adminI was extremely shocked and took several steps back, my muscles tensed up, fearing that the corpse might suddenly stand up and lunge at me. I whispered, “How can this corpse be breathing? Have you encountered something like this before?”
Da Kui trembled as he replied, “Of course not! If I encountered things like this regularly, I’d rather clean toilets than dig graves.”
I glanced at Panzi, who was covering his wound and sweating profusely. He said, “No matter what it is, just give it a shot! If it doesn’t die, it’ll be a hassle if it stands up later.” I thought that made sense; in this underground place, it’s better to act than to think too much. Being proactive is never wrong, so I hurriedly raised my gun. At the same time, my third uncle and that fat guy waved their hands and shouted, “Wait… wait!”
As they spoke, my third uncle had already moved closer to the corpse. He gestured for me to come over while examining the armor on the corpse, astonished to the point where his mouth couldn’t close. He pointed at the black armor and said, “This… this isn’t a jade figurine, is it? My God, I never thought this thing really existed!”
I was confused and quickly asked what it was. My third uncle was so excited that he was almost in tears, stuttering, “It’s… it’s a miracle! After digging graves for so long, I finally… finally found a divine artifact. That’s a jade figurine!” He grabbed my shoulder and said, “As long as you wear this thing, you’ll become young again. Did you see? This is real! This corpse is the proof!”
In that era, being in your forties or fifties was considered quite old. Although this corpse’s muscles had sagged, the person’s face looked incredibly young. I couldn’t help but be secretly astonished, thinking, could it be that there really is such a thing as rejuvenation in this world?
The fat guy was also staring in disbelief, saying, “I never expected that Qin Shi Huang couldn’t find this thing; it was actually on him. Hey, Third Master, do you know how to take this off?”
My third uncle shook his head. “I’ve heard that this thing can’t be removed from the outside, which is a problem. Are we supposed to carry the whole corpse out?”
They checked the corpse back and forth, and I noticed that the corpse didn’t seem to mind them pulling at its arms and legs. It didn’t show any signs of danger, so my mood gradually eased. I asked, “If we take off this jade figurine, what will happen to the person inside?”
The fat guy hadn’t thought of that and said, “Well, I really don’t know. Worst case, it would just turn to dust.”
I replied, “But he was alive and well before; wouldn’t that make us murderers?”
The fat guy almost laughed himself to the ground and said, “Comrade, if grave diggers had your level of moral awareness, we wouldn’t need to do anything. Which ancient nobles weren’t covered in blood? Even if we pulled it out, they’d just get executed. You’re worrying about this? You’re really overthinking it.”
I thought about it and realized he was right. Seeing them busy, I didn’t want to be idle, so I went to check the coffin to see if there were any good items among the burial goods. The bottom of the coffin was covered with a thick layer of something scaly, and inside were layers of items I couldn’t name. I grabbed a handful of these scales and asked, “What are these things?”
My third uncle, distracted, sniffed and said, “This is the skin that’s fallen off from him.” I felt a wave of nausea and immediately threw the stuff away, cursing, “Damn it, did this King Lu Shang have a skin disease, shedding so much skin?”
Uncle Three said, “Stop talking nonsense. That’s the old skin he shed. Each time he sheds it, he becomes a little younger. Just look at the amount of skin; he must have shed at least five or six layers.”
I found these things too disgusting, like snake skin, and I had no interest. At that moment, the fat guy shouted, “There’s a thread!”
We gathered around to take a look and saw a gold thread on a piece of jade in the jade figurine’s armpit. I was puzzled and said, “Hey, you fat bastard, your eyes are too sharp. You can even see a loose thread here.”
The fat guy gave me a disdainful glance and muttered, “You southern folks have too much bloodlust. When you rob a tomb, you take everything in one go. Tomb raiding is a delicate craft. See? If it weren’t for me, your Fat Lord, you’d have to dissolve this corpse to get the jade figurine out.”
Uncle Three was irritated and cursed, “Get lost! You don’t even know if that’s true. Maybe there was already a loose thread here.”
