Chapter 19: Burial Pit

Lu A’yao walked back to me and handed me a bottle of water. He told me that the pulley had gotten stuck halfway down, causing several people to lose their grip while trying to fix it. Suddenly, the pulley started working again, and several people above stumbled, letting go of the rope, and I plummeted down.

Thankfully, the rope attached to my harness was long enough, and halfway down, the buckle got caught in a crevice. Otherwise, I would have been seriously injured.

Sitting on the ground, I shone my flashlight on the stone slabs beneath me. With a gentle touch, I could see the engravings on them. Using so many stone slabs was indeed extravagant. These engravings seemed to form a large picture, but many of the slabs were completely shattered, making it impossible to discern anything.

“Damn it! What were you all standing around for?! Couldn’t you find something to catch him?” He Yu stormed over, furious at the archaeologists. He raised his climbing pick, ready to hit someone. My legs were still too weak to stand, so I quickly pushed Lu A’yao to intervene.

Little Xu from the team apologized and said, “We’ve never encountered something like this before. Besides, falling from such a height could seriously injure someone. You can’t force us to save him, right?”

“Come here and say that again,” He Yu retorted bluntly, refusing Little Xu’s explanation. He advanced with the climbing pick, his face red with anger.

Before he could finish, I heard someone sliding down the rope behind me. Lu A’yao reacted quickly, pulling He Yu back a few steps.

He Yu still cursed, raising his climbing pick. “Look at them! They’ve only been down here a few minutes, and they’re already running out. How can they not help each other? It’s just not right!”

Finally, my legs felt steady enough to stand. I clumsily got up, and Tian Yuqing swiftly unhooked his harness and came over to support me. He looked me over seriously, checking my condition, and asked, “How are you? Are you okay?”

I was about to wave him off when I noticed blood running down my sleeve, some of it staining Tian Yuqing’s hand. He didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he adjusted my elbow, asking if it hurt. I felt nothing, so I shook my head.

He then squatted down to check my knees and legs. Overall, I had more scrapes and bruises on my upper body, while my lower body, protected by knee pads, was mostly unscathed.

Tian Yuqing took some gauze from a colleague and reminded me, “Watch closely. You’ll need to do this yourself next time.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, thinking to myself that this would definitely be the last time. I swore I’d never need this skill again.

Tian Yuqing bandaged me with practiced ease, suggesting he had formal training in this area. It made sense; someone like him, often working with archaeological experts, would frequently deal with injuries in difficult tombs.

Once he finished bandaging me, Tian Yuqing turned and shone his flashlight around, addressing Wu Yili, who had just landed. “Professor Wu, this is a Burial Pit. I suggest you remind the team to be cautious and help each other. We don’t know who might be in trouble next.”

His words were ominous, and his tone wasn’t pleasant. I could tell he was standing up for me. In the early days, the rules of the Outer Eight Trades were complex, and the Five Masters, who often dealt with tomb raiders, naturally followed many old customs.

One such rule was that there should be no infighting until gold or silver was found in the tomb. Help each other, even if disputes over loot arise, they should be settled after the discovery of burial goods.

Of course, accidental deaths weren’t counted, so murders in tombs weren’t uncommon. But for the Five Masters, who acted as strategists, the death rate was the lowest.

He Yu, held back by Lu A’yao, finally calmed down and pushed Lu A’yao away, walking over to me with his climbing pick. “A bunch of people who wouldn’t lift a finger to help. It’s ridiculous.”

I patted his shoulder and took a few steps into the darkness. Lu A’yao immediately grabbed me, tossing a few glow sticks into the air. Their trails cut through the darkness, bouncing off the uneven stones before falling to the ground after a couple of minutes.

The glow sticks didn’t illuminate far, so I squinted, trying to see with the flashlight, but it was still a blur. Then, someone from the team fired a flare into the air, and suddenly, everything was brightly lit.

The scene before me, even after more than a decade, remains etched in my mind, beyond the description of any adventure novel.

At my feet was a deep pit, at least a hundred meters long and dozens of meters deep. The walls were artificially carved, and inside stood various Terracotta Figures. These pits, large and small, were densely packed under the flare’s light, stretching endlessly. I roughly estimated there were hundreds.

I took a sip of water to calm myself, thinking that such a grand Burial Pit must belong to someone as significant as the First Emperor of Qin. It was truly eye-opening.

Wu Yili, however, sneered, “You all claimed you’d take us straight to the Tomb Chamber. How did we end up digging into a Burial Pit instead?”

Lu A’yao turned to him, “Without damaging the tomb’s structure, reaching this platform is the safest option with our current capabilities. The Tomb Chamber is buried deep. We need to find the entrance to get in, unless you allow us to use explosives. We could blast our way down.”

