Silver Snake initially probably mistook us for the local police. After all, the local authorities where the tomb is located should be the first to respond when encountering tomb robbers.

But ordinary police would never be so familiar with this underground palace, and they wouldn’t start speaking in the secret jargon of the tomb raiding trade, leaving Silver Snake completely dumbfounded.

Old Wei smiled faintly and asked Silver Snake, "Little sister, have you heard of the Xiaoling Guard?"

When Silver Snake heard this, the expression on her face changed, and she shook her head and sighed, "No wonder. 'Ten thousand years of songs and dances sink into the tomb, the nine-layered divine palace ascends Kunlun.' You are actually from the Xiaoling Guard..."

It seemed that the name of the Xiaoling Guard was still quite well-known. These famous *zhiguo ren* (masterminds), like Shopkeeper Wang, Yang Guo, and Silver Snake, all knew of the Xiaoling Guard's existence.

But this was also understandable. After all, the Xiaoling Guard was a special unit dedicated to catching tomb robbers. Just like in military strategy, knowing yourself and your enemy leads to victory in every battle. If you don't want to be caught by the authorities, you have to figure out who the "enemy" is.

When Old Wei heard Silver Snake mention the name of the Xiaoling Guard, a smug look appeared on his face. He said with a smile, "Little sister is quite something; you are indeed well-informed. Come on, tell me, what exactly happened just now, and who was the other group fighting with you? Who's the *zhiguo* (mastermind)? Is it Big Hand?"

Because since we came to Qushang, we had only encountered three *zhiguo ren* (masterminds)—Liu Huangshu, Big Hand, and Silver Snake.

Now that Liu Huangshu was dead, only Big Hand and Silver Snake were left, so Old Wei reasonably suspected that the people fighting with Silver Snake were Big Hand's.

But Silver Snake shook her head and said, "Big Hand? No, that kid wouldn't dare to challenge me. If his people ran into me, I don't care if he has ten guts he wouldn't dare to attack me."

When Silver Snake said this, she had the air of "I am the best in the world," and coupled with her already mature and domineering appearance, she really gave off the feeling of a powerful leader in the *jianghu* (martial world).

After saying this, Silver Snake took out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket. The cigarettes were the thin, long type for women. She offered them around, but none of us took one. She took one out herself, put it in her mouth, and tremblingly lit it with a lighter.

After taking two puffs, Silver Snake exhaled a smoke ring and continued, squinting her eyes, "I brought my brothers, originally just wanting to make some quick money in the Qushang underground palace. We made a hole, raided the tomb, and planned to take a few funerary objects and leave. We scouted the area for a few days and found an old tomb tunnel. The location was pretty good, but we just messed up the final step."

What Silver Snake was talking about was the tomb tunnel we came down from.

This tomb tunnel was "L" shaped. The vertical section was indeed an old tomb tunnel, dug out by tomb raiders in the past, but the horizontal section below had two tomb tunnels: a new one and an old one.

The old tomb tunnel was probably dug wrong because the tomb raiders of the past had limited exploration technology, or perhaps their basic skills weren't solid enough. It failed to directly reach the burial chamber, or it reached a more desolate tomb chamber with few funerary objects.

Silver Snake and her group dug a new tomb tunnel on the basis of the original old tomb tunnel, and it led directly to the depths of the underground palace.

Sure enough, Silver Snake continued, "The *tuzi* (diggers) under my command are all experienced experts. They explored the old tomb tunnel and used a Luoyang shovel to probe the area above it a few times. They quickly figured out the structure of the underground palace, and in two or three days, they used this old tomb tunnel to dig a new one. Going down from the new tunnel, the treasures in the two burial chambers were untouched. If you wanted bronze, there was bronze; if you wanted ivory, there was ivory; if you wanted gold, there was gold. This trip really made me a fortune..."

But I knew things were obviously not that simple, otherwise there wouldn't be so many corpses in the tomb tunnel and the two burial chambers, and Silver Snake wouldn't be sitting under the bronze standing figure, groaning.

Silver Snake took another puff of her cigarette, exhaled a smoke ring, and said with a bitter smile, "But I never expected that there were other tomb raiders lying in ambush in this burial chamber! After our brothers broke through the walls and entered the burial chamber, several people suddenly appeared, holding crossbows and shooting at us!"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but gasp.

I imagined the scene in my mind. Silver Snake and her group had just broken through the tomb tunnel, and what came into view were priceless treasures. Just as they were about to enter and make a fortune, a group of people suddenly emerged from behind these bronze statues and coffins, shooting crossbow bolts at them!

Damn!

The scene alone was enough to make one's hair stand on end!

Especially when I recalled the corpses in the tomb passage that had been shot into hedgehogs, I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat!

It seemed that tomb raiding was not only a technical job, but also a way of life that involved risking one's head.

Although there were no green-furred zombies or blood corpses in the ancient tombs like in tomb raiding novels, a little carelessness could still lead to death!

And even if you could save your life, you could hardly escape being caught by the authorities and going to jail.

So here, I advise all my friends not to be impulsive and become tomb raiders. Only a very few people can make big money in this business. It can be said that out of a thousand tomb raiders, only one or two can survive, get the money, and escape the law.

Moreover, even if these people make money, they don't spend it with peace of mind. They live in fear, always worrying about being caught by the authorities.

In addition to this, these people who make a fortune are also easily targeted by those around them. Being schemed against and defrauded are minor things. In the next few years, I encountered a *tuzi* (digger) who risked his life to dig up a few treasures from a tomb. Before he could sell them, he was directly killed by two of his underlings who joined forces. In the end, he died in a foreign land, without even leaving a complete corpse.

Of course, these are all stories for later, which I will tell in detail later.

Back to the topic, as soon as Old Wei heard that Silver Snake and her group were ambushed after entering the tomb, he quickly asked, "Did this group of people enter the underground palace from another tomb tunnel? Did they accidentally hear you digging the tomb tunnel, so they hid in the burial chamber and waited for you to come in, catching you off guard?"

Silver Snake nodded and said, "That's probably it. Damn, this group of people is too insidious. We dug the tomb tunnel for two or three days, and they were lying in ambush inside for two or three days? And they didn't even announce their names, just started attacking. Damn it, they don't have any *jianghu* (martial world) ethics at all!"

Old Wei said with a bitter smile, "Little sister, do you think the *jianghu* (martial world) in reality is like the *wuxia* (martial arts) novels? Two groups fighting have to announce their names and stop when they've made their point? In your line of work, killing and robbing treasures is the norm, right? People die for wealth, compared to treasures, what is human life?"

Silver Snake took another puff of her cigarette and said faintly, "As expected of the Xiaoling Guard; there's some truth in what you say."

After saying this, she looked up at Old Wei and asked, "Old brother, I've fallen into your hands, and I definitely can't escape. When we get out, judge me as you should, and I'll voluntarily confess everything I've done. But before we go out, can I ask you to do me a favor?"