The fat guy laughed heartily and said, “Don’t be superstitious.” Saying that, he reached for the thread. His hand had barely extended halfway when there was a whoosh, and I felt something flash past in front of me, as quick as lightning. Uncle Three reacted super fast and kicked the fat guy out of the way. Just as the fat guy moved aside, a black knife thudded into a tree, embedding itself halfway in. I was startled; if it weren’t for Uncle Three’s kick, the fat guy’s head would have been pierced.
When we turned around, we saw the Muffled Oil Bottle standing at the bottom of the steps, covered in blood, with a green Qilin tattoo that had appeared on him at some point. His left hand was still in the motion of having thrown the knife, and his right hand held a strange object. When we saw what it was, we all gasped in shock.
In his right hand, he was actually holding the head of the bloody corpse.
The Muffled Oil Bottle looked at us and staggered up the steps. His breathing was heavy, and he seemed to be in dire straits. Judging by the numerous wounds on his body, it must have been a fierce battle. He first glanced at the coffin, then waved his hand at us and said softly, “Step aside.”
The fat guy had veins popping on his forehead and couldn’t believe it. He jumped up and yelled, “What the hell were you doing just now!”
The Muffled Oil Bottle turned his head and shot him a cold glare, saying, “To kill you.”
The fat guy was furious and rolled up his sleeves, ready to charge. Big Kui quickly hugged him, and Uncle Three sensed the tension. Knowing the fat guy wasn’t a good-natured person, he hurried to smooth things over, saying, “Calm down. The young man must have his reasons for what he did. Let’s hear him out first. He’s saved your life more than once, right? Take it easy.”
The fat guy thought about it and realized it made sense. He decided not to make a move, breaking free from Big Kui and angrily sitting on the ground, saying, “You guys have the numbers. I, Fat Lord, can’t fight against four hands; what can I do? Whatever you say goes.”
The Muffled Oil Bottle placed the bloody corpse’s head on the jade bed, coughed, and said, “This bloody corpse was the previous owner of this jade figurine. When King Lu Shang was raiding tombs, he discovered him and took the jade figurine off, and that’s how he became what he is now. This jade figurine sheds its skin every five hundred years, and only when it sheds can the jade figurine be removed. Otherwise, it will turn into a bloody corpse. The living corpse you see before you has been around for over three thousand years. If you had pulled that thread just now, it would have immediately risen from the dead, and we would all be dead here.”
He finished speaking and coughed a few times. I noticed blood beginning to seep from the corner of his mouth and thought to myself that it was bad; he might have injured his internal organs.
Panzi, who had been leaning against the side looking uncomfortable and hadn’t said a word, suddenly spoke up: “Little brother, I, Panzi, am straightforward. Please don’t take offense. You know too much already. If it’s convenient, why not just clarify who you really are? You saved my life, and if I make it out alive, I’d like to pay my respects.”
Panzi’s words were quite clever, and I thought that no matter how much he tried to brush it off, the silent man couldn’t just ignore it. But to my surprise, he remained silent, as if he hadn’t even considered acknowledging us. He walked over to the corpse of King Lushang, looked at it with disgust, and suddenly a cold glint flashed in his eyes. Before I could see his movement, his hand had already gripped the corpse’s neck, pulling it out of the coffin. The corpse let out a sharp scream from its throat and began to tremble uncontrollably. Everything happened too quickly for me to react. The silent man coldly said to the corpse, “You’ve lived long enough; you can die now.” With a surge of veins on his hand, there was a sound of bones cracking, and the corpse’s limbs shook violently before it kicked one last time, its skin rapidly turning black.
We all stared at him, dumbfounded, and for a moment no one knew what to say. He casually tossed the corpse onto the ground as if it were nothing more than garbage. I grabbed him and demanded, “Who exactly are you? What deep-seated grudge do you have against King Lushang?”
The silent man looked at me for a long moment and said, “What good would it do you to know?”
Fatty, unwilling to back down, said, “What kind of reasoning is that? We worked hard to come down into this tomb, and after so much effort to open this coffin, you just choke the corpse to death without a word? At least you should explain yourself!”
The silent man turned his head to look at the bloodied head resting on the jade bed, his expression very sorrowful. He pointed to a purple jade box at the back of the painted lacquer coffin and said, “Everything you need to know is in that box.”
