It was my first time doing such a thing, and I was quite inexperienced. I thought those bones were the remains of the tomb owner.
Given the scale of this burial site, if they were indeed the tomb owner's remains, there should have been burial goods around them—that's what I thought.
Maybe some small personal items like bronze seals, delicate ancient jade pieces, gold artifacts, and the like.
Greed overpowered my fear, and I kept reassuring myself: "It's nothing, it's nothing. There might even be a feudal prince's personal seal in this dark hole. If I'm lucky enough to fish it out, I'll make a fortune!"
Summoning my courage, I reached into the bottom of the jar again.
Just as I was leaning sideways, groping around aimlessly...
"Ah!"
My index finger felt like something had bitten it! It hurt badly.
I quickly pulled my hand out and saw that the tip of my finger was already bleeding, with two small holes.
My first reaction was that I'd been bitten by a snake.
I didn't know if it was venomous, but I was terrified. I immediately pinched my finger and started shouting as I ran toward the eastern side chamber.
"Second Brother! Third Brother! Help! Save me!"
The floor of the eastern side chamber was scattered with burial objects, though far fewer than in the western side chamber. The Sun brothers were squatting on the ground, trying to figure out which items were valuable.
"Yunfeng, what's all the yelling about? Did you see a ghost or something? Who's trying to kill you?"
I showed him my finger, which had already stopped bleeding, and said urgently, "Second Brother! I was bitten by a venomous snake! I'm going to die from the venom soon!"
"What? A venomous snake!" Sun La'er immediately panicked.
He examined my finger for a moment, then asked doubtfully, "Third Brother… are these two small marks on Yunfeng's finger really from a snake bite?"
Sun Sān thought for a bit and shook his head. "It looks a bit like it, but something doesn't seem right, Second Brother. Look at how narrow Yunfeng's finger is—the spacing of these bite marks… what kind of snake would have such a small head?"
Sun Sān squeezed the area around the wound, and bright red blood immediately flowed out.
"It's okay, Yunfeng. Look at the color of the blood you're bleeding—it's so good. It definitely wasn't a snake that bit you, much less a venomous snake. I'd guess it was probably a rat, a small one."
"A rat? Do rats even bite people, Third Brother?"
"Of course they do, Yunfeng. You just haven't seen much. Back in ancient times, when there were rat infestations, rats could even eat people!"
"Yunfeng, you're not feeling dizzy, nauseous, or unwell, are you?"
I shook my head and said, "Third Brother, I don't feel any of that."
"Don't overthink it. It's fine. Come help with the work. If you're still worried, you can go to the hospital tomorrow to get a rabies shot."
"Oh," I nodded in agreement. Knowing it wasn't a venomous snake made me feel much more at ease.
It was a bit strange, though. The number of burial goods in the eastern side chamber was far fewer than in the western side chamber. Logically, it should have been balanced—the two side chambers should have had roughly the same amount of burial goods. But after searching and clearing for a long time, we only found six or seven bronze items of some value. The rest were mostly severely damaged, scattered here and there, making it impossible to tell what they originally were.
"Ugh, we even specially brought so many bags, thinking we'd hit the jackpot. But look at this—nothing but junk!" Sun Lao Er said bitterly.
He pressed the intercom and reported to the boss: "Boss, it's such a letdown. The east side chamber is pretty much barren—hardly anything worth taking, just a bunch of small trinkets."
The intercom fell silent for two minutes before Boss Wang's voice came through again: "Take whatever you can find. The next step is to hurry and locate the main burial chamber. The real valuables are in the coffin."
"Boss, we've already searched the entire lower level but haven't found any trace of the main burial chamber. What's going on? You've seen a lot—any insights?"
A burst of static and voices came through the radio.
"Impossible. Wealthy and influential people in ancient times wouldn't have skipped building a main burial chamber for themselves. There's still some time—search again carefully."
Following the instructions, we began meticulously searching for the main burial chamber again.
A proper main burial chamber should have an inner and outer coffin, a corpse, and burial goods.
But unfortunately, even after a long search, we still couldn't find the main burial chamber.
We packed up the few Western Zhou artifacts we had, and called it a day.
On the way back, Boss Wang couldn't help shaking his head repeatedly. "It doesn't make sense... It's just not right..."
I was pretty tired and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the bed. I slept straight until noon, planning to visit a small clinic later to get a rabies shot.
My right hand felt a little uncomfortable, so I took a look.
To my surprise, my right index finger was badly swollen—almost twice its usual size! And pus was oozing from the two small puncture wounds...
It was so swollen, yet it didn't hurt or itch. I was afraid and touched it with my hand, but I couldn't feel anything at all.
I was terrified. When Second Brother Sun saw it, he was also shocked. He asked me what I had done that morning and joked if I had somehow cultivated the "One Yang Finger" kung fu technique!
Third Brother Sun said, "What are we waiting for? Go see a doctor now!"
They called for Eldest Brother Sun, who was more familiar with the area than we were. He took me to a small clinic not far from the hotel.
Even the clinic doctor was stunned. He said that in over twenty years of practicing medicine, he had never seen someone's finger swell up like that. The doctor didn't dare treat me.
Since it was unknown what had bitten me, he didn't dare prescribe anti-inflammatory medication randomly. He told us to go to a major hospital as soon as possible, warning that if the swelling was this severe, amputation might be necessary.
The possibility of amputation terrified me.
Second Brother suggested it might have been a rat bite, but wondered how a rat bite could lead to amputation. Was it a poisonous rat?
There was no other option, so I went to Shunde First People's Hospital.
The emergency room doctor frowned as he looked at my swollen finger and said, "Your body temperature is normal, and there's no sign of infection. Go get an X-ray first to see if it's fluid buildup or something else. How could it swell up like this?"
After the X-ray was taken and handed to the doctor, he examined it and said, "It's fluid buildup, and the wound is a bit inflamed." He also asked if I felt any discomfort, to which I shook my head and said no.
Later, the doctor used a large pin from an acupuncture kit to poke two small holes in my finger. I didn't feel any pain.
He gave it a slight squeeze, and immediately, a lot of yellowish-white fluid flowed out.
After the fluid was drained, my finger immediately reduced in size. The doctor then prescribed me amoxicillin and told me to take two tablets, avoiding spicy food.
After thanking the doctor, we returned to the hotel.
"Is your hand okay now, Yunfeng?" Old Boss Wang asked me.
I looked at my finger, which had already gone down in swelling, and breathed a sigh of relief. "It should be fine, Boss. It doesn't hurt or itch anymore."
Boss Wang nodded and then said to Second Brother Sun, "Lao Er, I studied it carefully this morning and called a few other bosses in the industry. We all agree that the main burial chamber might have collapsed due to water accumulation, or it could be buried somewhere else."
"Yunfeng, you should go rest first. Lao Er, come with me. Let's discuss this."
Returning to my room, I took the anti-inflammatory medicine, lay down on the bed, and felt quite tired. I quickly fell asleep.
I had a dream about that lone large water vat.
A rotting human hand slowly reached out from the hole and grabbed my wrist!
"Ah!"
I woke up from the nightmare, my back drenched in sweat.
I felt something strange with my hand and looked down.
At that moment, my finger... my finger...
had swollen up with fluid again.
And it looked even worse than before.