"So," Old Man Zhang continued, sweeping his gaze over the group, "the proportions for the journey into and out of this underground palace are not equal. The front section maps the desert route, while the small part behind that circle is the structure of the palace itself. Beyond that, it reverts to the desert map again. Simply put, this drawing is like a schematic for a mechanical part—where specific details need emphasis, a magnified view is inserted. Anyone versed in mechanical engineering would spot this immediately."

Hearing this, Young Master Liu quickly leaned in to examine the map. Sure enough, there was a winding line in the middle that was clearly disconnected from the sections before and after it.

"The destination of this map," Old Man Zhang suddenly stated, "is the Golden Ancient City."

The news struck Young Master Liu with a rush of warmth. To think the final goal was still the Golden Ancient City. It seemed their task now was to turn that place completely upside down.

"Can you make sense of the palace structure?" Uncle Diao asked Old Man Zhang.

Uncle Diao’s question was fair. If Old Man Zhang claimed it was the palace structure, why didn't it look like one? Had the mapmaker used some form of scribbling technique?

Unconcerned by Uncle Diao’s challenge to his theory, Old Man Zhang snatched the flashlight from Young Master Liu’s hand. He flipped the map over, pressed the torch beam tightly against the surface, laid it flat before everyone, and commanded, "Look!"

The three others found this odd. They shifted their gaze to the map, and in an instant, they were stunned. Where the flashlight beam illuminated the surface, the blueprint of a palace emerged. This was no foreign structure; it was precisely where they were standing. The drawing was rendered so plainly that even a three-year-old could recognize it.

Young Master Liu scrutinized it closely, a look of disappointment crossing his face. "Damn it, there's no way out."

"Boy, why say that? Isn't there an exit right there?" Uncle Diao pointed to one opening when he saw Liu sigh.

That specific exit—the one Fan Debiao had been blocked from, sealed shut—Young Master Liu reminded him, "Don't you remember I told you that exit was choked with sand?"

"That's no obstacle," Uncle Diao declared with brimming confidence. "We can ascend from where you fell in. We have the gear; what's there to fear?"

Uncle Diao's suggestion was sound. Initially, with so few people and no equipment, they dared not venture into the shaft so dark that even a flare couldn't light it. But now was different. They had numbers and excellent gear. What was a hole to fear? Even if a dinosaur lurked inside, they could probably scrape it clean.

Counting the days since their arrival, if they waited much longer without leaving, the rescue teams would have to start plowing the desert. But with such a crowd bottled up inside the Golden Ancient City, their own agenda would be impossible to execute.

"Uncle Diao, we’re pressed for time. Why don't we start right now? I have no desire to linger in this desert," Young Master Liu told him.

"If we say go, we go! Rushing through the Nine Provinces..." Upon hearing Liu, Uncle Diao began humming a tune and gestured for them to move.

Seeing that Uncle Diao, despite his amnesia, acted as if nothing was wrong and could still sing, Young Master Liu conceded he was truly optimistic. The buoyant mood of the older man eased the tension for the three of them; they relaxed their nerves and slowly followed.

"Don't panic! Everyone, grab your Black Donkey Hooves!" Fan Debiao’s voice suddenly cut through the air.

Young Master Liu instantly sensed trouble. Fan Debiao and the others must have encountered a Zongzi (a reanimated corpse). His nerves snapped tight. Before Fan Debiao’s words had fully dissipated, Old Man Zhang had already dashed off, disappearing from sight. Uncle Diao, being an old hand at this, had seen such situations countless times; he quickly darted after them. Then, Young Master Liu and Wang Feifei chased after the group.

Arriving at Fan Debiao’s location, they saw everyone pressed against a brick wall, most clutching their Black Donkey Hooves, looking around frantically overhead.

Young Master Liu glanced at the female corpse dressed in the Nishang Yuyi—now just a dried husk. Someone must have taken the embalming pearl from her mouth, triggering whatever calamity was unfolding. He thought to himself that the prime suspect for taking the bead had to be that scoundrel Fan Debiao.

"Fan Debiao, what the hell is going on?" Young Master Liu roared at him in exasperation.

Fan Debiao looked back with sheer terror, remaining silent, his hand constantly pointing upward. Seeing this gesture, Young Master Liu held his breath and looked up. All the surrounding coffins were shaking violently, emitting a subtle gegege sound from within.

The gegege noise gradually grew more intense, its frequency rising sharply. Witnessing this, every hair on Young Master Liu’s body stood on end. He sucked in a sharp breath and rushed with Wang Feifei toward Fan Debiao’s cluster, where the larger crowd offered a sense of security.

There were thousands of coffins here. If each coffin corresponded to one Zongzi, that meant over a thousand undead. This wasn't just trouble; it was a full-blown biological crisis.

Before the contents of the coffins could emerge, Liu quickly demanded an explanation from Fan Debiao. The preceding events had unfolded too fast for Fan Debiao to articulate clearly. After gathering his thoughts, he began recounting the sequence of events to Young Master Liu.

Fan Debiao explained that after everyone else left, all the remaining people had eaten their fill and were resting. He, Jackson, and Old Wu, still restless and out of liquor, started boasting about their exploits.

