The Autobiography of a Tomb Raider

"Brother, what is Jie Hou Dai Zi? Is it some kind of seaweed?"
Sun Laoda didn’t laugh. He looked at me and said, "It’s not seaweed. It’s a person’s name. There are some fragmentary records about this person in historical texts. I didn’t expect us to stumble upon this by accident. So, Boss, are we still going ahead tonight? I see Sun Laosan and Sun Laoer are already prepared."
Boss Wang asked with a serious expression, "No issues at the base, right?"

Sun Laoda nodded. "None. The young guys under Yikezhi are quite sharp."
"Laoda, don’t sell this batch of goods yet, especially this bronze dou. If word gets out from Shunde, there’s a high chance it’ll attract wolves."
"Wolves from the south?" Sun Laoda asked with a dark expression.

"I’m afraid it’s not just wolves from the south. Nowadays, there are too many wolves and not enough meat. Everyone’s scavenging for bones. If we don’t seal this tightly, the scent of the meat might attract wild wolves."
"Laoda, I’ve made a decision," Boss Wang extended a hand and said, "Five days. We’ll shorten the time to five days. Get everything out for me. Once we’ve got it, we’ll leave Shunde as soon as possible and find a place to lay low for a while."
From the conversation between Boss Wang and Sun Laoda, I could tell they were both a bit tense, as if they were wary of something.

Past midnight, on Fei’e Mountain.
Sun Laoer was squatting on the ground smoking, while Sun Laosan was counting the sacks.
"All clear. Let’s begin," came Sun Laoda’s voice over the walkie-talkie.

"Yunfeng, how many sacks do you have?"
"Second Brother, I’ve got four left."
"Alright, that should be enough," Sun Laoer said, stamping out his cigarette butt.

At that moment, strange bird calls echoed from Fei’e Mountain, unsettling to hear in the dead of night.
"Such bad luck," Boss Wang cursed twice, looking at the dark expanse of Fei’e Mountain behind him. He said the bird was an omen of death, nothing good.
The bird was an owl, known in ancient times as a night owl. These creatures were often seen in mass burial grounds, hence the name "omen of death."

"Ugh, damn bird," Sun Laoer spat several times in the direction of the mountain.
Once the owl stopped calling, we began our operation.
The previously dug tunnel had been well concealed by Yikezhi’s people. The entrance was covered with intact yellow turf, supported by four wooden sticks. From the outside, it was almost impossible to detect any flaws.
After clearing these away and putting on our headlamps, the Sun brothers slid down the tunnel with their legs braced against the sides. I struggled a bit and was the last to descend.

The muddy water at the bottom of the tomb had receded significantly, no longer covering our feet, though the ground was still sticky with mud.
The tomb passage was dark, damp, and noticeably colder than above ground.
Adjusting my headlamp, Sun Laoer said to me, "The Boss is right. We need to speed things up. Yunfeng, go check the western side chamber again. See if there’s anything we missed in the corners. If there’s nothing, come help us on the eastern side."

With that, I temporarily parted ways with the Sun brothers. They headed right to search the eastern side chamber, while I turned left toward the western side.
Being alone in the tomb in the middle of the night, I started to feel scared as I walked.
Holding my headlamp, I silently chanted, "No offense, no offense. I’m just here for a small fortune. Amitabha."

Back when I first started, I had asked Boss Wang, "Boss, isn’t there a saying that you shouldn’t touch gold after the rooster crows? Even if we’re not official tomb raiders, shouldn’t we light a white candle in the tomb for safety? I’ve heard that if the candle goes out, it means the tomb owner is unhappy, and we should leave immediately, or we’ll encounter ghosts."
Boss Wang had laughed heartily at that and said, "Yunfeng, you’ve been watching too many movies and TV shows. If the candle goes out, it means the tomb owner is unhappy? And if it stays lit, it means they’re happy? What, are they welcoming us to dig up their grave? That’s a joke."
"Besides, Yunfeng, think about it. Yes, ancient tomb raiders would light a white candle in the tomb, but that was for lighting. How else could they see in the pitch dark? It wasn’t because they wanted to light a candle; it was because they didn’t have electricity. Without it, they couldn’t see!"

"Now we have headlamps and flashlights. Why would we need candles? Some tombs still have methane gas from decomposed bodies. If we’re not careful, a single spark could cause an explosion. Understand, Yunfeng?" Those were Boss Wang’s exact words at the time. Though it sounded like a joke, I later realized there was some truth to it.
After walking for a few minutes without incident, I reached the western side chamber.
The floor of the chamber was bare. Under the light of my headlamp, I scanned the area a few times but found nothing left behind. The dozens of bronze artifacts we had taken earlier were all gone.

In the northwest corner of the chamber, the large water vat covered with a stone slab was still there, standing alone.
"Huh? Second Brother said the vat isn’t worth much, but could there be any burial items inside?"
Thinking this, I decided to take a closer look.

As Second Brother had said, up close, I could see that the vat was indeed made of fired clay.
The earliest porcelain appeared during the Eastern Han Dynasty, known as primitive celadon. Before that, coarse pottery and bronze were commonly used, which aligned with this find.
What puzzled me, though, was how such a large vat had been fired.

The surface of the vat showed no signs of segmented molding, meaning it had been fired in one piece. I couldn’t fathom how large a kiln would have been needed to accommodate such a massive vat.
The slab covering the vat was made of bluestone. I tried pushing it with one hand, but it didn’t budge—it was quite heavy.
Knowing its weight, I used both hands this time.

The stone slab scraped against the vat, producing a grating sound as I slowly pushed it aside.
"Why does it smell so bad?"
The stench hadn’t been noticeable with the slab in place, but now it was unmistakable.

At the time, I found this Western Zhou tomb rather peculiar. When we first descended, there had been a faint fragrance, but now there was this foul odor, like a rotten boiled egg in the height of summer.
I adjusted my headlamp and leaned down to peer into the vat.
Inside, there was a hole less than twenty centimeters wide at the bottom. Nothing else.

The stench, like rotten eggs, was emanating from the hole.
Even with the headlamp, I couldn’t see into the dark abyss below.
Feeling curious, I leaned over the edge of the vat and reached my right hand into the hole.

"Huh? What’s this?" After fumbling for a while, I felt something long and hard.
I thought to myself, "Could it be a gold bar?"
"No, no. A gold bar wouldn’t be this light."

Once I had a firm grip, I adjusted my angle and slowly pulled the object out.
It was something white. As I held it up to the light of my headlamp, I realized—
It was a human thigh bone!

"Ah!"
I screamed in terror and immediately dropped the bone.
"Is this… the tomb owner’s remains? From the Western Zhou Dynasty, and they haven’t turned to dust yet?"

I overlooked one detail, likely due to my panic.
At that moment, I failed to notice—
The thigh bone still had marrow inside.

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