Ancient tomb excavation traces

I woke up with a dull ache in the back of my head. That old bastard hit me hard; I think I'd given him a concussion. Gritting my teeth, once I was fully conscious, I shuffled along like a caterpillar to the wall, slowly propping myself up inch by inch with my back. Just moments before, I thought I was dead, but the pain and the restraints on my hands and feet reminded me that I was still alive. After adjusting my position, I gasped for breath. A musty smell filled the air, and slowly I detected another odor—blood.

It all felt like a nightmare. I was terrified. Why was there a smell of blood? Could it be Xue Wei and Chen Yi's?

No—this can't be! My heart raced, pressing against my throat, forcing me to utter only a faint sound, a sound that, along with my consciousness, searched for the directions of my closest friends in the air.

"Wei Zi... Lao Tiao... Lao Tiao... Bao Cai... are you... are you there?" My voice trembled, echoing coldly and hollowly in the enclosed space. I pleaded for their answer, even for Chen Tiao's snoring that I couldn't bear, but no one responded. In this pitch-black place, the air felt eerily like countless hands, slowly burrowing into my skin and moving upwards. I wanted to scream, but fear robbed me of my voice.

"Waaah...waaah..." I curled up, burying my head in my knees. This was the first time I had cried because I was afraid of losing my friend. But at that moment, I didn't know that this was just the beginning.

The accident happened on November 4, 2014, and I don't know how much time has passed since then. Xue Wei and I had promised our childhood friend Chen Yi that we would accompany him to a small village in Yuanling County to find a rare dragon and phoenix patterned pendant, so we made a special trip from Hangzhou to Hunan.

Chen Yi is an antique dealer who enjoys studying old items. The older the item, the more it attracts him. This trait stems from the blood of the Heavenly Official of the Tomb Raiders flowing in his veins.

The Faqiu Sect originated from Cao Cao's tomb raiding troops at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Their original official position was Faqiu Zhonglang General. Chen Tianzhou, the ancestor of Chen Yi, was a prominent figure in the tomb raiding world more than a thousand years ago.

Despite his renowned reputation, theft is not a respectable act, especially stealing burial objects from the dead. Therefore, under criticism from all sides, Chen Tianzhou quietly withdrew from public life, leaving behind some legends and stories.

The nightmare seemed destined to begin. Besides Chen Yi, his local friend Liu Baocai also came to pick us up that day. Liu Baocai was dressed plainly, had a monkey-like face, and his small features were squeezed together, giving him a shrewd look. Although he talked a lot of nonsense, he was actually a graduate student in animal science.

The old pickup truck drove along the country road. Xue Wei and I sat in the back, watching the passing scenery. The area was sparsely populated, and occasionally we could see elderly people working slowly in the fields. As the truck sped by, their figures and the beautiful scenery became like an oil painting by Kuinzhi. Inside the truck, Pu Shu's songs, along with the roar of the engine, blended into a unique kind of heavy metal music.

When we encountered bumpy roads, we bounced rhythmically with the car. Even in our sorry state, Xue Wei still laughed as he told us about Chen Yi being dumped by a girl. But our laughter froze after a short while because Liu Baocai's car had a flat tire in a desolate place.

I still remember the stunned expressions on our faces; it was like we'd won hundreds of thousands in a lottery. A flat tire like that wouldn't be so bad in the city, but in this desolate place, far from any village or shop, it was absolutely terrible. But that wasn't the worst part. The most frustrating thing was that our cell phone signal dropped from one bar to no signal at all in this remote area.

We walked a while further on, because we had driven for a long time and needed to find a house to get some food to fill our stomachs. More importantly, we needed to find a way to contact emergency rescue personnel. Fortunately, as we walked forward through this overgrown area and around the earthen slope that blocked our view, we saw a solitary white house, which stood out particularly in the dim afternoon light.

The wind rustled, making the trees around the house sound like ghostly cries. In the grove behind the house, the dark crevices resembled crouching shadows ready to pounce, while the mournful calls of birds seemed to be a warning to us.

To our surprise, there was a small transport vehicle parked in front of the house. According to Chen Yi at the time, it was really strange that there was such a vehicle in this remote, godforsaken place!

It was Xue Wei who was knocking on the peeling iron gate. The knocking echoed loudly in this deserted place, but after a few knocks, no one responded. We looked at each other, intending to leave, but just as we were about to leave, we heard the sound of something metal clattering to the ground.

The noise puzzled me. Could it be that an elderly woman with hearing problems lived inside? I turned around and knocked on the iron gate again, but after that one sound, the white house returned to its eerie silence.

I was a little discouraged. After all, the gray sky was already shrouded in a thin veil of black. If we couldn't resolve this predicament, the four of us men would have to sleep in the car that night. Helpless, Xue Wei decided to go ahead and look again, hoping for a bit of luck.

At that moment, stumbling footsteps and desperate shouts came from inside the iron gate. The urgent sounds made my heart tighten. Just as I was wondering what was going on, I heard heavy footsteps like those of sappers' boots, and then the door suddenly opened.

The four of us stopped in our tracks, bewildered, and turned around. The scene before us stunned us. A disheveled girl hid behind us in terror, her face covered in black grime mixed with tears. Her floral dress was torn to shreds, and we could see mottled bloodstains on her inner thighs.

