The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 152: Overly Fearful

Li Cu touched his face, imagination running wild with the plots of various suspense novels. The black urn coffin had to be unusual; otherwise they wouldn't have gone to such great pains to lift it out of the pond. Was it some kind of ceremony to cushion the bottom of the urn with copper money? Since he knocked the jar over just now, would good things come to his door?

He tried to put the copper coins back, but he obviously lacked the strength. He retreated to the other side of the wall so he could use it to support himself as he moved back into the wheelchair.

His body's strength had recovered quite well, and he managed to climb up bit by bit, but there was a sharp pain coming from his knee. When he was finally seated, he suddenly heard the sound of fingernails scratching the inner wall of the jar again.

He paused, and suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Wu Xie told him that his first contact with him would be through the ancient tomb. Was it through this?

Was Wu Xie in this jar?

Li Cu took a deep breath. There was definitely something rubbing against the inner wall of this urn coffin, so it had to be some living creature. But how could there be any living creature in the coffin? Was it the corpse? Impossible. Did Wu Xie seal himself inside and wanted to contact him, but couldn't get out.

Although he figured Boss Wu wouldn't do such a thing, it was in line with the way he had contacted Li Cu before.

He thought it over for a moment, and then glanced at the table where a large guidebook commonly used in hotels was. He grabbed it and threw it at the urn coffin.

The thick book hit it with a "beng".

Li Cu cried out: "Boss Wu, are you in there?"

There was no movement. He waited for a while, but there was still no movement.

Was the urn coffin insulated to the point of being sound-proof?

It was possible. He seemed to have learned such a thing in physics class. If the urn coffin was struck with something harder, then it would sound like a bell.

He took off his belt buckle and threw it. The sound was very loud, and the whole urn shook with a "bang peng".

"Dong Guai, Dong Guai. It's Dong Guai, do you copy? [1]" Li Cu whispered, "To see in a thousand miles. The temple has restrained a river monster." [2]

Still, nothing happened.

Was everything an illusion just now?

Li Cu carefully recalled the sound of scratching fingernails. Did he mishear, and it was just the sound of the copper coins slipping and rubbing against the bottom of the jar?

He pushed the wheelchair back, retreated all the way to the wardrobe, and then reached up and pulled down a hanger. He figured he could use it as a pole, even though it was only an arm's length.

He wheeled back over and pushed the urn coffin with his makeshift pole. He kept pushing it, but the urn coffin was very heavy and didn't move. He pushed even harder, hoping to hear the sound of those fingernails scratching.

This suddenly upset the fragile balance of those small piles of copper coins placed below the jar. The jar slipped to the side, all the copper coins collapsed, and the bottom of the jar slammed into the floor. He froze, and almost at the same time, the sound of countless claws scratching the inner wall of the jar came out. The sounds came so quick and close together that his body was instantly covered in goosebumps.

He got rid of the hanger and began to wildly retreat. The wheelchair crashed into the door and began hitting it repeatedly.

After knocking for five or six minutes, the noise in the urn coffin grew louder, and Li Cu started to go crazy. At this time, the door finally opened, and the merchant stood behind him with a bag of steamed buns in one hand, while nibbling on a fried dough stick in his other hand. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"There's something alive in that urn coffin!" Li Cu could hardly speak.

"What?" The merchant handed Li Cu his breakfast, walked over, and saw that the urn coffin had fallen to the ground. He scolded, "Can you not make such a mess?"

"There's something alive in it!" Li Cu shouted. He didn't understand how the other party could be so calm.

"Of course there are living things inside; otherwise, why would we bring it back? This is a crab pot." He stepped up and pushed the urn hard, then moved it in all four directions and kicked the copper coins away. "There are crabs inside. They're one of my top twenty favorite foods."

"This is a crab pot?" Li Cu breathed a sigh of relief, wondering why it looked so much like an urn coffin.

"Of course not, it's still a coffin. Have you seen the seams?" The merchant pressed hard on the seam with his finger, and the sealant began to fall off. "The joint between the two jars wasn't completed properly. It's full of holes and is now covered in mud. The quality of this urn coffin is very poor, so they probably didn't even have the time to burn paper offerings. The two urns don't even fit together very well. Crabs were raised in the pond, so their larvae probably entered through the holes and couldn't get out when they were bigger. Seems like there's quite a few of them, too!"

The truth turned out to be so simple...

"What do you want this urn for?" Li Cu asked with some trepidation.

"To eat, of course." The merchant answered.

"Then why'd you put the jar on the copper coins?" Li Cu pointed to the ground. "Will it taste better?"

"You'll find out when we open it." The merchant pointed to the breakfast still sitting on Li Cu's knees: "I bought you a few steamed buns, eat quickly!"

At this time, the others also came back. The "young man" was carrying a lot of information, and when he piled it up on the bed, he asked what was going on. The merchant told the whole story, and everyone immediately laughed.

Li Cu was a little exasperated. His performance really was kind of bad just now, but he had been feeling an unspeakable uneasiness in his heart for a while. While eating his steamed buns, he wondered if he could refuse when they ate the crabs. At the same time, he was still thinking about the meaning behind those copper coins.

He didn't see those grave robbers again, and had no idea where they went. After breakfast, they began counting the stolen goods.

There was a lot of gold and jewelry, but the mud hadn't been cleaned off of them yet. They began sorting them, and the merchant whistled as he quickly used a computer to calculate the price.

Li Cu was watching TV, bored. They kept counting until noon, and then the merchant said to the leader, "About two million. Several jadeites are old pits with strange colors. I don't think the price will go up. We'd be fortunate to get three million, but I think it's better to report two million. If there's more, we'll buy some improved equipment."

The leader looked at the list and simply signed at the bottom. The others began carefully looking at the details of the burial objects, while the merchant started to make phone calls and set up appointments with his clients.

Li Cu was actually interested in this and asked if he could help. The leader said, "No, you don't have the ability to find details on these things. This requires experience. You can help sell the things we've picked out."

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Notes:

[1] Li Cu's acting like he's in a war/spy movie. On the battlefield, soldiers will say this when they pass on information. I kept the pinyin, it could also be read as "0707, I am 07, do you copy?".

[2] It's a code used in "Linhaixueyuan". It doesn't really mean anything here (and it doesn't help he used the code wrong anyways lol. He's such an idiot.)