Chapter 391: Close the Coffin Lid

"Meow!"

Howling Celestial Dog let out a cat's meow, waving a paw beneath the elevated highway.

This massive stone pillar supporting the elevated highway was different from the others — a dragon was carved on it.

Called a Coiling Dragon Pillar, it was used to suppress baleful qi.

Rumor had it that when this elevated highway was being built, everywhere else went smoothly; only this stretch had constant problems and couldn't be finished for a long time.

In the end they invited an expert for guidance, added an extra Coiling Dragon Pillar here, and afterward construction finished smoothly.

No further incidents occurred either.

But roughly half a year ago, the accident rate on this stretch inexplicably spiked.

Experts were brought in to investigate; they said this was a curve, and because too much time had passed, a slight "shift" had occurred.

They didn't specify what the change was, but said this shift would affect the overall structure, sometimes causing visual misjudgment.

For instance, when fatigued, drivers were prone to accidents; a few adjustments would fix it.

Regardless of whether others believed that explanation, after the unknown adjustments, accidents did drop significantly, returning to normal levels.

But the data Tang Luo got from that Recorder said otherwise.

The data showed that the thing suppressed beneath the Coiling Dragon Pillar was about to break through the earth; those accidents were merely the slight influence of its leaking qi.

The current safety was only it accumulating strength, about to truly emerge into the world.

Among the data collected by many Recorders and Disseminators, this was a relatively complete and detailed account.

If true, then the source Tang Luo sought, the culprit, was right under his feet; resolve it, and one incident would be solved.

But if false, Tang Luo would have made a wasted trip.

Tang Luo naturally didn't hope it was false, yet the situation wasn't optimistic — standing here, he detected no anomaly or clue at all.

Perhaps it was just one among many ghost stories, not a genuine Strange Event.

The Merit Jade Lotus hovered above his head, about to "sink into the earth"; the gray mist mark on the back of his hand manifested, flickering in and out, reminding Tang Luo that someone was looking for him.

"What is it?" Tang Luo entered the Gray Mist.

"Master, something huge happened." Ao Yulie's tone was a bit intense; he could be seen to be somewhat agitated.

"What huge thing happened on your end?" Tang Luo asked.

It shouldn't be — if something truly happened that Ao Yulie couldn't handle, he would have fled here to notify him immediately, not be beating around the bush mysteriously like now.

"No, it's the whole world — something huge happened! The worldview collapsed this very moment!"

"Speak human."

"Oh, the high-definition black hole photo came out — it's an eye."

"Hah?" Tang Luo frowned. High-definition black hole photo, it's an eye?

This is getting a bit serious.

What is a black hole? Broadly speaking, a black hole is a celestial body whose spacetime curvature is so great that even light cannot escape its event horizon.

It's not actually black, nor a hole.

It's just that its mass density reached an unimaginable degree, producing gravity that even light cannot escape.

In other words, what this thing actually looks like cannot be seen.

Some time ago, this mission world finally succeeded in photographing a black hole.

The photo was very blurry; honestly, it looked like a donut, and also a bit like the iris ring outside a human pupil.

They discussed it for a while, the heat faded, clout-chasing got no clout, and the matter passed just like that.

But the original team kept working hard, wanting to capture a high-definition photo of a black hole.

Recently they'd been building hype again, saying a brand-new, truly high-definition photo would be released soon.

Attention was still quite high, at least on the level of the Mist Incident and the Empress's Grand Birthday.

However the originally scheduled release time wasn't now.

It should have been earlier; it might be related to the Empress's passing — that team belonged to this country's research team, and although members came from all over, the funding came from this country's appropriation.

The money-daddy's mascot passed away; delaying the release a bit was normal.

Among the Recorders and Disseminators Tang Luo's group had contacted, some were investigating "black hole secrets."

"Photos and videos have already gone viral everywhere; they can't delete them fast enough." Ao Yulie said.

This incident's impact far exceeds the mist the Feng family stirred up, and the Suit Man incident.

"When did it happen?"

"Just an hour ago." Ao Yulie said. "I heard it from someone, went online to look, and got a scare."

A clarification is needed here: they've been in this mission world for a while now.

Tang Luo and Ao Yulie have both been undocumented residents the whole time, but Ao Yulie got himself a phone.

He goes online when bored to kill time, and can also keep an eye out for any big news.

Don't forget, their first Strange Event was found online.

Even the events recorded by Recorders, all kinds of stories, have traces to be found online.

Including the black hole being an eye — that was a brainhole some talented netizen opened after the "Gaussian blur" photo came out back then.

Never expected — the son of a bitch — it actually came true!

Videos, photos — all released by that team — released moments before their deaths.

