me and keep me from falling back down. When Kan
Jian came over and held me up, I saw everyone’s skin in the dim light. It was
all corroded and covered in blisters.

“Disfigured,” Kan Jian said quietly. “Boss, can we recover from this?”

I touched my face. It hurt like hell and there was still blood dripping out of
the corners of my mouth. I tried to stand up again but found that I couldn’t.

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Chapter 169
It was getting colder and colder, but the gas in the air finally started to rise
up. In the sunlight, those strange masses of air almost seemed invisible. The
shade from the trees’ canopies was very thick, so the people shooting
mortars shouldn’t be able to see us. Today was our last chance. If this
happened again tonight, we would definitely die.

After gasping for breath for a while, I couldn’t help but sigh at the fact that
the human body really was exquisite. I felt as if my lungs had been burned
from the inside out, but I could still recover. With Kan Jian supporting me,
we walked on.

It wasn’t long after that when we heard screams in the distance. The
poisonous gas had risen to the place where they had been shooting mortars
at us. Many things in the world were like this. If that guy had been
magnanimous last night, then I would’ve definitely warned him of the
danger. But now we were barely hanging on. I figured that they would be in
an even more miserable state than us, so that meant that neither side had
won.

At this time, Liu Sang said, “I heard that based on your previous
temperament, you would inform those on the mountainside to watch out
for the poisonous gas, even if they were trying to kill us.”

“That’s pure fiction. In real life, no matter what stage I’m at, I only care
about my friends,” I said quietly. “Naïve doesn’t mean stupid.”

After walking for more than half an hour, the sky was bright and the sunlight
penetrated through the canopies. It was exactly how I pictured a forest in
Grimm’s Fairy Tales to look. Nature really was the best liar.

Baishe, who was exploring the road ahead, suddenly motioned to us. We
stopped and waited for him to come back to us. “Royal poinciana,” he said.

593
Baishe’s eyesight was very good, so we picked up the binoculars and
followed his direction until we saw the tree in front of us. Truthfully, from
this distance, I couldn’t tell whether it was a royal poinciana or not. But I had
to admit that Baishe’s skills went way beyond the standard.

As I looked through the binoculars for a long time, I figured out why Baishe
could see so keenly. The situation under that tree was very special. The
forest here was full of ferns that had green, centipede-like branches and
broken leaves. They were mixed in with some thorny shrubs I couldn’t
name—just thinking of how these things would scratch our festering skin
made my heart hurt—but no matter what kind of vegetation, it all just
looked like a mass of green from a distance. This forest was full of varying
shades of green, but among the shrubs under the royal poinciana, there
were many bright colors such as purple, blue, and yellow.

From a distance, the flowers on the bushes under the tree looked as if they
had been painted, but when you looked carefully, you could see that they
weren’t actually flowers.

As we approached, we gradually saw that they were all fungi. Most of them
were only as big as the fingernail of a pinky finger, but there were a few of
them that were bigger. The various kinds of fungi were open like umbrellas,
but some of them weren’t. These umbrella-like fungi were at the base of the
trees and hidden in the crevices of the stones under the bushes. There were
countless numbers of them hidden in the crevices, and they all looked like
abscesses of varying sizes. There was also a lot of colored moss that wasn’t
green or yellow, but more of a dark blue.

When I looked up ahead, I noticed that the forest canopy suddenly became
higher and denser, and less sunlight came through. We could see that the
forest in the distance was surrounded by vines that were full of small yellow
flowers and there were colorful fungi under each huge tree.

It was like this part of the forest was the dividing line between two worlds.
We were in the outside world, while the world inside was dark and cold, but
colorful.

594
What was even more amazing was that in the gap between the rocks and
roots where these umbrella-like fungi grew, Liu Sang pushed aside the moss
to reveal countless broken bones. I didn’t know if they were human or
animal.

“Last night’s wind carried the spores of these fungi out from the depths of
this forest.” Liu Sang and I said at the same time. We both looked at each
other.

“How do we get in?” Kan Jian asked. “There are mushrooms all over the
place.”

I shook my head. These colorful fungi were only a small part of the fungi in
this forest. I could see countless umbrella-like fungi that looked similar to
ear-shaped lingzhi(1) almost everywhere on the chapped bark of these trees.
They were covered by a large number of ferns, which seemed to indicate
that this part of the forest was very suitable for fungal growth. Liu Sang
listened to the area around us and then pointed in a direction, “There’s a
stream there.”

(1)
Lingzhi (aka Ganoderma lingzhi) is also known as reishi. It’s a polypore fungus that’s red-varnished and
has a kidney-shaped cap. The peripherally inserted stem gives it a distinct fan-like (or ear-like)
appearance. Here are a few pics:

595
Chapter 170
Following Liu Sang’s guidance, we walked along this hidden fungal line in the
forest until we came across a stream. There had been plenty of rain
recently, so the stream’s current was moving very fast. The water was clear
enough that we could see a lot of fish swimming in it.

“There are fish, so the water should be clean,” Kan Jian said.

I understood what Liu Sang meant. This forest wasn’t normal to the naked
eye, so it was probably safer to enter by following alongside the stream. It
was running water, after all.

This stream went all the way down to the mouth of the valley. I had drunk
from it once before, so it should be relatively clean. I put my hand in it and
found that the water was clear and bitterly cold. It must’ve come from a
cave in the nearby mountains. At this time, I didn’t care that much about it
and just went into the water to start washing the blisters and mud on my
body. By the time I was done washing away the mud, my knees began to
ache. The water temperature was too low to stay in for a long time. The
blisters under my skin were terrible and much of my skin was red and
festering. Our wounds weren’t as itchy after washing in the ice water, but at
this time, we saw a lot of tiny maggot-sized leeches on our bodies that
almost looked like moles. They had already eaten their fill.

Back on the shore, the four of us burned each other with our lighters. But
there were too many “moles”, so we couldn’t burn them all off. From a
distance, we almost looked like we were covered in sesame seeds. Liu Sang
eventually took out a stack of things from his bag, which turned out to be
instant noodle bags. When eating hardtack in the jungle, it was best to use
delicious seasoning since the biscuits would turn into a big mushy pot after
being boiled in water.

“I heard that leeches are most afraid of salt. These are salt and pepper
packs, so we’ll apply them to our bodies. Otherwise, we’ll definitely get
infected,” Liu Sang said.

596
I looked at the wounds covering all of our bodies and thought, if you fucking
force us to burn ourselves again, we’ll basically be barbecued skewers. Liu
Sang had already opened one of the bags, poured the salt and pepper into
his hand, and rubbed it on his armpit where the leeches were the most
densely packed. We soon heard him scream and I got a whiff of the spices in
the bag.

The leeches under his armpit quickly melted off and fell into the water. Liu
Sang clenched his teeth but didn’t wash the wound. Instead, he fell next to a
nearby stone in pain, lacking the strength to continue wiping the salt and
pepper on his body. His distorted expression made him look like some kind
of evil spirit.

Baishe sighed and said to me, “Boss, is this bro doing a live-stream or
something? I want to double-click 666(1). Charcoal-grilling yourself would
definitely be a hot topic on the platform.” As he spoke, he took out a small
pot from his backpack that was about the size of roomba. All of our frying
and cooking depended on this one pot. He lit the alcohol burner and fished
out some water to start boiling, “We grew up in the water, so we’ve seen a
lot of leeches. If the water is heated to more than forty degrees Celsius, the
steam will completely drive the leeches away.”

He heated the water for a while and then put his hand into the pot. The
leeches quickly fell off, writhing wildly in the water as they tried to escape
the pot. But if they climbed up the side of the pot, they would be burnt dry
by the high temperature.

We dealt with the whole thing very carefully and quickly finished removing
all of the leeches from our bodies. The most terrible thing was handling our
sensitive parts. It was absolutely terrifying putting them into the pot.

The leeches were very small, so although the wounds were bleeding, they
weren’t that serious. After we were done with our treatment, I went to help

(1)
Chinese internet slang used a lot in gaming. Basically means you really like something and think it’s
amazing. The term comes from the Kuaishou platform (a short video community). It’s #2 here but I think
the baidu explanation was better/more in depth.

597
Liu Sang get the leeches off of his body. “You see?” I said to him. “This is
what partners do. You have to trust others.”

“Cooking something like xxx, aren’t you afraid of other people’s jokes?” Liu
Sang still wanted to look back. I glanced at his bag full of spices and thought
that it was better cooking xxx than putting salt and pepper on it.

After I was finished, I heated more water and then put mud into the pot and
boiled it. Once all the leeches were boiled out, I put the disinfected blob of
mud into my Hundred Treasures Bag(2), slathered it on again, and then
walked back into the forest. When I arrived at the colorful second royal
poinciana, I had Kan Jian climb up the tree like usual. It didn’t take him long
to shout, “Shit, this tree also has skin hanging on it. But it’s not snake skin.”

(2)
Think this is a Doraemon reference. He has a fourth-dimensional pouch (or pocket) on his stomach
that he stores food, money, medicine, desserts, and weapons in.

598
Chapter 171
Before I could even ask, Kan Jian dropped a mass of things from above. They
fell at our feet and kicked up a cloud of dust that was full of fungal spores.
My throat immediately felt itchy and I yelled, “Behave yourself! Don’t be so
rash! You’ll kill people!” Kan Jian was startled by my sudden scolding.

We stepped backed a little and waited for the dust to slowly disperse before
approaching again. That mass of things turned out to be the skin of wild
animals, probably a Siberian roe deer or something similar to it. Kan Jian
said that there were still many more up there, and they were all well
preserved. They were probably the skins of beasts from around the area.

This place was full of poisonous fungi and it was so dangerous at night that it
shouldn’t be the masterpiece of hunters or snake catchers. The locals in this
valley should rarely get involved here, and the surrounding villages probably
had various legends that had been passed down.

But it appeared that both the snakeskins from before and the animal skins
now seemed to follow the royal poinciana. The snakeskins and animal skins
hadn’t completely rotted in the valley despite the heavy amount of rainfall
Fujian usually got. Moreover, they were even well preserved and must’ve
been processed in the last three to five years.

In other words, these things should have been left here by someone three
to five years ago.

But why? If it was to make money, then these skins were definitely worth
more than the meat itself. But if it was for the purpose of eating meat, then
the risk was too high since it came from a forest full of poisonous fungi.

As I was thinking all of this, I came to a sudden realization and told Kan Jian
to help pull me up the tree. When I climbed to the top of the canopy, the
sunshine was exceptionally bright. I saw countless skins drying in the tree
canopy, all fixed to the tree’s branches. But they weren’t only on the royal
poinciana; they were also in the trees all around us.

599
“This is a marker,” I murmured.

“What?” Kan Jian asked.

This tree stood between the poisonous forest and the outside forest. There
was also a stream beside it, which meant that it was a very important
geographical indicator. Since it was easy to get lost when walking under the
trees’ canopies, this royal poinciana was an important marker. And it was
marking this dividing line between the two parts of the forest. If that were
the case, then the royal poinciana before was also one of these markers. We
didn’t observe that area very carefully at the time, but it was definitely very
important. Maybe that royal poinciana was marking the location of the
secret underground space.

“But what about these skins? The markers don’t need to be so exaggerated.
Isn’t it just wasteful?” Kan Jian asked.

I had a sudden flash of inspiration and said to Kan Jian, “It’s the smell. These
skins are here to emit a smell. Snakeskin and animal skins have different
smells. All the tree canopies here are intertwined, so you’re supposed to
move between them. And you find the route by smell. Someone designed a
path here that we wouldn’t be able to see or recognize using ordinary
means.”

The different key points here were marked with different strong smells. This
was because there was a difference in how the fat of various creatures
smelled.

But my sense of smell was probably my weakest bodily function right now.

I called Liu Sang and Baishe up and asked them to smell the skins. “What are
you doing?” Liu Sang asked me.

I touched his head and said, “Smell it carefully. Is there any special scent
around here? That should be the direction we need to go in. Good boy.”

600
Liu Sang slapped my hand away but also agreed with my idea. “I think what
you’ve said is reasonable, but we can take it a step further than that. If the
tree with animal skins represents danger, then the tree with snakeskins
represents refuge. As long as you bring a well-trained dog with you, even
the blind could survive out here.”

I sighed, and Kan Jian said, “Doesn’t this sound like the Wu family’s
technique?”

I thought about it. It was true that the Wu family had specially trained fox-
shaped dogs that were very dexterous and could move among branches, but
it was useless to guess now. We had to find Poker-Face’s mark; otherwise, it
would be really hard for us to keep moving.

Not only were these skins very old and probably didn’t have a smell, but I
didn’t have a dog with me, which was a mistake.

We were right back at square one.

The four of us began looking for Poker-Face’s mark. We first checked to see
if there was an underground space under this tree. When we didn’t find one,
we began to circle around. After looking around for a while and not seeing
any marks, Liu Sang said, “If we can’t find it, then let’s just follow the
stream. Otherwise, we’ll waste another day.”

I was feeling a little irritable. If this dragged on, I wouldn’t be able to save
anyone, let alone collect their corpses. The most I would be able to do was
pick up their bones. Kan Jian suddenly snapped his fingers and told us to
look into the depths of the forest. When I looked over there, I saw
something standing in the shade of the trees. It appeared to be white, very
dirty, and very tall. I figured it had to be at least four meters tall.

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Chapter 172
We squinted at it for a long time, and I found that it was a “dumped good”.
In the logistics industry, dumped goods were large-volume, lightweight
objects.

There was still a slight breeze in the air that was making the thing shake
slightly. I found that this thing also looked very familiar. I must have seen it
somewhere before, but I couldn’t remember what it was.

Liu Sang and I exchanged a glance, and I said to him, “Go and take a look.”

Liu Sang looked at it and then shook his head. “I think it’s more appropriate
for you to go over and take a look. Your health isn’t that good after all, and
I’m in good fighting condition right now. Go on. See what it is. If you’re in
danger, shout before you die and tell us what it is. You’ll be able to die in
peace.”

“Why should I die in peace? I’m still in my fucking prime.” I gave Kan Jian a
look and he immediately shot three marbles in two seconds, hitting that
object three times with a “bang, bang, bang” sound. Once the three ripples
spread out, Liu Sang and I suddenly realized what it was.

It appeared to be a parachute.

I looked at the sky, people go skydiving here? This parachute was definitely a
modern parachute. Although it seemed to be a few years old, it definitely
wasn’t from World War II.

I turned to look around. There were cliffs at the edge of the valley, so was
someone doing extreme sports here? I had heard that there was an extreme
gliding sport with a very high mortality rate, so was someone doing that
here?

Liu Sang touched his chin and said to me, “Wu Xie, you said you think there’s
a path through the tree canopies. Would someone think that the canopies

602
weren’t that high and try to take an aerial route? Maybe four or five years
ago, someone wanted to use a paraglider here to cross the whole forest and
avoid the dangers under these trees.”

The person must have died under the parachute, I said to myself before
turning to Kan Jian, “Take out your slingshot and arrows. I want you to make
a hook on your arrow, attach a rope to the back, and hook that thing on it so
that we can bring it over here.”

Kan Jian stood up and said, “Boss, I’ll just go and get it. What are you afraid
of? It’s only three or four steps.”

I quickly grabbed him, “Don’t talk nonsense.” When Kan Jian nodded, I
turned my attention to Baishe and Liu Sang and said, “Let’s keep looking for
marks. We can’t waste time.”

“Boss, look at what’s on that parachute,” Baishe said to me.

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Chapter 173
I glanced at it. The white thing was very dirty, but some dust fell off when
Kan Jian’s marbles hit it, revealing a bit of hidden color below. It appeared to
be a logo, which was probably the brand of the paraglider. It was in German
and looked a little familiar. I thought it over carefully and realized that the
words were actually a German name. I had been in contact with this
company before.

When I was in Tibet, I had profound dealings with the employees of this
company. The company had actually acquired Qiu Dekao’s company and
inherited many of his projects.

I was kind of surprised that this company was so interested in the Wu family.
In fact, I appeared so frequently in Qiu Dekao’s company’s data that they
even joked that there was a department dedicated to researching me. They
interviewed me many times and offered me great terms, but I couldn’t say
too many things or make money off of the things I did in the past.

However, the company’s previous research direction had something to do

with Qiu Dekao’s plan in China. Uncle Three and the whole listening to
thunder thing had nothing to do with them, so why did they suddenly
appear here?

A lot of very complicated things must have happened in this forest back
then. The scent markers for this path seemed to point to the Wu family’s
special skills, and there was also that space under the tree and this
parachute in the woods. Everything happened over a very long time span.
The royal poinciana and tulou must’ve been built and planted at the same
time (probably around 1890), the space under the tree was excavated after
liberation, the skins on these trees may have been set up as path markers
nearly five years ago, and then the parachute must have landed here around
three years ago.

There were at least four groups of people who had explored or messed
around in this forest for more than a hundred years. I decided to call the

604
royal poinciana planters and tulou builders the “path marker expedition
team” because they planted the royal poinciana as path markers through
the forest and then built a tulou over the entrance to the calling spring. They
were actually marking the route to Thunder City.

When it came to this team, I could only make blind guesses. First of all, they
did things on a large scale and had a lot of patience. It was extremely
prudent, intelligent, and extremely patient of them to plant trees to mark
the path. They wanted to hide Thunder City, but also leave some
information for future generations.

In any case, they must’ve known that it would take fifty or sixty years before
the next batch of people entered here with clues to find Thunder City. That
was three generations. This “path marker expedition team” either had
magnificent minds or an extreme purpose.

The second team was the Kuomintang spy troops who retreated into the
mountains.

Because of the unique poisonous gas in the forest, this team hid
underground and built a perfect underground bunker. Based on the number
of silver dollars we had seen, this team must’ve been quite large at that
time. But we didn’t know what had happened to them. In addition, there
were clear traces of holes being drilled into the team members’ heads. Did
this spy force enter the forest at that time just to listen to the information in
the thunder? Or were they influenced by the nearby Thunder City while
being stationed here and drilled holes into their own skulls?

The third team seemed to be people from the Wu family, and there was a
good chance that it was Uncle Three. There were those in the Wu family
who were good at raising dogs, so they must’ve moved through the forest
canopy and marked the key points with animal skins.

The fourth team was a German team who wanted to use paragliders to pass
over the whole forest from the air. This German team obviously didn’t know
about the third team’s path and could only take risks.

605
I came up with a simple story in my head. Back then, an expert team from
the late Qing or early Republic era discovered the secret of Thunder City.
They didn’t want to let other people know about it, but they also needed
their descendants to find Thunder City in sixty years’ time. As a result, they
set up the royal poinciana trees. Sixty years later, high-level Kuomintang
officials discovered this clue (maybe they were the descendants), so they
sent a team into the forest to follow the signs and try to find Thunder City.
But the team disappeared after they entered Thunder City. Uncle Three,
who was investigating thunder, discovered what they did in this valley after
conducting his field investigation. So, Uncle Three went into this forest to
investigate and found the installations (the secret rooms under the trees)
that this spy unit had set up in those days. But the forest was very
dangerous. On the one hand, Uncle Three probably wanted to make use of
the installations. On the other hand, he wanted to move around more freely
and conveniently, so he used dogs and scent markers to find the path. The
German company wanted to buy information on this route from Uncle
Three, but he refused, so they had to take a risk and use paragliders.

Poker-Face and Black Glasses were the fifth wave of people.

It actually sounded quite reasonable.

Kan Jian figured out a way to bring the paraglider over to us, while the rest
of us continued looking for marks around the royal poinciana.

To my surprise, no matter how much we searched this time, we couldn’t

find Poker-Face’s mark at all. As time went by, we became more and more
anxious, but we really couldn’t find it.

In fact, this was a very normal thing. People who hid things had a much
higher advantage than those who were looking for them. But the other
three people kept looking at me. It made me feel uncomfortable, as if I had
made some sort of mistake. I couldn’t help thinking, maybe we won’t find it.
Maybe it’s not here because Poker-Face finally decided to go to the calling
spring. In other words, he gave up on this route. Maybe when he got here,
he gave up and chose to go to the calling spring instead.

606
Off to the side, Kan Jian quickly pulled the paraglider over. We found that
there weren’t any bones wrapped up in the fabric. A lot of people crashed
into trees or cliffs while gliding, and many people fell to their deaths before
opening the paraglider’s sail. If the sail was opened, then the person was
probably alive, so it was normal for there not to be a body.

We climbed back up the tree trunk again and Liu Sang asked, “Do you have
any idea which direction to go in?”

“I have to rely on your ears for that,” I replied.

607
Chapter 174
I told Liu Sang that the sound of the wind blowing through the snakeskins
was definitely different from how it blew through the animal skins. Although
it was almost unnoticeable, his ears were so good that he should be able to
hear the sound of snakeskins or animal skins in the distance.

Liu Sang looked at me like I was an idiot, but I merely looked back at him and
said, “This is the only way.”

He sighed, “I can’t hear it. I can only gather information that comes from the
sounds I hear. When there’s no sound, I’m just like you.”

“Try harder.” I patted him. “The world is most afraid of those who are
serious.”(1) Then I started shaking the nearby branches so that the animal
skins sounded like they were blowing in the wind. “Come on, listen
carefully.”

Liu Sang rolled his eyes at me. I kept shaking the skins every which way, but
he completely ignored me.

When I finally stopped, he said to me, “Can you be more serious? I already
told you that I can’t hear it. There’s no wind here. I could try it if there was
wind.”

I looked at his expression and realized that he really couldn’t hear it. I sighed
and looked at Kan Jian, who took out a mud ball from his pocket and
knocked it against the tree until it broke into fragments. He then shot them
directly at the animal skins.

These mud fragments hit the animal skins with a very dull sound before
rolling down.

(1)
It’s apparently the first part of a quote from Mao Zedong’s 1957 speech to students at Moscow
University. According to baidu, the full quote is something like: “the world is afraid of those who are
serious, and the Communist Party is the most serious.”

608
“You just need to remember this sound,” I said as I patted him.

Our group of four set out and started walking through the tree canopies.
Kan Jian thought the paraglider might still be useful, so he packed it away.
Liu Sang sighed again. He obviously still didn’t agree with my methods.

There were two things to pay attention to when walking through the
canopies: one was the thickness of the branches, while the other one was
the degree of entanglement between the branches. The branches here were
very densely packed together, so we had to climb over them one by one. It
was slow going, but at least it wasn’t difficult.

There were a large number of camphor, banyan, fairy(2), and cypress trees
here. We walked for about a kilometer, and I realized that my reasoning was
correct because I could see traces of fixed wires in some of the places where
the tree branches were connected.

But these traces didn’t just lead in one direction. Sometimes there were
three or four paths in a tree that led in different directions. Kan Jian took a
few steps on each path and shot those mud fragments all over the sky. Liu
Sang looked pained as he listened, but he didn’t have a better way.

After a while, Liu Sang stopped in a big tree and said that he had heard a
strange noise in one of the directions Kan Jian had just shot in. Kan Jian
made a few more shots to help determine the direction and then we went
over. As we approached, we saw the third royal poinciana.

There were snakeskins on this royal poinciana, so I cautiously went down.

With just a single glance, I realized that it was the same situation as that first
royal poinciana.

I shoveled away the fallen leaves on the ground and revealed the hidden
tiles. Sure enough, there was a room below.

(2)
I think fairy trees (仙女树) are hawthorn or ash trees. Or they might be part of the mint family?
Science is not my forte.

609
I touched the back of my head as Liu Sang looked at me with a complicated
expression on his face. Three things. I only needed to calculate three things
correctly before people who looked down on me would change their view of
me.

The trees with snakeskins hanging on them were refuges.

We removed the tiles again and revealed a hole. As the flashlight shone
down into the darkness, it swept past many sealed boxes. We marked this
spot on our GPS and then moved on.

At dusk, we came to the fourth royal poinciana. At this time, we were

already deep in the hinterland of the forest. There were a lot of fish skins
and bones hanging from this royal poinciana. When we got to the tree and
looked up ahead, we saw an exquisitely amazing sight.

This tree’s location marked the starting point where the valley floor sank
down like a staircase for dozens of meters.

There was a cliff just two meters away from the tree, and under the cliff was
even more dense forest that was full of miasma.

It was a valley within a valley.

No wonder someone wanted to paraglide down.

610
Chapter 175
Now I understood why Poker-Face was looking for the second route here.
But he eventually returned to the calling spring or chose to enter Thunder
City from the calling spring.

This cliff was almost completely vertical and looked like the gods had cut it
with a sword. When I looked down from the edge, I knew that our ropes
definitely weren’t long enough to drop down. Moreover, there were colorful
fungi everywhere on the cliff and other places were full of moss. The fog in
the forest below moved slowly, and we could see some places above the
cliff where the mist flowed down like a waterfall. The poisonous spores in
the forest where we were at fell into the forest at the bottom of the cliff
every day. The fog below was probably thousands of times more toxic than
the fog above.

“Is Thunder City down there?” Kan Jian asked.

I figured it was pretty close. But there wasn’t enough light in this small valley
within a valley, so it was hard to see any clues on the satellite map we had. If
there were any buildings below, they were hidden by the trees’ shade.

“Do you think something’s off?” Liu Sang asked after listening to our
surroundings. “The stream where we washed our bodies just now came
from here. I thought there would be a waterfall on a high slope or cliff at the
end of this forest, but it turned out to be a cliff. Where did the stream come
from? Is there a waterfall in the valley below that flows upward? That would
really be a fantastic sight.”

The stream must’ve come from an underground river, I said to myself. The
water pressure probably causes it to gush out from the rock. This
underground river had to be connected to the calling spring. We were taking
the surface route, while Poker-Face and Fatty took the underground route.
There had to be a water system in the forest below, which was connected to
the calling spring’s exit. The water system itself was safe, so I figured we had
made a narrow escape by taking this land route.

611
Liu Sang looked at me. Rationally, we knew that we had gone all this way for
nothing and just wasted time since the path stopped here, but neither of us
was willing to accept the reality.

“Climb down or go back.”

Those were our two choices. The dusk was already very heavy and there was
no sound in the entire valley. It was almost as if everything was on mute.
Based on my original temperament, it was absolutely impossible to take
risks.

I picked up my binoculars and looked down into the valley, but I couldn’t see
anything. I could only make an assumption that there was a water system
below based on the different directions of some of the tree canopies. The
stream below was also covered by the tree canopies, and the sunlight
couldn’t shine through all year round. I cursed in my heart. This place
should’ve been developed into a tourist attraction long ago. Why didn’t
anyone care about it? Among all the wonderful things I had seen before, this
was quite special. If it were me, I could sell rafting tickets for three hundred
yuan a piece.

“Climb down,” I said faintly. “Tomorrow morning. We’ll prepare well

tonight.” I took a picture of the valley bottom with my cell phone.

We walked back to the snakeskin tree and entered the space below, which
was full of various things wrapped in oil paper. They were probably artillery
pieces, but they weren’t assembled. I counted them and found that there
were about three artillery pieces and hundreds of shells. They were
probably used for subversive activities and could be taken out to town
before being assembled. They were all rusty now even with the oil paper,
but based on my understanding of American artillery at that time, they
could probably still be used once they were assembled. I was kind of hoping
that the artillery king from before would hit us again tonight so that we
could reciprocate, but he was probably dead.

612
After Liu Sang inspected the shells, however, he found that they were all
empty. They seemed to be filled with other things and weren’t used for
blasting.

There were a lot of white sacks of powder below these shells that seemed to
be lime. I thought there might be dead people inside, so I didn’t go down to
investigate.

In the evening, we discussed our plan for the next day and drew lots. Baishe
and Kan Jian would stay here to meet the others while Liu Sang and I would
go down. Baishe breathed a sigh of relief, while Kan Jian seemed a little
puzzled. I told him that the rope wasn’t long enough, so we needed to use it
twice. If we wanted to go back the same way we came, we’d need someone
on the cliff. Kan Jian would take a fishing line and shoot it down so that we
could tie our rope to it and have him pull it up. Then, Baishe would take the
rope down to the middle part of the cliff and tie it. We’d climb up to the
middle and then have Kan Jian shoot his fishing line down again so that we
could climb the second section. This was the only way that we could go back
the same way we came.

As a result, we needed two people to help us.

The next day, the four of us set off and returned to the edge of the cliff. I
had made two sets of sealed clothes overnight with the oil paper that had
been wrapped around the artillery shells. I was ready to start the first round
of our descent, but before I could tie the rope, Liu Sang frowned and said to
me, “Wait, there’s something nearby.” Before he had even finished
speaking, there was the sudden sound of something flying through the air,
and Liu Sang instantly blocked my chest with his hand. A crossbow bolt shot
through his palm and pierced my chest.

I immediately looked in the direction the arrow had come from, but sharp-
eyed Baishe pushed us all behind some tree branches to hide. I could
vaguely make out a man leaning against a tree in the distance, smoking a
cigarette and leisurely setting up a second bolt.

613
Liu Sang was shouting in pain as Baishe whispered to us, “Fuck, it’s Jiang Zi
Suan.” My clothes were smeared with the blood that was pouring out of my
chest, so I glanced down at my heart. It took two or three seconds before all
my hair stood on end. I frantically tore open my clothes and saw that the
arrow was finger-deep in my chest and appeared to be stuck on my ribs. Liu
Sang’s hand had slowed the arrow down; otherwise, my heart would’ve
definitely been pierced.

I pulled the arrow out and Kan Jian looked at my chest while asking me,
“Boss, should we kill him?”

I thought of Bai Haotian and shook my head. Kan Jian poked his head out
from our hiding spot to take a look, but the second bolt immediately came
flying over. He shrank back right as the bolt stabbed the tree behind him.
Kan Jian pulled out a red rubber band from his belt, slowly buckled it on the
slingshot, and then pulled out more than a dozen irregular mud balls. “Then
I’ll blind him.” With that said, he suddenly stretched to the side and flicked
the rubber band with his fingers like he was playing the piano. Those dozen
mud balls were all shot out in an instant.

As they circled through the air and turned in a perfect short arc, there
immediately came a series of dodging sounds. Kan Jian drew his crossbow
slingshot from his waist and tore off the bolt that had been shot into the
tree just now. But just as he pulled it all the way back and was ready to
shoot, he stuck his head out to take a look and was suddenly hit by
something. The arrow shot out crookedly and fell into the valley below.
Then, Jiang Zi Suan jumped out from behind the tree and kicked Kan Jian
towards the cliff.

He had apparently rushed over directly after his sniper attack, not intending
on a sniper battle at all. He was definitely a master who was willing to take
risks.

Kan Jian grabbed a branch on the side to prevent himself from falling. Jiang
Zi Suan was holding his crossbow in one hand and wanted to fire a bolt into
Kan Jian’s throat, but I immediately kicked the crossbow. The bolt shot past

614
Kan Jian’s neck. Kan Jian rolled away and moved to grab him by the balls,
but missed. Jiang Zi Suan grabbed me directly and the two of us tumbled
into the bushes under the tree.

615
Chapter 176
Countless spores rushed up in an instant. I held my breath, kicked Jiang Zi
Suan away, and climbed up the tree again. I hadn’t climbed more than two
steps before he grabbed me by the waist and shoved me to the ground
again.

Fortunately, the fungi under this tree weren’t very dense—probably

because of the strong sunshine near the cliff—but Jiang Zi Suan wrapped his
arm around my neck, grabbed a handful of them, and moved to stuff them
into my mouth.

I was evenly covered in mud, so everything was fine except for the burning
pain in my lungs and eyes. Upon seeing him getting ready to stuff the fungi
into my mouth, I turned my head with all of my strength and swallowed a
mouthful of mud. The slap caught me on my ear instead. I turned my head
and spat the mouthful of mud right into his face like a fountain.

He immediately blocked it with his hand, so I quickly grabbed him by the

balls and pinched and twisted with all my strength. Jiang Zi Suan screamed
and rolled away, constantly rubbing his mud-covered eyes.

I picked up another handful of mud from the ground and threw it directly
into his face again. My mouth felt like it was burning, which meant that the
spores were probably on the mud’s surface and were starting to burn my
oral mucosa.

“Water!” I yelled at Baishe. He threw me the canteen and I immediately

rinsed my mouth out. Kang Jian was in the tree and sent a slingshot full of
mud balls straight at Jiang Zi Suan. I thought Jiang Zi Suan would be hit for
sure—Kan Jian’s slingshot could crack his skull at this distance—but I didn’t
expect Jiang Zi Suan to directly catch the mud balls with his hands and rush
to the edge of the cliff.

“Hit his legs!” I cried out. The air under the tree felt like it had been soaked
in chili peppers, and my lungs burned with every breath I took. I held my

616
breath and watched Kan Jian shoot three mud balls in a row, but Jiang Zi
Suan dodged them all. This guy was still wiping his eyes, but there were no
obstacles to block his sprint through the forest and he soon climbed a tree.

I stretched my hand out and Baishe helped pull me up the tree. Kan Jian had
already snagged the crossbow and put a bolt on it, but I stopped him.

“It’ll probably take his eyes a while to recover. He still has Bai Haotian, so it’ll
be problematic if he’s killed here.” As I was speaking, that Jiang Zi Suan soon
ran away and disappeared. I looked at Liu Sang, “Are you all right?”

Liu Sang looked at his hand, grimaced in pain, and then said stiffly, “You’ll
have to pay more for fucking injuries. Wounds from this kind of work are
bound to leave scars. You fucking owe me your life now. I’ll definitely
publicize it when I get out of here.”

I owe my life to a lot of people, I said to myself. I washed the mud off of my
hands with the water in the canteen, took out the boiled mud from my
Hundred Treasures Bag, and reapplied it to my body as Baishe got ready to
dress Liu Sang’s wound.

Liu Sang sneered at me, “You bastard, there are even people ambushing you
in this kind of place. Do you think it’s good for people to be with you?”

I took the bandage from Baishe’s hand, grabbed Liu Sang’s hand, and
squeezed it hard. His wound immediately started bleeding heavily. I washed
it with the canteen water but still didn’t bandage it. “You’re hiding
something from me,” I said to him. “Hurry up and say it.”

Liu Sang screamed in pain and tried to slap my hand away, “You fucking
ingrate! I saved you!”

“You and this Jiang Zi Suan seem to have an unusual relationship,” I said
coldly. “He couldn’t see when he was running just now, but he could still
hear. This guy’s ears are as good as your ears, right? It definitely isn’t a
coincidence.”

617
Liu Sang twisted his hand, grabbed the bandage from my hand, and dressed
the wound himself. I gave Kan Jian a look, and he pulled his slingshot out.

“We’ve come to this point. What can’t be said?” I asked. “You didn’t just
save me earlier. You also led this man here. You don’t want me to die, but
what exactly do you have planned?” As I spoke, I looked at Liu Sang’s
pocket. His hand was often in his pocket, so I suspected that there was a
sound-making device or something in it that always kept Jiang Zi Suan
informed of our position.

I had realized that something was wrong with Liu Sang’s actions just now.
Based on the distance between the crossbow and bolt, there was no way to
prevent it at all. Not to mention there was no way to know that the bolt was
aimed at my heart, but there wouldn’t be enough time to raise your hand to
block it.

Liu Sang knew what the other party was going to do in an instant, which
showed that he knew the other’s habits.

In addition, Liu Sang’s ears were so good that he must’ve known Jiang Zi
Suan was there before he drew his bow. But when he warned us, Jiang Zi
Suan was already too close.

Liu Sang hurriedly wrapped his wound and looked up at me. “Maybe I
thought you’re not as hateful as before. You’re still alive, so you’ve clearly
won me over. But you’re right. I have a relationship with this person, but the
relationship has nothing to do with you.”

Kan Jian went up and wanted to hit Liu Sang, but I suddenly heard Jiang Zi
Suan shouting in the distance, “Wu Xie, come out and have a look!”

I immediately searched for the sound and saw Jiang Zi Suan carrying Bai
Haotian to the cliff in the distance.

“Where the fuck are you?!” I immediately replied while gesturing to Kan Jian
behind me. Kan Jian instantly went down the tree, making his way over
secretly without an ounce of hesitation.

618
Jiang Zi Suan scolded, “You blinded me, Wu Xie. I didn’t want to do this, but
you have to learn a lesson.” With that said, he instantly threw Bai Haotian
off of the cliff.

Bai Haotian shouted, “Little Master Three!”

As she fell straight down into the valley, my mind buzzed and all the blood
rushed up to my head.

619
Chapter 177
At that moment, time moved so slow that I couldn’t understand what was
happening even as Kan Jian jumped off of the cliff.

I really wanted to kill Jiang Zi Suan from the bottom of my heart. In

retrospect, if I had a way to kill him from this distance, I would’ve really
done it.

Jiang Zi Suan wasn’t crazy and instantly returned to the forest and
disappeared. As we slid down the tree, it was like my brain wasn’t
registering my emotions. I couldn’t feel anything. I wasn’t afraid, I didn’t
panic, nor did I collapse. But my mind wasn’t clear, either. Instead of
immediately rushing over, we carefully but quickly walked past tree by tree.

I was confident that Jiang Zi Suan’s eyes would never recover, but I was
afraid that his ears were strong enough to compensate for the loss. After
taking a few steps, Liu Sang began to run, but I quickly grabbed him.

“He ran away,” he said to me. “He just used this to delay us. Take a look.”
Liu Sang could tell that I didn’t believe him and added, “Then just use me as
a shield, ok?”

I didn’t have any objections to this, so I picked him up and dragged him all
the way to the edge of the cliff. After looking down, I realized why Kan Jian
had jumped after Bai Haotian.

He had put the paraglider in his bag earlier and pulled it out at this time. He
hadn’t been able to fold the paraglider’s sail earlier, so it didn’t open
completely, but when he jumped down from the cliff, the rope and sail he’d
pulled out hung directly on the edge of the rock. Liu Sang wanted to shout,
but I stopped him. I had already seen Kan Jian below. He had actually fallen
quite far, but I could still make him out from this distance. He was holding
something in his hand that looked to be a person.

620
I still didn’t dare relax. The edges of the cliff protrusions here were very
sharp, so even if Bai Haotian had been caught, she might have still been
killed long ago.

Kan Jian didn’t say a word. This boy may look silly, but in fact, his mind is
clear. He doesn’t know what the situation above is like, so he’d rather keep
quiet, I thought to myself.

I whispered to Baishe, “The plan remains unchanged. We’ll go down now.”

I tied the rope to a nearby tree, threw it down, and then pushed Liu Sang,
who raised his hands and said, “I can’t climb ropes.”

“You don’t need to climb when you’re going down,” I said as I fastened the
safety buckle for him, did it for myself, and then dragged him over and slid
down the rope.

We quietly slid towards the paraglider’s position on the cliff. I whistled a few
times and saw Kan Jian move below, so I slid to his position and saw him
holding Bai Haotian with one hand. She wasn’t moving, and I didn’t know
whether she was alive or dead.

I looked at Kan Jian and noticed that his face was full of tears, his mouth was
set in a crooked line, and his nose was runny. He must’ve been so terrified
that he started crying. “Boss, I can’t do this job. It’s too fucking scary. I
promised my aunt that I’d get a girlfriend this year.”

“You did better than me. I’ll find you a girlfriend.” I saw that half of Kan
Jian’s body was covered in blood, which was a result of all of his festering
wounds from before getting scraped open on the cliff when he jumped
down. The cliff was covered in fungi, so foam started appearing on his
wounds.

I went down and tied a safety rope to Bai Haotian before buckling it to my
own safety rope and then going up again. I then took out the clean mud and
re-applied it to Kan Jian’s skin. He clenched his jaw in pain and his whole

621
body twitched. He immediately let go of Bai Haotian and the three of us
hung on the rope, which caused it to tighten instantaneously.

I took Bai Haotian’s pulse and was relieved to find that she was still alive.

I also put mud on her, by which time the mud in my bag was almost
depleted. Kan Jian said, “Boss, who are you kidding? You’re still a bachelor.”

I asked him to find a foothold so Baishe could drop the rope down as
planned.

After a short two-minute rest, I took Liu Sang and Bai Haotian and continued
down. The rope wasn’t long enough, so I found a few footholds and put Bai
Haotian on my back. I then unfastened my safety buckle, jumped quickly
with my bare hands, and fell to the bottom of the valley. As soon as I landed,
I immediately felt suffocated.

I tried to slow my breathing down but found that I couldn’t. My throat hurt
so much that it felt like it was on fire.

Liu Sang followed me down and instantly choked as well.

Then, I found that it was hard to open my eyes and I couldn’t see anything at
all. Even my eyes felt like they were in severe pain.

At this time, my mind seemed to stutter as a thought immediately popped

into my head.

I had originally thought that the poisonous gas below was strong, but we
could at least climb a tree within a minute or two. What I didn’t realize was
that the poisonous gas below was directly fatal. We fell to the ground as
soon as we landed.

This was a huge miscalculation. I clenched my teeth, got up, and took two
steps towards the nearest tree. My nose, mouth, ears, eyes, and lips all felt
like they were beginning to melt. I wanted to laugh bitterly, but my mouth
was full of blood.

622
At the moment my vision started to go dark, I saw two wild men covered in
fur rushing out of the fog. They were carrying something like sacks, which
they used to cover us.

623
Chapter 178
I was in a daze as we were dragged away. When the “sack” was eventually
torn off, I felt my clothes quickly get cut off, and then a warm liquid was
poured over my face and body.

My whole body was covered in wounds, so it was reasonable to say that I

would start convulsing when a strange liquid was poured on them. But after
the liquid was poured on, it actually felt warm and itchy. Then my eyes were
opened—everything was blurry and I couldn’t see anything clearly— and the
liquid was poured directly onto them.

I couldn’t hear any sounds except for the violent beating of my heart, and
even my nose had no sense of smell. When the liquid was poured onto my
face, I felt it entering my mouth and found that it was very salty.

This warm feeling was so comfortable that I slowly lost consciousness and
passed out.

When I woke up again, the first thing I felt was that my whole body was
covered in a film, and my skin seemed to be so dry and cracked that it felt
taut. My eyes were completely sealed shut and I couldn’t open them no
matter how hard I tried. I tried to lift my hands but found that I couldn’t. I
gradually realized that there were a lot of heavy objects on my body that
were pressing against my joints and keeping me immobile. I wanted to talk
but found that my lips were covered as well. But I could hear some noises in
my ears.

I was wrapped so heavily that I couldn’t move even if I wanted to cough. At

this time, I heard a voice say, “Don’t move.”

I was stunned. I couldn’t hear the two words clearly because they were said
too fast, but it seemed to be Poker-Face’s voice. I immediately became
excited, but the other person pressed their hand on my neck for a few
seconds. With the blood flow to my brain blocked, I quickly fell into a coma
again.

624
Fuck, it’s Poker-Face. He’s the only one who likes to use this technique. I
didn’t even get to finish that thought before I fell into darkness again.

When I woke up again, I was still in the same situation. I still couldn’t move,
but I had learned my lesson this time. After waking up a little bit, I didn’t
make any drastic moves for fear that I would be knocked out again. I could
only move one finger, so I used it to tap a short message in our secret code.

“Poker-Face, is that you?”

There was no sound around me. I knocked for a long time, but no one
answered me. Instead, I heard someone singing in the distance, “Let’s
pucker those red lips and laugh giddily as we fuck. We’ll attack the brothel
owners all over the world.”(1)

I took a deep breath and found that all the tension in my body seemed to
relax a little. I tried hard to open my mouth, but at this time, I heard
someone humming a little song as they came over. After listening for a long
time, I found that the person was singing a song from “My Fair Princess”.
Based on the sounds, it was no doubt Black Glasses. He was eating
something, so his words sounded distorted whenever he sang.

I used all of my strength to raise my finger, at which point he hummed and

came over, “Apprentice, are you awake?”

I lifted it even harder and Black Glasses patted me, “Don’t move, don’t
move. You’re not well. Do you want to take a shit? Go ahead, there’s a hole
under your ass.”

(1)
Per Tiffany: Black Glasses made a parody of the theme song from the 1998 Chinese drama “My Fair
Princess”. The song is called “When (當)”. It was a famous song since the drama was extremely popular.
Black Glasses changed the chorus while the original lyrics of the chorus were, “Let’s accompany each
other and live freely. Let’s run wildly and enjoy all the beautiful things in the world.” Link to the song
here (the chorus starts at 1:28).

625
Fucking hell(2), this is so shameful and humiliating. I felt around for a
moment and sure enough, there was a hole under my ass. This was the
same fucking thing slave ships did back in the day.

When I got agitated, Black Glasses shouted, “Calm down, calm down! If you
don’t want your wounds to open again, just calm down! Otherwise, I’ll hit
your balls!”

I immediately stopped moving and listened to what Black Glasses had to say.
“Now, all the wounds on your body are coated with something. If you keep
it on for a few more days, I’ll let you out. Let me tell you, if we didn’t handle
it in time, your body would be covered in fungi. You have to keep your eyes
and mouth shut right now and let your wounds heal. Since the new flesh
hasn’t grown well, you’ll be covered in scars if we take the coating off now.
You won’t be called one of the four beauties of Wushanju anymore.”(3)

You’re an idiot, I said to myself. Who are the three other beauties, and why
don’t I know about it?

Black Glasses continued, “You’re covered in Little Brother’s blood. He

doesn’t have that much blood to give you, so please stop.” I heard the sound
of crackling wood and realized that there was probably a bonfire nearby.
“You still have good ideas and were able to find a way, but I didn’t expect
you to bring these two losers. There’s not enough food.”

(2)
Wu Xie really used the transcribed version of a Korean swearword that Chinese netizens have
commonly used. It’s “axiba” (阿西巴) for those of you that care.
(3)
Apparently the Chinese fans have decided the four beauties are Wu Xie, Xiao Hua, Black Glasses, and
Poker-face. (I was going off of this).

626
Chapter 179
Five days passed by in a daze. Many things happened during this time, but I
don’t want to mention them again. When I sat by the campfire and looked
at the people in front of me, I experienced an inexplicable mix of feelings.
When people get older, they always say it’s difficult to make new friends.
They blame it on getting old, but this isn’t actually the case. People have the
ability to communicate at any time, but their energy is limited. When you’re
in your thirties, you have enough friends. Any more than that and it really
becomes unbearable. Old friends know your bottom line, what you’ll say
next, and what you’ll sing when you’re drunk, so there’s always a lazy and
relaxed feeling when you’re around them.

I thought this was what my so-called mixed feelings were like.

The bonfire was very warm. We were in an underground space similar to the
ones we had seen before. Even though the bonfire was warm, it didn’t smell
good at all. We were on the second floor of this underground bunker, and it
was clear to see why there was a need for two floors.

You would have to put on protective clothing made from dry, leafy branches
and mud before leaving this floor, going up to the next floor, and then going
outside. When the entrance was opened, an influx of poisonous gas would
enter the first floor and a small amount would mix into the soil there.

Every random detail made sense now, and I realized that what Grandpa had
said before was right. Even though things seemed superfluous, there was
actually a motive behind them.

Poker-Face was very weak and had been leaning against the wall for a while
now. I looked at him, but he was looking at the ground, almost motionless. I
wanted to talk to him, but Black Glasses stopped me and said, “Let him
sleep. He won’t be able to recover in such a short amount of time.”

Liu Sang recovered two days after me but still couldn’t speak for a while. As
it turned out, using the blood and mud scraped from my body wasn’t as

627
effective as Poker-Face’s fresh blood. Bai Haotian had only been exposed to
the poisonous gas for a short time, so she woke up quickly. The feeling when
we finally met again was too indescribable, but I knew one thing: all my
impatience and anxiety had disappeared.

When Black Glasses told me everything that had happened to them, I sighed
in my heart. If you traveled a certain distance in the calling spring, your skin
would start to burn. Poisonous gas filled the narrow calling spring, and many
people soon began to lose their sight. The countless bloody marks were left
by Poker-Face when he put his own blood in the others’ eyes. He was hoping
to at least keep them from going blind, but almost all of them died in the
end.

Black Glasses carried goggles with him because of his special circumstances,
so he dodged a bullet.

They tried to dive to the bottom of the calling spring but encountered the
underground river’s backflow. At that time, they were faced with the
situation that they would be poisoned if they entered the thunder valley,
drowned if they stayed in the calling spring, and suffocated if they didn’t
move.

I didn’t expect Poker-Face’s blood to have this kind of function. After the
blood and mud were peeled off, my skin actually started to recover pretty
well. Almost my whole outer layer of skin fell off and the new tender flesh
was like healed skin after a sunburn. Even though it was inevitable that
some scars would be left on my neck, I just didn’t care anymore.

In addition, a large amount of hair fell off and left different degrees of bald
spots on my head, so I shaved it. I had dyed my hair black when I pretended
to be Jiang Zi Suan before, so it would be good to let it grow out again.

Liu Sang and Bai Haotian also shaved their heads. Poker-Face and Black
Glasses must’ve shaved their hair before, but it had grown out now. I had
never seen their hair so short before, and now they looked like two college
students.

628
We exchanged information, but the things they had experienced were very
complicated, so we couldn’t finish discussing everything here. Black Glasses
kept sighing regretfully. They knew that there were two roads leading to
Thunder City, so they left marks because they were afraid that something
would happen if I followed after them. In the end, they chose the entrance
to the calling spring.

“It’s great that you’re here,” Black Glasses said. “The two of us have been to
many evil and sinister places before, but this is the strangest of them all.” He
glanced at Poker-Face, “Since you’ve come, our plan can be implemented
now. Originally, the two of us couldn’t do anything at all.”

“Where’s Thunder City? Does such a place really exist?” Bai Haotian quietly
asked.

Black Glasses pointed above his head, “It’s in the poisonous fog. We went to
see it once.”

“What’s it like?”

“I can’t say. You have to see it with your own eyes. I’ve never seen anything
like it.”

629
Chapter 180
Bai Haotian and I tidied up the cramped underground space a little bit.
When it came to mud, the most important thing was to dry the ground.
Drying was equal to twice the comfort, after all. Once that was done, I
crouched by the bonfire with Black Glasses and looked over my wounds very
carefully. I also told him about the previous events and introduced him to
Bai Haotian and Liu Sang.

Liu Sang seemed to know a lot about Black Glasses. I overheard him say that
Black Glasses and Poker-Face had been working together for a while before I
ever met Poker-Face. It seemed that they were both working under Chen Pi
Ah Si at the time, and since one was blind and one was mute, there were
many stories.

Sometimes when I saw Black Glasses and Poker-Face together, I felt kind of
envious and couldn’t help thinking that they were the same type of people. I
figured Black Glasses definitely knew how to get along with Poker-Face
better than I did.

Black Glasses quietly listened as I told him everything that had happened.
When I was done, he remained silent and Poker-Face opened his eyes. None
of us took the lead in discussing this matter, so Black Glasses turned the
discussion to Thunder City instead.

“In this environment, have you ever gone out to see it?” Liu Sang suddenly
asked.

Black Glasses ignored him and kind of half-smiled. He had just told me that
I’d have to see it with my own eyes.

I didn’t know what to say, and Liu Sang didn’t speak either. After watching
the bonfire for a few minutes, I finally worked up the courage to break the
stalemate and asked, “Do you think there’s a problem? Like with the whole
thing?”

630
“Of course there’s a problem.” Black Glasses looked at me with that faint
smile on his face. “At present, this whole thing seems to be designed to kill
us all.” He put a stone on the ground. “In fact, if you didn’t know the
situation in this valley and tried to parachute down, climb down, or come in
through the calling spring, you’d definitely die. No one can endure for more
than fifteen minutes, and the two paths leading here are dead ends. In other
words, from the very beginning, the people who left these two paths
wanted those who came in to die.”

He wrote an explanation under the stone, “Xie Yuhua didn’t stay outside but
hid in the so-called Jiao family’s team, which shows that he realized the
great danger. His brain is clearly better than ours. He would rather hide in
Jiao’s team than stay in his own team, which indicates that the danger
comes from outside of Jiao’s team.”

I touched my chin. I had never thought about this possibility.

He put down three more stones and wrote the words “Xie, Black, and
Zhang” below before saying, “We’re basically dead. The only chance we can
get out of here is when it rains, because the rain causes the poisonous fog to
disperse. We can move then, but after the rain stops, the poisonous gas will
completely diffuse and permeate the whole valley. Unless we can fly, we’ll
have no time to escape. We need to focus on saving ourselves now. After
that, we can make use of our only advantage—time—and see if we can
minimize the loss.”

He placed another stone down and wrote the word Wang. “Fatty is our key
now. He’s the only free agent, but his life and death are uncertain right now.
Based on the whole situation, the core members of the strongest generation
of the Mystic Nine’s system are all here. There are four people whose life
and death are uncertain, and one of them is the smartest and also very
passive. Tell me, when we were having the most difficult time back then, did
we ever get pressured like this?”

“There’s definitely a master pulling the strings from behind the scenes.”
Black Glasses continued to look at me, “But we’re in luck. Mr. Zhang here

631
knows how to deal with this poisonous gas. Otherwise, everyone in this
room would’ve been dead long ago.”

I took a deep breath and thought, if what Black Glasses said is true, then
why didn’t any of us prodigies notice a flaw? Even if I didn’t find it, Xiao Hua
should’ve been able to.

During the whole process, what kept us from thinking in that direction?

Uncle Two.

Black Glasses flipped the burned logs in the bonfire, making the light
reflected in his sunglasses flicker. I shook my head. “You doubt my Uncle
Two, but what’s his motive?”

“He tried desperately to stop you from coming, but I don’t think he took
extreme measures.”

The flames burned up a piece of wood and it snapped with a shower of

sparks. “Someone’s watching him do this,” Black Glasses said. “Your Uncle
Two may have been coerced into playing this game.”

632
Chapter 181
In the past ten years or so, there was a question lingering in my heart that
wasn’t all that important. Well, it wasn’t important enough to talk about,
but I always thought that there was something fishy about it.

Uncle Two’s position in the Nine Gates’ system was very strange. He had a
great amount of power, but he didn’t appear in the core interests. I always
thought that this was the smartest place for him. He managed Warehouse
Eleven and the accounts, but he never got involved in the real business. As a
result, he retained a lot of power but didn’t make people jealous.

To a certain extent, Uncle Two helped people. Although he was very

expensive, using money to solve things in the Nine Gates was already
considered a kind of merit.

Throughout my childhood, I always heard bad things about Uncle Three and
good things about Uncle Two. I rarely saw Uncle Two fail. He ran the family
steadily, and even with the major instabilities Uncle Three had caused, Uncle
Two could still make the Wu family live peacefully with the other eight
families. I had also heard people say that all of the Nine Gates’ declining
branches and institutions eventually became Uncle Two’s people, much like
the Bai family.

It was hard to say whether Uncle Two was taking advantage of the decline,
or if he was making the Nine Gates die slowly and giving everyone a chance
to turn around.

But either way, such a person should be the master planner of the huge
vortex from before. In terms of power and strategy, Uncle Two was
unparalleled in the Nine Gates.

But this wasn’t actually the case. The person who really walked in the
middle of the vortex was Uncle Three.

633
I had thought this way before. Uncle Two was a wise man from the very
beginning, and there wasn’t anyone who thought he wasn’t smart. From this
point of view, he lost the possibility of being a master planner. For example,
the second male lead in a mystery novel couldn’t be the murderer, because
if the readers were familiar with the routine, then they would suspect him
first.

Therefore, Uncle Three, who looked the least intelligent and had the most
problems, was the most suitable candidate.

But who could threaten Uncle Two?

In addition, Uncle Two didn’t need such a complicated situation to move us,
right? With his position and abilities, he could quietly kill these people little
by little without batting an eye.

Although this game was very tough, there was a chance that it would work.
But it was still a little too large-scale.

I looked at Poker-Face, and he looked at me.

Did you really find out by chance that your blood can resist the poison here?
Did Uncle Two know and that’s why you were included in his scheme? Or, did
he tell you beforehand? There were two paths, but you just happened to be
right under the cliff. Is it really a coincidence?

I looked at Liu Sang again, and what about you? Your appearance here is
very strange. Do you know something?

It’s only us here now, so it should be relatively private. Why aren’t you
talking?

I didn’t want to think of Uncle Two as a bad person. In fact, I was always
reluctant to. If he really was a bad person, then I figured this situation was a
little too big to handle.

634
But if Uncle Two was coerced and couldn’t tell us clearly what he wanted to
do when he planned to fight back, then he would warn us with all kinds of
details. He would go to extremes to give us details warning us that the game
was set up to kill us and to let us know what had happened. That way, we
could cooperate with his plan.

He wanted to use this plan meant to kill us to communicate with us and let
us cooperate with him to fight back.

I looked at Liu Sang, Black Glasses, and Poker-Face, suddenly feeling a little
touched. Shit, is it possible that you understood and realized it long ago? You
just couldn’t say anything because you didn’t know what tasks Uncle Two
assigned to you or what the others’ details were.

Uncle Two asked each of us to do what we should do. Poker-Face was

responsible for keeping us alive, but what was Black Glasses responsible for?
And Liu Sang? Xiao Hua? Me? Bai Haotian?

I felt goose bumps break out all over my body and said, “I think we should
die a good death. We have to die.”

635
Chapter 182
There was silence in this small space for a while and the atmosphere
became very subtle.

No one raised any objections, was surprised, or wondered what I was talking
about. Everyone was silent after they heard me speak.

It showed that they understood, but I couldn’t figure out what they were
thinking. Did they think I didn’t believe that Uncle Two was running things
behind the scenes, so I came up with a flimsy excuse for him? Or did they
have the same idea as me, but couldn’t discuss it directly in such a crowded
environment for fear of destroying Uncle Two’s plan?

This silence made my heart beat very fast, but it wasn’t out of nervousness.
It was an indescribable excitement. This was the subtlety of Uncle Two’s
game. The key point of the game was that a possibility existed without any
theoretical support, but our intuition still started to lean towards it anyways.

Everyone had their own ulterior motives for being here, but Bai Haotian was
the only one who looked a little panicked and awkward. She suddenly went
from being an outsider to someone who was squeezed into a small space
with so many legendary characters. Shortly before that, she lost her job,
fought a battle, got kidnapped, and was then thrown off of a cliff that was
highly toxic. She was definitely in the same state of mind I was in so very
long ago: life was like a roller coaster that had done more than twenty
loops. People were bound to throw up no matter how calm they were.

The “Scarsong” accompaniment(1) seemed to be ringing in my ears, and

everyone’s eyes looked erratic as the music played.

(1)
I think it’s this one. It’s apparently adapted from the theme song to the 1978 movie “Halloween”

636
At this time, Uncle Two was very close to how the old Mystic Nine was back
in the old days. Indeed, exploiting human nature to such an extent was
utterly indescribable.

I asked myself several times—even I didn’t even believe myself—if I was

making up excuses for Uncle Two, but I finally came to a conclusion. I also
knew that no one else could come to this conclusion, either. I believed that
Uncle Two was protecting us because I knew him better and I also knew that
this terrible situation wasn’t in line with his minimalist style.

And such a strange game couldn’t only rely on guesses. When Uncle Two
wanted to kill us, he would secretly give us a clue that had insights into his
real thoughts. This clue would be very well hidden, so it wouldn’t be any
kind of secret code. But it would have to be something that many people
who knew him well would know that he would never do.

For example, in my eyes, this very complicated game was effective but
lacked Uncle Two’s typical style. He could obviously kill us more easily, but
he didn’t. It was like insisting on driving in a zigzag when you were on a
straight track. People who didn’t know Uncle Two wouldn’t be able to find
it.

In that case, I needed to look back over everything that had happened
before. What was his purpose in sending me to Warehouse Eleven? What
was Bai Haotian’s purpose? Uncle Two kept stopping me from coming, but I
ended up coming anyways. And his resistance changed my team’s
composition.

I looked at Bai Haotian. Was this girl a key? I then looked at Liu Sang again.
In fact, from a variety of logical standpoints, was it inevitable that all of
these people would appear at the bottom of this valley? We couldn’t enter
the calling spring but finally entered the valley from here. Moreover, Black
Glasses and Poker-Face just so happened to be at the bottom of the valley.
Was it also inevitable?

637
Based on this theory, some things had become clearer and Xiao Hua should
be in the safest position. He had probably discovered Uncle Two’s clues and
sorted them out earlier than me. He was a player who was aware of the
situation, so I needed to study his actions very carefully. That way, I might
be able to deduce a lot of possibilities.

Fatty was in a very dangerous situation right now, because he had deviated
from Uncle Two’s plan. Black Glasses and Poker-Face were here, probably to
save us. This meant that the second path was the one Uncle Two wanted us
to take, but Fatty had taken the first path, so it would be very dangerous.

All of us here should be on the right track. Jiang Zi Suan’s appearance

must’ve been a bug in the whole process. It was something Uncle Two didn’t
expect, but if I were in his shoes, I would also try to get rid of Jiang Zi Suan
and see how things were going.

I looked at Bai Haotian again. My instincts were telling me that my role was
to bring her here.

I still didn’t see anyone talking, so I asked Black Glasses, “By the way, how
did you know that we would come down from the cliff?”

