I noticed the fat guy’s expression changed, and I couldn’t help but perk up a bit. Although this fat guy is not very reliable, his performance in the ancient tomb was commendable; at least he has much more experience than I do. I’ve never independently dug a pit before and don’t know if we need to have some kind of mobilization before going down, so I might as well act like a student and listen to what he has to say.

The fat guy ate a lot, his belly swelling up, and he patted it, saying, “I’ve never dug a sea pit before, so we definitely need to plan ahead to avoid being flustered when we go in. It’s definitely not the same as a dry pit. I also want to see how the equipment you prepared for me looks.”

A-Ning said, “Mr. Wang, how confident are you about this? We might as well plan ahead so we have a baseline.”

The fat guy shook his head, “It’s hard to say. Based on my experience, the sea pit has three main issues: first, it’s difficult to locate; second, it’s hard to dig a tunnel; and third, the situation inside is unclear. For the first two, let’s not think about them for now; the main concern is the third one. We don’t know if there are any ‘zongzi’ (a type of monster) inside. If there are, it could be troublesome. If not, then the sea pit is just a dry pit underwater, and it can be easily handled.”

Speaking of ‘zongzi’, I suddenly remembered what my uncle told me about the monsters encountered in the tomb passage. The more I thought about it, the more I felt it might be the sea monkey we encountered on the ghost ship today. I couldn’t help but feel a bit creeped out and said, “I don’t know if there are any ‘zongzi’, but there might be something even more troublesome.” I then shared what I saw on the ghost ship with these people. Others had already heard Zhang Tu embellish the story, but my account was much more straightforward. By the time I finished, the fat guy frowned deeply and asked, “Damn, is there really such a thing?”

I nodded and said, “There are legends about these things in many places, so it shouldn’t be wrong.”

A-Ning nodded and said, “I heard about it when I was a kid too. I thought adults were just trying to scare me into not playing by the river.”

At that moment, the boat captain interjected, saying, “No, no, you don’t understand. The fishing boats here have all seen this thing. Let me tell you, this is not some sea monkey; this is a Yaksha ghost! They are relatives of the Dragon King! If you offend them now, they will definitely come back for revenge. I think we should hurry back to the shore, buy a pig, and invite a Taoist priest to perform some rituals. Maybe he will show mercy and let us go.”

When Zhang Tu heard this, he laughed, “I say, Captain, I shot the shoulder of the Dragon King’s relative with a gun; doesn’t that make me Sun Wukong?”

The captain was so angry his face turned green, saying, “With your appearance, how could you be Sun Wukong? You’re just a Zhu Bajie!”

We all laughed at that, and Zhang Tu pinched the fat on his face, probably feeling that he did resemble Zhu Bajie a bit, and couldn’t help but feel a bit gloomy.

The fat guy laughed for a while and said, “Since there are such things in the sea, we definitely need weapons. What if the sea pit is their lair? Wouldn’t that be running to our deaths? Miss A-Ning, do you have anything like a fishing spear prepared?”

Aning said, “We have considered this situation and prepared some underwater guns, but these guns are quite large and can only fire one shot at a time. In an emergency, they might not be very useful.” I knew about these guns; they are fired using compressed gas and have an effective range of less than four meters. Fortunately, they can also be used as spears. However, the length of the gun is indeed too long to be maneuvered easily in the narrow tomb passage.

The fat guy ignored this and shouted, “No matter if they’re useful or not, we can’t have too many guns. Bring everything we can carry. Tomorrow, I’ll take the lead, Comrade Xiao Wu will follow me, and you and that bald guy will be at the back. If I see anything unusual, I’ll wave my hand, and you all stop immediately. If I shake my fist, don’t worry about anything else—just run.”

We thought this arrangement was reasonable and nodded in agreement. We then discussed some other matters. I recalled some experiences my uncle had shared with me and made a list of items for them to prepare overnight: exploration lights, daggers, fire starters, sealed bags, nylon ropes, climbing carabiners, food, first aid supplies, gas masks, and a treasure box. They were quite thorough in their preparations and even included black donkey hooves.

After giving the instructions, it was almost dawn. The fat guy said we couldn’t talk any longer; otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to dive, so we needed to rest. Everyone found a place to lie down. The coconut wine had a strong aftereffect, and with the sea breeze blowing, my head felt heavy, and I quickly fell asleep, only waking up in the afternoon.

The others woke up earlier than I did and had already started preparing. I splashed my face with seawater, and at that moment, a few divers surfaced. One of them took off his breathing apparatus and said, “We found it; this is definitely the place. We also located the thief’s tunnel.”

Upon hearing this, Aning quickly asked, “Did you go inside to take a look?”

The diver shook his head and replied, “I did, but the tunnel is very long. I swam in for a while but couldn’t see the end, so I didn’t dare to go further and came back.”

Aning nodded, asked the diver a few more questions, and then turned to us, saying, “Alright, let’s get ready. Once they clear the entrance, they will call us. There are signs of a collapse in the tunnel, and they will use supports to stabilize it.”

We each went to put on our wetsuits. The fit was good for the others, but the fat guy couldn’t fit his belly in, leaving his navel exposed. Although it wasn’t very elegant, at least he managed to put it on. After checking our gear and ensuring we had everything we needed, one by one, we tumbled into the water.