The Lost Tomb Vol. 1

Chapter 46: Hair

The tunnel actually wasn't that far from the boat. There was a big pit that had been blown out of the seabed, at the bottom of which was the tunnel. When I saw it, I knew that it had definitely been made by Uncle Three. We searched around the tunnel first but didn't see any signs of collapse. It appeared that Uncle Three's skills were as good as ever.

I also saw several stone anchors which looked very similar to the ones that Uncle Three had described, but I wasn't sure if they were actually the same ones or not.

On the seabed, there were still traces of the markings that Uncle Three had made to indicate the layout of the tomb. As Bald Zhang and I carefully memorized it, I found that the location of the tunnel seemed to lead to one of the ear chambers. The layer of bricks in that place should be relatively thin.

We searched for about five minutes but it seemed that there was no need to look any further. Fatty waved his hand, silently asking if we should go in or not. A Ning glanced at her diving watch and nodded.

Our current equipment was incomparably lighter than the equipment from twenty years ago. We checked it all one last time and then repeated the agreed-upon gestures at the entrance of the tunnel to ensure that there wouldn't be any problems. Once that was done, Fatty took the lead and slipped into the tunnel. The rest of us turned on our flashlights and followed, diving about five or six meters in one go.

The tunnel had been dug in a very irregular manner—sometimes it was wide and sometimes it was narrow. I looked around at the tunnel walls as I swam, but the more I looked, the more confused I became. Why did it seem like this tunnel hadn't been dug by humans? If Uncle Three had dug it, he would've done it in a neat and orderly manner with a shovel but the marks I was seeing on the walls were messy and chaotic, as if an animal had made this tunnel.

We swam hard for more than twenty meters until the light from the tunnel entrance could no longer reach us. But at this time, the direction of the tunnel suddenly changed and became vertical. I couldn't help feeling a little surprised—he hadn't reached the tomb yet so why would he suddenly change the tunnel's direction?

I was annoyed at the fact that I couldn't speak or express my doubts to the others. We took a quick break at the entrance to this vertical tunnel. Fatty gestured at us to be careful and then swam down by himself first. As I watched his light get further and further away until it became a small dot, I couldn't help but wonder why it was so deep.

Then I saw him wave his flashlight below, indicating that it was safe for us to follow. We immediately dove down one by one. I looked at the depth gauge on my diving watch and saw that we were already more than ten meters below the surface. I had never dived so deep before and didn't know if my body could handle it or not.

A large space had been dug out below, where we immediately saw the tomb's ancient wall. There was a big hole in it, which had me feeling even more confused when I saw it. The hole's shape was very irregular and didn't look anything like the careful brick-by-brick dismantling method grave robbers normally used. Some of the bricks were even cracked. Fatty looked at me and I looked at him before we both spit out a few bubbles at the same time. He pointed at the broken bricks and made a few monkey-like gestures. I knew what he was trying to say—this hole may have been dug by sea monkeys and wasn't actually a grave robbers' tunnel.

I nodded in agreement and then pointed to the pneumatic speargun on his back. He took it off, switched the safety off, and then swam into the hole.

This was the second time in my life I had entered an ancient tomb. Although I was a little excited, I still felt uneasy when I thought of my last experience. Moreover, we were at the bottom of the sea, where the water resistance made it difficult to move easily. If we stumbled across something dangerous, we wouldn't be able to escape as quickly as we could on land.