Tomb Robbery Hole

The six crooked, blood-red characters reflected in his eyes, instantly sending a chill straight down his spine.

Even Xu Tong himself was startled by these six words.

He sat up and read the diary carefully once more, but that was all the content it held.

It was less of a diary and more of Master Hu's personal notebook; yet, he had left the notebook here, so where had he gone?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but cast a suspicious glance around the cave.

The karst cave was small. If the final handwriting was indeed left by Master Hu, there were only two possibilities: first, he intended to leave but wasn't sure if he would survive, so he left this book as a warning to those who followed before heading out to find a way.

But if that were the case, why didn't he write it more clearly instead of leaving just six words to fuel wild speculation?

Then there was the second possibility: he was nearing his end and, after hastily scribbling those six words, decided to make one final, desperate gamble.

But if so, who was this book left for?

Of course, there was a third possibility: a combination of both.

Regardless of whether his deductions were correct, the problem they faced now seemed to be growing increasingly thorny.

"What are you spacing out for?"

Seeing him remain silent, Captain Wang leaned in and asked.

Xu Tong handed him the diary, telling him to read it carefully before saying anything else.

"So mysterious!"

Captain Wang frowned, took the diary, and sat to the side to read it. At first, his expression mirrored Xu Tong's—puzzled, then dismissive.

But as he read further, even Captain Wang couldn't help but feel a growing sense of unease, right up until he followed Xu Tong's guidance and turned to the final page.

Captain Wang's face turned cold. Though he didn't understand the full situation, looking at that line of blood-red text, he couldn't stop a shiver of dread from rising in his heart, even going so far as to glance suspiciously at the shadow beneath his own feet.

After a long while, he patted his head and frowned, "This hellhole, it's actually a tomb? Wasn't it supposed to be a place for ascension?"

Seeing that Captain Wang still didn't grasp the situation, Xu Tong shook his head helplessly, thinking that the police captains of this era were far behind those in reality when it came to investigative awareness and deductive reasoning; he still hadn't figured it out.

But he didn't want to pierce that veil just yet, as there were more troublesome matters at hand.

"Haven't you thought about what we should do next?"

Xu Tong lay on the crystal bed, hands behind his head, and asked Captain Wang.

"Uh..."

Captain Wang froze, finally realizing the crux of the problem. He had only been thinking about escaping, but they were currently trapped in this cave—what were they supposed to do now?

He walked to the cave entrance and took a look, his mouth twitching as he sucked in a cold breath. The female corpses were still standing on the cliff outside, with absolutely no intention of leaving.

"It's over. We're going to be sitting ducks."

Returning to the cave, Captain Wang began to pace anxiously, looking east and west, but the cave was so small that no matter how he looked, there was no second path.

Outside were sheer cliffs and the guarding female corpses; inside, there wasn't even a drop of water. They were truly in a situation where heaven wouldn't answer and the earth wouldn't respond.

By contrast, Xu Tong was much calmer. He lay on the crystal bed, staring at the empty ceiling, lost in thought.

After Captain Wang paced back and forth beside him a dozen times, seeing him so composed, he finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Don't just lie there! Get up and think of a way!"

Xu Tong rolled his eyes at him, picked up the diary again, and scanned it line by line. After a moment, he slowly sat up.

He sat on the edge of the crystal bed, but instead of brainstorming as Captain Wang had hoped, he stared blankly into the air.

Just as Captain Wang opened his mouth to say something, Xu Tong finally moved.

However, it was completely different from what Captain Wang expected. Xu Tong acted as if he were possessed, first walking over to the stone steps filled with jars and bottles, fumbling around at random.

Then, he walked to the cave entrance, stood there like a fool for a while, and walked back.

"You..."

Watching Xu Tong act as if he had lost his mind, Captain Wang was left completely bewildered, thinking, Could he have been cursed?

Captain Wang speculated uneasily but didn't dare approach rashly. He could only watch as Xu Tong paced around the cave until he took the diary, crawled onto the crystal bed, and began writing with his fingers curled as if holding a pen, making a scratch-scratch-scratch sound.

But after writing for a while, he tossed the book onto the crystal bed and went back to sleep.

"Xiao Chen..."

Captain Wang stepped forward, about to try and wake him, when suddenly, Xu Tong, who was lying on the crystal bed, snapped his eyes open and flipped off the bed in one motion.

Ignoring Captain Wang, he carefully scrutinized the crystal bed.

