Chapter 8 Valley

Uncle San frowned: "Just the head? No body?"

The eldest sister said, "Yes, isn't it scary? Since the landslide, there is no way to go. Even mules can't get in. If you want to go anywhere, you can only crawl over step by step. I think even if you get there, you can only do nothing but watch. Several groups of people have been to that place before. When the old men saw the mountain collapsed like this, they shook their heads."

Uncle San glanced at Men Youping and saw that he was lazy and had no reaction, so he asked the waiter, "Before the mountain collapsed, someone must have gone in, right?"

"Yes, they did, but I saw them go in for a few days and finally come out like this, without taking anything with them. They were all happy when they came in, but when they came out, their clothes were like beggars', smelling terrible. My grandfather said they might not even find Dou there. Why, do you guys want to give it a try too?"

"Look at what you said. You should go and take a look when you come here. Otherwise, it will be a wasted trip." Uncle San laughed and said nothing more.

The waiter went to the kitchen to urge us to prepare the dishes, and Pan Zi said, "It seems that the big bucket we are going to is right there, but from what this big girl said, it may be difficult to transport our truckload of equipment to the mountain."

"There are ways to dig for those with equipment and for those without equipment. This Warring States tomb is generally a straight earth pit, straight up and down, without a burial chamber. I don't know if this one is the same. We still have to go to the scene to see how big this tomb is and how deep it is buried. I'm afraid it's really different from the ones we dug before. Look at the human head that collapsed in the mountain. That's what our ancestors called the ghost head pit. It must be the burial pit for their human sacrifices in the past." Uncle San took out a map and pointed to a circle on it. "Look, this is the place. It's far away from the main tomb. If those who came here before followed the saying of finding dragon points, they would have to stop here. This is the dragon head. Normally, the tomb must be below this, but you see, if you go a little further in, this place is a gourd mouth. If you don't go in, you don't know that there is a cave inside. This is where the real dragon head is. The person who designed this tomb must be very familiar with finding dragon points and set a trap here for them to fall into. If I am not mistaken, there must be a virtual tomb with many mechanisms under this fake dragon head!" Seeing that we were listening intently, Uncle San continued proudly: "If there is no map, even if our ancestors came, I am afraid they would not know the way. Tomorrow, we will take what we must take, travel light, and go to check the spot first. If it doesn't work, we will come back to move things."

We nodded in agreement, drank some more, and then went back to our room.

Then we dismantled the equipment. Of course, we don't use the traditional Luoyang shovel these days. Uncle San took out an archaeological shovel. This shovel is made of steel pipes twisted together. You can use as many steel pipes as you want. It is much more concealed than the Luoyang shovel with a wooden handle. The Warring States tombs are always less than 10 meters, so they can't be saved. These steel pipes are packed up, and each person carries 10, and each person is equipped with a shovel head. Pan Zi has a short-headed rifle, which is usually wrapped tightly in a leather case. Now it has been taken out. This gun is much shorter than those double-barreled guns bought on the black market. It can be put in clothes and others can't see it. He stuffed these together with a few bullets into his backpack. Uncle San said that if you go down with a double-barreled gun, you can't even turn around. Pan Zi's short gun is much more practical. I prepared a digital camera and a mud knife. I thought there was nothing to bring. I was just an intern tomb robber.

Nothing happened that night. I slept so soundly after a day of travel. When I woke up, I felt my joints were numb. We hurriedly ate breakfast, took some dry food and set off. The girl was very enthusiastic and asked a kid from her village to help me. After walking on the mountain road for more than two hours, the naked child pointed to the front and said, "There it is!" I looked and saw that it was obvious that the mountain hook in front was washed out by mudslides. We were now standing between one mountain range and another. The canyon was very long. It should have been a river in the rainy season, but after being washed out by mudslides and the drought in the past few months, only a shallow stream was left in the middle.

The mountains on both sides are very steep and people cannot walk at all, and the river channel ahead has been blocked by rocks that have collapsed from the mountains.

I patted his naked head and said to him, "Go back and play. Thank your sister for me!"

The kid held out his hand and said, "Give me a 50-dollar bill!"

I was stunned. The kid didn't say anything, just stretched out his hand and stared at me. I said, what do you mean by 50?

Uncle San laughed out loud, took out 100 yuan and gave it to him. He snatched it away, jumped up and ran away.

I suddenly realized and laughed: "Now the kids in the mountains are so mercenary."

"People die for birds—" Da Kui muttered, and Pan Zi kicked him: "Are you educated? Die for birds, go die for a chicken."

We started climbing without saying a word. The rock was not loose enough and we climbed over it in a short while. It was not as scary as the girl said. We did not see the heads she mentioned. Behind the collapsed slope was a canyon at first, but then it became full of trees. In the distance, there was a dense forest. We did not know how such an ecosystem came into being.

At this time, we saw an old man fetching water in the canyon below the collapsed slope. I looked carefully and saw that it was the old man who led us into the cave. The old man suddenly saw us and fell into the stream in fright. Then he got up and ran away. Pan Zi laughed and scolded him, telling him to run. He took out his pistol and shot at the sand in front of the old man's feet. The old man jumped up in fright and ran back again. Pan Zi fired three shots in a row, each of which hit his footprints. The old man was smart. He knew he couldn't run away when he saw that the other party was playing with him. He fell to his knees with a plop.

