Tomb raiding live stream: Starting as the mute Zhang

The water in the pool had all drained away, revealing a hole at the bottom. The hole was about one meter in diameter, with neatly carved edges. A cold wind blew up from below, carrying the smell of earth.

Lin Guoce lay prone at the cave entrance, shining his flashlight downwards. The beam shone down for more than ten meters, but he still couldn't see the bottom. He threw a rock down, and the sound of it falling lingered for four or five seconds before a muffled thud came—it was very deep.

"We need a rope," he said.

The special forces soldier took out a climbing rope, secured it to a large rock by the pool, and threw the other end into the hole.

"Who goes first?" Lin Guoce asked.

No one spoke.

The attack by the hard-shelled monster is still fresh in our minds; who knows what else might be below?

"I'll go down," Wu Sansheng stepped forward, rubbing his hands together and grinning sheepishly. "I'm older and more experienced, I'll go down and take a look first."

Lin Guoce glanced at him and nodded: "Be careful."

Wu Sansheng grabbed the rope and clumsily slid down into the hole. His movements looked awkward; he would stop and catch his breath each time he slid down, as if he were running out of strength.

But actually he was listening.

Listen to what's happening below.

Listen to the sound of the wind.

Listen for any other sounds.

He slid down about twenty meters before his feet touched the ground. He loosened the rope, steadied himself, and shone his flashlight around.

This was a much larger space, like an underground hall. The floor was slab-paved with stone, and stone pillars stood around the perimeter. In the center of the hall sat a huge stone coffin.

The stone coffin was much larger than the bronze coffin above, about three meters long and one and a half meters wide. The coffin lid was engraved with intricate patterns—cloud patterns, thunder patterns, and bird and animal patterns.

"It's safe down here!" he shouted upwards.

People came down one after another.

Kun's legs were still shaking when he got off, and he almost fell when he landed. His assistant quickly helped him up.

After Liu Changfu got down, he immediately began to speak: "Xie Linyuan saved us just now, but he just left like that. That's so irresponsible! He should have been clearing the way ahead!"

Wu Sansheng was squatting on the ground examining the patterns on the stone slab when he heard this, and his eyebrows twitched.

He picked up a small pebble from the ground and flicked it with his finger.

A pebble flew out and hit Liu Changfu on the back of the head.

"Ouch!" Liu Changfu cried out in pain, clutching his head. "Who? Who hit me?"

He turned his head to look.

Everyone had just come down and was organizing their equipment; no one approached him.

"Someone hit me with something just now!" Liu Changfu said.

Lin Guoce glanced at him: "No one hit you, it was probably just some loose rock that fell from above."

"Not gravel! It's pebbles! So accurate!"

"Did you see who it was?"

Liu Changfu was speechless; he truly hadn't seen it.

He rubbed the back of his head, where a large lump had formed, making him wince in pain.

Wu Sansheng remained squatting in place, continuing to look at the stone slab, as if nothing had happened.

Bullet comments:

[ID Hidden Weapon Master: Who fired this?]

[ID deserves it: Liu Changfu is too noisy, he deserves to be beaten]

[Mysterious ID: Could Xie Linyuan still be nearby?]

[ID Uncle: Uncle is squatting so seriously]

Professor Zhou Xu'an walked up to the stone coffin and excitedly took photos: "This stone coffin...the patterns...it's definitely of the level of a Han Dynasty king or nobleman! It's so precious!"

Sun Shuanzhu immediately said, "Professor, you can't touch it! This is a national first-class cultural relic!"

"I know, I'll just take the picture."

Wu Sansheng stood up and walked to the stone coffin.

He looked at the coffin lid, then at the coffin body.

There was a gap between the coffin lid and the coffin body, which was sealed with black clay. However, the clay had dried and cracked, and some parts had fallen off.

"This coffin must not be opened," he said.

"Why?" Professor Zhou Xu'an asked.

"If we open it, something bad will happen," Wu Sansheng said. "The design of this tomb is a series of interconnected traps. The bronze coffin on top is bait; opening it will trigger a mechanism. This stone coffin is the real one, but opening it will release something."

"What is it?"

"I don't know," Wu Sansheng shook his head, "but it's definitely not a good thing."

Liu Changfu rubbed his head and walked over: "Uncle Wu, don't exaggerate. Archaeology involves opening coffins for research; there's no reason not to."

Wu Sansheng glanced at him and said slowly, "If you want to drive, go ahead. I won't stop you."

Liu Changfu choked; he dared not open it.

Lin Guoce said, "Let's not discuss opening the coffin yet. Let's look around and see if there are any other exits."

Everyone spread out and inspect the hall.

The hall was surrounded by walls on all four sides, with no obvious doors. But Wu Sansheng walked to the east wall and knocked on it.

The sound was hollow.

"There's a hidden door here," he said.

"How do I open it?" Lin Guoce asked.

Wu Sansheng felt around on the wall and found a loose brick. He pressed it down, and the brick sank in.

The sound of gears turning came from inside the wall.

Then, the entire wall slowly slid open to one side, revealing the passage behind it.

The passageway was wide enough for three people to walk side by side. There were grooves in the wall, and in the grooves sat an oil lamp—the oil had dried up.

"Let's go," Lin Guoce said.

The team entered the passage.

After walking about fifty meters, three paths appeared ahead.

All three roads were exactly the same, pitch black, and seemed to have no end in sight.

"Which way?" Lin Guoce asked.

Everyone looked at Wu Sansheng.

Wu Sansheng walked to the fork in the road, squatted down, and took out a small cloth bag from his tattered canvas bag—it contained incense ash, which he had prepared before setting off.

