The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 188: Snake Mine

According to the murals in Motuo, there may only be three such snake mines in the world. There may have been more before, but their value hadn't been discovered, and so they had all been destroyed. The snakes dug out of the stone were anecdotes at most, and couldn't be sold for money, after all. It wasn't until these strange pictures were interpreted in the Motuo murals that people realized that this snake was the only way to get infinitely close to the truth of history.

I knew that the murals indicated that whatever was mined in Motuo could be found in another place, but I couldn't enter it for a short period of time. My only hope was the third location that hadn't been discovered yet.

It was a slim hope, so I had originally planned to spend the next ten to twenty years trying to find this place. But I knew some of the characteristics to look for around these snake mines: unusual longevity and strange phenomena occurring.

I didn't think I would find it so quickly. I thought at one point that someone had arranged it, but that obviously wasn't the case. I was really the only one in Motuo who had the clue.

I knew that the other force was probably tracing my whereabouts, so that one or two day period after I found this place was the only time that belonged to me. They may even be among the people I had hired.

I had no way out, and based on my past experiences, I wouldn't be able to rest or take a breath. It was impossible to leave the scene, so I had no other choice but to go as deep into the situation as possible. The people around me also had to follow me in, and I would try my utmost to prevent them from making contact with the forces behind them.

I had to be the first one in, and couldn't rely on any strength, just like Poker-face at that time. No one would want to leave their comrade in such a dangerous place, so his departure was a habitual mechanism to protect himself.

We checked the ventilation system here first. It wasn't strong, which showed that the mine didn't have much gas. This was reassuring, but I still threw my cigarette butt down to check. Gas was lighter than air, so if there were no strange tunnels at the bottom of the pit, then it was unlikely that gas had leaked out.

This was a risky move, but it was worth doing. We were at the top of the mine, so if an explosion occurred, it would simply blow us out of the tower at most.

As expected, there was no explosion.

I picked out the four blasting points, and Longtao immediately got to work.

The cross steel frames fell one by one into the deep well below, and only the second one didn't fall according to my plan. It slipped relatively shallow, which made the distance between it and the first steel frame too large for our rope to reach.

I bit my flashlight, hung the rope over, and was the first to slide down.

It was beyond their imagination for an iron chopstick [1] to rush to the front line. I wouldn't want to if I had a choice, but I didn't.

I was the first to drop to the fourth steel frame, which was the last one we had blasted. After I touched down, the steel frame sank another three or four meters.

There were coal seams all around, and the others quickened their pace upon seeing me acting so assertive.

I had also experienced this kind of climbing in the Heavenly Palace, so as I tidied up the ropes, I looked at the surrounding rock walls. I needed to find a suitable path to climb, because I knew I would probably need it if I had to retreat later. If I didn't observe it now, it would be too late when the time came.

I didn't find a suitable one, but I did have an alternative that required iron hooks.

I would just find a steel bar on the steel frame, pull it off, and then stuck it into my belt.

From the fourth steel frame to the third steel frame, I was also the first to go down. The equipment had slid down with me, so I carried it on my back. I couldn't see the bottom after pointing the flashlight down, but it was definitely much narrower.

When I made it from the third steel frame to the second steel frame, the others didn't follow quite as fast. Che Zhong asked: "Boss, why did you bring us here? Do you want us to be witnesses to your legend?"

I chuckled and said, "I'm afraid when I'm alone, but I'm much bolder when there are more people."

The distance from the second steel frame to the first steel frame was quite far, and I would need to descend to the end of the rope, and then jump down.

Even if I were to hang by the very end of the rope, there was still a distance of at least five meters. There was only one beam below, so it became a question of whether I would sprain my foot or land steadily.

I looked down with a flashlight, but still couldn't see the bottom below the last steel frame. They all advised me not to go down any more, saying that it was pointless. We had come down section by section with recycled rope, so climbing back up would require us to use grappling hooks.

Our rope wasn't long enough for the depth here, so someone would have to stay up top to pull it up, and the people below may have to stack up when they come back.

Grave robbers didn't like this kind of situation, because the people in this line of work all had bad characters.

I ignored them. They needed me if they wanted to get paid, especially if there was nothing here. At that point, the money I promised them would be their only hope.

I slid directly to the end of the rope and shined my flashlight below. In the dark area, a thin steel beam was the only foothold I could see. I would have peed my pants before, but now all I did was take a deep breath and drop my whole body down.

My feet landed on the edge of the beam, and I slipped. My whole body started to tilt sideways, but I didn't freeze. Instead, I grabbed the beam with both hands.

Armpit strength was king.

Black Glasses had taught me a lot, like the fact that the muscles people used when climbing were usually very difficult to use. That was why special exercises were necessary. He pushed me down from a high place, and had me hold myself up on various obstacles with my armpits. After practicing for a long time, the highest record was three meters. Here, my legs acted as a sort of buffer to those five meters, so I was very relaxed.

After hanging for a second, I twisted my waist and climbed up. I wanted to light a cigarette, but I was no longer in an open surface coal mine, so I didn't dare have an open flame. I was also holding an LED flashlight. Although I had confirmed before that the gas hadn't leaked here, I was still a little worried.

The others didn't come down. I needed them to help me get back up, but now I figured it was safer to keep a distance between us.

"Boss, we won't come down." Che Zhong said, "It's still very deep down there, and if we go down, we'll have trouble getting back up. You can just go take a look yourself."

I nodded. Based on this sentence, I would drag his payment out for half a year.

Right now, I was at least four hundred meters down from the door above. I used my flashlight to illuminate the area below, and noticed that the diameter of this shaft was only about five meters. It wasn't much further down, so I figured my feet could reach both sides.

I hadn't seen a mining area yet. It appeared that the main vein of this snake mine hadn't been completely excavated. I looked around everywhere, pulled a long iron bar from the steel frame, tied it to my belt, and then tried to climb down the sides of the mine shaft. The iron bar made it difficult for me to keep my balance, but I knew that it would save my life.

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Note:

[1] This is grave robber lingo mentioned back in Vol. 8 Chapter 5. "Iron chopsticks" are the guys with the information about ancient tombs, knowledge of tomb exploration, and identification of artifacts. They hand over the tomb location and dynasty information they acquire to the people who actually go into the tombs. Uncle Three was considered an "iron chopstick" and now sweet Wu Xie is too.