Chapter 60: Raging Sea: Blood Writing

Fatty laughed instead of getting angry, as if he had long prepared a response. He said, "Of course not. Your Fatty wants to enter this Heavenly Gate for another very important reason. Do you know what it is?"

I said to him, "Who knows what you're up to. Say it or don't, but don't forget we're still in trouble. If it's some irrelevant nonsense, spare it."

Fatty said to me, "Don't rush. What I'm about to say is very related to our current situation. Didn't you just hear what the kid said? The passage to the Heavenly Gate is an uphill slope, and that big room with the heavenly palace model is very tall. Taller on top of tall, at least ten meters. Think about it, how deep is this ancient tomb? I reckon the ceiling of that room should be at the very top of the entire tomb. If we want to get out, we should think about that!"

My mind lit up at this, and I did a quick estimate. When I first descended into the underwater tomb corridor, I saw the pressure gauge. At that time we were thirteen meters underwater. The bottom of the pool we're in now is another ten meters deeper, so we should be between twenty and thirty meters underwater. In that case, the top of the room with the Cloud Summit Palace model is at most less than ten meters from the seabed. It really is just as Fatty said.

I'd been so focused on listening to the story that I hadn't noticed these details. I couldn't help but see Fatty in a new light. This guy seems reckless, but in his heart he's very sharp. Seems like from now on I shouldn't keep things from him. Thinking this, I said to them, "Fatty's hit the mark this time. But knowing this now doesn't help. We're empty-handed. Even if we could climb a ten-meter ceiling, once we're up there, without tools, how could we break through several layers of brick? I think we need to find some decent metal burial objects first and implement the reverse digging plan as soon as possible. If we drag our feet, we'll miss the low tide."

Even though I said that, I had no confidence in my heart. Because all the way here, the burial goods we've seen are either porcelain or stone, not a single metal item. That's a bit abnormal. I vaguely felt that maybe the tomb owner arranged it deliberately. Now we'd have to look in the rear hall. If there's nothing there either, then heaven truly wants me dead.

Fatty laughed heartily at my words and said, "I've thought of that too. Isn't the big room lined with gilded bronze mirrors with the 'fu' character pattern? You're also in the antique business, so you should know what those mirrors look like, right? We'll break off the mirror legs. Those things are heavy, they'll work as hammers."

The name sounded familiar when I first heard it, and only when he mentioned it did I remember I had indeed handled such items. But I couldn't recall the specifics. Seeing Fatty speak so solemnly, not like he was making it up, I felt a bit relieved. I said to him, "Alright, let's settle it then. We don't have time to lose; let's act immediately. But when we get to that place, don't touch anything—absolutely don't. This place is full of traps. We still have a long life ahead. No need to trade it for a few dead men's belongings."

Fatty nodded, indicating he wouldn't touch anything except the bricks. I was afraid he might still be eyeing those night pearls, so I emphasized it a few more times until he got annoyed. I also asked in detail about the specific structure of that area, and explained the possible situations and necessary measures to them one by one. Then the three of us acted accordingly. First we found the Heavenly Gate, then Fatty took the lead, Poker-face brought up the rear, and I was in the middle. We walked straight into that narrow Heavenly Way.

I had heard about the scene inside the Heavenly Way from Poker-face's narration, but going in myself was a different experience. At first I didn't feel anything, just like walking at night in the Stone Skin Lane of Jiaxing's Xitang—just a bit narrow. But after walking for a while, with no end in sight ahead or behind, I started to panic. I was in the middle. The darkness didn't scare me, but it was too quiet all around. We were all wearing fins, and the slapping sound of our footsteps in the long, narrow corridor was very strange, as if some monster was following behind us. Fatty was thick-skinned and didn't notice this, but the passage was too narrow for him to walk comfortably. He complained, "Who the hell built this stone path? It's clearly discriminating against fat people. The way to the Heavenly Gate is this shabby? If all heavenly roads were like this, Maitreya Buddha would never leave home."

I said to him, "You can't say that. There must be a reason for this design. This is a boat burial—even a big boat has its limits. He probably wanted to give prominence to his heavenly palace, so he had to save space elsewhere. And historically, grave robbers have always been short and thin. Who would have thought a fat guy could do this line of work?"

Fatty looked quite pleased and said, "Right. When it comes to the touch-gold school, past and present, leaving aside other claims, in terms of physique, your Fatty is definitely number one. But just because I'm fat doesn't affect my skill. This is called—Ouch!"

Fatty suddenly stopped, unable to move forward. I looked and saw that his shoulders were pressed against the stone walls on both sides, wedging him in the passage. I laughed, "You were bragging, and now you've slapped your own face."

Fatty tried to move forward, but couldn't get through. Puzzled, he said, "Xiao Wu, don't laugh yet. Something's wrong. I was walking fine a moment ago. How did I get stuck?"

I looked around and said, "It seems this stone passage isn't the same width throughout. The part we entered was probably slightly wider, and now it's gradually narrowing. Try backing up a few steps and see if you can free yourself."

Fatty twisted his big butt and forced himself back a few steps, but it was still the same. He said, "That's not right. This passage is obviously narrower than before. I think there's something off about these walls. Xiao Wu, I think this might be bad."

All the way, I'd been walking with my head down and hadn't paid attention to the walls. Hearing him say that, I also felt it seemed a bit narrower. So I pressed my left and right hands against each wall, and suddenly a strange feeling came over me. I cried out, "Not good—these two walls seem to be closing in!"

Poker-face also touched the wall and nodded, saying, "It seems something has changed. No time left. Let's retreat and figure out a plan!"

