Episode 1 (Tomb of the Sea)

**Episode 1 (Tomb of the Sea)** is the first episode of the television series Tomb of the Sea.

## Synopsis

Li Cu is an ordinary high school student who is thrown into a world of grave robbing when he is attacked by a mysterious man. Wu Xie has been hardened by the grave robbing life now that he is thrown into a conspiracy without the help of Zhang Qiling and Wu Sanxing.

## Story

#### Prologue scene

A young boy digs himself out of the desert and is visibly shaken by something. He starts digging into the sand, calling out to someone. Suddenly a giant tree starts attacking him. He manages to escape into an old and abandoned truck and starts recording a video. He reveals himself to be Li Cu and has been kidnapped and taken into the desert. The truck is then attacked by the giant tree. He claims his kidnapper is dead and this might be his own last words. Just before the phone falls down and Li Cu disappears, he reveals his kidnapper is Wu Xie.

#### White Sand and Strange Boxes

Some time before the prologue scene, Li Cu is at school and getting reprimanded by the his teacher for having failed the national entrance examination for university. Li Cu ignores the teacher's speech and declares his refusal of repeating the grade. When leaving the school, he see the other students happily throwing paper and their books out the window, finally free of school. Li Cu joins his best friend, Su Wan, at the sports field, where Su Wan is filming girls, trying to find his crush, Shen Qiong. Li Cu informs his friend he does stand any chance.

Not bothering with more school, they go to Li Cu's home and hang out. There they find Shen Qiong, just returning from a learning expedition. Li Cu calls out to her unsuccessfully from his window and accidentally lets his football fall down into the yard. He goes down to get it and notices white sand on the cars Shen Qiong came with.

After returning to Su Wan, they decide to go play football and encounter Yang Hao. Having spilled his drink, Su Wan calms him down by giving Yang Hao some money. Yang Hao invites them to a "gang war" at 9 p.m., saying he expects both of them to be there. Su Wan and Li Cu decide to meet later on.

Li Cu returns home and find his father making dinner. While eating, his father reveals he was contacted by the school and expects Li Cu to repeat the grade. Li Cu tells him he does not want to repeat the grade but go to his mother and get a job. Enraged by Li Cu's choice, they fight and his father locks him in the storage room. Struggling with his claustrophobia, Li Cu tries to break out and manages to pick the lock but the door is blocked by a wooden stick. With his fear getting worse, Li Cu relents and tells his father he will do as he says. His father lets him out of the room and continues drinking at the dinner table. Exhausted Li Cu falls asleep.

When he wakes up, his father is passed out and Li Cu goes to the rooftop to meet Su Wan. They drink together and Su Wan watches Shen Qiong, who lives an apartment opposite of Li Cu's. When Li Cu tells him to stop, Su Wan explains he is not the only one watching and points out three other man in the yard. Two of them are later revealed to be Wang Pangzi and Kan Jian. Li Cu realizes they are not watching Shen Qiong but the apartment besides hers. Curious, the boys explore the outside of the apartment with a drone. They see the apartment blocked with iron plates from top to bottom. Su Wan accidentally flies the drone into a hole in the plates and loses it. Li Cu, after knowing how expensive the drone is, declares he will get it back for his friend. He goes to the opposite apartment house.

After listening for sounds, Li Cu picks the lock of the apartment but just as he is about to open the door, Shen Qiong appears and asks him what he is doing. He reveals what happened and Shen Qiong presents him with the drone, saying it dropped in the corridor and she picked it up. Li Cu tells her about the men watching and they enter her apartment but when looking out the window, the men are gone. Shen Qiong gives Li Cu a presents and hugs him, fully aware that Su Wan is watching them from the opposite site. Li Cu returns but meets Su Wan on the way. Su Wan reacts angry at his friend for going for the girl he is interested in but they stop their fight when they realize it is already 9 p.m.

They arrive late at the "gang war" and even with their help they end up being bullied by Zheng Yi. After Zheng Yi leaves, Yang Hao asks them why they came so late and Su Wan claims Li Cu went for his girl, which the latter refutes. They joke around and decide to go eat something.

An unknown man is seen cutting his way out of the iron-plated apartment searching for a box.

The next day, Li Cu is bored in class and decides to inspect Shen Qiong's present, a strange box. Listening to the lock, he manages to open it and finds a strange black liquid inside. Before he can do anything, the liquid comes at him and he falls off the chair, disrupting the lesson. Again he is reprimanded by the teacher but there is no sign of the liquid. The teacher contacts Li Cu's father. When the father appears in the evening, he has a serious talk with the teacher and Su Wan who overheard them warns his friend. Li Cu, knowing he cannot improve the situation, decides to run away for now and gets Su Wan to cover him. The teacher spots Li Cu and his father runs after him to no avail.

Li Cu manages to escape but is captured by the unknown man in a dark street. They start fighting but Li Cu starts losing consciousness when the man begins to strangle him. Just before he faints, his eyes suddenly turn black and his hands have enough power to loosen the grip around his neck. While wondering about where the power came from, the man knocks him out. The man finds the box empty in Li Cu's book bag and realizes Li Cu must have opened it. He starts carving patterns into Li Cu's back with his knife.

#### Meeting Wu Xie

He awakes in the hospital and is shocked at the state of his back which is full of scars and open wounds. He meets his doctors, Dr. Liang Wan, and is informed that his attacker died beside him. Suddenly Wang Meng appears and knocks out Liang Wan with a taser. He gives Li Cu a credit card, with compensation of his "master" and tells him, Li Cu will need to answer his questions in return. Refusing to do so, Li Cu and Liang Wan are taken to the "master" who reveals himself as Wu Xie.

## Characters

* Li Cu
* Yang Hao
* Su Wan
* Shen Qiong
* Huang Yan
* Liang Wan
* Wu Xie
* Wang Meng
* Kan Jian
* Bai She
* Zheng Yi

## Divergences from the Novel

* Shen Qiong is not introduced this early on in the novel.
* Shen Qiong never gives Li Cu a box and this box is not mentioned in the novels.
* Li Cu's eyes don't turn black in the novel and he doesn't suddenly gain strength.
* Yang Hao is not introduced this early on in the novel.