Seeing Uncle Mei's reaction, Hong Jie and Lao Wu also crowded around.

Lao Wu glanced at the blisters on Uncle Mei's hand, squinting his eyes and saying, "Good heavens, could it be that this rooster has some Taoist magic, cultivating a body of phoenix blood?"

Hong Jie asked, puzzled, "Lao Wu, what's phoenix blood?"

Lao Wu said with a serious face, "It is said that chickens are descendants of the phoenix. If a chicken attains enlightenment and ascends, it can transform into a phoenix. Before turning into a phoenix, the chicken blood first turns into phoenix blood. Phoenix blood is scalding hot like boiling water, able to blister a person's hand!"

This might fool Hong Jie, but I didn't believe it at all.

What rooster turning into a phoenix? If this rooster really had such abilities, would Boss Wang and the others have abandoned it on the road?

They would have enshrined it like an ancestor long ago.

I ignored Lao Wu's nonsense and lowered my head to examine the chicken. I saw that the feathers on the rooster's wings had mostly fallen off, revealing a patch of chicken skin. But this chicken skin was not normal, covered in fresh blood, as if it had been corroded by something.

This scene suddenly reminded me of a news story from a few years ago, about a college student who deliberately splashed sulfuric acid on a bear!

That incident happened in '02 and caused a sensation throughout society. It was reported on television every day, and the newspapers were full of it. I had seen it many times, so I had a deep impression of the matter.

Back then, the bear that had been splashed with sulfuric acid looked just like this molting rooster, covered in fresh blood and looking extremely miserable!

Therefore, I immediately determined, "This chicken seems to have come into contact with some corrosive liquid. You guys stay away from it, don't let it touch you."

As I spoke, I turned to the other rooster and kicked it with my foot.

It crowed and flapped its wings a couple of times. I saw that the feathers on its body also began to fall off in a flurry, and the exposed chicken skin looked like it had been corroded as well.

I suspected that there might be some corrosive liquid hidden in this ancient tomb, specifically used for anti-theft, like the mercury in the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, which could deter tomb robbers.

Lao Wu and Hong Jie, however, were more superstitious. Seeing the miserable appearance of the two roosters, they associated it with the tomb owner's way of giving them a warning!

Hong Jie said in a trembling voice, "It's over! It seems the tomb owner is angry! This is a warning to us through the chickens!"

Lao Wu also said, "This is bad, those zhi guo (people who set up the equipment) went into the tomb earlier when they saw the two chickens were fine, but now the tomb owner has turned hostile, those zhi guo are probably not coming back!"

I was completely speechless at these two people. They could associate anything with ghosts and gods. I ignored them and asked Uncle Mei, "Uncle, how's your hand now?"

Uncle Mei frowned and said, "It still burns like fire, but it's nothing serious. I can bear it."

I thought for a moment and pointed to the water-soaked tomb entrance, saying, "Why don't you wash it in the water? Maybe it will help."

Uncle Mei nodded and walked to the water to wash his hands. The situation did improve a lot, and the blisters didn't seem to be getting any bigger.

By the time we went back, the two roosters had already fallen to the ground, dead.

Lao Wu said timidly, "Violent death of a rooster, a very ominous sign! This four-thousand-year-old tomb is indeed dangerous. Going down there is probably a one-way trip!"

Hong Jie asked nervously, "Then what can we do? There are piranhas on the way back. We can only bite the bullet and go down into the tomb!"

I wasn't in a hurry to discuss it with them. Instead, I walked towards the end of the tomb passage and soon saw a thick stone wall.

Based on my previous experience with the Tuojiang Ancient Shu Tomb, I understood that ancient Shu tombs were essentially more like underground palaces. They had complete outer walls and were also built with city gates and passages.

At the Tuojiang Ancient Shu Tomb, we were lucky enough to find the main gate of the underground palace, so we could directly pass through the bronze gate and go inside.

But this time, we weren't so lucky. The tomb entrance hadn't accurately located the main gate of the underground palace. Instead, it had only found an outer wall.

However, Boss Wang and the others had already chiseled through this outer wall. A large breach, about one meter wide and two meters long, appeared in the simple and heavy wall.

I guessed that this was the drainage project they had been working on for several days. Those unlucky floating corpses that had been fished out of the Duck River earlier had been washed into the underground river and drowned alive because of the excavation of this breach.

I looked down at the breach and suddenly saw a shiny, viscous, and strange liquid seeping out of the cracks in the broken wall.

The liquid was smeared everywhere, and a few chicken feathers were stuck to it nearby. Obviously, the two roosters had inadvertently come into contact with this strange liquid when they were jumping around.

These traces further confirmed my deduction: the reason why the two roosters died suddenly wasn't because the tomb owner was angry, but because they had been unintentionally corroded by the poisonous liquid, which led to their demise.

I waved at Uncle Mei and Hong Jie, calling out, "Come over and take a look."

They crowded around, looked down at the breach, and asked, "Look at what?"

I pointed to the strange, shiny liquid and said, "This tomb has this stuff mixed in the cracks of the walls. It should be some kind of corrosive liquid. Once tomb robbers damage the walls, this liquid will seep out and poison them. The two roosters died because they came into contact with this liquid."

Uncle Mei gasped when he heard this and asked in horror, "Rongsheng, what should I do? I also got this stuff on my hands. Will I die?"

I had at least gone to junior high school and learned chemistry. I knew that any poisonous substance had to reach a certain concentration to be fatal.

It would still take some time for this liquid to kill two roosters, and it would only be harder to poison a living person. Uncle Mei had washed his hands in time, washing away most of the poison, so he shouldn't be in any life-threatening danger.

I quickly comforted him, saying, "Uncle Mei, don't worry, this is four-thousand-year-old poison, and it's been soaking in water for so many years. I estimate that the toxicity has weakened a lot. You'll be fine."

Uncle Mei then breathed a sigh of relief, saying with lingering fear, "Why is this damned tomb so dangerous? There are traps everywhere, ready to kill at any moment. One careless mistake and we're finished."

Hong Jie even more resentfully said, "I shouldn't have come down in the first place! I'm just a lookout, I don't have the skills to go down into a tomb and rob it!"

Saying that, she glared at Lao Wu and said, "It's all your fault! You had to drag me down into the tomb with you! I shouldn't have listened to you. Even if I get a smaller share of the money in the end, it's better than losing my life in this damn place!"

Lao Wu wasn't willing to be outdone, and cursed, "Get the hell out of here! Stop blaming me! It was Boss Wang's idea to let you down into the tomb. If you have the guts, go blame Boss Wang! I'll lend you eight guts, do you dare to say one bad word about him?"

Hong Jie really didn't dare to blame Boss Wang. She stood in place and sobbed for a while, then turned around and grabbed my hand, saying, "Rongsheng, I don't want to die yet. I haven't lived enough. I feel a connection with you, you must protect me. When we get out in the future, I will definitely repay you. If you think I'm too old and look down on me, I can find you a few young and tender girls!"

I was embarrassed by what she said, and immediately said, "Hong Jie, you don't need to say that. This ancient tomb is so dangerous, the four of us must unite to survive. It's only right that we take care of each other."

Hong Jie nodded quickly and said, "Yes, yes, yes! Unite as one! I'm on your side! On your side!"

However, just as we were discussing, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps wading ashore from the dark tomb entrance behind us!