Chapter 17: Diary (1)

Edited by Akshaythedon

Owner: “Okay Guys, Akshaythedon will be the editor for Grave Robber starting now. He’s seen our community, and would like to contribute to make things easier for our translators. So please treat him well >.

The sound outside seemed to have quietened down as if nothing had happened. Fatty sat down and from within his pant’s pocket, he conjured out half a pack of cigarettes. He then rummaged through his other pocket but only to be made aware that the other pocket had a hole. Even so, he skillfully shook out a cigarette and placed it between his lips. As fatty breathed in the smell of tobacco, he became lost in thought.

Looking at fatty’s every action, it made Xiao Bei feel uneasy as he could faintly feel that fatty’s huge change was the foreboding of an advent of danger.

Feeling apprehensive in his heart, Xiao Bei flipped open the diary and used the glowing gem to shine onto the words. As for fatty, he did not move and seemed to have bllended in with the darkness.

“Friends, if you are reading this message, please leave this place immediately! Do not hesitate and leave at once!” On the front page of the diary, these words appeared. Xiao Bei shook his head. As for now, he was unable to escape from this place. He continued to read further.

“Today I have an important task and that is to follow an archaeologist’s team to find a tomb. I believe it is a huge tomb and I might be able to make a fortune. I don’t know how they found me, unless they really are not afraid of me, this grave robber, affecting them? Maybe they have their reasons why they need me. All this, I will soon understand. It’s already late, I must go sleep as we will be leaving tomorrow.”

This was how the beginning of the diary was written.

This was a Grave Robber’s diary. Looked like this pile of skeletal remains’ ident.i.ty could be confirmed. The diary was already missing the front few pages but luckily the records in the diary could be said to be complete, and this is what Xiao Bei hoped for.

What were they excavating in this tomb? Unless it was that mysterious coffin? Truth and fiction, what’s its implication? Harboring doubts in his heart, Xiao Bei continued to read.

“Li Jiang is a pretty good place. If I’m old, I must settle down here. Everyone had already gone out, leaving only me and Ye Mao in the Inn. I knew they didn’t feel at ease with us. I didn’t want to partic.i.p.ate in grave robber related jobs anymore, but it might be due to this job’s addicting, disease-like after effect, I could not help but want to enter the tomb one more time. This time, after everything ends, I must thoroughly leave this job. On the contrary, Ye Mao, this little fellow was somewhat excited, like I was during my first time."

Xiao Bei guessed that if Ye Mao wasn’t this diary owner’s apprentice, then he must be someone the diary owner was extremely close with, otherwise, the diary owner would not use this tone and even more, allow Ye Mao to follow him.

“They found the general location of the tomb but did not know how to enter. They finally were willing to hand me the information and this was the expected outcome. The design of the tomb was extremely ingenious, far better than what I had seen before. If the cutting of the tomb was not suitable and appropriate, it would trigger the tomb’s mechanism and cause the whole tomb to collapse and be completely buried. This, even more, kindled my compet.i.tive spirit. Hence, Ye Mao and I began to find a favorable part and opened up a hole. This tomb was enormous, it must be the resting place of a superior character. Is it a Tu Si? I suddenly got a premonition that this place was dangerous but I was unable to hold back my curiosity. Whatever, let’s talk after going in.

"Our desires were fulfilled after we broke past the mechanism and into a tunnel. The s.p.a.ce inside the tunnel was very large and the route was also very intricate. There were about 34 small rooms and all of them contained small funerary objects but, of course, they were all priceless. The team told me to have them! This felt inconceivable to me. Were they not going to turn over these things to the country? Unless? There was only one explanation and that was, this exploration was done in private!

"There must be undivulged secrets relating to this place and I really want to know what these people were searching for but I was unable to tell. I felt like I was being used as a tool. I make sure that Ye Mao did not touch anything in here first and put this off until everything was over.

"However, nothing was going smoothly as there was too much strangeness in here. On the first day, the archaeologist’s team member died with his whole body rotted beyond recognition. On the second day, an unlucky fellow was shot into a sieve and another was burnt till nothing was left. I still could not believe there was this kind of team. Our progress became slower and through the many delays that hindered us, we finally found the main chamber, but it was empty! As the supplies we brought had a little left, we could only abort the exploration and return to the Inn.

"Before our return, I noticed that we seemed to be watched. This was my many years of intuition, it can’t be wrong. As a matter of fact, I also really hoped that I was wrong. The feeling of being treated as a prey felt very uncomfortable!”

The recollection in the diary seemed to break off for a period of time. Reading further, the diary recorded his insignificant day-to-day activities here and nothing strange. This continued for several pages and Xiao Bei felt that he was starting to fall asleep till there was finally a change that occurred in the diary.

“We had already stayed in the tomb for nearly half a month but fortunately nothing happened. The feeling of being watched also slowly disappeared. I could not bear to continue staying in here and Ye Mao, this fellow, also began to not be able to sit still. Today, we were going to bid farewell to the rest of the team and later at night take a car to leave this place. We did not take the things from the tomb as it would be better to leave them here. In here, everything is covered under the veil of unusualness and strangeness and I dared not take any. My master once told me, things that should not be taken, you must absolutely not be too greedy. Hence even when Ye Mao was unwilling to part with the things inside, I still had to take him away.

"However, I found that I was wrong. Ye Mao and I were unable to leave as we had to partic.i.p.ate in the funeral of the team’s leader. Things had become uncontrollable and my intuition was right, we were being drawn into an enormous whirlpool!”

The story in the diary took a huge jump and currently, Xiao Bei could only guess to rationalize the situation written in the diary. The surrounding was filled with a terrifying atmosphere and Xiao Bei was brought back to reality by it. What exactly happened? Xiao Bei deeply sucked in a breath and looked at fatty. Fatty was like a stone and did not move. Since fatty had said before to read this diary, so let’s finish it.

“The leader died in the morning and before that everything was normal. Life is very frail, leaving without any sign. Behind the shoulder of the corpse, I noticed a few small little red dots. I figured something out but was unable to put my finger on it. I needed confirmation. When the team was sorting out the dead’s belongings, I found a jade which was not something he had when alive! I’m very sure that this thing did not belong to the leader but something he had brought out from the tomb!”

Jade! It turned out to be a jade! Xiao Bei was shocked. This, was this a coincidence? No, it couldn’t be. Xiao Bei believed that this was not a coincidence. If he guessed correctly, the jade written in the diary should be same jade that fatty was carrying!

Xiao Bei hurriedly flipped to the next page but regretfully, for a number of days the owner did not record in the diary and left it blank. Regarding these few blank pages, something big must have happened and the owner did not have the time to write down.

Soon after, Xiao Bei noticed that the situation was becoming more troublesome.

“I still could not believe what was happening before me. There was a hole that led to a cave below the altar! This place was unusually quiet and everyone was fully alert. It might be due to the shadow of that night when the leader suddenly woke up. The scene was still fresh in the mind. For the dead to once again awaken was something n.o.body could have imagined. I once saw a Zong Zi but when the corpse"s body changed, it wasn’t like this. The leader’s body was normal, except for his face showing him undergoing livor mortis which confirmed his death. However, his body had warmth!”

[TLN: Zong Zi=Zombie;