Chapter 16: Bronze Coffin Emerges
Before Lin Yan could recover from the thrill of escaping death, he felt a hand pat the back of his head, stuffing something into his mouth while it was open, then quickly closing it.
“Mm?” Lin Yan opened his eyes wide; it was a cold, spherical object with a rusty taste, like stone, and surprisingly carrying a sweet, bloody flavor. The hand slid down, lifting his head up and pressing, forcing him to swallow it completely.
He turned his head to look; it was Zhang Qiling.
Zhang Qiling still had that expressionless look, as if he didn’t think he’d done anything unacceptable to others. Without a single word of explanation, he picked up the treasure box at their feet and handed it to Wu Xie. After Wu Xie instinctively took it, he turned and walked into the darkness, so fast that everyone almost didn’t react in time.
Although Lin Yan had never particularly wanted to interact with Zhang Qiling—no way around it, he had lived too long, knew too much, experienced too much, and his strength was basically still the ceiling of this world. Overly powerful people always inspired fear. But now he had no choice; he at least needed to know what Zhang Qiling had stuffed into him. Also, the Kirin Gall that was originally meant for Wu Xie—where had the Kirin Gall gone? Could it be this thing Zhang Qiling fed him?
“Wait!” He caught up to Zhang Qiling, and the others behind him reacted and chased after as well.
Zhang Qiling glanced at him and slowed down a bit. Lin Yan followed him while asking, “What did you feed me? What’s this thing for? Is it, is it that Kirin Kirin Gall?”
As soon as he asked, he noticed Zhang Qiling’s gaze carried a hint of inexplicable disdain—how to describe it? Like the look of “I gave you something good and this is what you think of me?” Huh? How did he read so much from a single glance? Including the eye contact between him and Wu Xie earlier—could normal people have such complex eye contact? Wu Xie and Fatty even had to speak when communicating! Did he somehow gain a gaze-reading function on top of being a human lie detector? Although this world was already unscientific, he now felt he himself was unscientific too! Damn it, he didn’t want to become unscientific! If he had a choice, could he opt to be a normal person peacefully?？
Although Zhang Qiling’s gaze looked disdainful, after hesitating for a few seconds, he finally spoke: “No, it’s the Beauty Stabilizing Bead, to prevent your malnutrition. The Kirin Gall is with Wu Xie. Also, best not to tell others you know about the Kirin Gall.”
Lin Yan instinctively glanced at Wu Xie who had followed, then heard Zhang Qiling deliberately lower his voice: “Especially Wu Xie.”
Wu Xie had put the treasure box into his backpack and was sweating profusely trying to keep up; the Panzi and Fatty duo were still supporting each other lagging behind. As he caught up, he heard the tail end of the sentence: “What do you mean ‘me’? What’s wrong with me? Lin Yan, did the Mute Bottle just feed you the bead on the key in my hand? Nothing wrong, right?”
Lin Yan looked at him, then at Zhang Qiling, hesitating, unsure which question to answer first. Wait—Beauty Stabilizing Bead? The bead on the key? Doesn’t that mean I ate—Urgh! At the thought, Lin Yan’s face turned deathly pale; he stopped and started dry heaving, while Wu Xie clearly panicked: “What’s wrong? Does that bead have side effects? Could the Mute Bottle really be—”
Before he finished, Lin Yan raised his hand to stop him and barely explained: “Stop, stop guessing—I’m fine. I just… thinking about where that bead came from makes me nauseous—urgh!”
Wu Xie understood upon hearing this; imagining the scene, his expression also became somewhat indescribable.
“Then why did he feed it to you—urgh! Now you’ve got me feeling nauseous too, eating that thing? You’re really okay?”
Panzi and Fatty had caught up; Lin Yan finally straightened up, his face pale as if he were about to die on the spot: “He seemed to say it’s because I’m… malnourished?”
He and Wu Xie stared at each other, huge question marks seemingly over their heads: What does your family eat for malnutrition?
But when they turned to look at Zhang Qiling, there was no one ahead.
So now it was their turn to stare at each other with Fatty and Panzi.
What to do if they lost him? Where to go next?
“Panzi, earlier Lin-ge felt unwell—did you see which way the Mute Bottle went?”
Panzi gave a wry smile: “That Xiaoge walked too fast; seems like he went along the stone corridor ahead. It’s too dark here; I didn’t see clearly.”
Fatty shook his head too: “What I saw is about the same; Xiaoge reached there and vanished. Also, why do you call him Mute Bottle? Though his face does look a bit cold.”
Wu Xie replied irritably: “Because the guy doesn’t fart after three pokes! Knows stuff but won’t say, keeps it bottled up—isn’t he just a Mute Bottle?”
At this, everyone laughed; as the saying goes, no wrong nicknames, only wrong given names—Wu Xie’s nickname was spot-on!
They’d come this far; turning back wasn’t an option, and besides, A Ning was still hiding somewhere behind—who knew if they’d get ambushed. With their group all injured or disabled, there might really be casualties. So they discussed and decided going forward was better. Luckily, they had lamps and flashlights, though power was low—saving it, they could still use them.
