Not only was Ma Zhenhong startled by the situation in the tomb passage, but I also felt a sense of relief, as if I had just escaped a disaster: "That was close!"

The monkey drew a folding shovel from its waist: "Young Master Duan, what are you two talking about? Hurry up and shovel this sand away! There's a huge amount of gold and silver treasure waiting for us ahead!"

"Don't move! Are you out of your mind?!"

I grabbed the monkey's wrist: "This kind of sinkhole is also called a quicksand tomb. This sand must have collapsed due to terrain changes. Fortunately, the dome we are in is still quite sturdy! If you move around, we will all be buried inside!"

Ancient tombs employed many anti-theft measures, among which the accumulation of sand and stones was considered the most effective.

These tombs would have stones and sand placed around the perimeter. The stones were of various shapes with extremely sharp edges, and their placement was carefully designed. They were roughly divided into layers of random stones, a top layer of stones, a top layer of stones, a middle layer of stones, and a bottom layer of stones. This was to prevent tomb robbers from entering from different directions. If the tomb collapsed, the entire tomb would be buried deep underground.

The monkey scratched its head in frustration: "What's going on? We've already entered the tomb passage, but we can't get into the burial chamber?"

Although I possessed theoretical knowledge, I dared not boast in front of an expert like Ma Zhenhong: "Mr. Ma, you are an experienced tomb raider, do you have any good ideas?"

"Brother, don't flatter me. Although I've robbed a few ancient tombs and luckily escaped with my life, I'm still a self-taught amateur with limited experience."

Because he frequently goes into tombs, Ma Zhenhong doesn't smoke. He opened a bag of betel nuts and popped one into his mouth: "What we in this line of work fear most is encountering a trap tomb, because these tombs have a special structure and are the most difficult to excavate. Even if you're lucky enough to sneak in, you can easily get buried inside. Tomb raiders not only have to guard against the dead, but also against the living. These tombs can't be opened in a short time. Once someone discovers the tunnel, we'll be wiped out. The most important thing is..."

The monkey interrupted Ma Zhenhong: "Oh dear, you're driving me crazy! Can't you just tell me how we're going to get there?"

Shark also looked anxious: "Mr. Ma, this is private land, you don't need to worry about that. If you have a solution, please just say so."

"As you can see, the capping stone of this tomb is stacked like building blocks. If it is damaged by external forces, it will collapse like dominoes."

Ma Zhenhong shone his flashlight on the edge of the collapsed tomb passage: "Just as Mr. Duan said, the tomb passage we are in has not collapsed due to the pressure of the terrain, and has maintained a special stability. But if a stone falls down, we will all be doomed! I am worried that the burial chambers inside are probably already buried!"

The shark replied without hesitation, "Even if it collapses, we still have to go in and take a look."

"At this juncture, the only option left is to resort to a deceptive substitution."

Ma Zhenhong pointed to the area behind us: "We need to bring in materials from outside to reinforce that section of the tomb passage. Assuming it won't collapse, we'll dig a tunnel around to the direction of the burial chamber to take a look. If the burial chamber hasn't collapsed, we'll have to proceed by manual excavation! Judging from the tomb's security level, I'm worried the walls of the burial chamber might be made of rammed earth!"

Upon hearing that a solution had been found, the monkey stared with its ignorant triangular eyes and asked, "You're quite good at digging holes, so digging soil must be a piece of cake for you, right?"

I explained, “Sanhetu is not ordinary soil. It is made from clam shell ash, yellow clay, and sand, mixed with glutinous rice paste and sap from the yam vine. It is equivalent to ancient concrete and has an astonishing strength, comparable to modern cement. This tomb is a quicksand tomb, which is most vulnerable to vibration, making it difficult to excavate.”

“Mr. Duan is an expert.” Ma Zhenhong nodded, then turned his gaze to the shark: “Based on my experience, the tomb chamber here is probably buried. If that’s the case, it would take at least two or three months to find the funerary objects through manual excavation!”

“This tomb must be dug up, but two or three months is too long, we can’t wait.” Shark thought for a moment: “How about this, let’s go up and prepare what we need first. If we really encounter rammed earth, I’ll send a group of experienced construction workers in to dig around the clock. Even if it’s a wall of copper and iron, we’ll break through it!”

After making up their minds, the group returned the way they came, intending to leave after Ma Zhenhong finished measuring the height and width.

They hadn't gone far when the monkey suddenly yelled, "Holy crap!"

I yelled in a low voice, "Monkey! Keep your voice down, you bastard! This tomb passage is designed to amplify sound. If you shake it down, you'll kill everyone!"

"No, Young Master Duan, look at this wall, why are there words on it!"

The monkey shone its flashlight on the wall: "When we came here before, I was afraid I might miss some treasures, so I looked at every corner of the tomb passage very carefully. There were definitely no words on this wall before!"

I looked at the spot where the monkey was shining and sure enough, I found a clue.

The beams of the four people's flashlights converged, illuminating a row of bright red traditional Chinese characters in regular script.

The monkey, whose cultural knowledge was limited, asked me, "Young Master Duan, what is this writing?"

"Anyone who dares to raid my hill shall be exterminated. Those who commit unfortunate acts shall die suddenly."

I read the contents: "It means that whoever dares to dig up my grave will be cursed to be childless and die a violent death, even if it's unintentional! A Western Han Dynasty stone inscription for warding off tomb robbers was unearthed in Jining, Shandong, with similar content, used to scare tomb robbers. But this thing is useless. Since ancient times, hunger and cold have fueled the desire to steal. Tomb robbers live day to day, so who cares about such a curse?"

The monkey swallowed hard: "I'm not afraid of curses, but how did these words just appear out of nowhere?"

I guessed, "Perhaps it was made of some special material that oxidized upon contact with the outside air, causing the color to appear."

“Mr. Duan, I’m afraid things aren’t that simple!” Shark shone his flashlight on the character “亡” (death): “Look at the bottom of these characters, there’s still liquid flowing down the wall, as if it was just written there and hasn’t dried yet. It doesn’t look like something left more than a thousand years ago!”

Ma Zhenhong is an experienced eyer with a keen sense of smell: "A bloody smell suddenly appeared in the tomb passage, and these words seem to have been written in blood!"

The monkey was the first to object: "Impossible! Who else is in this tomb passage besides us? How could someone have written anything? Besides, this place is only six or seven meters away from the sealed entrance to the tomb passage. If someone was here before, we couldn't have missed it! So these words were definitely not written by a person!"

Just as the monkey was saying this, a gust of wind suddenly blew through the stagnant tomb, causing our clothes to flutter.

Words written in blood appeared in the empty tomb passage, and a chilling wind blew by, sending shivers down my spine.

Shark, true to his military background, remained calm. He shone his flashlight into the empty tomb passage and reached out to touch the blood on the wall: "There's definitely no one in this tomb passage, but where did these blood-written words come from?"

"Shark Bro! Don't touch it!"

I stopped the shark: "This place is too eerie. Everyone, leave this place first. Be careful, these blood-like liquids may release poisonous gas!"