Chapter 1 The Stone Tablet

The appearance of this stone tablet was even more abrupt than the pile of white bones. I looked at the stone tablet inscribed with "Death to Tomb Raiders" and wondered, "Who erected this thing? Could it be that hundreds of years ago, some cultural relic enthusiasts personally came down here to protect this ancient tomb and erected this stone tablet?"

Just as I was staring at the stone tablet, Hu Wazi discovered a few more skeletons. After a quick count, there seemed to be thirteen skeletons on site, a very large number.

Even now, a tomb raiding gang of this size would be considered a large-scale criminal operation.

Lao Wei, with the Xiaoling Guards, conducted a simple autopsy on the remains on-site and suddenly discovered a shocking detail: there were no visible external injuries on the bones, and there were no traces of blood or weapons at the scene. The cause of death of these people became a mystery.

Logically speaking, if a person is killed by external force, there will definitely be traces left on the bones—either blunt force trauma or sharp weapon damage. There wouldn't be absolutely no traces.

Even Haozi, who was killed with a single slice to the throat by the White-Clothed Immortal, would have marks on the bones in his throat area.

Furthermore, if they had been attacked and killed, there would definitely be weapons and bloodstains at the scene. The fact that neither weapons nor bloodstains could be found indicated that they had not died violently.

At this time, Xiao Liang asked, "Lao Wei, could they have died from poisoning?"

Lao Wei shone his flashlight on their bones and shook his head, saying, "No, the bones of those who died from poisoning aren't this color."

So, it wasn't violent death, nor was it death by poisoning.

Yun Jie suddenly looked at the stone tablet inscribed with "Death to Tomb Raiders" and gasped, "Good heavens, could this group of people have been cursed to death by this stone tablet after coming to raid the tomb?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Wazi immediately glared and cursed, "Bullshit! If erecting a stone tablet could kill someone, then wouldn't we just erect a stone tablet saying so-and-so is dead in front of our enemies' houses to kill them?"

I also felt that while this cursed stone tablet was strange, it couldn't possibly have killed so many people at once.

Xiao Liang, on the other hand, was very calm and pointed forward, saying, "The ancient tomb is just ahead. Why don't we go take a look first?"

Lao Wei and the others agreed, but Yun Jie and Er Jun, the two *paoge* (gang members), seemed a little apprehensive.

Yun Jie asked in a low voice, "We're not here to raid tombs; we're here to catch tomb raiders. This stone tablet won't accidentally kill good people, will it?"

Er Jun, not knowing whether he believed Yun Jie's judgment or was deliberately teasing him, pointed at the stone tablet and said to Yun Jie, "Pay your respects to it and explain things clearly, so it doesn't accidentally hurt you."

And this Yun Jie was such a simpleton that he actually bowed twice to the stone tablet that read "Death to Tomb Raiders," saying with utmost sincerity, "Ancestral spirits, please don't blame us. We're here to catch tomb raiders, not to raid tombs. We're good people; we're here to help you. If you have knowledge in the afterlife, please don't miss out on good people!"

Hu Wazi's mouth twitched uncontrollably at this sight, and he said speechlessly, "What a blunder it was to bring you, you idiot, down here to the tomb with me!"

After dawdling for a while at the cursed stone tablet, we all continued forward.

Lao Wei's saying was indeed correct—the tomb passage narrowed and then widened, the underground palace was close at hand.

After walking about thirty or forty steps, we immediately saw a wall of the underground palace built with giant stones.

Seeing this wall, we knew we had reached the tomb of ancient Shu.

Generally, the underground palaces of tombs would have a circle of walls, also known as "luocheng" (rampart) in the tomb raiding business.

This circle of walls generally had two purposes: first, to highlight the identity of the tomb owner and make it appear grand, and second, to protect the tomb from being damaged by tomb raiders.

The rampart in front of us was piled up with giant stone bricks that were three to four meters long, one meter wide, and about 80 centimeters thick. I took a closer look and saw that there was actually a layer of rammed earth wall more than a meter thick tightly attached behind this rampart. This was a very secure double-layered rampart!

With ancient blasting techniques, it would be almost impossible to break through such a rampart. Even if someone could break through the outer layer of stone brick wall, there was still a layer of rammed earth wall inside. It would probably take a tomb raider a hundred years to enter this tomb.

But what I had to admire was that this double-secured rampart had actually been breached!

In the center of this wall, there was a large hole with an irregular shape. How big was this hole? Big enough for three two-hundred-pound fat people to pass through together.

I was completely dumbfounded and couldn't help but say to Lao Wei, "Our ancestors were wild enough. They could even blast open such a thick rampart for tomb raiding. How did they do it?"

Lao Wei probably also found it strange. I saw his brows furrowed into a "川" (river) shape. He walked to the breach in the rampart, lowered his head, shone his flashlight, and scraped a layer of soil from the breach with his fingertips. He even put it under his nose and smelled it.

I asked Lao Wei, "Lao Wei, what are you smelling?"

As a result, Lao Wei turned his head and smiled, saying to me, "I know how this rampart was breached. It was blasted open with explosives, and it hasn't been long since it was blasted, only thirty or forty years ago. I can still smell the burnt odor."

I was shocked when I heard this and said, "What? Lao Wei, didn't you say that this tomb passage was hundreds or thousands of years old? It turns out this rampart was only blasted open thirty or forty years ago?"

Lao Wei nodded and said, "Yeah, that's not contradictory. The tomb raiders hundreds of years ago dug the tomb passage, but when they got here and encountered the double-layered rampart, they couldn't break through it and retreated. Over the past few hundred years, tomb raiders have been continuously entering from this tomb passage. It wasn't until thirty or forty years ago that the common people mastered blasting techniques and brought explosives to blast open this rampart."

After thinking about it, what Lao Wei said was right, the logic did indeed make sense.

At this time, Xiao Liang said, "If we consider it based on this time frame, could the group of tomb raiders who blasted open the rampart be the skeletons next to the stone tablet?"

Lao Wei slapped his forehead and nodded repeatedly, saying, "That's right! This time frame matches up perfectly!"

"Then I know how they died!" Xiao Liang said smartly.

"How did they die?" I asked quickly.

Xiao Liang said, "The oxygen in this tomb passage is thin. Even burning a few straw men would suffocate people to death, let alone using explosives. When explosives detonate, they consume a massive amount of oxygen, tens of thousands of times more than burning straw men. This group of tomb raiders did blast open the tomb wall, but the oxygen was instantly burned out, and they were immediately suffocated to death."

Upon hearing this, Lao Wei clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "So that's how it is! No wonder there were no fatal injuries on these people. It turns out they played themselves to death and weren't cursed to death by that stone tablet at all!"

Hu Wazi then kicked Yun Jie in the butt and said with a laugh, "Idiot, are you still worshipping the stone tablet?"