The Lost Tomb Vol. 1

Chapter 72: Bomb

The three of us looked at each other, our expressions very ugly.

After iron had been poured into the brick seams, the whole thing became just like reinforced concrete. It didn't matter if you had a sledgehammer and were on flat ground—it would all be useless. This was especially true considering our current situation.

Plus, there were at least seven more of these layers above, and they were all connected to each other. It was absolutely impossible to dig our way through them without modern equipment.

Feeling annoyed, I knew that I had only myself to blame for not thinking of such a possibility. After all, flat ceilings weren't able to withstand pressure as well as vaulted ceilings so the bricks had to be reinforced with something. In Ming Dynasty tombs, there was only one method that was used to do this—pour molten iron in between the seams in order to tightly seal the tomb. I had been relying on an old notebook and my limited knowledge of construction to make our escape plan, but as it turned out, I knew nothing at all. I had just been spouting crap this whole time and now we were going to suffer because of it.

Fatty looked at me and asked, "What now, Comrade Architect? Got any more ideas?"

I still wanted to try my luck so I said, "What else can we do? Don't give up and just keep trying to break through it with the mirror leg. It's been more than two hundred years so I doubt it's as strong as before."

Fatty didn't think the problem was too serious since he didn't see me panicking so he continued trying to break through the layer of bricks. The hollow bricks were easy to break, but the solidified bands of iron in the seams were still there. Fatty hit them as hard as he could but only managed to leave a few marks on them. He knew as soon as he saw this that something was wrong and said to me, "It's impossible. These iron bands are as thick as a palm. Even hitting them with a Liberation truck may not do anything."

It was only after I tried hitting them a few times myself and ended up with numb palms that I realized that this was something that couldn't be handled with brute force alone. Feeling discouraged, I said to them, "It seems that we underestimated the ancients' technology. They used such pure iron to seal these brick seams that we won't be able to break through the hardened bands at all."

"What if we try to grind away at them?" Fatty asked. "Didn't the ancients say that as long as you work hard, an iron pestle can be ground into a needle?"

"Just drop it. If you try to grind away at these thick iron bands, we'll be here forever," I said. "We have twenty minutes until the tide starts to ebb. By the time you finished grinding, we'd already be dead."

Fatty immediately became angry, "Then what are we supposed to do?! Didn't you hear what that woman said? This area's typhoon season will be here soon, and it'll last at least a week. If we can't get out now, we'll be stuck here for seven days." He paused and then said with emphasis, "Seven days! If we don't fucking suffocate, we'll starve to death."

Knowing the seriousness of the problem, I said to them, "You guys have much more experience in this field than I do. What would you guys do if you encountered this kind of tomb wall under normal circumstances?"

Fatty and Poker-Face didn't even pause to think about it before saying in unison, "Explosives!"

Fatty saw me staring at them blankly and explained, "Don't be surprised. This kind of wall is much stronger than you think. I've robbed tombs like this a bunch of times. If I ran into this kind of wall while digging my grave robbers' tunnel, the only way to get past it is to use explosives."

I felt sad when I heard this. I knew what he said was right, but where were we supposed to find explosives in this centuries-old tomb? I suddenly remembered that A Ning had asked me before I went into the water if I wanted to take some explosives down with me. At that time, I was still a little scarred from the explosion at the Seven Star Lu Palace so I was very resistant to the idea and threw the explosives back into the ship's cabin. But now I was really regretting that decision. If Uncle Three had been present at that time, he would have definitely brought them along.