Chapter 8: The Water Vat

I also took out a snakeskin bag, squatted down, and started stuffing bronze artifacts into it.

Those round and square tripods were heavy, making it difficult for me to carry them. Third Brother looked after me and told me to pick the smaller ones instead. So, I focused on collecting small bronze dou and jiao. It wasn't unusual for these bronze artifacts to be piled together because, during the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods, they were common kitchen utensils.

Bronze tripods were used for cooking meat, jiao for drinking wine, and bronze dou for holding salt and seasonings—just like the vinegar dish we use today for dipping dumplings.

If you've ever heard of using sacks to collect money, that's exactly what I was doing at that moment.

Since I was rather thin and lacked strength, I stopped once my bag was nearly full, preparing to take a trip up first.

As I turned my head from side to side, my headlamp happened to illuminate a corner of the side chamber.

"Hmm? What's that? A water vat?"

"Second Brother! Look! There's a vat!"

Sun Lao'er was busy stuffing a bronze tripod into his bag when my sudden shout startled him.

"Damn it, Yunfeng, what the hell are you yelling for? Scared the life out of me."

I said, "Second Brother, there's a big vat in the corner. It's huge."

Without even looking up, he replied, "That's just a coarse pottery vessel. Nowhere near as valuable as bronze. It's too big to transport down the mountain, and selling it for a few hundred or a thousand isn't worth the effort. We're not taking that thing."

Hearing Sun Lao'er's words, I glanced again at the large water vat covered with a stone lid but didn't approach it.

Struggling with a bag full of bronze artifacts on my back, I waded through the water and returned. By then, a rope had been lowered down the tomb passage.

Wang Batou's voice came from above. "Yunfeng, tie the snakeskin bag securely. Once you're done, head back to load more. Hurry up, we don't have much time."

I twisted the opening of the snakeskin bag a few times and tied it to the rope. As the bag slowly rose, Wang Batou was pulling it up from above.

For the next hour or so, we worked overtime, transporting a total of eight full sacks of bronze artifacts.

Then, Wang Batou's voice came over the walkie-talkie, urging us, "You three, hurry up and come up. Dawn is breaking soon, and we need to get down the mountain quickly."

You know the trick where people stack themselves like a human pyramid?

Using that method, the Sun brothers hoisted me up to the vault ceiling first. Then, Wang Batou lowered a rope from above and pulled me up.

The Sun brothers were even more impressive. After climbing up to the vault ceiling, they didn't even use the rope—they just braced their feet against the tomb walls and scaled up on their own.

Once we were up, Sun Lao'er couldn't hide the grin on his face. Looking at the ground covered in bulging snakeskin bags, he chuckled and asked, "Batou, how many points do you think we got this time?"

Wang Batou shook his head and laughed. "Everyone has their expertise. If you want to know how many points, you'll have to ask the boss—he's the one with the best estimates."

Later, I learned that when they said "points," they meant tens of thousands. One point equaled ten thousand. A hundred points meant a million. Back in the early 2000s, many people couldn't even earn one point in a year.

Sun Laoda was in charge of lookout and sales.

If everything was fine, he usually wouldn't speak over the walkie-talkie. But if he did, it meant strangers were nearby.

"Batou, we've only searched the west side chamber, but there's also an east chamber. And strangely, we still haven't found the main burial chamber. I think we need to set up a base here. There's no telling how many treasures are still inside. This job won't be done in just ten days or so."

In the tomb-robbing world, a "base" referred to a situation where a large tomb was discovered, one that couldn't be fully explored in a day or two. So, a long-term setup was required.

Back in the day, experienced tomb raiders would often ask each other, "Hey, I heard you hit two big bases last year?"

And the reply might be, "Nah, nothing big, just two small bases."

Setting up a base was risky because it increased the chance of being discovered. If an elderly hiker happened to stumble into our tunnel one morning, we'd all be done for.

So, risk and reward always went hand in hand. If you wanted higher profits, you had to take greater risks.

After weighing the pros and cons, Wang Batou nodded. "Western Zhou artifacts have been skyrocketing in the black market these past few years. I think this risk is worth taking. Let's set up a base here."

Once we had the goods, Sun Laoda immediately contacted Yikezhi and had them send people over to transport the artifacts and help cover the tunnel entrance.

Yikezhi was quite a remarkable woman. Later, after interacting with her a few times, I learned that she had many "god-brothers" and "little brothers" with strong backgrounds. She didn't just handle logistics for Wang Batou—she also worked for other groups.

Technically, that was against the rules. But since she was incredibly capable, Wang Batou chose to turn a blind eye.

It was similar to how top-level managers in big companies often hold key positions in multiple firms.

Yikezhi had a small group of young men who were devoted to her. They willingly followed her, doing whatever she asked. They were the ones who delivered generators and water pumps to us at night and helped conceal the tunnel entrance.

Honestly, without Yikezhi, our team wouldn't have been able to function so smoothly.

The dirt from the vault ceiling was covered in greenish-white mud—highly conspicuous. In a rush, we couldn't just dump it anywhere, so they brought it back with them.

That dirt was like a ticking time bomb. Many people in our trade had been caught because of it.

Back in the day, an entire tomb-robbing gang at Babaoshan in Beijing got busted because they left a small pile of greenish-white dirt in the mountains. A curious old lady on her morning walk noticed it, and the whole gang ended up serving more than ten years in prison.

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The Next Day.

Back at a small motel in Shunde, I squatted by the sink, brushing my teeth, wondering where to dispose of the greenish-white dirt later.

Just then—

Smack!

Someone slapped me hard on the butt from behind.

I was mid-brush, and the shock made me swallow my entire mouthful of rinse water.

Turning around furiously, I saw Yikezhi standing there in a spaghetti-strap top, grinning.

She was about a decade older than me, but she took great care of her figure. Thanks to her wealth, she used the best skincare products. The way her fair, exposed thighs peeked out from beneath her pink top made my throat dry.

"Giggle..." Yikezhi laughed seductively. "Little Yunfeng, I heard from Lao'er yesterday that you've never even held a girl's hand before? Is that true?"

Blushing, I muttered, "None of your business."

Seeing me flustered, Yikezhi burst into laughter, her body shaking like ocean waves.

She hooked her finger at me and purred, "Yunfeng, want to be my forty-fifth man?"

Back then, I was too young to understand. Without thinking, I blurted out, "No way! By the time you're forty, I'd have to wear 99 green hats! You're shameless, trying to trick me!"

Yikezhi was furious. She grabbed a mop and chased me around the motel courtyard.

At noon, I disguised myself as a high school student, carrying a black backpack, wandering the streets of Shunde.

The backpack was filled with greenish-white dirt—I needed to find a good place to get rid of it.

As I walked, a thought kept nagging at me.

Something about that water vat in the west side chamber last night didn't seem right.