"That should be a pomegranate tree, right, Lin Xian?"

Gao Yang excitedly patted Lin Xian on the back.

"Even if it didn't bear any pomegranates, I probably wouldn't be able to tell, but this tree is clearly out of sync with the surrounding environment. The style is completely different!"

Lin Xian nodded.

"Don't worry, that's a pomegranate tree. I've watched pomegranates bloom and grow since I was a kid. I won't mistake it."

Bright red flowers.

Like fire, like blood, like the sunset.

That was the unique shape and color of pomegranate flowers. There was absolutely no mistaking it!

"Quick, quick, quick, let's go down quickly."

Lin Xian and Gao Yang turned around and walked back, then found a downhill path and successfully arrived at the valley.

The two didn't care about the dead branches and thorny flowers under their feet. One after the other, they stepped through the knee-high greenery and quickly walked towards the long-sought pomegranate tree.

In a little while.

The two of them stepped out a path of varying depths on the flat lawn and successfully arrived in front of the pomegranate tree.

Panting, rubbing their slightly itchy arms, the two raised their heads and looked at the huge pomegranate tree, which was several meters high, almost ten meters high.

"Pome...pomegranate trees, can they usually grow this tall and big? That's too exaggerated, right?"

Gao Yang bent down, hands on his knees, and exclaimed,

"I've never seen a pomegranate tree this big before, not in reality, not in movies or TV series. Could this one be a mutant?"

Lin Xian shook his head.

"Obviously, this is a cultivated variety that was planted in the wild and then left without pruning or intervention."

"My great uncle used to grow pomegranate trees and had to prune the branches frequently. Because if you cut off one branch, two or three new branches would grow from the cut, and naturally there would be more fruit."

"But look now... this pomegranate tree has such a good growing environment. There are no big trees around to block the sunlight, and no thick roots to compete with it for nutrients. These weeds and wildflowers can't root that deeply either."

"So, the nutrients, water, and sunlight all belong to this pomegranate tree. Plus, it's been growing wildly for 24 years without anyone managing it, so it's not strange that it's grown so big. But to be honest, the fruit from such a pomegranate tree usually wouldn't be very tasty; the nutrients are all being used in the wrong places."

Hiss...

Gao Yang shivered.

"Even if it's tasty, who would dare to eat fruit from a tree on a grave?"

He opened his phone and found that there was still a signal here, which was good. He marked it on the map software so he wouldn't get lost next time.

Lin Xian walked around the pomegranate tree.

Instinctively... people usually don't plant trees in front of graves, right? They should plant them behind where the coffin is buried, or directly above it, which would be the most reasonable.

If it was directly above, that would be really troublesome. Such a large pomegranate tree couldn't be handled by just him and Gao Yang with their small shovels without heavy machinery.

But it wasn't absolutely impossible. After all, this was a pomegranate tree, not a poplar or willow that was so thick. If they brought a chainsaw, it would be enough to deal with it as needed.

"How well did you prepare the supplies? Are they comprehensive enough?"

Lin Xian looked back at Gao Yang.

"I trust you, so I haven't asked you all along. Although sometimes you always lead me down the wrong path... you're still generally reliable."

Snap!

Gao Yang snapped his fingers.

"Don't worry, there's not a single problem. And before I came, I contacted a local car rental shop and rented a Toyota Prado, which can carry things and go off-road, to help us transport stuff."

"Seriously, Lin Xian, we really have to thank Zhang Yuqian's parents for choosing such a great feng shui burial ground. It's not near any villages or shops, it's remote and hard to find... so we have this opportunity to dig up the grave."

"Otherwise... if she had really been buried in the ancestral graves in the family's fields according to custom, forget about digging up the grave, we probably would have been beaten to death by their clan before we even got there with shovels."

Lin Xian nodded.

"It's a stroke of good luck within misfortune, I guess. But this situation is inevitable."

He explained to Gao Yang,

"Think about it, why did Zhang Yuqian's father bury her here and choose such a remote place for the grave? That means he still feels guilty! If he wasn't guilty, if there was nothing hidden about that car accident back then, he could have buried his daughter in the family's ancestral grave openly and honorably."

