The map was right inside the corpse.
Why was the corpse preserved?
There was no such tradition during the Qing Dynasty period to preserve corpses.
It was to hide the map inside and preserve it.
As for the dark red string binding up the coffin?
The purpose of the dark red string is to warn and ward off those who believed in undead corpses.
Those who feared it would not dare to open the coffin or investigate the corpse.
I looked ahead, and Snookey had now disappeared.
Now I don't know what to feel about Snookey.
Say thanks for the help, give him a hug or something.
I don't know, but one thing's for sure: it's time to inform the rest about my findings.
Excitedly, I got out of the bathtub, didn't even bother to wipe myself dry, with water dripping down my body, changed into my clothes, and went to Amy Lee's room.
I knocked on the door, didn't wait for her, and tried to open it as I was too excited.
The door, to my surprise, was unlocked.
"Sam, what the hell?" Amy Lee shouted at me.
Her eyes looked to the side; I turned and saw that there were strangers in the room.
A group of four men in what looked like army fatigues were present.
One of the men, a thin, tall Caucasian man, came up to me.
"Bonjour. My name is Clement, We will be staying here with you." Clement introduced himself, took my hand, and shook it.
He then went on to introduce the rest of the men.
A pair of twins named the Lawrence brothers, big and small Lawrence, both well-built like bodybuilders.
Lastly, there was Crystal Siti, a lady with crystal jewelry all over her.
"It's late. I think you should go rest," Amy Lee tried to push me out of her room, blinking her eyes at me.
She wanted to buy time for us.
"Nice meeting you guys. I shall not interrupt," I took her cue, turned around, and tried to make it out of the room.
"Stay, you are welcome," Clement caught hold of my arm, did some sort of ballet dance move, standing on his toes and spinning.
The force was surprisingly huge; I got pulled back and landed on the sofa in the room.
I looked at Amy Lee, and she then said, "Clement, it's getting late."
Clement came right up next to Amy Lee, smirked, then said, "Miss Lee, I assure you we do not have time. Master Huang is not happy; I'm here to make him happy.
"Remember, your father's life is on life support. If you don't deliver, Master Huang will not keep his side of the deal. You will not get the rare Chinese medicine you need."
Amy Lee stared at him and pushed him away.
I was fuming.
The sight of him getting close to her made me angry.
I might not have known it back then, but I was jealous at that moment.
Now that I knew why she was beholden to Huang Bao Kun, I could understand why she 'forced' me to join this expedition.
"You bitch! Now you made me do it the hard way," Clement shouted and pulled out a pistol, pointing it at Amy Lee.
"Gather everyone. We make a move to the tomb right now. Do you understand?"
I shook my head at Amy Lee, asking her not to do anything rash.
She then called the rest of the team to come to her room.
While we were waiting, I thought of how I could let them know that the map was hidden inside the corpse.
I was also scheming of a way to get Clement and his party off our backs.
I lit up a cigarette, inhaled, and puffed out a deep breath, letting all the harmful chemicals do their work.
My head laid back on the sofa, looking up into the translucent smoke.
It made me think of Snookey, translucent and white, and then I got an idea.
When the rest came in, they were like me, surprised by the presence of Clement and his party.
Before anyone could speak, "Piak, piak," I patted on my stomach loudly, then said, "Kurnawan, the roast chicken with the glutinous rice was sumptuous.
"After we came back, I went into a food coma, sleeping like a dead body. Made me feel like I was in a trance. Amy, you should try it too. The roast chicken is just meh, but the real treasure is the glutinous rice, delicious as hell."
Kurnawan thought for a few seconds, then nodded and smiled as usual. "We can have it after we are done."
"Yeah, Sam, we shall have it later," Amy Lee smiled and replied.
"The dish must be good, huh?" Clement shrugged.
Yes, my idea was to do what Snookey had done all this time.
Of course, I had an advantage as I could talk.
Kurnawan and Amy Lee seemed to have gotten my message.
"Since everyone is here, let's get moving."
We obeyed, as Clement's team all had pistols pointing at us.
Bobby gave me a sulking face and sighed along the way; he sure didn't like having a lesser share of the money.
Finally, we reached the tomb site.
Clement then ordered us to take up our new roles.
Crystal Siti would be the lookout; Clement couldn't trust Kurnawan on his own.
Bobby and I would be the diggers.
Kurnawan would be transporting the soil up.
The rest had the Lawrence brothers keeping a close eye on them.
When we dug through and arrived at the first chamber before the wall, where the bodies of Snookey and his men were lying around, it smelled bad.
Every one of us couldn't take the putrid stench and vomited.
The bodies had started to decompose; the red worms were having a feast on the corpses.
"Be careful, these red worms are poisonous. Bobby here had to go to the hospital the last time he got bitten. Right, Bobby?"
I looked at Bobby, giving him a stern look.
He looked at me for a while, then said, "Yeah, it's true."
"See, let us clear them for you."
"Do it quickly," Clement covered his nose and signaled his team to move back and let us do the work.
Bobby and I then took off our shirts and burned them to make the red worms go away.
When I got near Snookey's body, I shifted my back to face Clement's direction to block them from seeing what I was doing.
I held my breath, and after several tries, I managed to get Snookey's wallet out of his pocket.