The shape is very regular, and it definitely couldn’t have formed naturally. But for someone to create such a thing overnight, causing the crops to wither into this shape, how could that be possible? “There is a huge object buried underground in this area,” the child said. “What you see is its ‘shadow’ on the surface.” Ma Pingchuan dismounted from the tree, mounted his horse again, and his expression had already turned grim. First, he regretted not having noticed the mystery of this shape earlier. Second, the child’s claim left him somewhat skeptical.

What does it mean? A huge object buried underground, and its shadow is a scorpion. Why would this “shadow” cause the crops in the field to wither? What is this gigantic object underground? Could it be a giant scorpion monster?

How could that be possible? But if there really is such a huge scorpion buried underground, there’s nothing he can do except run away.

The child urged his horse forward, riding down the mountain, and said to Ma Pingchuan, “This graveyard of yours is built above an ancient tomb. The area where you see the crops withered is the range of that ancient tomb’s underground palace. The tomb is probably over forty meters deep, and the underground palace has been constructed in a very strange scorpion shape. I don’t know what the purpose is.” The child paused, then continued, “The reason the crops here withered is that when the ancient tomb was built, a mechanism was installed inside. Recently, tomb raiders entered this ancient tomb and triggered the mechanism, causing a large amount of toxic gas to escape and evaporate, poisoning all the crops on the surface overnight.”

“How do you know all this, kid?” Ma Pingchuan asked. “Do you have X-ray vision or something?” The child glanced at him and said calmly, “Because I am that tomb raider.”

Ma Pingchuan furrowed his brows and stopped his horse. His subordinates also halted their horses, and the horse the child was riding stopped as well when it saw the others. The child turned to look at Ma Pingchuan, who asked, “What did you say? Kid, do you know the consequences of speaking recklessly? This is my family’s ancestral grave. Are you telling me that you dug up my family’s grave, triggered the mechanism, disturbed my ancestors, and poisoned all my crops?”

“I don’t speak recklessly,” the child replied. “Besides, I haven’t finished my sentence. I’ll tell you where the coffins in your ancestral grave have gone.”

Ma Pingchuan nodded, his hand already resting on his handgun at his waist: “Alright, then tell me, where did they go? Is it related to this scorpion?”

“They were eaten,” the child said. “The ancient tomb below has ‘eaten’ the coffins from your ancestral grave.”

“Eaten?” Ma Pingchuan found it very strange that he was having such a serious conversation with a child of about ten years old, and he felt completely dominated by the child’s presence. The most bizarre thing was that he found himself somewhat believing everything the child said. He tightened his grip on the gun, trying to regain the initiative: “What do you mean by ‘eaten’? Is the ancient tomb alive?”

The child shook his head: “I don’t know.” “Don’t know?”

“I know where you can find those coffins, but I don’t understand why they would be consumed by the largest ancient tomb underground,” the child said. “If you were to dig here now, you would find all the coffins stuck to the outer walls of the scorpion-shaped tomb chamber below, as if drawn there by something.”

The child was very calm, and this extraordinary composure made Ma Pingchuan increasingly uncomfortable. If you see someone who looks weak but is not afraid of you at all, you should be cautious, because true fearlessness cannot be faked. Genuine fearlessness comes from an incredibly powerful inner strength. Ma Pingchuan, a person who was used to using power to intimidate others, actually had little confidence inside.

After the child finished speaking, he looked at Ma Pingchuan: “I have something I need to inform you about. In a radius of several dozen miles from here, in a few months, nothing will grow; it will take decades to recover. All the people in this area will meet a bad end. The population here is dense, and as a local lord, you still have some influence. Perhaps things won’t turn out as I said.”

“What should we do?” Ma Pingchuan asked. “Little ghost, you came to tell me this for a reason; why not explain the situation clearly?”

The child said, “I have a few friends who are still trapped in the ancient tomb underground. I’ve seen your family’s coffin in the tomb and know that the Ma family is a prominent clan here. I am troubled by the fate of the coffins, so I came to inform you. At the same time, I hope you can help me with two things.

First, prepare seven days’ worth of dry rations, a short knife weighing six pounds, a bag of lantern oil and charcoal powder. I need to go down to rescue my friends and find a way to seal several openings of the ancient tomb. Second, please dig along the edge of this dead crop field, take a bamboo pole five zhang long, fill it with lime, and drive it into the mud, leaving just a finger’s width exposed; the denser, the better.”

“Why do this?” “To draw a boundary, the thing below is too fierce; it must be trapped and dealt with here,” the child replied. “It’s not easy for me to come out and tell you all this. My friends are trapped down there, and their lives are uncertain. However, since this situation originated from us, I will definitely resolve it. If I don’t come back to find you in seven days, please send this letter back to my hometown.”

The child took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Ma Pingchuan, saying, “If I don’t come out in seven days, you should advise your descendants to stay away from this place as much as possible.”

Ma Pingchuan looked at the envelope, which was addressed to Zhang’s family in the northeast, and frowned, saying, “Little ghost, whose tomb is this below? Why is it so fierce? If it’s my ancestor’s grand tomb, it seems inappropriate for me to assist outsiders with my family’s ancestral grave, doesn’t it?”

The child replied, “Your family is so prosperous; it has nothing to do with this evil spot. Your family merely built a burial mound here by coincidence. The owner of the ancient tomb below is still unclear, but someone of significance certainly lies within such a tomb chamber.”

Ma Pingchuan thought for a moment, considering other matters. If this wasn’t his family’s ancestral grave, then, given the tomb’s enormous scale, it must contain a vast amount of treasure. Wouldn’t it be foolish to just watch it be taken away by this little ghost?

“I’ve already said too much today, so please stop asking,” the child said. “Can you help me and give me a clear answer?”

That night, Ma Pingchuan prepared the items the child requested. The child took the steamed bun and quickly disappeared into the night. The next day, following the child’s instructions, he organized the villagers to procure long bamboo and lime, surrounding the entire area.

Ma Pingchuan’s plan was to wait for the child to complete the tasks below, then capture him and force him to lead his men into the ancient tomb, or simply resort to a black market deal, demanding they turn over the stolen goods since the tomb was on his territory.

However, Ma Pingchuan never saw the child again. The strange events did not end there; whether it was Ma Pingchuan’s greed or his curiosity about the underground tomb, half a month later, he ordered the entire grave site to be excavated, intending to reveal the tomb beneath and see what it was like.

But after digging a massive deep pit in the ground, they found no ancient tomb, only a black iron scorpion over two zhang long. Digging further beneath the scorpion caused frequent collapses, and with various forces alerted and probing the situation, Ma Pingchuan realized the situation was untenable and had to fill the pit back in.

Years later, when Ma Pingchuan recalled that letter, he sent someone to deliver a message to the address provided by the child and made inquiries. He discovered that the address was a large mansion that had long been abandoned. Locals said that the Zhang family was once a prominent clan in the area, known for their low profile, but for some unknown reason, they had suddenly fallen into decline and vanished.

No one knew where the child had gone. Was there really a scorpion-shaped underground palace beneath the Ma family ancestral grave?

Ma Pingchuan could only speculate that the child must have had the surname Zhang, and if he had survived, he would surely become an extraordinary individual.