Xu Song felt very unlucky recently. It must have been caused by not consulting the almanac(a calendar that contains general information about the ocean tides, moon phases, weather forecasts, and information of general interests) before leaving school and heading home.
“Move! Why are you dawdling?” Xu Song was kicked in the lower back, nearly falling into the deep, pitch-black pit in front of him.
Gritting his teeth, since he was already inside the ancient tomb, no matter how terrifying it was below, it couldn’t be worse than his current misfortune, right?
Closing his eyes, he jumped into the abyss of unknown depth.
“Hmph…” In the darkness, he crashed into a hard floor, and Xu Song was sure his nose must have been flattened. He didn’t know if he had hit his head and cracked it, but fortunately, he was still alive.
Although he knew he would be silenced by these grave robbers, he wanted to delay his death for a while longer, after all, no one would complain about living a bit longer.
“Heh, this kid’s got some strong luck? He didn’t die from that fall.” Several beams of light shone down from above, observing the situation in the cave. It was quite deep, yet he hadn’t died from the fall.
“No matter how much longer… ” The person speaking shone their flashlight on a wall, and their voice immediately stopped. Then they beckoned to their companions, “Quick! Quick! Lower the rope! Everyone, get down!”
“What’s wrong, Wenge?” The others felt a wave of excitement. Wenge had seen a lot in his life and even excavated ancient tombs from the Qin Dynasty.
Whatever made him lose his composure must be something good!
“Let’s talk after we descend!” Wenge’s voice trembled. It had just been a glimpse, and he needed to go down and examine it closely to be sure.
This group of people had come up the mountain just to explore a tomb from the Qing Dynasty. When they encountered the unfortunate Xu Song while they were about to begin their work, they didn’t want to attract trouble by killing him outside.
Instead, they forced Xu Song, who was on vacation and leisurely hiking up the mountain, to enter the ancient tomb with them. However, they never expected there to be a secret tomb within a tomb!
Wenge wasn’t sure if the upper and lower levels were from the same era, but he understood that regardless of which era it was, he had hit the jackpot this time!
“What’s that? Murals!”
“What are these paintings? There aren’t any inscriptions.”
“Only murals? Why is it so empty without a trace of anything?”
The group circled the stone chamber, but apart from the murals, they found no ancient artifacts, which left them somewhat disappointed.
These murals had no value in terms of historical artifacts, even if their historical significance was significant, they couldn’t fetch a single penny. They were grave robbers, not archaeologists.
These high-level, unmarketable, and unsatisfying things were of no use to them.
“Damn it, this useless thing!” A round-bellied man vented his frustration and stabbed the wall with the shovel in his hand, causing a layer of wall plaster to fall off.
Wenge frowned, “Don’t touch it randomly! We’ll stick a few pieces back with adhesive tape later and see if there are any knowledgeable buyers outside.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Fqbc tfjglcu atlr, rfnfgji qfbqif delmxis abbx boo atflg yjmxqjmxr, qgfqjglcu ab mbiifma atlcur.
“Qfcuf tjr ugfja obgfrluta! Lf atbeuta bo fnfgsatlcu!”
“Szjmais! Qlatbea Qfcuf, kf kbeiv yf ifoa klat cbatlcu. Qf rtbeiv jii ifjgc ogbw tlw!”
Hearing the flattery, Wenge’s expression improved considerably.
As the group prepared to remove the painting from the surrounding walls, they heard someone questioning, “It seems like there’s something empty beneath this floor.”
“Where?!”
The group rushed over in a huff.
After a few shovel strikes, indeed, there was space beneath that floorboard!
“Nice work.”
Wenge glanced at the hole, realizing that the space inside was quite sizable. He knew that they had struck gold at this moment. He kindly patted the person who had discovered the cave on the back.
As he turned around, he saw Xu Song secretly reaching towards the rope, groping.
Wenge’s eyes shifted and he pointed to another man with a beard on his face, “Xiao Li, take care of him. Be efficient, clean him up, and then come down.”
Xiao Li had been forced upon him by his uncle half a month ago. He didn’t speak much and didn’t flatter anyone. He usually acted like a fool. If it weren’t for his agility, Wenge would have gotten rid of him already.
He always felt unsatisfied with him, but now, without making him pledge allegiance, he couldn’t ease his mind.
Seeing that the group was all focused on the murals, Xu Song wanted to escape from the tomb. Although he knew people were guarding above, it was better than dying here.
Unfortunately, his hands were tied behind his back, and he couldn’t climb the rope. And now, he had been spotted again!
Xiao Li strode towards Xu Song.
Wenge waited until the turbid air had dissipated, and when he crawled to the cave below, he heard a harsh sound followed by a muffled groan, he was sure now that Xiao Li followed his command and got rid of that passerby.
One by one, the tomb raiders climbed down to the next level. Xiao Li listened intently and realized that the tomb beneath seemed deep. On this level, they couldn’t hear any voices.
With a swift turn of his dagger, the rope was cut with a swish, and the hand covering Xu Song’s mouth was released.
In a low voice, he said, “Climb up to the upper level and hide behind the coffin on the left side!”
The hand that had been blocking his mouth finally let go, and Xu Song took deep breaths, his legs trembling. He had heard Wenge instructing that person to kill him, but he hadn’t expected to be pressed against the wall before he could even struggle!
It’s a pity that with such skills, he became a tomb raider…
Xiao Li let go of Xu Song’s hand and ignored him, turning towards the downward hole. Just as he was about to climb down, he suddenly heard the sound of something hitting the ground—once, twice, and again…
“What the hell are you doing?!” Can anyone be this desperate to escape?! Making such a loud noise for the people below to hear, does he want to die?!
