Liu Dashao felt puzzled. What exactly was going on inside? The gunfire he heard was definitely from a machine gun or something similar—so why hadn’t Fan Debiao seen any flashes? Maybe Fan had been too nervous, his vision playing tricks on him. Liu then said to him, “Fan Debiao, looks like we’ve run into some colleagues.”
“Colleagues? You mean there are grave robbers inside?” Fan Debiao replied, slightly angered.
In today’s world, grave robbing couldn’t really be called “grave raiding” anymore. Fan Debiao considered himself a traditional “tomb scout,” only robbing graves in times of dire need. But nowadays, most grave robbers were desperate criminals—people who could kill without flinching. They were more like bandits than tomb raiders. Whatever was in the tomb, they’d take it, and just thinking about them made one’s stomach turn.
“We’re here to raid graves, but those inside are here to loot everything. They’re not in the same league as us. I despise them,” Liu Dashao told Fan Debiao. As soon as he finished speaking, another long burst of gunfire rang out—wild and chaotic.
Fan Debiao muttered to Liu, “What the hell are those people doing in there? Why are they firing guns like crazy? Are they playing some kind of bee-shooting game or something?”
“You think they’re that stupid? These grave robbers don’t care about life or death. Who would use a gun just to shoot a few bees? Even a slingshot could do the trick,” Liu Dashao replied.
Fan Debiao clicked his tongue and said, “Man, those bastards in there must have encountered some zombies, or else they’ve just gone mad from fear.”
Liu Dashao fixed his eyes on the stone door, saying nothing more to Fan.
They waited patiently for about twenty or thirty minutes. The gunfire had stopped. If Fan’s guess was right and there really were zombies inside, then there could only be two outcomes: either the robbers were dead and the zombies alive, or the zombies were dead and the robbers barely alive, likely seriously injured. But Liu Dashao secretly hoped for the first scenario—human hearts were too complicated.
Liu crawled over to Wang Feifei and asked, “Feifei, should we go in? It might be dangerous.”
“We have to go in. That’s our only way forward. What else can we do?” Wang Feifei shot back. Liu cursed under his breath and slapped the wall—there was no turning back now.
Wang Feifei waved her hand and led the way inside. Jackson followed closely behind. They had no weapons at all. Fan Debiao handed Liu Dashao a brick, saying, “No weapons? Then we’ll just hit them with bricks.”
Liu took the brick from Fan, shook his head, and moved quietly toward the stone door.
The group crept through the stone door and immediately plunged into a different kind of darkness. The silence was eerie. Faintly, they could hear each other’s heartbeats and breathing. Everyone noticed this and instinctively held their breath.
In the pitch-black surroundings, they only moved a few steps forward before stopping. Forget about zombies or grave robbers—even a single “Nine Shadow Snake” could be a huge problem.
Liu wanted to discuss their next move with Fan Debiao. He reached behind him a few times, but grabbed nothing. A chill ran through him—where was Fan? Although Fan had a habit of eyeing treasures greedily, he wouldn’t just disappear like this in such a dangerous situation. Liu reached further back again, still finding nothing. He immediately realized—Fan Debiao was missing.
Liu couldn’t let Fan get hurt. As a friend, he’d feel guilty if anything happened to him. No matter what, he had to protect Fan. At the thought, Liu’s mind became chaotic, his head pounding as if it would explode.
“Fan Debiao! Where the hell are you?! If you’re alive, say something! Don’t just vanish like this for no reason!” Liu finally shouted out in frustration. His voice shattered the silence, echoing repeatedly through the chamber, sending chills down everyone’s spines. But after the echoes faded, there was still no response from Fan Debiao. Something was definitely wrong.
Suddenly, a “pop!” rang out as a flare shot into the air. Then another, and another. In an instant, the entire area was illuminated. Jackson lowered his flare gun and said to Liu, “Boss, we can’t let anything happen to our comrades.”
Hearing Jackson’s words, Liu Dashao was so moved he nearly burst into tears. He nodded emotionally, then glanced at Wang Feifei. Her eyes were filled with determination. It seemed no one was angry about Liu’s earlier outburst.
Liu turned around and looked at the scene before them. It couldn’t be described as simply magnificent—it was a miracle. Everyone stood there, stunned, staring wide-eyed at the sight.
Before them lay an enormous burial chamber. It was a circular pit, its walls constructed entirely of black bricks. They were standing on the edge of what resembled a large stone altar. One more step forward would have sent them tumbling down. The walls were lined with coffins, all made of poplar wood. Most astonishing of all, the entire chamber was filled with coffins along the walls, while at its center stood an enormous Buddha statue—nearly as tall as the chamber itself. They were currently standing directly behind the Buddha’s head.
Liu leaned his body sideways, straining to look down. All he could see were coffins, though they appeared extremely fragile—likely to shatter with the slightest touch.
Fan had vanished without a sound. He couldn’t have fallen—the coffins below showed no signs of damage. Even if he had fallen silently, instinctively he would have grabbed onto something to steady himself, which would have damaged the coffins.
Liu looked at the others, silently asking if they had noticed anything. They all shook their heads. Liu sighed and continued searching for any clues Fan might have left behind.
“Boss! Come quick! I found something!” Suddenly, Fan’s voice rang out from somewhere.
Upon hearing Fan’s voice, Liu immediately looked around desperately, but couldn’t spot him anywhere. Then, suddenly, Fan appeared right in front of him, nearly scaring Liu off the ledge.
Enraged, Liu grabbed Fan by the collar and shouted, “Where the hell did you go?! Disappearing like that in a moment like this! You greedy bastard, even grave goods have their proper time!”
Hearing Liu’s outburst, the others stared at him, puzzled. Wang Feifei asked, “What’s ‘grave goods’?”
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