638
Chapter 183
Black Glasses said slowly, “With the second route, the royal poinciana is just
above the cliff. If you look carefully, the cliff at this position isn’t as high as
other areas. Moreover, people aren’t in the habit of looking around again,
so they’d start climbing near the bottom of the royal poinciana.”

It didn’t sound like an inevitable choice, but I felt that Black Glasses’ answer
was a little perfunctory. This wasn’t the real reason.

So, was Black Glasses’ “role” to wait for us at this position?

Leaving aside all the unexpected events, I figured Uncle Two wanted me to
bring as many people down as possible. Jiang Zi Suan and Xiao Hua meeting
Boss Jiao may all be considered unexpected events, so only our ragtag group
made it down here in the end. But at this time, we had no other choice but
to continue.

I didn’t ask any more questions, because I knew that if everyone had the
same mentality as me, then we couldn’t talk about Uncle Two’s scheme.
That way, it eliminated the possibility that it would be revealed. In the end,
we could only cooperate by tacit understanding. At this time, we had to
discuss the topic directly and test each other before we could communicate.

Black Glasses handed me a cup of hot water, and I said firmly, “No matter
what, we have to save Fatty first. Then we can lead Boss Jiao’s people here.
Since there’s poisonous gas in the calling spring and they also have to enter
from there, they probably brought protective equipment. We have to use
our advantages here to snatch the equipment.”

“They have protective equipment and we’re running around naked in

poisonous gas. What are our advantages?” Liu Sang asked weakly. “Is it low
IQ, so it’s not as painful to die?”

“What about your fur clothes?” I asked. “They can resist gas, right?”

639
Black Glasses shook his head and laughed, “Nope! Sorry, they can only last
for five minutes. We got all the food here when it rained. See?” He moved
one of the grass coverings aside, revealing a pile of fish laying behind it.
Hundreds of them had been strung on branches and preserved using smoke.
“We dig a few holes in the ground when it rains heavily. The fish come in
when the stream rises, and after the water recedes, the fish are easy to
catch. The fish are delicious. Would you like some?”

“So doesn’t this mean we’re trapped? What did you mean when you said
that the plan can be implemented now that I’m here?” I asked him.

Black Glasses looked at Bai Haotian, “You’re from the Bai family, correct?
How long can you hold your breath?”

Bai Haotian looked at him in horror and didn’t answer. “Just tell the truth,
we’re not bad guys,” Black Glasses said.

“Not for a minute. I didn’t bring my bathing suit,” Bai Haotian eventually
replied.

I interrupted Black Glasses, “Explain it clearly.”

Black Glasses used a stick to draw lines in the mud, “This is our position, this
is the cliff, and this is the stream. We can reach the stream in five minutes.
There’s an underground rest station fifteen hundred meters away from this
stream. This rest station has a narrow underwater passage leading to it. I
used ash from the fire to make a gas mask. That, added with my goggles,
allows me to breathe in the water three times without dying. Since it’s a
distance of fifteen hundred meters, you can only breathe three times. You
definitely can’t breathe a fourth time with this kind of gas mask.”

“Can’t you make more?” I asked.

“The problem is that you don’t have time to replace it. You only have three
chances to breathe. What I want to do is make a mud sack and put you in it.
We’ll rush to the stream and throw you into the water. Then you’ll use those
three breaths to swim to the next rest station, which is only three hundred

640
meters away from the calling spring’s exit. We’ll teach you how to make
these fur clothes so you can make them yourself and enter the calling
spring. There’s a cement room in that place that must’ve been built by the
spies back then. When we get there, I’ll tell you the next phase of the plan.”

I was a little baffled as I listened, but Black Glasses suddenly looked at me,
“You also have something to do. If you two cooperate, we can get out of this
predicament.” He then looked at Liu Sang and added, “You only need to do
one thing to cooperate with us: tell us when it’ll rain.”

641
Chapter 184
After Black Glasses finished, the three of us looked at each other. None of us
knew what he was talking about. After waiting for a while, Bai Haotian
quietly said, “I’ll never go into the water without a swimsuit.”

“My shorts are pretty big. I can cut a three-point style for you,” Black
Glasses said. “I’ve lived alone for a long time and my hands are very skillful.
What style do you want? Victoria’s Secret is more popular recently. I can
even sew a hem for you.”

Bai Haotian shook her head firmly, “No!”

Black Glasses looked at me and asked, “Who is this? She has no manners at
all. My underwear was limited edition back in the day.”

Have you ever been poor enough to sell plain underwear? I asked myself.
What was it called? “Black Glasses’ Original Brand”?

“Can you be more specific about what I need to do?” I asked him. “And what
does Liu Sang need to do?”

Black Glasses shook his head. “I can’t say what you have to do now, but I can
guarantee that my plan has a high success rate.”

Bai Haotian grabbed my hand and said to Black Glasses, “If you don’t make it
clear, our Little Master Three won’t do it.”

We couldn’t see Black Glasses’ eyes because of his sunglasses, but he looked
at Bai Haotian’s hand and laughed. Poker-Face on the side suddenly sat up
straight and Black Glasses looked back at him, a little dumbfounded.

Liu Sang finally spoke up, “Master Black, the three of you have gone through
so many life and death situations over the years that you all have a tacit
understanding. Do you mean to say you don’t think the two of us can be
trusted?”

642
Bai Haotian looked at Liu Sang, “You definitely can’t be trusted. That guy
told me when I was kidnapped that you were telling him Little Master
Three’s position the whole time.” She then looked at Black Glasses, “The Bai
family has been good friends with the Wu family for generations. I’m now
Little Master Three’s apprentice, so he’s recognized me. You can trust me.”

Black Glasses smiled and looked back at Poker-Face. “Just knock them both
out,” I said to Black Glasses. “Fatty’s almost pickled cabbage by now. We
don’t have time to be sentimental.”

Actually, I already knew what trick Black Glasses was playing since he had
taught me this skill before. He felt that something was off with one of these
two people. Although Liu Sang’s previous actions were reasonable, they
were still malicious. And what Bai Haotian said just now didn’t sound
problematic, but I didn’t know what Black Glasses had discovered when we
were unconscious.

Black Glasses sighed and then suddenly rushed over and grabbed my neck.
As he pretended to press on the back of it, I immediately acted like I had
fainted. I heard Bai Haotian exclaim and Black Glasses immediately said,
“Don’t panic. He’s not Wu Xie.”

643
Chapter 185
As I lay on the dry ground, I heard Bai Haotian let out an exclamation and
Black Glasses say, “Don’t panic. It’s normal that you wouldn’t be able to
tell.”

I listened to Bai Haotian move as if she were cowering in the corner—she

must have been very confused—and Liu Sang cried out, “What are you
doing?”

Black Glasses said, “You all have probably heard some things about Wu Xie
back in the day. In fact, when he came back that year, the Wu family always
suspected that the one who returned wasn’t really Wu Xie. They believe he
was switched with a fake.”

“Does the Wu family eat shit? How could they possibly get this wrong?” Liu
Sang asked. “But even if the Wu family made such a mistake, Little Brother is
a member of the Zhang family. He’s very familiar with bone contraction, so
do you honestly think he would make such a mistake? What kind of trick are
you trying to pull? Stop messing around.”

Black Glasses paused for a few minutes and then said, “Well, you’re right. I’ll
tell you the truth. The two of us are being coerced. We’re blocking people
from coming into this valley and killing however many show up. We must kill
everyone except for Wu Xie.”

Black Glasses is really good at bullshitting, I thought to myself. Since he uses

the same tone when he’s telling the truth and lying, it really makes people
second-guess themselves.

But Liu Sang didn’t seem to believe him at all. “Then why bother saving us?
If you had just left us alone, we would’ve died faster.”

“The person threatening us hasn’t contacted us for a long time. We don’t

know what’s going on and are just waiting for his next instructions. I need to
know if he sent you here to give us some news,” Black Glasses said very

644
sternly. “Now, we need to check our code phrases to see if they match. If
they do, you’ll know what I’ve said isn’t a lie and you can tell us what our
next instructions are. If the codes don’t match, then I’ll take care of you right
away. You two are no match for me, so sorry in advance.”

Liu Sang didn’t answer. I couldn’t see his expression, but I figured he had to
have a puzzled expression on his face.

Then, Black Glasses suddenly said, “She passed the salley gardens with little
snow-white feet(1). Please give the counter verse.”

Liu Sang still remained silent, so Black Glasses turned to face Bai Haotian in
the corner, “Friends in the corner are also allowed to answer first. Our
secret code has a total of eleven verses, so any one of them can be used for
authentication.”

Still silence.

Black Glasses said quietly, “I’ll count down from three. Three—when I reach
one, I’ll start killing so don’t blame me if you’re innocent—two…”

At this time, I didn’t believe that Black Glasses’ words would actually work.
First, I still trusted these two people a lot. Although they both had problems,
it wasn’t like they were big problems. Second, Black Glasses’ tone wasn’t
serious at all, so no normal person would fall for it.

But before Black Glasses said the next word, Liu Sang unexpectedly said in
English, “But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.”

Black Glasses clapped his hands together, “Sure enough, why didn’t you say
it from the start? What’s the situation right now? We’ve been guarding this
place for so long. Why did it take you such a long time to come here?”

“I wasn’t aware that you two were also pieces in the game,” Liu Sang said.
“But I didn’t expect you to be able to say the code phrase.”

(1)
This was spoken in English and taken from the poem “Down By the Salley Gardens”. Link here.

645
Chapter 186 Start Again
Author’s shameless statement:

Because I was drunk one day, I woke up the next day and found that I had
deviated too far from the previous plot. I originally wanted to force it back
on track, but a few days later, I found that the plot was too far from the
main setting. That meant that there were some irreversible changes to the
plot, which changed the main action line of the story. When the plot
progressed yesterday, it was impossible to turn back to the main storyline
and adhere to the consistent spirit of prioritizing quality. So with today’s
update, I’ll jump back to the main storyline directly. People may not
understand it, but that doesn’t matter. You probably wouldn’t have
understood it anyways.

In addition, I would like to tell everyone that because of the limited time and
difficulty with editing the network serialization, the restart of this edition
will definitely be revised into the second edition in the future. Old readers
who are familiar with me know that the first network serialization of my
novels is very different from the second refined edition, and even the
second edition can be different from the final version of the physical book.
Even good poems need to be proofread, and good texts need to be edited. I
hope everyone can continue to have fun while reading repeatedly.

Today’s chapter is the beginning of the return to the main storyline. Some of
the interrupted parts will be deleted directly, and some will have to be
supplemented with your own mind.

<><><><><>

Heavy rain fell in the valley, finally dispersing the poisonous gas. We all
came out from the bunker, only to find that the air felt abnormally stuffy.
There weren’t any birds in the woods, the wind blowing through the trees
was missing, and everything looked a bit strange.

646
As we continued moving forward, Fatty kept talking nonstop, wondering
why such a place hadn’t been discovered until now. No matter where you
went in the world, any so-called “no-man’s land” deep in the mountains and
forests was all fake. Travelers and backpackers had walked through them
thousands of times. But this place was full of poisonous gas, so if some
people came here by mistake and died directly in the woods, then all kinds
of rescue teams would come and it would make headlines a hundred times
over.

I was also puzzled by this matter. The only explanation I could come up with
was that this place wasn’t usually like this.

When we were in the west, Tamu-Tuo was called a city of rain because it
would only appear when it rained. But that turned out to be utter nonsense.
It didn’t matter whether it rained or not, that thing was still there.

But all the mysteries should be solved today. This valley wasn’t that big and
Thunder City should definitely be here.

When we were in the bunker before, I saw countless bodies that belonged
to the people who had listened to thunder in the past. People who seemed
able to hear the secrets in the thunder would eventually be driven by the
strange desire to come here. But when they got here, they all died. Was this
place a death trap? For example, God didn’t want us to understand thunder,
so he added a safety device in our brains. If anyone understood the secrets
in the thunder, this device would be activated and people would
automatically come here to die.

Then what about our group of people? We didn’t understand the thunder
but still came here to die. Did that mean we were eagerly helping to test
whether the trap worked? Were we like a warranty?

“Thunder City” was so mysterious that my heart beat wildly as I walked

forward. I was especially afraid that there was nothing in the depths of the
forest., but if there was something, what would it be? This excitement of the
unknown made me breathless.

647
We trudged through the woods for two hours and got soaked in the rain.
Finally, I found that the trees in front of us had changed.

These trees were tilted at varying degrees as if they had been hit by
something, but they weren’t broken.

As we passed through the area, I looked towards the middle of the forest
first. There was a huge open space there that had a ten-meter-high mound
of dirt piled on it. There were about six or seven of these mounds, and some
sparse trees were growing on them.

“Grave mound?” Fatty murmured. “This… This… It’s a big tomb.” He looked
at me, “Mr. Naïve, it looks very complete. This isn’t Thunder City, this is
Leigudun(1). Your Uncle Three wants us to inherit these graves.” As he said
that, he started to walk towards them.

I frowned. I had never seen such a complete mound of soil before. Based on
how the trees were growing on the graves, these mounds must have been
here for quite a few years. There was so much rain here that the soil
should’ve been washed away, but these mounds were very complete.

Fatty hit the mound with a shovel and it made a loud noise. After digging for
a bit, I saw that there was bronze inside.

“What’s this?” Fatty squatted down.

Black Glasses went over, “This is the top of a tower. There are many towers
buried under here.” As he looked up at the mountains around us, I glanced
at Poker-Face and found that he was also looking at the mountains. Black
Glasses looked at Poker-Face and then at me, “There are words written
here. Come and take a look. If it is what I think it is, then this place is really
incredible.”

(1)
In 1978, archeologists found Marquis Yi of Zeng’s tomb in Leigudun Community. A lot of artifacts were
found (Wiki Link here). Fatty was making a joke because the “lei” in Leigudun is pronounced the same as
“thunder (lei)” in Chinese.

648
Chapter 187
I squatted down and saw a line engraved on the piece of bronze that read:
“Eastern Mahayana Golden Banner Ancestral Tower”(1). It seemed to be
related to Buddhism, but I hadn’t studied it all that deeply.

I was waiting to hear what Black Glasses had to say, but Fatty spoke up
before he could say anything, “Is this an ancestral tower of Eastern
Mahayana?”

“Do you know something about it?” I asked him.

“What’s it say?” Fatty got excited and turned to Black Glasses, “Do you think
this Eastern Mahayana is that Eastern Mahayana?”

Black Glasses nodded, “It should be. Who would create such a fake?”

Seeing my confused look, Fatty explained to me, “This was a huge cult
during the Ming Dynasty. At that time, it was called the Eastern Mahayana
Sect throughout the whole country. In Fujian, it was called the Jin Chuang
Sect or Jin Tong Sect(2). In the very beginning, this cult was focused on
alchemy and set up elixir towers deep in the mountains all over the country.
During the Qing Dynasty and Republic period, it began to collect money and
participate in politics. Later, most of them were wiped out, but the sect still
exists in many places.”

“In its heyday, the Jin Tong Sect conducted a lot of activities across the
country and would set up headquarters that they called immortal
mountains. Since “Ancestral Tower” is written here, it must’ve been a very
large venue for their activities. It looks like there are some towers and
immortal palace halls buried underground here,” Black Glasses added.

(1)
Mahāyāna is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. It’s
considered one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and was developed in India. Info here.
(2)
The pinyin stands for “Golden Banner” and “Golden Child”, respectively. I was only finding info on the
Chinese Wikipedia page here. According to this, it’s a sect that departed from the eastern “Great
Vehicle” proliferation of Luoism in the 16th century and adopted features of the White Lotus tradition.

649
“But what does that have to do with listening to thunder?” I asked. “Why do
people come here after hearing thunder?”

Everyone was silent, which made it obvious that they didn’t know. Black
Glasses suddenly laughed, “You’re quite studious.”

“The Jin Tong Sect focused on alchemy and spells, with their ultimate goal
being immortality,” Fatty said. “But the modern Jin Tong Sect seems to be
doing cash loans.” He seemed to realize that he had said something he
shouldn’t, so he immediately changed the subject, “If you want to be
immortal, you have to be struck by lightning and overcome the catastrophe.
Look at the top of this bronze tower. It’s probably meant to attract
thunder.”

I sighed in my heart. Fatty must’ve borrowed from a loan shark recently.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about someone forcing him to pay back
the money. As for the Jin Tong Sect, I also remembered some things at this
time. I still had some common sense, so I knew that the Jin Tong Sect was
around during the Wanli period(3) of the Ming Dynasty when the smelting
technology was very developed. The bronze on top of this tower was
obviously not the bronze used at that time, but should’ve been from an
earlier period.

If Uncle Three and Yang Daguang had also been here, then it was very likely
that the Song Dynasty murals in Yang Daguang’s ancestral tomb had come
from here. Were these bronze towers from the Song Dynasty? If I
remembered correctly, the Jin Tong Sect had been inextricably linked with
the Luo and Mahayana Sects during the Northern Wei Dynasty. In particular,
the Mahayana Sect in the Northern Wei Dynasty continued on until the
Northern Song Dynasty(4), where it reached its peak. This sect had a few
sayings about the Barren Ghost Mother that basically became the model for
later cults.

(3)
Wanli is the reign name of Ming emperor (1573-1619)
(4)
Northern Wei Dynasty was from 386-534 and the Northern Song Dynasty was from 960-1127

650
At this time, I had a flash of inspiration, but I didn’t say it aloud. During the
Ming Dynasty, there was a Taoist priest named Dai Mingshuo(5) who wrote a
strange book that seemed to be a mix between a novel and a record. In that
book, he wrote about a place called Wusheng Temple, which was said to be
the ancestral home of the Barren Ghost Mother(6). It could only be seen
when there was thunder in the sky. In other words, it only appeared when
there was a clap of thunder.

The cult’s ancestral halls were always ratified, since it was impossible to
build one directly. They would find some clues from legends that matched
with some of the ancient temples, and if they could make reasonable stories
out of them, they would repair the temples before publicizing them. The
bronze here was very old, so were they ancient towers from the Song
Dynasty that were discovered by the Jin Tong Sect later and renovated into
ancestral towers where alchemy was performed?

If so, then why did they choose this place to renovate the ancestral towers?
Did these ancient towers correlate with the natural phenomenon that
occurred when the poisonous fog dispersed after the thunderstorms here?
Or did they have something to do with the legends of the Barren Ghost
Mother?

We would only know once we went in.

Our group started looking around for any grave robbers’ tunnels. Fatty
warned us that if there really were bronze towers underneath, then the
structure under our feet was actually very fragile and we couldn’t just blow
it up randomly. I told him that he was the only one who would randomly
throw explosives here, so he should just worry about himself.

We were all experts, so it didn’t take long to find the grave robbers’ tunnel.
It was covered in woven cattail mats and hidden under some weeds. Fatty

(5)
Idk about a Taoist priest, but I found this painter guy here that seems to fit the Ming Dynasty timeline.
One of his paintings is on the “related objects” tab if you want to check it out.
(6)
“Wusheng” (无生) can mean barren or unborn.

651
wanted to shove the mats aside, but Black Glasses suddenly said, “Wait, let’s
discuss it first.”

652
Chapter 188
This team was full of problem children. Since we were friends, I was very
familiar with their routines, but their behaviors and habits were all varied.

Fatty was a naturalist and often said that he was a cat man. I laughed at him
and said that if he was a cat, then he would be Garfield(1). But he actually
was very similar to a cat. He wanted to eat whenever he saw food and
escape whenever he saw danger. If he saw food and danger at the same
time, he would see which one was the closest to him and deal with it first.

But Black Glasses was a snake man. Even though he liked to mess around,
you couldn’t treat him like a fool. Whenever snakes are in danger, they’ll
spit out the food they just ate in order to stay at peak condition. In other
words, cats like to mess around when there’s danger because their reaction
speed is fast enough. But snakes place top priority on anything that registers
as danger. Black Glasses definitely paid more attention than Fatty.

Liu Sang was a meerkat, since staying alive and watching Poker-Face were
his only life goals.

So, when Black Glasses said that we should discuss it first, I could easily
understand what everyone’s thoughts were. Fatty was already thinking
about going down, while Black Glasses probably wanted to ask us to take
some measures that Fatty thought were unnecessary. By the time Black
Glasses looked up, Fatty was already untying the rope and saying to him,
“Let’s hear what you have to say.” But his hands were already reaching out
for the grass cover.

Black Glasses held his hand down. “This whole time, we haven’t been able to
figure out what the historical system behind listening to thunder is. In fact,
it’s hard for this group to hide these kinds of clues. The words “Jin Tong
Sect” have never appeared before, but they’ve suddenly appeared here
now. I figure all those corpses we saw before were Jin Tong Sect disciples,

(1)
Garfield is an orange tabby from the famous American comic strip. Info here.

653
but it’s hard to believe that no texts or rumors have been leaked out. Wu
Xie, your Uncle Three experienced so many things in the past, and even you
were able to find so many things about the Wang and Zhang families. But
you’ve never heard your Uncle Three mention this kind of thing before.
Don’t you think it’s a bit odd?”

Fatty nodded. “That’s why we should go down right now. Based on our
experience, it’s better to just go down and take a look. We’ll be able to
come up with more ideas. Of course, I’m not saying we should be reckless.”

“Actually, before coming here, Uncle Two asked me to check out a nearby
village,” Black Glasses said to him. “People in this village have been mute for
generations. I stayed there for a while, and I think I discovered something
about the village. Many generations ago, people in this village thought that
they had the ability to listen to thunder. They could talk when they were
born, but after the baby heard thunder for the first time, they all became
mute. The villagers thought it was God punishing them for being able to
understand the thunder.”

Fatty pulled his hand free and looked up at the sky. “You mean to say that if
you know the secret after listening to thunder, you’ll become mute?”

“The situation in that village is more complicated than you can imagine,”
Black Glasses replied. “But what I wanted to mention was that people in that
village will die suddenly if they go more than ten miles from the village.
They’re trapped in that place and become mute when they hear thunder. If
the thunder itself has a protection mechanism that we don’t know about,
then we may be hurt if we learn the secrets in the thunder. So, if we go
down now, we need to discuss it carefully. It won’t be worth it if we all
become mute.”

People couldn’t escape thunder. In fact, everyone would experience thunder

some time in their life. I looked at Fatty. It was rare for him to be scared
after hearing what Black Glasses had to say.

654
“Why didn’t you say anything about that village before?” I asked Black
Glasses.

He grinned and suddenly looked a little embarrassed, “Hey, it involves a

private matter.”

655
Chapter 189
Under my questioning, Black Glasses reluctantly talked about what had
happened in that village. There hadn’t been a chance to talk with him about
Uncle Two’s plans, so we exchanged a few sentences.

Time was short and Fatty kept scratching his head the whole time, so the
chat wasn’t very detailed. Basically, when Uncle Two investigated the local
folk customs, he found a village in southern Fujian where the villagers had a
disability that ran for several generations. They checked the water and soil,
but couldn’t figure out what the cause was. Even the local government’s
attempt to relocate them was fruitless. Since the village was located at
several possible centers of the South Sea king’s tomb that Uncle Two had
investigated, he hired Black Glasses to go there and investigate.

When Black Glasses went there, he met a team who was filming a TV
documentary. He had a few conflicts with them, but I didn’t know the
specifics since he didn’t elaborate on this part. All he would say was that the
leader of the documentary team was a woman who didn’t like him very
much. Black Glasses found a lot of traces of the South Sea King’s tomb there,
which was very similar to what we had seen before. For example, there
were totems of the eyes we had seen in the murals and thunder god statues
scattered in the village’s ancestral halls, stables, and along some stone walls.

Black Glasses thought that people in this village either participated in the
construction of the South Sea King’s tomb, or were the remnants of the
West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country. The sign language and writing system the
villagers used were different from those outside, so they could hardly
communicate with outsiders. The stone mortar in this village was very old
and was probably left over from when the tomb was built.

Either the people here had entered the underground river system of the
West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country, or these things had been moved out of
there a long time ago. Black Glasses believed that there had to be some
clues in the village, but the most important question was whether these

656
people’s muteness was related to their ancestors entering the West Sea’s
Falling Cloud Country.

Based on what I had heard, the second possibility seemed more likely.

After some investigation, he found that there was a special ceremony in the
village. Since it was inevitable that the babies would become mute after
they heard their first thunderstorm, every newborn underwent a special
ceremony in the village on the night that it thundered. Black Glasses wanted
to attend the ceremony and film it for information but was ultimately
denied.

He tried every means to get into the ceremony, and found that its real
purpose was to put a silver ring into a gap on the baby’s head. This way, the
baby’s skull couldn’t be closed and a cavity would eventually form.
According to the locals, the children couldn’t leave the village if they didn’t
do this. Only people with this skull cavity could leave.

Black Glasses also found that when it started to thunder that day, it was like
the villagers were experiencing a nightmare. Everyone stopped what they
were doing and listened to the thunder.

This was exactly what had happened when I saw Boss Jiao’s team in the
woods before.

The documentary team’s leader thought that it was a foolish old custom, but
Black Glasses felt that there had to be a reason for it. After all, no one could
leave even though the natural environment of the village was so bad. They
checked through countless resources and found the only exception in the
village’s posterity examination. There was a girl who was born when the
village was suffering from a three-year drought. By the time the first
thunderstorm came, she had already grown up and her skull had closed, so
they could no longer implant the silver ring.

When she was three years old, she encountered the first thunderstorm of
her life on the way to herding cattle. Not only did the thunderstorm not

657
render her mute, but it also made her see a strange sight, thus revealing the
mysterious centuries-long truth behind Mute Village.

658
Chapter 190
According to the girl, when she first heard the thunder at that time, she
actually saw the thunder.

This description was very interesting. Seeing thunder… no one had ever
described it in this way. Fatty asked if she saw lightning and wondered if she
wasn’t all that skilled in language and literature.

Black Glasses told us that in the girl’s description, she saw the thunder
rushing towards her like a bunch of waves. The only thing she could do was
escape, but the waves swallowed her again and again, driving her to a valley.
In that valley, she saw all the waves rushing towards a crevice in the
mountains. With nowhere left to run, she eventually rushed into the crevice.

When she went in, she saw that it was a site where ancient alchemy had
been practiced. There was the cast-off skin of a Daoist immortal in the cave,
along with murals that depicted the immortal carving mountains and
opening holes in the local people’s skulls to teach them.

She spent the night in the cave. When she woke up the next day, she didn’t
become mute and she wouldn’t die if she left the village. Black Glasses
believed that this village had such a stubborn disease because it was the
deliberate act of this immortal. This person set up a trap to keep people in
this village until they died so that he could cultivate.

Black Glasses went into the depths of the cave and found that there were a
lot of bronze reeds attached to the cave walls, which went deep into the
mountain. He also found that in the murals depicting the immortal carving
the mountains, there were also many excavated caves that had a lot of
reeds in them. They were exactly the same as the ones we saw in Yang
Daguang’s ancestral tomb.

So, Black Glasses took the villagers to blow up several of the surrounding
caves. Amazingly enough, when it thundered again, the villagers no longer
looked at the sky or entered a nightmarish state.

659
We sat down and Fatty touched his chin, “In other words, the villagers’
situation was caused when the thunder resonated with the mountains.”

“If bronze reeds are implanted in the mountain and thunder resonates with
them, a specific sound wave will form. So, this kind of thunder resonates
with people who have holes in certain parts of their skulls and makes them
confused?” I wondered, feeling like something was wrong.

According to this theory, Boss Jiao’s people who went into the mountains to
listen to thunder weren’t actually looking for thunder but using the thunder
to look for a mountain with bronze reeds in it.

There must’ve been reeds buried in the mountains around the valley, so
when thunder sounded at that time, those people in the valley would be
caught up in a nightmare.

That immortal must’ve been one of the Jin Tong Sect’s leaders, but I didn’t
know which faction he was from. So, did that mean Boss Jiao wasn’t aiming
for information in the thunder, but looking for the Jin Tong Sect’s ancestral
hall? Did this ancient cult leave all of its treasures in the ancestral hall? If so,
then Uncle Three’s text message and Yang Daguang listening to thunder
back then were all done for these treasures.

It fit with Uncle Three’s usual routine, but I didn’t think it was right because
the thunder on the tape was exactly the same as the thunder I had heard in
Hangzhou. Logically speaking, the probability of such a coincidence hardly
needed to be calculated, but it did happen.

Thunder was definitely problematic. Otherwise, Uncle Three wouldn’t have

needed to go to the South Sea King’s tomb to find information about
listening to it.

Fatty saw that Black Glasses was done talking, so he said, “Black Glasses, you
said so much but all it really boils down to is that we might have a nightmare
and become mute if we go down. What’s your conclusion?”

660
“Look at the sky. It may thunder later. We’re now in Thunder City, so I don’t
know what will happen after it thunders. But whatever happens, it must be
related to the bronze tower under our feet,” I helped Black Glasses relay his
conclusion. “The top of this tower is made of bronze, which is very suitable
for sound transmission and attracting thunder. If it does start thundering
after we enter, we may encounter unspeakable danger so we need someone
to stay up top in case we need to be rescued. As for the ones to go down, I
think it should be me and Fatty. You and Little Brother have already been
pioneers once. It’s our turn.”

“I think it should be Fatty and Mute(1),” Black Glasses said. “He doesn’t need
to talk anyway. Fatty, you’ve talked so much in the first half of your life that
it should be good to talk less in the second half of it.”

(1)
Yes, Black Glasses called Poker-Face “Mute”.

661
Chapter 191
In the end, Fatty and Poker-Face took the lead. As it turned out, we were
just easily scared because of what had happened before we got here.
Fifteen minutes after they had gone down, they signaled that it was safe. If
Poker-Face said it was safe, then it was absolutely safe, so we went down
the rope.

There was a complete ancient pagoda(1) inside the earthen mound. The
interior was well preserved because all of the tiles and wooden structures
were covered in a layer of bronze. There were only a few small clusters of
fungi in several places, indicating that the humidity still leaked in. The whole
ancient pagoda was made of wood, which was only covered in a layer of
varnish. It was almost oxidized now, so the old wood color was showing
through. We dropped down to the top floor of the ancient pagoda, where
there was a small room with three statues enshrined inside. I didn’t know
what material the statues were made of, but it had to be organic since the
statues were covered in mushrooms. Fatty said that they might be decayed
human remains, but we couldn’t tell by their shapes.

Poker-Face jumped on the crossbeam and sealed the entrance we had just
come through, plunging the area into darkness. As we all turned on our

(1)
I’ve been using “tower” the past few chapters, but the character “塔” can mean
pagoda/tower/minaret. Since a pagoda is technically a tiered tower with multiple eaves, I’m not going to
go back and change it, but just wanted to warn you that I’m using pagoda and tower interchangeably. A
few pics of what some might look like:

662
flashlights, we could smell sulfur in the air. I wondered if the bottom of the
tower ran deep underground and connected with the crevices deep in the
earth. Was this smell the earth’s gas rising up from deep in the rock
stratum?

There was a layer of moss-like things on the floor that were dark green and
slippery, but they wouldn’t pose any danger since we could see them with
our flashlights.

As I looked around carefully, my flashlight swept past the layer of moss-like

things and illuminated a plaque hanging on one of the pagoda’s horizontal
beams. The gold paint on it was peeling off and the words “Qingyang
Calamity” were written on it.

Everyone else in the group was puzzled, but I was secretly elated. I finally
knew something they didn’t. I was a little surprised to find that everyone
observed it for a while, but no one was asking any questions.

Upon seeing that they were about to go down, I coughed and said loudly,
“Wonderful! Oh wise brothers, please take a look at this plaque. This
‘Qingyang Calamity’ is one of the Jin Tong Sect’s three calamities that mark
the end of times. It’s part of their basic teachings. They divided the end of
the world into three phases: the Qingyang Calamity, the Hongyang Calamity,
and the Baiyang Calamity. The first phase started with Fuxi and lasted for
one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six years before it ended during the
Zhou Dynasty. This was called the Qingyang Calamity.”(2)

Chinese people often said that any event that occurred on the ninth would
be chaotic, and this started with the Qingyang Calamity. At that time, they
determined that there would be nine calamities, which were called the

(2)
This whole paragraph is based on the “Three Suns Doctrine” which is basically a doctrine talking about
the end of the world. It’s found in some Chinese salvationist religions and schools of Confucianism. A
higher being divides the end of time into 3 stages, each of which is governed by a different Buddha sent
by the Mother to save humanity: the “Green Sun” (qingyang) governed by Dīpankara Buddha (aka lamp-
bearing Buddha), the “Red Sun” (hongyang) by Gautama Buddha, and the current “White Sun” (baiyang)
by Maitreya. Fuxi is a legendary Chinese emperor (trad. 2852-2738 BC) and mythical creator of fishing,
trapping, and writing.

663
“Dragon-Han Water Calamities”. A flood was sent out every nine years, and
according to the basic doctrines, this was in line with the Ghost Mother’s
nature. In my opinion, this was merely something that was compiled from
Chinese mythology and some Indian scriptures.

But based on this, the three rotten statues probably represented the lamp-
bearing Buddha, Fuxi, and the Golden Mother of Jade Lake(3).

These were the Three Gods of Salvation that the Jin Tong Sect believed
would save them during the Qingyang Calamity. Although in today’s time,
they would be more like the Avengers. But back then, Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Taoism weren’t separated, and ordinary people didn’t
understand.

I did a rough analysis and figured that the main structure of this pagoda was
divided into three levels. The level below us should be the Hongyang
Calamity with three of its own salvation gods, and at the very bottom should
be the Baiyang Calamity.

I was hoping that everyone would give me approving looks, but they
completely ignored me and walked down the decaying stairs very carefully.

The structure of the second floor was very strange. It was much higher than
the top floor we were just on, and actually looked to be twice as high. Fatty
went down and searched unscrupulously. The plaque on this floor was in the
same position as the other one, but it was too high for me to see clearly.
When I shined my flashlight at it, I initially thought that I was right, but after
I looked, I saw that the words weren’t “Hongyang Calamity”.

Rather, it was three words: “Qian Dashu Calamity”.

“What you’ve said is wrong,” Fatty said. “Let me tell you. This next floor isn’t
Hongyang Calamity, either.”

(3)
Basically a fancy name for “Queen of the West”. I think it’s her goddess name or something. Info here.

664
At this time, I saw that Black Glasses’ face wasn’t quite right. I looked him in
the eye and realized that he also knew what these three words meant.

Qian Dashu was a unit of measurement in ancient China. In essence, it was

an incomparably large unit of measurement that was approximately 10524291
(long scale) and 1075 (mid-scale).(4)

With me being a college graduate and Black Glasses being a returnee, we

beat the other two in this field.

Here’s a list of China’s measurement system, which might make it clearer(5):

10524291 (long scale) 1075 (mid-scale): Qian Dashu [“千大数”, thousands of

large numbers, quattuorvigintillion]

10524288 (long scale) 1072 (mid-scale): Dashu [“大数”, large numbers,

trevigintillion]

10262144 (long scale) 1068 (mid-scale): Wuliang [“无量”, immeasurable, one

hundred unvigintillion]

10131072 (long scale) 1064 (mid-scale): Bukesiyi [“不可思议”, unfathomable,

ten vigintillion]

1065536 (long scale) 1060 (mid-scale): Nayuta [“那由他”, myriad,

novemdecillion]

1032768 (long scale) 1056 (mid-scale): Asengi [“阿僧祇”, incalculable, one

hundred septendecillion]

(4)
I left the pinyin “Qian Dashu” because “Thousand large numbers” sounds stupid in this context.
Characters are “千大数”. The large and mid-scale thing is basically different naming systems for integral
powers of ten which use some of the same terms for different magnitudes. Example: “one billion”
means one thousand millions in the short scale, while it means one million millions in the long scale. Info
on the scales thing here.
(5)
The whole thing is basically China’s system of using Chinese characters to represent numbers. Kind of
like spelling out numbers in English (e.g., “one thousand nine hundred forty-five”). See end of chapter
for rest of note.

665
1016384 (long scale) 1052 (mid-scale): Henghe Sha [“恒河沙”, Sands of the
Ganges River, ten sexdecillion]

108192 (long scale) 1048 (mid-scale): Ji [“极”, extreme, quindecillion]

104096 (long scale) 1044 (mid-scale): Zai [“载”, to carry, one hundred
tredecillion]

102048 (long scale) 1040 (mid-scale): Zheng [“正”, positive, ten duodecillion]

101024 (long scale) 1036 (mid-scale): Jian [“涧”, mountain stream, undecillion]

10512 (long scale) 1032 (mid-scale): Gou [“沟”, ditch, one hundred nonillion]

10256 (long scale) 1028 (mid-scale): Rang [“穰”, abundant, ten octillion]

10128 (long scale) 1024 (mid-scale): Zi [“秭”, billion, septillion]

1067 (long scale) 1023 (mid-scale): Qian Gai [“千垓”, thousand boundaries,
one hundred sextillion]

1066 (long scale) 1022 (mid-scale): Bai Gai [“百垓”, hundred boundaries, ten
sextillion]

1065 (long scale) 1021 (mid-scale): Shi Gai [“十垓”, ten boundaries, sextillion]

1064 (long scale) 1020 (mid-scale): Gai [“垓”, boundary, one hundred
quintillion]

1035 (long scale) 1019 (mid-scale): Qian Jing [“千京”, thousands, ten
quintillion]

1034 (long scale) 1018 (mid-scale): Bai Jing (E) [“百京 (E)”, hundreds,
quintillion]

1033 (long scale) 1017 (mid-scale): Shi Jing [“十京”, tens, one hundred
quadrillion]

666
1032 (long scale) 1016 (mid-scale): Jing [“京”, large numbers, ten quadrillion]

1019 (long scale) 1015 (mid-scale): Qianzhao (P) [“千兆 (P)”, quadrillion]

1018 (long scale) 1014 (mid-scale): Bai Zhao [“百兆”, one hundred trillion]

1017 (long scale) 1013 (mid-scale): Shi Zhao [“十兆”, ten trillion]

1016 (long scale) 1012 (mid-scale): Zhao [“兆”, trillion]

1011: Qianyi [“千亿”, one hundred billion]

1010: Baiyi [“百亿”, ten billion]

109: Shiyi (G) [“十亿 (G)”, one billion]

108: Yi [“亿”, one hundred million]

107: Qianwan [“千万”, ten million]

106: Baiwan (M) [“百万 (M)”, one million]

105: Shiwan [“十万”, one hundred thousand]

104: Wan [“万”, ten thousand]

103: Qian (K) [“千 (K)”, one thousand]

102: Bai [“百”, one hundred]

101: Shi [“十”, ten]

100: Yi [“一”, one]

10-1: Fen (d) [“分 (d)”, one tenth]

10-2: Li (c) [“厘 (c)”, one hundredth]

667
10-3: Hao (m) [“毫 (m)”, one thousandth]

10-4: Si [“丝”, silk/thread/trace/iota, ten thousandth]

10-5: Hu [“忽”, neglect/overlook/ignore/suddenly, one hundred thousandth]

10-6: Wei (μ) [“微 (μ)”, one millionth]

10-7: Xian [“纤”, minute/delicate/fine, ten millionth]

10-8: Sha [“沙”, sand/powder/granule, one hundred millionth]

10-9: Chen (n) [“尘 (n)”, dust/dirt/earth, one billionth]

10-10: Ai [“埃”, dust/dirt/angstrom, ten billionth]

10-11: Miao [“渺”, vast/distant and distinct/tiny or insignificant, one hundred

billionth]

10-12: Mo (p) [“漠 (p)”, desert/unconcerned, one trillionth]

10-13: Mohu [“模糊”, vague/distinct/fuzzy, ten trillionth]

10-14: Qunxun [“逡巡”, to draw back/to hesitate, one hundred trillionth]

10-15: Xuyu [“须臾”, in an instant, quadrillionth]

10-16: Shunxi [“瞬息”, in an instant/twinkling/ephemeral, ten quadrillionth]

10-17: Tanzhi [“弹指”, a snap of the fingers/short moment/in a flash, one

hundred quadrillionth]

10-18: Chana (a) [“刹那 (a)”, brevity/in an instant, quintillionth]

10-19: Liu de [“六德”, Six Virtues, ten quintillion]

10-20: Xukong [“虚空”, void/hollow/empty, one hundred quintillionth]

668
10-21: Qingjing (z) [“清净 (z)”, peaceful/quiet/tranquil/purified of defiling
illusions (Buddhism), sextillionth]

10-24: Niepan Jijing [“涅槃寂静”, Nirvana’s Tranquility, septillionth]

In ancient China, the smallest unit was called Nirvana’s Tranquility, while
Qian Dashu represented a huge number. If this floor wasn’t Hongyang
Calamity, then was it a Dashu Calamity?

If this was the case, then each floor of the pagoda represented a calamity
that was arranged in ancient Chinese units of measurement.

Black Glasses and I immediately went to the next floor, which was one level
higher than the previous floor. The plaque said: “Dashu Hong Calamity”(6).

Black Glasses and I looked at each other. Based on this arrangement, how
many floors does this tower have? I wondered to myself.

If this was the case, then this setting illustrated the infinite expansion of the
three traditional calamity phases. In other words, the people who built this
pagoda believed that there were still thousands of calamities that took place
in the world before the earliest Qingyang Calamity. And they listed every
calamity floor by floor here.

****

Continuation of TN Note 5: There are characters representing the numbers

zero through nine, and other characters representing larger numbers such
as tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on. Wiki link to better explain it is here
(we’re in the “large numbers” part of the article). Baidu says the system can
also be called “Ganges Sand” because it’s a Buddhist expression used to
indicate an incalculably large number. I think the author copied/pasted the
list of numbers from the Baidu article here. I’m not really sure how to
transcribe it in English, so after the “mid-scale” part, I put the pinyin,

(6)
Again, “Dashu” (大数) means “large number”. Hong (宏) means “great/magnificent/macro
(computing)/macro-“. I don’t know what number that’s supposed to be though.

669
Chinese character, direct English translation of the Chinese character, and
then what I think the actual number is in English based on this. Those
single letters in the parentheses on some of them are SI prefixes symbols
(you know, like how “K” means thousand). Hope that helps.

670
Chapter 192
Black Glasses’ flashlight swept across this level’s wooden walls, revealing a
bunch of slippery-looking things. When we walked over, the people above
came down. I told them our thoughts while Black Glasses used his hand to
scrape away the layer of things on the wall, revealing the mural behind. “The
style of this mural is the same as the ones I saw in Mute Village,” he said to
us. “The corpse of that immortal that was found in the cave in Mute Village
really belonged to the Jin Tong Sect. That village also started to become
mute during the Ming Dynasty. The cult at that time really did unscrupulous
things to become immortal.

There weren’t many details on the Jin Tong Sect’s esoteric teachings in the
historical records, but if we looked at it like this, things gradually became
clearer.

If the Jin Tong Sect’s method to becoming immortal was to listen to thunder,
then one of their leaders may have come to Mute Village at that time to find
a way to enter the South Sea country’s underground river system. Many of
the villagers used to fish in the underground river in the past, so they knew
all about the water system. That was why the cult leader chose this village
and controlled the villagers by drilling holes into their skulls. Maybe he was
trying to get help as he searched for the secrets that could be heard in the
South Sea country’s thunder, so he created such a strange custom in the
village.

If that was the case, then this place should be the Jin Tong Sect’s ancestral
hall and everything they had found and learned about listening to thunder
should be in these towers.

My cursory analysis indicated that the Jin Tong Sect’s leaders may have
discovered that there were secrets in the thunder and learned about the
legend of the West Sea’s Falling Cloud Country by consulting ancient texts.
They thought that this was a shortcut to becoming immortal, so they came
to Fujian and preached on the side while searching for the West Sea’s Falling

671
Cloud Country. The leader that stayed in Mute Village was one of these
people. Eventually, one of them finally entered the West Sea’s Falling Cloud
Country and got the secret to listening to thunder.

It was possible that these ancestral towers were built as part of the West
Sea’s Falling Cloud Country at that time, or they were built by the Jin Tong
Sect’s disciples themselves. Were Boss Jiao’s people who had holes in their
skulls and listened to thunder part of the modern Jin Tong Sect? Was Boss
Jiao related to this cult?

The reason why we were so confused this time was because we kept feeling
like we didn’t know where to check. In other words, we didn’t know the
history behind listening to thunder.

I took a deep breath.

Fatty calculated the height of the tower on one side based on my earlier
statement. He did it more than a dozen times, but he couldn’t do it in the
middle. “Based on what you’ve said, we have to hurry up,” he said to me.
“The tower appears to go deep below the rock stratum. It may take half a
month for us to reach the bottom since we’re occasionally stopping and
looking around. And as you can see, when you go to the next level, the
Buddha statues form a larger circle and the floor is a little higher. The
bottom level might as well be a hundred meters high. How can we get down
when we reach it?”

“There was no such thing in the ancient Chinese institutional system. China
was very particular about their standards, so only local cults could do this
kind of thing without following proper specifications,” I said.

“This is a sky tower,” Poker-Face suddenly said. We all looked at him.

Have you seen something like this before? I thought to myself. It suddenly
occurred to me that when I expressed my knowledge before, no one
responded at all. Why did everyone instantly turn to look at him as soon as
he said something?

672
Maybe fewer words had more of an impact.

We waited for Poker-Face to explain, but all he said to us was: “Everyone,

walk in my footsteps.” With that said, he ignored us and went down.

Black Glasses glanced at me and made a “let’s go” gesture. I sighed. As our
group followed after Poker-Face and started to move down quickly, Fatty
shouted from the back, “Say a few more words, Little Brother. I’m still a
child and can’t stand the suspense. What exactly is a sky tower?”

673
Chapter 193
Black Glasses turned and whispered in Fatty’s ear. Fatty was shocked,
“Tianjin custard tart? Who the fuck are you kidding? Even if Tianjin custard
tarts are considered a specialty, they should still be called Jinta.”(1)

In the dark further ahead, Poker-Face knocked twice on the wooden wall
with his hand, which was the knocking code for “be quiet”. Fatty
immediately shut up and glared at Black Glasses, who grinned.

The stairs appeared one right after another, and many parts had rotted and
collapsed, revealing the stone beams below. Well, I say we were walking on
stairs, but we were actually walking down these stone beams. There wasn’t
a railing, so we could only lean towards the wall.

After going down a few floors, we were in a position where the smell of
sulfur was stronger. I was very familiar with this kind of smell, but Fatty had
probably never been to a place like this. We all started to slow down, but
Poker-Face was very fast and nimbly went down like a cat, leaving a
footprint on every step. None of us dared to even go half a step outside of
his footprints.

As we moved past the floors, I found that the height of each floor was three
or four meters higher than that of the previous floor. After going down
about ten floors, not only wasn’t there any light, but we couldn’t even hear
the rain above. Moreover, the sulfur smell in the air was so strong that we
couldn’t detect any other smells. There were more and more turns on the
stairs, so it would definitely take us a long time to reach the bottom floor.

The plaques on each floor were exactly what we had expected. Every floor
represented a calamity.

(1)
The pinyin for Sky tower (天塔) is Tianta. Tianjin (天津) is a municipality in northeast China. Jinta (津
塔) is known as Jin Tower, the Tianjin World Financial Center skyscraper (a.k.a. the Tianjin Tower)

674
The statues on each floor were also getting bigger and bigger. Since they
were further down, they had less contact with the fungal spores outside and
appeared less corroded. When Poker-Face stopped again, we were on the
stairs in the middle of a thirty-meter-high floor. We pointed our flashlights
below, but the bottom was still very deep. When we moved our lights to the
side, we saw a tall statue on this floor.

The statue on this level had hardly decayed, and it only took one look before
we realized why the ones on the upper levels were so corroded.

They were made using human skin. It was the exact same technology that
was used to make the leather figurine woman. The statue on this floor was
about half a story high, so I didn’t know how many people’s skins were used
to create it. Since the statue’s features were faded, we couldn’t see what
kind of god it personified. Now it just looked like a blank piece of ceramic
before the color had been added.

There was only one statue on this floor, which seemed to indicate that the
financial resources were insufficient at the time.

The temperature on this level had increased a lot, and the humidity was also
very high. We saw a layer of yellow scabs all over the walls, so I knocked
some off and found that it was sulfur.

“We’ll rest here,” Poker-Face said.

When he looked down, Fatty said, “Little Brother is ensuring that

earthquakes haven’t damaged the structure.”

As Poker-Face illuminated the area below with his flashlight, we could see
that the bottom of this level was somewhat unusual. “What is it?” I asked
him. “Why are we resting in mid-air like this? These stairs are very weak.
Although there are stone beams fixed inside them, won’t there be problems
since they’re so old?”

Poker-Face pulled out a cold firework and threw it down. As the light fell to
the bottom, a strange ripple suddenly appeared and we all heard a splash.

675
It was water.

The cold firework slowly sank into the water until it was finally submerged.

We looked at each other. Fatty touched the sulfur on the wall with his hand
and murmured, “Hot spring?”

He looked at us and then started to slowly take off his clothes. I knew what
he wanted to do; he wanted to jump directly into the water. I immediately
grabbed him. Although the water was deep, we didn’t know how hot it was.
If Fatty is instantly cooked after he jumps down, should we eat him or not?

“Look carefully.” Poker-Face drew our attention, and our eyes immediately
looked down again. After the cold firework sank deep into the water, it
revealed a circular black shadow. There was something at the bottom of the
spring.

676
Chapter 194
“What the fuck is that?” Fatty asked softly. “A tortoise?” I watched silently
as the cold firework fell on the shadow. But it was too far away and
separated by water, so the light was very dim and I couldn’t see it clearly.
From this angle, the spring and the black shadow under the water formed
the shape of an eye.

It was probably just a stone in the spring, but Fatty had sharp eyes and was
squinting at it. “Can you see the edge?” He asked. “This thing isn’t a whole
piece, but seems to be many things stacked on top of each other.”

None of us could see it.

“The exciting moment is coming again, my friends,” Black Glasses suddenly

said. “Take out your weapons.”

We opened our backpacks and pulled out our weapons, which consisted of
hastily-made maces and spikes made of sharpened branches. We were just
like a bunch of primitive people, but it was much better than going in naked.
We all looked at each other, a little dispirited. In this state, we wouldn’t
even necessarily win a campus fight. If there were zombies down there, they
would think we didn’t respect them.

But the temptation of the hot spring was too great, and it was so hard to get
here that it made it even more impossible to give up. Poker-Face took the
lead and we continued down, slowly getting closer and closer to the bottom
of this floor.

The temperature was higher and the air was more humid. To be honest,
after living such a harsh period as a savage, this hot spring was just like a
five-star hotel suite. It suddenly made me feel tired.

As Poker-Face looked around for a while, I noticed that the floor beneath us
was completely rock. Those who built this place back then may have really
wanted to create an architectural wonder where each floor was higher than

677
the previous one, but this required a huge amount of manpower and
material resources. By the time they got here, I figured they had given up.

Everything here was covered in a thick layer of sulfur. Poker-Face slowly

straightened up, which made us think that he was relaxing his guard a little,
but he just waved his hand and we went down again.

Black Glasses mouthed at me, “He’s showing off. Don’t disturb him.”

When Poker-Face looked back at him, he gave a thumbs up and made a

finger gun gesture. Poker-Face pulled another cold firework out, threw it
into the water, and then leaned over the edge to get a look.

The rest of us leaned over as well, finally able to see clearly. As the cold
firework sank and slowly illuminated the shadow below, we saw that the
bodies of countless children were submerged in the water.

These children were all dressed in ancient clothes, their faces were blue and
yellow, and there wasn’t any sign of bloating on them. They were just like
statues. There was layer upon layer of them, which made it impossible to
count how many there were.

“This cult was crazy.” Fatty mouthed as he shook his head.

I sighed in my heart. These children’s corpses ranged from three or four

years old to six or seven years old. They had obviously been processed, but
some of them hadn’t been done well. We could see that they had shrunk
into an empty and strange animal-like skin sac. I looked at the children’s
clothes and realized that this pool may be a pill furnace. I didn’t know what
kind of insidious spells were used, but pills were probably refined here.(1)

(1)
Western alchemy is different from Chinese alchemy so here’s a Wikipedia article on Chinese alchemy.
Pill furnaces are like old-timey ovens to create pills and elixirs. They fall under “outer alchemy (Waidan)”
on the Wiki article. Some pics are here.

678
At this time, we also noticed that there were strange white ribbons on these
children’s bodies. They had been completely stained yellow by the sulfur
and went into the deepest part of the spring.

“What are those?” Fatty asked.

Black Glasses mouthed, “Those may be tails.”

“Tails?” Fatty’s mouth widened in surprise.

Black Glasses said, “Jin Tong Sect was also called Wenxiang Sect(2). It was
said that Wenxiang Sect was founded by Wang Sen of Shifokou, Luanzhou,
Hebei Province. When he saved a fox, it cut its tail off and gave it to him. The
tail had a strange scent.”

Poker-Face turned his head, “No. They were using the children to fish in this
pool.”

(2)
Wenxiang can mean “incense smelling”. The only good info I could find is here.

679
Chapter 195
Fatty couldn’t hide his shocked expression, “Fishing? Fishing with children?
What were they fishing for?”

As the cold firework went out slowly, the children below disappeared into
the darkness, leaving only the light from our flashlights. I pointed my
flashlight at the pool, but I couldn’t see clearly since the water was too deep
for the light to penetrate.

I sighed, scratched my head, and looked at Poker-Face, who was still looking
at the water. “Is there really something in the water that would eat
children? But the children are still there, so is it just a cult superstition?”

Poker-Face started another cold firework and Fatty immediately said, “Little
Brother, take it easy. We’re on an entrepreneurial venture this time. There
aren’t that many cold fireworks. I still have three here and Wu Xie still has
two, but that’s all we’ve got.”

Poker-Face obviously had a purpose this time. He waited, pointed the cold
firework at a certain position, and then threw it down.

This time, the cold firework slowly sank against the edge of the spring and
fell to a deeper place next to one of the child corpses. We could see that
there was something on the wall of the spring below the child corpse. It was
a huge arch that stretched across the bottom of the spring and appeared to
have been carved from stone. Poker-Face said, “These children’s corpses
were soaked in something while they were in immense pain. These people
were using the children’s corpses to catch that thing and poison it.”

Black Glasses touched the water with his hand. “The water temperature
here is fine. Could it be some kind of fish?”

“These child corpses are still here, which shows that the thing is very smart,”
I said. “But why use children? If it was an animal, couldn’t they just use
pork?”

680
According to the ancient legends, virgins or women were used as sacrifices
to worship Hebo(1), while men were used as sacrifices to worship the gods of
war and agriculture. But offering sacrifices was usually done in fear and awe
of the gods. The sacrifices here were meant to poison the thing below, so it
might not have anything to do with ordinary sacrifices.

“Wait a minute,” Fatty said. “In my hometown, I heard several Taoist priests
say that when bridges were built in the past—especially large bridges—
children were used as sacrifices. There are very few rituals that require child
sacrifices, so do you think that thing under this spring is a bridge?”

We took a closer look at the arch and found that it really was a bit like a
stone bridge. There were dark shadows on both sides, which seemed to be
caves.

“Can the bridge god even be poisoned and killed?” Fatty asked Poker-Face.
“Did you remember wrong? Your memory isn’t good after all.”

Poker-Face glanced at Fatty, and I thought he meant to say: You can go

down. But Fatty didn’t understand at all and pulled out a detonator, “There
are many things that can’t die from poison, but I haven’t seen anything that
can’t be blown up yet. If you think there’s something below, let’s fish it up
again. But this time, we’ll use the detonator to get rid of it. Even if there is
something below, it should’ve died long ago since it’s been so many years.”

“You just said that you’re still a child, so we’ll leave it up to you,” I said to
him.

Black Glasses looked up, “When they were building this tower, they must’ve
come upon the spring water here. They wouldn’t have stopped and would
have certainly continued building, but the rock layers would make it very
difficult to excavate. It’s possible they used the stone bridge below to
continue digging in another direction. We haven’t found anything yet, but

(1)
Hebo is a river God associated with the Yellow River

681
there were more earthen mounds earlier. Should we go up and switch to
another one?”

The cold firework’s light gradually faded.

At this time, all of us suddenly saw that there was a splash in the water and
ripples appeared. Something seemed to have fallen from the beams higher
up and landed in the pool.

Then, there were two or three more “drip, drip, drip” sounds and three
more ripples appeared. When we moved our flashlights and looked up, we
saw a huge thing hanging on the ceiling.

682
Chapter 196
When we came down just now, we stopped looking at the plaques and thus
didn’t pay any attention to the beams. We didn’t realize that there was such
a big thing hanging there, but now that we had looked up and seen it, we
were covered in a cold sweat.

This floor was too high, so when we pointed our flashlights up, we could
only tell that the thing looked like a big bell with a lot of things stuck on it.
They seemed to be spells and paper money. I was amazed at how those
paper-like things didn’t rot after so many years, but after careful
observation, I felt that they seemed to be made of silks and satins. If they
had silver and gold threads woven into them, they could be preserved for a
long time.

“What the hell? Who’s going to ring such a high bell?” Fatty touched the
back of the head. We saw something fall from inside the bell and hit the
surface of the hot spring, sending out ripples. “It’s too hot. Is this bell
melting?”

I squinted. The cold firework had gone out completely by now, so the
water’s surface was out of sight. I swept my flashlight over the ceiling,
thinking that it was quite normal to have a bell in a tower. Black Glasses
whispered from the side, “The twenty-fourth volume of Ekottara Āgama(1)
says: Prince Ānanda flicked his fingers from side to side and immediately
went up to the lecture hall. He was holding a hammer and saying: ‘I’ll hit this
faith-instilling drum today, and all of Tathagata’s disciples shall gather’.”(2)

“What do you mean ‘flicked his fingers from side to side’?”

(1)
An early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant (Taishō Tripiṭaka
125). The title “Ekottara Āgama” literally means “Numbered Discourses”. It’s one of the four Āgamas of
the Sūtra Piṭaka located in the Chinese Buddhist Canon. English wiki here (limited info). Chinese wiki
here (lots of info).
(2)
Prince Ānanda was Buddha’s cousin and his closest disciple. Wiki link here. Tathagata is Buddha’s
name for himself. It has many layers of meaning – Sanskrit: thus gone, having been Brahman, gone to
the absolute, etc.

683
When I asked this, Black Glasses said, “I can’t remember the middle part,
but this is a Brahma bell(3). There seems to be something inside of it.”

Looking at the spells above, it didn’t seem particularly auspicious. It actually

looked more like a kind of burial system, but I had never heard of a hanging
bell burial. Fatty said, “In feng shui, the bell represents termination. Is this
the last level? Are we at the end?”

I gave a noncommittal hum and suddenly thought of something. After

Poker-Face came out of the bronze door, he told me that he had seen the
Ultimate. Did I hear wrong at that time? Did he actually see a bell back then
and was anxious after seeing one here now?

I thought about it and felt that it shouldn’t be the case. But he had never
said this conclusion, and I was too lazy to ask.

After hesitating on whether to go up and have a look, Poker-Face eventually

said, “There are three statues on each floor, but there’s only one on this
floor. It’s not normal.”

I nodded, “This tower’s designer revealed a special kind of fastidiousness. I

think that the bell hanging above, the underwater thing, and this statue are
the three gods of this level. But these three gods may be different from the
ones above. Two of the gods were probably zombies at the time.”

Chapter 197
The logic was very simple. Every level of this tower so far had been all about
idol worship, and gods from various religious myths were used to create
Bodhimaṇḍa(1). But the common people had a low level of education when

(3)
Braham bells can also be called Sanskrit bells. It’s said that by hearing the sound of the bell, people
can open their minds and break free from their worries. Brahman means purity.
(1)
Bodhimaṇḍa is a term used in Buddhism meaning the “position of awakening”. According to
Haribhadra, it is “a place used as a seat, where the essence of enlightenment is present”. Bodhimaṇḍas
are regularly visited by Buddhist pilgrims, and some have gone on to become popular secular tourist
destinations as well. In many forms of Buddhism, it is believed that bodhimaṇḍas are spiritually pure
places, or otherwise conducive to meditation and enlightenment.

684
the Bodhimaṇḍa was made here, so they couldn’t distinguish between the
religious attributes clearly. But it didn’t matter because they would worship
whoever was best. This was also the reason why cults had prevailed for
thousands of years. In essence, it was the inability to control one’s own life.
Countless natural and man-made disasters made people turn to believing in
the power of nothingness.

At least this power wouldn’t turn its back on you. If you had it, you had it. If
you didn’t, you didn’t. With the three pillars of incense(2), you could rest
easy, which was extremely cost-effective.

But when we got here, two strange things suddenly appeared: one was
sealed in the bell that was hanging in mid-air, and the other had sunk into
the water below. There was a threatening aura of wickedness as all the evil
and sinister ghosts of the Jin Tong Sect manifested in an instant. Based on
my past experiences, it had to be a corpse that changed into a zombie.

