Wen Jin and her Third Uncle come from completely different backgrounds. Third Uncle is a local rustic; if he hadn’t been born into a family of grave robbers, he would surely have become a bandit. He always considers profit first in everything, even when judging people. Wen Jin, on the other hand, has returned from studying abroad and has a more open-minded perspective. Her interest in grave robbing primarily stems from her curiosity, and she is both digging and researching at the same time. So when she heard Third Uncle say this, her first thought was about the archaeological value of the ancient tomb, and she immediately wanted to share this idea with her classmates.

Sunken ship graves are extremely rare; according to legend, only Shen Wansan’s son was buried this way. Therefore, Wen Jin’s idea should be seen as very conscientious. However, Third Uncle felt a bit troubled because the thought of confiscating whatever treasures they might find made him uncomfortable. But Wen Jin had a way of handling things; with a smile and a kiss, she transformed Third Uncle from a forest hero into a volunteer archaeological researcher for the republic.

That night, Third Uncle pondered for a whole night. He had never dug a sea grave and had boasted in front of others, so he had to perform well the next day. He thought about it and realized that he couldn’t use a shovel in the sea. First, he wouldn’t have the strength to drive it in; second, even if he managed to dig something up, the marine mud was completely different from that on land, and his limited experience would be of no use. He recalled the records in my grandfather’s notebook; indeed, my grandfather had dug a few sea graves, but there weren’t any special methods involved—mainly, it depended on the terrain.

A sunken ship grave is essentially a tomb built on a ship, which is then submerged in a valley or trench in the sea. The ship is pierced to allow the tomb to sink, and then soil is sealed over it, much like on land, just relocated to the sea. Third Uncle estimated that the area they were in must have originally been a small marine valley that had later been filled in. When the ship sank, it would have required many anchors to secure it. Therefore, the center or slightly off-center of the anchor points must be the burial site.

The more Third Uncle thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and he became full of confidence. The next day, the weather was favorable. He took the team into the water, connected all the anchor stones with ropes, and marked a point in the middle. He dug in several spots in that area, and sure enough, they discovered wood in a place slightly east of the center.

Next, using traditional positioning methods, they surprisingly defined a massive underground palace in the shape of a “土” character, consisting of two side chambers, two auxiliary rooms, a passage, and a rear hall, covering an area of over a thousand square meters. The rear hall was the largest, measuring over thirty meters long and more than ten meters wide, seemingly intended for placing coffins.

Third Uncle was stunned and thought to himself, “Wow, who is buried in this grave? It looks quite extraordinary.” The scale of this site could rival that of an imperial tomb.

That night, everyone was so excited they couldn’t sleep. They gathered together, eating fish head hot pot and discussing how to get inside. Uncle San analyzed the structure of the sunken tomb for them. He explained that tombs are most vulnerable to water, and they didn’t know if the underworld chamber below had taken in any water. If it had, they could just drill a hole to get in; they all had diving suits, so it shouldn’t be a problem. However, if the chamber was still a sealed tomb, it would be much more difficult, as breaking through could lead to catastrophic consequences with water rushing in. From the wooden pieces brought up by their digging tools, it seemed there was still air down there. The entire tomb was large, and it could easily create capillary structures, so there might be several rooms still containing a significant amount of air.

Uncle San’s theory was based on his years of tomb raiding experience, leaving the bookworms speechless. In the end, he focused all the challenges on how to create a theft hole. The seabed was all sand, which wouldn’t hold its shape and could easily collapse—this was no joke; being trapped underwater would basically mean death. After much discussion, they decided to use a more rudimentary method. There were explosives on the fishing boat for catching fish, so they planned to first blow a hole in the sand to remove the easily collapsible top layer, and then dig a slanted hole into the more solid seabed below. This was a massive undertaking, but everyone was full of enthusiasm. Uncle San estimated it would take about a week, but the corpse was still on the boat, and if they didn’t send it back soon, it would start to smell.

They came up with a compromise: let the large boat take the corpse back first while they worked from a smaller boat. The weather was excellent those days, so everyone was unconcerned. They tied three kayaks together and moved all the necessary equipment onto a nearby reef.

The next day, the large boat set off. Uncle San felt a bit uneasy; once the big boat left, there was no guarantee on the sea. However, they were so caught up in the excitement of the grand tomb that they quickly returned to work. The theft hole was progressing smoothly, much faster than Uncle San had estimated. But four days later, when they reached the tomb wall, the boat still hadn’t returned, and people started to worry. Uncle San knew that the only way to maintain order was to keep working; otherwise, panic might ensue. He continually reassured them and occasionally said encouraging words to distract them.

As they cleared a section of the tomb wall, Uncle San knocked on it. The bricks were hollow, probably to reduce the overall weight of the tomb; otherwise, no matter how large the boat was, the bottom wouldn’t be able to support it. He noticed small holes the size of a pen drilled into the wall every five meters. It seemed that the tomb was designed to be sealed with water, and it should be filled with water inside. They settled down and began to remove the bricks.

Before entering the tomb, Uncle San had already considered that in this water, any traps or hidden weapons would be useless, because the resistance of seawater is too great. If there were a hidden crossbow, even if it wasn’t damaged, the arrows would move in slow motion. It’s impossible to set traps; not to mention that one wouldn’t even fall down, even if they did, they could easily swim back up. Other falling stone traps, which rely on mercury to trigger, would be completely ineffective underwater, as mercury flows very slowly in water and spreads easily. In fact, the water itself is a deadly trap. In ancient times, without oxygen equipment, it would be impossible to engage in underwater combat, so the likelihood of traps in this fight is very low.

They removed the tomb wall, revealing a hollow black space inside. Uncle San knew that these people were unreliable, so he told them not to move. He activated his exploration lamp and drilled in, discovering that after advancing only one meter, there was another wall. The bricks used for this wall were much larger than those of the outer layer, and the seams of the wall were sealed with white clay. Sandwiched between the two walls, Uncle San looked around and found a square tomb passageway, half a meter long and wide, in the inner wall above him. At a glance, Uncle San understood the general situation; it seemed that digging was not going to work to enter this tomb.

After returning to the surface, they climbed onto a reef to hold a meeting. Uncle San said, “This tomb has two layers of walls; the space between the outer and inner walls is filled with seawater, and there is a passage on the inner wall that spirals downwards. With this design, there must be a space inside that is free of water, utilizing air pressure to retain some air in the tomb chamber. We don’t know how long that passage is yet. Tomorrow, the three of us will go down, each bringing four oxygen tanks, and see if we can make it to the end.”

They debated this back and forth, and Uncle San was determined to go down. The other two spots needed to be selected because if there was no water inside, the situation could become quite complicated and potentially dangerous. At that moment, Wen Jin suddenly screamed, startling them. It turned out that at some point, the reef they were sitting on had risen. Uncle San looked down; what was originally less than half a meter above the sea surface was now over five meters high.

He sensed something was wrong and looked up at the sky, only to see a dark line approaching on the distant horizon. One of the male students, named Li Si, whose parents were fishermen, turned pale at the sight and said, “A big storm is coming!”