Volume 6 Chapter 23 Ten Minutes with God

Uncle San panicked, but he knew he couldn’t afford to panic now. He unhooked the oxygen tank from his body, kicked it away, and then hooked up the one that was connected in series, continuing to look for the entrance.

In fact, things were already very bad at this point. When Uncle San shone his flashlight around, he discovered that it was all dark and gloomy, and he couldn’t even figure out the direction he had come from.

He realized that he had been too naive. Uncle San cursed to himself, and a heart rate more intense than the fear of being trapped in an ancient tomb began to appear. That was when he realized that he might be dead.

However, after this extreme fear, Uncle San calmed down, thinking to himself that he still had ten minutes. He hoped that maybe in these ten minutes, if he couldn’t find it, it would be fine, but it would be a matter of dying early.

He started searching again, relying on his intuition. Soon, the oxygen tank was empty, so he unfastened the airbag and started sucking the air inside. However, it was still dark all around, and this feeling was very frustrating, especially when you want something but can’t find it no matter how hard you look. At this moment, disaster struck twice. Suddenly, Xie Lianhuan’s flashlight flashed and then went out, and all of a sudden it was pitch black all around.

Seeing this, Uncle San said to himself, “It seems that heaven wants me to die, and there is nothing I can do about it.” Just then, he suddenly saw a green light in the darkness ahead of him.

Oh, it’s the ancient corpse of the dance! Uncle San turned on the flashlight on his waist and shone it there. Sure enough, he saw that the group of ancient corpses had floated back again, and they were very close to him, only five or six meters away.

Uncle San felt a glimmer of hope. He thought to himself, “Yes, the ancient corpses’ trajectory passes through that entrance. If I follow these corpses, I will be able to find that entrance.”

So he swam over and into the group of ancient corpses, following them.

As he got closer, he noticed that the ancient corpses seemed to be following a current of water. He also rushed into this current of water and began to float forward automatically. At the same time, he used the searchlight to illuminate the situation above.

However, what made him extremely anxious was that the corpse was drifting very slowly. Soon, he had almost sucked all the air out of the first airbag, but still hadn’t found the entrance.

Uncle San told me that at that time, he was already close to going crazy, but there was nothing he could do. He could only continue to follow, and he could only hope for a miracle. Or, he simply didn’t have the mood to be afraid at that time, and he couldn’t think about oxygen. He just hoped that he could immediately see the entrance.

However, when he finally saw the entrance appear above his head, the second airbag was almost empty. The air in the two water sacs could only last for two minutes at most. If he entered, it would be suicide. If he followed the water flow, he might still have a chance to return to the tomb.

Uncle San looked at the entrance and then looked at the darkness below. He made a decision at that moment. He would try his best to go down. It would only be a matter of dying a little later. Two minutes. Although it was impossible, he still wanted to try. He didn’t want to wait to die.

He took a deep breath and swam upstream. However, as soon as he swam out of the current, he was caught in a whirlpool because the water outside was slow, and he fell and hit an ancient corpse.

The power of the current was quite strong, and Uncle San couldn’t control his posture. He quickly held the ancient corpse and tried to stabilize his body.

At this moment, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He saw that there was gas spurting out of the ancient corpse’s mouth. Huh? He froze for a moment, then pressed the ancient corpse and immediately realized that it was not a real person, but a clay figure made of bamboo and other things, coated with stone glue and mud oil. Moreover, it was obviously hollow, with air inside!

No way, Uncle San thought, and immediately pulled out his dagger and stabbed it in. Immediately, bubbles spurted out from the hole.

Uncle San jumped on it like a vampire, sucking the air inside. After just one breath, he knew there was a door. Although the air inside was extremely unpleasant, it was not poisonous and he could breathe.

Thinking about it, he pulled up the two ancient corpses and pushed them away from the water flow and into the entrance.

It is hard to believe, but Uncle San really managed to save his life.

He returned to the boat. It was already light out and the sun was about to rise. As soon as he got back on the boat, he put the equipment away and saw the third wet suit in the corner. He immediately realized that the person who wanted to kill him must be in the archaeological team.

