At that moment, wisps of flowing sand cascaded down, and the sand mound was about to engulf the dam we had built, with death looming close at hand.
As the saying goes, fortune does not come alone, and misfortune does not travel singly.
Suddenly, my body went limp, and I fell down, feeling dizzy and nauseous, likely due to lack of oxygen.
In this cramped space, after prolonged physical labor, not just me, but everyone felt some difficulty in breathing.
Hope was within sight, and we couldn't give up. The others continued to dig the soil, and in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, a stab of a knife resulted in water gurgling out.
The dam had already been breached, with a large amount of flowing sand pouring into our space, and the situation had reached its most dangerous moment.
Chen Lao Da stomped his feet hard, but the effect was not very obvious.
In desperation, I looked at the upper body of Chen Lao Er's corpse.
"Pardon me."
Lifting the body, I turned it over and used Chen Lao Er's head directly as a hammer.
Having been dead for two days, and in the cold darkness of the tomb, the body had already stiffened, just like frozen fish in Duang Huiren's refrigerated truck.
After a few hard hits, I unexpectedly achieved the desired effect. Large volumes of water began to gush in continuously, and the flowing sand from above poured down.
In the blink of an eye, we were buried up to our knees in the mixture of flowing sand and water. It was precisely due to the accumulation of various weights that the soil under our feet finally could not bear it and collapsed with a rumble.
A feeling of weightlessness suddenly struck, followed by a sensation akin to falling into an ice hole.
I emerged from the water coughing incessantly, water droplets spraying from my nose and mouth, wiping my face.
Zhang Wenjie also emerged, shaking off the water from his glasses, putting them back on, and calling out, "Is everyone alright?"
Chen Lao Da gasped for breath and said, "I'm fine, good hammer, almost drowned me."
Immediately after, the sound of Chen Duoyu coughing rang out, but what emerged from the water's surface was the terrifying face of Chen Lao Er, startling me.
"Cough, cough, cough, it's no big deal, just choked on a few mouthfuls of mud and water, won't die. Big brother, take the second brother, I'll carry his legs."
"Third brother, don't worry, the upper body is with me."
There was still one person missing, and I immediately became nervous.
"Sister Ling, Sister Ling, where are you?"
"Guangting, Sister is fine, everyone, let's move downstream quickly."
...
The water gradually slowed and became shallower, up to the thighs.
Everyone was exhausted, and after climbing ashore, they all lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.
"Our ancestors indeed had foresight," Chen Lao Da suddenly sighed.
"Yes, otherwise, we would have all drowned here. But on the other hand, practice makes perfect. After a long time of not practicing, I'm almost dead tired," Zhang Ling said.
Later, I learned that the tomb robbing industry was fraught with danger, often just scraping by with one's head tucked into one's belt. In order to increase everyone's chances of survival, our grandfather had required everyone to learn how to swim more than a dozen years ago.
As for me, after my grandfather passed away, I often went to the fish pond in the town to steal fish. For this, I had been beaten up quite a bit. The boss beat me up all over, but I held onto the fish tightly and wouldn't let go. In the end, the boss was afraid of beating me to death, so he gave me the fish.
Later, a line of scribbled words appeared on the wall of the fish pond's small house: "Fish thieves will be beaten to death with a stick, no responsibility taken."
After resting for a while, Chen Duoyu began to fiddle with the mining lamp in his hand. After a few slaps and curses, he threw it aside.
"Whose mining lamp is still usable?"
Chen Lao Da felt for the mining lamp, pressed the button, the light flickered a few times, and then there was a sizzle, with white smoke rising, frightening him into quickly throwing the mining lamp into the water.
Who would have known, the battery reacted with water, sparks flew, and it crackled like fireworks, while a pungent smell permeated the air.
Zhang Wenjie remarked, "It's all concentrated sulfuric acid inside, yet they threw it into the water. Ignorance is truly terrifying."
Afraid of the battery exploding, I dared not look, but Chen Duoyu fumbled his way over.
"You look terrified," Chen Duoyu said fearlessly, then directly pressed the switch, and a dim yellow light came on.
Looking around, it was a vast underground space, under the faint light, it was like peeking into a tube, unable to see its entirety.
Zhang Wenjie stood up, shivering, "Everyone's rested enough. Let's move forward a bit. It'll warm us up."
It wasn't until he mentioned it that the bone-chilling coldness was truly felt. Our clothes were soaked, feeling like a heavy burden, making walking akin to rowing a boat.
After only walking two or three hundred meters, Chen Duoyu suddenly turned off the mining lamp and whispered a sentence.
"Be careful, there are people ahead."
We immediately became tense, crouching against the cave wall.
Zhang Wenjie whispered, "Where are the people?"
Chen Duoyu pointed forward and said, "Right there, more than one, it's a group of people."
Listening carefully, there was no movement, only the sound of flowing water and our breathing.
I asked, "Did you see clearly? With so many people, and they didn't even light a lamp, how can there be no sound at all?"
Chen Duoyu, dissatisfied, said, "How would I know? It's possible we've reached the underworld, and those people are all lonely souls and wild ghosts. It's hard to say."
"Third brother, stop talking nonsense."
After waiting for a while, there was still no movement.
Waiting like this wasn't a solution. Chen Lao Da drew his dagger and held it in his mouth, adjusted his wet pants, and quietly approached.
"Big brother, I'll go with you."
Chen Duoyu followed suit.
Soon, the Chen brothers came back crawling and running.
"They're all people, tall and fierce-looking, each holding a weapon, just like Terracotta Warriors. It's so damn frightening. Have we dug up the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor?" Chen Lao Da leaned on his knees, gasping.
Chen Duoyu was also out of breath, saying to us, "See, I didn't lie."
Chen Duoyu was outspoken, but Chen Lao Da was different. He was steady and trustworthy.
The atmosphere instantly became tense. In this situation, neither advancing nor retreating seemed feasible, and we didn't know what to do.
After discussing for a while, pondering over it, we felt that it was not a blessing but a curse, and it was unavoidable. We could only grit our teeth and confront the other party head-on.
Clearing his throat, Zhang Wenjie shouted loudly, "Opponents from the other side, where are they hired from, and who's in charge?"
This was a code, asking if they were fellow tomb robbers and who their leader was.
No one answered.
Zhang Ling whispered in my ear, "Doesn't seem like they're one of us."
Then, she raised her voice and said, "Meeting in a place like this, it's also considered fate. Why don't we make friends?"
Still, no one answered.
That feeling was truly awful, causing immense psychological pressure. Under pressure, people can go crazy and do crazy things.