Book 3: Chapter 13: Southern Grave Robbers


    I turned my head to look at the sleeping Poker-Face but found that his eyes were already open.


    He got up, walked over to me, and also took a look. He then pointed to Fatty on the other side, so I went over to wake Fatty and Jin Wantang up. They had both just fallen asleep and woke up in a daze. Jin Wantang was having a breakdown after not sleeping well for several days. "Guys, whats wrong?"


    I handed him the binocrs and asked if he recognized those people. He nodded. "Hey, theyre the twenty-first and thirty-second groups. Theyre the first and second most skilled among the southern grave robbers. I heard that they don''t get along with each other so why are they traveling together now?"


    They were walking with their lights on and one of them was still smoking a pipe, so they at least had to be living people. But there was definitely something off about them, because we clearly had a bonfire over here so they should havee over to check it out. But not only did they not see us, they were also headed directly for the grove. Were they bewitched?


    I quickly got on my horse. Poker-Face went to the left, I went to the right, and Fatty grabbed Jin Wantang and went to the middle. We all turned on our shlights and waved them around. Now that we had met an acquaintance, Jin Wantang''s role should be brought into full y and he should persuade them to quit and leave.


    I was also worried that the other party would shoot first, so I asked Jin Wantang to yell at them. Since the leaders name was Ding Jingen, Jin Wantang shouted: "Jingen, Jingen! Its Old Jin! Don''t shoot! Were on the same side!"


    As it turned out, the other party didn''t even have the intention of raising their guns. It didnt take us long to approach and surround them like bandits. When Ding Jingen and his group finally stopped, they all looked at us coldly but werent nervous.


    I felt relieved when I looked into their eyes and saw that they were really living people. <em>We finally stopped a team</em>. Jin Wantang said to them, "Ding Jingen, it''s canceled. This operation has been canceled. Theres something wrong with the intelligence. The worlds second most valuable tomb isnt here. Illpensate you for any losses you incurred."


    When Ding Jingen turned to look at Old Jin, I found that he was really a model of the phrase nothing special to look at. I sighed in my heart, <em>if I looked like this, I wouldnt be able to retain my fame no matter how legendary I am.</em>


    "Youve got to be fucking kidding me, Ding Jingen said. Old Jin, is it fun to bring this up now? Weve all gone down and now you say that the tomb isnt here? Then what did we enter?"


    "Did you find it?" Jin Wantang was happy, but after seeing my expression, he immediately became serious again.


    "Of course we found it." Several of them looked at each other and smiled meaningfully.


    Ding Jingen''s expression was the strangest. It suddenly nked out, as if he was recalling his previous experience, and then he said, "Old Jin, that ce is amazing. I''ll give you your share. You guys"he looked at Poker-Facedon''t worry so much."


    I rode forward, pointed to the porcin at his waist, and didnt bother being polite as I looked at their sacks. "It''s not like the southern grave robbers to enter such a big tomb and only bring up so many small things," I said directly.


    Ding Jingen subconsciously put his hand on the porcin at his waist and said to me, "Uncle, you don''t know anything."


    "And what do you n on doing when you reach that grove?" I asked coldly. I started to recall what he had just said. <em>Uncle? Are you calling me an uncle?</em>


    I looked at his old, dark face and said to myself, <em><em>Im not willing to let you call me Uncle</em></em>.


    Ding Jingen stopped talking and showed an extremely strange expression. After looking at the people next to him, he said to me, "Go away."


    I obviously wasnt going to leave and gripped my Kukri''s hilt in my hand. "You know, the woods are full of dead people who are all holding the same porcin youve brought with you. What have you all encountered?"


    Ding Jingenughed a very uglyugh and looked at meor at something behind my headand suddenly said, "Why are you pretending? Didn''t you also go down there?"


    "What?" I was taken aback for a moment.


    He stared at the back of my head. "You''ve been down there so you should know everything." He looked at Jin Wantang again and said, "Old Jin, your friend has been lying to you."


    I immediately broke out in a cold sweat, because the ce he had been staring at was almost exactly the same as where I had seen those fins on the corpses.


    I immediately touched the back of my head with my hand, thinking that I had fins there, but I didn''t feel anything.


    "What do you see?" I asked angrily. "What''s behind my head?"


    It appeared that Ding Jingen was toozy to deal with me, for he rode forward and kept heading directly to the grove. I took a deep breath to calm myself down and said to Fatty, "Take them all."


    Wed just tie them up first and slowly torture them to figure out what was going on.


    Fatty roared, immediately rushed forward, and threw himself at Ding Jingen, pushing the other man off his horse. I also rushed over to the person behind him. The man wasnt afraid at all and simply steered his horse to the side to avoid me. I jumped to his horse directly, grabbed the back of his neck, and the two of us fell off the horse together.


    The horse was startled by our movements and stomped its hooves right next to us, so I hugged my head and tried to avoid them. The man got up and moved to hit me, but I caught his fist and twisted his arm back with one hand, kicking the back of his joint until it dislocated.


    He screamed, but I quickly lifted my foot again and kicked his carotid sinus so that he passed out.


    On the other side, Fatty had knocked Ding Jingen out by headbutting him and Poker-Face had used his whip to directly pull the two people on his side under their horses. He then circled around, suddenly went up, and bent slightly upwards to raise his whip, giving each of them a fierce whipping to the triangr area near their chins. Saliva exploded from their mouths and they immediately fainted.


    But Jin Wantang didn''t do anything, so one of them took advantage of the opportunity and urged their horse to speed up. They bypassed Jin Wantang and rushed to the small forest.


    Fatty tied the men up while Poker-Face and I mounted our horses, took out our whips, and started chasing the man who had escaped. Our speed was very fast, and as the two of us quickly began to approachone from the left and one from the rightI stood up in my stirrups. Soon, all three horses were close to the grove.


    The other partys horse was obviously tired and didn''t run as fast as ours, so Poker-Face and I were able to catch up on his left and right nks. At this time, we obviously felt the light dim. I looked up and found that the dark clouds were covering the moon and the sky was gone in an instant. I lit thentern hanging on my saddle so that there would at least be a diffused light source. Soon, it was dark all around us.


    Thentern illuminated an area that was about six or seven meters wide, but visibility was still very poor. At this time, the person in front of us suddenly stopped his horse. He also had a light on his body, so when the light stopped moving, Poker-Face and I both slowed down. Then, the mans light in front of us suddenly went out and he and the horse disappeared into the darkness.


    I moved my horse closer to Poker-Face, two people and two horses standing in the huge, dark area. The only light source left was thentern on my saddle. I nced out of the corner of my eye at the darkness all around me and suddenly felt that thisplete darkness was very unlucky, so I raised my hand and shot a re out.


    The green light was very bleak but illuminated arge area. We immediately noticed that there were several strange, pale things right outside the area myntern illuminated and they were very, very close to us.