Ever since the night of Jiang Boâs accident, everything has been like a flood that overflows; thereâs no way to stop the change of events, which made it even more difficult to predict the disaster that would follow.
Even in his own mind, Qin Cheng found it very hard to control himself.
Most of the time, the male students were less careful than the female students, but itâs impossible to be so careless to the point of not realizing that the life-saving rope tied around your body has broken. It doesnât matter how much obsession he has for archaeology and how big his desire was to find out the tombâs secret, Qin Cheng still cherishes his life, and he shouldnât ignore his own safety.
Right now, he was completely away from Ninghua Village. When he arrived at the city of Xiâan, Qin Cheng realized what was wrong in hindsight.
Clearly, before stepping into the coffin chamber, he had been reminding himself to be extra careful of his surroundings. Not to mention the possible traps, but even those terrifying ghosts, he couldnât afford to mess with. But after walking through the long corridor, he couldnât remember to pay attention to any weird changes around him at all, instead, he was completely indulged in them.
There seemed to be a force pushing him forward, limiting his thoughts, allowing him to fully devote himself to the Mausoleum, making him advance forward without fear.
There were too many things that he wanted to know, and too many things he didnât dare to touch.
Just like those evil ghosts that tried to take his life in the tunnel, he felt like this nameless force, by controlling his mind, was trying to keep him from getting out alive, andâŚ.
And, that ancient Emperor with an indifferent smiling expressionâŚ.
When he thought about the moment he witnessed that soul slowly opening his eyes, Qin Cheng couldnât help but feel panicked and confused.
At that time, and for a brief moment, he almost mistakenly thought that the man had woken up just for himâŚ
âWhewââ Apart from Qin Chengâs deep sigh, the only sound in the bathroom was the clattering water falling down. The hot water washed away the cold from his body, and the mud brought out of the tomb. The tiredness of the day was gradually dissipating.
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However, his mind, that had been worrying for the past two months, didnât calm down for even a bit.
As soon as he dried his hair, Qin Cheng received a phone-call from Zhang Jun.
âWhen youâre done cleaning yourself, come down. Weâll meet at the stone sculpture at the North gate, then weâll go eat something and have a drink at the stall. Tomorrow is Saturday, and since itâs our day off, we wonât see each other.â
âOkay.â Qin Cheng then asked after hanging up the towel: âJust the two of us?â
âWu Hai and Tang-ge will come too. Hurry up, theyâve already arrived at the North gate.â
âYes, Iâm heading out in a minute.â
After hanging the phone, he took the bedroom key hanging behind the door, turned off the lights, and left the now dark dormitory. Qin Cheng was the only one living in the dormitory, because his roommate had moved out.
After his roommate got married at the beginning of the year, he went to live together with his wife. After all, almost no one in their third postgraduate year would keep on living in the campus. Speaking of which, Qin Cheng hadnât had a roommate for almost half a year, and socializing was also quite strange for him. Just looking at his, Wu Hai and Tang Jiaming interactions for example; because theyâre not in the same working group or even in the same class, the words they have said to each other not long ago were less than ten sentences. In only a few days, they were acting like old friends, always going in and out together.
The night temperature in Xiâan is a bit lower than in the daytime. In addition, the air was moist after the rain, not as dry as the day; the evening breeze was also quite comfortable.
Compared with economically developed coastal cities, life in Xiâan isnât as fast-paced, and the people from Xiâan seem to have the word âcalmâ imprinted in their blood, flowing for thousands of years. They didnât live rushly, they werenât impatient, instead, they lived consistently. This made the city carry an intoxicating sense from thousands of years of history.
Qin Cheng liked that feeling a lot.
The North gate of the campus wasnât far from the dormitory area, so after walking for about five minutes, Qin Cheng saw the three people standing in front of the North gate and waved at them.
âCome on, hurry up! Youâre too slow, Iâm starving.â
â Too slow? It was only five minutes. â This, however, Qin Cheng didnât say. He just glanced at Zhang Jun with a smile and said: âThen Iâll treat you today, so you can eat more.â This way, Qin Cheng could also thank the three of them for saving his life.
âŚ
After a few beers, Zhang Jun, whoâs the more talkative among the four of them, led the way and started the conversation.
âBy the way, Wu Hai, are you planning to stay here after graduation? Or do you want to go back home?â
Wu Hai wiped his eyes and sighed: âI was planning to stay here first and follow the team to find more about this tomb in Ninghua VillageâŚ. then, I plan to go to the History Museum at Kaifeng in Henan Province.â
âHenan? Isnât your family in Guangzhou?â After a sip of beer, Qin Cheng asked.
âYes, theyâre in GuangzhouâŚ. but Xiaomeiâs family is in Henan Province. Sheâs an only child, and her parents are the only ones left at home, they donât have anyone to rely on.â
âWhat about your parents? Arenât they alone in Guangzhou?â
âBoth my parents have jobs. Besides, I donât think Iâll be able to complete my work here in Ninghua Village within five years. By then Iâll be almost 30, and my parents will be retiring, so Iâll take them with me to Henan, where they can spend their old age in peace.â
Zhang Jun couldnât help but ask: âYou and your girlfriendâŚ.â
âIâm the one to blame. Everythingâs my fault.â
After saying that, Wu Hai frowned and refused to say more, after all, Zhang Xiaomeiâs death was a heavy blow to him.
