Chapter Twenty-Two: Endless Perils

Second Uncle and Dimwit’s expressions grew even more despondent. Second Uncle said, “It’s not that we don’t want to go further in, inside…” He suddenly glanced at Peanut, and only then continued, “You’ll understand if you come take a look.”

“Qin Feng, bring the floodlight over,” Second Uncle called out to the crowd nearby.

A man in his thirties strode forward. He was burly and dark-skinned, and his appearance and manner instantly marked him as the kind of person who was particularly capable and efficient.

Later, I learned that Qin Feng and Dimwit were the two most impressive workers under my father’s command. As for just how impressive, that’s a story for another time.

As Qin Feng approached, he was carrying a square floodlight in his arms. I’d seen this kind of thing before—it was a stage light, modified to provide excellent illumination, though it consumed a lot of power. In the wild, it worked much like a flare, not meant for prolonged lighting.

Qin Feng nodded at me as a greeting.

“Take Yuanzi over there to have a look,” Second Uncle said. Qin Feng led the way, and we followed.

Behind the gate tower was supposed to be the front passage of the tomb, as Mouse had described, but in reality, it was just as broad as the plaza opposite the moat. Peanut had mentioned before that such a tall ancient tomb was unusual and there might be something underneath, so I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Just as I was pondering, Qin Feng suddenly stopped and set down the floodlight, flipping the switch.

The instant the light flared, I was completely stunned. My mind struggled to process what lay before me.

“It’s gone!” Old Tan shouted.

Peanut, equally perplexed, walked straight ahead.

With the floodlight illuminating everything, I knew I wasn’t mistaken. What appeared before the broad plaza-like tomb passage was an even wider expanse of mountain rock. Anyone could see this wasn’t debris from a collapse, but rather—the mountain’s own rock layers.

In other words, after walking just a few dozen meters, the tomb passage ended. But this couldn’t be right—Mouse had said the passage was very long. How could it end here?

Qin Feng turned to me and said, “We’ve all checked it. It’s solid rock—there can’t be a passage behind it.”

His words sounded in my ears like a death sentence for my father.

“No, it’s possible. There must be a way through.” I shook my head and rushed to the rock face, searching desperately for cracks or openings. But the moment my hands touched the massive stone, I knew Qin Feng was right. Yet I couldn’t accept it. If this was true, where had my father gone? And what about Earth Dog and the others? It made no sense.

A surge of frustration and helplessness overwhelmed me. I began to strike the rock with my fists and kick it furiously, but the suffocating feeling inside wouldn’t abate. I lost all rationality and almost tried to smash my head against it.

Luckily, Dimwit and Qin Feng stopped me.

“Yuan, don’t do this. Let’s think of a solution,” Old Tan said, coming over to steady me.

Qin Feng spoke in a deep voice, “He's right. Young master, acting like this won’t save the old master. We must keep calm.”

Second Uncle was deeply distressed seeing me like that. He squatted down and patted me, “Yuanzi, as long as we haven’t found your father’s body, we won’t lose heart. Trust me—even if we have to carve through this mountain, I, Yuan Er, will find him.”

I slowly looked up at Second Uncle and realized he seemed to have aged considerably. He was right; acting like a lunatic did nothing but waste time. I suddenly stood and said to them, “Mouse said before that the passage was very long—I believe he wouldn’t lie about that. With so many of us searching together, we’re bound to discover something.”

I suppose Second Uncle and the others had motivated the crew like this many times already, but after I spoke, everyone got up with renewed vigor, immediately starting to search the area.

Second Uncle told me these dozen men were the most loyal workers under my father, several even related to us. When my father disappeared, they rushed in from all over within days.

Everyone carefully examined the rocks, feeling every slab, and even Old Tan joined in. I kept thinking the mountain wall before us was too abrupt, so I lay flat on the stone, inspecting it inch by inch.

Just then, I noticed Peanut sitting beneath the rock, smiling as he smoked and glanced around. Truth be told, we’d only known each other for two days and I knew little about him, but I wasn’t foolish—I could tell Peanut wasn’t one of those idle simpletons. The relaxed look on his face struck me as odd.

“Did you notice something? If you did, tell everyone quickly. My father can’t wait any longer.”

I walked over to ask him, but as soon as I finished, Peanut’s expression turned peculiar. He looked at me and said, “Don’t put too much faith in me.”

His words were so cryptic I didn’t know how to respond.

But before I could think further, Peanut continued, “I just suddenly realized something quite simple.”

“What did you realize?” I squatted beside him.

“In general, the most common layouts for ancient tombs are those two I mentioned: mausoleum in front, tomb behind; mausoleum above, tomb below. Since there’s nothing behind this gate tower-style mausoleum, the issue must be…” As he spoke, Peanut’s gaze shifted to the stone slabs on the ground.

“You’re right.” My heart stirred, and I suddenly understood. “My father must have entered here, so the tomb must exist—if it’s not behind, it’s beneath.”

Peanut went on, “We've all been puzzled by the unusually high foundation of this gate tower. Now, it seems there’s something significant about it.”

“So what should we do?” I asked.

Peanut slowly shook his head, indicating he hadn’t figured it out yet. Calming down, I realized our situation hadn’t changed much. Wherever the tomb was, it would require some special method to access it. Unless we found the mechanism, all our theories were just empty talk.

I explained Peanut’s suspicions about the moat and the mausoleum’s unusually high foundation to Second Uncle and the others. They agreed it made sense, so Second Uncle immediately turned to the crew and said, “Everyone line up, start from the base of the rock, and check every stone slab carefully.”

These men were all seasoned hands, and after Second Uncle spoke, they moved quickly.

Dimwit said, “We’ve already searched here thoroughly several times. I doubt we’ll find anything new. Young master’s deduction makes sense—why don’t we just dig a hole and blast open the slabs?”

The mention of explosives made my heart skip a beat. I’d never experienced a detonation firsthand, so the idea made me nervous. Still, if nothing else worked, that might be our only option.

Second Uncle considered it, then looked at Qin Feng, “Madman, any issues?”

Qin Feng was perhaps the calmest among us, apart from Peanut. He surveyed the surroundings, then nodded at Second Uncle.

“Alright. When this round of searching is done, if we still find nothing, we’ll blast it open.” Second Uncle finished and tapped the ground with his foot. Qin Feng and Dimwit immediately went over to their gear and began rummaging through a large wooden chest. Inside, I saw dried grass laid out, with several cylindrical black objects atop it. Watching their cautious movements, I realized the chances of using explosives were high.

Suddenly, I sensed something was off. I looked around and was startled to realize Old Tan was nowhere to be seen.

“Old Tan!” I shouted toward the flickering shadows cast by the floodlights, but he didn’t answer. I called severa