Liu Dashao and Jackson took a quick look around but didn’t find anything significant. Finally, near the feet of the Buddha statue, they noticed something unusual in the clay drum. There sat a mummified corpse in quiet meditation, holding a staff made of poplar wood. Finding a corpse in a place like this wasn’t strange, but discovering one fully exposed was odd. Liu Dashao and Jackson decided to take a closer look. The corpse was extremely well-preserved, dressed in white Taoist robes, with clearly visible facial features—though unusually pale, suggesting it might be a woman.
Jackson exclaimed in amazement, “A miracle! I never imagined an ancient corpse could be so well-preserved.”
Liu Dashao chuckled, “There might be a preservative pearl in its mouth—that’s a treasure.”
Upon hearing this, Jackson’s curiosity was immediately piqued. He stepped forward, touched the corpse’s jaw, and its lips parted like a cherry mouth, revealing a large preservative pearl inside. Jackson paused, then reached out to grab it.
“Stop!” Suddenly, a shout rang out from behind.
At the sound, Jackson froze, his right hand suspended in front of the corpse.
Both Liu Dashao and Jackson turned around simultaneously, but saw no one—only a cold, grey brick wall. Liu Dashao was puzzled. Where had that voice come from? Could it be a ghost? The thought sent chills down his spine.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Jackson calmly asked, “Dashao, what’s going on here?”
“I don’t know. That voice sounds similar to the gunshot we heard earlier—both appeared out of nowhere, without any visible source,” Liu Dashao mused before replying.
Jackson fixed his gaze on the wall, his brow furrowed deeply. He swept the flashlight beam across its surface, completely forgetting about the pearl in the corpse’s mouth.
Now Liu Dashao’s mind began to waver slightly. China, after all, is a country rich in myths and ghost stories. Despite his scientific outlook, when faced with inexplicable phenomena, it was hard not to think of spirits or deities.
Foreigners were different. Even if the sky fell, they could always attribute it to something like magnetic field anomalies. Seeing Liu Dashao’s confusion, Jackson said, “Dashao, you think there’s a ghost here, don’t you? Don’t believe that. There must be some strange magnetic field at work.”
After Jackson spoke, Liu Dashao couldn’t stop thinking. The gunshot and shout they’d heard earlier sounded so real. Even if they were produced by magnetic fields or friction, they couldn’t have sounded that realistic.
Liu Dashao looked left and right, finally focusing on Jackson’s flashlight. This flashlight had been picked up by Vanderbill in the upper tomb chamber, which meant someone else must have been there before. Therefore, the voice they heard must have come from a living person. But how could they have seen Jackson reaching for the pearl?
“There must be someone inside that wall,” Liu Dashao said to Jackson. “They can see us, but we can’t see them. Why don’t we go check it out?”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Jackson replied with a smile.
Without further discussion, the two advanced toward the brick wall in a swift, tactical manner. The tomb was vast, and they only had one flashlight—Vanderbill’s, which was running low on power, its beam weakened, making the tomb even more eerie.
“I told you to stop!” As they approached the wall, the same voice rang out from inside it.
“Did you touch something again?” Liu Dashao and Jackson looked at each other and asked simultaneously.
Of course, neither of them had touched anything. They exchanged helpless shrugs. Liu Dashao muttered to himself, “Damn it, what kind of messed-up situation is this? Could there be a madman inside?” Yet the voice sounded oddly familiar, though now it seemed strangely distant.
Liu Dashao tried to calm himself, wiping his face with his hands, and said to Jackson, “Jackson, there must be a lunatic in there. We don’t have any sedatives, so if that person bursts out of the wall, don’t hold back—just hit them with bricks.”
Jackson grinned mischievously and nodded, “Hit them with what bricks?”
At this, Liu Dashao was taken aback. It seemed Jackson hadn’t understood the term “brick” properly. He had no idea why the man was grinning so oddly.
Liu Dashao searched around and found two sturdy bricks, handing one to Jackson. “If anything flies out from inside that wall, use this.”
Truthfully, bricks weren’t very effective, but in this place, they were the best weapons available.
Like two men hunting a weasel, they crept up to the wall. Jackson swept the flashlight beam across its surface—nothing unusual, just bone-chilling coldness. Looking at it, Liu Dashao hesitated to touch it. What if it was one of those “man-eating walls” Kramer had mentioned? He might end up sucked in and God-knows-where he’d reappear—maybe even the Great Hall of the People.
