We three exchanged glances, and our faces looked quite grim.

Once the bricks were solidified with iron slurry, they became as unyielding as reinforced concrete. Even if you had a sledgehammer on flat ground, it would be useless, let alone in the current situation.

On top of this, there were at least seven layers of such structures, staggered on top of each other. To chisel through here without modern equipment would be utterly impossible.

I felt frustrated and could only blame myself for not considering this layer. The compressive strength of a flat roof is far inferior to that of an arch. The bricks above must be reinforced with something, but in a Ming tomb, there’s no effective way to deal with this; they all uniformly use molten iron to solidify it. Relying on a notebook and some rudimentary architectural knowledge, I was just talking big and now I was finally facing the consequences.

The胖子 looked at me and asked, “Comrade Architect, what should we do now? Give us a suggestion.”

“What can we do? Let’s treat a dead horse as a live one and grab our tools first,” I said, still hoping for a stroke of luck. “It’s been over two hundred years; I refuse to believe it’s still that sturdy.”

Seeing that I wasn’t too flustered, the胖子 thought the problem wasn’t too serious and started to knock on those bricks. The hollow bricks were easy to break, but after they shattered, the iron bars formed by the solidified iron slurry remained. No matter how much strength he used, he could only leave a few dents on the surface. He could tell something was wrong and said, “No good, these iron slurry bars are at least a palm’s thickness; even if you brought a heavy-duty truck, you might not be able to break through.”

I also struck a few times, my hands going numb, realizing that brute force wouldn’t work here. I couldn’t help but feel disheartened. “It seems we underestimated the ancient construction techniques. These iron bars have a high purity; they can’t be smashed.”

The胖子 said, “Why not try grinding? Didn’t the ancients say that with enough effort, an iron pestle can be ground into a needle?”

“Forget it. With iron slurry bars this thick, you’ll be grinding until the year of the monkey,” I replied. “In twenty minutes, the tide will go out. By the time you finish grinding, we’ll have already been rescued.”

The胖子 got angry. “Then what do you suggest? Didn’t you hear that woman say this area will soon enter the windy season? It could last at least a week. If we can’t get out now, we’ll have to stay here for seven days.” He emphasized, “Seven days! Damn it, we’ll either suffocate or starve to death.”

I understood the seriousness of the situation and said to them, “You all have much more experience in this area than I do. If you encountered a tomb wall like this under normal circumstances, what method would you use?”

Without hesitation, the胖子 and 闷油瓶 replied in unison, “Dynamite!”

The胖子 saw my stunned expression and explained, “Don’t be surprised. The sturdiness of this wall exceeds your imagination. In the past, when I dealt with such walls, the openings were usually made at the bottom. If you have to break through a wall like this, the only way is with dynamite.”

Hearing this made me feel desolate. I was aware of the situation he described, but where could I get dynamite in this ancient tomb from hundreds of years ago? Regretting my earlier decision, I remembered that before we descended, 阿宁 had asked me if I wanted to bring some down. At that time, I had been so dazed from the explosion at the Lu Wang Palace that I was completely resistant to the idea and had tossed it back into the storage. If my uncle had been there, he would definitely have brought it along.

Looking back now, I realize that my thoughts at that time were too naive. If there’s ever a next time, I definitely won’t treat it so lightly. I see no hope of getting out from above, so I have to give up: “It seems this method isn’t going to work; we need to think of a long-term plan.”

“Damn it, think of a long-term plan? We have less than twenty minutes left!” the fatty said. “I think if it really doesn’t work, we should go back the way we came. Who knows, maybe the tomb chamber where we left our diving equipment has returned.”

I nodded. Although I really didn’t want to go back into that thief’s tunnel, there was no other way now. Facing that monster in the tunnel again was truly a headache.

At that moment, the quiet guy suddenly said, “Wait! You guys stay here and don’t move! I think there might be explosives in one place!” Before we could react, he suddenly loosened the rope and slid down the pillar.

The fatty looked at me, confused. I shook my head at him, indicating I didn’t understand either. The quiet guy was serious by nature and wouldn’t joke around, but I really couldn’t figure out where he thought there would be explosives. He was now as stripped down as we were, left with only a pair of underwear, so he couldn’t be hiding anything. I stared at him as he leaped onto the celestial stone platform in the middle of the room. Following the beam of his flashlight, I saw him crouch in front of a sitting dry corpse at the center of the stone platform, constantly feeling around for something.

