Chapter 23 Coffin

My eyes were fixed all of a sudden, and I couldn't move them away. I don't know if it was because I ate the scales on my belt, but even though I couldn't turn my head, I didn't have any hallucinations. My vision was hazy, but my mind was clear.

At this time, I suddenly heard the sound of Uncle San and the others rushing over. I screamed in my heart, "Oh no!" They have never tasted the magic of this fox corpse, so they don't know how powerful it is. If they rush over rashly, something will definitely happen. I wanted to shout to warn them, but my throat seemed to be stuck. I opened my mouth wide but couldn't say anything. I was so anxious that my blood vessels almost burst.

Suddenly, I had an idea and found that my hands could still move a little. Immediately, I made a pistol gesture with both hands, pointing the guns at the fox corpse's head and clicking them continuously. I kept saying in my heart: Pan Zi, you have to be smart this time. If you don't understand this move, you can really go eat shit!

After a few clicks, there was a gunshot from behind, and the head of the blue-eyed fox corpse was completely blown up in front of my eyes. I was opening my mouth at that time, and the corpse fluid almost burst all over my face and mouth. I vomited almost immediately. This thing was more disgusting than eating shit. I almost vomited everything in my stomach. Then I turned around and saw Pan Zi covering his wound with one hand and making an OK gesture to me with the other hand. I cursed inwardly and wiped the corpse fluid off my face with my sleeve.

It was a long way from Uncle San to the altar, and there were vines all along the way, which was very dangerous. But Uncle San was very resourceful, and he used stones to attract the vines away first, and then he went over himself. Soon they climbed up the altar. He was very afraid that something would happen to me, so he came to see if I was okay. When he smelled the smell on me, he frowned and almost vomited. I was not happy to begin with, and seeing him like this, I rushed over and gave him a hug, which made him so disgusted that he almost fell off .

Seeing that they were all safe and sound, I remembered something and asked, "Uncle San, why did you leave me in the main tomb? I was so scared. How could I stay in that damn place alone?"

After hearing this, Third Uncle kowtowed to Da Kui and said, "I fucking told this kid not to touch things, but he wouldn't listen." Then he recounted what he had encountered. It turned out that they saw a curtain wall in another ear chamber of the tomb. Usually, there are curtain walls in ancient tombs, so there must be a hidden room behind it. Naturally, they did not expect that in this ancient tomb, any secret door would open downwards. Third Uncle was such a smart man that he found the mechanism at a glance. Unfortunately, Da Kui was quick, and before Third Uncle could figure it out, the mechanism had been pressed by him. Then, like us, he fell into the Western Zhou Dynasty tomb on the next level. The plot seemed to be very tortuous and bizarre afterwards. The more Third Uncle talked, the more outrageous it became. I saw that he was almost talking about irrelevant things, so I quickly asked him to stop.

Uncle San said, "Don't be so unconvinced, look at my stuff." He took out a black box from behind him, and with a click, the box turned into a gun like magic. I know a little about guns, and this gun is also very famous, so I was shocked when I saw it.

This is the Ares folding submachine gun, 9mm caliber, which fires pistol bullets. It is about the size of a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and weighs just under 6 pounds. It is very easy to use. Of course, due to its small size, this gun is also very unstable.

Uncle San said that they also found several corpses in the tomb passage. The gun and some explosives were all taken from the corpses. Not only that, the place was full of bullet holes, and it seemed that a fierce battle had been fought there.

I carefully examined the gun and was very confused. It seemed that the previous batch of tomb robbers were well-equipped, at least much better than us. I wondered where they came from? These people never came out after entering. Did they all die here? If not, where are they now?

I leaned towards the altar while thinking, but I didn't expect that this seemingly very solid stone platform could not support me. Before I could bear all my weight, the altar suddenly sank and became half a meter shorter. We were shocked and thought we had triggered a trap, so we quickly squatted down. We heard a series of sounds of mechanisms being activated, starting from under our feet and going all the way. Finally, a loud noise came from the stone platform in the distance. We looked out and saw that the giant tree behind the stone platform had actually cracked open. In the crack, there appeared a huge bronze coffin fixed with iron chains. The iron chains had been combined with the tree trunk and were wrapped around the bronze coffin several times.

The third uncle was stunned, and exclaimed, "So the real coffin is here."

Da Kui shouted happily: "Wow, such a big coffin must be worth a lot of money, right? This trip is not in vain!"

Uncle San patted his head and said, "It's valuable, it's valuable. Don't keep thinking about the money. Even if this thing is valuable, you can't move it. I told you how much it is. This is called a coffin, not a coffin! Don't embarrass me all the time!"

Da Kui touched his head and didn't dare to say anything. I took a closer look and felt something was wrong. I said to Uncle San, "Strange. Other people's coffins are nailed shut and never opened. Look at this. The mechanism of this stone platform seems to be designed to let others find this coffin. Could it be that the owner of the tomb originally planned to let others open his coffin one day? And look, these chains are tied so tightly. It doesn't seem to be used to fix it. Instead, it seems that they are tied to prevent the things inside from coming out."

