The whole body swayed unstably, and I don't know how long it had been before Fan DeBiao's voice was heard: "Woke up, Young Master woke up!" Jackson beside him was crossing himself over his head, saying, "Thank God."

Liu Dashao thought he was dead, but looking at the current situation, he must have been rescued. He sat up straight and surveyed the surroundings. Everyone was still in the tomb chamber where they had encountered Yinglong. All their gear was lost; now they only had two flashlights and the small bag holding the Mingqi jar for Big Grasshopper. "What happened to me?" Liu Dashao asked vaguely.

Big Grasshopper sat down next to Fan DeBiao, patted his shoulder, and said to Liu Dashao, "Just now, you accidentally fell into the whirlpool. That Ge Shuanwa, however, looked strange and jumped into the water without a word. He managed to drag you out, but he himself was swallowed by the vortex." Hearing Fan DeBiao say this, Liu Dashao frowned but said nothing more. However, when Fan DeBiao mentioned finding a way out, Liu Dashao seemed puzzled and asked, "Find a way out for what? Isn't the exit right ahead?" Liu Dashao pointed to the tomb passage.

Big Grasshopper said, "We can't go that way anymore. The entire tomb chamber is filled with mud slurry, and it's already flooding into the passage. Everyone has to find another way out." The original grave robber's tunnel they dug might not have been the entire chamber's air source. Now that it was blocked, the air supply would inevitably be insufficient. They needed to find an exit as quickly as possible.

So, everyone stood up and headed toward the other end of the tomb chamber. Leaving the chamber, what appeared before them was another tomb passage. At the end of the passage was a chamber carved out, which looked unfinished. It seemed what the bamboo slips said was correct: this was an uncompleted tomb.

Seeing this situation, no one was sure if there was an exit, but this was their last and only chance, so they naturally had to go and try their luck. The group crossed the passage side-by-side and arrived at the unfinished chamber. The first thing they saw was an artificially carved opening. Tomb builders knew that after finishing a tomb, they would most likely be buried alive as sacrifices, so they would build an escape tunnel while constructing. It seemed this tunnel was it. Seeing this opening, everyone was ecstatic and rushed into it all at once.

Big Grasshopper stopped them: "You can't go in yet. This tomb looks less than half finished. There's no need to build an escape tunnel. Wait here; I'll go in first to check the situation." With that, he slipped into the hole alone. A moment later, Big Grasshopper rushed back, saying, "I just observed—there's a slight breeze in this hole, and the air is quite fresh. It seems to connect to the outside. Everyone, let's go quickly." The three nodded and followed Big Grasshopper. As soon as they took a step, the entire tomb chamber shook violently a few times. Everyone stopped, only hearing a "clack" sound behind them.

They turned around and saw a coffin protruding from the wall. One end of the coffin rested on the ground, and the other was propped against the collapsed section of the wall, forming a forty-five-degree angle with the floor. The lid had slipped open, left half-ajar. At first glance, this coffin was made of bronze, looking very similar to the sarcophagus on the stone slab, only lacking a dragon carving.

Big Grasshopper, being knowledgeable, immediately recognized it as a Western Zhou-era coffin. Liu Dashao's doubt arose: "Isn't this an unfinished tomb? How could there be a Western Zhou coffin here?" Big Grasshopper shook his head, indicating he didn't understand, only knowing the coffin was very valuable. Fan DeBiao said, "No worries, take it all. Let's carry the sarcophagus back too." Big Grasshopper said, "This is very strange. Perhaps the secret Brother Liu came here for is inside this coffin." Hearing Big Grasshopper say that, Liu Dashao felt uneasy. He hadn't expected any real gains after losing the scriptures, but now it seemed he had searched everywhere in vain. He quickly urged everyone over to examine it.