Old Wu had far more experiences than Fan Debiao and Jackson combined, so he held forth on how magnificent he was while grave robbing, detailing the treasures he had seen.

Fan Debiao felt slighted by this and began wildly exaggerating. He claimed that two years prior, he had organized a crew to plunder tombs in Henan—a place everyone knew had no shortage of emperors' burial sites. Fan Debiao asserted that through Xunlong Dianxue (dragon seeking, spot pointing) and his self-created technique for locating pressure points, he found the tomb of a Ming Dynasty emperor. They descended, and he claimed they even unearthed an imperial dragon robe.

Old Wu was so impressed by this tall tale that his eyes shone; he almost addressed Fan Debiao as 'Senior.' Now it was Jackson’s turn. Jackson had only entered one ancient tomb in China his entire life: the tomb of Zhang Jiao at Mount Pusa, and he hadn't found anything worthwhile. Staring blankly for a moment, he finally decided to tell Fan Debiao and Old Wu about the embalming pearl in the female corpse's mouth.

Fan Debiao and Old Wu were seasoned tomb raiders, accustomed only to skeletons or desiccated mummies. They had never encountered a body so perfectly preserved. They flatly refused to believe in the existence of an embalming pearl. Jackson, unable to argue further, led the two over to where the female corpse lay.

The moment they saw her, they were floored. Apart from her slightly pale skin, the body was exquisitely intact, and she was undeniably beautiful.

It was the first time Fan Debiao and Old Wu had seen such a sight, and they jumped up in excitement. The three conferred and decided to remove the pearl to study it. Curiosity drove them to extract the artifact.

The trio held the bead up, staring at it with intense excitement, failing to notice any change in the female corpse. As they examined it closely, the sudden gegege sound echoed.

Fan Debiao initially thought it was the tomb chamber undergoing some ghastly transformation. He grabbed a Black Donkey Hoof and tried to stuff it into the corpse's mouth. But upon closer inspection, the corpse showed no abnormality. Yet, the gegege sound persisted.

Jackson, sharp-eyed, noticed the coffins shaking and quickly alerted Fan Debiao and Old Wu. As experienced Daodou (tomb raiders), they immediately understood the implication of this movement... Mass corpse transformation.

By this time, the others had been awakened by the faint sound. They instinctively drew their weapons, preparing to attack the surrounding coffins. Fan Debiao shouted that this approach was futile and urged everyone who possessed Black Donkey Hooves to pull them out and take defensive positions against the brick wall. Moments later, the main group arrived.

After hearing Fan Debiao's explanation, Young Master Liu felt an urge to slap him twice, but the timing was wrong. Here, in terms of tomb raiding experience, only Uncle Diao and Old Wu held the advantage.

Liu turned and looked around. Old Wu and Uncle Diao were already conferring nearby. Each man wore a Baibaodai (hundred-treasure pouch) slung over his shoulder, filled with all the paraphernalia of the Mojin Xiaowei (Grave Robber Captain) trade. It appeared these two old men intended to employ primitive methods to solve the crisis.

Everyone currently had no choice but to trust them. With so many Zongzi converging, they only had a dozen or so guns; the disparity in power was too great.

Uncle Diao and Old Wu hurried to the female corpse and began scattering handfuls of white granules from their pouches. Upon closer inspection, these granules were clearly glutinous rice—which, since ancient times, was believed to repel ghosts and ward off evil. Theoretically, it should work against Zongzi.

"What are they doing?" Wang Feifei asked, confused by Uncle Diao’s actions.

Young Master Liu’s nerves were stretched taut; he hadn't registered Wang Feifei’s question and offered no reply.

Uncle Diao and Old Wu scattered rice for a spell, and it proved effective. The shaking of the coffins halted, and the gegege sounds ceased.

Seeing this, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, though they were all sweating buckets.

Uncle Diao quickly returned to the group. "We can’t stay here long. We need to leave quickly."

"Go where?" Young Master Liu asked him.

"Right here," Uncle Diao pointed to a gap behind them, resembling a palace gate.

"That's out of the question!" Old Wu nervously interjected beside him. "The mechanisms inside are lethal. I fear if we go in, we won't come out."

Uncle Diao pondered for a moment. "The mechanisms inside rely on sight and sound to trap people. If we don't look and don't listen, we should be fine."

Old Wu shook his head repeatedly. "Only you, Uncle Diao, possess that skill among us. The others don't. We can't risk it."

Uncle Diao saw that this option, like the last, was impossible and cursed under his breath in frustration, while Old Wu stroked his chin, thinking of alternatives.

"Climb up using the Buddha statue," Old Man Zhang spoke up.

Hearing this, Young Master Liu thought it feasible. He had observed the statue's head while they were on the upper level; it could comfortably accommodate twenty people if they had proper climbing gear. Furthermore, the statue's head was barely a step away from that massive boulder. Once at the top, they could set fire to all these coffins and be done with it.

Uncle Diao looked up, scrutinizing the Buddha statue, and deemed the plan viable. He immediately ordered preparations to begin.