[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-grave-robbers-chronicles":3,"chapter-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-69":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Grave Robbers' Chronicles",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},15926,44,"Chapter 69: Raging Sea: Shedding Skin","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-69",69,"\u003Cp>\"Where did that tail come from? Why didn't I see it just now?\" I thought he was messing with me and said, \"Don't you joke around with me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Right there,\" Fatty pointed it out seriously. \"Your eyesight is way too 'divine'—how can you miss something so prominent?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I followed Fatty's finger and saw that on the coccyx of the mummified golden body, there really was a protrusion, three inches long, two fingers thick, pitch black, looking as dried out as the corpse itself, like a hardened cow's tail curving upward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I found it strange—when we moved it earlier, I didn't seem to notice this thing. Could it have grown just now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tried to recall but couldn't sort it out. I had been so tense earlier that I couldn't even remember if I'd seen it. A chill crept up my spine, and suddenly I had a very ominous feeling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then I reminded myself that this was no time for superstition. Besides, just because it was a dry, shriveled thing didn't mean it was a tail. So I said to Fatty, \"Don't jump to conclusions. How could a human have a tail? Take a closer look.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go to hell,\" Fatty laughed. \"Besides, who dies still—still—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I knew what he meant by \"still,\" so I cut him off: \"Alright, alright, whatever it is, after we blow it up, there won't even be ashes left. If you keep studying it, in a few years it'll be our turn to be studied.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reminded by my words, Fatty snapped back to reality and stopped fussing over the strange thing, quickly getting to work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I helped him turn the corpse over, took down the rope we'd used to climb the pillar, and laboriously tied the mummy to the pillar. We still couldn't estimate how violent the explosion would be, but I remember hearing in *The Three Heroes and Five Gallants* that a Nine-Son Linked Chain Cannon could shatter ten layers of diamond rock, so this thing shouldn't be much weaker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After tying it, I tugged hard. Done in a rush, it wasn't very secure, but it should hold for a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't want to stay up there any longer. I checked everything once more, saw it was all set, and prepared to go down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thought that detonation time was approaching made me nervous. Now all we could do was see if this move worked. I just prayed to God—everything else could wait until we got out. I didn't expect everything to go smoothly, just that I'd keep my life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I was lost in anxious thoughts, Fatty grabbed me and said, \"Wait, there's something I haven't finished.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had just checked everything and was puzzled. \"What's missing? Isn't everything ready?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty told me not to go down yet, then turned to the mummy and said, \"Senior Tail, whether you were a human or a monkey, you've already passed on. This stinking skin is useless to you. Using you as a bomb bag is a bit too much, I know, but circumstances forced us. Please be magnanimous and don't hold it against us. Just think of it as taking a sauna—detached from the world, no taboos.\" After that, he gave the golden body a symbolic bow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was furious. Grabbing his underwear, I yanked him down, cursing, \"Damn it! What time is it, and you're still messing around with this!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He slid down slickly to my side and said, \"You don't get it. This thing looks sinister; chances are it'll bring us bad luck. Besides, it was sitting here peacefully, and we're using it as a bomb bag. That's wrong in itself. At least we need to go through the motions.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I climbed down while cursing, \"Cut the crap! Where were you when you were moving the twelve-hand corpse? Did you kowtow to it then? Now it just has a tail, and you're making a big deal out of it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is how the conflict between the northern and southern factions arises—a difference in ideology. Fatty was annoyed, snorted, turned away, and ignored me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We got down to the ground. Poker-face carried A Ning on his back and motioned us to a corner of the tomb. We moved the other bronze mirrors in front of us as shields, in case the bomb was too powerful and we got hurt by flying debris.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything was ready. We just had to wait for the right moment, when Poker-face, with his precise skill, would throw a mirror leg to trigger the mechanism in the golden body's stomach. In the Lu King's Palace, his flying knife had almost pinned Fatty dead; this should be no problem. And there was no point considering other methods now. I prayed while focusing on my watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pattern of the tides: there are two high tides each day, twelve hours apart. High tide usually lasts about an hour before starting to ebb. Low tide occurs in between the two high tides. At that time, the sea level is lowest, sometimes even exposing the seabed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the seabed here shouldn't be that shallow; otherwise there would be far more beached ships. I estimated that if the water could drop to two meters, that would be ideal. I didn't know how long low tide would last. In my memory, it should be very short. We'd need to wait for the water to widen the breach above, which would take some time, so we couldn't waste even one minute at the start.