I was taken aback, thinking to myself, “This voice sounds so familiar. Isn’t it my uncle’s?” He was still on the cliff, so how could this voice seem so close? I quickly turned my head to look for him, only to find that there was no one around except for the fat guy. I couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Suddenly, I heard my uncle say, “You have blood on your hands; as soon as you enter the corpse’s mouth, it will rise. Don’t act recklessly.”

I searched for the source of the voice and eventually realized it was coming from underneath the jade platform. However, the jade platform was so vividly colored that I couldn’t see what was below it. I hurriedly asked, “Uncle, are you under this jade platform?”

My uncle replied, “I’ll explain later. For now, follow my instructions. Lower the head of that female corpse, press your thumb against her throat, and then tap her on the back of the head. Remember, you must keep your thumb on her throat, or she will swallow the key!” I agreed and followed his instructions, pressing on the throat of the female corpse and gently tapping her head. A key fell out of her mouth. As soon as the key hit the jade platform, I felt my shoulders relax, and the female corpse’s arms dropped down, her body lying flat on the jade platform.

I let out a sigh of relief, thinking I was finally free. Then I heard my uncle say from below, “Nephew, is there a fat guy next to you?”

I looked up at the fat guy, who had picked up the fallen key and was studying it closely, nodding and saying, “Yes.”

Suddenly, my uncle asked in Hangzhou dialect, “Can you see if he has a shadow?”

I was taken aback and didn’t quite understand what he meant. Reflexively, I glanced at the fat guy’s feet and saw that his shadow was obscured by the shadow of the jade bed. If one didn’t lean forward, it would be hard to tell whether there was a shadow at all. I felt a bit confused and said, “I can’t see clearly right now.”

My uncle sounded very anxious and said to me, “Listen carefully. I need to tell you something. Don’t be scared. On my way here, I saw the fat guy’s corpse. You must be careful; the fat guy in front of you might not be human.”

I looked at the fat guy and saw his rosy cheeks; his demeanor and actions looked nothing like a ghost, which left me puzzled. “Uncle, could you be mistaken?”

My uncle replied, “No, it’s definitely him. I wouldn’t be wrong. He must have been one of the previous tomb raiders. Just now, he was probably encouraging you to stick your hand in that female corpse’s mouth, right? That’s to harm you!”

I immediately felt scared and asked, “So you’re saying the fat guy in front of me is a ghost?”

My uncle said, “Yes. No matter what he says, don’t believe him. Quickly look for something nearby that can ward off evil.”

At that moment, the fat guy looked up at me, and I suddenly felt that his gaze was very strange, almost filled with resentment. I couldn’t help but believe half of what my uncle said. I hurriedly searched around and found the belt from the armored corpse, which was still attached to the scabbard of a dagger. I thought that ancient people often carved words to ward off evil on their accessories, so I quickly picked it up.

Although the characters on the belt had faded significantly, I immediately recognized that these were indeed the words of the State of Lu. Could this person really be King Shuang of Lu? And who was the female corpse next to him? Could she be his wife? In an instant, I thought about it, and my eyes didn’t stay idle; I had already scanned the belt. Although I couldn’t understand most of the characters, there was a phrase written in gold powder: “Yin Xi Bao Di,” which was quite recognizable, confirming it was indeed a spell to subdue ghosts. I felt a surge of joy in my heart.

At that moment, I thought of something and asked my third uncle, “It’s strange, this jade bed isn’t transparent, how can you see us?”

My third uncle replied, “I don’t know either. From below, I can see everything clearly, as if it were made of transparent glass. When I walked over, I saw you trying to take the key from that female corpse’s mouth, so I called out to you. Luckily, you could hear me; otherwise, if you had put your hand in there, it would have been disastrous.”

I became increasingly puzzled, feeling that something was off. I thought to myself: This jade bed isn’t wide, and the two corpses are placed very closely side by side. The moonlight here isn’t particularly bright either. To see so clearly through two parallel corpses in this light seems a bit impossible.

I glanced at the胖子 (the fat guy) and saw that he was still studying the key. Suddenly, I felt something was wrong. Given the胖子’s character, even if he didn’t understand my Hangzhou dialect, he would definitely interrupt. It was absolutely impossible for him to just stand there staring at a key for so long.

I climbed down from the jade bed and patted the胖子 on the shoulder. Just as I was about to test him with a question, unexpectedly, that ordinary pat elicited such a strong reaction from him. His eyes widened in anger as he shouted, “You little bastard, you’ve been deceiving me all along!” After saying that, he raised the dagger in his hand and lunged at me. I was taken aback and retreated several steps, shouting, “What are you doing!”

