Chapter Fifty-One: Amidst the Light and Shadow

This, however, explains why Wei Lin and his two companions appeared in the circular corridor. Now that the robber's tunnel had been found, getting out should not be a problem; it was no wonder the Fatty had started leisurely cooking meat the moment he woke up.

At this moment, two paths lay before us.

First, after a hearty meal, we could simply crawl out through the tunnel and forget about everything else.

Second, we could stay here, find a way to locate Peanut and Professor Chen, and get to the bottom of the matter.

Fatty said, "My thought is that once we've eaten, we head straight out, and we might as well take that gold box with us. That way, our suffering down here won't have been in vain."

I hesitated and said, "I don't even know if this tunnel leads anywhere. Besides, it's such a heavy thing, and the hole is so small. How are we supposed to carry it?"

Fatty squinted at me. "Are you still obsessing over those loose ends?"

I fell silent immediately.

"Sigh, this is partly my fault for insisting you come along. But I suspect that even if you do find Professor Chen later, he won't necessarily tell you the truth."

"I know, but it's so dangerous up there. Like you said, if Professor Chen has already obtained the Snow Crane Feather, why would he still come here? We have to wait for Peanut at least," I replied.

"Oh, give me a break. You are such a miserable, sentimental person—a rare breed indeed. If I were that mysterious young man, I would have been moved by you long ago and told you everything," Fatty said with a wave of his hand. "Forget it, let's go eat first. We can deal with the rest once we're full."

I could see that Fatty’s mind was solely fixed on that large gold box. It would be difficult enough to get him to wait here for Peanut, let alone ask him to go back up and search for them.

Just as we were about to head out, Fatty suddenly pulled me back.

"What is it?" I asked, seeing his expression turn tense.

"I hear something," Fatty whispered suspiciously.

Once he said that, both of us went quiet. At first, I heard nothing, but less than ten seconds later, the sound of falling clods of earth reached my ears.

We listened intently, and gradually, our eyes locked onto the brick wall on the west side of the tomb chamber.

The sound seemed to be coming from behind the brickwork.

Because this place was extremely dilapidated, the bricks and stones in the wall were not neatly laid; some were so rotten they were on the verge of falling off.

Logically, there should have been nothing but soil behind the wall, so such noises shouldn't have been possible. But now, we could hear them clearly. The activity behind the wall was significant, and the only explanation was that there was space behind the bricks.

Fatty and I became very cautious. We exchanged a glance and moved toward the brick wall in silence.

Reaching the wall, Fatty reached out to feel it, seemingly looking for a loose brick to pull out.

However, before he could find one, a beam of light suddenly shone through from behind the wall.

I was startled, and Fatty immediately pressed my head down, causing us both to crouch low.

Once the light appeared, I realized how truly ruined the wall was. There were cracks everywhere, and the light pierced through uninhibited, illuminating nearly the entire tomb chamber behind us.

Crouching on the ground, we shuffled to the side like clowns, only standing up slowly once we were out of the beam's reach.

Fatty and I pressed our backs against the wall. Although we were desperate to look through the cracks to see what was happening on the other side, we suppressed the urge and listened intently.

The sound of falling dirt gradually subsided, followed by a series of footsteps. The sound was dense, as if many people were moving about on the other side.

I suddenly wondered if the rest of the archaeological team had arrived.

Just as I was thinking this, a man’s voice came from the other side.

"Phew, finally done. Hey, Ah Wei, pass me a cigarette."

Hearing that voice, Fatty and I both frowned deeply. I suspected I might have misheard, but then the man spoke again.

"You two brothers, don't just stand there. Go in and check on Professor Chen."

Then, another person replied, "Heh, Yang Lang, since when did it become your turn to give orders?"

The first man retorted, "Stop trying to stir up trouble. Do you know what cooperation is? You were the laziest one when we were digging through that last section."

"Heh heh heh, fine, fine, I was lazy. Is the team leader going to go snitch to Professor Chen now?"

...

I gritted my teeth. There was no mistake.

The first person we heard was definitely Yang Lang, and the other must have been Wei Lin.

But weren't they dead? How could this be...

Fatty grabbed my arm, signaling me to control myself and stop shaking so violently. His face was grave. After a moment, he slowly leaned his head toward the wall.

I was dying to see the situation behind the bricks. Seeing Fatty peek, I hunched over and peered through one of the cracks.

At that sight, a "buzzing" sound filled my head, and I nearly screamed in terror.

Behind the brick wall was a tomb chamber even more dilapidated than our own. In the center sat a thick, sturdy-looking coffin. Beyond that, I realized that every brick and every corner of that chamber was an exact replica of the one we were standing in.

More horrifyingly, several men with flashlights were standing in that room. My gaze trembled as I swept across them, confirming their identities: Yang Lang, Wei Lin, Ah Wei, and the brothers Zhang Yadong and Zhang Yaxi.

At that moment, the Zhang brothers were standing by an opening at the back of the chamber, seemingly shining their lights into it to inspect something. The other three were examining the coffin while smoking.

This scene alone filled me with an indescribable, overwhelming sense of dread. A mysterious and eerie atmosphere permeated the light, shrouding everything.

I suddenly recalled the scene of these men’s gruesome deaths, and as those memories collided with the reality before me, a splitting headache took hold.

"Team leader, I still can't see the light from Professor Chen and Qi Hui’s flashlights. They might still be behind us. Should I go in and take a look?" Zhang Yaxi said to Yang Lang.

Wei Lin laughed from the side. "Look at what? Professor Chen is old. With a tunnel this long, we’ll probably be waiting for another half hour."

Ah Wei laughed along, "Exactly. Team leader, I think 'Big Sister' is about to let you take over."

"Cut the nonsense," Yang Lang said, sounding displeased, though he only glared at the two of them.

He then pulled an object resembling a supermarket POS machine from his gear bag, pressed a few buttons, and began pacing the room.

When he neared the coffin, the device suddenly let out a series of "beep, beep, beep" sounds.

"Why is the metal reading so high?" Yang Lang asked, looking at the machine and then at the coffin.

Ah Wei chuckled, "Don't be ridiculous. There are plenty of burial objects in the coffin, so the metal reading is naturally high. Why are you so nervous, Team leader?"

Yang Lang lowered the machine and looked at Ah Wei.

"Not nervous? Do you know how far the Yuan family has gone? If we don't pick up the pace, you'll be dead before you even know how it happened."

Yang Lang held some authority among them, and once he spoke, Ah Wei stopped smiling.

"If you ask me, this is all a waste of time. So what if we get the Snow Crane Feather? Is it really that easy to enter the Three-Day Knot Treasury? 'Big Sister' just stares at that damn video all day, ignoring everything else and only knowing how to order us around," Wei Lin said, sounding frustrated. "In my opinion, we should just take out the Yuan family."

"Have you forgotten what happened last time? If you really want to go, I’m all for it, but you'll have to go yourself," Yang Lang stared at Wei Lin. "Humph, do you think the Yuan family is that easy to deal with? Let alone the fatalistic constraints—even if it came to an all-out fight, do you think 'Big Sister' could beat Yuan Long?"

"Hey, be quiet," Zhang Yadong suddenly hissed. "Professor Chen and the others are coming out."