However, when he returned to his cabin, he found that everyone was sleeping soundly. After looking at each one, he couldn’t tell which one was different.

If it were normal, he would have tied them up one by one and questioned them, but now he couldn’t do that because of Wenjin’s face, so he had to bear it and pretend to sleep. It wasn’t until two hours later that they pretended to find that Xie Lianhuan was missing, so they began to look for him. He had wanted to lead them to the cave, but what he didn’t expect was that they found Xie Lianhuan’s drowned body nearby.

Uncle San said to me, “I don’t know how he got out. From the situation at the time, it’s possible that he woke up, found that the oxygen tank was gone, and was left alone. He panicked, forced himself out, and then drowned. I really didn’t think he would be so stupid, but now that I think about it, it’s kind of my fault that he died.”

I sighed and said to Uncle San, “When you came up, you should have gone down to save him right away. Then this wouldn’t have happened. You could still sleep.”

Uncle San nodded and sighed, “At the time, I felt that it was too dangerous to go down and save him. I didn’t know which person on the boat wanted to kill me. If I went in again, I would probably get caught by someone else. Anyway, after they woke up, they would immediately find that Xie Lianhuan was not there and would definitely go looking for him. I had already left the inflatable boat at the reef at the time. As long as I lead them there at the right time, then I can enter the cave in the chaos. It will take at most half an hour to get there and back. Otherwise, if I go out to sea at night with two sets of equipment, not only will people suspect me, but after rescuing Xie Lianhuan, it will be difficult to explain what happened. “Uncle San shook his head. ”Now you know why I don’t want to talk about this. This is the thing I regret the most.”

Speaking of this, I think of the blood letter. Now it’s clear why Xie Lianhuan thought that Uncle San had harmed him. After Ma’s head was attacked, Xie Lianhuan definitely didn’t know who did it. He couldn’t possibly think that there was a third person in the tomb who followed him in. After waking up, the first thing he thought of was Uncle San, and then when he saw that his diving equipment was gone, he still didn’t think that it was Uncle San who wanted to kill him.

A strange injustice that has lasted for thousands of years. I immediately thought of the misunderstandings in Jin Yong’s novels that could not be solved, and I thought it was literary exaggeration. I never thought it would really happen.

In the end, where did Xie Lianhuan get the snake-browed bronze fish, and how did the corpse appear under the rocks? It is impossible to verify. Presumably, in his despair, he found a way out, but the underwater tomb, even if he could get out, could not escape that stretch of sea water. In the end, Xie Lianhuan did not escape his fate.

Xie Lianhuan thought it best not to tell Uncle San about the misunderstanding, so as not to upset him. I secretly decided to keep it to myself.

Uncle San continued, “I already told you what happened next in Jinan. Of course, at the time, I didn’t want you to know that Xie Lianhuan’s death was related to me, so I went into the underwater tomb with Wen Jin and the others for the second time. I didn’t say anything about what happened afterwards. In fact, when I went in, I was pretending to be asleep, because I was afraid they would reach the tomb chamber. I didn’t know what Xie Lianhuan would leave behind, so I wanted to go and take a look before they arrived. In addition, I knew that after coming down, the person who attacked me would definitely show his true colors. I wanted to use this to find him and avenge Xie Lianhuan.

At this point, I remembered what Mian Youbing had told me. It seemed that it was Mian Youbing who had suggested exploring the tomb. I suddenly realized and asked Uncle San, “So did you figure out who it was? Was it that Zhang Qiling?”

His skills and background were very mysterious. If it was him, things would be easier to explain.

Uncle San frowned: “After they left, I followed them. This person was indeed quite suspicious, but there was someone even more suspicious. In short, I couldn’t figure it out after seeing it. I could suspect anyone, but I personally think that with that young man’s skills, I’m afraid I would have been killed directly at that time with my mediocre skills. It’s unlikely that it was him.

I also realized this, so I nodded. Mian Youping usually looks weak and helpless, sleeping like he can’t wake up. When he wants to be fierce, he just goes and twists someone’s neck. That’s the fastest way to kill someone, and Third Uncle definitely wouldn’t be his match. So I asked again, “What happened next?”

