Da Xiong flashed me a grin and said, "The most important thing right now isn't that; it's the unclaimed treasures beneath the riverbed. Wait here, I’m going to dredge up a bit more."

Knowing what Da Xiong's "a bit" usually meant filled me with speechless resignation.

Still, since I hadn't yet figured out the provenance of those treasures, I dove into the water with him.

Initially, the icy cold of the river made my limbs stiff, but after adapting to the temperature, moving underwater became much more natural.

The current was slow and the water astonishingly clear and cool, allowing us to swim freely with our eyes open.

I had already examined the first pile of artifacts and determined they were from the Mingzhi period, possibly even imperial grants.

Now, I swam towards another cluster of valuables.

Shining my flashlight over this second heap, I saw the effects of water corrosion were far more severe, clearly indicating these items were much older than the first batch.

I casually pulled out a silver coin, clearly inscribed with the characters: "Tokugawa Tsuho."

Just then, Nie Chuan swam past me and grabbed a handful of coins, scattering them into the water.

I didn't know what he was doing, but in the pile of coins he had just lifted, the desiccated hand of a human emerged.

Nie Chuan obviously noticed it too and hurried back.

I illuminated the hand with my flashlight; it wasn't some kind of zombie or monster, just a stiff, dead human hand.

So, Nie Chuan and I gripped the hand and hauled the corpse out from beneath the mound of gold coins.

As we pulled, the pile of gold coins seemed to momentarily bulge, and a skeleton, long since stripped of flesh, gradually appeared amidst the falling metal.

Since it was time to breathe, we dragged the nearly weightless corpse back to the shore.

On the stony beach, we took several deep breaths, wiped the water from our faces, and began examining the skeleton.

Soon, we observed that the skull was clad in leather armor, now mostly rotted away. Despite the centuries, the long absence of sunlight allowed me to discern that the armor's original color must have been dark red.

Common soldiers in ancient Japan typically wore cloth uniforms; only wealthier feudal lords would equip their troops with leather armor.

This meant the armies wearing such gear were few and distinct: the Blue Armor of Masamune Date’s forces, the Red Armor of Kai, and the White Armor of Uesugi Kenshin were the most famous.

While I couldn't assert definitively that this corpse belonged to a subordinate of Takeda Shingen of Kai, the possibility certainly existed.

With that thought, Nie Chuan and I turned the bones over, and there, clearly visible on the back, was a crest formed by four diamonds—the family crest of Takeda Shingen.

"What would a Takeda soldier be doing all the way out here?" Nie Chuan asked.

I shook my head, equally puzzled, then carefully inspected the armor. Apart from natural decay, there were no signs of injury from sharp weapons.

This suggested the man hadn't been hacked to death and thrown into the river; perhaps he drowned or died by some other means without external trauma.

Nie Chuan commented to me, "Even though it’s leather, that armor must have been heavy. I doubt he'd go for a swim wearing it willingly."

I nodded. "But that’s not the crucial point. The real question is, why is this person under the treasure? Did he die in the river and get buried by the hoard, or did he climb into the treasure looking for something and drown, or..."

Nie Chuan didn't reply, instead focusing on figuring out how to remove the tattered leather armor.

I went to help, and after considerable effort, we managed to slide the armor off his shoulders.

However, in our exertion, we accidentally detached his head.

We tried to reattach the skull to the neck, but it wouldn't stay put no matter what we did.

After struggling for quite a while, we finally gave up, setting the head aside and murmuring an apology to the deceased.

Beneath the rotten outer armor, the skeleton wore linen underclothes, which were mostly disintegrated from the prolonged soaking.

Aside from a few tiny shrimp and fish still wriggling around, we found something useful: a small, square, pitch-black object.

It was slightly smaller than my palm, entirely black. While it resembled coal, it felt much harder and smoother to the touch, without any tendency to smudge or fade.

Judging by its shape, the square object was clearly man-made, possessing sharp, precise angles.

"What in the world is this?" Although I knew Nie Chuan wouldn't have the answer, I asked anyway.

Nie Chuan took the object, examining it for a long time before shaking his head. "It looks a bit like lead, or maybe carbon, but both of those materials smudge things, and this one doesn't."

He then weighed it in his hand. "It’s heavier than carbon."

As we were investigating it, Da Xiong suddenly burst out of the water, his head clearing the surface. "Damn it, what did you two do? That Wind-Bag Serpent is alive again!"

Nie Chuan and I exchanged looks of utter disbelief.

After a few seconds, I managed to ask, "Then... then how did you escape?"

Da Xiong wiped the water from his face and swept his hair back. "I don’t know why, but the suction was much weaker this time, so I barely managed to break free."

I noticed the several gold chains around Da Xiong’s neck and the rings covering his fingers, and felt a strange sense of futility—if he valued his life, he should have tossed that junk long ago.

Nie Chuan glanced at me and said, "Could it be..."

I nodded firmly. "It must be. Come on, let's go see."

The three of us plunged back underwater.

As soon as we submerged, I saw a whirlpool, as thick as a water bucket, rising from the spot where we had pulled out the corpse.

Innumerable water weeds, bubbles, and small fish were being continuously sucked downward into the vortex.

However, this clearly wasn't the work of the Wind-Bag Serpent; its suction was far stronger.

My guess was right: there must have been a hole beneath where the corpse lay. By pulling the body out, we had uncovered a leak, making Da Xiong think the serpent had revived.

I shone my flashlight into Da Xiong's eyes and mimed a vortex with my mouth—I wasn't sure if he understood—then grabbed him and swam downward.

Nie Chuan clung tightly to one of my legs, and the three of us were pulled down into the abyss like conjoined twins.

Just as we were about to plunge into the cave at the river bottom, we extended our arms and gripped the cave wall.

Since I was in the middle, I could free one hand to hold the flashlight.

Shining the beam inside, I saw what looked like many huddled human skeletons, though they were hazy and indistinct.

The shaft wasn't vertical but angled down steeply at about forty-five degrees.

As far as my vision reached, there was a bend ahead.

I cursed inwardly, "Damn it, we have to go underground after all," then let go of Da Xiong’s hand and let myself fall first.

My confidence that falling into this hole wouldn't be dangerous stemmed from seeing all those clustered bodies.

Combined with the clear evidence of excavation marks on the walls, I was certain this passage had been dug by these people.

Whether they were digging to escape or to steal the treasure, I couldn't say, but they were likely unlucky; they had nearly broken through to the treasure chamber, only to perish in the tunnel.

The corpse we moved earlier had its hand stretched into the treasure cache, dying there from its last expenditure of effort. Perhaps it was our action that finally cleared the passage, allowing it to see daylight again.

Thinking that way, the passage must be safe; if humans could navigate it, what danger could there be?

Seeing me drop into the hole, the other two understood and followed me down.

The water pressure from above nearly flushed me downward.

This sensation was all too familiar; I seemed to encounter something similar in almost every new location.

This time, however, the descent was brief. Soon after sloping downward, the passage leveled out, and the water current slowed considerably.