Uncle San frowned and asked, “Just a head? No body?”
The girl replied, “Yeah, isn’t it scary? Ever since that place collapsed, there’s no way to get in. Even the mules can’t go there. If you want to get there, you’ll have to crawl one step at a time. Even if you make it there, you can only look around. A few groups have gone to that place before, and those old gentlemen just shook their heads when they saw the mountain collapsed like that.”
Uncle San glanced at the dull oil bottle (a nickname for someone), saw that he had no reaction at all, and then asked the waiter, “Before the mountain collapsed, did anyone ever go in?”
“There were some, but from what I saw, they only stayed in for a few days, and they came out looking like that, bringing nothing back. They came in all happy, but when they came out, their clothes looked like they were begging, and they stank to high heaven. My grandfather said they probably didn’t even find the fight there. So, are you all interested in trying it out?”
“Look at what you’re saying, we have to go take a look since we’re here. Otherwise, it would be a wasted trip.” Uncle San chuckled and didn’t say anything more.
The waiter went to the kitchen to hurry the food, and Panzi said, “It looks like we must be heading to that big fight, but according to this girl, it’s going to be tough to get our equipment up the mountain.”
“There are ways to deal with equipment, and there are ways to deal with no equipment. This Warring States tomb is usually a straight pit, going straight up and down, without any burial chamber. I don’t know if this one is the same; we’ll have to see it on-site. The size of the tomb and how deep it’s buried might be quite different from those we’ve dealt with before. You see the heads that came out of the mountain? That’s what our ancestors referred to as the ghost head pit; it must have been a burial pit for sacrificial offerings.” Uncle San took out a map, pointed to a circle on it, and said, “Look, it’s this place. This spot is still far from the main tomb. If the people who came here before followed the method of seeking dragons and locating graves, they would definitely have to stop here. This is the dragon’s head. Generally speaking, the tomb should be below this, but look, if you go a little further in, this place is a gourd mouth. You wouldn’t even know there’s a hidden world inside unless you go further in. This is where the real dragon’s head is located. The person who designed this tomb must have been very knowledgeable about seeking dragons and locating graves; they specially set a trap here for them to drill through. If I’m not mistaken, beneath this fake dragon’s head, there must be a heavily trapped false tomb!” Seeing that we were listening intently, Uncle San continued with satisfaction, “If we didn’t have this map, even our ancestors would probably be at a loss. Tomorrow, we’ll take what we must and go in light; we’ll first go check it out. If it really doesn’t work, we’ll just come back for the stuff.”
We nodded in agreement, had a little more to drink, and then all returned to our rooms.

Then it was time to dismantle the equipment. In this day and age, of course, we didn’t use the traditional Luoyang shovel. Uncle San took out an archaeological digging tool. This shovel was made of steel pipes that could be screwed together section by section. You could add as many sections as you needed, making it much more discreet than the wooden-handled Luoyang shovel. The Warring States tombs were usually below ten meters, so there was no way to avoid it. Each person had to carry ten steel pipes and was equipped with a shovel head. Panzi had a short-barreled rifle, which he usually kept securely wrapped in a leather case, and now he took it out. This gun was much shorter than the double-barreled ones sold on the black market and could be hidden in his clothes without anyone noticing. He stuffed this along with several bullets into his backpack. Uncle San said that going down with a double-barreled gun wouldn’t even allow you to turn around. Panzi’s short gun was much more practical. I prepared a camera and a mud knife, and thought there wasn’t much else to bring; after all, I was just an intern archaeologist.

After a night of silence and a day of exhausting travel, I slept soundly. When I woke up, I felt like my joints were all sore. We hurriedly had breakfast, packed some dry food, and set off. The big girl was quite enthusiastic and called a kid from her village to guide us. After walking for more than two hours on mountain trails, that bare-bottomed kid pointed ahead and said, “Right there!” I looked, and sure enough, the mountain ahead was clearly gouged out by a mudslide. We were now standing between two mountain ranges. This canyon was long; during the rainy season, it should be a river, but after being washed away by mud and with these months of drought, only a shallow creek remained in the middle.

The mountains on both sides were steep and impassable, and the riverbed ahead was blocked by rocks that had fallen from the mountains. I patted the kid on the head and said, “Go back and play, and thank your sister for me!” The kid stretched out his hand and said, “Give me fifty!” I was taken aback; the kid didn’t say anything more but just stared at me with his hand out. I asked, “What fifty?” Uncle San laughed heartily and took out a hundred yuan to give him. The kid snatched it and bounced away.

It was then that I realized and laughed, “Even the kids in the mountains are so mercenary now.” “People die for birds—” Da Kui muttered. Panzi kicked him, “Got culture? Go die for a chicken!” Without saying another word, we started climbing. The stones weren’t too loose, and in a short while, we managed to get over. It wasn’t as terrifying as the big girl had said; we didn’t see any of the heads she mentioned. Behind the landslide was initially a canyon, which gradually turned into a forest in the distance, dense and lush. I had no idea how such an ecosystem was formed.

At that moment, we saw an old man down in the canyon filling up water. Upon a closer look, I realized, damn it, it was the old man who had led us into the cave! The old man suddenly saw us and got so scared that he fell into the creek, then scrambled up and ran away. Panzi laughed and cursed, “That’ll teach you to run!” He pulled out his short gun and fired a shot into the sandy ground in front of the old man. The old man jumped up in fright and ran back. Panzi fired three shots, each hitting the footprints left by the old man. The old man was quite clever; seeing that they were just playing with him, he realized he couldn’t escape. With a thud, he knelt down on the ground.

