Volume 9 Chapter 15: Waiting

I looked at the figure on the throne from afar, but it was not very clear. Could it be the corpse of the Queen Mother of the West? I have experienced this kind of thing many times. I felt that this place was full of evil spirits, so I immediately had the black donkey hooves prepared.

The fat man said, “It can’t be the Queen Mother of the West. If she’s dead, she’s either buried or lying in a coffin, so there’s no reason for her to be sitting. I think it might be a stone man.”

Wen Jin said, “It’s definitely not a stone man. Human figurines are not popular here. We haven’t seen a single human figurine on our way here. This place is so secretive, it’s the holy land of the Queen Mother of the West. This figure here must be something very important. Be very careful.”

The fat man said, “It’s a pity that Pan Zi’s gun was destroyed. Otherwise, at this distance, I would have shot him in the head and found out whether he was a human or a ghost.”

I thought to myself, even if it is a ghost, you can’t kill it, and if it is a person, you will become a murderer.

However, we must go there anyway, because that place is the only place where we can get close to the meteorite. We gathered the people and waded towards the stone steps.

There must be no traps here, because there are no conditions for building traps. The stone steps were simply hammered out, and the bronze lamp holders on both sides, which were probably used for lighting, are now completely rusted and are just decorations. The fat man wanted to put one in his backpack, but it broke when he touched it. We slowly stepped off the stone steps and out of the water, feeling like our bodies were filled with lead. After a short rest, we took the black donkey hooves and carefully bent down to climb the altar. There were so many people that we didn’t hesitate. We shone the miner’s lamp on the figure and sure enough, we saw a person sitting on the throne.

When he looked closer, he saw that it was a female corpse sitting on the throne.

The female corpse was wearing a very complicated crown. If it weren’t for the hairpin, it would be impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman. It was wearing a golden robe covered with jade pieces. The whole female corpse was sitting still, lifelike.

The face of the corpse was pale, and upon closer inspection, it was discovered that it was covered with a layer of lime-like green gelatin, and then carefully sculpted. The corpse was completely covered, and it was not known how well the corpse in the clothes was preserved. It looked like a clay Buddha statue in a temple, and it looked incredibly eerie under the mine light.

Behind the female corpse stood two guards, wearing armor from the Western Regions. These two corpses were obviously not as well protected as the female corpse, and the lime on their faces had worn off, revealing the decayed bones underneath. Because the armor was black, it looked like the same material as the jade figurines, which we had not seen before.

The three ancient corpses were all standing or sitting upright, apparently having undergone special treatment.

“Could this be the Queen Mother of the West?” the fat man asked softly.

I nodded: “It looks like it. I never thought she would really be here. The ancients must have disposed of her body and then placed it here.”

The fat man saw the jade pieces and his eyes lit up. He said, “Finally, I’ve seen something good. It turns out that this woman was wearing it on her body. A woman is a woman. Even when she is about to die, she is unwilling to give up this legacy.” As soon as I heard this, I grabbed him before he could move.

The stuffy oil bottle told us not to get close. He pointed to the pattern carved into the ground around the throne. It was a human-faced bird with a big head and a small body. The pattern formed a circle that surrounded the throne in the center. He touched the edge of the circle with his long fingers and said, “There are small gaps. There may also be a balancing mechanism. Don’t get close to her.”

We were relieved, and only then did we remember to look up. We saw that the surface of the meteorite was almost directly above our heads, and we could touch it with a jump. There were several deep holes in the part above our heads. When we looked inside, we found that the holes led directly to the inside of the meteorite, and they were bottomless. The walls of the holes were very smooth, and it was indeed impossible for them to be artificially excavated.

What was Wang Zanghai looking for in this thing? If, as Wen Jin said, he was looking for the secret to immortality, then what was the connection between this meteorite and immortality?

I looked up and looked carefully, and suddenly noticed a strange phenomenon.

The material of this meteorite is so similar to jade figurines. The color and luster seem to be the same material. I jumped up and touched it, and found that the meteorite was warm and not cold to the touch, and it really seemed like jade.

My goodness, I thought to myself, could this be a piece of “meteorite jade”?

There is a type of gemstone in the world called meteorite jade, which is a special type of meteorite. Because the material feels and looks very similar to jade, it was considered jade and was extremely precious in ancient times. However, the color of this meteorite is much darker than that of meteorite jade. Could it be a rare meteorite jade with a special composition? And are those jade figurines made of this meteorite jade?

If it is true, this thing is worth a lot of money. Such a large piece, even if we sell it by the catty, we will be rich.

When I told them my theory, everyone thought it made sense.

“It seems that the formation of those blood-like corpses has a deep relationship with this meteorite,” Wen Jin said. ”And the ancient Queen Mother of the West discovered this power and used meteorites to make those jade figurines.”

I immediately thought of something: “You said that the gold-threaded jade burial suits that became popular in the Han Dynasty were said to prevent the body from decaying for a thousand years, but now archaeological discoveries of gold-threaded jade burial suits often show that even the jade is rotten. So where did this legend come from? At the beginning, could it be that the alchemists consulted some ancient books and found descriptions of the gold-threaded jade burial suits protecting the body for a thousand years, but they didn’t know that this jade was different from ordinary jade?”

“Could it be the Silk Manuscripts of the Warring States Period!” the fat man said. ”Are you saying that the jade burial suits of the Han Dynasty were made to imitate the jade figurines described in the Silk Manuscripts of the Warring States Period?”

“That’s possible.” I nodded. ”Then, Wang Zanghai discovered this flaw, so he began to look for the real materials used to make this kind of jade figurine in ancient books.”