“After that, the young man led the others out, and I followed him secretly. Inside the tomb, after they entered the tomb chamber with the pool, I didn’t know that there was a passage under the pool. I thought they would come out after going around in a circle, so I stayed in the darkness of the tunnel. After waiting for a while, they didn’t come out. I was afraid that they were in danger, so I followed them in. The rest of the story, the young man should have told you. I just followed him. He should know better than I do.

I remembered a detail at this point and asked, “Is it true that he said you dressed up as a woman to look in the mirror and lead them through the Qimen Dunjia?”

Uncle San “Uh” said, “What woman?”

I told him what Mian Youping had said at the time, and Uncle San’s eyes widened. “Is that true?”

I grinned and thought to myself, don’t tell me you didn’t know. However, Uncle San really gasped and stood up, pacing back and forth a few times: “Did he really say that?”

“The circumstances at the time determined that I definitely didn’t hear it wrong.”

Uncle San squinted his eyes and asked me to repeat it in detail. I tried to recall what the Mian Youping had told me and said it carefully.

After listening, Uncle San touched his chin and shook his head repeatedly: “No, no! He’s lying!”

“Lying?”

“I was on the stone steps, the fog was too thick, and I didn’t see the situation at the time. I can guarantee with my life that I definitely didn’t go down there, and I had no idea what kind of mechanism was inside. That guy’s word alone can’t be trusted.”

I frowned: ”But in his situation, I don’t think he had to lie to us. He could even not mention this to us, and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

Uncle San patted his head and thought for a moment, then said, “You’re right. Even if we assume that what he said is true, there’s still a problem. You see, this kid said, ‘I’ was crouching there, and all they saw was ‘my’ back. They based all their judgments on that back. During the entire process, except for that Huo Ling who might have seen my face, the others completely judged that it was me based on just a diving suit…”

I let out a ‘Oh’ and recalled the words at the time, finding that it was indeed the case. ”So, the person who led them through the ambush was not you, but someone else who looked and even looked a bit like you?”

Uncle San nodded, his face turning very serious: “If what the young man said is true, then that is definitely the case. Moreover, didn’t you notice? The young man didn’t see my face. He had a chance to see it, but why didn’t he see it?”

I recalled the plot that Mian Youping had said, and I was shocked: “Huo Ling, he was stopped by Huo Ling!”

Uncle San nodded: “Yes, that’s the detail. I never knew about this. I never thought that something like this could have happened in those few short minutes…”

I felt a headache coming on. Indeed, the situation was so chaotic at the time, and visibility was extremely low. It was indeed possible that Mian Youping had misidentified the man. Moreover, if we look at it this way, the conclusion that the man was Uncle San was made by Huo Ling from the beginning to the end. Only she had seen the man’s face, and if she and the man were accomplices, this could be a clever scam. Then the man and the others might have mistaken Uncle San for the wrong person.

I suddenly remembered what the man had said, “If this really is your uncle,” was he also suspecting that the man was not Uncle San?

But then I thought again, it’s not right. Mian Youping saw Uncle San not only this time, but also before he fainted, and he saw Uncle San’s face. This can’t be faked by a back view. How can this be explained?

I asked this question, and Uncle San sighed and said, “I don’t know, maybe the little brother was mistaken when he was dying. You see, he thought he was chasing me all the way in, and he was confused at that time, so he might have hallucinated.”

I shook my head and said to him, “This is too far-fetched. A person like that little brother is unlikely to be confused and see things wrong.”

Uncle San said solemnly, “If that’s the case, then he must be lying, because I’m not lying to you.”

Hearing this, I sighed in my heart, and the thing I was most afraid of came. All along, I was very nervous when I heard the parts of the story that overlapped with the experiences of Uncle San and the Mummy, afraid that something would happen that would make no sense. That would mean that one of them was definitely lying.

But as I listened along, I found that the two of them were mostly telling the truth, and I was a little relieved. I thought to myself that even if it wasn’t the absolute truth, it should be close to the truth. However, as the story progressed, it seemed to be coming to a close, but then I hit a snag at the very end. This was really frustrating, and this snag was very crucial. If Uncle San wasn’t in it, then someone else had bewitched them, and Uncle San was completely innocent. If Uncle San was in it, then the opposite was true, and Uncle San was a treacherous villain with evil intentions. This little bit of information represented two completely different outcomes.