They were all fake clay idols before, but now there were actual dry and wet
things here, so I was afraid this floor was more important. It was possible
that the floor below this one contained something extraordinary, so that
was why there were “things” here.

And this underwater thing may be uncontrollable, so the Jin Tong Sect
taught people to use this poisoned bait method to get rid of it. But it
appeared to be unsuccessful in the end.

My analysis was perfect, and everyone was deep in thought. If that was the
case, then how could we get into the water? It was one thing to have so
many dead children soaking in the water, but now we were even more
afraid of going down. We couldn’t see clearly underwater, so it wasn’t like
we could come up with countermeasures.

(2)
Three-pillar incense is used to worship Buddha. There are three incense sticks, which mean: precept,
concentration, and wisdom. They can also be considered as offerings to “Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha”.
This person explains in more detail on Baidu.

685
After thinking for a long time, Fatty said, “Why don’t we try another tower?”

No one responded. It wasn’t that we were unwilling to go back, it was just

that the appearance of this level actually showed that we were going in the
right direction. These two things were meant to prevent us from going
down, and they might not even be in the other towers. At least we still had
some time now. If we went back and forth between the towers, the
poisonous fog above might gather again, and I was afraid we’d have to wait
half a month for the next rain.

Time waits for no man.

Fatty saw that no one was responding, so he said, “Then I have a bad idea.
Look, there’s one hanging above and one hiding below. Why hang them so
far apart from each other? I think these two things can’t be put together;
otherwise, those people would’ve hung them next to each other. Do you
think it’s possible for us to knock that thing down and let it fall into the
water? Then we can take a closer look to see whether it’s a dragon fighting a
tiger, or the Old Black Mountain Demon fighting the Xiangxi Corpse King(3).”

Everyone was still silent.

Like usual, a bad idea appeared in my mind. Not only was it bad, but it was
worse than Fatty’s previous ideas. I started to say that we should change to
a different tower, but Fatty told me not to talk and went on, “Let me analyze
it first. If we can’t go down, we’ll have to go to another tower anyways.
What if the next tower is the same? We won’t be able to do anything, so it’s
better to see what’s going on here. If the thing above is Sun Wukong and the

(3)
Old Black Mountain Demon is a character from the 1987 movie “A Chinese Ghost Story”. He’s a black
mountain in the underworld that cultivated into a spirit after tens of thousands of years. He was so
powerful that he was both the king of monsters and the king of ghosts. He also appeared in “Journey to
the West”. Baidu link here. The Xiangxi Corpse King was a Yuan Dynasty general that appeared as an
overpowered zombie in “Ghost Blows Out the Light”. Baidu link here.

686
thing below is the Bull Demon King, let’s withdraw(4). No more listening to
fucking thunder. We should just go home and sing karaoke.”

I looked at Poker-Face, but he didn’t say anything. Black Glasses suddenly

laughed, “This is good, this is good. You can do it, friend.”

“Then let’s go up and stand on the top part of this floor,” Fatty said. “We’ll
remove the spells, break the chains, and then watch the show. If the
situation doesn’t look good, we’ll run up and withdraw. Hurry up. Little
Brother will help. This is a rare life experience, after all.”

(4)
Sun Wukong is the Monkey King from “Journey to the West”. Bull Demon King is a major antagonist of
“Journey to the West”.

687
Chapter 198
We climbed all the way up to the top of the stairs and used our flashlights to
illuminate the huge bell. When we looked closer, it was even more
frightening and huge. There were too many rotten yellow satin strips
wrapped around the bell to count, and they were all covered in spells. The
top of the bell was covered in sulfur that had formed from the sulfur vapor
on this floor.

The bell was so far away from us that we didn’t even have to try at all. It was
completely out of reach. If we had a gun, we could try to shoot the copper
chain off of it, but I looked at the structure with my flashlight and saw that
the copper chain was as thick as my thigh and was hanging on an arched
beam. There was no way ordinary guns would break it. Based on my
understanding of the structure, it was impossible to break the copper chain,
but we’d still have a chance if we focused our efforts on the beam.

Fatty turned to Black Glasses, “Black Glasses, you’ve got good skills. Take the
detonator to the beam, blow the beam up, and then jump back.”

Black Glasses made a gesture, “If you blow this beam up, an accident might
happen. It’s a copper beam with a stone layer on the outer ends and copper
on the inside. And this beam—” I looked at both sides, which were holding
up heavy rock formations. This beam was very important in keeping the
structure of this tower complete. If it was blown up, the rock formations on
both sides would probably collapse.

Fatty nodded, “Ok, I’ll go up and take a look.” With that said, he stood up
and tried to hook the crossbeam, but he had gotten a little fatter recently
and his hands couldn’t reach it. He started to say to Poker-Face and Black
Glasses, “You guys are lame. We have a division of labor here. My
occupation is a tank(1). You can’t accumulate this kind of—”

(1)
I think he means “tank” as in the gaming terminology. Tanks are basically like meat shields in
multiplayer games because they distract the enemy’s attention and draw attacks towards themselves so
the other players can attack. Info here.

688
But before he finished speaking, Black Glasses and Poker-Face jumped up at
almost the same time, stepped on Fatty’s shoulders, and then jumped onto
the beam.

It wasn’t a distance ordinary people could jump. The two of them hung on
the beam with their fingers and then pulled themselves up.

Fatty fell over, rolled down three steps, and started cursing, “You bastards!
You always do this kind of thing to me!”

“Fatty, if something happens later, you’ll take full responsibility,” Black

Glasses said. “Do you accept it?”

Fatty got up, “After looking at your smile, I can tell you’ve been thinking
about it more than I fucking have. Quit messing around and take a look.”

Poker-Face and Black Glasses exchanged a look before carefully walking

across the beam. When they reached the top of the bell, Black Glasses said,
“The copper chain is welded into the copper beam. The beam may not break
even if the tower collapses.” He looked at the copper chain before carefully
climbing along it to the bell.

“There must be a slipknot somewhere,” I said. “Otherwise, it would be

impossible to assemble such a heavy thing at once. Look at where the bell
and chain are connected.”

Black Glasses shook his head and said to me, “Even if there is a slipknot, it
has to be inside the bell.”

After he finished talking, he hung there one-handed so that Poker-Face

could grab his other hand and use him as a rope to hang down the beam and
stick to the big bell. Their movements were so slow and effortless that it was
easy to see that they were very skilled and had a good understanding of
each other.

Then, Poker-Face turned and held his hand out to me.

689
I stared blankly for a moment, taking a second to realize that the bell was
too big. Even with both of their heights combined, the two of them couldn’t
reach the bottom of the bell. He was asking me to jump over.

I looked at the distance and said to Poker-Face, “If you want me to die, you
can just come over and kill me directly. How the fuck do you expect me to
jump over?”

Fatty said to me, “I’ll throw you over. There’s water below, so even if you
fall, you won’t die. You’ll just have to climb up again. Don’t worry, it’s not
your first time.”

I looked down at the bottom—it was pitch black—and said to Fatty, “How
about this? I’ll throw you over.”

690
Chapter 199
Fatty looked at the distance, looked at his stomach, and then looked at me
very seriously, “Mr. Naïve, we have to take it seriously this time. If I fall, do
you still need to blow up this bell? I’ll settle this all by myself. Not only will
the thing below become obedient, but I’ll have two children with it and
make them call you ‘Uncle’ when you come to see me next year.”

This had gotten so ridiculous that I didn’t even want to talk anymore. I told
him that it was the same if I fell down because I’d probably give birth to four
fucking babies.

Poker-Face lowered his hand and looked at us helplessly while Black Glasses
smiled and scolded us, “Don’t mind us, you two just keep messing around.
Mute, let’s go back up and crack some melon seeds first(1). Wu Xie, if you
couldn’t do it, you should’ve said so earlier. We’re going back.”

I looked at the distance and then looked at Fatty before cursing in my heart.
I slapped myself twice and said, “Come on. You better fucking throw
accurately.”

Fatty laughed mischievously and told me that it would be fine. The water
below was deep enough and he had jumped from this height at the
swimming pool every day. When he said that, he told me to stick my butt
out, grabbed the back of my waistband with one hand, and pulled my collar
with the other. I told him to let me take a deep breath first, but before I
finished speaking, Fatty shouted, “Let’s go!”

As my whole body was lifted up and tossed directly into the air, I heard the
sound of my belt breaking. I clenched my teeth and stretched my hand out.
Poker-Face grabbed me and I hit the bell directly with a loud noise.

(1)
Cracking melon seeds is the equivalent of getting popcorn ready. Basically, they’re ready to watch a
show.

691
At that time, my whole body was shaking and I felt as if my brain and the
bell had resonated completely.

Poker-Face was holding onto my wrist so tightly that I felt as if my hand was
going to die.

It took me a second or two to come to my senses, and when I did, I found

that my lower body felt chilly. I looked down and saw that my belt was
broken and my pants had fallen to my thighs. I immediately went to pull
them up with my other hand, but Fatty shouted, “Don’t worry about it! It’s
not like everyone here doesn’t have it! Hurry up!”

I clamped my pants between my thighs to prevent them from falling any

further. At this time, my body was hanging just below the bell and I could
see inside of it when I looked up. I pointed my flashlight up and saw that
there was a huge earthen clump wrapped in satin strips inside the bell. The
strips were woven with gold silk and had spells on them, just like the ones
outside.

There were some raised patterns on the inner walls of the bell that were the
reverse of the patterns on the outside. I grabbed them with my hands and
found that they were quite sturdy. I held my flashlight in my mouth and told
Poker-Face to let go. I hung on with one hand and grabbed them with my
other hand, which caused my pants to fall to my ankles.

I was cursing in my heart as I heard Fatty laughing. When we get back, I’m
mixing dog shit in with those yellow mud snails you like to eat. I’ll make sure
you eat your fill.

I climbed into the bell and found that the earthen clump was only about a
person away from the bell’s inner walls. I climbed to a position where I could
place my feet, my whole body inside the bell now. I looked at the clump and
then yanked off a strip of that gold silk satin and laced it through my belt
loops bit by bit.

I was holding my pants up with one hand and sweating all over as I took my
flashlight out of my mouth and went to check out the earthen clump. It felt

692
like brown sugar, which made me wonder if there was a cup of coffee
below. As I examined it, I found that there were many shell-like fragments in
the mud.

“What’s inside? Is it a big, gorgeous thousand-year-old zongzi with two

fillings(2)?” Fatty asked.

I cursed, “If you want to see for yourself, jump over here. There are lots of
treasures inside. You can consider giving them to your lover below.”

Fatty’s scolding voice came from outside the bell, “You’re the one with a
lover who eats children.”

I examined the earthen clump. Under my flashlight’s glow, it looked

compact and had an oppressive air about it. I subconsciously held my
breath. No matter what was inside, I wasn’t going to give it any of my yang
energy(3).

I climbed all the way to the top of the bell and saw the copper chain’s rivets.
Sure enough, it was a slipknot. As long as it was untied, the bell would fall,
but I certainly wouldn’t have enough time to get out. I had to think of
another way.

I looked around and saw that the dirt clump was supported by some copper
poles, which penetrated into the clump and were fixed to the sides of the
bell. I looked at my flashlight. It was very sturdy and could even be used to
beat the shit out of people. I lifted it up and hit it against one of the copper
poles. There was a loud clang, the copper pole broke, and a crack appeared
in the earthen clump, releasing a foul odor.

(2)
I think this is a pun. “Zongzi” is slang for zombie. It’s also a traditional Chinese rice dish made of
glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. In the West, they’re called
rice dumplings. If it’s not a pun on food, then it might be a pun about porn or prostitutes. I got some
uh…interesting google results
(3)
Yang energy is apparently “masculine” because it’s very active and energetic. I think it can help turn
corpses into zombies or something.

693
Chapter 200
The stench made me cough almost immediately. It wasn’t the rancid smell
of fresh corpses, but more like the huge stink caused by old mold. Fatty
smelled it from outside at almost the exact same moment and started
cursing, “Shit, is this zombie’s sweaty foot sticking out?!” I wanted to retort,
but I couldn’t even open my mouth. My eyes began to ache and I had to
squint as I looked at the earthen clump with my flashlight.

There seemed to be a mass of tanned leather inside the clump, but I didn’t
know what it was. The skin was dull and covered in short, moldy hairs.

I still wanted to take a closer look, but the smell was so horrendous that I
could only use my flashlight to quickly continue smashing those copper
poles.

Every time I hit them, the clump would continue cracking and fragments
would keep falling down. It must’ve been these dirt fragments that were
falling into the water earlier and made us look up. Fatty reminded me to get
rid of the spells first; otherwise, it would limit the player’s performance. If
the thing couldn’t beat whatever was in the water, then the show wouldn’t
be as good.

I didn’t believe in spells at all, but I still loosened the silk satin and kept
smashing. The stench inside was getting stronger and stronger, and I almost
vomited. It really was like sweaty feet, but more like those sweaty feet were
stuck inside my mouth. I was so dizzy that I couldn’t see anything inside the
dirt clump clearly. Fatty shouted from outside, “Mr. Naïve! It’s a biochemical
weapon! A biochemical weapon! Come out quickly, we can’t do it!”

I clenched my teeth and persisted until finally— with the help of the
combined weight of the clump and supporting copper rods— the whole
clump began to crack a lot. As chunks of the earthen clump kept falling, the
leather inside was exposed more and more, revealing a strange animal
carcass encased in dirt.

694
I tried to identify it carefully, but I couldn’t tell what it was. There was a lot
of dirt on its head, but I could see that it was a huge thing that had been
dead for a long time. Its skin had turned to leather and many places had
rotted and worn away, leaving a lot of big holes. There was a layer of black
mold on it that made it look like a giant black-haired zombie, but I knew it
wasn’t.

This thing definitely wasn’t a zombie. Although it smelled terrible, it would

never be a revived corpse. I relaxed and examined it some more. If things
were like this, then it showed that the people who designed this place were
actually just average, and the underwater thing may also be a fake ghost.

As I continued to knock on the bronze poles, I could finally see that they
were actually stuck in this dead animals’ skin. But this thing was very heavy,
so as long as I continued breaking some of the poles, gravity would take
effect and the skin would eventually tear. At that point, the thing would fall
down.

I clenched my teeth as snot and tears were running down my face. But at
this time, I suddenly heard Poker-Face shouting from outside, “Wait a
minute!”

It doesn’t matter if you can’t stand it anymore. Just bear with it, I thought to
myself. Poker-Face lit a cold firework outside and threw it down.

When I looked through the gap, I saw the cold firework fall into the pool and
sink into the water. At this time, I suddenly noticed that the water wasn’t
the same as before.

I didn’t know when it had happened, but all the child corpses had floated up
to the water’s surface. There were many strange bumps on them that were
constantly increasing.

“What’s going on?” I heard Fatty ask.

695
“There’s something in the dirt,” Poker-Face said. “The dirt dissolved when it
fell into the water, and that thing came alive. It’s drilling into the bodies and
eating these children’s flesh.”

I really couldn’t see clearly from this distance, so I looked up at the

remaining dirt. The only thing I saw was those white shell-like things. My
heart thumped and I asked myself, so this huge smelly corpse isn’t the key?
It’s actually the white shells in the dirt clump?

Poker-Face’s quiet voice came from just outside, “We were wrong, let’s go!”
But before he had even finished speaking, the bell suddenly shuddered. The
earthen clump in the middle couldn’t hold up under its own weight and
finally tore off and fell, causing the whole bell to tremble. I gripped the edge
hard, but at that moment, I found that the gold silk satin strip I had pulled
off to make my belt hadn’t actually been torn off completely.

And it was still attached to my pants.

I was dragged into the air in an instant. Before I even had time to think, I had
fallen into the water and smashed into those children’s corpses.

696
Chapter 201 A Task Is Not Done Until It’s Done
It wasn’t that I had never fallen into water from a high place before, but this
time, I fell directly on the child corpses. Although it was better than falling
on cement or rocks, it still felt like I was hit head-on by a car. Fortunately,
the tanned animal carcass dropped before me and pushed the child corpses
away. I didn’t land headfirst in the water; otherwise, my facial bones
would’ve definitely been shattered.

I didn’t know where my flashlight had gone when I fell into the water, but
Poker-Face’s cold firework was almost right in front of my eyes. I grabbed it
and found that there were lumps on the skins of the child corpses that were
all around me. There seemed to be something inside the skin that was
constantly gnawing on the flesh. I immediately used the cold firework to
check my hands and found that they were fine.

While I was still in a state of shock, I found that the dirt was disintegrating
rapidly in the hot spring’s water, and there were many small things that
looked like cocoons or shells inside. Once they were freed from the dirt,
they instantly swarmed the child corpses.

The corpses shrank rapidly as the flesh was eaten up, leaving only a layer of
skin. At this time, I saw a giant corpse wearing golden armor at the core of
these child corpses. It was about two meters tall and was floating in the
water. When I looked closely, I saw that all of the silk and satin strips that
were tied to the child corpses actually led to the giant golden armored
corpse’s navel. They almost looked like hundreds of umbilical cords. I also
saw two words on the giant corpse’s golden breastplate: Daolu General(1).

The child corpses all around me were shrinking rapidly, completely revealing
the face of that giant golden armored corpse. I could see clearly now that
the huge animal carcass from above was actually a horse.

(1)
I left the pinyin for the 1st word since “Road General” sounds kind of dumb.

697
So, these were the corpses of a Jin Tong Sect general and his horse. The
horse was placed in the bell above, while the general was sunk into the pool
below.

I didn’t know where I got the courage—maybe my brain broke when I fell
into the water—but I moved the cold firework towards the giant golden
armored corpse’s face, wanting to see what it looked like. At this time,
someone suddenly fell into the water, grabbed my neck, and started
swimming to shore. I was so frightened that I accidentally dropped the cold
firework.

As I was pulled to shore, I noticed that the giant corpse’s golden armor
quickly oxidized under the cold firework and turned the dull color of tile.

Poker-Face was the one who had grabbed me, and as he dragged me up out
of the water, Black Glasses jumped down and landed on the shore. He was
just about to say something to me when a huge black claw suddenly
stretched out from the pool and dragged him into the water.

As his glasses flew up and landed at my feet, Poker-Face said in my ear, “Go
up!”

He then drew his knife and rushed into the water, but it was so muddy that I
couldn’t see what was going on clearly. I hesitated for a moment, feeling like
this wasn’t a fight middle-aged people could participate in. I figured it was
useless for me to try and persuade them to stop fighting, so I started to
make my escape. But just after I got up, Black Glasses was directly thrown
out of the water and suddenly hit me. He and I smacked into the tower wall
together, the impact enough to leave us dazed for a moment.

He pulled me up. At this time, there were only flashlights and the cold
firework in the water, and his eyes couldn’t see clearly because of the
mixture of strong and weak light.

He covered his eyes with his arm and shouted at me, “Get all the cold
fireworks out!”

698
I knew he wanted to give Poker-Face enough light, so I immediately pulled
out all the cold fireworks he and I were carrying. Once they were lit, I threw
them into the hot spring. As all four fell in a row, I realized that that the
water was too turbulent to see what was going on below. At this time,
something suddenly came flying out of the water and latched onto me.

When I looked at it, I saw that it was a child corpse. It was hugging me like it
was alive, and then it dragged me into the water.

I swallowed two mouthfuls of hot spring child corpse soup before I was able
to surface again. When I did, I suddenly saw the golden armored general’s
huge face right in front of me. His facial features had been painted on with
bright colors, which I hadn’t been able to see clearly under his helmet
before. This giant corpse’s face started to lean towards me, but at this time,
Fatty suddenly fell from the sky and sat on him.

699
Chapter 202
The world’s first atomic bomb was called Fatty. This high-altitude butt
directly pushed the golden armored corpse into the water and flung me
more than two meters away. Fatty emerged from the water with a dagger in
his hand and several child corpses clinging to his body. It was as if the bodies
of these children were alive, because they started to make gurgling sounds.
But Fatty ignored them and used a wrestling move to grab the golden
armored corpse’s neck and shove it into the water.

One of the umbilical-like strips pulled me straight into the water and I
landed with a hard flop. “What the fuck are you doing?” I asked him.

Fatty cursed, “I’m drowning it.”

It’s been soaking in water for at least a thousand years, I said to myself. Why
the fuck are you drowning it? It’s more likely to drown you! Sure enough, the
giant corpse sank deep into the water and Fatty couldn’t be seen anymore.

Water was sloshing everywhere, and then there was suddenly two or three
seconds of silence. It was chaotic under the water’s surface, so only a group
of black, octopus-like things could be seen hovering in the light of the cold
fireworks.

I reached behind me, wanting to grab my knife, but I couldn’t find it for a
long time. I tried to swim back to shore, but the child corpse on my back was
still holding me tightly. I couldn’t swim and I didn’t know what the situation
was, but the corpse’s skin felt like a wet, sticky dumpling wrapper. I was just
starting to feel annoyed when a man suddenly rushed out of the water. It
was Poker-Face. Before I could even say anything, he grabbed my shoulder
and jumped out of the water while shouting, “Blind!”(1)

Black Glasses coughed on the shore and replied, “Coming!”

(1)
Awww, Poker-face calls Black Glasses “Blind” and Black Glasses calls Poker-face “Mute”. Aren’t they
adorable with how unoriginal they are?

700
At this time, Fatty jumped out of the water, riding the golden armored
corpse. He and the corpse were definitely in a very ambiguous position.
Poker-Face stepped on my back, leaped into the air, and yelled at Fatty,
“Neck!”

Black Glasses jumped to three places around the pool and then leaped into
the air, almost causing him to collide with Poker-Face. Poker-Face turned
and stepped on Black Glasses’ back, stretching out as he jumped further into
the air. Black Glasses shouted, “Go!” Flexing hard, Poker-Face leaped with all
his strength and jumped more than three meters high while twisting his
waist.

In the pool, Fatty let go of the golden armored corpse, but his legs were still
straddling its butt. He pulled his whole body back until the corpse’s neck was
revealed and shouted, “Hallelujah!” Poker-Face landed directly on the
golden armored corpse’s shoulders, instantly locked his knees around its
neck, and twisted his waist to the limit.

Everyone heard a loud crunch as the golden armored corpse’s neck twisted
180 degrees. At this time, Black Glasses fell into the water, Fatty rolled over,
and all the water droplets that had been thrown into the air by Poker-Face’s
ascent fell down at the same time.

As everyone fell into the water and quickly surfaced again, I saw that the
golden armored corpse had stopped moving. I was just about to breathe a
sigh of relief when Poker-Face suddenly came up from behind me and
dragged me to shore.

As I was being dragged, I realized that the child corpse was still holding onto
me tightly. On the other side, Black Glasses was also dragging Fatty back to
shore and I heard Fatty saying, “Just fucking wait a minute. I want to take a
selfie first.”

I saw that there were three child corpses holding onto him now. Black
Glasses laughed, “It can wait! Things aren’t over yet!”

701
When the four of us returned to shore, we saw that all of the child corpses—
with the exception of the ones currently on us—had gathered around the
giant golden armored corpse and seemed to be eating it. I shook the child
corpse on my back vigorously and turned to look at it, only to find that it had
practically melted onto my back. Poker-Face scraped it off with a knife and
threw it back into the water. Fatty was also in the same state. When we
were finally free, we all sat down by the spring and tried to catch our breath.

All the cold fireworks had gone out by now, plunging our surroundings into
darkness once more. Only my flashlight at the bottom of the pool was still
on. We could see countless shadows swimming above the light, their shapes
blocking it one right after another.

“Let’s go.” I looked up at the stairs, telling myself that I really wanted to
retire this time. I definitely couldn’t do this kind of work anymore. In any
case, everyone was saved, so it was best if we left quickly. We didn’t want to
worry those who were waiting for us, after all. When we got back, I was
going to eat hot pot and go to the salon to get my hair washed and get a
nice shave.

At this time, however, a huge bubble suddenly appeared on the water’s

surface and we saw two whirlpools appear. Then, the water started to
recede.

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Chapter 203
We got up, carefully poked our heads over the side, and saw that the water
in the spring had dropped to the bottom. I turned over and lay down,
cursing in my heart.

After living for so many years, I finally had the idea of giving up just now. It
wasn’t the kind of indifference that came from staying in Rain Village, but
the real urge to escape after encountering so many difficulties. I just wanted
to close my eyes and endure the humiliation, but as soon as I stopped
moving forward, the path suddenly opened by itself.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

At that moment, I almost wanted to cry. It was impossible to escape.

Sometimes I couldn’t let go, while other times I wanted to, but the universe
wouldn’t let me. I looked up at the darkness overhead and wondered if I
could turn a blind eye. The top of the tower was all black. I couldn’t see
anything at all.

Fatty was quickly taking stock of what equipment we had left. “Fatty, can
you stop for a moment and let me catch my breath?” I yelled at him.

“Whenever you do something, you obviously have to do it in one go without

stopping,” Fatty said from the side. “If you keep trying, it’ll pay off when
things reach a critical point. But if you stop trying, then there’s a chance
there won’t be any more progress.”

Of course, I knew he was right.

When I pulled myself up, I saw that Black Glasses and Poker-Face were
already ready. I waved my hand at them. At this time, my lungs— which
hadn’t been bothering me for a while now—suddenly began to spasm hard.
Then, I started coughing violently.

703
I coughed so hard that I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out. After a
full ten minutes of nonstop coughing, my exhausted body could only twitch.

As Fatty slapped me wildly on the back, I started to cough up something

from my lungs. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt just like cotton wool.

I kept coughing.

Once my spasming lungs had calmed down, I sat practically limp on the
ground. I looked at the cotton wool thing and touched it with my hand.
“What is it? My śarīra(1)?”

“It’s a Qilin blood clot,” Poker-Face said from the side. “You ingested it many
years ago.”

All three of them looked at me like they were looking at a dying man. I
waved my hand, smiled bitterly in my heart, and focused on breathing, only
to find that the humid air entering my lungs felt very painful and it hurt any
time I took a breath. It’ll be fine if I give it a minute, I said to myself. But even
though I tried to breathe carefully, it still felt very painful.

Fatty wanted to help me up, but I couldn’t get up anymore.

At this time, I looked at their eyes and knew that something was wrong.

For a moment, I even felt that this whole thing was a hoax. They were so
anxious to move on. Was it because I was going to die and they actually
wanted to save me?

Was Thunder City actually the key to saving me?

(1)
Generic term referring to Buddhist relics, although in common usage it usually refers to pearl or
crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist
spiritual masters. Info here.

704
Were they afraid that I wouldn’t seek medical treatment, so they used this
method to lure me to Thunder City? After all, when you come to Thunder
City, you’ll encounter great dangers and make those around you suffer.

No, that’s not right. It doesn’t make sense. But why are they in such a hurry?
They’re more anxious than me. Sure enough, many things could only be seen
clearly after you slowed down. You had to look behind others to see the
whole picture.

At this time, I felt as if I had too many thoughts flying through my head. I
wanted to stand up but found that I really couldn’t. Fatty moved to pull me
up, “Come on, Mr. Naïve! There must be a good ending!”

I waved my hand and then grabbed Fatty’s hand. “Wait a minute, Fatty. I
have to say something first.”

“What?”

“Just trust me. I have something to say,” I said to him. “You have to say
something, too. We all have to pour our hearts out here.”

Fatty shouted, “There’s no time! Little Brother’s seen—”

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Chapter 204
Poker-Face stopped Fatty from continuing and looked at me. I ignored
Fatty’s expression and continued, “I don’t want to say anything bad; I just
want to say a few words. I’ll ask each of you a question and you all have to
answer. Then, we’ll set off again and you all can also ask me questions.”

“Ask, my ass. What do you know that I don’t?” Fatty patted his thighs
anxiously, but my mood was very calm.

Black Glasses was off to the side looking for his sunglasses. When he finally
found them, he said, “My apprentice is right. Don’t worry about it. Things
won’t be easy after we go down there, so listening to his thoughts might
actually be valuable.”

I actually didn’t have any ideas at this time. When people were clear-
headed, all problems were problems. But when people were seriously ill, the
only problem they cared about was where the pain was. Any other problems
were too far gone to take care of.

I didn’t know why—maybe it was really like the legends said and you would
have a hunch before you died—but I was suddenly very afraid. I was afraid
that I would really die if I went down in my current physical state.

It was a kind of long-forgotten fear.

I looked at the spring. It could be said that my previous experiences made up

for my lack of physical strength in the past. I felt that the empty spring
looked very dark and strange all of a sudden, but that was probably just
because my body was failing me.

It seems that my luck is really running out. My instincts are telling me to say
my last words.

Fatty thought about it for a moment, sat down, and then heaved a big sigh,
“We’ve gone through so much over the years. It’s not like we’ve always

706
done things in a normal fashion, have we? I haven’t seen you leave anything,
so I thought you were ready.”

“At that time, we were barefoot. But now that we’ve been around for so
long, we’ve got a bit of inheritance. I’m not talking about money; I’m talking
about friendship. Don’t you have anything to say to me? If I really die down
there, are you just going to let me go without saying anything?” I questioned
him.

Fatty lay down. The hot spring’s water was all over the ground, but we were
already wet anyways. “Unlike you, I don’t want to know most things,” he
said to me. “But after thinking about it, you’re right. Everyone listen to me.
That includes you, Little Brother. I know it’s difficult for you. If I end up dead
after we go down there, you only have to do one thing for me: tell the
proprietress of the hair salon next to Wushanju that my death wasn’t
painful. Tell her to stop thinking about me when I’m gone.”

I laughed and said to myself, does she even know you? Why are you so
certain that she likes you back? I had seen that proprietress before and
knew that she would never like someone like Fatty.

Fatty became angry, “What are you laughing at? I know what you’re
thinking! Yes, I know she doesn’t like me, but that doesn’t mean she’ll never
like me. You’ve misunderstood feelings for a long time. In fact, feelings are
the same as making money. It’s like how people who lose money in business
will go bankrupt. People’s feelings will go bankrupt, too. Those who have felt
more will be unable to share their feelings in the future because they’ve
already given so much away in the past. Why, you ask? It’s not that they’re
mature and cautious, they’ve just lost too much emotionally and gone
bankrupt. People from our generation don’t have rich relationships. We’re
completely different from the French and Italians who have accumulated
that kind of wealth over the centuries. Our foundation just isn’t that strong.
So, by the time someone reaches their forties, their feelings have gone
bankrupt. Do you understand how many bad things happened to the
proprietress over the past ten years? She’s long been exhausted, and no
one’s there to help fill in the emotional pit. But I can. After I fill the pit in,

707
she can start loving again.” Fatty became agitated, “If she can like me by the
time that happens, then doesn’t it mean we like each other? It’s a rare thing
in this day and age.”

I didn’t expect Fatty to get so stirred up. But just as I was about to agree
with him, he immediately interrupted me and continued, “Let me finish. Say
you meet someone in your life. You like her and you know what she wants.
If you have what she wants, are you willing to give it to her? If you’re not
willing and you want to keep it for yourself, then doesn’t that mean you like
yourself? You have to understand what it means to like someone. It’s similar
to a ghost. Since a ghost is completely silent, you can’t see it when it comes
or goes. Even if it wanders around for a while, it just something that doesn’t
make any sense. All you fucking know is that you’re being haunted. You
can’t control your feelings at will, either. It’s like asking whether the ghost
will leave you alone. If it doesn’t go, you’ll have to light the three pillars of
incense and treat the ghost properly. If it does go, then you won’t be able to
find a trace of it even if you burn your house down. If you still don’t
understand, let me tell you a story. When a man went to hell, Death greeted
him and said, ‘Congratulations on being the ten billionth deceased. You won
a special prize that can prevent someone from dying. Right now, you have
two choices: you can choose to let the person you love the most die; or, you
can choose to let yourself die. Which one do you choose?’

“The man said without hesitation: ‘I hope the person I love the most will die
for me.’ As a result, the man died when he finished speaking.

“As he fell into hell and shouted about the injustice of it all, Death said to
him: ‘There’s no doubt that you’re the person you love the most.’”

Fatty was on a roll, “So, when you meet someone you like in your life, you’re
willing to give her whatever she wants as long as it’s within your power. If
you’re not willing, then you’ll have to admit that you love yourself more. It’s
just a fact of life, no need to be ashamed. But don’t think that something
cute like this is the only type of human nature out there. There’s another
kind that’s a lot like me. Your fucking luck is bankrupt, Mr. Naïve. Your Wu
family owes too much. Ever since I met you, I’ve fucking treated you like a

708
brother, so I’ll help you fill this pit. Don’t you fucking dare talk nonsense
anymore. You two must think the same as me, so let’s hurry up and go.
Come on!”

Fatty lifted me up and helped me move forward as Black Glasses started

applauding behind us, “Your statement doesn’t have a main point at all, but
you’ve managed to make your arguments sound reasonable. Bravo, bravo.”

I grabbed Fatty and said, “I haven’t gotten to say anything yet. I have
something to tell you. It’s super touching.” But before I had finished
speaking, Poker-Face suddenly came up from behind me and squeezed the
back of my neck, causing me to faint.

709
Chapter 205
I woke up when Fatty splashed water on my face and found that I was on
some stone steps, darkness a mere breath away.

The stone steps were exactly the same as the ones on the upper floors. They
should’ve been covered in wooden stairs like the ones before, but they had
decayed until only the stone beams were left. There was no railing and the
space between the beams was very wide, which made every stride very
painful. If you made even the slightest mistake, you would fall down.

They were charging the flashlights with a hand-cranked generator since all
of the cold fireworks must’ve been used up earlier. Everyone was sweating
profusely, and I found that even I was sweating. This place was very warm—
no, I should say that it was very hot.

I looked up. It was completely dark overhead and I couldn’t see the top at
all. I looked down. It was also completely dark below and I couldn’t see the
bottom.

“What floor are we on?” After waking up from my deep coma, my body felt
well rested and my lungs didn’t feel as painful as before. But it seemed as if
a few pieces of my lungs were missing, which wasn’t particularly
comfortable.

“I haven’t been able to figure it out,” Fatty replied. “We’ve been walking on
this floor for seven hours, but haven’t reached the bottom yet. We really
can’t carry you anymore.”

I looked at Poker-Face and asked him, “What did you mean by that? Why
didn’t you let me say what I wanted to say?”

I was feeling a little angry, but Poker-Face suddenly said very quietly, “I’ve
heard too many similar words before.”

710
I was stunned, but then I suddenly realized that things like last words were
meaningless to someone who was practically immortal. Throughout his long
life, he must’ve heard countless last words. For people like us, our last words
were actually a summary of our life, so they were very important and
sacred. But for him, they were merely the last words of people he had some
experiences with, and whose lives were too short.

In fact, there weren’t that many different types of people in the world. After
experiencing so many things, I found that there were about a dozen
different types out there. Even in ordinary social relationships, it was very
difficult to find someone who shared the same birthday as you. In a
multinational company that employed twenty thousand people, the
president would issue greeting cards to hundreds of people in the system
every day. It was true that people didn’t fit into just one type of group, but it
wasn’t like they were infinitely complex, either. If you lived long enough, you
would see people with the same character appear again and again in your
life. If you didn’t want to be bored, you would have to constantly change
yourself.

So, were there categories of last words just like there were categories of
people? Even if my last words were meaningful to me, were they just
something that fell into a common category? Was that why Poker-Face
chose not to listen to them at that time?

It was such a tragedy.

Black Glasses laughed on the side, gave the generator’s hand-crank a hard
shake, and then said to me, “Do you know what the final outcome is of
those great last words?”

I shook my head, and Black Glasses said, “They’re forgotten.”

I wanted to refute, but Black Glasses continued, “You haven’t seen that
many dying people, but I have. Those who are dying should strive to live well
in the present. Healthy people like to sacrifice today in hopes that there will

711
be a better tomorrow, but in fact, every day is unique. You have to take it
seriously.”

“Why do you all have the same mindset?” I covered my face and cursed in
my heart, knowing that what I wanted to say meant nothing to them.
Although it didn’t sit well with me, I also knew that they were right.

They were all saying that there was nothing significant about death.

I got up and followed them down. “This level is ridiculously high,” Fatty said.
“We don’t have any cold fireworks, so we can’t measure the distance now.
But if it goes on like this, my head’s going to be spinning and I won’t be able
to walk to the end. If we continue, we’re going to fall down eventually.”

“Is it thundering above?” I asked.

No one answered at first, but Fatty eventually said, “Even if it was, we’re so
deep that we can’t hear it.”

I asked Fatty to explain in detail. All three of them were smart, but when it
came to knowledge and memorization, Black Glasses wasn’t as good as me.
Fatty said that when they went down to the pool, they saw that the small,
shell-like bugs in those children’s corpses had eaten the Daolu General’s
body until only a layer of skin was left. They explored the passages on both
sides of the bridge and found that there were bronze reeds covering both
passages like snake scales. These bronze pieces were very sharp and seemed
to fill the passages that split off from the main ones in all directions like a
maze.

They got lost and eventually came to this tower. Even though this tower
wasn’t the same as the one before, it picked up counting where the last
tower left off. Fatty guessed that this tower was segmented. After we
reached the lower section, we’d have to pass through various complicated
tunnels filled with bronze reeds until we entered another section that was
buried deep underground. This section of the tower was many times longer
than the previous levels, and this particular level seemed to be infinitely
long. I wondered if there really was a “bottom”.

712
My feelings were indescribable, but after thinking about it, I said, “It doesn’t
sound like the typical structure of a tower.”

“You’re the one who said it was a tower,” Fatty argued back.

“Black Glasses, you should be able to figure out what kind of structure this
is,” I said to him.

Black Glasses looked at me and suddenly raised his brows, “You mean to say
that this tower…”

“It’s a huge musical instrument,” I said. “This is a huge sounding device.”

713
Chapter 206
Well, calling it a musical instrument might’ve been a bit much, but the top of
the metal tower, coupled with the different floor heights, was definitely a
deliberate and costly project. Now it seemed that there was a good reason
for it.

I couldn’t help but find myself admiring their faith. Although the Jin Tong
Sect once had its own capital—it was said that the garden pavilions and
kiosks were built just like those in Penglai(1), they practiced alchemy for such
a long time that smoke lingered in the valley, and it was one of the few cults
whose leaders built their tombs with the same specifications of imperial
tombs—this kind of building couldn’t be built without the complementary
geographical characteristics and the support of national power. It was
incredible that they could do it.

Based on the freewheeling architecture, it was a far cry from a common

religious symbol. It appeared that expending every effort to achieve this
level actually had a practical use.

As we continued to go down, it seemed that I had inspired Black Glasses

with what I had said just now. He had obviously thought of something but
wasn’t sure of it yet. He just kept knocking and tapping on the wall, so I
asked him what he was doing. “If it really is related to sound transmission,
then this structure is insufficient,” he said. “The thunder above enters the
middle part and causes the reeds to vibrate. After that, the sound of all the
reeds will weakly be transmitted down. If the structure below is too long,
then we basically won’t hear anything when it reaches our position. At this
distance, the sound must be transmitted through metal. In other words, if
the sound of all the reeds above is to be transmitted to the bottom of this
level, it can’t only rely on this cavity. It should also rely on—”

He looked at the stone wall. “There must be crevices behind these walls that
the metal reeds are covering. They probably go round and round”—he used

(1)
One of three fabled islands in Eastern sea, abode of immortals (i.e., fairyland)

714
his fingers to make a circle and then used his other finger to circle around
it—"in a giant circle around this tower. That way, not only will the sound be
transmitted, but the resonance will be transmitted as well.”

He looked below, “If I’ve guessed correctly, there should be a place to listen
to the thunder. This is a complete thunder-listening device. The four towers
above will eventually converge into this main tower, allowing all the thunder
sounds to gather here.”

I swallowed. Had Uncle Three been here, too? He had asked me to check the
secrets in the thunder, which seemed to be just around the corner.

The further down we went, the more gaps appeared in the middle of the
stone beams. Sometimes there were six or seven stairs with gaps in the
middle of them, so we’d have to take a leap of faith. Every time was
extremely thrilling, but the three of them almost always caught me.

My lungs were becoming more and more painful, but I tried hard to focus on
the present. I was still scared and felt that my life was passing quickly, but
my attention returned to my feet.

After walking down for more than three hours, we still didn’t see the
bottom of this huge pagoda cavity. It almost felt as if this huge abyss was
staring right at me. When we were hesitating on whether to continue or not,
we suddenly heard some dull sounds coming from up above. It was like a
swarm of flying insects was rushing down in the wall.

This sound really was rushing down, because I could clearly feel the exact
moment when it passed by us and rushed towards the bottom of the tower.

The sound was just like dominoes clacking together. As a bunch of echoes
spread throughout the tower cavity, I realized that someone was talking.

I thought it was the thunder at first, but as the sounds came in waves, we
listened carefully and found that someone was speaking. And this speaker
was calling my name.

715
“Wu Xie～Wu Xie～”

As we all looked at each other, Black Glasses frowned and listened very
carefully before saying, “It’s Boss Jiao. His men have arrived. They’re up
top.”

716
Chapter 207
They had finally caught up to us. The time we had gambled for was reduced
to a mere five-hour advantage in the face of their strength. Only five hours. I
didn’t know which tower they came down from, but all four towers would
eventually lead here.

Moreover, I had no idea if the people waiting above had been discovered.

I knew this moment would eventually come, but I actually felt a little
relieved now that Boss Jiao had caught up. I couldn’t help thinking that this
place was suddenly popular, and I had the sudden urge to open a bottle of
beer and wait for them to come for a barbeque.

Fatty looked up and whispered to me, “They won’t be able to catch up with
us for a while. Is there any way to know if Big Hua came down together with
them?”

“With his personality, if he has key information in his hand that he knows is
dangerous for us, then he’ll come down. But if he thinks that Boss Jiao is just
a weakling who’s waiting to be slaughtered by us, then he must be playing
on his phone up top,” I said.

Xiao Hua didn’t know our secret code, which had me feeling a little regretful.
But it wasn’t like our code had a system. Even if I wanted to teach him, I
could only do it by hand. But with how busy he was, it would be strange if he
had time to learn it.

I looked around. It was obvious that Boss Jiao had a master in his team and
they were all well-equipped. And the fact that he could tease me from up
above meant that his team was in good condition. Based on my previous
estimate, in addition to the ordinary guns they were carrying, he may have
several automatic weapons at hand. No matter how powerful and amazing
we were, thirty bullets shot from an AK above us would definitely kill us in
an instant. Probably the only way to survive was to jump from here and
hope that there was another hot spring below.

717
There was absolutely no possibility of a big ambush here, so these five hours
would be a timed race between life and death.

Fatty looked at my expression and reminded me, “Mr. Naïve, they have
enough ropes, so they’ll probably descend quickly. We only have thirty
minutes at most. Let’s go quickly. There’s still a glimmer of hope in the end.”

I cursed in my heart, that’s the gap between rich and poor. I didn’t know that
being poor was such a terrifying thing. It turns out that you still need to have
some money when someone wants to fight you.

I looked down below, but couldn’t fool myself. Even if we reached the
bottom by the time those thirty minutes were up, we didn’t stand a chance
of winning. I looked up above. At the fifteen-minute mark, their cold
fireworks would probably fall and it would be time for us to run for our lives.
At this time, I noticed the back of the stone beams.

If Boss Jiao’s team descended quickly, they definitely wouldn’t come down
step by step. If we could somehow affix ourselves to the back of the stone
beams, they might just pass by us in an instant (unless they looked at the
beams one by one). That way, we would fall behind them and gain a huge
advantage. If we were truly despicable, we could even cut their ropes.

When I told Fatty what I thought, Black Glasses looked at the stone beams
and said happily. “You and I will be fine, but Fatty can’t hide like this.”

Fatty looked at the opposite side, pointed his flashlight over there, and then
said to us, “I can go to the other side.” Based on our previous analysis, there
should be a huge Buddha statue on the opposite stone wall. The Buddha
statue on this level probably had a structure similar to the ones on the outer
pagoda, but it might not necessarily be Buddhist. The flashlight only
illuminated one part of it, revealing a bit of decorative pattern that I wasn’t
familiar with. It appeared to be made of human skin. “Do you think it’s
possible for us to hide inside of these statues? Wouldn’t that also be a great
approach?”

“The question is: How do you get over there?”

718
Fatty patted his bag, “I have Kan Jian’s parachute. There are some big holes
in it, but it’s enough to get me over there.”

“Then how do you plan on getting back?”

Fatty patted his safety hook, “We don’t have a rope, but we still have hooks.
When they descend quickly, I’ll jump on one of their ropes. The tower isn’t
that wide, so no matter where they come down from, I should be able to
glide over and reach it.”

719
Chapter 208
I was convinced by Fatty’s words, so I helped him get the paraglider’s sail
ready. When he took that leap of faith, I thought I would see an angel with
folded wings flying to the opposite side crookedly, but what I really saw was
a weight falling straight down with a flag streaming behind it.

Fatty screamed and instantly fell into darkness. I cursed in my heart, that
idiot fell to his death. As the glow from his flashlight disappeared, the sail
finally opened and plunged him into the darkness.

We all looked at each other.

Black Glasses shined his flashlight at the place where Fatty’s light had
disappeared into the darkness. Visually, the distance was very far. We had
originally thought that the place Fatty was aiming for should be the ground,
but Fatty’s trajectory just now was obviously headed for more empty space
below.

We were silent for a while until we heard Fatty’s quiet call from below, “One
of my teeth got knocked out and the opposite side is full of leather figurines.
I kicked one down, so does that make me a Maitreya(1)?”

We all breathed a sigh of relief and I called back to him, “Can you be more
reliable? If you fall and die here, we can’t collect your ashes.”

Fatty’s only reply was, “Hurry up! Let’s fight back here.”

When we shined our flashlights down, we couldn’t see Fatty at all. Poker-
Face frowned and I immediately knew that it was bad. He obviously didn’t
realize that this place was so deep.

(1)
Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future, achieve complete enlightenment,
and teach the pure dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor to the present Buddha,
Gautama Buddha (also known as Śākyamuni Buddha). More info here.

720
I now knew whether Poker-Face had control over the surrounding situation
just by looking at the slightest change in his expression. It was completely
different from the past when he had to push me to run away before I even
realized that I was going to die. I had been relatively calm the whole way
here, thinking that he wasn’t particularly nervous about the surrounding
situation. But at this time, I found that his facial expression seemed a bit off.

“What did the plaque on this floor say?” I asked, looking past Poker-Face at
the abyss below.

“Tranquil Calamity(2),” Black Glasses answered.

I calculated it with my fingers and found that it was a very deep level. In fact,
it was only a few levels above the smallest unit on the Buddhist
measurement system, which was called Nirvana’s Tranquility. According to
ancient people, Nirvana’s Tranquility was basically equal to negative infinity.
In other words, the further down this level went, the closer you were to
reaching eternal infinity.

I touched the back of my neck, wondering how long I had been unconscious
and how long they had been running during that time. An image of them
silently running with my passed-out body slung on their backs suddenly
popped into my head, making me feel a little ashamed. I wondered if I had
said too much.

While Black Glasses and I looked at the stone beams, I found that the
measurements weren’t as accurate as a real imperial tomb. The stone
beams that were inserted into the wall were both large and small. Black
Glasses threw the only safety rope he had on his body around a thick stone
beam in the middle of the z-shaped steps and then tied himself underneath.
To make a long story short, we all decided to try it out. When we finally
chose our hiding places, we turned off our flashlights.

(2)
Remember that god-awful chapter 191? Tranquil Calamity is 10-21. In English, it’s basically a
sextillionth (aka a really really small number).

721
It was pitch black all around. Of course, we couldn’t hang like this for long.
There was still some time before Boss Jiao’s team showed up, so we were
lying on the stone beams while we waited. When there were any signs of
movement from up above, we would immediately roll under the stone
beams and shrink our bodies so that we blended in.

I felt as if I was a bit like that bug that looked like a twig, which was kind of
funny. When I noticed that everyone had stopped talking, I asked, “Can I say
something now?”

“I didn’t think you were that talkative before,” Black Glasses whispered.

“I just want to know what’s behind the bronze door. I figure if I’m going to
die, you can just whisper it in my ear, right?” I said in the direction I had last
seen Poker-Face.

There was no response, so I continued, “If I’m going to die, you can just say
whatever. That way, I’ll at least have peace of mind when I go. Otherwise,
even the three pillars of incense won’t be enough to send me away.”

There was still no reply over there, which I found strange. After listening for
a while, I noticed that there was no movement over there. I turned on my
flashlight to take a look and found that Poker-Face wasn’t where I had last
seen him.

I felt my heart jolt, where is he? Did he fall? Or maybe he ran away under the
cover of darkness? At this time, I suddenly saw a spot of light falling down
like a meteor.

Sure enough, it was a cold firework.

Black Glasses scolded me softly, “Turn off the flashlight!”

All I could do was turn it off immediately while cursing in my heart. Great,
just great. Where’s Poker-Face?

722
There was a bang from above, and then a flare flew down and exploded at a
point slightly above our position. Indeed, they really are well-equipped.

Under the huge bright light, I was able to get a full view of the opposite wall
for the first time. I saw countless leather figurines stacked up layer by layer.
Their skin was covered in sulfur husks and had blackened to such an extent
that almost all of the colors had been worn away. There were also various
kinds of musical instruments on these leather figurines. Even through the
decay, it looked like most of the figurines were placed in one position.

This was a concert hall.

When I looked behind the leather figurines, I saw a huge mountain crevice
that extended from above like a lightning strike. It was full of those bronze,
scale-like reeds.

723
Chapter 209 Sad End to the Year
Black Glasses’ theory was correct, but the architects at that time didn’t
consider aesthetics and just used the most barbaric method. The crevice on
the opposite side must’ve been a natural gap in the mountain, which the
architects used to set up bronze reeds to conduct thunder and resonance. In
order to ensure that these reeds would have enough resonance, they dug
out this huge cavity and built a tower.

We could clearly see the statues on the opposite side now, and the
decorative carvings in the crevice looked both exquisite and complicated. On
our side, there were only the stone beams, which acted like a plank road.

But you could only choose our location if you wanted to go down further,
because no matter how long their ropes were, they still needed a
continuation point.

As the flare went out slowly, the air was filled with a strong smell of burning
aluminum and magnesium powder. Then, an electroluminescent lamp fell
down like a meteor. This was an expensive piece of equipment that was
used for large-scale exploration. It was a modified miner’s lamp that was
connected to a braided line and dropped down from above. As more and
more of these lamps appeared above us, almost the whole area was
illuminated.

We were right below this lighting zone, so the shadow of the stone beams
covered us. At this time, I couldn’t worry about where Poker-Face had gone.
I could only roll under my stone beam and shrink my body, hoping that the
other party couldn’t see us from above.

Then, we heard someone rapidly descending and a voice spoke into a

walkie-talkie, “It’s clear, let the goods go.” We heard a lot of ropes being
thrown down, and then countless packages were sent down the ropes.

I secretly took a look, but because I couldn’t see clearly with the backlight, I
only caught a glimpse of countless ropes and miner’s lamps hanging in the

724
air. It almost looked like they were creating a rest stop, because some
people quickly started setting up safety nets and tents in mid-air.

They’re wealthy. I admit defeat, I thought to myself. I’ll never look down on
money again. But I’ve acquired Black Glasses’ bad habits, so I must at least
live like Jin Wantang.

More people slowly started to appear, which made me so nervous that I was
covered in a cold sweat. They were less than twenty meters above us, after
all. As many people began talking, I realized that all of their elites were right
above us. It didn’t take long before I heard Boss Jiao’s voice and saw all of
the electroluminescent lamps slowly begin moving down. They passed by us
ever so slowly before continuing downward.

Then, I saw something covered in blood get lowered down among the
lamps, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

When it got about ten meters below us, I heard Boss Jiao shouting, “Wu Xie,
let me give you something. See if it looks familiar.”

I looked down carefully. From this angle, I could see that it was a bloody
man whose hair style looked familiar.

It was Xiao Hua.

The electroluminescent lamps looked like colorful stars set against the
backdrop of the darkness below. As Xiao Hua sank lower and lower into this
darkness, he didn’t look up at all. I didn’t know whether he was dead or
unconscious, but I felt as if my heart almost stopped.

Boss Jiao continued to shout, “This is what your Wu family owes me. Do you
think God wouldn’t tell me? Wu Sanxing, I made it here without you. Your
Wu family might be awesome, but you don’t have any luck. I’m the one with
all the luck here. As long as I listen to the thunder again, I can find you
wherever you try to hide.”

725
My voice was practically trembling as I asked Black Glasses, “What should I
do?” It sounded like Boss Jiao and my Uncle Three had some grievances with
each other, but my Uncle Three wasn’t the type to let a grudge fester for so
long. I would know something about this kind of deep hatred. Uncle Three,
how much trouble have you caused the Wu family?

At this time, the blood-covered Xiao Hua was the only thing on my mind. My
hands and feet were shaking, and a murderous intent rose up in my heart.
On the one hand, I was extremely nervous because I didn’t know whether
Xiao Hua was alive or dead. On the other hand, all my pity and
understanding for Boss Jiao completely disappeared.

I don’t care what this man is here for. He’d better die here.

Black Glasses didn’t answer me. I held my breath right as I saw someone
rappelling past me. Men in black whom I had never seen before started
rappelling down one by one. They must’ve been the experts who were
hiding in that tulou room with the door closed the whole time. All of these
people were carrying 86s, which was a type of non-automatic gun that was
very stable. When I entrapped the Wang family before, they used this type
of gun. I took a deep breath, fully realizing where Boss Jiao’s capital had
gone.

He hired a group of Wang family members?

This is so fucking troublesome. We don’t have anything. How are we

supposed to fight?

726
Chapter 210
I had never been in such a hard-pressed situation before. I used to think that
everything had a solution, but now my mind was a mess. It wasn’t that I had
become pessimistic, I was just feeling too pressured at this time. When we
were at Changbai Mountain, we at least had washbasins and sanitary
napkins as weapons, but I didn’t have anything on hand right now.

Could I just wait it out?

I knew that Black Glasses wouldn’t wait. Even Poker-Face might have
immediately realized something was up and decided to move before
notifying us. I imagined myself jumping onto one of their safety ropes,
sliding down to a Wang killer, knocking him out with a kick, and then
shooting at the crowd with his gun. After throwing them into the abyss like
grapes, I would then knock out all the lights above and drag them into the
darkness to fight.

We had Black Glasses, after all. Even Poker-Face might not be able to beat
him in the dark.

No, this was only something fucking Schwarzenegger could do. The bullets
wouldn’t pass by me or hit my muscles and only leave a small bloody hole.
This kind of gun would definitely leave a substantial hole in your body.
Without modern medicine here to save me, I only had to be shot twice
before I would die. The most likely possibility was that I would jump on the
safety rope, slide down, fall into the arms of a Wang family member, get my
jaw pulled off by him, and then kicked directly into the abyss.

Wait a minute, what did I just think of?

Lights?

I secretly poked my head out and looked at the hanging lights, wondering if
there was any way to put them out.

727
If only Kan Jian were here! His slingshot was silent, ammo was available
everywhere, and it was more appropriate for him to shoot the lights with his
slingshot. But unfortunately, he didn’t come down with us. Just as I was at
my wits’ end, I heard Boss Jiao shout, “Wu Xie, come out. It’s a dead end. I’ll
find you sooner or later. I wouldn’t even be bothering with you, but I don’t
want you to disturb my final plans. I know you’re hiding. Fine, then. I’ll cut
the rope holding Xie Yuchen in five minutes. If you come out, I’ll let you live
long enough for me to finish my work. It’s going to thunder soon. There are
still twenty minutes left, so don’t bother me.”

Boss Jiao was so excited that he was almost incoherent. I looked at my

phone. Five minutes… I believed he would really do it. Many people had
already died for this matter and Xiao Hua wasn’t very special to him.

The falling lights stopped moving, and I noticed that all of the Wang family
members were on high alert. That was the direction where Fatty had
disappeared just now. Maybe they saw his parachute hanging on the tower
wall. I did some quick calculations in my mind. If it was anyone else, it might
be fine. But this was the Wang family. They made almost no mistakes.
Fatty’s attempt to look like a naked statue would definitely be seen through.

Sure enough, the Wang family started shooting indiscriminately at the

Buddha statues on the tower wall. At this time, my brain was working at top
speed. I would be shot directly if I went out right now, but the manic Boss
Jiao had snapped now that he was close to reaching his destination. Twenty
minutes… wait a minute! If he couldn’t reach the bottom of the tower within
twenty minutes, what would happen to him?

I didn’t know what was at the bottom of this tower, but my instincts were
telling me that this twenty-minute deadline was important. Boss Jiao
continued shouting to me, “It’s been two minutes. There are still three
minutes left before I let Xie Yuchen fall directly to his death. Wu Xie, didn’t
you claim that you can always get out of a predicament? Give it a try this
time.”

728
I was sweating all over. In reality, I only had one minute, because I knew that
Poker-Face and Black Glasses would definitely make a risky attack in the last
two minutes. I was too familiar with their routine, so I knew that Black
Glasses definitely wasn’t in his original position anymore. Since their
physical strength was so amazing, they always chose to take the initiative to
attack.

As I calculated the time in my heart, I had a big hunch that we were going to
lose this time. Boss Jiao started to say, “There are still two minutes left”, but
I suddenly rolled to the top of the stone beam, got up, and shouted at the
place that was hidden by the backlight overhead, “I’m here! Let me tell you,
without me, you can’t get down to the bottom in twenty minutes—”

But before I had finished speaking, a gunshot rang out from above and hit
me directly in the heart. When I was hit by the force of the bullet, I
immediately fell off of the stone beam.

729
Chapter 211
I actually didn’t expect this kind of thing to happen. The other party didn’t
care what I had to say, nor did they give me a chance to delay the time. The
bullet was shot out directly and pushed me into the abyss.

Boss Jiao was really a man’s man. He just wanted me to die and wasn’t even
thinking of humiliating me. My grandfather said that the only ones in this
world who could live a long life were those who were extremely selfless or
those who were extremely selfish. Most people’s lives were worn down
because of their own conscience. You could either hold everything in your
hands tightly and be satisfied with what you had, or you could open your
hands to the whole world and let it possess you. All you got in exchange for
worrying about gains and losses was meaningless waste. Boss Jiao appeared
to be the kind of person who was extremely selfish and got impatient when
he wanted something.

When I felt the pain in my heart, I realized that it was almost as if I had been
waiting for this moment. Maybe I should have experienced this moment
when I was in the Seven Star Lu Palace, but because of various reasons, I had
lived to the present, which was longer than many of those who should have
lived for a long time. When many people died, I often asked myself why it
wasn’t me. I always thought that I should’ve been the one to die. I never
really thought about it until now, but what exactly gave me so many
opportunities?

I don’t have to think about it now.

The safety ropes rushed past as I fell through the air. But just when I thought
I would pass by Xiao Hua and the Wang family members and fall into the
abyss, someone suddenly reached out and grabbed me.

It was Xiao Hua. He stretched out his blood-covered hand and grabbed me,
his blood dripping down onto my face. I couldn’t see his facial expression
clearly because of the backlight, but his hands grabbed me in a vice-like grip.

730
There was an echo in my ear that seemed to come from the halo of light
overhead, and I heard Boss Jiao shout, “Cut the rope! These people are
useless! Hurry down!”

I heard a Wang family member shout, “There are still three killers nearby!
You shot too early!”

“I don’t care! Why are you so scared? As long as Wu Xie is dead, what are
you afraid of?” Boss Jiao continued to shout from above.

I heard one of the Wang family members mutter from nearby, “If Wu Xie
dies, we’re likely to have an accident.”

At this time, I felt Xiao Hua’s hand that was holding onto me start to
tremble. “Let go,” I said to him. “It’s hopeless for me, but they can still save
you.”

Xiao Hua didn’t speak, but I felt something in his hand squeezing into my
palm. I tried to look at his face, but I couldn’t see it clearly because of the
backlight. Then, he suddenly turned his body, let go, and kicked me in my
chest. I immediately felt a sharp pain. From this position, he kicked me
directly to the opposite side of the tower wall, which was full of those
leather figurines.

I flew halfway across the tower, fell on the wall, and scrambled to grab onto
something. But the only things I managed to grab were those leather
figurines. I rolled down four or five stories, causing all of them to fall down
with me. My hands eventually caught on a niche, stopping my descent.

I went to check my heart.

I was shot in the heart, so I definitely wouldn’t be able to move now if there’s
a hole. I looked down at my chest. For some reason, the bullet got stuck on
my ribs but didn’t penetrate. I touched the hard lump of the bullet, pulled
on it hard, and yanked it out.

731
It was still very painful, but it was basically just a scratch. I figured that the
rib that had been hit was probably cracked since it hurt every time I took a
deep breath.

I was still illuminated by the light above, but none of Wang family members
shot at me. All I could hear was Boss Jiao shouting, “Why didn’t he die?! Kill
him!”

None of the Wang family members shot, and we continued to face off like
this. I didn’t know why at first, but when I looked carefully, I found that
there was a huge depression in the tower wall behind the niche I had caught
just now. Inside, there was a giant golden armored corpse wrapped in gold
silk.

