Chapter 1361 — Returned Again

"That's right." Wei Zhao nodded. "I keep feeling there's something alive in this tomb, and that those people may have been eaten by it."

"A tomb keeper?" At Wei Zhao's words, Yu Xiaoke could not help but cry out.

"What's a tomb keeper?" Wei Zhao was no grave robber, so naturally he had never heard of such a thing.

"A tomb keeper is a guardian of the tomb. At first they were the household servants of the tomb's master; as the generations went on, they might be the servants' descendants, or the servants of servants. But such people are very rare now," Yu Xiaoke said.

"You mean there are tomb keepers in this ancient tomb? And one of them ate these people?" Wei Zhao asked.

"It could be a person, but it could also be a spirit beast, a tomb-guarding spirit beast. There are records of them in certain old grave-robbing chronicles. It is a kind of spirit beast that exists solely to guard a tomb; it lodges in the ancient tomb and keeps it safe. When no one is about, it survives in a state of tortoise breathing, rather like hibernation. But the moment someone breaks in, the tomb-guarding spirit beast wakes, devours the would-be grave robbers to fill its belly, and then sinks back into hibernation..." Yu Xiaoke explained. "If these people were not eaten by their own companions, then most likely they were eaten by a tomb-guarding spirit beast."

"Oh? Such things exist?" Wei Zhao was rather surprised. "Then Old Black and the others do not know?"

"Maybe they know, maybe they don't. It is only a legend, after all. I read about it in some old grave-robbing texts. It may have been invented to frighten people. In any case, in all these years I have never heard of anyone running into a tomb-guarding spirit beast. Tomb keepers, now, those people have met, but none of them lived inside the ancient tombs. They all lived near them!" Yu Xiaoke said. "And after dozens or even a hundred generations of succession, many of these tomb keepers no longer even know where the tomb is. All they have is a legend about some ancestor."

"I see." Wei Zhao nodded. He guessed that this tomb-guarding spirit beast was like the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit his own old man had seen, one of those rarest of rare things that few people still believed in. "Then those people probably ran into the legendary tomb-guarding spirit beast. Lucky them."

"Then those people... will they be eaten too?" A frown touched Qiu Lingshan's brow, so faint as to be almost imperceptible.

"Who knows?" Wei Zhao shrugged.

Qiu Lingshan said nothing more. Matters had gone beyond anything she had expected. She did not want these grave robbers to die; she wanted them brought to justice. But things no longer turned on what she wished. Even Wei Zhao was powerless.

If Wei Zhao had been sure of himself, he would not be sitting here waiting.

So Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian exchanged a glance, and both fell silent. Never mind. If they could at least arrest the small fry left behind up above, that would count as a gain.

"By the way... Male Thief, may I ask you something?" Yu Xiaoke finally could not hold back. She and Male Thief had scarcely exchanged a few words before, and since they were hardly acquainted, she had not dared say much. But now the two of them had talked a good deal, and she was no longer as nervous as before.

"What is it?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Why... why did you help me?" Yu Xiaoke asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Oh..." Wei Zhao did not know whether he ought to reveal his identity. He pondered a moment, then decided not to stir up trouble for the time being, and smiled. "I think you're pretty. I want to take you as my concubine. Will that do?"

"Gah?" Yu Xiaoke's eyes went wide, and Wei Zhao's words set her face burning red on the spot. She coughed twice and stammered, "N-no... surely not?"

Looking at Yu Xiaoke's startled face, Wei Zhao only smiled. "So the things you shouldn't ask, you'd best not ask."

"Oh..." Yu Xiaoke nodded, though she still felt a little embarrassed.

Qiu Lingshan, standing to one side, was so angry she could hardly bear it. She nearly leaped up and jabbed a finger at Wei Zhao to demand: just what is wrong with me? Why would you rather take some female thief as a concubine than even consider me? I'm furious, furious!

"Heh—" Wei Zhao thought this girl Yu Xiaoke was a rather amusing sort.

"You... how much are you worth?" After a spell of silence, Yu Xiaoke suddenly asked.

"Hm?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.

"It's nothing, really. I just want to see how much you're worth, whether it's worth my being your concubine. That is, how much bride price can you give me?" Yu Xiaoke asked, as though quite in earnest.

"I was joking," Wei Zhao said. Seeing how serious Yu Xiaoke looked, he suddenly felt a pang of discomfort.

Wei Zhao had more or less guessed what was in Yu Xiaoke's mind. She probably assumed that the husband-and-wife thieves must be very rich; grave robbers, how could they not be rich? Or perhaps she had also seen that robbing graves for others was simply too dangerous, especially this time, when one misstep meant death. And so the notion of selling herself had come to her again: if she could fetch a good price and leave the orphanage free of worry, then Yu Xiaoke would very likely have nodded and agreed.

In her eyes there seemed to be no thought at all for her own interests or happiness, only for the children of the orphanage.

"Heh heh, I was joking too..." Yu Xiaoke smiled.

In truth, Wei Zhao had guessed right. Yu Xiaoke was thinking exactly what he imagined. If Wei Zhao could produce a sum of money that would build the orphanage up fine and beautiful, a sum that would keep it free from want for a very, very long time, then she would be glad to be his concubine, or his serving maid.

But then Yu Xiaoke shook her head with a touch of self-mockery. She was no golden phoenix; on what grounds would anyone spend that much money on her? Was it even possible? She reckoned her own fancies could ruin Male Thief outright. Even if he truly meant to take her as a concubine, once he heard her terms he would be scared off.

The four of them waited there a while. After roughly half an hour, disordered footsteps suddenly came again from the passage ahead.

"They're back?" Qiu Lingshan asked upon hearing the footsteps.

"Seems they're running back?" Chen Yutian frowned in some perplexity.

"This is bad!" Wei Zhao's heart sank with a jolt. The jade pendant's warning signal was growing stronger and stronger, which meant that Elder Yu, Old Black, and the others had brought the danger back with them.

Sure enough, mingled with those disordered footsteps came shrill, anguished screams.

"Help!... We're done for! A ghost... there's a ghost in this tomb, it's going to eat us..."

It was Old Black's voice. From the sound of it, he had been frightened out of his wits; his voice had gone piercingly shrill. Even so, he kept howling without pause: "Elder Yu, wait for me! Don't leave me behind!"