Jiang Yongguang's words sent a chill down my spine.

To be honest, the corpses in the crevice, the shadows in the coffin, and even the "water ghost" chasing us just now, while terrifying, didn't scare me. What truly made my back crawl were the grave robbers lurking in the ancient tomb.

Because those so-called spooky things were fake. Like Jiang Yongguang, I didn't believe in ghosts at all. But grave robbers were real.

People are far more terrifying than ghosts!

Hearing Jiang Yongguang's words, Uncle Mei, who was next to me, cautiously chimed in, "What did you say? There are grave robbers in this ancient tomb? Then we can't go with you. Anyway, you've found the underground cave. Go yourselves!"

Jiang Yongguang quickly shook his head. "It's not that dangerous. Don't worry. Rats are naturally timid and will run away at the slightest disturbance. They won't stay in the cave. Besides, this ancient tomb has been flooded, drowning all the rats inside. I don't believe there are any survivors."

Uncle Mei still wanted to leave, insisting, "Didn't you ask us down here to find the ancient tomb? I think the ancient tomb is right ahead. What else do you need us for?"

Jiang Yongguang glanced at the raging underground water and said helplessly, "We'll probably have to go through the water again when we leave. Without Little Chen to lead the way, we're not confident."

At this point, those veteran divers who had previously looked down on me changed their tune and stopped calling me "greenhorn." Instead, they smiled and begged Uncle Mei and me to stay.

Uncle Mei and I couldn't resist their pleading. Besides, I secretly wanted to see what this underground tomb looked like, so we finally decided to stay.

Then we continued forward, following the underground cave.

Because the cave was full of traces left by grave robbers, and there was only one path, we were sure that following this path was the right way.

The underground cave was deep beneath the earth, with no sunlight. It was pitch black everywhere. The only source of light was the diving headlamps on the nine of us.

Behind us was the sound of the underground water surging, mixed with the "crunch, crunch" of our feet stepping on the muddy soil. In this dark and gloomy environment, it sounded particularly eerie.

The policewoman, Little Liang, was the most timid. She shrank her neck and walked in the middle of us, occasionally trying to get closer to me, as if wanting me to protect her with my broad frame.

But I couldn't have too much contact with her. After all, my future father-in-law, Uncle Mei, was right next to me. If he saw me flirting with another girl behind Little Mei's back, the marriage would probably be off.

Our group walked along this underground cave for a long time, with one foot sinking deep and the other shallow. Because the road was muddy and difficult, I felt like we had been walking for almost an hour, though the actual time might have been a little shorter, but definitely more than thirty minutes.

Then we came to a unique place. The reason I say it was unique was that the surrounding space suddenly became wider. Originally, the beams of light from our headlamps could reach the cave walls, but now we couldn't see anything. All we saw was boundless darkness.

Just as I was about to ask, someone in the crowd shouted, "Everyone, be careful! There's someone ahead!"

I was so startled that I quickly stood with Uncle Mei, Little Liang, and a few others. Then, following the beam of light from the person who shouted, I saw a figure vaguely standing in the darkness filled with mist, not far ahead!

The moment I saw the figure, Little Liang next to me screamed uncontrollably, not because she was too timid, but because the figure was indeed hair-raising!

It was too tall! It looked at least two or three meters tall. Even the burliest strongman in our team looked as small as a child in front of this figure!

Uncle Mei's body trembled, and his right hand involuntarily rested on the diving knife at his waist.

But at this moment, the headlamps of the team in front shone on the figure, finally revealing its true appearance—it was actually a bronze statue with a metallic sheen, standing on a monster-shaped pedestal also made of bronze.

The statue itself was about two meters tall. With the monster-shaped pedestal beneath it, it gave people a terrifying sense of oppression, nearly three meters high.

Once we figured out what it was, the fear in our hearts finally dissipated. Everyone immediately gathered around, carefully examining this magnificent artifact.

The bronze giant was tall and slender. Three layers of clothing were engraved on its metallic body. The patterns on the clothes were quite intricate, incorporating various elements such as dragon patterns, bird patterns, tiger and leopard patterns, and checkered patterns, making it look luxurious, noble, and elegant.

Following the bronze giant's body upwards, I stopped my gaze on his face. But the moment I saw his face, I couldn't help but gasp!

It wasn't a human face at all! Or rather, it was hard to call it a human face!

His mouth was long and flat, as if a straight slit had been cut into his chin. His nose was large and protruding, with flared nostrils. His ears were like cattail fans or wings, spread out to the sides. The most horrifying thing was his eyes. His pupils were actually protruding from their sockets, as if someone had inserted two wooden stakes into his eye sockets!

At the time, I hadn't read many books and didn't have much cultural knowledge. Seeing this bizarre face, I felt like I had seen an alien.

Uncle Mei couldn't help but curse, "Scared the hell out of me! What is this ugly thing supposed to be?"

Jiang Yongguang smiled and said, "This is a bronze statue from the ancient Shu Kingdom. It represents the physical characteristics of the ancient Shu people."

I was skeptical and asked, "The ancient Shu people looked like this? What happened to their eyes? Were they tortured, with two wooden stakes shoved into them?"

Jiang Yongguang looked at me, both amused and exasperated, and explained, "Of course not. One theory is that this appearance, with pupils protruding from the eye sockets, was a unique physical characteristic of the ancient Shu people. A history book from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, *Chronicles of Huayang*, records, 'There was a Shu Marquis, Can Cong, whose eyes were protruding, and he was the first to call himself king.' The 'protruding eyes' refer to this appearance with protruding pupils. So the appearance of these bronze statues is supported by historical facts."

I thought to myself, don't try to fool me just because I haven't read much. Can a normal person really look like this?

At this moment, Little Liang quietly asked me if I had ever been to the Sanxingdui Museum.

I said I hadn't. I didn't even finish high school. Why would I go to a museum and pretend to be knowledgeable?

Little Liang was different from me. She was a graduate of a prestigious university, so she knew a lot about these historical artifacts and was familiar with this bronze statue. She immediately recognized that this bronze statue was very similar to some of the statues unearthed from the Sanxingdui site, a point that Jiang Yongguang also confirmed.

Then, Little Liang asked a very insightful question, a question that left the eloquent Jiang Yongguang speechless.

She asked, "So many artifacts have been unearthed from the Sanxingdui site, but why were they all excavated from sacrificial pits? Why haven't experts ever discovered burial pits at the Sanxingdui site after all these years? Did people from that era not have tombs after they died?"