The Unorthodox Tomb Raider

Wu Xie was still pondering the man's origins when the water temperature around them suddenly rose.

The scalding water had reached the edge of the cliff. Wu Xie felt a stinging pain all over his body and immediately realized that Liang 1.3, that guy, was even more cunning than him, and the method he mentioned was completely useless.

At this moment, Fang Yun appeared next to Wu Xie without anyone noticing and patted Wu Xie on the shoulder.

However, Wu Xie didn't seem to understand what Fang Yun meant at this moment.

Fang Yun rolled her eyes and kicked Wu Xie's hook.

Pointing to the other side of the waterfall, Wu Xie finally understood that Fang Yun was telling him that diving was useless, and that jumping down would give him a chance of survival.

Anyway, hanging here at this time means having to endure the scalding water.

Even if you don't jump, you'll still die.

If the waterfall is particularly deep, the worst that can happen is death.

They wouldn't have to suffer so much. After all, being scalded by hot water was a double torment, both mentally and physically, which was truly unbearable for Wu Xie and the others.

Chapter 316 Coffin Cave!

"Wu Xie, wake up quickly."

A familiar voice rang in Wu Xie's ears.

Wu Xie was suddenly jolted awake, and slowly opened his eyes to see Fang Yun slapping him.

Everything he had just dreamed about felt so real, but since it was just a dream, Wu Xie didn't dare to tell anyone.

"Did you have a nightmare just now? Your expression was so ferocious."

Old Yang quickly asked.

"It's alright, where are we now?"

Wu Xie said.

Wu Xie turned his head and found it was unusually warm. He saw a campfire nearby, and Liang Shiye, who had been there before, was warming himself by the fire. When he saw Wu Xie wake up, he smiled awkwardly. Wu Xie ignored Liang Shiye.

"I told you to jump down quickly, and luckily you did in time, otherwise that hot current would have cooked you alive. I don't know where you bumped into, but when we woke up you were trembling uncontrollably. I had no choice but to fan you to try to wake you up."

"As for where this place is, you'll know once you see it for yourself."

Fang Yun said calmly.

Old Yang pulled a No. 19 pistol from one of his backpacks and pointed it behind him.

Wu Xie quickly turned around and found that the pebble beach he was on was very small, barely able to accommodate a few of them.

There is another cliff behind it. According to Wu Xie's own speculation, the rock vein where this underground waterway is located may be a stepped downward structure.

In some areas, landslides have caused a series of faults.

Old Yang turned around and fired a signal flare towards the top of the cliff, revealing the scene below.

At first, Wu Xie didn't realize what he was seeing. When he did, he felt a dull ache in his head, as if he were living in a dream.

With the help of the blinding light emitted by the signal flare, Wu Xie could see that the bottom of the cliff, several feet below, was filled with countless coffins.

If this natural cave weren't so large, these coffins would probably have overflowed long ago. I wonder how many layers of coffins were stacked at the highest point to create this scene.

"What...what kind of place is this? How come there are so many coffins? There are more than the coffin warehouse has."

Wu Xie said in surprise.

"Based on my experience, this should be a cave burial site for the Miao people on the high slope."

"Master Liang said quickly."

Fang Yun did not interrupt Liang Shiye's speech, but frowned slightly, staring at the coffin below the cliff as if he had remembered something.

"Gaopo Miao people? Are you kidding me? Do you really think I'm stupid enough to fool me with a few random words? Do you think I don't know where the Gaopo Miao people live?"

Wu Xie said with dissatisfaction.

"Let me finish explaining. There may have been Miao people living here in the past. There are still many ethnic minorities living in these deep mountains. If you look closely, those coffins are just made of wooden planks. You should know that this is completely different from the Han people's burial customs. You also know that if Han people were to bury their dead, the coffins would naturally be exquisite. It's impossible for them to make them so casually."

"Besides, this is just my personal deduction. I just believe that my deduction is correct. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, not me."

"That's what Master Liang said."

This custom is not well understood by most people. Wu Xie only knew that some Miao people have continued the funeral custom of cave burial.

Natural caves were used as burial sites, and the coffins of deceased relatives were placed in the caves in a regular manner, layer upon layer, with the bottom ones becoming loose and rotten, and the ones above being stacked on top of each other.

The deceased must be an elderly person over sixty years old in the family, married, and not have died a violent death, from an infectious disease, or from another place. Only the elderly can be buried here.

The sheer number of coffins here is astonishing; they may be hundreds of years old. The bottom coffins have all rotted into mud, and the top ones are also very old. It's possible that no new coffins have been added since cremation was implemented.

Just a second before the signal flare burned out, something inside the coffin seemed to suddenly catch Wu Xie's attention.

"We don't need to delve into the customs here, nor do they have much significance. The most important thing now is to find that ancient tomb. Even if this is the burial site of the Miao people of Gaopo, there must be another ancient tomb further on. The rest depends on whether you, my friend, can continue to lead us on the way."

Fang Yun said calmly.

"Don't worry about that. Since I brought you here, I must have found that ancient tomb. When the signal flare burned just now, I could roughly see the entrance to the cave I escaped from. I'll light another signal flare in a bit, and then I should be able to see the entrance to the cave more clearly."

