Chapter 2: The Unexpected Discovery in the Tomb Chamber

  Excavation work is proceeding at a relatively slow pace, in order not to damage the ancient tomb, the archaeological team requires that excavation should not be too forceful and attention should be paid to objects unearthed from the soil at all times.

  So, from morning till the next noon, excavation had not made much progress, and almost no discovery was found within the predetermined range. If it weren't for the persistence of the archaeological team, even Du Le would have doubted whether there really was a royal tomb here.

  However, Du Le and others did not refuse to work. Whether there was a king's tomb or not, for them, 150 yuan per day was settled on the same day, as long as they could make money.

  At 2:00 pm, an excavator made a major discovery, digging up a stone gate and a stone stele with inscriptions.

  This caused a great stir among the archaeological team, and Du Le even saw an old man with white hair and tears on his face. This surprised him and made him curious. He didn't know what kind of value or charm this ancient tomb had that could make them fully devoted to it.

  Having found the entrance to the tomb chamber, Mr. Qin gathered everyone together and temporarily stopped work, waiting for further instructions.

  The instructions came down quickly, and this time three people were to be drawn from the workers, to lead the archaeological team into the tomb, with a reward for those selected. After the draw, it was unexpectedly Du Le who had been hiding behind everyone else who was also selected.

  According to Du Le's original intention, the wages are almost the same for everyone. As for entering the tomb, it's better not to do it if possible. Although I'm an atheist, who knows whose ancestors are buried inside and whether there's any danger or not.

  Du Le had seen many tomb raids, but he knew that some burial chambers were booby-trapped. At the very least, some of the older ones would have toxic gases. So, he naturally hid behind.

  Who would have thought that the more you want to hide, the more you can't. Du Le had no choice but to accept his fate.

  It has to be said that the archaeological team is still quite formal, Du Le received a gas mask, a helmet with a strong light lamp, and wore special gloves and shoes on his hands and feet.

  With the help of machinery, the stone gate of the tomb slowly revealed a dark opening, and a strange smell wafted out. After an hour, when the smell had largely dissipated, Du Le and three other workers, two archaeologists, and two security guards carrying weapons, a total of seven people, entered one by one. Mr. Qin was among them.

  Du Le felt that the tomb was very large, they walked down for more than 50 meters before reaching a relatively spacious chamber. Under the strong light, everyone was stunned.

  It seems that this is not a tomb, but a small palace. It covers an area of at least 500 square meters and is three meters high. From the entrance, every five meters there is a large round stone pillar carved with patterns, standing on both sides, and opposite, not far away, there is a short section of stone steps. On top of the stone steps is a stone chair.

  "Everyone pay attention and be careful, don't touch anything carelessly." Mr. Qin said seriously to Du Le and others in front of him.

  "Got it." Du Le replied.

  Seven people slowly walked towards the stone stairs, climbed up the stone stairs, and only then discovered that behind the stone chair there was still a considerable space, inside which was a large stone coffin, and around the stone coffin were placed several wooden boxes.

  Mr. Qin and another member of the archaeological team began to carefully examine the surroundings, especially the patterns on the walls. Du Le guessed that they might be looking to see if there were any other spaces in the tomb chamber. Many main chambers have accompanying auxiliary chambers for storing burial objects. Their main task was to explore the main structure of the tomb chamber and provide assistance for future archaeological work.

  The tomb is quite large, so Mr. Qin did not prohibit everyone from moving around, and Du Le and others can also help. Under the surveillance and protection of security guards, the rest of the people were engaged in a tense exploration.

  The ancient tomb, especially a royal one, couldn't help but make Du Le feel both nervous and excited. Generally, the good stuff in a king's tomb is plentiful - not just gold and silver artifacts, but also antique jade objects. Finding just one would be enough to lift his family out of their current poverty-stricken life.

  Du Le hadn't forgotten that this was an archaeological expedition, and all the items obtained from the ancient tomb were to be handed over. However, as with anyone, there's always a little bit of luck involved.

  Du Le didn't stray too far from the stone coffin, and he wasn't a member of the archaeological team, so he didn't need to exert himself that much. Du Le simply searched the surrounding area carefully using the light. This was also where Du Le was clever - the security guards of the archaeological team were obviously not pushovers, and with their movements, every move Du Le made was under their watchful eyes. Especially the other two workers, who were equally excitedly searching around. Only, in their eyes, there were only some boxes, stored items. So, the security guard would always stop them from opening the boxes at random.

  In this way, Du Le's behavior seems more "low-key", and is actually someone who doesn't need to be focused on.

  It won't rain meat pies from the sky for no reason, and Du Le soon discovered this. There was nothing of value on the ground, at most some broken pots and pans.

  After circling around in a small range, Du Le was left with nothing. He started to feel annoyed as the archaeological team was about to finish searching the tomb chamber, and voices were coming from the walkie-talkie outside. Finally, Du Le shifted his gaze to the surrounding area of the stone chair.

  What's this?

  Suddenly, Du Le found a small hole with a diameter of about 15 cm under the stone chair. In the dark and gloomy tomb, if you don't pay attention, it's hard to notice at first glance. The small hole is particularly regular, not like worm-eaten, but rather deliberately carved out, and as soon as you touch it, you'll find that there seems to be something stored inside.

  Combining various adventure TV dramas with tomb raiding, Du Le couldn't help but exercise his imagination, could there be a mechanism?

  People's curiosity is very strong. It's not easy to discover a peculiar goal, and Du Le naturally doesn't want to let it go. Besides, Du Le thinks that taking a look isn't a big deal either.

  So Du Le directly squatted down and shone the light directly at the small hole.

  The tomb is too dark, and the lighting on the helmet is not strong enough, so it's a bit hard to see. However, at least I can confirm that the thing in the cave shouldn't be a living creature, such as snakes or mice. Upon further reflection, living creatures probably wouldn't survive for long in this enclosed space either.

  Du Le didn't think much and simply reached into the small hole to dig. He pulled out a gray cloth bag with its mouth tied up with hemp rope.

  Before Du Le could open the gray cloth bag, a beam of light suddenly shone from the front, scaring him into standing up quickly, and the bag in his hand was subconsciously stuffed into the wide pocket.

  "Let's go out first." Mr. Qin had already turned around and walked over, calling for everyone to leave first.

  Du Le couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, he thought his little action had been discovered.

  Everyone gathered at the entrance of the tomb, when Du Le passed by Mr. Qin's side, he didn't notice that Mr. Qin's eyes were staring at him, with an inexplicable gaze flashing by.

  In fact, Du Le didn't know that his action of crouching down beside the stone chair just now had been seen clearly by Mr. Qin.