Since Zhang Xiaomei wanted to kill Wu Hai even after her death, Qin Cheng guessed that Zhang Xiaomeiâs suicide was mostly due to Wu HaiâŚ.
However, whatever it was, itâs all in the past now, and theyâre in no position to get involved in anyone elseâs business. So that was the end of this particular conversation.
After eating and drinking for a while, no one spoke again, the four of them were silent for a long time, each in their own minds. After a while Tang Jiaming said to Qin Cheng: âHow did the rope break? Also, when we went in, we found that the top device of the gate of the Underground Palace was protruding out. What was that all about?â
Shaking his head, Qin Cheng sighed: âI didnât even notice when that rope broke. Ever since I stepped into the Underground Palace, I didnât seem to pay attention to anything elseâŚ.â
âYou didnât even think about coming back to tell us about your discovery?â
âYesâŚ.. NoâŚâŚâ Qin Cheng, who was about to reply, suddenly remembered that he wasnât exactly thinking of going back. Before, he had planned to go back right the moment he saw the white marble gate, with its doors closed with that anti-robbers device. However, right the next second, when the stone door creaked open, it was like a strange force was urging him to go deep into the grave, not letting him turn backâŚ..
As he thought of that, Qin Chengâs heart began to beat really fast, and he felt like a cold sweat was running through his body.
When he saw that Qin Chengâs complexion wasnât right, Zhang Jun felt sorry for him and patted Qin Chengâs shoulder: âIs everything alright?! Why did your face turn pale all of a sudden?â
After taking a deep breath, Qin Cheng looked at the three men in front of him, and said: âIâm fine.â
âDid you, in fact, see something in the coffin chamber?â
Wu Hai tentatively asked, however, Qin Cheng in the end didnât mention the fact that he saw the tomb ownerâs ghost. He just shook his head and said instead: âI just think that this ancient tomb is too weird. If it werenât for you guys, I think I wouldâve died in there.â
âYou also saved my life, thereâs no need to thank me.â Wu Hai patted Qin Chengâs shoulder.
Tang Jiaming got up and said with a smile: âAre you all done eating? Then letâs go back if youâre full. Tomorrow is Saturday, and itâs our day off. We should go back and sleep well, weâll wait for Monday to talk about everything that happened recently, thereâs no need to hurry.â
After making a gesture indicating that he was ready to pay the bill, Qin Cheng said: âThatâs a good idea, letâs take the rest of the weekend off.â
When the four of them went their separate ways, Qin Cheng walked back to his bedroom alone to sleep. However, when he was already in bed, he realized that he couldnât fall asleep at all. As soon as he closed his eyes, the image of the sarcophagus opening appeared in his mind.
Qin Cheng didnât tell the three men a moment ago that he saw the tomb owner because, when he thought about that strange force making him go forward, he thought that they might not even believe him, and that would only increase their fear. That was the main reason as to why he didnât say anything. As for the real reason behind everything that happened, Qin Cheng wasnât even sure himself; after he stepped out of the tomb, he couldnât stop thinking about it. If it wasnât too dangerous, he really wanted to go back to the tomb right now to find out what was going on. He wanted to go back to the tomb to confirm whether it was just his imagination or if that man was the real owner of the tomb. He wanted to know who he was, and if he truly was the Emperor of that Dynasty, then he would ask him how long was his reign, how had he diedâŚ.  Since he still looked so youngâŚ.
There were so many mysteries in front of him, and yet, he couldnât even touch them because he was concerned about his own safety. Qin Cheng was really unhappy.
By thinking of it, Qin Cheng suddenly sat up, and, as if to restrain his actions, Qin Cheng gripped the iron bar beside his bed and whispered: âTomorrow, Iâll go back tomorrow to have a look. I canât rush it, thereâs nothing to worry aboutâŚ..â
The night was deep, the darkness was covering all the houses and the moon was covered by the passing clouds, making the moonlight look hazyâŚ. the night breeze disappeared, making the surroundings to be as quiet as the darkest part of the deep sea, as if all living creatures have diedâŚ..
Qin Cheng, who had already planned to go to Ninghua Village early morning, hadnât even woken up completely when he received a call from that deputy bureau, Jiang Ping.
âA friend of someone I know introduced me to a Taoist priest, who said that he wanted to visit that tomb. I thought that I should let you, an archeologist, lead the way. After all, youâre more familiar with it than me, am I right?â
âA Taoist priest?!â Qin Cheng was extremely surprised: âWhy do you need a Taoist priest?â
âWerenât you archeologists the ones who said that there were ghosts in the tomb?â Jiang Ping lit up a cigarette on the other end of the phone and frowned: âA friend introduced me to him, you could call it⌠a guru? Oh, I really want to see if thereâs really a way to exorcise evil spirits, and if all of this is even real to begin with. We just happen to be in Ninghua Village right now, so you should hurry over.â
âDonât you fucking dare to mess around the tomb!â Almost yelling out this sentence, Qin Cheng grabbed his backpack and ran out of his bedroom. He took a taxi and went directly to Ninghua Village.
â What Taoist priest?! What exorcism?! What the hell is that?! â
Qin Cheng: I value my life.
Also Qin Cheng: Tomorrow Iâll go to that tomb, look for that extremely dangerous *but also shockingly beautiful* ghost and ask him everything!! Yeah! Thatâll totally work!