Chapter Six: Professor Chen

I thought to myself that even if my family found out in the end, I could still use Professor Chen as my excuse. Besides, from the situation in the photograph, that chamber must already be buried deep underground. Compared with a desolate mountain tomb like the one of the King of Nanyue, the danger here probably would not be any greater than what we had already been through.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. “Fatso, when exactly are we leaving? Should I go back to Jade Capital and buy some gear?”

“What gear?” he said. “I already told you, this time we’re going for archaeology, not tomb robbing. To put it plainly, we’re just going to be bodyguards for Professor Chen and his people. They’ve got all the equipment they need. If things go smoothly, Professor Chen definitely won’t treat us badly.”

That was what he said, but I had a feeling that once this man got inside a tomb, he might just quietly slip out with one or two burial treasures. At the moment, though, my mind was utterly blank, and I had no idea what I should even be doing.

“Then, uh, should I go back to Jade Capital and meet you there?”

“What do you mean, go back to Jade Capital? In two hours I’m boarding a plane. Just return your ticket and change it to Wenzhou. Once you get there, don’t waste time—take a car straight to Lishui.”

“Wenzhou?” I was startled. “Damn, that’s in Zhejiang.”

“What’s the big deal? Don’t worry about so much. I’ll probably get there a little earlier than you. We’ll talk after we meet up in Lishui.” It seemed he was about to hang up, when he suddenly remembered something. “Oh, and keep this phone so we can stay in touch. In a bit, my guy will give you a bank card. There’s about three hundred thousand in it. That’s your cut from selling off the last batch of burial goods. Your father’s share is larger—I’ll deliver his directly later.”

“You’re damn quick about it,” I said.

Fatso was quite pleased with himself. “Follow your Fatty, and you’ll be eating well and living high.”

After he hung up, that dim-witted assistant really did hand me a bank card and told me the password was six sixes. Then he wandered off like a headless fly. I thought to myself: how did someone like that not attract the attention of the lobby security?

I’d never lacked money since childhood, but because my father and my aunt wanted to keep me from going astray, they never gave me large sums. To suddenly have over three hundred thousand deposited into my hands, I couldn’t help feeling emotional. No wonder so many people were willing to risk their lives to rob tombs—the temptation really was far too great. I hadn’t even done anything, and I already had three hundred thousand. It looked as though that fat bastard might even be a hidden millionaire.

Enough said. At the airport, I changed my ticket directly to Wenzhou, and a little over three hours later I was on the plane.

Wenzhou was naturally a place everyone knew, but Lishui was somewhere I’d never even heard of. All I knew was that there was a Lushui Bay in some Korean drama I’d watched before, and I had no idea what Lishui in Zhejiang was actually like. Still, since it was near Wenzhou, I supposed the conditions couldn’t be too bad.

By the time I transferred from Wenzhou and reached Lishui City, it was already noon the next day.

Fatso had booked a room at a hotel long before. When I arrived, I saw him in a pair of baggy shorts and flip-flops, wearing a sleeveless vest and dark sunglasses. He really did have the air of some rich southern playboy.

“You’re here on vacation, aren’t you? Dressed up so flamboyantly,” I said as soon as I got into the room.

Fatso lit a cigarette and laughed. “Who says a tomb robber can’t be flashy? I’m even thinking of bringing back a pretty little girl from the Jiangnan region. Hey, when you came in just now, what did you think of the waitress?”

I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. After rushing through the night, all I wanted now was a shower and then a long sleep.

While I was showering, I asked him about the ancient tomb. He said he didn’t know much either, only that it was in a place called Yunhe County in Lishui City, out in the countryside. After I came out of the bathroom and had just changed clothes, the door to the suite was knocked upon.

Fatso opened it, and there stood a short, thin old man. One look was enough—I recognized him as Professor Chen from the photograph.

Fatso invited Professor Chen inside and introduced him to me.

“Oh, this is the assistant you invited?” Professor Chen looked me up and down. “Goodness, I never expected Mister Yuan to be so young.”

As he spoke, Professor Chen shook my hand with great feeling. I wasn’t used to that kind of scene and didn’t know how to respond, so I just kept grinning stupidly and nodding.

