Chapter 2360 - 2263: The Oil Rat’s Secret
Chapter 2360: Chapter 2263: The Oil Rat’s Secret
Luofu Mountain is in Guangcheng. This time, Zhou Shitao and his group didn’t fly; instead, they opted for the bullet train and specifically placed the Oil Rat in their carriage, along with several professors, Huo Sining, Su Qingqing, Ding Liang, and others. They rented out a deluxe compartment on the train.
This arrangement was due to the Oil Rat’s particular circumstances. After all, throughout the journey, he was watched by two criminal police officers and couldn’t be in a compartment with ordinary people. If any mistake allowed him to escape, it would be difficult to report back.
Fortunately, the Oil Rat remained quite well-behaved throughout the trip, refraining from any tricks. He clearly knew that no matter how much he struggled, it would be futile—better to obediently accept the arrangements.
This operation was arranged quite suddenly. While rushing to Guangcheng, Zhou Shitao maintained contact with Guangcheng’s Cultural Relics Bureau to prepare for the ancient tomb excavation, while simultaneously questioning the Oil Rat about specific details regarding Luofu Mountain, trying to first get the details of the Luofu Mountain Ancient Tomb.
Zhou Shitao entered the field of archaeology before the liberation; back then, grave robbers were rampant, driven by life’s hardships. Many of his skills and experiences were learned from tomb robbery experts, so he didn’t harbor much prejudice against the Oil Rat, this grave robber. However, in today’s environment, this profession is illegal. The Oil Rat knew well the implications of re-entering this line of work.
Therefore, after boarding the train, Zhou Shitao didn’t shy away and sat directly next to the Oil Rat, asking him about Luofu Mountain.
"That place is now considered a 4A grade scenic area. Back then, Qin Lianshan and I personally went to see it. We only vaguely detected an ancient tomb there, but we truly didn’t know its specific location. How did you find it?"
Zhou Shitao was very interested in this point. He was over thirty years older than the Oil Rat and considered himself to have more experience, but even he couldn’t find any useful information. How did this person locate the tomb’s site?
You have to know that his status was worlds apart from the Oil Rat’s. He could freely access restricted archival materials in major national libraries and repositories, giving him an absolute advantage over the Oil Rat. Yet, under these conditions, he still couldn’t find the specific location of the Luofu Mountain Ancient Tomb. This made Zhou Shitao feel somewhat ashamed and embarrassed.
The Oil Rat’s expression shifted, remaining silent for a while before letting out a long sigh and slowly speaking: "My family dates back over a thousand years, with an ancestor who was a highly skilled artisan. This ancestor was known for his expertise in tomb Feng Shui and mechanism crafting, becoming the leader of underground craftsman at that time."
"This tomb Feng Shui and mechanism crafting skill were passed down generations, becoming the core of our family. Only direct descendants could receive the inheritance."
"However, during the Republic of China era, due to various reasons, the Ji Family declined. The sole heir of the main house had some incident, causing the lineage to break. To prevent this core skill from disappearing, the master of the Ji Family at the time adopted my grandfather and another side-room child, passing the core technique to these two adopted children."
"My grandfather was more interested in tomb Feng Shui, having no talent at all in mechanism crafting. Thus, what was ultimately passed into his hands was only a secret book."
"This booklet contained only a dozen tomb Feng Shui maps."
"Because of this booklet, my grandfather barely survived the Cultural Revolution by hiding everywhere. Later, he passed his tomb excavation skills and that booklet down to me."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Shitao was quite surprised. He didn’t ask the Oil Rat whether he could take a look at the booklet, as this was an ancestral heritage of the Ji Family, explicitly only passed to direct descendants. Zhou Shitao wasn’t unreasonable; he wasn’t shameless enough to use authority to pressure others.
"So, you located the Luofu Mountain Ancient Tomb through the Feng Shui map inside that booklet?" Zhou Shitao asked curiously.
The Oil Rat nodded: "The booklet features Feng Shui maps of a thousand-year-old ancient tomb, about a dozen, all major tombs. Among them is the Feng Shui map of Luofu Mountain, so when I first visited the Luofu Mountain Scenic Area and saw the landscape there, it felt familiar. I instantly recognized the place was exactly as depicted in the Feng Shui map."
Zhou Shitao suddenly understood, pondering for a while before tentatively asking: "Have you been to all those dozen maps?"
The question was asked politely, but the Oil Rat still felt a bit embarrassed and uneasy, his face alternating between green and white. After a moment, he shook his head: "In fact, I’ve only visited three places. The booklet contains twelve major tomb Feng Shui maps, but over half of the tombs have either been visited or excavated by archaeological teams, so there’s no longer a need for tomb raiding."
The three places the Oil Rat mentioned, Huo Sining was aware, were likely the Yunling Ancient Tomb in Xianning, the underground maze near the Miao Village, and the third was probably the Luofu Mountain Ancient Tomb.
There was no change in Zhou Shitao’s expression, but he certainly wasn’t calm inside.
He wanted to ask the Oil Rat whose tombs the rest were, but he didn’t know if that would be considered too intrusive.
Ultimately, being a person of status, he scorned taking advantage of others in vulnerable positions.
Zhou Shitao was hesitant, but Huang Zhenlong, sitting on the other side while eavesdropping, wasn’t so considerate. Known for wringing the feathers off passing geese and being the shameless director, he wasn’t above exploiting even Huo Sining, not to mention the Oil Rat, who was a criminal.
"Aside from the discovered tombs, how many maps do you have left that you haven’t visited? Whose tombs are they?"
Huang Zhenlong, with a loud voice, directly leaned over the back of Zhou Shitao’s seat to ask the Oil Rat.
Once this question was asked, Shi Qingyun and Xie Daoyuan all turned to look at the Oil Rat, while beside him, Zhou Shitao glared disapprovingly at Huang Zhenlong.
Huang Zhenlong’s face, however, showed a nonchalant expression: "Old Zhou, you’re good at everything but one thing: you’re too pedantic."
"What is there to fuss over? He’s about to become a prisoner. What’s the use of holding onto that worthless booklet? Better to hand it over and make full use of it. If that booklet indeed proves useful, then he should be glad, because such a notable achievement could potentially allow him to have his crimes pardoned!"