Zhao Qian obediently took high-grade red incense from her bag, lit it, and stuck it into the ground, yet she was so frightened that she still had to kneel and worship.
"Why are you kneeling to it?" I pulled Zhao Qian to her feet in one go, then swept my flashlight back toward the hand. No way. It had been dead for several days. It should have rotted by now. Why did it look so wrong?
That dangling hand moved and reached into the tomb passage from outside. Zhao Qian thought the thing was about to come running over, and her face went pale with fright. She nearly collapsed again.
Without a word, I picked up a stone and threw it from a distance. It missed the tomb passage and instead knocked down a pole that had been standing upright.
"Bro, those two are both back. They're standing there and waving their flashlights around," a shrill voice called from the waist-high grass nearby.
"What are you wasting time for? The axe! Hurry up! We've hit the coffin!" A voice much like the first rang out from inside the tomb passage.
"I'm almost done peeing. Wait a moment," the shrill voice continued.
I shone my flashlight toward the grass. A man stood with his back to me, peeing into the lush grass. Under my flashlight's beam, he turned his head and cursed, "Hey! You, surnamed Hua! That's enough! It's just a piss! Have you never seen a man pee before? Why are you shining that thing at your bro?"
"Bro, I'm coming. The axe, right?" After the fat man finished peeing, he ran back to the mouth of the tomb passage and handed the axe from his waist to the person below.
"Brother Tian, they seem to be grave robbers!" Zhao