The technique of the fat man was perfectly embodied in this cave, and the explosive force was evenly distributed on the surrounding soil. The soil is fissured and can be squeezed, and the explosion-type cave takes advantage of this characteristic of the soil, grasping the right amount while controlling the direction of force release, a perfect cave is revealed.

  After four or five minutes, when the smell of gunpowder inside had dissipated

  Then someone carried a small cage, with two chicks inside tied up with rope and put it through the thief hole. After two minutes, they took it out again, and the two chicks were still alive, flapping their wings. I saw that those people all let out a sigh of relief, several of them had already started taking off their clothes and shoes, rubbing their fists and palms.

  Liu Sanye knocked on his pipe and said: "This is the old mans grave, there are many small holes inside, dont collapse it and spread it out to lose my face."

  Up to this point, I thought that Fatso and I were done with each other, but unexpectedly Old Liu gave me a glance and said: "Newcomer, weve got to take you under our wing. As the saying goes, the master leads you in the door, but cultivation depends on the individual. Since youre a friend of Little Stones, then lets have Stone accompany you down there to get things started, and dont say that I, Liu San, didnt give you an opportunity."

  As soon as he spoke, someone immediately started discussing: "Wow, this kid is so lucky, how did San Ye take a liking to him?" "Are you stupid? Dont you know who San Ye is? I think this pot isnt that easy to stir up, its just a scapegoat for the scout." "Shh, keep your voice down, if San Ye hears you, youre done for."

  I looked at the fatty, he smiled at me, and behind that smile I knew was an irresistible need to clear his own name, and this was the price. Anyone could see Liu Sans intention. The dangerous thing would naturally be left to outsiders, and only after treading on landmines would there be a bright and open road.

  "Liu Sanye indeed thinks highly of me, but such an important deal is not suitable for a newcomer like me. If I mess it up and we cant afford to compensate, itll be trouble. How about this, Sanye: why dont I go down first and take a look around, bring back some evidence for you to see? If its a big haul, then you can send someone else to retrieve it?"

  Liu San Ye slowly got up from his yellow rosewood armchair and walked slowly to me, saying to Bao Zi: "Little Shi Tou, this country has its laws, and the profession has its rules. This friend of yours wasnt invited by Liu Mou, was he?"

  Chubby replied: "Thats right, I brought it."

  Liu Sanye asked again: "Alright, since you admit it, Ill ask you another question. What kind of business is your friend in? Is our deal clean or not?"

  "Cant bear to see." The fat man replied truthfully.

  "Alright!" Liu Sanye continued from behind me, "What if hes a rookie? Would my brothers life and property be put in danger here?! Everyone who enters this line starts from the bottom, Im no exception. If I dont get my hands dirty with some corpse energy, how can I mix in this circle? Were all people who have rolled around in the mud, but hes the only clean one. Dont you feel embarrassed? I feel uncomfortable. Either todays pit is dug for you two, or you both go down together to open it up, choose for yourself!"

  Two black muzzles were again aimed at my head, and I glanced at the fat mans side, which was the same. This is probably what they call "surrendering". I suddenly regretted why I had to follow him here, this place has nothing to do with me anyway.

  I plucked up the courage to learn from those Jianghu heroes who used to show collective movies in Tuen Mun, and with both hands clasped together, I said: "Third Master, Im going. Thank you for your appreciation, may I borrow a light? Ill take a step first."

  Liu San Ye nodded in satisfaction at my back and said: "This kid is a good material."

  The cave is to be crawled with the head down, because you cant turn around inside, they tied a rope to my feet, in case something happens, I can be pulled out. There was a miners lamp on my head, the cave was dug by Fatso, basically according to his own body shape, I was very unaccustomed to myself and the mice shuttling back and forth underground, the air here had a strange smell: the smell of death!

  The fat guy should be right behind me, because I can feel it. The tunnel is not very difficult to climb down, and after climbing for less than five minutes, I saw the bottom. According to the prior agreement, I have to start digging from here upwards. I have a small folding shovel, which is said to be German goods, with a steel edge that is faster than a knife. I have to start digging from here, dig out a space of about two people wide as a transit station, and soon all the mud will be packed and pulled out through ropes from here.