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was still an optimistic estimate. There could be emergencies, and we'd have to adapt. The more I thought, the less certain I felt. After all, this was just something I'd blurted out. If things didn't go as I imagined and the entire ceiling collapsed, I'd really be letting them down. The thought made me tense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty saw my expression and probably sensed my lack of confidence. He asked uneasily, \"You two, tell me honestly—do you not have much confidence either?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't know how to answer, so I brushed him off: \"Hard to say now. The arrow's already on the string. Just watch and see.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty sighed. \"Really, the more you say, the more nervous I get. What if this thing doesn't explode? Do you have any other plans? Tell me now, so I can feel a bit more at ease.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I said, \"There is one plan—the one you mentioned earlier: go back the way we came and see if that tomb chamber we entered has reappeared. Otherwise, there's a non-plan: stay here and wait for a third group to come rescue us.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty said, \"How can we wait that long? If they don't come, what do we do? Wait forever? Then we'll become the living dead of the Xisha underwater tomb, and the Touch of Gold Captains will vanish from the world.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I comforted Fatty, \"What I mean is, although this place is extremely dangerous and we can't leave for now, we won't die immediately. As long as we have time, we can figure something out. Look how big this space is—the air should last several days. I think a week is no problem. We'll sleep a lot, move little, and conserve energy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty wasn't buying it. \"Even if the air holds, we still need to eat. This isn't a deep forest; there's nothing here, not even wind to drink. I'd rather suffocate than starve.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I laughed. \"People can come up with solutions. Look at that blubber of yours—you won't starve in a week. If you're really hungry, there's still a sea monkey. If that's not enough, we can catch that banshee down below and cook her.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty laughed at that. This guy always perks up when someone banter with him. He clapped my shoulder and said, \"Good, that line had some real Fatty style. To do big things, you need the spirit of fearing nothing. Looks like you've really improved this time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was surprised at my own words. When had I started talking such nonsense? It seemed like Fatty was rubbing off on me. I couldn't let that happen—I absolutely couldn't become like him. So I stopped joking and focused on my watch. Five minutes left. If we were going to detonate, it wouldn't make much difference now. I told Poker-face to get ready, so he wouldn't miss. The golden body wasn't tied very securely; if it fell off the pillar and exploded down here, it would be bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Poker-face weighed the thing in his hand and nodded in agreement. Just then, Fatty suddenly shouted, \"What the hell? Where's the mummy?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our hearts sank. We looked up sharply and found that the corpse on the pillar was gone. My first thought was that it hadn't been tied securely and had fallen. I looked down—nothing on the ground. I cursed loudly. This was really getting creepy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I hadn't expected something like this to happen at such a critical moment. I had prepared myself to adapt, but that was just self-consolation. I didn't think it would come true so soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"See? See? I told you! Anything with a tail is definitely sinister,\" Fatty yelled. \"Quick, find where it is!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We all rushed out. The first thing we saw was that the thing we were looking for was clinging to the ceiling behind the pillar, its nails gripping the reliefs tightly. The black, hard skin on its body had already cracked all over and was peeling off in pieces, revealing something bloody beneath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I saw that the rope was still tied around its waist. Since it was made from several strands of wetsuit material, it was still very secure for binding a person, so it hadn't managed to break free yet. But judging by the situation, it wouldn't hold much longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fatty saw this and shouted, \"Quick! Before it escapes, set off the explosion first!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Poker-face didn't need his reminder. As soon as Fatty started speaking, I heard a whooshing sound, and at the same time a flash of cyan light flew past, plunging straight into the mummy's belly.\u003C\u002Fp>",1676,"2026-05-28T17:13:44.893Z","2026-06-01T04:28:20.357Z",1,"deepseek-v4-flash","d18eb418f2eb4a782eb0554429371e22b11e00b63d01976f72ede16c27b9a772","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-70","the-grave-robbers-chronicles-chapter-68",513,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-grave-robbers-chronicles-cover.jpg"]