Chapter 44: Raging Sea: Big Porcelain Jar

Corpse wax is generally formed from bodies that have been submerged in water or buried in moist, water-rich soil; the so-called wax is the coagulation of their internal fat and minerals.

I followed the footprints with my eyes and saw that they led all the way to the corner of the room, behind a large blue-and-white porcelain jar with cloud and dragon patterns. My heart skipped a beat.

They say it's easy to send off the King of Hell, but hard to deal with little ghosts—could there be a juvenile jiangshi here? I said to Fatty, "Look, these footprints only go in, none come out. Could it be—"

Before I could finish, Fatty waved his hand for me to be quiet. I turned to look, and that big porcelain jar suddenly shook by itself.

Fatty said quietly, "That thing is still hiding behind it."

Bald Zhang had taken off half his gear, but his waist belt was still on, so now he just stopped undressing, grabbed his oxygen tank, came over, and asked Fatty, "What thing?"

Fatty, who found him most annoying, cursed, "A jiangshi!"

He was stunned. "Jiangshi? The Jiaxing Wufangzhai zongzi?"

Fatty shook his head and ignored him. I asked Fatty, "Can you be sure? I've never seen such a small jiangshi."

Fatty said, "I can't be sure either. But whether it's a jiangshi or not, we still have to go check it out, or it'll be trouble. I won't feel right about looting this tomb otherwise." With that, he raised the gun in his hand and gestured for me to follow. I thought, no way, and shook my head.

Fatty sighed and had to call Bald Zhang over. It was Bald Zhang's first time in a tomb, and he was incredibly excited. He immediately imitated Fatty's movements and walked over. The two of them flanked the large blue-and-white porcelain jar.

Even though I was scared, I couldn't act too much like a coward in front of the woman, so I pretended to be tough and followed behind Bald Zhang, cautiously peeking.

We moved very slowly, afraid something might suddenly jump out. Fatty first shined his flashlight around, but the big porcelain jar was too big to see anything behind it. Then he poked with his gun, looking just like when I used to catch weasels as a kid—I couldn't help but find it funny. After poking five or six times and not hearing anything behind it, he mustered the courage to walk over. He clicked his tongue and swore, "Damn it, it's just an empty wooden box. Got me all worked up over nothing."

We followed. I saw it was a small double-phoenix-carved infant coffin, about the size of a violin case. The lid had already been removed and set aside. The white coffin base was still well-preserved, but the body was gone. No wonder Fatty thought it was just a box. I said, "This isn't a box—it's a kind of coffin."

Fatty didn't believe it at first, but then he caught on and asked, "You mean this is the little jiangshi's coffin?" I nodded, then looked more closely. I noticed several holes had been drilled into the coffin body, with a black trail leading from the holes to the floor. It looked like some liquid had once flowed out. This scene seemed familiar from my grandfather's notes.

Fatty used his flashlight to thoroughly inspect the inside and out, then sighed regretfully, "Given the specifications of this coffin, that kid must have had a lot of good stuff on him. Too bad we don't know where the body went, or we could have pressed it a few times and maybe popped out some pearls."

I nodded. In coffins for children who died young or were buried as sacrifices, there were always a lot of grave goods, most of them worn on the body. Especially in the bellies of child sacrificial victims, there were often preservation pearls—priceless things.

The few of us looked around to see where the body had gone, but we searched front and back and didn't find even a trace. It seemed the grave robbers might have taken it out along with everything else.

Fatty wasn't willing to give up and wanted to search the coffin again. I thought it was a bad idea and stopped him, saying, "This coffin is different from others. It's definitely not just for a corpse. Better not touch it."

Fatty laughed, "The body's gone. What's there to be afraid of? You think the coffin is going to jump up and bite me?"

That woman said, "We're not here to loot burial goods. Let's hurry to the main chamber and get this done quickly. No time to waste."

Fatty knew he was in the wrong and had no choice. We went back to organize our diving gear. As Fatty put on his backpack, he suddenly looked at me, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something but was embarrassed. I sighed and cursed, "Damn it, if you have something to say, just say it. What is it?"

Fatty said, "You think that little jiangshi might have crawled into the big porcelain jar next to it?"

I looked at the big porcelain jar, my heart stirred. That was actually possible.

Fatty blushed a little. "I heard that jar make a noise just now. It seemed to come from inside the jar. I figured a jiangshi isn't a rat, so why would it crawl into a jar? I thought I misheard. Just throwing it out there—I don't mean anything by it."

I knew he was still thinking about the treasures on the corpse and was about to mock him, when suddenly the big porcelain jar tipped over with a clatter. I froze, thinking, don't tell me he was right.

None of us spoke. We stared nervously at the jar. It first spun around a few times in place, then, with a rumble, started rolling toward us.