Chapter 1 The Interior of the Coffin

The light from the headlamp shone into the coffin, revealing its contents clearly.

Inside the stone coffin, on the inner walls and beneath the lid, were many scratches of varying depths and lengths.

No wonder Uncle Mei deduced that the *guan cai rang zi* (coffin occupant) had clawed open the coffin and climbed out; the marks indeed looked like they were left by the dead person inside desperately trying to escape.

At that moment, I suddenly thought of the coffin I had seen in the whirlpool of the Tuo River, and the eerie black shadow that had roared out of it. Could the thing that crawled out of this stone coffin be the same thing that crawled out of that coffin?

Just then, Uncle Mei suddenly spoke up again, "I reckon the *guan cai rang zi* opened the lid and climbed out themselves. Otherwise, why are all these coffins empty? *Hao zi* (grave robbers) might open coffins to steal treasures, but they wouldn't steal ancient corpses, would they?"

What he said was logical and convincing, and even Jiang Yongguang found it hard to argue.

But the more sense Uncle Mei's words made, the more terrifying the situation became. Xiao Liang was so frightened that she lost color in her face and couldn't help but move closer to me, wanting to burrow into my arms.

But Jiang Yongguang still stepped forward to deny it, "Uncle Mei, that's too spooky. I've been dealing with coffins for so many years, and I've never seen a *guan cai rang zi* that could climb out."

"Then how do you explain these scratches?" Uncle Mei asked stubbornly.

Jiang Yongguang thought for a moment and replied, "There could be many explanations. For example, the dead in these coffins might not have been dead when they were placed inside. They might have been buried alive..."

I felt a chill run down my spine and asked in surprise, "Buried alive? That's so cruel?"

Jiang Yongguang nodded and said, "Yes, that's the famous live burial in history. Live burial was very common in slave societies. Sealing living people directly into coffins was considered a relatively merciful method of live burial..."

The more I heard, the more incredible it seemed. I pressed on, "What? That's considered relatively merciful? What are the more cruel methods of live burial?"

Jiang Yongguang said expressionlessly, "One method of live burial is to directly inject mercury into the bodies of young boys and girls, so that the mercury fills their entire body. This can ensure that the corpse will not decay for ten thousand years. But after a person dies, blood no longer circulates, and mercury cannot reach the whole body, so it must be injected while they are still alive—that is, while the young boys and girls are still alive..."

"Stop! Don't say anymore!"

At this point, Xiao Liang couldn't bear to listen any longer. She covered her ears with both hands and shook her head desperately.

I couldn't help but curse.

No wonder Confucius said, "He who first invented human figurines to bury with the dead deserves to have no posterity."

Jiang Yongguang sighed and brought the topic back on track, saying, "If the dead in these coffins were victims of live burial, then they were alive when they were placed inside. After being sealed in the stone coffins, they struggled desperately before they died, leaving these scratches on the inner walls of the coffins."

Uncle Mei immediately pointed inside and said, "Then take a look at whether these scratches are new or old. Wouldn't it be clear whether they were left recently or in ancient times?"

I couldn't help but admire Uncle Mei's wit and quickly leaned in to take a closer look. But this look scared me into a cold sweat!

Most of the scratches were brand new. The color of the scratches was completely different from the color of the outer walls of the stone coffin, and there wasn't even any dust accumulated in the gaps.

"They're all brand new scratches!"

Xiao Liang's face instantly turned even paler.

Jiang Yongguang remained calm, shaking his head, "That doesn't necessarily mean that the *guan cai rang zi* climbed out. Maybe these scratches were left by the *hao zi*. Scratches might be left when opening the coffin, scratches might be left when *fan rou zong* (flipping the 'meat dumplings'), and scratches might be left when moving cultural relics..."

"*Fan rou zong*?" At that time, I didn't understand many of the underworld terms. When I heard "*rou zong*" (meat dumpling), I thought Jiang Yongguang was referring to the food and wondered why the tomb robbers were so uncouth as to eat in the coffin.

