Chapter 67

Li Zhuiyuan did not attempt to wake Runsheng and the others, because based on his own personal experience just now, he was clear that what the four of them had encountered was not ordinary miasma, but Yin miasma.

The former could be compared to an ordinary haunted house in a modern amusement park, giving you an immersive feeling, while the latter was more high-end, carrying obvious interactivity and guidance.

Previously in the "dream," there was clearly someone deliberately guiding them forward. The most obvious example was that whatever Tan Wenbin said he wanted, it would arrange it for him. In fact, the goal was to keep people deliberately immersed in the dream, cutting off what was happening in reality.

In this state, the separation between body and spirit was very obvious. Even he himself could not perceive that he was in a state of "walking the Yin," which showed that relying on external physical stimulation could not reach the level of spiritual consciousness at all.

Additionally, if he insisted on pushing and shaking them in an attempt to wake them up, it would be easy to accidentally push them, as they were still standing, into the water. They were already a distance away from being submerged, so doing this would be equivalent to passing a death sentence in advance.

Glancing at Runsheng and the others, then scanning toward the stone carving of the woman opening the door, her miserable, mocking smile was so realistic and delicate.

Li Zhuiyuan subconsciously wanted to swim over to see if he could push the stone carving back to its original position, or take off his own clothes to cover the stone carving, hoping to interrupt this effect.

But when this thought rose in his mind, Li Zhuiyuan immediately shook his head vigorously.

If it were ordinary explorers or survivors, following this line of thinking would be normal, but this had not yet broken away from traditional examinee thinking.

Li Zhuiyuan did not swim toward the stone carving, but swam toward the stone stairs, then climbed up step by step, walked above the water surface, turned around, and sat down facing Runsheng and the others below, as well as the stone carving of the woman opening the door further away.

His gaze gradually became calm, and various mastered and inferable information rotated rapidly in his brain. While reorganizing all of this, he deduced the situation before him using the method of Feng Shui patterns.

The former, he hadn't sorted out, stuck on the figure that appeared and left at the snake's tail.

The latter, he also hadn't deduced, because the Feng Shui pattern all around at the moment had no obvious or clear changes.

But Li Zhuiyuan did not feel discouraged because of this. Failure is sometimes a form of trial and error. When a mainstream line of thinking is found to be blocked, then even if the previous side paths are unreasonable or ridiculous, it means they might be real.

The figure in the dream might not be that important, because its logic was just imitating and guiding. A room appearing at the top of the stairs, and stalactites appearing in the room, was already unreasonable enough. The snake carvings that followed actually used two in a row; perhaps there would be a third or fourth.

Such fine and grand carving craftsmanship, really just being used as a ladder? Occasionally using antique calligraphy and paintings to boil tea could be called "elegant interest," but to keep burning them, that would mean there's something wrong with one's brain.

There was subjective guidance, yet it didn't seem man-made. After breaking free from the confusion of being a participant, he even felt it was a bit ridiculous.

As for that stone carving, since the Feng Shui pattern deduced based on it was completely ineffective, then he would boldly speculate that it was utterly useless.

He had carefully inspected the stone carving himself earlier. What kind of miraculous mechanism could allow the other half of the body, which didn't exist, to suddenly twist out?

Human imagination.

Therefore, he hadn't fully woken up yet; this was a second-layer dream, multi-layered Yin miasma.

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly felt that he could wake Runsheng and the others up. He scooped up the rising water surface at his feet and splashed it onto the faces of Runsheng and the other two, shouting:

"Brother Runsheng, Brother Binbin, Brother Liangliang."

Soon, the eyelids of the three began to tremble, and then they opened their eyes one by one.

"Ah, were we just dreaming?"

"What happened to us?"

"Xiaoyuan, are you okay?"

Li Zhuiyuan's mouth twitched. He didn't pay attention to Runsheng and the others, but turned over on his own and knelt on the stairs.

The four of them were stunned facing the stone stairs, but his consciousness had previously been completely attracted by the stone carving of the woman opening the door. In reality, the one that should have been thought of as problematic first was this stone stair, and specifically the bottom-most layer.

Because before entering the game, the water had just risen, and the water had only just reached the soles of their shoes.

