After I recounted the content of the stone tablet to everyone, Jin Qiaoyue said, "So, the nation-robber is the one who presented the treasure?"
"Likely," I replied.
Although the painting didn't explicitly state it, the stone tablet combined with the iron chains was enough to prove his identity.
"Does it mention where the people of Taohuai Kingdom buried their king?" Fu Kui asked me.
I shook my head, "No, the content is just a legendary story."
He hesitated for a moment, then turned to Fu Honglang and Old Man Qu, "You two are masters of tomb raiding. I'll have to trouble you to search here and see if there are any other secret chambers or mechanisms."
The two nodded and began examining their surroundings.
Fatty sidled up to me and asked, "Xiang Ye, do you really think that King of Taohuai Kingdom isn't dead?"
I was somewhat uncertain. If I hadn't encountered An Ying, I would never have believed in immortality.
But I had met An Ying and witnessed her abilities. Answering this question now was truly difficult.
Seeing my silence, Fatty said, "You don't actually think he's still alive, do you?"
"Hard to say..."
"Hard to say?" Fatty chuckled, "Xiang Ye, I never noticed before, but you have a sense of humor? Where in this world is there immortality? If there were, wouldn't that be something?"
I shrugged and didn't say much more.
The reason I didn't want to tell Fatty about An Ying was that I feared it would bring him trouble.
Besides, even if I did tell him, given his personality, he simply wouldn't believe it.
"There's no such thing as immortality in this world..." Fatty said to me with a smile.
Just as he finished speaking, Fu Kui, who was beside us, interjected, "Why not?"
At his words, I couldn't help but look at him, and Fatty also froze for a moment.
Fu Kui sighed softly, "This world is not as simple as you think. Humans know too little about it..."
Fatty perked up, smiling, "Third Master, have you perhaps met someone who is immortal?"
Fu Kui shook his head, "I haven't met anyone, but I've gathered a lot of information about immortality. Not to mention examples from our Huaxia, I know of several cases of immortality abroad..."
He spoke with a serious air, "During World War I, there was a general in the British Empire who possessed this ability... He resurrected three times on the battlefield and was known as the Undying General. Each time he suffered a fatal injury, he would miraculously revive, but this ability ceased after the third revival."
Fatty chimed in, "That's not immortality, is it? Only resurrected three times, at most it's being 'undying thrice,' not 'immortal.'"
Fu Kui ignored Fatty and continued, "Also, in a country called Seychelles, there was once a little boy who claimed to have lived for a century. He never grew up and always remained childlike. Later, a research institute took him in for study and conducted many tests. They discovered a significant discrepancy between his body and his brain. His brain neurons clearly indicated the level of a centenarian, but his body was that of an ordinary child, and his cells did not age."
"What happened to this little boy then?" Fatty asked.
"It's said that someone, in an attempt to obtain his ability, transplanted all his organs into himself. However, the transplant surgery failed, and both the boy and the other person died..."
As Fu Kui spoke, I noticed a hint of excitement in his expression, as if he were deeply fixated on immortality.
Looking at his white hair, I understood.
They say the older you get, the more you fear death, and this saying is indeed true.
He probably just didn't want to die, which was why he was so obsessed with immortality.
I wondered what his reaction would be if he knew that people like An Ying existed in this world.
The thought of An Ying made me feel that Fu Kui's two examples were likely true.
Fu Honglang and Old Man Qu searched the stone chamber for a long time but found no other passages.
This meant that the secret chamber had a total of three rooms: the first was where we entered, filled with bones; the second was the room that punished the "nation-robber"; and the third was where these stone tablets were stored.
Fu Kui seemed unwilling to give up. Since he couldn't find any other secret passages, he began searching for clues within the stone chamber, believing that there must be a clue hidden here about the burial place of the King of Taohuai Kingdom.
After staying in the underground chamber for several hours, I started to feel restless and went up with Fatty.
The others were either taking photos or searching for clues.
When we returned to the surface, the sky had already darkened.
Li Chuang saw only the two of us emerging from below and asked me about the situation.
I briefly explained what happened below. He said, "So, that map wasn't a treasure map?"
I nodded, "That map might just be a record of Taohuai Kingdom."
His expression became a little unnatural, and I didn't know what he was thinking. I couldn't be bothered to exchange more words with him and went with Fatty to heat up food by the bonfire.
We opened the cans, placed them on the bonfire to heat, then tore open two bags of bread. Fatty and I put the meat from the cans into the white bread and started eating.
Fatty complained as he ate, "Damn it, after eating canned food for so many days, I'm almost constipated..."
I shot him a look, "Can you be more civilized when you eat?"
Fatty laughed, "I'm just telling the truth. It's canned food and bread every day, without a single vegetable in sight... Xiang Ye, you don't know, I fell into that pit before because I was constipated. I squatted for a long time and couldn't poop. I decided to stand up and jump a bit, but as soon as I jumped, the ground there collapsed..."
Before he could continue, I picked up my bread and walked towards the tent.
"Xiang Ye, where are you going?"
"To eat!"
"Why are you going into the tent to eat?"
"You're too disgusting. I can't eat while staying with you..."
Inside the tent, I quickly finished my bread. Then, I took out the so-called treasure map, spread it on the ground, and examined it carefully with my flashlight.
The treasure map was a copy, essentially just a few printed sheets of paper.
I had looked at this map countless times during this period and was very familiar with it.
The location it indicated was precisely where we were.
As for the text on it, it was all in classical Chinese. Although there was a lot of text, it mainly described the terrain and mentioned how much treasure was in this place.