Chapter 60: Holy Shit, Where’s Fatty?
Wu Xie has feared dead cats since he was young. When he saw it, he couldn’t help but shudder and retreated two steps, drawing Lin Yan’s curious gaze.
He quietly moved beside the somewhat pale-faced Wu Xie: “Are you afraid of cats?”
Wu Xie glanced at him helplessly and complained: “When I was little, I was playing under a tree, and a dead cat’s head fell into my hand. What do you think?”
Lin Yan thought about that scene and couldn’t help but shiver. That was indeed a psychological shadow. When he looked at the dead cat again, his eyes involuntarily showed some wariness.
Cats themselves carry a bit of evil nature, and this cat corpse placed in the corner by the tomb owner added even more of a supernatural flavor. For some reason, Lin Yan was a bit afraid that after opening the coffin, this cat would suddenly rush over and land on the tomb owner’s face. He had watched too many urban ghost stories back then.
At this time, Zhang Qiling had already found the mechanism. With a crisp “click,” the coffin lid suddenly popped upwards. Zhang Qiling, Lin Yan, and Wu Xie all instantly retreated, while only Fatty, obsessed with the treasure inside, rushed forward quickly!
Lin Yan covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve to block the foul stench, looking at Fatty’s back with admiring eyes, quietly giving a thumbs up in his heart: Fatty, true brave soul!
Ignoring the overpowering stench, Fatty looked inside and retreated two steps, exclaiming in shock: “Holy shit, why the hell are there so many zombies?”
Hearing this, Lin Yan retreated even further. Zhang Qiling picked up his knife in a ready-to-attack pose. Wu Xie hid beside Lin Yan with him and shouted: “Did you see clearly? Zombies or corpses? Alive or dead?” Thinking about it, he felt there was something wrong with his words. Though zombies could move, they couldn’t really be called alive, right? But he couldn’t think of a suitable word to replace it at the moment. He deeply regretted his poor language skills back then and could only use two plain words: “Can it move or not?”
Fatty held a gun in one hand and a black donkey hoof he had somehow pulled out from somewhere in the other, staying vigilant. The scene fell into silence for a moment.
After a long time, Wu Xie’s neck was stiff from waiting. Seeing no movement from Fatty, he thought that if it were a zombie, it should have moved by now after so long. Unable to hold back, he stepped forward two steps and quietly asked Fatty: “Fatty, what’s the situation here? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Fatty didn’t turn his head: “Shh—I’m counting here. Good grief, with so many corpses piled together, if they rise, their arms and legs would be tangled up. What if they can’t get up?”
Hearing there was no danger, Zhang Qiling was the first to sheath his knife behind his back and walk up. Lin Yan, still a bit scared, hesitated but was pulled forward by Wu Xie.
Inside the coffin, mist swirled with water vapor. Below was all black water, limbs already waxy, all soaked in the black water, four limbs completely entangled together. It was impossible to tell how many people. Just the pairs Wu Xie could count were at least six. He said disdainfully: “What’s wrong with this tomb owner? The whole tomb has an ‘elevator’ messing up the feng shui, not to mention a cat placed in the corner. How is this still a joint burial coffin?”
Earlier when Zhang Qiling mentioned “corpse-raising coffin,” Fatty had some guesses. Now seeing it was a joint burial, he understood even more. He grinned and explained: “Young comrade, you don’t get this. It’s called Nourishing Qi and Hiding Corpses! The corpses inside are twisted like a braid not because they were buried that way, but because when buried, the people inside weren’t dead yet. They were drugged and then water was poured in, suffocating them alive inside! Hey, young comrade, is there any way to fish out the stuff without reaching in? I really don’t want to stick my hand into this corpse water floating with human grease.”
At these words, Wu Xie took a deep breath halfway and nearly choked. Looking closely, the people in the coffin were indeed holding things in their hands! The stuff was good—jade and ivory wares—but… this was too disgusting!
He tried hard to suppress the urge to vomit in his throat. Seeing Fatty’s greedy yet unwilling-to-get-dirty look, he couldn’t help but get a bit angry: “Don’t focus on that now. Finding a way out is the priority!” Fatty was quite reluctant: “Anyway, we can’t find one now. I think using a few jars from next door to bail out the water would work.”
He saw Wu Xie staring coldly at him, his voice getting smaller and smaller.
“Fine, fine, find the exit first.”
Fatty cleared his throat, his face turning serious: “Speaking of which, it really is related to this corpse-raising coffin.” Seeing the three’s surprised looks, he explained: “Don’t think Fatty Ye looks like a brute. I’ve traveled far and wide these years and know a lot! Do you know what this Nourishing Qi and Hiding Corpses layout is? If I’m not mistaken, there should be two excellent feng shui coffin positions in this tomb—one here, and the other in the tomb owner’s main tomb chamber! In feng shui, if such an acupoint exists, you need the tomb owner’s close ones to suppress it, or the empty spot would attract spiritual energy and draw evil nature things! Get it?”
