He was there; that was good. What Zhou Ze feared most was his absence.

At least, as far as the current situation was concerned, things were developing in a stable and smooth manner.

Easily finding clues, easily following up on the clues, and then, easily arriving here.

Even that curse towards Attorney An, "idiot,"

had set the tone for the entire process.

Zhou Ze strode inside, Yingying followed behind, with the little boy and Attorney An close behind.

Although he had just been called an "idiot,"

Attorney An naturally possessed the ability to "wipe his face and let it dry,"

not taking it to heart at all.

He wouldn't be foolish enough to start a shouting match with the person who had just insulted him.

The "spider," after a long period of shock, didn't choose to follow them inside, but instead crawled down to the huge vermilion door, clinging to it with both hands and feet.

Sometimes crying,

sometimes laughing,

the sound sometimes low, sometimes high,

until,

finally, it slowly turned into a low hum and whimper.

…………

After entering the passage, the atmosphere immediately became oppressive.

Zhou Ze noticed that there seemed to be murals on the walls of the passage.

This was also in line with the style of ancient tombs.

The murals in tombs are generally divided into two types: one describes the life of the tomb owner, basically embellished with euphemisms;

this is the same both domestically and abroad, human nature, or rather, human instinct. After all, generally speaking, those willing to spend a lot of money to build a tomb either did it themselves while alive or had descendants with close ties to the tomb owner responsible for the arrangements.

The second type is rendered with a strong religious atmosphere, which is more common in ancient Egypt, with an exaggerated romantic style.

However,

when Zhou Ze took out his phone and turned on the flashlight,

the corner of his mouth,

twitched involuntarily.

This is,

what?

On the first mural,

a group of people were depicted,

sitting in a circle,

singing and dancing.

So far,

it was still considered normal, a bit like a celebration or religious ritual.

But in the middle of this group of people,

there was a large copper pot,

with charcoal burning underneath.

If the copper pot was cooking some wild beast, demon, or even human flesh,

that would be understandable!

But the copper pot was divided into 9 sections,

super clear,

super obvious,

clearly,

a nine-grid hot pot!

The first mural in the tomb,

tells the story of,

the tomb owner happily eating hot pot?

Even if the tomb owner didn't care,

they should have thought about the tomb raiders thousands of years later.

Coming in with great difficulty only to see this,

is really discouraging.

What if the tomb owner's burial goods were copper or iron hot pots?

"Hehe, this, this sentiment, is really unique."

Attorney An glanced at the mural, also somewhat incredulous. At the same time, he specifically pointed his finger,

saying:

"It's really well drawn here. I can even tell that they are definitely cooking tripe."

The group continued forward and arrived in front of the second mural.

The second mural appeared very grand.

No people,

only one animal,

not a mythical beast,

nor a fierce beast,

but,

a chicken!

This chicken was first raised,

then killed,

then processed,

then marinated,

then baked,

until finally,

it became an earth-shattering, magnificent... delicious chicken.

"This is, beggar's chicken?"

Attorney An's mouth was wide open.

This is no longer called unconventional,

this is freaking,

who could be so open-minded as to leave a recipe for beggar's chicken,

on the mural of their own tomb?

Then,

they continued to walk inside,

Zhou Ze saw "Ancient Roasted Whole Lamb," "Ancient Wine Brewing," "Ancient Stew";

one of the pictures was particularly impressive.

In the mural, two people, dressed in white and looking elegant, were probably the tomb owner,

holding a bowl of steaming something in their hands, not knowing if it was tofu pudding or tangyuan (sweet rice balls).

And in front of this person,

there was a pillar.

A person wearing black clothes was tied to the pillar and being burned by fire,

with a bowl on top of their head,

also steaming hot.

And there were annotations made.

Next to the person in white clothes was written "Salty,"

while next to the person being burned was written "Sweet."

"So, this debate existed in ancient times."

Attorney An exclaimed,

then nodded heavily in agreement,

"Yes, the sweet party is heretical and should be burned!"

Zhou Ze didn't want to continue watching.

Was he just going to see recipes all the way?

It was a pity that the film crew hadn't discovered this place, otherwise they could film "A Bite of the Ancient Tomb" here.

It felt like it could directly defeat the original version, which had become too commercialized and forgotten its original intention.

Finally,

the passage ended,

and they arrived at the entrance of the main tomb chamber.

Zhou Ze actually felt,

a little hungry.

It was a standard oriental ancient tomb, with similar styles: the main tomb chamber in the center, with side chambers on both sides.

Side chambers, as the name suggests, existed to house burial goods or sacrificial pits. Some side chambers might even contain the buried concubines.

The main tomb chamber was for the tomb owner and their wife. Of course, if the tomb owner had remarried, the later wife would also be buried here.