Although it was called a crystal bed, it wasn't carved from a single piece of crystal; rather, it was pieced together from over a dozen crystals of various sizes. The base was made of high-quality nanmu wood, and the whole structure looked solid and sturdy.

If this thing were in the real world, it would definitely be considered a national treasure. Although Master Hu's diary didn't mention where it came from, he had expressed great regret at not being able to take it with him.

But what Xu Tong cared about more was why this bed was placed here.

Looking left and right, his heart suddenly cleared when he saw the inconspicuous wear marks on the floor.

This position wasn't comfortable; the lower stone wall nearby even gave one a sense of oppression, as if they were sleeping inside a tin can.

Given how large the cave was, this bed could easily have been placed in a much more comfortable spot.

Moreover, this place was so bizarre that a normal person would likely be unable to sleep at all. Even if Master Hu was bold due to his high level of skill, there was no reason for him to deliberately set up a bed just to sleep, right?

After thinking it over, there was only one explanation: there was something wrong with this bed.

"Come help me!"

He called out to Captain Wang, telling him to take the head of the bed while he took the foot. With a forceful shove, the bed was slowly pushed to the other side.

As the crystal bed was moved away, both Xu Tong and Captain Wang couldn't help but brighten up.

Beneath the bed lay a massive tomb-raiding tunnel.

"Such a huge hole! This Master Hu really is a tomb raider."

Captain Wang carefully examined the opening before him, clicking his tongue in secret. He had caught many thieves, but never a tomb raider. He had heard the veterans in the force say that tomb raiders could move mountains and split ridges, tunneling through earth, but he hadn't taken it seriously until now.

Seeing such a massive hole with his own eyes, he couldn't help but marvel, thinking that even the army's combat engineers might not be able to dig something this precise.

"Just as I thought."

Xu Tong let out a long breath. No wonder Master Hu could sleep so soundly; the tunnel was plugged up, so even if there was something down below, he would be able to hear the slightest disturbance clearly.

"Let's go, let's go down and take a look!"

Without waiting for Captain Wang to react, he jumped into the tunnel and headed inside.

"Hey!!!"

Seeing this, Captain Wang had no choice but to follow, feeling a sense of admiration for this young Comrade Xiao Chen.

After all, if it were him, he probably wouldn't have thought to move this bed even if he racked his brains.

Furthermore, if it weren't for him, he would likely be finished by now.

Thinking of this, Captain Wang's poor impression of Xu Tong changed significantly.

The two jumped into the tunnel one after the other. The tunnel sloped downward at a sixty-degree angle like a slide. It was a mystery how Master Hu had dug it, managing to perfectly avoid the impenetrable rocks.

When they had slid halfway down, Xu Tong suddenly planted his feet, bringing his body to a sudden halt.

This caught Captain Wang, who was following behind, off guard, and he nearly crashed into him, complaining, "Why did you suddenly stop..."

"Shh!!"

Before he could finish, Xu Tong made a gesture for silence and pricked up his ears, signaling Captain Wang to listen carefully.

The sound of footsteps—"da, da, da"—seemed near yet far, and if one listened closely, there were even voices talking.

"Are you sure you don't know where those two are hiding??"

"We don't know. We just turned around and realized they had vanished."

"Hmph, I suggest you don't play any tricks, or else, heh heh, Big Brother Huo Ying will definitely make you taste what it's like to wish you were dead."

That was Mad Dog's voice; Xu Tong was certain he hadn't misheard. It was just unclear whether the sound was coming from above or below.

On the other side, the voices seemed to be Yang Zixuan and the others. It appeared they had fallen back into the hands of Mad Dog's group, though the specifics remained unknown.

After the voices gradually faded away, Xu Tong carefully let out a breath. He was worried that Mad Dog's sense of smell was so keen that he might detect their location.

"Keep moving!"

He signaled for Captain Wang to continue sliding down. It took about five or six minutes before they reached the bottom of the tunnel, but it didn't seem to be the end.

In the pitch darkness, a single, sporadic ray of light shone down from above their heads.

"Whoa!"

Captain Wang had just stood up when his foot slipped, as if he had stepped on something. He fumbled to pick it up and took a look; it was a flashlight.

After feeling around on it with his fingers, he could make out the words "Zhenwen Flashlight Factory." He tried pressing the switch, and to his surprise, the flashlight still had power.

"Hey, look!"

Seeing the dim yellow light, Captain Wang was overjoyed; finally, they wouldn't have to grope their way forward in the dark. But as soon as he raised the flashlight, a bloody, mangled corpse was illuminated right before them...