Chapter 178: Blood Corpse Ancient Tomb

By instinct, Third Uncle kept clawing at the dirt around him, trying to get his head out to breathe or grab hold of something, but it was futile. In just two or three seconds, he felt the ground drop from under him as he slid into some open space, and then a chill ran through him as he and the mud encasing him plunged into water.

The icy water washed the mud off his face in an instant. Coughing and struggling, he crawled up. All around was pitch black. He had no idea where he had fallen. All he could tell was that the water reached above his waist, and a strange, rancid stench filled the air.

His flashlight was still on, now submerged, showing only a faint glow. Third Uncle bent down and fished it out. Because of the water, it dimmed as soon as he touched it. He shook it a couple of times, and the flashlight lit up again, but the light was noticeably weaker.

He shone the flashlight around and found himself in a brick chamber. The walls were built of square green bricks. Looking behind him, he saw a large hole in the green brick wall that appeared to be man-made. Obviously, he had slipped in through that hole just now.

Third Uncle took a look and understood what had happened. The area he had been digging was problematic—it seemed to be a hollow space covered with earth. His weight pressed down on it, but there was no support underneath, so the soil below the entire stolen tunnel collapsed, sending him and the mud tumbling into the tomb chamber below.

Who had made that hole in the tomb wall? Could he have accidentally dug into the old man's tunnel from when they entered the tomb back in the day? Was it that much of a coincidence? Third Uncle thought it over. He figured it was quite possible. His skills were taught by the old man, and the old man's skills were passed down from the previous generation. Since tomb-related matters had been in decline since the Qing dynasty, grave-robbing techniques had always relied on old knowledge without any real further development. Where and how to dig a tunnel were all fixed rules. Disciples taught by the same master would almost 100% dig the tunnel in the exact same spot.

Putting that aside for now, he carefully observed his surroundings. The entrance behind him was completely filled with cascading mud, and his shovel was probably buried somewhere in that dirt. Getting back the way he came would be difficult, but he wasn't worried—he had explosives on him. If he really couldn't get out, he'd just blast a skylight.

The tomb chamber was a regular square with an arched ceiling. Simple relief carvings adorned all four walls. The chamber wasn't large, but it was tall. The accumulated water reached his waist. Burial objects should be underwater, but the water was pitch-black, revealing nothing beneath.

On the left wall, a doorway opened, likely the passageway of this ancient tomb.

Based solely on this, it was impossible to determine the dynasty or the tomb owner's status. However, judging by the chamber's height, the tomb owner was clearly not of royal or noble rank.

For an ordinary ancient tomb, having a chamber already meant the specifications weren't low, because in ancient times, not many people could afford brick structures. If someone used bricks for a tomb, the owner had to be at least an official. However, even among officials, most ancient tombs didn't have overly sinister mechanisms, as their resources were limited. Throughout history, the top-tier craftsmen—especially those knowledgeable about tomb construction—only served the emperor, and usually only once in their lifetimes. Many of these top craftsmen died inside the imperial tomb when it was sealed. That's one reason so much knowledge was lost in China.

Third Uncle steadied himself and waded through the water toward the dark corridor. The water was icy and offered great resistance, creating ripples as he walked, producing a very unpleasant sound.

The floor of the submerged chamber wasn't level. Several times he stepped on something and almost fell. At those moments, he couldn't afford to think about what he had stepped on. If this was the ancient tomb recorded in the notes from back then, then what he stepped on could be burial objects—or possibly the remains of his elders. That kind of thought was too jarring; the best solution was not to dwell on it. The corridor was about twenty meters long, and he quickly passed through it. Beyond the corridor was another, larger chamber with no other passages. Third Uncle knew this was the rear hall. As he approached, a coffin platform stood in the middle of the chamber, rising above the water.

Third Uncle shone his flashlight over and couldn't help swallowing. His legs felt weak.

On the coffin platform was a stone coffin. The lid had been knocked off somewhere. That wasn't uncommon, but what startled him were two decomposed skeletons leaning against the open coffin. Their clothes were tattered, and their bodies had fully rotted away, with skin and flesh stuck to the stone coffin. From a distance, he couldn't tell the dynasty, but they were definitely not sacrificial slaves.

Third Uncle stood frozen for a while, his whole body cold, afraid to approach. He muttered to himself, Could these two be the bodies of his own relatives who died in this ancient tomb back then?

He had entered ancient tombs before and had long trained himself to regard corpses as mere objects. But now, facing the possibility that these corpses belonged to his own family, he felt an inexplicable terror. His heart pounded violently.

He slowly walked up to the stone platform in the middle of the chamber, trembling so hard he could barely hold the flashlight. First, he looked into the stone coffin. Dried blood clumps coated the bottom, with what seemed to be silk wrapped inside, but there was no body. Then he leaned closer to the two corpses. They were completely decayed, their heads nothing but skulls, making it impossible to tell if they were his relatives. However, Third Uncle noticed that one of the corpses held a box cannon gun in its hand, with a few faintly engraved characters—"Wu Dagui," his great-grandfather's name.

Third Uncle's knees went weak, and he knelt down to formally kowtow twice. He wasn't a particularly sentimental man; this act was probably instinct.

After kowtowing, he looked at the box cannon—it was too rusted to be usable. He tossed it aside and turned his attention to the contents of the stone coffin. He put on gloves and reached in, pressing down on the silk at the bottom.

After pressing down once, he knew the body wasn't under the decayed silk. Instead, his fingers touched a ring-shaped object beneath the messy filth at the bottom of the coffin. He reached in and felt it, his heart skipping a beat. It was an iron ring fixed to the coffin floor.

He set the flashlight on the edge of the stone coffin, grabbed the iron ring with both hands, and pulled hard. With a "crack," the bottom board of the coffin lifted on one side, revealing a hidden door under the coffin.

Third Uncle's forehead twitched. He hadn't expected the tomb to have another level. He quickly pulled out a firelighter and was about to toss it into the hidden door to see what was below, but as he leaned his hand over, it illuminated a wrinkled, grotesque face poking out from the hidden door.