Chapter 36: Main Text Chapter Thirty-Six Death

Main Text Chapter Thirty-Six Death

Just now Sadaipeng suddenly came back to life and said a sentence, pointing at the coffin and saying she was still alive; the 'her' in this coffin, isn't that the queen of Jingjue Kingdom? Has that demon queen come back to life?

I couldn't help but look up; the lid of the Kunlun Divine Tree's coffin had somehow opened a crack, my heart rose to my throat, Pangzi and Shirley Yang were also at a loss, and all three of us had cold sweat in our palms.

If it's disaster, we can't avoid it; since the Jingjue Queen's coffin has opened, it's clearly aimed at us. Pangzi raised his gun aiming at the queen's coffin, I tightly gripped the engineer's shovel and black donkey hoof, just to see what would come out.

In that instant my mind turned over seven or eight times: Is the queen a ghost or a zongzi? If it's a ghost, how to deal with it; if it's a zongzi, how to deal with it; the stone beam is narrow, can't maneuver, how to retreat back—I thought through all these scenarios.

But aside from the lid being shifted open a crack, the coffin showed no further movement; dragging this out isn't a solution. Now we have two options: first, regardless of any movement in the queen's coffin, we retreat from the stone beam first and then discuss.

Second, to advance is to retreat: go up and directly pry open the coffin lid, no matter what monster is inside, we'll greet it with the engineer's shovel, black donkey hoof, and assault rifle.

My mind immediately made a judgment: the first option seems steady but is infeasible; this stone beam surely hides some evil force; the bizarre deaths of Sadaipeng and Chujian are the best proof.

And this devilish mysterious power is lying in wait, seeking a suitable opportunity to kill us who disturb the queen's rest.

If we immediately retreat and, while walking on this narrow stone beam, suffer a sudden attack, there would be nowhere to dodge; then we'd have to grit our teeth and go forward, hoping this stone beam over the bottomless pit won't become our dead end.

I glanced at Pangzi and Shirley Yang; the three of us were of one mind, nodding to each other, we all understood the situation: although nothing had happened yet, we were already in a situation with our backs to the wall; only by opening the coffin to look, first find the enemy, could we think of a response.

Pangzi handed the assault rifle to Shirley Yang, telling her to be ready to shoot at any moment; then he spat twice into his own palm, signaling for me and him to push the coffin lid open together.

Because several iron chains as thick as a person's arm were wrapped around the coffin, the lid couldn't be moved sideways; it could only be pushed forward from the front, and the gap the coffin itself revealed was also at the front.

I suppressed my inner unease, and together with Pangzi we counted one-two-three and shoved the coffin lid hard; this coffin made from the trunk of the Kunlun Divine Tree shows no signs of excessive human processing, largely retaining its original form, the bark still looks fresh; if it hadn't opened a fine slit on its own, it would really be hard to tell which part is the lid.

The lid wasn't heavy; with seventy percent effort we two pushed it open a large piece. We were all wearing gas masks, so we couldn't smell what was inside the coffin; all we saw was a female corpse dressed in jade garments lying flat in the coffin, and besides that, the coffin was empty, with no burial goods.

The corpse should be the Jingjue Queen; she wore a black mask on her face, hiding her features, and her body wasn't exposed, so we couldn't see how well the remains were preserved.

Is this the legendary demonic, cruel Jingjue Queen? I silently cursed: 'Damn it, even dead she's putting on airs and covering her face.'

Pangzi asked me: 'Lao Hu, do you think the deaths of Chujian and the others were caused by this queen playing tricks in the coffin? Damn it, let's pull off her mask and see whether she's the greatest beauty of the Western Regions or a monster.'

I said: 'Good, I also wanted to have a look; you pull off her mask, I'll get ready to shove the black donkey hoof into her mouth—if she really is a demon, I'll make her first taste our evil‑exorcising black donkey hoof.' Having said that, I gripped the black donkey hoof in hand, poised to thrust it into the corpse's mouth.

Pangzi rolled up his sleeve, reached out a hand, and with a 'swish' pulled off the mask from the Jingjue Queen's corpse.

The Jingjue Queen's face was revealed: black hair like clouds, delicate eyebrows, a clear and beautiful visage, eyes tightly shut, complexion deathly pale; otherwise she looked just like a living person.

