"How much further do we have to go?"
The fatty asked, panting as he walked.
We had set out following the treasure map's route at a little past ten in the morning. To reach the destination sooner, we hadn't taken any breaks and had been walking at a relatively fast pace. It had been two hours already.
A Shui, holding the map, said as he looked at it, "We should be close. According to the map, we should reach it in about another half hour."
"Another half hour? Can we rest for a bit?" the fatty asked.
"If we stop to rest now, we might not get there today," A Shui replied. "In another hour, the fog will get thicker, and then we'll just have to find a place to rest."
I turned to look at the fatty and said, "Hold on a little longer."
The fatty pursed his lips and jogged to my side, leaning into my ear. "Brother Xiang, do you think there's treasure there?"
"Hard to say," I replied. "But there probably is."
"Why are you so sure?"
"Instinct."
The fatty was immediately displeased. "Instinct?"
I said seriously, "My instincts are always accurate. You have to trust me."
I knew the fatty's disposition. If I told him there was likely no treasure, he'd probably just stop right there.
The fatty hesitated for a moment and then asked, "When we find the treasure, how will we split it?"
I replied impatiently, "If we find the treasure, it's all yours, alright? Fatty?"
Hearing this, the fatty gave a sheepish smile. "Wouldn't that be too embarrassing?"
"You feel embarrassed?"
"You said it then, Brother Xiang! Your word is gold, and a promise made cannot be taken back!"
I nodded helplessly. "Hurry up then."
"Alright!"
As he spoke, the fatty overtook me and went to A Shui's side. "Brother A Shui, let's pick up the pace and keep moving!"
Lost in the mist, I couldn't tell north from south. Everything around me looked the same.
A Shui had grown up in the rainforest, so he was very familiar with everything in the jungle.
Just as he had said, we reached our destination after another half hour.
What we never expected, however, was that the destination marked on the treasure map turned out to be a small wooden cabin.
The cabin looked to be about sixty or seventy square meters. The door was ajar, there were no windows, and thick leaves had accumulated on the roof. It seemed no one had lived there for a long time.
A Shui was momentarily stunned when he saw the cabin. He said that this was the same cabin they had found the Golden Buddha in when they came to Jinzi Mountain.
Hearing him say this, I felt a surge of joy and prepared to enter and investigate without a second word.
The moment I took my first step, A Shui pulled me back. "Careful!"
As he spoke, he picked up a stone and threw it forward. With a "clang!" sound, a bear trap sprang up about half a meter in front of me.
I froze, then gasped. I thought to myself that if I had walked straight ahead, I probably would have lost my leg.
"When we were here before, someone rushed forward and ended up dying here," A Shui said. "Besides bear traps, there's also a pit filled with sharp spikes in front."
"How do we get past it now?" the fatty asked.
"Follow me," A Shui replied.
A Shui led us around to the side. After clearing the bear traps hidden in the grass, we finally reached the door of the small wooden cabin.
Pushing open the half-closed door, we saw a wooden table and a few wooden chairs inside. At the very back was a large, homemade wooden cabinet.
Judging by the dust on the furniture, this place hadn't seen visitors in a long time.
A Shui pointed to the wooden table. "When we were here last time, the Golden Buddha was placed on this table."
I walked over to the table and looked around, finding nothing special. I wiped my hand across it, and my hand was covered in dust.
"Brother Xiang, come look at this," the fatty called out to me.
I moved closer, and the fatty said, "Look, the furniture around here is all dusty, but the handle of this cabinet has no dust at all. It looks like someone touches it often."
Upon hearing him say that, I thought it was indeed true, and I said, "You think there's something inside this cabinet?"
The fatty nodded. "I'm worried there might be a mechanism inside, so..."
I chuckled. "I didn't realize you could be so meticulous?"
"Brother Xiang, what are you saying? I'm fat, but I'm not stupid."
We took a rope from our backpacks, tied it to the handle of the meter-high cabinet, then retreated to the cabin doorway and pulled hard.
As the cabinet door was pulled open, there was no sound. Only when we returned inside to check did we discover that a secret passage was hidden within the cabinet.
It was a vertical shaft. I shone my flashlight down the shaft, but it was so dark I couldn't see anything, only a rope hanging straight down.
"I didn't expect this wooden cabin to be just a decoy. This is the real entrance," the fatty exclaimed excitedly.
I also hadn't expected a secret hole inside the cabinet. I asked A Shui if they had discovered this hole when they came before.
He shook his head. "We lost two brothers trying to get into this cabin. When we saw the Golden Buddha, Master Gui told us to take it and leave immediately."
It made sense. It was their first time here, with so many traps and mechanisms at the entrance. Losing two men at once, I would also feel it was best not to linger.
The fatty asked me, "Brother Xiang, should we go down and take a look?"
Seeing his eagerness, I knew that if we didn't go down and check it out, he wouldn't rest today.
I felt the same way. Since we were already here and had discovered such a secret passage, we naturally had to go down and see. Perhaps the Golden Buddha was below.
"Brother A Shui, what do you think?" I asked.
A Shui pursed his lips and hesitated for a moment. "Since you two want to go down, I naturally have to accompany you."
"Alright, Fatty, leave the extra gear up here. We'll travel light," I instructed.
The fatty efficiently packed our things and slung our ropes over his shoulder. "Brother Xiang, who goes first?"
I thought for a moment. "I'll go first, Brother A Shui behind me, and you, Fatty, bring up the rear."
"Got it!"
Squeezing into the cabinet and using the rope, I slowly began to slide down.
In less than two minutes, my feet touched the ground. I looked up; A Shui and the fatty had also come down.
The height was only about four or five meters, but the space below was considerable. As I shone my flashlight around, I was stunned.
This place was a tomb chamber!
How could there be an ancient tomb here?