Chapter 6, The Adventure Begins

What on earth is the size of this broken coffin? I cursed inwardly, but I had already roughly guessed what was going on.

This ladder is not long, only about three or four meters. I climbed down and discovered that it led to a cellar that is not very large, or more accurately, a rough hole in the ground

Old Yang and Chen Qi finished discussing the route, and finally reminded each other not to forget his share. Then they turned around and walked back the way they came

Just ... ...

Old Yang led us along the mountain path he mentioned for a while, and then stopped beside a particularly thick old tree. He said to us: "I will take you this far; the road ahead is no easier than the one behind. I, an old man, do not dare to go further."

Could it be that Shi Lan is that red-eyed monster? I found it strange; this woman is quite attractive, and her eyes are a normal black color. She doesn't look like that red-eyed monster at all.

Old Yang probably never expected us to engage in conversation; he was merely pointing things out and introducing a few of his collections. He spoke of porcelain from the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, jade vases from the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, and so on, with great confidence. However, I could hardly understand him. Judging by the indifferent expressions of others, it seems likely that these items are fakes

I was puzzled and asked, "What is behind this?"

The two individuals conversed for nearly ten minutes, during which Song Ziming and Bai Zimo stood beside Chen Qi, while Shi Lan also joined in to listen for a while

No trace of that woman, Shi Lan, was found in the yard. Just as I was wondering, a sudden creaking sound came from the guest room across the way

So she lived in this guest room. Upon seeing Shi Lan come out of that guest room, I was momentarily taken aback, but I quickly regained my composure.

These are all my treasures mhetushucomcom, what do you think, not bad, right! Old Yang smiled, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, seemingly showing off; however, combined with his face, which was almost expressionless, his smile always gave people a chilling impression

Chen Qi did not hesitate, waved his hand towards us, and then walked towards the thief's hole

I glanced around the environment in the light; about ten people were crammed into a cellar the size of a living room. There were numerous bottles and jars along the walls, and the poor lighting made it difficult to discern their exact shapes.

I instinctively looked across and happened to see the wooden door of one of the guest rooms being opened, from which a woman named Shi Lan emerged.

This is my storage room, old man. Old Yang had somehow acquired an old-fashioned oil lamp, illuminating the surrounding space.

The reclusive old man! I have defined Old Yang and am too lazy to deal with him

I muttered a curse under my breath, not wanting to linger in this cursed place. I mimicked the actions of those before me and easily climbed into the coffin.

What is going on here? I glanced at the guest room behind Shilan and thought, could it be that this woman is hiding someone in the room? ... Hmm ... Perhaps it is even a man, a man with red-eye disease.

My heart tightened as I stepped inside; this tomb-raiding expedition has truly begun!

We have arrived. Chen Qi, who was at the front, stopped and pointed the flashlight directly ahead of us

It is possible that it was when they came out after building the tomb in the mountains. Xu Lei said self-importantly, and I am not sure whether what he said makes any sense

Only Xu Lei and I remained in the entire hall, and the cold wind of the late night blew in, making me feel quite chilly. Looking at this broken www.hetushu.com coffin before me, it truly felt inexplicably eerie

However, these matters do not concern me greatly; as long as that person does not come out to frighten me, it is sufficient

A chill ran through me as I looked at the room from which Shi Lan had just emerged, suddenly recalling the eerie blood-red eye I had seen during the day. If I remember correctly, I had spotted that blood-red eye through the crack of the window of this very guest room!

I suspect that this old man has been holding back for a long time, and now that he finally has someone to listen to his ramblings, his words have gradually increased. After all, these are the kinds of things he can only share with us; he wouldn't dare to flaunt such illegal matters outside, and he is barely able to cover them up. This has also led to the perception among outsiders that this old man is cold and unapproachable, resulting in even fewer people engaging with him in everyday life.

However, apart from Xu Lei and me, the others seemed not the least bit surprised by the old man's actions. Watching Old Yang climb into the coffin, Chen Qi quickly followed suit and also crawled in. The others followed closely behind, each taking their turn to climb in, including the woman, Shi Lan, without exception.

We did not take a break and continued to move forward, but this time the guide was changed to Chen Qi. Xu Lei and I leaned against each other, closely following the group, fearing that we might get lost in these deep mountains and forests

The team continued to move forward; the mountain path in the deep night was not easy to traverse. Both Xu Lei and I, being mere amateurs who barely qualify as such, found it quite strenuous to keep up, but we managed to stay in pace.

"Have you seen it?" Xu Lei asked abruptly.

One by one, we crawled out, and when I finally stood outside, I realized we were in a ravine. The ravine was filled with dense thickets, so thick that there was hardly any place to step. From the outside, the cave entrance was even more obscured by leaves, so much so that even if someone stood here, they might not notice that there was a "dog hole" here.