Another Daolu General.

I raised my hand and looked at it. When Xiao Hua had grabbed me just now,
he handed me something. I looked at it and found that it was a copper coin.

**

Author’s note: Today, I drank a little too much and my writing started to
drift a bit. Forgive me if there are any problems with the logic.

732
Chapter 212
I didn’t understand the meaning of this copper coin, but I didn’t have any
time to think about it right now. I could be shot into Swiss cheese at any
moment, but I didn’t know why the Wang family wasn’t taking the chance to
finish me off. I had a feeling that it was related to the golden armored
corpse behind me. I didn’t dare cling to it, but I maintained my position in
front of the giant corpse.

Boss Jiao was still shouting from above, so one of the Wang family members
shouted up, “We can’t! There will be blood!”

I immediately understood what was going on now. They were afraid that
after killing me, my blood would disturb the giant corpse.

But after this person finished speaking, several Wang family members slid
down the rope and began swinging back and forth, trying to swing onto the
wall.

I immediately pressed the wound on my chest and smeared the blood on my

palms before facing the giant corpse behind me. Several of the Wang family
members jumped onto the wall like Spider-Man but didn’t dare rush over in
the face of my threat. A bunch of leather figurines were knocked down into
the abyss when they landed on the wall, revealing more golden armored
corpses behind. As it turned out, there were Daolu Generals resting one by
one in the mountain under the cover of the leather figurines. The corpses of
these Jin Tong Sect leaders were all wearing rotting armor. Some were
strong, and some were thin and white-haired, but all of them had become
mummies.

Buried in a tower… this was the first time I had seen this kind of burial
method.

A very thin Wang slowly put a rope in front of me, letting it hang about six or
seven arm-lengths away from me. He then pointed a gun at me and shouted
above, “Boss Jiao, this place is full of zombies. You’ll have to come to an

733
agreement. I can’t let blood flow here; otherwise, you definitely won’t be
able to get out.”

Boss Jiao was silent for a while and then shouted, “I don’t have time! Just
ensure that he doesn’t bother me!” With that said, he finally went silent. I
saw more people start to slide down the ropes and set up a temporary
platform on this section. I immediately understood their routine. They used
safety nets to build a mid-air platform level by level so as to save their rope.

There was nothing I could do but watch as most of the Wang family
members continued to go down. Xiao Hua was still hanging there,
motionless. After about two cigarettes’ time, a middle-aged man dropped
down from above, stood on the safety net in front of me, and then looked at
me from behind the Wang family.

He was a white-faced, clean, and unremarkable middle-aged man; someone

you would easily forget even if you passed him two or three times on the
street. He was also very tall, but I couldn’t determine his exact height. Sanye
had followed him down.

He looked at the hanging Xiao Hua and said to me, “Wu Xie, you have to
remember that your Wu family is dishonest.” With that said, he grabbed
Xiao Hua’s chin, lifted Xiao Hua’s face up, and pinched Xiao Hua’s mouth
open.

Boss Jiao coughed up a mouthful of phlegm and was just about to spit it in
Xiao Hua’s mouth when suddenly, there was a slight tremor, all the reeds in
the mountain began to vibrate, and it thundered.

734
Chapter 213 Thunder
This was the first time I had seen the shape of sound. Usually, when they
wanted to show the sound waves in movies, they would make the air
fluctuations into water ripples instead. This was because particles were
needed to show air movement. But here, I could see all the reeds moving
with the sound. The resonance was transmitted like falling dominoes,
creating the illusion that the sound had shape.

Well, I know that words can’t truly describe this feeling.

As the sound wave passed through all of us, I felt a shock in my brain. Then,
it passed by us and rushed to the bottom of the tower.

Everyone paused, and the Wang family looked up. I knew it must be
thundering outside.

I saw Boss Jiao’s face become a very ugly color, “No! Why is it early?! This
must be a fucking mistake!” He released Xiao Hua and looked at the Wang
family’s leader who was confronting me, “Go! Send me down quickly or I’ll
be too late!”

The Wang family leader looked at me and then motioned with his hands.
The rest of the Wangs continued to descend quickly, taking Boss Jiao and his
party down one by one. “There are still three people hiding,” he said to
them coldly. “Don’t make mistakes just because you’re in a hurry.”

A second clap of thunder didn’t come down, which meant that the one we
had heard just now seemed to be an accident or some other sound. But Boss
Jiao seemed abnormally panicked. It was obvious that he had calculated the
exact time that it would thunder and came here to listen to it.

Strange as it was, it seemed to be the only explanation at this time.

When the others in Boss Jiao’s team passed by us, they looked very nervous
and kept glancing at the top of the tower. Just like that time I saw them in

735
the valley, I suddenly saw a turning point. If it kept thundering, then many of
Boss Jiao’s cronies would enter a nightmare state and be at their weakest. If
there was a way to kill these Wang family members in front of us, then we
might be able to turn the tables when Boss Jiao was disconnected from
reality.

The Wang family’s leader didn’t go down and continued to confront me.
“Aren’t you in a hurry?” I asked him.

“What do you think the outcome of this matter will be?” He looked at me.

“Usually, only a few good results will come out of this kind of thing,” I said.
Whether you would get good results from doing something wrong all
depended on fate. Some people were born with this fate, like my Uncle
Three. But I didn’t know if Boss Jiao was one of these people.

“Boss Jiao has successfully heard thunder before,” the Wang family’s leader
said. “He claims that his success was entirely due to thunder, but the final
part was interrupted by your Uncle Three. As a result, he didn’t finish
listening to the information hidden in the thunder. He must listen to
thunder, but it has to be the same thunder as the one he heard before. That
thunder will sound here today, in fifteen minutes. He must finish listening to
it.”

“Do you really believe in something like that?” I asked him.

He approached me, “I believe that there’s a god who created and is

controlling the world from the dark. We’re just not aware of it.”

This was the Wang family’s persistent worldview. After he finished speaking,
he got even closer to me, “But I don’t think God will choose him, so I’ve
decided to stay here with you. That way, I can guarantee my own safety.” He
looked into the darkness and added, “Zhang Qiling is nearby. If I’m by your
side, I may see him. I want to see this person.”

“And then what?” My hands were getting a little tired and I thought to
myself, what do you want? To trap me here and keep me from acting?

736
The Wang family’s leader looked back at Xiao Hua, “I don’t hate you. When
the thunder sounds and these people become fools, I’ll let him go. Then, we
can make a deal.” He pointed to my chest, “I’m being very sincere here. We
took all the gunpowder out of the bullets, so you don’t have to doubt us. My
deal is quite fair.”

737
Chapter 214 Hahaha
I was a little confused about the Wang family’s motives, but it was definitely
a deal that appealed to me. I nodded and asked softly, “What do you want
to do?”

“This Boss Jiao’s so-called ‘listening to thunder’ is definitely problematic,”

the Wang family’s leader said to me. “But I believe that it’s a real thing;
otherwise, Wu Sanxing wouldn’t have been so persistent back then. I believe
that listening to thunder was related to your Wu family’s plan for our Wang
family. It’s possible that Wu Sanxing knew a lot of information because he
listened to thunder.”

I was stunned for a moment as I realized that he was saying that he felt that
the Wu family had destroyed the Wang family all because Uncle Three had
heard some clues when he listened to thunder back then. The Wang family
couldn’t understand why they had been destroyed and thought that God
had plotted against them.

What do you want to do? Kill the God of Thunder for revenge?

“But we’ve followed Boss Jiao for a long time. We didn’t think that listening
to thunder would be so simple and reckless. But I find that his mindset when
it comes to listening to thunder is very strange. He believes that the secrets
in the thunder are just to make people like him succeed in life, which I think
is ridiculous.” The Wang family’s leader looked at me, “You must know the
real secrets in the thunder, don’t you? I don’t think it will end well for Boss
Jiao after he listens to the thunder, but I hope that you’ll show us the real
secrets in the thunder.”

I tilted my head back, revealing an expression that meant “I see”.

In the Wang family members’ minds, I was an unpredictable existence. They

just couldn’t understand how I was able to breach their secure system
before. To tell you the truth, how I did what I did at that time is also very
vague, even when I recalled it now. I only remember that I had a strong

738
obsession and focus at that time. This kind of tremendous power born from
the heart could only be exerted for one thing. It made me realize that this
was what made human hearts so terrible and great.

At this time, I absolutely couldn’t tell him, “I’m sorry, Uncle. I actually don’t
know the secrets in the thunder at all.” All I could do was try my best to
control my facial expression, revealing a cold smirk like that of a black boxer
about to fight in the ring. This unscrupulous smile seemed to say: Buddy,
you should know what’s good for you.

“Why don’t you switch sides now and I’ll take you down?” I said to him.

“We’re employed now,” the Wang family’s leader said. “But we can’t stop
employers from doing stupid things.”

I looked at the darkness below while the Wang family’s leader looked up
above and said to me, “All you have to do now is wait.”

I looked at Xiao Hua, but he didn’t look up at all. “Is he ok?” I asked the
leader. “If you give me a dead man, it doesn’t mean anything to me. You
have to put him down first.”

The Wang leader shook his head. “We’re still on opposite sides right now.
You can only wait.”

Oh, that right there is the reason for your Wang family’s demise. You’re all a
group of idiots. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Zhang family or the Wang
family, you’re all idiots. What the hell have I done in my life to provoke these
powerhouses? Just as I was cursing in my heart, a rumbling suddenly came
from above. Everyone immediately looked up, only to see that the reeds
began to shake violently and another sound rushed down. As it passed by us
quickly and rushed to the bottom of the tower, I suddenly heard something
behind me.

I turned to look and saw that at some point, the mummy behind me
unexpectedly leaned towards my neck, its mouth almost at the back of my
head.

739
I turned to glare at the Wang family’s leader, who looked at me wryly. He
must have seen the body leaning towards me, but used what he said just
now to distract me.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I made a bet that you’ll die before we ever lay hands on you. If I kill you
myself, then I lose.” The Wang family’s leader laughed, “Are you really Wu
Xie? You trust people so easily. What will you do now? The blood on your
body has begun to attract the Daolu Generals here. Take a closer look.”

I looked around. Sure enough, all of the Daolu Generals around me were
leaning towards me, their faces pointed in my direction.

740
Chapter 215 Hehehe
The number of Daolu Generals here was incalculable. Just now, even with
the four of us acting in sync—Blind in the south, Mute in the north, me in
the east, and Fatty in the west—we had used up all of our skills just to take
out one of them. But if there were two of them, we would definitely be
seriously injured. I did a quick scan and saw that there were six or seven
here, all different types. They appeared to be suitable for combat in various
terrains.

I saw that the Wang family members’ expressions were relaxed, as if this
situation had nothing to do with them. “If these things revive, you’ll have to
bear the consequences,” I said to them.

The Wang family’s leader looked at me and smiled, “This is your choice. Our
Wang family hasn’t had a choice for a long time now.”

Shit, he turned out to be an optimist. I really have no way to deal with

optimistic villains!

“Are you not afraid of death?” I asked him. Those in the Wang family who
came out to work should obviously be utilitarian and afraid of death.

The Wang family’s leader readily nodded, “We’re afraid, but we’ve reached
a state of equilibrium now. There’s no need for us to surrender right now.
We don’t even know if these things will really revive. At this time, emotions
are useless.”

His words echoed in my ears, suddenly breaking through my will. This was
the sentence they had often said before I flattened the whole Wang family. I
didn’t know if he said it to me intentionally, or if it was just an accident.

In the face of fate, emotions were just the feeling of adrenal hormone
secretion. You shouldn’t care about emotions, but about the accuracy of
your actions after the adrenal hormone secretion kicked in.

741
That was the moment your life and death would be determined.

To put it simply, when people attacked others, they would get excited, their
focus would become more intense, and they would often feel angry at the
same time. The key was to practice turning off your anger while leaving the
intense focus generated by the excitement.

I was only able to do it at that time because I didn’t care about my life or
death at all and just wanted to finish things.

This state was usually reserved for situations that couldn’t be solved
normally, like now. It was a way of life that would break the balance. I only
had one advantage right now: I knew what would happen in the next second
faster than everyone else.

As the Wang family’s leader continued to look at me cheerfully, I suddenly

understood what I needed to do now. If I wanted to live, I couldn’t regard
my life as an important condition of my plan. It was only by not considering
whether I could live or not that I could get the upper hand.

“If I’m still alive at the last moment and you still don’t know the secrets in
the thunder, remember that it was only by helping me that you could’ve
finally learned what was in the thunder.”

When I said this, the Wang family’s leader didn’t seem to understand and
asked, “What do you mean?”

Just keep guessing, I said to myself. I opened my hand and looked at the
copper coin, which was covered in blood.

I still didn’t understand the meaning of this coin. For me, if I didn’t know its
significance and Xiao Hua couldn’t tell me now, then this copper coin was
useless.

I turned around and stuffed it into the mouth of the Daolu General behind
me, causing the Wang family to immediately panic. Almost at the same time,
I leaped over, hugged the Wang family’s leader, pulled out the dagger at his

742
waist with my left hand, and cut the rope holding Xiao Hua, causing him to
fall in an instant.

The Wang family’s leader was about to grab me, but I let go at almost the
exact same time and fell towards the abyss.

I shouted in the air, “We fell! Xiao Hua at three o’clock, three meters away
from the wall! I’m at two o’clock, two point four meters away from the wall.
We’re separated by two seconds! Fatty, Little Brother, Black Glasses! Our
lives depend on your eyes!”

As I spoke, I opened my arms and legs, the wind roaring in my ears as I fell
deeper into the abyss. I prayed in my heart that someone would leap out of
the darkness and catch us.

Tacit understanding, brothers! Tell me we have a tacit understanding!

743
Chapter 216 Alive
In the process of falling down into the darkness, there were only two
possibilities waiting for me: one was that my skull would hit a rock and
fracture, causing my brains to burst out; the other was that someone would
catch me, causing the joints in my arm to be in severe pain. There were a
few seconds where I was just waiting for the moment my skull would crack
open.

I quickly fell into the darkness, but it hadn’t even been ten seconds after I
finished shouting that I felt my arm immediately get grabbed by someone.
The man’s hand was so strong that I immediately felt all my skin get torn
and pain shot up to my shoulder from where he had grabbed me. At the
moment I was finally grabbed, I felt as if my shoulder was going to break.

I didn’t know what Xiao Hua’s situation was at this time. All I knew was that
after I was stopped, I was swung to the tower wall and crashed into it.
Fortunately, I hit my chin first instead of my nose; otherwise, my nose that
had finally started to heal would’ve been broken and I probably would’ve
needed a prosthesis just to show my face out in public.

Then, I was quickly dragged up and pulled into a niche on the tower wall. I
immediately knew from the display of strength that this man was Poker-
Face.

“Bro, 666(1),” I blurted out as I tried to slow my racing heart.

I couldn’t see Poker-Face clearly in the dark, but at this time, I heard
someone tapping slightly below: “I caught Xiao Hua.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that my intuition was correct and they
had already been prepared. If I had been shot down just now, they probably
would’ve caught me as well.

(1)
It’s Chinese internet slang used a lot in gaming. Wu Xie is basically saying Poker-face is
awesome/amazing.

744
Poker-Face didn’t wait for my brain to catch up and whispered to me,
“Come with me.” I saw an orange glow stick suddenly appear in the
darkness, illuminating his face and revealing a passage behind this niche.

The opening was blocked with leather figurines and the glow stick was very
dim, so this light probably wouldn’t be visible outside. As he quickly receded
into the darkness, I followed after him. There was a very narrow crevice in
the niche, which led to the depths of that huge, top-to-bottom crevice I had
seen before. The cave walls inside were covered in layer upon layer of those
bronze reeds. It was just like the scale effect formed by those small grottoes
all over the mountains and plains around the Cave of Ten Thousand
Buddhas(2).

“What is this place?” I asked softly. But as soon as I spoke, I found that my
voice was instantly transmitted through these reeds, and they all began to
resonate and transmit one by one. These reeds were as thin as silkworm
wings but sharp enough to scratch your arm with the slightest touch.

Poker-Face motioned for me not to talk, so I moved to cover my mouth. At

this time, I saw that there were several bloody wounds on my hand, but I
couldn’t remember when I had been cut.

When we started walking on these reeds, I noticed that the holes weren’t
parallel and there were many slopes and turns. We had no choice but to
crouch down as we moved forward, and I knew I had to walk very carefully.
If I fell down and encountered a steep slope, I would end up rolling three or
four meters out. There wouldn’t be a bit of good flesh left on my body after
that.

I followed Poker-Face all the way into the crevice, but as it started to go
downhill, the reeds became too sharp and we couldn’t go down with our

(2)
The Cave of Ten Thousand Buddhas (aka Wanfo Cave) is in the Longmen Grottoes and is the most
complete cave there. It was built in 680 by Gaozong and Wu Zetian. It houses 15,000 Buddhas carved in
small niches. They’re all different from each other, with the smallest Buddha being 2 centimeters (0.79
in) in height. Here are some tourist pics and reviews.

745
bare hands. I heard Poker-Face tap his shoe lightly by one of the holes, the
sound resonating slightly with the reed and passing down.

Fatty replied not far below: “Come down. Boss Jiao will start soon.”

746
Chapter 217 Ear Coffin
Before I could react, I heard Poker-Face continue to tap with his shoe. It
hadn’t taken them long to invent a code using shoes. There must’ve been
rumors in the industry that people in Wushanju invented their own language
called the “Xie Code” because they worshiped Wu Xie(1).

Before I could figure out what Poker-Face had said in response, I was picked
up and flung into the darkness.

I flew into the air again, but it was less than a second before I was grabbed
by a hand and pulled directly into another dark hole.

As I fell into Fatty’s arms, he grabbed me by my armpits to keep me from

falling down. If I did fall, my feet would definitely be sliced into sashimi.

Once I got my legs under me, Fatty dragged me back a few steps and Poker-
Face jumped down with a cold firework in his mouth. I wanted to ask them
what they were planning. Why did Poker-Face suddenly disappear earlier?
Where was Black Glasses?

I didn’t see Xiao Hua next to Fatty, so who caught him? Was it Black Glasses?

But they didn’t give me a chance to ask questions before they jumped down
into the huge crevice. There appeared to be many holes in this crevice, so if
you knew their positions and just jumped into them, you could avoid being
hurt.

We continued jumping down in the dark. The whole process was no longer a
mind game, but two people playing with my life. If any one of us stepped on
a place and slipped, or scraped against the cave wall even a little bit, our
bones would be the only thing left. But the other two didn’t hesitate at all.
Every time I was dragged and turned around, the rubber on the soles of my
shoes would be cut. After fourteen or fifteen times of this, I felt that my

(1)
Per Tiffany: “Shoe” is pronounced as “Xie” in Chinese. It’s a stupid pun.

747
soles were almost as thin as paper and would be cut through at any
moment.

Every time I jumped, I made it about seven meters before I was dragged into
the darkness like a marionette. We rushed down to the light below and
finally stopped. At this time, I clearly felt that one of my soles was broken
and a sharp reed had directly pierced my foot.

I immediately felt a wetness start to spread from the area. I didn’t know
how deep the reed had gone, but I didn’t dare call out to the others. When
we looked down, we finally saw the bottom of this floor.

At last! After jumping more than a hundred meters, the depth of this place
far exceeded anything I could imagine. I could see that there were more
bronze reeds extending from the crevices at the bottom of this floor. They
were just like the tentacles of an octopus, sticking out from the crevices and
surrounding the space at the bottom of the tower layer by layer. The whole
bottom was just like a thousand-petaled lotus flower in full bloom, or a
sunflower seed plate.

There was a huge, ear-shaped sarcophagus among all of these lotus petals
or melon seeds.

Everyone in Boss Jiao’s team had descended into this space but were still
hanging in the air. Boss Jiao seemed to be a bit dazed as he stared at the
sarcophagus.

I watched as he slowly climbed down, stepped into the stone coffin, and
then lay down.

I forgot the pain in my foot as I watched it all very carefully, the hanging
lights enabling us to see everything clearly. “Should we stop him?” I
mouthed at Fatty.

Fatty pointed to the opposite side, where I saw someone standing in a hole
similar to ours. It was Black Glasses, and he had Xie Yuhua on his back. Black
Glasses was signing at us: “Do it when it thunders again.”

748
Do it? Do what? I asked myself. I saw Poker-Face quickly sign a response and
thought to myself, so you can do it, too. You really do have a gift for
languages. It really wasn’t appropriate to think more at this time. I only
needed to focus on what they were really trying to do.

The next clap of thunder came in an instant.

The Wang family above was signaling down, but the people below were
completely ignoring them. Boss Jiao was still lying curled up in the ear-
shaped stone coffin. Then, Fatty suddenly came up behind me and started to
take off my pants.

749
Chapter 218 Amazing
I looked back at Fatty and thought to myself, what are you doing? Why do
you have to act like a hooligan every time it’s a critical moment? Fatty
immediately tore off the silk strip I was using as a belt, which caused my
pants to fall down. Almost at the same time, the thunder shook the whole
space and all of Boss Jiao’s team members looked up, the whites of their
eyes showing. Off to the side, Boss Jiao stripped naked and lay back down.

“Let’s go!” Fatty picked me up, Poker-Face tore off my pants, and then Fatty
rushed out of the hole.

As he made his way down the bronze reeds coiled around the wall, the
Wang family members saw him and immediately took out their guns. Black
Glasses—carrying Xiao Hua on his back—rushed down from the other side,
the weight of two people directly slamming into the Wang family. The
Wangs were instantly knocked to the ground, but the moment they tried to
use their hands to turn over, all of their fingers were cut off by the reeds.
Blood spurted out in an instant.

Several other Wangs raised their guns and aimed at Black Glasses, but I saw
Poker-Face appear directly behind one of them. His hand stretched out from
under the man’s armpit and hit him directly on the chin. As the man
instantly fainted, his gun went off and a shower of sparks hit the bronze
reeds. The Wangs on the side bowed their heads to avoid the accidental
gunfire and then rushed at Poker-Face, using the butts of their guns as
weapons.

I couldn’t see any more after that, because Fatty rushed directly to the ear-
shaped sarcophagus. “What are you doing?!” I shouted at him.

Fatty threw me into the sarcophagus, tearing off the rest of my clothes at
the same time. I found that the sarcophagus was full of a golden liquid. Fatty
knocked on my knees until I knelt down in the sarcophagus and then
pressed me into it.

750
Boss Jiao was lying in the sarcophagus, the whites of his eyes showing. I
didn’t know what Fatty was trying to do, but he suddenly shouted at me,
“Cover the hole in his head!”

I didn’t know what his intentions were, but I had no other choice but to do
it. It seemed that he, Black Glasses, and Poker-Face had already discussed it.
I touched Boss Jiao’s head and broke out in a cold sweat. His skull was full of
holes like coal briquette(1), and there were so many that I couldn’t cover
them all with my hands. The man was so obsessed with listening to thunder
that there was no telling how many times he had operated on himself.

“Clothes!” I yelled at Fatty.

He was already fighting with the Wang family and shouted back, “You can’t
wear clothes!”

I really didn’t understand.

As I looked around, the sounds of thunder from above would pass down
from time to time. I noticed that the golden coffin liquid was decreasing like
it was being absorbed by Boss Jiao.

“Don’t let him take all the liquid! Lie down!” Fatty shouted.

I had to lie down and try to cover Boss Jiao’s head as much as possible. The
golden coffin liquid was very cold, and I felt as if countless tiny bugs were
drilling into my skin, which was surprisingly comfortable. When I lay down
on my back, I found that I could float on the coffin liquid and look up at the
darkness above, where a huge black eye seemed to be staring at me.

(1)
Used for cooking and home heating. Info here. Pic here:

751
I slowly descended into a nightmare state, all of my attention focused on
that huge black thing. All of the sounds around me disappeared, leaving only
a burst of thunder. I was surprised to find that I had a memory of this
thunder.

It was the thunder I heard in Hangzhou before.

As the bronze reeds conducted the thunder’s sound, it seemed as if there

were whispers hidden deep in the thunder.

The blackness in front of me was getting deeper and deeper, and I found
that the people and tower walls around me were gone. I was suddenly
surrounded by fog. I sat up and saw that the fog was full of lightning, as if I
had entered the dark clouds. I turned my head and saw Boss Jiao starting to
sit up.

He completely ignored me, his expression full of excitement.

“I’m back again.”

“Back where?” I asked him.

“When I listened to the thunder a few decades ago, I ended up here. At that
time, I came together with your Uncle Three,” Boss Jiao said as he fully sat
up.

752
Chapter 219 Countdown to the Finale
I knew that I was in an illusion because this feeling was very similar to when
I had ingested snake pheromones before. Everything seemed so real in
these illusions because it was real information that was instilled into my
brain through the snake pheromones or thunder. It seemed like I could
interact with the surrounding environment, but that actually wasn’t the
case.

Even Boss Jiao on the side wasn’t real.

I was definitely an expert when it came to hallucinations. I had experienced

all kinds more than a dozen times, with the most profound one being in the
Qinling Mountains with Lao Yang(1). I really didn’t know whether that one
was my personal experience or the whole thing had been an illusion. I only
remembered that I was unconscious twice: once by the riverbank and once
after rushing out of the riverbank.

I ignored Boss Jiao, knowing that everything around me was just my reaction
to hearing the thunder. I just needed to wait for more information to come
in.

After I quieted down, the whispers around me became clearer and clearer.
Every time lightning flashed, I could hear countless voices coming out of the
thunder.

I happened to look at Boss Jiao and suddenly found that he was getting
younger. No, he wasn’t actually getting younger, he was just a younger
version of himself. His eyes were full of doubts as he looked at the thunder
around him.

I suddenly realized that this Boss Jiao wasn’t the Boss Jiao who was currently
lying in the coffin with me. He must’ve been the Boss Jiao who listened to

(1)
Pretty much everything that happened in Vol 3 “Bronze Tree of Death”

753
thunder for the first time so many years ago. I saw this Boss Jiao shouting
everywhere, “Wu Sanxing! Wu Sanxing!”

I paused. He was looking for my Uncle Three?

I saw Boss Jiao’s lips turn pale and his whole body tensed up. I approached
him and heard him muttering to himself, “Don’t be afraid, Tian Youjin. Don’t
be afraid, Tian Youjin.”

Tian Youjin?

I looked at Boss Jiao and suddenly realized what was going on. Boss Jiao was
really Tian Youjin?

I watched his trembling body walk into the fog. As he slowly reached its
depths, a huge streak of lightning appeared up ahead, constantly flickering.
He looked at the lightning, his eyes slowly turning white as he entered a
nightmare state. I heard him mutter to himself, “What? What did you say?
You’re asking what I want to know? I want to know where Wu Sanxing is. I
want to go back.”

“What? He’s not here? Where is this?”

“This is Thunder City?”

“Where’s Thunder City? Who are you?”

I couldn’t hear any replies. All I saw was the young Boss Jiao talking to
himself.

After a while, Boss Jiao suddenly began to speak a different language. I knew
that it was a special language, but I couldn’t understand it at all.

While I was trying to understand what was going on, Boss Jiao suddenly
turned to look at me. His white eyes moved past me and looked into the
distance. I began to see all kinds of strange shadows in the fog, so I carefully

754
looked at them. There was a huge ship floating on the sea and many people
marching in the fog.

My surroundings became something like that “Qingming Shanghe Tu”

painting(2). There were countless shadows and voices, which all seemed to
be fragments that I had or hadn’t experienced in my lifetime.

When I looked at these shadows, I suddenly realized that they seemed to be

the answers to the puzzles I always sought.

The answers to all the puzzles I had encountered in my life were actually in
this fog. I walked in one direction, the shadows gradually becoming clearer.
It was a group of people trekking through the rainforest. I realized that it
was Uncle Three’s team when he was in the snake marsh ghost town, and I
was being shown what he did after he disappeared. The farther I went, the
better I was able to see what the team looked like.

I turned and looked around. Were all the shadows in the fog the answers I
wanted to know but never got to experience?

(2)
It’s a painting by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan, called “Along the River During the Qingming
Festival”. It captures the daily life of people and the landscape of the capital, Bianjing, during the
Northern Song. More info here. Qingming Festival is known as “Tomb-Sweeping Day”. Info here.

755
Chapter 220 Countdown to the Finale 2
For me, this was a hard choice. There were many things in my life that were
uncommon, but puzzles definitely didn’t fall into this category. There were
too many things I wanted to know back then, but after time had passed, I
didn’t want to know anymore. In the ensuing years, when I encountered and
possibly touched upon these puzzles countless times, I chose to give up. I
had learned to choose to be safe in this world instead of pursuing the so-
called truth.

I never thought that God would put all the information in front of me one
day and let me choose for myself.

You didn’t want to know, did you? But now I’ll tell you everything. Do you
have the courage to step back?

It was a matter of facing your inner desires—do you want to know it or not?
It was only when the truth was right in front of you that you could really
think about it.

Of course, this could all just be my nightmare. Maybe I could never get close
to these shadows and the truth, or maybe this information was just some
memories in my head. When I absorbed the memories from the snake
pheromones, they had already existed after all. So maybe my memories
were just getting decoded by the thunder so that I could see them more
clearly.

At this time, I suddenly felt afraid. I knew very well that I wouldn’t see what I
wanted to see—how Uncle Three had disappeared from the snake marsh,
where he had been for so many years, and whether my judgment back then
was correct or not.

But there was a chance I might learn everything I wanted to know.

The fear was real, but I couldn’t stop myself from moving forward step by
step. My heart wanted to know; I wanted to know everything.

756
As the fog cleared away, I saw the snake marsh gradually appear. Uncle
Three was trekking through the rainforest with his team. I saw that they
were heading for a cave in the near distance. Black Glasses was also among
the team. Uncle Three suddenly looked back at him and said, “You don’t
have to go in with us. Please give this thing to Wu Xie for me.”

“What’s inside?” Black Glasses asked him. I saw that it was a bamboo tube.
It contained the snake that Black Glasses had trekked through the desert to
bring me. This was the snake that had opened up a whole new world for me.

“It’s my message to Wu Xie.” With that said, Uncle Three went into the cave.
I saw this scene in the snake’s memory before, but after that, I never saw
Uncle Three again.

I followed Uncle Three into the cave. They walked a long distance and many
people died—I won’t tell that story here; otherwise, it would be too long—
before Uncle Three eventually led the rest of his team into a small cave.

I saw Chen Wen-Jin standing at the end of the cave.

Uncle Three didn’t walk over. He and Chen Wen-Jin just stood face to face,
separated by a long distance.

In Uncle Three’s narrative, he and Chen Wen-Jin always had constant

affection for each other. In my memory, Aunt Chen Wen-Jin and Uncle Three
were very interesting lovers, but when I saw this reunion scene, the feelings
I had imagined were no longer there.

They looked at each other like two strangers. Uncle Three didn’t hesitate, as
if he knew that she had been waiting here for a while.

But they remained silent for a long time, because they used to like each
other so much after all.

“I’m here.” Uncle Three eventually said to her. “You guys—”

757
“There are no more of us,” Chen Wen-Jin replied. “I’m the only one here.”
Her voice was so hoarse that she didn’t sound like a woman at all, but more
like an elderly person.

“Your nephew is here, too. As well as Zhang Qiling,” Chen Wen-Jin said.
“They all came earlier than you.”

“You know I don’t agree with your approach. I didn’t agree with it before,
and I don’t agree with it now,” Uncle Three said. “You can go back with me
now. Are you willing?”

“I can only stay here,” Chen Wen-Jin said. “Come alone and I’ll show you the
results of your choice back then.”

758
Chapter 221 Countdown to the Finale 3
I followed as Uncle Three followed Chen Wen-Jin’s directions into the
depths of the cave, where I saw the huge meteorite I had seen back then.
The meteorite full of holes was embedded in the bottom of the
underground cave, and the Queen of the West’s sacrificial altar was still
there. I followed as they climbed into the meteorite.

The meteorite seemed to be made of bronze and extended out in all

directions. When we climbed into a larger cavity, I saw a lot of gravel burial
mounds covered in bronze fragments. There was a lot of equipment around,
but it was so old and rotten that I couldn’t tell what it was anymore.

“In order to get out of that ancient undersea tomb back then, we all took
those pills and let ourselves enter a corpse-like state. After we came out, we
thought that everything was fine. It wasn’t until Huo Ling started to
transform that we realized that people who ate that kind of pill had to wrap
their whole body in jade armor made of this bronze meteorite. Otherwise,
they would be poisoned. Even if they survived, they would gradually become
monsters like sea monkeys or forbidden women,” Chen Wen-Jin said to
Uncle Three. “The principle of these pills is very simple. They contain
dormant corpse-eater kings and are made from the powder of the bronze
meteorite. After taking the pill, the meteorite powder limits the toxicity of
the corpse-eater kings in the blood, so that the bugs can drill into people’s
brains and secrete a toxin. The corpse-eater kings are influenced by the jade
armor, so if you wrap it around your body, the toxin secretion slows. This
way, the toxins slowly change the human body. According to the legends,
after the corpse-eater king dies in two thousand years, you can leave the
jade armor. The toxins that are left in the blood can repel insects and enable
people to live a long time.”

If the person was dragged out of the jade armor before the two thousand
years were up and the corpse-eater king wasn’t dead, then the bug would
wake up and all the toxins would be released at once. The person’s skin

759
would instantly be covered in blisters and they would become a blood
zombie.

Chen Wen-Jin and the others conducted research in Golmud, trying to find a
way to relieve the toxins. They eventually decided to go to Tamu-Tuo to look
for the bronze meteorite and make jade armor to keep themselves alive.

After untold hardships, they found the meteorite and entered it. They went
into a dormant state one by one, but she suddenly woke up decades later.
She didn’t turn into a blood zombie, but she didn’t dare open the others’
burial mounds either. In the end, she lived alone in the snake marsh.

Sadly, she couldn’t leave the area. The farther away from this meteorite she
got, the more her body resembled a blood zombie. So, she could only live in
this swamp. At that time, she firmly believed that Uncle Three would appear
one day and take her out of this place.

But when Uncle Three finally appeared, Chen Wen-Jin had given up hope.
She had become one with the swamp.

Under the gravel burial mounds, the others from the Xisha Archaeological
Team might not wake up until two thousand years had passed.

Uncle Three squatted on the edge of these gravel mounds, remaining silent
for a long time. I didn’t know what he was thinking. There was a moment
where I saw that he wanted to hold Chen Wen-Jin’s hand, but he just
clenched his hand into a fist instead. Chen Wen-Jin’s fingernails were as long
as a zombie’s, so her hands no longer looked like those of a girl. When Uncle
Three leaned forward, I seemed to see that young man who used to reach
out naturally to hold his beloved girl’s hand. The conditioned reflex was still
there even after decades had passed, but it was abruptly stopped. I didn’t
know if it was because of the terrible appearance of her hands, or if his
heart had already cooled down despite being so persistent all those years.

If it were me, I would hold it anyway. This was what I initially thought, but
later, I wasn’t so sure.

760
My description is quick and simple because I don’t want to describe things
that are irrelevant to the information here. But for Uncle Three, his goodbye
to Chen Wen-Jin was longer and more obscure than that promise I made to
Poker-Face so long ago. Uncle Three was more persistent than me, and Chen
Wen-Jin had been waiting in the same place. Their stubbornness wasn’t like
that of ordinary people, but the end result was still the same.

Uncle Three stood up and Chen Wen-Jin took him to climb into the center of
the meteorite. I followed behind them. They eventually came to the center
of the meteorite, which should’ve been where Zhang Qiling went back then.
I saw a completely dried corpse wearing majestic clothes sitting in the
center of the cave. I recognized that outfit—it was the body of the Queen of
the West. Her corpse was surrounded by broken pieces of meteorite, and
her lower body was adorned in something that looked like a whole piece of
snakeskin. At first glance, she seemed to be half-human, half-snake.

There was a strange thing in front of the corpse that attracted Uncle Three’s
attention.

761
Chapter 222 Countdown to the Finale 4
When Uncle Three squatted in front of that thing, I copied him. I found that
it was a strange mound, which was made up of countless skin fragments.
Uncle Three touched these fragments and looked up. I also glanced up and
found that there was a huge cocoon hanging at the top of the cave.

There were layers of skin-like things on the outside of this cocoon, but I
couldn’t tell what was inside.

“What is that?” Uncle Three asked Chen Wen-Jin.

“That’s the first person to enter this meteorite. This person spent two
thousand years in it, but he didn’t wake up. Our preliminary guess is that
he’s slept in the meteorite for four thousand years. This cast-off skin has
been piling up over the Queen of the West’s chest.” Chen Wen-Jin looked at
Uncle Three, who pulled out a dagger as if he wanted to cut open the
cocoon. She stopped him, “Do you know what that person will look like after
four thousand years?”

In the Seven Star Lu Palace, there had also been a thick layer of cast-off skin
in King Lushang’s coffin(1). It seemed that the corpse shed its skin constantly
as it slept. After two thousand years, the corpse-eater king was dead, but
the immortal man slept for another twenty centuries.

No one knew what was inside the cocoon now, but no one dared to open it
either.

“The year that this cocoon was created is the same year that the bronze
door was created.” Chen Wen-Jin took Uncle Three to look at the cave walls
around the Queen of the West’s corpse. There were a lot of pictures painted
there that looked just like bronze doors. “I think the person in this cocoon is

(1)
Remember, “King Lushang” is the “Ruler of Dead Soldiers” in Vol 1 “Cavern of Blood Zombies”. He was
just referred to as King Shang in Vol 10 “Sand Sea”.

762
part of a group of people who made the giant bronze door. That person is
the only one who really knows what happened back then.”

“That man named Zhang Qiling… when he came here, did he communicate
with the person in this cocoon?” Uncle Three asked.

“He did,” Chen Wen-Jin said. “He communicated using that special language,
but then he lost his memory.”

“It’s said that the Zhang family have been looking for long-lived people
everywhere. And they’ve even been looking for jade armors that are more
than two thousand years old. What do they want to know?” Uncle Three
asked.

“They want to know who is in their heads, making them do those things.”

“Do you believe what he said?”

“Those in the Zhang family are said to be born as poets with God-given
talent. But one day, during their childhood, an idea suddenly appears in
their mind. This idea has nothing to do with their lives, but they have a
strong desire to complete it. These things are spread all over history like
fragments, changing the course of history in very fine detail.”

This kind of description seemed to say that with regards to history, the
Zhang family members were a kind of intervention mechanism of the gods.

“One might even say it’s a curse. No matter how sad your life is, it’s always
your own life. It’s better than suddenly taking on another person’s life and
doing things that have nothing to do with yourself. They find themselves
becoming marionettes, but there’s nothing they can do. Everyone in the
Zhang family is waiting for this moment when they become another person
and do something that has nothing to do with themselves. For Zhang Qiling,
his life is too long, and such ‘heavenly gifts’ keep happening. Every time it
happens, he loses his memory. He’s lost his memory countless times, his life
divided into countless years with no beginning or end. He doesn’t know who
he’s loved or who has loved him. All of his experiences are meaningless.”

763
I am a person with no past or future. In the course of my long life, no one will
notice if I disappear.(2)

I touched my chest, the pain enough to leave me a little out of breath.

(2)
Those iconic words from Chapter 21 of Vol 5 “Deadly Desert Winds”.

764
Chapter 223 Countdown to the Finale 5
As I sat in the center of the huge bronze meteorite beneath Tamu-Tuo,
looking at the Queen of the West’s corpse in front of me and thinking about
what I had seen, I had to admit that how to spend one’s life was an
interesting question. At that moment, I saw how a lot of people ended up
spending their lives.

Uncle Three and Chen Wen-Jin continued to move forward, so I followed

them. I was confused, so I made sure to listen to everything they said. The
people who built the bronze door in the beginning were probably sleeping in
this huge meteorite and came earlier than the Queen of the West. The
Queen of the West founded her country here sometime later, using the
technology left by these people to establish a huge ancient country that
became a mysterious civilization on the Silk Road.

After a huge meteorite entered the atmosphere, the mother meteorite fell
here, while many fragments fell across the country. King Mu of Zhou and
Wang Zanghai entered the western regions twice, bringing the technology of
processing this kind of meteorite back to the Central Plains, along with the
legend of immortality.

I followed Uncle Three and Chen Wen-Jin until they separated. They must
have discussed a lot of things between them earlier, but I hadn’t been
listening too clearly because of the severe pain in my lungs. The final result
appeared to be another separation.

The two people stood at both ends of the cave for a long time, just looking
at each other. Then, Chen Wen-Jin turned and left, leaving Uncle Three to
stand there silently for a long time.

I stood in between them, but it wasn’t like they could see me.

I had been wondering if there was a possibility that Uncle Three had been
looking at the night sky alone in the attic over those long years, a glass of
beer beside him and a fake Chen Wen-Jin across from him, a lingering

765
fragrance on her body and her voice like silver bells as she looked at him. For
countless days and nights, this Chen Wen-Jin accompanied him. His endless
longing for her condensed into his lover’s appearance, which gradually
deviated from the real Chen Wen-Jin who was in muddy Tamu-Tuo
thousands of miles away.

That Chen Wen-Jin created from obsession had supported him up to this
moment, but when he saw his true lover, he found that she didn’t need him.
Years of wishful thinking had dissolved his faith, and he finally saw how
ridiculous he had been over the years.

Uncle Three didn’t spend his whole life saving Chen Wen-Jin. Chen Wen-Jin
had saved herself.

I would like to believe that Uncle Three had always loved Chen Wen-Jin,
because when he left, I saw tears in his eyes. But he smiled.

And it wasn’t a wry smile, either.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing that you’re doing fine and staying
strong. Although I know what I’ve done is useless, you no longer belong to
me or love me. But it’s really good that you’re doing fine.

Uncle Three said that no matter how powerful a person was, they should
always be ordinary in the face of love. This should also be the case when
loving someone. He was very grateful to Chen Wen-Jin. When he fell in love
back then, Uncle Three’s love was very humble. But Chen Wen-Jin told him
that a lover who made you feel humble must not love you very much. You
should neither worship nor admire them since you were both the other’s
treasure.

To evaluate whether two people in love had a good relationship, you only
needed to look at whether both of them became better after they fell in
love. When people give to each other, they’ll surely make the other a better
person. Uncle Three and Chen Wen-Jin achieved a lot with each other back
then, so I figured they had a good love.

766
I really wanted to walk out of that cave with Uncle Three and give him a hug
under the sun, but I couldn’t do it. All I could do was watch him standing
there alone. When I looked back, I saw Chen Wen-Jin standing in the depths
of the cave, watching him.

I stood in between them.

Everything around me slowly started to blur until it was hidden in the fog
again. I saw all kinds of figures appear in the fog again, so I headed towards
them.

There was a shadow of a huge bronze door just behind me. If I turned and
walked towards it, it would only take about a dozen steps.

Whatever was behind the bronze door had to be related to Poker-Face’s

“heavenly gift”. Did he enter the bronze door to get rid of the Zhang family’s
curse? Or was there some other purpose I didn’t know about?

What was behind the door?

I turned to walk towards it but suddenly stopped. I saw that there was
another shadow much closer to me, which attracted my attention far more
than the giant bronze door did.

767
Chapter 224 The Finale
I slowly walked towards the shadow.

Why was I interested in this particular shadow, you ask? Because it was a
shadow of me.

People were very familiar with themselves, so when I saw the shadow in the
fog, I knew that it was me. But when I looked closer, I found that “I” was
crawling on the ground.

In the past, I conducted a lot of research to find out some information.

There was a time in my life when many people who looked like me appeared
in the world. They used an irreversible disguising method that involved
surgery to take on my appearance forever. So far, I hadn’t been able to
discover what the purpose of this was. I didn’t even know where these Wu
Xies came from.

Zhang Haike had been hunting these people down. He had even collected a
lot of “my” heads and soaked them in formalin. When he saw me for the
first time, he almost cut off my head to make sure I was real.

After a little analysis, I knew that someone was using my face to do

something. I initially speculated that it might be the Wang family snooping
around for information on Uncle Three and Xie Lianhuan’s overall plan. But
this irreversible disguising method was actually modern cosmetic surgery.
Moreover, I never realized that someone was pretending to be me in order
to do something. I just happened to find a photo and videotape during my
investigations that had someone who looked exactly like me doing strange
things.

Among the various puzzles I had dealt with over the years, there had always
been a barely discernible string hovering in the background. It wasn’t as
interesting as the mysteries surrounding Poker-Face, the Zhang family, and
the bronze door, but I still remembered it very deeply.

768
The calligraphic style I had learned from childhood was Shou Jin Ti(1). But
unlike other people who copied calligraphy from ancient books, I had been
copying the calligraphic style of a person named Qi Yu.

This was a detail deliberately designed by either Uncle Three or Grandpa,

but I always wondered why they would want me to copy someone else’s
handwriting. I figured the only possibility was that they hoped someone
would think that I was Qi Yu instead of Wu Xie.

And there appeared to be a lot of people in the world who were pretending
to be me.

Combined with the events in the South Sea King’s tomb, there seemed to be
some kind of special connection between Uncle Three and Qi Yu.

But what was it?

I slowly walked towards the fog and came to a narrow room. I saw an
unkempt man crawling on the ground and an old-fashioned video camera on
one side of the room.

I had seen this scene before. This was the image in the videotape that Chen
Wen-Jin had sent me.

There was no one behind the camera, but there was a window. I went up to
the window and saw a group of people standing behind it. They were
looking very seriously at the “me” crawling in the room, but I couldn’t see
their faces clearly.

I had always thought that this place was the sanatorium, but I was surprised
to find that when I carefully looked through the window at the texture of
the wall, I found that this place wasn’t the sanatorium at all.

This was a warehouse in Warehouse Eleven.

(1)
Slender Gold Script

769
I turned to look at the “me” on the ground and saw a line of words on “my”
arm. That line of code looked very familiar—it was Warehouse Eleven’s
code.

Only the “goods” in Warehouse Eleven would have this kind of code.

I broke out in goosebumps as I looked at this man, suddenly realizing that

this “me” turned out to be a good in Warehouse Eleven. He was stored in an
unknown location in Warehouse Eleven’s huge underground warehouse.

I carefully examined the code on his arm and found that it matched Uncle
Three’s code that I had discovered at that time.

Uncle Three put this “me” in Warehouse Eleven?

Was he still there now?

I looked down at him. His eyes were blurred and unfocused and he seemed
to be mumbling something.

I bowed my head to listen carefully and suddenly heard him laugh. He

quickly turned to look at me, almost as if he could see me. I was completely
shocked. Impossible! These are just my memories. He can’t see me at all.

His murmuring suddenly became clear, “We’re all here. After listening to the
thunder, come and try to find us.”

Everything around me instantly became like an air current and started to

dissipate. After it disappeared, I immediately felt cold, and the sensation of
the coffin liquid and coffin wall around me instantly returned. I started
coughing violently.

I noticed that it was bright all around me as I sat up from the coffin. I
immediately felt nauseous and began to cough up countless red pulp-like
things. I coughed these chunks up for more than ten minutes before I finally
stopped.

770
I turned and looked around, only to find that all of Boss Jiao’s people had
come down, the Wang family’s leader was standing off to the side, and
Fatty, Poker-Face, and Black Glasses were standing beside me. The coffin
was surrounded by explosives, which was probably why they weren’t
fighting.

I turned to look at Boss Jiao and saw him slowly stand up. When he turned
to look at me, his eyes were calm but fanatical. They were definitely
completely different from before.

“Two bosses, how was your honeymoon?” The Wang family’s leader asked
from a distance. “Do you have answers to all of your questions?”

I looked at Poker-Face. He handed me my pants and shoes, so I put them on

before climbing out of the coffin. Boss Jiao continued to stand there because
no one dared to approach him. “Where I want to go is under our feet?” He
suddenly said.

Everyone looked at each other while Boss Jiao looked at his feet. In our
earlier analysis, the level under our feet was the last floor of this huge
tower. In the cult’s measurement system, this layer was an infinitely deep
layer with no end. It was called Nirvana’s Tranquility and was said to be the
end of everything.

“You all follow me,” Boss Jiao said as he turned his focus to his team. “I
already know everything.”

After he said that, Boss Jiao looked at me and said, “You asked the wrong
question, just like I did my first time. You’ll come back again, Wu Xie, but
there’s no hope. I won’t give you the chance to listen to the thunder again.
You’re worthless to me, you can leave.” He looked at the remnants of filth
on my lips. “The only luck you’ve got going for you right now is that you
probably won’t die. But you’re not done yet. The thunder has taken away
your illness.”

I touched my chest, but it didn’t feel special or anything.

771
Boss Jiao looked at the Wang family, “After we go down, you have to blow
this place up. I don’t want anyone to listen to the thunder except for me.”

“How do you know we’ll do it?”

“Come here.”

The Wang family’s leader frowned, paused for a moment, and then walked
over to him. Boss Jiao whispered a few words in his ear. The Wang family’s
leader looked at him and then backed away in surprise.

Boss Jiao continued to look at me. He was just about to speak again, but
Fatty suddenly headbutted him. Boss Jiao screamed and covered his head
while Fatty yelled at him, “You say you know everything, but you know
nothing!” While Boss Jiao was holding his head in pain, Fatty looked up,
grabbed him, and then said to everyone, “Let me tell you something. It
would’ve been fine if you were honest, but you beat our Master Hua like
this, killed so many members of the Mystic Nine outside, and now you’re
pretending to be some grand master. I’m onto you.”

Boss Jiao suddenly patted Fatty’s stomach with a special frequency. Fatty
immediately let go and looked at Boss Jiao in horror. He suddenly became
enraged and moved to punch Boss Jiao, but I looked up and stopped him. I
knew that Boss Jiao’s action just now was a little move Yun Cai used to pull
when she and Fatty were playing around so long ago.

Boss Jiao straightened up and looked at me before slowly climbing out of

the coffin. He walked barefoot to where his clothes were lying on the
ground, his feet covered in blood. He put on his clothes and shoes and
whistled a few times until all of the reeds around him shook. Then, a tunnel
entrance appeared on one side of the cave wall.

He walked in without the slightest bit of hesitation.

The Jiao team followed him in quick succession, leaving only us and the
Wang family members behind in this space.

772
All of the Wang family members looked at each other and then passed by
us, following them to the last floor. I looked at the tunnel entrance, but
none of us moved.

“Did you find out what you wanted to know?” Fatty whispered in my ear.
“Did you find out where your Uncle Three is?”

I already knew where Uncle Three was, so I nodded and looked up while
hooking my arm around Fatty’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you when we get out.”

I looked at Poker-Face and saw that he was putting on his equipment. He

wasn’t looking at me at all, so I glanced at Black Glasses. I didn’t know
whether Xiao Hua was alive or dead, but I knew that we couldn’t delay.

I knew a lot of things now, but nothing seemed to have changed.

“It’s not over.” I thought of that code, but I decided to take a break first.

We went all the way up and started heading for home.

To make a long story short, I walked for such a long time that time and space
seemed to overlap and my mind went blank. I didn’t realize that I had come
back to the real world until I got into the car.

I seldom come back from an adventure so sober. The journey back was very
difficult, and I was even more tired than when I had first come here, but I
was very sober the whole way. Xiao Hua lost a lot of blood and was in a
coma the whole time. Fatty kept saying that we should just set off the
explosives and kill all those people directly, but I was too tired to say
anything.

After Xiao Hua woke up, I talked with him a lot and learned more details
about what had happened. But it’s not easy to explain them here.

I didn’t go back to Hangzhou because I didn’t want to face my Uncle Two. I

just wanted some peace and quiet as I dazedly thought about everything
that had happened during this time.

773
The series of events that arose from Uncle Three’s text message weren’t
that complicated compared to the events I had experienced in the past.

Boss Jiao didn’t want others to hear the thunder like him, so he pulled a lot
of strings from behind the scenes. But I wasn’t interested in the information
he had heard at all. In short, the people we wanted to save were saved, and
I knew where Uncle Three was going.

According to Black Glasses’ investigation, the so-called “thunder containing

the voice of heaven” may be an explainable phenomenon. He found that
any sounds of thunder reflected by Mute Village’s special terrain could form
similar sounds. It was just that the question of whether the familiar thunder
I heard in Hangzhou was also an illusion caused by the mountains in
Hangzhou is a mystery.

I didn’t know whether all the things I saw were things from my memory or
were actually given by the thunder, but I did know that the puzzle wasn’t
somewhere else. It was in Warehouse Eleven.

I’ll just take a break before I set off again.

**

[Afterward: The Sound of the Providence]

Thank you all for your support. I know it ended in a hurry, but I’ll be able to
revise it as soon as possible.

I’m sorry for using an old pit, but if we ended with a new pit, it seemed as if
it would be the start of another ten years. We’re all exhausted.

As I fill in one pit, there’s one less old pit to fill, which somehow makes me
feel sad.

“Restart” is like a draft, but the first part is finally finished. The prototype is
there, the clues are clear, and there are many shortcomings and mistakes.

774
Generally speaking, I’m really not suitable for serialization since it’s of this
quality.

I’m still a traditional person who ponders over every word in the room, so it
may be better to take it out of my hands.

But the advantage of serialization is that it’s fun. When the physical book is
published, there’s a second round of fun because the plot is more rigorous
and clear.

I’m a little tired, so the formal ending will be left for tomorrow.

Any dissatisfaction or regret will be left to the physical book.

Many people ask if there’s a New Year’s extra, but I won’t answer today.
People who have already eaten have no appetite, so today’s answer won’t
be accurate. I’ll have to think about it after a few days’ rest.

Anyway, thank you for your understanding, and thank you for your
company.

Please continue to pay attention to my WeChat official account, I’m only 35

years old and still have a lot to write.

There are two more parts to “Restart” and “World” isn’t finished yet.

Since I’m in Xiamen, I can have two drinks tonight as I sit by the sea and
enjoy the breeze.

775
Chapter 225 Postscript
I was lying on the couch in Rain Village as it rained outside, a basin at my
feet. Fatty was off to the side, enjoying his own footbath. Poker-Face was
leaning against the window ledge, looking outside. Black Glasses was
cooking in the kitchen. Xiao Hua’s injury hadn’t healed yet, so he was
checking the accounts in the back room. There were a lot of expenses and
bills for this activity, so he was being very meticulous.

Xiuxiu was on her way over. They probably had no intention of coming here
to celebrate New Year’s next time, so they might as well stay here longer to
make up for it.

I spent nearly six days writing an account at the end of my grandpa’s notes
of everything that had happened. This notebook had been written by three
generations of the Wu family, so it was almost as thick as “Das Kapital”(1).
Sometimes I wanted to start a blog and write these stories on the internet
under an alias. It would be nice if I could write the real hardships into words,
but in fact, I really just wanted to resist the nothingness that came from the
passage of time. But Fatty said that blogs were outdated, so I should just
write it all down on paper and read it for myself. That way, I won’t be
disturbed by the cops and spend the rest of my life in misery.

One thing that surprised me and made me feel that things were very normal
was that my lung disease wasn’t getting better.

When I saw the X-rays, I knew that Boss Jiao had been talking nonsense. I
didn’t know if it was because he wanted to get out of trouble or if he was
really hallucinating after hearing the thunder, but my condition had
stabilized a lot. This meant that in the future, I’d still have to carry these
rotten lungs for life. The doctor said that he didn’t know when it would get
worse, so I decided to start looking forward to the rest of my life.

(1)
“Das Kapital” (1867) by Karl Marx is ~ 2156 pages.

776
It did teach me at least one thing. The consequences of everything I did—
whether positive or negative—wouldn’t disappear so easily. This is a truth
that must be known in one’s life. When we were children, there was always
a fantasy that all the bad things would one day be forgotten and disappear
from our lives. As long as we moved forward and ate and slept well,
everything would get better. But those pains would always appear suddenly
at some point, and you’d know that they would always be there. They were
a part of you, after all.

But you can’t do anything, whether it’s ignoring them or attaching

importance to them. Like this, life just becomes more and more
complicated.

The amazing thing is that when life comes to an end, all the pains seem to
become irrelevant in an instant. Eternal life brings eternal nothingness, but
limited life brings splendor. And diseases that can take you away at any
moment can push people to spend their lives better.

Isn’t it funny?

At the end of your life, when you finally want to say goodbye to yourself,
you find that your favorite self is an inhuman figure that’s been tortured by
you.

Don’t disservice the you that your mom and dad raised with their hearts,
and don’t disservice your beautiful self. Believe that your beauty makes you
worthy of everything. There is only one protagonist in everyone’s life, and
that is yourself.

But what’s the proper way to spend this life?

I couldn’t help asking myself this very question. I began to calmly think
about the problems I didn’t want to think about before: Poker-Face’s
inevitable departure, the crisis of my aging body, Uncle Two’s way of
protecting me, the things I did wrong to my parents, the ups-and-downs of
all the idiots and opponents in my life, and all the things I obtained, lost, and
regretted. My friends did things for me and I did things for them.

777
I just don’t know.

Maybe it’s doing good deeds without asking for a reward.

I could smell Black Glasses’ meal burning, so I heaved a big sigh and stood up
with a curse.

*********
End of Restart Part I: The Sound of the Providence

778
Part II: The Southeast Asia Adventure

779
Chapter 1
Xie Yuchen and I were at the rock climbing gym because my back hadn’t
been doing very well recently. Maybe it was because of all the shop
inventory and accounting I had to do. He massaged it for me when he came
to Hangzhou this time, and I found that his technique was very good. He said
that if it was a chronic problem, then rock climbing two hours a day might
help it.

He stood very tall and straight, and was in really good condition. I envied
him a lot. I figured I was more like the general public, an ordinary person
among ordinary people who would grow old. My body would wear out, my
spine would curve forward, and my hair would definitely encounter some
problems one day. But Xie Yuchen always seemed to be a little younger than
his actual age.

Even though it was my first time climbing indoors, I still had the basics
down. But Xie Yuchen chose to climb the most difficult route, so a crowd
quickly gathered to watch. I was alone in the corner, pitifully climbing up
and down more than thirty times before my spine finally relaxed.

When I came down and sat down to drink some water, he was still working
his way up the most difficult route. When he got to the counterclockwise-
angled rock—the place where the rock protruded—he hung in the air with
one arm and answered the phone.

If I answered the phone like that, my arm would detach from my body and
still be hanging on the rock, blood spraying wildly from the arteries as the
rest of my body fell to the ground. But he could still concentrate on the
phone call without a problem. After the call ended, he let go, slid down the
safety rope to the ground, unlocked the safety buckle with one hand, and
waved to me.

I threw an energy drink to him and he took a sip before leading me outside,
“It’s going to rain heavily soon and there will be a traffic jam. Let’s head to
the restaurant early.”

780
Every time our Beijing buddies came to Hangzhou, or we went to Beijing,
there would be a dinner party. Li Cu said that it was a symbol of our old age.
Every time he said this, I regretted that I didn’t kill the hostage back then.

Sure enough, it was raining heavily by the time we got on the road. When
we finally reached the restaurant, I knocked on the door of the private room
and went in. Just as I sat down, Bai Haotian, Liu Sang, and the others arrived.
Li Cu, Su Wan, and Yang Hao were smoking downstairs when Ah Tou showed
up. Fatty booked a KTV by phone(1). Wang Meng was driving Little Brother
and Black Glasses, but they were stuck in traffic. Kan Jian was still far away,
so I did a video call with him so that he could say hello to everyone.

While we were sitting on the sofa and chatting with each other, Fatty
suddenly said, “Little Brother’s fan is here, Wu Xie’s fan is here, and Master
Hua’s fan is here.”

Ah Tou lit a cigarette, “I’m not his fan.”

“I didn’t say you were. You just assumed that I was talking about you,” Fatty
said. “Look at you, why are you blushing? Who are you showing those big
tatted arms to? You can’t smoke here.”

Ah Tou looked at Fatty and exhaled a smoke ring, “My sister opened this
shop.”

Fatty immediately lit a cigarette after hearing this, but Bai Haotian said,
“Little Master Three has bad lungs. You should pay attention to secondhand
smoke. Look, those three kids have all gone down to smoke. Can’t you learn
from the younger generation? Little Master Three, let’s go outside. You
shouldn’t stay here. When Little Brother comes, he’ll put all your cigarettes
in your nostrils.”

(1)
KVT is karaoke. China has KTV clubs, which have private rooms that you can book with your friends or
colleagues for a few hours of fun. There’s a tablet for picking songs, loud speakers, comfortable sofas,
and mood lighting.

781
Fatty hooked his arm around my shoulders, “Don’t talk about your Little
Master Three like he’s pregnant.” He gave me a look, “Did you secretly
smoke one yesterday?”

Yesterday, I stayed up all night working on the accounts, so I did actually

smoke one. Bai Haotian gave me a furious look, but I just glanced at her and
said, “Be closer to the idol’s work, but stay away from the idol’s life.”

At this time, Liu Sang suddenly said, “I found a strange phenomenon. Why
doesn’t Master Black have a fan? If he does, we’ll have enough people to
play mahjong(2).”

