Volume 1 Chapter 24: The Living Dead
We all stepped back in fear. Although we had long suspected that there would be a problem with the coffin, when we actually encountered it, we couldn’t help but gasp in shock. This movement clearly indicated that there must be a living being inside. If the contents of the coffin could move, it was definitely not a good thing.
Da Kui His face turned pale and he said, “It seems like there’s something alive inside. Third Uncle, I think we should not open this coffin.”
Third Uncle looked carefully at the seams of the coffin and shook his head. “Impossible. This coffin is sealed very well, and the air cannot circulate at all. No matter what living thing is inside, even if it has a lifespan of three thousand years, it would have suffocated long ago. Besides This is just a coffin, and there are several more layers inside. Let’s pry off one or two layers and listen carefully.”
I roughly I roughly estimated the weight of this thing. In my memory, the heaviest bronze coffin should be the giant coffin in the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Leigudun. It weighs about nine tons. This one is about the same size, but the one in the tomb of Zeng Houyi is made of bronze inlaid with wooden panels. This one is all bronze, and I’m afraid it weighs far more than nine tons. I can’t estimate the exact weight at all.
Da Kui and my uncle used a knife to scrape off the lacquer from the joints, then they inserted a crowbar and shouted, pressing down with all their strength. I hurried to help, pushing the bronze board out, this board was at least more than 800 catties in weight, and it took us half a day to move it out by half a side. We were so tired that we could hardly breathe. In the end, several of us used our shoulders at the same time to push the board to the side, and finally revealed the coffin inside.
It was a delicate lacquered coffin inlaid with jade, which was arranged in a very neat manner, divided into two types: rhombus and circle, which summarized the saying that the sky is round and the earth is square. Inside the jade-inlaid coffin was a painted lacquered wooden coffin . Because it was covered with jade, I couldn’t see what was painted on it. Pan Zi saw the coffin and his eyes nearly fell out. He covered his wound and cried half his face and smiled half his face: “Damn, so much jade, now I can walk sideways!” He said and bit his teeth, ready to start. Uncle San hurriedly said, “No! This is Xinjiang Manas jade. If you dismantle the jade and sell it, you can only sell it for a hundred thousand or so. There aren’t enough of us to share it. You have to take the whole jade down to make it worth anything!”
Pan Zi had already caused trouble, and when Uncle San glared at him, he didn’t dare to make a move. He scratched his head and stepped aside.
Uncle San knocked on the lacquered wooden coffin and said, “Generally speaking, the kings of the Warring States period had two layers of coffins and three layers of coffins. If we count the tree as the first layer of coffins, we have now removed two layers of coffins. The layer underneath should be the most precious.” After saying that , Uncle San carefully used a knife to remove all the gold thread from the lacquered coffin. In order not to damage the jade inlaid coffin, he was very careful and it took half an hour to finally remove the entire set of coffins.
Once the jade inlaid Once the jade coffin was removed, I saw the painted decorations on the wooden coffin. These were easier to understand than the inscriptions. I shone a miner’s lamp on them and saw that they were narrative paintings. The one on the coffin board was probably a scene from the time the coffin was first buried time. I saw a huge tree with a hole in the middle, a bronze coffin being carried by many skeletons, and the lid not yet closed. Then there were many people on the side, kneeling respectfully.
Uncle San carefully stacked the jade inlaid coffin and put it in his backpack. I tried to carry it, but it was so heavy that it seemed impossible.
With With this encouragement, Daku came to life. Without saying a word, he continued to open the painted lacquer coffin inside. Uncle San pulled him back and scolded, “You faint at the sight of ghosts, but you don’t care about your life when you see money. There is only one more layer down here. Don’t be so careless. Take it easy.” He then squatted down, put his ear to the coffin board, and made a gesture for us to be quiet.
We We held our breath, afraid of disturbing him. After listening for a long time, he turned around and said with a pale face, “It seems like there is breathing inside.”
We were all stunned. If we had heard a ghost inside, we might have been able to accept it, but now there was something inside breathing, which was too strange. Daku was so scared that he stuttered, saying, “It can’t be a living dead person!”
Uncle San said, “Don’t be a Don’t bullshit me here. We’ve come this far. Are you going to put the coffin lid back on him?” He took out a black donkey hoof and put it in his pocket. He made a gesture to me. I picked up my gun. Da Kui swung the crowbar in his hand and stood guard by the coffin, ready to give whatever jumped out a black one first.
Uncle San He spat twice into his hand, first moving his arms to build up his courage, then he was about to insert the crowbar, when suddenly a voice behind him shouted, “Stop!”
We turned around and saw that the fat guy had woken up at some point, scratching his head and waving at us, “No, no, this way the meeting will go wrong. You guys have so little experience and you want to overturn his bucket. It’s really is like a flashlight in a latrine, looking for shit (death).”
Uncle San snorted, ‘So how do you suggest we open it?’
The fat man waved his hand to get Uncle San to move away, and then he reached his hand into the gap between the lacquered coffin and the bronze casket, closed his eyes and groped around for a long time. Suddenly, he exerted force with his hand, and we heard a crack, and the coffin split neatly in the middle. At that At that moment, we all seemed to hear an extremely miserable cry coming from the coffin. I was so scared that my hands went limp and the gun almost fell out of my hands.
The fat man immediately jumped back, spread his hands, and said, “Back off!”
I unconsciously raised the gun and aimed it at the coffin, quickly stepping back a few steps. The lacquered coffin rose from the casket like a lotus flower, and then the coffin lid, which had split open to the left and right, fell down. This ingenious design was truly breathtaking, and we couldn’t help but stare in awe.
At the same time we saw a man in black armor sitting up from the coffin. I almost shot him as I raised my shoulder, but the fat man grabbed my hand and said, “Don’t move. He’s wearing a treasure. Don’t break it!”
At this time I finally saw what the mysterious King Lu was like. It was a rare wet corpse. The skin on his body was so white that it seemed transparent. His eyes were closed, and it looked like he had died in great pain. His facial features were almost all distorted. I was very surprised. If he had a way to keep the body of that young girl from decaying for a thousand years, why couldn’t he preserve his own body?
Uncle San walked over and said, “I thought it was another zongzi. Look, there’s a piece of wood propping him up. No wonder he could sit up.”
We all walked over and sure enough, it was a very clever mechanism. As soon as the coffin was opened, the corpse inside was propped up by a wooden stick. If it were an ordinary grave robber, he would probably be scared to death.
Now we all breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that King Lu Shang had really thought of everything. It’s a pity that he should have thought that those who are afraid of ghosts don’t dare to open other people’s coffins at night, and those who dare to do so are all desperate criminals. This trick of scaring people is too small to look at us.
We We all surrounded him, and I could see the armor he was wearing. It was actually the last coffin. Its scientific name is jinli yu jia, but I don’t know why the jade pieces on it have turned black. I walked closer and couldn’t help but be stunned. I saw that the chest of the corpse was still rising and falling, as if it was still breathing. The sound of breathing was now very obvious, and I could almost see moisture spurting out of his nose.
Da Kui’s mouth gaped in surprise: “This… this… this thing is fucking alive!”