Chapter 61: Raging Sea: Escape

I thought back for a moment and remembered who Xie Lianhuan was. Our Xie and Wu families actually had some distant connection, probably tracing back to some second- or third-cousin relationship. As the saying goes, "a cousin three thousand li away," and by my generation we weren't all that close anymore. But they were still an old and established tomb-raiding family. Xie Lianhuan seemed to be a second-generation rich kid who hung around Third Uncle a lot. I'd only seen him a few times at most, but Grandpa often brought up the Xie family when scolding Third Uncle, saying that because of Third Uncle, our Wu family would never be able to hold our heads up in front of the Xies again. "What a pity about that kid Xie Lianhuan — running with you got him into trouble!"

Looking back now, so that's how Xie Lianhuan died. No wonder my old man never let me tag along with Third Uncle. Turns out Third Uncle had a prior record.

Fatty was pushing me from behind, so I couldn't dwell on it any longer. I gritted my teeth and shuffled forward a few more steps. A pitch-black opening appeared in the brick ceiling. Fatty yelled happily, but he was already at his limit — front and back scraped bloody red by the greenstone, like he'd just taken a Turkish bath. I wasn't much better off; my legs could barely support me. But there was no rush now. Poker-face climbed up first, crawled in, kicked the sides of the tunnel to make sure they were solid enough, then pulled me in after him. Fatty was more trouble — I couldn't haul him up alone. I watched him get fierce, yelling and pushing upward with all his strength, scraping a big patch of skin off his back before he got free.

Once we were steady, we looked down and felt a wave of belated terror. The gap between the two walls had narrowed to a thin crack. I didn't dare think what would have happened if I hadn't gotten out. This time it was really a case of heaven leaving no dead-end road. A few more minutes and even if we'd found the tunnel, we wouldn't have been able to crawl in.

I looked up again and saw that the tunnel went straight up for only about the height of a man, then abruptly changed angle and slanted east. Probably it connected to the tunnel above. My legs were completely weak — I couldn't hold out much longer. I urged Poker-face to hurry up. The three of us climbed to the slanted section, exhausted, and leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

Then we heard the sound of the stone wall closing completely below. I let out a long breath, rubbed my legs, and knocked on my tense calf muscles, trying to relax. It had been way too tense. Now that I was loosening up, I felt a bit dazed and kept yawning. Fatty leaned against the wall, pale as death, covered in scrapes. He panted and said, "This time I've learned my lesson. When I get back, I'm losing some weight no matter what, or I'll write my name upside down."

They'd said earlier that the brick tunnel was very well dug. It seemed Xie Lianhuan wasn't just an amateur. I shone a light upward and saw the entire tunnel zigzagged up. In architectural terms, that kind of digging meant that even a small collapse wouldn't cause much danger. If he'd dug a straight vertical shaft to save effort, the whole brick ceiling would have caved in. The result would have been no different from being hit by a pile driver.

Fatty rested a while, then asked Poker-face, "Hey, little bro, what the hell is going on? Twenty years ago, this route was fine, and now we almost got crushed. Did you lead us the wrong way?"

Poker-face was sitting with his eyes closed, resting. He thought for a moment and said, "That's unlikely, unless the marks on the stone tablet indicating the life gate were tampered with. Given how dangerous it was back there, we probably went into the death gate."

Fatty was puzzled. "Could that woman have found out we're still alive and come back to screw us over?"

I shook my head. I'd admit she was vicious, but I didn't think she had the ability to modify a centuries-old tomb mechanism. That was too far-fetched. But there was no fifth person here. I thought for a moment and began to suspect — could it be Third Uncle? (After the plot revision, Third Uncle disappeared in this tomb.) Poker-face saw my worry and patted me. "Actually, I have a hypothesis about this. If you really care, you might want to hear me out."

He was a participant in this whole affair, and he'd personally experienced the most important parts. If he could offer some insight, I certainly wouldn't refuse. I nodded and asked him to go on. Poker-face said, "Let's assume that twenty years ago, Third Uncle and Xie Lianhuan knew each other — maybe even had a very close relationship, but they kept it hidden. During our first search, Xie Lianhuan might have already discovered the existence of the underwater tomb, but he didn't tell anyone except Wu Sansheng."