We ran down the hill, and the old man kowtowed to us: "Grandpa, spare my life. I really had no other choice but to attract the attention of you grandpas. I didn't expect that you grandpas, who are like gods, really didn't recognize the great man this time!"

As he was talking with snot and tears, the uncle asked him, "Why, I see you are full of energy, what can't you do?"

"To tell you the truth, I am really sick. Don't be fooled by my appearance of being very strong. In fact, I have to take several prescriptions every day. You see, I am fetching water to boil the medicine." He pointed to the water bottle beside him.

"Let me ask you, how come you, old ghost, just disappeared in that cave all of a sudden?"

"If I tell you, you grandpas won't kill me?" The old ghost looked at us.

"Don't worry, this is a society ruled by law," said Uncle San. "Confess and be treated leniently; resist and be treated severely."

"Yes, yes, I confess," the old man said, "it's not a big deal. Don't be fooled by the fact that the cave seems to be just a straight hole. In fact, there are many holes on the top of the cave. Those holes are very hidden. If you don't look for them deliberately, you can't find them at all. I stood up and crawled into the hole when you were not paying attention. When your boat left, I came out again. Donkey Egg heard my whistle and pulled a wooden basin over. I went out like this. After the matter was done, the boatman Lu Laoer would give me my share. In fact, I didn't take much." He suddenly thought of something: "By the way, where is Lu Laoer? I guess he fell into your hands too."

Pan Zi made a beheading gesture and said, "He has been sent to report."

The old man was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh and said, "Good thing he died. Actually, I didn't want to do that either. But Lu Lao Er said that if I didn't do it, he would do it to me too. You see, I have no choice, so please let me go."

"Don't give me that shit," Uncle San said, "Where do you live? Why are you fetching water here?"

"I live there," the old man pointed to a cave nearby, "Look at me, an old man, I don't have any land, my son died early, and I have no house to live in. Now I am just waiting to die, how pitiful."

"You are very familiar with this area, then. That's perfect. If you want us to let you go, you have to take us to a place." The third uncle pointed at the forest, and the old man's face suddenly changed with fear. "My grandfather, you are here to rob tombs. You can't rob tombs! There are monsters in there!"

As soon as I heard it, I knew something was going to happen. This old man must know something. My uncle asked him, "Why, have you seen it?"

"Ah, a few years ago, I also led a team there, saying they were going to do archaeology. I saw at first glance that they were going to rob tombs, but this group of guys was different from the others. The petty thieves I saw before would just rob tombs as soon as they saw them, but I won't hide it from you. Their demeanor made it clear that they were not ordinary people. They didn't even look at the tombs next to them, and just said they wanted to go into the mountains. At that time, I was the only one in our village who had been to that place. Those people were very generous, and one day they gave me 10 big bills. I saw the money and couldn't help myself, so I led them into the forest and walked all the way to the place I had been to before. They wanted to go further, but I refused. You said that 10 big bills couldn't buy my life, so they said they would give me another 10. I said I wouldn't do it even if they gave me 100. Their leader turned hostile and pointed a gun at my head. I had no choice but to lead them further in."

He scratched his head and continued, "Later they talked about the place. These people were happy, and then they were fiddling with something there. They said it was right below. I drank too much that night, and we found a place to set up a tent. I fell asleep and lost consciousness. But when I woke up, guess what? All the people were gone, but the things were still there, and the fire was still on. I was scared and shouted everywhere, but no one paid attention to me after shouting for a long time. I thought something was wrong, and thought since they were not there, I might as well slip away, so I ran away."

The old man seemed to recall seeing some horrible scene, narrowed his eyes and said, "I had only run a few steps when I heard someone calling me. It was the first time I saw a woman from their team waving at me. I was about to curse, how could she run away so early in the morning, when suddenly I saw a big tree behind her, with fangs bared and claws. I looked up at the tree, and it was terrible. I saw that the tree was densely packed with dead bodies hanging. Eyeballs popped out, I was so scared that I peed, and I ran for a day and a night before I ran back to the village. You said, this must be a tree demon. If I hadn't grown up eating solid meat, I would have been possessed by this monster."

Uncle San sighed, "You are indeed a person who eats solid meat!" Then he waved his hand. Pan Zi understood and tied up the old guy. With him leading the way, we can save a lot of trouble.

The old man was unwilling to go, but there was no other way. According to him, it would take a day to get to the place he mentioned. Da Kui led the way. We quickened our pace, looking at the map as we walked, hoping that we could get there before dark with the map and the old man's memory. We walked for half a day. At first, we could still talk, but later, we felt dizzy because of the green. We kept yawning and wanted to sleep. Suddenly, the old man stopped walking.

Pan Zi scolded, "What tricks are you playing now?"

The old man looked at the bushes on the side, his voice trembling: " What~~~is~~~that?"

We turned around and saw something flashing in the grass. It turned out to be a mobile phone.