"That's actually better. At least it means... we won't come back empty-handed this time. We'll always find out some truth."

"Then let's go back now and prepare. You go drive and take care of the equipment. I'll survey the surrounding environment again to ensure that everything is foolproof. By the way, I'll buy us both some clothes for doing rough work, otherwise, we'll be covered in cuts again. And then buy some flashlights, food, drinking water, and stuff like that."

"Let's contact each other by phone when we're both ready. Around... six or seven o'clock in the evening, shall we meet at the entrance to the mountain?"

Gao Yang listened.

He seemed lost in thought.

He walked around the pomegranate tree twice, pinching his fingers in a strange gesture, muttering to himself,

"Searching for the dragon, dividing gold, looking at the winding mountains... one fold wound is one fold of barrier..."

Whoosh.

He opened his eyes, his expression solemn.

"No, six or seven o'clock is too early. It should be later."

"What are you calculating, pretending to be something you're not."

"You don't understand! There are rules! And at six or seven o'clock, those tourists haven't completely left the mountain yet. If we really run into those hikers who go where there's no path... they'd definitely call the police if they saw us digging up someone's grave!

Gao Yang waved his hand.

"So, nine o'clock! We'll meet at the entrance we came in at nine o'clock."

He snorted.

"Dark night, high winds, time for tomb raiding!"

……

Ten o'clock at night.

Dark night, high winds.

The light that belonged to the night was completely covered by dark clouds.

Not only could you not see the moon in the sky, but you couldn't even see a single star.

Lin Xian and Gao Yang, fully armed, stood in the valley, ten meters away from the pomegranate tree, looking ahead.

"No."

Lin Xian turned his head, looking at Gao Yang, whose equipment was exaggerated.

"Are you serious?"

At this time, Gao Yang.

He was wearing a miner's hat, holding a Luoyang shovel in his left hand, a trench shovel in his right hand, a large cloth bag filled with glutinous rice around his waist, and an ivory mojinfu (tomb raiding talisman) around his neck.

The most important thing was...

He had a black donkey hoof in his mouth!

Lin Xian could tolerate everything else, but he really couldn't tolerate this.

"Black donkey hooves are for stuffing in zombies' mouths, what are you doing with it in your own mouth? Do you want to kiss a zombie or spit it into its mouth?"

"Ah, really? I misremembered."

Gao Yang broke off the black donkey hoof from his mouth, wiped the saliva off on his clothes, and put it in his pants pocket in a handy position.

"But all this equipment is very useful. To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools!"

He raised the assembled Luoyang shovel in his hand and looked at Lin Xian.

"This thing is used to locate the position of the coffin. It's very necessary. The pomegranate tree itself is so big, and the surrounding space is so big, we have to accurately locate the position of the coffin before we can start digging, right?"

"You don't have to explain the principle. Hurry up and get to work," Lin Xian urged.

Gao Yang unloaded the other equipment from his back.

Then he picked up the sharp Luoyang shovel and twisted two more sections onto it to increase the length.

The Luoyang shovel is different from ordinary shovels. Its main function is not to shovel soil or build walls, but is composed of several hollow steel pipes. The cylindrical shovel at the head is very sharp and can easily pierce into the soil.

This is actually a geological tool used for deep soil sampling, analysis, and research. But Gao Yang had obviously done some strange homework, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Coffins are generally not buried too deep, so there is no need for such a professional tool at all.

If you really want to locate it, just take a long steel bar or a sharp iron rod and poke it directly into the ground. When you can't poke it any further, when it gets stuck halfway, it's likely that you've poked into the coffin.

Lin Xian was too lazy to argue with Gao Yang so much.

He just wanted to open Zhang Yuqian's coffin as soon as possible to see what was hidden inside and whether there were any remains.

Gao Yang had obviously gotten into character.

He bent over and stepped forward, picked up the Luoyang shovel, held it high with both hands! And thrust it down!

Fsssh—

The sound of moist and smooth entry into the soil.

Then Gao Yang rotated and applied pressure, and the Luoyang shovel continued to penetrate. There was little length left above the ground.

"Not here."

Gao Yang pulled out the Luoyang shovel and changed to another place.