Upon seeing the high-definition black hole photo, seeing that it fundamentally wasn't a black hole.

But an eye.

A cold, indifferent eye — at that moment, these people all broke down completely.

The feeling was like instantly turning from a human into a truly minuscule ant; their hearts simply couldn't bear it.

Think about it — a black hole who knows how many light-years away.

It isn't actually a black hole, but an eye, an eye staring at "you."

One glance, and there's an unmistakable feeling of mutual gaze.

It's looking at me! It's looking at us!

In that eye, no emotion comes across — not curiosity, not disgust, not delight — just watching, purely.

Like a person's gaze sweeping the ground, where a colony of ants crawls.

He sees the ants, feels no emotional ripple, simply sweeps past.

But for "short-lived" ants, that passing glance seems all the more endless.

Like a prolonged mutual gaze.

Before completely breaking down and committing suicide, these researchers sent out all the data, photos, and the lab surveillance footage capturing the progression from joy to surprise, to horror, to final collapse.

It could be understood as "everyone come together, don't let us collapse alone," or as "the truth must be made public."

In any case, things erupted this abruptly.

Spreading like a virus, fear also proliferated madly like a virus.

As for whether to believe it — unless what you're seeing is an Nth-hand image, degraded green and blurrier than the first black hole photo, after who knows how many rounds of transmission.

Everything else — even a fleeting glimpse in a video — once you've seen that eye, you'll understand: this is real.

This is an eye, an eye making "eye contact" with you!

No way to deceive yourself; you can even feel a gaze settling on you.

Wherever you are, that eye's line of sight, its gaze, will not be blocked.

Of course, looking up at the sky right now, you won't discover anything.

The spread has only just begun, and chaos is already showing its first signs.

After hearing Ao Yulie's description, Tang Luo pondered a moment: "You go find that recorder who investigated the black hole."

"Already found him, but a step too late — he committed suicide half an hour ago." Ao Yulie said, "Master, you're saying the black hole really is some existence's eye? Immortals, Buddhas, gods, demons?"

"Probably not." Tang Luo was very calm. "I sent Doggy to find you; you find Lu Xiuqi and watch over him. I'll come find you once I've settled things here."

"Okay, Master." Ao Yulie nodded.

Exiting the Gray Mist, Tang Luo patted Xiaotianquan's head, signaling her to go find Ao Yulie.

Xiaotianquan jumped to the ground and vanished in a few leaps.

Tang Luo entered an intangible state, his body sinking, plunging underground, descending continuously.

"Counts as a separate world within?"

After descending a while, the surroundings suddenly opened up; Tang Luo appeared in an underground tomb chamber, man-made, a complex mausoleum!

Through the vicissitudes of time, it had already sunk beneath the earth.

Many places had already collapsed and been damaged; one part still remained intact.

Barely enough to let Bei Bayi and Nan Tianzhen come in for a walk-through.

There were originally winding passages, made even more winding by collapse, and dangerous rooms filled with all sorts of mechanisms.

Due to the extreme age, many mechanisms were already broken; a portion instead brought greater danger.

For instance, what was originally just a falling stone operation would now become an entire passage caving in.

To successfully reach the main burial chamber requires tremendous courage and perseverance, ability — oh, and luck.

Of course, none of that has anything to do with Tang Luo.

Because the spot he dropped into was precisely this tomb's main burial chamber; at a glance he saw the bronze coffin inside.

The bronze coffin's size exceeded a normal coffin's.

Tang Luo stood, barely level with the bronze coffin.

A dull thud came from inside the bronze coffin — not loud, but clearly audible in the quiet main chamber.

Inside, something wants to come out!

Generally speaking, this is the most tense moment; as a "tomb raider," at this point you should hold your breath for two seconds, then slowly back away.

Before you've really left, a zongzi flips the coffin lid and springs out.

Tang Luo isn't a tomb raider, so he stepped forward, placed his hand on the coffin lid's edge, and pushed it aside.

A scraping sound rose, light flashed faintly — as if some seal broke — and the bronze coffin lid was pushed open most of the way by Tang Luo.

Nothing unusual; a corpse leapt out from inside.

Blood-red eyes, withered frame, impossible to tell male from female; corpse qi spread the moment it appeared.

The entire main burial chamber instantly became a dead zone for the living.

The corpse stood at the bronze coffin's edge, head raised, as if about to howl at the sky.

Then it suddenly lowered its head, looking at Tang Luo standing beside the bronze coffin.

Ferocious eyes, crimson light flickering twice, then dimming.

Its body slowly hunched; it voluntarily jumped back into the bronze coffin, lifted the lid with both hands, and silently closed it again.

I'm not coming out; I'll go back to being a corpse and sleep properly — everyone just pretend nothing happened.