“Yes, yes, yes!” Zhong Kui, the burly man, nodded repeatedly, bending down to pick up a piece of golden jewelry he fancied, when suddenly Old Master Diao pressed his hand firmly onto Zhong Kui’s.
“Grandpa, what’s this for?” Zhong Kui looked puzzled.
“Remember, wealth should not be flaunted, or it might invite unnecessary trouble. Also, these items can be sold to collectors within the country, but absolutely must not be sold overseas,” Diao said slowly and clearly.
“Alright! As you say,” Zhong Kui nodded, clasping his hands in respect. With Diao present, everyone followed the rules and acted accordingly, each weighing things in their own minds. The loot was divided fairly—Liu Dashao even got several ancient bronze bells, while Fan Debiao received some scattered pieces of jewelry. As for the tiger-shaped mask, on Diao’s repeated insistence, it was returned to the coffin. Some items could be taken, but others could not. This mask was no ordinary object that humans could wield—it could bring fatal consequences if mishandled.
Just then, a soft groan came from Wang Feifei as she slowly regained consciousness. Rubbing her head where she had hit it when she fell, she asked, “Where… where am I? And where’s the Jiangshi?”
Liu Dashao couldn’t help but smile, saying, “It’s good you’re awake. Now we can leave the tomb.”
“Leave the tomb?” Wang Feifei’s face changed dramatically, shaking her head like a drum: “No way! Time moves faster here than outside. I don’t want to walk out and find myself an old hag of seventy or eighty. I haven’t even gotten married yet!”
Liu Dashao was momentarily stunned. Indeed, they had no way of contacting the outside world now, but they couldn’t stay in this ancient city forever. No matter what, although exiting through this cave might be risky, as long as there was a one percent chance, they must try. Liu Dashao thus declared, “No matter what, we must give it a shot.”
After much persuasion, Wang Feifei finally agreed to leave the tomb. Thus, led by Fan Debiao, the group entered the mysterious cave.
Inside the cave, it was extremely dark. Liu Dashao handed his wolf-eye flashlight to Fan Debiao, who took the lead.
Fortunately, although the air inside the cave was murky, it wasn’t so bad that they couldn’t breathe. Occasionally, cold gusts of wind blew toward them, chilling yet proving the cave was connected to the outside world. Liu Dashao felt a little more at ease.
No one knew how long they had crawled through the cave—it felt like ages. Liu Dashao was exhausted, thirsty, and drenched in sweat, still no sign of light ahead. But there was nothing to laugh about; Liu Dashao was neither weak nor frail, nor did he suffer from congenital infantile paralysis. However, even with good physical condition, in such a narrow cave where only one person could crawl at a time, no one could last long.
Moreover, the cave twisted and turned like a maze, sometimes sloping upward, sometimes downward, leaving everyone completely disoriented. Liu Dashao began to regret rashly entering the cave without knowing how long it would take to get out. Everyone’s energy was nearly depleted—neither advancing nor retreating was feasible. Finally, Fan Debiao simply plopped down on the ground, belly against the dirt, panting: “I can’t go on, my dear mother! I’m just too exhausted. Can we rest a bit?”
Liu Dashao had the same idea. Just as he was about to suggest a break, Old Master Diao suddenly shouted excitedly, “There’s light ahead! I think we’ve made it!”
At the word “light,” everyone instantly felt rejuvenated.
To the group at that moment, the word “light” was like ice cream in summer, a warm coat in winter, bread when starving, and a light bulb in darkness—in short, it was everyone’s spiritual pillar and source of motivation. They crawled desperately toward the light. Although it seemed close, it still took them nearly half an hour to finally reach the cave’s exit. Fan Debiao, no longer complaining of fatigue, shouted joyfully and crawled out. Right behind him, Liu Dashao jumped out as well.
Instantly, everything brightened. The view was wide open. After spending so long in darkness, Liu Dashao’s eyes couldn’t immediately adjust to the brightness outside. Everything before him was a blinding white. It took several minutes before his vision gradually returned.
