Chapter 164: Two Identical Faces
The sound was like the clacking of a cane striking the ground, or like someone wearing boots pacing back and forth, as if coming from a distant place. Even when Wu Xie concentrated and listened carefully, he couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from.
He looked at the two obedient men, frowned, and asked: “Have you two gone inside here? Have you heard this sound before?”
The two looked at each other and shook their heads. Li Pipa’s Adam’s apple moved, and he pointed at the mist beside him, which seemed to have dispersed a bit more, saying: “Before, the mist was too thick, practically couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. The two of us were afraid of encountering some danger unprepared, so we didn’t dare go in. We kept delaying until you arrived. As for this sound…”
He turned his head and exchanged a glance with Fatty. Both had blank looks in their eyes: “We spent quite a bit of time outside. We didn’t hear it before you arrived either.”
Wu Xie frowned: “Then does your book say what’s below?”
Li Pipa hesitated to speak, but finally, with Wu Xie frowning and stepping forward to press the gun to his head, he tremblingly said: “I, I don’t know either! The book just says there’s a Banajiemu corpse inside here, but we haven’t seen where the corpse is yet!” Banajiemu, the earth god in Manchu mythology who appears in the form of a pregnant woman?
Seeing this state, it seemed they really couldn’t get anything else out of the others. This man had already spilled everything he could and couldn’t say like beans from a bamboo tube. Pushing further might make him reveal even his bedwetting at three years old.
Wu Xie turned back to look at Lao Yang and saw that the mist was starting to dissipate. He thought whatever was there should reveal itself soon enough. It was just a matter of waiting a bit, so he gave Lao Yang a look and slightly nodded his chin toward the two.
Lao Yang still had their years of tacit understanding. Seeing him look over, he grinned and pulled out that bundle of rope from his bag, walking toward the two.
Lao Yang himself didn’t look shifty-eyed, but his facial bones were prominent. Those upturned eyes of his were already fierce-looking, and after spending years in prison around all sorts of people, he’d picked up some underworld aura. Him walking over grinning like that scared Li Pipa into stepping back half a pace, involuntarily grabbing Fatty’s arm beside him: “B-Boss Wang, are we, are we gonna die?”
Fear to the extreme made his voice tremble. Boss Wang still had some guts. Not unflinching and steady-hearted, but he darkened his face, eyes locked tightly on Lao Yang, peripheral vision fixed on Wu Xie holding the gun, teeth clenched tight, looking ready to erupt and attack at any moment.
Seeing him not behaving, Wu Xie thought if push came to shove, he could fire a shot to scare him. If not, he wasn’t the type to hesitate at the last moment to take action. After all, this wilderness wasn’t safe. If something happened… even if he didn’t want to, he’d have to. Otherwise, if he got schemed against, it was one thing, but Lao Yang and Lin Yan were still here. They only had the advantage of weapons now. If it came to close combat… he knew his own capabilities well—maybe just a bit better than Li Pipa, but nothing compared to someone like Lao Yang who’d truly been through life and death.
To be honest about Boss Wang, seeing Fatty gave him a familiar feeling, coming from another Wang Pangzi at Panjiayuan. If not for their different ages, builds, and accents, he’d think it was Wang Pangzi come to mess with him.
Lao Yang glanced at Boss Wang, but first walked to Li Pipa’s side, pulled his hands behind his back, muttering: “Sorry to inconvenience you two bosses for now. No need for you to follow to the next place. Just rest here a bit.”
Li Pipa was both shocked and scared, struggled a little but was pressed down hard by Lao Yang, sweating coldly on his forehead from the pain, not daring to make a sound anymore. He just eyed Fatty beside him, whose expression was shifting uncertainly, silently begging him not to stir anything up. Seeing Lao Yang and Wu Xie’s stance, they probably had no interest in killing them, but if Fatty made a move, it would be different.
Don’t say it, but Boss Wang, seeing Lao Yang side-on to him, really had half a mind to act. But glancing at Wu Xie steadily aiming the gun at him, he hesitated. Though he wanted to strike, at this distance for a sneak attack, he was confident it would be fifty-fifty with Lao Yang, but Wu Xie nearby was a real threat. He couldn’t bet his life on whether this young guy’s aim was good.