“He does. It’s Su Wan,” I said.

Liu Sang shook his head. “Su Wan’s an apprentice. Fans are like us.” He and
Bai Haotian looked at each other, but Bai Haotian ignored him.

I touched my chin. Black Glasses had always been a loner and I had never
seen him with any followers.

But he didn’t give off a sense of loneliness. If anything, it was like he was
loneliness itself. But he was also happy and content at the same time.

“He does,” Xiao Hua suddenly said. He took Ah Tou’s cigarette, put it out,
and then reached out to Fatty. Fatty had no choice but to hand over his own
cigarette. “He has a fan. If you stop smoking now, I’ll tell you his scandal.”

“Is it a male fan or a female fan?” Fatty asked.

“It’s obviously a female fan,” Xiao Hua said. “Do you really think he’d have a
male fan?”

Fatty nodded, and at the same time, Ah Tou took out her pack of cigarettes
and put them on the table. “Go ahead.”

(2)
Mahjong is always played with four players seated around a table.

782
Xiao Hua looked at his watch. “We have to finish quickly. When he gets here,
he won’t let me talk about it. This all started with Wu Xie and that incident
with listening to thunder. When it comes to this matter, there’s still a small
tragedy.”

783
Chapter 2 Mute Village
After the heavy rain in Myanmar, the humidity was staggering and the road
was very muddy, but Black Glasses knew that he should be thankful there
was a road at all.

This heavy rain meant that the rainy season was coming soon, and it may
continue to rain nonstop in the upcoming month. The sun was very bright as
it shone through the dense forest canopy and made little rainbows
everywhere. He knew that he could see it because there was something
wrong with his eyes.

The driver was a thirteen-year-old girl who was chewing on something as

she drove. She probably doesn’t have a driver’s license, Black Glasses
thought to himself. The little girl didn’t seem to like him very much and
hardly looked at him.

The vehicle was an off-road pickup truck that belonged to his godson, a
Sichuanese native. After Chen Pi Ah Si disappeared, this guy came to
Myanmar to do business. Black Glasses didn’t know what he sold, but this
guy’s business was prosperous and he made a lot of money. This time, if it
weren’t for him, Black Glasses wouldn’t have been able to enter this place.

Although the little girl had dark skin, she was surprisingly beautiful. Black
Glasses leaned back in the passenger seat with his arms crossed over his
chest and looked at her a few more times. Was she his godson’s daughter?
But wouldn’t that make her his god-granddaughter? If this god-
granddaughter of his looked like this, he’d have to keep an eye on her. In
another five or six years, she might be old enough for Su Wan. Well, Su Wan
was a good boy, but a girl that looked like this wouldn’t be easy to handle.
The little girl noticed Black Glasses looking at her and spit a mouthful of
phlegm out the window before rolling her eyes at him.

Black Glasses ignored her and looked out the window. The place he was
headed to was a very special village that was located deep in the dense

784
forests of Myanmar. It used to be a place where the local armed guerrillas
fought. This village was very strange because all of the villagers were mute.

There was a very strange legend in this village. It was said that the villagers
could understand the sounds of the thunder. In order to prevent the secrets
of heaven from leaking out, all of the village children would suddenly
become mute after hearing thunder for the first time. It was different from
the strange legends you would usually hear in ordinary small villages. This
village had a large population, but it was true that everyone was mute,
which was very unusual. It would be reasonable to say that there should at
least be some exceptions, but there weren’t any. In fact, there wasn’t a
single exception at all!

Black Glasses just so happened to be short of money, and the Wu family’s

Uncle Two was anxiously looking into this matter. Moreover, Black Glasses
had a godson here and he was just starting to miss the days when he would
hang out in Southeast Asia, so he decided to come.

Although the villagers were mute, they were very tough and almost
everyone carried a gun. His godson thought for a long time and eventually
decided to have the thirteen-year-old girl take him there, saying that there
was nothing she couldn’t handle. If that was the case, then this little girl
shouldn’t be his god-granddaughter; otherwise, she wouldn’t be acting so
arrogantly in the local area. Black Glasses touched his chin and saw the little
girl roll her eyes again. Feeling a little frustrated, he decided to concentrate
on thinking about the village.

Thunder, the secrets of heaven, becoming mute, and Wu Xie’s investigation

all seemed to be connected somehow. But Wu Xie was in Fujian, and this
was Myanmar. Was listening to thunder a universal thing? Did different
people everywhere discover and form different cultures around it? If this
was the case, then Wu Erbai should increase the price by another twenty
percent.

785
The truck came to an abrupt stop, which almost caused Black Glasses to hit
the windshield. When he recovered, he found that there was a suspension
bridge in front of him.

This suspension bridge was hidden among the extremely lush tropical
foliage. If not for the fact that his eyes were very sensitive in the dark, it
would’ve been very difficult to see.

Mute Village was on the other side of this suspension bridge.

There was probably a mountain gap under the bridge, so if the little girl
hadn’t braked in time, they would’ve rushed down into it. No one would be
staging any rescue efforts here, and the car would definitely be useless once
it fell down.

Black Glasses glanced at the little girl. She told him to get out of the truck, so
he put his luggage on his back and took a deep breath. He was just about to
turn back and tease the little girl, but the truck suddenly backed up at full
speed and drove away. A huge wave of mud splashed all over him.

“Damn it.” Black Glasses laughed and patted himself off before walking into
the bushes and onto the suspension bridge. There were a bunch of signs on
the bridge in English, Myanmar, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, all saying
the same thing: there’s a minefield nearby. Don’t stray from the dirt road.

There had been armed conflicts here for decades, so mines were
everywhere. But Black Glasses was a little surprised. With signs in so many
languages, that meant that there should be some tourists here. Nowadays,
tourists were very fierce and went wherever it was dangerous.

He didn’t see any guards, but there were some strange rhythmic sounds
coming from the village that didn’t sound like people talking. Black Glasses
thought for a while. Mute Village… these shouldn’t be the sounds of human
voices. He walked to the other side of the suspension bridge, where he could
see a towering tree. He soon passed by the big tree and entered the village.
There was a villager smoking at the entrance. He was dressed in local
traditional clothes but holding an AK47 in his hands. As he looked at Black

786
Glasses very indifferently, Black Glasses greeted him. The other party didn’t
respond. At first, he thought that there were only some old people and
children left in the village, just like a typical working village. But when he
turned to a diaojiao(1) at the entrance, he immediately saw signs of life.
Clothes and fish were hanging on the doors of every household to dry and
some women were walking in front of him, looking at him curiously. The
strange sounds were coming from the village square.

He was very tall—much taller than the people here— so he stood out. At the
same time, he immediately noticed that a ceremony seemed to be taking
place in the village square. Many people were gathered and those sounds
seemed to be coming from them.

So, it turns out that they can make some sounds after all, he thought to
himself.

He had spent a long time in Southeast Asia, so when he saw some cloth
hanging on a tree beside the square, he immediately realized that they were
holding a funeral in the village. At this time, the dark clouds in the sky began
to gather again, as if it was going to rain heavily. Then, there was a sudden
clap of thunder and a flash of lightning streaked across the sky. At this time,
all of the villagers suddenly looked up at the sky.

It was a very strange sight, because everyone instantly stopped moving and
looked up at the dark clouds. It almost seemed as if all of time and space
had suddenly stagnated.

He conveniently lifted his cell phone up and took a few photos. The phone
was equipped with satellite transmission peripherals, so there were almost
no dead spots on the GPS now. As he sent the photos to Uncle Two, he
looked at them and noticed that there was a person on the roof of a house

(1)
Diajiao are basically stilted buildings in Miao villages. Because they are built with joints instead of
nails, nearly the entire building can be disassembled to be moved, or to recycle its materials into new
structures. Pics and info here.

787
on the other side. He didn’t know what they were doing, but he could see
that they were wearing a thatched cover for camouflage.

Voldemort? Black Glasses thought.

He wanted to walk over for a closer look but was immediately stopped by a
nearby villager. Black Glasses raised his hands to show that he meant no
harm and then took out some money to indicate that he was willing to
negotiate. But the other party was very determined and pushed him back.
Since the villager was also holding an AK47, Black Glasses decided to
pretend to be cowed.

He made a particularly friendly gesture before bypassing the villagers and

going to the back of a nearby diaojiao. He looked around to make sure
nobody was watching and then climbed up to the roof, slowly approaching
Voldemort.

When he looked at the person, he found that it was a woman holding a

video camera. She was attentively recording the ceremony in the village
square. Was she Chinese? Shanxi? Anthropologically speaking, she appeared
to have the Shanxi genes. She definitely looked like a tourist. He watched
her for a while, but the woman didn’t notice him at all. In the end, he also
turned his attention to the square.

The scene in the square was very shocking. There were six or seven bodies in
the middle of the square and blood was everywhere on the ground. There
was an old woman in sacrificial garb who seemed to be cutting the scalps of
these corpses. The others, who were looking at the dark clouds in the sky,
seemed to be waiting for the second clap of thunder.

At this time, the woman suddenly realized that there was one more person
on the roof with her. She turned to look, jumped in fright, and fell off the
roof.

Everyone in the square immediately turned their heads and looked at the
two of them at the same time. Black Glasses stood up and said to the
woman below, “Apologize quickly. Otherwise, it’ll be a diplomatic incident.”

788
But the woman got up, fled into the alley between the buildings, and
disappeared. Black Glasses stared for a moment and then noticed several
mature men with automatic rifles in their hands start to rush over.

Black Glasses, naturally understanding what this meant, jumped to the

thatched roof of another diaojiao, leaped to the ground, and then ran after
the girl. He was very fast, so after listening for the girl’s footsteps, he was
able to follow her route and catch up.

He didn’t know anything about the village at all, so if he wanted to escape, it

would certainly be better to follow her. After turning a corner, he saw the
girl rush into a diaojiao. Black Glasses accelerated and followed her in, but as
soon as he did, he saw a big shirtless guy shaving his beard. The woman flew
up to the second floor of the diaojiao, leaving Black Glasses and the big guy
to stare at each other.

Black Glasses suddenly felt a little confused. At this time, the big guy silently
pulled a nearby T-shirt to his chest and covered his chest hair. “Dude, what’s
going on?” The big guy was also a Chinese and spoke in the Nanjing dialect.
“Are you also a tourist? But the rainy season is coming. You won’t be able to
get out next month. Did your tour guide trick you?”

“The woman just now seems to be in trouble.” Black Glasses pointed to the
second floor. “I have something to discuss with her.” He started to walk to
the second floor, but the big guy suddenly dropped his T-shirt to the ground
and stood in front of the stairs. “My sister is causing trouble? You say you’re
looking for her because she’s in trouble, but I think you’re the one causing
trouble.” As he spoke, he grabbed Black Glasses by the collar.

Black Glasses flicked the guy’s belly button, causing him to let go with a
bashful “ah!”. Black Glasses wanted to continue up to the second floor
immediately, but at this time, he saw the light outside the window flicker
out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed the big guy and rolled to the side.

Almost at the same time, a few local youths rushed into the house and
started firing.

789
The sound of AK47s going off was very loud and powerful, and the place
where they had just been standing was quickly turned to dust. After they
were done shooting, a young man in the front immediately fired his gun at
the ceiling until all of his bullets were spent.

The floor and ceiling of the diaojiao were made up of wooden pillars and
boards, which were now riddled with holes. Black Glasses heard a cry come
from upstairs and thought to himself, it’s over. There’s no way she survived
that.

790
Chapter 3 Thunder
When Xie Yuchen got to this point, he suddenly bowed his head to reply to a
text and didn’t immediately continue with the story.

The whole room was very quiet.

Xie Yuchen was answering his texts very seriously, so everyone waited for
him. Fatty wasn’t very discreet and said, “It’s a real tragedy. It’s so pitiful to
be shot to death like this.”

Xie Yuchen was still responding to texts, so Fatty looked at us and said,
“Let’s eat. Don’t you understand? It’s the end of the play. Master Black’s fan
was killed.”

I was just about to say something when Xie Yuchen put his phone away,
smiled, and started talking again.

“The excitement’s just begun.”

When the woman was dragged down from the second floor, she was
completely unscathed.

One of the locals was dragging her by her hair, but she kept struggling and
kicking. The local was particularly strong and seemed to be the leader here.

Black Glasses and the strong Nanjing guy raised their hands, both
surrendering.

There was a local man standing very close to Black Glasses who had an old
M16. He was looking at the girl’s torn clothes in a lecherous manner. Her
skin was very white, so it was obvious that she didn’t go to Southeast Asia
very often. Her clothes were torn in such a way that a lot of the snow-white
skin on her belly and hips was showing.

Black Glasses could snap the man’s neck in a second, steal his gun, and then
kill the other villagers directly.

791
But he didn’t do it.

He had noticed that when a few of the villagers had fired just now, they had
pointed their muzzles up. Although their attack was fierce, they didn’t want
to kill them.

The girl was pushed in front of them, and then the leader made a gesture at
the three people.

The strong Nanjing guy had a puzzled expression on his face as he lifted his
sister up. “Sister, what do they mean?”

Black Glasses saw the girl start rapidly signing at the village leader. The two
people’s hand movements were just like ninjas casting spells, so it was too
difficult to tell what was being said.

Black Glasses knew sign language, but this obviously wasn’t international
sign language—it was a special sign language.

It didn’t take long before the girl turned to her brother, took out her phone,
and typed something in it. Then, SIRI’s voice said: “They want what I just
recorded.”

“Why don’t you give it to them?”

“No, the funeral is the most important part of our film project. I can’t hand
over the master tape before I back it up,” SIRI said after the girl finished
typing.

Black Glasses looked at the girl curiously, wondering why she didn’t speak
and was using SIRI to talk. Then, he suddenly understood and asked the girl,
“Are you deaf?”

The strong Nanjing guy immediately said, “No, my sister’s vocal cords don’t
work. But after we make this film, we’ll have enough money for her to get
an operation.”

792
At this time, a huge clap of thunder suddenly sounded outside, much louder
than the ones from before. The villagers immediately looked out of the
window, all of their expressions terrified. The leader turned his head and put
the gun directly to the girl’s throat.

The barrel was still very hot, so the girl’s skin immediately started to smoke.
She took a step back.

Black Glasses noticed that the leader’s expression became very ferocious, as
if there was a great pressure in the thunder just now that was forcing his
hand. A villager on the side gestured quickly. The villagers were so
frightened that their hands began to tremble and their voices became
hysterical.

Black Glasses immediately realized that they were afraid of the thunder.
Even though they were looking at them grimly, these villagers were terrified
of the thunder.

Fuck me, Black Glasses looked at the dark clouds outside the window. That
loud clap of thunder just now was like something was berating these
villagers and forcing them to end things quickly. What’s going on here? Is
someone in the sky, ordering them to do these things?

793
Chapter 4
The girl was squatting on the ground and crying, while the big Nanjing guy
sat on the ground with an expressionless face. The ground was covered in
beer foam and broken glass, but he didn’t seem to notice it. Both of them
were badly battered.

The whole room had been rifled through and almost no corner was left
untouched. Black Glasses sat on the edge of the table, opened a bottle of
beer, and started drinking. “Don’t cry,” he said. “It’s already happened. We
have to face reality.”

“All of our materials and equipment have been taken away. We’ve been
shooting here for three months, but now everything is gone.” The big
Nanjing guy looked at the door, still expressionless.

Black Glasses pointed to his neck, “Look on the bright side, we’ve still got
our heads.”

“We got approval from the Myanmar government to shoot here. They have
no right to take away my materials,” the big Nanjing guy said.

“Can’t you see that they’ll shoot you? They’re not just trying to scare you,”
Black Glasses said. “If you’re thrown into the minefield, you’ll be killed.”

“I know it’s a possibility.” The big Nanjing guy turned his head and looked at
Black Glasses. “You didn’t have to help them beat us.” He started sobbing as
soon as he spoke.

Black Glasses looked at the mute girl, who was staring at him with eyes full
of extreme hatred. Black Glasses laughed, “Your sister’s quite the character.
How was she raised, to go up and grab someone’s AK47 like that?”

“So you mean to say we have to thank you? What about our project? My
sister’s been waiting for the money to treat her throat.”

794
Black Glasses looked at the door and saw that all of the armed villagers had
left. He turned and moved to leave, but the girl suddenly got up and
grabbed his hair from behind. Black Glasses reached behind, grabbed the
girl’s hand, and threw her over his shoulder. She flew through the door and
landed on her stomach.

The big Nanjing guy immediately got up and rushed over, “Sister!” Black
Glasses smoothly followed the guy’s movements and threw him out as well.
The two people landed on top of each other, unable to get up because of
the hard fall.

Black Glasses squatted by the door and looked at them, “I am not a good
person. But we’re all fellow citizens here, so I saved your lives. You shouldn’t
be so ungrateful.” The big Nanjing guy protected his sister as they both
huddled there in despair. Black Glasses stepped over them.

Just now, he thought that he wouldn’t be able to stay in the village, but he
was relieved to see that things had been resolved. He wanted to go find a
villager who would be willing to let him stay with them, but he suddenly
thought of something and turned to look at the two siblings.

When the big Nanjing guy was begging for mercy as Black Glasses hit him
earlier, he said that they were filming a documentary on a few disorders
related to dysphonia(1) for National Geographic. There was a total of three
people in their team—one assistant in another house and the two of them
in this house.

It suddenly occurred to him that the sign language here wasn’t standard
international sign language, so he couldn’t communicate with the villagers.
But that girl seemed to know the sign language here. He went back over to
the girl and squatted down next to her with a smile on his face, “The
materials are very important to you, yes?”

(1)
Dysphonia is any impairment in the ability to speak normally, like from a spasm or strain of the vocal
cords.

795
The big Nanjing guy nodded like he was pounding garlic, while the girl
looked at Black Glasses with red-rimmed eyes, as if she wanted to eat him.
Black Glasses said, “Let’s make a deal. One, add another bed in the
assistant’s room so that I can stay here with you guys. Two, I’ll help you get
the materials back so long as you help me with day-to-day translations until I
leave here.”

“Can you really get it back?” The big Nanjing guy didn’t believe him.

“You must have filmed something at the funeral that they don’t want
revealed,” Black Glasses said. “I’ll talk it over with them and delete that
segment. Everyone will still be good friends. Plus, I’m good at fighting and I
have a lot of money.”

“Then how long will you be staying? We can’t live here for a year.”

“Rest assured. One month at most. And you won’t be working for nothing.
I’ll give you a hundred thousand yuan.”

The big Nanjing guy’s eyes lit up and he looked at the girl, who was still very
angry. “Sister, since this elder brother wants to make up for it, it’s better
to—”

The girl was very stubborn and didn’t answer. Black Glasses sighed, with this
character, she probably wouldn’t live long in turbulent times since her
brother spoils her too much.

The big Nanjing guy saw that his sister didn’t respond and immediately said,
“I can persuade her, I can persuade her.”

Black Glasses sat down on the threshold and said, “Ok, now tell me what
you know about this village.”

The big Nanjing guy sat on the ground and told Black Glasses a lot of things.
During that time, his sister got up and went upstairs. The stairs creaked as
she stomped her way up, but he didn’t know what she was protesting.

796
Mute Village was surrounded by minefields, with only one dirt road leading
in or out. Luckily, the road had already been demined. The villagers made a
living by hunting and fishing, and hardly left here because they were mute.
Since their sign language was so unique, they couldn’t communicate with
the outside world, and it was extremely difficult to marry outside of the
village.

However, some villagers could understand Chinese, because Mute Village

was very close to the Chinese border. But the Chinese they could
understand was a native language unique to the border region.

The surrounding area was all primitive jungle, so it made sense that they
relied on hunting. But fishing was very strange. Black Glasses remembered
that when he first entered the village, he really did see a lot of fish drying
outside. The big Nanjing guy told him that the fish here came from an
underground river.

The people here had the ability to fish in underground rivers. It was said that
there was a huge cave under Mute Village that had a big river full of fish
running through it. All of the fish were caught in this underground river.
Moreover, it was said that this underground river flowed from China and
was very long. But the cave entrance to this underground river was a secret
hidden deep in the village, and outsiders weren’t allowed to know about it.

After listening, Black Glasses fell deep in thought. According to the data Wu
Erbai had sent, the South Sea country he was looking for was in an
underground river. But the underground river here was too far away from
Wu Xie’s location. Were the underground river systems all over China
connected?

After that, Black Glasses really gave the two siblings a hundred thousand
yuan. When Xiao Hua got to this part, he fell silent again and glanced at me.

This look was enough to make my back tingle. I looked at Fatty, who said,
“Master Hua, you didn’t lend this hundred thousand yuan to him, did you?

797
You’re a living bodhisattva, a real blessing to this world. We’re all your
children.”

Xiao Hua ignored him and continued, “Wu Xie, do you still remember the
map your Uncle Three mentioned in that listening-to-thunder incident?”

798
Chapter 5 The Strange Case of the
Burning Corpse
Xiao Hua asked me that, not because he thought I didn’t know, but because
he wanted me to help with the story. We had all experienced these things,
but the information each of us knew wasn’t very complete.

The map was said to have been created by translating the sound of thunder.
It pointed to a strange place called Thunder City, which was said to be the
place where immortals lived. Uncle Three was obsessed with finding this
‘Thunder City’, but we couldn’t find the map in the end. Later, after a series
of investigations, we discovered that the map wasn’t a topographic map, but
a map of the underground rivers.

Xiao Hua paused again. We already knew all of this information, but I knew
that his goal wasn’t to talk about it but to give us time to think. I was used to
his style of storytelling, so I let my thoughts roam for a while.

I touched my chin as I thought it over. Then, I started to realize what Xiao

Hua was saying and why it was best not to mention this matter in front of
Black Glasses.

Black Glasses’ fan was the girl who couldn’t speak.

As we all knew, Black Glasses actually wasn’t that young. According to him,
all the young girls he used to know were now grandmas.

Back when Granny Huo was alive, Black Glasses took on a commission from
the Huo family that involved a strange case of a burning corpse(1). An
accident occurred in a school, and there was a young girl who was trapped
in the resulting fire. When Black Glasses finally managed to rescue her, her
throat was damaged and she couldn’t speak.

(1)
Chapters 112-115 of “Sand Sea”

799
In the end, the case went unsolved, but the scene was definitely very
strange. I recorded part of the story in my other writings.

Of all the strange things I had experienced or read about, this case was
definitely the most frightening. I was a brave person, but the case file, the
strange phenomenon Black Glasses discovered, and the reasons for not
continuing the investigation were all extremely chilling.

At that time, the girl was pretty young. After doing some calculations, I
realized that the mute girl in Myanmar must’ve been the girl from the fire.
In order to keep the events of that year a secret, the girl may not have
received any real information. As a result, she thought she was mute
because of a childhood disability.

When I first heard about that case, I just saw it as an anecdote. But when I
thought about it now, I suddenly realized that it seemed to be related to
thunder. If that were true, then I figured Black Glasses didn’t accept Uncle
Two’s job just for the money. But whether the case at that time was related
to thunder or not, Black Glasses wasn’t happy with the lack of results and
ended up in Mute Village, where he met that girl from before.

Was it a coincidence?

I nodded to Xiao Hua, and he continued, “As you all know, that map is very
old, but must have been drawn by someone. When I was discussing all the
data you investigated with Uncle Two before, a question was raised. A group
of craftsmen who heard the thunder in the South Sea King’s tomb drew a
map and finally escaped from the tomb. After they disappeared, their
whereabouts were unknown. I think these people are the ancestors of Mute
Village, and the underground river below Mute Village is really a path
leading to Thunder City.

“After that, I made a bigger inference. I started to assume that if God had a
chance to leak information to the world at that time, then he must’ve had
hundreds of other opportunities. But why didn’t anyone discover it again

800
after all these years? It’s not like it just stopped thundering. So, why did it
only happen at that time?”

“Why?” Fatty asked.

“No, that’s actually not the right question. Based on my hypothesis, it’s
reasonable to assume that countless people have discovered this matter. It’s
appeared in every era, but those people chose to keep it a secret without
exception. Why is that?”

When I thought of this, I suddenly looked at Xiao Hua, feeling cold all over.

“Because they found that anything related to this matter—”

“Will lead to death if it’s disclosed. And the deaths are all mysterious cases
that can’t be explained.”

In the whole listening-to-thunder incident, there were countless rough

threads that I had been unable to connect so far. It was just like how I didn’t
realize until now that Black Glasses may have gone to Mute Village because
of the corpse burning case.

The underground well in the corpse burning case, the body discovered in the
well, and the strange ritual of transporting the corpses to the northeast
triggered a series of events afterwards. There were countless details, but
they were too incredible and difficult to connect.

There were only some small details that had something to do with listening
to thunder. I had forgotten them long ago, but Xiao Hua must’ve been able
to see the association between them right away. He was just that kind of a
person. He hardly forgot anything, like when someone owed him money.

“Then the girl who can’t speak appeared in Mute Village—”

Xiao Hua followed my line of thinking and said, “It’s no coincidence that she
appeared there. It has something to do with the ceremony at that time.”

801
“This—”

“This is a case within a case. I didn’t tell you all the truth, because I was
afraid it would interfere with your investigation of the main incident. But the
ancient well that Black Glasses found, the female corpse inside, the strange
fire in the school, his eye disease suddenly worsening, the girl ‘accidentally’
appearing in Mute Village, and listening to thunder are all related.”

“So, you checked into this matter?”

“It wasn’t just checking,” Xiao Hua said. “I’ll tell you another thing. After
listening, you’ll realize how scary it is.”

802
Chapter 6
The case is very old, so let’s review it first.

First, there was a strange fire in an empty building in Beijing. I won’t go into
the details, but the building was empty and there was only one guard who
escaped after the fire. After the firemen put out the fire, it was reasonable
to believe that there wouldn’t be any victims. But as it turned out, fourteen
bodies were found while cleaning up the ruins.

With the exception of one on the rooftop—a charred female corpse—the

other thirteen bodies were all drowned.

And these thirteen bodies were all arranged on the building’s middle floors
in the shape of a fish. No one knew how they got into the building.

The identities of these bodies were unknown, but they didn’t appear to be
locals at first glance. Moreover, all thirteen people had varying degrees of
eye diseases.

This was the first strange point. The second point was that the female
corpse on the rooftop was burned to death while standing up. The
temperature on her body was so high that all of the asphalt on the roof
melted. After looking at the footprints on the asphalt, Black Glasses came to
a conclusion—this female corpse weighed a lot. If the woman wasn’t a sumo
wrestler, then she must’ve been carrying another person or carrying
something equal to a person’s weight.

But there weren’t any additional remains or other burnt things at the scene.

This was the second doubtful point.

Black Glasses’ first step in the investigation was to find a place in the
building where people could drown. Based on all of the trace evidence,
these people entered the building alive, so they must have drowned in the
building.

803
But there was no place in the building where people could drown.
Moreover, the water in the building had been shut off since no one was
living there.

After conducting a relentless search, Black Glasses eventually tore up the

concrete in the building’s parking garage and found an ancient well that
appeared to be bottomless.

The wellhead was sealed with quick-drying cement. The traces of cement
were hard to notice after the fire, but it was obvious that these people had
drowned in the ancient well under the garage. When the bottom of the well
was salvaged, a fifteenth corpse was found. But this corpse was the
strangest one yet.

It was an ancient female corpse whose head was pointed towards the
bottom of the well. The bones inside had all melted away, making it look
more like a skin bag. A mirror had been inserted into the female corpse’s
collarbone, making it so that she could only see herself in the mirror when
she bowed her head to look at her toes.

I won’t describe the specific details, but this ancient corpse must have been
dumped after going through some kind of ritual.

With the ancient female corpse at the bottom of the garage, thirteen bodies
drowned in the middle floors, and the burnt corpse on the rooftop, the
whole case was extremely complicated. Logically speaking, it seemed to
form an extremely complex ritual, which was much more complicated than
Taoist rituals. In fact, it seemed to lean more towards the so-called “feng
shui” arrays, which could be extremely difficult to set up.

To be more specific, there wasn’t a record of Taoist orthodoxy. The

“sorcery” discovered during the development and formation of primitive
Taoism absorbed a lot of things from ethnic minorities and local sorcery,
which weren’t incorporated into ancient books. Some were considered lost
because they were too obscure and cruel, but there were still many things

804
passed down to modern times via word of mouth or excerpts from scattered
records that were written by feng shui masters.

Later, Granny Huo discovered that these thirteen people were loggers from
Liaobian. They found the female corpse in a swamp when they were logging.
After stealing the gold and silver ornaments from the corpse, they all
developed eye diseases. They went to the hospital to get treatment, but
there was no cure. As a result, they had no choice but to turn to a local
sorceress for help.

The sorceress took them to this building in Beijing and asked them to put
the female corpse into the deep well below. It was the only way they could
be healed.

But they all died in the end, and their deaths were very strange.

I’d like to mention here that Black Glasses has a very detailed understanding
of folk customs. He first realized that most of the so-called abilities of the
Northeastern sorceresses came from the so-called “Bao Jiaxian”(1), which
usually referred to animal spirits or ghosts. When the sorceress died, Bao
Jiaxian would go to the descendants of the deceased and continue to
protect them. No one knew whether this was true or not, but like the Taoist
system, Bao Jiaxian and ghosts all fed on fireworks.

The main feature of those skilled in the old ways of the business is that a
cigarette never leaves their hands. They’ll keep smoking one right after
another, because there are too many “things” around them that need to be
fed. And when you asked the old Northeastern women about the cigarettes,
they’d show you that the cigarettes burned out quickly, as if there were
ghosts smoking them.

I always thought it was a ruse, but now I didn’t know what to believe.

(1)
Per Tiffany: The Chinese characters of Bao Jiaxian can be interpreted as “the immortal that protects
the family”. Of course, the idea of this is that the immortals are animal spirits or ghosts.

805
The sorceress’s daughter was studying in the Northeast, so Black Glasses
went to see her. He knew that there had been an accident in this strange
feng shui array, which led to a large number of deaths. There must’ve been
“something” at work there, and the only thing that knew the truth and could
still talk was the so-called “Bao Jiaxian”.

Black Glasses went to the northeast and met with the sorceress’s daughter.
When he first saw the young girl, he immediately noticed that there was an
imperceptible thing behind her. Moreover, that thing knew that he could
see it.

But his eyesight was different from normal people, so this was more of a
feeling. He couldn’t describe the world he saw, so he couldn’t really describe
this “different” feeling either.

The young girl promised Black Glasses to ask Bao Jiaxian about the situation
at that time. They would hold the ceremony at her school when she was
done with classes. But at that time, Black Glasses found that the daughter
seemed very hesitant as she spoke.

He didn’t know what secrets she was hiding.

806
Chapter 7
The following content may be a hoax or false information.

The ceremony was done in the classroom after school. No one else was
around and the school was very empty after everyone had left. The
classroom lights were gradually turned off as people left for the day, and the
whole school building was dark. Only this one classroom was still lit. They
were on a tight schedule because someone would come by on patrol after a
period of time and drive them away.

The sorceress’s daughter was in the classroom, setting up the Chuma array.

These details all come from a chumaxian’s narrative(1). As a matter of fact,

the information provided by a chumaxian was only accepted as court
testimony once. Any other information was only valid among the masses
since there had never been any science to back it up.

In the Northeast, chumaxian were generally considered to be strange life

forms that were formed from animals and couldn’t be seen by human eyes.
Some Taoists said that they were the souls of certain things.

As ordinary people, it’s difficult to understand how these supernatural

forces exist and communicate in ways that we can’t see.

In the Beijing fifteen corpse case, this chumaxian was a powerful being that
accompanied the sorceress. Through the sorceress’s daughter, the
chumaxian disclosed some details about the scene of death at that time. It
was hard to believe that this thing could communicate in such detail.

Chumaxian couldn’t actively communicate with you, so you had to provide

questions that were carefully worded.

(1)
Chumaxian is basically the practice of shamanism in Northeastern China. See end of chapter for rest of
note.

807
Black Glasses’ first question was, “Did someone commit a crime, or was
there a ghost?”

The chumaxian’s answer was very strange, “It’s not anything you would
think of.”

“And what would that be?” Black Glasses asked.

The Chumaxian replied, “I don’t know. It’s not good. It doesn’t talk.”

“Can it be seen?”

“You all can’t see it.”

In other words, only the chumaxian could see that thing that had killed
people. Black Glasses was about to ask another question, when the
chumaxian suddenly said, “You might be able to see it.”

The chumaxian said that neither a person nor a ghost committed the crime.
In other words, it wasn’t something that belonged to the Chuma system.
There were very few things that chumaxian didn’t recognize, so Black
Glasses found it very interesting.

“What was its purpose?” Black Glasses asked. “What was the ritual for?”

“To go back,” the chumaxian said. “It wants to go back.”

“Where does it want to go back to?”

Here, the chumaxian paused for a while before saying, “It wants to go back
below.”

Black Glasses asked for clarification several times, but the chumaxian didn’t
answer.

The young girl told him that the chumaxian probably didn’t answer because
it didn’t know.

808
But Black Glasses didn’t give up and asked several more questions, changing
the wording each time. Eventually, the chumaxian said, “Below is the
original one. It needs to revert back to the original one.”

It made even less sense now.

“Then why kill people?” Black Glasses asked.

The young girl’s eyes suddenly started flicking back and forth and her eyelids
seemed to droop down.

Black Glasses found that the movement of the girl’s eyes was very different
from that of human beings. It almost seemed to mimic an animal’s way of
looking at people.

Her eyes seemed to be half-hidden behind her eyelids, flicking back and
forth as she looked at him. He didn’t know if it was some kind of technique
she had learned since childhood to scare people.

Then, the chumaxian said, “It doesn’t want people to know that it’s been
here.”

“Is it gone now?” Black Glasses asked.

The chumaxian shook its head.

“There was a sixteenth person,” the chumaxian suddenly said. “It didn’t
finish killing. There was one person it didn’t kill.”

“There were only fifteen bodies at the scene.”

“It’s in the water. It was transported to the well from a distance, so it could
have gone back. But there was one person who didn’t die.”

“The sorceress took them to Beijing to set up this array. Did you teach her?”

“Yes.”

809
“So, you designed this array to send it back, but it failed. And that thing
didn’t go back because there was one person at the scene who didn’t die. It
caused the array to fail, right?”

“Yes.”

“If it was going to kill everyone, did you warn the sorceress?” Black Glasses
asked.

The chumaxian stopped talking, but Black Glasses continued asking

questions, “Do you have to listen to it?”

“It comes from below.”

The chumaxian didn’t answer directly, its eyes constantly moving back and
forth as if it was trying to look at Black Glasses. Whatever happened at that
time prevented the chumaxian from saving his divine companion.

“Did it tell you how to set up the array?” Black Glasses asked.

“The array is a bridge.” The chumaxian seemed to be a little unstable at this

time. “It wants to go back to the bridge below. When it thunders, it can go
back.”

“That thing… since it hasn’t gone back, where is it now?” Black Glasses
asked.

“The sixteenth person isn’t dead,” the chumaxian said. “It’s on their neck.”

Black Glasses looked at the young girl. At this time, the girl’s movements
were so exaggerated that she looked completely like an animal. In Chuma,
people’s body movements generally didn’t change so much, but the young
girl was practically crawling onto the table and her whole body was
distorted.

“You don’t have to be like this,” Black Glasses said after looking at the
monster-like body.

810
The chumaxian stared at Black Glasses before saying, “Be careful.”

“Are you saying that thing will come after me?”

“Be careful. If you see a white house and children playing with red balls near
you, don’t go into that house. Especially if it’s a white house with a dome.”

Black Glasses narrowed his eyes and saw that the young girl’s eyes had
started to bleed as they flicked back and forth.

“That’s enough!” He said in a deep voice.

This was Black Glasses’ first time asking a chumaxian for information, and it
ended shortly after that. It took a lot of physical strength to summon a
chumaxian, and the young girl couldn’t bear it anymore.

After coming back to her senses, the young girl explained a few things to
Black Glasses.

The chumaxian’s explanation was much clearer than usual, but the dialogues
between the two worlds were very different, so the little girl suggested that
Black Glasses choose to listen to what he believed in. Chumaxian’s eyes
were different from those of humans, so the things they saw might not be
clear or might only be one side of the story.

The information Black Glasses had gained from those questions was so
obscure that he didn’t even know whether it should be used or not. But the
chumaxian did mention that another person had been at the scene and
didn’t die. It was just extremely difficult to investigate because there hadn’t
been any surveillance equipment around the building.

But if he was being honest with himself, he knew that there was evidence of
the sorceress’s footprints at the scene showing that she may have been
carrying a person.

But wouldn’t that person have been covered in flames when he left?

811
If there really was another person who had made it out alive, then they
could have only flown away.

In addition, the young girl carefully reminded Black Glasses of the

chumaxian’s warning towards the end.

“It’s because the chumaxian became very interested in you after seeing your
past. You should listen to it and try to avoid that kind of house.”

When Black Glasses got ready to leave, he thought about whether he had
seen that kind of house before. He hadn’t. White houses were something
you would see in the Middle East, and he wasn’t planning on going there any
time soon.

He wasn’t going to worry about it, but the young girl told him that it might
not actually be a house, so he had to be careful and keep an eye out for
anything similar. If he did see something, he had to be sure to avoid it.

As Black Glasses was saying goodbye to her, he suddenly asked, “Can

chumaxian lie?”

The young girl stared at him, not knowing what he meant. When Black
Glasses smiled, the young girl shook her head, “A chumaxian can’t lie. It will
only remain silent. “

****

Continuation of TN Note 1: They worship animals like foxes, snakes, weasels,

etc. Chumaxian (出马仙), which means “the gods who take action” or more
literally “riding for the immortals”, is a definition which implies that the gods
and their disciples act as an organic whole rather than mere channels of
communication. Northeastern Chinese shamans are predominantly women.
More info here. Per Tiffany: Chumaxian can be seen as both a verb and a
noun in Chinese. The word can mean someone who “chuma” (is being
possessed by spirits). “Xian” means “immortal”, which might be a respectful
way to call the spirits that appear in the ritual. In some cases, it might refer
to someone who performs the ritual.

812
Chapter 8
Did Black Glasses believe in things like chumaxian? No.

As he spoke with the sorceress’s daughter, he looked at her eyes and was
almost certain that she was messing with him. But he could tell that there
was something wrong with her.

When Black Glasses was leaving the school, he met a little girl who looked to
be in the second grade. She appeared to be standing in the hallway as some
kind of punishment.

He thought about what the chumaxian had said just now. It seemed to be
implying that there was something out there that wasn’t a ghost. And in
order for that thing to go back to a certain place, it needed that ritual to act
as a bridge.

“Ghost” wasn’t a strong term. In fact, “ghost” could refer to the

consciousness after death or any consciousness from an unknown origin.
But the fact that the chumaxian had emphasized that it wasn’t a ghost was
rather odd. The daughter of this sorceress was lying, but what purpose did
she have in telling this story?

Black Glasses was different from me. Unless I had a very strong hunch, I
usually felt as if I had made a mistake most of the time, and there was a
fifty-fifty chance that the other party didn’t lie to me.

I also felt that I would rather have that thing be a ghost. I was the type who
believed that my friends and relatives received my thoughts every year
during the Qingming Festival. But people like Black Glasses, who were sure
that the other party was lying to them, could hardly make mistakes. When
he taught me, he also talked about these kinds of skills. As long as people
lived to a certain age, they would see through lies.

Black Glasses left the school and went to a restaurant nearby. But as he was
eating, he suddenly heard someone cry out. When he went out to look, he

813
saw that a huge black cloud of smoke was coming from the school. He
rushed back to the school, only to find that the whole building was on fire.
He thought of the little girl who had been standing in the hallway as
punishment. Worried that there were still students in detention, he rushed
in and carried the remaining children out on his back one by one. But by the
time he got to the last child—that little girl who had been standing in the
hallway as punishment—her throat had become disabled.

When he came out with the little girl on his back, the sky was overcast and it
began to rain heavily. It was very rare for it to suddenly rain so heavily in the
Northeast during that season. The little girl tried desperately to cover her
ears as she tried to shout something.

Black Glasses felt that the little girl had heard something from the thunder
at that time, but she couldn’t speak.

Later, a burnt corpse was found on top of the laboratory building. It was the
sorceress’s daughter. She was the one who had started the fire. At that
time, the school had a surveillance system that captured the sorceress’s
daughter walking to the rooftop. After a huge disturbance, the girl turned
into a burnt corpse and the whole laboratory building started to burn
everywhere.

Black Glasses began to suspect that all of those people on the roof were
killed by lightning. But as he watched the surveillance video, he found that
there wasn’t a huge streak of lightning falling from the sky.

“There’s a religion that believes the body will be annihilated after being
struck by lightning, but the consciousness will enter the sky,” Bai Haotian
said. “Little Master Three, is it possible that the chumaxian wanted to
overcome the calamity and gain special abilities? Don’t they say that they

814
can have someone else overcome the calamity for them so that they don’t
have to suffer themselves?”(1)

“Read less novels.” Fatty touched Little Bai’s head, but she smacked his hand
away.

“The cameras were very clear,” Xiao Hua continued. Black Glasses always
felt that this case was man-made. Although he didn’t know why it felt like a
feng shui array, there had to be a conspiracy behind it. And this conspiracy
didn’t have anything to do with ghosts or gods.

But the surveillance cameras were so clear that there was no reasonable
explanation for how someone on the rooftop suddenly burned like that.
Moreover, the high temperature was instantaneous. The person was
carbonized within a quarter of a second, which was something that only
lightning could do.

And based on the camera angle, when the sorceress’s daughter went up to
the rooftop, her mouth kept moving as if she were talking to something. Her
expression even seemed a little confused and panicked. From the camera
screen, it almost looked like the chumaxian made her go to the roof. Black
Glasses still thought that the sorceress’s daughter was lying, but she ended
up dying just like that. For a brief moment, he had a faint doubt that he had
misjudged things.

Black Glasses carefully looked at the recording of the sorceress’s daughter

on the rooftop. Based on the movements of her mouth, the Northeastern
dialect was quite clear. He looked at her lips very carefully and found that
one of the sentences she was saying was: “If what you say is true, will going
to that place really alleviate all regrets?”

(1)
Per Tiffany: When it comes to “overcoming calamity”, people have to suffer in order to gain special
abilities and become immortals, so gaining special abilities is their main goal. It’s like how you need to
defeat monsters before you can level up in a video game.

815
Chapter 9
I was very familiar with this sentence. Uncle Three—or someone else—left it
for me at the bottom of Warehouse Eleven.

The so-called Thunder City was said to be the place where Lei Zu(1) lived. Lei
Zu was also known by two other names: the “Heavenly Lord of Universal
Transformation Whose Voice of Thunder Resonates from the Origin of the
Nine Heavens” and the “Perfect King of Universal Transformation Whose
Voice of Thunder Resonates with the Origin of the Nine Heavens”.

In Taoism, Chen Wenyu—the governor of Leizhou in the Tang Dynasty—was

regarded as Lei Zu in later generations. Chen Wenyu was the child of a
hunter from a tribe of ethnic minorities that had gathered at the edge of the
South Sea during the Sui Dynasty. The hunter’s name was Chen You. One
day, he found a huge egg among a cluster of thorns. When a thunderstorm
broke out, the egg cracked opened to reveal Chen Wenyu inside. Later, Chen
Wenyu became the governor of Leizhou. He then went on to become an
immortal in his later years. He was the only recorded Lei Zu in history.

Lei Zu was said to be the top-ranked god among those in the Thunder
Department(2). It was also said in Chinese mythology that he was an
extremely accurate “slayer” god.

The map in the South Sea King’s tomb indicated that the thunder contained
some information that pointed to Thunder City’s location, but I didn’t think
the Thunder City there was the real Thunder City in the traditional sense.

(1)
Lei Zu is the highest ranked thunder god in Pure Taoist Religion according to this site. Lei Zu (雷祖) can
mean “Thunder Patriarch” or “Thunder Ancestor”. Fun fact: Lei Zu has a 3rd eye, which can see all things
in the world and is in charge of yin and yang, good and evil, the Thunder Department, five elements,
descendants, etc.
(2)
Lei Bu (雷部), or Thunder Department/Agency is a fourteen-member department that Lei Zu oversees.
They deal with the functions of thunder, from providing rain to announcing fortune or misfortune, and
even to conferring life or death after the inspection and evaluation of people.

816
The people at that time probably got information from the thunder and
thought that the place this map pointed to was Lei Zu’s immortal city.

In Taoism, thunder was the key to becoming immortal, so the alchemists all
thought that it was an immortal land. Believing it to be a shortcut to
becoming immortal, they flocked to it.

Coincidentally, the names Chen Wen-Jin and Chen Wenyu were very similar.
And when Uncle Three was listening to thunder in the mountains, Chen
Wen-Jin was among those in his group. For me, it was impossible to solve
the mystery of Yang Daguang’s family’s origin of thunder, whether Chen
Wen-Jin was related to the legendary Chen Wenyu, or whether it was all just
coincidence.

But if we simply took it at face value, then the information appearing in the
thunder may not have anything to do with the myth at all. It was a little too
far-fetched for future generations to insist on associating Thunder City with
a myth.

Uncle Three’s so-called “alleviating all regrets” had nothing to do with Slayer
God Lei Zu.

On the surveillance monitor, the sorceress’s daughter’s mouth formed ten

sentences in total. In fact, the amount of information was very sufficient,
and Black Glasses only had trouble figuring out one sentence.

I’ll write the information contained in these nine sentences below:

1. Going to Thunder City can alleviate all regrets.

2. Your mother is waiting for you there.

3. The people who go to Thunder City are actually chosen by heaven. It’s not
a spontaneous idea, you just don’t realize it.

4. Only those who have huge regrets can feel the thunder’s message.

817
5. The people who come back from Thunder City aren’t humans, but
immortals.

6. Immortals aren’t gods, but other things.

7. These things are produced by people who go to Thunder City, hoping that
the dead will be revived.

8. Immortals can’t leave Thunder City or they’ll harm people.

9. Your mother wanted to take that thing back to Thunder City, but it didn’t
leave.

I touched my chin. According to this, the thing wasn’t a ghost or a monster,

but an “immortal thing”.

If the immortal thing wasn’t actually an immortal, then what was it?

According to these words, the sorceress’s daughter and the sorceress herself
went to Thunder City in this way.

So, the story should be like this: the ancient female corpse found in Liaobian
must’ve been to Thunder City and brought back an immortal from there.

This woman must’ve had a huge regret. Then, one day, she suddenly
received a signal from above and went to Thunder City. But she didn’t go of
her own volition; it was more like something was secretly influencing her.
That regret must’ve been a lost relative. So, the woman alleviated all of her
regrets in Thunder City and recalled her lost loved one. But according to the
chumaxian, what was recalled wasn’t a person, but an immortal thing.

She wasn’t supposed to take this immortal thing out of Thunder City, but
things like this happen in this world and she eventually brought it out of
Thunder City. After that, the immortal thing began to harm people and the
woman also died in the end. Maybe too many strange things had happened
before her death, so she sealed her face with a bronze mirror. (I made this
up.)

818
At the same time, the immortal thing must’ve also been buried with this
woman. It was trapped on her corpse, where it remained invisible and
unseen.

Time passed and then the loggers found the female corpse. When they were
stealing the funerary objects from her body, the immortal thing started to
influence them. As a result, they looked for the sorceress. The chumaxian
told the sorceress about the immortal thing, and then the sorceress killed all
the loggers and cast spells, intending to set up the fish-corpse array and
send the immortal thing back to a certain place.

The sorceress and chumaxian forced out the immortal thing, and when it
latched onto the sorceress’s back, she brought it to the rooftop. Then, the
sorceress was instantly burned to a crisp by “some kind of lightning” and the
whole building caught fire.

But the immortal didn’t return, the plan failed, and the sorceress’s sacrifice
was wasted.

This is the general truth of the whole story, but there are some details that
are still unclear. I could write this story with terrifying words because it
really is creepy, but I figure it’s not necessary since it’s just a record.

But there was a lingering question: why did the chumaxian also let the
sorceress’s daughter go to Thunder City?

Here, I have a theory. First of all, was there really a chumaxian?

Based on my knowledge, many of these sorceresses were just feng shui

masters with considerable knowledge. So, this sorceress didn’t need a
chumaxian. She could infer the situation of Thunder City and the immortal
thing from the female corpse’s situation and also make the fish-corpse array
and send the immortal thing back.

So, there was no chumaxian.

819
Then what exactly was the chumaxian that came back to the sorceress’s
daughter?

Could it be that immortal thing?

Did it make the sorceress’s daughter directly flick her eyes back and forth
like that so that it could look at people? Was the consciousness that twisted
her limbs the same “thing” that came out of Thunder City?

If so, then did it kill the sorceress’s daughter? In other words, it had been on
the girl’s body and Black Glasses’ arrival suddenly motivated it to kill her.

This theory was later verified by Black Glasses, because after returning from
the Northeast, he started to notice that something was riding on the back of
his neck. That thing was a strange power that prevented him from looking
up. Not only could he only look at his own feet, but his eyes began to rapidly
deteriorate.

That immortal thing had finally come after him.

“But,” Xie Yuchen said, “this time, it encountered a hard bone to swallow.”

How did Black Glasses avoid the same end as the sorceress and the
sorceress’s daughter? How did he fight against this non-human, non-ghost
thing and finally win? That’s a story for another time; a story that’s related
to a tall “living immortal”. It’s not convenient to discuss more here, but the
final result was that the immortal thing suddenly disappeared and no one
knew where it went.

Let’s return to the jungles of Myanmar.

Black Glasses got rid of the so-called “immortal thing” and later thought that
it was just a rare eye disease. Then, he met a woman who couldn’t speak in
Mute Village. After doing some calculations, he found that the woman’s age
matched that of the little girl he had saved from the fire.

820
He saw that there was a strange thing behind the woman that looked like
the thing he saw when he was doing the Chuma ritual with the sorceress’s
daughter.

This brought back his memories.

Long time no see, he thought to himself as he looked at that thing that was
entangled around the girl’s throat. Black Glasses smiled, it’s time for a
showdown.

821
Chapter 10
Tony, an affectionate man, watched shyly as Black Glasses unpacked his
luggage. He didn’t know what to say. He had originally thought that it would
be absolutely impossible to meet “good-looking” Chinese men here in the
tropical jungles of Myanmar. He was ready to watch the heavy rains,
diaojiaos, and field work for half a year.

He just didn’t expect to suddenly meet such a man before the rainy season.
Was this a blessing from the heavens?

Tony stayed huddled in the corner as he watched Black Glasses make the
bed opposite him and then take off his jacket, exposing his biceps. Black
Glasses looked at him, smiled, and then walked out. Tony immediately
pressed up against the door, peeked at him carefully, and watched him walk
towards the bathroom. The rainy season in Tony’s heart was over and spring
was coming. But he was still a little concerned about why there had been
such loud firecrackers in the diaojiao building next door just now.
Regardless, Tony decided that his spring was here.

Black Glasses went to the bathroom. There were awnings behind some of
the diaojiaos in the village, and there were outdoor bathrooms beside these
awnings. The water was pumped up well water that was still relatively clean.
The humid rainy season and high temperatures made him sweat, so he took
off his glasses, closed his eyes, and started to bathe.

It was still thundering in the sky, but at this time, he suddenly seemed to
hear someone talking in his ear.

The way of speaking was very similar to the frequency of thunder, but it
seemed to be a strange whisper. People in this industry knew ancient
pronunciations to some extent, and this strange sound was like someone
speaking an ancient language in his ear. Black Glasses turned to listen
carefully, but the strange sound disappeared.

822
He reached for his sunglasses, only to find that they were gone. He couldn’t
see anything when he opened his eyes, but he still struggled to look
anyways.

He heard footsteps outside and knew that it was the woman. It looked like
she was the one who had taken his sunglasses just now. Black Glasses threw
out his arm like he was performing a magic trick and a new pair of
sunglasses appeared out of nowhere.

He put them on and got dressed. When he walked out of the shower, he
saw the woman sitting off to the side, holding a washbasin with a very
embarrassed expression on her face. Upon seeing him come out, she signed
at him: “Are you a disabled person, too?”

Black Glasses ignored her and looked at the strange thing behind her. Just
now, when the woman stole his sunglasses to play a trick on him, the
“immortal thing” was talking to him. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what it
was saying.

This immortal thing must have jumped from him and latched onto the girl.
Black Glasses left the shadow of the awning and began to think as he
walked. I didn’t solve this problem back then. This immortal thing seems to
be able to transfer among the people who are involved in that incident. It
didn’t transfer to strangers, only to the last person who was at the scene at
that time.

Based on its method for solving the problem last time, he had to find a way
to prevent it from escaping again.

As he was walking around the village, he saw one of the villagers who had
taken the equipment before. The man was holding a gun and watching Black
Glasses warily. Black Glasses walked towards him, but the other party raised
his gun and pointed it at Black Glasses’ head. A wad of money in Black
Glasses’ pocket suddenly fell to the ground. Black Glasses looked at the
other party, but they didn’t relax their guard. He let out a cry and then
another wad of money fell out of his pocket. The other party paused, as if

823
suddenly understanding something. Black Glasses cried out two more times
and three or four more wads of money fell out.

Ten minutes later, he was at the villager’s house and the man’s wife began
to serve him food and drink. Black Glasses didn’t understand the other
party’s sign language and was wondering what to do. Although the people
here could speak some Chinese since they were close to the border, he
couldn’t understand the other party’s reply at all. At this time, he saw the
wife bring over some paper, indicating that she could write some Chinese.

Black Glasses told them that he wanted to get the equipment back. The
taboo things could be deleted, but he needed to get the other things back.
The price was negotiable.

The other party showed an embarrassed look.

The villager’s wife drew a picture on the paper, which turned out to be a
map of the whole village. Black Glasses immediately recognized it. But the
woman drew a strange building far away from the village and told Black
Glasses that all of the equipment had been transported to that place. Once
it was there, only the village sorceress could get it back.

Black Glasses knew he could steal it himself since the sorceress wasn’t very
familiar with video cameras.

Black Glasses gestured. There was a minefield in that part of the village that
was the largest minefield in the area. There were more than a dozen
mountains, and mines were everywhere. The building was in a mountain
depression deep in the minefield.

Some villagers could enter and leave the minefield without any problems.
Most of them were hunters who had safe routes through the minefield, but
they were the only ones who knew the route markers, which became a kind
of protection. Now, only the sorceress and her family knew the route
clearly. The sorceress was an old lady in her seventies. She had been the one
who was cutting the corpses’ scalps at the funeral. She only had two
apprentices, and her husband and children were dead.

824
Black Glasses thought for a long time and eventually asked if there was any
way for the sorceress to take him in. The villager told him that he had to be
a part of the sorceress’s family.

When Black Glasses returned to the siblings’ diaojiao, the two came up and
asked him, “How did it go?”

The mute girl’s attitude was obviously much better, probably sympathizing
with him now that she knew that his eyes were bad.

Black Glasses said to them, “I need your help to get the cameras and tapes
back.”

“How can we help? How can we help?” The big Nanjing guy asked eagerly.

“I want to pursue a sorceress,” Black Glasses said. “I’m in love with her.”

825
Chapter 11
Everyone in the audience was silent. When we heard this kind of plot device,
we had to think about its authenticity.

When it came to storytelling, there was a situation where you probably

knew what the context of the story was, but you didn’t know what the main
plot was. As a result, you made up the plot yourself. But Xiao Hua’s
expression didn’t seem like he was joking.

My mind was filled with images of when Black Glasses had sent me to
Crocodile Island(1). I felt that it wasn’t that he couldn’t woo the sorceress, it
was just that he was someone who would take people in as godsons at
most. Still, such an exaggerated statement really surprised us.

I watched Su Wan come in through the door and knew who had spread this
kind of thing. Su Wan looked into my eyes and seemed to sense my ill
intentions, for he immediately stepped back warily.

This was ridiculous. It didn’t change the actual situation. I didn’t believe the
sorceress would accept Black Glasses and let things be sorted out so easily.
Black Glasses was probably teasing the amateurs.

If the person with him wasn’t an insider, then he would often joke around
and make light of dangerous situations. He told me that this was because
having a nervous and jumpy companion around you was more dangerous
than facing a bear.

The three brats smelled of cigarette smoke, and I knew there was no way we
could get them to stop. When I was smoking back in the day, did I listen to
anyone’s advice? I knew the answer very well, so I didn’t bother saying
anything to them. When they started gasping for breath any time they went
up stairs in the future, they would realize how terrible it was. Human beings

(1)
From “Master Black Glasses Sequel: Wu Xie’s Island Adventure”. It’s on the Misc Extras Tab.

826
always repeated the same fate, which was why some people could write a
novel for more than ten years.

Xiao Hua continued the story. Su Wan tried to leave when he heard that we
were talking about Black Glasses, but Fatty caught him. “I’m not getting
involved in this matter,” Su Wan said. “He won’t beat you guys, but he’ll
definitely beat me. I’d better help welcome the guests.”

“You’re going to rat us out, you coward. Do you think I don’t know what
you’re about to do?” Fatty said to him. “Stay. I have to listen to this story.”
Su Wan couldn’t leave, so Xiao Hua continued.

Black Glasses told the little mute girl—whose name was Chuchu—about his
plan. That was when the siblings learned that only the sorceress’s family
could pass through the minefield, enter the building outside the village, and
get the equipment back. Chuchu realized she had to get serious. In this
matter, what she needed to do was to be the translator. Theoretically,
sorceresses were more difficult to bribe with money, so they could only be
outwitted.

In any case, there weren’t any skills that would make others accept you as
their son, so the only possibility was courtship. Of course, it was ridiculous,
but compared to being someone’s son, courtship was at least logical. But
this logic was still completely useless.

Sure enough, Xiao Hua changed his style of storytelling and looked at Su
Wan, “Unfortunately, the sorceress didn’t like him, so this person became
angry and kidnapped her.”

Fatty and I looked at each other, feeling a little relieved. Sure enough, this
was Black Glasses.

Black Glasses tied the sorceress up and put her on the edge of the minefield
before looking at Chuchu and saying, “You go with me.”

827
Chuchu was a little surprised and asked in standard sign language:
“According to the TV dramas, shouldn’t people like you tell me to go back
and wait for news at this time?”

Black Glasses looked at her: “Would you really go back and wait for news?”

Chuchu sneered: “No.” (This was all done in sign language)

Black Glasses looked at the minefield in front of him and saw that it was
getting late. “The location of this minefield isn’t quite right,” he said. “The
place we’re going to is in the center of the minefield. This minefield almost
seems like it’s protecting that place. I don’t know whether it’s to prevent
people from getting in or to keep something from getting out.”

“Did the army set it up?”

“Yeah. It must’ve been done during the Myanmar-Vietnam War.” Black

Glasses looked at the sorceress and asked Chuchu to translate for him: “I’ll
walk there with you on my back. You tell me how to get through, or we’ll
both go to heaven together.”

The sorceress looked at Black Glasses in horror, pointed to the sun that had
almost completely set, and then pointed to his sunglasses. Chuchu
translated: “She said that you’re blind and she can’t speak. How is she
supposed to tell you how to get there?”

Black Glasses asked Chuchu to gesture back: “I can see. I can see
everything.”

He looked at the strange shadow behind Chuchu, and the shadow looked
back at him—he didn’t expect there to be such a good place near Mute
Village where he could confront this immortal thing. Since this place was
surrounded by mines and there were only three people in the whole area, it
couldn’t escape.

The three of them cautiously walked into the minefield.

828
At this time, Liu Sang suddenly turned his head, looked at the door, and
made a wait-and-see expression at us. We all settled down and saw Black
Glasses, Wang Meng, and Poker-Face walk in.

829
Chapter 12
Now that everyone was present, we all started to sit down. We had been
adhering to the policy of talking ill of someone who wasn’t present, so now
we couldn’t really do that anymore.

Well, we could talk ill of Kan Jian since he was out of town.

I glanced at my phone, which kept dinging as Kan Jian sent text after text:
“It’s a pity that I haven’t returned yet. Will you be angry, Boss? Don’t be
angry with me. I’ll try to make up for it.”

I really couldn’t talk ill of him.

After everyone was seated, Black Glasses asked, “What were you all talking
about just now? You’re being quiet. You’re not quiet people.”

Nobody answered. Poker-Face watched the heavy rain outside, the

raindrops hitting the glass one by one. It was raining heavily south of the
Yangtze River and I didn’t know what would happen to the houses in Rain
Village.

Although the world was difficult, every once in a while, people would
inevitably want to leave their original environment. After everyone around
them was well, every day would pass by in a haze, which would eventually
make one’s skin itch. They would either want to leave the inherent
environment or spend a long time recalling the things of the past. But when
I saw Poker-Face’s eyes watching the rain, I didn’t know what he was
thinking about, let alone which year or century he was recalling.

It was annoying to be buddies with a near-immortal.