Li Zhuiyuan walked down the stairs, dived into the water, and came to the bottom-most step. He first knocked hard on that step with his flashlight, and then shone it toward it.

The originally ordinary stone stairs now actually presented a light-transmitting quality similar to jade, and flocculent matter also appeared inside. But unlike the fixed flocculent matter in ordinary jade, the things inside here were moving, like long, thin parasitic worms, or like little white snakes.

Just then, one of them was drilling out from the edge of the stone stairs, and had already drilled out halfway. If it weren't for discovering it in advance and keeping it observed with the flashlight, he wouldn't have been able to perceive when it drilled out and merged into the water.

It drilled out completely. Li Zhuiyuan reached out his hand and placed it in front of it, and it bit down.

"Hiss..."

Intense pain came immediately. This pain was deep-seated and gradually magnifying.

"Ah..."

"Gurgle... gurgle..."

Li Zhuiyuan woke up again.

This time, he was in the water, and the water level had already submerged his mouth, just a little bit below his nose. If it rose a sliver more, his mouth and nose would be completely covered, and then his true self would fall into a state of suffocation.

Waking up like this, his mouth was still making painful screams, so he naturally gulped down several mouthfuls of water.

Turning around in the water, he first looked at Runsheng and the others. They were still standing there, not awake.

It is said that when the sky falls, the tall ones hold it up, but when the water rises, the short ones are the first to drown.

Looking back again, the stone carving of the woman opening the door was still in its original state, with only the flattened back half facing him. Where did that miserable, mocking smile come from?

Li Zhuiyuan knew that he had completely woken up and returned to reality.

Too busy to look at anything else, Li Zhuiyuan first dived into the water and shone the flashlight on his leg. The clear pain was coming from there.

Rolling up his pant leg, the flashlight shone over. A long, thin thing like a white thread had its front end on his skin, while the back end floated continuously with the water waves, as if it were quite happy itself, wagging its tail joyfully.

The human body is a very precise instrument. In fact, when you are moving normally, bone friction and muscle stretching all bring pain, but these are suppressed by substances secreted by the brain. This is also why, for people who like to exercise, running can bring you pleasure.

And addicts have problems with brain secretion because they absorb too much pleasure at once, mistakenly thinking that you don't need the body's own pain relief. After stopping, very obvious withdrawal reactions will appear, such as ants crawling all over the body.

The effect of this "little snake" is the same. In fact, the bite is very painful, but it numbs your perception, yet the pain is actually always there. Only when you truly realize its existence can you wake up the numbed perception.

Really, high-end ingredients only need simple cooking methods, while high-level Yin miasma... is directly using Gu.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and grabbed it, pulling it out. It was struggling and jumping. Li Zhuiyuan simply pulled with both hands and twisted it off.

Actually, if possible, he really wanted to collect this thing to use in researching and developing "walking the Yin" in the future.

But firstly, he didn't have suitable research conditions, and secondly, the current conditions didn't allow it.

Li Zhuiyuan continued to go to Runsheng, rolled up Runsheng's pant leg, and also saw that white thin line, and pulled it out.

Next was Tan Wenbin.

"Plop!"

Runsheng woke up, in so much pain he fell over.

"Plop!"

Tan Wenbin also woke up, and also fell into the water.

But just as Li Zhuiyuan rolled up Xue Liangliang's pant leg to follow suit, he discovered that the long white thread biting Xue Liangliang's leg was actually black!

And it looked lifeless. Even without him having to pull it, this thing probably wouldn't be able to jump around for much longer.

This meant that Xue Liangliang was able to wake up by relying on his own "resistance," and very soon at that.

But by the time Xue Liangliang woke up, he might have been in time to save Runsheng and Tan Wenbin, but he himself would definitely have drowned.

Reaching out and pulling.

Xue Liangliang hissed, but the pain wasn't as strong as it was for Tan Wenbin and Runsheng. Not only did he not fall, but after waking up, he immediately reached out to help the boy under the water.

All four climbed up the stairs and left the water surface.

Li Zhuiyuan told the three of them what had just happened, and all three showed great shock and lingering fear.

Then, from the retelling of the three, Li Zhuiyuan unexpectedly discovered one thing: the dreams the four of them had were connected.