Hearing this, Lin Yan’s gaze at the coffin changed: “You mean the tomb owner stuffed his whole family in here?”
Wu Xie was also stunned. Looking at the entangled limbs in the coffin, he wasn’t as afraid anymore, instead feeling deep sympathy for them: What kind of cruel person would attack his own family, even stuffing the whole family in!
At this moment, Zhang Qiling nodded at Fatty, then shook his head: “What you said is right, except for one point.”
He walked to the front of the coffin and pointed at the corpse pile inside twisted like a large braid: “Inside here, there’s only one person.”
“What?” The three exclaimed in surprise and couldn’t help but lean close to the coffin for a close observation.
“That’s not right—” The limbs were entangled and hard to count, but there was only one head no matter what. Fatty counted and recounted: six heads. “There are six heads. Though sizes differ a bit, they are indeed six people. How can it be one person?”
Wu Xie also found it strange. Looking closely again, he finally spotted the clues—the other heads besides the central one were like faceless large fleshy tumors! The person in this coffin was a deformed human with twelve hands, twelve feet, and six heads!
What the hell kind of person could grow like this? He couldn’t help but gasp, but the corpse water smell hit him, nearly making him vomit.
Seeing Wu Xie uncomfortable and unable to see any clues from the corpse, Lin Yan simply asked him directly: “How is this just one person?” Afraid he’d vomit if he opened his mouth, Wu Xie clamped his mouth shut, hoping his eyes could convey what he knew to Lin Yan—and so Lin Yan nearly vomited too: “What the hell kind of person is this? Looks like a centipede. Could this survive to adulthood in ancient times?”
Fatty nodded: “Yeah, indeed strange.” He pointed at a faintly visible stone slab at the bottom of the coffin: “How about we bail out the water inside? I think this stone slab below is about that. Pull it out and we’ll know.”
Though saying he wanted to see the stone slab, his eyes were still fixed on the jade ware in the corpse’s hands. Anyone could see his thieving heart wasn’t dead. But now everyone’s curiosity was piqued by this corpse, and no one minded his little scheme.
The group agreed instantly. Except for Zhang Qiling still standing by the coffin with arms folded, the other three went back to get porcelain to bail water.
As an antique shop boss, closely observing things upon picking them up was occupational habit. Wu Xie naturally did the same. He picked and chose among the pile of porcelain, taking one with a handle. Looking at the pattern on it, it was a group of people transporting wood. This bowl was narrative? He found it strange and couldn’t help looking at the surrounding porcelain, unable to stop once he started.
Over there, Fatty, having picked a porcelain bowl, grew impatient waiting: “Young comrade, with so many bowls here, not enough for you to pick? Haven’t found a suitable one? If you don’t come, Fatty Ye will go first!” Calling a few times with no response from Wu Xie, he left him and went ahead alone.
Seeing Wu Xie engrossed, Lin Yan also came over. Anyway, with Fatty bailing water, going later meant less contact with that corpse water. So he leisurely walked beside Wu Xie, seeing him sort the bowls together: repairing wooden beams, moving stones, transporting timber, laying foundations… and so on, countless. Individually, nothing stood out, but together, it seemed they were building a massive architectural complex!
But he wasn’t an architecture expert and couldn’t tell what it was. To know, he’d have to wait for Wu Xie to finish and tell him.
Not long after, Wu Xie straightened up; the bowls by his hand were gone. He raised his head, eyes somewhat dazed: “Where are the bowls?”
Seeing Wu Xie almost possessed, Lin Yan hurried over and pulled him up from the ground: “You’ve looked at all the patterned ones by your hand! Did you figure anything out?”
Wu Xie’s eyes still dazed, he shook his head: “Still missing something. Can’t tell much from these, only that it’s a massive architectural complex. The style doesn’t look Central Plains; more like Western Regions, but none of the architecture I’ve seen matches it! Without the full picture, I can’t tell what building it is.”
Lin Yan touched his chin thoughtfully: “But something placed as grave goods is probably another tomb, right?”
Wu Xie’s eyes lit up: “That makes sense! Maybe the construction process of another underground palace. Just don’t know where! From what I’ve seen so far, this architecture is about the size of the Forbidden City!”
Mentioning the Forbidden City, he suddenly thought of Fatty in Beijing. Looking back, it was pitch black behind; the searchlight’s light was long gone. They only had the one searchlight in Lin Yan’s hand: “Where’s Fatty?”
Lin Yan shrugged: “I called you several times just now, but you were too engrossed to respond, so he went back first.” Saying so, he casually picked a handled bowl and walked back. Wu Xie grabbed one at random and followed.
But when they exited the door, they were dumbfounded—
Ahead was clearly the corridor where they had triggered the mechanism earlier. The little jar pointing the way was still stopped in front of the jade door on the left!
