Looking from a distance at the figure on the throne, it was not very clear whether it was the corpse of the Queen Mother of the West. I had experienced such things many times before, and this place felt filled with an ominous energy, prompting me to prepare the black donkey’s hoof.

The胖子 said, “It can’t be the Queen Mother of the West; if she were dead, she would either be buried or lying in a coffin. There’s no reason for her to be sitting. I think it might be a stone figure.”

Wen Jin said, “Absolutely impossible for it to be a stone figure. There are no human figurines here; we haven’t seen a single one on our way here. This place is so hidden, it must be a sacred ground for the Queen Mother of the West. That figure here is definitely significant, so we must be extremely cautious.”

The胖子 replied, “It’s a pity that Panzi’s gun is broken; otherwise, from this distance, I could shoot it in the head and immediately find out if it’s human or ghost.”

I thought to myself, if it’s a ghost, you can’t kill it; if it’s human, you’d become a murderer.

Regardless, we had to move closer because that place was the only one where we could approach the meteorite. We gathered everyone and headed cautiously toward the stone steps.

There were definitely no traps here, as there were no conditions for constructing mechanisms. The stone steps were very rudimentary, having been smashed out. The bronze lampstands on either side, which were probably meant for lighting, had now completely rusted into mere decorations. The胖子 tried to take one and put it in his backpack, but it shattered as soon as he touched it. Slowly, as we ascended the stone steps, we felt our bodies heavy as if they were filled with lead. After resting for a moment, we carefully took out the black donkey’s hoof and cautiously made our way up to the divine platform. With many people around, we felt braver and, without much hesitation, shone the mining lamps toward that figure. Sure enough, we saw a person sitting on the throne.

As we approached, we discovered it was a female corpse sitting upright on the throne.

This female corpse wore a very elaborate crown, and if it weren’t for the hairpin, it would be hard to distinguish between male and female. She was dressed in a gown woven with golden threads, adorned with jade pieces. The entire corpse sat upright, appearing lifelike.

The face of the corpse had turned green, and upon closer inspection, we realized it was covered with a layer of a lime-like green gelatin, meticulously sculpted to create that effect. The corpse showed no sign of flesh, and we had no idea how well-preserved the body was beneath the clothing. At first glance, it resembled a clay statue of a Bodhisattva in a temple, looking incredibly eerie under the mining lamp’s light.

Behind the female corpse stood two guards clad in armor from the Western Regions. These two corpses were evidently not as well-preserved as the female corpse; we could see that the lime on their faces had completely eroded, revealing their decayed bones underneath. The armor was black, resembling the same material as jade figurines, which we hadn’t noticed earlier.

The three ancient corpses stood straight, either upright or seated, clearly having undergone special treatment.

“Could this be the Queen Mother of the West?” the胖子 asked softly.

I nodded, “It looks about right. I didn’t expect her to really be here; the ancients must have treated her body and placed her here.”

The胖子, seeing the jade pieces, suddenly lit up with excitement and said, “Finally, I see something good! Turns out this woman was wearing them. Women are indeed women; even at death, they can’t bear to part with their possessions.” Hearing this, I immediately grabbed him before he could make a move.

The Muffled Oil Bottle told us not to approach. He pointed to the carved patterns on the ground around the throne, which depicted a large-headed, small-bodied human-faced bird. The patterns formed a circular disk surrounding the throne at the center. He touched the edge of the disk with his unusually long fingers and said, “There are small gaps; there might also be balance mechanisms. Don’t get close to her.”

We breathed a sigh of relief, only to remember to look up. We saw that the surface of the meteorite was almost directly above our heads, and we could reach it with a jump. There were several deep holes in the part above us. Looking inside, we found that those holes led straight into the interior of the meteorite, which seemed bottomless, and the walls of the holes were very smooth, clearly not artificially excavated.

What was Wang Zanghai looking for with this thing? If we believed what Wen Jin said, he was here to find the secret to immortality, so what did this meteorite have to do with immortality?