Fatso slapped me on the back. “Professor Chen, don’t let my brother’s youth fool you. His family used to run an escort agency, and back in the Qing Dynasty they were always helping the government transport valuables. Yuan Jie has been practicing martial arts since he was little. Don’t be fooled by how refined he looks—without at least ten or eight people, nobody can get near him. Leave this matter to us.”

Seeing how confidently Fatso spoke, Professor Chen kept nodding and smiling.

I thought to myself that this bastard really was first-rate at bragging. With a few words from him, I’d gone from an ordinary recent graduate to a martial arts expert. Afraid he’d talk himself into the clouds, I shot him a look.

“Uh... Professor Chen, since we’re leaving soon, why don’t you first tell us exactly what’s going on over there? That way we’ll know how to prepare.”

“Yes, yes, time is tight.” Professor Chen hurriedly said, “This time, we’ve truly run into a major problem. At first, when the excavation began, we judged that the tomb was a large multi-chamber brick tomb from the Wei, Jin, and Sixteen Kingdoms period. Tombs of that type were mostly used by the princes and nobles of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms era. The scale is indeed fairly high, but we’ve had plenty of experience excavating such tombs. Generally speaking, the total length of a multi-chamber brick tomb of this kind won’t exceed thirty meters. As long as the doors of the front chamber are cleared, there usually won’t be any major problem.

“But after we cleared three brick doors, we realized something was wrong. On the rammed earth around it, there were still traces of a brick-frame structure. Good heavens, that was no small matter. We spent nearly another month, and in the end we actually cleared seven enormous brick doors.

“By rights, for a brick tomb from the Wei and Jin period, having two or three doors is already remarkable enough. We had never seen one with seven doors. At the time, let alone my students, even I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do.

“Ah... and it was also my fault for not keeping those people in check. One night, three young members of the archaeological team actually entered the tomb, wanting to take a look inside first. But after the three of them went in, they never came out again. We were all terrified, so I asked my superiors to have the area scanned by satellite. When the satellite image came back, I...” As he said this, Professor Chen’s face turned white.

Fatso handed him a cigarette. After taking several long drags, he finally continued. “On the satellite scan, I discovered that the tomb was astonishingly enormous, almost extending beyond the village above it. It can be said that this is a discovery of historical significance in the archaeology of the lower Yangtze River, and the excavation of such a tomb is absolutely not something our museum’s archaeological team can complete independently. We were ordered from above to seal the tomb off as quickly as possible, and only resume work after a symposium had formulated the excavation plan. But... if that happens, then those three students of mine truly won’t have even the slightest hope of survival.”

I couldn’t help asking, “How many days has it been since they disappeared?”

“Eight days,” Professor Chen sighed. “When they went in, they still had food and water in their equipment, but I’m afraid that even if they’re still alive now, they can only be barely hanging on.”

Hearing this, both Fatso and I felt a bit puzzled. If Professor Chen said things were like this, then they clearly weren’t going back into the tomb for the moment. If so, what exactly did they need Fatso for?

Professor Chen seemed to know what we were thinking and went on, “Even though things have reached this point, I still have to go in and try. Those three students were all taught by me personally. Now that something has happened to them, how could I possibly stand by and do nothing? Sigh... I actually begged the organization many times before they finally agreed. However, I can’t mobilize the core members of the archaeological team, and if I go in alone, the chances of finding those three are very slim. That’s why I thought of asking experienced people from the private sector like you to help me.”

“Experienced people from the private sector?” Hmph. The moment I heard that, I knew Professor Chen clearly understood what kind of business Fatso was in. After all, for someone like Professor Chen, that tomb was extremely important. If they recklessly sent people down and damaged what was inside, the consequences would be serious indeed.

Looking at Professor Chen’s deeply concerned expression as he worried over the lives and deaths of those three students, I couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: I’m a university graduate too, so how come I never ran into a teacher like Professor Chen?

Fatso turned his head and opened and closed his mouth at me, as if saying, Damn it, after all this, we’re still going in to save people from a tomb.