Chapter 7: Great Evil

Sun the Second grew increasingly angry; the veins on his forehead stood out as if he were about to attack.

Sun the Third shook his head in resignation. Then he pressed the button on the walkie-talkie and said, "Boss, there's a new development down here—the pit has already been disturbed."

There was a minute of silence on the walkie-talkie before Boss Wang replied coldly, "When was it disturbed? Have you gone into the main burial chamber?"

"No, we're still in the tomb passage. Just now, the water surged and carried a towel over. There's no doubt it was robbed not long ago. Boss, you know how the folks from the south work; the tombs they disturb rarely leave behind anything of value."

Boss Wang thought for a moment and said, "Old Two, in that case, go into the main chamber and check. If the main chamber has been emptied, then you don't need to go to the ear chambers—just pack up and come back."

"Understood, Boss," Sun the Second replied as he set down the walkie-talkie.

I don't smoke and have a pretty keen nose, so at that moment I suddenly caught a faint scent of incense.

"Second Brother... why do I smell burning incense?" I asked, puzzled.

Upon hearing me, Sun the Second exaggeratedly sniffed toward the front. Then he turned to Sun the Third, a look of astonishment flashing in his eyes.

"That's right, we didn't notice earlier—it's nanxiang." His face suddenly grew serious.

"Second Brother, Third Brother—what's wrong? What's so off about this nanxiang?" I asked, confused by their grave expressions.

I thought to myself: didn't wealthy people in the past use coffins made of golden nanmu, which naturally have a nanxiang scent?

The relaxed expressions on the Sun brothers' faces vanished.

"Yunfeng, give me your hand."

"Eh? What for?" I asked, extending my hand in confusion.

"Second Brother, what are you doing!" I cried out as pain shot through my finger.

It turned out he had sliced my finger with his sharp little dagger.

Bright red blood flowed out, and the Sun brothers, one after the other, smeared a bit of my blood onto their wrists.

"Second Brother, Third Brother—what are you doing with my blood?" I complained, nursing my injured finger.

Sun the Second explained, "Yunfeng, in our tomb-raiding line of work, we fear encountering the Four Great Evils and the Six Lesser Evils."

He went on, "The cross-eyed tomb guardian beasts, the delicate nanxiang that smells like flowers, the black coffins that never decay even with red lacquer, and the ever-burning lamps whose oil never dries—these are called the Four Great Evils. Our ancestors' rule is: blood breaks the evil."

His words were full of mysticism, but I didn't take them seriously—was he just trying to scare me like a child?

I mumbled in a small, upset voice, "Then... why don't you cut your own finger? Why cut mine…"

Sun the Second patted my head with a sinister smile and said, "Our blood just won't do—we need child's blood. Yunfeng, you haven't even held a girl's little hand, have you?"

I stuttered, unable to form a reply.

Then, deliberately changing the subject, I stubbornly asked, "So what are the Six Lesser Evils?"

Sun the Third shook his head and said, "Yunfeng, you've only just started in this line. You don't know—they're all sayings passed down by the old-timers."

He listed, "Flowing-sand tombs, heavenly fire guanding, the tomb owner's corpse that never decays, seven orifices sealed with pearls, the burial box larger than the coffin, and mice making nests (mice living in coffins)—that's what the old tomb robbers used to call the Six Lesser Evils."

He continued, "In all the 360 trades, every family has its special skills. In the old days, our trade was called 'Bian Bamen' (the crooked eight gates); nowadays, they call us criminals. The top eight gates are among the best, while the crooked eight are at the bottom—and then there's the Yin Seven Gates for dealing with the dead."

Sun the Third went on, "Yunfeng, now that you're in this line, you must learn about these things so that if anyone asks later, you won't embarrass our Northern faction. The so-called Yin Seven Gates are: one, sewing up corpses; two, executioners; three, corpse-retrievers; four, grave blowers; five, paper effigy makers; six, bone pickers; and seven, coffin carpenters (specializing in building coffins for dead children). Remember these Yin Seven Gates when you travel the world."

I really couldn't remember all those messy details at the time; it all sounded jumbled—seven gates, eight gates, I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Alright, Old Three, that's enough. Talking so much is useless. Let's go and check the main burial chamber up ahead," Sun the Second said, swinging his wrist. "We've got Yunfeng's child's blood on us—blood that breaks the evil!"

After wading through water along the tomb passage for another two or three minutes, we still hadn't seen the main chamber. When we got closer and turned on our headlamps, we found that ahead was a solid stone wall—not the main burial chamber.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew in from somewhere; my feet were soaked in murky standing water, and a cool chill ran through me.

When we reached the stone wall, Sun the Second looked up.

High above, on the guanding of the tomb passage, we could clearly see a large, dark cavity—a cold wind was blowing in through that black hole.

The cavity was irregular in shape. Sun the Third frowned as he looked at it and said, "This was done by those guys earlier. The section of guanding we passed wasn't blown open; it seems they switched to this spot and blasted down from here. Judging by the shape, they must have used a detonator."

Sun the Third pressed his walkie-talkie and said, "Boss, go straight—the path ahead is a stone wall, not what we expected. It's not the main chamber; we haven't seen any burial objects yet."

The red light on the walkie-talkie flashed, and Boss Wang calmly commanded remotely, "A tomb with blue paste soil cannot lack a main chamber. Look around—check the left, head to the west ear chamber to assess the situation."

"Received, Boss. How much time do we have?"

"Two hours and forty-five minutes remain before safety at dawn. Hurry as much as you can."

"Okay," Sun the Second replied as he released the walkie-talkie, then led me and Sun the Third around the stone wall toward the west ear chamber.

It was my first time seeing an ear chamber in a tomb—a small, hollow room. Judging by the waterline marks on the wall, this area must have been completely submerged in water before.

What did I see there?

At first glance, I saw heaps of bronze artifacts—large quantities of them haphazardly piled on the floor of the west ear chamber. Some were broken, some intact, including small round cauldrons, square cauldrons, bronze grain jars, bronze dou (beans), bronze jue (wine vessels)—each type numbering in the dozens at a quick glance!

"We've struck it! We've struck it!"

Sun the Second's eyes filled with red as he babbled into the walkie-talkie, "Boss… Boss! We've struck it! We've struck it! There are dozens of bronze artifacts in the west ear chamber—black lacquer, ancient mercury rust—authentic Western Zhou water-tomb treasures!"

Boss Wang, who had seen many storms, replied calmly through the walkie-talkie, "Transport them in batches. Get everything out."

"Got it," Sun the Second said, pulling out a snakeskin cloth bag he always carried, and casually muttered, "Have those southern rats turned vegetarian? They actually left us so much meat—I'm really grateful to my mother's ancestors!"

When things go wrong, there must be demons.

Sun the Third, always calm, frowned deeply and said, "Second Brother, I feel something's off. The southern rats have noses as sharp as ours; they wouldn't let so much meat go unnoticed. That doesn't add up…"

Sun the Second didn't care that the mercury rust might be toxic. He picked up a small bronze square ding and took a kiss from it. "Ha ha, baby, come home with me!"

He didn't forget to add, "Old Three, I see you're getting more and more timid. Why worry so much? Tell me, Old Three, if a bunch of female college students stripped and lay on the ground, what would you do?"

"Surely we'd deal with it later," Sun the Third replied.