Old Yang quickly replied.

As he spoke, Old Yang reloaded a signal flare and fired a shot toward the spot where he thought he had just seen the cave entrance.

This signal flare had a very clear target, unlike the first one which was only for illuminating the area below. So this time, the area was illuminated again, and everyone was able to see what it looked like much better.

It was an open space in the northeast corner of the cave, without any coffins piled up. It was about thirty or forty square meters in size. The light from the signal flare was insufficient, but one thing was certain: this open space was sunken and was probably a pit.

"That's right, it's the area illuminated by that signal flare. You should be able to see clearly that there are no coffins there. It's about forty square meters in size. There's a hole at the bottom of that pit. That hole is the passage I made when I escaped from that ancient tomb. We can go to the ancient tomb I mentioned by going through that passage."

Old Yang said excitedly.

"Logically speaking, the Miao people shouldn't pay so much attention to feng shui. If there's an empty space in the middle of a Han Chinese tomb, then feng shui is definitely important. But the Miao people don't care about that. What is the reason that the empty space is there?"

Wu Xie muttered to himself.

"I said, you're not a professional tomb raider, did you collapse the tunnel when you were digging it from below? That caused all the coffins above to collapse in, otherwise it would be very strange that there was an open space out of nowhere."

Wu Xie quickly asked.

Chapter 317: Rest and Casual Chat!

“This ancient tomb has two layers of seven layers of blue bricks on top. I followed your method and cut three horizontally and four vertically. After I dug the hole up, the pit was right on top of it. It wasn’t me who made it at all.”

Old Yang said helplessly.

This method of "taking three horizontally and four vertically" is indeed the method that tomb raiders must follow when trapped in ancient tombs from the Ming and Qing dynasties. If they do not follow this method and break through the walls of the ancient tomb from bottom to top, it is very likely that the top of the ancient tomb will collapse, thus burying the tomb raiders to death in the ancient tomb.

"The top of the ancient tomb is the most secure and also the most dangerous. Unless it is absolutely necessary, no one will drill a hole from the top to get out. What kind of situation did Old Yang encounter that forced him to take this most dangerous path? Is there something he is hiding from me?"

Wu Xie muttered to himself.

While Wu Xie was still thinking, he saw Lao Yang skillfully load another signal flare into the signal gun.

“Old Yang, in this kind of dark place, resources that can illuminate a large area are non-renewable and very scarce. Now that we’ve seen the exact location of the pit, there’s no need to use the signal flare for lighting. Every little bit helps.”

Fang Yun said calmly.

"The main problem now is that if we want to get to that clearing, we have to find a way down this cliff and go through those thousands of coffins. There are still some gaps in these coffins, so it should be possible to walk through them. I roughly estimated the area illuminated by the flare earlier. If we get there, it's only about 200 meters at most. Now our main problem is how to climb down this cliff that's a dozen feet high. We have very little equipment left. If we want to climb down by hand, we need to plan carefully and eliminate some problems first."

Wu Xie quickly replied.

Upon hearing Wu Xie's words, Fang Yun and Lao Yang could only return to their side of the campfire to re-formulate their plans and direction.

As soon as the three returned to the campfire, they saw Liang Shiye tiptoeing towards the darkness.

Without saying a word, Old Yang cocked the gun and pointed it at Liang Shiye's back.

"You son of a bitch, if you dare take another step forward, I'll break your legs and throw you down here, so you can sleep with these coffins forever."

Upon hearing Lao Yang's voice, Liang Shiye was so frightened that he turned and ran away. Lao Yang fired a shot towards the top of the cave, and the sound of the shot echoed throughout the cave like a thunderbolt. Liang Shiye was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground.

"No, don't shoot. As long as you don't shoot, everything is fine."

"I'm crying," said Master Liang.

"Do you think I'd believe your nonsense? Get back here right now and squat on the ground. If you dare move again, I'll bury you right here."

Old Yang said angrily.

“Gentlemen, I’m just a little-educated lackey, trying to make a living by following that old Thai guy and fooling Boss Wang. Even if I’m arrested and sentenced, it’ll only be a second offense. Please let me go. I know you three are people who want to do big business. You see, I’m weak and helpless, and following me would only be a burden. It wouldn’t be good if I really messed things up and implicated you. So let’s part ways here.”

"I am Liang," the clerk said tremblingly.

"Want to leave? It's not impossible, but leave your backpack here. I won't care where you want to go."

Old Yang said fiercely.

"This bag is mine; as the saying goes, a gentleman should act with integrity—"

"Screw you, I'm a roughneck. Don't try to talk to me all high and mighty. Whoever has the weapon is right!"

Old Yang waved his hand, directly interrupting Master Liang's words.

"Old Yang, I don't think this can be resolved like this. Come here and I'll explain it to you."

Wu Xie put his hand on Lao Yang's shoulder.

Old Yang leaned in to listen.

“This kid might know a thing or two, but that’s only one reason. Even if he doesn’t know anything, if we let him go back and he runs into Old Tai’s gang, wouldn’t that be like giving them an extra person? Keeping him around has other uses. It wouldn’t be good if you killed him so easily. In my opinion, we should keep him and wait and see.”