After several people probed for a while and felt that there seemed to be no significant danger, they entered the tomb chamber once again and arrived at the edge of the passage. The passage was deep and strange; the initial part was reinforced with blue bricks, but further down it was just yellow earth, resembling a thief’s tunnel.

“Look, everywhere without blue bricks is covered in shovel marks. This was dug by our fellow explorers,” Zhang Haike said, leaning in to sniff. “The air is stagnant; we should be at the starting point.”

“Isn’t this dug from the outside?”

“It shouldn’t be, but we can’t see the end, so we don’t know where it leads. It’s hard to say,” one person replied. “Forgive me for being blunt, but this really doesn’t look like a tomb. If this were a thief’s tunnel, how could there be a mechanism that can be sealed at the entrance? It’s impossible for someone to dig directly to the entrance of a tomb’s secret passage, so I believe this can’t be a tomb.”

“Not a tomb?”

“This isn’t even a grave,” the person said.

“What do you think this place is then?”

“This place wasn’t built by the dead; it was built by tomb raiders.”

“This is a temporary base,” the person continued. A temporary base is a makeshift underground rest stop set up by tomb raiders when they encounter a particularly difficult ancient tomb to enter. They would stockpile food and equipment inside for long-term underground operations.

Most temporary bases are quite rudimentary, resembling a mud-brick house, but if it’s a particularly hard-to-enter ancient tomb, or a super-large fortress-style tomb, the temporary base would be constructed very meticulously because such a base might be used for five to six years or even a decade during the excavation of that ancient tomb.

If this is a temporary base, it could explain some things, but what about the structure above their heads?

“May I borrow your shoulder?” Zhang Haike called out, leaping onto his companion’s shoulder to light a match and examine what was hanging from the ceiling.

This time he looked at the junction between the ceiling and the coffin, and then at the other items hanging nearby. His expression changed, and he turned back down, saying seriously, “Everyone, this really is a temporary base.”

“How could a temporary base look like this?” the others asked.

Zhang Haike replied, “They had no choice; they had to make this place look like this.” He patted the ground, “There’s probably a big guy underneath this room, and it won’t be easy to deal with.”

“All the design is due to vibrations,” Zhang Haike said. “This method of hanging things is very similar to how sailors hang hammocks on a ship; no matter how much the ship rocks, they won’t fall out and can rest well.”

“Is it worth it to hang things so high just because of vibrations? That’s not easy.”

“If the vibrations are strong enough,” Zhang Haike said, “strong enough and frequent enough—perhaps shaking ten times a day—then a reliable way is needed to protect the recently stolen funerary objects.”

“What about the mechanism? How do you explain that? Would you set up a mechanism in your own rest area?”

“I can’t be certain, because we can’t go back in time to ask the people who built this what it was about, but I think this mechanism isn’t a trap; it’s an alarm.”

“Go on.”

“This mechanism is very sensitive and extends underground. If there is a violent tremor here, it poses a danger to people. They cannot just protect the burial artifact without protecting themselves. Therefore, they installed a vibration detector here; as soon as there is any vibration, this mechanism will be triggered, and the entrance will immediately open. Perhaps it is safer below the theft tunnel.”

“Safer below the theft tunnel?” one person said. “That seems a bit far-fetched. I think it might be this way: perhaps the senior who went below was alone, and leaving the entrance of the theft tunnel unsealed might not be very safe. Something could crawl up from below. So, he set up this mechanism, went in by himself, closed the secret door, and when he returned, he kicked the door panel. The vibration from above would open the door.”

“Would you kick a zongzi?” another person remarked, then looked at Zhang Haike. “How did you come to those conclusions just now?”

“The hooks that hold things above are all live hooks. I looked at the bottom, and they all have springs made of steel bars, which are parts for shock absorption. These parts usually make these things seem like they are growing from the ceiling, but when there is a vibration, they can greatly reduce the shock. Also, why are the bricks and bluestones turned upside down, as if everything has been flipped? That’s because all the materials were likely dug up from underground. The bluestones are too heavy, so they laid them at the bottom, while the bricks were used to build this place. Therefore, I believe there is definitely a large ancient tomb beneath this temporary barrier, and it must be quite grand for them to source materials locally and build such a resting station here.”

“That makes sense.” The others nodded. Zhang Haike was no longer in the mood to be smug and continued, “This door is heavily guarded, which may also be the reason for the existence of this temporary barrier. The theft tunnel leading down from the floor has protective mechanisms at the entrance, so it should be safe. We must go in and explore.”

Without further ado, confidence surged back into this group of Zhang family kids. A few exchanged glances and decided to go. Zhang Haike was the first to jump in, followed by the others, who filed in one after another into the theft tunnel.

The theft tunnel went almost straight down. They used their feet as brakes to slide down, quickly reaching the bottom of the tunnel. This sliding process took a full four or five minutes. When they looked up, it was pitch black above, and the entrance was completely out of sight.

The bottom of the theft tunnel was a circular chamber, and on the other side, a yellow earth wall had been cut through, revealing a brick wall that had been broken. Strangely, the hole was only the size of a fist.

“This hole isn’t even big enough to peek through,” one person said.

Zhang Haike kicked the ground and found many bluestones beneath the yellow earth. He said, “No, it seems the last person wanted to seal this hole up again but left this small opening unfinished, with the raw materials still scattered here.”

The hole was too small for the light of the fire stick to reach inside. Zhang Haike flicked a fire stick into the hole. With a “thud,” it seemed to hit something immediately and then fell down, extinguishing in an instant.

“Put a hand in there,” Zhang Haike said, looking around at the others behind him. “Whose turn is it?”

“Zhang Qiling. But let me handle it,” one of them said. As he spoke, he took off his outer coat to reveal his arms. Zhang Haike took a horse leg cutter from his backpack, wedged it into the hole, and pressed down with all his strength, asking, “How many inches should we leave?”
“At most a palm’s width,” the man replied, extending his hand into the hole to start feeling around.

Everyone held their breath, afraid to speak; this was a very dangerous move. If anything unusual happened inside the hole, Zhang Haike would press down with the cutter and sever the man’s hand, sacrificing a pawn to save the king.

However, after a few moments of probing, nothing terrifying happened. The man pulled his hand back, and everyone saw that his arm was covered in dark green mud, which seemed very damp.

“What did you find? What is pressing against the wall?”
“It’s a person,” the man replied. “On the other side of this wall, there’s a body leaning against it—a corpse, surrounded by this kind of rotten mud.”

“Are you sure?”
“I pulled something out.” The man wiped the mud onto his clothes and opened his hand to reveal a clump of dirt. After rinsing it with water, they discovered it was a pocket watch.

The watch was completely broken. Zhang Haike flipped it over and saw a qilin engraved on the steel back cover. He opened the cover and saw that the hands had long stopped moving. On the inner side of the cover was a photograph of a strange man. He looked at it and frowned.

“What position is the corpse in?” someone nearby asked.
“Leaning against the wall, face inward.”
“That’s good; it means he wasn’t sealed in alive by someone.” The man said, feeling relieved.

“Good my ass! Not only was he sealed in alive, but there was more than just him inside when it happened. Something was chasing him from behind, which is why he was leaning against the wall.” Zhang Haike tucked the pocket watch into his coat and said, “Never mind, let’s break through this wall. Whether it’s a mule or a horse, we’ll drag it out and take a look.”