Book 1: Chapter 14: Baiyue People

Book 1: Chapter 14: Baiyue People

I carefully thought over everything while on the train. Yang Daguang's ancestors must have been in the South Sea Kings tomb and stole the murals, sarcophagus, and bronze scales from it. They then came to Funiu Mountain, where they built this secret tomb and hid the stolen objects inside.

This was a group of patient and experienced grave robbers, who were known as "Luoyang Weizi" (1) in the industry. It was a kind of honorary title. After they found a tomb, they often surrounded the land and dug slowly for generations, leaving nothing behind. This meant that they would definitely take more than a few things when they entered the South Sea Kings tomb. But now there was only a sarcophagus full of barnacles in this hidden tomb, which meant that the valuables had already been squandered through the generations.

By the time Yang Daguang went to school, his father was shot and there were very few valuables left. Yang Daguang, who often returned to his hometown to take the treasures from the tomb to sell, slowly discovered that his livelihood was becoming precarious. When he wanted to sell the murals, he somehow noticed the people in the murals listening to thunder and became interested in thunder. After going to Nanjing, he slowly studied thunder and discovered a shocking pattern.

I didnt know when he and Uncle Three had met, but he mustve told Uncle Three about listening to thunder. Uncle Three went into the mountains with him to record thunder for a while, but he never bothered telling me about this experience.

Time flew by. I didnt know what had happened between them, but Yang Daguang died in that secret room in the weather station. Uncle Three later entrusted Jin Wantang to buy the weather station and indirectly told me Yang Daguangs story.

If, as I inferred, he conveyed this man's story to me, then for what purpose? To prove he wasnt dead? To collect Yang Daguangs body? These kinds of things could clearly be expressed in words, so there was no need to send such an ambiguous text. I was a little confused and had no idea what he wanted from me. Was I supposed to find the South Sea Kings tomb or explore the secrets of listening to thunder? It felt like even he didnt know what he needed me to do.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

But according to Fatty, the two tasks were basically the same. There had to be secrets to listening to thunder in the South Sea Kings tomb. After Yang Daguang became interested in this matter, he mustve returned to the tomb and finally got the answer to the question: what's in the thunder? Once he discovered what it was, he devoted himself to recording thunder, which showed that he fully understood its value.

Fatty told me that he felt that Yang Daguang was either looking for a special kind of thunder in order to learn some secrets, or he was greedily collecting the information in the thunder to do something bigger.

But a journey of a thousand miles began with a single step. We first had to follow Yang Daguang's footsteps and return to the South Sea Kings tomb to find out what was in the thunder.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Poker-Face, who had fallen asleep in the backseat. "What the hell does Little Brother normally do? I asked Fatty. Do you know?"

"Has he ever told us whats going on in his life? Fatty answered me. Do you really think that highly of me to ask?"

I looked at Poker-Face suspiciously. The more I thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. Uncle Three had given me a clue pointing to a strange ancient tomb, which just so happened to be related to the place where we lived and all the inexplicable things we had experienced before. And Poker-Face seemed to have discovered it a long time ago.

It was no mere coincidence.

I was just about to start thinking about it more carefully when a jeep in the other lane overtook us. Then, a hand suddenly stretched out of the window and motioned for us to pull over.

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TN Notes:

(1) Luoyang is prefecture-level city in Henan. Weizi can mean to encircle or surround.

(2) Wuping is a county level city in Longyan, Fujian. Theres also a Wuping Era (570576) that Gao Wei, emperor of Northern Qi, named.