Fatty really wasn’t used to the silence, and immediately said, “Telling a
story. It was fucking interesting, too. If you hadn’t come in just now, we
would’ve reached the climax.”

830
“Fat Master, you can do that just by listening?” Wang Meng was surprised.
“You’ve got a supernatural ability!”

Black Glasses said, “Oh? What story is so good? Who’s telling it?”

Everyone clearly had no backbone and instinctively looked at Xiao Hua. Xiao
Hua was the only one who looked at me, “Wu Xie, of course. He owes so
much money, so I made him tell a story as punishment.”

Everyone immediately looked at me, not even putting up a fight. I cursed in

my heart, shit, is money so effective in times of peace? Black Glasses tilted
his head, smiled, and looked at me, “Go on.”

“Don’t you guys want to eat first?” I asked. “I’m hungry. I’m suddenly very
hungry. And let’s drink. How long has it been since I’ve seen you? Why are
we even talking? Let’s sing some karaoke after drinking.”

The waiter immediately came over, “Would everyone like to order?”

Black Glasses raised his hand, “We’re not in any hurry, let’s get some tea
first.”

The waiter glanced at me. I was just about to speak, but Li Cu suddenly
stood up, hooked his arm around the waiter, and showed him out.

Shitty brat! I felt as if old blood was stuck in my throat.

Black Glasses obviously noticed that something was up, so he looked at me

with a smile. I glanced at Fatty, who said, “What you were talking about just
now was quite good. Go on.”

I turned my head and saw that Poker-Face had turned back to look at me.

“It was fifty years ago at Changsha Dart Summit—”

“Bullshit. The story you were just telling must be related to me.” Black
Glasses glanced at Xiao Hua, “Say it well. If what you say isn’t good, then
you’ll have to drink later.”

831
I rubbed my face and saw Liu Sang pointing to my heart, secretly hinting that
it was beating too fast. Bai Haotian made a gesture at me that meant: You
can do it!

Since I used to tell stories to fool her, she thought that I was particularly
good at storytelling.

Ok, I thought as I calmed myself down. I’m also a person who can write to a
certain degree. Although I didn’t know what happened after that, Black
Glasses was alive now, wasn’t he? In that case, I’d just make up the rest by
following that general direction.

I glanced at Xiao Hua. Xie Yuchen, you won’t get away with this.

Then, I started making up the story, “It’s said that at that time—”

Black Glasses and Chuchu took a sorceress deep into the minefield. Since
there might’ve been unexploded engineering mines below them, the two
carefully stepped on the soft fallen leaves.

But Black Glasses was confident. Several generations had been walking this
path, which showed that the way should be clear even though it was difficult
to recognize.

There’s no need to be accurate to the point that every footfall is right, Black
Glasses thought to himself. But when he looked at Chuchu, he actually felt a
little guilty in his heart.

Although he wasn’t the type to be troubled by emotions, Black Glasses still

felt a little conflicted when it came to accidental injuries. This Northeastern
girl was too young at that time, and seeing that she hadn’t recovered even
up to now, Black Glasses must’ve been showing a different kind of emotion
behind those sunglasses.

When I said this, I glanced at Black Glasses. He looked at me without

admitting or denying anything, so I continued with my sappy story.

832
But just when I was about to speak, I suddenly thought of another
possibility, “Shit, don’t tell me you wanted to kill all three of you in that
minefield?”

Black Glasses grinned, “You made it up very well just now, but you won’t be
able to later. Keep going. If you’re wrong, I’ll correct you.”

833
Chapter 13
They were extremely cautious the whole way and finally made it to the front
of the building without any mishaps.

Black Glasses only knew that there was a building in the center of the
minefield outside of the village. But when he saw it, it was still an
unbelievable sight.

It was a Chinese-style temple.

Although there were many architectural styles in Southeast Asia, Black

Glasses was surprised to find that this was definitely a Chinese-style temple.
And it was too old to determine its exact age.

He stood there stunned for a while. But when he looked at the surrounding
environment, he was a little confused.

He knew the characteristics of Chinese temples all too well. This temple
should have appeared in China around the Fujian or Zhejiang provinces. It
had the typical characteristics of fishermen’s temples by the sea, and
although the age couldn’t be verified, it was almost certainly at least a
thousand years old.

Chuchu looked at Black Glasses. She was obviously a little puzzled and
signed at him: “What’s the matter?”

Black Glasses was thinking about what it looked like a thousand years ago. It
must’ve been during the Hung Sawadi period, but this place wasn’t covered
by the capital city or any city at all. It was probably just a giant area of
primitive jungle.

But this primitive jungle wasn’t the primitive jungle in the modern sense. At
that time, there were very few human gathering places, and most of the
world belonged to jungles and animals.

At that time, did the Chinese come here and build a temple?

834
But what were they doing here?

Moreover, there had been so many armed conflicts and wars in the area,
but the temple was still here. And there were minefields around it,
indicating that armed forces fought small-scale battles here. But why wasn’t
the temple destroyed?

In order for anything in the world—especially a man-made building—to

survive in such a tropical humid environment for a thousand years, someone
had to maintain it for generations.

He asked Chuchu and the sorceress to wait at the door while he cautiously
walked into the temple alone.

The temple wasn’t big and only had one building, but when he walked in, he
smelled incense. At that moment, he even felt that it had come from a
thousand years ago. Then, he saw the tributes and candles, which were all
new.

On the shrine, there was a Thunder God statue.

No, he could see directly from the details that it wasn’t the Thunder God,
but Lei Zu, the supreme god of the Thunder Department.

When he walked around the temple, he found that people had been lighting
incense all year round. The temple was still running, but he didn’t see any
monks.

Where were the monks?

When he returned to the door, he asked Chuchu to ask the sorceress, “What
is this place? What’s going on in this village?”

When the sorceress kept shaking her head, Black Glasses tilted his own head
and looked at her. Based on his analysis, the people in this village came from
the South Sea country and the entrance to the South Sea country should be
near this temple.

835
When Black Glasses looked at Chuchu, he saw that the shadow behind her
looked very distorted. He suddenly realized that he had seen the girl hiding
in the grass from a distance before.

It wasn’t because of his special vision, but because the thing behind her was
too easy to find.

“Are you a little scared?” Black Glasses asked her.

Chuchu waved her hand and shook her head: “No.”

Black Glasses wasn’t asking her, he was asking it.

He looked at the shadow gripping Chuchu’s neck and felt that the girl had
been treated unfairly. He could no longer let her suffer as a sacrifice because
of him.

He gave up the idea of confronting the shadow here and asked Chuchu, “Do
you want to speak again? I have a friend I can introduce to you. He can cure
you.”

Chuchu didn’t seem to believe him and stood there a little dazed. Black
Glasses continued, “Listen to me and I’ll introduce him to you. He has some
very powerful skills.”

836
Chapter 14
“There are only a few special operations that can cure my throat,” Chuchu
signed to Black Glasses. “It’s very expensive and I don’t have the money to
do it. My brother said that after finishing this project, I’ll have the money to
cure this disease, but I know he’s lying to me.”

Chuchu’s sign language was so fast that Black Glasses was a little dazzled. He
grabbed her hands, secretly wondering if she was doing the Northern
Praying Mantis style of martial arts(1). “Expense is never a problem for my
friend,” he said. “And he doesn’t necessarily use modern methods.”

“I don’t believe it.” Chuchu gave a wry smile and pointed to the ancient
temple, “You should deal with this matter first. Have you found my
equipment?”

“No. It’s not inside. But the person who gave us the info was very sincere.
He wasn’t lying.” He looked at the sorceress, “Please help me ask this
sorceress where the stuff is.”

Chuchu proceeded to ask, but the sorceress wouldn’t look her in the eye.
Black Glasses knew that the sorceress was lying, but he noticed that her
eyes kept looking down.

He also looked down. The thing the sorceress wanted to hide turned out to
be the foundation of this ancient temple.

There was something under the temple.

He looked at the vegetation around him. If there was a hollow space under
the ground, the vegetation would grow differently from other places
because of the limited root space and difference in temperature.

(1)
It’s an aggressive style of martial arts that focuses on striking. It mimics the praying mantis’s fighting
style, which involves the use of whip-like/circular motions to deflect direct attacks, and then precise
attacks to the opponent’s vital spots as a follow up. Info here.

837
But the vegetation growing around the temple was completely different
from what Black Glasses had been expecting. He thought that there would
be more shrubs here, but there were towering trees around the temple that
were actually bigger than the other places.

Whatever was underground seemed to provide a lot of nutrients to the

plants in this area.

He suddenly smiled at the sorceress. She looked at him in horror, but he

quickly squeezed her neck, caused her to faint, and then put her on his back.
He turned to look at Chuchu and saw that she had a frightened expression
on her face.

“Don’t worry. If you compress the blood vessels and nerves for a short time,
you’ll immediately faint. You won’t die,” Black Glasses said.

“What are you doing?” Chuchu immediately asked him.

“Are you scared of the fact that I can stun others in an instant? Do you think
I’m a bad person?”

“What do you mean?” Chuchu took a panicked step back and made a
defensive move. But because she had to sign while defending, she just
looked ridiculous.

Black Glasses stretched his fingers out in front of Chuchu, “I have a

reasonable explanation. Look at my situation. I have this understanding of
nerves and blood vessels because I’m a blind masseuse.”

Chuchu paused for a moment, but maintained her defensive position, not
believing him at all.

Black Glasses pointed to her raised hand, “When defending, you should
tense up your chest, twist your waist, and then throw your punch.
Otherwise, it’s useless. You also have to stay focused.”

838
Chuchu was completely blindsided, but as Black Glasses put the sorceress
back on the steps of the temple, she suddenly felt that he looked a little
familiar.

She looked at Black Glasses, “You…”

Her mind suddenly flashed back to the fire. She was screaming and coughing
when someone rushed in to save her. He put her on his back, but she was so
frightened that she put up a desperate struggle. Then, the man squeezed
the back of her neck and she immediately fell half unconscious. There was
only the feeling of being carried, coming out of the fire, the sound of fire
engines, and the bubbles from the fire-fighting foam flying everywhere.

She was standing there in a daze when Black Glasses suddenly threw a
punch, instantly stopping right before he hit her face. He took a look at her
raised fists and saw that she didn’t tense her chest up at all. He sighed, “No
talent.”

Chuchu was completely stunned and continued to stand there

dumbfounded. Just now, her hair had blown back by the force of his punch.

By the time she finally reacted, Black Glasses had already walked straight
into the ancient temple.

Chuchu waited at the door for a while. As she glanced around, she noticed
that the primitive jungle looked especially gloomy now that Black Glasses
was gone. There was a strange ancient temple in front of her, while the
three other sides were primitive jungle full of miasma and pythons.

She shuddered and immediately went into the temple, planning to look for
Black Glasses everywhere.

But just as soon as she entered, she didn’t even get to turn her head to look
around before she was lifted up and shoved behind a pillar. Pressed up
against the post, she was just about to start struggling when she heard Black
Glasses whisper, “The Lei Zu statue here is alive.” He turned his head to let
Chuchu get a look at the shrine.

839
There weren’t any statues on the shrine at all.

She couldn’t figure out the situation, but she felt Black Glasses grab her
hand and push her down slowly until they were squatting on the ground
together. Black Glasses poked his head out from behind the post to try and
find the statue’s location.

When he came in just now, he immediately noticed that the statue was
gone. He quickly took cover, but he couldn’t hear anything in the room
besides the sound of insects and birds in the woods outside.

Either someone moved the statue or it moved by itself, but neither

possibility was good.

Chuchu wanted to sign and ask Black Glasses what was going on, but he
grabbed her hands and indicated that she should look in a certain direction.
When she did, she saw a face on the ground, sticking out from below the
altar.

It was the face of the statue. It was moving very slowly, which was a
technique the special forces used in the jungle. It took a lot of patience, but
any sounds would be completely buried in the jungle noises.

Chuchu was so petrified that she kept clutching Black Glasses, but it only
took him a quarter of a second to react. He immediately grabbed her and
jumped out.

He saw the statue suddenly roll out from under the altar. It turned out to be
a thin man with a shotgun in his hand. He fired at them directly.

Iron pellets hit the place where they had just been standing with a loud
“bang!”, immediately turning the pillar to sawdust.

Chuchu covered her ears as Black Glasses lifted her up and ran out of the
ancient temple at breakneck speed.

840
The statue chased them out and fired another shot, but Black Glasses’ speed
far exceeded the shooting speed of their opponent. Black Glasses instantly
dragged Chuchu into the minefield and hid behind a tree.

“There are guards.” Black Glasses found it a little funny. Of course. Since this
temple is so important to the locals, it’s obvious that it’ll be guarded.

The statue fired two more shots at the jungle, and Black Glasses suddenly
had an idea. He grabbed Chuchu and ran wildly around the minefield.

This is a minefield!!! Chuchu was having a mental breakdown.

Black Glasses directly rushed three or four steps away from the statue.
When it raised its gun, Black Glasses used Chuchu as a weapon and threw
her directly at it. As soon as the statue was knocked to the ground, Black
Glasses stepped forward and bent the barrel of the shotgun.

841
Chapter 15
As Chuchu rubbed her waist and pushed the hair out of her face, she saw
Black Glasses pull the statue’s head off. If she had been able to make a
normal sound, she would’ve definitely screamed.

But when she took a closer look, she found that Black Glasses had actually
pulled off a mask. The statue turned out to be a very thin man who wasn’t
all that young. In addition to a lot of silver jewelry, he was wearing clothes
and a mask that made him look like the statue. Black Glasses broke off the
gun’s trigger, threw it aside, directly lifted the “statue” up, and dragged it all
the way to the sorceress.

Chuchu went over while continuing to rub her waist and asked in sign
language, “Why did you run into the minefield?”

“The minefield here may be fake,” Black Glasses said.

“Why?”

“If there’s a minefield, then why do you still need a guard? This is to deceive
outsiders. There may actually be landmines nearby, but the number isn’t as
exaggerated as they say.” Black Glasses took out two lollipops from his
pocket and stuffed them directly into the two people’s mouths.

Chuchu couldn’t understand Black Glasses’ behavior at all. “There’s

anesthetic in it,” Black Glasses said. “This teaches people not to eat things
given by strangers.” After that, he went into the temple and blew out all the
candles as quickly as possible.

The whole temple instantly became dark, leaving only the moonlight
outside. Chuchu wanted to turn on her flashlight, but Black Glasses said
from inside the temple, “I don’t need any light.” Chuchu didn’t understand,
but she already knew at this time that Black Glasses wasn’t an ordinary
person. After thinking for a while, she put down the flashlight and waited at
the door.

842
Soon, Black Glasses’ flashlight came on. She didn’t know what he had done
inside, but when she took a look, she saw that the altar had been
overturned. She ran in and came up beside him, noticing that there was a
hidden entrance below the altar. There was a simple stone staircase, which
led all the way down.

“How did you find it?” She signed at him. His behavior just now didn’t seem
like he was looking for something.

“Women’s thinking is really different from men’s,” Black Glasses said.

Chuchu was so stunned that it took her a long time to realize that Black
Glasses had avoided answering her question. He continued, “If it’s a man,
he’ll ask what’s below.”

Then, he took out his cell phone, made sure he had a signal, pulled up the
WeChat app, and quickly typed something.

“What are you doing?”

“When you enter an unknown area, you need to write a suicide note.” Black
Glasses quickly sent the text and then looked at Chuchu, “You wait for me
here.”

His eyes were locked on the black shadow behind Chuchu. At this time, the
shadow became very large, almost like it was going to pounce.

“I won’t,” Chuchu signed. “I want to go down and have a look. I didn’t

expect to get the opportunity to enter the underground river.”

“I broke in illegally. Anything you film will be condemned by humanitarians,”

Black Glasses said. “You won’t win a prize.”

“You and I are not in the same group. I was merely passing by.” Chuchu
went directly into the passage and turned on her flashlight.

843
Black Glasses shook his head, there’s something wrong with this girl’s
character. He followed her in and saw her start signing in the flashlight’s
glow: “Hey, have I seen you before?”

“Yes, I used to be an advertising model. You may have seen me at the

movies,” Black Glasses said. The passage was very narrow and made from
worn stone slabs. The stairs were very uneven and varied in size. Chuchu
was still persistent: “No, I think I’ve met you before.”

Black Glasses looked back at her and moved to put his hand on the back of
her neck. But Chuchu was very vigilant and pressed up against the passage
wall, protecting the back of her neck. “Your movements are the same as
Funny Uncle’s. He did that to me, too.” After Chuchu finished signing, she
quickly put her hand over her neck and glared at Black Glasses.

“Come on! It’s just a quick squeeze and then you’ll wake up and everything
will be settled. You can go home with your videos.”

Black Glasses beckoned to her, but Chuchu quickly signed back: “Are you
Funny Uncle’s friend? Or his son?”

Black Glasses looked at her and sighed.

Funny Uncle… how long had it been since he heard that name? At that time,
he stayed in the same ward with the little girl for a long time in order to
monitor her. The little girl didn’t say a word or cry out in pain or sadness.
She just stubbornly held it all back. He didn’t know whether she was refusing
to accept her fate or if it was something else.

In order to get her to say something, Black Glasses went to all kinds of
trouble and used every method he could think of. Later, because of his
strange behavior, the little girl took a liking to him and gave him a nickname:
Funny Uncle. Did children remember their childhood so well?

Black Glasses looked at Chuchu and was just about to strong-arm her, when
she suddenly ran down the stairs with her hand covering her neck. Then, he

844
heard the sound of her falling. When Black Glasses walked down and shined
his flashlight around, he saw that she had bumped into a wall.

He looked closer with his flashlight and found that it wasn’t a wall, but a
monument placed at the bottom of the stairs. At this time, he heard the
sound of surging water coming from behind it.

Two words had been engraved on the stone monument: Extreme Sea.

The monument looked very old, but because there was only water vapor
here, there were no signs of weathering. The engraved words were still
quite clear and there were smaller ones carved on the side. Black Glasses
wasn’t interested in reading them, so he bypassed the monument directly
and found a huge cliff in the space behind it. If the stone monument hadn’t
been here, Chuchu would’ve gone down directly.

This underground cliff was a big crack about the width of three liberation
trucks and was too deep for the flashlights to illuminate clearly. The running
water sound was coming from below, meaning that there really was an
underground river underneath. According to Wu Erbai’s data, the Extreme
Sea was the longest underground river in China, and also the mother river of
the South Sea’s Falling Cloud Country. It was said that there were more than
three hundred tributaries, and all of the South Sea’s Falling Cloud Country’s
borders were attached to these rivers.

There were Extreme Sea monuments erected by the South Sea country’s
people near every entrance and exit of these underground rivers. These
monuments were all in secret places, and most of them had pools of water
nearby. That was why most people who found them thought that Extreme
Sea was the name of these underground pools. They didn’t realize that it
actually referred to this connected underground water system.
Unexpectedly, the Extreme Sea became so long that even Burma had an
entrance. It wasn’t surprising that the legend of the South Sea country
placed the country in both the east and the west. This ancient underground
country—which existed in the underground river basin—had a vast territory
and could be isolated from the world for a long time. This was also the only

845
way to reach Thunder City because there were too many forks in the
underground river.

Thunder City was in a certain section of this Extreme Sea.

Chuchu asked him to come back, so Black Glasses went over to her. She told
him to look at the small words engraved on the Extreme Sea monument.
When he shined his flashlight on it, the line of words appeared more clearly.
They seemed very chaotic, as if the person who had carved them had been
in a state of madness.

The words read: Wu Sanxing entered Thunder City from this point to
alleviate all regrets.

846
Chapter 16 Go Home—Funny Uncle
I looked at Black Glasses, because there was a reason for my analysis.

This happened during the time I went to Thunder City. After Black Glasses
was hired by Uncle Two, his initial whereabouts became a mystery. But it
was obviously a very important part of Uncle Two’s plan. This whole
Thunder City affair was extremely difficult, especially when it came to the
information Uncle Three left us there. That information revealed that there
was a layer of events buried under the superficial logic.

While investigating this matter, we found that regrets were almost always
the source of motivation for people. And among the people Uncle Two had
hired, I found that he specially selected people with huge regrets in their
hearts. Of course, I wondered who in this world didn’t have regrets, but not
everyone was obsessed with them. Fatty wasn’t, so it was hard for him to be
driven by obsession.

What was Black Glasses’ regret? Did he even have a huge obsession? What
kind of existence was his eye disease in his heart? I didn’t think a man would
let himself go blind, even if he had already prepared himself for it. Black
Glasses told me that if he became completely blind, his situation would
become very difficult. This kind of hardship was beyond my imagination.

“I did it for the money, not to cure my eyes.” Black Glasses denied my
theory. “Alleviating regrets is your Wu family’s trademark. Don’t lump me in
with you.”

“Just tell me if I’m right,” I said as I looked at Black Glasses. I had seen the
Extreme Sea monument for the first time in the Taoist temple in Yangjia
Village. Later, I learned about the Extreme Sea’s underground river from the
murals in the South Sea King’s tomb. If the area beneath Mute Village was
connected with the Extreme Sea, then there would be traces of the Extreme
Sea monument there.

He nodded. “What you said is generally accurate.”

847
“Then, according to my understanding of your character, you’ll start working
on the thing on Chuchu’s back.”

“You know what I’ll do?”

“I have a general idea,” I said.

Black Glasses silently looked at the words on the stone monument. The
territory of this South Sea country was completely different from any
territory aboveground. The underground city that developed along the
tributaries may even show up as a huge feather-like figure throughout all of
Asia’s underground. Without a map, Wu Erbai couldn’t find anything in the
underground river system, even if they did find more entrances and more
Extreme Sea monuments.

But why would a village be guarding the Extreme Sea monument in this
place? Based on our previous analysis of the information, when the
ancestors of the village arrived here, it was still a primitive jungle. Whether
they were troops of the South Sea country or rebels, they fled here along
the underground river, found an exit leading aboveground, and then
flourished here. But that wasn’t right. If that were the case, then this exit
should’ve been destroyed instead of erecting a monument and temple over
it. There weren’t enough clues.

Black Glasses pulled himself from his thoughts and looked around to see
how the villagers went down the cliff to fish. He went over to the edge of
the cliff and looked down, wondering whether there were stairs or lifting
ropes somewhere. Chuchu also cautiously walked over—she seemed a little
afraid of heights—and signed at him: “Are you going down?”

Black Glasses looked at Chuchu and the black shadow behind her before
suddenly asking, “Do you have anything else to say?” Chuchu stared blankly
for a moment and Black Glasses realized that this sentence was a bit wrong.
He smiled, grabbed Chuchu’s neck, pulled her directly to the edge of the
cliff, and pushed her down.

848
As Chuchu fell into the darkness below, Black Glasses took off his sunglasses.
All of the structures in the darkness below instantly appeared as clear as day
in his eyes. There were sun-dried fishing nets down there, but Chuchu
couldn’t see them. Could the thing on her back see them?

As he watched Chuchu about to fall into a fishing net—she had fallen nearly
thirty meters by this point—he suddenly felt a heavy weight on his back and
a pressure on his neck. That familiar feeling from so many years ago had
come back. This immortal thing couldn’t see anything in the dark and had
returned to him when it thought that Chuchu was going to die.

A sense of relief floated up from the bottom of Black Glasses’ heart. He took
off his clothes, bringing only a dagger and a flashlight with him. There was a
piece of cosmetic rubber on his lower back that looked like skin, but actually
contained a thin pair of spare sunglasses and some blades. He tore it off and
stuck it on his thigh.

He couldn’t escape the rules of physics, so when it came to total darkness,

he couldn’t see anything and still needed a dim light. He tore off the
pendant he was carrying on his body and broke it. The substance inside
produced a chemical reaction, which produced a weak phosphorescent light.
He liked underground environments, because with his eyes, it was bright
and everything was clear at a glance. This phosphorescence was enough.

On the ground in front of the Extreme Sea monument, he carved the

following words: Go home—Funny Uncle.

Then, he took out a business card from his pocket. Black Glasses had printed
business cards for all of us, which had something to do with his last
investigation. If he wanted to send us any special message, he would cause
trouble and leave a business card on purpose. Of course, most of the
information on the business cards was fake.

He took Xie Yuhua’s business card and put it beside the engraved words.
Then, he went to the edge of the cliff, chose a tiny gap between the fishing
nets, and jumped down.

849
He skimmed past all of the fishing nets and fell directly into the underground
river.

He was able to tell the depth of the river from the sounds of the water, but
since it depended on the geographical environment, this wasn’t always this
case. Despite the risk, he really didn’t care all that much.

Luckily, this wasn’t one of the exceptions and he fell into the cold
underground river and surfaced. The thing on his back didn’t leave him, so
the two of them followed the surging current into the depths of the
underground river.

“It’s just us now,” Black Glasses said to the thing on the back of his neck.

In his eyes, the underground river scenery began to appear. He saw that the
river was very deep and the volume of water was particularly large. He could
even vaguely see underwater. There were the ruins of a lot of huge buildings
on both sides of the riverbed and the water level here wasn’t that high.

He dove into the water, took out a capsule from the cosmetic rubber on his
leg, and crushed it. Fluorescent powder entered the water and moved along
the current with him. In his eyes, it was like countless fluorescent creatures
were shining all at once, making the remains of the ancient buildings below
very clear.

His irises reflected these lights like small galaxies—

“Stop,” Black Glasses turned his head and said to me. “It’s too cheesy.”

I ignored him and continued, “Then you saw the key result of this
investigation: a statue in the water. Right?”

Black Glasses shook his head. “First of all, I secretly tied a rope around her
before pushing her down. There weren’t any fishing nets below. Second of
all, what I saw in the water was a row of figurines. They were weighed down
with rocks and sunk into the water.”

850
Chapter 17 Ruined My Big Event
The leather figurine women were suspended below the water. They were
pulled aside by the current, but not washed away because of the bronze
chains around their feet. Black Glasses dove down, grabbed a bronze chain,
and lowered himself towards their feet. As soon as he stopped, the
fluorescent substance around him was washed away and his surroundings
became dark.

Black Glasses slowly crawled along the bronze chain and swam under one of
the leather figurines.

The corpse had been processed into leather a long time ago, and there
appeared to be something inside of it. Black Glasses didn’t know what it
was, but the corpse was still in the shape of a human instead of just a lump
of leather. He let go and surfaced, but when he dove down again, he
couldn’t see the leather figurines anymore.

When I heard this, I figured it was also a project to make leather figurines.

The human hand shellfish had the physiological characteristics of secreting

liquid while eating the flesh, and the body fluids could leatherize the
corpses’ skin. So, the South Sea country sank those corpses to the bottom of
the river and fed the human hand shellfish, thus obtaining leatherized
human skin.

Black Glasses didn’t know how long he floated down the river, but the
current gradually began to slow down, the river became wider, and
embankments began to appear on both sides. After coming all this way, he
must’ve been in a section of the river that was deep underground.

But this wasn’t a no-man’s land. On the contrary, there were many boats
and fishing nets on the riverbank.

Black Glasses swam to shore and climbed up. In the darkness, he could see
that there was a very simple altar by the riverbank.

851
There was a skull on the altar that was covered in gold and jade. The bones
were yellow and had been covered in hundreds of layers of paint, probably
to prevent them from weathering. The paint had oxidized in such a way that
a thousand layers had formed and lifted up like scales.

Black Glasses saw that there was a smooth-edged hole on the skull’s
forehead. He could tell that it had been artificially made when the person
was alive because the bone had regrown. He looked around to make sure no
one was nearby and then pulled a fishing net over. He cut it with his knife to
make a net bag, broke off the skull, put it directly into the net bag, and then
slung it on his back.

If he got out alive, he could take this thing to Wu Erbai.

Then, he found a place to sit down and rest.

There was only the sound of running water. With so many boats here, this
place had to be like a fishing port during the fishing season. But now it was
the rainy season, and since it rained every day, the water level was very
high. The big fish in the underground river would definitely end up in this
part of the river. When it wasn’t the rainy season, the water level would be
much lower and the underwater ruins would be exposed to the surface.

“It’s only the two of us here now,” Black Glasses said to the thing on his
back. “Either you go back by yourself now and we part on good terms, or I’ll
kill you.”

The pressure behind him was still there. This thing is still quite nostalgic for
the world, he thought to himself. If Thunder City can alleviate all regrets,
then it must be something like a wonderland among individuals. Why don’t
you want to go back?

“Then I’ll kill you.” Black Glasses stood up. What did I do last time? He
wondered.

At this time, a bright dot of light suddenly appeared in the underground

river.

852
He wasn’t wearing sunglasses and the light was brighter than the
phosphorescent light from earlier, so it looked as dazzling as the sun to him.

He quickly took out his spare sunglasses and put them on as a person
struggling with a flashlight in the underground river quickly passed in front
of him.

It was Chuchu. Not only did she not climb back up the cliff, but seemed to
have fallen into the underground river.

Just let her rush to the center of the earth, Black Glasses thought to himself,
feeling a headache coming on. But there was no way he could really do that,
so he jumped into the underground river and fished her out.

Chuchu, who was shivering from the cold, was lifted up and thrown onto the
riverbank.

“You ruined my big event,” Black Glasses said to her.

“Funny Uncle?” Chuchu looked at him and signed shakily. “I finally found
you.”

“What are you doing looking for me? Shouldn’t children find new playmates
and forget the old ones soon enough?” Black Glasses said to her. “Are you
going to cry now? I’ll knock you out if you cry.”

Chuchu looked at Funny Uncle, wanting to cry but not daring to. Black
Glasses took a deep breath and recalled all the tragic situations that had
happened whenever he brought children with him in the past.

He didn’t know why, but in recent years, he had been having a hard time
with these children. He had trouble handling Wu Xie, Li Cu, and Su Wan, and
now there was this girl.

“But I missed you so much,” Chuchu signed. “Why didn’t you come and see
me at all?”

853
“I needed to make a living.” Black Glasses looked at the girl.

“Why aren’t you old at all?” Chuchu asked. “If you didn’t speak in a different
tone, I would’ve recognized you as soon as I saw you.”

Black Glasses couldn’t answer her question, so he just laughed and stretched
out his hand. Chuchu immediately protected her neck and took about a
dozen steps back. Black Glasses followed her, “Be good.”

“I won’t!” Chuchu shook her head desperately.

Black Glasses tried to force her to faint, but at this time, he saw a person
standing in the water behind her.

This mysterious person was a dark shadow that was just standing there,
doing nothing.

“Who?” Black Glasses rolled, grabbed onto Chuchu’s flashlight, and quickly
turned it off. He then took off his sunglasses and saw a woman standing in
the water behind them.

It was another Chuchu.

He paused and then looked back at the person who was still holding onto
the flashlight. He saw that Chuchu, who had been crying just now, had
somehow become a soaking wet leather figurine.

When he turned his head again, he saw more than a dozen leather figurines
standing up in the water on the riverbank. In the dark light, they were all
half in and half out of the water.

And they were looking right at him.

854
Chapter 18
Black Glasses moved his neck, which had become very stiff. It had only been
a short while, but he already felt his eyesight starting to decline.

If that thing could be seen clearly, it was probably riding on the back of his
neck and covering his eyes.

And it was affecting his brain.

Chuchu’s sudden appearance just now was that thing affecting him. He had
also suffered the last time this thing attached itself to him. It could definitely
drive one mad. Black Glasses didn’t know if it had a real consciousness, but
it clearly had a strong tendency to make people go crazy.

It would quickly exhaust and take what you needed most. For example, your
vision.

It had been a long time since he had fallen into real darkness. He
remembered that when this happened before, his eyesight would decline
rapidly as long as he did strenuous activities.

This thing didn’t like to ride on lively people, so it would trap them in one
place and keep them from moving.

Anyone in a similar situation could only sit on the bed and look down at the
ground. This was the inevitable outcome for almost anyone who wanted to
bring back the dead from Thunder City.

As long as the so-called “alleviation of all regrets” were related to the dead,
only their own demons would be recalled.

People could neither turn back time nor make up for their past mistakes. All
they could do was move forward and forget. He felt that Wu Erbai should be
able to understand this point, but for some reason, when he got hired, he
didn’t think this was the case. What was in Wu Erbai’s heart? Well, whatever
it was, it seemed to be heavier than Wu Xie’s obsession.

855
How long did it take before he was completely blind last time? Nineteen
days. As a matter of fact, ever since that time, his vision would go blurry half
of every day. His sunglasses no longer played such a big role anymore, but
this time, he was afraid that he would be completely blind after being
parasitized again.

The leather figurine women were still floating underwater, but a bunch of
them had appeared on the riverbank. There were standing silently in the
water with smiling expressions on their faces. Except for the one beside him,
the others hadn’t moved for the time being.

Black Glasses grabbed the one that suddenly wrapped itself around him,
stepped on its foot, pulled its hair, and twisted it until it was wrung out like a
sheet.

There had to be something inside the figurine’s skin, but he wouldn’t let it
come out. He quickly tied the figurine’s arms, neck, and ankles together.

The contents had no choice but to surge towards the genitals, where they
started trying to bite through the figurine’s skin. The whole leather figurine
lost its human shape, looking more like a bunch of crabs caught in a net. He
picked up a nearby rock and beat the contents more than a dozen times
before the leather figurine finally stopped moving. He breathed a sigh of
relief and turned his head, only to find that all of the leather figurines on the
riverbank were lying in the water. Their hair was the only thing left floating
on the water’s surface. More than a dozen of the things inside of them
seemed to have followed the sound and climbed up to the dry land on the
riverbank.

They were as densely packed as a private push-ups class in a gym. He saw

that the whole head of the nearest leather figurine had cracked open,
revealing that it was full of tentacles that looked like withered hands.

How did the villagers fish here? Wouldn’t they die?

He gave a wry smile. It was useless to cut the figurines’ skins with his knife
since it would be more difficult to deal with the contents leaking out of

856
them. He tried to think of a plan. If he suddenly went completely blind
during the battle, then it was all over.

But it didn’t matter. Someone would surely bring back news of his death. As
long as that woman didn’t fall to her death while climbing back up the cliff.

Speaking of mute people, he wished there was another mute person here
with him.

What should I do? At this time, he saw the boats sitting off to one side of the
riverbank. As soon as he turned around and rushed towards them, the
leather figurines also accelerated and crawled towards him.

Their speed was beyond anything he had expected. At most, he thought that
these things would climb up like zombies, but they ended up crawling
towards him at an extremely fast speed. The first one arrived in an instant.
He kicked it in the head and the human hand shellfish that was inside
immediately shot out. It was like kicking some kind of egg sac.

Black Glasses did a backflip and landed on the ground directly beside one of
the boats. He pulled out a wooden oar, swung it around, and sent the
second head flying like a golf ball.

As a result, all of the human hand shellfish inside rushed towards him like
the tide.

Black Glasses did another backflip, landed on the end of the boat, and kicked
it up. Three, four, five, and then six flying shellfish were instantly knocked
down.

At this time, he suddenly felt a heavy weight on his back and fell to the
ground.

As the darkness quickly closed in, he felt the pain of the human hand
shellfish crawling on him. Their sharp tentacles like fingernails pierced his
skin at the same time his field of vision became increasingly narrow. There
was only a small area he could see now.

857
“Hey, if I die, you won’t get to go back.” Black Glasses laughed as he felt
himself quickly being overwhelmed by the shellfish. He stood up and shook
his body wildly, but the shellfish seemed to have barbs and began to drill
into his skin.

His field of vision was still shrinking, which was a little surprising since that
meant that the thing on his back wanted him dead. If he died, things
probably wouldn’t end well for it, so why was it acting like this?

Black Glasses was quick-witted and immediately understood.

Shit, it saw someone else. There are other people here. It’s going to kill me
and then go to them.

Who is it? Chuchu?

Could that girl dive here like him? Impossible. The current was so fast that
she would drown in the first three minutes.

Then who was it?

At the moment when Black Glasses’ field of vision completely shrank to the
smallest area, that area became the brightest point of light in his eyes. It
seemed as if all of his photoreceptor cells were putting up one last struggle.

He saw a man with a hood jump out of the water, draw a blade from behind
his back, turn the blade in a circle, and cut his own palm. He then jumped
directly over Black Glasses, spilling his blood on him.

Oh, this isn’t a human.

Black Glasses smiled and stood up, letting the blood spill directly on him.

In an instant, all of the human hand shellfish dispersed like the tide.

The man in the hood threw his backpack to Black Glasses, pulled out an
incendiary bomb from the side pocket, and threw it out quickly. Flames
burst out in an instant and the whole riverbank burned up.

858
“Sunglasses.”

“No need. My disease has worsened.” Black Glasses wasn’t wearing

sunglasses as he looked at the flames. “Do you smell it? It’s the smell of
Typhoon Shelter Fried Clams(1).”

(1)
I think it’s just a special way of preparing clams or just a fancy name. I was getting results for like
Typhoon Shelter Fried Shrimp or crabs, or prawns, etc. Here’s some info on how the name might have
come about.

859
Chapter 19
The dinner table was silent. I looked at Poker-Face. The rain outside had
stopped, so he withdrew his gaze from the window and looked at us.

To be honest, I was a little hungry.

I didn’t think they had interacted before going to Thunder City. But I had
also never asked and they didn’t mention it. I couldn’t help wondering if
they didn’t find anything useful in the end, so the both of them were too
embarrassed to mention it.

The younger ones were already hungry and their eyes were looking around
greedily. This was fate. If you wanted to embarrass anyone in this world,
there would be some things that would come back to bite you in the ass.
Xiao Hua waved his hand for the food to finally be served. I figured a lot of
dishes had been cooked and were being kept warm, so they would be
served one by one shortly.

We all looked at Black Glasses. Before he continued speaking, he opened a

bottle of beer and poured it for himself, “The two of us went a little deeper.
I won’t talk about the specific process, but he helped me get the thing off of
my back.”

“How?” I asked.

“By listening to thunder.” Black Glasses glanced at Poker-Face, as if asking

for his permission to continue.

When Poker-Face nodded, I immediately frowned. Hmm, that’s interesting.

The two of them have to get permission from each other to talk about these
things.

Black Glasses took a sip of beer and kept talking.

860
The two of them stayed on the riverbank for a long time. Black Glasses was
almost completely blind by this point and only had a little bit of light
perception left.

Poker-Face was sitting opposite him, surrounded by the smell of fried

shellfish.

“If you leave, be sure to squeak.” Black Glasses said to the darkness in front
of him.

“Will your eyesight recover?”

“I don’t know. Based on past experience, if I keep my head down and stay
still, my eyesight may be able to slowly recover,” Black Glasses said. “Can
you swim against the current here?”

Poker-Face didn’t answer him, but Black Glasses felt as if he came to stand
in front of him and put his hand on his neck.

Warm—no, it was hot—blood ran down his neck. This was the residual
blood from Poker-Face’s hand wound just now. He knew that it was harder
for this man’s blood to coagulate compared to normal people.

“Can you also cure cervical spondylosis? You’re stealing this blind man’s
job.”(1)

“No.”

“Can you see what’s behind me?”

“I can feel it.”

Black Glasses sighed, “Do you think it’s afraid of you?”

(1)
Cervical spondylosis is a general term for age-related wear and tear affecting the spinal disks in your
neck. In some Asian countries, massage therapy is a natural career path for visually impaired people, so
that’s why Black Glasses said Poker-Face would steal his job.

861
There was a moment of silence, and then Poker-Face said, “It’s not afraid.”

“Then go,” Black Glasses said. “This is between me and it.”

No sooner had he spoken than a strange sound came from the depths of the
underground river.

Black Glasses concentrated on the sound, which came in bursts one right
after another. He realized that it was thunder. It was raining again.

How could they hear thunder when they were in an underground river?

“Mute..” his voice trailed off as he heard the sound of someone entering the
water. The words, “go and take a look” got stuck in his throat. He laughed
and felt around him. Food and weapons were all within easy reach, and
there was also a can of beer.

He picked it up, opened it, and took a sip.

To make a long story short, Black Glasses must’ve felt very comfortable now
that he had beer in the underground river. But that isn’t important. Poker-
Face soon swam back, came out of the water, and grabbed Black Glasses.

“What’s going on?” Black Glasses asked. He couldn’t see anything, so he

didn’t know what the current situation was.

“It’s thundering. Everything in the water has come out, and there’s a
riverbed downstream with bronze devices for listening to the thunder,”
Poker-Face said in his heart. In fact, Poker-Face didn’t say anything at all and
just dragged him into the water so that they could float downstream. But for
the convenience of understanding, Black Glasses told us what he thought
Poker-Face was thinking “in his heart” at that time.

The two people drifted down along the current and soon came to the next
beach. At the moment they came out of the water, a huge clap of thunder
just so happened to sound.

862
Thunder in the underground river definitely couldn’t be described as
thunder. If anything, it was more like an earthquake. The whole ground was
shaking and Black Glasses felt a rush of air billow out.

In an instant, his eyes could see things again. The immortal thing on his back
appeared to have been shaken off by the loud sound.

But as soon as the noise stopped, he was blind again.

Then, there was another clap of thunder and he could see things before his
eyes. This time, it was like he could see the sound coming towards him with
the naked eye. He also saw a huge bronze implement hanging upside down
in the rock stratum above the underground river.

863
Chapter 20 The End
Black Glasses looked at the bronze amplifier overhead that went deep into
the rock stratum and wondered just how deep it had been embedded.

When he looked through Wu Erbai’s data before, he couldn’t help but ask a
question: Why listen to thunder in an enclosed space?

No matter how enclosed the space was, surely it wasn’t better than listening
to it from the top of a mountain?

But now that he thought about it, both the sorceress and her daughter from
Liaobian were listening to thunder on the roof and were killed directly.
Maybe these bronze devices weren’t only used for ceremony but also acted
as a protective measure.

He still didn’t know how exactly he got rid of this immortal thing last time.
All he remembered was that he was in a cave and saw a deformed hand
rising out of the darkness.

At that time, he was in a very similar state to his current situation. He was
almost completely blind, with only a very small field of view left. All he could
see were the outlines of things in front of him. But when that hand pressed
on his neck, he felt a force that instantly made all of his muscles feel as if
they were reborn. The thing that had been weighing his neck down had no
resistance in front of that force.

When that hand let go of his neck, his eyesight slowly began to recover. He
was on the outskirts of a city and there was an extremely deep hole in the
dirt in front of him. He knew what was living in the depths of this hole and
whose hand it was, so he felt a bit sad.

It used to be a person. The owner of this hand… well, if the world had a
dispute with a good person, then the result should be the thing in this hole.
It looked like it could only live in this kind of place, but that wasn’t
necessarily the case.

864
That person had basically told him that when you were able to read people
clearly—whether it was someone in a crowd or someone who lived deep in
the dirt mounds outside the city—it was difficult to distinguish who was
actually happy and free.

It was only after giving up your identity that you might find real happiness.

“Mute, help me.” Black Glasses looked overhead. Since the thing on his back
was afraid of the noise here, it was better to go to the center of it.

At this time, Black Glasses’ vision would intermittently come back, so he

could see some things.

When Poker-Face started looking around, Black Glasses pointed to the

darkness on one side, “If you go in this direction, you can climb from the
cave wall to the area above this underground river. But the noise is too loud
up there and I may not be able to bear it. I want you to temporarily make
me deaf.”

Poker-Face turned to look at him, suddenly shot his arm out, and was caught
by Black Glasses. Black Glasses immediately let go, “At least give me a
warning before—”

Poker-Face’s other hand shot out, the web between his thumb and
forefinger hitting right below Black Glasses’ ear.

Black Glasses tilted his head and found that he could no longer hear any
sounds in that ear. He shook his head and then turned his other ear towards
Poker-Face. After the move was repeated, all external sounds disappeared
in an instant, leaving only a vague buzzing sound.

Poker-Face’s skills could temporarily paralyze the ears. The eardrums would
still technically be damaged by the sound waves, but you wouldn’t fall off
the cave wall due to the pain.

Black Glasses stretched his neck and then started running into the darkness.
It didn’t take long to climb up the wall and reach the top of the underground

865
river. It was a karst landform, but the rock structure wasn’t completely
limestone, so the stalactites weren’t prominent. A lot of cracks had formed
in the cave ceiling since the bronze devices were embedded in the rock
stratum. But these cracks weren’t wide enough for him to climb closer.

He reached out several times, but couldn’t find a point to hang from.

When the thunder died down, his eyesight began to fade again.

He could see that the riverbed below was crowded with leather figurines.
The thunder must’ve startled them out of the water, but they didn’t go up
to dry land. Instead, they were all piled on the riverbed in a surging wave.
Based on the movements, they seemed to be mating. The figurines and
shellfish were all mixed together, just like a big pot of food.

As another series of thunderclaps sounded, he saw Poker-Face had climbed

up next to him and was pointing to a stalactite in front of them.

This stalactite stood between them and the bronze device. Poker-Face
leaped, slammed his blade into the stalactite, let go, and started falling.
Black Glasses had jumped at the same time, so when Zhang Qiling twisted in
the air, Black Glasses kicked off from his shoulders and reached his hands
up.

As Poker-Face fell to the ground and rolled, Black Glasses jumped up directly
and grabbed the blade that was inserted into the stalactite. Then, he used
the inertia to swing again and inserted his hand into a crack on the ceiling.
With his fingers stuck in the gap, he could hang from the cave ceiling.

He was now very close to the bronze device and could feel the whole rock
stratum shaking. His limbs felt a little limp and numb, but he laughed and
began swinging forward from gap to gap like Tarzan.

As another burst of thunder rushed out, he leaped at the last moment and
caught the edge of the bronze device. Now that he was in the center of the
sound waves, the thing on his back suddenly became frantic.

866
Black Glasses clung to the edge of the bronze device that looked like an
inverted bell and glanced inside.

There was a bronze mirror inside that looked just like the mirror he had seen
hanging around that female corpse’s neck.

Half of the bronze mirror was completely rusted, but the other side was still
usable. When he looked at the mirror, he could see a monkey-like thing
hanging on his back and struggling like crazy.

Is that the immortal thing? It’s not very good-looking.

Black Glasses laughed when he saw that the immortal thing was in pain.
Although his nails were all cracked and he felt like his brains were coming
out of his ears from the shaking, it was totally worth it to see this thing being
tortured.

In the mirror, the immortal thing began to change into what looked like a
woman’s face from ancient times. Then it turned into a mass of black fog
before turning into that monkey-like thing again. Black Glasses leaned his
upper body into the bronze bell and saw that the black shadow detached
itself from his shoulders and fell down.

“Be careful!” Black Glasses shouted at Poker-Face as he turned around,

finally able to see everything clearly.

Poker-Face watched the shadow coming towards him, his tattoo appearing
on his body in an instant. Black Glasses stuck his hand into the bell, grabbed
the bronze mirror, and forcefully yanked it out. As he fell towards the
ground, he turned and threw the mirror to Poker-Face.

Poker-Face dodged the black shadow, caught the bronze mirror, and
backhanded the shadow with the mirror like he was swatting a fly. After
Black Glasses landed, he went over and stepped on it. As the two of them
pressed the bronze mirror into the ground, they saw that the shadow was
trying to squirm out of the gap. They exerted more force and firmly pressed
the bronze mirror into the gravel on the riverbank.

867
Finally, the power surging under the bronze mirror disappeared. They didn’t
know if this thing was dead, had returned to Thunder City, or disappeared
completely.

Black Glasses moved his neck—no longer feeling the pressure from before—
and then looked at Poker-Face. There was nothing behind him, but a heat
wave was radiating from him.

“You were nervous just now.” Black Glasses smiled. “So rare, so rare.”

“Look behind you.”

Black Glasses froze for a moment and then turned around.

There was a monster climbing out of the underground river that was about
six or seven meters high. It was a very strange giant leather figurine—

“Ok, stop.” I finally spoke up.

I didn’t know how true some of their final statements were, but there was
no denying that this was definitely a wonderful story. But if they kept talking
like this, we wouldn’t be able to eat.

If the story continued any further, it would go against the original intention
of this dinner.

Black Glasses laughed. He had turned the tide and steered the story in such
a way that nobody would be embarrassed now.

Even though there was a giant leather figurine, they still had a dozen
incendiary bombs at their disposal. I also knew what this thing’s attack
power would be like. When Poker-Face and Black Glasses were in peak
condition, the leather figurines weren’t a threat at all. Besides, the human
hand shellfish were afraid of Poker-Face’s blood.

There was no need to listen anymore, but I did want to know what
happened to Chuchu.

868
“When we came out, she was still hanging on the rope,” Black Glasses
smiled and then started laughing.

After coming out of the underground river, he and Chuchu sat on the
balcony of their diaojiao in Mute Village. Black Glasses didn’t feel
embarrassed at all. Now that the haze behind Chuchu had been removed, it
seemed as if a faint sense of suffocation that had been lingering there
before had finally disappeared.

For a long time, he had been avoiding contact with people who might be
able to remember him. But the accident with this little girl had really been
unexpected. At that time, he had encountered one of his strongest
opponents and even went blind for a bit. Moreover, this little girl was one of
the parties involved at that time.

For many years, he didn’t think that he would fall into any sort of crisis that
could be called a quagmire. Danger—all kinds of danger, really—was
something he had already experienced.

In this world, smart people were probably in their thirties when they could
start classifying people. Although humans were complicated, it was easy to
figure out what category they fell into. And even though they might go
through big changes, these changes ultimately amounted to just one big
idea.

Me, Black Glasses, Fatty, Xiao Hua, Uncle Two, Uncle Three, and so many
others were all smart and cunning people who could see others’ ultimate
thoughts. Poker-Face could too, but he was probably just too lazy to look.

A person’s turning point, which direction he’ll finally turn to, and his
thoughts at that moment are the true mysteries of the ages. No matter how
smart people were, it was just too difficult to understand. The direction at
which you could turn was limited, but that could also be used as a strategy
or a way to fight against danger.

Only emotions could upset one’s heart. It was one thing to understand the
world, but once you did, it became an issue of whether you could do it

869
according to your own consciousness. The two concepts of knowing and
doing were hard to unite.

Black Glasses still had some lingering feelings for the little girl he had spent a
few months getting along with back then, so even his actions today had
been a little distorted. The immortal thing left the girl and latched onto him,
which made Black Glasses feel a sense of relief. It was finally over. If
relationships in this world were connected by cause and effect, then this
causality had almost disappeared.

He felt as if he had returned to the time when his heart was like a desert.

Just like the tall immortal who could only live underground like an
earthworm, he could only walk in the desert. It didn’t matter whether it was
the snake marsh or Gutong Jing, he felt that this was his own world.

That was why he felt so calm.

The little girl his godson had originally sent to drive him to Mute Village
suddenly drove up to the village gate. He didn’t know why, but this time, she
was carrying a Remington 700, which was the best gun Canadians used to
teach their children to hunt. The little girl had a solemn expression on her
face and seemed very nervous as she chewed on betel nuts.

Black Glasses glanced at Chuchu. He needed a formal farewell to put an end

to this cause and effect. It was better for the girl to return to a normal life,
after all.

Everyone had their own different opinions on the value of a period of time.
The name Funny Uncle had great significance to a fire when she was a child
and an adventure when she was an adult, so she might not forget them. If
she was lucky, her life should be smooth sailing after these two events as
long as she suppressed her curiosity.

“I have something to do. If you want to find me later or treat your throat,
you can find the person on that business card. If you have any questions

870
about me, you can also ask him. He’ll tell you who I am,” Black Glasses said
as Chuchu looked at him a little awkwardly.

The dark clouds in the sky still hadn’t cleared yet as Poker-Face prepared
their equipment off to the side. The two of them were going deep into the
underground river for a week. This time, they were going down by boat
before the villagers noticed that the temple keeper and sorceress were
missing. This was their last chance for a deep exploration.

Why did the South Sea country’s people build a temple here thousands of
years ago?

In addition to the South Sea King’s tomb that we had found, was there a
huge underground palace below the South Sea country? Or maybe there
was a big tomb here? But if so, then whose tomb was it? They wouldn’t
know until they went down.

*********
End of Restart Part II: Southeast Asia Adventure

871
Restart Trial Reading

872
Chapter 1
Author’s Note: This is a plot in the revised edition of “Restart: Sound of the
Providence”, which is released today as a trial reading for everyone to check
out. You’re welcome to guess which part of the plot this is.

________________________________________

The armed policeman who was driving the car was eager to save people and
wanted to drive straight over, but Fatty reached over the driver’s seat and
gripped the steering wheel, “Don’t underestimate this thing just because it’s
flowing slowly. The stones inside weigh several tons. Once you’re trapped in
it, it’s like entering a stone mill. You’ll be ground to pieces.”

The young man said he couldn’t wait any longer. Many people were buried,
and if we couldn’t get to them, then it would be impossible for the people
inside to dig their way out through the stones. Everyone at the scene would
die.

The heavy rain got heavier and heavier, and when I climbed onto the roof of
the car, I saw lightning streak across the sky. Indeed, this really was the
epicenter of thunderstorms in Henan province. It was very dark out, so
everything the old man had said just now couldn’t be seen clearly in the
heavy rain. But I instinctively felt that the thunder here wasn’t normal and
seemed different from all the thunder I had ever heard over the years.
Amidst the chaos, the mudslide finally stopped, and Fatty shouted, “Walk,
don’t drive!” I couldn’t hear anything when I listened carefully, so I jumped
down. We quickly began to climb over the muddy slope and then walked
dozens of meters before we reached a turn in the path. There we saw the
valley where their base of operations was located.

It was completely covered.

Fatty and I rushed in and heard someone shouting, “Dig up the cars! People
are hiding in the cars and there’s no oxygen!” But the place where the cars
should’ve been was all covered in mud.

873
Fatty lay down in the mud and shouted, “They’re honking the horn below!”

I also lay down in the mud and listened. When I heard the sound of the car
horn coming from below, I started digging. Before I dug out the first car, I
honestly didn’t think we would be able to save anyone. But fortunately, the
car wasn’t buried deep and we were able to open the windows and drag the
people out.

At this time, everyone was so muddy that we couldn’t tell each other apart.

We went to the second car, the third car…. When the rain finally stopped, I
was soaked and exhausted and sitting in a puddle with Fatty. As the rain
receded, everyone’s shouting and crying became very clear.

When the fire department came by later to replace us, we supported each
other and made our way to a tree on higher ground. When we sat on a rock,
I noticed that Fatty’s hands were covered in blisters. He looked up, and the
exhausted expression on his face suddenly changed. He used the last of his
strength to make me look up, and when I did, I saw that there was a
mountain across from us. I immediately realized that this was what the old
man had been talking about. This was the mountain that the drone had
photographed. After the heavy rain, we could finally see the whole view of
the mountain, which left me completely stunned.

I had never seen a mountain collapse like this. Half of the entire mountain
continued to collapse, revealing the core rock strata inside. We could see
that there were all kinds of crevices and dense holes inside, just like an ant
nest. The so-called bells weren’t actually bells, but some bronze pieces that
had been embedded in the crevices one by one. The “ant holes” were
arranged in the shape of a large set of bells, which was why the bronze color
in the aerial photos looked like a bell.

Each bronze piece was about the size of a car windshield and had patterns
on it. They may be antiques, but I couldn’t see clearly from this distance. We
were still uncertain about whether these nest-like crevices were man-made
or naturally formed, but I was leaning more towards the latter. I just didn’t

874
know what was going on with the bronze pieces inside. “It’s a big termite
nest.” Fatty seemed to have the same idea as me.

“It’s amazing,” a man suddenly said from behind us. When we looked back,
we saw a man covered in mud sitting behind us and also looking at the nest.
“There’s something even more amazing.” I looked at the man. Although his
face was covered in mud, I immediately thought that he looked familiar, but
I couldn’t figure out who he was. “How old do you think the metal pieces
inside are?”

“This kind of project is definitely related to superstition. The bigger the

superstition, the earlier the age. Or at least the richer the country. It should
be the Warring States period or the Tang Dynasty period,” I casually showed
off how awesome I was.

“Wrong. This is a kind of objective prejudice when it comes to archaeology.

This thing was done by several Taoist priests during the Republic era,” the
muddy man behind us said. “These bronze pieces aren’t very old. The
craftsmanship on them is very rough and they’re covered in Taoist charms.
There are also many living utensils still in the crevices. Based on these
utensils, there should’ve been about three or four Taoist priests living inside
and performing alchemy.”

“But why would they want to do this?” Fatty asked. “It would take more
than ten years for three or four people to dig so much, right? Wouldn’t it be
a lot of hard work?”

“I can’t say any more. You’re not locals, are you? Why are you here?”

I was so excited and tired that I forgot to cover myself. I immediately started
talking in a Henan dialect, “We’re locals. We just so happened to come back
to visit relatives.”

Fatty immediately added, “We’re good people.”

“When this incident is over, I’ll have you sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Since you’re here first, there will also be a bonus. But you can’t tell the

875
public what you see here; otherwise, you’ll go to jail.” The other party stood
up and walked down the slope.

We got what we wanted, so Fatty and I continued searching and rescuing

people. But more fire departments arrived, and they were much more
professional than us, so we could only help lift some of the mud away. Soon,
the rescue work was over.

Fortunately, most of the archaeological workers didn’t go out to work

because the weather forecast had called for thunderstorms. And the first
phase of recovered cultural relics were already in the work tent. Although
the collapse and subsequent mudslide were very serious and all the tents
were buried, everyone had run out at that time. But even so, there were still
fourteen people missing, including both college interns and several experts.
After that, some of the rescue workers were injured. With a landslide of this
scale, disappearance was basically equal to death.

The atmosphere was very heavy as the search and rescue work continued.
The fire department had set up temporary tents so that we could rest and
take shelter from the rain. After the follow-up supplies finally arrived, there
were heaters, towels, hot water, rice, and hot soup, as well as a change of
clothes. After Fatty and I had worked so hard earlier, we were so tired that
we could fall asleep the second our eyes closed.

The evening after the rain was particularly beautiful, but I knew that the
contract would be issued early tomorrow morning and we might be
dismissed. I told Fatty that we couldn’t sleep, but we both ended up falling
asleep anyways. When we woke up, it was raining again. It was the
raindrops hitting the top of the tent that actually woke us up. Everyone else
in the tent was still sleeping, so Fatty grabbed some food and we ate in
silence. At this time, it must’ve been about midnight. I had a painful
backache, so I lay down while I thought about everything that had happened
before. That was when I suddenly remembered who that man talking to us
on the slope was. “I know that man from earlier,” I said to Fatty. “He’s a
professor of folklore, surnamed Wang. He’s on such a high level that he
won’t come out for ordinary things.” Experts on this level were the ones

876
who made great international discoveries. It wasn’t normal for them to go
directly to the front lines and look at something from the Republic era. What
did this mean?

I thought of what he had said before about not being allowed to say any
more. In addition to this anthill built by Taoist priests during China’s
Republic era, they must have found other things. They could mention the
Taoist priests’ Republic era anthill to us outsiders, but they couldn’t mention
the other things. So that meant that these other things were the key. What
exactly did they find here?

I took out my cell phone, flipped through my contacts, and found his phone
number. I hadn’t contacted him for a long time. The last time I did was when
I went to the Qinling Mountains with Lao Yang. I wasn’t sure if his phone
number was still the same, but it didn’t matter because I didn’t have a signal
here.

“Then let’s go and make friends with him,” Fatty said. “Our reputation is ok
now that we’ve retired and become good people over the past few years.
We can make a contribution.”

I told him that this was a national project, didn’t he know the significance of
it? We weren’t ignorant of each other’s identities. When I was with Uncle
Three before, it gave me a bit of face because they were both based on
archaeological systems. But now we were trying to keep our motives on the
down-low. How could we make him believe that we were only interested in
a villager’s ancestral grave? Besides, we didn’t know what the connection
was between Yang Daguang listening to thunder and what had happened
here. If we asked around and caused any big mishaps, we would be screwed.

When a clap of thunder sounded overhead, I heard something moving

outside the tent. Fatty and I put on our raincoats and went to check it out. A
large number of people had gathered outside and were running towards the
mountain.

“What’s the matter?” Fatty shouted.

877
“It’s a miracle!” Someone shouted.

878
Chapter 2
We followed the crowd for twenty minutes before finally reaching the foot
of the mountain. Everyone turned on their flashlights and pointed them up
at the “ant nest”, where we saw that all of the bronze pieces were shaking.

The thunder sounded again, and this time, I could see it clearly. I suddenly
understood why the thunder here was different. It was because the bronze
pieces in the mountain would vibrate after it thundered here. They were
resonating with the thunder. At this time, we all felt as if we heard a sound
coming from under our feet. Fatty and I found a rock nearby and pressed
our ears up against it. We heard the sound of countless bells, which seemed
to be coming from underground.

“Is there a temple down there?” This was my first reaction.

Fatty nodded, “A Taoist temple, and it’s hidden deep underground.”

