So Much Grass

"This is the first time I've ever seen an excavator used to excavate an imperial tomb!"

Having spent so much time using Technique Method to sneak into tombs, Zhang Xuezhou was still somewhat unaccustomed to the tools of modern society.

Amidst the clanging and hammering sounds, large sections of blue bricks were pried open, revealing the outer perimeter of Emperor Luo Ke's mausoleum.

Qin Wuxuan turned on a blower, and amidst the noisy wind, billowing waves of air gushed in from the entrance.

"There shouldn't be any more poisonous gas at the entrance, so everyone can go in safely," Qin Wuxuan said. "We'll open the tomb door again to ventilate it later. We'll all wear gas masks. Wenhan, you check again to see if there's anything suspicious, so we don't fall into a trap!"

As numerous fully armed members of the sequence committee entered the outer area of the mausoleum, Zhang Xuezhou quickly adjusted the camera.

If anything suspicious can be found on Luo Ke's body, forcibly excavating the imperial tomb wouldn't be a big problem.

What many committee members fear most is making the wrong guess, which could give others ammunition to criticize them and incite confrontation within the Scarlet Alliance State.

As Zhang Xuezhou entered the Mausoleum of Emperor Luo Ke with great vigilance, he even gave the committee members a close-up shot of his expression.

"Keep up!"

Zhou Rihui led the way, while Zhou Yueyan brought up the rear. She patted Zhang Xuezhou on the shoulder, signaling Zhang Xuezhou to be careful.

Except for Zuo Quan and Zuo Jin, who remained in the cockpit, everyone else in their group who was supposed to go in had gone in.

There's a big secret inside!

Zhang Xuezhou waved to Zuo Quan and Zuo Jin, but the two arrogant men pretended not to hear and continued to do some fake busy work with their excavators and bulldozers.

After everyone had jumped down, and the passageway was brightly lit, Zuo Quan looked at Zuo Jin with a hint of reluctance.

"Are we really just going to lie outside?" Zuo Quan asked.

"What else can we do?" Zuo Jin. "What good can we possibly gain from going in and joining the fun?"

"What if it's beneficial?" Zuo Quan asked.

"Is there some benefit that will allow you to reach the Fourth Sequence or something?" Zuo Jin, "Even if they find some treasure, they'll definitely bring it out, and we'll get a share!"

"What if some treasures can't be brought out?"

"What treasure can't be taken out? I've never seen anyone in the world who could gain benefits from burial goods without taking them out!"

Zuo Jin said a few things, which Zuo Quan found very reasonable.

Although they used to fight to the death, now that the outcome depends on their sons' competition, the two have become less scheming and are able to stick together on the big picture.

The two dawdled without entering the tomb, occasionally glancing at the special forces stationed in the outer area, and simply sat outside to pass the time.

When the loud 'bang' echoed from the tomb, the two couldn't help but feel a little smug and gleeful.

"Grass!"

A faint sound drifted over, and Zuo Jin couldn't help but sigh.

"You can hear a lot of them swearing," Zuo Jin said smugly. "I guessed right, they've really suffered a huge loss!"

"Why do I feel like the way they say 'grass' doesn't sound like an insult?"

Zuo Quan stood up in the cockpit and looked down at the entrance to the tunnel that had been dug out. He noticed that it seemed to have a touch of purple in the afterglow of the lamplight.

He felt a little itchy to go in, but he was afraid of being taken advantage of, so he didn't dare to follow.

"This light has a purple tinge; we must have come into contact with some kind of purple poisonous gas," Zuo Jin said, also peering Zuo Jin. "What if they all die? Would we then be at the highest level of the Sequence Committee?"

"Are you crazy? If the committee only consists of the two of us in the Third Sequence, let alone the others obeying our orders, we won't even be safe walking around," Zuo Quan said.

"That's true!"

Zuo Jin responded sullenly, abandoning his wild fantasies.

"Hey, are you guys safe? Have you been poisoned? Should I call a special task force for rescue?"

