The Lost Tomb : Extras & Special Stories

(Extra Story: 2017 Chinese New Year Special) Chapter 10: Place in the Notes

Forty-six years ago, a lot of bodies were piled up at the entrance of an underground river in Guangxi because of a war. One day, the yellow mud there gushed out continuously. After nearly ten thousand years of scouring, the bottom of the underground river had finally become very stable. There was no heavy rain at the time, which meant that the flowing yellow mud was a result of the underground river undergoing geological changes. Maybe a karst in the ten-thousand-meter underground cave had collapsed.

But according to my grandpa's notes, someone sifted through the yellow mud and found that it was packed earth from an ancient tomb. Later, someone went down to the underground river and finally came back up with a bamboo tube. There was a letter inside that said they had gone about two or three miles down before everyone had gone blind.

The torches were still burning, but they couldn't see any light.

I touched my chin as I remembered that Uncle Three had said in the Temple of Seeds that he had encountered a corpse cave near Taiyuan, but they didn't go in at the time [1]. As I looked at the notes, I realized that these events in Shanxi and Guangxi were very similar. I didn't know if what Uncle Three had said at the time was really from grandpa's notes and he had lied to me because he was afraid that I would go there.

This account was really similar to the place that Little Brother Zhang had mentioned, so I kind of knew why Poker-Face said the tomb couldn't be robbed.

There were strange symbols at the entrance of the cave. Grandpa had drawn them in his notes, and I found that they looked like the Zhang family's seal. The marks must have meant that the place was extremely dangerous and inaccessible.

The Zhang family must have tried multiple times but they all failed in the end. This kind of mark probably meant that those Zhang family members who went in didn't come back.

If they couldn't see, then what in the world was making them go blind? I hated myself for not knowing.

Guangxi, underground river, deep mountain, invisible wall, huge blind area.

Why did Little Brother Zhang and Poker-Face go in at that time? The Zhang family had been divided back then, so they must've had a special reason to go to this place at that time.

Was Black Glasses going for the same reason?

Just as I was thinking this, someone kicked my door in. Li Cu strode in, threw a stack of photos on the desk in front of me, and then leaned against the sofa that was pushed against the wall.

I glanced at them and found that they were all photos of Little Brother Zhang. 

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Any kind of conflict would create a lose-lose situation, especially after Li Cu took refuge with Xiao Canglang. For him, he needed a simple and controllable master. That was why Xiao Canglang's fame had risen so recently. It had all been orchestrated by Li Cu. Xiao Canglang probably didn't even know what was going on around him.

And Li Cu also needed an older backer so that he could avoid all the trouble brought about by his young age. This boy was really too similar to me, but unfortunately, he became obsessed at such a young age. He firmly believed that his father was still alive and wanted to find him so that he could ask him about all the things from that year. I couldn't help him because he wanted to do it on his own.

If it were me, this obsession would have to be let go sooner or later. But he was still young and thought that the future was infinite and there was still time. He thought that my letting go was a sign of cowardice.

Like me, he got deeper and deeper in the wrong world for the wrong reasons, so his faults were also my responsibility.

To sum it up, Little Brother Zhang and the others didn't need to face Xiao Canglang if they wanted to get that prescription. They needed to face Li Cu. After several years, he was still a rash boy who didn't know how to adapt, but his cleverness made it impossible for me to manipulate him with mere talk.

"Do you have nothing else to do?" I asked him slowly as I looked at the photos.

"I have what you want, right?" Li Cu laughed, "I actually have something that Wu Xie can't get? God has finally opened his eyes."

"It's not what I want, it's what he wants." I pointed to the photo, "You'd better make a deal with him. You're both people who don't give up until you reach your goal. Conflict is a waste of time."

"You taught me before, remember?" He said as he looked at me. "Some people can make deals, while others can't. I won't conduct business with you, Wu Xie. It doesn't matter if it's you or your friends."

I sighed. I really wanted to jump up and kick this stubborn child to death, but I was the one who made a mistake before, so I had to bear it. "Give me some terms that you can accept."

"Tell me, where did my dad go?"

No one would appear in photos once they climbed to the top of the stone mountain in Gutong Jing [2]. We found a stone room in the crevice there, and all those who entered it disappeared. I still didn't know where they went. I didn't have the courage to go in and chose to give up, but I didn't tell Li Cu about it because I knew what he would do.

At that time, I needed him to do something important for me, so I ended up lying to him.

This selfishness was now constantly torturing me.

I didn't answer him.

"Think it over. Either tell me, or I'll call the police in the morning if I see these people still wandering around my area." He stood up and looked at the pack of cigarettes on my desk. "You'll die early if you keep smoking. If you want to die so badly, take my offer and then die." 

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Notes:

[1] You all probably don't care, but it's page 30, Chapter 3 of "Cavern of Blood Zombies". 

[2] This was kind of vaguely mentioned in of "Sea of Sands".

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End of 2017 Chinese New Year Special