Professor Li spoke, and everyone had already arrived in front of the coffin.
"Professor, this coffin is so big, more than two meters long, right? Who could have such a large coffin?" Fang Ling asked curiously. She had accompanied the archaeological team twice before, but this was the first time she had seen such a large coffin. She was among the new batch of university students in the team.
"Ancient generals. According to our findings, most ancient generals were no shorter than 1.8 meters, except for some individuals, of course."
"Judging by the style of this sarcophagus, it should belong to a general from the Jin Dynasty. Look, this is the pattern of the Jin Dynasty." Professor Li said, and everyone squatted curiously in front of the coffin. Each person held a flashlight, like curious babies, studying the home of the "red-haired monster."
"During the Southern Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty was also powerful for a time, but it was eventually eliminated by the combined forces of the Southern Song and the Mongols. I didn't expect them to be buried here," Professor Li murmured. Looking at the terrain, he understood something. This area was in the northeast, and further north was Mongolia, which was directly related to the Jin Dynasty.
"Professor, so we are in an ancient tomb of the Jin Dynasty? That's great, the Jin Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty, over a thousand years of history!" Everyone was excited.
"Let's open the coffin and see. If the skeleton is intact, it will have research and preservation value," Professor Li said. Everyone stood up, and several people began to pry open the coffin.
"Creak. creak." The coffin was pried open.
Soon, the soldiers had pushed the coffin open. As soon as it was opened, a wave of dark, malevolent energy surged out, seemingly representing anger.
"Holy shit, what is this thing?" A middle-aged expert was stunned, and the expert group instinctively stepped back.
"Don't worry, this is probably just the corpse qi produced after a long time. Everyone, don't panic." Professor Li quickly said. The crowd finally breathed a sigh of relief. The soldiers nervously aimed their guns at the coffin.
"Let's go take a look." Professor Li said, when suddenly, a large hand reached out from the coffin.
Red-haired monster: "Cousin, I'm out~"
Expert group: "!!!"
"Pro, Professor Li, is that… is that a hand?" Everyone had never seen such a scene before. Most of the tombs they had excavated had already been looted, posing a very low risk. Now, the one Zhang Tian had given them, forgetting to mark the "red-haired monster," was truly an encounter.
"A reanimation, a reanimation, don't panic." Professor Li wiped the sweat from his forehead. The five soldiers around them had become serious.
"Creak. creak." As Professor Li finished speaking, the red-haired monster made an angry sound.
"Damn it, my military achievements were just snatched, and you guys are here again?" The red-haired monster was furious and sat up, then stood up in one fluid motion, like a zombie.
"You call this a reanimation?"
"And after a thousand years, why is this guy's skin still intact!"
"Expert Zhang, you studied in vain. It should be due to preservative materials." The experts panicked. They had never seen such a situation.
"Don't panic, don't panic. Even if it's a reanimation, it might be a 'Zongzi' (a type of zombie). We have guns." Professor Li said again.
"Um, Grandpa Professor, you call this a 'Zongzi'? Does it eat people?" Fang Ling's eyes widened.
"You guys go first, we'll cover. That big hole should be the way to the fortress." The officer in charge said, quickly handing a grenade to Professor Li. This was a new type of grenade, more powerful than the wooden stick grenades.
Professor Li nodded, looked at the opening beside him, and then at the giant red-haired monster. "What a pity, such good research material. Never mind, let's go first." Professor Li said, and the dozen or so experts quickly squeezed into the hole that Zhang Tian had previously pried open.
"Who was so unethical as to dig a large pit at the entrance of the cave?" An expert grumbled as he looked at the several-meter-deep pit. Far away in Beili, Zhang Tian sneezed. Could one get a cold from cultivating these days?
"Bang bang bang..." Behind them, gunshots rang out continuously, followed by sounds of horror.
"Captain, it's no use, it's completely useless!" "Ah..." Just as the team member finished shouting, the red-haired monster waved its hand and slapped the team member to death. Five members had become four.
"Throw the grenade, quickly." The captain reacted quickly and threw a grenade, but after the explosion, seeing the red-haired monster unharmed, everyone gasped.
"Retreat, what the hell is this thing? Who can deal with this? How did those tomb robbers escape back then?" The captain's heart was already filled with admiration for Zhang Tian. A group of people without weapons could still deal with this thing, which was incredible.
"Captain, you go first, the expert group needs you..." A team member shouted. The other three hesitated for a moment.
"Xiao Guang, remember to come back." After saying that, the three of them quickly retreated. Xiao Guang nodded, and quickly threw grenades down, but the effect was minimal. Gradually, screams could be heard from behind again.
The expert group had already reached the door by this time. They looked at a very thick iron door that had been heavily impacted and forced open. The expert group gasped.
"Could it be that monster that smashed this open?" One man looked shocked. They had never seen such a scene.
"Stop looking, hurry and retreat." Professor Li quickly urged everyone, and they began to run inside. Soon, three soldiers also ran in. Closing the iron door again, the captain's face was streaked with tears. He wiped away his tears, his eyes hardening again.
"Um, the other two?" Fang Ling's eyes turned red.
"They sacrificed themselves. This monster is impervious to weapons, it's no use. We need to go, don't get entangled with it." The captain tried to remain calm. Everyone's hearts were also a little heavy. At the same time, they were shocked. With guns, they couldn't escape, so how did those three masked men manage to get away?
At this moment, everyone understood how precious this map was, and it was possibly bought with their lives. Professor Li's mood was complex as he looked at the map. "According to the map, we need to go deeper. If only we hadn't bothered looking at that coffin." Professor Li now had a psychological shadow from the coffin.
"Professor Li, what is that thing? A zombie? A 'Zongzi'? We've never seen one before." As they walked, the group kept asking questions.
"'Zongzi' is a lower-tier version of a zombie. I've only heard people talk about it, and I only saw one once when I was a child. I didn't expect to find one here..." Professor Li sighed with some emotion.
However, when they entered the now-powered ammunition depot, everyone gasped again.
"So much equipment!" The captain exclaimed. They began to arm themselves. At this moment, not far away, the iron door had already been smashed open. The red-haired monster could smash it open once, and it could do so again, especially in its current state of rage.
"Everyone, hurry and arm yourselves, take more grenades." The captain said, quickly grabbing grenades. Guns were useless, only grenades would do. The experts had never handled such things before, and their hands trembled with grenades in them. Some people couldn't even hold them steady.
"We'll distract it. Professor Li, you guys see if you can find a way to destroy this thing." The captain was anxious. Physical attacks against the red-haired monster, which seemed to be wearing armor and had already killed two people, had completely undermined the captain's confidence.
"To destroy it, we need to find something corresponding to it, but where can we find it now?"
"Why don't we retreat first? We have the map anyway, and the red-haired monster is slow, so it shouldn't be able to catch up." A middle-aged man said, and everyone thought it was feasible.
"Rumble." At this moment, the door on this side was also smashed open, and the cold face of the red-haired monster appeared, seemingly filled with anger.
"Run!"
"Da da da..." With a sound, a group of people ran frantically backward, while the three team members retreated and fired wildly.