Chapter 25 The Chase

I climbed out of the coffin on the second level and looked into the tomb chamber. All the treasures had been turned upside down by the grave robbers, and many valuable porcelains had been smashed.

Three of the four boxes of gold ingots originally placed next to the coffin were gone, leaving only one.

These grave robbers were truly insatiable, basically taking everything they could carry.

Seeing these cultural relics being stolen, everyone was very frustrated.

At this moment, Lao Wei suddenly asked, "Wait, which way did Yang Guo and the others escape after stealing the goods? Surely not the way they came?"

Xiao Liang immediately shook her head and said, "Definitely not the way they came. The sealing stone of the Seven Star Suspended Coffin tomb chamber above hasn't been lifted, so it's a dead end. I estimate that Yang Guo and the others returned to the second level to steal the cultural relics, then went down to the third level and left through another tomb passage."

"You mean there's another tomb passage in this ancient tomb?" Lao Wei asked.

I thought for a moment and immediately said, "Don't forget the White-Clad Immortal Maiden. She must have dug her own tunnel to get in. Otherwise, she wouldn't have crawled out of the coffin and run into Yang Guo and the others. She dug a 'Divine Immortal Cave' at the ancient tomb in Duck River before."

The so-called Divine Immortal Cave refers to a tomb passage that directly leads to the main tomb chamber.

Hearing this, Jiang Yongguang quickly said, "Chase! Yang Guo and the others carried three boxes of gold, they can't have gone far! They're probably still in the ancient Shu tomb!"

"That's right!" Lao Wei also perked up, sternly saying, "We must catch these damned grave robbers today!"

After saying that, we returned to the ancient Shu tomb and began to hunt down Yang Guo's tomb raiding gang.

Because the layout of the tomb chambers on this level was intricate, like a maze, with almost every tomb passage having forks, we hadn't run into the tomb robbers on our way back to the second level.

We split up. Jiang Yongguang and Lao Wei each led a team, with Uncle Mei following Jiang Yongguang, and Xiao Liang and I following Lao Wei. We began a carpet search of the ancient Shu tomb.

We first followed another path back to the main tomb chamber of the ancient Shu tomb, but did not find any trace of Yang Guo along the way.

After returning to the main tomb chamber, Xiao Liang suddenly asked me, "By the way, Chen Rongsheng, do you remember which way the White-Clad Immortal Maiden went after she saved you?"

I shook my head, saying that I didn't have time to look. The flying knife cut the vine on my foot, and I fell. By the time I got back on my feet, the White-Clad Immortal Maiden was gone.

Lao Wei said, "I remember, the White-Clad Immortal Maiden turned left at the door."

"Turned left at the door..." Xiao Liang immediately deduced, "That means the tunnel she dug is likely in that direction too!"

"That's possible!" Lao Wei nodded and decisively said, "Let's go, chase to the left!"

After saying that, he took the lead out of the main tomb chamber and ran to the left.

We followed closely behind, chasing after him.

After running for about fifty meters, we came to another fork in the road. There were two paths ahead, one to the left and one to the right.

Lao Wei turned back and asked us, "Which way do we go?"

To be honest, I basically had no sense of direction in this underground space. I could only ask Xiao Liang, "Xiao Liang, what do you think?"

Xiao Liang had a better sense of direction than me, and she immediately said, "This tomb passage itself is tilted to the left. Turning left here would probably mean going around the other side of the main tomb chamber. We should turn right."

After what happened before, Lao Wei trusted Xiao Liang very much, and decisively nodded, "Okay, then we'll turn right!"

Saying that, everyone quickened their pace and quickly chased to the right.

As a result, just a few steps later, Lao Wei suddenly cried out "Ouch!" and fell to the ground.

I quickly went over to help him up and asked, "Lao Wei, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Lao Wei shook his head, but casually picked up something from the ground beside his feet. I looked down and saw a vermilion, rectangular, exquisite wooden box.

The vermilion wooden box was engraved with golden dragon and cloud patterns and had a small gilded brass lock. I recognized it at a glance. It was a burial item placed next to the coffin on the second level of the Ming tomb.

Lao Wei also recognized it and excitedly said, "This is a red lacquer gold-engraved cloud dragon pattern scripture box from the Yongle period. It was used by princes and nobles to hold Buddhist scriptures. This thing was placed in the second-level tomb chamber before. It must have been dropped by the grave robbers during transport."

"That means we're going in the right direction!" I quickly said, "These grave robbers are just ahead!"

"Chase, chase, chase!"

Lao Wei instantly regained his motivation and immediately took the lead to chase forward.

We ran very fast, and I could hear the wind whistling in my ears. Chasing to the end of this tomb passage, I vaguely saw a beam of light ahead, not very bright.

In this dark underground, a light source meant someone was there!

"It's just ahead!" I said in a low voice.

"We're catching up to them!" Lao Wei also said in a deep voice.

Sure enough, soon after, we heard a burst of laughter.

I recognized one of the speakers as the sinister Yellow-Hair Xiao Ming.

I only heard him say triumphantly, "Once we sell these three boxes of gold ingots, I'll definitely buy a good car to drive!"

Immediately another grave robber asked, "What kind of car does Brother Ming want to buy? A BMW or an Audi?"

"Hehe, that's all you're good for! What BMW or Audi? After this deal, my net worth will definitely soar. I've long since looked down on such common cars as BMWs and Audis. I have to buy one, buy one... Damn it, I really don't know what car is more upscale than a BMW or an Audi? Is a Mercedes-Benz more expensive than them?" Yellow-Hair Xiao Ming said with a chuckle.

Hearing Yellow-Hair Xiao Ming's voice, we were filled with anger.

It was this grandson who tricked us and caused us to be caught by the man-eating tree.

If the White-Clad Immortal Maiden hadn't suddenly come to save me, everyone would have been dead today!

So we have a life-and-death feud with Xiao Ming!

"This little bastard, I finally caught him." Lao Wei said through gritted teeth, "Brothers, give him a good beating later!"

"Understood!" the Xiaoling Guards said in unison. After saying that, everyone rushed forward.

This kind of combat wasn't for Xiao Liang and me. After all, we didn't have guns. We followed behind the Xiaoling Guards, watching the show from a distance.

Soon we caught up with the Yellow-Hair Xiao Ming in front. He was with three other young grave robbers, carrying a total of two boxes of gold ingots, and also carrying a lot of other burial items on their bodies. They were walking slowly along the tomb passage.

Seeing them, Lao Wei pulled out his gun and fired a shot over their heads.

"Stop! Put your hands up! Move again and I'll shoot you!"

The grave robbers were instantly frightened. Their hands trembled, and the two boxes of gold ingots were thrown directly on the ground. With a "clang", the box lids fell open, and gold ingots rolled all over the ground!

Yellow-Hair Xiao Ming knew that once he was caught, he would probably die, so he ignored the gun in Lao Wei's hand and ran away.

Seeing that he refused to cooperate, Lao Wei sneered and said, "Hehe, run? I'm afraid you won't run! If you don't run, I really can't shoot!"

With that, he raised his hand and shot at Yellow-Hair Xiao Ming, directly hitting the guy's calf!

Only hearing Xiao Ming scream like a pig being slaughtered, he fell to the ground with a thud, his body sliding forward for a while due to inertia.

Lao Wei got a shot and coldly said, "Little bastard, let you pretend to be lame! Now I'll make you really lame!"