Fortunately, the stone corridor wasn’t long; after gradually leaving the vine-covered area, they saw an altar at the end. Their eyes lit up; perfect spot to rest.
After approaching and settling by the platform, they saw a person crawl out from the hole closest to the ground. Wu Xie’s eyes brightened; he waved hurriedly: “Third Uncle! I’m here!”
Wu Sansheng smiled upon seeing him and quickly walked over with Da Kui, sizing up their disheveled state and frowning: “What did you run into? Why so messy?”
Wu Xie shook his head with a wry smile: “Don’t ask; along the way we were scared by zombies, hit with hallucinations, and threatened at gunpoint by a woman. Without these guys, I’d probably be dead!”
He looked at Wu Sansheng and asked: “Third Uncle, why did you guys leave me behind in the tomb chamber and run? Lin Yan and I came out and saw no one—too scary!”
Wu Sansheng turned and smacked the back of Da Kui’s head: “All because of this kid? We saw a curtain wall in another side chamber—definitely something behind! Who knew this tomb’s secret doors opened downward? I’d just found the mechanism when this kid hit it fast! We dropped to the tomb passage below, followed this labyrinth, and ran into several corpses—some foreigners! Got good stuff off them: guns, ammo, even dynamite! These folks didn’t seem like explorers—more like here for war! Corpses and surroundings full of bullet holes, really like a battle, just no enemy bodies left!”
Wu Xie listened as it got more outrageous and quickly gestured to stop him: “Third Uncle, stop fooling me—what’s this nonsense? Explorers bringing stuff is one thing, but war? Too ridiculous!”
Wu Sansheng grinned at him: “Don’t disbelieve! Da Kui, show him that thing!”
Da Kui grinned dopily, pulled a box from behind, and snapped it open with both hands into a mini submachine gun!
Holy cow! Wu Xie and the others’ eyes widened—this was real good stuff! Lin Yan swallowed; which boy doesn’t dream of military life? Back in his old world, no service was fine, but here was a chance to handle a gun! Sure, Wu Sansheng the old fox had it, but everything’s negotiable! After life-and-death with his nephew Wu Xie, logically, even if not for self-defense, touching it should be fine!
He saw Wu Xie take the gun, fiddle with it, then ponder; Lin Yan’s inner claws started itching.
Just one touch! Just once! If there was a mirror, he’d see green glow in his eyes!
Wu Xie felt in a blink, something was missing from his hand. Huh? Where’s my gun? He blinked, saw Lin Yan beside him fondling the gun lovingly, grinning foolishly on the verge of drooling, and showed a subtle disdainful expression. Really, sir? Not like you haven’t seen a gun!
If Lin Yan saw his gaze, he’d say: Of course not! Last life, guns were only on TV/movies; never in real life—didn’t expect transmigration bonus like this! Handgun? Handgun’s nothing—isn’t a man supposed to play AK47! UZI! 98K! Barrett! Gimme all of ’em!
When Lin Yan realized the atmosphere was off, he looked up and around, spotted Wu Xie’s subtle disdain, and panicked. His image—damn! Though not previously majestic, now in their eyes, he was definitely some dumbass!
Panzi and Fatty just gave teasing looks, like watching a worldly-naive kid—that was fine; he really hadn’t seen much of this. But what was Wu Sansheng’s smiling gaze? Last time it was thick with scheming and wariness—what happened in hours? Had he unknowingly cleared suspicion of “it”? But why did he look at him like tomb treasure? Eek, no way—the old fox wasn’t planning to sell him?
If Wu Sansheng’s prior scheming gaze only made him wary, now it maxed his alert! After all, no one treats you well for no reason except parents! Especially Wu Sansheng smiling as he approached, placing a magazine in his hand: “Like it? Take it—for your defense.”
Huh? Everyone including Lin Yan was stunned—Wu Sansheng wasn’t that generous! But next, he really smilingly pulled out guns, one per person, with two magazines each! Fatty was thrilled, trading commercial flattery with Wu Sansheng. Panzi quietly sorted his equipment, gaze grave; he had a bad premonition—next might be a tough fight.
Wu Xie and Lin Yan stared at each other: What does this mean?
Wu Xie set the gun on the altar behind, slung his backpack up, leaned back, and subconsciously pondered Wu Sansheng’s intent. Lin Yan watched his gaze, instinctively decoding: What’s Third Uncle doing? Guns for each—purely for defense, or worried about dangers in the tomb he can’t protect us from?
Not two seconds later, the altar behind him started sinking; he jumped up in panic. Lin Yan hurriedly packed, yelling for Panzi and Fatty to get ready to run—this damn mechanism activated! No run and a corpse beetle wave hits—their battered crew ready to die?
Unexpectedly, no movement around; mechanism noise from underfoot extended along their path to the stone platform with the Green-Eyed Fox Corpse.
With a huge boom, a big gash split the ancient tree behind the platform, revealing a bronze giant coffin wrapped in iron chains.
Wu Sansheng clapped: “So it’s here! Why didn’t I think the altar was the mechanism!”
