Chapter 1 Sometimes

Sometimes I really hate how good my hearing is. I always pick up on strange noises. If it were just odd sounds in everyday life, that'd be one thing, but this is a tomb! It's terrifying.

It wasn't until Little Liang came to find me that I realized I wasn't wrong. There really *was* crying coming from somewhere in the tomb.

Before I could answer, Old Wei came over and asked, "Did you guys hear it too? Sounds like someone's crying outside the burial chamber. Damn, is this place haunted?"

Little Liang's pretty face went pale as a sheet at those words.

Even though this wasn't her first time entering a tomb, the girl was still easily frightened.

Jiang Yongguang quickly stopped him, "Old Wei! Don't scare Little Liang. She's easily spooked. Haunting or not, there's no such thing as ghosts in this world!"

Old Wei chuckled, saying apologetically, "Alright, alright, I won't talk nonsense. Don't be scared, Little Liang, there are no ghosts in this world."

But beads of cold sweat had already appeared on Little Liang's forehead. She secretly took my hand. I felt her palm; good grief, it was soaking wet!

Just then, Jiang Yongguang pulled out his weapon from his waist, aimed it towards the tunnel outside the burial chamber, and whispered, "Let's go check it out!"

Old Wei and the others immediately followed behind Jiang Yongguang, providing cover. Me, Uncle Mei, and Little Liang were about to go too, but a Xiaoling Guard stopped us, signaling for us to stay in the burial chamber and not move.

We nodded, and had no choice but to stay put for now.

Soon, Jiang Yongguang and the others reached the tunnel. Immediately after, I suddenly heard the crying stop, replaced by a weak voice calling out, "Help! Help! Save me! Help!"

Jiang Yongguang shouted immediately, "Don't move! Put your hands up! Face the wall, hands above your head, now!"

Then, the person said weakly, "Don't kill me! I'll cooperate! I'll talk! I'll cooperate! I'll talk!"

Hearing this, Little Liang finally breathed a sigh of relief, whispering, "It must be one of the Yang Guo tomb robbing gang, huh? Guess he was crying just now."

"Yeah, I knew there couldn't be ghosts in this tomb. I'm a veteran who's been in three tombs, and I've never seen a ghost," I said with a smile.

Little Liang couldn't help but giggle, "A veteran who's been in three tombs, how come you turned pale when you heard the crying just now?"

I huffed, unconvinced, "So what if I turned pale? I'm naturally pale-skinned, known as the Jade-Faced Gentleman! Besides, at least I didn't sweat through my hands in fear."

Upon hearing this, Little Liang's face suddenly flushed red, and she quickly pulled her hand out of mine, arguing defensively, "I... I only sweated because it's too cold in the tomb, not... not because I was scared!"

I chuckled and pointed towards the outside of the burial chamber, saying, "Let's go, let's go see the Xiaoling Guards catching rats."

"Mm-hmm," Little Liang nodded and stepped out of the burial chamber ahead of me.

When I got outside, I looked up and saw the Xiaoling Guards surrounding a young man in his twenties, with an ordinary appearance, squinty eyes, and dyed yellow hair. His clothing was similar to the few dead "rats" we had seen before, clearly one of Yang Guo's tomb robbing gang.

This guy looked disheveled, with bloodstains all over his clothes. One of his legs was slightly bent, as if he was injured; he must have either sprained his ankle or broken his leg. He looked pathetic.

But even so, Jiang Yongguang didn't let his guard down. Without saying a word, he slapped a pair of silver bracelets on him, then searched him from head to toe, confiscating any potentially dangerous weapons like daggers, Luoyang shovels, and grappling hooks.

Old Wei even pulled a pair of dragon-shaped jade pendants from his pocket. It seemed this kid had been planning to steal some treasure for himself.

After everything was taken care of, Jiang Yongguang sternly asked, "Speak! You came down here to rob the tomb, even breaking through three protective gates. You must be a capable digger. What's your name? Who's your boss? Who's your eye man? How many people are in your gang? Are you a leg or a worker? What's your job?"

Hearing Jiang Yongguang's jargon, the kid knew that he was specifically targeting tomb robbers.

It was obvious that if they weren't Xiaoling Guards specifically targeting tomb robbers, they wouldn't have chased them all the way down into this tomb.

"Could it be that you heroes are... the famous Xiaoling Guards?"

The yellow-haired kid had some knowledge, and asked nervously.

"You have good eyes," Jiang Yongguang sneered, "Since you recognize us, don't try any tricks! Confess and be lenient, resist and be severely punished!"

The yellow-haired kid nodded repeatedly, saying in a good-natured tone, "Definitely! Definitely! If you guys hadn't arrived in time, I might have lost my life here. Ask away, I'll answer everything and cooperate fully!"

After saying that, he asked with a smile, "Do you have any water? I've been trapped in this hellhole for who knows how long, I haven't had water in ages, I'm so thirsty..."

Old Wei snorted, "You're full of requests!"

But he still took a bottle of mineral water from his bag, twisted off the cap, and stuck it to his mouth.

The yellow-haired kid had silver bracelets on his hands, so he couldn't hold the bottle himself. He could only let Old Wei pour water into his mouth. Old Wei poured it in hard, and he almost choked. He quickly shook his head, indicating that he had enough.

After drinking the water, the yellow-haired kid said contentedly, "Answering you officers, my name is Little Ming. My boss's nickname in the business is Yang Guo. As for who the eye man is, the boss didn't tell us. He only said that it was an expert from the capital, specializing in finding big tombs..."

"Little Ming?" Jiang Yongguang narrowed his eyes as he listened, seemingly not believing that was his name.

I also thought the name was a little too casual.

Does anyone really call themselves Little Ming?

The yellow-haired Little Ming quickly guaranteed, "I swear to God, my name is really Little Ming, but that's not my real name. We're all using aliases in this line of work. My surname is Wang, and my full name is Wang Xiaojun. When I followed the boss to rob tombs, he told me that everyone in this business uses an alias. I said I might as well call myself Little Jun. The boss said, 'Your damn name is already Little Jun, and you want your alias to be Little Jun too, are you afraid the authorities won't catch you?' When I heard that, I thought it made sense, so I changed it to Little Ming."

Jiang Yongguang's mouth twitched after hearing that, and he said, "You chose that alias a little too casually, the chances of someone else having the same name are pretty high, right?"

The yellow-haired Little Ming shook his head, "Don't you know, I've been in this business for several years, and I really haven't met a second Little Ming! I guess they all think the name is too common and don't want to use it."

Jiang Yongguang glared at him and scolded, "Alright, stop being a smart-ass! How many people are in your gang? Where are the others right now?"

The yellow-haired Little Ming immediately looked distraught, and said, "We originally had more than a dozen brothers who came down here, but this damn tomb has too many traps, several brothers lost their lives, and the rest... the rest..."

"The rest what?" Jiang Yongguang impatiently scolded.

The yellow-haired Little Ming suddenly widened his eyes, and said with a terrified expression, "Officer, there are ghosts in this tomb! Our brothers encountered ghosts! The rest of them, I'm afraid... I'm afraid... they were killed by ghosts!"