Looking around, he couldn’t help exclaiming, “Oh my God, where is this? How did I end up in a Gobi desert? The golden ancient city lies in the heart of the Taklamakan Desert. For hundreds of miles around, there’s nothing but endless yellow sands. Yet here, there are grotesque rocky landscapes, even dotted with green grass. This is completely different from the northwestern Taklamakan Desert.”
Wang Feifei’s first action was to take out a mirror to check herself. Seeing no signs of aging, she heaved a long sigh of relief and asked, “Hey, why are there plants here? Have we left the desert?”
Liu Dashao also felt puzzled but couldn’t figure it out immediately. He asked, “Master Ni, Old Master Diao, what do you think is going on here? These plants are clearly subtropical species, which are absolutely not found in the northwest. Our crawling speed inside the cave wasn’t fast—at most, we’ve traveled five or six kilometers. Yet we’ve actually exited the desert? Could it be… could it be we’ve entered…”
At this point, Liu Dashao suddenly thought of a word, his expression changed, and he swallowed the second half of his sentence.
Old Master Diao looked at Liu Dashao, exchanged a glance with Master Ni, and then solemnly said, “You mean to say—we’ve gone through a wormhole?”
Liu Dashao took a deep breath and nodded grimly.
“A wormhole? We didn’t see any worms in the cave,” Fan Debiao asked, puzzled.
Master Ni ignored Fan Debiao’s misunderstanding and simply said, “It’s pointless to speculate now. We must get off this mountain first and figure out exactly where we are.”
Old Master Diao nodded: “Let’s just hope we’re still in China.”
Seeing that no one paid attention to him and instead spoke in confusing terms, Fan Debiao glared at Master Ni, gave a loud “Hmph,” and pouted so much he could have hung two oil bottles on his lips.
The Gobi terrain was vast and open, but the gravel made it extremely difficult to walk. It took the group nearly three hours to finally exit the area. Somehow, along the way, Fan Debiao even managed to find a mummy from Zhang Jiao. Without hesitation, Liu Dashao removed the black donkey hoof from its mouth. Master Ni, pitying the late master, dug a hole on the spot and buried the mummy respectfully.
Beyond the Gobi, they found a highway. The group followed the road, but there were no signs indicating where they were. Fortunately, a truck approached—it was a Jiefang brand truck. Liu Dashao felt a surge of excitement and said, “Looks like we’re still within China’s borders. Thank God.”
He raised his hand to flag down the truck, but the driver ignored them, even revving the engine loudly as he passed, as if deliberately mocking them.
Cursing under his breath, Liu Dashao watched the truck speed away. Although they hadn’t managed to hitch a ride, they clearly saw the license plate: “Xi”—the prefix for Tibet. Most likely, they had entered Tibet.
After walking further, the group grew too exhausted to continue and sat down by the roadside. Wang Feifei said, “We all look like we’ve crawled out of a grave. No wonder no one wants to stop for us. But—” she added, stroking her face, still pretty despite the dirt, “when I personally step in, success is guaranteed—”
She dragged out the last word with a flourish.
Everyone wanted to laugh but lacked the energy. Still, they had to admit the “beauty effect” worked—sometimes tasks men couldn’t accomplish were easily handled by a pretty woman. That was why beautiful women often found jobs easily—after all, who doesn’t like a beauty?
As they chatted, another minivan approached. Wang Feifei waved eagerly. The “beauty effect” worked again—the van had already passed them but turned back and stopped in front of the group. The driver was a middle-aged man, thin and bony, like a mummy. He leaned out the window and, in heavily accented Mandarin, asked, “Where do you guys want to go?”
Liu Dashao quickly asked, “Where exactly are we?”
The driver gave Liu Dashao a strange look, as if he were a madman who had escaped from an asylum, and said, “I’m asking where you want to go!”
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