I looked up carefully and, as I stared, suddenly noticed something strange. The material of this meteorite resembled jade figurines remarkably. The color and luster seemed to be of the same material. I jumped up to touch it and found that the meteorite was warm and not cold to the touch; it really did resemble jade.

Wow, I thought, could this be a piece of “fallen jade”?

There is a type of gemstone in this world called fallen jade, a special meteorite that feels and appears similar to jade, and was considered extremely precious in ancient times. However, the color of this meteorite was much darker than that of fallen jade. Could it be a rare fallen jade containing special components? And were those jade figurines made from this fallen jade?

If that were true, this thing would be worth a lot. A piece this large would make us rich even if sold by weight.

When I shared my thoughts, everyone felt it made sense.

“It seems that the formation of those blood corpses is closely related to this meteorite,” Wen Jin said. “And the ancient West Queen Mother discovered this power and used the meteorite to create those jade figurines.”

I suddenly had a realization and thought of something: “You guys said that the gold-threaded garments that became popular from the Han Dynasty were said to prevent corpses from decaying for a thousand years. However, archaeological discoveries show that the gold-threaded garments often decay along with the jade. Clearly, this legend is unscientific. So where did this legend come from? Initially, could it be that those alchemists consulted certain ancient texts and found descriptions of the gold-threaded garments preserving corpses for a thousand years, but they didn’t realize that this jade was different from ordinary jade?”

“Could it be the Warring States brocade?” the Fatty said. “Are you saying that the Han Dynasty’s gold-threaded garments were made by imitating the jade figurines described in the Warring States brocade?”

“That’s a possibility,” I nodded. “Then, Wang Zanghai discovered this flaw, so he began searching for the real materials for making these jade figurines mentioned in ancient texts.”

Suddenly, everything in my mind became clearer. “Damn it, if that’s the case, then all of Wang Zanghai’s tomb-raiding activities were to find this fallen jade? In the end, he finally discovered the location of the fallen jade and brought people here?”

“Not necessarily,” Wen Jin said, not as excited as I was. “According to what you said, since he has arrived here, he should have succeeded, but we didn’t see any jade figurines in the underwater tomb. The jade figurines shouldn’t be Wang Zanghai’s target.”

“Then what is his goal?” I asked, feeling that my reasoning was quite reasonable.

Wenjing looked at the holes in the meteorites and said to us, “I don’t know, but I have a feeling that the goal is inside those holes.”

Wenjing’s tone was quite mysterious, and we were momentarily stunned by her words, feeling a bit uneasy. Looking up at those holes, I wondered what could be inside them.

After watching for a while, she suddenly started pulling a rope out of her backpack and said to me, “I want to go in and take a look.”

I was taken aback; how could that be allowed? I wanted to stop her, but I was held back by the muffled oil bottle. When we exchanged glances, I realized what he meant: we had a choice, but Wenjing had none; it was meaningless to say anything.

I sighed deeply, feeling a sense of helplessness. A person only feels small when they cannot help themselves but want to help others. I always thought this kind of helplessness only existed on television, but I didn’t expect to encounter it in reality. It felt really bad.

Wenjing moved quickly, immediately starting to prepare, asking the muffled oil bottle to help her connect the rope while she used a miner’s lamp to illuminate the holes, preparing to choose one to enter.

I wanted to find someone to replace her, but soon realized that it was unlikely. Although each hole was as big as an oil drum, the openings were almost vertical. To get in, one had to use their knees or the soles of their feet to push against the walls of the hole. All of us men were too tall; once inside, we couldn’t bend fully and couldn’t exert much force. As for the chubby guy, it was even more of a concern; if the diameter of the hole narrowed inside, he might get stuck. Only Wenjing, being petite, could barely manage to exert some strength.

I felt a bit worried, but seeing Wenjing’s agile movements, I knew this worry was pointless. Wenjing tied a rope loop around her waist, was hoisted onto the chubby guy’s shoulders, leaned into the hole, and then pushed off the chubby guy to enter.

