Chapter 41: Main Text Chapter Forty-One Interrogation

Main Text Chapter Forty-One Interrogation

The three stone carvings on the second layer of the stone coffin are like this: the first carving shows four people standing in front of the opened stone coffin; among these four people, three of them still have no distinguishing features, remaining the ordinary human figures as before.

However, one of them had an eye growing on its head, with two fangs drawn in the circle representing the head, plus limbs—clearly it is the Jingjue Guardian Spirit from the fourth layer of the Black Tower; rather than calling it a god, it is more fitting to call it an evil spirit.

This figure merely had a few extra lines carved, yet it made my scalp go numb; I, Pangzi, Professor Chen, and Shirley Yang are now the only four survivors— which one of these four is the evil spirit?

The second and third stone carvings are placed side by side, showing two different outcomes: one outcome is that three people together with the evil spirit that has an eye on its head open the stone coffin, at which point the evil spirit suddenly attacks and pulls out the entrails of the other three people.

The second scenario is that the evil spirit lies on the ground, beheaded and already killed; the three people open the second-layer stone coffin, and a passage appears in the tomb chamber, allowing them to escape.

So the prophet gave us a hint, letting us choose our own fate? This question is unnecessarily difficult; Pangzi and I are like the two legs of one person— we cannot do without either; Professor Chen is kind-hearted and has treated me well, and Shirley Yang has saved my life— no matter which of the three of them is the evil spirit, I could not bring myself to strike.

If I had not known whether the prophet's prophecy was true or false before, I might not have been afraid, but this prophet who died thousands of years ago has made predictions so precise that there is nothing to say; then there really must be an evil spirit among us.

Whether he is possessed by an evil spirit or has been disguising himself as an ordinary devil, this is already an established fact, and I now have to face it: the second-layer stone coffin will surely open, and if we do not eliminate the hidden evil spirit, we will all die here as burial companions.

Who is... the evil spirit? It couldn't be me; I looked at Pangzi— eyes are the most direct channel to observe a person, and gaze is hard to fake; I know his gaze better than anyone, still the same as before, indifferent to everything, as if saying, 'I'm the best under heaven, whoever disagrees gets beaten'; of course it couldn't be Pangzi either, so since it's not the two of us, then...

I glanced sideways at Shirley Yang and Professor Chen behind me; Shirley Yang was also staring at me, I dared not meet her eyes, so I quickly pretended to look elsewhere.

Shirley Yang saw me and Pangzi constantly muttering after looking at the opened stone coffin, so she asked, 'Lao Hu, what's inside the stone coffin?'

I winked at Pangzi, he understood, and quickly pretended to sit on the ground to rest, just happening to block the opened stone coffin so Shirley Yang couldn't see it.

I needed to first steady them, devise a plan before acting; I told Shirley Yang, 'There's nothing inside the stone coffin, it's empty.'

Shirley Yang asked one question and then fell silent, sitting aside she took out a water kettle, wanting to let Professor Chen have two sips; Professor Chen had gone completely mad, recognizing no one, he waved his hand and knocked the kettle to the ground, stamping his feet and laughing loudly. This was our last half‑kettle of clean water; Shirley Yang hurried to pick it up, but this time she spilled most of the remaining half.

Pangzi whispered in my ear: 'What should we do? Should we... both of them...'

I stopped him: 'Don't, before we figure it out we must not act rashly, otherwise there'll be no time for regret; by the way, can we clear our own suspicion?'

Pangzi said: 'Of course, don't we know what's going on between us? I think that American girl has the greatest suspicion.'

I said: 'I think we should still go through the motions, otherwise if we start fighting later we'll give Miss Yang and Professor Chen a reason to pick on us.'

Pangzi said: 'Damn it, power grows out of the barrel of a gun— who cares about reasons? Just knock them both down, interrogate them one by one; if we can't get anything out, we'll torture them, and if we still can't...' He swung his palm downward, making a chopping gesture.

When I heard Pangzi say 'power grows out of the barrel of a gun,' I suddenly thought of a plan: that evil spirit must have escaped from the Jingjue Kingdom; no matter how it disguises itself, it surely hasn't experienced the Cultural Revolution, and these demons and monsters don't study politics or read newspapers, so their human disguises may not understand outside affairs.

So I told Pangzi: 'You just being able to say "power grows out of the barrel of a gun" is enough to prove you're not the evil spirit; now you test me, and I'll prove myself too, then we'll question the two of them.'

Pangzi scratched his head: 'Then just recite a line of Chairman Mao's poetry.'

I blurted out without thinking: 'The Internationale, a song of sorrow, wild and swift descends from the heavens for me.'

Pangzi said: 'Exactly, you are definitely not the evil spirit.'

Shirley Yang, so clever, seeing me and Pangzi constantly whispering, realized there might be a problem; she stood up and walked over to us, saying: 'What exactly are you two talking about? Do you have to whisper behind our backs?'

Pangzi and I jumped up from the ground and shouted: 'Stop, come any closer and we won't be polite!'