"It's over...it's over...Tie Niu..." The girl shook her head, her hoarse voice carrying a hint of mental derangement. I saw that she was disheveled, with red marks on her wrists, and her panicked appearance resembled that of a frightened cat. I couldn't help but wonder what she had gone through.

After this unexpected situation arose, we were forced to confront five strange men who were short but very strong. They were strange because their eyes were red-rimmed, their skin was dull, and they had a peculiar odor.

"What are you doing?" Xue Wei couldn't help but ask. In fact, I already had a vague feeling that something was wrong with this strange house and the people inside.

"We can't go to the places of our ancestors, we can't... we can't! We are the children of our ancestors, we... we will all be cursed!" The girl clutched her hair, her eyes bulging, her words incoherent.

"What exactly did you do?" Xue Wei asked again when the five dwarfs did not answer.

The two sides faced off. At this moment, Bao Cai craned his neck and peered into the iron gate. I saw his face turn pale, and he suddenly backed away, saying, "My God! Dead...dead people...there are dead people!"

Seeing the fear in his eyes, I looked inside and was shocked to see an old man covered in wounds, lying in a pool of blood, his eyes staring blankly at the sky…

Seeing this scene, my heart stopped instantly, my mind went blank, and I struggled to control my breathing. To the right of the courtyard, I saw a stone door leaning against the wall. The door wasn't large, and it was entirely gray-black, with what seemed to be carved into the doorway. I watched it lie there quietly, silent and eerie, and a chill ran down my spine.

Unfortunately, there were people blocking our way, and we were outside the house, so I couldn't see what was carved on the door. However, with the eye of an art student and the strong intuition in my blood, I felt that the stone door must be quite old. If Chen Yi saw it now, he would definitely rush over and figure it out.

"Ayu is dead, dead!" The girl straightened her curled-up back, then suddenly threw her head back and laughed strangely. The laughter was shrill and shrill, which completely stunned me.

"Ayu is Grandpa's idea. So this girl is Miao! Damn it! You bunch of bastards, why did you have to lay a hand on a girl and an old man!" Chen Yi shouted excitedly.

Upon hearing this, one of the short men with a hooked nose suddenly drew a machete and said to the other four, "Kill them. They saw something they shouldn't have."

When I heard him say "kill them," my first reaction was disbelief, since I've never experienced being attacked head-on with a machete.

"Get out of the way, block the flow!" It was Xue Wei who blocked the attack for me. I was completely stunned. The scream of the Miao girl brought me back to my senses. I watched Xue Wei face five machetes alone, and my blood immediately boiled.

"Men are bullying the old, weak, women and children! I can't stand people like you!" Chen Yu rolled up his sleeves and charged into the fray. By then, the two short men with knives had been kicked away by Xue Wei and were rolling on the ground. I saw that Chen Yu had been stabbed in the back, and without thinking, I threw myself into the arms of justice.

Liu Baocai pulled the disoriented girl back a little until our blood splattered everywhere. He didn't know where he got the courage, but he suddenly rushed into the house, grabbed a long chair and started swinging it wildly. This gave us an opportunity, and Xue Wei took the chance to seize a machete.

Just as our unorthodox "Justice League" was gaining the upper hand, a loud gunshot suddenly rang out from above.

"Anyone who moves again, I'll kill them!"

Hearing the gunshot, we stopped what we were doing and quickly got up to look. A tall man in an old leather jacket had appeared, and beside him was a young man whose hands were tied and who was covered in wounds. He looked up at the emotionally unstable Miao girl, a hint of pity and helplessness flashing in his stubborn eyes.

Beside the tall, burly man stood a bald man with an expressionless face. The bald man had a tuft of goatee and two short knives at his waist. The sheaths of the knives were made of fine leather, inlaid with gemstones. Upon closer inspection, one sheath was painted with a wolf, and the other with wind, fire, thunder, and lightning. If I'm not mistaken, these knives were Mongolian knives.

I was filled with deep doubt, wondering if I had stumbled into a conflict or was at the scene of a murder and rape.

Before I could think any further, the tall man said with a gloomy expression, "Hands up!" Clearly, these two were in cahoots with the five short men, because he was pointing a gun at us.

"Kneel on the ground, head down!" Upon hearing this, I saw Xue Wei's expression change. Bao Cai gestured to the unconvinced Xue Wei with his elbow and whispered, "A wise man doesn't fight a losing battle."

My face was facing the mud; I never dreamed I'd be in such a terrible situation.

Seeing the fight turn in their favor, the hook-nosed man kicked Liu Baochai hard in the buttocks, causing Liu Baochai to cry out in pain. Even the previously valiant Chen Yi backed down; after all, we only have a body, and nobody wants to be a target.

I smiled bitterly, but what I was thinking about wasn't what we were about to face. Instead, I thought: it's one thing for us to suffer this humiliation, but if a world champion like Xue Wei had to be lying face down in the mud, even if he died and became a ghost, he wouldn't let these guys off the hook.

In the darkness, I shook my head. Unfortunately, before I could even grasp the situation, something struck my head hard, and I lost consciousness. I only remember that Chen Yi's back was injured, Liu Baochai had several cuts on his face, while Xue Wei seemed unharmed. But why am I still alive, while they are silent? Are we being held in different places? Or are they trying to kill us one by one? No, they aren't perverts; they have no reason to derive their pleasure from tormenting our will. So who are they? Why is the Miao girl in their hands? And what is the relationship between the dead old man, the captured young man, and them?