During those times in history when Buddhism was being eradicated, the
Buddhists had to move their temples into caves in the mountains. We now
knew that this destructive period occurred during the reigns of Emperor
Taiwu of Northern Wei, Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, and Emperor
Wuzong of Tang(1). These three periods were collectively known as the Three
Disasters of Wu(2). There were many Taoist temples from these three
periods that had been discovered, but they were all small-scale. Now, it
appeared that some Taoist priests had installed bronze pieces into the
mountain crevices here. After these bronze pieces reverberated with the
thunder, they seemed to transmit the vibrations underground, which
indicated that there was a big temple below. The bronze pieces were ringing
slowly like bells. Why would the Taoist priests do this kind of thing? It was

(1)
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei (reigned 423-452), Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (reigned 561-578),
Emperor Wuzong of Tang (reigned 840-846)
(2)
It’s called the “Three Disasters of Wu” because the posthumous names or temple names of all three
emperors who carried out these Buddhist persecutions had the character Wu (武) in them. More info
here.

879
too confusing trying to figure out what connection they had with the temple
below.

At this time, I saw the expert we had talked to on the slope before and
suddenly had a flash of inspiration. I shouted to him, “Professor, were those
Taoist priests who were practicing here surnamed Yang?” The expert—along
with everyone else—turned to look at me. I knew I was right as soon as I
saw the expert’s expression. They weren’t three Taoist priests; they were
grave robbers disguised as Taoist priests. In other words, Yang Daguang’s
ancestors came for the temple below sometime during the Republic era.

But why did they hang these bronze plates in the mountains? The
connection between the thunder, the bronze plates, the underground bells,
and listening to thunder on tapes was the biggest secret behind the
archaeological work here.

My expression was excited and my thoughts were spinning rapidly. When I

thought about it later, I realized that I should have been exhausted at that
time. The expert saw that I had nothing else to say and suddenly
approached me. After taking a closer look, he asked, “Wu Xie?”

Now that the other party had recognized me, I couldn’t pretend anymore
and quickly nodded, “Uncle Wang, what a coincidence.”

In the end, Fatty got the wrong idea. He was more hot-blooded than me, so
as soon as I was recognized, he ran away. The armed policeman also acted
on reflex and chased him for about thirty meters before tackling him to the
ground. Fatty immediately shouted, “Easy, easy! I just saved your
comrades!”

I immediately explained that this was my colleague and he probably had a

sudden and urgent need to urinate. They shouldn’t get the wrong idea.
Professor Wang waved his hand and the other guy finally let Fatty go. But he
was looking at me with intense eyes, apparently wondering why I was here.

I was very embarrassed. The discovery here had to be on an international

level. If we had happened to meet in a hotel, then we might’ve gotten

880
together for a meal, but I couldn’t explain our presence here at all. I couldn’t
even play it off and say that I just so happened to want to experience life in
rural Henan. There was no such coincidence in this world. This was an
international archaeological discovery in the countryside and I was born to a
family of grave robbers in Changsha. It didn’t make any sense. So, I had to
have a purpose for being here, and my identity might make others think that
my purpose was sketchy.

Professor Wang gave me some face and motioned for us to come back to his
tent first. The two of us were then dragged into the tent. By the time
Professor Wang came in, I had already decided to tell him the truth. I even
had evidence to back me up. I didn’t break any laws as I was checking into
Uncle Three’s affairs, and I had even saved people when I came here. In fact,
it was the archaeological team who had called me. I didn’t sneak in at all.

When Professor Wang came in, he waved his hand to tell the armed
policeman not to follow him in. Then, his face immediately darkened and he
started cursing, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Why did you come to
this place to do business? Didn’t you stop doing this kind of thing?” After he
finished speaking, he glanced outside the tent. “How do you plan on
explaining this? Everyone’s identities will be checked tomorrow. You’re not
locals. How do you plan on escaping? Once they find out your identities,
even jumping into the Yellow River won’t wash you clean.”

I immediately explained the whole story and told him that my presence here
was purely innocent. In today’s society, they couldn’t just arrest people
casually. Moreover, we were definitely innocent.

After listening, I could tell that he didn’t immediately believe me, but I had
proof. I handed him Yang Daguang’s ID card. He finally calmed down after
looking at it and then made us some coffee. I figured he could still be
reasoned with, so it was a little comforting to see that these old experts
could be swayed by emotions and were willing to trust people. Feeling a
little touched, I told him about my theory.

881
Professor Wang listened and then nodded, “We all thought the same thing
as you, but we didn’t have that information about Yang Daguang’s ancestral
tomb. Based on what you’ve said, this ancestral tomb should be different
from others.”

“I don’t know what happened here, but it must be related to my Uncle

Three,” I said to him. “Moreover, I think it’s related to thunder.”

Professor Wang looked at us silently for a long time, as if he was debating on

something. Then, he finally sighed. “Come with me. I want to show you
something. You’ll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement anyway.”

Fatty looked at me, and I immediately understood what this meant. Based
on the typical American film script, the professor was going to show us a big
secret. When I had encountered things like this in the past, I always had to
think hard about the answers on my own. Now I felt a little emotional. The
truth was that if you used a few small tricks based on past friendships, the
other party might just tell you directly.

My heart was pounding as we left the tent and began walking towards the
biggest tent in the area. Fatty was following closely behind, and I thought he
was going to make a big speech—this was often the time when he would do
so—but he was so sleepy that he just kept patting his face to try and stay
awake. We entered the tent, which was full of mud-covered boxes.

“They were buried by the mudslide earlier, so we had to dig them out
again.” As the professor spoke, he turned on the electric light and led us
directly to a big box. The box had been opened, and there was a humanoid
thing inside that was wrapped in plastic sheets.

882
Chapter 3 Building a Temple
“Before the mudslide, we had dug through the lower part of the mountain.
There was a stone passage leading all the way down, but the end of the
passage was flooded after years of rain, so we couldn’t go down. This stone
passage is very long and has niches on both sides. The thing you see here is
just one of many sitting in those stone niches.” Professor Wang removed the
plastic sheets, revealing a Taoist statue.

But upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a clay statue. It was actually an ancient
corpse wearing a decayed robe, which was stuck to the corpse’s body. The
hair and beard were both very long and white.

“This thing isn’t an international discovery,” Fatty whispered. “Uncle, I can

get this thing for you in bulk.”

Professor Wang motioned for Fatty to come over, “Come and weigh it.”

Fatty glanced at me, went over, and picked up the ancient corpse. As soon
as he weighed it in his hands, I found that his eyes widened and he looked
back at me.

“What’s the matter?”

“Why is it so light? Is this paper?” Fatty easily shifted it to his other hand,
having no trouble holding onto it.

“Do you know how immortals become immortal? After they transform, their
bodies become as light as feathers. Of course, scientifically speaking, this
may be done using a special corpse processing method.” Professor Wang
adjusted his glasses and smacked Fatty’s hand away that wanted to twist off
the corpse’s head to see what was inside. “There should be a temple at the
bottom of that passage. You all heard the bell. There’s a cavity under this
mountain, and a big temple should be inside of it.”

883
I still didn’t understand. Although the temple built under the mountain was
very mysterious, I didn’t think that was a good enough reason to protect this
place like this.

Professor Wang looked at me, “So you think that this is an ancient corpse,
right? If it is, then this is at most a major national archaeological discovery.
But this body isn’t actually an ancient corpse.” Professor Wang dug around
in the box and pulled out a simple wooden sign, which turned out to be a
memorial tablet.

I saw that the following words had been carved on it: Great-Grandpa Yang
Shouye.

“It’s exactly as you’ve said. This corpse is the body of a grave robber
surnamed Yang. They’ve been operating here for a long time. You probably
think that they were going to steal the cultural relics from the temple under
the guise of Taoist monks. But not only were they not stealing the cultural
relics, they had actually gathered all of the cultural relics they had stolen
from everywhere else and built the temple here.”

Grave robbers built a temple? Why? I asked myself.

“You see this feather-light body? It must have died during the Republic era,
which means they’ve been operating here for almost a century. They were
earnestly practicing Taoism, not trying to earn money. When we were
cleaning up the relics they left in the mountain crevices, we found cultural
relics from more than a dozen different tombs. They robbed tombs
everywhere, moved the spoils here, and then built the temple below.
Among the items we found, there were three types of cultural relics that
came from extraordinary tombs from three different periods.”

Professor Wang paused, “I won’t say which three tombs they are, just that
those in our industry once thought that these three tombs could never be
robbed. But the Yang family must have gone in and taken things out from
them. We believe that more cultural relics stolen from these three tombs
should be in the temple below. If any of these tombs’ cultural relics were to

884
appear, they would be the world’s largest archaeological discovery in the
past century. And now there are three at once.”

I wasn’t sure which three tombs they were. Our idea of big tombs usually
differed from what the Ministry of Culture considered to be a big tomb. But
based on the fact that he wouldn’t say which ones they were, I could only
guess that they were the truly big ones. I felt unsteady as soon as I made my
guess, and my fingers were trembling a little as different options flew
through my mind at lightning speed. The only ones I could come up with
were absolutely impossible to rob.

First, they couldn’t be found at all. Second, they couldn’t even be reached. I
didn’t dare ask anymore. If the matter really was that big, then I was safer
not knowing.

“What else?” I asked.

“You, the Mystic Nine, are imbeciles in front of the Yang family,” Professor
Wang said. “You’re all just good at hyping up your fame and reputation.”

The three of us fell into a short silence. Fatty coughed, “I agree with
Professor Wang on this matter.”

“So, the guards here are so strict because they don’t want others to know
that three big tombs may have been robbed.”

“Once we go down to the bottom and see what the situation in the temple
is like, we’ll make it public. The Yang family you mentioned comes from
Shanxi. They’re from the southern school of grave robbers. It’s unlikely that
they robbed one ancient tomb at a time. Moreover, the cultural relics from
these three ancient tombs have never been circulated in the world. What
does this mean? It means that their theft may not have been for money, but
for building the temple below. When we get down there, we may not only
find more cultural relics from these three tombs, but also find clues about
where they opened the entrances to these tombs and why they did it.”

885
Professor Wang looked at me with piercing eyes. I sighed, “Based on the
information I found, the temple below has something to do with listening to
thunder. Moreover, Uncle Three and Yang Daguang used to work together.”
I didn’t tell Professor Wang about the duplicate thunder sounds because I
knew he definitely wouldn’t believe it, but many things were starting to
piece together in my mind.

The Yang family must’ve been aware of the duplicate thunder phenomenon.
It could even be argued that it was a world-class discovery.

They built an underground temple in Luoyang’s thunderstorm epicenter and

used stolen cultural relics from all over the country as building materials.
They also cultivated into immortals and hollowed out the mountain so that
it would resonate with the thunder. Did they think that the duplicate
thunder had something to do with becoming immortal?

As Taoists, it was only natural that they thought they could become
immortal by understanding the secrets in the thunder.

But why use cultural relics they had stolen from all over the country to build
this underground temple? I was afraid we would only know by going down
and checking it out.

I didn’t know why, but I really wanted to go down and see that temple. I
thought that I had seen so many things before that nothing in the world
would arouse my curiosity anymore.

I was clearly wrong.

“When should we go down?” My tongue was always loose when I got

excited.

Professor Wang looked at me like I was a child, “You want to go down? The
mudslide buried the entrance. But even if we can get in, we still have to
solve the problem of the flooded passage. If you can solve that, take our
people down, and bring them back up safely, then I can hire you as

886
consultants. Of course, if you take something from inside, you’ll wind up in
prison.”

887
Chapter 4
I slept soundly that night. I thought I would suffer from insomnia, but I
underestimated my exhaustion. Fatty’s snoring woke up half the people, but
I didn’t hear it at all. When I got up in the morning, the thunderstorm had
passed and the sun was especially bright. I went out of the tent and saw that
a rainbow had appeared in the valley between the “ant nest” mountain and
the nearby mountains. The search and rescue work had continued through
the night, but I didn’t know if there had been any new developments.

When the villagers were dismissed, Fatty and I were taken to a medium-
sized tent that had been set up next to the big tent (forgive me for
describing it like this. These tents were all similar in size, so I just decided to
call it Tent Number Two). This was an office tent that had printers and other
things set up inside. We signed the non-disclosure agreement there. After
we were done with that, we were to wait in the big tent, which I’ll call Tent
Number One.

We had a moment of silence before the meeting for those who were lost,
and then Professor Wang introduced us. No one cared about us, probably
because experiencing sudden drastic changes and witnessing such a huge
disaster had stolen some of the momentum. Fatty told a few jokes when he
introduced himself, but it was useless. Everyone laughed awkwardly and
there was hardly any feedback.

I understood that people who had lived to this age had experienced losing
people around them—which never felt good—so I got right down to
business and looked at the detailed maps of their exploration from before.

The passage extended through a crevice in the mountain. If the mountain

hadn’t collapsed like this, then there should’ve been a cave you could enter.
If you went up, you could reach all the holes in the “ant nest” mountain; if
you went down, you could enter this passage, which went about seven
hundred meters down and was flooded. Based on common sense, the rest

888
of the passage and the underground space that this passage led to should
have also been submerged.

But last night, we all heard the sound of bells coming from underground.
This seemed to indicate that there was air down there, so the flooded part
of this section was probably similar to the structure of a toilet. The passage
had a bend at that position that formed a kind of water seal, so the outside
and inside air were separated by this section of waterway. This waterway
wouldn’t be too long and would eventually slope upward.

I quickly finished my analysis, but some people had doubts: if there was so
much water outside, then there was still a possibility that the inside would
be flooded.

I knew that wasn’t the case. It’s been raining so heavily these days, I said to
myself. If there’s no way to discharge the water, the place would’ve filled up
by now, no matter how big the space may be. But it didn’t happen. This
shows that at the end of the passage, there’s a drainage channel in the
space where the bell sounds were coming from.

But I really didn’t want to explain the principle behind this structure’s water
drainage system, so I just gave Professor Wang a thumbs up. He told me
that diving equipment would arrive in the afternoon. This kind of diving
could be classified as cave diving, so Fatty and I would have to find out what
the situation was before they went down with us. If there wasn’t much
water, they would probably drain it before going in.

I told Professor Wang that since it could rain at any time here, the best
method was to dive in and use ropes to transport the equipment, supplies,
and lights in so that we could set up a temporary base inside. When the
conditions permitted it, we would then pull cables in.

To make a long story short, we drank some alcohol in the afternoon while
the entrance was dug out again. During that time, the diving suits finally
arrived. Fatty and I put them on and prepared to go in. Fatty wanted a gun
but was quickly turned down. He started protesting, “What if there are

889
monsters inside?” But Professor Wang glared at the both of us, so we had to
give up. Some guards did give us tactical daggers, though.

The gray stone passage wasn’t very tall—the Yang family members must’ve
been short people—so we had to bend down as we moved forward. Many
of the niches that had been dug out on both sides were now empty. The
bodies that were in them must have been taken out already, so there
weren’t any traces left. This was definitely a very crude man-made passage.
Since Professor Wang was physically strong, he and an armed policeman
came down with us. It didn’t take us long to reach the seven-hundred-meter
point where we couldn’t move forward. The passage sloped down into the
pool of water in front of us, so Fatty used a flashlight to illuminate it. The
water was very murky and full of mud. “We won’t be able to see anything
when we go down,” Fatty said. “Shit, we won’t be able to see anything at all.
We can only feel our way through the water. Do you know how terrifying
that is?”

“We’ll hook ourselves to a rope,” I said to him. That way, if something

happened, the armed policeman could pull us back. Fatty looked at the
young man behind him and said “If you get distracted, my ghost will haunt
you.”

I looked at the muddy water, not knowing how deep the waterway behind it
was. There was no denying that only people like us would dare to do this
kind of exploration. Even professional expedition teams might not be willing
to go down. I patted the rock wall and told Fatty to follow it. He absolutely
could not stray from it. Otherwise, if there was a fork in the passage down
there, it would be very, very dangerous.

The two of us grabbed our equipment and climbed into the muddy water. It
was so cold that in the first few minutes, I felt all of my senses go numb. We
set our waterproof flashlights on their highest beams, but the visibility was
so poor that we could only feel our way forward. I couldn’t see anything, but
I was a little relieved to hear Fatty’s oxygen regulator sending up bubbles
behind me. At least I would be able to hear the oxygen tank’s alarm going
off.

890
I touched the rock wall with one hand and slowly swam forward, touching
the rope around my waist from time to time. I could hear Fatty following
behind. I thought it would take ten or fifteen minutes at most to reach the
end of the waterway, but it stretched on for much longer than I had been
expecting.

I kept swimming forward until suddenly, my hand wasn’t touching anything.

I found that the rock wall I had been feeling my way along was suddenly
gone, and I had apparently swam into a big space. The passage had been
cramped before, but when I felt around, I found that there was more space
above and below me. I immediately backed up, trying to get back to the
place where I had been just now, but I bumped into Fatty and was sent
flying into the larger space in front of me.

I slid my feet in the water to stabilize myself and suddenly heard Fatty
laughing behind me.

The sound in the water was very clear, so I could tell right away that
someone was laughing underwater. I immediately became angry, what’s so
funny? But at this time, I suddenly felt something pulling on my rope. As it
pulled, it even managed to drag me back a little bit.

Thinking it was Fatty, I grabbed the rope and stretched my hand out to the
place where he was making those noises. At this time, Fatty’s voice suddenly
disappeared and my surroundings instantly fell into silence. I swam in Fatty’s
direction and grabbed his rope. I didn’t know when it had happened, but
Fatty’s rope went all the way down to the lower part of this space. It was
just like bait on a fishing hook being dragged down towards the bottom of
the water.

I pulled, but the force on the other end was very strong.

Just as I was wondering what to do, I suddenly heard someone laughing

beside me and a hand landed on my shoulder.

891
Chapter 5
Fatty was down there, so how could someone put their hand on my
shoulder? I quickly turned around, my heart beat rapidly in my chest. But
because I couldn’t see anything, I was completely blind and could only go off
of my sense of touch.

At this time, I immediately felt someone’s hands moving over my arms and
ankles.

These hands were cold and were touching me very lightly, but I could tell
that there were at least six or seven of them. I felt like my brain was
exploding. Fatty doesn’t have that many hands. Why are there other people
here in the water? I started to struggle, but when I turned around, I found
that something was wrong.

There were people everywhere.

Well, I couldn’t actually see anything, but when I turned around, I realized
that there were people surrounding me because I kept bumping into them
no matter where I moved.

I suddenly thought of Fatty in the lower part of this space and understood
why he had gone down so suddenly. He must have discovered that there
were people all around him. Was this a water ghost that had dragged Fatty
down, or did Fatty go down because he couldn’t find another spot free of
these people?

Whatever the case, I swam down as fast as I could. I found that there was no
one down there. I slid my fingers around in the cold, muddy water but came
up empty. After about forty seconds, I sank to the bottom and fumbled
around until I finally found Fatty’s rope. But when I grabbed it, I found that
something was pulling on it. I was immediately caught and thought to
myself, it’s over. Fatty was probably caught by a water ghost and now it’s
dragging me over to eat me. This Yang family was really experienced. Not

892
only did they build a water barrier to isolate the air, but they also put water
ghosts in it.

I immediately steeled my heart. This time, I came here without any

restricted knives, but I still had that dagger I had borrowed earlier. I had to
save Fatty, so I swam quickly along the direction the rope was pulling. After
a while, the rope seemed to enter a fork in the passage, so I took it and then
came to a tunnel that sloped upwards. I quickly climbed along the rope and
suddenly felt my body become heavier as my head breached the water’s
surface.

I could finally see again!

Well, my diving goggles were covered in mud, but I could still see a little bit.
At this time, I saw Fatty’s flashlight suddenly turn in an arc and hit my
temple with a jerk. It was a really heavy blow that sent my goggles flying,
but fortunately, I ducked quickly to avoid the brunt of it. But once my
goggles fell into the water, I couldn’t find them again. It was only when I
cried out in pain from having my temple badly scratched that Fatty
immediately recognized me, “Mr. Naïve!”

“Are fucking playing whack-a-mole? Do you just hit anything that sticks its
head out?” I cursed at him.

“Sorry, sorry! I thought the monster in the water came out. I was wondering
why it so heavy, but it turned out that the person on the other end of the
rope was you,” Fatty said.

When he pulled me up, I saw that we were in a passage that was very similar
to the one we had just been in. But there was air here and no signs of water
ghosts, which was a relief. “How did you find this place?”

“Didn’t you notice those things? The fucking water is full of them. They have
so many hands and feet, but I don’t know what they are.” Fatty cursed. “I
couldn’t see you anymore and you weren’t responding, so of course I left
first. But as soon as I did, I couldn’t figure out which direction to go in and
ended up feeling my way here.”

893
I touched the muddy water on my face and said to myself, there should only
be one way out of here, but you have to go through a section of stagnant
water. We somehow passed through it successfully.

This section of muddy water was really difficult to handle. Skilled divers
would be fine, but it would definitely be hard for Professor Wang and the
others to come over. When underwater, you’re more prone to breathing
disorders when you’re nervous, so you could end up choking on the water
and dying even though you have an oxygen tank.

But my main question at this time was: what’s inside?

After Fatty and I took off our flippers, Fatty tugged on the rope sticking out
of the water to make it easier for us to move around more. But when he
pulled on it, he suddenly paused, “Why is it still so heavy?” He and I looked
at each other and immediately raised our knives. As the flashlight shone on
the water’s surface, the rope suddenly pulled taut. Fatty was almost dragged
back into the water, but he immediately steadied himself and began pulling
on the rope. He stuck his dagger directly on the place where the rope was
buckled to him. That way, if he couldn’t hold on, he could just cut the rope.

I immediately went up to help him, and the two of us tugged on the rope
hard. Fatty shouted, “Do you think that policeman thinks we were killed and
wants to pull us back?! If so, this is really awkward!”

“Pull at a fixed frequency to signal to him that we’re fine!”

“Shit, this young man has a real heart if he wants to drag us back so bad!
How am I supposed to signal him like this?!” Fatty cursed just as we were
both almost dragged into the water. “What the hell kind of strength is this?
It’s definitely a water ghost!”

Fatty said that he was going to cut the rope with his knife, but at this time,
the rope suddenly went slack. He and I flew backwards and lay sprawled out
on the ground. Fatty pulled again and found that there was hardly any
resistance on the other end of the rope. It appeared that the rope had
broken, but even so, there was still a weight on the other end.

894
Something was still at the other end of the rope.

As he pulled a few more times, the water’s surface suddenly started

churning and six or seven pale bodies were dragged out of the water. They
were entangled in the rope and wearing work clothes, so I immediately
understood that these were the missing workers from the mudslide. They
had hidden here but ended up drowning in the muddy rain water.

The rope we were pulling as we swam in the water just now had wrapped
around them. As a result, they were dragged along with us as we moved
forward.

Fatty pulled a few more times until the corpses were completely out of the
water. But without the water’s buoyancy, the bodies became heavy and ran
aground at the junction where the water met the dry passage. Fatty
collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. “Did they get stuck somewhere
just now?” Fatty asked me. “I was being dragged over—no, something was
pulling me into the water just now.”

Indeed, I also knew that there was a very strong force pulling on the other
end of the rope just now. Had these bodies been pulling us? Or was there
something in the water?

I patted my body reflexively, looking for cigarettes, but only found my

smoking cessation stick. I grabbed it and pretended to take a puff as I looked
at the corpses’ faces with a flashlight.

These faces didn’t look right.

895
Chapter 6
I had seen a lot of corpses before, as well as the expressions on their faces.
Most of the ones in ancient tombs weren’t very peaceful. Whenever the
face tightened and a smile-like expression appeared, it meant that the
person was feeling extreme fear before death. This kind of fearful
expression wouldn’t appear until the person was suffocating.

The corpses here all had this expression. If it was the old days, I would have
definitely peed my pants. But fortunately, I had more experience now.

I glanced at Fatty and saw that he was thinking the same question: “If the
corpses were pulling us, were they trying to drown us so that we would take
their place?”(1)

“When we met them in the water, we weren’t attacked. It was after we

came out of the water that they started trying to pull us back into the water.
That, coupled with their creepy expressions…” I glanced down the passage
we had been planning to go down and saw that it was pitch black. “I think
it’s possible that they don’t want us to move on. They’re trying to warn us.”

There was probably something at the end of the tunnel. They must have
seen something when they were trapped here by the mudslide.

We brought the bodies up one by one and closed their eyes. Fatty and I had
a moment of silence for them. Not only was archaeological work very
dangerous, but they had to endure the loneliness that ordinary people
couldn’t bear. This kind of sacrifice for their work was a great loss.

Fatty’s rope had been broken, which left only my rope. I was a little
flustered, but we couldn’t stop. We had to keep going no matter what.

(1)
Chinese water ghosts lurk in the place where they died, drag unsuspecting victims underwater, and
drown them to take possession of their bodies. This process is known as ti shen, in which the spirit
returns to life in the victim’s body while the victim’s spirit takes the water ghost’s place and constantly
seeks to take control of another living person’s body.

896
Uncle Three’s secret and the worth of these victims’ sacrifice depended on
what we would see next.

Fatty and I didn’t move forward right away. I pulled my rope in a rhythmic
pattern, hoping to send some information to those on the other end that we
had made it through safely and were conducting the first round of
inspection. But I didn’t actually care whether they understood or not.

Then, the two of us sat down and summarized the situation.

My instincts were telling me that we couldn’t go down into the water again.
Whether it was the problem of these bodies or other problems in the water,
it was very likely that something would happen if we went down again.

Novices would be very worried about how to get back right now, but Fatty
and I were quite calm. Based on our experience, there was always another
way out. We rarely ever left the same way we came in, so there was
probably another entrance in the mountain here.

Fatty tried using the walkie-talkie, but there was no signal and he eventually
had to give up. The two of us cleaned up, and then I untied my rope and
walked forward. After taking a few steps down the passage, I saw a niche
with one of those feather-light skeletons inside.

I couldn’t keep walking forward with the rope and wanted to find some
place to tie it, but I couldn’t find a good spot at all. Moreover, this passage
was so clean that I couldn’t even find a rock in it. Fatty took out his dagger,
tied the rope around it in a special knot, and then found a gap in the passage
to stick the dagger in. He adjusted the angle so that once the rope was
pulled, the dagger would get stuck in the gap and would be difficult to pull
out. Then, the two of us began walking deep into the tunnel.

The water had been so cold that we now felt warm as we stepped on the
stone surface with our bare feet. Fatty and I looked at each other. Our only
equipment consisted of one dagger and two flashlights.

897
This was often the most exciting time of any expedition. Our flashlights were
shining in front of us, revealing that the passage was very deep. I knew that
something surprising would appear.

This place was very quiet, and all we could hear were some sounds of things
falling down from the top of the passage and landing in the water. There
were niches on both sides of the wall that contained those feather-light
corpses we had seen before. Fatty and I had a tacit understanding that we
wouldn’t touch anything. We hardly had any equipment on us, so if a corpse
revived, we could only fight it barehanded.

In the time it would take to smoke two cigarettes, we had walked until the
upward slope of the passage started to level out and the niches on both
sides became denser. As Fatty’s flashlight swept past, we could see that the
passage in front of us became even more narrow and short, but there were
still niches on both sides. How to put it… we could only crawl through the
middle of that passage of corpses sideways.

“Why is it like this?” Fatty asked. “It’s so spacious in front, but now everyone
has to squeeze in here. This is like the CBD line(2). Did they build a subway
here?”

I looked around with my flashlight, feeling a little leery in my heart. If

something happened here, I would be submerged in a tide of corpses with
no chance of survival.

Fatty sighed, “If Little Brother were here, he could cut his hand, splash a bit
of blood, and make them carry us over.”

“Well he’s not here now, is he? Think of something we can do without him.
Or, I can cut you instead. It’s all oil anyways, so maybe we can slide right
past them,” I teased him.

Fatty didn’t angry but smiled instead, “You’re not worthy of using my fat.
Don’t you know that one drop of oil is equal to ten drops of blood?” He also

(2)
Old name of Line 28 of the Beijing subway line. Info here.

898
looked at the passage in front of us. All of the bodies were almost face-to-
face with each other, so if we went in, those corpses’ faces would be close
to our fronts and backs. “This is too fucking scary. Hey, why don’t we
compromise and forget it?”

“Didn’t you hear? There are super rare treasures in the tomb. If you don’t go
in now, the professor may not show them to us. Are you ok with that?” I
asked Fatty.

“I’m not, which means there must be a way to have the best of both
worlds.” As Fatty took another look, I followed the trajectory of his
flashlight’s beam. This time, we saw that there was a reflection of something
far away in the passage.

“What is that?”

“It looks like a flashlight.”

Hmmm, there are also people looking in this place? But after taking a closer
look, I found that the reflection was gone. If the reflection disappeared for a
period of time, then it definitely wasn’t a mirror…

Fatty and I looked at each other. “I’m telling you, it’s definitely a flashlight,”
Fatty said. “Shit, maybe someone’s in here grave robbing? Mr. Naïve,
although we might have washed our hands of this business, that doesn’t
mean we’ll just stand by and watch them take all the good stuff. Let’s
confront the hell out of them.”

I touched my chin, feeling more and more uncomfortable. I had a very

ominous premonition that was giving me goosebumps all over. It was a
weird feeling that I was all too familiar with.

There was something wrong with this place.

899
Chapter 7
Just as I was hesitating on whether to move forward or not, we suddenly
heard a clap of thunder.

The thunder sounded very different when we were deep in the rock strata.
In fact, it was more like a wave. After listening to it, I immediately
understood that it was the thunder being transmitted from the bronze
pieces above. It was like the thunder was coming at us from all directions.
For a moment, I felt as if I was really in some kind of strange environment.
But it wasn’t a feeling of fear, just of strangeness. With so many corpses in
front of me, it was like this passage was full of sinister voices.

In a daze, I took a step back, wanting to retreat a little (I’m sorry to

disappoint, but I’m really the type of person who’s willing to give up at such
a juncture). When I looked back, however, I saw someone kneeling behind
us.

This man appeared out of thin air and definitely hadn’t been there just now.

I pointed my flashlight at him, illuminating his whole body. He was kneeling

down in the tunnel six or seven steps away from us. I couldn’t see his face
since his head was lowered, but he was wet all over. His sudden appearance
scared me so much that I cried out and jumped up, hitting my head on the
rock ceiling so hard that I saw stars.

Fatty was startled by my reaction and made a defensive move, but the man
suddenly raised his head. When I got a good look at him, I said, “Hey,
Professor Wang. What are you doing here?”

Professor Wang looked at us with a pale, expressionless face. In the

flashlight’s glow, he kind of looked like a corpse.

We hurried over and lifted him up. Professor Wang was cold all over and
spat out a mouthful of yellow muddy water, his eyes rolling into the back of

900
his head. Fatty pressed on the professor’s philtrum(1) for a long time before
the professor spit out more water.

Fatty and I breathed a sigh of relief when he finally came to his senses, and
then I asked him what happened. Professor Wang spent a long time making
weak gestures before things became clearer. He said that he watched our
rope move in a rhythmic pattern and thought that we were signaling that we
had made it over. He knew that we had successfully made it through, but
the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He felt that if
the first ones to see such an important archaeological discovery were
criminals, then they might have ill intentions.

But they only had one set of diving equipment left, so he followed along the
rope first. He just didn’t expect visibility to be so poor and that it was so cold
down there. He was old, didn’t have any experience, and was wearing his
work clothes under the diving suit. As his clothes became soaked in the
water and weighed him down, he almost drowned.

After listening, Fatty said, “Hey, we understand you’re here to guard against
thieves, but we’re professionals. We never destroy or steal. We just take
pictures at most. What you’re doing is unnecessary. Look at you, your old
bones are practically falling apart.”

Professor Wang said that he believed in me alone and didn’t trust Fatty at
all. I rubbed his chest, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, but I
understood his mentality.

As Professor Wang slowly recovered and looked at the narrow passage in

front of him, he saw the dense niches full of those ancient corpses. Fatty
helped illuminate them with his flashlight, showing that all of the ancient
corpses were wearing blackened robes.

(1)
Per Tiffany: The philtrum, or medial cleft, is a vertical indentation in the middle area of the upper lip.
Wiki link here. In Chinese medicine, pressing people’s philtrum can save those who have passed out. I
don’t think this is scientifically proven.

901
Professor Wang immediately said, “These corpses don’t belong to the Yang
family members. They’re the corpses of the earliest people who built this
Taoist temple. You see? Their clothes are all sewn using an ancient method.
We can tell that the Yang family’s clothes were made during the Republic
era because the materials used less hemp and more cotton. But the fabrics
of these ancient corpses’ robes are mostly hemp, which shows that they’re
much older. Let’s not touch them so as to avoid damaging them.” At this
time, we all saw another flash of light appear in the darkness at the far end
of this passage.

We could see that Professor Wang immediately noticed it, and when I
looked at his expression, I realized that he seemed to know what it was. His
eyes were wide and full of excitement, just like a little boy entering the
women’s bath for the first time.

I immediately said, “Professor Wang, I know you’re hiding something from

us. What is it? What’s that shiny thing? You must know.”

Professor Wang said, “It’s a tourmaline bonsai with a mercury-glazed base(2).

The thing that keeps flashing is the mercury. In the time it takes a stick of
incense to burn, a bit of mercury slips down from the bonsai and forms a
kind of silver waterfall. The tourmaline is the peach plum and the colored

(2)
Tourmaline is a crystalline boron silicate mineral that’s classified as a semi-precious stone. It can be
found in a wide variety of colors: green, blue, black, red, yellow, white, pink, purple, orange, brown,
grey, etc. Info here. Here are more pics, but a black tourmaline bonsai could look like this:

902
glaze is the exquisite shape of a mountain. It’s so huge that it should be as
big as a wall. This is the Taoist temple’s spirit wall(3).”

“How are you so sure?”

“It’s a guess. This thing wasn’t created here but stolen from one of those big
tombs. I saw it in some unofficial historical records. When I was exploring
before, I saw a bronze plate with this kind of thing illustrated on it. It’s very
similar to what the unofficial records said. I’m guessing that if this thing
really exists and was stolen, then it would wind up here.” With that said,
Professor Wang started crawling into the passage full of ancient corpses. “I
have to see it with my own eyes.”

I initially thought that the flash of light was bad news, but Professor Wang
said with such certainty that it was just the light reflecting off of a gem. I
didn’t dare act rashly in front of him, so I looked at Fatty, thinking about
how we could persuade the old man not to go in. But when I looked at
Professor Wang again, I saw that he had actually crawled far ahead. In fact,
he had crawled so fast that I found it a little strange. How could an old man
crawl so fast? Fatty hurried in to chase after him but was too fat. He tried
squeezing his way in twice but was unsuccessful. Now it was up to me, so I
crawled in with my flashlight pointing to the front and saw Professor Wang’s
feet.

When I crawled forward, I saw that Professor Wang’s feet weren’t moving at
all, but he still managed to pull away from me so quickly, just like a snake.

At that time, I felt like something was wrong, but Professor Wang crawled so
fast and nothing happened, so I was a little relieved. I followed him forward
while Fatty brought up the rear.

(3)
Also called a spirit screen or screen wall. It’s used to prevent spirits from entering the entrance gate in
traditional Chinese architecture. Spirit screens can either be positioned on the outside or inside of the
gate they are protecting, but the one Professor Wang refers to is a zhaobi (照壁) which is only on the
outside. More info here.

903
There was a corpse right in front of my face while the back of my head was
only a palm’s width away from another corpse. I couldn’t stop, couldn’t
think for even a single moment. Goosebumps broke out all over my body,
coming and going as I continued moving forward. The only thing I could do
was stare at Professor Wang in front of me. Then, I noticed that the ground
was very wet, as if water was flowing from him.

Is it pee? I wondered to myself. But I didn’t smell urine. As I was thinking,

Professor Wang disappeared from my sight, leaving only the row of corpses
in front of me. The thunder was still sounding overhead, so I could only
clench my teeth and continue moving forward. I didn’t know how long it
took—maybe it was only a few minutes, maybe it was longer— but I finally
saw the exit.

The passage in front of me began to widen, so I clenched my teeth and

crawled quickly. When I finally made it out, I found myself in what seemed
to be a natural cave with fairly level ground. I stood up and saw Professor
Wang standing there. He didn’t have a flashlight, so he was just standing in
the dark. The spirit screen he had mentioned before was right in front of
him. There was a huge glazed bonsai above that matched his description
from earlier. Under my flashlight’s beam, it radiated a colorful and exquisite
light.

Professor Wang was still dripping wet. When I walked up to him, I saw him
shivering and staring at the bonsai with dull eyes. “It’s real,” he muttered to
himself. “I’m actually seeing it.”

At this time, mercury suddenly flowed out of a hole at the top of the bonsai
and moved down the grooves on the colored glaze like a silver waterfall.
There were also many lotus leaves carved from tourmaline. After the
mercury flowed down, it split into countless beads that shot out like
reflective meteors. As they rolled around, they finally merged into the
waterfall and fell into the hole at the bottom of the bonsai.

I sighed in my heart, amazing.

904
I turned to talk to Fatty, only to find that he hadn’t come out yet. At this
time, Professor Wang bypassed the spirit screen and went to the dark area
behind it. I quickly followed him with my flashlight.

There was a huge pool of water behind the spirit screen. The water’s surface
was as calm as a mirror. When the thunder sounded, countless ripples
appeared in the center of the pool. The thunder was coming from the top of
the mountain, so I pointed my flashlight up and saw countless bronze plates
hanging from the top of the cave. They were probably connected to those
bronze pieces in the mountain crevices.

I moved my flashlight back towards the center of the pool. The pool was so
huge that it couldn’t be illuminated clearly, but there was a faint outline
which indicated that there should be a lot of buildings at the center. I
figured there was a huge stone stele between us and these buildings
because I saw a huge square outline in the flashlight’s glow.

905
Chapter 8
Fatty and I kept a watchful eye on the pool.

It only took me a single glance to realize that the shape and state of this
pool were very similar to the shape of the pool in the Stagnant Water
Dragon King temple we found near Rain Village. I thought of the big fish in
that pool, which could pull people into the underground river from the deep
spring.

But Professor Wang rushed into the pool without any hesitation. Luckily, the
water wasn’t very deep and only went up to his waist. He quickly went up to
the huge stone stele and illuminated it with a flashlight.

The two words “Extreme Sea” were engraved on it in a very special font. The
words were very large and powerful, and the strokes of the characters were
like a dragon that was flying off of the stone(1). The only reason I could
recognize this font was because I was in the rubbing business, but I couldn’t
remember the specific name of it. This font must have appeared in the
Western Han Dynasty and belonged to a derivative of Chinese characters.
The Vietnamese chữ Nôm writing system was based on a variant of this kind
of character(2).

Fatty and I still didn’t go into the water, but he was itching to look around.
He went to see if there were any boats nearby and really did find one that
had sunk into the shallows. When the flashlight moved over it, we could see
that there were small, fly-like fish densely packed in the shallows. There
were definitely signs of life in this pool.

“This is the boat they used when they built this place. They must have used
it to transport things.” When he dragged the boat out of the water and onto

(1)
If you’re curious, the 2 Chinese characters for “Extreme Sea” are 极海
(2)
Chữ Nôm is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses
borrowed Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese
words, while new characters were created on the Chinese model to represent other words. It was used
from the 13th to the early 20th century. More info here.

906
the shore, we found that the planks hadn’t decayed that much. Even though
they were covered in tung oil, they were still old and had rotted in many
places.

Fatty turned the rotten wooden boat over and pushed it back into the
water. The bottom of the boat floated on the water like a turtle shell, so he
climbed onto it and sat down before helping me up. Once I got comfortable,
the two of us used our feet to paddle through the water. When we slowly
paddled up to Professor Wang, we heard him say, “There’s a big river prison
two thousand miles in the earth, with no end. It’s called the Extreme Sea.”

“What do you mean?” Fatty asked.

“The Extreme Sea is the name of a huge underground river in China. It was
recorded in an alchemist’s biography. Its water volume is no less than that
of the Yellow River,” Professor Wang said. “This is a big pool of water. Why
the hell is it underground?”

“Did the water level drop?” I looked at the stone stele, which had several
obvious water lines on it. They were an indicator of how the water level had
changed throughout the previous dynasties.

Professor Wang didn’t answer, but bypassed the huge stone stele and
moved on. I immediately paddled over and asked him to get on the boat,
but he completely ignored me. In the end, we had no choice but to follow
him.

The water’s surface was as calm as a mirror as we left the Extreme Sea
monument. The huge buildings in the center of the lake were getting closer
and closer to us, the details slowly being revealed in the flashlights’ beams.

The first thing we saw was a tomb gate of white marble—oh, it wasn’t a
tomb gate, but a row of tomb gates made from different materials. They
were lined up one by one like dominoes.

The doors were gone, leaving only the outer frames of the gates. We could
see that the doors had been cut into steps, which formed a stone path that

907
ran under the gates. With the gates lined up like this, they almost looked like
an archway. “These are the tomb gates they stole from various ancient
tombs. It’s interesting to see them used like this.” Professor Wang was the
first to climb ashore and stood under the first tomb gate.

The entrance to the tomb was very large, and the words “Immortal Arrival”
were carved on it in small seal characters. We could see that six or seven
Taoist immortals had also been carved around these two words. We
couldn’t tell what it was since we weren’t very knowledgeable, but we saw a
rusted bronze dagger hanging under the “Immortal Arrival” plaque at the
tomb entrance.

As the three of us cautiously passed through these tomb gates, I was

mesmerized by the strange magic of this collage and forgot all about
Professor Wang’s strange behavior. The small island in the center of this
pool was rocky, indicating that a big rock had been used as the base of the
temple. There was a small temple gate behind the tomb gate that was only
wide enough for two people to enter at a time. The threshold wasn’t very
high, but the door was. It even had a plaque on it, which read: Listen to the
Thunder God.

I want to take this chance to say a few more things. This temple was very
simple, but the plaques, tomb gates, cornices, and elegantly decorated
caisson were all foreign materials that came from various large tombs or
relics. All of these things were so exquisite that you wouldn’t notice that the
overall structure of this temple was actually chock full of loess and old
wooden pillars.

We saw a white jade sika deer in front of the temple gate, with plum
blossoms on it that were inlaid with agate. When we shined our flashlights
on the deer’s empty stomach, we saw a small deer’s shadow inside the
white jade. This was a special craft that involved carving out the belly of the
big jade deer. This one must have taken twenty to thirty years to carve.

908
Professor Wang was so shocked that he couldn’t look away from it. It was
unbelievable that such a thing had been placed outside of the temple gate
for mere decoration.

As Fatty’s flashlight moved around, I looked at the water under his feet and
felt surprised. Are you reverting to your old ways? I secretly wondered. I
shined my flashlight on him and saw that he was practically drooling.

Professor Wang directly bypassed the jade deer and walked up to the
temple. Fatty and I exchanged a look before turning our flashlights on their
highest settings and following behind him.

The temple gate was closed, but Professor Wang was very familiar with this
kind of lock and had it opened after only a few clicks. When he pushed the
temple gate open, we shined our flashlights in from behind him. The first
thing we saw was a big courtyard, followed by the temple’s front hall. The
front hall didn’t seem to be any smaller than an ordinary Taoist temple and
actually seemed quite large. The courtyard was also full of all kinds of stone
bonsai.

I use the word “stone” here as a collective term for jade, white marble,
sealed crystal, crystal, and porous stones inlaid with tourmaline. There were
all kinds of crystal-clear colors that sparkled under the flashlights’ beams.
Fatty froze, unable to look away from them.

At this time, all three of us immediately saw it. Among the various bonsai
was the biggest and most eye-catching bonsai of all. It was an orange tree
made of beeswax that looked very lifelike. If it weren’t for the fact that the
gemstones had different degrees of luster, the jasper tourmaline leaves,
agate branches, and orange beeswax would practically be indistinguishable.
When I looked closer, I could also see countless flashes of light. Crystal dew
drops had been carved on the orange tree, among which were six butterflies
inlaid with gold thread and turquoise.

“Mr. Naïve, shoot me here.”

“What are you talking about?”

909
“I want to be buried with these things.” Fatty said.

“You’re not worthy,” I retorted.

Professor Wang squatted under the orange tree and looked at the words on
the tricolored porcelain base below. It’s not convenient for me to disclose
the words here, but I was shaking all over after I looked at them. This was a
very famous emperor’s treasure, which had been stolen from an imperial
tomb and placed here.

Professor Wang’s hands shook. “It’s really just as I expected. Those big
tombs really were robbed. Moreover, this oppressive force, this level of
craftsmanship, and this aesthetic… it’s a treasure of that era. Fortunately,
the Yang family wasn’t seeking wealth. This thing belongs to the nation.”

I didn’t have any desire for wealth anymore. All I felt after seeing this thing
was a great sense of aesthetic satisfaction. I knew that anything here would
be more than enough to live well for a few lifetimes, but it just made me feel
that I didn’t need to own anything here.

Since our flashlights were on their highest settings, all of the stones were
sparkling. Moreover, there was the thunder resonating with the bronze
pieces from time to time, which made the whole environment seem very
magical.

At this time, I found that more and more water was dripping from Professor
Wang’s body. I stepped on the water and found that it was sticky. I suddenly
had a flash of inspiration and went up behind him, poking his neck with my
finger. But as soon as I poked it, I saw the skin on his neck sag, as if the flesh
inside had melted into paste.

910
Chapter 9
Fatty and I looked at each other in dismay while the puzzled Professor Wang
turned his head.

Fatty and I took a deep breath and stepped back, only to find that Professor
Wang’s facial features had shifted slightly. Although the shift was subtle, it
was still different from how normal people’s faces looked so we noticed it
right away. Professor Wang looked at us and asked, “What’s wrong? You
two better not be trying to trick me. Everything here has great aesthetic
value.”

“Professor Wang, do you feel uncomfortable?” Fatty asked him.

“No, I’m fine. Quit messing around.” He pointed his flashlight at the front
hall’s entrance and started walking over, motioning for us to follow.

Fatty and I exchanged another look. As the professor moved past us, we
noticed that the ground was covered in those wet footprints. The
excitement of seeing so many treasures just now was instantly replaced by a
chill.

“Is Professor Wang like a popsicle or something? Is he going to melt?” Fatty

asked.

“Why don’t you go and lick him to see what he tastes like? I think he looks
like a ‘footboard’(1),” I said. I had only heard that water ghosts would leave
wet footprints when they walked. Did that mean that Professor Wang was a
water ghost?

But based on the way he had been talking, he looked nothing like that kind
of dirty thing. In fact, he was still so righteous and full of energy. But even if
he was a water ghost, he should be a righteous and honest water ghost. Or
maybe he had just become too excited after seeing all of these treasures

(1)
It’s basically a popsicle or ice cream bar that looks like a foot

911
and suffered facial paralysis? But his facial features had definitely been
shifted just now. If it was facial paralysis, then that meant he should have
some nerve problems in several parts of his face.

The biggest possibility was that there was something wrong with the water,
which caused Professor Wang’s body to have a problem. Fatty and I poked
each other and found that we were all right, so we were even more puzzled.

The two of us cautiously approached the temple’s front hall and found that
it was also chock full of loess. But there were also grafted decorations,
carved beams, and paintings everywhere on the loess-covered walls. The
door frame was made of some random wood, while all of the doors and
windows were made of golden nanmu wood. Peach trees had been carved
on them, but they were all covered in dust now. I also saw that there were
eight pillars on both sides of the front hall that had particularly beautiful
corbels(2) on them. The eight immortals crossing the sea were above these
eight pillars.

There was a horizontal bar as thick as a thigh holding the door closed, with
about seven or eight big locks on it. When Professor Wang looked at me, I
said to him, “Professor, let’s stop first. Your face may be paralyzed.”

He touched his face, and I found that his hands were shaking. “It’s happened
before,” he said. “It’s fine. Just unlock this first. Aren’t you skilled in this
craft?”

(2)
A corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood, or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent
weight, a type of bracket. Think of something like this:

912
Fatty looked at Professor Wang’s face again. The professor’s face had
collapsed a little when he touched it just now, causing a bit of red flesh to
come out of his eyes. It made him look very haggard.

“Are you sure this has happened before?” Fatty asked him.

“I know my own body,” Professor Wang said.

Fatty and I looked at each other again. You don’t know shit, I said to myself.
But we saw that he was in such good spirits that we couldn’t say much. We
couldn’t go back for the time being, but there was nothing else to do if we
didn’t go forward.

After making eye contact with Fatty, I felt that the best course of action was
to maintain the status quo. We would just shift our focus to observation for
the time being. If this really was a water ghost, then the best scenario was
that he wouldn’t harm us and we could all live in harmony. If, on the other
hand, there was something wrong with the water that led to Professor
Wang’s health problem and it got worse, then we would immediately stop
him.

Fatty asked him to sit down and rest while I quickly pried open all of the old
locks with an iron pick that came from my tactical dagger(3). Then, Fatty and I
lifted the horizontal bar with our shoulders.

(3)
Since these are tactical daggers, I’m assuming they have the all-purpose tools like this:

913
This bar must have been made from a coffin board. Not only was it heavy,
but it was also well preserved.

As all of my intervertebral discs made a “click” sound, the door instantly

opened, revealing the front hall’s spacious lobby. Since it was just like
opening a tomb door, Fatty and I immediately felt the adrenaline kick in. At
the same time, we also smelled the scent of old wood coming from inside.

When we shined our flashlights in, the first thing we saw was a gilded god
statue that seemed to be made of copper. The god had an iron whip held
high in his hand and a serpentine ribbon on his body. There was also a huge
plaque above him, which read: “The True King of Universal Transformation
Whose Voice of Thunder Resonates with the Origin of the Nine Heavens”.
The whole statue must have originally been painted with a lot of color, but
now it had all flaked off to reveal the copper underneath. There were thirty-
six thunder drums in front of it that appeared to have been carved from
Kunlun jade, and thirty-six lesser thunder gods stood behind these drums.
These thunder gods were immortals dressed as Taoist priests, but they were
all small and thin, which made the god statue appear very huge. There were
also two children’s corpses on either side of the statue.

I didn’t know what technique was used to preserve them, but the bodies
were basically in the same state as when they were alive. They just looked
pale, had chapped skin, and the eyes were dug out and replaced with two
copper coins. If it weren’t for the cracks on their skin, you would almost
think that these two dead children still had a fleshy kind of feeling to them.

“These children’s corpses were also moved from another tomb. There were
large families in remote mountainous areas who bought children to be
buried as attendants to the immortals. The boy’s body is full of gold ingots
and the girl’s body is full of jade,” Professor Wang said.

At this time, we finally saw the murals on the walls around the front hall.

Only reliefs and murals could give us clues as to the motives of the people
who built this place at that time, so we were all excited.

914
Chapter 10
When we shined our flashlights over, we found that the murals were simple
and crude, but outrageous. Despite this simplicity, they were painted very
carefully and the contents were very complicated. At first glance, I knew
that even though the craftsmanship wasn’t good, the people who did it
were very religious. That, combined with the peeled-off mottled skin, made
people feel that there was something valuable here.

As Professor Wang wiped his glasses, we both looked at him. I knew that he
was an expert in this field, so there would be a wonderful explanation. He
looked at one of the walls and said, “There’s a ritual recorded here.”

“What ritual?”

“Look here. There’s a Taoist priest here. He has cultivated to a certain

extent. These people who are kneeling are his disciples.” Professor Wang
pointed to the mural, which showed an old Taoist priest standing behind an
altar. There were many younger Taoist priests—we could tell they were
younger because they all had black beards painted on while the old Taoist
had a white beard—giving him salutations.

After that, the Taoist priests escorted the old Taoist to the edge of a pool,
where he was cut open and his entrails were thrown into the pool. A big
fish—I recognized it at a glance; it was the same kind of strange fish that I
had seen in the Stagnant Water Dragon King temple—swallowed the entrails
in one bite.

After that, the big fish swam into the underground river. It swam and swam
until it reached a strange palace that was full of immortals. The big fish spit
out the entrails, which had become a young immortal. We could tell from
the white beard and hair that it was the old Taoist from before, but now he
had become very young. The old Taoist met with the immortals and was
then surrounded by them. The final mural depicted the black-bearded
Taoists looking up at the immortals in the sky.

915
The murals in this circle, in which the big fish swam in the underground
river, were painted in great detail. There were hell-like places full of ghosts,
sections of the river piled high with gold and silver jewelry, and other
sections inhabited by dragons. We could tell that they seemed to be
depicting different types of obstacles and temptations. The big fish and the
human soul appeared to have merged into one at that time. Based on the
many fish bones painted at the bottom of the mural, if you swam in the river
to get to the immortal lands and wavered even just a little bit, you would be
deemed beyond redemption and lose your soul.

“Is the pool he mentioned the one we passed through just now? Then we’re
really lucky,” Fatty said.

“That pool has a name. It’s called Thunder Pool.” I pointed to the words on
the mural, not sure if the Extreme Sea outside was also called Thunder Pool.
If not, then there should be another pool here.

“It seems like they really were cultivating immortals here. This is a temple to
cultivate immortals, but the way they become immortal is to be eaten by a
fish and taken to the immortal lands,” Fatty said.

I was just about to ask Professor Wang a question, but at this time, I noticed
that he had left us in a hurry and went to the front hall’s back door.

Anyone who had ever been to temples and Taoist temples knew that the
front and back entrances to the front hall were usually open. And after
passing through, you would reach the main hall and courtyard. When we
looked behind the god statue in the temple’s front hall, we saw that there
was a group of three jade Guanyin(1).

But I don’t want to waste time describing them. The artistic

accomplishments, engravings, and the interspersed use of other precious
stones, as well as the complexity of the folds in the clothes, made it a
funerary object with amazing origins. The three statues embodied the three
states of Guanyin. Even though it wasn’t a strict requirement for a statue of

(1)
Guanyin is the Bodhisattva of Compassion or Goddess of Mercy (Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara)

916
Guanyin to appear in Taoist temples, it was a habitual practice to have them
in Taoist temples in China.

But Professor Wang didn’t even look at it and just focused on pushing open
the back door of the front hall.

The courtyard between the main hall and front hall was bigger and had piles
and piles of things stacked up in it. As our flashlights swept past and the light
reflected off of them, I couldn’t tell what they were anymore. But there was
a jade tree at the very center of the yard that appeared to be a huge peach
blossom tree. The trunk and branches were made of jade, while the peach
blossoms were made of pink tourmaline and spinel(2). The tree was so big
that it stood three people tall, and there was a carved stone pipa figurine(3)
under it. The pipa figurine was also very well carved, but it had been carved
from ordinary stone, so it was gray and cracked.

This was done by a master, I thought to myself, immediately realizing that

there was an artistic concept in everything’s placement here. The things
before seemed to be piles of jewels, but the stone pipa figurine and peach
blossom tree were clearly different.

I was just wondering why the aesthetics of this Taoist temple suddenly
improved when I saw Professor Wang start running. We quickly chased after
him with our flashlights and saw the outline of the main hall appear.

But when we got closer, we found that the main hall didn’t exist. There was
a ruin in front of us, which indicated that the main hall had been completely
destroyed and turned to ash. I say destroyed rather than burned because
the slate floor outside the main hall was completely blackened in an
explosive pattern. Moreover, there were many strange cracks in the stone.

“This was struck by lightning,” Fatty murmured.

(2)
Spinel is another gemstone. It’s more of a pointed crystal.
(3)
It’s basically a statue of a musician playing a pipa, which is a Chinese lute with 4 strings, a large pear-
shaped body, and a fretted fingerboard.

917
He was right. A huge bolt of lightning struck here and completely destroyed
the entire main hall.

When we approached, we found that Professor Wang hadn’t stayed in the

main hall ruins, but I didn’t know where he had run off to.

The main hall should’ve had a bigger god statue, but the only things left
were the base and charred rubble everywhere. We looked up and shined
our flashlights overhead. The top of the cave here was too high, so we could
only faintly see the countless bronze pieces hanging overhead.

“Was the lightning guided down here through these bronze pieces?” There
was no way to tell, but I figured there was another possibility—a violent
explosion had occurred here. This main hall had been blown up. “The Yang
family has been in business for a long time. Do you really believe that three
or four people could have done this?” I thought of Yang Daguang. Maybe
there was only one person left, but they still didn’t give up. When I thought
of this, an idea suddenly popped into my head and I looked back at the pipa
figurine behind me.

“What’s the matter?” Fatty asked.

“The cultural level of the Yang family’s ancestors wasn’t very high. As you
saw before, the murals weren’t painted very well, but this pipa figurine and
tourmaline peach blossom tree have an artistic concept to them. There’s a
huge gap between the simplicity and elegance here. This is impossible.”

“Could it be a coincidence?”

“The whole way over, we saw gems piled high with jade, but there was
never any tourmaline with ordinary stone carvings.” I took Fatty back to the
pipa figurine, squatted behind it, and took a look with my flashlight. The
edge of a rusty coin was sticking out from underneath the figurine.

Fatty helped me tilt the figurine up so that I could grab the coin, but when I
did, I saw that there was an iron ring below it.

918
I immediately asked Fatty to move the pipa figurine away. Once he was
done, I saw that there was an iron ring on the stone slab below. I lifted it up
and found that it was attached to an iron chain. I looked Fatty in the eye and
pulled on the chain hard, but it didn’t move. He came over to help me, and
the two of us managed to pull more than a meter of the chain up from the
hole in the stone slab. At this time, I suddenly heard the clanking sound of
metal parts moving under our feet. Then, the stone slab in front of us
dropped down, revealing a square hole.

This collapsed side of the stone slab formed a slope that could be walked
down. We went over to take a look and found that there was a secret room
below.

“How did you know?” Fatty asked me.

“The logic of this pipa figurine’s placement here is different from everything
else, so there had to be something wrong here,” I said to him. “Now, I highly
suspect that this pipa figurine was moved here by my Uncle Three. He’s
been here before.”

“Your Uncle Three isn’t the only one with aesthetics in the world.”

I showed Fatty the coin, which was engraved with a 044 mark. Only Uncle
Three would play this kind of trick.

919
Chapter 11
Fatty and I carefully walked down to the secret room.

It was made of stone slabs, was about eighty square meters, and had a forty-
square-meter bottomless pool in the middle of it. It was a bit like a bath
house. Murals had also been painted on the surrounding stone walls.
Although there were mildew spots because of the water vapor, we could see
the outlines of the pictures since they had been painted on more recently.

The ground was littered with stones, which must’ve had many talismans(1)
on the bottom of them. But now only a few of the spells could be seen
clearly since all of the others were damp and rotted. Various mushrooms
and fungi had sprung up on the decayed black lumps one by one, extending
all the way to the wall.

There were murals on the walls and mushrooms at the base of the walls, but
hardly anything in the middle, so I could see some of them clearly.

These murals were very interesting. They seemed to depict an underground

river that had huge pools with “Extreme Sea” stone monuments placed at
regular intervals along it. There was a small pool next to each huge pool that
also had a small stone monument, which read “Thunder Pool”.

(1)
Per Tiffany: the talismans are called “fulu” (符咒), which is a term for supernatural Taoist incantations
and magic symbols as a Chinese incantation or (written or painted) charm or a Chinese talisman as a
Lingfu by Taoist practitioners in the past. Basically, they’re like sheets with spells on them. More info
here, but it looks like this:

920
“This is a map showing that the Extreme Sea stretches across a vast
territory,” Fatty murmured.

“It’s too abstract,” I said. If you were to use this mural as a map to travel in
the huge underground river, you’d probably end up completely lost within a
few kilometers since the pictures were drawn so randomly.

But on the wall opposite us—that is, the wall facing the entrance—there
was a large mural that was completely rotted and covered in colorful mold. I
didn’t know what was painted on it, but the most interesting thing was that
the murals in this room seemed to depict the Extreme Sea as a circle. In
other words, the longest underground river in China was actually a closed
loop.

There had never been such a structure in any river system before. Rivers had
to have a source and a mouth where they emptied into another body of
water. Or they disappeared into the Gobi Desert. It could almost be argued
that this circular underground river was invented by the Yang family.

At this time, Fatty motioned for me to turn my head. I looked at the corner
of the room and found that there was something carved into the stone slab
on the wall. It was similar to a small stone Mount Tai shigandang(2) and had
the words “Thunder Pool” carved on it.

(2)
Shigandang is a stone tablet erected to ward off evil spirits. It’s based off of the spirit, Shi Gandang,
who was sent down from Mount Tai by Bixia Yuanjun (Goddess of Mt. Tai) to protect ordinary people
from evil spirits. Probably looks something like this:

921
As it turned out, this small pool was the Thunder Pool where they had cut
open the old Taoist priest who was cultivating to be an immortal and threw
his entrails into it.

Fatty leaned over the edge of the pool and looked down. The water was
very muddy, and I didn’t know how deep it went. According to the murals, it
should lead to the underground river, was very deep, and had a giant fish
swimming in its depths.

Fatty turned around and said to me, “Do you have any internal organs you
don’t need? Let’s give it a try.”

I looked at him and suddenly felt that there was something in the pool. I
quickly shined my flashlight on him and saw a black shadow come up from
the pool.