Little Xu shook his head frantically, “No way. We’ll take our time. We have enough supplies to last a week.”

Then, I saw Tian Yuqing gesture to Tian Tinghan, and Lao Gen immediately took out bundles of thumb-thick ropes from his backpack. The ropes had adjustable iron claws at the ends. Tian Tinghan quickly tested the soil at the pit’s edge and secured the iron claws in a special way.

Tian Tinghan wrapped the rope around his arm twice, then grabbed it and flipped down. Lao Gen launched another flare, and Tian Tinghan descended swiftly.

“Follow his lead and get down there quickly,” Tian Yuqing instructed, distributing the ropes.

I considered myself a fast learner, with above-average grades from elementary to university. I mimicked Tian Tinghan, securing the iron claws and wrapping the rope around my arm, confidently preparing for a stylish descent.

But before I could step out, someone pulled me back. I fell to the ground, bewildered, looking up at Lu A’yao. I might have been mistaken, but I saw deep exasperation and impatience on his face.

What? Does he think I’m incapable? I stayed put, silently glaring back, trying to convey my unyielding nature through my eyes.

He Yu saw us locked in a staring contest and laughed, “Gan Ji, you’re not as strong as Second Young Master Tian. Don’t overestimate yourself. Better secure the harness to the rope, or we’ll have to fish you out later.”

I quickly glanced at the lone harness on my waist, feeling a wave of embarrassment. So, it needed to be secured after all?

Lu A’yao walked away, and I hurriedly fastened the harness to the rope. Then, awkwardly, I crawled to the edge and flipped down, inching my way down the pit wall.

As I neared the bottom, I noticed a dark hole in the pit wall under the flare’s light. Once I finally reached the bottom, the first thing I did was inspect the mysterious hole with my flashlight.

What I saw startled me, causing me to step back several paces. There, within arm’s reach, was a Mummified Corpse, reduced to bones. A centipede crawled out of its eye socket, and it leaned against the wall, mouth agape, staring at me.

He Yu noticed my stiffness and came over, shining his flashlight on the corpse. He observed it for a minute before saying, “The hole is quite neat. This was a Tomb Raider.”

Wu Yili and Tian Yuqing approached to examine the corpse. There were few clues on the Mummified Corpse, but from its desiccation, it seemed to date back to the Republic of China era. The only indication of it being a Tomb Raider was the rusted military shovel and the neatly dug tunnel.

Wu Yili chuckled, “This shows that if you do wrong, you’ll end up like him—dying namelessly here, with no one to collect your body for years, keeping company with the Terracotta Figures.”

Tian Yuqing squatted beside the Mummified Corpse, deep in thought, his expression serious. His silence puzzled me, so I forced myself to overcome my natural fear of the corpse and crouched beside him. “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

Tian Yuqing didn’t answer. Instead, he shifted slightly, letting me shine my flashlight on the corpse. He asked, “Take a closer look. Do you see anything?”

I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but I leaned in to examine the Mummified Corpse. It was completely dried and decayed, the skin brittle as paper. It leaned against the wall, head slightly tilted, mouth wide open.

The posture struck me as odd. I moved closer, noticing a cloth bag beside the Mummified Corpse’s right hand. I picked it up and shook it out. It was clean, except for an empty water bottle.

This was even stranger.

A Tomb Raider wouldn’t enter a tomb empty-handed, especially one as grand as this. Even if they didn’t bring ropes, basic food supplies were essential. A person can only survive three to seven days without food or water. Not bringing food and water could be seen as reckless or suicidal.

The only explanation for the empty bag was that all the food had been consumed. I looked around, the silence was eerie. Holding the empty bag, a sense of dread crept over me.

An experienced Tomb Raider from the Republic era, after tunneling into a tomb, inexplicably stayed at the entrance of his tunnel for months. He consumed all his food and drank all the water, eventually starving to death at the entrance of his own tunnel.

Why did he die here? What forced him into a corner, rendering him unable to move, ultimately starving to death here?

As these thoughts ran through my mind, I felt a chill.

“The problem I’ve considered, you should be able to figure out too,” Tian Yuqing said, patting my shoulder as he stood up.

He drew a cold steel knife from a leather sheath at his waist, turning to the rows of Smiling Mud Figurines in the darkness. “Something’s not right here. Everyone, stay alert!”

———

—Terracotta figures are sculptures made from fired clay, used since ancient times for religious, decorative, and funerary purposes. They are widespread across many cultures, affordable to produce, usually reddish-brown in color, and range from small idols to large works like China’s Terracotta Army.