Clearly, they were bitten by four small white snakes, and apart from that, there was no other connection, yet they were able to have the same dream.

This made Li Zhuiyuan look at the first step again with even more intense heat in his eyes.

This really is a good thing. It can move in the water. If it could be tamed and mastered, wouldn't it be smoother to combine it with the black leather book of Wei Zhengdao to control the dead?

Anyway, the dead basically all move around the water's edge, and even if they go ashore, they will come out of the water themselves.

"Xiaoyuan, shall I go help you smash open the first step?"

Runsheng understood the boy.

Tan Wenbin asked with lingering fear: "Will this release more of them, and then they'll bite us again?"

Xue Liangliang guessed: "If that were the case, it wouldn't be just one biting us, but many coming at once. I think it might be because after a person is bitten once, they have resistance, and a second bite would only have the opposite effect and wake us up directly with pain."

Tan Wenbin breathed a sigh of relief: "Meaning, this thing has no effect on us anymore?"

Xue Liangliang: "It means if we get bitten again, we can just treat it like a mosquito bite, notice it, and slap it to death."

Tan Wenbin asked curiously: "Brother Liang, why did Xiaoyuan say the one on you had already turned black?"

"I don't know." Xue Liangliang was also very confused.

Tan Wenbin clicked his tongue, sighing: "Sure enough, no one becomes a live-in son-in-law without benefits."

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at Tan Wenbin: "You want to go too?"

"Ah?" Tan Wenbin scratched his face a bit embarrassedly, "Someone has to be willing to recruit, and they have to take a fancy to me."

"You can ask if the Zhou family is recruiting."

"The Zhou family?" Tan Wenbin immediately became interested, "The same underwater ancient town as the Bai family?"

"Class monitor Zhou Yunyun's family."

Tan Wenbin: "..."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't tell them the details about Qin Shu, because Liu Yumei still had to continue living at the great-grandfather's house.

That night, if Qin Shu hadn't gone to fight the Bai family town alone, Xue Liangliang wouldn't have been able to get the conditions of a live-in son-in-law.

In essence, the Bai family wasn't recruiting a son-in-law at all, and it didn't even count as snatching a wife; what they wanted was just a partner to have children with.

And the set they played was even more extreme. It wasn't just getting rid of the father and keeping the child; it was getting rid of the father and the child, and only keeping the daughter.

The Bai family town only had the Bai family lady. In the local chronicles and in the houses of the Bai family town, one had never seen any Bai family young master or Bai family father-in-law. For hundreds of years, where did that group of people go?

Therefore, Tan Wenbin envied Xue Liangliang's treatment, but this kind of treatment could not be replicated. The normal treatment was actually "burn after pleasure."

At the same time, this also involved another point. After that Ding family banquet ended, Liu Yumei told him about the Qin and Liu families, and also why she, an old lady, still had the confidence not to give that group of people face now.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that Grandma Liu hadn't lied to him. What she told him was the truth, but the truth might not have been told in full.

That was that the inheritance of the Qin and Liu families might have already gone down another path. This point could be seen from Yu Shu's attitude toward Grandma Liu.

This also fit the old lady's consistent style. Hidden beneath the generous showing off of wealth was also the generous hiding of clumsiness.

"Xiaoyuan?" Runsheng's call again interrupted the boy's thoughts.

Li Zhuiyuan pursed his lips. Since his heart was moved, then he should act.

"Brother Runsheng, but there are no tools on hand right now."

"That's easy to handle."

Seeing Li Zhuiyuan agree, Runsheng immediately plunged back into the water with a splash.

Actually, Li Zhuiyuan could also swim. There was a small river on the west side of the great-grandfather's house. During that time, he didn't dare to go to other water areas, and even fishing was something he resisted, but it was still safe near the great-grandfather's house, so he also let Runsheng teach him how to swim.

He learned it, but when encountering danger, he was still used to letting Runsheng pull him. Nothing else, Runsheng's swimming ability was just too good.

If Runsheng could also learn Qin Shu's trick of pulling out fish gills for himself on the spot in the future, then Runsheng would simply be a second Qin Shu.

Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang stood up and shone their flashlights at Runsheng. This didn't look like lighting for Runsheng, because Runsheng under the water didn't seem to need eyes much; it was more like they were shining it for themselves to see.

Tan Wenbin didn't follow suit at first, and then he inadvertently lowered his head and looked at the flashlight hanging on his chest, only then realizing that his flashlight was only lost in the dream, and it was still there in reality.

However, after hesitating, he still decided not to use it, to save some battery for himself.

He now had a sense of crisis. Xiaoyuan's role in the team went without saying, Runsheng didn't need to be mentioned, and even Xue Liangliang was very useful. It was just himself... it seemed that apart from livening up the atmosphere when the team's mood was low, he was useless.

He didn't even know the chemical formula for stalactites.

And the fate of the marginal person in the team was to be gradually eliminated from the team. Even if they were willing to continue taking him along for the sake of old times, he wouldn't be able to keep playing.

He had to think of a way to increase his usefulness. Should he manage the studio supermarket industry that Brother Liangliang left at school to help Xiaoyuan earn money... or should he change to apply for the Jin Ling Police Academy?

Without handy tools, Runsheng went to find a rock, and then under the water, he smashed at the first step for a while.

Exerting force under water was greatly affected, but Runsheng seemed to naturally know how to avoid it.

Smashing and smashing, the first step actually really cracked, and fragments similar to jade stone kept floating out.

Tan Wenbin swallowed his saliva: "Is this, is this very valuable?"

Li Zhuiyuan said: "It's jade, but it's the most ordinary material, not valuable."

"Oh." Tan Wenbin nodded, dispelling the thought of collecting it, but then looked at the steps behind him, thinking that if he discovered anything valuable after going up later, he must bring some out.

Xiaoyuan and Liangliang were as indifferent as chrysanthemums, so let him bear the stench of copper alone.

Facts proved once again that the most direct way is not necessarily the most effective, but at least it will be effective.

Li Zhuiyuan guessed that other people should have been here before, but he estimated that many were eventually drowned by water or washed away after the "Yin miasma."

Even if someone managed to break the miasma, he estimated they would have hurriedly gone up with lingering fear.

Unlike their four, who saw that someone else's trap was good, so they dismantled the trap and took it home. Even bandits weren't this good at scraping the ground.

The steps were smashed open, and many worms scattered, but they seemed to be able to sense who had resistance, so they didn't approach the four again. Even Runsheng, who was right in front of them, they walked around.

However, these worms should also not be able to leave here for too long. Xue Liangliang's own special nature only accelerated this process for them. After leaving the special environment they were stored in, they would die out on their own. Some things, relying on themselves alone, could not stably exist in the natural world.

Runsheng surfaced, holding a jade seal in his hand.

"Xiaoyuan, here."

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and took it, shining the flashlight on it.

There were characters below, but they weren't square characters; only one character was carved.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Yong?"

Tan Wenbin looked at Xue Liangliang: "What does it mean, The Doctrine of the Mean?"

Xue Liangliang shrugged: "I said I didn't even understand this character, do you believe me?"

Tan Wenbin obviously didn't believe it.

Xue Liangliang said somewhat helplessly: "This depends on family learning. Xiaoyuan understands these."

Li Zhuiyuan said: "This is Wanzhou, also called Wan County. There were traces of ancestors' activities in the Paleolithic Age, and many relics were left behind. Historically, the one that can match 'Yong' here is the Yong State of the Shang and Zhou periods, but it was destroyed by the joint efforts of the Qin, Chu, and Ba states during the Spring and Autumn period."

Tan Wenbin's eyes lit up: "Is this a treasure from the Spring and Autumn period?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "I don't know. This workmanship looks... and the style of the woman's skirt on that stone carving of the woman opening the door, it looks more like it's from after the Qin and Han dynasties."

Xue Liangliang asked: "Xiaoyuan, can you not be sure?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I only know how to memorize books. For antiques and ancient architecture, relying only on memorizing books is useless."

Xue Liangliang guessed: "Then could it be that someone later discovered some secrets of the Yong State here, and then built this here?"

Tan Wenbin didn't understand: "Can it still be like this?"

