1 Prologue (2/2)
”Boss... What are you doing...?”
”Ever seen a ghost blowing out candles?” Meng Fuyao clapped loudly before smiling. ”I'll respect your belief that there are ghosts, so we'll leave if these candles blow out. How does that sound?”
”Really?” Fatty threw a furtive glance at the candles. 'I'll just blow them out...'
Before he could get closer to them, the demoness had already started assigning tasks. A group of people quickly formed around the outer coffin, and the candles were completely forgotten.
In fact, no one sensed that a whirlwind that rose abruptly from the ground blew out the candle in the southwest corner after a few flickers.
The coffin lid was extremely heavy. Thousands of years of deposition and solidification had sealed portions of the coffin lid and body together. The team eventually pried a side open with effort. On another tombstone stood Meng Fuyao, hands resting on her knees, calling out, ”One, two, three!”
After a wave of shouting, the coffin lid was pushed aside, and its content was revealed.
”Well done, Brothers!” Meng Fuyao cheered in encouragement. She placed one foot on the edge of the sarcophagus and used one hand to point her torch into the tomb. Then, she broke into a happy, made-up tune.
”We'll meet again 2,000 years from now. Into the museum and glass cases, we go! One for you and one for me but hey, we're the same! No more raiders, no more fear, no more chase...”
Her impromptu performance led to multiple eye-rolls. The tortured listeners hated that they had no free hands to shut their tone-deaf leader up.
As Fatty squatted on the coffin lid that had fallen to the ground, he could see vague inscriptions on the inner side of the lid. He immediately made a few brushes.
The inscriptions had been created with cinnabar, so they had remained fresh despite the years. Something had been mixed into the cinnabar, so it was emitting a sweet but unsettling smell.
”The sky is vast and bright and, the ground under is vast and obscure. The dead stays in the Yin, and the living belongs to the Yang. A living person has a neighborhood, and a dead person has a village. It has been like this all along... As it must be.”
Fatty swung his torch about messily, his expression turning ugly.
”Oh, this is the Han dynasty's style of writing, but the last line seems different. What does it say again?” Meng Fuyao asked somewhat absentmindedly as she was focused on the inside of the coffin.
Fatty opened his mouth, but before he could speak, he caught a side glimpse of the extinguished candle and jumped in fright.
”Incoming! Withdraw!”
”Nonsense! I'm the king of raiders!” Meng Fuyao reprimanded heartily.
Boom!
A loud sound exploded behind her, and the whole grave started to shake. Seven, eight of them lost their footing and tumbled. A splitting sound followed closely as if giants were trampling on the ground with divine force, causing it to crack and tilt. The coffin slipped down the slope and crashed into the wall. Its impact led a brick in the southwest corner to come loose and smash onto the ground, forming a fist-sized hole.
A few members protected their heads and scuttled to the nearest shelter. Fatty, who had too much flesh, navigated clumsily, knocking into things and wailing mindlessly. In contrast, the noise outside, condensed with each wave.
Amid the commotion, Meng Fuyao effortfully raised her head and grabbed her backpack to protect it. ”Probably a landslide! Quite a bit of storm recently! Get out! Now!”
Everyone near the passageway cried out, ”Our exit is blocked by mud!
”Stop crying! Are your tears going to dissolve the mud?” Meng Fuyao yelled before making a roll over the shattered, rock-filled ground. She looked up and added, ”There's a hole left by bandits up there. Let's go out this way!”
”That hole is not completely hollowed out. There's half a corpse blocking it!”
Meng Fuyao secured her bag on her neck and leaped to her feet, but another quake threw her on all fours before she could even stand. She wasted no time getting up. Instead, she grabbed a metal pick and proceeded to hack the hole, making it bigger.
A badly mangled leg came down, but Meng Fuyao remained unfazed.
Then dropped a body, which she gracefully made way for. It was covered in bloody slime, so upon hitting the ground, it flowed down the slope into the southwest corner of the grave.
Next, a shriveled brain fell right onto Fuyao's belly. She just hit it away and cursed, ”Sh*t! Stop disrupting my work!”
A few more hits later, a pile of yellow concretions gave way, and a glimmer of light appeared before her eyes. Her face was filled with grime, but she was evidently pleased.
”Come over here if you're alive! There's a way out!”
The other members crawled speedily over to where she was. The moment she had a chance, she grabbed a collar, ready to lug the person into the hole. However, she was stopped.
”You first!”
”Go!”
”You're a woman!”
”I'm the leader!”
The rumbling continued and most of the ground, save for the piece they were on, had tilted so much that they were practically walls now. They were running out of time, and the unpredictable and arrow-like flying rocks weren't improving the situation.