I couldn’t bear to watch any longer, so I quickly averted my gaze.
“Damn!” The fatty covered his mouth and turned his head, asking, “Aren’t these the monster’s food?”
His comment only made my stomach feel worse.
A Yuan, who had been silent the whole time, had to chime in, “I think so.”
“Can you guys stop talking about it?” I couldn’t help but exclaim, “This is too disgusting!”
“According to Mr. Fu’s analysis earlier, the monster outside might indeed be one of the archaeological team members,” Jin Qiaoyue said. “But why is he the only one left? Where are the others?”
The fatty replied, “Didn’t you see the bones on the ground? Nine times out of ten, they were eaten by that guy.”
“Before the monster ate them, were they alive or dead?” Jin Qiaoyue posed another question.
“What difference does that make?” the fatty asked.
“If they were eaten alive, something must have happened to the monster, and the others wouldn’t have just watched their companion be eaten. But if they were eaten after death, why was he the only one who survived?”
This question sounded a bit convoluted, but upon careful consideration, it contained a considerable amount of information.
The archaeological team had come to this place years ago, and my father was one of them.
This indicated that some of them stayed here, while others left.
Why my father left and why the others stayed were all mysteries.
And the monster outside the door, what exactly happened to it to make it like this?
It seemed that to unravel all the questions, I needed to find someone who participated in that archaeological expedition back then.
But where could I find such a person?
As I pondered, I suddenly thought of someone!
An Ying!
Although she had lost some memories, she could potentially recover them through some means. If she could recall the memories of that excavation, wouldn’t that mean everything would be revealed?
The thought made me excited, and I wished I could go find her immediately.
This stone house was about two hundred square meters. I didn’t understand the significance of such a structure in this ancient city.
The stone house contained many peculiar stone statues, most of which were damaged and lay askew.
“Brother Xiang, come look at this.” The fatty called me over.
I went to him, and he shone his flashlight on the wall, which was covered in dense characters.
The writing was chaotic and the sentences were incoherent. Coupled with the lack of punctuation, it was impossible to tell what was written.
“This seems to be a list of names,” Fu Honglang said as he approached.
“Names?”
“Yes, look at how frequently the character ‘Wu’ appears. Try to read it in conjunction with the surrounding characters.”
Following Fu Honglang’s suggestion, I attempted to read the inscription and discovered he was right.
“Wu Yuan… Wu Yue…” the fatty muttered. “Why are so many names carved here?”
Fu Honglang looked at the nearby stone statues and said, “This place is likely a type of ancestral hall.”
“An ancestral hall? So, these stone statues are like ancestral tablets?” the fatty asked.
“Yes.”
After a thorough examination of the stone house, we found a large stone statue in the innermost part. At the base of the statue, there was a passage.
It appeared that someone had gone down, but the door at the entrance to this passage was not sealed.
We managed to move the stone statue, revealing a staircase leading downwards.
There was no possibility of going back outside now, as the monster was still guarding it. We had no choice but to steel ourselves and descend into the passage.
The staircase wasn’t long, and we reached the bottom in about five or six minutes.
No one expected that below this would be a tomb chamber.
In the center of the tomb chamber was a stone coffin. On the ground lay several skeletons. Judging by the remnants of their clothing, they belonged to members of the archaeological team.
“How did these people die here?” I couldn’t help but ask.
The fatty replied, “Who knows? Maybe they were trapped by the monster at the entrance, just like us, and couldn’t get out.”
Fu Honglang disagreed, “I don’t think so. Look at this.”
Indeed, a rusty dagger was protruding from the chest of one of the skeletons.
A Yuan, who had placed Fu Kui on the ground, also came over. He casually sifted through the remains on the ground. After a moment, he said, “Judging by their bones, they were all injured by blunt force.”
“Meaning someone killed them?” I asked.
A Yuan shook his head. “It looks like they killed each other.”
“Killed each other? Why?”
“I’m not sure…”
The fatty, uninterested in the skeletons, had already rushed to the stone coffin. “Brother Xiang, there seems to be something inside this coffin!”
I went over and found that the lid of the stone coffin had been opened by about ten centimeters. As the flashlight shone inside, something flashed.
The fatty licked his lips, “There must be treasure in here.”
Fu Honglang and A Yuan also crowded around. We inspected the stone coffin, and the fatty was growing impatient.
Truthfully, I was hesitant to open the coffin. After all, this place was too eerie. Why would the people on the ground have killed each other back then?
Was it because of something inside this coffin?
Clearly, Fu Honglang and A Yuan had considered these possibilities. The fatty, however, hadn’t thought that far ahead and urged, “Are we going to open it or not?”
“Why are you in such a hurry?” I said. “We don’t know the situation yet. If you open this coffin and a zombie jumps out, where will we run?”
My words made the fatty quiet down.
Unexpectedly, Fu Kui, who had been unconscious, suddenly woke up.
“Sui Hou Pearl… Sui Hou Pearl… the Sui Hou Pearl is in here…”
He sat leaning against the wall, staring weakly at the stone coffin, and uttered this sentence.
After speaking, his eyelids fluttered, and he passed out again.
I looked at A Yuan, who said nothing. He retrieved a crowbar from his backpack, clearly preparing to open the coffin.
The fatty also enthusiastically offered his help. Seeing this, I knew that no amount of persuasion would work, so I could only lend a hand.
The lid of the stone coffin was incredibly heavy. It took the four of us a great deal of effort to push it open.
Inside the stone coffin was a dark, dried corpse, dressed in clothing made of an unknown material, with a crown that appeared to be made of gold on its head.
Besides the desiccated body, there were many burial artifacts placed around the coffin. The fatty’s eyes widened at the sight of these, and he kept signaling to me.
I ignored him and instead observed the dry corpse, looking for any other discoveries.
I noticed something resembling a feather on the dry corpse’s chest. Just as I was wondering why there would be a feather here, the feather actually moved!