[]

****

I was relieved when Poker-Face’s cold firework went off in the distance. I looked at my watch and calculated our present situation.

The downward flow of silt was obviously slowing down, but there was more and more water under our feet. When I looked up, I found that we were about sixty meters below the surface, which was almost a twenty-story drop. The distance from the bottom of the chasm to the surface was really huge.

The mud that was still pouring down from both sides formed a V-shaped slope, which we were at the bottom of. I could see rock protrusions in the mud that were obviously part of the rock strata beneath the mudflat.

The chasm wasn’t particularly wide and would’ve been about twenty-five meters wide without all the sludge. For some reason, the mud on the surface didn’t immediately pour down and fill this chasm. I figured this V-shaped canyon was actually a huge tubular cave in the rock strata below the mudflat. When we set off the detonators earlier, we blew the top of this cave to pieces. All the silt above poured into the cave below, and we just happened to get swept along with it.

The jars and boats in the cave walls seemed to be burial pits. This cave was probably the outer part of the South Sea King’s tomb where the burial pits were located.

But even though the mud was moving so slow that it didn’t look like anything was happening on the surface, this chasm would definitely be filled within two hours. We couldn’t waste a single minute.

I shouted to Fatty, "What’s the plan?"Liu Sang was already trying to climb back up the mud slope to the surface, but the downward flow was too strong. Every time he stepped on the slope, he was immediately pushed back down again. Fatty made the most accurate decision at this time and shouted, "We can't get up!" He pointed to the mud river at his feet, which was flowing in a single direction along the chasm bottom.

"This was originally a cave, and part of it collapsed. There must be space in the other caves. If we follow the mudflow, we should be able to find a safe place to stay for a while.” Fatty struggled to wade through the mud and pointed to an area by Liu Sang. "There’s a boat!"

We slapped away the sea cockroaches that were falling down and trudged toward Liu Sang. At this time, the mud almost reached my thighs and I knew it would be impossible to walk once it reached my crotch. Every step I took required a great deal of physical strength.

Fatty and I finally reached Liu Sang, but Fatty didn't pay any attention to him. He flung the mud off his hand, drew out his gun, and started shaking the mud out of the barrel. I quickly grabbed him, "It’ll explode!"

"A good quality gun might, but this one isn’t that sophisticated. The bullet might fall out, but it won't ever explode. You can bet on the dignity of Changping’s Ergouhei (1)!" Fatty fired the gun and hit the wooden wedges that held one of the boats against the rock wall. Even though muddy water shot out of the gun along with the bullets, the wooden wedges were still smashed to pieces.

He kept shooting until all the wooden wedges were broken, and then the two of us used the butts of our guns to pry the boat out of the cliff wall.

The small wooden boat was covered in tung oil, so the hull was still intact even though the rest of it had rotted. We climbed up and Fatty shouted to Liu Sang, "Hey idiot! You’ve got three seconds to get over here. We won’t wait any longer than that."

Liu Sang looked back and immediately threw himself on the boat. We knelt on the boat with one foot and used our other foot to paddle. We used the boat like a haima (2) and slid downstream, passing by Poker-Face. He was looking at something and hadn’t noticed us yet, so Fatty shouted, "Little Brother!"

Poker-Face turned around and jumped up, flinging mud in the air. When he finally landed in the bow of our boat, the increased weight caused us to speed up, just as the angle of the mud river’s slope increased. We pulled our legs into the boat as it suddenly dropped down, the hull spinning so wildly that it almost overturned.

It wasn't easy to try and stabilize the boat since it was spinning in circles. I noticed that Poker-Face was holding both mine and Fatty's belts with one hand, while Liu Sang was clutching the side of the boat. At that moment, I realized that Poker-Face’s eyes were searching for something. "What are you looking for? Fatty has sharp eyes, so let's find it together!” I yelled.

Suddenly, the angle of the slope increased from about sixty degrees to almost forty-five degrees. The mud here hadn’t completely covered the bottom of the chasm, so many sharp-edged rocks were still exposed. Although we weren’t going as fast in the mud as we would in water, hitting these rocks would still send the boat careening even more. Our cold fireworks had been scattered to who knew where and there was no time to try and look for them. Not only could we not see anything, but I was feeling dizzy, too. If Poker-Face hadn't grabbed my belt, I would’ve been thrown off the boat.Liu Sang shouted from the darkness, "Guys, I’m going to throw up!"

"Swallow it!" I shouted at him.

"Little Brother is looking for the tomb entrance!” Fatty shouted. “His hands are occupied, so give him a light!” With that said, a flare suddenly shot up in the air, instantly lighting up the whole chasm. Fatty clenched his teeth. We were spinning rapidly and sliding into an abyss. There wasn’t any mud on either side of the cliff wall, but there were countless eaves and stone terraces.

I took a closer look and found that they were embossed pavilions (3) on the cliff walls that looked just like a huge bonsai. Among them, we could see that there was a huge hall inlaid on the cliff in front of us, which had to be the tomb entrance. I looked at it and thought, . I saw Poker-Face looking at me, so I quickly shouted, "Don't throw me! Fatty! The grappling hook!"

Fatty threw me the grappling hook and I held it in my mouth as I pulled the gun out. I inserted the end of the grappling hook into the gun while Fatty pulled out the climbing rope. He tied the rope around his waist and then fastened the other end to the grappling hook. I tried to ignore my severe dizziness and shot at the cliff. The gun went off and the grappling hook immediately shot out. It hit the cliff and started pulling the rope tied around Fatty's waist as it fell all the way down without snagging on anything. Fatty started scolding me loudly until the hook finally caught on something and pulled the rope taut. Fatty shouted and gripped me with one hand while holding the boat with the other. Poker-Face grabbed my belt. As the three of us were pulled forward, the boat came to an abrupt halt. Liu Sang flew out of the boat, but Poker-Face managed to grab him by the hair and throw him to the cliff. He smacked into the cliff wall and rolled a dozen times, only stopping when he finally caught a protrusion with one hand.

Fatty started laughing, but at that moment, we suddenly heard a thunderous sound coming from overhead. When we looked up, the flare revealed the scene above us.

Mud was pouring down from the sky like a tidal wave.

****

TN Notes:

(1) Not sure if Ergouhei is like some underworld gun dealer, but Changping is a district in Beijing.

(2) Remember, it’s a sled-like wooden plank the locals use.

(3) Basically, the pavilions have been sculpted in such a way that they’re raised above the rock wall. Imagine the pavilions sticking out like this: