About two minutes later, I gritted my teeth and shouted first, "Fatty!"
Fatty snapped back, "What... what is it, Lord Xiang?"
"I think this zombie might be having trouble with its limbs. Let's give it a hand."
"Huh?" Fatty looked at me incredulously, "Lord Xiang, are you joking?"
I said, "Fatty, you have two choices now: either crawl through the passage to the side chamber to feed the leeches, or go up and flip open the coffin lid to see what this zombie looks like."
"Then forget it, I'll go feed the leeches..."
"Don't you have any backbone?"
"Lord Xiang, this is a zombie!" Fatty said, his voice tinged with tears.
Seeing his pathetic state, I turned to Ah Shui and said, "Shui Ge, give me a hand. I'll count to three, and we'll go together to take a look."
Ah Shui was quite agreeable and immediately replied, "Okay!"
"Fatty, don't fall behind!" I counted, "One... two... three..."
When I reached "three," the three of us charged towards the coffin to investigate.
As it turned out, when we reached the coffin, we discovered that the lid was ajar, and leeches were constantly crawling out from the gap.
So, the reason the coffin was moving was because of the leeches inside.
Relieved that it was a false alarm, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as I was about to mock Fatty, I looked up and saw a dark figure flash by, disappearing into the passage!
Fatty saw it too and shouted, "Lord Xiang! Over there!"
"I'm not blind," I retorted impatiently, "Why are you shouting?"
"I was just afraid you didn't see it," Fatty asked, "Should we chase?"
Although I couldn't see the dark figure clearly, I could make out its general outline, and it seemed to be a person!
I beckoned Ah Shui over and whispered a few words in his ear. He nodded after listening and then went to a corner.
"Fatty, dare to go with me to the leech's lair again?" I asked.
Fatty looked at me with confusion and asked, "What did you say to him?"
"Why are you asking so many questions? Dare you go or not? Be quick about it."
"What's there to be afraid of? But why are we going to the leech's lair?"
"Stop the nonsense and follow me."
I took my flashlight and walked towards the passage. Fatty followed behind me, and we soon returned to the side chamber. We saw that the wall not far away was still covered with dense leeches.
I led Fatty towards the wall, and at that moment, I suddenly turned around and saw the dark figure about to slip into the passage.
Unfortunately, as he was entering the passage, Ah Shui kicked him back, sending him crashing to the ground.
When we shone our flashlights on him, we finally saw that it was an old man with disheveled hair and tattered cloth clothes.
His hair was almost entirely white, and he was emaciated. To be honest, I was worried Ah Shui's kick might have caused him some serious trouble.
When Fatty and I came to this side chamber earlier, I had asked Ah Shui to stay away from us and block the passage, specifically to catch this guy.
"So it was someone playing tricks!"
I walked over and pushed aside the old man's hair, finding his eyes staring at me coldly. A smile played on his lips as he said, "You think you can get out just because you caught me? I'm telling you, no one is leaving! When the sun sets, the leeches here will only increase, and then we'll all die together!"
Hearing the old man speak Chinese, I couldn't help but sneer, "You tomb raiders are really something, not even sparing foreign tombs."
"Who says I'm a tomb raider?" the old man rasped.
"If you're not a tomb raider, what are you doing here? Where are the burial goods in this ancient tomb?"
"Who are you people?" the old man asked, "How do you know about tomb raiding?"
"What do you think?"
"You are grave robbers?" the old man muttered to himself. "No, if you were grave robbers, what would you be doing here? Are you their people?!"
At this, the old man's expression turned fearful, "I didn't expect that even after hiding here, I would still be found by you!!"
"Lord Xiang, what is this old man talking about?" Fatty asked.
I shook my head, frowning. It seemed this old man wasn't a tomb raider either.
If he were a tomb raider, he would have taken everything from here. Why would he still be guarding it?
From his tone, it seemed he was hiding from someone.
"Why are you here? Who are you hiding from?" I asked.
The old man paused, "You're not their people?"
"What do you mean, their people? We're here to find the gilded Maitreya Buddha statue," I said.
"You know about the gilded Maitreya Buddha statue?"
"Yes."
"What do you want the gilded Maitreya Buddha statue for?"
I thought for a moment and asked, "Before us, did anyone come looking for you? Or rather, did anyone come looking for the Buddha statue?"
As I asked this, I noticed the old man's eyes dart away. Before he could speak, I said, "So someone did come looking for you! Where are they? Did you give them the Buddha statue?"
The old man remained silent.
Getting impatient, I quickly said, "Sir, we are not bad people. We are just looking for someone. Did two women come looking for you earlier? Where are they now? Can you tell me?"
The old man slowly said, "What is your relationship with them?"
"Friends."
"Friends?"
"Yes, I have something very important to ask her..."
"What is it?"
Seeing that the old man was unwilling to answer my question, I became anxious, "Some personal matters."
"What personal matters?"
Fatty grew impatient, "Old man, why so many questions? Are you going to tell us or not? If not, can I just send you to feed the leeches?"
I tugged Fatty's arm, telling him to be quiet, and continued softly, "Sir, I really need to find them urgently. If you can tell me where they are, just ask for whatever you want."
The old man smiled, "You can give me whatever I want?"
"As long as I have it..."
"Then fine, I want your life. Can you give me that?"
Fatty exploded upon hearing this, "Old man, you really don't know what's good for you? We haven't offended you, and you want our lives?"
"Haven't offended? Aren't you here for the golden Buddha? A bunch of hypocritical grave robbers!"
"Who are you calling grave robbers? Watch your mouth. We are not grave robbers. We do legitimate business. We have a physical store in Guangling!"
Fatty got agitated and blurted out everything, "Do you know who he is? His ancestors were appraisers, properly legitimate and upright! Do you know who his father is? His father is the Great Eye of Jiangdong!"
"The Great Eye of Jiangdong?!" the old man exclaimed, looking at me incredulously, "Who is Xiang Tian to you?!"