Jiang Yongguang quickly explained, "*Rou zong* is the *guan cai rang zi*, the remains in the coffin. Many ancient remains are wrapped in burial cloths, which look like *zongzi* (dumplings), hence the name. In addition, the remains often carry many valuable treasures, such as jade in the mouth for preservation. More particular ones have all their orifices plugged. These treasures are like the meat filling in a *rou zong*. The *hao zi*翻 open the corpse to find treasures, just like flipping a *zongzi* to pick out the meat, hence the underworld term *fan rou zong*."

I suddenly understood, but felt a wave of nausea. I figured I probably wouldn't want to eat *rou zong* anymore during the Dragon Boat Festival in the future.

Jiang Yongguang finally concluded, "In short, there are many possibilities for the scratches in this coffin. The least likely is that the *guan cai rang zi* climbed out themselves. Don't always think about feudal superstitions. You're just scaring yourself."

Uncle Mei was unconvinced and couldn't help but retort, "Then what about the coffin in the Tuo River whirlpool? And the black shadow that crawled out of the coffin? What the hell was that?"

Jiang Yongguang couldn't answer and shrugged, "I don't know yet, but I think I'll be able to give you an answer soon."

Uncle Mei didn't believe it at all and snorted, "You can't give a damn answer!"

Jiang Yongguang wasn't angry and just smiled faintly.

The environment in the underground tomb was gloomy and cold, and there was a gust of yin wind blowing from time to time. Luckily, I was young and strong and had enough kidney energy, so I wasn't blown to the point where I wanted to go to the toilet.

But while my body was still good, there were some older brothers in the Xiaoling Guard whose bodies weren't doing so well.

One of the slightly chubby, slightly balding brothers was clearly unable to bear it any longer and came over to Jiang Yongguang and said, "Da Yong, this wind is making me need to pee. I'm going to take a leak."

Jiang Yongguang nodded and reminded him, "Be careful and stay safe."

The balding brother said with a chuckle, "I'm not going far, so it'll definitely be safe."

Jiang Yongguang said, "I'm telling you to be careful not to pee on the cultural relics. Pay attention to the safety of the cultural relics."

The balding brother laughed and cursed, then walked away with hurried steps.

Not long after, along with the intermittent sound of wind in the ancient tomb, I vaguely heard the balding brother's satisfied "humming" sound.

I smiled and joked with Xiao Liang, "You definitely don't need to go to the bathroom, right? After all, you already went just now."

Xiao Liang's fair face instantly turned red. She glared at me resentfully and said coquettishly, "Chen Rongsheng, you're so annoying!"

She even raised her pink fist to hit me.

I quickly coughed and said, "Don't make a fuss. My father-in-law is watching! It's not a good look!"

Xiao Liang had no choice but to give up, warning me angrily, "Chen Rongsheng! If you dare to mention that...that thing again, I'll...I'll puncture your oxygen tank and you won't be able to swim out!"

In the blink of an eye, ten minutes passed, but the balding brother still hadn't returned. The vigilant Jiang Yongguang immediately noticed something was wrong and said doubtfully, "That's strange. Why has Lao Zhang been gone for so long?"

I also found it strange and quickly said, "At first, I could still hear him humming, but then there was no sound."

Jiang Yongguang's face changed, "What? Lao Zhang was humming? What's there to hum about while taking a leak? He's probably in danger!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already leaped in the direction Lao Zhang had gone, while drawing the diving knife from his waist, entering a state of combat readiness.

The other Xiaoling Guards, like keen wolves, immediately reacted after seeing the pack leader act, following Jiang Yongguang's footsteps and rushing towards Lao Zhang's location.

Uncle Mei, Xiao Liang, and I also followed closely behind, following the Xiaoling Guards to find Lao Zhang.

We came out of the current tomb chamber, passed through a tunnel, and walked not far forward before we saw Lao Zhang.

Or, to be precise—

We saw Lao Zhang's corpse.