Hearing this, I knew this was no joke. If those two wall slabs crushed us, we'd be three flat pancakes. So I turned around and ran as fast as I could. Seeing us run so fast, Fatty quickly twisted sideways and shouted anxiously, "Wait for me! Don't just look out for yourselves!"

I had never run so fast. I was practically tumbling and crawling, putting all my strength into it. By the time I reached the exit, the two walls had closed in a lot more. Even I had to turn sideways to pass. Fatty was even worse; he had to move sideways like a crab. Poker-face reached for the hidden door, fiddled with it, then suddenly cursed, turned to me and said, "Someone outside has jammed the door axle!"

Fatty's face turned green. He cursed, "Damn that Heavenly Gate! This is it. Think of something quick, or we'll be done for today!" My heart was racing with anxiety. Watching the stone walls slowly press in was truly worse than death. But what could I do in this situation? Unless we had a miracle, even a celestial being couldn't help. I said, "What can we do? Run forward. If we run fast, maybe we still have a chance!"

Poker-face grabbed me and shook his head. "It would take at least ten minutes to get there. Too late. Let's check above!" With that, he braced his feet against both walls and climbed upward. I looked up; it was pitch black, and there was no sign that it got wider up there. I didn't know what climbing would do, but at that point, anything was better than waiting to die. I called Fatty to climb.

With the passage narrowing, climbing was as easy as walking. We went up, covering more than ten meters in just a few minutes. Fatty clicked his tongue and said, "This kid's quick-witted. Well, now we can jump to our deaths before getting crushed into pancakes and avoid the pain!"

I couldn't tell if Fatty was serious or not, but the thought of being crushed into a meat patty was disgusting. That's not a pleasant death—you might even hear your own skull cracking. I'd rather die by falling than be crushed alive. Just then, Poker-face called from above, "Stop thinking nonsense. We still have time. Do you remember the grave robbery hole under the coffin?"

Fatty said, "Of course I remember. But what does that have to do with us?" As he said it, he let out an "Oh" and said, "I get it. You mean we should learn from his spirit—never give up until the very end, right?"

Poker-face said, "No. In this world, no grave robber would skip walking through the underground palace and instead dig tunnels through its walls. If someone did, there would be only one reason: they encountered a predicament and had to open a hole in the palace wall to escape."

I understood immediately, and my heart stirred. I said, "You mean the person who dug this hole was in the same situation as us, forced to make this grave robbery hole?"

I had to admire Poker-face's quick thinking. I also knew why he had climbed up. The floor and both walls were made of bluestone; without explosives, there was no way to dig a hole. The only possible place would be the unseen ceiling.

Talking as we climbed, we reached the top. Above was a layer of blue bricks. I knocked on it and was overjoyed. Our guess was right—it was hollow. This type of brick could withstand pressure but not chiseling. With the right tools, opening a hole should be very easy. But I looked around; it was pitch dark, and I couldn't see any grave robbery hole. Fatty said, "Damn it, kid. This stone passage is so long. What if he made the entrance at the other end?"

Poker-face said, "Anyone in such a situation would first run for the exit. Only after finding the exit door jammed would they resort to the desperate method of reverse digging. So the grave robbery hole must be nearby. If he made it at the other end, then we're out of luck."

This statement was very persuasive. Fatty and I nodded, pulled ourselves together, and began searching the sides. At this point, Poker-face and I were still in decent shape — sideways, we still had a fist's worth of space in front and behind. But Fatty was nearly at his limit; he had to suck in his gut just to move in this crevice. I could see the pressure was weighing on him heavily. So I comforted him, saying that fat has a high compression ratio, and as long as the walls weren't pressing against his bones, he'd be fine. Upon hearing this, his face turned green, and he waved his hand, telling me to cut the nonsense.

We started from the outermost point and crawled inward for over ten meters, but found nothing. In fact, crawling sideways consumed more energy than climbing upward. My legs were already starting to go weak, and I nearly slipped several times. I knew that if the walls closed in any further, my knees wouldn't be able to bend, making movement even harder. Ahead was pitch black, and I had no idea where the robber's tunnel actually was. If, as Poker-face said, it was on the other end of the passage, then I really didn't know how to face such a death.

If I'd known it would be like this, it might have been more merciful to just get bitten to death by a sea monkey. People always say how terrifying zombies and ghosts are, but right now I'd rather encounter a dozen undead than be slowly flattened here with no way out.

At that moment, Poker-face, who was ahead, suddenly flashed his flashlight at me, signaling us to come over. Fatty and I thought he had finally found it. Overjoyed, we squeezed desperately over to his side. When we looked up, we were stunned. On the blue bricks above us, a line of blood-red characters read: "Wu Sansheng ruined me, left me with no way out, died with injustice — Heaven and Earth are my witnesses. — Xie Lianhuan."

My heart was pounding with fear. I thought to myself, this isn't some wuxia novel. I asked, "What... what does this mean? Who is this person? Why does he say Third Uncle ruined him?"

Poker-face said, "This Xie Lianhuan was also a member of the archaeological team. He's the one who died in the coral reef while clutching the snake-browed copper fish."

I gave a start, my mind in chaos again. Poker-face gave me a push and said, "Since he left his writing here and wasn't crushed to death, it means the robber's tunnel must be nearby. There's no time to think about what his words mean. Let's move forward quickly."

I crawled a few steps after him, then suddenly remembered — Xie Lianhuan, why does that name sound so familiar? It seems I've heard my grandfather mention it.