The four cautiously crept up to the coffin and slowly poked their heads over the top edge. Liu Dashao looked inside and a shock traveled from his feet to the top of his head. He shouted, "Yes, it's this monster." Seeing that Liu Dashao seemed familiar with the corpse in the coffin, Fan DeBiao asked, "What is 'it'? Where have you seen this corpse before?" Lying in the coffin was the dragon-headed, human-bodied monster Liu Dashao had dreamed of while resting. The dream had felt so real, and seeing this corpse now still sent shivers down his spine. Liu Dashao recounted the appearance of the corpse in his dream and briefly described it to those present. Fan DeBiao looked confused and said, "Could this corpse enter people's dreams? Damn it, isn't that a Dream Demon? But the Dream Demons in folk legends don't look like this!" Jackson disagreed with Fan DeBiao: "Dream Demons are impossible. There might be some kind of magnetic field here that interferes with brain waves." Fan DeBiao retorted, "Interfere my foot! Everyone was asleep then, only Young Master dreamed of this thing. Is the magnetic field only interfering with Young Master's waves?" Jackson was about to say something else, but Big Grasshopper stopped him: "Now is not the time to discuss this. Since Brother You dreamt of this zongzi (mummy/corpse), perhaps there is something peculiar about it. Better to avoid trouble if we can. What we should do now is get out first." The four looked at each other, nodded, and agreed with Big Grasshopper's opinion. With Big Grasshopper and Cai Qingchong's fate unknown, they had no appetite to mess with even the corpse of King Wen of Zhou if it were there. So, the four turned and walked toward the opening. The opening was over a person tall and about a meter wide. It seemed many workers were involved in building this tomb, as even the escape tunnel was built this large. Big Grasshopper, being about two meters tall, only had to duck his head slightly to fit his entire body inside. Liu Dashao followed right behind him. But just as he had half his body inside, they heard a loud "boom" coming from behind them. They turned back to see the coffin tilted onto the ground, and the corpse rolled out, lying straight in front of them. Big Grasshopper, hearing the noise, stuck his head out of the hole and asked, "What was that noise?" The other three pointed at the corpse, their expressions filled with astonishment. Fan DeBiao exclaimed, "Holy hell, is it reanimated?" Liu Dashao saw the corpse lying there, completely still, and figured reanimation was impossible. He told everyone to ignore it and keep moving. Big Grasshopper said, "Wait a minute. The coffin tipped, and the corpse rolled out. This means the corpse doesn't want us to leave; perhaps it needs something from us. If we force our way out, we probably won't succeed." He then stuck his head out of the hole again and continued, "Everyone, come take a look." What Big Grasshopper said was quite intimidating, but as he reasoned, it was better to address issues now than let them cause trouble later. If the corpse truly needed help, refusing might bring real problems. The other three followed Big Grasshopper over. Big Grasshopper told everyone to search for anything suspicious. Fan DeBiao joked while searching: "Hey Brother, didn't you dream of this corpse? Maybe it wants to keep you here as company?" Hearing Fan DeBiao say that sent a chill straight up Liu Dashao's spine. Maybe that was the case. But he couldn't accept that explanation. So, Liu Dashao said to Fan DeBiao, "Damn it, Daoist Ge's fate is still unknown, and you're in the mood to joke? Aren't you sad?" Fan DeBiao replied, "Of course I'm sad, but we who do this business live by the edge of the knife. If luck runs out, we'll end up here sooner or later. So being sad is useless; I just need to focus on what I'm doing." Hearing Fan DeBiao sound so philosophical, Liu Dashao was surprised at his sudden realization. He patted his shoulder and continued searching. The burial objects scattered on the floor—each one was special if you called it that, and each looked quite mysterious if you called it suspicious. He wondered what Big Grasshopper expected them to find. Suddenly, Fan DeBiao yelled, "Comrades, I've found something." When Fan DeBiao said that, everyone gathered around him. They saw a bead scattered in