Emerging from the clothing store, Chen Ke was dressed in a suit and gleaming leather shoes, clearly a Western gentleman. With a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose and a small leather suitcase in hand, he commanded respect from ordinary poor people who would keep their distance lest they get their clothes dirty and be unable to pay for it.
Chen Ke did not stay in the small county town for long. After quickly filling his stomach, he hired a horse-drawn carriage and headed straight for the provincial capital.
On the way, Chen Ke encountered several groups of troops. Judging from their uniforms, he couldn't tell which army they belonged to. At this time, the Shaanxi-Gansu region was in chaos. There were large warlords, small militias, and vicious bandits. As for who you would meet on the road, it all depended on your luck.
However, Chen Ke has always been lucky. He didn't encounter any bandits, and the army he met seemed to be doing well, showing no intention of asking him to contribute money.
Finally, when they safely saw the city gate of the provincial capital, Chen Ke could feel the coachman breathing a deep sigh of relief. It had been a journey of nearly two days, and with such high risks along the way, yet the coachman had only charged them 5 silver dollars.
Alas, it is the lowest level of people who have the hardest time to make money. Chen Ke took out 10 silver dollars to give to the coachman, but the coachman kept saying that he had given too much.
Chen Ke told him to keep the money safe, saying that the extra money was a token of appreciation for his hard work and for his help along the way.
Unexpectedly, the seemingly fierce coachman's eyes reddened, "Thank you, thank you sir, thank you sir."
"You're welcome. Go now, goodbye."
Only after the coachman drove the carriage away did Chen Ke look around. Compared to the small county town he had been in, the provincial capital was naturally much more lively and prosperous. Men and women in suits and Western-style dresses could be seen everywhere, and there were more means of transportation on the road. In addition to horse-drawn carriages, sedan chairs, and rickshaws, one could also see expensive cars from time to time.
Although the original owner's home was in the provincial capital, he had no relatives or friends there, and Chen Ke didn't plan to stay any longer.
After anonymously reporting the tomb-robbing activities of the puppet army to the police station, he rushed to catch a boat overnight to return to Shanghai.
Tomb raiding was rampant in Shaanxi, and the warlords in charge had limited power, so even if these things were reported, they would turn a blind eye. But this report was extraordinary. The informant said that the puppet army tomb raiders had dug up a large tomb, and the extremely valuable burial objects were being hauled away by the cartload.
The message was sent directly to the commander of the army, and Commander Hu immediately ordered a battalion to be dispatched to investigate.
These aren't just truckloads of burial goods; they're practically military funds! How could those damned puppet troops be allowed to haul them away right under our noses?
Two days earlier, just as Chen Ke and his team had left the wasteland in the western suburbs, a military truck wobbled back to the camp.
A dozen or so soldiers, dressed in crooked military uniforms and looking slightly drunk, jumped off the vehicle.
"Damn it, those women are so ugly, they almost made me lose my erection!"
"Come on! You're the one who's working the hardest!"
"Haha, it's the same whether the lights are on or off!"
"Alright, enough nonsense! You've already messed up before we've even dug the ground. We've had our drinks and slept with our women. If anyone dares to cause trouble again, I'll kill them right now!" A burly man with a thick beard shouted as he got out of the passenger seat.
"Platoon leader! Don't worry, I have inexhaustible energy now!" A soldier who was as thin as a stick replied with a big mouth, and then rushed into the camp to get tools as if he wanted to make a name for himself.
"Hahaha, that skinny monkey used up all his energy last night, he doesn't have the strength to swing a shovel anymore!"
"No, they might not even have the strength to lift a shovel!"
A group of seasoned soldiers surrounded the truck, laughing and joking.
Suddenly, "Ah! Something's wrong!" the skinny monkey yelled and rushed out.
The bearded man tossed aside his cigarette, took a deep drag, and stomped it out. "Damn it, what are you yelling about!"
"Platoon leader! Our camp has been robbed!"
"What!" The bearded man was also shocked, and strode over with a gloomy face.
If it's really a thief, that's fine, but if it's...
Fortunately, after the supplies were finally inventoried, only three shovels and a military water bottle were missing.
"It must have been burgled."
The bearded man secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression wasn't too good. If his men hadn't been making a fuss about going into town to sleep with women, they wouldn't have been able to sneak in.
"Stop talking nonsense and come with me. We're going to check out the tomb. If someone intercepts us, we'll all get a bullet!"
A group of people hurried up the mountain again, parting the withered branches to partially cover the tomb entrance, with the bearded man leading the way and going in first.
They didn't find anything strange along the way, but when they reached the end of the tomb, they found two military shovels.
"What, how did these two shovels get here?"
The bearded man's face darkened: "Check the surroundings!"
The group of people then used flashlights to thoroughly check the surrounding area.
"Platoon leader, no problem."
"Platoon leader, we haven't found any suspicious traces."
"...Is it possible that we forgot to bring it back?"
The bearded man glared at the speaker, sensing something was amiss. Even if two weapons were missing here, the camp was missing a total of three weapons and a water bottle, indicating that someone had definitely sneaked into the camp.
But when they went inside, all they took was a military shovel and a water bottle.
"Platoon leader, what do we do now?"
"Holy crap! What do we do? What do we do? We definitely have to keep digging!"
So the group of people continued digging with their shovels.
But unexpectedly, a cracking sound was heard shortly afterward.
"What?
"They've broken through?"
"No way? Wasn't it said that it's still some distance from the main burial chamber?"
"What are you standing there for? Just dig it open and you'll know!"
"Yes, yes, yes, come on, brothers, let's all give it our all!"
With a command given, a loud "boom!" echoed as the entire wall collapsed, revealing the tomb chamber behind it.
"We're here! We're here!"
A group of people rushed in impatiently.
Then I was deeply shocked by what I saw.
The sheer abundance of gold, silver, jewels, porcelain, pottery, bronze, and jade artifacts was simply dazzling.
"My God, this is way too much!"
"We're rich! We're rich!"
"Platoon leader! Platoon leader!"
The bearded man shoved aside the person blocking his way.
"Hahahaha! I've struck it rich! All of these are mine! All of them are mine!"
The bearded man waved his hand, "Brothers! Get the crotch moving!"
"Yes, platoon leader!"
Everyone was so agitated by the scene before them that their faces turned red and their blood boiled. They didn't care how the tomb raider's tunnel had reached the main burial chamber so quickly, nor did they care about the strange coffin of the tomb owner placed in the main burial chamber.
Boxes of burial goods were carried out of the tomb and neatly piled onto the vehicle.
But there was just too much stuff, and the soldiers, panting from carrying it, started to dawdle.
"Platoon leader, there's too much stuff. Let's move it tomorrow."
"That's right, platoon leader, look how much we brothers have accomplished, let us rest for a bit!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