Uncle San took a closer look and found that this was indeed the case. He was shocked. We have encountered countless incredible things along the way. Could it be that there is a monster in here? Should we open it or not?

Uncle San gritted his teeth and said, "I guess all the valuable treasures in this tomb are inside. If we don't go, wouldn't it be a waste of time? What if there are zongzi in there? We have guns and cannons now. If it doesn't work, we can just fight it with weapons."

I nodded, and Uncle San said, "Besides, it's impossible for us to go back the same way now. Almost every hole on this cliff leads to the stone maze. It will take a long time to get out from there. The best way is to climb out from above."

We looked up and saw the cracks on the cave ceiling. The moonlight shone through the cave ceiling, which looked very desolate. Uncle San pointed at the giant tree and said, "Look, the top of this giant tree is very close to the cave ceiling, and there are many vines extending from the tree to the outside of the cave ceiling. It is simply a natural ladder. There are so many branches on the whole tree, which is very easy to climb, just in case for us to get out."

Pan Zi said, "Third Master, why are you talking nonsense here? That is a man-eating tree. Isn't climbing that tree courting death?"

Uncle San laughed: "This tree is called Hydra Cypress. I thought of it a long time ago. Didn't you see that those vines dare not touch the stones here? This stone is called Tianxin Rock, which is specially designed to defeat Hydra Cypress. Let's apply some stone dust on our bodies, and it will definitely go smoothly."

Da Kui asked worriedly, "Will it work?"

Uncle San glared at him. I knew he was going to scold me again, so I quickly said, "Okay, let's go and try and see."

We took action without saying a word. Da Kui carried Fatty on his back, and Uncle San helped Pan Zi up. I packed up my equipment and looked back at the cave, thinking that we were all safe now. I wondered what happened to the oil bottle. Uncle San saw my worry and said, "He is so skilled that he can definitely protect himself. Don't worry."

I nodded. To be honest, I had no right to worry about Men You Ping. His skills were far superior to mine, and he seemed to possess some magical powers. If anyone should be worried, he should be the one worrying about me.

I walked in front with a gun in hand, and they followed me, slowly walking up the high stone platform. I had just hurried down and didn't look carefully. It turned out that this stone platform was made up of large pieces of Tianxin rock. It was so large, I didn't know how it was transported in. There were also some deer-headed cranes carved on the steps. This kind of relief is very rare. I couldn't help but wonder, what level of vassal was King Lu Shang, and why the specifications of his tomb were so bizarre.

At this time we had already walked to the front of the tree hole, and then we could see clearly that the hole was not split open by itself, but was torn open by a dozen iron chains inside. The huge bronze coffin was right in front of us, at least 2.5 meters long. I saw that it was covered with dense inscriptions.

The writing system in the Warring States period was more complex, and the writing systems of Qi and Lu were the most commonly used by scholars at that time. After the Chu State annexed the Lu State, it also absorbed a lot of Lu's culture. The writing system was also similar to that of Lu. Most of the rubbings from the Warring States period that I have on hand are from that period, so I can still get a general idea of these inscriptions.

At this time, I don't know why everyone was silent, as if they were afraid of waking up the tomb owner. Uncle San took out a pry bar and knocked on it . There was a dull echo inside, which must be full of things. Uncle San knew that I liked these things, so he asked me softly: "Can you understand what is written on it?"

I shook my head and said, "I don't understand the details, but I am sure that the owner of this coffin is the King Lu Shang we are looking for. The text on it should be his life story. He seems to have died before the age of 50, without any children. The scene of his death is the same as what I learned before, he suddenly sat in front of Duke Lu. The rest should be some of his life stories."

I was not interested in the humanities of the State of Lu at that time, so I just glanced at it and stopped reading.

"What do these words mean?" Da Kui asked me. I took a look and saw a "Qi" written in the middle of the coffin, and then a long string of Zi, Chou, Yin, and Mao below. These words were particularly large and eye-catching. I knew that these numbers were a date, but during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Zhou Dynasty declined, and the princes each acted in their own way, and the calendar was extremely chaotic. So I didn't know what day it was. He said: "This should mark the date of the coffin. But I don't know what day it is."

While I was studying the inscriptions, Uncle San was studying how to open the coffin. He shook the iron chains, each of which was as thick as a thumb. At that time, China had just entered the Iron Age, and this thing should have been a luxury. After so many years, most of them have aged and are basically only used for decoration. I asked them to move aside, pulled the bolt, and fired a few bursts. The iron chains broke, leaving only a few that were used to fix the position.

Uncle San asked me to step back and said, "Don't study it anymore, just get rid of it first!"

As soon as I finished speaking, the coffin suddenly shook and a muffled sound came from inside. At first I thought I had misheard and was about to ask someone else, but suddenly there was another tremor. This time I heard it clearly and felt cold all over. I thought to myself, "Oh no! There is something wrong with this!"