“Cheng bi liang zhi fei yue!” Jackson muttered angrily, then began pounding the wall with the brick.
Five years ago, Liu Dashao had been fooled by Jackson’s use of that phrase. Now hearing it again, he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. Watching Jackson hammering the wall, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead like a madman, Liu Dashao thought, “Even if the lunatic inside jumps out, it might be a toss-up who wins between him and Jackson.”
“Damn it, Dashao, did you make Jackson go crazy?” Suddenly, Vanderbill’s loud voice rang in Liu Dashao’s ears.
Startled by Vanderbill’s shout, Liu Dashao nearly lost his balance. Jackson, even more startled, instinctively swung the brick toward the sound.
Liu Dashao turned to see Vanderbill ducking just in time as the brick flew over his head. Wang Feifei stood beside Vanderbill, her expression calm and composed.
“What the hell, man! Why did you throw a brick at me? You wanna play ‘Tiger Mountain Fortress’?” Vanderbill shouted at Jackson.
Jackson, realizing his overreaction, quickly apologized, embarrassed.
No one lingered on the incident. Vanderbill and Wang Feifei approached the group, and Vanderbill asked Liu Dashao, “Bro, what just happened?”
Liu Dashao recounted the events to Vanderbill and Wang Feifei. After listening, Wang Feifei stepped forward and examined the wall, saying, “There really is a madman in there.” Jackson, seeing her skepticism, confirmed it again.
Vanderbill whispered mysteriously to Liu Dashao, “Hey, Dashao, where’s that preservative pearl you mentioned? Let me sneak it out.”
Liu Dashao thought to himself, “After all I’ve said, he only heard ‘preservative pearl’…”
However, considering the female corpse’s lifelike condition and its potential research value, Liu Dashao advised Vanderbill not to disturb it for now.
Seeing Liu Dashao wouldn’t let him take the pearl, Vanderbill, bored, went to join Wang Feifei in examining the brick wall.
“Tat-tat-tat…” Suddenly, the sound of machine gunfire erupted from inside the wall. Everyone reacted quickly, diving to the ground within a second or two.
After the gunfire ceased, chaotic noises followed—also from inside the wall. It seemed the gunfire hadn’t been aimed at them.
Everyone got up and moved closer to the wall. The noise continued, with multiple voices—clearly more than one person inside.
They exchanged glances, speechless. Liu Dashao’s mind was a mess, unable to offer any explanation.
Suddenly, another voice came from the wall: “Everyone, stop breathing, close your eyes, and run to the left!”
At the sound of that voice, Liu Dashao immediately recognized it. His expression changed. “It’s definitely him! But how could he be here?”
Vanderbill, puzzled, asked, “Who is it?”
Before Liu Dashao could answer Vanderbill, the entire tomb chamber suddenly shook violently. Occasionally, a coffin fell from above, shattering into splinters upon impact.
The tremors lasted more than twenty seconds before subsiding. Everyone was left dizzy and disoriented, taking a while to recover.
Liu Dashao steadied himself and looked ahead in shock. A hole had appeared in the brick wall, resembling a palace gate. Smoke and haze poured out, and faintly, the sound of running could be heard.
It seemed the earlier tremors were caused by this sudden opening.
Vanderbill stared at the hole for a long time before finally asking Liu Dashao, “Dashao, who were you about to say it was?”
Liu Dashao swallowed hard and replied, “That voice is so familiar to me. It’s him—my…”
Before he could finish, a figure suddenly burst from the hole.
No—it was a group of people.
Liu Dashao estimated there were over a dozen. All wore gas masks and carried advanced weapons. A team of that size was quite formidable for tomb raiders.
Seeing them emerge, Vanderbill, Wang Feifei, and Jackson quickly moved aside to take defensive positions. The newcomers, noticing the movement, immediately cocked their weapons and aimed, signaling that any sudden action would result in immediate gunfire.
The three were smart enough to see they were outgunned and outnumbered. They quickly raised their hands in apparent surrender. Vanderbill even put on an indifferent expression, as if he were an experienced adventurer.
At this moment, Liu Dashao wasn’t particularly nervous because he had already recognized the leader of this group. The one who had shouted earlier was none other than Old Master Diao. Liu Dashao was very familiar with Diao, and he could easily recognize his voice.
“Put your weapons away!” Sure enough, Diao’s voice rang out again from the crowd. As soon as the words were spoken, a man in an old-style Zhongshan suit and wearing a gas mask stepped forward from the group. Liu Dashao was certain it was Diao.
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