Shirley Yang stared, then asked: 'What's wrong with you? Are you nervous?'

Pangzi said: 'Nothing, I just want to hear you sing a song— sing 《Lin Zong's Order Passes Down》 for us.'

Shirley Yang was even more bewildered: what occasion is this? Just after so many companions died and we're trapped in a desperate situation, who has the mood to sing, let alone sing 《Lin Zong's Order Passes Down》— it's utterly nonsensical.

I also felt that Pangzi having her sing that song was a bit off— asking an American girl to sing a wartime liberation song, she surely wouldn't know; but what could we test her on? Who is the current US president? Hell, I'm not even sure myself.

I produced a black donkey hoof, coaxing and deceiving Shirley Yang: 'Don't ask so many questions for now— just take a bite of this, then give it to Professor Chen to bite; just do as I say, it will only benefit you, no harm.'

Shirley Yang got a little angry: 'Are you also out of your mind? This donkey hoof is used to ward off evil and demons; I won't eat it, take it away.'

The more she refused to eat, the more suspicious she seemed; I gave Pangzi a look, he without hesitation went over and shoved Shirley Yang to the ground, undid his belt and tied her up in a hogtie; Shirley Yang, her face alternating between green and white with rage, gritted her teeth and said: 'Hu Bayi, did you see me expose your grave‑robbing tricks and now want to silence me? You two, let me go quickly.'

Professor Chen stood to the side, watching with great delight, laughing hysterically, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth; I glanced at Professor Chen, feeling deeply saddened—a learned elder reduced to this state—but I could not rule out his suspicion, so I would wait until I sorted out Shirley Yang's situation before deciding what to do.

I steeled myself and asked Shirley Yang: 'Are you or are you not the Jingjue Queen?'

Shirley Yang snapped: 'Damn old Hu, what nonsense are you spouting!'

I coldly said: 'I think you're either possessed by that demon queen or are her reincarnation; otherwise how could you have seen the scene in the ghost cave in your dreams, and how would an American girl like you know our grave‑robbing terminology?'

Pangzi had long found Shirley Yang a bit displeasing; now he finally got his chance, drew a dagger and slammed it into the ground: 'Lao Hu, you hand her over to me— she knows we're grave robbers, which isn't surprising; that monster surely can read minds, questioning her is useless, let's slash her face twice and then ask, see if she confesses.' Having said that, he was about to act.

I saw Shirley Yang desperately holding back tears swirling in her eye sockets, not looking at Pangzi's dagger but fixing her gaze on me; my heart softened, recalling how she had saved me in the Zage Lama Valley, after which I had told her I owed her a life— how could I now strike her down?

I quickly stopped Pangzi: 'Wait, let's first explain our policy toward prisoners to her; if she still resists to the end, we can always apply measures later.'

Pangzi said: 'Actually I also hate to ruin such a pretty girl's face, but this monster is full of tricks; we must be careful not to be seduced by her beauty.'

Shirley Yang grew angrier the more she heard, nearly fainted, could no longer hold back, tears streamed down as she choked out: 'Why did I dream of the ghost cave scene? I myself don't even know; I understand your grave‑robbing terminology because my grandfather was in the same line of work before going abroad, I just listened to him tell me; I had originally wanted to find a chance to talk to you about this later… I've said everything I needed to say, you two fellows want to kill or carve me up— go ahead, I… I realize I misjudged you.'

Pangzi let out a cold snort: 'Flowery words, pretending to be innocent enough— just make it up, Lao Hu, show your stance, how will you handle her?'

I produced the black donkey hoof and placed it at Shirley Yang's lips: 'Just take a bite; as long as you bite it, I'll release you right away.'

Shirley Yang said: 'You… you hurry up and kill me, otherwise I'll never forgive you, even as a ghost I won't let you off.'

Seeing her refuse to bite the black donkey hoof, I took the dagger from Pangzi's hand; at that moment a voice in my heart asked myself, if she really were the evil spirit, could I bring myself to strike? The answer was clearly no, but if we don't kill the evil spirit among us four, we'll all die in this tiny tomb chamber— damn it, we might as well all die together.

Just as I was undergoing fierce internal struggle, Professor Chen stood up giggling foolishly, waving his arms and legs as he went mad again; I feared he would open the second‑layer stone coffin, so I reached out and grabbed him.

Professor Chen laughed loudly and shouted: 'Flowers, ah, truly beautiful— red and green, I've found them… hehehe'

I watched his mad appearance, listening to him talk about flowers— this kind of lunatic, where have I seen one? No, not seen, but heard of— that surviving British explorer… my mind was a tangled skein of thoughts, when suddenly an invisible hand pulled out a thin thread, which I managed to catch.

"Corpse‑scent devil's yam"… could it be that we haven't yet escaped the hallucinatory trap it created? This corpse‑scent devil's yam, a demonic flower from hell, we are still within its sphere of influence, and it is luring us into killing each other…

(Before the official release, the main text will be updated irregularly; in the next two days a side story will be posted, introducing a real‑life prototype from the story— thanks for the votes and favorites.)