Both of them came from tomb-raiding families, so naturally they wouldn't pass up this opportunity. Taking advantage of when no one was watching, they found a time to sneak into the tomb. Both were experts, so that wouldn't have been hard at all. But after they entered the tomb, some unexpected turn of events caused Third Uncle to develop murderous intent and plot to kill Xie Lianhuan.

We can't know the exact process, but it's certain that when Xie Lianhuan was cornered, he left a blood message on the brick ceiling of this corridor, only to suddenly discover that the brick ceiling was hollow. He must have had some tools with him, so he quickly dug a tunnel to save his life.

I nodded. The analysis was flawless so far. He continued.

After escaping, Xie Lianhuan tried to use the tunnel to get out. Relying on his experience, after several failures, he finally made it out of the tomb. Of course, he then wanted to settle accounts with Wu Sansheng, but when he met him, he was killed instead. His body was disguised as an accidental death by getting stuck in the coral reef.

Hearing him analyze it like that made me uncomfortable, but I couldn't find a reason to refute him. And he did say it was just a hypothesis. I steadied myself and listened on. "After that, for some purpose — or maybe really to avoid the storm — Wu Sansheng brought all of us into the underwater tomb, then pretended to be asleep. At that point, I discovered the secret of the porcelain and led everyone under the pool. That might have been something he didn't anticipate. He had no choice but to pretend to be possessed by a female ghost and lead us into the room with the models. Then, in the passage behind the mirror, he knocked us all unconscious."

"After we were out cold, he must have done something to us. How I got out, and what happened to the others — I can't judge. But I'm certain the others should have lost their memories just like me. In the twenty years since, even if we ran into each other, we'd only think we looked familiar."

Hearing this, I asked back, "Why didn't Third Uncle just kill you all then? That would have been the end of it."

Poker-face said, "I can't figure that out either. But maybe he thought there was no need to kill us, since after all, we didn't know anything."

This hypothesis of his almost painted Third Uncle as a scheming, premeditated arch-villain. I really couldn't accept it. In my impression, Third Uncle wouldn't — and absolutely wasn't — that kind of person.

Fatty seemed to have a sudden realization. He said to me, "Little Wu, something just occurred to me that might explain this. But don't laugh at me when I say it."

I thought now was a time for pooling wisdom. Fatty had a straightforward mind — maybe he'd think of something I couldn't. I urged him to hurry up and say it. He put on a mysterious air and said softly, "I think it's actually simple. After your Third Uncle got to this place, maybe he ran into something... unclean, and got possessed. Little bro just said your Third Uncle was imitating a woman combing her hair, right? Think about it — wasn't that his way of hinting at how to find the Heaven Gate? Who would know that best? The old ghost in the tomb! I bet your Third Uncle got controlled by the tomb owner's vengeful spirit. When you find him, just splash a basin of dog blood on him to force the ghost out, and everything will be fine."

I saw he was getting more and more far-fetched and said, "Your explanation is starting to sound like a ghost story. I've lived with my Third Uncle for over twenty years, and I never once felt he was womanly. That doesn't count."

Fatty said, "I never said the ghost had to be a woman. Even mental patients have times when they're okay and times when they lose it. Maybe your Third Uncle acts normal in front of people but secretly sits around putting on rouge and doing embroidery." Fatty even mimed a delicate orchid finger. I found it funny and said, "You think he's Invincible East? Embroidery? That makes no sense."

Poker-face listened to Fatty and said, "No, what he said might actually be possible. Such things have happened in ancient tombs before."

Fatty, delighted to have someone agree with him, immediately puffed up. "See? Fatty never talks nonsense. I figure it has a lot to do with this tomb being underwater. Feng shui, feng shui — 'wind rises, water stops.' You know why water ghosts look for replacements? Because their souls can't leave. A tomb built underwater — even if the feng shui is good, it's extremely bad for the tomb owner."

Hearing him go on and on, I couldn't help but start to believe it. "Fine, let's keep that in mind. If we really find Third Uncle, I'll get a consecrated Buddha seal and stamp it on his forehead to see if it works."

We each threw out more ideas. By now we'd recovered a bit. Fatty checked his watch and said, "Let's not hold a congress here. If it's really like I said, and we starve to death here, our souls won't be able to leave either. We won't even be able to reincarnate — that would really suck."

Fatty said that, scratched his back, and asked me, "Little Wu, have you noticed that ever since we entered this tomb, at some point, we've been itching like crazy?"