Xue Liangliang explained: "This method is quite common. For example, many scenic spots now are exhibition halls developed and rebuilt on the basis of original old sites. In essence, isn't it the same?"

Li Zhuiyuan gently shook the seal in his hand. Jade emphasizes moisture. Then inside here, it's simply a huge fortune. It looks like glue and liquid, and there are tiny granular shapes inside, which should be the snake eggs of that kind of little snake.

Those snakes hatched from this seal. On weekdays, they should also maintain this state, and only hatch some after receiving some kind of stimulation and perception.

So, do the hatched snakes return to lay eggs again?

Is there a fixed quantity for each production, or is there some special triggering mechanism?

Currently, it seems that after Runsheng broke the steps, the storage environment was destroyed, and the eggs inside would no longer hatch.

"Brother Runsheng."

"Hmm." Li Zhuiyuan handed the Yong seal to Runsheng for safekeeping. This thing could only be studied after leaving here.

Immediately, the four turned their eyes toward the top of the stairs again.

The water was rising more and more severely, and everyone could only walk upward.

Li Zhuiyuan reminded: "Everyone keep an eye out, be careful."

Tan Wenbin immediately responded: "I will, I'll pinch my thigh hard every once in a while."

Everyone climbed up the stairs again.

This time they didn't walk far before they saw a platform. It was no longer that door house, but a huge snake head carving, mouth wide open, as if everyone entering here was being swallowed by it.

Xue Liangliang said: "It seems that the people of the Yong State believed in snakes."

After entering the snake's mouth, what appeared was a very wide flat surface, no snake body ladder, but stone pillars one by one. The flashlight shone over, and this place was like an underground palace.

But it wasn't golden and magnificent at all; instead, it looked very primitive and rough, and there wasn't much furniture, looking very empty.

Walking forward for another distance, the four's footsteps began to echo here. Even though the four were extremely careful and tiptoed after noticing it, it was still useless, and the echoes grew louder and louder.

In the end, it was no longer an echo, because the four had already stopped, but this sound was still continuing on its own, and becoming more and more intense.

Finally, a bit of green light appeared in front.

Li Zhuiyuan shone the flashlight forward. The green light quickly faded, and what appeared was a fierce tiger about to pounce down.

Everyone was startled and retreated one after another. Runsheng, who was standing at the very front, lowered his center of gravity while retreating, fists clenched. This was being prepared to fight the tiger.

But soon, everyone realized that the tiger was dead. It was located on a stone platform. Although it had been so long, it was still lifelike, but in essence, it was still a specimen.

But the bit of green light that had disappeared emerged again. The tiger's eyes were instantly filled with green light, as if the fierce tiger had revived.

It was just that the four, who had already discovered the essence of the tiger, would only subconsciously think there was something inside the specimen, and wouldn't really feel that the tiger had revived.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that this should be due to equipment reasons. The flashlight was much more efficient than torches for lighting, which also made these arrangements originally intended to scare away outsiders greatly reduced in effect.

The flashlight moved, and he discovered that on many platforms nearby, there were all kinds of fierce beasts standing. Some species were no longer active in this area at the moment.

The most peculiar were two people. From their appearance, one could clearly distinguish that they were a man and a woman. They wore leather armor and covered their faces with bronze snake-shaped masks, standing in the middle of the hundred beasts, like kings commanding them.

It was just that the man and woman both had a posture of holding something with their arms and hands, but now they were empty.

The flashlight swept under the platform twice, and he could see several piles of decayed matter. It should be like the unearthed Terracotta Warriors, where the things originally held in their hands had all rotted away.

It was just this woman. Her right arm was raised high, and she should have been holding some weapon. Combined with the bronze spearhead that fell at the platform under her feet, she should have been holding a long spear, but her left palm was facing upward, and she should have been holding something. It wasn't a weapon, but more likely some kind of token.

But there were no corresponding traces on the platform below. Had it completely rotted, or had someone taken it away?

Until now, in fact, no traces of anyone having been here had been found.

The eyes of the man and woman also gradually lit up with green light, but these green lights had an obvious avoidance feeling under the flashlight's illumination. Basically, after the flashlight shone over, it was suppressed, and as soon as the flashlight moved away, it lit up again.