We ran down the slope, and the old man bowed to us, saying, “Great uncles, please spare my life. I, an old man, truly had no other choice but to pay attention to a few esteemed gentlemen. I didn’t expect that you would be such extraordinary figures; this time, I truly have eyes but fail to recognize Mount Tai!” As he spoke, he was sniffling and crying. My uncle asked him, “What’s the matter? You seem to have plenty of energy; what are you unable to do?”

“To tell you the truth, I am really unwell. Don’t be fooled by how robust I seem; in fact, I have to take several doses of medicine every day. You see, I’m just going to boil some medicine,” he pointed to a water barrel nearby.

“I want to ask you, old ghost, how did you suddenly disappear in that cave?”

“If I tell you, will you not kill me?” The old ghost looked at us.

“Don’t worry, we live in a society governed by law,” my uncle said. “Confessing will lead to leniency, while resisting will lead to severity.”

“Yes, yes, I confess,” the old man said. “Actually, it’s not a big deal. Although the cave looks like a straight tunnel, there are many hidden holes at the top. Those holes are very well concealed; unless you deliberately look for them, you wouldn’t notice. I just took the opportunity when you weren’t paying attention and crawled into one of those holes. Once your boat left, I came out. The donkey would hear my whistle and bring over a wooden basin. That’s how I got out. After the job was done, the boatman, Lu Lao’er, would give me my share, but it’s not a lot.” Suddenly he remembered something, “By the way, where is Lu Lao’er? He must have fallen into your hands too, right?”

Panzi made a gesture as if to behead someone. “He has already reported in.”

The old man was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh and said, “He died well. Actually, I didn’t want to do that either. Lu Lao’er said if I didn’t do it, I would end up like him. You see, I really had no choice, so please let me go.”

“Stop with the act,” my uncle said. “Where do you live, and how did you come here to fetch water?”

“I live in that cave over there,” the old man pointed to a cave nearby. “Look at me, an old man with no land, my son died young, and I have no house to live in. Now I’m just waiting to die. It’s pitiful.”

“Then you must be familiar with this area. Just right, if you want us to let you go, you have to take us to a place,” my uncle pointed to the forest. The old man immediately turned pale with fear. “Oh my god, you’re here to dig for treasure, aren’t you? You can’t dig there! There are monsters in there!”

Upon hearing this, I knew there was something to it. This old man definitely knew something. My uncle asked him, “So, you’ve seen them?”

“Ah, a few years ago, I took a group of people there, claiming we were going for archaeology. But I could tell they were actually there to dig up graves. However, these guys were different from others I had encountered before. The petty thieves I had seen in the past would just look at the graves and dig them up, but this group—honestly, their demeanor was not that of ordinary people. They didn’t even glance at the nearby graves; they just insisted on going into the mountain valley. At that time, I was the only one from our village who had been there. These people were quite wealthy; they handed me ten big bills right away. Seeing that money, I lost my resolve and led them into the forest. We walked on until we reached a place I had been to before, but they wanted to go further. I refused, saying that even ten big bills couldn’t buy my life. They offered me another ten, and I told them that even if they offered me a hundred, I wouldn’t do it. Their leader got angry and pointed a gun at my head. I had no choice but to lead them deeper inside.”

He scratched his head and continued, “Later, they said we had arrived. These people were so happy, and then they started fiddling with something, saying it was right below us. That night, I got drunk, and we found a spot to set up a tent. I fell asleep and lost all sense of awareness, but when I woke up, guess what? All those people had vanished, but their stuff was still there, and the fire hadn’t gone out. I got scared and called out, but no one responded after a long time. I thought something was wrong, and since they weren’t there, I decided to sneak away and ran.”

The old man seemed to recall some terrifying scene, squinting his eyes as he said, “I had just run a few steps when I heard someone calling me. For the first time, I saw a woman from their group waving at me. I was about to curse, wondering how someone could be missing so early in the morning, when suddenly I noticed a big tree behind her, with its branches reaching out menacingly. When I looked up at the tree, I was horrified; it was densely packed with dead bodies hanging from it, their eyeballs bulging out. I was so scared that I nearly wet myself and ran for a whole day and night before getting back to the village. You tell me, that must have been a tree demon! If I hadn’t grown up eating hearty meat, I surely would have been lured away by that monster!”

Uncle San sighed, “You really are someone who has eaten hearty meat!” Then he waved his hand. Panzi understood and tied up the old man. With him leading the way, we could save ourselves a lot of trouble.

The old man was unwilling but had no choice. According to him, it would take a full day to reach the place he mentioned. Dakuai led the way, and we quickened our pace, looking at the map as we walked, hoping that with the map and the old man’s memory, we could reach there before dark. We walked for half a day; at first, we could still talk, but later, everything turned into a blur of green, and we kept yawning, feeling sleepy. Suddenly, the old man stopped moving.

Panzi cursed, “What kind of trick are you playing now?”

The old man stared at the bushes nearby, his voice trembling, “Wha… what is that?”

We turned to look, and there, in the grass, something was flashing—it was a mobile phone.