Seeing Wu Xie hold the gun steady as an old dog, though young, he might be a veteran. No need to gamble on that probability. So when Lao Yang looped half the rope over to tie him the same way, he sighed and resigned himself.
Seeing him like that, Li Pipa also breathed a sigh of relief. Along the way, though he didn’t know Boss Wang that well, he knew this guy wasn’t to be trifled with. He made his fortune from his ancestor’s Ironhead Cavalry’s “Riverwood Collection.” Boss Wang made his from his ancestors too.
But Boss Wang’s ancestors were far more interesting. They had a hereditary profession called appraiser. If comparing, it was like jewelry appraisers in a jewelry shop, only antique appraisers carried more weight. This guy was similar, relying on his ancestor’s “Records of the Plundered Survivors” passed down generations. Now on the scene, everyone gave him face. Anything uncertain basically went through him. In terms of knowledge, few could match him.
This time they came here partly because of Boss Wang’s sharp eyes—one to guide, one to appraise, plus Uncle Tai’s group for protection. They’d thought of everything, but who could’ve thought…
Suddenly, a light flashed in Li Pipa’s eyes. With his back to Lao Yang, he signaled Boss Wang with his eyes. Seeing Wu Xie also put away the gun and no longer looking at them, he quietly sidled up beside him and whispered: “Where’s Uncle Tai?”
Yeah, there’s still that one! Boss Wang’s eyes widened. They’d only seen Master Liang and Wu Xie and the others now, still missing Uncle Tai! Never mind Master Liang for now—they’d both come back from the dead here. Who could guarantee Uncle Tai wouldn’t revive too? If Uncle Tai appeared now, they could counter-kill!
Thinking of this, the two tied up like twisted dough relaxed, inwardly praying for Uncle Tai to appear—best after Wu Xie and Lao Yang found the way, for a mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Seeing Lao Yang tie them securely, Wu Xie put away the gun. By now the surrounding mist had thinned more. With flashlights, they could barely make out two or three meters. Just didn’t know where this mist came from—visibility so poor, and only under this stone coffin. It piqued Wu Xie’s curiosity plenty.
“Lao Yang, is this inside the thing you wanted to show me? Is there a secret passage or something here? They said Lin Yan went in, but no one’s seen. Is there another passage inside?”
Wu Xie saw Lao Yang not urgent at all, casually glancing at the two on the ground then walking a couple steps, growing a bit anxious. It’d been over a day without meeting Lin Yan. The two had at least eaten and slept a bit, but given Lin Yan’s abnormal state then, he was really worried something might happen to him. No matter how powerful Xiao Bai Jiang was, it couldn’t eat for Lin Yan.
Lao Yang turned back to look at him, his smile turning enigmatic: “Guess where this is?”
“Where?” Wu Xie was a bit impatient but still recalled carefully: when they entered, this stone coffin seemed covered in cloud-thunder patterns too, integrated with the bronze pillar: “You saying this is the place we need to enter?”
But this coffin was already at the center of the bronze pillar. Where else to go? Don’t tell me inside the pillar? Wait, maybe it really was!
Wu Xie suddenly realized: with the bronze tree at this scale, why would its builders put a coffin here? Who builds the main tomb chamber on the altar! With Lao Yang’s hint, this big coffin was surely a decoy. There must be another layer or several inner coffins inside—that was the real deal!
Walking a few more steps, Lao Yang’s figure flickered in and out. Around him appeared several shadowy lines. Wu Xie looked closely: several crisscrossing bronze chains, but no shape of an inner coffin. This was strange—where’d the inner coffin go?
Normally, big tombs stack coffins layer on layer to the outermost. But this place… really like a small container, nothing there?
Wu Xie puzzled forward, cautiously touching the bronze chain at the edge. Besides making them sway a bit, nothing happened. Lao Yang wouldn’t bring him to a place with nothing, right? But this bronze chain… why so familiar? Recalling the chains binding the coffin in the nine-headed serpent cypress, inspiration struck. He shone his flashlight below the chains—
Sure enough, empty.
In the Warring States period, there was this type of coffin: the outer chamber had a depression inside called coffin well, with the coffin below. This coffin well was pitch black, unknown how deep. Good thing he’d cautiously only observed the edge earlier—anyone else might step wrong and fall in? How could Lao Yang tell him nothing? What if he fell?