There were a few bright spots still wandering outside, but after wandering for a while, they dissipated. They should be things like fireflies.

They lived inside the animal and human body specimens, and would light up when disturbed by the outside world, thereby creating a "deterrence" effect.

Since he knew what it was, there was nothing to be afraid of. Just treat it as visiting a museum.

The four continued forward, and the echo seemed to have been encouraged and accumulated again.

When they passed through the hundred-beast stone platform, before the flashlight could shine into the distance, a huge mass of green suddenly rose in front, and a huge, towering pile of white bones appeared before the four.

Inside that, an unknown number of fireflies lived. The current echo was actually the layer-by-layer revival inside them. At this moment, they completely woke up and flapped their wings, like ghostly fires burning on the pile of white bones.

In the white bones, the outermost circle was horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and chickens; the middle was tigers, deer, bears, apes, and birds.

They corresponded to the six domestic animals and five birds respectively.

There were many scattered bones all around, but most still retained the complete structure of the splicing, otherwise it wouldn't have been so easy to identify.

In the very middle, and also what supported the height of the pile of white bones, were people.

Human skeletons, one by one, were like building blocks, you dragging me, I supporting you, climbing upward, which was the main support of this pile of white bones.

Xue Liangliang's mouth was open, his eyes full of shock. From a professional nature, what he saw was a kind of aesthetic beauty combining mechanics and aesthetics.

Perhaps, among the four at the scene, the only one who could deeply feel the cruelty and unbearable nature was Tan Wenbin.

Human sacrifice, or so-called works of art shaped with human lives as carriers, always made people feel a sense of "the rabbit dies and the fox grieves."

It was just that Tan Wenbin looked left and right. Runsheng still had his old expressionless look, while Xiaoyuan and Liangliang were more appreciative. He could only keep silently reciting in his heart: it's all in the past, it's all in the past.

After the silent recitation ended, he also took the opportunity to pinch his thigh hard. He pinched too hard, and pain made tears flow out.

Xue Liangliang noticed it, reached out and patted Tan Wenbin on the shoulder, comforting him: "Look at it openly, it's all past ignorance."

These fireflies, apart from shining, didn't have an attacking posture, and because of their appearance, they illuminated a large area here.

Behind the "white bone bonfire," there appeared more than a dozen steps going upward.

Above the steps, there was a huge bed, with gold threads as curtains on the bed, which not only shone brightly under the light but also played a very good visual isolation effect.

But looking at the style of these curtains, even if one couldn't see inside, one could still imagine the scene of a woman sitting inside.

Most importantly, behind the big bed was a half-hidden big door.

In the entire underground palace, this was the only place that looked like it could go upward, and it was also the key for everyone to leave the underground and return to the ground.

The four bypassed the white bone bonfire and came to the bottom of the steps.

Immediately, the three were stunned.

Xue Liangliang asked curiously: "Why is there a shovel here? Has someone been here?"

Tan Wenbin said: "It looks like our Yellow River shovel."

Runsheng bent down and picked up the shovel: "It is our Yellow River shovel, the same model."

With two "clicks," Runsheng wanted to assemble it, but the shovel broke directly. It was rusted and broken.

Tan Wenbin said: "So, has a predecessor of ours been here?"

Xue Liangliang asked: "Do corpse-salvagers also rob graves?"

But soon, Xue Liangliang changed his words again: "Oh, no, this isn't a grave either. There's a bed, but no coffin."

Immediately after, Xue Liangliang made up for it again: "Maybe your predecessors entered here to deal with that big thing, wanting to eliminate harm for the people."

Li Zhuiyuan said: "Brother Liangliang, you don't need to be so nervous. We only came down here because of an accident this time, but if I had known in advance that there was such a place, I would also have wanted to come down, but I would have made preparations in advance.

Besides, there is a group of people called water monkeys. They specialize in robbing water burials. Although I don't recognize them as peers, the things they learn are actually the same path as ours."

As he spoke, Li Zhuiyuan reached out and took the broken Yellow River shovel from Runsheng, checked it, and confirmed that it was from his own line of work, not a Luoyang shovel.