"The coffin won't be buried so deep, so it's definitely not in this position. I'll try poking in another place."

He changed several places and poked the Luoyang shovel into the ground.

Finally!

Clack!

A crisp sound!

Gao Yang used all his strength to insert the Luoyang shovel into the ground, but this time it only went a few dozen centimeters into the soil and then stopped abruptly, hitting something hard!

"Lin Xian! Come quick!"

Gao Yang shouted excitedly.

"We've struck gold!"

Lin Xian jogged over, grabbed the Luoyang shovel, which was like a thin steel pipe, and poked it up and down.

Sure enough.

There was something hard underneath, and it was the muffled sound of hitting wood.

"Coffin..."

Lin Xian said softly.

"It seems that what the old grandma said was true. Zhang Yuqian's grave is buried here."

Then, the two continued to use the Luoyang shovel to locate the coffin.

With a reference point, the rest was much easier. Soon, by constantly inserting the Luoyang shovel, the two had completely determined the position and size of the coffin.

"Phew..."

Gao Yang threw away the Luoyang shovel and wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.

"Fortunately, the position of the coffin is in front of the pomegranate tree, and it's quite a distance away. We don't have to worry about the influence of the pomegranate tree's roots in this position. And it's not buried too deep... of course, it's also possible that the soil has been lost due to wind and rain over the years. I have to say, we're really lucky."

"Indeed," Lin Xian agreed.

"But there must be something strange about something unusual!"

"Can you shut up for a second? Let's dig."

……

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

The two of them used a shovel and a spade to start digging the soil above the coffin. Soon, they dug down to the coffin lid.

There was no moonlight, and when the flashlight shone on it, the paint had long since rotted and peeled off, and only the rough, original color of the wood could be seen. The quality of this wood was really good. It had been buried in the ground for more than twenty years, but it was still so hard and had not completely rotted.

"It's also thanks to the north, where the air and soil are relatively dry. If this were in the south, even the best wood would have rotted completely after being buried in the ground for twenty years."

Gao Yang said as he dug.

"So Zhang Yuqian's father was indeed quite rich. The coffin was made of good wood, solid wood. I even think the material is rosewood. Gee... rosewood furniture is so expensive. How much would a rosewood coffin this big cost? And this rosewood board is pretty good. It could definitely be processed into a tea table."

"Can you shut up for a second?"

Lin Xian frowned, stopped the spade in his hand, and looked at Gao Yang.

"We're digging up a grave, not looking for treasure. I'm already pretty nervous, what are you blabbering on about?"

"I'm distracting myself!"

Gao Yang shouted.

"Damn it, it's a dark night with high winds, a desolate wilderness, and we're digging a coffin, and there's a female corpse hidden inside... Who wouldn't be terrified!"

Not long after.

The two of them finally shoveled all the soil off the coffin lid. The thick coffin lid was tightly sealed on the coffin and nailed shut.

Although the edges had rotted.

But such a heavy solid wood board couldn't be lifted by two people. They had to use a crowbar.

This kind of crowbar has a sharp end that can be inserted directly into the gap between the coffin lid and the coffin board. Then, with a force, it can be pried up directly using the principle of leverage.

Lin Xian pursed his lips.

He really felt that in this deep mountain forest, a coffin, plus the pomegranate flowers in front that were as bright as blood... he really felt a chill running down his spine.

"Hurry up."

Lin Xian threw the crowbar in his hand to Gao Yang and picked up another one himself.

"Pry open the coffin. Let's see what's inside."

"Wait a minute."

Gao Yang was as if facing a formidable enemy and stopped Lin Xian.

Then he untied the cloth bag around his waist and, while walking around the coffin, took out the glutinous rice inside and sprinkled it around the coffin.

"I'll draw a barrier first."

"Is this the materialistic weapon you were talking about?" Lin Xian complained.

"This is."

Gao Yang took out a candle from his backpack and waved it in front of his eyes.

"We have to light a candle in the southeast corner of the coffin. As long as the candle doesn't go out, it means we're okay. If the candle goes out, it means the owner of the tomb doesn't agree with us stealing things, and we have to leave everything as it is."