the corner of the wall. The bead was about the size of a marble children play with, perfectly transparent, shining brightly—definitely not an ordinary item. The moment Liu Dashao saw the bead, a strange sense of familiarity welled up in him. He was certain he had seen it somewhere and stared fixedly at it. Big Grasshopper said this bead wasn't what they were looking for. He told Fan DeBiao to change his focus and not call out every valuable thing he saw as a discovery. After instructing Fan DeBiao, Big Grasshopper continued searching. Suddenly, the entire tomb chamber began to tremble nonstop, and small stones and dust fell continuously from the ceiling. Big Grasshopper shouted, "This is bad! This place is going to collapse!" He urged everyone to retreat quickly. Fan DeBiao cursed, "Damn it! This zongzi's goal was to bury us alive here!" With that, he scrambled into the hole. Liu Dashao was still staring blankly at the bead, trying desperately to recall something. Just then, Fan DeBiao ran back, slapped Liu Dashao's back, and yelled, "What are you spacing out for? This place is collapsing! Hurry up!" Fan DeBiao glanced at the bead on the ground and added, "Damn it, if you like it, just take it! We can examine it when we get out." He then grabbed the bead and stuffed it into Liu Dashao's trouser pocket. Liu Dashao snapped back to reality and bolted, following Fan DeBiao into the tunnel. The tunnel was quite wide, almost enough for them to run side-by-side. The mountain was vibrating continuously, and everyone could only cover their heads and run forward desperately. After running a while, a small, narrow hole suddenly appeared ahead. It looked so tight that even one person would have to crawl through on their belly. The four reached it and were speechless. Big Grasshopper said, "This damn thing is a robber's tunnel. I didn't expect the tomb robbing skills of that person to be so questionable—robbing an unfinished tomb." With that, Big Grasshopper quickly organized their formation, telling everyone to crawl out through the tunnel. Fan DeBiao took the lead because, with four people behind him to push, he could push forward. Liu Dashao, Su Yougui, Hu Beikang, and Jackson were in the middle. Big Grasshopper and Cai Qingchong, being more experienced, were at the rear. It looked manageable from the outside, but once inside the tunnel, they realized it wasn't as small as it looked. Crawling forward, their whole bodies ached terribly. Fan DeBiao could only wriggle through sideways. Occasionally, a violent tremor would shake the tunnel, causing rock debris to fly everywhere. Everyone was forced to stop until a violent shaking passed before they could proceed. After one major tremor, Big Grasshopper cried out in alarm: a plume of smoke rose from behind them—it looked like a collapse was occurring. Liu Dashao sharply slapped Fan DeBiao's backside, urging him to hurry up as the collapse was catching up. Fan DeBiao swore and quickly scrambled forward. Because he moved too fast, his clothes and trousers were torn, and his whole body ached badly. Perhaps the impact from the strange fish had injured his bones and tendons; Liu Dashao was now running purely on willpower. Fan DeBiao cursed as he moved forward: "Damn it, how long is this tunnel? We've been crawling for so long and still haven't reached the end." Liu Dashao shouted from behind, "Stop the crap and move faster!" Suddenly, Fan DeBiao cried out in surprise: "Light! I see light, comrades! We're saved!" Hearing that Fan DeBiao had seen light, their spirits soared, and their energy doubled instantly. At that moment, Big Grasshopper shouted from the back, "Hurry up! My foot is sinking!" It seemed that even though the end was near, the situation was still critical, so Liu Dashao quickly urged Fan DeBiao forward. Fan DeBiao used all his strength, wiggling his backside, moving forward relentlessly. After advancing a bit further, Fan DeBiao roared, "We're here!" Seeing his feet pop up, Liu Dashao called out for the long-lost natural light. Liu Dashao tensed his nerves and scrambled out quickly. Once outside, Liu Dashao's consciousness was nearly gone. He only heard many people shouting around him, the loudest voice being, "My dad is still down there! Someone please go save him!" A sudden jolt of pain stimulated his head, and he lost consciousness completely.