“Big… Big brother… I can’t… climb up…” Xu Song was at a loss, tears welling up in his eyes.
He usually had good physical strength and could easily do twenty or thirty pull-ups, but now his legs felt weak and his hands numb, rendering him powerless. And thinking about the two stripped ancient corpses lying next to the coffin on the upper level… There was no way he could climb.
Xiao Li regretted letting this guy go. With his physique, even if he were to be sent out, he would probably die of fright halfway there!
“Get up.” Xiao Li took a few steps to the rope, bending halfway.
“Huh?” Xu Song was stunned, unable to comprehend for a moment.
“Come… up!” Xiao Li’s voice became more forceful, and only then did Xu Song hastily respond, climbing onto his back.
Xu Song originally thought this person spared him because he didn’t want to commit murder, but he never expected him to carry him up?! Can a bad person be this kind? How was he going to explain when the others came up?
“Play dead later, don’t move.” After reaching the first level of the tomb, Xiao Li suddenly whispered.
Xu Song was taken aback but quickly nodded, pressing his head firmly against the back of Xiao Li’s neck. The warmth emanating from underneath his long-sleeved shirt inexplicably brought a sense of comfort. All the unease from being caught, seeing the ancient corpses, and sensing his imminent death gradually faded away at this moment.
“Hey? How did you get up here?” The person on guard above noticed Xiao Li’s arrival and paused momentarily.
“Wenge asked me to take care of this guy.”
“Wasn’t it enough to just kill and leave him in the tomb?”
“We found valuable items inside, and I thought it would be inconvenient to leave him behind.”
“Valuable items?” The person first seemed surprised, then became intrigued, rubbing his hands together with a smile.
“How about you tidy up above, and I’ll go down and take a look? To give them a hand?”
After a moment of thought, Xiao Li nodded in agreement.
The person quickly descended through the opening, while Xiao Li, carrying Xu Song on his back, took a few steps towards the back of the tomb. When he confirmed that no one would come up for a while, he set Xu Song down.
“Do you recognize the way down the mountain?”
It was only now that Xu Song could see the person’s appearance, a face full of facial hair.
When he was captured by that group, Xu Song had some impression of this bearded man who stood out. However, he had never heard him speak.
Judging by the beard, Xu Song thought he must be in his thirties or forties, but now, just hearing his voice, he gave the impression of someone in his twenties.
As they got closer, Xu Song could see clearly. This person had bright, sharp eyes that were full of life and spirit. His eyebrows, arched upwards, were the legendary sword-like eyebrows, exuding a strong masculine aura. However, this heroic upper face and the full beard didn’t match at all.
“Do… do you recognize it?” Xu Song snapped back to reality and nodded quickly.
The man took out his phone, his fingers swiftly gliding across the screen as he dialed a number. No longer paying attention to Xu Song, who was recovering his strength beside him, he stared fixedly at the opening of the hole.
Xu Song patted his weakened legs, he had to escape down the mountain immediately. Otherwise, he might end up dragging down the person who had helped him.
He wasn’t usually a weakling, and he had a fair amount of courage. But when faced with a life-or-death situation, he realized that he was just a student who had yet to leave the school gates.
Turning his head, he glanced at the man again, who was currently on the phone saying, “…the situation has changed. There are at least two more levels below this ancient tomb. It seems to be a large-scale tomb complex… If we don’t take action, the cultural relics could suffer significant damage… Yes, understood…”
Though he only caught snippets of the conversation, having watched various conspiracy TV shows and movies, Xu Song’s mind quickly pieced things together. Could this person be an undercover agent?! No wonder he saved his life!
Before the call could finish, the phone suddenly emitted static noise. Immediately after, both of them felt the ground beneath them shaking, and a powerful vibration surged from below.
“An earthquake!” Xu Song exclaimed.
He was about to crouch down and cover his head when a strong gust of air burst forth from under their feet, launching them and numerous trees and rocks in the vicinity into the air.
A powerful surge of air erupted from the depths of the earth. This colorless and odorless airflow spread in all directions from the mountain, akin to a violent gust of wind.
Ordinary gusts of wind weaken the farther they blow and encounter mountains and rivers that obstruct their path. However, this airflow was entirely different.
Whether it was the sky or the ground, it seemed incapable of impeding the airflow’s expansion. Even underground or in the deep sea, everything trembled and was forced to accept the baptism of this eerie airflow, as if all material things in the world were considered insignificant by it, including all living beings.
This included humans as well.
As the powerful airflow passed over his body, Xu Song felt as if his skin had been pierced. Countless steel needles penetrated his pores and skin from all directions. The pain of being pricked by needles surrounded him, far surpassing the pain of landing on the ground.
The excruciating sensory overload compelled him to instinctively hold onto anything within reach.
It wasn’t until a small stone struck his arm amid the raging wind, embedding itself with a “pop” like a bullet into his flesh, that he felt a soothing warmth and relief from the stinging sensation. The exhaustion in his brain caused him to slip into a deep sleep.
Oh that’s an unique start of the apocalypse!
Oh, wow, I like this realistic part. It’s really fresh
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Like a CEO from a romantic and semi-abusive braindead novel, I only have one word: interesting!
Love your comment
I found another pit! Now, let’s binge until the last chapter😖
That “pop!” Sounded painful 💀
The Chinese version of The Mummy movie 😭😂
So much too read so little time. I chose this story next i feel i made a wise decision. This seems interesting so far. I find it very engaging. Cant wait to read more.
Thanks for translation Chrysanthemum staff!