The horse, Da Erma, trotted along with quick, short steps for nearly two hours before finally arriving near the mass grave.
This mass grave had also been created by those heartless Little Devils back in the day, though in terms of scale, it was much smaller than the forbidden zone.
Perhaps because of its smaller size, there was no barren strip of land around the grave where not a single blade of grass grew due to the excessive application of quicklime.
After tying Da Erma to a small tree on the outskirts of the grave and feeding him some fodder, Wang An saw Huang Zhong picking up the pickaxes and shovels. He hurriedly called out
"Put them down, put them down! What do you need those things for? Just leave them on the sled."
Huang Zhong looked at the pickaxe in his hand and said, "Don't we need to dig holes?"
Wang An said irritably, "Dig what holes? It's freezing as hell out here; everything is frozen rock-hard. Where exactly are you planning to dig?"
Huang Zhong blinked and defended himself, "But, Big Brother, what if we end up needing them? It's not tiring for me to carry them."
Wang An said speechlessly, "Bringing tools into the mountains is just to be prepared for the unexpected. We bring them on the sled every single time we go in; how many times have we actually used them?"
Huang Zhong scratched his head and finally put the tools back on the sled.
Wang An picked up the satchel containing the gas masks and handed it to Huang Zhong, saying, "Sling this small bag over your shoulder. There are gas masks inside. In a moment, if you feel a smell or start feeling unwell, we'll put these over our mouths."
On the way, Wang An had already told Huang Zhong about the miasma in the mass grave and explained how to use the gas masks, so Huang Zhong was not unfamiliar with this.
And so, with Huang Zhong carrying the bag and his rifle, and Wang An carrying only his rifle, the two of them walked into the pit together.
Whether one liked it or not, there really seemed to be something strange about this mass grave.
One had to realize that in these great mountains, basically every dip and hollow would be filled with snow blown in by the mountain winds.
Yet, the snow in this mass grave consisted only of what had fallen naturally; no drifting snow had been blown inside.
Furthermore, there were no footprints of humans or animals in the pit, which was truly baffling.
However, there were large trees in the pit—several of them, and they were quite substantial.
As soon as they stepped onto the bottom of the pit, Wang An didn't feel much, but Huang Zhong immediately spoke up
"Big Brother, do you smell that? There really is a scent in here. I don't know what it is, but it's quite pungent."
Wang An turned and said, "If you feel something's wrong, hurry up and put on the gas mask."
Huang Zhong nodded, took a gas mask from the bag, and placed it over his mouth. At the same time, he took one out for Wang An.
However, after taking the mask, Wang An simply held it in his hand without putting it on.
Mainly, Wang An felt that since Song Ping frequently entered and exited this place without issue, the miasma here probably wasn't that concentrated; it was likely just that some people couldn't stand the smell due to their individual constitutions.
After descending to the bottom, the two of them began searching the pit, walking in circles side by side.
According to Song Shuanzhu, Song Ping had entered this mass grave once more with a burlap sack on his back after winter began.
This indicated that Song Ping's treasure was definitely not buried randomly in the soil, or at least not very deep. If it were buried too deep, it would be an immense struggle for him to dig it out himself during the winter.
The area was only about 300 square meters, which wasn't very large, so Wang An and Huang Zhong finished their search quickly.
As for the result, unsurprisingly, they found nothing.
In this mass grave, not only were there no animal footprints at the bottom, but there weren't any on the surrounding slopes either. As for small caves or rodent holes, those were even more non-existent.
It was likely that the animals were also afraid of the thin miasma here, so they instinctively stayed far away.
Consequently, searching for something in this pit truly left one with no place to start.
Whether one liked it or not, Song Ping really knew how to hide things. Not only had Song Shuanzhu, who had witnessed it with his own eyes, failed to find it, but Wang An and Huang Zhong were also completely clueless.
Fortunately, since he hadn't held much hope to begin with, Wang An didn't feel discouraged at all.
While Wang An scanned the surroundings, wondering where Song Ping would hide the items—or if Song Shuanzhu was lying to him—Huang Zhong suddenly walked up to him and suggested
"Big Brother, I'll go get the pickaxe, and then the two of us can just dig up the bottom of this pit. It's not that big of a place anyway. I reckon if we dig until dark, we'll get it done. If we can't finish, we'll just keep digging tomorrow. What do you think, Big Brother?"
Huang Zhong's words left Wang An momentarily speechless.
Looking into Huang Zhong's honest and stubborn eyes, Wang An suddenly felt that this clumsy method was actually quite good, while he himself had been too focused on finding a shortcut.
After all, if the treasure Song Ping hid were that easy to find, Song Shuanzhu wouldn't have come back empty-handed twice.
Thus, Wang An nodded and said, "Alright, go get the pointed pick, the cross-pick, and the shovel. Let's try and see if we can actually dig through the snow."
Having received Wang An's agreement, Huang Zhong ran out of the mass grave with a face full of excitement.
Wang An kicked the snow, brushed aside the withered branches and rotten leaves beneath it, and stomped his foot on the ground, which was frozen as hard as iron. He couldn't help but hiss through his teeth.
This ground was just too damn hard!
A moment later, Huang Zhong ran back carrying the two pickaxes and the shovel.
Wang An put on his gas mask, took the pointed pick, and said, "You're responsible for clearing the snow and leaves to the side; I'll do the digging."
With ground this hard, Wang An believed that even with Huang Zhong's strength, he would likely struggle to make a dent.
Huang Zhong agreed and began clearing the ground with the shovel.
Without another word, once Huang Zhong had cleared a patch of ground, Wang An swung the pointed pick in a wide arc and slammed it violently into the earth.
With this strike, Wang An felt as if the tip of the pick hadn't entered soil, but had struck a rock; the vibration left his hand numb.
When he lifted the handle with effort, he had only managed to dig a tiny hole the size of a chicken egg. Wang An hurriedly called out to Huang Zhong
"Stop, stop, stop! Xiao Zhong, this method won't work. The ground is frozen rock-hard; it's impossible to dig."
Given Wang An's strength, a full swing had only produced such a tiny hole; it was clear that continuing this way was absolutely futile!
While 300 square meters wasn't huge, if they used a pickaxe, it would probably take several days to finish.
Wang An tossed the pointed pick aside, but Huang Zhong, refusing to believe it, swung the pick himself.
After one swing, Huang Zhong scratched his head with a look of embarrassment and said, "This method really doesn't work, hehehe..."
Wang An couldn't help but laugh looking at Huang Zhong, because with that swing, Huang Zhong hadn't even brought up a single piece of dirt; he had merely smashed a tiny hole the size of a fingertip into the ground.