Chapter 15: A Tomb of Doubt

Boss Zhou’s single phrase, “This is troublesome,” sent a chill through everyone present, all eyes instantly turning toward him.

Zhu Luo seemed to have realized something. “Are you worried there are a large number of decoy tombs nearby?”

“Yes,” Boss Zhou replied grimly, nodding.

Lin Xiaqing and Chen Shangke’s faces also instantly darkened, as if they had thought of something dire.

Among those present, only Gao Zhuang and Cheng Xiangru appeared confused, their expressions puzzled.

Cheng Xiangru, growing anxious, asked in a quiet voice, “What’s wrong with decoy tombs?”

Boss Zhou explained, “Some ancient rulers, fearing they wouldn’t rest in peace after death and wanting to avoid tomb raiders or enemies, often built many decoy tombs around their actual burial sites. Legend has it that both Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao had seventy-two decoy tombs each. Zhu Yuanzhang had thirteen, scattered in different places, and at his burial, all thirteen city gates of Nanjing hosted simultaneous funerals, creating a grand spectacle that made it impossible to tell the real from the fake. This place is the Dragon Vein of the Qing Dynasty; if there are decoy tombs here, there must be many.”

Cheng Xiangru nodded thoughtfully, beginning to understand.

If there truly were many decoy tombs, finding the genuine Dragon Vein would indeed be very difficult.

But he still didn’t quite understand why everyone looked so grim—after all, the only difference was that locating the actual underground palace would be much harder.

Boss Zhou’s face grew even darker, his voice trembling slightly, perhaps from the cold. “Decoy tombs are not just to confuse outsiders. More importantly, they are designed to kill anyone daring to covet the ancient tomb. Each decoy tomb is filled with countless traps and mechanisms, making it nearly impossible to guard against. Once someone enters, survival is almost impossible!”

Hearing this, Cheng Xiangru’s eyes widened sharply, finally grasping why everyone reacted so strongly.

Their greatest problem wasn’t just the difficulty of finding the underground palace—it was that stepping into a fake tomb meant facing life-or-death peril.

The “Manual of Mechanisms” describes a type of “quicksand tomb” where triggering a trap causes the entire tomb to collapse in an instant, burying the intruder beneath shifting sands, leaving no escape.

The ancient tomb owners were ruthless in life; otherwise, they wouldn’t have resorted to such self-destructive defenses in their eternal resting places.

Now, the predicament facing Cheng Xiangru and the others was extremely thorny, and even their leader, Boss Zhou, seemed uncertain.

To ease the tension, Zhu Luo chuckled lightly, “Boss Zhou, you don’t need to worry so much. Xiabao and I have faced countless dangers in our explorations. Whatever hazards we meet, don’t worry—whether it’s a real underground palace or a decoy tomb, once we find it, we’ll go down and investigate thoroughly. Nothing will happen to us.”

Lin Xiaqing forced a smile, but the tight grip on Zhu Luo’s arm showed she was more anxious than anyone else—perhaps because she understood the dangers beneath the decoy tombs most clearly.

Boss Zhou frowned, pondering deeply before sighing and shaking his head. “Our main goal this time is to find Zhifeng, not to rob tombs. We must be cautious. I’ve thought of a clumsy method: a carpet-like search. As long as we find the entrance shaft, we can determine Zhifeng’s whereabouts. After that, whether it’s a real underground palace or a decoy, we must go down and look.”

Zhu Luo laughed, tapping his forehead. “Old habit kicking in—I get a bit excited thinking about going down. Right, right, we’re here to find someone. Almost forgot that.”

Chen Shangke shook his head slightly, dousing the mood. “This area is huge. If we search carpet-like, even if we don’t eat or drink, it’ll take one or two months.”

Boss Zhou patted Chen Shangke’s shoulder. “Shangke, how much effort we save depends entirely on you. If you can rule out all the areas that don’t fit, even if there are dozens of decoy tombs here, we should be able to search them all in a few days.”

Chen Shangke smiled proudly and raised an eyebrow at Cheng Xiangru, as if to say, “See? In the end, it’s up to me!”

With the plan set, there was no reason to waste time.

Gao Zhuang opened the car trunk and handed out necessary gear to each person. Led by Chen Shangke, they climbed a nearby mountain first, spacing themselves tens of meters apart to conduct a broad search.

According to the customs of tomb robbers, when entering an underground tomb, someone is usually stationed outside the entrance shaft as a lookout to relay messages in emergencies.

If everyone goes underground, the robbers cover the entrance temporarily with branches or grass, and upon leaving, they rebury the shaft.

Since it had just snowed the day before, Boss Zhou was confident that if Cheng Zhifeng’s group had dug a shaft, there would be obvious traces—almost impossible to hide without a mark.

Relatively speaking, their greater worry was that someone might be lurking in the shadows, ready to shoot from afar.

Tomb robbers are ruthless, their heads practically hanging at their waists. They strike quickly and mercilessly, capable of anything. Carelessness was not an option.

After crossing one mountain and searching a canyon between two peaks, the group found nothing.

After discussion, they decided to return to the car for a meal and rest, then drive further ahead with Chen Shangke choosing the next search area.

They retraced their steps, steaming breaths visible in the cold air, panting as they returned to the parking spot—and were dumbfounded.

For some unknown reason, all four tires of the car were flat!

Gao Zhuang rushed over, cursing as he inspected each tire. Finally, he stood up puzzled, glancing around as if searching for clues.

“What’s wrong?” Boss Zhou asked quietly.

Lowering his voice, Gao Zhuang said, “The tires aren’t punctured. I suspect someone deliberately let the air out.”

In this desolate wilderness and bitter cold, someone had come when they were away and deflated all their tires.

How cruel!

No, this was not mere cruelty—it was a sinister plot, possibly to rob or even kill them!

Cheng Xiangru shivered, feeling a cold chill down his spine.

Gao Zhuang looked around again, growing more baffled. “Strange—besides our own footprints, no one else has been here.”

Others noticed this too.

Only their footprints surrounded the car; there were no signs of anyone else on the way here or ahead.

The group let out a slight sigh of relief, but immediately felt a headache.

With all four tires flat, though they had a spare, there was only one—clearly not enough.

Chen Shangke then whispered mysteriously, “Guys, I think the tires couldn’t have gone flat without reason. Since no one’s been here, do you think… this place might be haunted?”