Sun Lao Er got more and more furious as he spoke, his forehead veins bulging, looking like he was about to strike anyone at any moment.
Sun Lao San also shook his head and sighed. He then pressed the intercom and said, "Boss, there's a new situation below. This pit has already been tampered with."
There was a minute of silence from the intercom, then Wang Ba Tou coldly said, "When was it tampered with? Did you guys get into the main tomb chamber?"
"No, we're still in the tomb passage. Just now, some water washed over a towel. Don't even think about it, it must have been stolen recently. Boss, you know the people from the south, they rarely leave anything valuable after raiding a tomb."
Wang Ba Tou thought for a moment and then said, "Old Er, here's the plan: You go check the main tomb chamber. If there's nothing left there, you don't need to go to the ear chambers. Just tidy up and come back."
"Understood, Boss," Sun Lao Er put down the intercom.
I don't smoke, but my nose is sensitive. Just then, I suddenly smelled a faint fragrance.
"Why does Er Ge smell like incense?" I asked in confusion.
At my question, Sun Lao Er exaggeratedly sniffed the air, turning to look at Sun Lao San with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"That's right. We didn't notice earlier, but this is Nanxiang (sandalwood)." His expression suddenly became serious.
"Er Ge and San Ge, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with the sandalwood?" I asked, noticing their solemn expressions.
I thought to myself, wealthy people in the past were often buried in gold silk nan wood coffins, so the scent of sandalwood in the wood should be normal, right?
The relaxed expressions on the Sun family brothers' faces disappeared.
"Yun Feng, give me your hand."
"Huh? What do you need my hand for?" I asked, puzzled, and extended my hand.
"Er Ge, what are you doing?" I cried out in surprise as he suddenly slashed my finger with a sharp dagger.
Bright red blood oozed out, and the Sun family brothers, one after the other, smeared my blood on their wrists.
"Er Ge, San Ge, why are you smearing my blood?" I complained, sucking on my wounded finger.
Sun Lao Er told me at that time:
"Yun Feng, in our line of work—tomb raiding—we're always wary of the Four Great Evils and Six Minor Evils."
"The grave-guarding beast with crossed eyes, the sandalwood fragrance that's faint like flowers, the black coffin that doesn't rot with red lacquer, the eternal flame lamp that doesn't burn out—these are the Four Great Evils. It's an old family tradition. Blood breaks the evil."
What he said sounded so mystical, but I didn't take it seriously. Was he trying to scare me like a child?
I reluctantly said in a low voice, "Then why don't you cut your own fingers? Why cut mine?"
Sun Lao Er patted my head and smirked, "Our blood doesn't work. We need young blood. Yun Feng, you probably haven't even touched a girl's small hand, have you?"
I hesitated and couldn't respond.
Then, I deliberately changed the topic and stubbornly asked, "What about the Six Minor Evils?"
Sun Lao San shook his head and said to me, "Yun Feng, you're new to this, you haven't seen much yet. You don't know, these are sayings passed down by the older generation in the trade."
"The flowing sand tomb, the heavenly fire burning the top, the Eastern Master (when the corpse in the tomb doesn't decay, seven pearls fill the seven orifices, the coffin is bigger than the casket, and rats make nests in it—that's the Six Minor Evils."
"Every industry has its specialties. In the old days, we were called the Eight-Fold Men, now they call us criminals in the new society. The Eight-Fold Men were lower-class people, while the Nine-Fold was the highest in the regular society. There's also the Seven Doors of the Dead."
Sun Lao San continued, "Now that you're in this line of work, you'll need to understand all these things in the future. Otherwise, if someone asks and you don't know, it'll embarrass us and the Northern Faction. The Seven Doors of the Dead are: One, corpse stitchers; two, executioners; three, corpse drivers; four, grave-blowers; five, paper doll makers; six, bone pickers; seven, small coffin makers (who make coffins for dead children). Yun Feng, you need to remember these things when you're out in the world."
At the time, I couldn't remember all these complicated things. It just sounded like a mix of random, strange terms, and I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Alright, Old San, he's still young. There's no need to overwhelm him with all this. Let's go, we need to check the main tomb chamber up ahead," Sun Lao Er waved his wrist, "We've got Yun Feng's young blood, it'll break the evil!"
We trudged through the water and walked for another two or three minutes, but the main tomb chamber still didn't appear. As we got closer and shone our headlamps, we found that it was just a stone wall, not the main tomb chamber.
Just then, a gust of wind suddenly blew in from somewhere. My feet were submerged in the dirty, stagnant water, and it felt cold.
Reaching the stone wall, Sun Lao Er looked up.
Above us, on the ceiling of the tomb passage, we could clearly see a large black hole, and the cold wind was blowing in from it.
The hole was irregular in shape. Sun Lao San, staring at it, furrowed his brows and said, "This was done by the previous group. When we passed through earlier, the ceiling wasn't blown up, so they must've chosen a different spot and used explosives to make the hole. It looks like they used a detonator."
Sun Lao San pressed the intercom: "Boss, there's a stone wall straight ahead, and it's not what we expected. It's not the main tomb chamber, and we haven't seen any burial items yet."
The red light on the intercom flashed, and Wang Ba Tou gave remote instructions: "A tomb with blue clay can't possibly be without a main tomb chamber. Look around and try going left to check the West Ear Chamber."
"Received, Boss, how much time do we have left?"
"There's still two hours and forty-five minutes until it's safe at dawn. Try to speed up."
"Got it." Sun Lao Er released the intercom, then led me and Sun Lao San around the stone wall and towards the West Ear Chamber.
It was my first time seeing the ear chamber of a tomb, which was essentially a hollowed-out small room. Judging by the water stains on the walls, it was clear that this room had been submerged in water for a long time.
What did I see at that moment?
At first glance, I saw piles of bronze artifacts, a large number of them, all messily stacked on the floor of the West Ear Chamber. Some of the bronze artifacts were broken, while others were intact. There were small round cauldrons, square cauldrons, bronze sickles, bronze beans, and bronze cups. There must have been dozens of pieces just from the first glance!
"We hit the jackpot, we hit the jackpot!"
Sun Lao Er's eyes turned red. He spoke incoherently into the intercom, "Boss! We hit the jackpot! We found dozens of bronze artifacts in the West Ear Chamber! Black lacquered ancient mercury rust! Genuine Western Zhou tomb goods!"
Wang Ba Tou had seen his share of big discoveries, so he responded calmly through the intercom, "Transport them in batches, get everything out."
"Understood." Sun Lao Er pulled out a snake-skin cloth bag and muttered, "These southern rats must have turned vegetarian, leaving us all this meat. I really should thank their ancestors eight generations back!"
Sun Lao San, who was more steady, frowned and said in a deep voice, "Er Ge, something feels off. The southern rats' noses are just as good as ours. There's no way they couldn't have smelled all this meat. This doesn't make sense."
Sun Lao Er didn't mind the toxic mercury rust at all. He picked up a small bronze square cauldron and kissed it. "Haha, baby, let's go home with me!"
And he didn't forget to add, "Old San, I've noticed you've become more cautious. Why think so much? Let me ask you this, if a bunch of female college students stripped off their clothes and lay on the ground, what would you do?"
"Definitely deal with it later," Sun Lao San replied without hesitation.
[--------------------------------------------]
Enjoyed the chapter?
If you want early access to +10 Advance chapters and to support the continuation of this story, consider subscribing to my Patreon. Your support means a lot and helps me bring more great content to you!
Join me on Patreon: Patreon.com/flokixy