However, this tomb chamber had no side chambers.

Since they had already been surprised by so many things, this little bit of peculiarity felt quite ordinary.

After the passage, it was directly facing the main tomb chamber, straightforward, so there was no need to worry about getting lost.

The main tomb chamber had no door, but a beaded curtain hanging with glass beads, reflecting colorful light under the flashlight.

Creating a visual effect like a dance hall in a 1990s karaoke bar.

Zhou Ze reached out and lifted the curtain,

and walked inside.

The space inside wasn't very large, about the size of a living room in an ordinary 130-square-meter three-bedroom apartment, feeling a bit cramped.

Moreover,

there was no coffin inside.

In the center, there was a stone platform,

with a steamer basket on top.

Yes,

a steamer basket,

a larger version of the one used in breakfast shops to hold xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)!

The rest of the space seemed rather empty, except for some grooves and textures on the walls.

"It's a pity that Lao Xu didn't come along, otherwise he should be able to see some clues."

Attorney An said with some regret.

Xu Qinglang's attainments and potential in formations were something that even Attorney An had to admire. Back then, he had relied on his own formations to seal a portion of the Sea God within his body.

Attorney An had discovered this in advance, but didn't try to stop it, only watching from the sidelines. Even when Xu Qinglang succeeded in the end, Attorney An was quite surprised.

"Everyone be careful, don't spread out. Yingying, you two guard the exit."

"Okay, Boss."

Yingying and the little boy stood at the exit,

while Zhou Ze and Attorney An continued forward,

and arrived in front of the "steamer basket."

"It shouldn't be, didn't someone greet me just now?"

"Was that even considered a greeting?"

"Don't worry about these details, Boss.

If two people who are very close call each other idiots and morons, it doesn't mean anything, right?

For example, if I call you salt............"

Attorney An swallowed his saliva.

Oops,

his throat was a little dry.

"You've come............"

The voice came from under the steamer basket.

Zhou Ze narrowed his eyes,

and didn't speak.

Attorney An, on the other hand, stared intently at the steamer basket.

"I know who you are. Have you thought of a name for yourself?

Like,

Wangcai (Lucky), Laifu (Come Fortune),

or,

Panhushengnan (Hope for a tiger, win over men) or something?"

"Someone asked me to come and see you."

Zhou Ze replied.

"Oh? Who?"

The voice in the steamer basket was a little strange, because when he spoke, he seemed to be chewing and rubbing something.

"An idiot."

"Oh."

Then,

there was silence.

Neither of them were good at chatting,

so awkward silences were normal.

And although Attorney An was standing next to him, this wasn't a karaoke bar or a dinner table, so he couldn't act as the emcee.

"Where is he? He saw me, why doesn't he come out and say a few words?"

Zhou Ze knew who the "he" the other party was referring to.

"He's sleeping."

"Sleeping? Impossible. Since you found me, you couldn't have not contacted him. In fact, most dogs probably live their whole lives without knowing that there's a person living inside them.

Oh right, you said he's sleeping, right?

Let me think,

is he dormant?

That's also impossible.

So many years have passed,

even if the losses back then haven't been completely compensated, they should have recovered a lot.

After he saw me,

he should have spoken to me in that tone:

Watch...dog...we...meet...again..."

"Very good imitation."

"Right, sounds like it, it seems like big shots like to speak in a broken way.

As if not doing so wouldn't show how powerful they are."

"I agree."

"Hehe, why did you come looking for me?"

"To see you, how you're doing."

"Now, have you seen?"

Zhou Ze didn't speak.

He took two steps back,

reached out,

and lifted the steamer basket.

It was very heavy,

really heavy.

Two fangs appeared at the corners of Zhou Ze's mouth.

Entering the zombie state,

he barely managed to lift the steamer basket a little.

Under the steamer basket,

there was half a human head, half a face,

a black iron rod piercing horizontally through its mouth.

So,

when he spoke, it was like he was chewing something, because his tongue was wrapping around the iron rod in his mouth.

"How do you think I'm doing?"

The other party looked at Zhou Ze with his one eye.

Zhou Ze shook his head.

"Do you pity me?"

Zhou Ze shook his head again.

"You're also an interesting person, no, an interesting dog."

"I'm hungry."

Zhou Ze suddenly said.

Attorney An next to him was stunned for a moment.

What kind of dialogue mode and style was this?

"There's a sealed jar in the northwest corner, left by me back then, eight hundred years old, eight hundred years of cellaring, to treat you."

Zhou Ze shook his head again.

"Not satisfied?"

"Is there anything else to eat? That wine is too expensive."

"Don't be polite, just think of it as this old dog treating you..."

"I want to sell it for money."

"Uh............" The half face froze, then he started laughing:

"Hahahaha..."