It was a long stretch of mountain road so I’ll make a long story short. As we walked along, Fatty still insisted on asking all kinds of indirect questions, but Ghost wasn’t even on guard against us. It didn’t take me long to realize that it wasn’t because Ghost trusted us, but because he simply thought that we wouldn’t get out alive.
At that time, Fatty asked several important questions, one of which was about the lynx. “Were these lynx raised to attack?” Fatty asked him.
“Yes,” Ghost replied. He then explained that he used to be a spy and learned various ways to tame animals. There were so many lynx in the mountains here because there were few hunters. He had raised all of them, so now there were a large number of them. Lynx were very intelligent creatures that could connect with humans. He used the method taught by the secret service at that time and found a way to tame them through trial and error.
Lynx were very strong and fast, skilled at climbing trees, and could swim very well. He used them to attack people, many of whom came here to hunt.
Fatty’s second question was about Pan Ma. When Fatty asked Ghost about him, the other man just smiled and said he was probably dead. Pan Ma had already informed him when we first entered the village, but he didn’t know what had happened to him afterwards.
I knew he was hiding something, but I dared not ask any more questions and kept quiet the rest of the way. After walking for a short period of time, we came to a place overgrown with weeds. There was a lot of equipment and tent debris in the mud, and it looked like a camp that had been abandoned for a long time.
This was the outpost where Ghost’s team had entered the ancient building.
We rested there for a while and then Ghost led us into a crude shack that was leaning against the rock.
The shack was completely rotted but hadn’t collapsed because of the vines that were wrapped around it. When we bent down to enter, we immediately saw several corpses completely wrapped in vines. There was even a layer of something similar to dried mud on them.
“These people all died when they were dragged out. Those who have been soaked to death by strong alkali won’t rot, but will dry up.” As he said this, he reached a hand in, groped around some of the corpses, and broke something off from them.
I used the word broken because it almost looked like a scale that had grown together with the corpse. After snapping it off, Ghost dumped it and shook off the dried mud until its true colors were revealed—it was a cloth bag.
“This guy, like you, was a good grave robber. He just didn’t have the right luck. This cloth bag was his life-long treasure and has many tools in it. Maybe you can use it.” With that said, he reached into the mud in front of the body and dug a few times. He lifted a cover made from mud-covered bamboo strips to expose a hole. “This is it.”
I reached down and touched it. Without a doubt, the walls of this hole were made of slate.
“This hole is the same as the one I walked through at that time, but it’s much smaller.”
“Some holes are for walking, some are for other things,” Ghost said. “After you go in, you’ll see a lot of miluotuo. I don’t know the principle of this mechanism, but there’s a trick—you have to find a very special shadow. This miluotuo is different from all the others, so when you stand in front of it, use this.”
He pulled a canteen out of his pocket, “There’s oil in it. You pour the oil on the ground in front of this miluotuo and the direction the oil flows will tell you the next route.”
“How is it different?” I asked.
“I don’t know, it’s different every time. But I can assure you that once you see this miluotuo, you’ll immediately feel that something’s different. That kind of difference is especially strange.” After that, Ghost patted me. “Please take care of yourself and don’t come out alive.”
He immediately left, leaving us behind in the shack feeling puzzled.
“He didn’t return the gun to me,” Fatty said gloomily. “I had a hard time stealing that, damn it. I’m already attached to it.”
“If he gives you the gun, what will you do?”
“Immediately break his leg and roast all his lynx,” Fatty said.
“Then he’s right to not give it back. Do you think he’s stupid?” I retorted. “But he at least has a conscience. He took the weapon, but also gave us something.”
Fatty sighed and opened the cloth bag that Ghost had given us. He then spread all the contents on the ground to see what was inside.
The corpses looked creepy and I thought it wasn’t particularly polite to look at their belongings right next to them, but I was also drawn in when I saw some of the items. I didn’t recognize many of the things that had been dumped out, but Fatty’s face was half confused and half excited.
When I asked him what they were, he picked out something that was as long as an arm and threw it to me. It turned out to be a long iron pick. I picked it up and looked at it carefully. The whole iron pick was covered in black paint, but I had no idea what the purpose was. There was no sign of the paint peeling and its texture looked nonmetallic under the flashlight’s glow. But judging from its weight, it had to be a metal device. The point was very sharp and there were some patterns in the middle section to increase friction. When I looked closely, I could even see six ancient seal characters on one side.
It was a small tool used by ancient thieves to pry open some very delicate jewelry boxes. They would insert this iron pick into the lock seam and then pry open the jewelry box with a lot of force. These jewelry boxes were usually made of tin and were very difficult to destroy. At the same time, this pick could also be used to destroy brick walls that weren’t particularly strong. It was forged by the same process used to cast swords. In the center of the iron pick was a copper core with a little bend to it that was very hard. I had bought a few items like this before, but there were very few people who knew what they were and it was too difficult to sell them. Later, I played around with them myself.
Since these corpses were carrying such a thing on them, it seemed that it was a small tool they were used to. These people were bound to hold sway in their early years, but they died so tragically and mysteriously. They had been lying here for dozens of years, which made me feel a little sad about the ending of these unsung heroes.
Dying for the wishes of others reminded me of Pan Zi. I suddenly felt uncomfortable and knew that it had been a mistake to call him since I didn’t know how they were doing right now.
Guilt was a very negative emotion, but I actually understood that many emotions weren’t generated for others. Did I really care about Pan Zi’s safety? Maybe I just didn’t want to feel guilty. If Pan Zi came here with his own purpose in mind (whether it was seeking money or realizing some of his own ideas), would I be so worried?
I didn’t think so. “Everyone is ready to meet their own end from the beginning” was my mentality. To a certain extent, my heart was already that of a true grave robber. At this time, I just didn’t know whether that was a good or a bad thing.
The bodies had dried up and cracked, making it difficult to determine the cause of death. Ghost had said before that many people’s deaths here were very strange, so it was impossible to speculate. But if the sight of dead bodies made me freeze, then there was no point in going in.
Fatty classified all the things that had been dumped out on the ground, but I didn’t know how to use many of them. In addition to several small items that were scattered and fragmented, there were some notebooks that I was very interested in. There were also some button-like things hanging on iron wires that looked like they had been made from animal nails. Ghost figured these things were useful, so I didn’t dare ignore him. I watched Fatty put them away. In case we also died, then these things could also benefit those who came later.
There were also a few things among the broken and scattered items that I paid special attention to. There were some strange trinkets that had been made by flattening coins. When I saw it before, I just thought it had been made for fun. But this time, I saw several different ones. I found something wrapped in this aluminum foil trinket, and when I opened it, I found that it looked like a pill. I sniffed it and realized that it was gunpowder.
This was a homemade flare. After the gunpowder was lit, the aluminum foil would ignite to produce a very bright light. Although the time was short, it could illuminate a large area.
These are good items, I said to myself. I put it all away, picked up my gun, and urged Fatty to go into the stone tunnel.
<Chapter 36> <Table of Contents><Chapter 38>
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Updated 3/7/2021
MereBear's Translation 