This meant that a predecessor from his line of work had indeed entered here, and from the rusted and broken shovel, one could see details. The original object was very professional, the same as the standard Yellow River shovel configuration in Wei Zhengdao's book.

Therefore, the predecessor who came in was also professional.

But, did they really come in just to get rich?

Everyone began to climb the steps. Apart from this Yellow River shovel at the beginning, no other things were found.

When they reached the very top and were level with that big bed, they discovered that there was a square groove around the bed, inside which was a white-green liquid.

An inexplicable smell, which couldn't be smelled at all at first, only began to enter the nose after standing up.

This smell was too familiar. Without Runsheng's reminder, even Tan Wenbin could blurt out: "Water corpse stench."

Runsheng added: "Very thick, very pure."

Li Zhuiyuan reminded: "We walk from the side, don't disturb or touch anything else."

The side was very narrow, only enough for one person to move sideways. Everyone carefully moved bit by bit.

Even though Tan Wenbin was very greedy for the gold on the big bed's curtains, he didn't dare to have any thoughts of taking it at all at this moment. It involved the dead, and it was the dead of this place and this specification. Being greedy again wouldn't be appropriate.

Without surprise or danger, everyone bypassed the bed and the water pool around the bed, and came to the back.

The big door was right above. Walking up, they should be able to find the way out.

The four couldn't help but look back at the bed behind them. From this angle, it looked more like a small boat located in the middle of a water pool.

Tan Wenbin sighed with regret: "What a pity, so much gold."

Xue Liangliang gently patted his arm and asked: "Why, are you moved?"

Tan Wenbin said bluntly: "Hmm."

Xue Liangliang reminded: "The things here cannot be taken."

Tan Wenbin: "Uh..."

"The one Xiaoyuan took was something that almost killed us. It has a grudge against us, so taking it away is what should be done.

And when this place is archaeologically excavated in the future, if that thing is left below, it might cause harm to our archaeological comrades. It must be removed in advance."

Tan Wenbin felt that Xiaoyuan might not have thought this much himself.

"Brother Liang, you really know how to make up for things."

"I am seeking truth from facts."

"Actually, I didn't think about taking this gold to get rich either. Look at the human sacrifices in the bone pile. Although this isn't a grave, this is all the fat and cream of the people. Other cultural relics are fine, but if the gold is brought out, we don't need to use it to improve our lives. A small portion left for Brother Xiaoyuan as research funding, and the large portion donated to the Wanzhou government project and Hope Primary School, it can be considered taking from the people and using for the people. It's better than letting it sit underground and eat dust."

Xue Liangliang laughed: "You're still talking about me. You're the one who really knows how to make up for things."

"How so."

"If gold is made into jewelry, it's also a cultural relic."

"Damn."

Li Zhuiyuan spoke: "Let's go. After going out, report this place..."

Before he finished speaking, on one side of the half-hidden big door, a woman's face actually poked out.

She appeared so eerily, so abruptly, and without any warning.

Especially when everyone had just passed the big bed on the platform and started to lower their guard, thinking they were safe.

This was the true "woman opening the door" picture.

The four were all startled by the appearance of this face, but Runsheng's stress response was to take the remaining half of the Yellow River shovel in his hand and slap it directly at the head of the woman behind the door!

No matter what kind of ghosts or monsters you are, eat my shovel first!

"Slap!"

The woman's face disappeared, and Runsheng's shovel only hit the edge of the door.

"Hou Gege giggle..."

The woman's face poked out again from the other side of the door. This time, her upper and lower lips began to close and open back and forth, making a silver bell-like laughter.

If one heard this laughter in a park in the afternoon, one would feel it was very sweet, but in the current environment, it only made one's heart seep and scalp numb.

Runsheng raised the shovel and smashed it again.

"Slap!"

The woman's face disappeared again.

But her laughter grew louder and louder, no longer limited to this place, but spread out, gradually echoing throughout the entire underground palace.

The originally green fireflies began to turn red, rendering the underground palace like a sea of blood.

The white-green water pool around the big bed also began to "gurgle gurgle" and bubble at this moment, as if it had boiled.

Even the golden curtains on the bed swayed without wind. Now there was no need to imagine; one could see a woman wearing luxurious red clothes sitting inside.

