My heart froze when I heard Liu Sang say this. It appeared that not only did he know, but he had been waiting for me to ask him.

In other words, he always thought that I would figure out that something strange was going on a long time ago, but I never did.

What made me feel even more strange was that Fatty didn't speak up after he heard Liu Sang's words. The four of us remained silent for a moment before the people up front began crawling forward again.

At that moment, all my initial thoughts intertwined as if I were about to be enlightened. But even though an answer was starting to appear, I just couldn’t seem to get it out.

I couldn't even challenge him under these circumstances. We continued crawling in silence for another hour before I suddenly heard an echo coming from up front. There appeared to be an open space up ahead.

I couldn't suppress my inner ecstasy. I had entered a state of total numbness after crawling in the dark for so long, but when I suddenly heard the kind of sound that would only appear in a large space, I immediately felt the pressure on my heart ease. My blood pressure instantly rose and I began crawling forward desperately.

It would probably only take a minute or two, but my senses had been stretched to their limits. I heard someone talking in front of me in what seemed to be Fatty's voice, but it was so distorted that I couldn't understand what he was saying at all. At this time, the intense discomfort in my heart and the claustrophobia pressing in around me made me fall into a trance. As I crawled forward, my elbow suddenly didn't hit the rocky ground and my whole upper body almost pitched forward.

I had crawled out, but the exit of this hole seemed to be in a very high position and I was about to face-plant.

Then, someone grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me out of the cave like a midwife delivering a baby.

After lying on my stomach for so long and suddenly standing upright, I was hit by a sudden wave of dizziness and collapsed to the ground. Those distorted voices were all around me, as if there were a lot of people talking. It seemed as if there were countless people here, but it was completely dark and there weren’t any lights.

I waited for a while before a rhinoceros horn candle was lit and the darkness around me quickly receded. When I came back to my senses, I saw that I was sitting on a raised rock the size of an outdoor air conditioner. My feet were dangling over what turned out to be a vast abyss below.It appeared to be an underground cliff, the other side of which was about two arm's length away from me. I knew I could easily jump over it. The abyss below seemed bottomless, as if an evil spirit were hiding in its serene depths. I could hear the sound of running water come from below, just like thousands of galloping horses. It was probably another underground river.

I could also see countless honeycomb-like holes on both sides of the cliff that looked just like the hole we had crawled out of. Water was flowing out of some of the holes and rushing into the abyss below. Oddly enough, there was an engraving on every hole like they all had names.

Countless bronze basins like the one we had found in the tunnel before had been regularly placed on some of the cliff protrusions in dense clusters.

Everyone in Uncle Two’s group was standing on all the protrusions around me and wearing gas masks. Uncle Two was beside me, soaking a towel in medicinal liquor. He then lit it on fire for a few seconds before putting the flames out and placing it over my face.

In the few seconds before my eyes were covered, I saw Fatty and Poker-Face going through the same thing. Then, a warm current spread from my eyes to my whole body and a heavy, pungent smell filled my nostrils as my eyes became unbearably itchy.

The towel was affixed to my eyes with a bandage. When I saw his actions, the answer that was about to come out before finally revealed itself.

"Uncle Two, are you kidding me?” I asked him. “You’ve already been in this tomb."

"I’ve been checking the whereabouts of your Uncle Three. I found this tomb two years ago," I heard Uncle Two's voice say. The rest of the conversation was conducted in the dark.

"Then why didn't you tell me? Is this to make me look like a fool in front of everyone?” I asked miserably. I wasn’t miserable because Uncle Two had lied to me—compared to Uncle Three, it wasn’t surprising that Uncle Two would do such a thing—I was miserable because I already knew Uncle Two's intentions.

There was a long silence where everyone, including Fatty, didn’t speak. Finally, Uncle Two sighed, "You’re so smart, you should understand."

I didn't say anything else as I suddenly remembered what had happened during the New Year's festivities and what Uncle Two had said to me when we were drinking."Little Xie, this kind of thing… when you go from a low position to a high position, from ignorance to wisdom, you can overcome and avoid any of the dangers you encounter. No matter how hard it is or how difficult it becomes, the impossible things will soon pass. Because at that time, the timidness from those who are self-aware and know that they’re weak can save lives.”

I had been a little drunk at that time, so I could only listen silently as Uncle Two continued, "Many people reach a certain stage where they surpass their teachers. Even if you have an open mind and want to be taught and get advice from others, you can’t. This is because you’ve gone too far and no one has the ability to guide you. It’s a lonely and dangerous situation. Third Brother and I have come to this stage.

“The advantage of having a teacher is that someone can always remind you to be careful at critical times. They will tell you if your ability is equal to self-awareness and they won’t shy away from telling you the truth about yourself. This is because they can see through you. But when it comes to you, Little Xie, no one has the ability to tell you the truth about yourself. If you don’t understand it yourself, you’ll not only get yourself killed, but those around you as well.”

I leaned my head back, feeling calm. I had enough experience to know that Uncle Two was right.

"You wanted me to go through this tomb to let me know that I no longer had the ability to go down to tombs anymore,” I said. “Uncle Two, I—"

I suddenly realized that I didn't have anything to say. Based on my present appearance and recalling everything I had done over the past thirty hours, I would have definitely died long ago if Uncle Two hadn't cleaned out this tomb.

But the most important thing was that this had all been planned and I didn’t even notice it. Now that I was recalling things, there were countless details that I would have definitely noticed before. But this time, I didn't notice them the entire way.

"Uncle Two, even college entrance exams can be repeated. You can't beat Mr. Naïve to death with a stick," Fatty finally spoke up from the side. "He’s contributed to the Wu family and done so many meritorious deeds for the Nine Gates."

Uncle Two ignored him and whispered to me, "Little Xie, I'll keep looking into Third Brother’s affairs. I’ve confiscated your phone. You’re doing a job you’re not trained for, so this is enough. You should focus on healing your eyes first. After this incident, I believe you also know that you can't go grave robbing. Just let the professionals handle it. Your story ends here."

*****

Σ(ﾟДﾟ) .