Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

The eldest son, Ma, walked briskly for nearly two hours before finally reaching the vicinity of the mass grave.

This mass grave was also created by those utterly depraved Japanese devils back then, only it was much smaller in scale than that forbidden area.

And perhaps because of its small size, the area around the mass grave was not the barren zone that had been covered with excessive quicklime.

After tying the eldest horse to a small tree outside the mass grave and feeding it hay, Wang An saw Huang Zhong picking up the pickaxes and shovels and quickly called out to him:

"Put it down, put it down. What are you going to do with that thing? Just put it on the plow and that's it."

Huang Zhong looked at the sharp pickaxe in his hand and said:
"Wouldn't that require digging a hole?"

Wang An said in an annoyed tone:
"What are you digging a hole for? It's freezing cold here, everything's rock hard, where are we going to dig a hole?"

Huang Zhong blinked, trying to explain:

"Well, brother, what if we need to use it? I'm not tired from carrying it."

Wang An said speechlessly:
"Bringing tools into the mountains is just for backup. We always bring them on the sled when we go into the mountains, but how many times have we actually used them?"

Huang Zhong scratched his head before putting the tools back on the sled.

Wang An picked up the satchel containing the gas mask and handed it to Huang Zhong, saying:
"Sling this little bag over your shoulder. It contains a gas mask. If you feel uncomfortable or smelly inside, just put this over your mouth."

On the way, Wang An had already told Huang Zhong about the miasma in the mass grave and how to use a gas mask, which Huang Zhong was already familiar with.

And so, Huang Zhong, carrying a bag and a gun, and Wang An, carrying a gun but empty-handed, walked into the pit together.

To be honest, there might actually be some story behind this mass grave.

You should know that in these mountains, almost all the potholes are filled with snow blown in by the mountain winds.

However, the snow in this mass grave only consists of snow that falls naturally; no loose snow has been blown into it.

However, the fact that there were no human or animal footprints in the pit is truly puzzling.

However, there are several large trees in this pit, and they are all quite big.

As soon as Wang An stepped into the pit, he didn't feel anything, but Huang Zhong immediately said:

"Brother, can you smell it? There's definitely a smell in here, but I don't know what it is. It's quite strong."

Wang An turned his head and said:

"If you feel something is wrong, quickly put on your gas mask."

Huang Zhong nodded, took a gas mask out of his bag, and put it on.

They also gave one to Wang An.

However, after receiving the gas mask, Wang An simply held it in his hand and did not put it on.

Wang An mainly felt that Song Ping frequently came and went from this place without any problems, so the miasma here shouldn't be that strong. It's just that some people really can't stand the smell because of their individual constitution.

After descending to the bottom of the pit, the two began searching in circles, one on the left and one on the right.

According to Song Shuanzhu, Song Ping even carried a sack into the mass grave once after winter began.

This shows that Song Ping's treasure was definitely not buried randomly in the ground, or rather, it wasn't buried very deep.

If it's buried too deep, it would be a huge hassle for him to dig it out in winter.

The room was only about 300 square meters, not very big to begin with, so Wang An and Huang Zhong finished searching quickly. As expected, they found nothing.

Not only were there no animal footprints in this mass grave, but there were also no animal footprints on the surrounding slopes.

As for small caves and mouse holes, those don't even exist.

It's estimated that the animals are also afraid of the extremely thin miasma here, so they automatically stay far away from this place.

Therefore, searching for something in this pit is truly daunting.

To be honest, Song Ping really knows how to hide things. Not only did Song Shuanzhu, who witnessed it firsthand, fail to find it, but Wang An and Huang Zhong were also completely clueless when they arrived.

Fortunately, since it was something he hadn't been hoping for, Wang An wasn't discouraged at all.

As Wang An looked around, wondering where Song Ping might have hidden the item, or whether Song Shuanzhu was lying to him, Huang Zhong suddenly walked up to him and offered a suggestion:

"Brother, I'll go get the pickaxe. Let's dig the bottom of this pit together. There's not much space here anyway. I think we can dig until dark and finish it. If we can't finish, we can continue digging tomorrow. What do you say, brother?"

Huang Zhong's words left Wang An speechless.

Looking into Huang Zhong's honest yet defiant eyes, Wang An suddenly realized that Huang Zhong's seemingly clumsy method was actually quite good, while he himself was always thinking of taking shortcuts.

The main reason is that if Song Pingzang's treasures were really so easy to find, then Song Shuanzhu wouldn't have come twice and come back empty-handed.

So Wang An nodded and said:

"Okay, go and get the pickaxe, the cross pickaxe, and the shovel. Let's try and see if we can dig through the snow."

Having received Wang An's agreement, Huang Zhong excitedly ran out of the mass grave.

Wang An kicked the snow, then brushed aside the withered branches and leaves beneath it. He stomped his feet on the ground, which was frozen as hard as iron, and couldn't help but click his tongue hard.

The ground is frozen solid, it's so damn hard!

In no time, Huang Zhong returned carrying two pickaxes and a shovel.

Wang An put on a gas mask, took the pickaxe, and said:

"You clear the snow and leaves to one side, I'll dig them up."

Given how hard the ground was, Wang An believed that Huang Zhong would have little chance of digging it up with his strength.

Huang Zhong agreed and began clearing the ground with a shovel.

Without saying a word, Wang An waited for Huang Zhong to clear a section of ground before swinging his pickaxe in a wide arc and slamming it into the ground.

This time, Wang An felt as if the pickaxe tip had not pierced the ground, but rather into a rock, and the shock made his hand go numb.

With a forceful lift of the pickaxe handle, only a small pit the size of an egg was dug out. Wang An quickly called to Huang Zhong:
"Stop, stop, stop, Xiao Zhong, this method won't work. The ground is frozen solid, we can't dig it up at all."

Even with Wang An's strength, it took him a full swing of the pickaxe to dig such a small hole, which shows that digging like that is definitely not going to work!
300 square meters isn't a large area, but if you were to use a pickaxe, it would probably take several days to finish.

Wang An tossed the pickaxe aside, but Huang Zhong, refusing to believe it, swung it again.

After swinging it once, Huang Zhong scratched his head awkwardly and said:
"This method really won't work, hehehe."

Wang An couldn't help but laugh as he looked at Huang Zhong, because Huang Zhong's swing hadn't even kicked up a clod of dirt; it had only created a small crater the size of a fingertip. (End of Chapter)