I saw this place and thought to myself that during the day I guessed this old man was sleeping in a coffin, but unexpectedly, I really saw it at night

Old Yang spat and said that if he had seen it earlier, he would have died long ago, how could he have lived to this day. After saying this, he no longer paid attention to us and turned to talk to Chen Qi.

Previously, I did not take this matter to heart. Although I was startled at the time, I soon forgot about it. Later, when Chen Qi arrived, I learned that I was going to participate in a tomb raiding expedition, so I hurried to prepare for that, further pushing the strange incident out of my mind. It was only now, upon revisiting this room, that I recalled this matter.

Although Old Yang's courtyard is not small, it is only relatively so compared to the other houses in the vicinity. Apart from the room where Old Yang himself resides, there are only four guest rooms here, three of which are occupied by our three parties, leaving her with no choice but to stay in the remaining one.

The only ones present who did not participate were the group led by Old Ma. I do not understand why these individuals, who are clearly not on the same side as Chen Qi and, according to Old Yang's words, are even opponents, would temporarily join forces just for this major contest. In such circumstances, why are they not seriously listening to Old Yang? Do they not fear being ambushed by Chen Qi and his group midway?

The length of this journey exceeded my expectations. Although we did not encounter any of the creatures like the bear or wild man that Old Yang mentioned, by the time we reached our destination, it was already past three o'clock in the deep night

Chen Qi and others displayed remarkable patience; Old Yang droned on for half a day, yet none of them spoke up to stop him

We followed Old Yang deeper into the cave, where the surrounding space became increasingly confined. In the end, we had to bend over in a single file, and even the *illustrations* felt laborious. The exit was merely a hole not much larger than a dog’s den. By the light, we could see that outside was densely packed with grass and leaves, and in the late hours of the night, we could not see any further.

Old Yang pointed to the top of our heads and said, "If we climb up, there is a mountain path above. The tourist path outside does not align with this one, so no one will come here. I stumbled upon this two years ago. This path was not created by those involved in tourism development; I estimate it has been here for quite a long time, and it might have been carved out by ancient people for some purpose."

Old Yang is unwilling to continue the journey, and it seems that Chen Qi does not care either

With everyone present, Chen Qi did not hesitate and directly called over Old Yang, who was sitting beside the coffin, to inform him that we were about to begin work

Xu Lei's face showed a hint of timidity, but more of it was excitement. Yet, I had a vague feeling that something was amiss, though I couldn't quite articulate it, as if I had overlooked something

I followed the direction of his flashlight and saw that we had arrived at the foot of a hill. Not far ahead, on a stone wall, there was a hole about half a person's size, which could not be described as standard but was somewhat square. I estimated that this was the theft hole that Xu Lei had mentioned to me before.

When Xu Lei and I walked out of the room, the courtyard was already filled with people

The others present were the same, with truly black eyes, and it appeared that no one had conjunctivitis

"Who knows?" Old Yang shook his head, indicating that he was also unsure: "In any case, there are all sorts of rumors. Some say there are bears in the back mountain, others say it's a wild man, and it might even be something that has come out of a grave."

What the hell is this old man doing? Does he really enjoy sleeping in a coffin?

Chen Qi and his two companions were sitting on the steps at the entrance of the lobby, discussing something. The four men, including Old Ma, stood in the center of the courtyard, each smoking a cigarette, seemingly making a deliberate effort to maintain distance from Chen Qi and his group

When this old man finally found his own words uninteresting, he then informed us that there was a small path behind the cellar, leading directly to an undeveloped old forest at the back of the mountain. Taking this route was much closer than going through the main entrance, and it was considerably safer, as we did not have to worry about making any noise that might arouse the neighbors' suspicions

I did not listen carefully to what they specifically said; it was probably about some routes and precautions. Chen Qi showed the old map he had previously given us to Old Yang, who circled a few places on it and then pointed in the direction we were about to go. Chen Qi merely nodded continuously and did not interject.

As expected, there were no corpses inside the coffin, and there was a secret passage at the bottom of the coffin, from which light was shining through. I signaled Xu Lei to hurry in, and then climbed down the ladder of the secret passage to make space for Xu Lei.

A group of us climbed up along the stones and tree vines. This task was not particularly difficult, but it was not easy either. At least for Xu Lei and me, we tried several times before we managed to climb up.

Then, I saw Old Yang, his face flushed, straining to move the coffin lid just enough to create an opening. He then toppled over and crawled into the coffin!

Unless these individuals also possess something like a map, it would be impossible for them to remain so calm. However, upon reflection, if they had no assurance at all, these individuals likely would not dare to follow Chen Qi here

I originally thought that Old Yang would act as our guide, leading us out through the main gate, then winding our way into the mountains to search for that so-called grand tomb. To my surprise, after listening to Chen Qi, Old Yang stood up, patted his backside, and unexpectedly turned around, climbing onto the platform that was holding the coffin.