adminA few people probed for a while and felt that there didn’t seem to be much danger, so they entered the tomb chamber again and arrived at the edge of the passageway. The passage was deep and strange; the initial part was reinforced with blue bricks, but further down it turned into yellow earth, looking surprisingly like a thief’s tunnel.
“Look, everywhere without blue bricks has 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 said, “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 at the entrance that can be sealed? It’s impossible for anyone to dig directly to the entrance of a tomb’s secret passage, so I believe this is definitely not a tomb.”
“Not a tomb?”
“This place isn’t even a grave,” the person replied.
“Then what do you think this place is?”
“This place was not built by the dead; it was built by tomb raiders.”
“This is a temporary base,” the person continued. A temporary base is set up by tomb raiders when they discover a particularly difficult ancient tomb to enter; they stockpile food and equipment inside for long-term underground operations. Most temporary bases are very rudimentary, like a mud-brick house, but if it’s a super difficult ancient tomb or a large fortress-like tomb, the temporary base can be built quite elaborately, as it may be used for five to ten years during the excavation of such tombs.
If this is a temporary base, it could explain some things, but what about the stuff above their heads?
“Can I borrow your shoulder?” Zhang Haike called out, leaping up to stand on his companion’s shoulder to light a match and look at what was hanging from the ceiling. This time he examined the ceiling and the junction with the coffin, then looked at the other things hanging nearby. His expression changed, and he flipped down and said 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 but to make this place like this.” He patted the ground, “There’s probably a big guy underneath this room, very hard to deal with.”
“All the designs are due to vibrations,” Zhang Haike said. “This method of hanging things is very similar to the hammocks on a ship; sailors sleep in hammocks, and no matter how much the ship rocks, they won’t fall out, allowing them to rest well.”
“Is it worth hanging things so high for the sake of vibrations? That’s not easy.”
“If the vibrations are strong enough,” Zhang Haike said, “strong enough and frequent enough, maybe if it shakes a dozen times a day, then a reliable method 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 station?”
“I can’t be certain because we can’t go back in time to ask the builders what it was all about, but I think this mechanism is not a trap but an alarm.”
“Go on.”
“This mechanism is very sensitive and extends underground. If there is a violent tremor here, people will be in danger. They can’t just protect the tomb artifact and not themselves. So, they installed a vibration detector here; as soon as there is any vibration, this mechanism will be triggered, and this opening will immediately open. Perhaps it is safer beneath this tunnel.”
“Safer beneath the tunnel?” one person said. “That seems a bit far-fetched. I think it might be like this: perhaps the senior who went below was alone, and the entrance to this tunnel, if not sealed, might not be very safe. Something could climb up from below, so he made this mechanism. After entering, he closed the secret door, and when he came back, he kicked the door panel, causing a tremor above, and the door opened.”
“Wouldn’t you kick the zongzi instead?” 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 saw that there are springs made of steel bars. These are shock-absorbing components. Normally, these things are like they are growing from the ceiling, but when there is a tremor, they can significantly reduce the shock. Also, why are the bricks and bluestones here turned upside down as if everything has been flipped? That’s because all the materials were probably dug up from underground. The bluestones are too heavy, so they were laid at the bottom, while the bricks were used to build this place. So I said that beneath this temporary barrier, there must be a large ancient tomb, and it must be very large for them to have sourced materials on-site to build such a resting station.”
“That makes sense.” Everyone nodded. Zhang Haike was no longer in the mood to feel smug and continued, “This door is heavily guarded, which might also be the reason for the existence of this temporary barrier. The tunnel that descends from the floor has a protective mechanism at the entrance, so it should be safe. We must go in and take a look.”
Without further ado, confidence returned to this group of Zhang family children. A few exchanged glances and decided to go. Zhang Haike was the first, followed by the others, and they jumped into the tunnel one after another.
The tunnel went almost straight down. They used their feet as brakes and slid down quickly, reaching the bottom of the tunnel in no time.
The process took a full four to five minutes, and when they looked up, it was pitch black above, and the entrance was completely out of sight.
The bottom of the tunnel was a round chamber, where another brick wall appeared in the yellow earth on the other side, which had already been broken through. Strangely, the hole was only the size of a fist.
“This hole isn’t even big enough to peek through,” one person remarked.
Zhang Haike kicked the ground and discovered many bluestones beneath the yellow earth. He said, “No, it seems the last person who came here wanted to seal this hole again, but in the end, they left this small opening unfinished. The raw materials are still scattered here.”
The hole was too small for the light of the fire stick to penetrate inside. Zhang Haike flicked a fire stick into the hole. With a ‘pop,’ it seemed to hit something and then fell down, extinguishing instantly.
“Reach a hand inside,” Zhang Haike said, looking around at the people behind him. “Whose turn is it?”
“That little ghost. But I’ll handle it.” One of them said, as he took off his outer coat to reveal his arms. Zhang Haike pulled a horse leg cutter from his backpack, wedged it into the hole, and pressed down with all his strength, asking, “How many inches to leave?”
“At most a palm’s width,” the man replied, stretching his hand into the hole to start feeling around.
Everyone held their breath and didn’t dare to speak; this was a very dangerous move. If anything unusual happened inside the hole, Zhang Haike would press down on the horse leg cutter and sever the man’s hand to save the situation.
However, after a few moments of feeling around, nothing horrifying occurred, and the man withdrew his hand. Everyone saw that his arm was covered in dark green mud, which seemed very damp.
“What did you touch? What’s pressing against this wall?”
“It’s a person,” the man said. “On the other side of this wall, there’s a body leaning against it—a decayed corpse, surrounded by this kind of muck.”
“Are you sure?”
“I pulled something out.” The man wiped the mud onto his clothes, and when he opened his hand, it revealed a lump of dirt. They rinsed it with water and discovered it was a pocket watch.
The pocket watch was completely broken. Zhang Haike turned it over and saw a qilin carved on the steel back. He opened the watch cover and noticed that the hands had long stopped moving. Inside the cover was a photograph of a stranger. He looked at it and frowned.
“What position is the body in?” someone asked nearby.
“Leaning against the wall, face inwards.”
“That’s good; it means he wasn’t alive when he was sealed inside.” The man said, relieved.
“Good my foot. Not only was he sealed in alive, but there was more than one person inside when it happened. Something was chasing him from behind, which is why he was leaning against the wall.” Zhang Haike put the pocket watch away and said, “Never mind, let’s break through this wall. Whether it’s a mule or a horse, we’ll take it out for a walk.”