Of the two, I still believe in the Mummy more, because he was telling us the story without any need to, and it didn’t matter to him whether he was lying or not. However, this time, Uncle San’s story was different from the past, very clear, and there were no flaws. If he was lying, he couldn’t have made up such a story. I don’t think he’s likely to lie to me this time either. Moreover, there is only this one contradiction left. If he were to lie to me, he could easily get away with it without having to tell the opposite of what the bottle said. He could say that he followed them in and then fainted, and that when he woke up, they were all gone.

This seems to be a Rashomon, and there is no way to unravel the mystery. It seems that both men are telling the truth.

Thinking about this, I suddenly had a strange thought. If the evidence is clear, then since I think that Uncle San didn’t lie to me, and the oil bottle didn’t lie to me, could it be that both of them are telling the truth?

This is a bit of a fat man’s way of thinking, simple and clear, dividing things into three, and if the first two are confirmed, then the last one is impossible and can only be true.

I told him my thoughts, and Uncle San was also thinking about it. As soon as he thought about it, he shook his head and said, “How is that possible? If both of these statements are true, then there must have been two of me in the tomb at that time.

“Two uncles?” I thought to myself, thinking that this seemed absolutely impossible. However, if you want to think according to the way the fat man thinks, you don’t need to think about logic, but to list all the possibilities, enumeration method.

I took out a piece of paper and started writing down the possibilities. However, after thinking about it, I realized that, under the premise that neither of them was lying, there was only one result, which was that Uncle San was outside the Qimen Dunjia Array, and what Mian Youping saw inside was a person who looked similar to Uncle San.

So the question is not how two Uncle Sans came into being, but where did this person who looked similar come from? Using enumeration, that is, a few, one is that this person is a stranger from the sea, and one is that this person has been hiding in the tomb. These two are very reluctant, so it is possible that this person should be one of the ten people.

This is based on the fact that, recalling the description of the muddle-headed bottle, it can be found that at the time they discovered the two situations of the third uncle were very peculiar, and it is entirely possible that someone in the sea did it together.

But I never heard Uncle San mention that anyone in the team looked like him. Now that we’re talking about it again, if there was, he should have thought of it. I’ve also seen the photo, but it’s so blurry that it’s hard to tell if everyone looks the same.

So, could it be that he had changed his appearance? I thought of the little brother’s methods, but then I knew it couldn’t be. It takes three to four days to prepare for a change of appearance, and five to six hours to apply makeup.

I was frustrated and sighed.

Seeing my expression change, Uncle San asked what I was thinking about. I told him my reasoning process. Uncle San laughed and said that I was thinking like the fat guy, that the fat guy’s brain was crooked.

But after laughing a few times, he seemed to have thought of something, his face changed, and then he let out a cold breath and said, “Hey, no, damn it, is this the case?”

I hurriedly asked him, “What’s wrong?”

Uncle San looked pale and said, “Don’t say it. This fat guy is good. After you gave me such an analysis, I seemed to understand what was going on, but… if that’s really the case, then something is very wrong with this matter, and it’s even a bit weird.”

I hurriedly asked him to speak up, and he said, “You said that there was another person in the tomb who looked like me, which makes sense, but I don’t think this person needs to look too similar. You think that the little brother was poisoned and must have been delirious, and just a few seconds before he fell into a coma, as long as there was a little resemblance, you could have made a mistake.”

I nodded: “Yes, but, in your team, would there be such a person? If there was such a person, you would have noticed it long ago. After all, it is very strange for two people in the world to be similar.”

Uncle San’s expression was very strange. He took a deep breath and shook his head, saying, “You’re wrong. In fact, there is a situation in the world where it is not strange for two people to be similar. In the archaeological team back then, there was indeed such a person, who was seven-tenths similar to me, but no one found it strange.”

I let out a “ah” and said to myself, “No way!” I asked, “Who?”

Uncle San stared at me and replied, “Of course it was Xie Lianhuan.”