Chapter 1 The Analysis

After Old Wei's analysis, we all felt it made sense. After all, there were obvious signs that someone had gone down into this tomb robber's hole. The tent propped up next to it was definitely for the tomb robbers to keep watch.

Considering the geographical location, we judged that this tomb robber's hole was very likely the Immortal Cave that led directly to the Crystal Palace, because it was right in the middle of the Nanshan mountain ridge, in a perfectly central position.

"Why don't we go down and take a look? We've been searching all day, and I don't want to waste any more time!" Hu Wazi said impatiently.

Old Wei, however, was more cautious, advising, "Don't rush. Even if we don't have absolute certainty, we should at least be sixty or seventy percent sure before going down."

He turned to our "guide," Xiao Juan, and repeatedly confirmed, "Xiao Juan, are there any other tomb robber holes nearby? Roughly on the mountain ridge?"

Xiao Juan pointed into the distance and said, "There is another tomb robber's hole over there, but it's not right in the middle of the ridge, slightly off to one side."

Old Wei asked, "How far is that tomb robber's hole from here?"

Xiao Juan thought for a moment and said, "Three or four hundred meters, maybe."

"That's not right, the position is a bit off." Old Wei considered it for a moment and finally made up his mind, saying, "Forget it, it's getting dark. Let's not search anymore. This is the one. Let's go down and take a look, at least to wipe out all the rats that have crawled in!"

With that, he greeted the local policeman who had driven us here, saying, "I'm sorry to trouble you, but could you take these two kids back to the county town? It's going to be dark soon, and their parents will be worried if they get home late."

The driver nodded and said to Xiao Juan and her boyfriend, "Let's go, I'll take you home."

Before leaving, Xiao Liang and I made a point of thanking them.

I said, "Thank you, Xiao Juan. We'll treat you to a good meal when we get back."

Xiao Juan smiled and nodded, also reminding us, "Please be careful, don't get hurt by the tomb robbers."

I quickly assured her, "Don't worry, we've dealt with rats several times before and have plenty of experience fighting them."

After saying that, I watched Xiao Juan and her boyfriend descend the mountain. It was just as the sun was setting, and the golden light of the sunset shone on them, stretching the shadows of the two students particularly long.

Old Wei stood on the side, watching the backs of the two students, and said with a smile, "These two kids are pretty good, they're both warmhearted."

After Xiao Juan and the others left, we returned to the tomb robber's hole. Old Wei had someone take out two rope ladders and hang them on a nearby tree, and then we began to descend into the tomb in order.

Although there were signs that someone had gone down into this tomb robber's hole, to be on the safe side, the first thing to do was to test the air composition below the tomb robber's hole.

If the oxygen concentration in the tomb robber's hole was too low, the person going down wouldn't even have a chance to struggle, and would die on the spot.

Old Wei always took the lead in doing this kind of thing, being the first to go down. He and Jiang Yongguang were the same in this respect. Since they were leading the team, they had to lead by example and not let the other brothers take the risk.

About five minutes later, I heard the sound of a machine "beep, beep, beep" coming from the bottom of the tomb robber's hole, and then Old Wei shouted upwards, "The air is fine, come down."

"Okay!"

I responded and followed the Xiaoling Guards and Hu Wazi down in order.

Following the rope ladder to the bottom, I found that this was a typical "L" shaped tomb robber's hole.

The characteristic of an "L" shaped tomb robber's hole is that its entire shape resembles an "L" shape, first descending vertically, a tunnel dug downwards, and then, after reaching a certain depth, suddenly making a right-angle turn, heading towards the ancient tomb.

The height of this tomb robber's hole's vertical descent was about seven or eight meters, making it a relatively large tomb robber's hole. When we reached the corner, I found that, as Old Wei had said, the tomb robber's hole below had indeed split into two paths.

One of the tomb robber's holes was obviously an old one.

As the saying goes, "ancient is round, recent is square." Because of its age, the surrounding walls of this old tomb robber's hole had been weathered to be very smooth, and you couldn't even see traces of artificial excavation. It was even covered with plants like grass and vines.

But the other tomb robber's hole was obviously much newer. The traces of excavation with tools like shovels and pickaxes were still there, and not even a single blade of grass grew on the walls of the tunnel, which were bare and brand new.

Old Wei only glanced at it once before saying excitedly, "This new tomb robber's hole was dug out no more than two weeks ago! We've found the right one. This tomb robber's hole is probably the Immortal Cave that leads directly to the Crystal Palace!"

Hearing this news, I was also very excited, because finding the Immortal Cave meant that we could find the Crystal Palace, and finding the Crystal Palace meant that we could rescue Sister Xiaomei!

Hu Wazi was as excited as I was. He rolled up his sleeves and walked forward, saying, "Hurry, hurry, go down the Immortal Cave and rescue An'an!"

Old Wei quickly stopped him, saying, "Hu Wazi, slow down. Be careful of ambushes. Don't forget that a bunch of rats just came down from above."

Xiao Liang also reminded him, "Old Wei is right. The rats guarding the tent left suddenly. They must have encountered some kind of emergency. There might be some danger in this tomb robber's hole."

Hu Wazi, however, was not afraid at all. He waved his hand and said, "No danger can stop me from rescuing An'an. Brother-in-law, let's go, let's rescue An'an!"

I was also worried that Hu Wazi would fall into an ambush, so I quickly walked in front of him, and then deliberately slowed down, blocking his position, so that he wouldn't rush forward so anxiously.

Old Wei and Xiao Liang also hurried forward, holding flashlights to observe the situation inside the tomb robber's hole, afraid that the rats inside would arrange some kind of trap for us, like Liu Huangshu did before.

At first, after taking a few steps, there were no unexpected situations in the tomb robber's hole. Everything was quite normal.

But after walking more than ten steps along this brand-new tomb robber's hole, I suddenly smelled a pungent, fishy stench.

This fishy stench was particularly irritating to the nose, making me retch immediately. Hu Wazi, who was walking next to me, also frowned and cursed, "Damn! What's that smell? It's too awful!"

Soon Old Wei and Xiao Liang also smelled the smell. Old Wei wrinkled his nose and sniffed, and immediately said, "Not good, this is the smell of blood. Someone probably died up ahead! Everyone be careful!"

This bloody smell was mixed with the smell of earth, and also had a hint of the smell of feces and urine. It was probably the worst smell I had ever smelled in my life. It was as bad as it could possibly be.

I reluctantly moved forward with the flashlight, and after taking two more steps, I indeed saw a person lying in the depths of the tomb robber's hole ahead.

"There's someone here!" I said in a low voice.

Hearing this, the Xiaoling Guard behind me "swished" and pulled out the big weapon from his waist.