Eastern Tomb Expedition Chronicles

Chapter 6: Unexpected Turn

"Yunfeng, find a good spot to pile it up, don't just scatter it on someone else's land," Second Brother Sun instructed me. "Don't worry, I know," I reassured him. The amount of blue and white soil wasn't much; I took out seven or eight small bags from my backpack, filled them little by little, and piled them together.

"Eh?" At that moment, while digging in the pit, Second Brother Sun's cyclone shovel suddenly stopped. "What's up, Second Brother?" Boss Wang asked from above. "Boss, look," he said, grabbing a handful of soil, "the deeper we go, the wetter it gets. This isn’t a good sign; there might be water accumulated below." Boss Wang frowned, "A water pit? We can’t be that unlucky... Dig down another twenty centimeters and see."

Second Brother Sun nodded and resumed digging. "Second Brother, no more digging! There’s definitely water below, it’s the tomb passage!" Third Brother Sun shouted anxiously. "If the tomb passage is flooded, even if we dig further, the robbers' tunnel will be soaked and unstable!" Unable to restrain himself, Boss Wang cursed, "Damn it, I didn't anticipate this. Second Brother, Third Brother, come up. We don’t have enough time to deal with a waterlogged tunnel."

The Sun brothers first threw up the cyclone shovel, then climbed out of the robber's tunnel, stretching their legs. "Boss, I guarantee that if we dig another meter and a half down, we’ll definitely hit the stone tomb ceiling," Second Brother Sun insisted, which refers to the stone tops used in tombs, different from the brick ceilings called in the Ming and Qing dynasties. He lit a cigarette and, squinting at the tunnel he had dug, said, "Boss, we’ve come this far, why not take a risk?"

"What do you suggest?" Boss Wang asked as Second Brother Sun flicked his cigarette ash, replying coldly, "Call One Mole to bring over the submersible pump and the portable generator." Boss Wang immediately shook his head, "Pump out the water? That’s too risky. It’s not raining this season, and given the temperature in Shunde, there’s definitely no ice in the pit. If we can’t pump out the water in two hours, by daylight, we’re done for, and all our efforts will have been for nothing."

"Second Brother, I agree with Boss. There’s definitely water in the tomb passage. If it’s too much, a single pump won’t be enough," Third Brother Sun added with a frown, voicing his concerns.

"What the hell do we do then? We can almost taste the feast but can't eat it!" Boss Wang stroked his chin, thinking for a moment, then suddenly turned to ask me, "Yunfeng, what do you think? Should we call it quits and head down the mountain or keep going?" Both brothers also turned to look at me.

"Huh?" I was squatting on the ground, sorting the soil, surprised by his sudden question. After a moment, I simply said, "Boss, I want to make money."

"Brilliant!" Second Brother Sun laughed heartily. "The bold thrive, the timid starve. Boss, if this kid isn’t scared, what are we afraid of?" The red light on the walkie-talkie blinked on, and Boss Wang immediately said, "Contact One Mole, have her bring the equipment within an hour. If she’s a minute late, she gets one less share of the money." Speed is of the essence in warfare.

This was the first time I witnessed the logistical capabilities of our support team. In less than an hour, a water pump and a small generator were delivered to us on time. As soon as the pump arrived, Second Brother Sun rolled up his trouser legs, grabbed the shovel, and went down into the tunnel, from where soil increasingly dampened began to be thrown up. A few minutes later, Second Brother Sun suddenly yelled from below, "f**k! There’s a surge of water!"

He had just come up when the accumulated water had already flooded most of the tunnel. After setting up the generator and the hose, Boss Wang threw the water pump directly into the tunnel. Below, water bubbled up, and above, the pump tirelessly sucked and expelled water. We were fortunate; the pump soon reduced the water level, preventing the newly dug tunnel from collapsing.Chapter 6: Setback

After retrieving the water pump, Boss Wang commanded, "Second Brother, go straight in with the needle and break through the stone ceiling!" The "needle" is a specially crafted pointed tool in tomb raiding, made with a diamond tip designed to puncture through the stone ceilings of tombs, and it's quite powerful. Sounds of chiseling stone echoed from below in the robbers' tunnel. Soon after, Second Brother Sun’s voice came through, "Boss! It’s through!"

Boss Wang's face lit up with a smile as he checked the time and said, "The pumping delayed us quite a bit. Yunfeng, you go down too. An extra pair of hands speeds things up; let's grab whatever we can." I hesitated momentarily, then asked, "Boss, shouldn’t we check for airflow first? What if there’s no air below?" Boss Wang laughed and said, "Think about it, Yunfeng. If the tomb was well-sealed, could we have pumped in so much water? Don't worry, the air circulation down there is fine."

Following his assurance, I put on a headlamp and for the first time descended into the robbers’ tunnel. Second Brother Sun had broken a large hole through the stone ceiling. I stretched my legs across the sides of the tunnel, slowly lowering myself down. The stone ceiling was still two to three meters above the tomb passage. Seeing the height, I felt a bit scared and hesitated to jump down. There was still some water in the tomb passage, deep enough to reach a person’s calves, and the Sun brothers were standing in it.

"Jump down, Yunfeng, it’s not that high! We’ll help you up later!" Second Brother Sun shouted up to me with his headlamp on. Muttering a silent prayer, I jumped, but landed poorly, face first, swallowing a mouthful of the murky water. "Yunfeng, you really need to practice; look at those skinny arms and legs of yours. You alright?" Second Brother Sun laughed as he helped me up.

The tomb passage was cross-shaped, with our current location in the middle. There were turns to the left and right leading to the east and west side chambers, and straight ahead was the main chamber. Second Brother Sun rubbed his hands together and smiled, "We're in luck, the tomb passage hasn’t collapsed. Judging by the construction, it seems like an early Western Zhou lord’s tomb. With this rank, the main chamber definitely has a sealed stone door. If it had collapsed, we wouldn’t need to waste our energy, but even if the stone door is still intact, Third Brother has a way with these things." "Right, Third Brother?"

"You’re giving me too much credit," Third Brother Sun said, peering into the darkness ahead. "For sealing stones under three tons, as long as there’s no counterweight stone inside, I can manage to open it." Our plan was to first check the main chamber and then explore the east and west side chambers. We waded through the water moving forward. Just then, something red floated towards us on the water surface.

"What... what's this?" Third Brother Sun fished it out of the water. Unfolding it, we saw it was a modern pink towel with a brand logo printed on it... The sight of this towel turned the brothers’ faces grim. Third Brother Sun looked up, his headlamp illuminating the stone ceiling. Clearly visible in the northwest corner of the ceiling was a small hole that had been drilled through, with the surrounding stone cracked extensively.

"Damn it!" Second Brother Sun threw the towel away in disgust. Looking at the hole in the ceiling, he said, "This is from a jackhammer. They tried to blast through the stone ceiling with explosives since they didn't have a diamond tip. This towel was used to muffle the explosion noise!"

"This Western Zhou tomb has been tampered with!" "It must be that group from the south, after all the effort we've put in!" "We’ve ended up with leftovers!"