I suddenly felt that things in my head became clearer. “Damn it, if that’s the case, then Wang Zanghai’s many tomb-robbing activities were all in search of this meteorite jade? Finally, he finally found the location of the meteorite jade and brought people here?”

“No,” Wen Jin was not as excited as I was. ”According to what you said, he should have already succeeded by now, but we didn’t see any jade figurines in the underwater tomb. The jade figurines should not have been Wang Zanghai’s goal.”

“Then what was his goal?” I said, and I thought my idea was very reasonable.

Wen Jin looked at the holes in the meteorites and said to us, “I don’t know, but I have a feeling that the target is inside these holes.”

Wen Jin said it in a very mysterious tone, and we were all stunned by her words, a little scared. Looking up at the holes, I wondered what was inside.

After looking at them for a while, she suddenly began to pull out the rope from her backpack and said to me, “I want to go in and take a look.”

I heard this and thought it was impossible, but I was stopped by the oil bottle. I looked at him and realized what he meant: we had a choice, but Wenjin had no choice, so it was pointless to say anything.

I sighed, feeling powerless. Only when you can’t help someone you want to help do you feel small. I always thought this kind of helplessness only existed on TV, but I never thought it would happen to me in real life. It really didn’t feel good.

Wen Jin was very quick and started preparing immediately. She asked Mian Youping to help her connect the ropes and used a miner’s lamp to shine on the holes, preparing to choose one to enter.

I wanted to find someone to take her place, but it was not possible. Although the holes were as big as a tar barrel, they were almost vertical, so you had to use your knees or feet to push up against the walls. None of us men were tall enough to bend fully, and we could hardly exert any force. The fat guy, let alone, could get stuck if the hole inside became smaller. Only Wenjin was small enough to exert force.

I was a little worried, but seeing Wenjin’s nimble movements, I knew that my worries were pointless. Wenjin on one side tied a rope around her waist and was carried by the fat man on his shoulders. She leaned into the hole and then pushed hard against the fat man, and the person went in.

I called out, “Be careful,” and she replied, looking down at me. I noticed that her face looked strange, and I had an indescribable feeling. Then she smiled at me and began to climb deeper.

We let out the rope while watching her gradually climb deeper into the hole. Her movements were very slow and obviously very laborious. It was not until her miner’s lamp disappeared that it took a full half hour to reach an estimated distance of less than 50 meters.

Watching the whole process, I felt a chill down my spine. This is what it feels like to climb a mine shaft. But how deep is this hole? It must be at least 200 to 300 meters deep. It’s definitely not a good feeling to climb into someone else’s esophagus, not to mention that halfway through the climb, you can’t reach back and forth.

I looked up at the hole for more than ten minutes, and my neck couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t bear to look anymore, so I sat down to rest like Uncle San and his men, took off my clothes, and rubbed my body with burning wine to keep warm. The rope was always being lowered inside, and every ten meters or so, the fat man would check in with Wenjin inside and send a few signals.

The atmosphere was very tense. We didn’t speak, not knowing what to say. On the one hand, the female corpse behind us was creepy, and on the other hand, we were worried about Wenjin’s safety.

After waiting for about an hour, I suddenly heard the fat man say “hmm.” I immediately stood up and asked what was going on. He said, “The leader isn’t responding.”

We went over and saw that the fat man was pulling on the rope. He pulled a few times, and the rope was pulled down a little, but no one was pulling it back.

My heart sank and I thought to myself, “Is something wrong?” I signaled to the fat man to try again.

The fat man pulled again, but the rope was still pulled down. His brows furrowed, “No good, the rope is very light, it seems that there is no one tied to the end.”

When the fat man heard this, his face changed and he immediately said to the fat man, “Pull her out!”

The fat man immediately pulled the rope with all his strength. I looked at the way he was pulling and realized that something was wrong. He didn’t need to use any strength at all. The rope came out like water, and when he pulled it straight up, it formed a ball and fell out of the hole, hitting me and wrapping itself around me.

I broke free from the rope and picked up the end to see that there was no sign of a cut, and that the rope had been untied by herself. We looked at each other, and I suddenly had a very bad feeling in my heart, “Damn it, Wenjin untied the rope herself?”

Muyongbing’s face grew solemn. He pressed on the fat man’s shoulder, then jumped onto his back and jumped into the hole. The fat man yelled, “The rope! Bring the rope!” He ignored him and retreated a few steps.

I saw that he couldn’t do it without the rope, so I immediately yelled at the fat man, “Squat down.” The fat man was furious: “Damn it, do you think I’m a horse driver?”

I didn’t care about him, and I climbed up crookedly against his body. He gave me a boost, and I jumped up with a strong kick. I was unable to hold my breath and hold on to the hole wall to lift my feet up, but I slipped down in a few seconds and fell directly on the fat man. I tried again, but I knew right away that I would never be able to get in.

I stood up and rubbed the place where I had fallen, and looked up to see that Mung Oil Bottle was struggling to move forward in the hole. He was too tall to put his knees into the hole, so he could only take small steps, which was very exhausting. I suddenly had the illusion that the meteorite might be alive, and that these holes were traps for it to eat, and that Mung Oil Bottle was walking into the trap.

But then I realized that this was impossible, and my mind was already in a state of chaos, unable to think. I just looked up at the hole as Mung Oil Bottle climbed up, and I didn’t know how long it took, but Mung Oil Bottle also completely disappeared into the depths of the hole.

I couldn’t sit still anymore, and I kept standing at the hole looking up, hoping to see the light return and then both of them come back safely.

Time passed by, and I waited anxiously, from anxiety to calmness, from calmness to numbness, and from numbness to a blank mind.

Ten hours later, nothing had happened. The two men had not returned, and there was no sound from the hole. It seemed that the two men had been taken to another world by the holes.