His eyes were bloodshot, and he didn’t listen to what I was saying. He charged at me again with another stab. The胖子 moved surprisingly swiftly despite his bulky figure, and I realized that if I didn’t run, I would definitely be stabbed. I quickly turned and ran down the stone steps. The胖子 yelled, “I’ll make you run!” and chased after me desperately, looking as if I had killed his father.

I ran desperately along the stone path. Although the胖子 looked heavy, he ran extremely fast. I saw that the stone corridor was short, and I would soon reach the end at the stone altar. Behind it was a ground covered with vines; if I stepped into it, I’d probably get caught like a sausage, and I felt anxious. I thought, could he really be an evil spirit trying to drag me down with him? But when have evil spirits ever stabbed people with knives?

Thinking of this, I saw that there was almost no way out ahead. I hit the brakes and then used the belt in my hand like a whip to strike at him. The胖子 dodged, and I lunged forward, biting his hand. I thought to myself, I’m probably the first person in this world who dares to bite a ghost. He screamed in pain, and the dagger fell to the ground. I kicked it away with a swift kick, sending it flying outside the stone corridor.

With that move, I had already exposed my weakness. The胖子 pinned me to the ground and said, “Damn it, I’ll choke you to death!” He suddenly tightened his grip around my neck.

In a moment of desperation, I wrapped the belt around his neck, thinking, if you’re ruthless, I’m not gentle either. Damn it, let’s fight it out!

I was grabbing him, and he was choking me. The key to this mutual choking was to strangle the other person before being suffocated oneself. I noticed that the fat guy wasn’t holding back at all; he was choking me so hard that my tongue was almost sticking out. I quickly mustered all my strength, using every ounce of energy I had, but unexpectedly, the belt, which looked to be in decent condition, turned out to be of such poor quality that with one good pull, it snapped with a loud crack.

The belt was made of cowhide, adorned with small, scale-like copper plates. When the cowhide broke, those copper plates fell onto my face like a shower of petals. One piece, engraved with “Yinxi Baodi,” fell right into my open mouth. Suddenly, I felt a bitter liquid rushing down my throat. I remembered that the plate was from a corpse, and I was instantly disgusted, choking violently. Everything in front of me became blurred, as if I had fallen into a cloud of black mist.

I was very confused, thinking, could it be that I was already choked to death by the fat guy? I felt the bitterness in my mouth intensifying, and the things in front of me becoming clearer. Then I jolted awake, suddenly realizing that I was pinned down on that jade bed by the fat guy, whose eyes were turning blue as he tightly gripped my neck. Meanwhile, the key in the mouth of the female corpse hadn’t fallen out; her hands were still tightly hooked onto my shoulders, creating an extremely chaotic scene!

It dawned on me that everything that had just happened was an illusion!

I turned my head to look at the fox corpse with the blue eyes beside me. Its mask was on the ground, and the eyeballs in the narrow slits had already turned to our side, staring straight at us.

I thought this was bad; no wonder the fat guy told me not to look. The eyes of that blue-eyed fox corpse were so eerie. With the fat guy being so strong, even if I woke up, he would still choke me to death. I hurriedly touched my mouth and found that the piece of the plate had completely melted away. Just as I was feeling anxious, my eye caught the purple-gold box in the fox corpse’s hand. Without thinking much, I desperately reached out to grab it and swung it at the fat guy’s head.

The fat guy was incredibly fierce, cursing loudly as he tightened his grip again. I thought to myself, you’re not just trying to choke me; you’re trying to break my neck! Determined, I felt a surge of killing intent. This person was terrifying; once I had the urge to kill, the strength in my hands changed completely. With a loud crack, the fat guy rolled his eyes back, and his whole body seemed to shake as he dropped onto me. I loosened my neck and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

At that moment, I suddenly saw the eyes of the blue-eyed fox corpse seemingly widen, and a strange force compelled me to look at it. My mind started to become hazy again, and in a moment of desperation, I pushed the fat guy onto the corpse. The fat guy was very robust and ended up pressing down on the corpse firmly. As soon as he did, that strange feeling disappeared immediately.

I rubbed my neck, where several fingerprints had almost deformed my skin. My whole body ached terribly. The eyes of the blue-eyed fox corpse were so powerful; if I hadn’t accidentally swallowed that piece of the plate from its belt, one of us would surely have died. I glanced at the purple-gold box that I had used as a weapon and suddenly noticed a small keyhole on it. I couldn’t help but exclaim softly, then looked back at the mouth of the female corpse, thinking, could it be that the key is meant to open this box?