Chapter 87: Rest

Lao Yang reloaded a flare gun, fired at the spot where the first flare had died, and illuminated it again. I saw that it was an empty space without any coffins, located at the northeast corner of the entire cave burial, roughly twenty to thirty square meters. The light from the flare wasn't enough for me to see if there was anything special about the area, but one thing was certain: the empty space was sunken, like a pit.

Lao Yang pointed at that place and said to me, "See that? I came out of that pit. There's a hole in the bottom of the pit, which I made when I came out. Below that is the tomb we're going to."

I found it strange—why were there coffins everywhere in the entire Thousand Coffin Cave, except for that one spot? Was it intentional, or was there some feng shui significance? Generally speaking, the ancient Miao people did not believe strongly in feng shui. In cave burials, coffins were usually arranged by family, with ancestors at the bottom and new corpses added above, without much care for positioning. Having an empty space here seemed very unusual.

I asked Lao Yang if he had collapsed that area when digging his way out, causing the ground to sink into the ancient tomb. Lao Yang swore it was impossible: above the tomb there were double seven layers of blue bricks, and he had used the method I mentioned—taking three horizontally and four vertically. When he came up, the pit was already there. He had absolutely nothing to do with it.

"Taking three horizontally and four vertically" is a technique that must be followed when going "reverse" in Ming and Qing underground palaces. It is generally used by tomb raiders trapped inside ancient tombs when they break through the ceiling from below. If the bricks are not removed in this way, the entire tomb ceiling will collapse and crush the tomb raider inside.

But in Ming and Qing underground palaces, the proper order when going "reverse" should be: first the floor, then the walls, and the ceiling is the strongest and most dangerous, generally only attempted when there is no other choice. Lao Yang broke through the ceiling—was there really no other option at the time?

At that moment the flare's light faded, and the cave returned to pitch black. Lao Yang wanted to reload another flare, but I stopped him. We had already seen most of what we needed to see; there was no point wasting unnecessary resources.

To reach that empty space, we had no choice but to go down the cliff and pass through the coffins. The gaps between the coffins below were roughly wide enough for a person to walk. It was about two hundred meters to that flat area. The problem was how to climb down this twenty-plus-meter cliff. We had lost all our equipment, so the possibility of climbing down by hand needed careful consideration.

Another concern was whether there were any "zongzi" (corpses) down there. The coffins used in cave burials were very crude—not only were they unsealed, but sometimes the gaps were wide enough for rats to crawl in. There shouldn't be many well-preserved bodies below. But under the flare's light, I saw that many coffin lids were flipped open. I didn't know what was going on. In theory, no one would come here to cause damage. Could it be that the zongzi inside had bad sleeping habits and kicked the lids off?

Lao Yang and I returned to one side of the campfire, just in time to see Master Liang shrinking back and trying to escape into the darkness. Lao Yang racked the slide of his pistol with a click and shouted, "Take one more step back, and I'll break your legs and throw you down there."

As soon as Master Liang heard his voice, he was so scared that he turned and ran. Lao Yang fired a shot into the air, and the thunderous gunshot echoed throughout the cave.

Startled by the gunshot, Master Liang stopped, shrank his neck, turned around, and said, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I won't run, okay?"

Lao Yang cursed, "Like hell I believe you! Get back here and squat properly. If you run again, I'll deal with you!"

Master Liang slunk back, squatted by the fire, and said with a mournful face, "Gentlemen, you see, I'm just an intellectual. I was following Old Tai for a meal ticket, fooling that Cantonese client. If you're judging, I'm only an accomplice. You should just let me go. You're about to do a big job, and I have no strength to even truss a chicken. If I follow you, I'll only be a burden. If I'm not nimble enough, I might cause you trouble."

Lao Yang saw that he was dragging the backpack. He pointed his gun at it and said to him, "If you want us to let you go, fine. Leave the bag behind. You can go wherever you like."

Master Liang looked at the bag with difficulty: "But this bag is mine... There's a saying: 'A gentleman—'"

Lao Yang waved his gun and said, "I'm no gentleman, I'm a beast. Don't bother reasoning with me."

I thought that Master Liang was quite shrewd. If we let him go back and he ran into Uncle Tai and the others, we'd be adding an enemy. Keeping him might serve as a check. I stopped Lao Yang from continuing and turned to Master Liang: "Our situation is still unclear. If you leave alone, even with full gear, without experience you won't make it out. How about this: come down with us to that ancient tomb and have a look. If there's anything good, we'll give you as much as Old Tai promised. The three of us together have a better chance of survival. Look at this place—the yin energy is overwhelming. If you run into a lonely ghost or a night spirit, no one can save you."

Lao Yang immediately followed up: "If you don't want to go, that's fine too. But leave behind everything you should, and take off your clothes too..."

