Chapter 24: Seven Stars: Living Dead

All of us stepped back several paces; though we had long imagined that this coffin would cause some trouble, actually encountering it still made us gasp. This movement clearly indicated that there was something active inside—and anything that could move inside a coffin was definitely not a good sign.

Da Kui's face turned pale, and he said shakily, "It sounds like there's something alive in there! Third Uncle, I think we'd better not open this coffin."

Third Uncle carefully examined the seams of the outer coffin and shook his head: "Impossible. This outer coffin is sealed very tightly; no air can circulate. No matter what living thing was inside, even if it had a lifespan of three thousand years, it would have suffocated long ago. Besides, this is just the outermost layer—there are several more layers of coffin inside. Let's pry off one or two layers first and listen more clearly."

I roughly estimated the weight of this object. In my memory, the heaviest bronze outer coffin was the giant one from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at Leigudun, which weighed about nine tons. This one was about the same size, but that one was bronze inlaid with wooden planks, while this was all bronze. The weight was likely far more than nine tons—I couldn't even begin to guess exactly how much.

Da Kui and Third Uncle first scraped off the sealing wax at the joints with their knives, then wedged the crowbar in, shouted, and pressed down. With a crack, the bronze outer coffin plate pried up. I quickly went to help, pushing the bronze plate outward. That single plate weighed at least eight hundred jin. We pushed for ages before moving it half a side, gasping for breath. Finally, with all of us using our shoulders at once, we tipped the plate over to the side, revealing the inner coffin.

It was an exquisite lacquered coffin inlaid with jade, covered in neatly arranged jade pieces arranged in diamond and circle patterns, symbolizing the round heaven and square earth. The jade-inlaid coffin contained a painted lacquered wooden coffin; since the jade covered the outside, I couldn't see what was painted on it. When Panzi saw the coffin, his eyes nearly popped out. Covering his wound, he half-cried, half-laughed: "Damn, so much jade! We can walk sideways now!" He gritted his teeth and was about to reach for it, but Third Uncle quickly called out: "No! This is Manasi jade from Xinjiang. If you take the jade pieces off to sell, you'd only get a few hundred thousand—not enough to split among all of us. You need to remove the entire jade-inlaid casing to make it valuable!"

Panzi had already caused trouble before, and when Third Uncle glared, he didn't dare act recklessly. He scratched his head and backed off to the side.

Third Uncle knocked on the painted lacquered wooden coffin and said: "Generally, Warring States feudal lords had a double outer coffin and three layers of inner coffin. If we count that tree as the first outer coffin, we've now removed two outer and two inner layers. The next layer down should be the most valuable." With that, Third Uncle carefully used a small knife to pry off all the gold threads from the lacquered coffin. To avoid damaging the jade-inlaid casing, he worked very cautiously. It took half an hour before he finally extracted the entire nested coffin set.

Once the jade-inlaid casing was removed, I saw the paintings on the wooden coffin. These were easier to understand than inscriptions. I turned on a mining lamp and looked closely. Painted on it were several narrative scenes. The one on the coffin lid was likely the scene of the coffin being placed in the tomb. I saw a giant tree with a crack in the middle, and the bronze outer coffin was being carried by many skeletons, without its lid. Around it, many people were kneeling respectfully.

Third Uncle carefully folded the jade-inlaid casing and put it into his backpack. I tried lifting it—it was deathly heavy; carrying it would be tough.

Encouraged by this find, Da Kui immediately perked up. Without another word, he was about to continue opening the painted lacquered coffin. Third Uncle grabbed him and cursed: "You damn fool, you faint at the sight of ghosts but risk your life for money! This is the last layer—don't be reckless. Take it easy." He crouched down, pressed his ear to the coffin lid, and gestured for us to be quiet.

We held our breath, afraid to disturb him. He listened for a long time, then turned around with a pale face and said, "Damn it, there seems to be breathing inside."

We were all stunned. If we'd heard ghostly wails, we might have accepted it, but something breathing inside? That was too bizarre. Da Kui stammered in terror: "Don't tell me it's a living corpse!"

Third Uncle said, "Bull…shit! Don't spout nonsense here! We're this far—are we going to put the coffin lid back?" He pulled out a black donkey hoof charm and tucked it under his armpit, then gestured to me. I raised my gun, Da Kui hefted his crowbar, and we stood guard by the coffin, ready to give whatever jumped out a solid hit. Third Uncle spat into his hands, worked his shoulders to psych himself up, and was about to insert the crowbar when a voice from behind shouted, "Stop!"

We turned around and saw that the fat man had woken up at some point. He was rubbing his head and waving at us: "No, no, opening it like that will cause trouble. With your level of experience, you still want to rob his tomb? You're really looking for shit—'shining a flashlight in a latrine, looking for death (shit).'" Third Uncle snorted: "Then how would you open it?"

The fat man waved his hand to make Third Uncle step aside. He reached into the gap between the lacquered coffin and the bronze outer coffin, closed his eyes, and felt around for a long time. Suddenly, he exerted force, and we heard a snap. The coffin split cleanly in half from the middle. At that moment, we all seemed to hear an extremely miserable scream coming from inside the coffin. My hands went weak, and I almost dropped my gun.

The fat man immediately jumped back, spread his arms, and said, "Step back!"

Instinctively, I raised my gun and aimed at the coffin, quickly retreating several steps. The lacquered coffin rose from the outer coffin like a lotus flower, and the split lid fell to the sides. This ingenious design was breathtaking; we couldn't help but stare in amazement.

At the same time, we saw a figure in black armor sitting up from the coffin. I raised my shoulder and was about to fire, but the fat man grabbed my hand and said, "Don't move! The armor he's wearing is a treasure—don't damage it!"

Finally, I saw what the mysterious King Lu Shang looked like. It was a rare wet corpse; the skin all over was so white it seemed translucent. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to have died in great pain—his features were almost twisted. I found it very strange: if he had a way to keep the maiden's body undecayed for a thousand years, why couldn't he preserve his own body?

Third Uncle walked over to look and said, "I thought it was another corpse. Look, there's a wooden stick propping him up from behind. No wonder he can sit up."

We all went over. Indeed, it was a very ingenious mechanism. As soon as the coffin opened, a wooden stick propped the corpse up into a sitting position. An ordinary grave robber would probably be scared to death.

We all breathed a sigh of relief. King Lu Shang had really schemed carefully, but he should have realized that those who fear ghosts don't rob tombs, and those who rob tombs don't fear ghosts. Anyone daring enough to open a coffin at night is a desperado. Such a trick to scare people was really underestimating us.

We gathered around. I saw that the armor he wore was actually the final coffin, academically called a "jade burial suit." But for some reason, the jade pieces had all turned black. When I approached and looked more closely, I was stunned again. The corpse's chest was still rising and falling continuously, as if it were breathing. The breathing sound was now very clear; I could almost see moisture spraying from its nostrils.

Da Kui's mouth fell open in shock: "This… this… this thing is alive, damn it!"