DipNovel Chapter 3 Tomb Search
Chapter 3 Tomb Search
The food at the small mountain village restaurant was really not good, but the portions were generous. Driven by his physical instincts, Qin Yuan ate four large bowls of rice with the salty stir-fried vegetables and a few slices of oily twice-cooked pork. Wang Pangzi's eyes twitched as he watched, clutching his wallet with a pained expression.
"Little Blackie, I've figured it out now. You're not Little Black Potato, you're a gluttonous beast! Your appetite has increased several times since we first met! If you keep eating like this, we'll be lucky to break even on this trip, let alone make money!"
Qin Yuan let out a burp, feeling the surge of power within him, and chuckled, "I'm still growing, so I need to eat more to have the strength to help you carry the artifacts, right?"
"Come on! With your puny build, you'd struggle to even carry two bricks!" The fat man waved his hand dismissively, then said seriously, "Eat and drink your fill, get ready to hit the road... oops, I mean, head up the mountain! I've got all the tools ready, just follow along, and be smart, you hear me?"
"Understood!" Qin Yuan patted the backpack on his back, which was just for show. It actually contained a few bottles of water and some snacks. The real good stuff was lying in the system space.
The two left the guesthouse, carrying their tools, and followed the path pointed out by the villagers into the deep mountains. The mountain path was rugged and increasingly desolate, with the forest growing denser and blocking out the sun. All that could be heard were the chirping of birds and insects, and the rustling sound of their footsteps on the fallen leaves.
The fat man had clearly done his homework beforehand, holding an old compass and muttering to himself, occasionally looking up at the mountain's contours, searching for the so-called "feng shui treasure land." Qin Yuan followed behind him, cautiously observing the surroundings while repeatedly recalling fragments of information about the Seven Star Lu Palace in his mind, trying to match them with the terrain before him.
After walking for about two hours, the fat man stopped in front of a gentle slope backed by a mountain wall and surrounded by a stream. He put away his compass, squinted at the spot for a while, and then suddenly slapped his thigh: "This is it! A place where the wind gathers and the energy converges, a dragon lurking in the abyss! Little Blackie, grab your gear and let's get started!"
It was already afternoon, and sunlight filtered through the dense foliage, casting dappled shadows. The fat man took two entrenching tools from his large backpack, handed one to Qin Yuan, chose a spot for himself, spit into his palm, rubbed it together, and started digging.
"Fatty, is your location accurate? We've been digging for almost four hours, and all we see is mud and rocks. We haven't even seen a single tomb brick." Qin Yuan wiped the sweat and mud from his face, looking at the pit he had dug more than a meter deep, and couldn't help but speak. The sky was beginning to darken, and the temperature in the forest was dropping.
"You know nothing! This is called observation, listening, questioning, and palpation! You dare question the methods of a tomb raider?" Although the fat man was also panting heavily, his sweat-soaked shirt clinging to his massive body, his eyes remained resolute. "I've been in this business for so many years, and this is my specialty! If I say there's something down there, I'm absolutely right! Keep pushing, try to reach the tomb wall before dark. If we strike it rich, I'll treat you to a feast at Donglaishun, all you can eat!"
"Hey! Wait!" After digging for another ten minutes or so, Qin Yuan's spade suddenly struck something hard, unlike the surrounding soil and rocks, making a crisp "clang." He immediately lowered his voice excitedly, "Fatty! I think we hit something! There's something!"
Upon hearing this, the fat man immediately came over and carefully removed the surrounding soil with his hands, revealing a rough, bluish-gray brick with obvious traces of artificial chiseling.
"Hey! Look! What did I tell you, Fatty!" The fat man immediately grinned, his fat face squeezing together. "Be careful, be careful. We'll dig along the edge of this brick, don't use brute force and break it. It wouldn't be fun if we startled the 'neighbors' inside."
The two men, their spirits lifted, carefully cleared and enlarged the opening around the brick. By the time a neat, square entrance large enough for one person to pass through was fully revealed, it was completely dark, with only a sliver of daylight outlining the silhouette of the mountains and forests. Behind the entrance lay a dark, bottomless tomb passage, from which a chilling wind, carrying the stench of earth and decay, blew eerily, sending shivers down their spines.
"Little Blackie, according to the rules passed down from our ancestors, it's best to wait until the daytime when the yang energy is strongest before entering a tomb, especially an old and ominous one like this." Fatty looked at the deep cave entrance, his excitement fading slightly, replaced by caution. "Tonight, we'll make do here for the night, taking turns keeping watch. We'll set off early tomorrow morning when the sun is up."
Qin Yuan naturally had no objections. He needed time to calm his excited and nervous feelings, and also to familiarize himself with the system and his newly acquired abilities.
He pretended to rummage through his backpack, but actually took out the military tent and related support poles and tent pegs from the system space.
"Hey! You're pretty good, kid! You even prepared this? Pretty professional!" The fat man's eyes lit up when he saw the tent, but then he saw Qin Yuan's clumsy attempt to set it up, almost getting wrapped up like a dumpling in the tent fabric. He immediately rolled his eyes in disgust. "Go away, go away! Look at you, so clumsy. Move aside, let me show you what a professional looks like!"
While complaining, the fat man deftly took the materials, and with a few clanging sounds, a sturdy tent was erected steadily on the flat ground in just a few minutes. The process was so smooth that it was a pleasure to watch.
"See that? That's what you call professional!" The fat man patted the tent cloth proudly. "Little Blackie, you go in and sleep first. I'll keep watch for the first half of the night, and then you can take over for the second half."
"Alright, thank you for your hard work, Fatty!" Qin Yuan didn't stand on ceremony with him, bent down and crawled into the tent. He did need some time alone.
Inside the tent, Qin Yuan didn't go to sleep immediately. Instead, he checked the supplies in the system space again. After confirming that everything was in order, he tried to control his strength. With a gentle squeeze, a metal water bottle in his hand deformed slightly, which startled him so much that he quickly let go.
His fighting instinct seemed to be something subconscious, impossible to activate actively; it was merely an automatic reaction that waited for danger to strike. As for the alien bloodline… he didn't want to touch it for the time being. As long as there was no bloodshed, he still looked like a normal person.
Amidst a jumble of thoughts, he drifted off to sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed before the fat man woke him up to relieve him of his shift. The mountain forest was exceptionally quiet in the latter half of the night, with the occasional hooting of owls and the rustling of unknown animals adding to the eeriness.
Qin Yuan sat outside the tent, holding an entrenching tool, feeling the power surging within him. He looked at the distant mountains that resembled crouching giant beasts in the darkness, filled with a mixture of anticipation and unease about the adventure that was about to begin.