He scattered the incense ash on the ground, then stood up and waited.

The incense ash is very light, and when blown by the airflow in the passage, it drifts the most towards the left side of the path.

"Go to the left," he said.

"Why?" Liu Changfu asked. "What does the incense ash indicate?"

"Airflow," Wu Sansheng said. "The airflow in the left passage indicates that there is an exit or ventilation."

"That could be a trap!"

"Trapes usually block airflow to prevent the odor from spreading," Wu Sansheng said. "Of course, they might do the opposite. If you feel something is wrong, you can take another route."

Liu Changfu fell silent.

The group should proceed through the left-hand passage.

The passage was long; after walking about a hundred meters, a stone chamber appeared ahead.

The stone chamber was small, about twenty square meters. There was no coffin inside, only a stone table with some items on it: several pottery jars, a bronze sword, and a jade disc.

Professor Zhou Xu'an walked over excitedly: "This is...this is a burial object! It's so well preserved!"

Sun Shuanzhu immediately said, "Don't touch it! Register it! Protect it!"

Wu Sansheng didn't look at those things; he was looking at the top of the stone chamber.

There is a circular pattern on the top, engraved with the sun, moon and stars.

There is a depression in the center of the pattern.

The concave shape was similar to the black stone discs he had seen before, but smaller.

He frowned.

Is this tomb related to the previous one?

Or is this pattern a common feature in tombs in this region?

As he was thinking, Liu Changfu started again: "Uncle Wu, you know a lot. Did you rob tombs before?"

Wu Sansheng turned to look at him.

His eyes were calm, but there was a hint of coldness in them.

"What did you say?"

"Hey, did you used to be a tomb raider?" Liu Changfu laughed. "Otherwise, how would you know so much?"

Wu Sansheng did not answer.

He bent down and picked up a small stone from the ground.

With a flick of the finger.

The pebble flew out and hit Liu Changfu in the back of his knee.

"Ah!" Liu Changfu's legs went weak and he knelt on the ground.

"What's wrong?" Lin Guoce asked.

"Someone hit me!" Liu Changfu cried out in pain, tears streaming down his face. "My knee! Someone hit my knee with something!"

Lin Guoce looked around.

Everyone was in the stone chamber. The person closest to Liu Changfu was Wu Sansheng, but Wu Sansheng was standing three meters away, with his back to him, looking at the murals on the wall.

"Nobody hit you," Lin Guoce said. "You probably just had a leg cramp."

"It's not a cramp! It's a pebble! Look!" Liu Changfu pointed to the ground, where there was indeed a small pebble.

But there were already many pebbles on the floor of the stone chamber, so who knows which one it was?

Liu Changfu stood up, limping, and muttering curses.

Wu Sansheng continued to look at the murals.

Bullet comments:

[Another ID appears: Liu Changfu got beaten up again]

[The Master of Invisibility: Who exactly is he?]

[ID Uncle Suspect: The uncle's back is turned]

[ID deserves it: Talking too much deserves a beating]

The mural depicts a hunting scene: a group of people on horseback chasing wild animals. The imagery is vivid, but nothing particularly special.

After looking at the murals, Wu Sansheng walked to the stone table and looked at the burial objects.

The earthenware jar, which was used to store grain, is now empty. The bronze sword is severely corroded. The jade disc, however, is intact and engraved with cloud patterns.

He picked up the jade disc, looked at it, and then put it down.

"Let's go," he said. "There's nothing else here."

"What should we do with these things?" Sun Shuanzhu asked. "Are we taking them with us?"

"Leave it for now," Lin Guoce said. "We'll wait for the professional team to handle it."

The group left the stone chamber and continued onward.

The passage began to slope downwards.

After walking about thirty meters, a deep pit appeared ahead.

The pit is about five meters wide and its bottom is unknown. On the opposite side of the pit, there is a platform with a stone door on it.

There was no bridge over the pit, only a few thick iron chains spanning it, rusty and swaying slightly in the darkness.

"Another chain?" Kun's face turned pale. "I almost fell off last time..."

Lin Guoce inspected the chains: "They're fairly sturdy. Let's go through them one by one, using safety ropes."

He went first and successfully reached the other side.

Then came Professor Zhou Xu'an and Jiang Shouyi.

Kun Ge was too scared to go across and cried. His assistant and makeup artist encouraged him, and in the end, he crawled across with his eyes closed.

When it was Wu Sansheng's turn, he walked to the edge of the pit, looked at the iron chain, and hesitated.

"Uncle Wu, hurry up!" Liu Changfu said from behind, "Don't waste time."

Wu Sansheng turned around and glanced at him.

Then he turned around and walked onto the chains.

He walked very steadily.

He was nothing like the clumsy middle-aged man I remembered from the previous mountain climb.

With light steps and a steady center of gravity, I reached the other side in just a few steps.

After landing, he took a breath and wiped his sweat—pretending to be very tired.

The person opposite him didn't think anything was wrong; they just thought he was lucky.

But Lin Guoce looked at Wu Sansheng with a hint of inquiry in his eyes.

Finally, everyone arrived.

Liu Changfu was the last one. When he came over, his leg was still hurting, and he was limping. He almost fell down but was pulled up by the special forces.

After he came up, he started saying again, "If Xie Linyuan were here, he could get through this place with ease..."

Before he could finish speaking...

A pebble flew out of the darkness and hit him in the mouth.

"Pfft!" Liu Changfu spat out a tooth, his mouth full of blood.

"Who! Who hit me again!" he screamed.

Everyone looked at him.

But no one saw where the stones came from.

Wu Sansheng stood by the stone gate, studying the lock on it, with his back to us.

It's as if everything has nothing to do with him.