When he heard me say that we'd also give him a share of the grave goods, his expression wavered. With Lao Yang's threat added, he immediately said, "No, no, let's talk things over. Since you two think so highly of me, I won't refuse. Actually, with my knowledge and your experience, we would make a perfect match."

Hearing this, I realized this guy was a real fence-sitter, swaying with the wind and changing his mind so quickly. I found it amusing. Grandpa was right—people's hearts are treacherous, and all sorts of people exist in this world. We emptied Master Liang's bag to see what we could use, like ropes or lighting tools. But his bag mainly contained food and clothes. Master Liang said that the important equipment was carried by the two core members, Uncle Tai and Pockmarked Er. His flare gun was for calling for help if they got separated.

Without rope, going down the cliff would require climbing like a gecko. The cliff was so steep; I didn't know if it was suitable for climbing. I asked Lao Yang how he had climbed up last time. He told me that although the cliff looked bare, it was actually relatively easy to climb—there were many footholds. While going down from above would be a bit harder than climbing up, it wasn't impossible. But lighting was essential; otherwise, in the pitch black, you might step on someone's hand without knowing.

There were some dry branches nearby, so making a few torches for light shouldn't be a problem. The plan to climb the cliff was set. Now only the question of when to start remained.

I checked my watch. Since we came down, six hours had passed. Lao Yang estimated that it took him ten hours to get out of the tomb last time. So there was at least a full day of trouble ahead. Our burns were severe. Before going down, we had to rest well. Also, I needed to think carefully about what to do next. If we continued to act rashly, the road ahead wouldn't go smoothly.

The most important thing was to figure out why Lao Yang had brought me here. He said it would be enormously beneficial to me. Although I'm a bit of a spender, I'm not the type who treasures money. As for antiques, I'm only involved because of my family. I don't know how much I truly like them. What could be so hugely beneficial to me? I don't know myself—how could he? Also, we didn't know if Uncle Tai and that fat Cantonese guy were alive or dead. They still had two guns. If we ran into them, it would inevitably lead to another fight. We had to be on guard.

I said to Master Liang and Lao Yang, "It's already around eleven at night outside. We haven't stopped the whole way. Tonight we won't go down. Let's rest properly and treat our wounds. We'll go down tomorrow. If we enter the tomb in a tired state and something happens, fatigue will definitely cause mistakes."

Lao Yang nodded in agreement. He said he wasn't worried about what was in the tomb, but climbing the cliff with our current strength was too dangerous. With all those coffins below, if we accidentally fell, we'd fall right into a coffin—too unlucky.

We emptied a tin can, boiled some water over the fire, soaked some hardtack, ate it, and had some chocolate. Lao Yang was extremely sleepy. I told them to sleep first while I watched the fire. Lao Yang said there were no wild animals here, so I didn't need to be so vigilant. I secretly told him that I was mainly keeping an eye on Master Liang. The more pathetic someone looks, the more likely they are to hide their true nature. If we both fell asleep, he might reveal his true colors.

Lao Yang said, "If you're worried, we might as well tie him up."

I said, "Since we've already agreed with him, we should still save face. If you do that, when we need his help later, it won't be easy to ask."

Lao Yang thought I made sense, so he went to sleep on his own. I took out my Paizi Liao from the inner pocket of my clothes, released the safety, and tucked it into my belt. Then I boiled another can of water to clean my wounds. The burns on my hands were severe; if not treated properly, they would definitely get infected. After handling all that, I woke Lao Yang and then lay down to sleep. That sleep was extremely uncomfortable—my whole body ached, and my wounds were itchy and painful. When I woke up, I found I had only slept five hours. My body felt so bad that my nose was stuffed up.

Lao Yang boiled hot water for me to wash my face. I felt a bit better. During breakfast, I asked Master Liang what background their group had. Master Liang had slept well and was now full of energy. He said to me, "Little Wu, since we're in the same boat now, I won't hide it from you. There were five of us when we came. Only Uncle Tai and Pockmarked Er specialize in this line of work. I came with Boss Li and Boss Wang. First, I wanted to see how fresh goods were unearthed, and second, the two bosses asked me to pick out the most valuable items from the tomb first. So to be honest, I'm really an innocent party in all this."

When Lao Yang heard this, he asked, "Strange, just now we saw four of you. Where's the fifth person?"

Master Liang said, "The person you're talking about is Boss Li. When we were coming down the mine tunnel earlier, he went to a water pit to wash his face, and ended up washing his own head off..."

Lao Yang and I were eating, so we quickly told him to stop—we already knew what happened next, and if he kept talking, we wouldn't be able to eat anymore.

I then asked about the backgrounds of those two bosses. Master Liang stood up and said, "Speaking of their backgrounds, if I don't tell you, you wouldn't know, but if I do, it'll give you quite a fright. They're no ordinary antique dealers—just listen as I explain in detail..."