This corpse should be what he referred to as the “sitting golden body,” but I didn’t know what he was looking for there. Suddenly, I realized something!

At this moment, the quiet guy had carefully lifted the entire dry corpse. The desiccated body weighed almost nothing, and he didn’t use much effort. The fatty asked me, “What is he doing?”

I said, “I can only guess that there might be a mechanism inside the dry corpse, triggered by an eight-treasure rotor, which could contain explosives. If you disrespect the corpse and try to take the treasures inside, it might just explode.”

The fatty was taken aback: “How would he know about such things?”

“Twenty years ago, when he examined this corpse, he might have already known. You see, he just said ‘might,’ which means he’s not certain,” I replied. “I just don’t know if the explosives from hundreds of years ago are still usable.”

As I spoke, the quiet guy had already moved the dry corpse to the bottom of the pillar and said to us, “Come down and help.”

I thought it would be too much trouble for the fatty to come down, so I let him stay and climbed down myself. The quiet guy passed the dry corpse to my back and tied it with a rope, saying, “Be careful not to bump it; if the mechanism inside is still functional, it could trigger an explosion.”

Seeing the sitting golden body up close, I felt that the quiet guy’s earlier description didn’t do justice to the reality. The corpse was entirely black, with a shiny appearance that made it seem like it wasn’t flesh but carved from some smooth material. The muscles had sunken in, especially around the corners of the mouth, which seemed to be smiling in a way that sent chills down my spine. In short, this corpse looked nothing like the high monks I had seen in the temple; instead, it gave off a very ominous feeling.

I looked at the corpse and really didn’t dare to touch it. I asked him, “Are you sure this corpse is okay? I can’t shake the feeling that there’s some trickery involved. Just look at its expression—it’s so… so…”

“Eerie,” said the man in the dark oil bottle, completing my thought. “I don’t understand it either. This corpse does give off an uncomfortable vibe, but it’s already dried out and can’t transform.”

I nodded, cold sweat breaking out on my forehead, and asked him, “That’s good to hear. Are you sure the explosives inside are still usable?”

He replied, “As long as the eight-treasure rotor works, the explosives should be fine. Now we just have to worry about whether the mechanisms have aged.”

Carrying a dried corpse on my back made me feel uneasy, especially when I saw its long nails sticking out in front of me, looking ghostly. My legs felt a bit weak. I recalled the corpse handlers of Xiangxi, who would carry corpses like this, but they wrapped them up in layers. Here I was, carrying a naked dried corpse against my own bare skin; the feeling of that dry, bony body pressed against me was chilling.

But there was no way around it. Fortunately, the light was decent, and I could still see clearly, preventing my mind from wandering too far. I gritted my teeth and treated it as though I were carrying a sack, starting to climb step by step, with the man in the dark oil bottle behind me, ready to catch me if I slipped and fell.

After climbing about five or six steps, I suddenly felt something was off about the dried corpse. Since my back was pressed against its skin, I felt it very clearly—it seemed to have suddenly grown a little larger. I paused to sense it more carefully but couldn’t find anything particularly unusual.

I turned back to look at the man in the dark oil bottle; he was below me. If the corpse had undergone any transformation, he should have noticed immediately, but it seemed he hadn’t sensed anything. Was I just being paranoid?

It was no wonder, though; carrying such an eerie corpse made it hard not to be on edge. Just then, I heard the fat guy urging me from above, so I had no choice but to continue climbing. I was so tense that my legs were trembling a bit, and I wanted to end this situation quickly. I hurriedly climbed the last few steps and finally reached the top.

The fat guy had seen countless corpses, but even he looked uncomfortable when he saw this one. After all, when you’re using a corpse rope to hang a body, there’s still a distance of two or three fists between you. Now it felt like we were doing a close dance, which was definitely unpleasant.

I steeled myself and said to him, “Secure this to the treasure top, then come back down quickly. We’ll detonate it from below. If the mechanisms inside can still operate, we should be fine.”

The fat guy looked at the treasure top and said, “Are you kidding me? How the hell am I supposed to secure it? Do you want me to learn from Dong Cunrui?”

I looked up; there wasn’t much to hook onto at the top. To unleash the full force of the explosion, the entire corpse had to be pressed tightly against the top, which was indeed a problem.

After thinking for a moment, I said, “If it doesn’t work, just tie it upside down to this pillar. Hurry up, time is running out.”

The fat guy carefully took the corpse, adjusted it, and asked me, “Hey, it’s really strange—why does this corpse have a tail?”