I shouted, “Be careful!” She replied with an acknowledgment and glanced down at me. I noticed her expression was somewhat strange, an indescribable feeling, and then she smiled at me before starting to climb deeper inside.

We let out the rope while watching her gradually ascend into the hole, her movements very slow and clearly strenuous. It took a full half hour before we saw the light from her miner’s lamp disappear, and I estimated she had gone less than fifty meters.

Watching the whole process sent chills down my spine; this was what it felt like to crawl into a thief’s tunnel. But how deep was this hole? It must be at least two to three hundred meters to the deepest point. The sensation of crawling into someone else’s esophagus was definitely unpleasant, especially when midway through, one might find themselves unable to reach forward or backward.

After staring at the hole for more than ten minutes, my neck couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t bear to watch any longer, so I sat down to rest like the chubby guy and the others, taking off my clothes and rubbing my body with liquor to ward off the cold. The rope kept being fed into the hole, and every ten meters or so, the chubby guy would check in with Wenjing, signaling a few times.

The atmosphere was tense; we all fell silent, unsure of what to say. On one hand, the female corpse behind us was chilling, and on the other, we were worried about Wenjing’s safety.

After waiting for about an hour, I suddenly heard the chubby guy say “Hmm.” I immediately stood up and asked what was going on. He said, “The big sister hasn’t responded.”

We leaned closer and saw the fat guy tugging on the rope. After a few pulls, some of the rope was pulled down, but no one pulled it back up. My mind tightened, and I thought something might be wrong, so I signaled the fat guy to try again. He pulled again, but the rope came down even more. His brows furrowed, and he said, “Not good, the rope is very light; it seems like there’s no one tied on the other end.”

Upon hearing this, the expression on the gloomy oil bottle’s face changed. He immediately said to the fat guy, “Pull her out!” The fat guy quickly exerted force and pulled the rope rapidly. I noticed something was off; he didn’t need to use much strength at all. The rope flowed out effortlessly, and when it was pulled to a vertical position, it formed a knot and tumbled out of the hole, crashing down on me and wrapping me up inside.

When I freed myself from the end of the rope and looked, I found no signs of it being cut; the rope had been untied by her own doing. We exchanged glances, and a terrible feeling suddenly surged in my heart. “Damn it, did Wen Jin untie the rope herself?”

The gloomy oil bottle’s expression turned serious as he pressed down on the fat guy’s shoulder. Using him for leverage, he jumped and dove into the hole, moving so quickly that we couldn’t stop him. The fat guy shouted, “The rope! Bring the rope!” But he ignored him and quickly climbed up into the hole.

Seeing that he wasn’t bringing the rope, I called out to the fat guy, “Squat down.” The fat guy was furious, “Damn it, do you all think I’m a horse?” I ignored him and awkwardly climbed up against him. He helped me a bit, and I kicked off with all my might to scramble up, but unfortunately, I didn’t have enough strength. Holding my breath, I braced myself against the wall of the hole to lift my foot up, but within seconds, I slipped down and fell directly onto the fat guy. I tried again, but it was the same; I realized that my physique definitely wouldn’t allow me to get in.

I stood up and rubbed the sore spots from my fall, looking up to see the gloomy oil bottle struggling to advance through the hole. He was too tall and couldn’t find leverage with his knees, so he had to take small steps, which consumed a lot of energy. I suddenly had a strange illusion that this meteorite might be alive, and these holes were traps for it to feed, with the gloomy oil bottle walking right into its snare.

But then I quickly realized that this was impossible. My mind was already in chaos, unable to think clearly. I just kept looking up at the gloomy oil bottle as he climbed, and I didn’t know how long passed before he completely disappeared into the depths of the hole.

I could no longer sit still. I stood at the edge of the hole, peering down, hoping to see some light returning, and that both of them would come back safely. Time passed second by second, and I waited anxiously, moving from anxiety to calmness, from calmness to numbness, and from numbness to a blank mind.

Ten hours later, nothing had happened. The gloomy oil bottle hadn’t returned, nor had Wen Jin. There wasn’t a sound in the hollow. It was as if those two had been taken to another world by these holes.