“Lao Yang, you—” He just turned to ask what was up, but looked back to find this guy gone again.
Damn, mysterious again, leaving him alone and running off! What the hell was Lao Yang thinking—bringing him then vanishing, what did he want?
“Wu Xie, you, come down?”
Lao Yang’s muffled voice came from below, extinguishing half of Wu Xie’s anger. Turns out the guy had gone down while he wasn’t focused. He’d wronged him… but how no sound at all?
Wu Xie tugged the chain, finding it surprisingly sturdy, though slippery with who-knows-what on it. So he pulled out his dagger, stabbed it into a tree root running down along the coffin well, preparing to climb down slowly.
While climbing, he asked Lao Yang: “How deep is it below? How long to climb?”
Lao Yang’s voice sounded even more distant: “You, just come down quick…” The rest was indistinct, like it cut off.
He went down way too fast—did he slide down the chain? They should be inside the bronze tree now. Just didn’t know where this hollow coffin well led. If to the very bottom, he’d really spit blood… After all the effort climbing up these days, then speed-descend? No logic there!
Unexpectedly, after just a few meters, the surrounding gray mist suddenly vanished, as abruptly as it appeared—like to cover this coffin well. He couldn’t think what purpose the mist served, except letting those two Guangdong bosses ambush them once.
And even that once, they got counter-killed—really stupid and lame.
Without the gray mist, shining the flashlight down was much clearer—beyond his expectation, the coffin well wasn’t deep, just twenty or thirty meters. He could see Lao Yang’s flashlight light already at the bottom. Hearing movement above, Lao Yang waved: “Just slide straight down the chain, it’s fine!”
Though he could climb slowly, Wu Xie had already spotted a coffin outline below. Not like ordinary stone or bronze, nor wood—more like amber. The ends of those bronze chains were on this amber coffin.
Seeing Lao Yang already squatting on the coffin studying it, he no longer hesitated, slid down the bronze chain, landing right on the amber coffin with a dull thud.
“This doesn’t seem like a coffin?” From above the amber wasn’t obvious, but now with their two flashlights, the coffin well glowed brilliantly, like entering a golden house. Wu Xie then realized this big amber, though humanoid coffin-shaped, was only humanoid—like real natural amber. If not for the humanoid shadow inside bound by chains.
Lao Yang interestedly tapped it, grinning at Wu Xie: “Wu Xie, do you trust me?”
“…What’s up?” Wu Xie, hearing this, suddenly had an ominous premonition. This grandson wouldn’t screw him over, right?
“Bet on what’s inside. Loser buys dinner, how’s that?”
Wu Xie rolled his eyes—Lao Yang thought him dumb? “You’ve been here before, of course you know what’s inside. Guess my ass!” Though saying that, he still observed a circle, giving an uncertain answer: “…Mountain monkey?”
Mainly the humanoid shape was distorted, really not human-like.
Lao Yang burst out laughing: “You, you think them dumb? Go to all that— that trouble making a corpse cocoon, put a monkey in?”
Since Lao Yang said so, it must be a person inside. Lao Yang still smiling, but ruthless, shoved the flashlight right into the creature’s face, calling Wu Xie: “See who he is?”
Wu Xie had an inauspicious premonition, heart sinking: Don’t be Lin Yan…
He hurried to Lao Yang’s side. Looking, the face was familiar but not Lin Yan’s. First he breathed a sigh of relief, but then his heart jumped to his throat… There was another identical face beside him!
His face paled, whole body hairs standing on end, head numb, looking back and forth at these large and small identical faces—this corpse cocoon humanoid, if stretched, would be three or four meters tall. But… who could tell him why this thing had a face just like Lao Yang’s?
Lao Yang stood up, smile fading from his face: “Wu Xie, do you trust me?”
Wu Xie was a mess inside. He already didn’t fully trust Lao Yang. Getting this far was based on over a decade of prior friendship and Lin Yan’s disappearance. Who made him pull so many stunts along the way… But now with this mess, he didn’t know if he should continue trusting Lao Yang.
At that moment, a light laugh came from behind him. A familiar voice said: “Enough with the mystifying. Fun anymore? Wanna see how much of your power’s left?”
Hearing this familiar voice, Wu Xie was overjoyed: “Lin Yan!”
PS: One more chapter tonight