Before this, I had imagined countless times what this queen looked like—fat or thin? Blond hair and blue eyes? High nose and deep-set eyes? But even after thinking a million times, I never would have guessed the queen actually looked like this……

Pangzi and I both exclaimed 'Ah!'—none of us expected the queen to look exactly like Shirley Yang, as if she were carved from the same mold.

I didn't know what to do; my mind was a jumble. I turned my head to see what reaction Shirley Yang behind me had, but when I turned, the Shirley Yang who had been standing behind us with a gun, providing cover, had vanished without a trace.

Could the corpse in the coffin not be the queen but Shirley Yang herself? I felt goosebumps rise on my skin; waves of despair stimulated my cerebral cortex—sorrow, fear, tension, helplessness, confusion, a mix of complex emotions flooded my brain; for a moment my mind went blank. Our opponent is too elusive; we are like meat on a chopping board—whether boiled, stewed, fried, or stir‑fried, it's not up to us, completely at their mercy; we don't even know who the opponent is.

Just as I was at a loss, I suddenly felt a chilly wind blow past my side, as if a gloomy entity was rapidly approaching; I thought 'Good, here it comes.' I raised the engineer's shovel and swung it backhand with force, feeling I had struck someone; looking closely, I saw that half of Pangzi's brain had been chopped off by me, blood spattered, he thudded to the ground—clearly dead.

I stood there stunned, wondering what I had done; how could I be so careless? Had I really been frightened out of my wits by that demon queen? I had actually chopped my best brother in half; at that moment my heart turned to ash. To make matters worse, of the nine members of the archaeological team, in less than a day five have died—even Pangzi, who shared life and death with me for decades, had his skull cleaved by my shovel.

Only I remain; what's the point of living? Perhaps my life should have ended long ago on Kunlun Mountain and the Yunnan front, so I wouldn't have mistakenly killed my most important companion; even if I died, what face would I have to meet Pangzi in the underworld?

I was utterly dispirited, my head aching as if it would split; I felt from head to toe like plunging into an ice cellar, the only way out was death. I drew a dagger from my waist, aimed at my heart, gritted my teeth, and stabbed.

At the instant the blade tip touched flesh, I suddenly heard two gunshots; a rifle bullet struck the dagger's blade, knocking the dagger from my hand onto the ground.

Suddenly the surroundings turned misty, obscuring everything; who fired? My mind was dazed, the more I pondered the less sense it made, all logic seemed inverted, and I faintly heard someone shouting my name: 'Lao Hu, hurry back, run back quickly.'

That voice was like a flash of lightning appearing in the night; although I still didn't understand what was happening, I instinctively felt I had fallen into a trap—damn it, maybe I'd been possessed by a demonic spell?

Thinking of that, I bit my tongue tip with my teeth, my whole body jolted, and I realized I was standing in the middle of the stone beam, not before the queen's coffin; the coffin at the beam's end was intact, the corpse‑fragrant konjac on the coffin was blooming, its petals, once curled together, had opened to reveal the central stamen, pointing at me like a radar.

At the other end of the stone beam stood two people—Pangzi and Shirley Yang—jumping up and down anxiously, shouting desperately at me; they weren't dead, were they?

Pangzi grabbed his gun and shouted: 'Lao Hu, you've lost your mind, hurry back!'

I had no time to think; I shook off my feet and ran back, ripped off the gas mask on my head, and spat out the blood in my mouth; only then did my mind return to normal.

I asked Pangzi what had just happened to me; he said: 'Holy shit, you almost scared me to death—you weren't trying to go rescue Sadaipeng, were you? You had just reached the middle of the stone beam when you suddenly turned back; I didn't know what was wrong with you, like a sleepwalker you swung the engineer's shovel wildly, then fidgeted around for half an hour; no matter how we shouted, you couldn't hear us; then you took out a dagger to kill yourself. I wanted to stop you but couldn't catch up, so I fired two shots to knock the dagger from your hand. Are you out of your mind, or possessed by a ghost?'

I looked back at that long, narrow stone beam; only then did I piece together the cause and effect, realizing what had happened: everything I had just experienced was an illusion created by that demonic corpse‑fragrant konjac; damn it, it was trying to lure me into suicide.