I immediately understood the meaning of the “Muffled Oil Bottle.” A flash of inspiration struck me, and I couldn’t help but applaud the idea. We didn’t have scuba gear, and if Jude and the others made any moves, we could only watch helplessly. By the time we returned to get the scuba gear and came back, they might have already cleared the way. If there was something crucial underwater, we would have absolutely no chance to gain the upper hand.

Indeed, as the Muffled Oil Bottle said, this might be the only opportunity we had. We could rush to grab the scuba gear before they reacted, rendering it useless. Without oxygen tanks, even if they had a compressor, they would be helpless. This was a classic case of striking first while the others were completely unprepared.

However, I had doubts about whether we could actually seize it under the current conditions. The scuba gear was placed on the riverbank, quite far from the lake. Even if the Muffled Oil Bottle could take on ten people single-handedly, he wouldn’t reach us in time. Before he could rush into the lake, the Fatty and I would definitely be pinned down and killed.

After thinking for a moment, I said, “You make a good point, but we can’t rush this. There are too many of them; we can’t just barge in. Let’s wait until evening and sneak over to steal it.”

The Muffled Oil Bottle shook his head. “We don’t have until evening. Once they settle down, they’ll immediately go into the water. Look.”

He pointed in a direction where several people were already inflating rafts by the lakeside, and some had even entered the water, clearly divers assessing the environment.

“Why are they in such a hurry?” I asked, puzzled.

The Muffled Oil Bottle paused for a moment and suddenly said, “Maybe there isn’t much time left.”

I was taken aback; that statement carried a lot of weight coming from him, but there was no time to ponder it now. I jogged over to call the Fatty back. When he heard our plan, he exclaimed, “What the hell! Just got close to them and now we’re going to rob them? My reputation will be ruined!”

I replied, “If there are any valuable items underwater, they’ll take everything once they dive in. Do you want valuable items or your reputation?”

The Fatty thought for a moment and said, “It’s strange; I find your words particularly convincing, Tianzhen. Let’s forget about reputation for now. What do we do?”

I thought for a bit. A straightforward grab wouldn’t work, so I told the Fatty to prepare a small wooden raft and load it up with stones. We couldn’t rush into the lake carrying heavy lead weights, so we would have to use stones for ballast. After that, we needed to come up with a way to distract those people so we could quickly grab the scuba gear.

The distance from the scuba gear to the shore could be covered in about thirty seconds at full speed. But there were many people busy along that route, and any slight pause would get us caught. Stealing something right under so many people’s noses required considerable skill and psychological resilience.

I wasn’t experienced in this at all and felt it was impossible. Moreover, after hearing the Muffled Oil Bottle’s words, I felt particularly anxious, as if I was about to miss my chance.

At that moment, the Fatty had an idea. He looked at those people, then at the scuba gear, and suddenly asked, “Can you ride a horse?”

“What?” I replied.

He pointed at a nearby mule and winked. “Have you ever seen Mongolian riders steal sheep?”

I immediately understood what he meant and frowned. “A mule is not the same as a horse; a mule can’t run fast!”

“Damn! We’re not racing horses; we just need it to run a few dozen meters. With such a big mule, who would dare to stop it when it runs? The only problem is, it can’t fall down halfway.”

Absolutely! I nodded vigorously. The fat guy immediately went to prepare. We first pulled the wooden raft into the lake, then returned and found the person who rented out mules, saying we wanted to borrow one to transport some things.

That person had seen us in the village before, and of course, he wanted to make some money.

The fat guy asked, “When does the mule run the fastest?”

The man replied, “When it’s in heat; you can’t hold it back.”

The fat guy said, “That’s tricky. Is there anything we need to avoid? What scares mules the most?”

After everything was arranged, we led the mule slowly to their busy camp. As we got closer to where they were unloading, we exchanged glances; I was already so nervous that I was sweating all over.

Three of us leading the mule felt particularly silly, just like those Mexican farmers. However, it didn’t feel too out of place because several mules were there unloading things.

In the big canvas bag in the water bladder, a few packages were tied together. The fat guy urged the mule closer and gave me a look, signaling me to untie the ropes.

I looked around and saw no one was paying attention to us. Just as I was about to make a move, I heard someone behind us shout, “Hey! What are you doing?”

I reflexively turned around and saw a woman walking towards us, and the group sitting under the tree also stood up. I panicked and thought, what should we do? We’ve been discovered!

In that moment, the fat guy took a quick step, grabbed the water bladder, and shouted, “Get on the mule!”

I quickly grabbed the water bladder as well. The three of us immediately jumped onto the mule, and the fat guy gave the mule a hard smack on the rear, shouting, “The mule’s gone wild!”

Startled, the mule kicked its legs and bolted.

Don’t underestimate the mule; it usually walks slowly, but when it took off, I nearly fell off. Plus, the water bladder was tied together with the fat guy’s, and we were tugging at each other like we were performing a circus act, which was very dangerous.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to us, and the girl behind quickly reacted, shouting, “Stop them!”

The fat guy was right; the mule charged forward with an impressive force, startling the two people who were setting up a sunshade, causing them to jump aside and even fall to the ground.

The fat guy kept shouting, “Get out of the way! Be careful!”

The three of us sprinted towards the lakeshore, and the girl’s shouts were completely drowned out by the chaos. Who would dare to come forward? Getting stepped on by a mule could break bones, and for a moment, the lakeside was in complete disarray.

I hadn’t even processed what was happening when the mule reached the edge of the lake. It was afraid of the water, made a sharp turn, and we all fell off.

I bumped my forehead against a rock, and then the fat guy helped me up as the mule continued to run. Looking back, I saw that the woman and a few others were chasing after us, so we quickly turned and dashed into the lake.

Once we reached the lakeshore, we gained the advantage. The water level of the lake dropped very quickly; we plunged into the water and soon reached a point where our feet couldn’t touch the bottom. We dragged the water bladder into deeper water. After swimming out several dozen meters and looking back, I saw that those people had also entered the water.

When we reached the small wooden raft, the fat guy shouted, “Sink!” The three of us dove down into the water.

Underwater, I saw that a few people above had already swum to the surface, almost getting caught by them. Several individuals dove down to search but quickly floated back up. We calmly donned our scuba gear and put on our masks. Thanks to the professional equipment, the surroundings became clear instantly. I used my nose to expel half the water from my mask, strapped on the tank, and put on my fins, while the others had also suited up.

Indeed, Jude Kao’s gear was top-notch; his belt had a tool belt containing an LED Lenser diving flashlight, a diving knife, and a single oxygen tank, which could last three minutes. Transporting these items to the mountains required a lot of procedures, indicating that this person had a significant background.

After everything was checked, I had already sunk to the bottom of the lake. With the scuba gear, I could dive to depths of two to three hundred meters, which I didn’t think much of. The key was that our opponents didn’t have scuba gear, so I didn’t have to worry about anyone coming after us.

The fat guy gestured and pointed ahead. We were still a distance from the spot where we had entered the water; the depth was relatively shallow here, but ahead lay a dark expanse where the ancient village was located. We had to leave this position; the lake wasn’t too big or too small, and as long as we swam away, we could surface elsewhere, leaving them helplessly staring.

I turned on the flashlight and followed the fat guy as we advanced, finally reaching above the valley village. We sank the lead weights and oxygen tanks, watching them drop into the center of the village, then swam all the way to the other side of the lake.

As we stealthily came ashore, we saw the scene across the lake in chaos. Later, A Gui and Yun Cai met us in the mountains, and we couldn’t help but chuckle as we made our way back stealthily.