He grabbed a megaphone and shouted twice into the tunnel. Only after someone responded from afar did Zuo Jin put down the megaphone and glare at Zuo Quan.

"They said the imperial tomb is overgrown with unknown poisonous plants, and told us not to let anyone wander in," Zuo Jin said.

"It's growing poisonous weeds?"

"It's not surprising that poisonous plants grow in the tombs of these emperors after their deaths, as they are filled with poisonous smoke, miasma, and water!"

"I've never seen any poisonous plants grow in poisonous gas or water!"

The Zuo Household brothers looked at each other, realizing that their knowledge of plant genes was starting to fall behind.

"It seems to be a rare plant species?"

"It has very unique characteristics and could potentially create a batch of new genetically modified plants!"

"Taking burial objects from an imperial tomb will definitely get me in trouble, and if it gets caught later, it'll be a disaster. But pulling weeds isn't illegal, so it should be fine!"

"They must be dividing up this new plant!"

The two exchanged a few words, looked at each other, and then quickly put on their protective suits and gas masks.

Zuo Quan reached out and pushed the cockpit, leaping into the excavated tunnel, with Zuo Jin following closely behind.

We quickly moved forward along the tunnel, and after walking twenty meters, we entered the main gate of the mausoleum.

The vermilion-painted iron gate had been pushed open, revealing the interior structure of the tomb.

Every emperor preferred to live in palaces and large houses, and their posthumous palaces were also built in the style of underground palaces, only much smaller than normal palaces.

If we consider the outer tomb passage as a plaza, then entering the large iron gate leads to the main palace.

So much grass!

As soon as Zuo Jin stepped through the gate, he saw patches of purple grass growing in the cracks between the palace floor tiles.

These grasses resemble gladioli, except their branches and leaves are a translucent purple, shimmering with a faint glow like nightlight, casting a deep purple shadow over the palace.

The withered bones scattered among the purple grass gave it an ominous hue.

Zuo Jin looked ahead and saw that a large number of people had already stepped across the purple grass area and entered the main hall, which was where Emperor Luo Ke's wealth and imperial coffin were stored.

This made him and Zuo Quan quicken their pace by several minutes.

"They wouldn't even look at this place; there's definitely much better grass out there," Zuo Jin said.

"Absolutely!"

The two men moved forward without saying a word, but only for a short moment, Zuo Quan and Zuo Jin's expressions changed.

Just five seconds after stepping into the purple grass, the two felt a tightness under their feet, making it difficult to walk for several minutes.

When Zuo Quan looked down, he saw that the seemingly harmless purple grass had silently wrapped around his feet and was rapidly gathering and crawling on his body like ants.

"This grass can get tangled up!"

Just as Zuo Quan was about to draw the gun from his waist and fire at the grass, he quickly grabbed the knife he was issued.

Before he could even pull the knife out of its sheath, Zuo Quan felt a sharp pain in his calf; the purple grass had pierced directly into their protective suits.

"This grass is prickly!" Zuo Jin exclaimed. "I feel like this grass wants to suck our blood and eat our flesh!"

"That's bad news. The good news is they don't eat bones, so at least if they die here, they'll leave behind a skeleton to be used as ashes!"

Zuo Quan frowned and slashed with his sword, cutting off the long purple grass that was wrapped around his legs.

When he pulled the grass out of his calf, he saw that there was still a little blood on the tip of the grass.

The blades of grass seemed to still retain some animal-like physical reactions; when Zuo Quan pinched the blades, he felt as if the blades were still trying to prick his body.

He didn't dare put the grass in his pocket to make a specimen. After casually throwing the grass on the ground, Zuo Quan couldn't help but slash wildly forward with his knife.

But just a few seconds later, his expression changed drastically.

Behind him, the severed purple grass seemed to possess a peculiar vitality, bouncing and catching onto the stems and leaves as it landed, only to regrow itself.

As the purple grass around him grew thicker and thicker, almost covering the entire area, leaving no possibility of escape or regrouping, Zuo Quan felt a growing sense of fear.