I looked down and saw what appeared to be a copper key embedded with beads. The bead was a deep, dark green, suggesting it was something special. I couldn’t quite identify its composition, but I knew that ancient people sometimes placed beads in corpses’ mouths for preservation. If I were to take out this key, the thousand-year-old beautiful corpse before me might instantly turn into a mummy. I absolutely wouldn’t risk such a terrifying thing. However, the situation was too awkward; I couldn’t just run away with this corpse on my back.
As I hesitated, I suddenly heard shouting approaching from a distance. I looked up to see a person screaming as he crashed into seven or eight branches before being pulled up by a vine and hanging above me. It was none other than that fat guy. It seemed he finally couldn’t hold on any longer and had repeated my misstep, and he looked like he was injured even worse than I was. Fortunately, he hadn’t hit his head. Hanging there, he cursed, “Damn it, I didn’t expect this thick branch to have so much strength!” Then he spotted me and froze, saying, “Comrade, are you working with the flower girl?”
I felt like crying and laughing at the same time, and I didn’t dare to speak loudly. I gestured, “This one is dead! You need to help me think of a way!” The fat guy exclaimed and twisted his body in mid-air, saying, “Then you have to let me down!” I tossed the dagger I was holding up, and he caught it, quickly flipping over to cut the vine. At first, I didn’t realize what was happening, but by the time I suddenly thought of it, it was too late. Just as I was about to tell him to wait, he let out a strange cry and fell down, landing right on the armored corpse. He accidentally knocked off the mask of the armored corpse, and just as I leaned over to take a look, he turned around and shouted at me, “Don’t look! It’s a blue-eyed fox!”
Unfortunately, he shouted too late. In a flash, I had already seen the face beneath the mask. Just one glance made my head buzz, and I was so scared that my skin prickled. I stammered, “What is this? It’s not human!!”
Beneath the mask was a pale, ghastly face. If you looked closely, you could still vaguely discern human features, but the entire head was devoid of hair—no eyebrows or beard. The face was extremely pointed, to the point of being deformed. Its eyes were almost just long slits, with two blue irises shining coldly in those slits. The other features were almost unrecognizable. I can say that at first glance, this face looked very much like a grinning human-faced fox, especially the two blue irises, which appeared even more eerie. To be honest, I could usually handle looking at ordinary corpses, but I really couldn’t bear to look at this one directly; it was too frightening. If someone were to see it without any psychological preparation, they might just die of fright. The fat guy was equally terrified; he flipped off the jade platform and exclaimed, “I can’t believe it! King Ru Shuang actually looks like this.”
“Is this really King Ru Shuang?” I asked. “Why does he look like… like a fox?”
The fat man’s eyes darted around the armored corpse as he said, “A friend of mine once told me that this is called a Qingyan Fox Corpse. Long ago, there was a person who stumbled upon an ancient tomb from an unknown dynasty. When he opened the coffin, he found a corpse lying there with a Qingyan fox on top of it. Foxes are creatures with supernatural qualities, and having one lying on a corpse is quite ominous. He should have returned everything to its original state, but the tomb raider, lacking sufficient skill, was unwilling to do so and secretly kept a jade turtle. Many years later, he washed his hands of the business and returned home to marry. Later, when his wife was pregnant for ten months, the midwife suddenly screamed and fainted while delivering the baby. The man rushed in to see that his wife had given birth to a child with a pair of green eyes. Initially, the tomb raider didn’t realize that the fox was causing trouble; he just thought the child was sick and sought medical help everywhere. Little did he know that the child’s condition not only didn’t improve, but he also gradually lost all his hair, and his face began to resemble that of a fox. It was only then that the tomb raider realized the situation. He embarked on a long journey back to the ancient tomb to return the jade turtle, and only after that did the child’s condition stop worsening. However, that fox-like face could never be changed back.”
He smacked his lips and continued, “But this Qingyan Fox Corpse is very sinister. I’ve heard that just one glance can infect you, and your face will slowly start to resemble it. Did you take a look just now?”
Although I didn’t fully believe him, the thought of turning into that monster sent a chill down my spine, and I cursed, “Stop talking nonsense! Whether or not I turn into that is a matter for later. You just help me get her out first!”
The fat man thought for a moment and realized that in the current situation, continuing to chatter would be pointless. He hurried over to help me pry the female corpse’s hand loose. He mustered all his strength several times, but her hand was as immovable as iron. After pulling at it a couple of times and panting heavily, he saw the anxious look in my eyes and reassured me, “Don’t worry, your fat uncle has plenty of tricks. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just chop off her hand.”
I quickly shouted, “No way! What if there’s corpse poison in this body? Absolutely not! Besides, I have no enmity with her. It would be too ungracious to start by severing someone else’s hand.”
The fat man scratched his head, feeling stuck. He said to me, “Generally speaking, if a corpse is not stiff, it must have unfinished business. If you help her fulfill her wishes, she will naturally let you go. Why don’t you think about it? When she hooked you just now, did anything particularly special happen?”
As I recalled, I remembered that when I got up earlier, her mouth suddenly opened, and it seemed like there was something inside, which looked like a key. Could it be that? With this thought in mind, I carefully adjusted the female corpse’s head and softly said, “I’m sorry.” Then, I pressed on her cheeks, and her mouth slightly opened. I immediately saw a key embedded with green pearls beneath her tongue.
The fat man exclaimed in surprise, “Wow, this is a good thing! She must want you to take that key out. Just think about it—her mouth is so small; it must be uncomfortable to hold a key in there.”
I nervously asked, “What if she bites down on it?”
The fat man grew impatient and said, “Look at you, you’re full of flaws. Why does she have to bite your hand instead of anywhere else?” I thought he had a point, so I steeled myself and figured that if it came down to it, I could afford to lose a couple of fingers. Taking a deep breath, I extended my trembling fingers towards her mouth. Just as I was about to touch her lips, I suddenly heard a voice whispering in my ear, “Stop.”
