From here, the sound seems a bit different, carrying a hint of echo, as if it is coming from a very deep place. With the rhythm of the sound, I can also clearly feel the bronze chain vibrating slightly, as if the other end is pressing against a giant’s artery.

This phenomenon sends an irresistible chill through me because I don’t feel a single breeze blowing up from below, and neither of us can generate such high-frequency vibrations in the heavy bronze chain. What exactly is tugging at these bronze chains in the darkness below?

Boss Wang listens quietly, seemingly deep in thought. Logically, he should be more frightened than I am since he hasn’t experienced such a thing before, but his expression is surprisingly calm, as if he is judging something.

After a moment of tense silence, the sound finally subsides, and the bronze chains stop vibrating. I let out an inexplicable sigh of relief, feeling as if I might just collapse from the chains.

Boss Wang still doesn’t react. After thinking for a while, he takes out a cigarette, lights it, takes a deep drag, and then pulls out a small glow stick from his pocket, shaking it a couple of times to activate its brightness.

I don’t know what he intends to do and watch him coldly. Once the glow stick reaches its brightest, he suddenly tosses it down along the bronze chain, and the green beam spirals downward.

The light circle shrinks smaller and smaller, quickly disappearing from my view. I thought it would keep falling until it vanished into the darkness. Suddenly, at the visual limit of what I could see, the glow stick strikes something, bouncing off with a “bang” and flying sideways against the bronze wall before falling again, instantly disappearing from sight.

About fifty to sixty meters below the bronze chain, there indeed hangs something. Unfortunately, the glow stick’s light is too weak; I only caught a rough outline that seemed to be a crystal coffin, tinged with a hint of yellow, or perhaps it was a more common type of stone coffin (made of a semi-transparent yellow material).

Boss Wang looks at me provocatively, suddenly loosening his belt, flicking his lighter, and begins to slide down. Soon, he disappears into the darkness, leaving only a diminishing glow behind.

I hesitate for a moment, feeling an uneasy premonition. Boss Wang seems confident; he is knowledgeable about various strange items. Could it be that he already knows what lies below and intends to retrieve it? I recall what Lao Yang told me and, unwilling to fall into his hands so easily, I quickly grab my short-handled hunting knife and slide down after him.

The descent starts off fast, but the tree roots that were entwined above disappear below. As we approached the end, our speed slows down, and in about ten seconds, we reach the estimated height. I see the glow below has stopped, and I quickly tighten my legs to hold onto the chain and halt my descent.

Looking down, Boss Wang has reached the end of the chain, just a few meters above the spot where the glow stick struck. He is leaning down, using his lighter to illuminate the area, but the light is too weak to reveal the overall shape of the object. I can only see a yellow, crystal-like object hanging in mid-air.

I turned on the flashlight, and under the strong beam, the full appearance of the object was suddenly revealed. To my surprise, what hung beneath the bronze chains was not a Shang dynasty stone coffin, nor even a coffin at all, but a massive amber-like stone in the shape of a coffin. It seemed to be natural and was incredibly transparent. Under the flashlight’s glow, it reflected a glassy light akin to gold. Just a slight adjustment in the angle of the flashlight transformed the entire space into a dazzling spectacle, vibrant and extraordinary.

Four bronze chains hung down from above, embedded deep within the amber. Looking along the chains into the interior, I could see a human-shaped black shadow within the amber, very blurry, but I could barely make out a head and shoulders. The shadow’s shoulders rose high, resembling two humps, and the entire figure curled up, much like a fetus in the womb.

I had never seen anything like this before, and for a moment, I was utterly dumbfounded, unable to speak. Yet, Boss Wang remained surprisingly calm. After a brief observation, he slid down, tentatively trying to step onto the amber. I quickly shouted, “Stop!”

Boss Wang turned back, looking at me in confusion.

I said to him, “I’ve never seen such a large piece of amber; it could be copal. If you step on it, it might break.”

Boss Wang scoffed dismissively and said, “You don’t know anything. This isn’t amber; it’s a corpse cocoon.” With that, he stepped onto it, and indeed, the corpse cocoon held firm, swaying slightly without any sign of breaking.

Seeing that he was fine, I was unwilling to fall behind and relaxed my feet, sliding onto the amber corpse cocoon as well. At the same time, I reached for my short-handled hunting knife, intending to tuck it back into my waistband to avoid the awkwardness of holding a flashlight in one hand and a dagger in the other while navigating the slippery surface of the amber corpse cocoon.

Unexpectedly, Boss Wang misunderstood my intentions. Seeing me come down, he crouched defensively and drew his belt to brace against his chest, preparing for a fight. I was startled, and the short knife I had intended to tuck away was now raised in defense.

For a moment, the atmosphere became incredibly tense, but neither of us moved, as we both understood that in this place, even the slightest misstep could lead to disaster. Below us was a bottomless abyss; no matter how strong or fierce one might be, falling would mean certain death in just a second.

Boss Wang, being a person of the underworld, was able to take a step back. After a brief standoff, he waved his hand and said to me, “Young man, we’ve come this far; let’s take a step back. There’s no need for both of us to perish. It wouldn’t benefit either of us if one of us dies; this place is not something one person can escape from.”

I looked up at the ceiling and realized he was right. To climb out of here, at least two people were needed. As long as we remained down here, he likely wouldn’t dare to act against me; otherwise, he might face a fate even worse than mine. However, this person was very cunning and could not be trusted too easily.

I slowly lowered my hunting knife, made a gesture of reconciliation, and briefly explained the earlier radio interference incident to provide both sides with a way out. After all, I had also harbored intentions to kill earlier, and he wouldn’t easily drop his guard.

Boss Wang took out his walkie-talkie and, half in doubt, turned it on. Suddenly, a series of high-decibel static noises erupted from it, the sound extremely piercing, as if someone were screaming at the top of their lungs. Boss Wang felt his heart race and quickly turned off the walkie-talkie, cursing, “Damn it.”

I was also scared half to death; it must be very close to the source of the interference for the sound to be this unbearable. I couldn’t imagine there being such a terrifying sound in the world. If I listened for a few more seconds, I might just lose my mind and jump off.

Boss Wang fastened his belt back around his waist and said, “This time, I’ll admit I was wrong. You know, in our line of work, we have to be a bit more cautious.” He pointed to the swollen part of his face where I had hit him. “Young man, you didn’t hold back. Let’s call this even for now; we’ll settle our personal grievances later. What do you say?”

I sneered inwardly; his true nature had already been revealed. I was certain he had long planned to eliminate us after we got out. His words were merely a delaying tactic. However, at this moment, we still needed to use each other, so I nodded and tossed him the flashlight to indicate a balance.

We temporarily reached a truce, but I still didn’t dare to get too close to him, fearing he might suddenly push me off. He seemed to have the same concern; we tacitly guarded against each other while carefully crouching down to examine the corpse cocoon beneath us.

The surface of the corpse cocoon was covered in many naturally formed patterns, and its transparency was low, making it unlikely to see the body inside from the outside. It might require an X-ray scan or breaking the cocoon to see inside. The most peculiar thing was the shadowy human shape within; this should be the body wrapped inside, but its form was so strange that it hardly resembled a human at all.