"Is there anyone who would agree with this?"

"Oh, why do you have so many questions! That's how traditions and rules have been passed down for so many years, don't ask so many questions! It's disrespectful!"

With that, Gao Yang ignored Lin Xian and walked straight to the northeast corner of the coffin.

He inserted the candle into the soil.

Then he pressed the lighter and lit the candle.

In this quiet and cold deep mountain forest, you couldn't see your fingers. At this time, a small ball of warm candlelight flickered, which was a bit warm for a moment.

"Okay."

Gao Yang clapped his hands.

"The preparations are complete. Let's open the coffin!"

He bent down, picked up the solid steel crowbar on the ground, and stood with Lin Xian on one side of the narrow corner of the coffin lid.

Clack! Clack!

The two used force separately, inserted the raised part of the crowbar under the gap in the coffin lid, and then smashed it with the stones they had picked up to make sure that the crowbar was stuck in so that they could exert force when prying it open later.

Lin Xian and Gao Yang adjusted their postures again.

The coffin lid was indeed very heavy and nailed with nails, so the two had to press down at the same time, in one go, and exert force synchronously to pry open the coffin board.

"Are you ready?"

Lin Xian looked at Gao Yang.

Gao Yang glanced vigilantly at the candle burning steadily in the southeast corner, nodded cautiously, and tensed the muscles of his upper arm.

"Ready, you count down!"

Lin Xian took a deep breath.

He exerted force with both hands and gripped the crowbar in his palms.

"3, 2, 1, pry!"

The two gritted their teeth and exerted force at the same time!

Eeya~~~~~~

A strange sound similar to a cat's meow came!

In an instant!

A corner of moonlight moved out from behind the dark clouds, illuminating the swirling clouds, illuminating the silent deep mountains, and shining into the crack in the coffin that had been pried open.

Whoosh—

Suddenly, a gust of night wind blew, and the candle burning in the southeast corner of the coffin was extinguished in an instant.

Gao Yang's face turned pale!

The crowbar in his hand fell to the ground with a clang. He fell to his knees with a thud, put his hands together.

"Ancestral Grandma! Ancestral Grandma! Forgive us! We're leaving now! Don't come over! Don't come out!"

"Are you sick, Gao Yang!"

Lin Xian really couldn't take it anymore.

"There was nothing to be afraid of in the first place, but you hyped up the atmosphere! Come over here!"

However, Gao Yang was already scared out of his wits, his hands trembling as he rummaged through the black donkey hoof in his pocket, unable to hold it steady.

"Good for nothing, but more than enough to spoil things."

Lin Xian cursed inwardly, stood up straight, and used his whole weight to step on the crowbar with his left foot. The principle of leverage once again pried up the coffin lid, making a creaking sound; then, his right foot aimed at the popped coffin lid and kicked it hard to the side.

Boom! "Ah!!!! Eat my donkey hoof!"

The coffin board that had been moved heavily slammed down and shifted, and the sound of the ground shaking and Gao Yang's howl came at the same time.

Gao Yang's black donkey hoof missed its target.

It flew directly over the coffin and hit the pomegranate tree behind it. A few branches and leaves trembled, and petals fell, and it immediately returned to calm.

Lin Xian let out a long breath...

Then he took a step forward.

He lowered his head.

He let the light from the miner's hat shine into the coffin.

Neat, clean.

Neatly folded piles of clothes, a stack of notebooks neatly piled in the corner of the coffin, a once-popular doll, a Sony Walkman, a makeup mirror, photo albums, flat awards certificates, upright trophies, hair clips and hair ties in a glass box, a red leather certificate tied with ribbons, a pink plastic photo frame...

This didn't look like a coffin.

It was more like a storage room for a young girl.

Lin Xian slowly raised his head.

The spotlight of the miner's hat moved up, illuminating the photo frame that was placed on top of the makeup box.

In the photo was a girl with a flower-like smile.

She made a nimble V-sign and looked over here.

A dashing dark brown ponytail fluttered behind her head;

Beautiful eyes curved into two shallow crescent moons;

Cute dimples on both sides of her mouth were faintly visible;

A beauty mark on her left eye...

Just right.