Liu Dashao didn't know how long he was unconscious before slowly waking up. He found himself lying on a flat board bed, and his clothes had been changed into peasant wear. He opened his blurry eyes to observe the surroundings: it was just a very small single-story room. Outside the house, many people were arguing loudly; it sounded very lively. He had no idea what had happened. Liu Dashao moved his body; it didn't hurt much. He moved his arm again and immediately felt a throbbing pain in his right arm—it seemed his wound was acting up. He got out of bed and noticed a bowl of hot glutinous rice porridge on the dining table. His stomach grumbled loudly. He was desperately hungry, so he picked up the bowl and downed the contents in one gulp. After finishing the porridge, Liu Dashao walked outside to see what was causing such a commotion. When he opened the door, he saw people everywhere dressed as farmers. Some held hoes, others carried bags, and some had even brought their belongings. They were all rushing busily toward one location. Suddenly, Liu Dashao spotted the figures of Fan DeBiao and Jackson among the crowd and quickly called out to them. Fan DeBiao and Jackson saw Liu Dashao and ran over excitedly. Fan DeBiao said, "You're awake." Jackson added, "That's great. You've been unconscious for three days." Three days! So Liu Dashao had been out for that long. Without dwelling on pleasantries, Liu Dashao asked Fan DeBiao, "What on earth happened? Why are all these people in such a hurry?" Fan DeBiao explained, "A natural disaster, damn it. In the few days we were in that tomb, it rained heavily continuously. It only stopped yesterday. See that river over there? The water is almost cresting the banks. And over there, there was a mudslide—right where the ancient tomb was." Liu Dashao nodded and continued asking, "What about Big Grasshopper? Did the mudslide swallow him?" Fan DeBiao said, "Big Grasshopper is too sharp for that. He went ahead with the advance team for flood control. The soldiers rescued everyone after you crawled out of the tunnel. It’s better that you were unconscious; we conscious ones were grilled by the village committee until they finally stopped after Jackson showed them his ID." Liu Dashao nodded. Fan DeBiao continued, "Stop talking about that nonsense! Let's hurry to the disaster relief area." Regardless of whether these local people had saved them, given such a natural disaster, they had to serve the people anyway. So, Liu Dashao searched the room for anything useful but found nothing. He ran out empty-handed to join them. A moment later, a raging river appeared in sight. Some people were digging sand by the riverbank, while others were filling bags with sand and stacking them in one area, apparently trying to block the water from spreading into the village. There was also a group of people in military uniforms, apparently sent by the government. They were digging a channel on the other side, intending to divert the water elsewhere. Big Grasshopper, Cai Qingchong, Fan DeBiao, and Jackson were all in that group. Fan DeBiao saw Liu Dashao and waved him over to help. Liu Dashao tumbled and scrambled over to Fan DeBiao, who handed him an entrenching shovel and said, "There's a large mountain gully over there. The PLA comrades want to divert the water there." Liu Dashao mumbled an "Oh" and buried himself in digging. While digging, a middle-aged man, stripped to the waist with his trouser legs rolled up high, rushed toward their group. Fan DeBiao said he was the village head. The village head approached their group and said, "PLA comrades, trouble! A River God has emerged from the upstream section and injured a few brothers. We wanted to kill the River God, but some of the elders objected, saying the River God must not be killed, or it will bring disaster. Can you all take a look?" At that moment, a burly man covered in mud stood up straight and shouted, "What River God? Not allowed to kill it? All that feudal thinking! Liu San, find two strong comrades and follow me!" "Yes, Squad Leader!" replied a person nearby who was short but very solidly built. The Squad Leader looked at the group and said, "You few are archaeologists. Come with us to see what kind of rare creature this River God is. You are knowledgeable; help me dispel their feudal thinking." Liu San ran over and reported, "Report, Squad Leader, the men are assembled." The Squad Leader waved his hand and said, "Village Head, lead the way; everyone else follow." The Village Head led Liu Dashao back along the path they had just taken. In front of everyone was a large pond, apparently dug out by the villagers while moving sand. Several injured men lay nearby, and something in the water was constantly churning, only visible by the ripples on the surface. The Squad Leader immediately directed men to retrieve whatever was in the water. At this moment, several old men rushed over and stopped them, insisting they must not anger the River God, or something terrible would happen. After they spoke, a large crowd surrounded the soldiers, blocking them. It seemed these elders held considerable prestige in the village. The PLA Squad Leader looked helpless. He turned back to the group and said, "Comrades, think of a way. These villagers need to be enlightened with science." Everyone shook their heads. Big Grasshopper said, "Squad Leader comrade, we don't even know what that thing in the water is. How can you expect us to enlighten them?" As the Squad Leader was feeling helpless, the thing in the water suddenly leaped onto the shore, revealing its true form. It closely resembled a grass carp, completely black, with only a pair of large eyes above a huge mouth, its teeth exposed. It was quite large, about four meters long. Once on shore, the fish attacked anyone it saw, injuring several people in a few bites. The elders trembled with fear. The PLA Squad Leader was quick-witted; he quickly ordered men to move the elders aside and directed others to take care of the creature. The PLA Squad Leader took the lead, followed closely by five or six subordinates, armed with bayonets, rushing in for a close-quarters fight. Fan DeBiao recognized it and shouted, "Damn it, it's this thing!" He then grabbed his entrenching shovel and charged forward. Big Grasshopper didn't hesitate and followed. A group of men immediately engaged in a fierce battle with the strange fish. No matter how fierce the strange fish was, it was heavily outnumbered. After a few rounds, it was subdued. The PLA Squad Leader walked over to the old men and said, "See? This is the River God you were talking about." Big Grasshopper also walked over and said, "This thing is called a Ghost Jiao (Gui Jiao). It's a fish from the ancient period. This Ghost Jiao is much more formidable than a crocodile; it is not any kind of River God."