After the foreign friend climbed aboard the boat, he slowly wiped the black mud off his face. Only then could everyone finally see his true appearance. The young man had a bright red complexion and didn’t seem particularly cold at all—could he actually be immune to the freezing water? He looked extremely young, probably around twenty. Foreigners must mature early, they thought; otherwise, how could someone so young already be part of an expedition team right out of college? Who knows how many girls he’d already dated.
As soon as he got on board, he introduced himself, saying, “Hi! My name is Michael Joseph Jackson. I’m a member of the Tour Expedition Team. This time, I came here with two professors for archaeological research. We encountered red-armored beetles in the river, and the two professors sacrificed themselves to protect me.”
Liu Dashao couldn’t quite understand his Mandarin, catching only something about “Mai Kezi”—he couldn’t remember the full name anyway. So Liu Dashao simplified things and just decided to call him Jackson.
Liu Dashao addressed Jackson, “Jackson…”
Before Liu Dashao could finish, Jackson interrupted, “Jackson? Oh, you can’t remember my French name, right? You can just call me my Chinese name, Wu San Gui.”
Liu Dashao felt a bit annoyed at this, thinking the guy must have really deserved a beating to choose such a name. He waved his hand and said, “Forget it, forget it. I’ll just call you Jackson. I can’t bring myself to say Wu San Gui.”
Jackson looked puzzled and asked, “Why not?”
Some things couldn’t be explained in just a few words, so Liu Dashao replied, “It’s hard to explain. Someday, you can figure it out for yourself.”
Seeing that Liu Dashao wouldn’t explain further, Jackson didn’t ask again and instead went to check his bag.
At that moment, he noticed the bag that the others had cut open and exclaimed, “My God! You actually managed to cut this bag open? What kind of material is this that it’s so tough?”
Jackson’s Mandarin was so bad that no one could really understand what he was saying, so they ignored him.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Jackson took out a bottle of liquid and poured it onto the bag. Immediately, a strong smell of mercury filled the air, and where the liquid touched, a slit formed in the bag. It turned out that only mercury could dissolve it.
After rummaging around inside the bag for a bit, Jackson pulled out a pack of compressed biscuits and started eating.
By now, everyone was quite hungry. Fan Debiao, seeing Jackson pull out biscuits, quickly ran over to the bag and started grabbing some too.
Soon, Fan Debiao had pulled out several packs of biscuits and tossed them beside the group. Liu Dashao grabbed a pack and began devouring it hungrily.
“Waah!” Fan Debiao screamed as he pulled out three guns from the bag. “Now this is something good!”
Liu Dashao noticed it was a double-barreled long gun, quite similar to the kind hunters used, though the barrel was significantly larger. He asked Jackson what kind of gun it was.
Jackson explained that it was a weapon invented by the leader of the Tour Expedition Team during a previous archaeological dig in the forest. Because regular guns couldn’t handle the many fierce beasts there, he’d developed this one. It even used rifle bullets, hence the large barrel.
Fan Debiao was extremely excited to have a gun now and stopped eating his biscuits altogether, immediately diving into studying it.
Liu Dashao, munching on biscuits, asked Jackson, “You don’t feel cold in the water? You don’t look like you’ve been frozen at all.”
Jackson replied, “The water was pretty cold. I stayed in it all night and nearly froze to death. When I was almost unconscious, I suddenly smelled something fragrant. We French people love perfume, so I decided I’d rather die surrounded by fragrance. I followed the scent and found it was coming from a cave. I used all my strength to crawl inside and discovered it was full of black mud that gave off a warm feeling, so I covered myself with the mud.”
Da Guozao asked Jackson, “Not many people know about this place. How did you find this ancient tomb?”
Jackson replied, “We followed instructions from a bamboo scroll our chairman gave us.”
He then went back to the bag and rummaged around, eventually pulling out a rolled-up bamboo scroll and handing it to Da Guozao, saying, “Look, it’s this one.”
Liu Dashao was greatly surprised when he saw the bamboo scroll and naturally felt curious. He urged Da Guozao to explain its contents.
Da Guozao looked at the scroll but didn’t immediately explain. Instead, he asked Jackson, “Do you know where your chairman obtained this bamboo scroll? Be specific.”
Jackson answered, “I don’t know much, but I do know that our chairman bought the bamboo scroll from a tomb robber while he was doing missionary work in China. The chairman values this scroll more than his own life.”