It came up right behind Fatty, but before I could get a good look at it, the
fish instantly sank back into the water. In that brief moment, I saw that the
fish’s scales were inlaid with copper coins.

Damn it, it’s the strange fish we saw in the Stagnant Water Dragon King
temple. It’s exactly the same, but this one looks bigger.

Fatty was startled by the sound of splashing water and immediately

retreated from the pool as ripples spread across the water’s surface.

“What the hell?” I pulled him over and looked at the pool. A bunch of
bubbles appeared on the water’s surface before something floated up and
then sank back down.

That was my safety rope. I had untied it on the way here, but now it
suddenly appeared in this place. What did that mean?

“Maybe that section of water in the stone passage we came in through is

connected to the underground river. Those who drowned were terrified
before they died. Maybe they saw this strange fish in the water before they
drowned?”

922
“Strange fish?” Fatty asked.

“Yeah, it was checking out your ass just now. It’s the same kind of fish Old
Man Lei was trying to catch at that time,” I said.

Fatty stretched his neck. “Shit, then how do we get back? If this kind of fish
is in the water, there’s no way for people outside to come in, and we won’t
be able to get out.”

923
Chapter 12
In my opinion, there were several fish like this. But if there were more than
five, then only professional diving hunters could clean out that water-logged
section of the passage.

This fish was covered in copper coins, which had been artificially inlaid into
its scales as a kind of armor. But the copper coins I saw just now were so
rotten that only an outline of them was left. They shouldn’t be much of a
defensive measure at all now. It was really a pity that we didn’t have any
guns. If we had a Type 54 pistol, we could use Fatty’s thigh to lure it in,
shoot and gut it, and then continue luring the others in until all of the fish
were out of the water.

Maybe we could go out the same way we came in; otherwise, it would
probably take me at least three days to find another way out of here. I had
finally managed to calm down after seeing so many amazing treasures. If we
didn’t report in as soon as possible and there were any defects, I was afraid
that Fatty and I wouldn’t be able to get away.

As the water’s surface slowly returned to a calm state, I shared my concerns

with Fatty. He agreed and added, “Another thing we have to account for is
Professor Wang’s situation. I’m worried that if there’s something wrong with
him, we won’t be able to wash away the blame even after jumping into the
Yellow River. When you talk about this fat master’s face, you can definitely
see that I look like the type of person who will murder for money. I don’t
want to suffer this loss.” I told him about my idea, but Fatty said, “Shit, why
do you have to use my legs? Your legs are also very fragrant. If we’re really
going to do this, then let’s compete fairly. We’ll each stick a leg out and see
which one it likes. I’m telling you, I know a Thai person who said that fish
don’t like to eat fat.”

I laughed, feeling quite relaxed. Compared to the previous tombs we had

been in before, this time was much easier. In fact, these difficulties were
nothing. But I was surprised that there weren’t any traces of my Uncle Three

924
in this Thunder Pool. Logically speaking, he had left a clue on the stone slab
that was hiding this room, which seemed to indicate that he was hoping that
later people would notice this place.

“Did your Uncle Three also cut his stomach open here and become an
immortal? Oh, wait. Maybe he’s become a thunder god and that lightning
strike up there was his doing,” Fatty said to me. “Or maybe your Uncle Three
meant to tell you that you should have a c-section here and transform into
your internal organs to find him?”

“If my Uncle Three became a thunder god, he’ll definitely kill you first,” I
retorted as I wondered what was going on. There was no doubt that Uncle
Three had been here, but there weren’t any clues. In other words, Uncle
Three had led me to a dead end.

But Uncle Three had never made such a mistake when it came to puzzles.
My eyes slowly moved to the huge cluster of mold on the wall opposite us.

“Have you seen this science fiction movie before?” I asked Fatty. “There’s a
scene in the movie where there’s a lot of mold on the wall. Later, when the
people look at it closely, they find that it’s actually a person who was
flattened on the wall. The body had rotted and grown mold.” We walked
around the edge of the pool to the moldy wall, stepping on the mushrooms
along the way. I kept coughing. I didn’t know why, but the mold made my
lungs feel very uncomfortable.

In this position, we were very close to the edge of the pool. I was feeling a
little insecure because the water level was very high and the water itself was
very murky. We were only about three or four feet away from the pool, so if
there really was a water ghost, then all it had to do was reach out and drag
me down.

I turned sideways, not letting my back face the pool. I could tell from this
new angle that the huge mildew spot definitely didn’t look like a flattened
person, but the smell made me realize that there had to be something
underneath.

925
Fatty and I each found a nearby stone. He was bold enough to wash his in
the pool of water, but I endured getting the gunk on myself. Then, the two
of us started scraping the mildew spots off together.

I noticed that the mural behind the mold had been damaged, and three
words had been smeared across it with something rancid.

“You—will—die?” Fatty read aloud word for word. “What does that mean?”

He had just finished speaking, when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I
saw a shadow rush out of the pool. The surface of the water exploded in an
instant and a giant mouth opened up and bit my ankle.

It was a big fish.

I reacted very quickly and instantly jumped up like a monkey. The fish bit
down on empty air and hit the wall. I fell into a pile of stones, half of my
body landing in the pool. I instinctively turned over and pulled myself out of
the water.

Fatty cursed and hit the fish on the head with a stone, but the fish
immediately turned over and rolled back into the water, making a huge
splash. We looked into the pool with our flashlights and saw that there were
shadows everywhere in the water, just like Hua Gang Guan Yu(1). This small
pool was actually packed with that kind of big fish.

Fatty and I didn’t dare move as we waited for the water to calm down again.
“Mr. Naïve, this is your Uncle Three’s trap,” Fatty said. But just as soon as he
spoke, another big fish rushed out of the water and tried to bite him. This
fish was much faster than the other one. Fatty blocked it with his hand and
hit it on the head with his flashlight, but the fish’s sharp scales cut off a large
chunk of his skin. Blood instantly spilled into the water.

(1)
Hua Gang Guan Yu, which translates as “Viewing Fish in Flower Harbor” is one of West Lake’s top 10
hot scenic spots in Hangzhou. Pics and info here.

926
“Don’t talk, go!” I shouted at him. I ran straight for the entrance but tripped
and fell. Fatty, who was following closely behind me, ended up tripping over
me and falling as well. When we turned our heads, we saw that there were a
lot of dark shadows in the pool, which were bigger than the ones from
before. They appeared to have been attracted by Fatty’s blood and were
swimming restlessly.

927
Chapter 13
It really was a trap. Uncle Three was leading people down and feeding them
to these fish. But why? From what I could tell, the trap only seemed to be a
few years old.

Fatty and I gasped for breath as he looked at his wound and cursed, “If we
had any paraquat(1), I’d pour a ton into that pool. What kind of fish are
these?”

“Such big fish were called dragons in ancient times,” I gasped out. There
were many legends that the deep pools in the underground river here ate
people, but these strange fish seemed to be the real culprits. Many places
with rich underground river systems had similar legends, which stated if a
cow fell into the depths of the underground river, only its bones would be
fished out. If it was bitten by something that even left bite marks on the
bones, then it was probably related to these fish.

Fish in underground rivers were generally small and blind. It appeared that
the fish here also relied on hearing, but their large size meant that there
were huge deep pools connected to each other. The pools—which were
probably more than several hundred meters deep—must be nearby.

But I found it hard to believe that such ferocious freshwater fish would
naturally appear in the Central Plains’ underground rivers. The ancients
must have brought them in from other places. I didn’t know from which
dynasty the people who built the Stagnant Water Dragon King temple were
from, but this must have been their masterpiece.

Fatty and I looked at each other. He shook the blood from his hand as I took
out the coin again. Uncle Three, I said to myself, what were you trying to do?
If the two of us had been less experienced, we both would’ve died here. He

(1)
Paraquat is a chemical herbicide, or weed killer, that’s highly toxic and used all over the world.
Paraquat is one of the most common herbicides used today, but can cause fatal poisoning when
ingested or inhaled.

928
was setting a trap for someone, which meant that someone was working
against him.

I’ve already wiped out all the people who could be wiped out, so why do
this? Uncle Three, exactly how many people have you offended?

If things were like this, then listening to thunder wasn’t as simple as I had
thought, and Uncle Three and Yang Daguang weren’t doing it because they
wanted to. “He didn’t do this to deal with ordinary grave robbers. Any
ordinary grave robber would never notice this stone when they saw all the
treasures above. He wants to deal with those who come here to investigate
044. These are the only people who would ignore the treasures and look
around everywhere.” After thinking about it, I lifted Fatty up. “Let’s ignore it
for now. When the archaeological team comes down, they’ll dig up a lot of
clues with their scientific methods. Let’s focus on taking care of Professor
Wang. If this trap is here, then there may be others. We have to make sure
Professor Wang doesn’t die.”

The two of us left the Thunder Pool and went back to the courtyard. After
venturing to the back hall, we finally found Professor Wang again.

The back hall had been built on a higher stone, so the different terrain
meant that the courtyard was very small. There were also a lot of stones
piled inside, which seemed to be unfinished building materials. We could
see stairs on both sides that zigzagged upwards. The back hall almost
overlooked the front and main halls, and if there was enough lighting, you
could even see the Extreme Sea monument.

The back hall was the Yang family’s ancestral tomb, but it was actually very
simple. There weren’t any funerary objects, but there were a bunch of
memorial tablets that had all of the Yang ancestors’ names on them. When
we went in, I saw Professor Wang lying on the table meant for offerings. I
was taken aback for a moment and wondered if Professor Wang was a Yang
family member. He was lying there crying as if he was a long-lost relative
who had returned home.

929
As we approached, we looked around with our flashlights. There were things
lying around the ancestral tomb that made the both of us break out in
goosebumps. This ancestral tomb was full of stone and brick tablets of
varying sizes. It was easy to see that the calligraphy on these tablets had
been done by masters, but the patterns on the sides of these tablets looked
very familiar to me. They had all come from ancient tombs and were the
epitaphs that recorded the life of the tomb owners. There was a banner
hanging above these stone tablets that was covered in words, but they were
neither scriptures nor mantras. I pointed my flashlight at it and found that
the words were actually records. They recorded the stone tablets’ origins,
what was “borrowed” from the tomb where the stone tablet was located,
and where the items had been placed in the temple. These things hadn’t
been taken for money, but for cultivating immortals. The location of the
tomb, entry method, process for getting in, etc. had all been clearly
recorded. There was a sentence at the end stating that they hoped these
things could be returned to their original owners in the tombs after they had
finished cultivating into immortals.

“Don’t look, Fatty.” I glanced at him before walking to the biggest jade
tablet. As soon as I saw it, I knew that this was the most awesome tablet
here. I didn’t know whose life it recorded, but it must have come from a
legendary tomb. The archaeological team would definitely seal it off in the
future, and it may not be made public for a long time. If you saw it and
leaked the information when you got drunk, you’d really be in unnecessary
trouble if your description matched the inscription on the tablet.

“This is a group’s grave-robbing chronicles. The 3D format is much more

eloquent than the one your grandfather gave you,” Fatty said. “I don’t think
I can be at ease if I don’t look. If it means I’ll go blind if I see them, then I’ll
just take a quick look with only one eye. I have to see.”

I sighed, having no choice but to leave him be. I turned to look at Professor
Wang and felt that something was even more off with him now. He was
lying motionless on his stomach in a small pool of water. Did he see these
stone tablets and have a heart attack?

930
I quickly went over to help him. But as soon as I turned him over, I jumped
back in fright. Professor Wang’s mouth was opened wide, his whole face
was completely shriveled and blue, and the whites of his eyes were showing.
There were bruises on his face and neck which were caused by internal
bleeding, and his skin was loose like those people who had lost weight too
quickly and were left with drooping folds of skin. It was as if all of his flesh
was melting quickly, and he was becoming a sack of skin.

I felt for his pulse but found that his heart wasn’t beating anymore. He was
really dead. I pinched his body and found that many places were almost
“caved in”, as if I were touching a balloon.

“Fatty, something’s happened!” I shouted.

Fatty came over, saw this scene, and looked at me. When I glanced at the
wet footprints Professor Wang had left along the way, I couldn’t help
thinking that he was on the verge of death long ago. It was his passion for
his career that kept him here. Just as he wished, he saw what he wanted to
see, and his life could be considered complete now.

We had to respect those who were passionate and persistent.

Fatty patted me, “We made these discoveries because of Old Wang. Let’s
find a way to contact the people above and get him out. “

I sighed. This little adventure wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I saw
Fatty kneel down on the bier platform(2), bow, and then look around behind
several rows of memorial tablets. There was nothing there. “Let’s go back to
the front hall,” he said to me. “I’ll take that Lei Zu statue’s iron whip.”

“Why are you still thinking about taking things?”

“Old Wang has died here. Will I have any humanity left if I take anything
now?” As Fatty spoke, he glanced at the epitaphs. “He died here just to keep

(2)
A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to
be carried to the grave. The pinyin is “lingtai”, which literally translates to “soul platform”.

931
an eye on us. But that old man was really crafty. He knew that the real
treasure was here. The reason I want the iron whip is so that we can go
fishing using your thigh method. We have to have weapons.” Fatty looked at
Professor Wang’s mouth, pressed his body, and then looked at me again.
“It’s like he’s hollow. And his mouth is opened so wide. Did something come
out of his body?”

I looked at Professor Wang’s neck, also feeling some doubts in my heart. It

was like his neck had almost torn apart. Did something squeeze out of his
throat? Weren’t we saying earlier how the corpses here were particularly
light? Was this strange hollowed-out phenomenon the thing that was
causing the bodies to become lighter?

At this time, Professor Wang’s left eye suddenly moved.

_______________________________________

Note: The plot of the Stagnant Water Dragon King temple comes from
“Fishing King Extra” (Extra 5, 2016 New Year’s Special), which can be found
on WeChat or in the “Ten Years Later” physical book.

932
Chapter 14
Fatty and I both took a deep breath when we saw something moving in the
whites of Professor Wang’s eyes, as if something parasitic was inside. We
cautiously approached and Fatty shined his flashlight on Professor Wang’s
eyes. When we looked at the eyeball—which was actually very thin—we
saw a flash of scales inside.

It turned out to be a small fish.

Just like an egg that was about to hatch, the fish had already formed but
hadn’t broken out of the egg yet. It was like it was waiting for the moment
when its shell would break in the eyeball. I glanced at Fatty. Although this
scene wasn’t that horrible, it really made people feel creeped out when they
actually saw it. I looked at Professor Wang’s other eye and saw that it was
even more exaggerated. There were two fish in that eye. It seemed like the
vitreous body(1) had melted, so all of the fish had a small range to swim in.

This underground river was actually quite cool and not too humid. Our
diving suits and hair were almost dry by this point, and with the exception of
the rough ground, we felt more comfortable here than aboveground. But
after seeing Professor Wang’s eyes, I felt that it wasn’t cool here at all. If
anything, it was cold. I didn’t know if the temperature had dropped when
we came in, or if it was all just in my head.

“Is this a parasite?” Fatty tried to cut Professor Wang’s eye open with the
dagger, but I quickly stopped him. If a knife wound was left on his body, I
wouldn’t be able to explain it later. I asked Fatty to shine his flashlight on me
as I pressed Professor Wang’s body and unbuttoned his clothes. There were
more bruises on his torso that looked similar to the stripe-shaped ones on
his neck. The bruises from his lower body went all the way up to his neck

(1)
The vitreous body is the clear gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina of the eyeball of
humans and other vertebrates.

933
and into his brain. I gestured at them, “This may be the parasitic route the
fish took. It entered his body from the anus and went all the way upstream.”

I felt around the parasite’s route and found that the bruised places were
badly collapsed, as if most of the fat and flesh had melted.

“This kind of fish seems to melt human tissue after entering the human body
and moving up until it finally reaches the eyes. That’s why it looked like
Professor Wang was melting.”

“I seem to have heard of this parasite before. What’s it called again?”

“Colorful trematode larva,” I said.

There was a brief period when a bit of curious news was going around. A
new breed of snails that liked to crawl to the top of tree canopies had eyes
that began to swell and squirm, which produced a dancing effect. The snails’
eyes had colorful striped markings, and once they moved, it made people
feel repulsed and physically disgusted. This dance made it very easy for birds
to find and prey on them. Such high-risk behavior in snails had people very
puzzled, but later, others discovered that this snail had been parasitized by a
colorful trematode larva. It would crawl directly into the snails’ eyes, control
the snails’ brains, make them climb directly into the tree canopies, and keep
dancing so as to attract birds to eat the snails. In this way, the parasites
could enter the birds’ intestines and lay their eggs.

I didn’t know if this parasitic fish had been controlling Professor Wang’s
actions, but logically speaking, it must’ve been able to control the human
brain and cause people to believe that they were being thrown into the
river.

The Extreme Sea was just outside, so if this was the case, Professor Wang
should have run to it. But he brought us all the way here instead. It
appeared that humans with strong obsessions were hard to control. Or I had
misjudged the situation and this gaping mouth was the same as those
bodies we had pulled out of the water-logged section of the passage before.

934
Maybe most of these parasitic fish only lived in drowned corpses, and it was
rare for them to climb up while their hosts were still alive like what
happened to Professor Wang.

“If we let these parasitic fish eat up Professor Wang, I figure he’ll be
transformed like those immortals. After a while, only his skin will be left,”
Fatty said to me. “We should get them out and stomp on them in case
they’re contagious.”

I shook my head. This was no joke. The people here were just a regular team
of archaeologists. There was no way I could explain why Professor Wang
came in and ended up with stab wounds all over his body. No one except for
grave robbers would believe us if we told them that he had been parasitized
by a fish.

As I was thinking, I poked Fatty again. We had all been in the water, so we
needed to be careful. But after I poked him, I immediately broke out in a
cold sweat. I pinched his sweaty skin and found that it was very sticky. Then
I looked at his face and found that his expression had changed. “It’s
nothing,” he said. “I’m sticky because of the sweat.”

At this time, however, I saw something flash in Fatty’s eyes.

He looked at how my expression changed and immediately fell silent. I

looked at the whites of Fatty’s eyes. Although the light had flashed and then
disappeared, I knew there was definitely something in there. “You’ve been
infected, Fatty,” I said to him at the same time he said, “Professor Wang just
moved.”

I immediately looked back and saw that under the faint glow of our
flashlights, Professor Wang had actually gotten up and began to crawl on
the ground slowly like a sloth.

“Professor Wang?” I thought maybe he had been in a death-like state just

now and hadn’t completely died yet, so I pointed my flashlight at his face. I
found that his eyes were turning wildly in opposite directions and his nose

935
was pointed towards the ground like he was looking for a path along the
footprints he had left before. Then, he started crawling forward.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Fatty asked. The wet footprints must have
come all the way from the pool of water. Could this fish control corpses’
brains and make the bodies crawl along the footprints all the way back to
the water?

We only had the two flashlights at hand. Although the light was very strong,
this back hall had a larger space, so the surroundings were still dark. When I
was in the courtyard earlier, everything had looked brighter because there
were jewels everywhere that were reflecting the flashlights’ beams. But in
this back hall, when we illuminated Professor Wang’s body with our
flashlights, everything else was in complete darkness. That, coupled with the
corpse crawling on the ground, was enough to make my hair stand on end.

“There’s something in your eye,” I said to Fatty as I looked at Professor

Wang. “You may also be infected with this fish. Check me.”

I opened one of my eyes wider for Fatty to look at while keeping my other
eye trained on Professor Wang. I told myself that we had to get out quickly.
It really wouldn’t be worth it to die like this. Fatty looked at my eye and said,
“I can’t see clearly, but there seems to be a shadow in it. Have you noticed
anything wrong with your eyesight? Have you seen a shadow swimming in
front of you?”

My mind buzzed. I really hadn’t noticed anything before, but now I felt as if
my eyes were swelling and there was the sensation of a foreign body inside.
I started to rub my eyes subconsciously, but Fatty held my hand down. Even
though I didn’t know how parasitic this fish was, my eyesight had been fine
so far.

At this point, Professor Wang had crawled more than ten meters away from
us. When we shined our flashlights on him again, we found that he had
stood up and was looking back at us with a very cold and stiff expression on
his face.

936
Chapter 15
At this time, the fish in Professor Wang’s eyes had hatched and were looking
at us through the whites of his eyes. From this angle, it was like he had two
compound eyes(1).

His face looked very similar to the face of that strange immortal we had
seen carved on the caisson in the front hall. At that time, Fatty had thought
that the immortal was a bug that had turned into a monster, which
bewitched the ancestors of the Yang family and asked them to build this
Taoist temple underground. If someone died, came back to life, and started
behaving strangely after their eyes turned into these compound eyes, they
may indeed be regarded as a demon. But being mistaken for a demon was
totally different from being mistaken for an immortal. Immortals were said
to be beautiful (at least to a certain extent), so how could this person in
front of me be mistaken for an immortal?

Fatty and I confronted Professor Wang’s body and shined our flashlights on
him. Ordinary people would have already closed their eyes under such
bright light, but the small eyes that made up his compound eyes still kept
moving. It was like those two eyes were kaleidoscopes, constantly changing
and arranging themselves in a strange and abnormal manner.

At this time, Professor Wang suddenly spoke.

His throat appeared to have been melted and we couldn’t understand what
he was saying, but he was definitely talking to us. Professor Wang looked at
us gloomily and said faintly, “Tired to sign.”

(1)
Compound eyes are like bug eyes:

937
Fatty narrowed his eyes suspiciously and whispered, “Not dead? Shit, let’s
get him out of here quickly so he can be saved.”

He moved to help Professor Wang, but I held him back. Even though the
professor had spoken just now, his whole body had practically melted, saliva
was pouring out of his mouth, his movements were strange, and his eyes
had turned into compound eyes. In this state, he was clearly no longer
human.

Professor Wang’s neck seemed unable to support his head anymore, for it
kept wobbling from side to side. Despite this, he continued saying, “Tired to
sign.”

“What do you mean?” Fatty asked him. “You’re tired? Then don’t crawl
around if you’re tired.”

Professor Wang kept making that strange sound. Anyone listening would
think that he was trying to speak, but the words were too unclear to
understand what he was saying.

At this time, Professor Wang’s stomach suddenly burst open, as if the

muscles and skin couldn’t hold up the weight of his internal organs
anymore. Once this happened, all of his internal organs leaked out,
intestines spilling everywhere. Under the bright light of our flashlights, I saw
that his intestines had become transparent and were full of small eyes.

These small eyes made it look like almost all of his internal organs were full
of small “oocysts”(2).

(2)
Oocysts are cysts containing zygotes (fertilized eggs) formed by a parasite. Here’s an example:

938
Professor Wang sat down slowly, just like a deflating balloon. He was no
longer moving, and his head had drooped down completely.

Fatty and I looked at him in alarm. After waiting for a while and seeing that
Professor Wang really didn’t move, we cautiously approached. Fatty
carefully looked at the “oocysts”. I had no idea what the mechanics behind
this parasite were, to be able to make people’s internal organs transparent
and melt their insides like this.

I suddenly realized that the corpses here had all become immortals in this
way. “The flesh and internal organs of the corpses here have been eaten up
by this fish,” I said to Fatty. “They only leave the skin, which is why the
bodies are so light.”

“Professor Wang is really dead now. What do you think he was trying to say
to us?” Fatty asked me.

No one could determine whether those words were really Professor Wang
talking or if they were just meaningless sounds. I looked at my watch and
said to Fatty, “We don’t have time for that. We’ve got about fifteen minutes
at most.”

“What do you mean?”

“You and I are both infected,” I said to him. “Based on Professor Wang’s
time of death, we still have forty minutes at most. After that, we’ll end up
like him.” I used my flashlight to illuminate the whites of Fatty’s eyes and
still saw the black shadow inside. “If we want to live, we have to get out in
fifteen minutes. That gives us twenty-five minutes to get to the hospital for
treatment.”

Fatty turned pale. “The only way to get out now is to implement your idea.
Do you really want to fish using your thigh as bait?”

I looked at Professor Wang’s internal organs and thought about the murals
in the front hall. These organs should be more useful than our thighs, so I

939
turned to a fairly well-preserved banner, pulled it down, and wrapped it
around the organs.

That smell… people’s internal organs really didn’t smell good.

Fatty and I picked them up and started running wildly. Fatty went to fetch
the bronze sword(3) that had been hanging at the tomb entrance when we
first came in, while I went to get the iron whip from the front hall.

(3)
Not a translation error. This is the bronze dagger from chapter 8. It apparently got an upgrade and is
now a sword.

940
Chapter 16
Fatty and I went back to the Thunder Pool. Fatty found a rock and smashed
Professor Wang’s internal organs until all of the small fish were turned into
fish paste. Half of them were then thrown into the water while the other
half were hung on a stone on the shore.

I was holding the iron whip while Fatty held the flashlight and drew back to
the side. He beat the bronze sword with a rock until it was shaped like a
fishhook and then wrapped the internal organs around it.

He also made a hook on the other side of the sword, which fit into the cracks
in the floor tiles around the Thunder Pool. We also put our other flashlight
on a nearby rock as a second lighting point so we wouldn’t lose sight of
things and panic.

After a while, ripples appeared in the water, and something seemed to surge
just under the surface. Fatty and I exchanged a look before I said, “These fish
seem to have very sensitive hearing. Later, we have to quickly kill—”

But before I had even finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly rushed
out of the water and bit the other half of the internal organs on the shore.

The fish’s mouth was so big that it swallowed the internal organs in one gulp
and then started to retreat back into the water. But Fatty had been studying
up on fishing, so his hook was very good. The big fish’s mouth got caught on
the end of the bronze sword hook. I yelled at the top of my lungs, leaped
towards the fish’s head, and aimed the iron whip directly at it.

It was just like hitting a stone mill, because sparks flew everywhere. As it
turned out, the fish’s head was inlaid with a bronze mirror that acted like a
helmet. My hands were hurting from the impact, but I couldn’t worry about
it now. When I hit the fish’s body again, the decayed copper coins were so
densely packed together that it was like the fish didn’t even feel how much
strength I exerted. The iron whip just scraped along the fish’s sides without
causing it any harm.

941
I was quite surprised. I knew that my hands were blackened and that I was a
real killer—hell, I could probably crack a skull open—but why couldn’t I beat
this thing up?

Fatty rushed over and started scolding me, “Your skills are getting fucking
rusty.” He snatched my iron whip and was about to insert it into the fish’s
eye, but at this time, the strange fish shook its head fiercely, causing blood
to spurt from its torn mouth. The bronze sword hook came loose from its
mouth, and the fish was on the verge of going back into the water. Fatty
jumped up and grabbed the gills on both sides, causing both human and fish
to plunge into the water in an instant.

I paused before I realized that we weren’t the ones who were fishing.
Instead, the fish was the one fishing for Fatty.

If it was Poker-Face, I wouldn’t be surprised if he sprung out of the water

with the fish intestines in hand. But Fatty was the one who went down.
Right now, the biggest possibility was that Fatty would float up on his
stomach, and when I turned him over, I’d find that his internal organs were
eaten clean.

Fatty was still holding his flashlight in his hand, so I could see a spot of light
beneath the churning water.

I didn’t think too much about it and just pulled the bronze sword hook over
before jumping directly into the pool. At this time, however, Fatty just so
happened to surface and was trying to climb to shore right as I threw myself
at him.

“Fuck you…” he started to yell as I pushed him down into the water again.

My brain felt like it exploded as soon as I entered the water.

I couldn’t tell when I was on the surface—although I knew that there were
many fish underwater, it was only a guess— but as soon as I entered the
water now, I immediately felt that there were all kinds of strange fish

942
around me, each one almost as long as me. As soon as I opened my hand, I
felt the sensation of several copper coins slowly swim away from me.

I instantly rolled over and breached the water’s surface right as Fatty’s
flashlight landed on my eyes, almost blinding me. The two of us panicked
and frantically climbed ashore, but the strange fish didn’t even attack us.

We gasped for breath and looked at the water all over the ground. “Was I
too aggressive just now?” Fatty asked.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re aggressive or not,” I said. “We’re finished.”

We were both very depressed. The internal organs were gone, and the fish
hadn’t come up again. I figured we’d also become compound-eyed fish sac
corpses soon, and it wouldn’t be long after that when we’d decay into
feather-light immortals. Fatty thought for a while before rolling over and
taking the iron whip and bronze sword from my hand. Then, he took off his
shorts and tied the two things to his own calf.

He looked at me. There was only one pair of shorts, so the tie was very
weak.

I looked at his resolute gaze and saw the tiny reflections of fish scales in the
whites of his eyes. I knew it was useless to say anything more, so I gave him
a firm nod and then took off my own shorts and handed them to him. At this
point, the lower halves of our bodies were almost naked.

Fatty handed me his flashlight, grabbed a rock, and immediately put his calf
into the pool.

The iron whip and bronze sword were meant to prevent the strange fish’s
teeth from biting through Fatty’s calf muscles and breaking his leg. Of
course, if the mouth was angled just right, the fish could still bite Fatty’s leg
off, but Fatty was willing to gamble.

“If I end up disabled, you remember to support me for the rest of my life—
ah!”

943
Fatty had wanted to make a witty remark, but as soon as his calf entered the
pool, the water’s surface started churning. The fish were like old perverts
who were as impatient as monkeys. I didn’t even have time to react before
one of them instantly bit Fatty’s calf and started dragging him into the
water.

Not only was the fish very powerful in the water, but Fatty had one leg in
and one leg out of the pool. Moreover, the fish had bit down too fast, and
Fatty hadn’t sat down in the most comfortable position. As a result, Fatty’s
leg was pulled until he was doing the splits.

Almost at the same time, I heard a loud click come from Fatty’s hip. He
immediately started shouting, “Ahhhhhhhh!!! Mr. Naïve, pull! Pull, pull, pull,
pull, pull!”

I immediately grabbed Fatty’s armpits and tried to haul him backwards. As I

exerted all of my strength in my waist and abdomen, the fish’s head finally
breached the surface. I didn’t know whether it was the one I had tried to hit
before, but it kept biting Fatty’s calf. “Grab its gills!” Fatty shouted at me

I let go of him and threw myself at the strange fish, putting my hand directly
into its gills.

The gills were full of barbs, which cut my hand in an instant. I gave a loud
roar and continued stretching my hand inside until I felt Fatty’s calf.

Since the bronze sword had been shaped into a hook, the strange fish ended
up caught again and couldn’t retreat. I stretch my hand in further and
grabbed the iron whip on Fatty’s leg. “Get it up!” Fatty shouted.

Even with the two of us working hard together, the fish was as powerful as a
bomb and couldn’t be pulled out of the water at all. I had fished in the sea
before and knew that a fish of this size definitely had an absolute advantage
in the water during the first twenty minutes. But we didn’t even have a
fishing rod. Fatty was starting to feel the pain at this time and shouted, “Kill
it! Kill it!”

944
My hands were absolutely shredded by the barbs and were so bloody that I
couldn’t exert any strength at all. Despite our efforts, this strange fish kept
bouncing, almost dragging me and Fatty down every time. I shouted again.
The water was full of blood—Fatty’s blood, my blood, and the fish’s blood all
mixed together.

Just when I was at a loss as to what to do, a huge splash suddenly erupted
from the water, drenching the both of us. As I watched, a huge shadow
appeared in the water.

This shadow—which was much larger than the strange fish—came up from
the water’s depths and directly bit off the fish’s body that we were holding
onto.

The momentum of me and Fatty pulling on the fish’s upper body caused us
to fall back on the shore, where we sat there staring at the waves in stunned
silence.

“What the hell?”

The huge shadow just now was three times larger than the strange fish we
had been fighting. Generally speaking, even if the same kind of fish was
larger in size than the others, it wouldn’t kill the smaller ones like this. I
looked at the pool full of blood and suddenly realized that our blood had
made these fish go crazy. The giant fish had come up to bite us but ended up
biting its own kind instead.

I opened the mouth of the fish head so that Fatty could pull his leg out and
saw that the iron whip and bronze sword really had protected his calf from
being bitten off. It looked like the fish’s teeth had gotten stuck in the metal
on both sides. Although Fatty’s muscles also had teeth marks and the
wounds were deep, he would’ve only been left with bones if it hadn’t been
for these two pieces of metal.

Our blood flowed all the way from the edge of the pool to where we were
laying, a clear display of how terrible our wounds were.

945
I suddenly realized that my original plan was a bust. If we fished with any
body parts again and this thing came up to take a bite, we’d definitely be
swallowed whole.

But at the same time, this was another opportunity. I had discovered that
these fish were very sensitive to blood.

I picked up my cell phone, told Fatty to lie down, and ran outside. I rushed to
a bonsai that was made of coral-colored pearls with agate soil in a Hongwu
glazed red porcelain basin. I pulled out the coral tree, carefully put it aside,
poured the agate out, and then ran back to the Thunder Pool with the basin
in my arms.

When I returned to the Thunder Pool, I immediately saw Fatty hiding in a

corner. I could tell with just one look at his face that something was wrong,
so I immediately swept my flashlight over the water. I didn’t know when, but
something had come up out of the water. The thing seemed to have a lot of
hands and didn’t look like a person or a fish.

946
Chapter 17
At first glance, it looked like a Guanyin. I froze for a moment, but when I
looked at it carefully, I found that it really was a rusted bronze statue of a
Guanyin. As it rose out of the water, I found that it was about half a person
tall and covered in layers of purple rust because it had been in the water.
The statue had about a dozen hands, each of which was holding a magical
weapon. Because of the high degree of rust, the ends of its arms had all
rotted into lumps.

This thing’s sudden appearance and actions like a manifested Guanyin

reminded me of a little man standing quietly on the water, looking dark and
mysterious.

Not knowing what it was, I could only move a little closer to Fatty. At this
time, however, I discovered that it appeared to be a decoration on the back
of a fish. Under my flashlight’s glow, it slowly sank into the water again.

I looked at Fatty’s pale face and helped him up, “What? Did you think
something supernatural had showed up?”

“This thing isn’t right,” Fatty stammered.

I told him about my theory, but he just kept shaking his head and gripping
my flashlight while incessantly looking at the surface of the pool. It was like
he was afraid that thing would come out again, “That thing isn’t on the back
of a fish. It came out so suddenly. It’s not like the fish is a submarine, so how
can it go straight up and down like that?” Fatty made a gesture with his
hand, “Don’t fish swim forward and arch their backs up a little just to get
something on their backs to come up out of the water? This statute didn’t
do that—it came up directly from the water.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was like a person came out of the water and was looking at me.”

947
After Fatty finished speaking, he suddenly coughed so violently that I had to
hold him up. I found that his body felt very sticky, so I pressed my hand to
his neck. A deep handprint was left on his skin and I knew that I couldn’t
dwell on it any longer.

“Mr. Naïve, there are other things in the water besides those fish,” Fatty
said to me. “Oh, fuck me. I really miss Little Brother right now. Is it because
I’m getting old that I’m so scared?”

I yanked a fragment of the bronze sword out of the fish’s mouth, pulled
Fatty’s hand over, and cut his palm with the fragment. He started cursing
through clenched teeth, “Mr. Naïve, you crazy bastard. Why are you cutting
me after I said I miss Little Brother? What are you doing? It doesn’t
necessarily mean I want to learn from him just because I miss him!”

I took his hand and dripped the blood into the porcelain basin I had brought
from outside. I had cut him so deeply that the blood kept flowing.

I did the same to myself. I had cut my palm many times before and knew the
trick to keep it from hurting at first. I bit my tongue and cut my palm, mixing
my blood with Fatty’s. “The fish here are very sensitive to the taste of blood,
so we have to use our own blood as bait to lure them all here. We’ll just
have to clench our teeth and go back the same way we came in.”

“You want to bring all the fish here and have us rush to escape? What if
some fish aren’t tempted and we run into each other? We’ll become fish
food.”

“We can only gamble.” I looked into Fatty’s eyes, and he looked into mine.
The black spots in the whites of his eyes were getting denser and denser,
and countless small fish embryos were looking out curiously.

“Do you want to be eaten up by parasitic fish and become a human skin
bag? Or, do you want to be swallowed up by a big fish in the water?”

“Neither, but you’re right. We have a good chance of survival if we run back
now.” Fatty squeezed his hand hard. “I have a lot of blood, Mr. Naïve. Save

948
yours and use more of mine.” But he had a lot of fat in his blood, so it
flowed slowly and he couldn’t squeeze out as much as I could.

After finally managing to fill the bottom of the basin, I put it directly on a
stone beside the pool. I then used a rock and the bronze sword fragment as
a makeshift hammer and awl to create a small hole in the bottom of the
basin.

As blood began to drip into the water, Fatty asked, “Won’t the fish knock
the basin over when they come out?”

I tore my underwear into strips, making sure one was long enough to act as
a blood-drawing strip. One end was stuffed in the small hole, while the other
end was pulled far away and then put into the water. This strip of
underwear would ensure that the blood would slowly permeate the water.

I tied both mine and Fatty’s wounds with the remaining strips of underwear
to stop the bleeding, and then we helped each other walk away from the
Thunder Pool quickly.

To make a long story short, we rushed to the edge of the Extreme Sea pool,
climbed onto the boat, and rowed back like crazy.

In a panic, I found that my flashlight was our only source of light, but I had
no idea where Fatty’s flashlight had gone. We soon passed the huge
monument engraved with the words Extreme Sea. Since I had a personality
problem, I couldn’t resist turning my head and illuminating it with my
flashlight as we passed by. It was meant as a kind of small farewell, but at
that time, I saw a shadow standing on the huge monument.

Just like the strange statute I saw in the Thunder Pool just now, this shadow
had a lot of hands. The monument was very tall and the distance was a little
far so I couldn’t see it clearly, but it definitely looked like that thing from
before.

949
I froze, but it suddenly disappeared. Fatty started scolding me, so I turned
back and continued to row, but I couldn’t shake the strange feeling in my
heart.

It was impossible for fish to climb the monument. Was it really like Fatty had
said and this thing wasn’t a decoration on the back of a fish? Neither of us
spoke the whole way as we rushed back to the water-logged section of the
passage. We rushed into the water like mad men and pulled the rope all the
way through the muddy water until we came out on the other side. When I
reached out, I was pulled up by someone and then dragged out of the water.

Since I had been numb and unafraid during the whole process, I suddenly
understood a gambler’s mentality. If I had stayed and taken the time to
come to a decision, I knew without a doubt that I would die. So, my only
option was to go into the water. When I went into the water, I only had that
rope, but I knew in my heart that my life and death weren’t dependent on
my own body but on fate. That was why I didn’t feel any fear.

There were too many flashlights moving around, so I couldn’t see who had
pulled me up. The only thing I knew was that this place was full of people. I
still had a lot of water in my ears, but I could hear numerous people
shouting.

“Take us to the hospital!” I yelled over them. “We’ve been poisoned! We’re
going to die soon!”

950
Chapter 18
I couldn’t explain that we had been parasitized by a fish since it would be
too difficult for them to understand. I needed something simple and
dangerous that would keep them from going in.

Fatty was pulled up next, but he was too weak to stand up. I heard someone
ask, “Where’s Professor Wang?”

“There was an accident!” I shouted. “There’s something in there. Don’t go

into the water! We’ve been poisoned!”

As we were lifted up and sent out, someone was still asking about Professor
Wang. I recognized that it was his assistant’s voice, which was full of despair.

The sun was shining so brightly when I was carried out of the tunnel
entrance that I couldn’t see anything and had to close my eyes.
Accompanied by a medical officer, we were carried to a car that sped along
the road.

I could actually sit up and do some things, but the medical officer was much
more efficient. Once he started taking my basic vital signs in the car, I began
chanting, “There are parasites in the vitreous body of my eyes and in my
intestines. My muscles are also melting.” I felt someone pull my eyes open.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the doctor start making some phone
calls.

I didn’t know how long it took to get to the hospital, but the doctor gave me
some very bitter pills in the car. Then, I was quickly anesthetized and had a
gastrointestinal endoscopy.

When I woke up, my eyes had already been operated on, and the
gastrointestinal endoscopy had been done for about six hours. During the
endoscopy, all of the small fish in my intestines were clamped to death with
forceps, and then sucked out one by one.

951
I heard from the doctor that they performed cataract surgery to remove the
small fish from my eyes. Almost all of the embryos had been attached to the
part of the eye wall where the light hit, but they had all avoided the pupils.
The fish turned out to be very small and transparent.

Because Cysticercus cellulosae and Toxoplasma gondii(1) were also parasites

that settled in the vitreous body, the hospital had corresponding treatment
methods. Otherwise, there really wouldn’t have been a way to solve this
strange situation. But when these small fish died, almost all of them
dissolved so quickly that there wasn’t any evidence except for the photos
from the gastrointestinal endoscopy. They looked at these photos and said
that the fish resembled parasites, so it would have been difficult to explain
what was wrong.

These small fish had small suckers on their mouths, which were firmly fixed
to the skin. A female doctor with a pleasant-sounding voice said that the fish
were probably a kind of parasitic tropical catfish. There could still be some in
my urethra, so I needed to find a kind of tea made from the fruit of a South
American tree and drink it to dissolve the fish. That was what the local
indigenous people did.

I didn’t drink this kind of tea in the end, but it didn’t matter. Our bodies kept
leaking fluid, which seemed to be the result of our muscles melting. Later, it
was discovered that Fatty and I both had severe muscle dissolution, which
caused our urine to almost look brown.

This stopped soon after the parasitic fish problem was resolved. It seemed
that after being parasitized by this fish, the body’s muscles and fat would be
melted by some substance the fish secreted. It was just like spiders. Spiders
didn’t eat meat but injected digestive juice into their captured prey’s
carcasses. After digesting the carcasses outside of the body, they sucked the
prey dry.

(1)
Cysticercus cellulosae is a tapeworm. It’s a small, sac-like vesicle resembling a bladder so it’s
sometimes called a bladder worm. Info here. Toxoplasma gondii are single-celled parasites. Info here.

952
As I wondered if these parasites were really causing my muscles to dissolve,
I couldn’t help thinking about the “statue” with many hands. I didn’t know
what it was, but since it had so many hands, was it a creature similar to a
spider?

When I felt a little better, I started recording my statement. I knew that

there was nothing to hide, so I only told the truth. Moreover, we had a
pathological report to back us up. They examined Professor Wang’s body, so
the hospital’s records would be able to confirm our claims.

My conclusions were as follows:

1. It was impossible to use a water pump to pump out the accumulated

water in the passage because it was connected to the underground
river.
2. There were strange fish that attacked people and other things in the
muddy water, both of which were very dangerous. At the same time,
there were parasitic fish in the water. None of these fish seemed to be
native to the area and had the characteristics of some tropical fish.
This seemed to indicate that the Extreme Sea’s water temperature
would be higher in certain sections, and may even be heated with
geothermal energy.
3. Professor Wang’s theory was correct and there were countless
cultural relics inside.
4. Professor Wang had passed away.

Professor Wang took the risk and ventured in after us. I didn’t know why he
couldn’t wait for us to come out; if he had, he would still be alive. But there
was no way to go back and tell what he had been thinking at that time.

There must have been some hidden secrets in there, but time had been
short, so we’d probably never know.

In the following week, the stitches were removed from our eyes. Someone
helped Fatty over to my bed so that we could discuss the issues that had
come up.

953
Professor Wang had been our only contact, so no one paid any attention to
us after we left the archaeological team. An accountant who handled the
reimbursement of medical expenses was the only exception. Because of this,
we no longer knew about the subsequent excavation of the Taoist temple.

I figured that this matter would be suppressed for a long time before it was
revealed as a huge archaeological discovery. But before that happened,
there was no telling how long we’d have to wait.

The map and forest of stone epitaphs in the Taoist temple’s back hall were
almost like a pompous display of power. It would be a huge project to find
and inspect all of these ancient tombs. And according to Professor Wang,
there were three huge world-class tombs mixed in among them. Based on
our statements, I didn’t know which method the archeological team would
use to break through the water-logged passage and enter the Taoist temple.
But once they got inside, it would take at least a few years to sort out all of
the treasures.

But all of this had nothing to do with us the moment we rushed out of the
water.

954
Chapter 19
Fatty told me that after carefully thinking about it, he felt that there was a
symbiotic relationship between the parasitic small fish in the water and the
big fish. After the small fish parasitized the Taoists who were cultivating
here, they would eventually control that person’s nerves and return to the
water’s edge. The internal organs would burst out of the abdomen and fall
into the water. The small fish would swim out of the internal organs and
begin a new circle of life.

When the earliest immortal first met the Yang family, he must have already
been parasitized by the fish and died right in front of them. As a result, the
Yang family regarded his way of death as a way to transform into immortals.

But I still wasn’t convinced that this was the reason why the Yang family had
spent their whole lives building a Taoist temple here to listen to thunder.
The way that immortal died really did look a bit like an immortal
transformation, because the corpse that was left behind was so light. And if
the internal organs fell into the lake and were devoured by a big fish that
suddenly appeared, it certainly would look like a miracle. It wasn’t surprising
that superstitious ideas revolving around the supernatural would arise.

But there had to be a solid reason for people to overcome the apathy of
human beings and persist in a long-term project without any clear benefits. I
always believed that it was logical for people who were devoted to
cultivating into immortals to enter Taoist temples and escape worldly
affairs. But as it turned out, entering an underground cave and building a
Taoist temple with stolen grave goods until death was just another kind of
logic. But this one was much more difficult than the former.

This latter situation wasn’t spiritual practice, but a huge engineering project
that would encounter numerous practical setbacks. If there were enough
setbacks, people would normally give up. The obstacles one faced in
spiritual practice were nothing more than confronting the human heart, but

955
the obstacles encountered in engineering were physical things like beams
collapsing.

This was especially true for a group of grave robbers. If they didn’t see any
short-term gains, they wouldn’t do this kind of job. So, if these short-sighted
people suddenly had a long-term obsession, then that meant that there had
to be huge benefits.

Based on all of this information, my conclusion was that the immortal with
compound eyes must have brought the Yang family a huge temporary
benefit before he died. This benefit was greater than any of the benefits the
Yang family could imagine in their lifetime. As a result, the Yang family gave
up their lives and followed the immortal with compound eyes.

Throughout the whole Taoist temple, there was something that wasn’t
mentioned in any of the murals—the huge bronze sound transmission
devices that were hanging above the temple.

Those things had to be related to thunder somehow, because every time it

thundered, we could clearly hear the sounds being transmitted underground
by the bronze pieces. But whether it was the murals or anywhere else in the
Taoist temple, we didn’t see any records of these thunder-conducting
bronze pieces.

This system was obviously part of the Taoist temple, so if it wasn’t reflected
in the murals, then the only possibility was that the temple builders didn’t
want it to be reflected in the murals.

In other words, this Taoist temple had something to do with thunder, but
the relationship had to remain hidden.

Here, I naturally began to associate this mystery with the fragments of logic
that we were missing—there should only be one reason for the Yang family
to pursue the compound-eyed immortal.

Yang Daguang was a descendant of the Yang family, so he probably knew

the secret. Uncle Three and Yang Daguang listened to thunder together, and

956
even left me a bunch of tapes with similar recordings of thunder. These
clues must have been gathered in the Taoist temple.

The similar thunder sounds, the key to the Yang family going into seclusion
because of the compound-eyed immortal, the sound transmission devices
above the temple, and the relationship between Yang Daguang and Uncle
Three….

Fatty also said that he felt that Professor Wang’s dying words were very
important, but I couldn’t remember them very clearly.

We hadn’t found anything so far. Our throats and butts had been prodded
and our eyes had been cut open, so it wasn’t surprising that we were a little
quiet.

I lit a cigarette and said to Fatty, “There must be a space in the Taoist temple
that we didn’t get to. Maybe everything we saw was an illusion.”

“What do you mean?” Fatty was using his cell phone as a mirror to look into
his eyes.

“The whole temple and mountain are covered in those sound-transmitting

bronze pieces. The mountain is just like a huge bell. So, is there anything in
the whole temple related to this system? No!” I said. “The temple is full of
treasures and murals that tell another story. It’s just too unrealistic. There
must be a reason to pass the sound down through the whole mountain, but
what is it used for?”

“There are also some other doubts,” Fatty said. “I thought about it before.
Those Yang family members must’ve known that there was something
wrong with the water; otherwise, they would’ve been infected if they
weren’t careful since they were working there their whole lives. They
could’ve all died before the temple could be completed.” Fatty patted me,
“If we go back now, I’m afraid we’ll be smashed into a sieve. Don’t think
about it. Maybe after a year and a half, they’ll have finished checking it and
it’ll become a tourist attraction. At that time, we’ll find a way in.”

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If it was an ordinary obstacle, Fatty would definitely want to go in again, but
even he was giving up this time. We both knew that we couldn’t sneak in
with an archaeological discovery of that level. We weren’t the protagonists
in a spy film and didn’t have that many skills in real life.

After the two of us remained silent for a long time, I asked Fatty, “So, should
we go back to Hangzhou? Or go back to Fujian?”

“Let’s go back to Fujian and discuss it with Little Brother. That old man might
have a different opinion. Or, we could go to Old Man Lei’s Stagnant Water
Dragon King temple again. Didn’t you say that that place is similar to this
Taoist temple? It’s like giving medicine to a dead horse. But I need Little
Brother now anyway. I have to get a bit of his immortal spirit.”

I thought it over as well. The three of us had been separated for a while now
and he had definitely seen a lot of this kind of thing before. Maybe it really
was better to ask him.

I stood up, planning to find a café and buy a ticket back. I had just started
looking at nearby cafés on my phone when I saw Professor Wang’s assistant
coming towards us.

He had a female assistant, and I immediately felt afraid as soon as I saw her
expression. She was probably in her early thirties and pretty good-looking if
a little thin. But her eyes were angry and she looked very serious and
stubborn.

When she saw us, she had a very complicated expression on her face. I
patted Fatty and asked him to defend. Did they go down to the Taoist
temple and find something damaged? If they wanted to hold us
accountable, we couldn’t afford to pay for any of it. As long as she said the
word compensation, the two of us would definitely run away.

Fatty was also frozen in place. In fact, there were a lot of people at the
hospital entrance, but the female assistant was so tall that she was very
conspicuous as she came towards us. We both involuntarily flinched back as

958
she came up to us and said, “Professor Wang mentioned you in his will. He
wants me to help you.”

“What will? Help us with what?”

“He said that if anything happens to him, I’m to take you to room six.”

“Room six?” Fatty and I were at a total loss. I didn’t know what was going
on, but it was surprising to hear that Old Man Wang actually had a will. It
sounded like he had left it before he went down to the temple with us. Did
Old Man Wang know that he would die if he went down there?

959
Leather Figurine Woman
Everyone was joking around at my expense, but I didn’t care. The looks in
their eyes seemed to be saying: Let’s go out first. Hope you perform well.

When Uncle Two left, he turned on his cell phone’s video function and put it
on the coffee table where it could capture the whole room. He placed it very
carefully, blocked it with his whole body, and then looked at me again.

After that, it was only me and the leather figurine woman in the room.
When I looked at her, I knew Uncle Two wanted to test whether this leather
figurine woman would only move when I was alone with her. I sat in front of
her and waited for Uncle Two and the others’ movements outside to calm
down before asking, “What do you want?” When she didn’t respond, I
continued, “You gave me a lot of tips. I don’t know whether it was a
coincidence or if you were really conscious, but thank you very much. Now,
let’s be frank and talk openly. Go ahead.”

If she really spoke, I’d probably end up dying because my lungs were rotten
anyways. But she still didn’t respond.

I gave a wry smile and suddenly realized that Uncle Two and the others were
all looking at me from outside. It was a little embarrassing. After thinking
about it, I took out the lighter and pulled out a cigarette I had hidden in my
sock. I was planning to smoke one last time before I died, but now I grabbed
it and lit it.

She seemed to have some connection with this lighter, so I moved to flick it
on, but the flame didn’t ignite at all.

This was a very good lighter, so the flame should’ve appeared within three
tries. I flicked it two more times quickly, but it still wouldn’t work.

I looked at the lighter and then up at her while saying to myself, you really
do have something to do with this lighter. But as soon as I looked up, I found
that there was nothing in front of me.

960
Almost at the same time, Uncle Two and the others rushed in. I paused for a
moment and then followed their gazes upwards. I didn’t know when it had
happened, but the leather figurine woman was suddenly on the beams and
had quickly moved to hide in the corner.

“Mute! Blind!” Uncle Two shouted. The two people instantly jumped up to
the beams and drew their knives.

961
Warehouse Eleven’s Airplane Case
1

When I saw the airplane, I thought it was strange because it appeared in a

place where it shouldn’t have been.

Warehouse Eleven was famous for being strict. This strictness wasn’t
ordinary strictness, but the strictness that meant there were rules for
everything. The first goal of this strictness was that there should never be
any mishaps.

I saw the airplane in a wine cellar in Warehouse Eleven. A lot of wine had
been stored there, and it was said that the oldest wine was more than three
hundred years old. It was apparently transferred over from other old
warehouses. The documents on the wine jars were changed every year, and
some of them were folded in such a way that the wine jars looked like
coffins covered with talismans. Since this area was used for storing wine, the
humidity, temperature, and ventilation had to be strictly controlled.
Moreover, the wine cellar was small, so the jars were stacked on some
special shelves in a haphazard way.

The area occupied by that plane was quite large in the wine cellar, and its
location also made one feel very uncomfortable. If I were someone with
OCD, I’d probably die on the spot.

The whole plane was surrounded by plastic insulation cloth, which almost
looked like a huge curtain. Not to mention Warehouse Eleven, but any
normal warehouse wouldn’t store goods like this.

Fatty was very silent as the two of us looked at the plane. Eventually, he
said, “This is a Ki-57 Japanese military transport plane that was used during
World War II. They were later seized in various places and used for civilian
transport. In fact, there are still some flying in Nepal. Any military
enthusiasts are familiar with them. I also had a model airplane of one when I
was a child.”

962
The airplane was practically wrecked, making it was obvious that it had
crashed. It looked like the front of the plane had hit the ground first, and
both the wings and engines were knocked off, leaving only the fuselage
which was full of scratches and dents. Moreover, it seemed as if the plane
hadn’t been cleaned for a long time, for it was covered in dust. This plastic
insulation cloth seemed to be dust-proof, which indicated that the airplane
owners had been very concerned about keeping the dust off of it. But now it
was covered in so much dust that it looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned for
decades.

“What do you think?” Fatty asked me.

I touched my chin, “Warehouse Eleven wouldn’t make such a mistake. This

plane not only takes up space here but also affects the handling of the wine
cellar. So, the only reason it’s here is because they can’t move it.”

“What do you mean? Can you make it clearer?”

“In other words, this area was originally used to store this airplane, but it
was later changed into the wine cellar. The plane was supposed to be
removed, but for some reason, they couldn’t do it. In the end, they could
only maintain the status quo.” I carefully ducked under the plastic sheet and
walked to the edge of the plane.

The plane was actually quite big. I tried to walk as slowly as possible so as
not to raise any dust. Fatty saw an incense burner on the ground in front of
the plane with a brick in front of it that was holding up a lot of yellow paper.
When he squatted down, he saw that about a dozen names had been
written on the yellow paper. “People have died here.” My heart thumped.
When I was younger, I had heard that there were many evil things in
Warehouse Eleven. Because many of the objects were so old, the source
records and warnings for them couldn’t be found. Accidents would occur if
they were touched, which resulted in the deaths of many warehouse staff.
Maybe this thing was one of them?

963
Fatty wanted to go up and have a look, so he told me to wait outside of the
plastic sheet. Since my lungs were so bad, he was afraid that I might choke. I
didn’t think it was a good idea since we didn’t know when the guards
outside would come in. But then again, it was a good place to hide
considering there wasn’t anywhere else for us to hide in this wine cellar. We
were dead if we got caught anyways, so it was better to take the gamble.
When I went back outside, I heard a clanking sound coming from inside.
Fatty still hadn’t gone in after a long time had passed, so I said to him,
“Airplane doors open inward.” I heard his quiet “shit” and then the sound of
the door opening. The structure of the airplane must have been unstable,
for I heard creaking sounds as soon as he entered. It was as if the plane was
going to fall apart at any moment.

I heard him cough again, and then he shouted, “Mr. Naïve, you were right.
They’re all zombies.”

“What?”

“This plane is full of zombies.” After saying that, he quickly got out of the
airplane and lifted the plastic insulation sheet. As dust went flying in the air,
he coughed and said to me, “You have to come and take a look. This plane is
full of mummies, but it’s very strange. They don’t seem to be goods. They
look like warehouse staff who died in there.” The plastic sheet was just like a
curtain and could be pulled open, so Fatty immediately did so.

I looked at Fatty and suddenly froze. There appeared to be a stele jutting out
of his back, but it was like he didn’t notice it at all because he kept talking to
me. He was like a Bixi with a monument on its back(1). He was sweating all
over and looked like he was about to be crushed.

The stele was so tall and big that I couldn’t understand how Fatty hadn’t
noticed it yet. But based on his expression, I was positive that he had no

(1)
Bixi, one of the nine sons of the Dragon King. He’s depicted as a dragon with the shell of a tortoise.
More info here.

964
idea there was anything on his back. Judging from the color and degree of
weathering, it was an ancient stele with a lot of indistinct words on it.

What’s going on here? I asked myself.

Three years ago, Fatty and I met a fortune teller in a farmhouse at Qiandao
Lake. I remember that we ate four different goose dishes at that time. After
drinking a little too much, Fatty started socializing with the table next to us,
where a group of wives had surrounded a fortune teller. Fatty was always
provoking others, and it looked like he was trying to take the top position
from the women.

The groups of wives encouraged the fortune teller to tell Fatty’s fortune.

The gentleman said that Fatty wasn’t a human being, so his fate couldn’t be
calculated. But he did say that the fat master was carrying a stele on his
back.

Looking at someone’s back was a kind of metaphysics that had widely

spread in the market, but hadn’t become a theoretical system. People who
could read others’ backs generally weren’t fortune-tellers, but were usually
painters or gangsters.

In their view, there were many people in this world who weren’t “people”.
When they walked on a crowded street, they would see some people with
steles, books, or bodies on their backs, but the people themselves were
unaware of it.

After hearing such a thing, we didn’t pay any attention to it, but I never
expected that I would really see a stele on Fatty’s back.

I slowly leaned over. I couldn’t see Fatty anymore since his whole body was
almost crushed to the ground by the stele.

“Fatty! Fatty!” I called him twice, but he kept talking like nothing was wrong.

965
I went to look at the words on the stele.

My prior research on seal script enabled me to understand these characters,

but there were too many parts that had been worn away. I looked at four or
five characters, which were very strange: one was the character for pig, one
was for circle, one was for corpse, one was for disaster, and one was for
building. The two characters “corpse building” formed a phrase, but the
other words weren’t clear.

Was this a stele for a corpse building? A pig corpse building? Or maybe a
circular corpse building?

I didn’t know.

The more I looked at Fatty, the lower he squatted. By the time I reacted,
Fatty had been crushed to the ground and couldn’t get up.

“Mr. Naïve, what am I doing? How did I get pushed to the ground? What
pushed me to the ground?” Fatty shouted.

“I don’t know. It looks like you’re going to become a tortoise,” I said.

But Fatty couldn’t hear me at all. The stele seemed to be getting heavier and
heavier, and he began to lose his voice.

I suddenly remembered what Fatty had told me just now about the plane
being full of zombies. I immediately covered my nose and rushed inside.
Sure enough, it really was full of mummies, and they had all been piled up in
a disorderly fashion. Moreover, these bodies were all dressed in the clothes
of Warehouse Eleven’s staff.

The airplane was full of dust, which caused me to cough so violently that I
thought I was going to cough up a lung. When I looked at the bodies again, I
found that they were all lying on their stomachs, just like Fatty. Not a single
one of them was facing up.

966
I rushed out of the plane and looked at Fatty. I couldn’t see the stele
anymore, but I did see Fatty lying on the ground and coughing up blood. I
tried to lift him up, but couldn’t do it at all. It was like he was being pressed
to the ground by a huge force and would sink into the concrete soon.

Fatty’s eyes rolled into the back of his head.

That was why the plane couldn’t move. All of the workers who approached
it were crushed to death by a strange force.

Steles…how could people have strange steles on their backs?

“Mr. Naïve, go quickly!” Fatty cried in an almost inaudible voice.

I turned and moved away from him, but as soon as I had gone about seven
or eight steps away, the stele immediately appeared again. I smacked my
head. After experiencing so many things, I wouldn’t be nervous at all unless
things had happened too fast.

“Think, think quickly!” I smacked my head twice, trying to force myself to

calm down so that my mind could race through ideas quickly.

Why am I ok?

Why am I ok?

What’s the difference between me and Fatty?

Dust…lungs…Fatty was worried about my lungs and didn’t let me go in first

since my lungs were bad and I was already coughing.

I didn’t know if I was right, but I was wracking my brain like crazy when I
suddenly saw that there was a stone door on the back of the stele. When I
looked at it, the stone door actually opened.

I was met with a dark entrance that seemed to want to pull me in.

967
 *********
End of Restart: Trial Reading

968