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Facing the corpses from two thousand years ago made me feel somewhat uneasy.
But the Sun brothers were different. I didn't know what they were thinking, but I could tell something from their expressions.
Sun Lao San looked at the white bones in the coffin and sighed. "Dust to dust, earth to earth. We passed through this place by accident, and we mean no disrespect. Apologies for the disturbance. May all of you reincarnate soon." He bowed toward the surrounding coffins.
"Be careful not to touch the coffins. Let's move on and take a look. It's strange—how come we can't find that one coffin, the one with the needle-shaped lid? Could it have been taken to heaven?" Sun Lao San muttered as he continued leading the way.
The young ones were less experienced. The Sun brothers, who were used to corpses, casually referred to the bones as "white chocolate," but I was still unnerved. After all, there were corpses, decaying bones, and broken coffins everywhere.
I kept my head down, too scared to look around, holding my breath.
We hadn't walked far when we saw a small stone tablet standing on the ground. Faint inscriptions were visible on it.
Sun Lao San crouched down, shining his flashlight, and rubbed off the thick layer of dust on the stone.
"What does it say, Lao San?" I asked.
Sun Lao San shook his head. "It's still in the six-layered script, can't make out anything. But I suspect it has something to do with these female sacrificial victims." He glanced at the surrounding coffins.
Just then, a sharp scream broke the silence, startling everyone.
Sun Lao Da immediately shone his flashlight toward the source. "Stop scaring us, Xiao Hong! What's wrong with you?"
Xiao Hong rushed over to us, her face pale.
"Someone just touched my butt!" she exclaimed, her voice trembling.
"It was a hand! Not a bone! I could feel it!" She looked even more terrified.
Sun Lao Da moved to protect Xiao Hong, frowning as he directed the flashlight in the direction she indicated.
"Hand... hand... Big Brother, it's a human hand!" I was the first to spot it.
Right where Xiao Hong had been standing, there was a coffin with a small gap. A decayed human arm dangled out of it, limp and rotting.
The arm was heavily decomposed, and there were still some maggots crawling in and out of it.
Sun Lao San covered his nose and bent down to inspect. His face grew pale as well.
The body in the coffin, judging by its shape and clothing, seemed to be a male corpse. The clothing style was modern. Sun Lao San, still holding his nose, carefully removed a small copper plate from the waist area of the body.
Upon closer inspection, there were three characters etched onto the copper plate.
"Zhi Guo Chen."
Sun Lao San carefully examined the copper plate and then turned to look at Sun Lao Da.
Sun Lao Da nodded grimly. "It's from the south…"
From their brief conversation, I learned a bit about the divisions between the northern and southern factions of tomb raiders. The northern faction had people like the "Yanjian" (head of the eye), the "Mai Mi Lang" (rice seller), and the "Tu Gong" (laborers), handling various tasks. In contrast, the southern faction had specialists who sought out tombs, known as "Zhi Guo" or "Yuan Liang" before the Qing dynasty. Their role was similar to the northern "Yanjian" in the sense that both were responsible for finding tombs.
Sun Lao San continued explaining how the southern tomb raiders also had people for logistics and other support roles, much like the northern faction.
The Sun brothers then recited some black-market slang used in the southern faction during the old society era:
"Ask Yuan Liang (Zhi Guo), 'One river flows to two rivers, the mountains cut the wood, the fires burn below, there is no need to climb the Three Treasures Hall, may I ask, how many doors of the hill have been broken, and what is the harvest?'"
And the reply was:
"The two rivers belong to one river, we are one family, climbing hills and crossing ridges, the partridge whistle, observing the soil to catch dragons, eleven doors, many visits to the Hall of Treasures, never returned empty-handed."
Listening to this, and considering my own analysis, I concluded that these phrases were likely part of a conversation between two tomb raiders, testing each other's skills and assessing each other's strength.
After confirming the identity of the corpse with the small copper plate, Sun Lao Da rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Lao San, don't you think this might be a case of black-on-black? We don't know this 'Chen' from the southern faction, but based on the characters 'Zhi Guo,' this person's position in their group wouldn't be low…"
"Mmm… It's hard to say. The southern group came down earlier than us, but we don't know where they came from, and they've already lost so many men. Big Brother, we need to be extra cautious," Sun Lao San responded.
"Of course," Sun Lao Da agreed.
The tomb's structure was rectangular, and there was still a large area ahead. We kept walking forward after passing through the sacrificial zone.
After walking for less than two minutes, we came to another stone door blocking our way. Unlike the previous stone door, this one was smaller. On either side of the door stood two strange stone statues.
I tried to think of how to describe these statues...
They had triangular dog heads, green faces with sharp teeth, the body of a qilin, and human ears. The qilin's body had wings folded at the sides, and its back feet were firmly planted on the ground, with the left front paw slightly raised. The statues were about 2.3 meters tall, giving off a fierce and menacing aura, as if warning anyone who entered the tomb.
"Those are some fierce tomb guardians..." Sun Lao San said, holding his flashlight and inspecting them from all angles.
Tomb guardians were often strange and imagined by the tomb owner. They were part of burial culture, meant to protect the tomb, often grotesque and disturbing. Back in the day, the most despised items in the antique world were these types of guardians and the "陶魂蛹" (Ceramic Soul Pupae).
"Look at the eyes of these two statues!" I suddenly noticed something. The eyes of the stone guardians were slightly mismatched—one was bigger than the other, just enough to tell they were asymmetrical.
Sun Lao San's expression turned serious.
"Those are 'cross-eyed' tomb guardians. Very unlucky. Don't stare at them. Let's move on quickly," he warned.
"We're going? Where to, Lao San? There's a stone door blocking the way," Xiao Hong frowned.
"There's no reason to be surprised by a second stone door in such a big tomb. I'm confident I can open it. Give me a day at most," Sun Lao San responded without much concern.
"Only a day?" Xiao Hong exclaimed. "Lao San, have you been living down here for months and got used to it?"
"Hey, Xiao Hong, don't say it like that. We're not monkeys. We can't walk through walls. Lao San's right. There are rumors that the predecessors managed to break through up to the eleventh door. We're not even close to that," said the eldest brother.
Xiao Hong rolled her eyes at the Sun brothers, no longer speaking.
We peered through a small gap. The stone door blocking our way had a seal, but it was much smaller and lighter than the previous one. According to the Sun brothers, the outer door was the main entrance, while this one was like a bedroom door.
Only after opening the bedroom door would we be able to see the true master.