Da Guozao continued, “If your chairman values this scroll so highly, why would he give it to you to find this tomb?”
Jackson said, “I don’t really know. During the meeting, the chairman only spoke directly with Professors Patton and Anderson. I was just here as an intern. I followed their instructions all the way.”
After hearing Jackson’s explanation, Liu Dashao realized he knew very little. At first, he suspected Jackson might be lying, but seeing how sincere he looked, he quickly dismissed the thought.
Liu Dashao’s attention was now fully on the bamboo scroll, so he urged Da Guozao again to explain its contents.
Da Guozao said, “This was written by one of the surviving tomb robbers. It records the location of this ancient tomb.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Dashao felt hopeful and immediately asked, “Does it say anything about how the others died?”
Da Guozao replied, “It only records the location of the tomb. Nothing else is mentioned.”
Liu Dashao pressed further, “What do you mean?”
Da Guozao explained, “It says that after he escaped, he lost most of his memory. He only remembered that there was something important inside the tomb, and something very terrifying. So he used all his strength to record the tomb’s location, hoping that one day someone would find that important thing.”
This bamboo scroll was practically useless to the group, which naturally led to disappointment. The mystery remained unsolved, and now there was an added mystery about the “important thing.” It seemed they’d have their hands full once they entered the tomb chamber, but they still felt extremely excited.
However, as the current plot drifted further from his original purpose for coming here, Liu Dashao couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Liu Dashao always wore his emotions on his sleeve. Seeing him so anxious, Fan Debiao patted his shoulder and said, “Brother, don’t look so worried. Cheer up and be a real man!”
Jackson, standing nearby, added, “Yeah, don’t give up. Be a real man!”
Fan Debiao snapped back, “Man, what man? Look at our young master—does he look like a ‘man’ to you? Want a beating?”
Fan Debiao spoke so quickly that Jackson looked completely confused, clearly not understanding what Fan Debiao meant.
Da Guozao scolded Fan Debiao, “He said ‘men’—meaning men, not ‘man’ like a door. Look at your education level.”
Fan Debiao hated it when people used English to confuse him, mainly out of insecurity, and he snapped at Jackson, “You think you can confuse me with English? When you’re in my country, speak Chinese, got it?”
Jackson smiled foolishly and said, “Hehe, it’s like singing.”
Fan Debiao said, “Whatever song it is, I like mountain songs the most.” He then turned to Jackson and asked, “Do you know how to sing mountain songs?”
Jackson understood only the basics of Chinese culture and had no idea what mountain songs were. He just shook his head and asked Fan Debiao, “What’s a mountain song?”
Fan Debiao, being a rough fellow himself, tried to explain for a while but couldn’t quite put it into words. Eventually, he even confused Peking opera with mountain songs.
Liu Dashao found the whole situation both amusing and frustrating, and his mood improved a bit. He interrupted, “Fan Debiao, don’t mislead him. If you keep talking nonsense to him, when he goes back to his country and tells others, those who don’t know might not say anything, but if someone who does know asks questions, the French might think China is a country without culture or manners.”
After Liu Dashao said this, Fan Debiao felt somewhat humiliated and insisted on singing a mountain song for everyone.
Fan Debiao’s singing was terrible, so Liu Dashao naturally tried his best to stop him. But Jackson was very interested and insisted that Fan Debiao sing something. Fan Debiao rarely had a loyal fan, so he stood up energetically, cleared his throat, and prepared to sing.
Just as he was about to start, the wooden boat suddenly made a “creaking, creaking” sound. Before anyone could react, the boat collapsed into a pile of wooden planks.
Considering how long the boat had lasted with them through all their adventures, it had done quite well to hold together until now. After all, it had been a makeshift vessel.
As soon as the boat collapsed, all five of them fell into the water. Liu Dashao had already experienced the water’s coldness, so he was mentally prepared. But when he sank into it, he was still surprised—it was even colder than before.
Liu Dashao couldn’t bear the cold anymore, and Fan Debiao was shouting from the cold too. The worst off was Da Guozao, who was already injured. The icy water caused him to start rolling his eyes, and if they didn’t act soon, Da Guozao would be finished.
At this moment, Jackson shouted, “Go inside the mud cave!” He took the bag and led the way, swimming toward the stone gate.
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