Chapter 50: Raging Sea: One Person

As soon as the coffin lid was opened, I was hit by a stench of rancid odor. Leaning in to look, I saw that the coffin was filled with black water, with mist swirling above and moisture steaming. Below, I could vaguely see limbs intertwined. I couldn't tell how many corpses were inside; they had all waxified and stuck together into a huge mass. I could count twelve just with my naked eye. The sight was utterly disgusting.

Poker-face frowned at the scene, but his expression eased, and the gun in his hand lowered. Seeing his change, I guessed this thing probably wasn't dangerous. I wondered what he had been so tense about earlier.

Inside the coffin were several rows of dark golden round nails, driven in from top to bottom every few centimeters. In the water, I couldn't tell if they were pure gold or gold-plated. Beneath the corpse mass was a strange object. Fatty shone his flashlight inch by inch from below, and it looked like a stone slab with inscriptions. Among the corpses and on their hands were jade and ivory items. These things were priceless and easy to carry.

Fatty itched to take them, but the corpses were too disgusting. No matter how reckless he was, he dared not reach his hand into the coffin floating with a layer of human oil. He pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with a way, so he gave up and turned to study the corpses inside, shaking his head as he looked: "Damn, this is too tragic. They say the tomb owner was a practitioner of the Dao, but setting up such evil things—how could he achieve the Dao? Deserves to have his tomb robbed."

I was still confused, but the scene inside made me feel my nerves couldn't take it. I didn't dare look again and asked: "Why is this joint burial coffin so disgusting?"

Fatty chuckled: "Little comrade, are you dumb? Have you ever seen a joint burial twisted like a dough twist? This is clearly a live burial. These people were piled together, drugged, and drowned in water to suffocate. This is called nurturing qi and storing corpses."

When he mentioned dough twist, my throat itched. I was already very hungry, and the overlapping image of the corpse mass and a dough twist made me feel like bile was about to rush out. But from his words, it seemed he knew the background of this thing. I calmed myself and asked for details.

Seeing that I didn't understand, Fatty wanted to show off: "You don't even know this? Then it's like a child without a mother—a long story. Speaking of when I was in the rugged mountains of Changbai..."

I heard him start rambling again and said: "Cut the crap, will you? Look at the situation. What does storing corpses have to do with Changbai Mountains? If you don't know, don't talk nonsense!"

Fatty is the type who can't stand being provoked. He stiffened his neck and said: "Who says I don't know? I just wanted to start from the big picture. If you don't want to hear it, fine. This thing is called a corpse-raising coffin, a feng shui technique. Usually, it's used in mountain tombs. If you have such a coffin, it means there are two feng shui excellent coffin positions in the tomb. If you don't put a coffin in the empty position, that empty position, gathering the spiritual energy of the rivers and mountains, will attract demonic things. So you put a corpse-raising coffin here, burying a blood relative of the tomb owner inside, considered a joint burial. This coffin must be identical to the one in the main chamber. In feng shui, this is called nurturing qi, get it?"

Fatty finished reciting it all in one breath. I half-understood and was startled: "Then all these people inside are—"

Fatty slapped his thigh: "That's what I mean! This guy might have stuffed his entire family in there. Too tragic!"

I exclaimed: "How could such a thing happen? Choosing good feng shui is for the sake of descendants. If you bury the whole family, what's the use of good feng shui!" Seeing I took it seriously, Fatty said: "You believe whatever I say? Those rich people aren't that stupid. They probably found a few poor nephews from distant relatives to be buried alive. This kind of thing is most common in Ming tombs. I've seen plenty, but never this big."

Looking at the corpse mass and thinking about the scene of the burial, I couldn't help but be moved. As my grandfather used to say, the human heart is the most unfathomable. For a bit of baseless belief, these people's lives were taken like withered grass.

But since the coffin lid was already open, Fatty surely wouldn't let it go so easily. He scratched his head and said: "Seeing these people so pitiful, how about we go to the next room and get some jars to scoop out this water? Water accumulating in the coffin is most unlucky."

I knew what he wanted to do and said: "Look at you, you thief. I know you're still thinking about those grave goods. Can't you just stay put? There will be plenty for you to take in the main hall later."

Fatty's face reddened, and he cursed: "Damn, do you think I'm that kind of person?"

I couldn't be bothered to argue with him and said: "This isn't the time to worry about side issues. If we can't get out later and suffocate here, we might not even get a coffin, and no one will pity us."

Mentioning this, we immediately tensed up again. Without another word, Fatty searched the side chamber, but unfortunately other than a cat corpse, there was nothing useful.

Poker-face had been staring blankly at the pile of corpses. He looked for a long time, then suddenly seemed to notice something and gasped.

This man is usually very calm. Once he gets nervous, something big must happen. So his action gave me a start. I quickly crouched and raised my gun.

He still stood there frowning, staring fixedly at the coffin. After a full five minutes of silence, he turned to us and said: "Actually, there is only one person in here——"