In order to protect the bronzes in the tomb from being damaged, I quickly came up with an idea. I immediately said seriously to Lao Wu:

"Because Boss Wang may have a way to take these treasures out intact, he didn't act rashly. After all, intact bronzes can be sold for a good price. Broken bronzes probably aren't worth even a tenth of that. If you act without authorization now and ruin the treasures that Boss Wang has set his sights on, can you bear the responsibility if he holds you accountable in the future?"

As the saying goes, there is always someone more evil to deal with an evil person.

Dealing with a grave robber like Lao Wu, who only has money in his eyes, is useless to reason with him. I can only use Boss Wang to scare him.

Sure enough, after hearing my explanation, Lao Wu immediately became well-behaved and didn't dare to touch the other bronzes in the tomb chamber rashly. Instead, he carefully retracted his hand.

Looking back at the bronze lamp stand that he had already damaged, he said to us in a pleading tone, "I really didn't break this bronze lamp stand on purpose. If Boss Wang asks about it in the future, please be lenient and keep it a secret for me. Just say it was already broken when we came in, okay?"

Seeing that he had a good attitude, we didn't make things difficult for him and nodded in agreement.

After all, the most important thing for the four of us right now is to be united in order to find a glimmer of hope in this dangerous ancient tomb.

After appeasing Lao Wu, I curiously observed the other bronzes in the tomb chamber.

I saw that the bronzes in this tomb chamber were mainly human figures, and these bronze figures were all like the first human figure, half-human and half-tree monsters.

What they presented seemed to be a strange symbiotic relationship between humans and trees.

I couldn't suppress the curiosity in my heart and couldn't help asking Uncle Mei, "Uncle, what do you think these bronze figures mean? How do they seem to have grown out of tree trunks?"

Uncle Mei and I are simply a "illiterate duo". I have at least gone to middle school, but Uncle Mei is even worse; he hasn't even gone to middle school. He looked at me helplessly and said with a pout, "Rongsheng, you've asked the right person. Your uncle doesn't know anything."

At this time, I couldn't help but miss the highly educated Xiao Liang and the knowledgeable Xiaoling Guard Jiang Yongguang.

If those two were here, they would definitely be able to talk eloquently about many historical allusions when they saw these strange and inexplicable bronze figures.

Perhaps behind these bronze figures lies the mysterious and ancient history of the ancient Shu Kingdom.

It's a pity that they are not by our side now. Accompanying us are only Hong Jie and Lao Wu, two rats who are even more illiterate than me. How should I put it? It's like visiting a tourist attraction without a guide.

After a while, Lao Wu, who was wandering around in the tomb chamber, became a little impatient.

He couldn't help but urge, "Alright, have you guys seen enough? If you've seen enough, hurry up and find Boss Wang and the others! These bronzes can only be looked at but not taken, which is really frustrating!"

Hong Jie also agreed, "That's right, we should first join up with the main force. There's strength in numbers, and we can take care of each other if we encounter any danger."

Uncle Mei and I didn't say anything else and immediately turned around and walked out of the tomb chamber.

Going out from this tomb chamber was a long and deep tomb passage. I shone my headlamp forward and vaguely saw a huge black shadow standing in the depths of the tomb passage!

This black shadow was like a giant with open arms, giving people a great sense of oppression.

Hong Jie was startled when she saw it and shouted in a shrill voice, "Holy crap! What the hell is that thing?!"

"It should be a bronze artifact as well," I said calmly.

Placing bronzes in the tomb passage seemed to be a custom of the ancient Shu people. Previously, in the ancient Shu tomb in the Tuo River, there were huge bronze masks placed in the tomb passage.

When we walked forward, we saw that what I said was indeed correct.

It was an ancient bronze tree about two meters high, and the "arms" that opened in the darkness were its outstretched branches.

I looked closely and saw that there were about a dozen branches extending from the trunk of the tree. However, when my gaze followed the branches to the end, I couldn't help but gasp!

I saw that at the end of those branches, each sharp branch was actually pierced with a small bronze figure!

These bronze figures were like sacrificial livestock, cruelly hung on the tree!

Art comes from life. The scene depicted by this craft from more than four thousand years ago would never have been fabricated out of thin air.

Even without Jiang Yongguang and Xiao Liang, the two intellectuals, explaining it, I could guess that in the distant ancient Shu Kingdom, there was likely such a terrifying sacrifice—

Hanging living people offered as sacrifices on giant trees!

It was unknown, however, what the meaning of doing this was or what connection this sacrifice had with the half-human, half-tree bronze figures in the tomb chamber.

However, Hong Jie, Lao Wu, and the others didn't seem to be interested in this strange ancient bronze tree. They just took a quick look at it and planned to continue on their way.

The end of this tomb passage was a fork in the road, with a tomb passage extending to the left and right. This presented a choice—whether to go left or right.

Hong Jie couldn't make up her mind and turned to ask me, "Rongsheng, which way should we go?"

I thought for a while and said, "Since we are going to meet up with Boss Wang, we should first find out which way Boss Wang went."

Hong Jie asked blankly, "How can we figure that out?"

I said, "A tomb passage that has been traveled through will more or less leave some traces. How about this? The four of us split up, two people in a group, and each group goes one way. If we find any traces left by Boss Wang and the others along the way, we will immediately come back and notify the other group. This way, we can avoid taking unnecessary detours."

Hong Jie agreed after hearing this and said, "That's a good idea!"

Uncle Mei had no objection and nodded, "Then let's do that."

As for the grouping, I obviously wanted to be in a group with Uncle Mei.

But at this time, Hong Jie hugged my arm tightly and said coquettishly, "Rongsheng, I want to be in a group with you! I don't want to be in a group with Lao Wu, I don't trust him!"

Although she said that, I didn't want to hand Uncle Mei over to Lao Wu either.

Not only did Hong Jie not trust Lao Wu, but I also didn't trust Lao Wu.

But at this moment, Lao Wu frowned and waved his hand, "No, I can't walk anymore. My leg... my leg hurts badly!"

It's no wonder. When he encountered piranhas in the robbery hole just now, one of Lao Wu's calves was almost eaten up by the piranhas, with half of his pale bones exposed.

Having suffered such a serious injury, it was already a miracle of life that he could persist in walking here.

To make matters worse, he also had injuries on his butt and couldn't sit down to rest. He could only lean against the wall to barely stand firm and said to us, "You three go find the way. I'll rest here for a while. When you're sure which way is the right one, I'll follow you."