Mei Shu's words immediately cast a layer of terrifying shadow over this already strange and inexplicable incident. The corpses on the riverbank, emanating a foul stench, certainly matched people's imagination of water ghosts. Coupled with the black shadow that crawled out of the coffin last night, screaming and wriggling, everything pointed to the existence of ghosts and gods.

Almost everyone at the scene changed their expression, their eyes involuntarily revealing fear.

Only Jiang Yongguang, who claimed to be from the "Xiaoling Guard," remained calm. Not only was he unafraid of my description, but he also seemed to have an epiphany, nodding and pondering, "So that's how it is..."

Old Li couldn't help but ask, "What's 'so that's how it is'? Dayong, what have you discovered?"

Old Li's young apprentice also looked at this colleague anxiously, waiting for his explanation.

Jiang Yongguang deliberately kept them in suspense, not speaking directly. Instead, he pointed to some scattered objects beside the corpses and asked us, "These items were washed up with the corpses. Take a look, do you recognize them?"

I looked down at the ground. The things that had been washed up were the belongings of the floating corpses.

There were common items such as shirts, pants, and shoes, as well as some ropes that looked like climbing ropes. In addition, there were some uncommon tools mixed in. I carefully identified them and saw some rotten wooden ladders, rusty iron shovels, and modern tools such as wrench hoists.

At this time, Mei Shu asked in confusion, "What are you asking us to look at these for? Aren't these just the dead people's belongings?"

I also asked puzzled, "Do these belongings have any meaning?"

Jiang Yongguang smiled, squatted down in front of these belongings, picked up a section of rotten ladder, threw it in front of us, and said, "This is called a centipede ladder, or centipede mountain ladder. In ancient times, it was used to attack cities during wars. Nowadays, people use it to go underground..."

He picked up a curved, rusty metal tool and introduced it, "This is called a *guai ding* key, also known as a *guaizi* needle. It's used to open doors underground."

We were all confused, not understanding what Jiang Yongguang was talking about with "going underground" and "opening doors underground."

At this time, Jiang Yongguang picked up a strangely shaped iron shovel and waved it in front of us, asking, "You should all recognize this thing, right? This is the famous Luoyang shovel."

It was a pity that the two most famous tomb raiding novels of that year had not yet started serializing, so people didn't know much about the tomb raiding business. Unlike in recent years, when tomb raiding novels and TV series are popular, anyone on the street knows what a Luoyang shovel is.

I had never seen a Luoyang shovel at that time. I just thought that this tool looked strange. It didn't look like a shovel, and it didn't look like a hoe.

Mei Shu was more knowledgeable. As soon as he saw this thing, he squinted his eyes and said, "This is a grave robbing tool. So, these dead people are tomb robbers?"

Jiang Yongguang nodded slightly and pointed to the corpses on the shore with the Luoyang shovel, saying, "There are so many victims in the river, but there are no reported missing cases nearby. How is that possible? Are these dead people all orphans without relatives? The only explanation is that their identities are very sensitive. They came to the Tuo River while concealing their identities, and even if an accident happened, no one dared to openly look for their whereabouts."

As he spoke, he pointed to the upper reaches of the Tuo River and said, "Our geographical location is very special. It has always been a place frequently visited by tomb robbers. You are all locals, so I don't need to say more, right?"

Mei Shu, Old Li, and the others nodded.

Although I had only been here for two days, I also knew that the upper reaches of the Tuo River was Guanghan City. Perhaps not many people know this place name, but if you mention the Sanxingdui Ruins located in Guanghan City, then everyone knows it.

Now, I finally understood the origin of Jiang Yongguang's name, "Xiaoling Guard."

"So that's how it is. Your special task force is specifically responsible for tracking down tomb robbers, and it has the same responsibilities as the Xiaoling Guard who guarded Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb in the past, so you got this nickname, right?" I asked.

Jiang Yongguang nodded and said, "That's right, that's the reason."

Mei Shu pointed to the Tuo River and asked, "So, there's an ancient tomb under the river?"

Jiang Yongguang nodded again and guessed, "That's very likely. There is a large-scale ancient tomb under this area, which is frequently visited by tomb robbers. Because tomb robbing itself is a very risky thing, many tomb robbers died in it and became old corpses..."

As he spoke, he pointed to the bones on the riverbank.

"Even though this ancient tomb is very dangerous, tomb robbers still come in droves. The latest group of tomb robbers either lacked skill or were just unlucky. When they were digging the tomb tunnel, they dug through the groundwater. The groundwater poured into the tomb tunnel, rushed all the way, and directly connected to the Tuo River. A large number of tomb robbers were drowned, and they carried the tomb robbers who died in the ancient tomb in previous years out together, which formed the strange scene that Xiao Chen saw last night..."

After listening to this explanation, everyone nodded.

I also agreed with Jiang Yongguang's analysis. This was indeed the most reasonable inference.

The crack at the bottom of the water yesterday, which was filled with corpses, was not a gate to hell, but a tomb tunnel after being impacted by groundwater. The corpses were not water ghosts who were claiming lives, but tomb robbers who died in the ancient tomb.

At this time, Old Li's apprentice finally breathed a sigh of relief, and some color returned to her fair face, no longer as terrified as before.

She patted her full chest and said, "I knew it, there are no ghosts in this world. What Ghost Festival, what water ghosts claiming lives, it's all lies."

Mei Shu seemed to be deliberately contradicting her, suddenly asking Jiang Yongguang, "Then what about the black coffin we saw yesterday? And the dirty things in the coffin, the black shadow that screamed and plunged into the river, what was that?"

This question stumped Jiang Yongguang. He curled his lips and shook his head, "This may require more evidence to draw a conclusion. I can't make random guesses now."

Hearing this, the old Li's apprentice, whose face had eased a little, turned pale again.

Talking to this point, the truth of the matter had gradually emerged. There was no supernatural event, it was all the work of tomb robbers.

I thought my task was completed, so I asked Jiang Yongguang, "Okay, I have explained everything that needs to be explained. Can I go home?"

Facts proved that I was still too naive.

Jiang Yongguang grabbed my hand and said with earnest enthusiasm, "Xiao Chen, you are very good at swimming, and you have been underwater once, so you know more about the undercurrents at the bottom of the river. I still hope that you can assist me in continuing to investigate the case."

I asked a little nervously, "Continue to investigate the case? How?"

Jiang Yongguang pointed to the endless river water and said, "I am now basically certain that there is a large ancient tomb under this water, and this ancient tomb has been robbed by tomb robbers. After the groundwater poured into it, it is very likely to cause unimaginable damage to the ancient tomb. The duty of our Xiaoling Guard is to protect ancient cultural relics and protect national treasures, so our current task is to rescue this ancient tomb as much as possible."

I roughly understood and immediately confirmed with him, "You mean, you want me to go into the tomb?"