  Fatso carried a lot of cement bags, according to Liu Sans estimate, from here to the top, one and a half meters is the main tomb chamber. This is the most dangerous time. Because Han tombs are all wooden structures, using wood to build the tomb chamber horizontally and vertically, the wood buried in the soil is prone to rot, if we accidentally dug into any of the wooden pillars, it could easily cause a collapse, this weight should be counted in tens of thousands of tons, if Fatso and I were buried here, no one would ever know.

  At this time, Fatty still didnt forget to tease me and said: "Hehe, youre learning pretty quickly."

  "Its all my fault, I really shouldnt have followed you here, should I?"

  "Theres no need for if, and theres no actually. Since youre here, just be here. When it comes to dealing with a tiger, one still needs to rely on their own brothers; no matter what, youre doing this for my own good."

  "Chubby, promise me one thing."

  "Huh?"

  "Finish this job and then wash your hands, this isnt a proper way to make a living. Follow me to the south, as long as I have food to eat, you wont go hungry."

  "Good!"

  We didnt speak anymore, just silently dealing with the difficulties in front of us. When my folding shovel got stuck, a piece of wood that had been soaked into black by mud appeared, and the shovel happened to be inserted into this wooden board.

  I asked Pangzi: "Is it here?"

  The fat man patted his hand and said to me: "Yes, but this board is very thick, how can we get in?"

  "You dont know either?" This made me puzzled, arent you an old hand?!

  Fatty wiped his nose with a dirty hand and said, "The first time I encountered this style, I was hanging from top to bottom. This old man insists on hitting from bottom to top. Where is the power of the lower part compared to the upper part? I really dont know what kind of trick hes playing."

  I gently wiped the mud off the plank with my hand, and my fingernail seemed to catch on a seam. I said to Fatty, "Theres a seam here, why dont we use a chisel to pry it open?"

  "Alright, Ill go first, you follow behind."

  "Damn, its really stuck!" Fatso tried to pry it open, but the wooden board didnt budge. He decided to go all out and placed the shovel handle across his chest, then pushed against the dirt behind him with his feet. I saw his face turn bright red, his neck almost as big as his head, and his teeth chattering "ga ga" loudly. All I could hear from the side was the "humming" vibration of the shovel, Fatso still gritting his teeth and using all his might to try and push it forward.

  "Its no use, lets think of another way." Im afraid that if we continue like this, Fatso will be the first to go. In this relatively closed space, the oxygen wont last long with our current ventilation pipe being just a hose connected to a blower used by farmers.

  As soon as I finished speaking, I heard a loud "boom" and then felt a lot of mud falling from above my head; next, it seemed like the wooden plank was pried open; after that, I felt the ground beneath my feet start shaking, with more and more soil rushing in from all sides with a gurgling sound. When I turned around to look, that fat guys explosion had already made the tunnel disappear from view.

  In a daze, my shoulder was suddenly grabbed by someone, and I saw that Fatso had somehow appeared above my head. His movements were quick, and he had already flashed into the gap in the wooden plank that he had pried open. I reached out to grab him, and with one swift motion, he pulled me in. It all happened in less than ten seconds, and all I saw was the mud and water rushing down below. In an instant, the gap in the wooden plank that Fatso had pried open was filled with mud, and all I could hear was the sound of "shh shh" as the mud poured in around me.

  The fat man crouched here and didnt dare to move, constantly looking around. When the sound disappeared, he lowered his head and said, "Its collapsed."

  Here is five meters underground, Fatso said collapse I dont know what it means, is the tunnel collapsed or the entire tomb chamber has collapsed, all I know is that Im trapped here and there seems to be no way out.

  I comforted him by saying: "Arent they still up there? They wont just stand by and watch us die, will they?"

  "Whether to save or not is just a word from the master, but I dont know when well be dug out. In his eyes, our lives are worthless, it doesnt matter whether were dead or alive when were dug out, this is a sandpit, they did it on purpose."

  "What does it mean?"

  Fatso sighed and said, "The quicksand tomb of the Han Dynasty, I discovered it when I was digging a tunnel. How could he not understand? Someone must go down to release the quicksand for him, otherwise whoever comes in cant get out. Now do you understand why?"