The woman's hair was actually still black, and it looked very soft and shiny, draped down her back and spreading out behind her.

And accompanied by the swaying of the curtains, the woman's arms began to twist eerily, and even her hair began to slowly sweep and turn.

Soon, the woman's two arms turned straight, and the two hands that were originally placed in front and invisible now appeared at the back, which was the direction facing Li Zhuiyuan and the four.

And the sweeping of her long hair was more like the twisting of her head.

Although because of the coverage of her hair, one couldn't see inside, but it gave the feeling that she should have already twisted her head around.

Originally she was sitting facing the palace, but now, she was facing the big door.

In front, there was the woman's face on the door side, poking out and laughing non-stop.

Behind, the woman in the bed who should have been safely skipped by the four had also "awakened."

This suddenly made the four caught in the middle unable to advance or retreat.

However, Li Zhuiyuan understood the reason for the structure here. This underground palace was not a grave; it was more like a place of sacrifice.

Relatively speaking, the "woman opening the door" pictures painted on the walls of the main burial chambers of later generations could only be considered a kind of "Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi."

She built this place for herself personally, and also opened the real door, just waiting for the "woman opening the door" inside the big door, so she could guide her into the Pure Land!

It was the woman who poked her head out from behind the door who triggered all this.

But what kind of thing was she? Why didn't she trigger it early or late, but appeared just when the four of them were about to pass through the door?

If you had guided people away earlier, it would have saved them trouble. How good would a bare, danger-free underground palace be? Anyway, the four of them were just passing through to avoid danger.

"Xiaoyuan?"

Runsheng, clutching the half-shovel, asked.

Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin also leaned close to Li Zhuiyuan's side. The three of them subconsciously protected the boy in the middle.

But now, they had to come up with a plan.

"Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz!"

Below at the water pool, there came the sound of heavy objects rubbing, and the whole bed was also lifted up accordingly.

From under the pool water, eight people appeared. They all used their shoulders to carry the bed.

The people under the four corners were all men wearing leather armor, very similar to the man among the hundred beasts seen when they first entered the underground palace.

After surfacing, they closed their eyes, but liquid things still flowed out from the corners of their eyes and mouth and nose. Unlike the water flowing out of other dead, what flowed out of them was a silvery liquid, like mercury.

"Mercury-refined corpse..."

Wei Zhengdao's "Records of Strange Tales in the Rivers and Lakes" had recorded this kind of dead, specifically placed at water burial sites to guard the tomb owner.

Normal corpse-salvagers couldn't encounter this kind of dead, because they didn't rob graves. Only water monkeys would specialize in studying how to deal with this.

Apart from these four wearing leather armor, who looked like they were left behind with the woman in the bed when this place was first arranged, there were four other people. They wore tight-fitting long gowns, and each had a long braid behind their head.

These four Qing dynasty people were most likely the four predecessor peers who left behind the Yellow River shovel.

The reason Li Zhuiyuan recognized them as predecessors rather than water monkeys was that water monkeys generally moved in groups, like the group of Ding Dalin and the others last time. Twenty people counted as a small-scale gang, while here, there were only four people, and no other people's corpses were left behind.

The pool water that previously had a thick water corpse stench should have had a preservative-like effect, because these people and the clothes on them hadn't rotted or bloated, and were still preserved very freshly.

Eight people carried the bed, left the water pool, and stepped onto the upward steps. Each step fell neatly, bringing terrifying pressure.

"Hou Gege giggle... giggle giggle..."

Behind the half-hidden door, the laughter continued.

"Xiaoyuan!"

Runsheng shouted again. It was time to make a choice.

Actually, at this time, Runsheng had already made a gesture to rush into the door, and Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin were also prepared.

Compared to the eight people carrying the bed below and the mysterious woman sitting on the bed, normal people would choose to rush into the door. After all, there was only that face inside the door!

But just at this moment, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly saw that among the four Qing dynasty people carrying the big bed, the one on the right edge, although his body and hands were very stiff and still maintained the posture of lifting and moving forward, his eyes were moving, constantly shifting to the left, coming back, and shifting to the left again, while his mouth was also opening and closing, making a silent mouth shape:

"Walk this way... walk this way... walk this way..."

(End of chapter)