When Chen Ke woke up, his nose was filled with the smell of mud and a peculiar odor. Before he could even ask the system about the situation in this world, a rough, hoarse voice came from above him: "What are you standing there for? Get the dirt out of here!"
Chen Ke came to his senses and was handed a basket of soil. Looking around, he found himself lying face down in a narrow, slanted hole, just big enough for an adult to pass through.
They retreated step by step with difficulty. Under the cold moonlight, the desolate earthen slope had been dug into the ground, with a hole about two feet wide, and a fresh mound of earth piled up next to the hole.
The time, the place, the circumstances...
"System, explain my current identity to me."
After a jolt of electricity, the system's weak voice appeared, "Master, it's like this, the current time is the early Republic of China, and the original owner's identity... was a Taoist priest who moved mountains..."
Explain it more clearly.
"Grave robbers"
Chen Ke: ······
I never imagined he would one day have to make a living by digging in the dirt.
"Chen Ke, hurry up! What are you doing again?" An impatient voice came from inside the cave.
Chen Ke emptied the yellow soil from his hands, picked up the basket, and bent down again, simultaneously receiving the plot of this world in his mind.
The original owner, Chen Ke, was a complete ingrate.
He was born into a poor family in the late Qing Dynasty. His parents died unexpectedly when he was thirteen, leaving him with a seven-year-old brother.
He originally planned to sell his younger brother to raise money, but unexpectedly, he met a kind-hearted merchant couple who took them in out of pity and brought them back to their home in Shanghai.
The brothers' lives underwent a dramatic change. They were no longer poor and starving, but lived a life of wealth where they could still go to school.
This kind of life also led the original owner to disguise herself as a kind and polite well-behaved child, going to great lengths to please her merchant adoptive parents.
However, their good fortune was short-lived. Political turmoil led to the rise of warlords, and the merchant couple's business was located in a war-torn area. Not only were their shops bombed into ruins, but their stockpiled goods were also looted by the rebel troops. The once relatively wealthy family immediately faced bankruptcy.
At this time, the original owner not only did not think about helping his adoptive parents through their difficulties, but also took all the family's possessions and fled back to his hometown in Shanxi. He didn't care about the life or death of his adoptive parents, and he didn't even consider his own younger brother.
After living a life of luxury in his hometown in Shanxi with the stolen goods, he was penniless and then came into contact with the tomb raiding business that made money off the dead in the black market at that time.
The original owner, who was lazy and only wanted to make quick money, immediately decided to work with others. Perhaps because he was ruthless and bold, he stole a lot of good things from the tomb. However, the society at that time was turbulent and there were poor people everywhere who could not get enough to eat. It was not easy to sell the antiques in the original owner's hands.
So he set his sights on foreigners. The original owner was the kind of person who would do anything for his own benefit, regardless of whether the artifact was a historical cultural treasure or what its value was; as long as the price was high, he would sell it all.
Having tasted the sweetness of success, the original owner became a traitor who trafficked in cultural relics. After making a fortune, he didn't even think about looking for his adoptive parents and younger brother. Instead, he simply bought a ship ticket and went abroad to enjoy life.
However, it's possible that even the heavens couldn't bear to see it, as the ship encountered a super typhoon at sea, which capsized and sank it.
After skimming through the plot, Chen Ke's face darkened. If it weren't for that typhoon, such a person might have actually been able to take that money from selling out the country and live a life of extravagance overseas.
The original owner of this body was not lacking in wisdom, courage, or ability; the only thing he lacked was morality.
Judging from the current scene, Chen Ke guessed that he had transmigrated back to the time when the original owner had just learned how to rob tombs after escaping to Shanxi.
Seeing that Chen Ke's expression was not good, the system became cautious in its speech, "Master, this system is an antique printing system, should we activate it?"
Antique printing system?
"Start." Chen Ke didn't hesitate much, and his "accomplices" below urged him to dump the soil.
"Yes, Master. The antique printing system is now online. Welcome to use it."
Chen Ke checked the system while working on his tasks.
When you open the page, there's only a lonely printer on the empty blank page.
Chen Ke flipped through the pages and found a detailed explanation.
Antique printer, one gram of gold, can be mistaken for the real thing for a year.
Ten grams of gold, passed off as genuine for two years.
For ten years, Baikejin has been a counterfeit that has been indistinguishable from the real thing.
Chen Ke: "......What kind of antique printing system is this? It's practically a pay-to-win system!"
The system is playing dead and not saying anything.
A muffled thud came from below the earthen slope. Chen Ke frowned; it seemed his accomplices below had broken through.
Chen Ke picked up a shovel and plopped down at the entrance of the burrow. Looking around, he saw only barren land. The night wind blew, and the fine grass rustled. With the pale moonlight overhead, the scene was enough to scare anyone with a weak heart to faint.
But for the original owner and the others, this was simply a common sight during their "work".
About half an hour later, a burlap sack flew out of the hole, and soon after, two hands and a head emerged, and a strong young man struggled to climb out of the hole.
This is the original owner of the body; oh, now she's Chen Ke's accomplice.
This young man is called Li Guaizi (Li the Cripple). When he was a child, he broke his leg while climbing a tree and had no money for treatment. He was lucky enough to recover and then walked with a limp, hence the name.
He was two years older than the original owner and entered the sect half a year earlier, so nominally he was the original owner's senior brother. However, given the original owner's unwillingness to suffer losses, he always called him Li the Cripple.
Li Guaizi sat on the ground, covered in dust and panting heavily, but he didn't stop opening the sack.
He took the items out of the sack one by one. In the dim moonlight, Chen Ke saw two broken roof tiles, half an animal sculpture, and several porcelain bowls with chipped edges...
After searching for a long time, I couldn't find a single intact item. In times of chaos, gold is valued; in times of prosperity, antiques are valued. But in this era, all these things combined probably wouldn't even be worth two Yuan Shikai silver dollars.
Chen Ke sighed; it seemed their first "job" hadn't gone very smoothly.
Li Guaizi was clearly frustrated. He threw down the two tiles and cursed, "Damn it, I've worked so hard all day, and all I got are these two worthless pieces of trash!"
Chen Ke patted him on the shoulder, gesturing for him to pick up the tile.
Li Guaizi was taken aback. "What?"
Chen Ke stood up, holding a shovel.
The man's height, a full head taller than Li Guaizi, immediately made Li Guaizi feel intimidated, and his voice was no longer as fierce as before, "You, what are you doing? We haven't found anything valuable here, are you planning to kill someone and take it all for yourself?"
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